Two Warriors
Chapter 1
The Arbiter felt a cool breeze as he passed through the foliage and into the open cliff area. It was dark; there was no light but that of the moon and the stars, but even then it felt faint. It took a while before the tall, saurian warrior found what he was looking for: a streak of light tore through the sky over Mount Kilimanjaro, crashing a few miles away. The earth trembled beneath the Arbiter's feet, which greatly alerted his allies, one of whom he could hear speak on the radio. "What the hell was that?" Sergeant Johnson asked in panic. "Our target," responded the Arbiter. Out of respect, the Arbiter had volunteered to help Sergeant Major Avery Johnson and his marines in their search for the Master Chief, arguably humanity's best soldier. Under cover of night, the Arbiter and the humans had stealthily walked through the jungles of Kenya in an effort to evade the Covenant forces that had settled in the area. It was dangerous—no, it was reckless—going out into the open like that. But retrieving the Master Chief was a crucial task. Even the Arbiter knew that. Sergeant Johnson and his marines approached the alien warrior, shortly after hearing his response on the radio. "He landed not too far from here," began the Arbiter. "Over there, by the hills. You can see the smoke." Sergeant Johnson nodded in acknowledgement, before turning to his men. "Alright marines, time to hoof it up!" He turned back to the Arbiter. "Arbiter, will you take point?" "No," responded the Arbiter. "The impact of the fall could not have possibly gone unnoticed by the Covenant scouts in the area. They will rally together and attempt to hunt us down before we can leave the jungle. I will scout the area ahead and look for the most secure path we can take. Be sure that you and your men find the demon before they do." Demon. The word had come out so naturally. It's what the Covenant called the Master Chief in their war with the humans. The fanatical beasts believed that the super soldier was a heretical monster that challenged their faith. The Arbiter looked down and winced. To think that I was loyal to such pathetic imbeciles. "Go now," the Arbiter continued as he looked back up at the human. "We have no time to waste." Sergeant Johnson nodded, and in no time at all, he and his men broke into a sprint and headed towards their destination. The Arbiter turned his elongated neck to gaze upon the mountain, and took a moment with himself. For years I have slain thousands of humans, destroyed their worlds. For years I have served a vile empire built on a web of lies... I can neither change my past nor repair what I have done. But I will make things right, one way or another. For the first time in a while, the Arbiter finally felt purpose. That moment, however, was abruptly interrupted by growls echoing from behind. The warrior turned away from the beautiful scene and began to walk back towards the jungle, towards the source of the growls. A faint sound of energy emanated from the Arbiter's armor, and suddenly, he disappeared from sight.
Arbiter Thel 'Vadam was once one of few Supreme Commanders in the Covenant army. He'd won many victories for his empire in the war against the humans and had brought great honor to his race. That was, however, until he allowed a Halo ring, a weapon of mass destruction on a galactic scale (believed by the Covenant to be a sacred relic left to them by the gods), to be destroyed by the humans. Thus he was given the rank of Arbiter, a role that required him to go on suicide missions that would help the Covenant in what they believed to be their ascension to godhood: "The Great Journey". These suicide missions that would bring him to his demise would allow him to restore his honor, in death. But the Arbiter succeeded in every mission and even managed to survive, something that surprised the San 'Shyuum. Even with his shame, the Arbiter's loyalty never wavered and his resolve remained true. Yet after all those years of service, after all he had done, he was rewarded...with betrayal. The San 'Shyuum, the leaders of the Covenant Empire, started a massacre that killed thousands of the Arbiter's race, the Sangheili, after realizing their "heretical tendencies". This betrayal initiated a great civil war that was eventually referred to as the Great Schism. Thousands of corpses were made, and blood was shed in every corner of their holy city. It was chaos. As terrible as the consequences of the war were, however, something inconceivable happened that the San 'Shyuum did not anticipate: after the Sangheili unearthed the terrible truth of the Covenant, after they learned that their entire religion was a lie, and that they'd been killing billions of humans and destroying hundreds of their worlds, all for nothing, they did something no one would expect; in an effort to bring down the treacherous Covenant once and for all, the Arbiter and the rest of the Sangheili allied themselves with their original enemies: the humans. No longer a symbol of shame, the Arbiter now rises as the leader of his people. They believe that he will bring justice to the Covenant and restore order in the galaxy. However in order for him to do that, he would need the help of the humans. The forced alliance between the two species, as shaky as it was, was the only hope for the survival of every sentient being in the galaxy.
With the sunlight back in the sky, it didn't take long for the Arbiter to find the humans. He returned from his scouting run, ready to report his discoveries when he found the Master Chief, awake and very much alive, surrounded by the marines. The Arbiter was a little surprised. He is barely injured, unscathed even… To this day the Sangheili was amazed by the durability of "Spartan" super soldiers such as the Master Chief; the human had fallen a distance of two kilometers and had crash-landed into the planet's surface, without so much as a scar or a broken bone. Fascinating. In an attempt to gain the Spartan's trust, the Arbiter uncloaked himself. This, however, alerted the Master Chief; the armored titan sprinted forward and snatched a pistol from a marine, heading straight for the Arbiter. "Chief, wait! The Arbiter's with us!" Johnson interjected. The Master Chief put the weapon up to the Arbiter's throat. The Arbiter stood still, unmoving. The Master Chief remained fixated on the Sangheili, keeping his pistol at point blank aim. "Come on now, we've got enough to worry about without you two trying to kill each other!" Johnson continued. "Were it so easy," said the Arbiter in a very serene, yet certain tone. Sergeant Johnson couldn't tell what that meant; was the Arbiter implying that it wouldn't be easy for the two to trust one another, or that it wouldn't be easy for either of them to kill the other. Whatever the case, he couldn't have two of the best soldiers on humanity's side in strife with one another. He stepped forward and gave the Spartan a glance. The Master Chief let go, but his gaze remained fixed. The Arbiter, after returning an ominous glare, turned away and started walking towards the path he came from. "We must go. The Brutes have our scent." The Arbiter had spotted hundreds of Covenant forces around the area. The only way past them all was a somewhat secure path by the water, but even then they'd have to be wary of patrol teams. The Arbiter felt slightly unsettled having to rely on the Master Chief. Having the barrel of the human's pistol up against his throat didn't really help his uncertainty about the human at all; he couldn't let his guard down. Not around him, not after that. Not until he could find a way to prove that he could be trusted. After all, if the humans and the Sangheili were to succeed in the war against the Covenant, the two species would need to learn to trust one another. The Arbiter knew that truth, but did the Master Chief? He did not know. What he did know, however, was that the fate of the galaxy was at stake, and that he would do whatever it took to make things right again.