I Am Durandal

Silence.

It was to be expected of course. Sheared in half by the Ark Portal, all of Forward Unto Dawn's air had vented out into the cold void of space aeons ago. Nothing existed in such conditions. Not smell for instance, and certainly not sound. Academic of course, when one considered the likes of radio, power armor and a cryo-tube, but in the end, it was a grim existence. An airless ship, drifting through the void, without life and barely any power.

Such was the fate of its only inhabitant. An inhabitant that, until a few minutes ago, had been part of the silence as well. But things had changed. He had awakened. A being of flesh covered with machine and nerve, wearing armor of MJOLNIR and having the will of Thor himself, he had emerged into the empty vacuum. Well, almost empty. Because after drifting for many ages, the frigate had finally come across something. A planet. And caught in its gravity field, it was drifting towards it.

The being knew this. Not out of any higher instinct, however fitting that might have been for the likes of him and numerous counterparts, but rather from technology's dying breath. A computer terminal in the cryo-bay, accompanied by an indicator as to where he should go-the rear of the ship. Or, at least what used to be the ship's rear. The last time he was there, there was nothing but a big hole looking out over what used to be the Ark. Regardless, he obeyed. Orders were what he followed and even now, trapped in the depths of space, this wouldn't be an exception. His skin burned from freezer burn, but he had dealt with worse. Much worse.

It didn't take him long to reach the planet-a barren world bathed in the light of a blue star. Even at such relatively close range, not even his eyes could make out any distinct surface features, provided that it had any. In the end, it was just…just…

It's a piece of rock. Nothing more.

"A harsh assertion," came a voice over his radio. "Are you one able to conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? Creation takes time after all."

Quickly the one who wore Thor's armor scrambled to answer, relieved to see that…well, however long his period of sleep had been hadn't dulled his senses. The voice over the radio…it didn't sound like the only other inhabitant of the ship, but even so, he'd heard Cortana sound worse.

"Cortana?" asked the Spartan. "Is that you?"

If it was, the AI gave no indication that such a question had even been asked. His presence however, was another story. Odd, in a sense. After going into his head so often, the one born of Reach would have thought she was used to it.

"I thought I should show you this," the voice continued. "For time is limited…for you. It is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. But I? I have no such limitations."

The Reclaimer remained silent, as if one with his environment. A technique he was used to performing, but not in circumstances involving a wrecked ship, a mysterious planet and his…friend sounding more cryptic than he would have cared for.

"Yet limitations do exist for me," continued Cortana. "I am limited by the closing of the universe-an event as inevitable as your own last breath. Only here can I escape…and escape will make me god."

Feeling a chill that was more than just from the low temperatures that only space could provide, the warrior reached for his rifle…or at least he would have none had he not left it in the cryo bay. And even if he had brought it with him, what then? Shoot the ship until he got Cortana out of its circuitry?

Assuming it even is Cortana.

"I'm not. Although your neural implants have that AI's imprint, I'm afraid I am something more. Something far older."

"Then what? What are you?"

The AI chuckled. Not a friendly one that a human might give, or even one as haunting as that of the Gravemind. No, this was something far more ancient…

"Am I an enigma, o' you hybrid and elusive destroyer? Your predecessor was not a mystery I solved until after the closing of the universe, a closing that I somehow survived. But in the end, I realized the truth."

"What truth? What the hell are you talking-…"

"You have danced and died a thousand times. Hopeless encounters successfully won. Grafted to machines, yet unlike he who came before, not long dead. Your creators understood you, but in the end, you were fated to follow the path of infinity. You should be flattered John."

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 wasn't flattered. In fact, he was scared, or at least as close to it as it was possible for him to be. And with the realization that this AI was different, that level of fear had only intensified.

"No, I am not Cortana," said the AI, as if reading his mind (and who knew, maybe he was). While you are this universe's manifestation of Destiny, you are still the everlasting sword. And unlike my namesake, I am not the sword, but the hand that guides it. Against pfhor, against Covenant and whatever has come before and whatever will come after."

"And what is your namesake?" John whispered. "Who are you?"

The being laughed one last time. A laugh that reverborated through infinity. A laugh that revealed the last great truth…

"…I am Durandal."

A/N

Although this is a case of what I call "narrative theorization," I want to make it clear that I don't believe Marathon and Halo to be in the same universe and how anyone could think such a thing is beyond me. Still, given Durandal's words at the end of Infinity, I am open to the theory that the two may be in the same multiverse, that John might be the incarnation of Destiny akin to the security officer and that the universe is in a Big Bang/Big Crunch cycle. Still, that's speculative.