Prologue: [url]http://www.bungie.net/7_The-Start-to-the-Story-fanfic/en/Forum/Post?id=61703317&path=1[/url] Chapter 1 Trees, shadows, faint voices, blurry vision. I am running, but where am I? It feels like a vision, but lucid. I stop, turn around and I see it, the Traveller is burning, it needs my help. I can almost feel its pain, calling out to me. Too afraid. I turn and start to run again. I can hear a voice getting louder the further I get from the Traveller. I can almost make out the words: “Awake”. I pass by blurry ghostly figures. Have these people died? Are these humans or Awoken; I cannot tell. Then it happens, the Traveller blows, and as I hear the explosion I am pulled from my body and I get a bird’s eye view of the forest that is burning in a sea of fire. I awake from my dream. This has been the same dream for months now. It started without warning and has not stopped. I feel the sadness of watching the Blue Jewel being evaporated in the sea of fire. The same entity that has been protecting us for so long, will be our undoing. Then I remember the voice, I remember it calling out to me. It’s that what this is? A calling? If so has it called others? I get out of bed, open a window and see the forest still there; with the Traveller hovering intact, in the middle of the Last City. I like the solitude; this wooden house was my own and being built at the top of the mountain overlooking the Traveller gave me peace and security. Still, it was not meant to be this way. The humans were very reluctant to help my kind. Maybe our white looking skin frightened them, but one thing was for sure; we were not welcomed in the Last City, hence my exile. Fact is when the First Meeting took place, the Awoken wanted a place to call home. The Blue Jewel seemed much like the perfect destination; it looked just like our home planet many years ago. However the Order, as the humans called it, were reluctant to let us into the Last City, my hierarchy took this as an insult and left to find another home. Others, like myself choose to stay, but were not allowed in the Last City. I made peace with that and built a home near the the Traveller but away from humans. In time I found comfort in the surround forest. I adapted and hunted animals for food and outlaws for currency and loot. So far, it has not been a decision I have lived to regret. Maybe it was Traveller mystery, or a bond that was entangled with the memories of my own home planet that made me want to stay; and even though I was not welcomed here, the Blue Jewel felt like home. Mid-day was approaching and I would have enough time to dwell on the dream later. Right now I needed to hunt. Some time ago I made a decision to make own signature armour using the techniques my father taught me to go with my hunting skills, something of a Rite of Passage with my kind. I made a green hooded cloak attached to a silver glistening light armoured outfit. “A good hunt is only as good as your preparation and tools”, my fathers word echoing through my mind as readied myself. I reached for my golden bow and arrows, past down in my family for generations; I hoisted it, opened my front door and made my way through the thick forest. My house is at the top of a mountain, nearly on the cliff, overlooking the forest and beyond that the Last City and where the Traveller now stands. Behind the house was a small clearing and then the thickness of the last remaining forest made of tall trees, bushes and wild animals. I ran quickly and silently, trying not make myself heard or seen. My cloak does a good job of camouflaging me from animals and bandits alike. My house was a place of rest and mediation; eating and resting. The forest? Well that was my playground, my combat arena. I made way to the nearest river, the only available for animals to drink and to rest. I slowed down and bought my bow to the front. Holding the arrow and bow in one hand I noticed some heavy chopping of the branches. I kneeled into the fresh mud and I saw two sets of footprints. Bandits, outlaws; scum. I felt anger them being so close to home, there must be a camp nearby. Clumsy as they were, they did nothing to cover their trail. I followed it and it took me to a part of the forest that was clearing out and was making way for the Wastelands; a huge patch of barren land that had no forest, no cover but was crawling with outlaws. I realized that I was leaving my safe zone but I wanted to know why the bandits strayed so far and into my forest. This was unlike them. I noticed other footprints joining the four I was following, and someone almost being dragged. This was an abduction, strange as bandits are mostly thieves and murderers. The bandits camp was close but was strategically located at the top of a hill; they would be able to see me coming, and I needed to get closer. The forest was now just a few trees and rocks. Under me the soft muddy ground was replaced by an orange dead colour. I circled and surveyed the camp, using the cover of the last few remaining bushes. There were 3 tents arranged around a bigger master tent. This meant that there were at least 7 outlaws, and whoever was being dragged. Two of them were stationed outside the red master tent, whilst were two patrolling the bottom of the hill. All of them wearing a full set of heavy rusty armour and were heavily armed with assault rifles and machine guns. The rusty armour was not a problem for my bows but the machine guns would be a problem if I wanted to attack. Tricky. Whoever was in the tent was in there with the leader and 2 of his lieutenants, their condition and arsenal was unknown. I decided to wait it out. Then I heard screaming coming from inside the tent, it was a female. I waited a few seconds for the two patrolmen to intersect one another and bought my bow up with two arrows. Jumping out of the bushes I fired the arrows at them, one hit the head, whilst the other hit the patrolman on the chest. Clumsy, I thought. The guards outside the tent turned to face me and were aiming their guns at me, I did not have enough time to shoot two more arrows. They pulled the trigger sending out a haze of bullets at my direction. I steadied and darted to a nearby tree, bullets were flying around the trunk but did not penetrate it. The bullets stopped requiring reload; two arrows again, this time both hit their mark. Before the remaining outlaws came out, I climbed the hill and made my way to the side of the tent, just before the entrance, hoisted my bow and bought my knife to bear. The two lieutenants with slightly better armour came out to confront the unknown threat. With their backs turned to me, I grabbed the forehead of the first outlaw, pulled it back and slit his throat. The second turned and started to take aim. Within a heartbeat, I turned towards him, ducked and with a backhand motion, slashed the back of his knee, almost cutting through the bone. Although he did pull the trigger, he was falling backwards and his gun was pointed up. Before he hit the ground, I bought my knife up and stabbed him in the chest. All, clean kills. I made my way into the master tent. The leader was standing and between me and him was the silhouette of a female Titan in full body armour, her face concealed in her helmet. Now I know why the bandits took her; the amour alone would bring a hefty sum in these parts, let alone a fully equipped body armor. The leader however, was holding a gun, pointed at the females head. “Come a step closer and I kill her” he bellowed. My weapons would not be able to penetrate his chest or leg armour. His red cloak was part of his thick steel armor, not something you see in common bandits and outlaws. He was however, not wearing a full helmet. “Now, let us go and I will let her live.” I started focusing on my target, I could see just enough of his side temple to kill him before he pulls the trigger. I waited for a better chance. “Why attack and take a Titan so close to the Last City?” I asked. He slightly pushed the Titan to the side and made his face a bigger target. “Because this Titan is......” I did not let him finish his sentence. Focusing all my speed and reactions on just one movement, I threw my knife towards the middle of his forehead. As he dropped the female dropped with him. Before she hit the ground I caught her. She was still alive, breathing heavily but alive. I removed her helmet. Time stood still for me in those 3 seconds; it felt like a lifetime until I processed exactly what I was seeing in that moment. I had simply assumed that this Titan was a human female; she was not. For the first time in my life I was looking at an Awoken Titan.