The Good, the Bad, and the Didact

Secrets

Several hours later, I opened my eyes to the faint orange lights on the walls and ceiling. The metal hammock I lay in was anything but comfortable. I didn't know how I managed to fall asleep on it. The Cryptum was silent, and it made me wonder if the Didact had left it, or he was deeper within it.

His words still haunted me, and just looking at him made me afraid but also enchanted. I walked towards the door and when it opened there was no sign of any Prometheans or the Didact. The Cryptum felt deserted. Just before I went to sleep, I remembered we were heading up high, and that could only guess we were leaving Requiem.

The Didact's voice suddenly rang through the halls. "Ah, soon it begins. There is Mantle's Approach. Soon we shall merge with it and leave Requiem, until then human go wherever you wish."

I didn't feel so much like a prisoner on his Cryptum anymore given the fact he was letting me go anywhere. Mantle's Approach must have been a Forerunner ship. I decided to go exploring until then.

The Cryptum had no windows and no exits as far as I knew, but escape was not my plan. I wanted to learn more about the Didact. I began looking for him, there were so many unanswered questions I had for him, but he didn't seem like the conversational type. I wandered down the wide halls containing small pyramid shaped pillars; small enough for me to stand on. It was like this Cryptum was a combination of ancient and futuristic at the same time.

On the walls were more of those dog-things I encountered earlier inside that structure in the jungle, and there were more of them than usual. No hard feelings, I wanted to say to them since I had killed one of them before. Crawlers were what the Didact called them, but I liked the Knights better.

I climbed on one of the metal pillars and watched them run across the walls. They made rather strange noises, like mechanical growling. One of the Crawlers came up onto the pillar beside me and settled. It wasn't carrying a gun this time that made me feel relieved; I reached down to touch the creature and to my surprise it didn't move as I stroked the top of its head.

"You'd make a good pet." I said but it scampered away to join its friends. I sighed and climbed down from the pillar.

I wandered into another room down into the lower levels of the Cryptum. The place was darker down here this time, fewer lights, and fewer Prometheans wandering about. The Knights were on the higher levels, Crawlers in the middle but down here it was too quiet. I shouldn't be here. I thought.

The room had a few lights, but this time it was arranged differently. The room was dimly lit and hemispheric; I saw that the lines of orange merged on the walls, ceiling, and floor towards what was at the far side of the room. On the far side of the room was a large rectangular terminal, it looked nothing like the one I found in that structure. It had a large screen with a single button below it.

A small creature with two orange rings on each side was floating around the large terminal. I walked closer to it, hesitating a little. The ringed creature flew over my head making a strange sound and left me; the door closed behind me. I looked at the terminal and had a feeling that there was something on here that the Didact didn't want me to see.

I looked around the room to make sure no one was there. All was quiet. The neon lights illuminated the dark room, and I felt at peace. Then I placed my hand on the button. The screen lit up, and suddenly a voice echoed through the room.

"This is the Didact's personal logs of past life. Access is open. Do you wish to continue?" I was astonished. That ringed creature must have been using this terminal earlier, and forgot to lock it; why wasn't access to this information restricted? I thought, unless the Didact wanted me to view it.