- kingwrench
- |
- Noble Member
So, I guess this is one of my writing cycles where I update all my fics and then leave everyone drooling for more. So first up: Forerunner.
3. Odd Similarity
The Reclaimer attacked swiftly, jumping from his primitive stasis pod and landing on The Skeptic's shoulders, trying to squeeze the air from his windpipe. It was a futile attack, however, as The Skeptic's Level 12 combat skin protected from most forms of physical and energy attacks while also increasing the wearers strength ten fold. The Skeptic took advantage of this aspect of his armor and tossed the green clad Reclaiemer across the wrecked hull of the ship. With a thud, the Reclaimer smashed into the wall and dropped to the floor.
"Was that necessary?" The Scribe asked, gesturing at the spot where the Reclaimer had fallen with her thumb.
"I was under threat and reacted accordingly," The Skeptic responded, calm and collected as always.
"You didn't have to hit him that, hard, though, did you? His vital signs are way down. You're lucky that toss didn't kill him." Another voice spoke. Female. But who? Besides the incapacitated Reclaimer and the sentinels, no one else was on the ship.
Simultaneously, my comrades and I turned towards the mysterious voice. The voices origin came as a shock: standing in front of the Reclaimer was a flickering blue hologram of a woman, a few inches high. She stood defensively, hands on her hips, like she was protecting the downed warrior.
As the hologram turned to examine the Reclaimer, I realized she was a construct, and seemed to be almost as complex as our own. My heart swelled with pride. Though it had taken them many long centuries, the species we had chosen to inherit our mantle had advanced to a technological level that had taken us much longer to achieve, without even relying on the use of more advanced species' technology. Oh, how they had grown.
"Are you alright, John?" the construct leaned towards the armored figure on the ground and spoke softly, as if talking to a child.
The Reclaimer shook his head once and stood, putting one arm on the wall to keep his balance. "I'm fine," he said weakly.
The Reclaimer turned towards us, and his vision seemed to focus on The Skeptic. I could feel the anger boiling off of him. I guessed the warrior wasn't used to losing his battles.
"Should I worry about you three?' he said, eyeing each of us warily in turn.
"You have nothing to fear from us, Reclaimer." As soon as I finished saying the word "Reclaimer," the warrior's eyes focused on me.
"Reclaimer," he began, staring at me, as if his vision could pierce through my visor and could see my eyes. "What does that mean? The Monitors called me that. Why? They were built by the forerunners, just like the Halo rings. And the terminals I read on the Ark referred to "Reclaimers" too. I'm pretty certain by now it's the forerunner term for 'human'. Is that it? Are you three forerunners?"
"You are correct," I stated, deactivating my Combat Skin's shielding and bringing my hands to my head to remove my helmet. "We are forerunner. And you and your kind are our Reclaimers." As I finished my sentence, I pressed the release button on my helmet and slowly took it off my head, before carefully placing it on the floor. My comrades did the same, and I continued to speak.
"My name is The Archivist. The one you fought with is called The Skeptic, and the last of our group is identified as The Scribe. Respectfully, Reclaimer, may I ask your name?"
For a few seconds, the Reclaimer said nothing. Then, resigned, he removed his helmet and stared me in the eyes. "My name is John, Spartan 117. The A.I."- John gestured at the flickering blue hologram at his foot-"is named Cortana. And may I ask why you're staring at me like that?"
I studied John's face. Reclaimer's looked remarkably similar to us since we first encountered them. However, they had changed much. No longer were they the primitive species they once were- they had evolved, their features becoming less primitive, and more defined- to the point that there was no noticeable difference between us and them.
We had chosen the right species to inherit the mantle, indeed.
After a few more seconds, I realized studying his features had made him uncomfortable. I acted swiftly to correct my error. "No reason. Wait. You mentioned the Monitors and the Halo array. Are you familiar with the flood?"
John grimaced and looked down. "Yes," he choked out. I swear, I could see fear on a face that had shown no emotion mere moments ago. "They're one of most dangerous adversaries- and the most horrifying." John looked back up, and all traces of fear were gone from his face. "But they're all dead now. I neutralized the Gravemind by destroying the Ark. They're not coming back."
My comrades and I exchanged uneasy looks. An uneasy silence suddenly filled the confined space of the severed half of John's ship. The Skeptic was the first one to break it.
"You're the one who destroyed the Ark?" The Skeptic said this and chuckled to himself.
"I don't know how to inform you, John, but the flood aren't gone." The Scribe spoke this time, the first words she had said to the Reclaimer. "The other flood samples on the ring worlds have been awakened, by a group of religious Zealots known as 'The Covenant.'"
A look of disdain crept onto John's face. "The Covenant," he said to no one in particular. "Of course.