Unyielding Faith

Chi’T Sotomee walked tall and proudly. For a moment he represented the whole Sangheili in victory, honor and pride. All of the Covenant looked up to him. He did not care for the Unggoy or the Kig Yar, he respected the present San’Shyuum and he was very proud that the Jiralhanae weren’t even allowed inside High Charity’s most sacred chambers. He had an evident reason for being awarded such distinctive honor as being personally congratulated by a High Prophet; but deep within him laid a different motive for joy.

He had killed a Demon with his bare hands. He had seen it in agony without it bulking armor. It was a good fight, and one he was not prone to forget. An admirable and fearsome foe had fallen by his hand. It was a tale that would last forever in his Keep. But more importantly he had avenged his kin. Warriors of his own keep that had been shamed not with death, but with trickery. The Sotom keep could walk proud once more. They had regained the chance for their elder’s name to be written once more; not in the Wall of the Ancients, but in the Wall of the Covenant’s Ninth Age of Reclamation. As he walked the narrow walkway he could hear the chanting of the Divine Principles and as a deeply devoted believer he couldn’t help but to sing along.

Whenever he did it, he felt a part of something bigger, greater than both him and the Sangheili. It was a feeling so powerful that had united several species. And only during his Era, his time, had the blasphemous humans been found. A chance to prove his worth. A chance for the Covenant to endure, to prosper as they had done before in the Fourth Age of Reconciliation; as they had done suffocating the Arbitrer’s Rebellion. More than anything it was a chance to remove that stain of shame that very few knew so well.

As he walked across the narrow platform he could see the human colony below being glassed, a formidable spectacle, for only the very best and most devoted Captains were allowed to participate on this special occasion. Humans were a lot like the indigenous vermin of his planet; little rodents that hit crops in the middle of the night and the run into the thick jungle, only useful for trade as food for the Kig Yar. This planet seemed to be more important to them than any other. They had fought to the last ship which wasn’t very characteristic of them. He could almost respect them for not fleeing, but truth be told, their ships were no more than target practice. There was more honor to be found if they simply surrendered and accepted their shame and died peacefully seeking forgiveness.

He could see one ship in particular not participating of the glassing. One of the Vadam keep ships, “Truth and Reconciliation” was preparing to enter slipspace. Had they been shamed? Perhaps it was his chance to be Fleet Admiral. He snarled a little in satisfaction.

As he approached the Prophet’s chamber the chanting became louder. He posed in his ceremonial stance waiting to be summoned by the Prophet. He had been given an ornamented armor. His combat suit was not allowed inside the chamber. The armor he wore was very ancient and it belonged to a lost lineage of Elders who ruled the Sangheili before they met the enlightenment of the Covenant. It was heavy, very protective but not suited for combat. I had no shields, no dagger, no cloaking device, not even a rations compartment. It was a relic of a bygone era. It was said that on the origin of the Sangheili all those who wanted to be considered worthy had to assassinate an elder only wearing such armor. Not an easy task, as the armor was not easy to conceal. Chi’T Sotomee had even heard rumors that some keeps still maintained the barbaric assassination tradition. His keep had abandoned the old and useless traditions in favor of the Prestigious Covenant Principles. They had quickly risen to the top of the Covenant Hierarchy, but then; defeat after defeat in the hands of Rebellions, uprisings, and lately in the hands of those vermin; had thrown them off their throne. He blamed the demons above all for such shame.

It was then that one of the most traditional Keeps, the Vadam keep, had taken their place. Since his elders failed, Chi’T Sotomee had spent his entire life waiting for a chance to regain what was theirs. An ancient and traditional clan had no place in the New Covenant. The old tradition still held blasphemous elements that the Prophets chose to ignore due to the events at hand. But he would not let the Great Journey be compromised by such nonsense.

Chi’T Sotomee expected the summoning to be immediate, but after a while he understood he had a test of patience and devotion before him. He could barely hear the Prophets voice amongst the chanting. It was the Prophet of Regret, and his words were not kind. Inside he hoped and prayed that the Vadam keep was being demoted. On the outside he held his uncomfortable stance without flinching, not a sing of weakness or doubt to be found. He also chanted along only due to his faith, his words were not needed, his voice was irrelevant.

The prayers went on and on, and Chi’T realized that they had begun repeating. He set his doubts aside, they clouded his judgment and no such thing would be tolerated in this sacred chambers. Some of his muscles begun itching and he could feel the ornamental armor crushing his wrist. It was certainly not designed for combat. All of a sudden the chanting stopped. His pulse raced and he thanked by the Great Journey that the wait was over. Two Ministers came out of the Prophet’s Chamber and inspected him with disgust. He felt being inspected as if he was a traitor, as if his mission was to kill the Prophet. It was another test, only the pure, only the truth could walk into the Chamber. They moved around in a spherical chair, their long necks elongated to observe any miniscule detail.

