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The Spirits of Covenant Past-and Future dreams
(Hey, I'm in a movie!) The Covenant forces loyal to the Prophet of Truth have overrun all of Earth. The Arbiter and his fellow Elites have come to Earth to bring the Elites unaware of the events on Delta Halo to his side, and to defeat Truth and all the Brutes. The combined Human and Covenant Rebel support is barely enough to stem the juggernaut of Truth?s war machine as it spreads across the face of the Earth, bringing the terrible event of activation closer and closer within reach, with millions still unaware of the truth behind it all.

It is late at night, the moon is high and the stars are out. A gentle, sleepy music plays throughout the scene. The Arbiter lies down to sleep on a heap of leaves and twigs on a desert plain in Africa, within sight of the Artifact?s excavation site. He feels crushed, hopeless. Many of his Elite brethren do not know of the rift in the heart of the Covenant, and continue to fight as allies of the Brutes and Jackals. Several attempts to communicate with them have been jammed, and the substantial Brute and Jackal forces that accompany them make conversion even harder. The tide is turning against the Prophet of Truth, nevertheless, but it turns slowly-and time is running out.

The Arbiter turns around and faces Half-Jaw and his fellow Spec-Ops Elites. There is one sentry next to a small fire, and the others are lying down on battered cushions or heaps of plant matter, tossing and turning as they try to fall asleep. Everyone in the camp is in full battle armor, even while asleep, removing only their helmets. They have precious little sleep to get, and another great battle to fight at dawn. The Arbiter lays his hand on his helmet, and turns to look at it.

The scene now flashes back to the past- back to him meeting the Prophets of Truth and Mercy in the Mausoleum, accepting the ornate armor and helmet of the Arbiter, and the perilous and suicidal tasks that he was to undertake. He remembers well what he said about his predecessors when he entered the Mausoleum-?Even on my knees I do not belong amongst them?.

The flashback ends, and the Arbiter says, ?Yes, even on my knees I do not belong amongst them?he(Mercy) told me that the council would yet have my corpse. But my predecessors have always died while succeeding in their task. I?am the first and only one to fail.?

The Arbiter looks up at the stars, and shuts his eyes. Exhaustion and dejection overcome him quickly. As he falls asleep, the music stops and we get to see inside the Arbiter?s mind- from a third-person perspective.

The Arbiter opens his eyes to the sound of Marty?s double E?s. He turns around uneasily, and gets up when he realizes that he?s lying on an unfamiliar black slab of stone, reminiscent of a coffin or a grave. His helmet isn?t on the ground-as he reaches up to scratch his head in wonder, he realizes that he has it on. He raises his eyes slightly, and starts violently. The campsite has vanished, and there is no trace of it whatsoever. He feels his thigh, searching for his plasma saber. It?s gone. He?s alone, and unarmed, in the middle of the wilderness.

The moon and stars shine bright, casting the empty stretch of African plain in glorious white light. As the Arbiter looks around into the distance, trying to see any signs of other members of his unit, the light changes subtly. Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles once. The Arbiter looks at the sky, and is astounded to see that it has clouded over in mere seconds, leaving only a small gap in the clouds for the moon. Rain falls all around, and the ground magically turns into water. The Arbiter is in a moonlit island in the midst of a dark, rainy ocean. Before the Arbiter can make any sense of what?s going on, a number of blurred shapes emerge in the darkness, accompanied by gurgling, hissing and screeches- Flood Combat and Carrier forms.

The Arbiter immediately hunches over and balls up his fists to fight the beasts hand-to-hand. As soon as he does so, white light erupts all around the moonlight patch he stands on, and the grotesque flood forms, lit in flashes of light, turn back into marines and elites. Guttural gurgles and bloodcurdling screeches turn into human and elite voices, crying out in anguish.
?Helllp meeeee!?
?Aah?auuugh!!!?
?No?we don?t deserve this?don?t?urrrrrgh!?
?We want to be free?from this?pain!!?
?No more, no more!?
?Please, God, help me, help me, ahh?help mee!?
?Save us, somebody save us?we don?t want any of this?(sobs)?


The Arbiter is appalled and horrified by their misery-but before he can stop gaping, the light-and the flood forms vanish. He is now in a small pool of moonlight, in the midst of absolute darkness. He hyperventilates, feeling genuine fear and terror.

A familiar voice says, ?Why are you afraid of the dark, when you are part of the light??
The Arbiter turns around, and is surprised to see Tartarus come out of the blackness, his silvery-white fur gleaming in the moonlight.
The Arbiter says, uncertainly, ?Tartarus??
Another voice says, ?I was a fool. I brought death and suffering upon my followers and myself when I needed to live, to spread the truth to one and all. It was all because of my blind love for power and glory. I stand rightly punished for all my sins.?

