Chapter One
Location: Fatum Keep, Eur Region, Sanghelios
Date: March 29th, 2510 (Human Calendar)

Night had fallen on the Eur Lake, the twin moons, Suban and Qikost, danced along the surface of the water as the young warrior Nessus watched quietly outside, insects chirping outside had kept him awake, his hatch day had been splendid and yet, his mind was restless.

Nessus was given an Arum for his 10th Hatch day and he was quietly at work on the puzzle sphere, something that taught patients to warriors like himself, yet he couldn't quite get it.

He huffed quietly, clicking his mandibles together as he breathed slowly, thinking of his next move with the puzzle, fingers dug into the slots to move the pieces in place, he almost had it, Nessus could feel it in his bones.

Soon, the pieces aligned, the puzzle was solved and Nessus' eyes grew wide with excitement as he tipped the ball to the side and shook it, a small light blue sphere flopped into his open palm, an aquamarine, and one that shone with brilliance in his own blue eyes.

Without warning however, his mother opened the door and glared at her son, "I told you to get some rest a few cycles ago." She said. Her arms crossed.

Nessus moved his mandibles into a frown and held up the gemstone for his mother to see, to which she nodded approvingly, "I am proud my son, but rest right now is more important, get some sleep before I have to scold you." She said with a soft growl.

He nodded and sighed with a soft smile, looking at the pretty gemstone as he lay down in bed, he then placed the stone under the pillow before looking back outside, a few drop ships flew above the Keep as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Nessus was woken up by his mother calling him downstairs, getting up from his bed, he checked under the pillow and found the gemstone was gone, in a panic, he ran downstairs, "Mother, my gemstone is-" He started to say before seeing a string in his mother's hand, at the end of it was the gemstone, attached to a piece of metal, a necklace.

Nessus smiled and took it in his hands and rubbed at the stone in between his fingers before looking at his mother, "Thank you." He simply said before giving her a brief hug, the smell of colo meat filled the air of the cabin they lived in, a favorite of Nessus' as he sat down at the table with his mother.

His mother looked at her son with a proud smile, happy that he solved an Arum rather quickly; it showed he had promise and brought her great honor. The two of them ate relatively quietly as the suns were just hanging above the keep, shadows casting across the dining room as Nessus chewed on his few.

Outside were the sound of the other younglings about to gather for training down in the Keeps courtyard, Nessus finished his meal and got up from the dinner table and was about to head for the door when his mother stopped him.

"Forgetting something little one?" She said, hands on her hips as she stared at Nessus. He ran back up to her and hugged her tight before heading outside to join the others.

Nessus looked around like he always did at the array of stone structures that ran down the hill towards the lake, each building had its own touch as each family added a coat of arms to represent their family lineage, something Nessus' home had as well, despite the different coat of arms, they all remained as Fatum's.

Further down the hill was the training ground, a fairly large circular building made from old parts of a Covenant battleship, the building itself looked like a large beetle; its carapace shone bright purple in the suns light.

Inside were the other warrior children, hard at work to train with one another, sticks in hand as they swung and batted at each other, Nessus soon grabbed his own training stick and joined a few of the others in combat.

Nessus always excelled at hand to hand combat, something he himself grew bored of since no other warrior there could quite match him, some came close while others resorted to cowardly tactics such as multiple fighters at once, but Nessus managed to take them on anyways, despite the brutal loss, he got back up and vowed to improve.

A few of those children in question walked towards him, heads held high in overconfidence as Nessus looked back at them, making a low growl towards them as a warning.

"My my, little Nessus is trying to act tough once again!" Said one of the Sangheili, his name was Re'ist and he was taller than the other children in the training room, but Nessus stood tall, unflinching towards his opponent.

"What do you want this time Re'ist?" Nessus said with another growl, eyes darting towards the other children as they moved beside him, preparing for another ambush.

"Oh nothing, I just saw that you have a little trinket that I fancy and wish to take from you, a little puny thing like you doesn't deserve a prize like that!" He said, cracking his knuckles, Nessus stood defensively now as he grasped at his gemstone around his neck, he wasn't going to let any of them have it.

Just like he thought, the two Sangheili beside him charged right at him, attempting to grab at his arms while Re'ist went for the kick towards his stomach.

Nessus dodged the first blow as he grabbed the Sangheili's arm to his right and swung him into Re'ist with a load grunt from him.

Re'ist recovered quickly and made a low hiss towards Nessus before charging, the second warrior charged as well as he ducked under Re'ist and grabbed him by the hip before lifting him up and slamming his head into the deck plate with a load thud.

Re'ists friend stopped just short of hitting Nessus when he looked down at his friend who lay motionless on the floor, eyes glazed over as Nessus panted and made a low growl.

An adult walked over to see what the commotion was, only to find the dead Sangheili lying on the floor, Nessus soon realized what he had done and backed away slowly and looking at the instructor, who gave him a reassuring smile, he had done well, but Nessus had felt otherwise…