AN: I'm applying a LIBERAL amount of timeskips for this chapter. It's for obvious reasons, given the time passage and the unrealistic brain drain needed to write the passage of time per year or something like that. And yes, I'm being lazy, but eh, it'll be a good training for me on timeskips so next time I can utilize timeskips better.
Do give suggestions via the review system, or even PMs if you got better ideas on where to do the timeskips better or something like that. I do appreciate it.
Thanks to an idea from one of you viewers, here's the discord server link (obviously no direct link per se) for the comment section and/or discussions kek: w8eQpgNVTQ (use discord dot gg)
Chapter 4: Seek The Truth and You Shall Find
Approx. 107,575 BCE
The Eternal (Charum Hakkor), Nov Thasta System
50 Years before the Battle of Charum Hakkor…
I opened my eyes and found myself in a totally foreign environment. I looked down towards my body, and let's just say that I had to BREATHE for five minutes.
I mean, I knew that Ancient Humans in Halo were giants, but fuck me, it's something else to be one! My skin's rather… Hmm… How do I avoid sounding racist? Ah, my skin's quite light in color. And of course, my hands are HUGE. Like, if I had to compare it to my real body, it'll be like twice the size of my OG hands. The average adult human hand size is around 19-ish cm in length and 8-ish cm in breadth, while my OG hands were around the same in length but larger in breadth, around 3-ish cm larger. And having twice the size of it is really something else.
I looked around, and seems like I'm in a bedroom, of some sorts. At least, if the bed I was on was anything to go by, then it's very much a bedroom. Glad that some things remain somewhat recognizable to me, at least in terms of the principle of it anyways.
"Status."
"Vital signs at 100%, Admiral." A foreign voice notified me in my head.
Wait, who? I was wondering who that was as the familiar orange-cream-ish transparent window appeared in front of me.
[ Status Window ]
[Name: Viddar ]
[Title: Lord of Admirals' Confidant ]
[Class: Admiral ]
[Race: Ancestor Human ]
[Level: 150 ]
[EXP: LOCKED]
[HP: 2500 ] (HP = VIT x 10, Regen: 500/min)
[MP: 2500 ] (MP = INT x 10, Regen: 500/min)
[ Character Stats ]
[Strength (STR): 250 ]
[Dexterity (DEX): 250 ]
[Perception (PER): 250 ]
[Vitality (VIT): 250 ]
[Intelligence (INT): 250 ]
[Wisdom (WIS): 250 ]
[Charisma (CHA): 250 ]
[Luck (LUK): 250 ]
[Stats Point(s): 750 ]
[ Skills (Passive) ] [+](Drop down to view)
[ Skills (Active) ] [+](Drop down to view)
[ Perks ] [+](Drop down to view)
[Perk Point(s): LOCKED ]
[ Traits ] [+](Drop down to view)
[Money: LOCKED]
Uh… System, why's the cash not being displayed?
Due to the ongoing war with the Forerunners, and generally the lack of information on ancient humanity, Cash has become rather irrelevant during this period, and thus it's being locked in the duration of this quest.
Okay…
But what's with the lack of stat distribution as well? I mean, this Viddar guy is like LEAGUES beyond me! Like WTF?!
On base stats alone, he's already way ahead of you, or rather, the entirety of Homo Sapiens, the so-called modern man. Because of ancient humanity's superiority when compared to modern man in virtually every aspect, they're guaranteed to surpass the latter by at least a factor of ten. And that's based on some preliminary assessments, which may prove to be even more preposterous than what you're seeing right now.
Fuck me…
Let's just get the stats distributed then…
Considering his title, then he's no mere soldier. His base alone is already preposterous, who knows of his real value? And not to mention, his traits? Then again, without his soul per se, I don't know about his true stats though. But…
System, can you apply the effect of a trait of mine to this guy's stats? You know, the [Yorozuya] one?
Due to Scenario's restrictions, you can't. But you may still distribute the free stats points.
Yep. I guess it's a given, since I suppose I'm only "guiding" the guy per se.
For now, let's start distributing…
Okay, I'm done. Boy that one took a bit longer.
For you, my dear readers, my current status is something like the following.
[ Status Window ]
[Name: Viddar ]
[Title: Lord of Admirals' Confidant ]
[Class: Admiral ]
[Race: Ancestor Human ]
[Level: 150 ]
[EXP: LOCKED]
[HP: 3300 ] (HP = VIT x 10, Regen: 660/min)
[MP: 5000 ] (MP = INT x 10, Regen: 1000/min)
[ Character Stats ]
[[Strength (STR): 375 ]
[Dexterity (DEX):375 ]
[Perception (PER): 250 ]
[Vitality (VIT): 330 ]
[Intelligence (INT): 500 ]
[Wisdom (WIS): 500 ]
[Charisma (CHA): 330 ]
[Luck (LUK): 270 ]
[Stats Point(s): 0 ]
Good… Good indeed…
"Alert! Detecting unusual activity within the body!" The foreign voice reminded me again.
Oh, do calm down, will you? It's nothing much. Though, I do have to admit, it feels more… What's the term, energizing? Yeah, I guess that's the closest term. Best I can describe it is like your body just got a sudden jolt, one that's enough to make you feel close to being shocked by a high voltage wiring, while not crippling you.
And only mere moments after that, your body calms down as you feel every fiber of your being strengthened. Heck, that even extends to the mind, as it felt like it got expanded (imagine the mind blown gif).
"Should I send the report on changes in Admiral Viddar's physiology to the Lord of Admirals?" The foreign voice asked me.
"No." I declined.
"Acknowledged. Saving report to local storage." The voice notified me before going silent.
With that done…
Let me see the trait here, I bet there's something going on with the fact that it was 250 for each. EACH, which even included LUK!
Okay, let's take a look see-
[Ancestor Genesong (Rarity: Avatar Race Exclusive Trait)]
Millions of years have passed since Humanity first rose from the homeworld of Erda, and countless evolutions followed. Even during the dark ages, man continued to strive and lo and behold, he has ascended to the stars. Hence, the Genesong of Mankind has since evolved to heights beyond imagining of even modern man. Given time, even the vaunted Forerunners would have been surpassed, for your people are worthy to become the holder of the Mantle of Responsibility.
Grants +10 to every stat per level up.
Grants Affinity to Precursor-related Objects.
Grants Longer Lifespan (At least tens of times that of a normal human)
Fuck. Me.
I sat down on my bed, contemplating. That fucking trait… No wonder he's lightyears ahead. That number of points would take more level-ups than I can stomach in one go. I mean, seriously: 100 points of base stat, coupled with the +10 per level for every stat.
EVERY. STAT.
