1100 hours, January 17th, 2543
Private Ministerial Chamber, Ministry of Discovery, High Charity

High Charity wasn't the same it had once been.

Discovery somberly looked out the window of the highest dome of the Ministry of Discovery's spire. There was little traffic through the air, and what little there was, was of a military nature. Xytan's grip over the Covenant was tightening by the day, as any source of resistance within High Charity was ruthlessly hunted down and eliminated by the enforcers of the new regent.

The ministries had been taken one after the other. Their gilded halls and ancient data-vaults seized in the middle of the night by Sangheili Special Ops, with the San'shyuum inside coerced under threat to their families.

Discovery tried to push out the sound made by the children of those Ministers that had tried to destroy caches of information before Xytan could seize them, as well as those of lesser San'shyuum that had tried to sabotage equipment meant for Xytan's new army. They combined with the sounds of crying parents as their children were taken away as hostages into something that would haunt Discovery's dreams.

Rumour amongst those San'Shyuum with a measure of freedom to roam High Charity, was that Xytan was having them raised to be loyal to him, and to him alone. They were allowed to send out messages, and their life signs were visible to the parents.

The San'Shyuum had gone from the leaders of the Covenant to living inside a vast golden cage the size of a city. Xytan could now kill their entire species with a flick of a switch, and the hiss of an airlock.

The Ministries were now under Xytan's firm control. A new Sangheili Emergency Conclave having been established to oversee all the Ministries. It had been stacked with the most aggressive, violent, and loyal Sangheili that Xytan could find. All of whom were convinced that they were divinely ordained to raise the Sangheili to the supreme leaders of the galaxy. Voices of dissent disappeared, deported to be used as forced labour for Xytan's war machine.

Discovery had tried to reach out beyond High Charity. To find those who could raise some banner of rebellion against the Usurper. But there had been no response. Most Ministries holdings outside of High Charity had already chosen new leaders, yet few dared to openly move against High Charity, with most San'shyuum fearing for the lives of their families. And those few who were willing to risk the lives of their families were being ruthlessly attacked by Xytan's fleets to avoid them becoming a rallying point of resistance.

Discovery was almost impressed by the way Xytan had so firmly seized control of the heart of the Covenant. The San'Shyuum as a species prided itself on political machinations and scheming. And while they might plot and scheme for the restoration of the Covenant to the way it was before Xytan's takeover. Few would risk doing so at the expense of their children.

There was a knock at the door, and a Sangheili in silver armour stepped through the door. One of Xytan's Enforcers, and Discovery's glorified jailor. It was another way Xytan sought to leave his mark. Ordering that none who serve him wear gold, and instead wear silver. Those who wished to gain the good graces of the Regent-Emperor had discarded any gold jewellery and attire, replacing it with Xytan's preferred colour.

The Jailor looked at Discovery with some mixture of contempt and pity. "The Emperor-Regent is expecting you, Prophet. He has a need for your services." The voice of the Sangheili was respectful, if cold and emotionless.

Discovery looked at his current design, a special gauntlet he was creating for Xytan's warriors, which involved several forbidden technologies he now had access to. Being able to freely create and experiment was one of the few joys Discoveries life still had left. A reminder of the time before he'd helped a tyrant assume control over the Covenant.

Discovery climbed onto his gravity-throne and nodded slowly at his jailor. "I have finished my design. I am ready to head for the throne room."

-

The Covenant High Council, once the heart of Covenant politics and rule, had become a palace for the new Emperor-Regent. Where he and his advisors and closest followers planned the new future of the Covenant.

A new statue had been put up near the entrance. It showed a Sangheili standing proudly against an unseen foe, cowering San'Shyuum, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanae, Yanme'e, and a dozen other minor species, all under the protective aegis of the Sangheili. It was a simple way to remind the people of High Charity about the new order. One where the San'Shyuum were only required to divine the higher mysteries of the faith, and where the Sangheili reigned supreme.

Discovery was led past a long avenue leading towards the gilded gates. On the sides were rotting corpses surrounded by invisible energy fields to let the corpses rot without the stench spreading disease. Discovery counted how many new bodies there were. There had been few executions this day. Just a hundred. The fact most were Kig-Yar made Discovery suspect that a criminal syndicate in the lower levels had been destroyed.

Xytan's reign was one of brutality and the complete destruction of everything the Covenant stood for. The Sangheili seemed to want nothing less than to completely reform society in his own way. A society with the singular goal of putting the galaxy under a yoke. There was no faith, no holy splendour, only soul-consuming militarism and an unspoken desire for subjugation.

