We stood together, our heads held high, backs straight as we stared dead ahead. We were a sight to behold, all of us en masse. Our Vanguard stood in front, centre stage as he addressed us, the other two Vanguards flanking him, waiting their turn. This one seemed almost arrogant as if he saw himself as too good to be there, and I had to admit, I really wasn't sure I liked him yet. He was an Exo, his facial shell painted a sapphire blue, the upper plate, a pearlescent white. His name was Cayde-6, and as far as any of us knew, he was in charge of the Hunters. I wasn't sure why I'd been dropped into this class, all I knew for sure was that I'd been revived by a Ghost, and brought to the tower and here I stood, amongst others that had suffered the same fate as me. I couldn't remember anything beyond that point, everything was hazy, as though I were looking at my memories through frosted glass and every time I tried to clear the way, my head began to pound relentlessly and I'd given up before I got much further.
"You are a new breed of Guardian. Those of you in front of me right now have been selected by the Traveller, classified as Hunter. It is my job to mentor you and teach you the ways of your class. The Traveller has imbued within you a certain amount of power, it is up to you to improve and increase that power, and ultimately hone your skills to be the best of the best. You will have full access to the Crucible training areas, in which you can test your mettle against each other and help each other to gain more ability to defend yourself as well as what's left of the human race from the enemies that we have lost so much to." The Exo looked us all over before giving an abrupt nod and stepping back.
We dispersed, letting the second class stand forward as a dark-skinned woman with closely shaved black hair stepped up, her long white coat fluttering idly in the gentle wind. I'd heard that this woman, Ikora Rey was a formidable foe, instead of surrounding herself with other Guardians, she and her Ghost had chosen to go it alone, but stories of her success and power had reached the Tower long before she did, so it was only natural that when she arrived, she was granted Vanguard of the Warlock class. Those who had been chosen and imbued with the Warlock's power stepped forward, watching their leader as she gave them a similar but more in-depth and drawn out speech to Cayde's. It became evident to me then, that Cayde was not the nurturing type, and was more of a go-getter than a helper.
I stood on the sidelines, leaning against a metal railing as I watched the Titan Vanguard deliver his speech. Zavala was a sombre type, very quiet but it was obvious that this man had made a lot of extremely difficult decisions, it showed on his face more than anything. Where Cayde was open and quite humorous, and Ikora was strong and defiant, Zavala was more quiet and withdrawn, but his words had extreme meaning. I looked over the crowd, noting the mass numbers of Titans compared to the Hunters and Warlocks, it seemed that the Traveller indeed liked its brawn. The majority of them were tall and broad, larger in build than the rest of us, though there were a few among them that were shorter, which struck me as odd, as the smallest of us were tied into Hunter and Warlock.
The three Vanguards stood together and asked us to do the same, standing shoulder to shoulder between a Titan and a Warlock, I felt dwarfed in the middle, both males were taller than I was by at least six inches. I kept my gaze forward as Zavala began to speak.
"The only downfall of this mass revival is that not all of you will come home." The crowd stirred, looking between one another, a soft murmur of concern running through us. I remained silent. "The enemy that has laid siege to our colonies and our homes is a formidable one, though it is not unkillable. Everything within the stars lives and dies, it is one certainty that all of you must face one way or another. The rigorous training exercises in addition to the power that you will gain can and will take a toll on some of you and if your body cannot withstand the changes, it will shut down." The Titan looked through the crowd, meeting my gaze momentarily before continuing. I felt goosebumps rise on my flesh. "For those of you that do not wish to continue forward from this point, you are welcome to remain in the tower, there is work here that will be offered to you. You will be treated no differently, this life is not an easy one." With that, a large group stepped out and moved to the side, this would be the group that would not be continuing with the rest. I stayed still. "To those of you that remain, you will be paired into Fireteams of three and will begin training tomorrow morning, please move into your class groups and wait for your name to be called." Zavala stepped back as Ikora and Cayde split off to direct their groups.