That's at least 10 times more than my [Jack of All Trades, Yorozuya!] trait! And that one doesn't apply to my LUK! GAAAHHHHH! GIMME THAT BONUS TO MY OG-AVATAR TOO DAMMIT!
$# ^$# ^#!^#!#!-
Ahem.
Moving on… The affinity to Precursor artifacts, though… I dunno about that one, Chief. There ain't many by the 26th Century, courtesy of the Forerunners firing the Halo Array. Once again, those fucking noseless freaks just had to ruin everything.
Sigh…
Longer lifespan is a given, I guess. If I remember correctly, in the wiki, it was said that Spark mentioned Chief's "truncated" lifespan being a problem or something, compared to his "ancestors", which was probably the sparkplug referring to the ancient humans.
Speaking of the noseless freaks, I gotta check the quest again.
[Quest: Seek the Truth]
[In the distant past, Mankind once stood almost equally to the Forerunners. However, the emergence of the Flood would eventually cause Mankind to come into conflict with the Forerunners, in their bid to make up the ones they've lost to the parasite, and to sterilize infested Forerunner worlds. However, the Forerunners didn't acknowledge the threat that the Flood posed and construed it instead as Mankind's aggression against them and other species. After a long, and torturous fight against the Flood, Mankind eventually emerged victorious. However, they were too weak to fight effectively against the Forerunners by then, and thus, by the final years of the conflict, only their capital, Charum Hakkor, remained.]
[In the duration of this quest, you will be transported into the Halo Verse, taking control of one of Forthencho's, Lord of Admirals', colleagues.]
[Objective: Ensure the survival of Mankind and their legacy, by any means necessary.]
[Reward(s): Access to Forerunner and Ancient Humanity (tech) tree, Optional Special Modifier for Halo verse, 500K EXP, 30x Gacha Token(s), (Hidden)]
[Note: For the duration of this quest, aside from Observe, Gamer's Mind and Body, all other skills, perks and traits previously owned will not be useable in the Player's current Avatar. The Gamer Store is also locked as well.]
Huh. So, there ARE differences. At least it's clarified now that aside from the stats, I can't change anything else. And the Gamer Store being locked, I guess it makes some sense. Probably to prevent me from cheating, if I had to say.
With that now done, let's get to the meat of it all. How the fuck am I gonna "save" humanity? Or at least, the ancient humanity for this case. Time to get some facts down first then, based on what I remember…
First of all, the only thing we're good at is our weaponry and ridiculous tactics. The Forerunners had been forced to adapt to our weaponry because of just the sheer effectiveness of it going through their armors. Just for scale, MJOLNIR Mk. V and VI were considered as still within the same class by Guilty Spark, despite the latter being more advanced than the former. To the sparkplug, the two were still considered as a "Class-II Combat Skin".
Not to say we're shit at everything else, but at best, we're only on par in terms of everything else other than those two and Slipspace. I mentioned Slipspace for a completely different reason. Rather than being good, we're completely outmatched by them. Heck, come the final years of the war, they blitzed through our territory to get to Charum Hakkor!
Also, they got it good with Megastructure Engineering. As far as I know it, ancient humanity had yet to have or make any single Megastructure of their own, mostly because of their lack of understanding in Astroengineering. If you somehow still don't know what the fuck is a Megastructure, think the Halo Arrays, the Arks and the Shield Worlds. That should give you an idea of what I'm talking about here.
And second, even if we could match the pricks in terms of tech, there's a problem that is just not solvable: Numbers.
Sheer. Fucking. Numbers!
The Forerunners own about three million worlds, and probably trillions in population at the VERY LEAST. This is NOT including the races under their "stewardship". Meanwhile, the ancient human empire spanned around twenty thousand worlds at their peak, and considering the time I'm in right now, it's probably only a small fraction of that, what with the war with the Flood, and the Forerunners encroaching from the other side of the battlefield.
There's simply no fucking way Humanity winning this war. Not unless there were some changes in the past, with Humanity ruling at least a third of the number of worlds that the Forerunners have being the pre-requisite. And that's me being generous, what with them having at least a modicum of advantage against the Ecumene. But with the fact that I have right now? Nope, nuh uh. No way. Not in a million years (maybe we'll have a chance if it's in a literal sense, but as it stands, no).
Humanity's gonna lose, and the Forerunner WILL devolve them back to the Stone Age. Worse still is them essentially wiping Humanity's history on everything up to before their devolution. The only few remaining things that were eventually found circa 26th Century was a lone ship and some records, worse that ONI kept them all under lock and key, with barely any result coming from it! And the sole result was a variant of the MJOLNIR GEN2 HELLCAT Variant armor! Not the Particle or Plasma Weaponry! Not the Energy Shielding, that came from the Covenant!
Sheesh, the more that I think about it, Halo's Humanity just keeps getting the short end of the stick. And I'm still pissed over the fact that somehow, 500 years since the 21st Century and they're still using fucking 20th Century rounds! Even if you try to boondoggle with the "more advanced propellant and vacuum-usable" bullshit, it's STILL STAGNATION! Fucking hell!
Yep, if I decide to go for the Halo verse next, no way I'm gonna let things stay as it is. First thing's gonna be introducing the IMR and an FSD-inspired Slipspace Drive. No way I'm gonna let the old Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive continue its dominance, and the abomination that is the MA series as the mainstay rifle! Nuh uh! You got five fucking centuries, even with the peace time that's worth two centuries before the 2500s, you had to already have WAY better tech than what I've seen from Halo so far!
(Please wait for a moment while I rant of how idiotic 26th Century humans are for the next few paragraphs that I'll save you from having to read again by omittance.)
I breathed. That was intense.
I already know what I'm planning to do with the modern man in Halo. But I gotta focus on preserving the older man first here.
"Servitor." I called, seemingly to no one in the room. But…
"Yes, Admiral?" The foreign voice answered my call.
I remember that like the Forerunners, ancient humanity also utilized AI to an even further degree than modern man. However, they're called as Servitors, while Forerunners would call theirs as Constructs. I'm not gonna comment on their naming sense. Blame Bungie and 343 for that kek.
"Report on current status of our empire's conflict with the Ecumene." I ordered easily enough.
Mind you, what I'm saying right now sounds and is worded differently to the outside.
"Understood Admiral." It confirmed. "Beginning report compilation…Complete."
It then brought up a hologram as it narrated the reports from the start of the whole mess. This will take a while. As I began to prepare myself for the shitshow, I was NOT remotely prepared for how bad it was.
"…in short, it's estimated that the Ecumene will defeat our empire within the foreseeable future." It concluded.
Yep. It's bad. All levels of bad.
