Journey to Destiny

Chapter 2: The Calling to Destiny

We landed at the Guardian Tower and departed the ship.

"We should hurry inside," Ori said. "Cayde-6 has a mission for us,"

"Who?" I asked.

"He, basically runs the place," Ori replied. "Well, the hunter faction, that is. There are other factions too. The Titan and the Warlock, but they aren't your concern right now."

"And he has a mission for me?"

"As a guardian," Ori explained, "You are the protector of the people of the last safe City on earth. You answer the call of those in distress, and defend what little we have left of innocent lives, and hope." I considered the idea of having a purpose, a goal. But the thing is, I never agreed to this, I never got the choice. I was just thrown into this, with no one considering what I wanted.

"Ok," I replied, not feeling like I have much of a choice but to accept, at least, not at the moment. "How did you know he had a mission for me?"

"We ghosts are, sort of, virtually connected to some of the people here. They send me requests and I respond to them, every time, It's what I was made to do," I realized then that I wasn't the only one trapped like this. Ori obviously has free will, choice, but is condemned to obey every command he receives at any time, for the 'good of us all,' he says. I wasn't so certain.

We headed down into the tower and walked straight down the hall into what seemed like a meeting room of sorts. There were three people, (or what I assumed were people), standing around the table. Ori showed me which was the leader of the Hunter faction, which made me assume the other two people were the leaders of the other two factions. I started to wonder then how I was sorted into the Hunter faction. I looked at the other two faction leaders. One had light blue skin and the other was a woman wearing purple robes. The one that I was to speak to, Cayde-6, was clearly a robot of sorts, which explains his name. Cayde-6 probably isn't his name, but what he is. That's his type. I started to wonder if he was forced into this too. Just like Ori, he was built, given a task and was required to complete it. I wondered what would happen to someone who just didn't obey. I didn't want to think about it.

The robot caught my gaze as I approached.

"Welcome, guardian." said the droid. "We have been expecting you," I stopped in front of him, not sure how to react. "I have a Hunter class mission ready for you," he pulled up a virtual map on the table before him. "This is Russia, of Old Earth," he said. "We have intel that the Fallen have plans of their next attack at this base," he pointed at a location on the map, which I just happened to notice was near the exact same warehouse I had just escaped from. Oh, come on. I just left there and now you're asking me to go back? I thought. "Your mission is to sneak into the base, collect the plans and return here alive,"

"Understood," I said and turned to leave.

"Wait," the droid called me back and I turned around. "Your gun," he said. "It looks rather worn, yes?" I looked at the rifle strapped to my back. I did notice then, that it had old rust spots and stains covering the barrel and grip. "How about you use this one instead." I looked up and saw that he was now holding a rifle in his hands. It looked new and powerful, especially compared to the one I already had. I lifted the gun from Cayde's robotic hands and examined it. He was right about one thing; if I wanted to defend myself, I was gonna have to use the best equipment possible. I just hopped this would cut it, at least for the time being. "I wish you a safe return home," Cayde said, implying it was time to take my leave. I nodded and began walking down the hallway and back up the stairs. Ori teleported me back into the ship and we took off, right back to where we just came from.

"Why am I a hunter?" I asked Ori once on the shuttle. He looked up at me, as if I had interrupted him from a deep thought.

"Oh," he said. "Well, guardians are placed into factions based on the talents that they have. Warlocks are good at using magic and Titans are strong defenders. You, as a hunter, excel at long distance shooting and are skilled at knife combat." That explained my ability to kill those Vex from so far away while in Russia, but I haven't even tried to use a knife yet. I'll have to sometime. "First-time guardians are tested to be placed in a faction, but you must have already taken the test in one of your other lives," Again, with the other lives. I just wished I could remember what I did in my other lives. Did I think any of the same things then as I am now? Did I understand why everything is how it is better then? Probably. As far as I know, right now, there's no way I will ever remember, so I will just have to make due with what I've got.

We landed onto Old Russia near the enemy base. Ori and I were teleported off the ship and we began walking towards the base. As I walked, I knew that no matter what was about to happen to me, I had Ori by my side, and I was sure that if I were to die, he would just revive me again. Except I wouldn't remember anything about being alive in the first place. What if that's what happened to me just now? I thought. Ori and I were on a mission, I died and Ori had to explain everything all over again? I shuddered at the thought, wondering how many times Ori has told me who I was. I could only think of one thing that would prevent that from happening again, don't die.