Part 2 I feel the cold air rushing past me, quickly escaping the cryo-pod as I awaken from my slumber. My mind, muddled and confused, filled with memories half-remembered like a distant dream. I can't make myself move for a few moments, my body and mind re-adjusting to being awake once more. Slowly, I manage to lift up my arms and grasp onto the sides of the pod, hoisting myself out and onto the cold ground before me, my legs buckle and I fall to my knees, barely catching myself with my hands, I notice the thin layers of frost between my fingers on the floor. How long have I slept? I wondered, my mind still struggling to awaken fully; Who am I? What am I doing here? Why was I frozen? These thoughts rushed through my mind like a whirlwind, slowly bringing with it the answers. Right, my name's Roland, Captain of the Seven Seraphs. Rasputin had people frozen in cryogenic stasis in the event of an emergency so when the time came we would reawaken and rebuild human civilization. The answers, rushing through my mind cause a sting of pain, perhaps a sort-of overload of information all coming back at once? I don't know, but that seems reasonable enough to me, the feeling will probably pass soon. In time, I work up the strength to stand up straight. The air around me, freezing cold and the hallway lined with people still slumbering in their cry-pods. I call out into the hallway, trying to see if anyone else is awake. I wait for a long moment for an answer, but none came. Am I the only one who woke up? Why? I ask myself, stepping forward, further noticing all the frost How long was I asleep? The answers to these questions escape me at the moment and my training kicks in. I instinctively head towards the armory deeper within the facility to retrieve my equipment. As I walk, I take the odd peek into some of the pods at my slumbering compatriots. Some seem fine, others are withered husks of their former selves – dead while other pods appear damaged and the only thing remaining of their occupants are skeletons. However long I've been asleep, it's clearly be a long time. As I reach the armory, the door is jammed, but I'm able to force it open and head inside. All the lockers are closed and the equipment accounted for, what exactly happened in this bunker to make everything so broken? It doesn't take me long to find my locker and to put my stuff on. A standard issue carbine, a pistol, and ofcourse my Khanjalis. I take a quick to admire its craftsmanship, several times larger than a normal Khanjalis, Rasputin called it a glaive though to the every-man we would call it a sword. It was made by my friend, Weyland-2 of the Black Armory and as is his wont, he named it 'Durendel', Rasputin was so enamoured by his work that Weyland was brought into the Seven Seraphs and worked with Rasputin himself to create more weapons, a job Weyland loved as it continued to challenge him. Good times back then, but that was then and this is now. My mind slams back into the present as I finish equipping my gear and head out of the armory, making sure it is locked behind me before heading to the main entrance, maybe some people did awaken before me and gathered out front, I thought to myself as I went, hopeful that I'm not alone. As I approach the main gateway into the bunker, I see the drifting snow and frost and I am horrified at the sight. These bunkers are supposed to be nearly impossible to break into by pure force, so what did this? I look around and I soon find what I believe to be the culprit, a strange rock-esque shard of some type, crashed into a nearby wall and emanating a soft, yet warm, light. I examine the shard closer and see familiar patterns and textures on it and I instantly know where it came from, the Traveller. With that, a theory begins to form in my mind, something happened to the Traveller that caused it to shed parts of itself with force, and one of these shards crashed through the bunkers gate, damaging it and releasing a wave of energy that overloaded the bunkers systems causing everything to go haywire and cut it off from Rasputins control. That would explain alot, I thought to myself as I decided to claim the shard and take it with me, placing it in my travel bag before taking a quick look outside. It was cold, colder than it had any right to be, but then again it was in the middle of Canada so that's to be expected. I didn't see anyone gathering out front and so I turned back into the bunker with my first mission in mind, secure it.

