Editing Keystone

Each use by John of the keystones resulted in him becoming sicker and sicker{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}}{{Ref/Reuse|Unbound}}{{Ref/Reuse|Emergence}}{{Ref/Reuse|Reckoning}} to the point that ''[[Condor 325]]'s'' computer read his status as critical. According to [[Makee]], a number of lesser keystones had the same effect on her until she learned not to fight them and to surrender to the visions. When John used the keystone again, he experienced a dangerously accelerated heartrate with Makee, who was in a completely different room, experiencing the same thing. When John followed Makee's advice and didn't fight the visions that the keystone showed him, his condition stabilized and he was transported alongside Makee into a vision of a Halo ring. While this was happening, John and Makee had completely identical bioreadings.{{Ref/Reuse|Solace}}

==History==

===Madrigal Keystone===

Throughout his return trip to [[Reach]], John remained fascinated by the artifact while Dr. [[Catherine Halsey/Silver|Catherine Halsey]] became concerned about its effects on John and his memories. After John rebelled rather than execute [[Kwan Ha]], the UNSC shot down [[Condor 325|his]] [[D80 Condor|Condor]] with an [[electromagnetic pulse]], knocking the artifact loose from its casing in the process. John touched it, causing the symbols to display once again and for John to experience more of his memories. In one of his memories, a young John drew a picture of the artifact for [[John-117's mother|his mother]]. The artifact then let out a pulse that knocked out power to the UNSC base while restoring power to John's Condor, allowing John to escape from Reach with Kwan and the artifact.{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}}

At the same time, on ''[[High Charity/Silver|High Charity]]'', Makee and the three Covenant [[Hierarchs]] listened to the surviving Sangheili warrior's testimony about what he had seen. Alarmed that the Demon had gotten his hands on one of the keystones, Makee decided to pursue it herself.{{Ref/Reuse|Unbound}} Makee attacked the {{UNSCShip|Gladius}} with the help of a [[Lekgolo]] colony, but they failed to get any information from either the crew or the ship's database which was wiped during the attack as per the [[Cole Protocol]].{{Ref/Reuse|Emergence}}

Under monitoring by Halsey and [[Adun Saly]], John activated the keystone once again, triggering more of his childhood memories featuring a young John drawing and exploring a glowing cavern. As John reached for something in the memory, Halsey had [[Cortana/Silver|Cortana]] put John into stasis so as to have Cortana access the artifact herself. However, as soon as Cortana shut John down, the keystone deactivated itself and Cortana got no readings from it at all. Halsey had Cortana release John who called this experience with the artifact "different" than the previous times. With Cortana's help, John later attempted to locate the planet from his memories using the [[FLEETCOM Central Database]].{{Ref/Reuse|Emergence}}

After removing his [[emotional regulator]] and having an epiphany after seeing a dog in the park, John returned to the artifact and had Cortana, with Halsey's consent, override the lock on the room's door. Despite Cortana's warnings that touching the keystone put a strain on his heart and nervous system each time, John activated it once again and unlocked more of his childhood memories which revealed that he drew both the Madrigal keystone and another larger one, showing his mother that the two artifacts went together and that John's father had eventually forced him to bury something against his will. With the added information from his newly-unlocked memories, John identified the planet that the second keystone was on as [[Eridanus II]]. John subsequently explained to Halsey that John had realized that his altered hormonal state from the regulator had been messing with his interactions with the keystone.{{Ref/Reuse|Emergence}}

Makee and a team of Sangheili examined the cavern that had held the keystone with [[Luminary|Luminaries]] in the hopes of finding a trail to lead them to the second keystone. After the Eridanus II keystone let out an energy pulse, the Luminaries picked it up. Touching the spot on the wall where the keystone had resided, Makee saw where the second keystone was.{{Ref/Reuse|Reckoning}}

Monitored by Miranda and, secretly, Halsey and [[Adun Saly]], John activated the keystone once again which also affected Makee in a different room, causing Makee to collapse and both of them to have an accelerated heartrate and John to start to go into circulatory failure as he experienced a number of his childhood memories. Wanting to see the outcome, Halsey refused to let Cortana shut John down to end the danger to him. Finally, John stabilized as he was transported into a vision alongside Makee into a vision where they were standing on a Halo ring.{{Ref/Reuse|Solace}}

===Eridanus II Keystone===

Outside of his childhood home, John dug up the box containing his drawings of both keystones. With [[Cortana/Silver|Cortana's]] help, John recreated his ruined home, triggering John's memories of finding the artifact as a child. John was then able to use his restored memories to locate the cavern once again where John and Halsey found the keystone.{{Ref/Reuse|Homecoming}}

As Saly used a laser to try to get through the crystal protecting the keystone, it suddenly let out a massive energy pulse that created a shockwave on the planet's surface and was picked up by the Covenant [[Luminary|Luminaries]] on Madrigal, allowing [[Makee]] to see where it was. As John reentered the cavern, the crystal coating around the keystone shattered, leaving the artifact exposed. Studying the readings on the signal, [[Miranda Keyes/Silver|Miranda Keyes]] determined that the keystone had been communicating with something and theorized that, rather being two halves of the same weapon, it was some other kind of device altogether.{{Ref/Reuse|Reckoning}}

Shortly thereafter, seeking answers about his past, John touched the keystone against Cortana's warnings that it could kill him. Reacting to John's touch, the keystone lit up with symbols, recognized him as a [[Reclaimer]] and caused John to remember touching it as a child and his kidnapping by Halsey and being replaced by a [[flash cloning|clone]]. The brief contact with the artifact put a strain on John's body and caused him to briefly collapse.{{Ref/Reuse|Reckoning}} The effects of the Eridanus II keystone on John's hidden memories appeared to be greater than that of the Madrigal keystone as John started regaining more and more of his memories afterwards even without contact with one of the keystones. However, the memory recall was painful for him each time.{{Ref/Reuse|Solace}}

When John later interrogated Makee, she told him that the Eridanus II keystone had been taken to the planet [[Rass Kkhotskha]] in the [[Aspero system]], a holy place for the Covenant. However, Makee had never been there and didn't know how to find it. The UNSC searched the Aspero system for a habitable planet, but they couldn't find any sign of one.{{Ref/Film|Id=Solace|TV|Episode=[[Solace (TV Series)|Solace]]}}

===Lesser Keystones===

==List of appearances==

**''[[Contact]]'' {{1st}}

**''[[Unbound]]''

**''[[Allegiance]]''

**''[[Transcendence]]''

==Sources==