And thus, within these halls they walked,
To master, defeat fate.
Questions asked and answers given,
They passed damnation's gate.
Halo: Primordial
Chapter 4: Ocean
It was night when they landed.
Akaash hadn't expected that they'd be landing at all. He'd expected that Yprin would take him to a teleporter, not the station's shuttle bay (not that he regretted that). But he hadn't imagined his destination either. Not this arena. Like a colosseum of sorts, like something out of humanity's early history from Erdra or Heian. A place where warriors did battle. Not a place where two apostles stepped down from a shuttle into the dust, the only signs of light being from the shuttle and stars in the sky.
"Huh," Akaash said.
"What?"
"Stars. I've lived on this world all my life. I don't think I've ever seen stars from it."
"Light pollution gets to us all," Yprin murmured, stepping beside him. "But this place is far removed from any place of civilization, as difficult as that may seem to believe."
Akaash looked around. There were a few gaps in the colosseum walls, and indeed, he could see no other signs of civilization, human or otherwise. The only signs that humanity even had a presence on this world were himself, Yprin, and the two soldiers coming to meet them from an arched entrance.
"Come," Yprin said. She began walking to meet them.
Akaash followed. He wanted to speak, but remained silent. Even as Yprin talked to the soldiers, as they nodded and let the two pass.
"Not much security," Akaash murmured eventually, as they approached the arch.
"There's no need. There's a no fly zone that stretches for miles, and that includes an anti-teleportation field. Hence the shuttle."
"But people might come here anyway."
"There's Precursor ruins all over Charum Hakkor, Akaash," Yprin said. "And unlike this one, many of them are open to public viewing."
Akaash bit his lip as they passed under the arch. Before them was a single lift with a single hard light control panel. The pair stepped onto it, and Yprin started fiddling with the panel.
"Can't you just press down?"
"No. Not unless you want us to be vaporized."
Akaash didn't. So he kept standing. Watching as Yprin manipulated the light to form a symbol. A circle with a line pointed downwards, with two curves extending around the core shape, nearly forming a circle of their own. It looked like a glyph of sorts, but not of human or even san 'shyuum origin. If anything, it looked like a-
"Forerunner."
Akaash looked at Yprin.
"Reclaimer," she said. "My little joke."
"Joke?" Akaash asked.
Yprin remained silent for a moment until the shape was completed. Instantly, the lift began descending downwards. And an instant later, the political and morale commander turned to her subordinate.
"There's things you must know, may not know, and both of those things are not to leave your mouth outside this structure," she said. "Am I clear?"
Akaash nodded. His throat felt dry. He wanted water. Food. Light.
"This structure is called Primus Ordin. First to Begin. And what it holds, I discovered it long ago, in a stasis capsule on a planet on the edge of the galaxy. I then transported it to Charum Hakkor and revived it, after we made this world are capital. Since then, it's…helped us maintain that status quo.
Akaash nodded. He felt faint. He stumbled, and Yprin caught him.
"Careful," she said. "It often has that effect on people."
"It?" Akaash whispered.
Yprin smiled, her visage like a daimon's in the gloom. "Yes, Akaash, it. Why did you think there are so few soldiers here? It's simple – we can't afford too much exposure."
"But, this place-"
"Is guarded. Mostly by drones. By minds that can't be…damaged."
Akaash coughed again. He felt faint.
"Relax Akaash, you won't be here too long. Only long enough for it to provide the answer."
"It. You keep saying 'it.' What is-"
The lift stopped with a sudden thud. Before them was a long corridor. Drones drifted through the air, providing the only source of illumination.
"Protection," Yprin said. "From it. For it. Sometimes, I don't know."
"But more than I do."
Yprin walked forward. Akaash tried to follow, but he only got a few paces before stumbling to the side against the wall, the stone cold and smooth. And wet.
"Yprin?"
"Oracle."
Her voice…it was like it was coming from another realm…another world…and when she steadied him to his feet, he felt like he'd been touched by something from the Glow.
