With clean air and a clearer head, Keras started to relax again. He took a few slow, deep breaths on purpose - even if the air was still contaminated, it was better than nothing - and forced himself to think rationally. What, exactly, had he been so upset about? Somebody wanting to have a conversation? Okay, she talked a lot; so what? So did Corin, for that matter, when push came to shove. Kid was always asking questions, trying to understand and categorize the world around him. Dawn had always talked a lot too, and where Corin was always trying to learn, Dawn had just liked to hassle Keras. It hadn’t ever really bothered him.
So why was he so bent out of shape about this lady? Maybe he’d been affected by… whatever was going on here. More so than he’d thought. That was… a bad thing, even if it hadn’t really amounted to much. Keras didn’t appreciate having his head messed with. Normally he was a lot better at spotting mental manipulation and doing something about it; but in this case, he supposed, things could have been a lot worse. Still, it was something he’d need to pay better attention to. If this whole ordeal started getting worse…
Contrary to Anastasia, Keras settled himself down on the ground, back to the brick wall of… whatever building this was, exactly. no need to waste his energy bouncing around the place, and under the circumstances, he didn’t see a lot of point. If he’d had his sword, and his magic… there were relatively few threats he couldn’t defend from while sitting, as he’d shown Corin and Marissa. Sadly he didn’t, but even so, he saw no reason to keep standing.
“No, no. Rendalir was destroyed at least a few thousand years before I was born. Possibly, I think, before there were even humans on my planet; I’m not really sure. So don’t get me wrong, Rendalir’s destruction is a tragedy. But I don’t exactly take it personally.”
He spoke somewhat absently; after all, it wasn’t exactly a massive topic on his mind. Oh, Rendalir was important for many, many reasons; but not here and now. He had to wonder whether or not the same forces that had destroyed Rendalir would ever try to find their way here. Quite possible, actually, one day. But by the time that happened…. well, then,. he would know that his own home planet was gone. And right now, there wasn’t anything he could do to defend this place.
Besides, talking about there here and now was a much more interesting subject. Especially when fighting was part of the conversation.
“You’re right, staying hidden and getting a few good shots off is a pretty solid way to win a fight. Prevents the need to close the distance, if nothing else. But in my case, you’d find I’m rather hard to sneak up on, and a whole lot harder to kill. If you don’t put me in the ground with your first shot, then you’re never going to hit me with a bullet again, and then you’re going to have to fight me up close and personal.” Keras smirked widely. “And in that fight, I think it’s safe to say, I’d win without much trouble.”
Resurrection was an interesting power for the woman to claim. That certainly wasn’t anything he’d ever seen or heard of before - not if she meant it in the truest possible sense of the word, anyways. Not that he could see any way for that to be the case, but now wasn’t the time to question her on it. If she thought she could get back up no matter what kind of damage she suffered, then that simply meant he just might have a sparring partner who could take anything that he dished out.
And if the worst came to worst and they became genuine enemies… well, Keras had always hated killing people. It was something he preferred not to even think about. But if things went that far, well, he could permanently kill anything. Period.
Back onto lighter things, though…
“Magic is a little hard to describe, if you don’t have any background in that kind of thing. I’m certainly no magical theorist, but I’ll give it my best shot.” Keras crossed his legs, frowning a little at the ground. “Everyone has a little bit of every kind of mana in them. Light, shadow, wind, fire, water, ice, stone, metal, life, death, knowledge, deception… there’s probably more, but I think you get the idea. Together, in balance, they all keep the body working. They’re also each tied to a Dominion - and kind of… plane, a place that exists outside of the physical world, which consists of nothing but that specific kind of mana, and the elemental made of it. There are more dominions than just the ones in the body - we call those “deep dominions”, as I recall. Metal is an example of that. it’s connected to the Dominion of Stone, but it’s sort of… farther away, and normally, I think, doesn’t really affect the body. Not much, anyways.”
He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. Lots to say, after all. in some ways, this reminded him of trying to explain things to Corin and his friends… but at least they’d had attunements. Not the same as sorcery, no, but the theories weren’t so far apart after all.
“Sorcery is, basically, the process of reaching into one of these Dominions, and using the energy - the mana - there to have an effect on the real world. Main problem is, this takes a toll on your own body, which acts sort of like… a catalyst, I suppose. Using flame sorcery, for example, from the Dominion of Fire, will lower your own body temperature. It’s not much at first, but extended use can kill you. Of course, the more you use it over time, the more powerful you become, and the less toll it takes on you. Which is why a truly dedicated fire sorcerer can do a lot more with fire than I can, without suffering as much of the consequences.”
As they got farther away, things became easier on Ana, and by extent, Jinju. The Ghost was now able to compensate better for what had to be some sort of weird airborne toxin. And with that, Ana’s head was beginning to clear. Her heart wasn’t idly racing at the thought of Traveler preserve, is Rasputin okay, what is he doing, please tell me he hasn’t launched Warsats in a panic, or any other multitude of freaking out over Rasputin-related thoughts. She wished the A.I. wasn’t so damn temperamental... but all of that was besides the point. There wasn’t anything she could do about it now anyways.
She could only hope the shit would go away soon. It was really annoying, to have your mind be fucked with. She’d endured enough of that already, just from being a veteran Guardian, as well as having to defend Rasputin from those who thought he was too dangerous, or some other shit like that. (Mainly, Zavala. She mostly had to defend him from Zavala, when it came up.) She did not need to have her mind fucked with by some sort of airborne toxin! Besides, who the hell would want to release something like this into the air anyways?! What was the point?!