Earth's lost, that I already know. But seriously, sometimes I still can't help but wanting to smack Forthencho for not even at least alerting the Forerunners. We don't need their help, but we can at least prevent the unnecessary fighting against them. Now, we're nearing our breaking point after fighting against the Flood for a frankly long-ass time and having to deal with the Forerunners who's thinking we're barbarians for taking their territory for the sake of it.
The numbers are irrelevant at this point, but we're essentially down to 35% of our initial numbers, in territory and numbers. At least ones that are capable of sustaining the fight. And given the setting that I chose, the Ur-Didact will be frog-leaping through our defenses and heading straight for Charum Hakkor, beginning the Siege that'll last for fifty-three years before our defenses will get broken through thanks to the San'Shyuum's betrayal. Though on that part, I'd like to think that maybe not all of them agreed to whole thing.
But given the records stating that a lot of the higher ups would rather commit suicide than get captured? Yeah… I'd have to say that a LOT of the still-loyal San'Shyuums are probably dead because they also killed themselves or something. Won't be able to do much about them, and given their later fate, well… I'm not too keen on keeping them around.
I'm sorry, innocent ones, but I do hope you all will forgive me for leaving you all for dead. But feel free to curse your descendants for screwing humanity's devolved descendants~
I'm not being sarcastic here; I am really sorry about having to sacrifice them. But eh, the later Prophets are shitheads, so yeah. They kinda burnt out the sympathy I have for their race, with only me having at most pragmatism for their survival as a species.
Anyways…
Time to plan everything, then.
"Servitor."
"Yes, Admiral?"
"Bring up the galactic map. Prep for strategy simulation."
"Understood. Projecting map…"
I cracked my knuckles and stretched my limbs. This is going to take a while.
"Map projection on display. Please input simulation parameters."
I breathed. Time to get to work.
"Layer territory map based on recent updates. Then, add the following variables…"
…..
"…percentage of achieving objective: 20%, less than favorable."
"Tch." I clicked my tongue.
We've been simulating a lot of the exodus that I've designated as Operation: NEW GENESIS. No, I'm not repentant about using that name. Sue me, SEGA. Or don't. I'm just using the name, okay? It's still tentative anyways, no guarantee I'm gonna keep it like that. Spoilers: Sike! I'm gonna keep using it!
It's hard, given the Forerunners mastery in Slipspace, to essentially keep our movements hidden. This limited my options by a lot. Now, it boils down to leaving just within a year before the estimated arrival of the Forerunners or at the very least, before the Forerunners arrival into the system.
The set parameters, of course, included possible Forerunner Megastructures that are essentially the Halo Array, but I only told it as "Forerunner Superweapon Array". It's on the nose, but I didn't give my Servitor its exact shape or name, just its basic nature of it being a superweapon of some sort that's considered as "Absolute Lethality" in that avoiding it conventionally is nigh impossible. While it's the truth in a way, it's also a lie in another, in that it's yet to be constructed, so it's a half-truth that'll eventually be the truth, but in another several thousand years or so.
Why am I including the Array when it's not even a factor yet? It's because I need to measure the distance that the fleet will have to travel in Dark Space to avoid the Array when it's fired, even if it'll happen WAY after this operation commenced. I'm NOT taking any chances of getting screwed over by those damned genocidal rings.
I shook my head, getting those thoughts off for the moment. It's not the time to rant over it again within my mind. I restarted the sims with different parameters this time and began using unorthodox tactics to try and bypass the Forerunner blockade of Charum Hakkor, before eventually leading to the goal of Dark Space, just outside of the Galaxy.
Several hours later…
"…percentage of success in achieving mission objective is estimated to be around 50%."
The cold, mechanical voice pierced through my musings. After hours of sims and tactics that I began to implement that I never thought I could've thought of myself, it finally reached a barely passable rate of success. Of course, this was only a sim and could never compare with the situation in the battlefield. The lack of info of where precisely the Forerunners would try to blockade Charum Hakkor didn't exactly help at all.
Still, using common sense and strategic deduction (helped by the experience that Viddar had in his brain), we've managed to narrow down the possible locations that's the most likely being the weakest link between the Forerunner's Blockade.
It was still by no means something that's so weak it can easily be broken through in one fell swoop. But, compared to the other possible locations, they're the least likely to have more presence than what Ur-Didact would've had placed whenever he executes a strategy.
"Servitor." I began. "Begin compiling report for Operation: New Genesis. I want it ready within the hour."
"Understood, Admiral." It responded mechanically, before withdrawing the numerous holographic projections, making the room only dimly lit once more.
I breathed, before sighing heavily. I closed my eyes and began to meditate, given that it was one of the things that Viddar seemed to be fond of, according to the memories available to me. While I may not know what normally goes on when he meditates, I do know his memories of his feelings when he meditated.
Peace.
Serene.
Tranquility.
All those adjectives above and the related terms. I can feel my mind calming down. Any random thought became silent. And just like that, I have what I feel like an eternity to myself. But that thought only lasted until a voice that sounded like how I was outside in this body broke through the silence.
"So, outsider." Viddar made his presence known. "Do you think that this will be agreed upon?"
Yep, he's imposing alright. Even me, 180 cm tall, feels like a damn midget compared this hulking man. You can feel the sheer pressure he radiates just from being present alone. Yet it wasn't so much oppressive, it's more of a cautious curiosity if I had to call what I'm feeling from the man.
"Not initially, no." I shook my head. "Considering your memories of Forthencho, he's not gonna allow it to go pass him and onto the council. Not unless I can give him a sound, logical reasoning."
"You would be correct." He nodded with a gentle smile. "I ask you this: are you human? You seem rather…small, for a fellow human."
"Yep. But I'm a bit different, as I'm what you've said: an outsider." I shrugged my shoulders. "But if you really wanna push it, think of me as what will happen to humanity after we lost against the Forerunners in these final years."
The smile on his face faltered, as he gazed onto the ground and sighed. "As I feared then."
"Not only you lack a proper human stature," he began. "-you seem to also be lacking in much that we've had. Be it your biology or your knowledge."
"To think that mankind would be this…humiliated." He grimaced as he made his conclusion. "To be sure, it's somewhat deserving in hindsight. But to see you as proof of it eventually happening… It's quite disheartening."
"You should also have access to some of my knowledge, no?" I asked him. "Surely, you didn't have to say something so obvious."
"Not really, no." He shook his head. "I do know of your thoughts as you express them, but not of your memories. Still, it was enough for me to glimpse into how mankind will survive… It's unbelievable, but then again, you are here while I'm locked within my own body."
"Well, I just wanted to get access to the tech we have here." I told him directly. "Of both of ours and the Forerunners. I have my mission, both here and in a different reality."