"It's what we call it. A codename of sorts. And a reference to its function."
"Function?" Akaash rasped.
"Yes. We ask. It answers. But never completely. And not always usefully."
Akaash kept stumbling. Yprin, holding him firmly, kept him moving.
"You're feeling its presence," she said. "Mitigated by a timelock we installed around the stasis capsule."
Akaash nodded before his head sagged. He coughed. Blood fell onto the floor.
"Be thankful for that."
"For…what…?"
"The timelock. If you're reacting like this already, chances are you'd be bleeding out of every orifice if not for the technology I installed. All this?" she said, gesturing to the walls. "All part of a connection to the prison. The walls before the bars."
Akaash looked up at her. She looked down at him.
"You don't care," he whispered.
"Care about what?"
"About…about…"
Akaash tried to speak, but he couldn't. His muscles wouldn't allow it. All he could do was collapse against the wall as Yprin came to a final door. She stretched her hand forward. Hard light enveloped it, moving along her arm.
"You don't care…whether I…live or die…" he whispered.
"Not really." She glanced at him. "If it makes you feel any better, it's because when I have to care about every human alive or may yet live, I can't worry about the individual."
Akaash coughed again. More blood spilled onto the floor. One of the drones floated down and emitted a beam, sterilizing the surface.
"But," Yprin continued, releasing her arm, "I would still be grateful if you do live. Because if you can ask and answer the question, those lives could be saved."
"The…the question?"
The door began to hiss open. Air began rushing through. And…it bore a scent. Something ancient. Something foul.
"We call it the Oracle," Yprin said, helping Akaash to his feet. "But its correct name is the Primordial."
Akaash stared at her.
"So ask whether your plan for the Flood can work."
Akaash's head was spinning. His ears were ringing. His throat felt like it was on fire. His eyes watered.
And as Yprin led him into the chamber, as he beheld the thing before him, contained by a force field, held in the centre of the room surrounded by a circular walkway, his eyes widened as well.
"Oh my gods."
"That isn't your god," Yprin said. "But in a way, it has been mine."
Oracle. Primordial. Names felt irrelevant. Names felt meaningless. "It" was what Yprin had called the creature at first, and "it," Akaash realized, was a useful term.
And thus the mortal comes before me, beneath chamber of stone. Offers flesh and spills his blood, and fear flows through his bones.
Akaash fell to the ground. His entire body felt like it was on fire.
And fear becomes the fire, and onto earth his tears flow. Haunted by what he's seen above, and what he sees below.
And Akaash couldn't help it.
He screamed.
He screamed as he convulsed on the ground. He screamed as blood poured out of his nose. He screamed as he tore at his eyes. He screamed even as Yprin grabbed his arms, trying to save Akaash's sanity as well as his sight.
"Stop it!" she yelled.
Akaash didn't know if she was addressing him or the creature. But he still screamed. He still convulsed.
"Akaash, snap out of it!" she yelled.
His scream provided a response.
"Akaash!"
And then it stopped. The scream died in his throat. The blood stopped flowing. And his sight became clear. First, he looked at Yprin.
"Akaash, I've never seen this. Not a reaction as severe as this, so soon…"
And then he looked at the creature.
"Akaash?"
And kept looking.
It was like nothing he'd ever seen, and after seeing what the Flood could do to organic life, he thought he'd seen everything. Fifteen, sixteen metres tall, almost as wide…four arms, too legs. Flabs of skin extended from its body like an obese human, though even humans didn't emit clouds of dust from those flabs. And its head. Like an insect. Or a scorpion. Or like nothing else. Because neither of those creatures had a tail extending from their head.
And at last he sees me, for what I truly am. But does he find salvation, or is he now among the damned?
And its voice. It was everywhere. And nowhere. Just hearing it made his ears ache. And the sound, how his vision shook, how it became a shade of green each time he saw it…it was as if he could see the sound.
And at last he hears me too, two senses out of five. But is it truth he hears from me, or does my voice belie?
