Chapter Text
A bright flash.
A gasp as air fills her lungs for the first time in years, blood pumping through freshly regrown veins.
She is alive again.
“I finally found you. I can't believe you’re actually real!” A voice rings out above her.
Her vision comes back to her quickly, the first thing she sees is red grass, tall stone structures in unnatural geometric shapes, and a vibrant green sky above them.
“I had almost given up hope that I would find my guardian.” The same voice as before, this time coming from a floating mechanical object a few meters in front of her face.
She quickly sits up, a wave of nausea courses through her, she puts her head in her hands. “Wha?”
“I always knew I was special, that my Guardian would be the best of the best. And together we would save huma-”
“Blragh” she vomits onto a nearby rock, covering it in light brown chunks.
The small drone hovering nearby can’t convey human emotions, but it looks disappointed. “Uh. Are you okay?” It asks.
She holds up a finger, wiping her mouth with the back of her other hand. “I have a few questions.” She stands up, the drone floats upwards to be eye level.
“What the hell are you!?” she points at the drone, its outer shell expanding.
“Where the hell am I!?” she points downwards, to the red grass covered cliff she woke up on.
“ Who the hell am I!?” She points at herself, deep blue skin peeking out from the remains of her tattered lab coat.
“I’m a Ghost.” The Ghost says with pride. “I was created by the Traveler – which is a giant white sphere hanging above the earth – to grant someone with the incredible powers of the Light, to destroy the enemies of said traveler – which hasn’t really done anything since the Witness-”
“Stop, stop.” She waves her hands at the Ghost. “I don’t care enough, let's just move on. Where are we?”
“Fine.” The Ghost says irritably. “This is Nessus, a centaur planet beyond Saturn. Although the Vex have really done a number on it.”
The Ghost pauses, as if waiting for the woman to interrupt or ask questions. After a few seconds of silence, it continues.
“As for who you are; beyond being a guardian, it’s entirely up to you. You died, then I Resurrected you into a new life. Let's start with your name.”
She thinks for a moment, taking in her surroundings. “Avelia. My name is Avelia.” Avelia nods her head to herself before asking. “What about you? What’s your name?”
“Me?” the Ghost questions. “I don’t have one. I’ve been waiting for my Guardian to give me a name, and here you are.”
“Pancake.” Avelia answers.
“What!?” Pancake yells in shock.
“I have a craving for pancakes, so your name is Pancake. I’ve never even had a pancake before, is that weird?” Avelia turns around and peers over the cliff she was resurrected on. A hundred-foot drop to a forest below. “Now, how do I get down from here?”
“No, hang on.” Pancake floats around to her face. If Avelia had to guess his mood, it would be anger. “Can we circle back to this name thing? Because if you would just think about it for a little longer, I’m sure you could come up with some-”
“Hush pancake, I have to think of some way to get down.” Avelia waves Pancake away from her, looking for any lower platforms she could jump to.
Pancake sighs, an irritated look in his singular eye. “Why don’t you just use your Light?”
“My what?”
“The Traveler grants Guardians easy use of Light, a power beyond cause and effect, able to bend the laws of this universe.”
“That’s… not how physics works.” Avelia turns to look at Pancake.
“Exactly! Close your eyes and concentrate your Light into your hands.”
“Fine.” Avelia closes her eyes and holds out her hands. “So, what? Am I gonna turn into a giant flashlight?”
“Not light, but Light Light.”
“Yeah, that’s helpful.”
Avelia feels a tingle in her fingers, like something trying to burst out of her hands. She opens her eyes to see electricity arcing between her hands before traveling up one of her arms and disappearing into her chest. She could feel every cell in her body vibrating faster than normal.
“Woah.” She breathes out.
“That’s great! You’re a natural!” Pancake floats higher, his outer shell twirling with excitement. “Now we just got to get you to the Last City so Ikora can-”
“Hey, look, buddy.” Avelia starts, leveling a finger at Pancake’s eye.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Thank you for creating me or whatever, but I’ve got absolutely no reason to listen to you. I don’t care about any city or whatever, I didn’t ask to be given life.” Avelia walks past Pancake, eyeing a large rock sticking out of the cliff side she could jump to.
Pancake sighs once more, floating away from Avelia. “You can get pancakes in the Last City, you know.”
Avelia nods her head at Pancake. “Last City it is! Let's get going.” She walks towards the ledge separating her from the other rock. “Just need to jump this first.”
“The Light can help you cross this gap; I’ve seen other Guardians do it all the time.” Pancake flies out past the ledge before turning around to face Avelia. “I don’t exactly know how it works, but I’m sure we can figure it out. Imagine yourself stepping through the sky, your body weightless as you glide across this gap.”
“I think I can do that.” Avelia responds, taking a few steps backwards.
Avelia runs forward, pushes off the ledge with her foot and closes her eyes, willing herself to fly to the other platform. As Avelia doesn’t feel the sensation of wind rushing past her as she falls a hundred feet to her death, she can only assume she’s flying.
“You’re doing it! You’re like some sort of prodigy. I know we’ve just met, but I can already tell we are going to save the universe together.” Pancake says somewhere to her left. “Hey watch out!”
Avelia opens her eyes just in time to see herself slowly float into the side of the rock, having missed her jump by several feet.
“Oh Fu-!”
Avelia falls.
For what feels like minutes, Avelia tumbles down the side of a large cliff towards the trees below before being impaled on a stray tree branch, her blood spilling out into the forest.
She gasps her last breath as her punctured lungs fill with what little blood is left in her body.
Her vision fades to black, the last thing she sees is Pancake watching over her crippled body.
She is dead again.