- Wolverfrog
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- Fabled Legendary Member
"Forgive us, holy Forerunner. We did not know," Malkor wailed, sounding distraught.
It's going to take a long time to break these people of this habit, the Didact thought despondently. He looked down at their worship with distaste for a few seconds, before finally not being able to handle it any more.
"Oh, get up," he told them with disgust. "I'm not a God."
"Whatever you say, Lord," Relg replied, rising to his feet with the other two. The Didact shook his head in despair, before turning to face the newly arrived Spartan IIIs. The particles of dust around them were beginning to clear slightly.
"Where are the Flood?" the Forerunner asked in confusion, noticing a lack of battle. Lucy pointed mutely over his shoulder. He turned, to see faint, dark shapes fleeing in the distance. Tom laughed.
"We fought them off," he crowed with success, his words echoing the many soldiers on the battlefield who were cheering and shouting curses at the fleeing Flood soldiers. The Didact shook his head.
"They'll be back," he muttered quietly, almost to himself. "They always come back." He then raised his voice slightly. "Where are the leaders of this army?"
A marine medic treated the wounded heard his words, and looked up.
"They're in the monastery sir, or whatever the building is called," the medic told him. Relg sniffed haughtily.
"Grand Sanctum, human," he corrected in annoyance. The marine just shrugged.
"How should I know what you call your places of worship? Now if you don't mind, I'm busy treating the wounded," he answered in annoyance. The Jiralhanae suddenly stepped forward, his hulking form casting a shadow over the medic.
"If you don't mind, I shall help you. I am well trained as a field medic," the Jiralhanae told the medic, who nodded thankfully. "Thank you for saving my life, Relg and Malkor. I'm sure I shall see you soon."
The two Sangheili nodded modestly.
"And thank you for saving my own, Galenus," Relg answered graciously. "Now, revered one. Do you want me to escort you to the Grand Sanctum?"
The Didact realised the Sangheili was speaking to him, and he nodded.
"I would appreciate that greatly, Relg."
The devastation to the city was immense, and not just because of the Citadel collapsing. Buildings had been ravaged by tanks and ballistic weaponry, the ground was stained with multiple colours of blood. Craters ravaged the city, tearing massive holes in pavements and roads. And the stench of death was especially pungent. Medics were running back and forth, whilst soldiers were tasked with the job of putting down any Flood forms still alive and writhing.
The Citadel was in pieces. A huge wreckage piled up dozens of feet tall, burning intensely. The metre in the Didact's combat skin was warning him of heightened radiation in the vicinity around it.
"Tom, would you please check that the Captain is okay? I'm fairly confident that 343 kept him safe, but it would be nice to know for sure," the Didact asked the Spartan III as they walked through the ruined city, who nodded immediately.
"Sure thing. Lucy, come with me in case something happens," he replied, before darting off quicker than the eye could follow along with the other Spartan III.
"I wonder what happened to the Citadel. Perhaps the Gravemind leaving on his ship collapsed it," the Didact wondered aloud. To his right, Malkor turned to him with surprise.
"Actually, two of the human demons activated some kind of nuclear device," the Sangheili told him. The Forerunner focused on him with surprise.
"How do you know that?"
"We were there," Malkor replied casually, indicating Relg.
"You were?"
"Yes. We only just managed to escape the Citadel before it was felled," Relg answered, seeming eager to please his 'deity.'
"Who made it onto the Gravemind's ship?" the Didact demanded, heart in his throat.
"Few, I am afraid. The Demon, the Arbiter, Mendicant Bias and the human, Sergeant Johnson," Malkor replied. The Didact felt his shoulders sag a little. Only three plus Mendicant? They stood no chance against the Gravemind.
"Which Demon?" he asked next, knowing that many Sangheili and Covenant referred to all Spartans as 'Demons.'
"The Demon. The one who destroyed Halo," Relg told him.
"The Master Chief?"
"I believe so. The rest, unfortunately, perished."