As he passed through the gates of the former Council Chambers, Discovery nearly growled in anger when he saw that Xytan had reformed the Honour Guard, and put them to work guarding the chamber where the Covenant High Council had once gathered. The sight sickened Discovery. The Honour Guard had been an organisation free of political influence and loyalties, dedicated purely to defending the holiest of holies. Nothing Xytan touched wasn't twisted in his image.

Discovery passed a group of Fleetmasters that emerged from the throne room, noting they each seemed to be moving with barely concealed anger and rage, and wondered which Warlord or independent world was going to feel Xytan's wrath next.

The High Council chambers that had once held the highest levels of the Covenant, the leaders that had led them through three thousand years of history, was now little more than a throne room to a tyrant. All that remained of the many podiums and elaborate seats of the High Council, was a massive wood table at the centre of the room, inside of which a holographic projector had been installed. Xytan's throne room also functioned as a war room.

But as of now, the room was empty except for Xytan, who was calmly walking around the central table, drinking what looked like wine from a mug. "You can leave, Major," Xytan said, not taking his eyes off the holographic projection of Covenant space.

Discovery heard the door close behind him, leaving him alone with Xytan. The 'Imperial Regent' turned around. "I tasked you with creating useful new technologies, and I have not heard of results. Explain yourself."

Discovery winced. "I am afraid I discovered a problem when trying to create improved plasma weaponry using the technology of the Turians. There is no source of the 'Élement Zero' they use in Covenant Space. None in any archives I have searched. "

Xytan paused. "But you do have designs for Eezo-enhanced plasma weaponry?"

Discovery slowly nodded, unsure of what would happen next.

"The ancient manuscripts of Sangheilios speak of a material used in ancient times. Before we discovered slipspace. Supposedly there was but a single deposit in the entire Sangheili empire of old. An ancient Forerunner temple that stored a supply of this. I believe all of this material was harvested from this part of the galaxy long ago." Xytan turned around. "No matter. Keep designing your new weaponry. We will continue searching for Eezo, and if necessary, take it from our enemies."

Xytan tapped the wooden table. "There is another matter that I wish to speak to you over. Your scout ship. The one that departed your private dock, and which found the Singing Insects that Ministress Conversion hoarded. What is its objective?"

"How did you find out about that ship, Imperial Regent?" Discovery tried not to betray any emotions.

Xytan tilted his head at Discovery. "I threatened to flay the children of one of your assistants. One who helped install the cloaking system."

Discovery made a quick mental note to start killing those members of his Ministry who knew about all his secret deposits of illegal technology and have them moved. He wanted to keep those up his sleeves for the time being.

"It… is a ship I sent to chart a stable slipspace route to Citadel Space."

Xytan clacked a mandible in surprise. "It departed before word of the war with the Citadel had arrived in High Charity. That means you knew about them beforehand." Xytan sounded utterly convinced of the fact.

"If you had not realized that already, I doubt I would be here today, Lord Regent," Discovery said. "Yes. My forces engaged with the Humans upon a world they call New Ghent."

"One with Forerunner ruins," Xytan stated.

"I see you found out about that as well," Discovery said bitterly.

Xytan splayed his mandibles. "No. You just confirmed it."

Discovery kicked himself internally, cursing the slip. Now he would have to be even more careful when dealing with the Imperial Regent. He decided to come clean, for the most part.

"My forces were driven away, and only the captain of that force survived. A Vado 'Mavamee. He commands my scout ship. But it will take years before he reaches Citadel Space. The Slipspace Routes out of the galactic arm are very unstable. And the journey is long."

"Mavamee?" Xytan said. "Their Keep was to help assemble the Hammer of Faith above Zhoist. It was to be my new flagship. Their construction priests and assembly rites were excellent. The last male of their line lives then?"

Discovery nodded and continued. "He and his crew will be in stasis now as they cross the void between the galactic arms. He knows nought of what has transpired in the Covenant since then."
An idea started to form in Discovery's head. He could bargain using Vado and his mission to Citadel Space. Perhaps get more leeway in his research if Vado was able to bring back satisfying results.

Xytan nodded. "Good. Keep them in the dark. Tell them nothing about what happened to the Covenant during their sleep. I would not have it interfere with their journey. When they arrive at Citadel Space, I will personally take control of their mission. I have potential allies within Citadel Space whom I would contact myself."

"Allies, Imperial Regent?"

"It is a race called the Quarians. I acquired a leading member of their species from Kig-Yar slavers. They are a nomadic spacefaring species perpetually on the brink of extinction, and who require suits just to survive. Their story is fascinating. They were driven off their homeworld by unshackled Machine Intelligence."