It is the Heretic Leader, and he seems nothing like the cocky slanderer and megalomaniac seen on the Threshold facility.
The Arbiter says, ?You too.?
The Prophets of Mercy and Regret appear from the darkness, fighting the tentacles holding them. Regret says, ?I was blind to the truth, blind to the light?now, I??

An almost sob-like grunt is heard from the darkness, the tentacles drag the two Prophets in before they can speak further.

Tartarus says, ?Yes, that is a fate that we all deserve. Mark their fate, Arbiter. You are the only one who can stop the innocent from meeting it.?
The Arbiter says, ?You?ve seen the light?you?ve been on the Great Journey?? Tartarus shakes his head. ?The Great Journey is closed to us-as yet. We can?t walk the path until you and John show all the way.?
Arby says, ?John?the Demon??
The Heretic Leader says, ?He is no demon. He is the one half of our salvation-our way to go on the true Great Journey. You are the other. Together, you and him stand in the way of darkness, evil and suffering. The innocents must not suffer-like the ones you have seen.? Arby shudders. He slowly says, ?And all that I saw?I can prevent it??
Mercy, reemerging from the darkness, says, ?Yes.?

Tartarus walks up to the Arbiter and says, ?Come with me, Arbiter. There is much to show you.?
Tartarus places his arm on the Arbiter?s shoulder and all goes white. The Arbiter blinks, and then stares around. He sees a garden with a great fountain in the center, with lush grass and many, many great trees, teeming with children and happy folk- all of them Brutes.
Tartarus says, ?This is the dream I had, as Chieftain.?

Brute children bounce and play around all over, and one of them hears a call from its father and rushes over. The father of the Brute child is a huge Brute major, and he is in military garb. He lifts his child high up and cuddles it lovingly. The Arbiter shakes his head slowly, his little eyes going wide.

Tartarus grunts. ?Surprised??
The Arbiter slowly says, ?I?we all never credited you- your people with??
Tartarus says, ?Your pride, and your prejudice against us, you must overcome?you have to overcome. There is no other path. I have learned that in death, and you must do so in life.?

The scene changes, abruptly, with many characters fading in and out like mirages. Instead of a garden full of brutes, the garden seen is full of different species-Humans, Elites, Brutes, Jackals, Grunts, et al. All of them are walking about, talking, laughing. Children of different species play rough-and-tumble games in the grass, and a Grunt walking along the flagstones greets a human couple-something normally unthinkable.

Tartarus goes on. ?No prejudice, no caste, no boundaries.?

The Prophet of Mercy materializes, with Gravemind?s tentacle holding on to him. ?Yes. We shall all be together. None of them shall be left behind.?

Gravemind?s voice comes out of the black void behind Mercy. ?We exist together now. Two corpses in one grave.?

Mercy says, ?I shall meet my fate now?bless you, Arbiter.?
The Arbiter says, ?Noble Prophet!? It is too late. Mercy is sucked back into the void. The Arbiter shakes his head slowly, and turns to the teeming city in front of him.

Tartarus says, ?I have shown you what I can. Now he must show you his part.?

The Heretic Leader materializes next to the Arbiter, and touches his shoulder. The scene goes white again, and the Arbiter finds himself in what looks like a massive version of the Cruiser control room. He sees a huge crowd of Grunts and Elites assembled in the room, with a very different Heretic Leader standing on the raised platform in the center and preaching to them all. The Heretic Leader on the platform is in garish gold and silver armor, in a design not unlike those used by Elite Councilors.

The ?real? Heretic Leader, standing beside the Arbiter, says, ?Now you see my dream. I dreamt of power, of control. I was sickened of the system, sickened of the prophets. I wanted to use the oracle so that?all might follow me, set up a new Covenant.?

The Arbiter says, ?I remember your speeches. You openly declared that the Prophets were false??

The Heretic Leader finishes his sentence. ??and in doing so I appeared as a foul blasphemer, yet another slanderous fool who strayed from the path for his own purposes, serving only to spread the seeds of discord within the Covenant. My lack of wisdom was the downfall of myself, the downfall of my men?and it might yet be the downfall of the Covenant. I sought salvation for myself and myself alone-and look what I wrought! So great was the magnitude of my folly, Arbiter! How I wish I had stayed my hand when the Oracle came down to you! It is too late?I cannot change the past, as much as I wish.?

