Lady Luck

Eyes Up, Guardian

We called it, The Traveler. And its arrival changed us forever. Great cities were built, on Mars and Venus. Mercury became a garden world, human lifespan tripled. It was a time of miracles. We stared out at the galaxy and knew that it was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars. But the Traveler had an enemy. A darkness, which had hunted it for eons across the black gulfs of space. Centuries after our 'golden age' began, this darkness, found us.

And that was the end of everything.

But it was also, a beginning.

-The Speaker.

Scanning.
Scanning.
Scanning.

Endless traveler-loving scanning.

"C'mon, c'mon, you gotta be somewhere." The whisper came from a small floating being no bigger than a human's fist. Its outer shell twitched and rotated as it floated in the air, a blue beam of light being emitted from its spherical center as it scanned the rusted remnants of a car. "I'll search every pebble if I have to." The scan yielded nothing, which came as no surprise to the little thing. Despite not having any organic parts, let alone lungs, it sighed and moved on to the car in front of the one it had finished with. Flying low, aware that somewhere, out of sight, it was being watched curiously.

Ghosts they were called, made by the last breath of the great Traveler. The enigmatic thing that hovered over Earth and gave power to those it considered 'worthy'. Ghosts were meant to seek out the worthy, to claim one as their own and give them the power of Light. The light was a wonderful, terrible power that brought the dead back to life, void of memory and name to serve in a war as long as time itself. Light verses Darkness. Good verses Evil. Although this was on a different level, beings of all kinds had heard of this kind of war. This cycle had gone on for centuries, and no one could predict the end-not even the Speaker, who spoke for the Traveler and preached to those of humanity who would listen.

Another scan.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Wait.
The blue symbol in the center of the Ghost blinked like an eye, shaped like its outer shell. It blinked again. The ghost gasped, floating back a little as something caught its scan, sending a jolt through its tiny body. A hand. THE hand.

The hand of his guardian.

"Is it possible?"

The ghost flew through the broken window and followed the scan: hand, wrist, an arm grasping the remains of a rifle. The ghost twitched in excitement and barked out a harsh laugh of triumph.

"HA! I knew I'd find you!"

A shrill, strained wail cut through the air and reminded the little light of the present danger. The ghost flew slightly higher, coming out of the frame of the car to scan the rest of the body. Whoever they had been, they were trying to defend themselves before they perished. They had been crouched on the right side of the car, holding a rifle, long since rusted into useless junk. They had fallen here. And here they would rise.

The ghost extended itself, its blue light stretching into the size of a basketball, its outer shell broke off into pieces, rotating and twisting on its outer wall as it focused on the forgotten remains of a warrior. It pulled the light in close to its center, closing its faux blue eye as it forced the light into the body with a push that came in a blinding light.

\\\

Nothing.

Darkness all around and at the edges of the beyond.

A muffle noise, far away and soft but slowly becoming louder, clearer as it repeated itself over and over.

"Guardian?" A voice, soft and thick as if coming from above water, "Guardian?" Clearer now, stern but a hint of fear. "Guardian? Eyes up guardian."