Part 3 It took me two days to secure the bunker, this place is huge! Then again, it was meant to house over five-thousand people so I guess it has to be. Still, took a bit longer than I expected, atleast through the process of securing the bunker I could confirm a few things. First things first is that I am indeed the only one awake, so that's a bit of a pain. Another thing is that while main systems are offline, most of the sub-systems are still functional so I can produce food, water and raw-materials like ammunition fairly easily. I went to check on the vehicles in the hanger and was disappointed to notice that most of them are unfit to function, more than likely because they've sat for so long without any maintenance. Unfortunately, I'm no mechanic so there's not much I can do for the. What a pain, having a jumpship or something would've made exploring the area alot easier. I ponder what my next objective should be while eating some lunch. Do I try to wake people up or do I explore more? I can't seem to decide between those two options. As I sit there, eating and in deep thought, I hear the familiar bang of gunfire off in the distance, followed swiftly by the screams of panic. I swiftly stand up and arm myself, charging towards the noise. I rush as fast as I can in the direction of the noise. Faster than I ever thought I could move until I reach the precipice of where the noise originated. A group of people, huddling against the nearby cliff, trying to hide behind each other from their foes – The Hive. A few brave people have picked up some old looking rifles to try and defend themselves, but it's clear they're not fit for battle. In an instant, I know what I must do as I raise my own rifle and aim it the Hive, pulling the trigger in the same, smooth motion. It only lasted a minute, but in the end, I stood victorious. The Hive lay dead at my feet and I look back to those I would protect. None appear worse for wear from when I first met them, but now I notice something. Most of these people look normal, some are Exos but nothing too unusual, however a few of them look different, their skins violet and blue and shimmering with an ephemeral light. The others do not seem too concerned about them, so for now I will hold my tongue. One of the purple ones approaches me, a female holding a rifle. She thanked me for my timely intervention and asked my name. I gave it and asked what happened and she spun her tale. Two weeks ago, her village was attacked by the Hive, seeking test-subjects for their rituals. Many died but those that lived, escaped with her and they've been running all this time, harried by a group of Hive. During their exodus from their village, many of of those that ran with them were captured and all I see before me is what's left. I listen to her story and examine her face as she speaks, looking for any signs of deceit but find nothing. I ponder what to do for but a moment, then I speak up and offer to let them hide within the remains of the bunker. After they have a brief discussion, they decide to accept my offer and I lead them back, taking care to cover our tracks to hide. It takes us over two hours to return to the bunker, in truth I had no idea I travelled so far. Despite the distance, we make it back to the bunker with no issue and as we enter, I can hear many of them sigh with relief. I tell them to make themselves home. The violet woman I spoke to earlier approaches me and thanks me for my hospitality. Having little else to add, I accept her thanks and move on to help tend to the others, helping to guide them and make them comfortable. At the very least now, I'm not alone here anymore and I like that.

Part 4 It's been about a month since those people came into the bunker. In that time, they've gone ahead and repaired some of the place and even made some modifications to fit their needs. Beyond that, I've learned a few things myself, namely that the people with the strange skin are known as 'Awoken'. Apparently, if I understand correctly, they are people who were onboard the Exodus Green ship. As it turns out, their ship got stuck in a battle between us and the Pyramids and the resulting energies transformed them into what they are now. I'm not entirely sure about all the details, truth be told I'm positive I missed a few things during the explanation I was given. Angelica – the Awoken woman I spoke to earlier – says she came back to Earth to assist with its reconstruction, though she and others did not expect the Hive to still be active, or even the arrival of more aliens. Honestly, alot of what she said was alot to take in, but I'm positive she hasn't spoken a single lie to me and why would she? What could be possible gain by lying right now? I can't think of anything and I doubt she can either. It doesn't matter right now as we have people to care for now. Angelica and I spend most of our days helping to lead these survivors and to train them to fight as we both have actual military experience. Apparently some of these people are engineers and doctors so the engineers are working on repairing some of the vehicles in the hanger while the doctors are trying to see if they can safely wake up some of the people still in stasis. The engineers have had some success, managing to successfully repairing three Sparrows and they say they're close to repairing one of the Jumpships. The doctors on the other hand are struggling in their research and goals, apparently cryogenic sleep is alot more complicated than we all thought, who could've guessed? At the very least, they went ahead and pulled out some of those that were already dead so we can lay them to proper rest. During the next few days, with the aid of the newly refurbished sparrows, I was able to travel out and help guide other survivors to the bunker, increasing our numbers. Within a few weeks, our numbers increased from only about thirty people to nearly one hundred and six. I was worried for a bit that our numbers were increasing too quickly for the bunker to handle, but my fears were unfounded. All in all, things are going pretty well. Hell, even some of them have learned how to properly shoot a rifle now so we'll have an easier time defending ourselves now. The following weeks are quiet, more people manage to make their way to the bunker and soon the bunker is as alive as any town, perhaps too alive. Not long after that realization, proximity sensors send out a warning; the Hive have found us and are on their way. Within moments of the alarm being sounded, all the civilians who are unable to fight are sent deeper into the bunker for their protection, those that can fight are armed with the best equipment available to them and they begin to quickly set up their defences, just like they practised for days on end. Angelica takes command from within the bunker, acting as a coordinator for all our forces while I take charge on the field, forming the main bulwark with the most capable of warriors available. In time, we were all set up, thus we waited but not for long and the Hive launched their attack.