"So long as I'm here, I will ensure that the Forerunners' manipulation of history, and Humanity, will not stand as they were supposed to be." I met his gaze as I gave my declaration. "I will not suffer Mankind to lose everything that we are: our history, our culture, our way of life, and our technology. Not when I can ensure our legacy remains."
Both of us were staring at each other, before he broke into a smile of approval. "Then I will leave it to you. I shall give you my assistance, and when the time comes, I will handle things once you've achieved what you set out to do."
"I'll look forward to it." I offered him my hand, making him confused.
"Handshake." I told him. "It's a form of agreement, or acceptance."
He took my hand firmly and shook it.
Just as we let go of our hands, I could feel myself returning to reality. The pull became stronger, my "self" was being pulled away at a fast rate. The last sight that I saw before I returned to reality was the man giving me a nod.
I breathed as I opened my eyes. I found myself back in reality once more, within the room that I meditated in. With the man himself now helping me in this endeavor, I decided to review the plans once more, this time with his help before presenting this to the head honcho.
I hope to dear God that this will go smoothly. Just hope that Murphy's Law won't jinx me here.
"Murphy's Law?" Viddar asked.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible moment. I forgot exactly where this saying originated, but this has never been proven otherwise, given how life just loves to screw us all the time. Especially in our current scenario.
This time, Viddar was silent, though I could feel his apprehension at the thought of it.
Me too. We have to prepare for things going absolutely FUBAR.
Before Viddar asked what FUBAR meant, I explained the full meaning of the acronym. After that, we finally got to work.
An hour later…
Approx. 107,575 BCE
Central Command Platform #1
Orbit of The Eternal (Charum Hakkor), Nov Thasta System
50 Years before the Siege of Charum Hakkor…
I found myself by the shuttle's docking port, about to disembark from said shuttle after travelling from planet-side towards the orbit, where Forthencho has been spending most of his time in the duration of the conflict. On occasion, he'd come down to the planet every once in a while, for a small amount of respite. Sadly, today was one of the days that he's aboard the command platforms in the orbit of Charum Hakkor, overseeing fleet deployment and combat directives.
As the door opened, I stepped into the interior of the platform. It was a busy hub, filled with staff running about. A familiar sight, but weird that their gear is just so… Different, so to speak.
"Admiral Viddar, the Lord of Admirals has been awaiting your arrival per your notification." One of Forthencho's guards greeted me after my arrival at the platform.
I recognized the man as one of Forthencho's retinues. Seems like he's inclined to see me after I gave my notice. I gave the man a nod as he then led me through the busy halls of the platform. It's massive, cavernous enough that it doesn't make me feel like I'm in a cramped space.
I'd been spending the remainder half an hour before my departure to here on refining the plan with Viddar, before I had my servitor send the notice to Forthencho of me wanting to meet him. Given the man's willingness to listen to Viddar's words after the start of the Human-Forerunner War, at least he's not repeating the mistake he made when the fleet first encountered the Flood at a remote world within Forerunner territory.
I could recall Viddar's incense when Forthencho elected to ignore his suggestion that was already a compromise of what the man was about to commit. It wasn't a pleasant one, I'll tell you that much.
Regardless, I put that thought behind me as I stood by the door leading to the platform CO's room, or at least what I can assume to be the equivalent of it. The guard who guided me immediately went to the side of the door and snapped a salute, before gesturing me to enter.
I nodded as I entered the room.
IT'S SHOWTIME.
The expansive room, while sparse of typical furniture, is instead filled with only necessities. Be it for battle, command, or even the mind. Sitting in the center of the room was Forthencho, the Lord of Admirals, the supreme military commander of the entire prehistoric human empire.
"…Order the remainder of the fleet to begin tactical withdrawal to ****** system." His no longer youthful voice resounded throughout the room. "Cycle with the *th Fleet and have them hold the line."
Meanwhile, in an available seat just the opposite from the man, was me, inside the body of Admiral Viddar, the confidant of the Lord of Admirals, and considered as one of the wiser, more tactful within the entire military. Of course, the man himself is still within me as well, and while I can have him take control for a bit, this still has to be completed by me.
The big man himself then turned towards me and gave a weary smile.
Yep. He maybe a foolhardy man, stubborn to a fault. But he's not an idiot, or irrational. He could tell. He's just busy keeping the inevitable from approaching too fast.
"My friend." I greeted him. "I can see that things are not going well for our fronts."
"Indeed." He sighed heavily, a grim look on his face before it was replaced with a tired smile. "But nonetheless, I welcome your visit. It's been quite trying, these times…"
Hoo boy, he's stressed alright. But he's keeping a cool head, at least he's still doing well enough. As expected of someone like Forthencho, I suppose? He's been at least in career for a thousand years, according to what lore I know, and that was accounting from the get-go of the Human-Forerunner War.
"Unfortunately, I did not come here to bring you good news." I shook my head. "Instead, I wish to bear you with a plan to at least survive the inevitable."
He clenched his knuckles, the smile on his face strained even more. But his eyes couldn't lie. We both know that humanity is all but done for. Me saying that just now pretty much confirmed his worst fears.
"When the Forerunners come, and they will come, we must be prepared to make one final gambit." I said as I opened a holographic interface in front of me.
Selecting the compilation of the refined plan, I sent it to Forthencho.
"This gambit…" I heaved. "…will be our final shot for the survival of our civilization."
His servitor evidently began to narrate the plan and showed it in his own interface, with his facial expressions constantly changing.
"We simply do not have the numbers to outlast the Forerunners in this conflict. The Flood have all but ensured our remote chances of even still being in this fight removed from its entirety." I hammered in more facts. "They've depleted much of our numbers, firepower and territory. The Forerunners entering the fray only made it worse. Thus, I can say with grim confidence, that we will lose, possibly within the century."
"And once we do…" I left that one hanging as Forthencho looked at me, stared as he scrutinized me with his eyes.
I don't know what he was expecting. Was it that we could win, through some near-suicidal plan to strike at the core of the Ecumene? Or some other miracle-like stratagem that, while it had happened before, could potentially end the conflict with victory in our hands? I'm sorry, mate, but not this one. Not this time. Viddar within me also agreed. He had the whole image of what's to come, at least generally enough to know that there's simply no way for humanity to emerge victorious in their current state.
"Forgive me, old friend, but the young outsider is right." He spoke, despite knowing that his voice wouldn't be heard by Forthencho. "We are out of options. This whole situation is simply beyond our might."
Both of us weren't too keen of being devolved while still being conscious through it all. While Forthencho might not know of the fallout that will occur once the war ended, he should have some educated guess as to what they'll do to us after all of this is over.