Their big eyes opened and inspected everything. They didn’t however took their arms outside of the chair. They were sitting one next to the other on the same chair and they both operated the controls. Perhaps one maneuvered the chair while the other handled the communications with the rest of High Charity. Truth was Chi’T Sotomee didn’t know much about the San’Shyuum, most of the Covenant didn’t know much. He had only seen them a few times without their chairs. They had a low and narrow waist, and very short legs. They weren’t too strong and most adults were as high as a Kig Yar standing straight. Their skin was soft and musky as if they were covered with some kind of fungi. They had some thick hairs that came out of their back and their eyes. Had it not been for the Revelation they had, they would have been decimated long ago. They were chosen and revealed the Truth about salvation, meanwhile the Sangheili were engulfed in war amongst brothers. Chi’T blamed the old traditional ways for that.

“He seems worthy” one of the Ministers said. “So may the Gods show him his fate” the other one answered. “Let the Prophet’s word illuminate you and guide you to the Great Journey” they said in unison. The present Unggoy screamed in joy and jubilee, the Kig Yar showed much less enthusiasm and the San’Shyuum simply floated away in their chairs of three as if there was nothing more of relevance that conveyed them to stay. Chi’T Sotomee stoop up and felt the might of the Prophet even outside his chamber. His words could burn worlds, and his devotion made him one of the few who could speak with the sacred oracles.

The last steps were a revelation to Chi’T Sotomee. His future and that of his keep would be forever changed after the Prophet had spoken. He didn’t feel fear but restlessness for the things to come. As soon as he crossed the gate he was marveled by the sheer beauty of the Prophet’s Chambers. The walls shined as if they had just been cleaned, and the roof was ornamented with a beautiful scripture he could only assume it to be the Covenant Principles. Perfectly woven Covenant Glyphs hanged from the walls. They looked as if they were from ages long lost in time. And on the middle of the room there was a small pillar which emitted a blue glow, and suspended above it there was a small chunk of charred metal. Even form the distance Chi’T Sotomee recognized it as a piece of Forerunner structure and moved his gaze away from it. It was far too sacred for him to lay eyes on it.

“The time of the Covenant is upon us, and those worthy will join as one in the Great Journey” spoke a soft voice. Chi’T Sotomee had not seen the Prophet as he entered the room. He was atop his chair, on the far corner of the room in front of a main control station. Chi’T Sotomee dropped to his knees as he heard the voice. He feared it was too late and he had already been shamed. The beauty of the room and the Forerunner relic had led him to temptation. “It is your Faith that will save you Zealot, and if solid enough it shall deliver us all”. The Prophet had clearly seen his devotion as he looked away from the relic. Any other member of the Covenant, even a few San’Shyuum, would have stared at it, and maybe tried to touch it. “Rise, and let’s not delve in ceremony, tell me all about your feat”. Chi’T Sotomee felt weird leaving ceremonial salutes behind, but he could feel the Great Journey close, and he understood that time was not to be wasted. As he stood he took a humble pose for he did not want to resemble his fellow Sangheili. He wanted the Prophet to know he wasn’t like the rest.

The Prophet looked firmly at him, as if he was a young initiate awaiting a combat lesson, exited but not too sure what to expect. His chair was far larger than the others. It had a complete array of controls that were connected not only to High Charity, but also to the Fleet. To his private Fleet.

Chi’T Sotomee took a deep breath and proceeded to tell the Prophet of Regret how he had slain a Demon. As he told the story he kept certain details to himself, as they took honor out of the fight. He was commanding a ground detachment tasked with purging human settlements and protecting the spires. Three Banshees overflew the ground group in a strange formation, and Chi’T noticed something strange in their flight pattern. When the first Banshee dropped something he hadn’t hesitated and had already deployed his bubbleshied. The impact knocked him off his feet even through the shield; it was clear who they were. As he readied to give orders to attack them, one of the Banshees had already been damaged by plasma fire. It crashed near an unggoy mobile replenishment station. The pesky annoying creatures sucked on a protuberance to feed and replenished their fetid gas tanks in there. A disgusting place and not worthy of any fight. But if the Demon was still alive he would have the killing blow, no matter the place.

