Her first memory was a biting cold filling her lungs. The pain made her cough and cry, and an icy current flowed through her limbs. She sat up, confused and terrified. Her hands were azure, and a veil of white hair fell before her eyes. She was dressed in a dark suit made of a flexible material, padded in several places, presumably for a better shock resistance. Everything around her was smooth, white, and blue, matching her skin. A pale glow filtered through the frozen walls, diffused and reflected by the ice convolutions formed by thousands of years of erosion.

She felt a hint of heat on her numb back and turned around to find the source. An abrupt movement cut her in her gesture and a shiny object appeared a few inches from her face. Blinded and panicked, she tried to move away, her hands and legs slipping on the frozen surface.

A crackling sound was heard, waking her ears. Something was tearing and crackling behind her, but she only had eyes for the luminous apparition that followed her closely. Her pupils narrowed, adapting to the bright glare. The thing was not made of ice, but of metal. White spikes swirled around an eye-like core from which the light emanated.

“What are you doing? You’re going to fall!”, it exclaimed. The words sounded like raindrops on her eardrums.

She turned around, and finally discerned the source of the heat: a glass and steel frame, stuck in the ice like the sting of an insect piercing the skin to the vein. It had penetrated through the roof of the cave, and a thick pillar of black smoke was escaping through the breach. The red flames were voraciously devouring the steel, melting the soft cladding, and shattering the metal panels, spewing out bouquets of sparks. The shock and heat had shaken the cave, digging multiples cracks in the frozen ground. The wreckage seemed to skid, sinking deeper and deeper, and she realized that they were at the edge of a chasm.

“You cannot just stand there!” The metal creature was fidgeting frantically beside her, twirling its spikes. “If the fire reaches the fuel reserves…”

She did not understand what the little one was talking about but understood the urgency in his voice. She stood up, staggering for a moment. A tremor made her wobble, sending waves of pain through her stiff legs. Guides by the floating light, she put one foot in front of the other, trying not to slip, to forget the abyss that awaited the slightest of her missteps. She had covered barely ten meters when something exploded at the top of the wreck.

A fireball formed in her back and the blast threw her to the ground. The cave began to shake, and the ice ledge crumbled and broke. She was struck and burned and felt the ground collapse before she could get up again.

Adrenaline flooded her limbs and she desperately searched for a hold as gravity dragged her relentlessly towards darkness. Her body tumbled into the void and shards of ice sliced through her flesh like a rain of blades, but her hand managed to grasp a crevice in the frozen wall.

An inflamed liquid had splashed onto her, and flames covered her from head to toe. The pain flooded her, her nerves frayed by the burn of flames and ice.

The wreck tumbled to the bottom of the abyss in a scream of metallic agony, further destabilizing the structure of the cave. Chunks of ice broke from the ceiling and crashed close to her. Her feet slid of the cliff, like on the tongue on a monster about to swallow her. Above her, the creature stared helplessly at her, yelling support and warnings.

She managed to climb over the cornice, jamming her elbows on the edge. Her legs were still flapping in the air, the mercilessly smooth surface still offering no grip. She wanted to scream, but her jaw was too clenched by the effort to get anything out of it but a grunt of pain. Suddenly, she felt a light pressure under her heel and stopped moving, short of breath.

“Come on, you’re almost there!” The little light was trying to help her get back up and groaned under the strain.

The difference was almost laughable, but this tiny push, the desperate attempt of an unknow being trying to save her life, brought a new sensation within her. The heat that overwhelmed her was not that of the flames, and she suddenly felt lighter, as if gravity had diminished. She pushed on her hands, pulled herself up by the strength of her arms alone and emerged from the abyss, and the scream of fear turned into a cry of victory. A primal instinct told her to roll on the ground to extinguish the flames.

She found herself lying on the ice, her arms outstretched, her chest rising to the rhythm of her throbbing breath. The small drone then positioned itself above her, and its tips spread apart, forming a bluish halo around the core. A wave of shimmering light enveloped her, and she felt her wounds shrinking. The burn disappeared, leaving only the cold. Surprised by this sensation, she stood up to look at it.

“Who are you? How did you…” She caressed her skin, perfectly intact.

“My name is Koryl.” The drone was spinning, obviously happy to be asked. “I’m your Ghost, and now we are inseparable!” he chirped.

“A ghost… Does that mean I’m dead?”

“Not exactly. You were,” Koryl corrected, turning to the trail of melted ice left by the wreckage, “but I brought you back.”

