TIME FRAME: N/A

Chapter 8 Premonition

Zen's eyes snapped open. He was lying on the ground. He was surrounded by nothingness. It was dark all over him but not dark enough that he couldn't see his body. He heard someone calling his name and turned around. It was faint but it clearly spoke his name. Then it faded and everything was silent again.

'Is this how it feels to die?' he asked himself.

He started walking around but felt like he didn't go any further because there was no visual effect of him moving. He looked down on the ground. He was standing on nothing, just darkness. Then all of a sudden the darkness shattered in way a glass would respond when destroyed. It shattered then suddenly light flooded in. The result of the shattering was that he was now in a room. It took him a few moments to recognize due to his eyes were still focusing.

He was in a hallway. It was purple. It had intricate designs on it. He recognized the patterns as Covenant designs (as he saw the back at the phantom he rode in when going to New Mombasa). He looked around and nobody seemed to be around. He started walking down the hallway. The doors slid open and it showed him darkness again. Then suddenly, blue flames flashed and formed letters which were floating in the air that read:

Shape the Future

Then the letters disappeared along with the darkness. He then could see Master Chief watch as three Phantoms departed, one going to a strange looking tower in the core of the city. He then spotted Mercy on the floor, with a Floodling latched to his neck. The two walked towards the Prophet. The Chief crouched down and asked,

"Your pal, where's he going?"

"Earth..." said Mercy. "To finish what we started. And this time...none of you...will be left behind..." Mercy then died. The Chief grabbed the infection form before it could take Mercy's body. He then squeezed the balloon like creature. The fragile bug popped, and Cortana, appeared on Mercy's throne.

"That structure at the center of the city! It's a Forerunner ship...and Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the rest of the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You have to stop him!" Cortana said in alarm.

"If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's. The blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." Cortana explained. The Master Chief reached for Cortana's hologram but she said,

"No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I need to stay here..." she told him.

The surrounding shattered again around Zen. It showed him that he was at a room; a throne room. There was Truth seating at his hover throne. Zen immediately felt his brain go overdrive again. He needed to stop Truth because the prophets were wrong. If he didn't kill him right now the Covenant will still be lost in their false religion.

Zen immediately run toward him he jumped and tried to punch the guy but he just passed the guy like he was a ghost. His body turned to smoke as he passed but turned solid back again afterwards. He was frustrated by this as he can't hit the guy. He started thinking again about the letters which showed itself to him earlier: Shape the Future. Was he in the future? He couldn't tell but if he was shaping the future, he needed to add a few things to make the humans win.

Zen created himself a remote control bomb. Not just a simple bomb, but a bomb that, if detonated, can destroy an entire ship. Not bad considering he made it small, the size of a Ping-Pong ball. He then created himself a remote control for the bomb in which he placed in his pocket. He hoped at best that the ball will solidify and not turn to smoke if it touches somebody. He slowly approached Truth who seemed oblivious to his appearance. He gently dropped the bomb in his lap and… It stayed there. It didn't turn to smoke or anything.

Zen couldn't help but smile. Even if he was at this odd world he could still help the UNSC by killing Truth. And then it dawned on him. Throughout this entire time he'd been standing in front of Truth but he didn't even flinch when he dropped the bomb in his lap. It was like he isn't there but when creates something the thing is physically there; but oblivious to the people there. He really was in the future, shaping it.

Before Zen could deliberate more his surrounding shattered again; this time it showed him flying along side Master Chief. He could see that the Gravity Conduit he was riding was headed for a big ship in the middle of this vast space. The ship was launching upward; as the ship got higher, the energy links broke from the ship, the Master Chief was in the air. He managed to get in the opening and flipped over to scrape the walls with his feet.

"Chie, when you get to Earth, good luck." Cortana wished them.

"After I'm through with Truth..." began the Master Chief, but he trailed off. Cortana replied in sadness,

"Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it."

There Zen understood what was going on. Apparently Cortana was being left behind in order to succeed in destroying this city. From what he heard and deducted, Truth was at this ship in which the Master Chief is clinging on. Luckily for them he made a bomb earlier and the remote was in his hand. He was about to press the button when he remembered that Master Chief was still clinging on it; he placed the remote back again in his pocket. He made a mental note that when all of this is over he needed to talk the Chief, and tell him not leave Cortana behind because he had solved the problem with the remote detonation.

He created himself another bomb and dropped it on the ground. It fell towards the city with no audible sound.

This bomb was also connected to the earlier remote, so that if he detonated the first bomb, the second bomb will explode destroying this city as well because he needed to destroy since it was flooded with flood. When he came to that conclusion the scene abruptly shattered again around him. And showed him that he was in a weird room; there were people this time. This time it was Z'jo, Nira, Stahn, Johnson and an elite with weird markings on his armor. They were standing very far way and looking very serious.

He turned to see where they were looking at and saw a couple of big aliens. He couldn't describe them but only one word came to his mind; Brutes. Then there was a robot that had an electric blue eye. One of this alien was holding Miranda. He was holding a T-shaped object and it was glowing. It took him a moment to realize that it was the Index. (He knew what the Index looked like because Johnson described it to him in there first meeting) He knew what the Index could do and he guessed he was probably in some sort of control room in another halo.

Then the scene unfolded in front of him.

"Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?" asked the elite in the unique armor; without hesitation the robot said,

"Collectively, the seven-" but big alien grabbed the robot and jerked him around,

"Not another word!" he roared.

"Please." said Johnson. The Brutes looked up to see Sergeant Johnson, and. "Don't shake the light bulb."

"If you wanna keep your brains inside your head, I'd tell your boys to chill!" Tartarus raised his hand and barked a command to stop them. Johnson looked at the elite.

"Go ahead, do your thing." The elite with the weird armor looked back at the robot.

"The Sacred Rings." he said to him. "What are they?"

"Weapons of last resort; built by the Forerunners to eliminate potential Flood hosts, thereby rendering the parasite harmless." the robot recited.

"Those who made the Halos, what happened to the Forerunners?" asked the elite.

"After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They, and all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, died, as planned." the Monitor continued.

There was silence and then one of the Brutes spoke.

"Chieftain?" it asked.

"He's… right." whispered the Chieftain in sorrow.

"You better believe it." said Stahn. The chieftain gave the Index to Miranda.

"Do what you like with it, save for inserting it into the computer." he said to her quietly.

"Fools!" roared another Brute, the one that had questioned the chieftain. He grabbed Miranda's wrist. Zen immediately knew what was about to happen and tried to stop the brute from pushing the Index to the control panel. He immediately created himself a sniper rifle and took aim. Everything went into slow motion.

He aimed for a headshot and fired. He could see literally see the bullet traveling from the rifle's barrel and into the air. But he didn't see what happened next since his surroundings shattered again. This time it showed himself a scene worth noticing because this time… He was in it. He saw himself leaning on a crate taking a breather. Then he noticed something walking towards him from behind. The Other Zen turned around and looked and stopped.

There was nothing there and then he started walking. The Real Zen saw that there was a shimmering thing walking behind the Other Zen, unknown to him. Then the shimmering disappeared when he the thing activated an energy sword. He quickly realized what was going to happen but not fast enough. He saw himself get impaled by the energy sword. He felt a burning feeling in his stomach, and his knees buckled. He fell to the ground, near the Other Zen whom was lying in his own pool of blood, clutching his chest. This time his surroundings faded and no longer shattered. It faded into darkness, then into complete darkness, the point where he could no longer see his body. And this darkness was completely endless.

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