“Well, that was surely anticlimactic.” I looked at the smoking gun and slipped it back into the holster, “At least we know this thing can deal some real cussing damage.”

“Cuss yeah. We should get going, ” my ghost replied. We advanced more toward the mouth of the cave. I finally saw the entrance. It seemed like outside was more ice but with some snow and strong winds. Even from the distance away from the mouth we were, my cloak still began to flap in the wind.

I stepped out of the cave. The wind ruffled through my fur and my cloak. I took a breath. The air was crisper than the damp, icy cave. It smelled of gunpowder and blood. Despite this, the air was still pleasant to breathe in. I walked away from the cave, my ghost in tow.

“So where do you think we might find a ship?” I asked my ghost.

“We could ask Variks. He’s a Fallen, like that captain, except he won’t kill you. He’s on our side. He knows his way around Europa.”

“That works. Take me to him,” I replied. And so we walked. We walked for a while. We opted to hide when there were Fallen so we didn’t draw too much attention. Eventually, after a couple of hours, we made it to Variks. He was in a small building. I could practically see the warmth emanating from the inside. I started to step towards the door but my ghost stopped me.

“Just wait, Bit, no one has ever seen anything like you. Don’t be surprised if Variks gets confused. Don’t be surprised if you’re shot the first time you meet someone. He’s seen many Guardians pass through here but none like you. Just be prepared.”

I nodded and stepped into the door. I was immediately met with a wall of warm air, it was almost shocking. I saw a Fallen turned, concentrating on something in the back wall of the room. Instead of the white garb that I had seen most of the Fallen wearing, Variks’ was green, like my ghost’s shell. The door shut with a thud, and Variks turned around.

“Ah, another Guardian, Variks supposes you are here to-,” a wheeze, ”help dispose of the rest of House Sal-,” he turned to face me, “Oh, what is this? Something,” he paused, “new?” The Fallen approached me. I noticed one of his arms was ripped off, although it seemed like it had been mechanical in some way. I let my ghost speak for me.

“Variks, this is Bit. I found him in the ice caves under Bray Exoscience. He’s my guardian.” The Fallen looked confused.

“Is he a type of,” another pause, “Exo?”

“No, I couldn’t find anything on him in the Bray files. Either he’s something hidden, or he was never a part of Bray in the first place.”

“Interesting,” his gaze drifted from my ghost to me, “Tell me, er, Bit, do you,” another wheeze, “know where you come from?”

I looked at Variks in his four eyes. “The only word that comes to mind at that question is ‘Protogen’, but I don’t suppose you know anything about that.”

Variks let out a sigh, “I’m afraid not, but I,” he made some chittering sounds, “do hope you can, “ he wheezed, “figure yourself out. Is there anything else you need?”

My ghost floated in front of me. “We need a ship. Do you know where we might find one?”

Variks thought for a second. “There are scavengers all around Europa,” a wheeze, “stripping all manner of things for parts, but Variksss,” a pause, “things you might have luck finding a ship in Asterion Abyss. The Vex are,” he let out a sigh, “rampant there, keeping the pirates at bay.”

“Thanks, Variks, we’ll be on our way. C’mon ghost, we got a ship to find.” I turned to leave but Variks put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him again.

“Good luck,” more chittering, ”Bit. Not jusssst with the ship, but with yourself as well. I,” another wheeze, “I sense a great confusion within you. I,” a pause, “wish that you may find where you came from, wherever that may be,” the old Fallen spoke with sincerity.

I smiled, “Thank you, Variks. Until we meet again.” We left the building. I felt good after what Variks had said to me. It meant a lot.

“So Ghost, which way to Asterion Abyss?”

“Follow that path to the left, should take you right there if these maps are right. We don’t have any vehicles, so better get walking.”

I got walking.

“So, it feels a little weird calling you just ‘ghost’. You want a name?”

“Ohh, I’ve been waiting for this. Aw, man, I’ve heard some ghosts have some really cool names. There was one named Sabrina, one was named Sundance, and one na-“

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Ok, that’s a little foul, just calm down, let’s thi-“

“Foul! I like it. But let’s do the spelling with a ‘w’, like a waterfowl, like a duck. Ducks are cool.”

“Woah, woah, woah, let’s think about this, Fowl is kind of a weird name, you sure you wa-“

“Yes, Fowl, I love it. Perfect.”

“Alright then, Fowl it is. So, Fowl, we almost to Asterion?”

“Yes, Bit, it should be just around this bend.”

We turned the corner to Asterion Abyss. There was barely any snow here, leaving the ice uncovered. There we many cubic structures that were made of some type of metal. In the distance, I saw many Fallen and some other things. Robots of some sort. I glanced at my ghost.