The room was silent. For a good time too. None of us continued the conversation. He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, seemingly in thought for a good while.
Then…
Laughter echoed throughout the room, for a good while before it settled down with a heavy sigh. That was not one of amusement or joy, but simply because of the affirmation he needed, regarding the penultimate that will come to pass.
"If that's how we're gonna do it, then we'll need Yprin's help." Forthencho spoke after that, a wry smile plastered on his face.
Welp.
Seems like we got him onboard then. Then let's discuss, shall we?
(Timeskip)
Approx. 107,526 BCE
Orbit of The Eternal (Charum Hakkor), Nov Thasta System
XXX Days before execution of Operation: NEW GENESIS
1 Year before the Battle of Charum Hakkor…
Things began rolling after Forthencho agreed. The first step, as stated prior, was getting Yprin onboard. Yprin, full name Yprin Yprikushma, is the Political and Morale Commander. She's kinda what I can only compare to something like the… Minister of Internal Affairs, but instead of having power only within the non-military matters, she also has the power to command troops if necessary. There's no real modern equivalent, hence I was having a hard time trying to explain.
I mean, if you wanna go for it, you can try to interpret her as having the same powers as a Commander-in-Chief, AKA the same power that's normally held by a President. Problem here is that there's no mention of any practice of democracy on the highest level. There's still the Senate, to be sure, and the local Governors within held territories, but other than those? No idea at all.
She's a fair bit shorter than me and Forthencho. But compared to your average 21st Century woman? She's WAY more pronounced, in figure and presence. The sharp look in her eyes alone showed how she managed to attain such high-ranking position: through sheer hard work and determination. She ain't one you wanna mess with. It was rather easy to get her onboard, given she's been quite in touch with the civilian side, which means it's not a pretty business.
Anyways, with her on board with the plan, we began to redirect certain ships and personnel. Of course, all of them were allowed to bring their families, albeit only their core families. This meant that extended families like their cousins, aunts or whatnot were not allowed. This was a measure to help in maintaining confidentiality, keeping all of it within only a limited circle. If they're not immediate family, they're not essential and thus will be kept in the dark.
In addition, the ships were given passive stealth capabilities, via coatings that can mask the ship's signature, allowing it to remain in stealth, so long as it does not have an active heat signature (no ship thrusters or significant buildups), or active communications exchange (only receiving would keep the ships masked). No doubt it'll degrade over time, but it'll serve well enough to mask our fleet in dark space. We'll need every trick in the playbook for this one.
The survival of Humanity as we know it depends on it.
Unfortunately, Yprin couldn't keep herself constantly present due to her office's duties. And as per the lore timeline, she eventually discovered the Primordial and brought the stasis capsule containing it back to Charum Hakkor. And, as expected, the answer she gained drove much of those who were present in the hall containing the capsule to commit suicide out of the sheer horror of the answer they heard.
I already had some inkling, because some people had been theorizing on the true nature of the Flood and their purpose or whatnot on YouTube. Still, I guess for these people, they never knew how they were but mere child's play to the Precursors, and that life in the galaxy was but a mere step for what the Precursors considers as the cycle of life, or that's what nonsense I got from those theories. Not so much nonsense, but rather I just couldn't really wrap my head around, and my memories of that sucked like hell, so it didn't help much.
But at least, thanks to that, Viddar wasn't as demoralized when Yprin brought the info to me and Forthencho. Shortly after, they managed to devise the "cure" to the Flood, and within the timeframe, the Flood began to recede from the galaxy, preparing themselves for their final conflict with the Forerunners, while also allowing for mankind's survival after this war has ended.
Of course, that last part with the consequence of mankind's regression as punishment was on the presumption that people like me haven't made any preparations to deal with that matter. How quaint that I can at least help influence this one decision.
With the retrieval of the Primordial, came the innovation of the new stasis capsules. It was VERY crucial to have, given that we would need one for the plan's success. Cryogenics, while leaps and bounds beyond what the UNSC possessed, wasn't safe enough for the long period within the plan. We HAD to develop a better one. Thus, came the time-stasis capsule, reverse-engineered from the Primordial's Stasis Capsule. At least, from what we could scan without prying the damn thing open. As a result, we've managed to create the time-stasis capsule that met the necessary requirements of outlasting the Forerunners Reseeding Effort, albeit just so after being improved in the short time we have.
That was certainly a godsend in this whole mess.
However, while the Flood may have receded, the Forerunners have gotten more aggressive. Countless reports swarmed Forthencho of how the Forerunners, under the direct leadership of the Didact, charged through much of our remaining territory, breaking through any and all formations that was made to stall their advance. The big man himself had to take to the field to stall for time, and that's barely doing much just because of the sheer numbers, AGAIN.
But thankfully, it was enough for the Exodus Fleet, as we're calling them for the mission, to be assembled with everything necessary to survive long enough until the Forerunners leave the galaxy after the reseeding way later down the line. Granted, it's quite on the nose, but eh, it's not as if we had them on record. This was all agreed upon by me, Forthencho and Yprin. Having any trails WILL doom us. Even those two accepted that they'll not be allowed to know the final destination of the whole plan. In their mind, they'll only know that this mission was of the "utmost importance" and "humanity's survival depends on it", but not the complete details of the whole plan, mostly only non-classified info.
With that in mind, I observed the ships being assembled at a nearby "Shipyard". Calling the facility as a Shipyard is a bit of a misnomer. It's… Hmm… I really don't know how to call it other than that, because that's the closest thing I can associate it with. Not to say I don't know its equivalent, what with it being the infamous Forerunner Assembly Vats, it's just that calling them as that is rather… Erm… Not accurate, for this particular facility.
Forthencho's just gone ahead to intercept Didact's Fleet near the secondary defense line. If that breaks, all that's left will be the remaining inner region of Humanity, and quite literally a straight shot to Charum Hakkor. He's doing VERY well, despite the sheer disadvantage that we have.
If all's going to be well, the Exodus Fleet will depart just before the new year begins. In the meantime, Forthencho will fall back and lead the Core Defense Fleet with the remainder of our Navy against Didact, once that bastard breaks through the secondary defense line, setting the final battle here in Nov Thasta. He'll have the support of the defenses of Charum Hakkor as well. Yprin will do her part as well, heading the remaining civilian groups and surface-based defenses within the system.
And then, it'll be the Siege of Charum Hakkor, as per history.
I sighed in reminder of that last part. For the moment, we've done all that we could. I can only hope to dear God that this will be good enough.
"It will have to, young one." Viddar hummed, understanding my worry. "There is naught that we can do but hope for the best, and the plan executed in excellence."