She lowered her eyes and stared at her body, still lying on the ice, as if to verify that it was not a dream. She tried to remember the reason for her presence aboard the wreck, but her most distant memory was of that icy breath a few minutes earlier. She frowned and tried to imagine the metal carcass before it fell over the cliff. She stood up and examined her suit, looking for any clues.

A metallic sheen under her shoulder caught her eye, and she tugged at the dark fabric to get a better look. The plate was half burned, but she managed to discern a word: “Zara”, she whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Zara. That’s my name.” Without being able to explain why, she was happy to find it. It was like a first beacon anchoring her in this reality.

Koryl then told her how he had found her. They were in the middle of a gigantic ice cap, located at the South Pole of the Earth, the planet on which she had crash-landed. The Ghost had come to these frozen lands in search of ancient Golden Age facilities. He told her about the humans, the Traveler who had created him, and the Collapse. He explained that she was an Awoken, a member of a community living far beyond the Earth's orbit, in the unexplored regions of the Solar System. Apparently, many of her people had left the Reef to join the last human colony, which had taken refuge under the Traveler and was surrounded by the Fallen, scavengers who entered the system after the Collapse. Koryl had reached the frozen continent by hiding in one of their ships.

Then the Ghost told her about the Light, an energy found everywhere, channeled by the Traveler, and transmitted by the Ghosts. Zara learned that she had the ability to use the Light, that it was the reason for her resurrection, and that there were others like her, protecting the Last City. She understood that she already instinctively used this power to pull herself out of the pit.

Now reunited, the duo ventured out to find a way to reach the City. Zara kept asking questions, and her insatiable thirst for knowledge even ended up exasperating Koryl, who was talkative by nature. They walked for days, hoping to stumble upon a working vehicle. But the polar cold offered them no mercy. Zara's second death was slow and unbearable, huddled in a hole dug with bare hands to shelter from the freezing wind. When her Ghost revived her, the cold was still there, creeping under her suit and into her bones.

Days passed, and she died again, beset by hunger, thirst, and cold. Then the impotence turned to anger, then to fierce determination. As she rubbed her hands to warm herself, she wondered if she could not manipulate the air as she had done in the cave. Heat was created by friction, by movement. If particles moved fast enough, they could ignite.

By concentrating, by channeling her anger against the storm, she created currents in her hands, making them clatter and swirl. The particles excited by the movement heated up, and eventually caught fire. At first surprised and frightened by the incandescent sphere floating in the palm of her hand, she lost her nerve, and the flame went out. Koryl encouraged her to try again, and Zara concentrated once more. She understood that strong emotions were the key and, in such a hostile environment, were not difficult to find.

The Solar Light erupted anew and engulfed her whole body, melting the frozen ground beneath her feet. Warm air created an updraft, and Zara flew upwards, roaring her defiance in the face of the merciless ice. For a moment, she was brighter than the Sun. Cold was her first enemy, and she had defeated it.

Zara experienced her first battle a few days later, when a fallen Skiff was drawn to her bright Light in plain daylight. She died several times, but ended up getting rid of the pirates, fighting with the sole force of her flaming hands. The duo then seized the alien device, and Zara set sail for the City.

They crossed the ocean, flew over immense continents, each glimpse of unexplored territory invigorating her thirst for knowledge. When the noble and imposing figure of the Traveler appeared on the horizon, columns of smoke surrounded him. Koryl, suddenly panicked, tried to communicate with the City, without success. They passed through the mountain peaks and discovered the last human colony, which had only the name of a City: it was a huge gathering of camps surrounded by hastily built walls. Huge, fallen armies threw themselves against the ramparts, infantry assaults mingled with attacks from huge six-legged armored vehicles, flown over by a swarm of insect-like vessels. Zara had never thought she would see so many Fallen... Then she saw the humans, and other Light Bearers. Gathered on six fronts, they were fighting to protect their home and the Traveler, silently towering over the battlefield.

Zara died many times that day, and in those that followed. She became a Guardian, a skillful Warlock with a vivid Light and a devouring passion for knowledge. However, when the City was threatened, she always answered the call. Other Guardians fought and died at her side, some for good. She learned the sinuous ways of the Void Light and ultimately joined the ranks of the Stormcallers.

Traveling through the Solar System in search of forgotten knowledge, Zara and her Ghost are reserved among their peers, the Guardian having great difficulty to fit into the City and preferring to lock herself away in the Warlock libraries. But beyond the Wall, several reports mention a fighter whose lightning would be able to muffle the storms of Titan. Today, she comes to the aid of the Young Wolf and the Vanguard on the planets invaded by Darkness, her Light stronger than ever. And whatever these Pyramids contain, she will be there to receive them.