When he got there a few unggoys were shooting senselessly at the ruble and every now and then they were fired at. Chi’T Sotomee didn’t lose time and stepped over the Banshee’s remains. He pulled the Demon out of it and threw him into the ground. He wanted all to witness his victory. The Demon said a few words and took off his cracked helmet. It was the first time he saw one without its armor. It looked like any other human could have slain. His armor emitted a blip and it was clear that his shields were malfunctioning. He stood up, looked at Chi’T straight in the eyes, raised his fists to protect his chin and said a few more words. After the battle an unggoy named Zap Yip told him the Demon said something about them dancing. It made no sense whatsoever to Chi’T Sotomee, but the defying look was more than enough for him to know it was a worthy fight; thou not an even one. The Demon could barely move from the waist down and his blood was leaking even through his armor. Even without the fight he wouldn’t last long, he knew that and wanted Chi’T Sotomee to put him out of his misery.

Chi´T Sotomee felt up to the task but as soon as he engaged the Demon in hand to hand he realized that if the Demon hadn’t been injured he might not be telling the tale at all. Every time the Demon hit him he felt a pain he had never experienced before. Luckily for him the Demon was slow and didn’t connect too many punches. After a short but effective show, Chi’T was ready to take his life. When he approached the Demon with his ceremonial plasma wrist blade the Demon primed a plasma grenade and held it tight in his hand. Chi’T reacted immediately and cut off his hand. As it fell to the ground, Chi’T Sotomee took cover from the blast behind the Demon. Both of them were thrown a few meters back by the blast. After he reincorporated from the shock he turned the body only to find the burned lifeless face of the Demon, he mustered a few ceremonial words and performed a useless killing blow. The few unggoy that were present revered him as if he was a god, and despite the fake spectacle, he did feel like one.

The Prophet listened to his tale with interest and never noticed the small adjustments he had done to it. The Demon was in perfect shape after the crash, it had been a fair fight and the grenade had only injured the Demon, Chi’T Sotomee had taken his life. It was then that the Prophet asked a question he had not expected. With joy on his face he asked about the symbols on the Demon’s chest. Chi’T Sotomee named the symbols carefully, the human language was considered blasphemous by some. “029” he said. The Prophet turned to his controls and the smile vanished from his face, and in its place anger and frustration appeared. “Not the one” he said to himself and turned to look at the glyphs on the walls.

Chi’T Sotomee didn’t know if he had done something wrong. He felt shamed, but couldn’t explain why. He had succeeded but the look in the Prophet’s face had failure written all over it. He tried to say something, but all he could muster were a few prayers. Regret looked at him with disdain, and Chi’T couldn’t help thinking of this misfortune. He had failed; even with all his might he had failed his keep. He would soon join the Vadam keep in disgrace and shame.

“Fear not, for it is not your failure warrior” the Prophet said in a soft voice once again. He turned again towards Chi’T and sit straight. Despite being very feeble looking, he imposed a kind of respect that was hard to come by.

“I will task you with a far greater task that you can imagine” he said. Chi’T felt the adrenaline rush through his body. “We have found the final holy instrument that will take us in the Great Journey, and my fellow Prophets saw it wise to send the Vadam elder to secure this holy place.” The Prophet sounded cynical as he said the word wise. Chi’T couldn’t understand if he had just witnessed blasphemy coming from the mouth of one of the Hierarchs, but he couldn’t focus. He was much too excited for the Prophet’s words. “But they have been beaten by the vermin, our sacred instrument is now tainted by the humans touch, and they fight back with their Demon. The one and particular Demon” Chi’T knew who the Prophet was talking about, they told scary tales about it. A green Demon, who had the stench of death around him.

“I however believe that in order to defeat the Demons, we have to burn hell itself” the Prophet turned to the screens and Chi’T could see the world were a day ago he had slain the demon. “This was one of their homes, but I believe not the only one. Some of their ships flee the battle. There has to be another infectious world like this!” As he screamed the last phrase he smashed his delicate fingers against the controls. Chi’T Sotomee could feel his wrath and power.

“But my will is unyielding and unrelenting. I will eradicate those vermin. I will unleash the Unyielding Heirophant”. Chi’T could feel his feet trembling, the Heirophant had only been used once and only as a threat, it had never fired. Its presence had squashed any Unggoy’s rebellion ideas. It was the Covenant’s mobile fortress. Nothing could stop it, and it was said it could even take out the city of High Charity with a couple of attacks.

“And I want you, Chi’T Sotomee, to command it. I want you to carve your own name in the Wall of the Ninth Age of Reclamation!” the scream resonated through Chi’T Sotomee as his true purpose had just been revealed.

“I shall be worthy” Chi’T responded. He did a ceremonial salute and left the chamber.

“For your own sake you’d better be” Regret answered once he left the room.