Indeed, old man. Indeed.
Approx. Late 107,526 BCE
Edge of Nov Thasta System
D-Day of Operation: NEW GENESIS
XX Days before the Siege of Charum Hakkor…
The crew and their families have said their goodbyes to their friends and extended families. There was no turning back. It's already D-Day. As of today, Operation: New Genesis has started.
Our Fleet has begun its journey to Dark Space. We've left the seventh planet of the system just an hour ago, where we initially rendezvoused with the entire fleet during the preparation phase. Forthencho and Yprin used their respective authority to erase records of our fleet, ships, and personnel involved in this lifeboat operation. That signaled the finale of the operation's start, marking the greenlight for our departure so to speak.
Right now, we're at the edge of the system. A fleet of fifty thousand ships, carrying just about twenty million souls aboard, with only four million being active-duty personnel, while the rest were civilians, thus they were put into stasis to lessen any strain on our supplies from the get-go. Also, there were around 8K ships dedicated to carry the civilians that were in stasis and the supplies for the eventual rebuilding. They're located in the center of our whole formation, protected by layers of military-only ships.
All ships within the fleet are the size of battleships, AKA around 10 km in length, 6 km in width, and 4 km in height on average. Space within the ships have been optimized the best we could in the preparation phase. The new time-stasis capsules allowed us to stack them in fives at once, allowing the saving of space for the many people in stasis, keeping the remainder active crew from not having enough workspace, along with the necessary storage space for the many things that were brought along.
Of course, amenities and other necessary things were present to keep the crew operating the ships from suffering the boredom in our journey. Not to mention, the crew could be rotated on a set period to keep things in optimum state, if necessary. Servitors, in the meantime, would brief the rotated crew of the status of their soon-to-be stations.
I continued to observe aboard the flagship CSV Nova Eden, as I've taken to call it, CSV being the acronym of my designation of it as a Capital Service Vessel, given it's a capital-class ship. The basic structure of the fleet is like this: You got the civilian/materials fleet at the center, with the outer ring formed by the remainder of the fleet, which is made up of pure warships and military logistics (the latter of course behind the former). The flagship is positioned in between the logistics and pure warships.
The bridge, AKA the CIC I'm in, is pretty much like what was shown in Halo 4's terminal. Once again, I'm gonna change the notion of the bridge having to be visible, given that pretty much like everyone else in the OG-verse agreed on how ridiculous it is to still use this style of bridge on a starship. But that's for another time.
I mean, we could just go into slipspace from the get-go. But I'm not too keen on tempting fate, so we'll do it after we're clear of the outermost planet. Given that, to my own surprise, the location of Nov Thasta being near the borders of the galaxy, it shouldn't take too long before we reach Dark Space. After that, it's a matter of gaining far enough distance from the galaxy to not get affected by the Halo Rings. Of course, with the maintenance of silent running, most of the time.
Funnily, it took less than six hours to reach the edge of the system. Man, the advent of Tier 1 tech… Still can't figure out what kind of propulsion the ship uses though. Tried using [Observe] on it, all I got was censored stuff. As in, garbled stuff that makes it impossible to discern. It was also like that when I first tried to meet with Forthencho, in terms of hearing the systems that were under attack, given that they had different names during this period, so to speak.
As soon as we arrived at the edge, the fleet slowed down and stopped.
"All ships have stopped." The comms officer reported.
"Good." I nodded. "Give the order: Sync jump time, begin sequential jump, starting with the first layer."
"Understood!"
"First layer, move into horizontal line and sync jump charge."
"Line formation complete. You're clear to jump!"
I observed as the farthest in front started their jump.
"Reconciliation rate within projected parameters!"
"Continue with the next layers until slightly before the reconciliation limit for the day!" I gave the order. "We'll continue once the rate has stabilized at a lower level."
A thousand jumps at a time.
A rate that's not too significant. One that, while predictable, can easily be ignored. The Forerunner's Overwatch Network was at its minimum readiness, given the soon-to-end conflict between Man and Forerunner. This occurred for the next few days. The Forerunners remain unaware of this, mostly choosing to ignore it by waving it as a normal occurrence.
How they would weep one day, when only after they left the galaxy, do their supposed rivals returns in their stead.
While the Exodus Fleet had all but guaranteed Humanity's continued existence, Forthencho and the others that remained would continue their stubborn, yet valiant but ultimately futile fight. Against the sheer numbers of the Forerunners, who began to reawaken a significant number of their military assets from disarmament, it was no contest in regards of who won.
In the end, several months after the departure of the Exodus Fleet, Humanity was pushed back all the way to their capital, Charum Hakkor. The scattered few territories were unable to penetrate the blockade that had been instituted around Nov Thasta System. And it was there, that Humanity, and their San'Shyuum allies, made their final stand. It was to be the battle of the ages! History be made!
For fifty-three years did they fight. Fifty in holding off Forerunner foothold in the orbit, three in contest of orbital supremacy. All while being aided with numerous energy towers and defensive platforms, linked through Precursor filaments, at geosynchronous orbit. The population of the cities on the orbital arches had been evacuated, leaving only the arches themselves intact as the cities built on top of it were bombarded during the battle.
They held the line, despite the seemingly endless tides of Forerunners coming their way.
Even after losing orbital supremacy, they still contested against the Forerunners. Time, and time again.
Notions of luring the Flood back and unleashing it upon the Ecumene were suggested, but eventually shot down. Too risky, too many unforeseeable variables that might show itself if it was ever enacted.
However, as fate would have it, they were defeated: By the treachery of the San'Shyuum, lulled into the promise of mercy by the Forerunners, allowing their adversaries to breach the defensive perimeter and finally make landfall on Charum Hakkor itself.
And from there on out, it was a downwards spiral, one that was slow to be sure, but it was the inevitable end. Then, history would progress as it should, with only one different ripple.
Approx. Late 107,472 BCE
CSV Nova Eden
Dark Space (25,000 ly from Galactic Centre)
+54 Years since Start of Operation: NEW GENESIS
Most of the civilian crew have been in hibernation, leaving us the military to remain awake. Me and them have been observing the incoming info traffic off the galaxy, with morbid fascination as we listened in to the desperate communications coming from Charum Hakkor. I felt my throat dry, as the Forerunners announced their victory over Humanity, and the cessation of the war.
For the past fifty or so years, we observed, and listened. Fifty years of gritting our teeth as we listened of the steady pushback before it completely went bollocks. And when the end came, we just…
Everyone aboard knew what that meant. Some just slumped onto the floor, others just went for a seat and just…sat. A few, like me, drew heavy breaths, knowing that we were the last of what remains of Humanity as we know it. I phrase it like that because we all knew the consequences of those who would surrender to the Forerunners. Those who committed suicide there, they were the lucky ones. Because we had to morbidly watch as many were either extracted into digital forms by the Composers, or worse, forcefully devolved.