Jinju reminded Ana to calm down via their neural link, and the Hunter did so... after a few minutes. She was soon enough settled into a place she found comfortable, as a Hunter. This guy seemed cool enough, and it wasn’t as if she hadn’t taken on swarms of Fallen and Hive practically on her lonesome... what was one equally-powered-down guy if he turned out to be a problem in light of all of that? Nothing, as far as she was concerned.
“Oh... well, still, it’s kinda messed up, to just go and destroy a planet... I assume people lived there, and I’m sure they all died when the planet was destroyed. Genocide is never okay. I guess that if you weren’t there to experience it yourself, it wouldn’t leave as much of an impact...” She mused.
To be fair, had she not been alongside a select few Guardians, including Shaxx, at the Battle of Twilight Gap, Earth might have met a similar fate. And had the Young Wolf not intervened on behalf of Rasputin and killed Xol, Mars might have been, at the very least, transformed into a Hive world entirely, if not obliterated. And even before that, after Twilight Gap, but before Xol’s rise, humanity was threatened twice with planetary destruction. Damn, were they lucky...
But the past was the past. And Ana was not one to dwell on it too much. Yes, she’d pursued her own lost past, against Zavala’s unspoken order, but once she had it, that was that. She had the answers, and then moved on.
“Well, I’ve taken down swarms upon swarms of Fallen with nothing more than five other Guardians and myself. And you can ask quite a few of my fellow Guardians-my aim’s pretty good! Probably would only need one shot! Still, as long as you’re not my enemy, I probably wouldn’t try anyways. No point in actively trying to kill your allies and friends, right? There’s the Crucible, but that’s basically a sparring sport for Guardians. Not really trying to kill each other, just practicing. And Shaxx does his best to make sure that the teams are on equal levels. It’s fun to both participate in and watch!” She told him, also smirking. She liked this guy-certainly was confident, if nothing else!
She wondered if he thought the idea of resurrection was absolute crazy talk. It probably sounded like it, but she wasn’t bluffing. It was a basic ability of any Guardian, so long as they had their Light and Ghost. Experience levels didn’t matter. Still, so long as he didn’t cross her, she wouldn’t cross him. Her wrath was reserved for the enemies of humanity, not some random guy she just met.
“Hey, I’m a Hunter, not a Warlock. I’m not a master of weird theories or shit like that. Give it your best shot.” She assured, before sitting back and listening. She nodded every so often as he explained it.
“Wow, that’s a lot... and honestly sounds like it can be pretty damn hard to master. I’m glad that being a Guardian is waaaay simpler than that!” She admitted. “Since you went to the trouble of trying to explain how your powers work, I’ll do the same... but I’m not a Warlock, so I honestly don’t know the exact details of how everything works.”
She cleared her throat, and shifted a bit.
“So, a very long time ago, this giant white sphere thing called the Traveler showed up in the Solar System-our home galaxy. It transformed previously-uninhabitable planets into absolute paradises, and led all of humanity into a proper Golden Age! But... as you can probably guess... it didn’t last forever.”
“I don’t remember all the details, since Guardians lose their memories when they’re first reborn, but... well, it wasn’t called the Collapse for nothing. Everything went to shit, and, desperate to protect us from the Darkness, the Traveler gave up a lot. After it gave up so much, it knew it couldn’t protect us on its own anymore. So, it started creating Ghosts, and sent them out with one purpose-to find people worthy of becoming Guardians. I don’t really know what the qualifications are, to be honest, but I fit anyways!” She began.
“Now, there are three types of Light. Arc, which is basically lightning, Void... well, it doesn’t really have an element... but it’s purple and can do some weird shit, and Solar, which is basically fire, and what I use, personally! I’d love to show you... but all I’ve got right now is this stick-” She twirled said stick around again for emphasis, “-and the more... uninteresting abilities. Basic shit, y’know? Things that most people with powers of any kind are capable of... and the resurrection bit. And my strength. I can still lift cars!” She bragged.
“Anyways, when it comes to us Guardians, there are generally three different main types, and how they use their Light... well, it depends on the Guardian in question. I’ve mentioned Warlocks, which are probably the closest you’d get to the sorcerers you’re talking about. They can do all sorts of weird shit... rumor has it that one of the ones I know can use her power to turn people into frogs! Oh, and they also kinda tend to be the book-smart ones. You want a detailed explanation of anything I’ve mentioned, go ask a Warlock who’s been around for a few years.”
“Then, you have the Titans, who are usually the brute-force front line guys that can take as much as they can dish out. They can usually make shield bubbles.. and also normal shields too. They also tend to be stubborn as hell! And last, but not least, you have Hunters, like me.”
Ana brought her stick down over her lap.
“We’re kinda... the in-between. We’re not necessarily as tanky as Titans, or crazy Light masters like Warlocks, but we’re no less capable! We tend to be lighter on our feet, and really fast. And I can personally testify to the curiosity and exploratory nature of our kind. We love to go chase after all sorts of things, to hell with rules... I went chasing after my past, for example, even though there was an unspoken rule against it.”
Finally, the massive explanation seemed to be finished.
“So... any questions so far?” She finally asked.