Part 5 The battle was long and hard fought, the Hive sent whatever they could against us, from the lowest of Thralls to the highest of Knights. We lost several good people during the battle, but in the end we won. Despite our victory however, something weird happened. During the battle, I was on the frontline, taking care of every Hive I could see with shocking ease, even for me, until I came face to face with the Hives commander. They were a Knight the size of which I had never seen before. No, they were no mere knight, they were a Lord. We locked eyes and our fight had begun. I was low on ammo but still had my sword, and thus we dueled. Our blade clashed and everytime they met, they sound they made rang out far and wide across the battlefield, deafeningly so until I was victorious. Or I would've been if an Acolyte had not taken the opportunity to strike me from behind, taking my arm. The Lord seized the opportunity and proceeded to take my other limbs before tossing me aside, leaving me for dead and in the end, I did die. Yet here I am alive, for as I lay there dying and my mind went blank and fell into the abyss I heard a voice I did not recognize call out from deep within call out 'No' and in that moment I saw a flash of bright light and felt agonizing pain as I could feel my arms and legs re-materializing on my person. The Lord saw me stand back up after all he had done to me and the look of fear on his strange face was plain for all to see, but my eyes burned with a fury unlike any I had felt before as my grip tightened around the hilt of my blade. In moments I was back in the fray, my blade alight in flames as our blades clashed once more, however my blade was stronger as I cut right through it and into their flesh, killing them on the spot, but my rage was not sated quite yet. I turned my attention to the Acolyte that took my arm and my eyes sparked with intensity never felt before and my blade sparked with bolts of lightning as I lept to them and before they could react I cut off their head. By this time, a large group of Hive collapsed all around me, firing at me repeatedly in an attempt to take me down. My eyes filled with an ethereal light and my blade shined with a divine light unlike any other seen on earth. With a loud roar I swung my blade and unleashed a shockwave that disintegrated all the Hive around me and in those few moments the battle was won. The people looked at me, in shock and awe as I stood there, enveloped in light and shining brighter than they had ever seen anything shine before. It took a few moments for them to claim their senses once more and they cheered my name and having little else to go on, they called me the Travellers Vengeance incarnate. I didn't know about that, but it helped with morale so I let it slide and even played into it for a bit, but despite my ascension into demigod-hood, we had bodies to reclaim and bury. I let the others to it as I returned into the bunker to reconvene with Angelica. We met in private and she spoke to me how I wielded powers she had only seen other Awoken wield before hand. She called them 'Paladins' and so that is what she began to call me – Paladin Roland, The Travellers Vengeance. I told her of the voice I heard before I resurrected and she theorized that maybe I heard the Travellers voice. Without any other evidence to go on, that is what we went with for the time being. For the next few months, everything was quiet once again. I spent my time split between leading the people of the bunker in extending the bunker outwards and upwards, turning it into a veritable fortress and training to master my new abilities. Angelica did much the same, helping lead the construction effort and even using her knowledge of the Awoken Paladins to help my training. During all that time, we began to get closer to one another, sharing our feelings and knowledge more freely and often stealing a few moments to ourselves whenever we could, just to enjoy each others company. I love her and she loved me, that much became clear to us both and to everyone else within the bunker. In time, we became known and Lord Roland and Lady Angelica, the rulers of the bunker and the lands around it. In time, the bunker grew in size. A veritable castle built ontop of it and a village around it. We would rebuild civilization from here, this we both swore – Angelica and I.