God, I really hate the Forerunners. Honest-to-God, I hate them. Not because of their race per se, but because of what they've done.
Frankly, they're full of it. You don't espouse bullshit like the Mantle of Responsibility when you use it as a fucking excuse to flip the big guns all you fucking want. Heh…almost reminds me of Britannia from Code Geass. Then again, the latter goes for Social Darwinism at its finest, while the former was twisting what was a more holistic practice of belief into imperialistic bullshit that left the galaxy vulnerable to outside threats, AKA the Flood.
I sighed wryly. I could feel the sheer distraught coming from Viddar inside me. It's one thing to plan of this eventuality, yet it's another to see the circumstances happening in front of your eyes.
I clapped my hands and gathered the attention of the bridge.
"Open comm channel, fleetwide." I calmly ordered.
My comms operator obliged, as a massive number of holo-displays appeared, each representing ships of the fleet that still has personnel awake. I could see the despair in the sea of eyes arrayed in front of me. It was palpable that as if I could even grab it from the air.
I breathed.
"My comrades." I began. "With this, Operation: NEW GENESIS can be truly said to have begun."
I looked around as I continued. "Our objective, as you now know, is to ensure the survival of Humanity as WE know it. For those that we left behind, we can only pray that the Living Universe would show them grace and mercy, in face of such humiliation."
Some of the audience grimaced. They knew what I meant with it.
"I know some of you would be indignant, but…" I closed my eyes, before opening and swiped across. "Our duty is to ensure that our history, our culture, everything that we know, cherish and love, WILL NOT be forgotten! We will become the living testament of the Forerunners' sins, of their arrogance in bringing their own doom, and we WILL have the last laugh once this trying time has passed!"
"However!" I hardened my gaze. "We will NOT follow the missteps of the Forerunners! We will NOT interfere with those that will come after us unless it is of the utmost necessity! We will only bare our fangs, should all life in the galaxy be threatened once more! We must let life flourish and progress on their own! Such is what the Forerunners Mantle, nay, the Precursors' Mantle of Responsibility was supposed to be about, and NOT the imperialistic ways the Forerunners have enforced their views upon!"
"As one last gesture of goodwill to those who were left behind, we will grant one final act of assistance." I softened my gaze. "We will gift their descendants with a key, that which will guide them to a repository containing our sum of knowledge, history, and culture."
I held my right hand up as I noticed some murmurs, silencing them. "Only if they are deemed worthy, by which they're able to find the key through the trails of crumbs we'll seed across a selection of locations."
A series of nods could be seen in the displays, one which gave a curl on my lips.
"That will be all." I waved my hand. "We shall enter deep sleep after this. Periodically, skeleton crews and servitors will observe and maintain the fleet before going back to deep sleep, per the dedicated cycles. Power will be set to minimum, so as to only maintain bare necessities."
"May we all reawaken into a kinder galaxy." I gestured. "This is Admiral Viddar, leader of the Exodus Fleet, signing off."
A series of salute could be seen on the displays before they flickered out, given the comms officer had executed my order.
"Start the program." I ordered my servitor. "Execute Meditate Protocol."
"ACKNOWLEDGED." It replied.
The bridge crew then slowly made way towards the interior of the behemoth of a flagship. To be precise, towards the stasis hall, containing the numerous stasis capsules that are either housing civilians, or soon-to-be occupied by the remaining crew. I followed behind them, being the last to leave the bridge. As we left the bridge, the bulkheads closing the viewport of the bridge.
Entering our stasis capsules, one by one, each capsules closed their doors as they began to drift into deep slumber. Mine, like stated before, was the last to be closed. As I was lulled into deep slumber, I could slowly feel the weightlessness engulfing my body.
Darkness ruled as I felt like floating in emptiness, my consciousness submerged into the deep slumber I was lulled into moments after the capsule closed.
(Timeskip)
Unknown Date
CSV Nova Eden
Dark Space (25,000 ly from Galactic Centre)
"Disengaging stasis mode per Meditate Protocol." A voice blared into my ears. "Please exit the stasis capsule."
"Fuck…" I swore in my mind, as I slowly opened my eyes, and took a step outside of the capsule.
It really felt like I had just closed my eyes for a few moments. My mind was still adjusting to waking up from stasis as I completely exited the stasis pod.
I saw much of the bridge crew also waking up from stasis as well. The civilians were still in theirs, however. It was by the plan to begin with, that they'll only be awakened once we're sure it's an all-clear and we've arrived at a designated location for planetary colonization, for the eventual rebuild. So long as only one of the two conditions are fulfilled, the civvies will remain in stasis.
It won't be a full-scale rebuild, where we'd have the same amount of territory or worlds. No. It would be a condensed, yet strategically sound number of worlds that will be under us, eventually. And of course, we won't be settling ANYWHERE near the future-occupied territories of both Covenant and Humans (UNSC Humans). I made sure of that, given that it's in the operation's plans.
As for the remainder few of the bridge crew that were not present, they were already in their stations by the time we got to the bridge. And boy, were they in a flurry.
"Detecting echoes of radiation, sensors indicate it's neutrinos!"
"No communications can be detected from Nov Thasta or anywhere in the galaxy!"
It's mindboggling. Hell, it's terrifying. A silent galaxy, it could either mean that the Flood had returned or something had completely wiped out life from the galaxy. None of us were keen with the former, but the latter were making the others scratching their heads. Viddar could only remain silent within my mind, encroached by the eeriness of the situation at hand.
"Is this…what you meant?" He asked me.
"The Forerunners' final solution, in attempt to defeat the Flood after taking necessary measures to preserve beforehand? Yes." I answered, too neutrally even. "The Mantle-breaking, godforsaken, accursed Halo Array."
I clenched my hands hard. This… This was a deus ex machina of the Halo-verse and fuck it's already terrifying. I don't even wanna know other verses' deus ex machina that spans entire galaxies or even universes. Not all deus ex machina are built equal, hence my utter apprehension at anything that's as ludicrously extreme as the Halo Array or those that are even worse than that.
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I was reminded of this quote, one made by Oppenheimer who quoted the Hindu scripture of Bhagavad-Gita.
How quaint that this fits with the Forerunners. Forever their greatest sin, at least second only to their deicide of their creators, the Precursors. Not even devolving Humanity could encompass the sheer amount of life that had been lost because of the activation of the Halo Array. Goes to show how monumental their fuck up was, what with their arrogance got bit back with a vengeance.
