The Primordial was placed in dormancy within an asteroid outside the margins of the galaxy around 9,000,000 BCE; a million years after the Forerunners wiped out the Precursors. [12] According to the Gravemind, the Primordial "arrived" in this location at this time; [12] who was responsible for placing the being in stasis is unclear, though it is most likely to have been early Forerunners. [13] Despite the being's hibernating state, Forthencho believed that the Primordial may have been responsible for remotely triggering the movement of the ships which initially brought the Flood into the galaxy. [14] Discovery [ edit ] Nigel Seel (February 7, 2011). "Book Review: 'Halo: Cryptum' By Greg Bear". Science Fiction.com . Retrieved March 20, 2013. Judith Rosen; Claire Kirch; Marc Schultz; Wendy Werris (September 9, 2011). "Summer's Over, How Did Bookstores Do?". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved March 22, 2013.

Owen Good (February 3, 2012). "Hear Five Minutes of the Latest Halo Novel, Narrated by Guilty Spark". Kotaku . Retrieved April 15, 2013.Enemy Civil War: Sorta. The Forerunners are fighting each other more than they fight the Flood (at least, on the one Halo); the Builders under Faber claim authority and abuse their power, while many Lifeworkers and Warrior-Servants still serve the Librarian and resist them. Story Hobby reviewed the book and gave it an 80% rating, calling the book a "big improvement" over the previous title, citing the exciting conclusion and more human centered story, but called the plot "weak". [39] Book Loons called it "slow", and said it was only with those familiar with the source material, but that the audio book was very good, and that it had an excellent surprise ending. [40]

Later, aboard Installation 07, the being was described as having a large number of legs which it held in a curled-up position similar to a spider. [26] The creature's torso was described as "grossly fat," and its skin was covered in a glassy, crystalline coating; a fine powder often fell from its body, perhaps Flood spores or the same powder responsible for the original Flood outbreak. As a Gravemind, the Primordial was capable of shifting its physical form to an extent, such as rearranging its limbs. [27] Production notes [ edit ]After crossing an ocean, the trio are found by a Lifeworker who accompanies them with several other humans and a giant ape named Mara. While sleeping at night in the refugee center, Chakas is greeted by Riser who warns him not to trust the Lifeworker; the others are revealed to be illusions run by Forerunner computers called monitors, who are there to extract their spirits and store them as monitors. Gamelpar dies due to old age. The imprints in Riser and Chakas converse and recall the discovery of the Primordial. Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal Gamelpar was born on Earth and was brought on Installation 07 as an infant by Master Builder Faber's researchers alongside a number of other humans. Due to his origin, he had an "old spirit", a personality impression of one of the human warriors who had been conquered by the Forerunners in the human-Forerunner wars, imprinted within his genetic material as part of the Librarian's geas. Becoming more prominent after Gamelpar had established a family, [4] the warrior's consciousness revealed a great deal of information about humanity's past to him. The spirit would study the stars each time the Halo was moved to another system, trying to pinpoint their location. [5] A preview of the novel's first chapters was released on December 28, 2011 on Tor.com and Halo Waypoint, with the first chapter released on Tor.com and the second and third chapters as well as part of the fourth chapter on Halo Waypoint. [6]