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The Return of the Archons - or - I dream in Halo
Posted By: Wado<wyamauchi@msn.com>
Date: 19 July 2002, 7:06 am
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John gazes into an endless night. Stellar clouds blur the starlight into hues of orange. It would almost seem like a new day's dawn on a summer beach if not for the bitter cold. Oh it's so cold. John checks the control panel, no malfunctions, temperature at normal levels. He gives the panel a light knock with the back of his fist. Not protocol, but neither is drifting in space.
Got to get some shuteye. John, tosses and turns, sleep would be so nice if not for the voices. They call out from unseen corners, behind closed doors, in the dead of sleep.
Wake up John. Wake up! John cannot. In his unconsciousness, he has reached a consciousness where the voices become real. He is in the dream-like reality that transports him across time and space to her. No not her. Angelic beauty, but to stay with her would mean giving up returning. Never waking.
The fear of never waking has saved John before, in a panic he has awoken. But not this time. He has been sucked deeper than ever before. Rarely has he ever felt the fear and ecstasy that he does now. A combat veteran, who shows no fear in battle, no remorse for killing when needed, which is often by the way. Here he is stripped of his armor and weapons. Floating naked in the world of dreams.
Flying through a transparent tunnel, John is pulled quickly though a world beyond the tunnel. He sees much that reminds him of the pyramids of Egypt, waterfalls, and Stone Hinge. The world is ever changing, moving in and out of focus.
John pays little attention to the surrounding, what lies at the end of the tunnel is his focus. Dark hair with strands of gold, silver eyes as gray as the night sky and as piercing as an eagle's stare. It is her. John is frozen except to feel the ground now below him as he falls to one knee. Her beauty cannot be done justice by my mere words. John could easily be frozen by her piercing glance, the sweetness of her voice, the rest beyond simple description. However, John is not frozen for this reason. John is petrified for what he feels - this is his vision of beauty, that which she chooses him to see. Her true form is still hidden. John fears what he does not know. To open up to such beauty only to find the opposite to be true would be too much. The contrast would not just break his heart, but also his will. Deep down to his soul, he would be broken. This, John does know.
Strangely, she remains silent for a long moment. A smile comes across her face. "My name if Kira, Sovereign Princess of Archon," she says in a soft but penetrating voice. Then adds, "I'm glad you made it John."
"No riddles?" John blurts out, half not realizing that he is thinking out loud.
"My sympathies dear John. It took a while for our spirits to communicate on the same level. You simply were not ready, the riddles you heard were not mine but of your own making. I am glad you made it." Then with a gesture, she says, "rise up."
John is on two feet, fear exits him, and the void that fear left behind fills with warmth. "Your, err, err highness?" John stutters out. Then takes a deep breath, and says, "Why am I here?" (Which in itself is not characteristic of John who, under other circumstances would be compelled to demand, "What do you want?")
"You are here because I summoned you. I now wish a dialog, but time is short so I will speak, and you will listen."
"How much time do we have?" John interjects.
"As much as needed, but no more. Now please, listen, in fairness you will have your say." And with that her gaze freezes John.
"John, to understand why, means you don't need faith. But we all do need faith. What I am about to say may contradict your beliefs. Do not lose faith in what you believe in. There is much more in this Universe and beyond than you nor I will ever know, at least that is how it stands for now." She sees a puzzled look on John's face, and continues. "In your culture it is said that the face is a window to your soul, is it not. If so, you must have a puzzled soul. Much as the human race, searching for purpose in life, in the grand scheme of things. Much as the Archons of past, my ancestors."
"Archons of long ago were advanced to levels beyond what you have seen so far. Our science was of nature and all things did we grow, from spacecraft to entire worlds. But something happened, we met an evil, a plague. A thing existing on logic without compassion. It consumed, and consumed, without restoring what was taken. The balance of nature was lost."
"We lived by nature and knew that we could not defeat the logic we did not understand. We were not alone in this. What you know as the forerunners were many different cultures, with the Archons being a small offshoot. By cultures I could mean races, but as races intermixed, they became cultures. The plague threatened all forerunners. We cleaned and contained the plague. But that was not enough. We knew it would never last. So we had to do something more."
"Archons of long ago went to your home planet Earth. Or should I said that Archons were sent to Earth as part of our great experiment."
"Much like how a blind person's other senses become more acute, this was our experiment. Onto Earth were sent guardians and workers. The guardians were sleepers whose descendents awoke in times of need to protect Earth and human kind. The workers were those volunteers that we deadened their spirit so that they could not use our science of nature, this meant, in theory, that they would develop into thinking logically, like our enemy, the plague."
"So without our science of nature, survival on Earth meant that other ways of thinking would develop. That is what has happened. It is frightening at times to see the similarities between humans and the plague. You have reached points in your logical science beyond your ability to understand its significance. You blindly develop technology, only to later realize that you have created great weapons of destruction capable of destroying your fragile kind with the mere command of a lunatic."
"But at other times, the true Archonian ways prevail. There is much compassion and a sense of duty to protect the weaker and many more wonderful qualities, I do see."
"There is not much more summary to this story. Time and the many wars since the olden days have wiped out most of our records. I am not entirely sure that I speak the truth on all these matters, but I would not intentionally deceive you."
"There are few Archons left, I am their leader, along with my sisters. I would be called queen, but long ago when I was very little, my mother was imprisoned by the Overload Shai'tan to stay at his side as co-ruler of his demon realm. She still bears the title of Queen of Archon and I shall never bear that title as long as she still lives. But our plight to rescue our queen is not your concern. Just know that many great heroes of Archon have died trying."
"Demons you might ask. That's the best description I can give you. Bad to the bones, but even the demons fear the plague. They have been unlikely allies at times."
"John, John..." Kira pauses.
"John, I deem you guardian protector of human kind, second only to the Starguardians of Archon, as you will be known when you are fully awakened."
"Now go"
And with a kiss Princess Kira sends John away.
John yells as he is pulled away into darkness, "Wait! Wait! I don't want to leave!"
"We will meet again, I promise, you will have your say. Now is not the time. Goodbye guardian protector of hu..."
[Flashing bright lights.]
"Chief. Chief. Wake up."
A groggy John replies, "What is it Cortana? Can't a guy get a decent nights sleep around here?"
"Chief, you're just coming out of cryogenic suspension. I pulled you out because I'm picking up a lot of chatter and you've got to see this. We're going to need you wide awake for this one."
John looks up and out the craft's window with a dazed look on his face.
"Chief, the effects of cryogenics should wear off soon."
"No Cortana, it's not that, I just had the strangest dream, it seemed so real. But never mind, I'm better now, we've got work to do."
With that, this chapter ends.
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