"Servitor." I called out. "Calculate current date. I want to know how long it has been since the start of the mission."
"Calculating…" Its robotic voice responded after a mum. "It has been approximately 10,500 years since Operation: NEW GENESIS began."
"A five hundred year overshot, eh…" I raised an eyebrow at that, before shrugging. "Thank the living universe for contingencies then."
Not to say that we planned for EVERY possible crisis way back when, but we did account for the possibility of overshooting the designated time passage. Thankfully, we had enough backups to last us for a fair few more years. It would've been dangerous if we were woken up a bit more than that though, so don't go and call me some tryhard.
I mean, the stakes are the continuation of Humanity as per the mission statement, AKA Ancient Humanity. No shit that I'll plan enough for people to try and call me tryhard, which in that case I say fuck you if you still try to call me that.
I closed my eyes and breathed.
"Set course for Nov Thasta." I commanded with a heavy heave. "I wish to see what became of our home."
The bridge became silent, as an audible gulp could be heard echoing throughout the whole place. Everyone was rigid silent, as they proceeded to do final checks on the fleet.
This was about to be a long-time homecoming. And I doubt any of us would be fond of what we will discover.
Approx. 96,972 BCE
CSV Nova Eden
Nov Thasta System
473 Years since the activation of the Halo Array…
We didn't want to believe, but here we are. Orbiting our former empire's capital, I can only taste ash in my mouth.
There was…
Nothing.
Not the gleaming spires of the capital's cities, nor the interlinked orbital defense platforms. Not even the star roads or the older Precursor ruins that we built our cities upon. Not even the orbital arches remained. The orbit was littered with the remains of those arches.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
Worse still, the planet…the Eternal… What modern people would call Charum Hakkor…
Fuck me.
The biosphere's all mucked to oblivion. There's nothing left if there were any. Oxygen levels planet-side were thin and poor, and the climate of the planet had cooled.
Even Viddar was utterly horrified, at the sight of this…blasphemy. This heresy, a crime against the living universe itself even. How am I supposed to describe the feeling of seeing the place that you remember clearly to be lively, yet you would find it later to be utterly alien in comparison to your memory? I have not the slightest clue on what to even say.
The bridge remained in silence for a GOOD amount of time. Until someone broke it, at least.
"Your orders, sir?" The helmsman asked.
I went still for a moment, before I sighed heavily.
"We leave." I breathed through the gap between my mouth, HARD. "We will leave a monument behind, in memory of our fallen empire."
I swept a look around the bridge.
"One day…" I heaved. "The descendants of those who we left behind will rise once more."
"They will reach for the stars, just as we have so long ago, and I pray…" I closed my eyes, before opening and gave a gentle smile. "That they will find that monument, so they may not repeat our mistakes, and be more than we could ever be, in everything."
"We will not give them everything. But we will leave enough trails, for them to eventually find the trove of our legacy." I announced. "This is for the sake of preventing the unworthy from inheriting our legacy, and misappropriate them for their unbenevolent goals. Only the kind, the just, and the firm shall inherit our legacy. Not the squalors, bigots, or madman."
Viddar hummed in approval in my mental space, while the bridge was filled with satisfied hums and/or smiles. We were all aware of the changes of our species when we first began to wage war against the infection. We were peaceful, once. And I dearly pray, that our successors would also inherit those traits that we've lost.
Quest Objective Achieved!
Quest Completed!
The notification that appeared surprised me. I simply snorted out in amusement, before I excused myself to my quarters.
It didn't take long before I was pulled back into my mindspace, just as soon as I entered my quarters and lay on my bed. Once more, I came face to face with Viddar. The man looked at me with a smile.
"I thank you, dear descendant." He gave me a nod. "You have fulfilled the promise you gave to me, and to my dear friends. The survival of Humanity as we know it is all but assured."
"Eh, it's like I said, I'm doing this for my own benefit as well." I shrugged, before smirking. "Though it does feel nice to flip the bird at the Forerunners."
He gave a boisterous laugh at that remark. "That is true! They may have beaten us in the war, but we survived in the end. The last laugh, as you say, is indeed ours!"
The quest window then appeared in front of me, showing that I've completed the objective.
[Quest: Seek the Truth]
[In the distant past, Mankind once stood almost equally to the Forerunners. However, the emergence of the Flood would eventually cause Mankind to come into conflict with the Forerunners, in their bid to make up the ones they've lost to the parasite, and to sterilize infested Forerunner worlds. However, the Forerunners didn't acknowledge the threat that the Flood posed and construed it instead as Mankind's aggression against them and other species. After a long, and torturous fight against the Flood, Mankind eventually emerged victorious. However, they were too weak to fight effectively against the Forerunners by then, and thus, by the final years of the conflict, only their capital, Charum Hakkor, remained.]
[In the duration of this quest, you will be transported into the Halo Verse, taking control of one of Forthencho's, Lord of Admirals', colleagues.]
[Objective: Ensure the survival of Mankind and their legacy, by any means necessary.] (Completed)
[Reward(s): Access to Forerunner and Ancient Humanity (tech) tree, Optional Special Modifier for Halo verse, 500K EXP, 30x Gacha Token(s), (Hidden)]
Do you wish to submit the quest completion notice? If you do, you will be shifted back into the previous reality you were in, and the rewards will be applied accordingly once you're sent back.
Y / N
I looked at Viddar, who also got to saw the window in question.
"Seems like it's time for our farewells." I told him, gesturing at the options below the Quest window.
"That you are, young one." He nodded. "Fear not, as per the plan, we will be seeding the crumbs, as you call it, to a repository containing our legacy."
"Once again, you have my utmost gratitude." He gave me a nod once more. "Once we've completed the plan completely, we will not interfere in the younger ones' progress, lest it's of a threat beyond the conventional."
"Aye. I'll probably return to this reality, but in the far future." I spoke. "Though I say that, I'm gonna be a bit different, in the sense of who I'll be. But my "self", so to speak, will remain the same."
"Ah, then I pray for a reunion at that time." He kept his smile as he replied. "Though the universe might say otherwise, I do pray we would be able to converse in person, face to face at that time."
I chuckled. "Sure. I'll be looking forward to that."
I pressed the Y option, and before long, I felt as I'm slowly being pulled away.
"Take care now!" I shouted, waving my hand.
"You as well, young one." He responded in kind. "May the living universe ever guide you to the future you seek!"
As I heard that last bit, the force pulling me away got boosted, and then, he was out of my sight. I closed my eyes, the feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed me for a bit, before I felt the comfort of the bed I laid on, before I started the quest.
I opened my eyes. I was greeted with the sight of my quarters within the station.
I'm back.