“Hey, so what is the Vex?” I ask, realizing I’ve heard the name twice and have no idea what that is.

“It’s a race of murderous, time-traveling robots.”

“You didn’t think you tell me that till now? You gotta be cussing me. Are they that dangerous?”

“Guardians have gotten used to fighting the Vex, we’ve learned they’re not entirely indestructible. If you hit the spot where you can see the white fluid in their stomachs, they break pretty easily.”

“Cuss, well that seems oddly convenient.”

“Yeah, I always wondered why that was.”

“Well, let’s get to it then. Let’s find me a ship. Oh, and, if the Vanguard, that’s what the big bosses are called, right? If they send out any signals telling us that any guardian is coming out here, please tell me so I can be somewhat prepared.”

“Got it.”

We ventured into the Abyss. We mostly hid from the Fallen, no need to pick an unneeded fight, but it was hard to hide from the Vex. Mostly because I wanted to hide as close as possible so I could get a good look at them. The main infantry type of Vex, Fowl called it a Goblin, was about as tall as me. They moved very robotically, as one would expect. It had a fan-shaped head and a single red eye. I saw the pool of fluid.

“What is that stuff?”

“Vex radiolarian fluid. Nasty stuff. Hurts like acid. If any organic being drinks it, which I’m not sure why you would, it will slowly and painfully turn it into a Vex.”

I shudder. That stuff was terrifying. We traveled on. There were cliffs and mountains, all ice. Eventually, we came across a chasm. I thought it might have been an excellent place to look for a ship. But how were we supposed to get down? Fowl chimed in.

“Oh, this is perfect. It’s time to teach you your jump. All guardians have a jump ability. The three classes all have different ones. As I said earlier, you’re a Hunter. You have a thing where you can jump 3 times. That means you can just jump off the ground, then do the motion of jumping in the air, and you should jump two more times, allowing you to stop the majority of your motion before you hit the ground.”

“‘Should’ jump two more times? As in, you don’t know if it’ll work?”

“Ah, come on Bit, worst case scenario, I have to revive you, and that's easy here.”

“All right then. CUSS IT,” I yelled, jumping down into the chasm. I saw the bottom rather quickly. I made the motion of jumping in the air.

Hey, remember that thing Fowl said about the worst-case scenario? Yeah, when I hit the bottom, my screen was destroyed along with my brain, legs, vital organs, vital circuits, and pretty much my entire body. It hurt. It hurts to die. This hurt much more than the thorn. I wish I could have seen how mangled my body was at that point.

Fowl floats down the chasm and does his thing. The first thing I do when revived, is a massive gasp, just like “HOHHHHHHHHHH,” y’know just to make sure I get that oxygen. As you can imagine, the chasm was deep. I look around. Lots of ice, a little bit of snow, and a lot of different ways to go. I look to Fowl again.

“First off, we’ll work on the jump later. Second, which way do we go?”

“Here, lemme try something. I think down here I can do a scan to try and find anything that might be useful.”

“Alright, yeah, do that.”

Fowl expands his shell and a pulse goes out. The ghost waits to see what data will come from it. I looked around and I looked behind myself. I notice my tail. I grabbed it.

“Hey, Fowl, what do you think the point of having this thing is?”

Fowl looks at me, “I don’t know, some animals have them for balance, some animals just have them. I- Bit, what’re you doing?”

I had been staring intently at my tail.

“Resisting… a canine… urge…,” I barely spoke out.

“An urge… to what?”

“Chase… it…”

“You’re resisting the urge… to chase your tail.”

“Yesss… that is what I- AH CUSS IT, IT’S TOO MUCH!” I got down on all fours and began chasing my tail. I will admit, it was embarrassing, especially considering I have no actual mouth to catch it with, but boy was it invigorating. I was pretty cussing close. I just went around circles and circles and it was fun. But then Fowl called me back to reality.

“Bit… Bit… BIT? BIT!” he yelled.

“Ah, what?” I yelled back, trying to stop but slipping on the ice. My claws scratched against the frozen water as I slid straight into a wall. Another broken screen. I rubbed the cracks as Fowl floated over to me to heal them.

“Ow, that was worse than the first time,” I stood up as the cracks sealed, “Sorry, I got a bit distracted there. It just felt right. I will do my best to ignore it, Fowl,” my eyes drift towards my back but I snap back forward, “Nope, not now. Maybe later but not now. Alright, back to finding a ship.”

“Yes, the scans show there should be a functioning ship down this path,” he announced, flying towards an opening in the walls of the chasm.

“Alright, down there we go.”