Part 6 Several years passed since the battle of the bunker. As it turns out, whatever happened to me had stopped me from aging and it seems that Awoken do not age either, or atleast age at a much slower rate compared to other humans. Within those few years, our territory expanded and so too did both the bunker and village around it grew into a castle surrounded by a small city with hundreds of people living within its walls. The city, now known as 'Last Light' serves as the sole hub of human activity on the American continent. In time, we made contact with survivors upon Europe. These survivors called themselves the 'Iron Lords' and serve as the main rulers of Europe at the moment. From what they were willing to share with us, they deploy from two main locations. The first is a city built underneath the Traveller they call the 'Last City' while the second – and their main headquarters – are located on a mountain they refer to as 'Felwinters Peak'. We talk and in time we set up trade agreements between the two cities, exchanging both resources and people, the most curious of which are the 'Lightbearers', people like me who can wield the light, yet they all possess something I do not, a small machine they call a 'Ghost' that they say was spawned by the Traveller when it died. These foreign lightbearers set up their own little enclave within Last Light with both Angelica and I's blessing. The 'Iron Watchtower' as they call it, acts as their main embassy within our city and while we have yet to create our own within the Last City, we are drawing up plans for it. With the arrival of these foreign lightbearers, so too does the appearance of native lightbearers begin to happen across the lands we control. The Iron Lords were willing to assist in the training of these new lightbearers, who we named 'Paladins' after the Awoken Paladins I was named after, thus I became known as the Archpaladin, their leader. For several centuries, things remain quiet – save for the activities of some Hive and other aliens – here and there. The alliance between the two cities remains strong, but eventually we learned of a terrible event; the death of the Iron Lords. While the details remain unknown to us, we offer the services of our Paladins to act as the Iron Lords did in the interim before a more permanent solution could be found. In time, a new order of lightbearers was created within the Last City, the 'Vanguard' they call themselves. While they are untested, their hearts are in the right place and we of Last Light would forever remain staunch allies of the Last City. Sadly however, such was not meant to be as in time the relationship between our two cities became strained due to political machinations of groups within the Last City. Our trade agreements ended and soon people stopped coming and going from our cities, each becoming isolated from one another once more. It wasn't until recently that we began to rekindle our relationship with new trade agreements, though these agreements were made with individual companies within the Last City than with the Last City itself. Companies like VEIST, Häkke, and Tex Mechanica to name a few. In the end, I suppose everything worked out and I hope that eventually not only will our cities reunite but also flourish together.

Part 7 About five years after our trade-agreements with the various companies within the Last City were solidified as a new trade agreement between our two cities, I decided to make a personal trip to it to see how things are over there and see their production facilities in person for myself. Not to mention it just serves as a chance to get a break from leading an entire city. Angelica and our daughter, Jeanne, wished me well as I left. The trip didn't take that long and I managed to get clearance to land in the city without any problems. As I exit my ship, I'm taken aback by the sheer number of people coming and going from the hanger. I haven't seen this many people together for a long time and it brings back some good memories of my time in the Seven Seraphs. I leave the hanger and after I make sure I'm registered in the cities systems as a guest, I make my way into the city proper. I walk among the crowds of the city, I can hear them talking among themselves, singing and laughing, even children playing happily among themselves. Truly, this city has done wonders for them if they can all live this care free. As I turn a corner, I bump into a tall man with a one-horned helmet. I surmise this is the one they call 'Lord Shaxx'. I attempt to introduce myself, but he cuts me off and calls me a 'new light'. Before I can question him on what he means, he says something about me being late for training in some place called the 'Crucible' and before I can try and correct him, he forcibly drags me to an arena, seemingly deaf to my protests. At some point I simply give up and decide to just go and get it over with. I am placed into a small room on one side of the arena alone. I guess from the design of the arena we're in and the fact that I'm placed into a smaller room before the main arena itself that I'm in some sort of a gladiator arena. Makes sense, I suppose, I mean if Lightbearers can't die, then there's no reason that in our training we have to hold back, right? I ponder more in my situation when my thoughts are interrupted by a voice on some loud speakers. I sigh, realizing that they've turned training into some sort of a sport for the people of the city as the voice exclaims that among those in the stand are Lord Shaxx himself, in addition to Lord Saladin, Ikora Ray, and Saint-14. I know those names, Lord Saladin is the only surviving member of the Iron Lords. Ikora is a member of the Vanguard, one of the ruling parties of the Last City, and then there's Saint-14. A veritable legend and outright hero, I did always want to meet him as from what I hear, he's quite the character. The voice over the speaker exclaims that I am to fight against a fireteam called 'Red Flare' though it seems a bit unfair, being a three-on-one fight in their favor. This is apparently not lost on the voice who questions where my fireteam is and I explain that I do not have one. There are cries of disappointment from the crowed as the voice says they'll try and find me one. This is already taking alot of time and in truth, it has been awhile since i had a good fight so I end up blurting out “I don't have a fireteam here, because I don't need one.” or something like that. The crowd goes wild at my taunt towards the other team and cheer louder than before. After a brief moment of silence from the voice on the speaker, they respond that the other team has agreed to fight me. I smile as the voice begins to countdown from ten with the crowd counting along side them. When they reach zero, the gates open and I am let loose into the arena and the battle begins.