The scene changes to that of the Threshold facility, where several Elite Combat forms stand behind a flickering barrier of white flame. As the Arbiter approaches, they all turn back to their previous selves, and scream out-cursing the Heretic Leader and pleading with the Arbiter.
?He brought us to this fate, the fool!?
?Urrrgh?Arbiter, you alone can save us!?
?Forgive us for straying from the path?but do not let others meet our fate!?
?You scum?I now pay the price for meeting you!?
?Arbiter?please help us??
?Arbiter, see that no one meets our fate??
The Heretic Elites are unmarked, physically, but are in great pain. They reach out to the Arbiter as they cry for help, and point accusing fingers at the Heretic Leader.

The Heretic Leader turns to the Arbiter and says, ?It is their fate I deserve, my friend. Death at your hands was?merciful.?

The scene shifts again. Tartarus, the Heretic Leader and the Arbiter now stand in the Covenant garden-with all races walking, laughing and playing in beautiful, blooming light. The three of them are standing in some sort of barrier of light, which separates the city full of life from the stormy, wet gloom of a wasteland, inhabited by flood victims.

Covenant, Heretics, and Marines alike are there. The Arbiter steps forward, and looks between the living, laughing world and the miserable, dead world. He looks at the faces of the flood victims, who seem to take a small bit of pleasure in his appearance-that he may bring them out of their doomed existence. He recognizes Jacob Keyes, and steps forward. The barrier that separates the flood world from the living world seems to be pushed back.

The Arbiter looks around, surprised. Tartarus explains, ?You are part of the light. You make what is in the light possible, and you keep back all that is in the darkness.? The Arbiter bows to Jacob Keyes, who salutes him, briefly, before he is racked by pain yet again.

The Arbiter turns to Tartarus. ? I have seen what I must do?how must I go about doing this??

The Prophet of Mercy reappears again. ?The one quality I was named after, but which I lack. Mercy. True mercy.?

Tartarus turns to the Arbiter. ?Do you see that mark on your chest, Arbiter? Who was the one who put it there??

The Arbiter looks up. ?You. You were the one who branded me.?
Tartarus says, ?So I was. That mark?it is my shame, not yours. Forgive me.?
Tartarus kneels before the Arbiter, who is quite surprised, and uncertain how to return the compliment. He hesitates for a moment, before saying, ?I forgive you. I see the fault of the Sangheili-we oppressed you needlessly, and without cause. I bow before you. Forgive us for our ego.?

As the Arbiter bows, Tartarus says, ?Arise. You have learnt a great lesson.?
Mercy says, ?Mercy. Mercy is always more powerful than revenge. Show mercy to those whom you meet, those who are deluded. They shall join you.?
The Heretic Leader says, ?Show them the truth, for the sake of showing the truth, for the sake of good, and of true freedom. Strive not for power or glory, and you shall succeed.?

Regret appears, and says, ?As you continue on your journey, you shall see deeper into yourself, understand more of truth and delusion. Bear in mind what we have shown you, bear in mind your power, and you shall not fail. Darkness shall not consume the light.?

Mercy says, ?Remember the garden, Arbiter. This is the way it began, and this is the way it shall be. All are equal. The salvation of one lies in the salvation of all. If all are not saved, none are saved.?

The Arbiter says, ?I shall bear all this in mind. I shall do all that is needed. I shall!?

A vision appears in the barrier. The Master Chief stands at the edge of the precipice near the artifact, and an army of SPARTANS materializes behind him. They are the dead SPARTANS, those who lost their lives fighting the covenant. Regret says, ?Their King knows that they are with him, ever as much. He shall bring forth the greatest truth, and you shall create the law to bind us all.?
Mercy says, ?Do you take to your task, Arbiter??
The Arbiter says, ?Your Arbiter shall do all that is needed, Holy One.?
Mercy says, ?Bless you, Arbiter.?
Tartarus, The Heretic Leader, and Regret say, together, ?Bless you, Arbiter??

The subdued music turns high, triumphant. Regret, Mercy, HL and Tartarus all flare white and disappear into a sheet of pure white flame, which fills the whole screen.

The Arbiter wakes up-for real this time, and he shields his eyes from the glare of the morning sun. Half-Jaw and his men are getting up. The Arbiter stands and puts on his helmet decisively. He looks proudly upon his men, while the Halo 3 trailer fanfare plays on. The Arbiter calls out, "Men!"

Half-Jaw and his men turn to face the Arbiter.
The Arbiter announces, "It is time."
End of scene.

God bless us -- every one. Memories of Christmas past, present and future flood into my mind.
- cybrfrk
(UrsusArctos on 07-26-06 16:34 UTC, permalink)



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