Destiny | The Blackened Heart | Discontinued

4: The Last City

The Ghost sets me down on the open plaza at the top of the tower. I watch as my new ship soars away, clearing the top of the building and disappearing. He appears at my side a moment later, trasmatting- as he calls it- in like I did. I turn, looking out at where the Traveler hangs in the sky, glowing in the sunset. 

"Welcome to the Last Safe City on Earth- the only place the Traveler can still protect."

The drop from the balcony ledge must be at least a thousand feet. I stop a good five away from the railing- just to be safe. Below the Traveler, spreads the City, its lights and buildings glistening in the failing sun. 

"It took centuries to build," the ghost continues. "Now... we're counting every day it stands." His words send a surge of sadness through me. I turn, following him as he hovers to face inward, away from the City.

"And this Tower is where the Guardians live."

I take in the sight. A flight of stairs ascends before me up to the main level, its tiles floors open to the sky. Banners bound up to tall poles flap in the high breeze. Little stone pots of vines and ferns twine around their bases, stretching their limbs across the tiled ground to reach the sun. There are three short towers, with screens and access bays at their bases as well as a tent roofed building to the left, various vendors standing inside. To top it all, high spires of steel rise gracefully behind the plaza like a crown. An archway, lit by spotlights carves through the middle.

And there are other Guardians! Some human like me, some robotic, and others with strange burning eyes and colored skin. Men and women, weak and strong, old and young alike live here. The Home of the Guardians.

"I've already already alerted the Vanguard of your arrival, Guardian," the ghost says as I make my way up the stairs.

"The Vanguard?" I question distractedly, still baffled by the sights and sounds. The roar of ship engines is somewhat diminished by the open build of the Tower, but not all together ignorable. As high as we are the breeze is cold, but I don't mind. It carries on it the faint tinge of oil grease. Compared to the Fallen, it's quite pleasant. 

"The Tower is run by a group called the Vanguard, a Triumvirate of Guardians, one from each class. They are a part of the Consensus, the government. They and the Speaker guide the City and organize its protection. And by Speaker, I mean the Priest who spends his life studying the Traveler," he adds before I can ask.  "You'll report to Cayde-6, the mentor for all new Hunters.  He.. has a sense of humor." 

 "There are classes of Guardians?"

"Yes. Titans, the defenders of the City, heavy armored and tough. Warlocks, scholars, intellectuals. Crazy people mostly."

I stifle a grin.

"And then there are Hunters. Explorers, going places no one else dares, for the adventure of it. For the Traveler, and for Home."

"I like the sound of that," I say, a smile touching my lips.

"Good. You'll be doing it for a good long while. If you're any good."

I raise an eyebrow at that remark, but chose to say nothing.

"Each class is different in abilities and values. And each bears a different crest. Titans have their marks. Warlocks, armbands, and Hunters, cloaks."

I twist around to see my cloak, little more than a hood around my shoulders. "Not much of a cloak."

"We'll work on it," he promises. "The Vanguard is downstairs."

Up ahead the ground rises again in another staircase, broken in the middle by a down sloping set leading under the main floor, just as the ghost said. I take the stairs in twos, bounding down quickly. At the bottom a dividing wall bearing a shield crest divided into four sectors separates the case into two. I take the right side and jog down, slowing my pace to take in the hall.