And Akaash realized one more thing. This…Oracle, this, Primordial…it was alien. Truly alien. He'd seen aliens before. He'd seen san 'shyuum. Forerunners. Flood. But they weren't truly alien. Not compared to this…thing.
He could see why Yprin had ordered him not to speak of what he saw. But he also wondered if he'd keep his sanity long enough for that to be an issue. And why, as he staggered to his feet and watched Yprin walk forward, why he wasn't already running for his life.
"You know why we're here," Yprin declared. "You've seen into his mind. You-"
"What are you?"
Yprin glanced at Akaash. He walked forward.
"What are you?" he whispered again.
"Akaash," Yprin hissed. "Not now. Not-"
"What are you?!" he yelled.
The question has been asked, but an answer shall I bestow? And do you see me as your brother? Or shall you be another foe?
"The Flood!" Yprin yelled. "Can his plan defeat the Flood!?"
"What are you?!" Akaash yelled.
"The Flood! The plan!"
"Tell me!"
Questions asked and never answered, half-truths have I given. But this sight I see with interest, of people now so driven.
"Listen to me!" Yprin yelled, and Akaash wasn't sure if she was addressing him, or the creature. "Give me the answer!"
And the creature laughed. And Akaash trembled. And even Yprin stumbled.
You have asked, and I shall answer. All three questions.
"Wh…what?" Yprin stammered.
Akaash glanced at her. She looked pale. Terrified. Whilst he himself felt…fine. Fine enough to walk over and place a hand on her shoulder.
"Yprin?" he asked.
"In rhyme," she whispered.
"What?"
"Rhyme. It always spoke in rhyme. Always half-truths, always riddles, always raising more questions than providing answers." She turned to him. "It never spoke like this until now."
Akaash licked his lips. It was true. And there was something else. It had mentioned 'three questions. The first, what it was. The second, could the Flood be defeated? And the third…the third…
The third question is the first question. But you know the answer.
Four eyes met the creature's gaze. A gaze without any discernible eyes of its own.
For twenty years I saw you. For twenty years, you saw me.
"What?" Akaash whispered.
The pheru. From that day two decades ago, to the eyes of every infected form that has met yours, I saw you. Saw into you. Knew you.
"The Glow are you on about?" Yprin whispered. "They're Flood. You're a Precursor."
Akaash glanced at her. "A what?"
Precursor. A name given to those who eclipse everything. A name given to those who were eclipsed themselves. A name given to those whose light can cancel out the eclipse.
Yprin was shaking. Akaash could see blood coming out of her nose as well. He ran to aid her, helping her keep her feet. Then helping her sit down. And then ceased to help as he strode forward, before the gaze of the Primordial. A Precursor. A god.
"You said you saw me," Akaash whispered. "How?"
This answer is for you, and you alone.
"Why?"
The Mantle is yours, but it is built on perceived truths. The Flood is the test. The Flood are truth.
"What truth?"
That I am Precursor. And I am Flood. There is no difference.
Now Akaash stumbled back. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Yprin was staring up in shock as well.
"No," he whispered. "It can't be. It can't be!"
I am Precursor. I am Flood.
"No! You…you can't be! You…can't be…those…things!"
I am Flood. I am Precursor.
"No!"
I am Primordial. I am Oracle. I am the Captive, the Beast, the Eternal. I am Creation's end, and Creation's beginning. I am salvation and damnation. I am one. And I am the same. And your last question I can answer.
Akaash blinked. Tears ran down his eyes. He could hear Yprin murmuring something. It sounded like a prayer.
Ask.
He sat there.
Ask!
Akaash took a deep breath. The dust in the room went up his nostrils. And when he opened his mouth, the dust came back out.
"Can the Flood be stopped?"
You already know the answer to that question.
Akaash coughed.
But I shall provide it for you anyway. For I am the last Precursor. I am the first Flood.
Yprin let out a sob.
And my answer is at hand.