10,000,000 BCE

Circa 10,000,000 BCE, the Precursors choose early humans to be the next species to carry the Mantle. Desiring to seize the Mantle for themselves, the early Forerunners rebel against the Precursors and wipe them out almost entirely, aside from one intact specimen held in deep stasis and others who reduce themselves to inert powder, intending to regenerate their forms later. However, this dust would deteriorate over the coming eons, eventually bringing forth the parasitic Flood.