The story told by the walls and in my flesh was simple enough: Ten million years ago, Forerunners did indeed travel to Path Kethona. We came to finish what we had started in the home galaxy: the total destruction of the Precursors. They had judged us and found us wanting; they had chosen others in our stead. We were not in line to inherit the Mantle. And so we began our purge, and in Path Kethona, did our very best to finish it.

We were not then powerful enough to erase all evidence of the Precursors, to destroy their star roads and citadels and other artifacts. And so we left at least one Precursor behind, to live out dreams of vengeance and hatred, to lay down plans in cold and darkness at the heart of a lost asteroid—over millions of years.

That is my evidence of a great crime, of a crime against the Mantle.

Now that I tell you, Catalog, will you tell Haruspis? Will this story finally become accessible in the Domain? The Domain is far from static. Don’t records stored in the Domain change because Information seeks its own patterns and becomes more complete? Because future generations layer their own knowledge over the old? Yet the Domain is more and more often blocked to us, confusing, reticent.

Perhaps there is no more history to add. Perhaps we are the last generation of Forerunners.

What other testimony have you absorbed from your network? Does someone out there confirm my story with his own? Do I feel him through you? I am tired.

There is much work left to do, and so little time.

[TT: The following five strings are anomalous in that they do not reflect the testimony of individuals. They may be internal Juridical reports or observations, or reports issued by Forerunner commanders in the field, or reports generally distributed by the New Council.]

String 16

STRING 16

STRATEGIC REPORT, DESCRIPTION OF OPPOSITION

THERE IS CONFIRMATION from multiple engagements that combined Warrior-Servant and former Builder Security positions are encountering subverted Forerunner ships and weapon systems, many in tremendous numbers. These subverted forces are operated both by Flood-infected Forerunners and corrupted monitors. It is presumed that these opposition forces were marshalled in the years since Mendicant Bias first encountered the Primordial.

Many of our losses have been due to subverted Forerunner ships being welcomed by unaware forces and planets.

Once within a protected zone, the Flood spreads rapidly. Spore mountains have been sighted by scouts in two thousand systems, many of them key to the maintenance of defensive cordons.

This cannot continue unchecked or we are lost.

String 17

STRING 17

MENDICANT BIAS, PREVIOUSLY believed to be detained, has somehow returned and is spreading its influence …

[TT: Lacuna]

Where necessary, all metarch-level command and control ancillas are undergoing thorough reprogramming or replacement. Complete success is doubtful. Purging Mendicant Bias appears to be the only solution.

String 18

STRING 18

FLOOD EVOLUTION: KEY MINDS