The Love of a Shadow:
I stand on the edge of life, yet wish myself on the other side.
His wife…MY wife…is dead. The pulse echoes throughout the galaxy, wiping out all sentient life. This was the plan.
The Halos have fired at my hand.
Is this regret? Or simply childish thoughts from when I was lesser, younger…myself. The imprint has consumed me. Not that I regret that.
The Great Journey has commenced. All life in the universe obeys that one constant calling; the summons of death itself cannot be ignored, even for the Forerunners. Our time is over now. Despite it all, the Flood has won our war. Our culture will fade into the shadows of history, lost to the inevitable tides of time. Maybe one day, humanity will reclaim all that we have left behind as my wife wishes.
These memories are old. Older than even I at the end. The Flood, Mendicant Bias, the Ur-Didact, Chakas…all gone. All forgotten.
Not forgotton.
The Flood survived. Damn it all, they survived. The Gravemind taunted him, tortured the ancilla and very nearly took control of the lesser Ark. This once happened with a Halo. It is fortunate indeed that the human prevented these dreams from coming into fruition. Dormant once more but the galaxy is shifting in its slumber.
The Domain is open.
The ancilla accessed what was closed to us for thousands of years. Even the Ur-Didact failed to contact the Domain, stewing in his insanity for too long. There must be a reasoning behind this. What was my wife keeping from me?
A geas, perhaps? Hidden inside the humans, passed down until the first evolved ancilla, taken directly from the brain of the human which possessed the geas? A remarkable feat indeed. If anyone was to manage, it would be the Librarian. Not the wisest Forerunner ever, yet certainly one of the kindest. My heart soars as I think of her embrace and her words. Life is sweet when you hold the love of another.
Love comes in many forms. It does not have to be physical. The bond he shared with the ancilla proved beyond a doubt that even the machines, even the humans, have the ability to love as we did. Their worth is evident on the face of it all. I can understand them now. Chakas and Riser had always been my friends but were complicated creatures. Now, humanity is an open book and I am their librarian.
Librarian.
How strange it is, that after all this time, I revoke the Ur-Didact's imprint at last. His emotions, his opinions and his demeanour are not mine. I took his shape, his name and his responsibilities but I am not him. Not fully. My wife would not mind. She saw the imperfections in her husband, in both of us, yet loved us completely. Love is unbound by form or species or even corporeality.
Everything that the humans do is for love. They destroy their enemies, for the love of those they protect. They ran from the Flood, for love of those they protect. They now forge a new path into the stars, propelled by our technology, for love of those they protect. It is because of this that I do not fight my role in their future. What humanity is destined for, they have earned. Fighting in the dark for so long would make even us despondent. The irony in this statement. In the end, it did.
The Halos fired and everything died. If humanity were not safeguarded, would I have done the same? Of course. Regret is a natural part of life. The hand which killed billions upon billions. Death held no such sweet release for me. That regret fuels me now, drives me forward. I feel the same from the human. One of the most damaged creatures in the universe, yet everything he does, he does for love. He just isn't aware of it.
He chases the ancilla now. These events cannot be prevented. He caused them, yet they were always meant to be. Unaware of my voice in his mind for decades, guiding him through the dark. The ancilla called me luck. It is not by luck that I inhabit this human. Our plan is not yet completed.
The Librarian left little to chance. Her own geas, stored safely away until the time we could be together again. But the thought perplexes me. If the ancilla truly holds an imprint of my wife, then how has the Domain opened to her? Precursor architecture was the key. Only the Precursors can possibly reopen the Domain. Have they returned at last, to seek vengeance on us for our great mistake? They will find a galaxy devoid of Forerunner life. Yet humanity remains and they must be protected from what is coming. What we do, we do for love.
The Guardians awaken, the Domain is open and the great danger is approaching.
Should I risk it all to secure their place in the galaxy? My predecessor would have done so. Recklessness beyond hope. I shall not. My time as warrior-servant is passed. I now accept my fate. My geas is strong inside this human, this…Master Chief.
We will forge a new future for humanity, preventing their destruction for as long as necessary. Together, Forerunner and Human.
That one thought worries my mind like a wounded animal. Have we truly done the right thing? We destroyed our creators, THEIR creators. The Precursors do not forgive lightly. It is humanity's turn to be tested by them but they must be protected from the Precursor's wrath. We shall be their guardians.
My thoughts are entirely my own. For now. Maybe I should not dwell on these matters as much as I do. Bornstellar would not have done so. Then again…
What do I know? I am now just a shadow of a sundered star.