The Didact bowed his head, muttering a small prayer for the dead. He was no longer a religious man; not after what he'd seen the Flood do to his people, but old habits died hard.
"Then we must hope that the three can vanquish the Gravemind," he replied, as they turned another street corner, walking past a large fire. Soldiers were tossing dead Flood bodies into it, attempting to clear the area a little. Many of them seem worried, fearing the Flood would soon come back. The Didact shared their fears.
"I would trust the Arbiter with my life," Relg said proudly, thumping his chest. "The same blood flows through our veins, regardless of how many generations and schisms have diluted it. The Demon is a fearsome warrior who terrifies even I, and no doubt the Gravemind is afraid of him too. As for Johnson, well, he's one of the most vicious non-demonic humans I have ever met. I am sure that together, they shall triumph."
Look at them. Full of optimism, and hope. They don't properly understand what will happen if we feel today. We will be forced to once again activate Halo, and this time, nobody will be safe on the Ark. It will take billions of years for sentient life to return to the galaxy.
"Holy one?" Malkor suddenly asked, sounding tentative. Despite the abhorred honorific phrase the Sangheili termed him with, the Didact faced him with a soft smile.
"Yes, child?" he asked wearily.
"Are you truly the last of the Forerunners?"
The Didact sighed, shaking his head sadly. He'd tried not to think of it, but often the thought of being the last of his people arose, depressing him immensely. He was a fossil; someone who deserved to be in a museum. The survivor of an extinct race.
"I truly do not know. It's possible that some of my people survived, somewhere. If they did, I don't know about them. As far as I know, I am the last."
Relg's eyes widened, frown burrowing deep into his head.
"But, you're immortal. How can your people die?"
The Didact laughed sharply, quickly stripping off the armour on his left arm. A large welt oozing crimson blood streaked down it.
"I am not a God, as I have said. You may find it hard to believe, but it is true. I bleed, I feel, I age, I possess no divine powers. And one day, I too shall die."
"So. . . the Covenant lied about the Forerunners, too? You're not... you didn't--" Malkor whispered, tears in his eyes. Immediately the Didact felt bad about what he had just said. This was their centripetal force in life, and he had dismissed it with a scoff.
"Religion manifests in strange ways, sometimes, my child. Is there some greater being out in the universe? Perhaps. We once worshipped beings like you did, only to find that they were mere mortals like us," the Didact answered, stealing a melancholy glance at a human major barking orders to his troops. "But life does not have to be powerful or divine to be mystical and wondrous. In my eyes, all of you fighting today are as strong as gods."
He turned to the two Sangheili, who had fallen oddly silent.
"I understand you, Didact," Relg told him with a sad tone. "It pains me to admit it, but ever since we discovered the true purpose of Halo, I've had my doubts about your peoples' divinity. You merely solidified those doubts. There will be people who think of you as a God despite what you tell them, however."
"If I die in this battle, I doubt that will happen," the Didact joked morbidly. Suddenly, a looming shadow cast over him, and he looked up to see a majestically grand building standing tall and imposing. Sloping, smooth metals made up the walls of the gargantuan monument, with very little damage incurred to it. The only thing torn from their resting place were the glass windows.
"The Grand Sanctum," Malkor introduced with awe in his voice.
"Who's it built to worship--" the Didact began, before being cut off by Relg and Malkor's heads snapping to face him. "Ah."
"It's one of the oldest buildings in all of beloved Sangheilios. It's heartening to know it still stands, despite the tarnishing of the parasite scum. Come, if that human was right, then the people you seek are inside," Relg elaborated, before marching up to the large front door, secured by a heavy wooden barrier inset into the metal. The door was also protected by an energy barrier in front of it. As they drew closer, they were stopped by two Honour Guards.
"I'm sorry, you are not allowed in here," the one on the right told them. Relg stepped forward self importantly, drawn up and haughty.
"Good day, Veran," he greeted cheerfully. "I see they finally made you an Honour Guard, congratulations. Did my instruction help?"
"Relg!" the Honour Guard on the left replied with enthusiasm and shock. "I thought you were dead!"