Discovery gasped in horror. A rogue machine intelligence was one of the most feared things in the Covenant. Worlds had been burned for the mere suggestion that one of those abominable intelligences was freely wandering the world. "They did not heed the warnings? The stories of Mendicant Bias and its treachery?"

"They know not of the gods, Discovery. And they suffered in the absence of the Didact's warnings. I believe that these Quarians would prove willing to join this new Covenant we are creating, in exchange for aid in destroying the machine intelligences that drove them from their homeworld. As well as rewriting their biologies to replace their symbiotic immune system."

Discovery groaned at the thought of all the paperwork involved with such a thing. "Lord Regent. Is that allowed? To use the divine machines of the Ministry of Preparation requires dispensation from both the courts, as well as the bureaucracy. It is no small thing to ask."

"The Sangheili Emergency Conclave will have new Ministers assigned to the Ministry of Preparation, and they will vote in a majority to allow this," Xytan said. "I have also begun assembling a new conclave of scholars to function as a new judiciary."

I guess not even Xytan the Usurper wants to look like he is completely flaunting the law. Discovery thought bitterly. It would take decades or centuries to undo the damage Xytan was doing to the Covenant's institutions.

Xytan sighed. "The Covenant is fractious. Divided. Its power spread through a hundred ministries, guilds, political alliances, and local warlords. It needs to be reforged into a cohesive whole. One that can let us fully focus on finding the Sacred Rings, without falling into civil war every century. It needed someone to bring war and conflict. To destroy the weak and make the strong rise." Xytan shook his head like a disappointed father. "You would not understand."

Xytan walked around the great table of his war room, armoured glove softly tracing the exquisitely carved wood. "I have examined the battles with the Humans and their allies. I need your Ministry to create new technologies for the new armies I am training." Xytan turned around, sliding a holographic projector forward over the table. It showed a chemical composition. Discovery glanced at it and winced. Fluorinating agents were some of the few chemicals that he did not like to work with.

"A chemical weapon, my lord? Are our current rebreathers not sufficient?" He asked slowly, trying to peel away as much information from Xytan as possible.

"That is a chemical weapon deployed by the 'Batarians' and according to my scouts, even the humans at times. My discovery temples tell me that is a fluorine-based chemical weapon. One that melts flew from bone and leaves its victims little more than molten flesh and charred bones. I need full environment armour for all my warriors. From Unggoy to Sangheili."

"Even the Unggoy, Lord Regent?"

"I spend warriors, Discovery. I do not waste them. If my warriors are not protected from gasses like this, the Coalition will use them to destroy most of our forces." Xytan sounded angry.

Discovery waited for a moment. Then spoke up. "Lord Regent. What will happen to the Covenant? You said you were taking control to safeguard the Covenant, but retreated within Sangheili space while our empire burns around us." Discovery thought appealing to Xytan's dreams of grandeur would be the best way to get him to talk.

Xytan raised an eyebrow, carefully appraising the San'Shyuum, then clacked his two left mandibles and began speaking. "The Covenant is old and corrupt. Its armies are hidebound by ancient tradition and feudal structures. I will let the Covenant burn, while I forge the greatest army the galaxy has ever seen. When the time comes, I will unleash it." Xytan waved at the hologram over the war room's central table.

The great map showed an overview of Covenant space, with small markers for the reported invasions or attacks on Covenant worlds by the Coalition. There had to be over a hundred warlords marked upon the map, and Discovery cursed inwardly at the sight. While Xytan was consolidating, the Covenant was falling into unrelenting barbarism between the many warlords that sprung up.

"I see, Lord Regent. But what about the Coalition?"

"What about them?" Xytan said. He sounded amused by Discovery's lack of knowledge on matters of war. "They would have to push through the entirety of Jiralhanae space before they can even begin to think about approaching the fringes of my realm. I would not even send my own fleet there until they have stopped using atomics on each other's worlds for the sheer thrill of it. By the time the Coalition has ground its way through half the Jiralhanae, I will have consolidated control over all Sangheili, Lekgolo, Yanme'e and Unggoy worlds. And my wealth will bring the Kig-Yar into my service. And when my forces travel into Citadel space using the path your scout ship created, the tensions between the humans and their allies will come to a head."

Apparently noting his apprehension, Xytan slightly leaned forward. "Discovery. You want the Covenant to thrive. Do you not?" Xytan asked. "It is why you still wish to support me, even though Ministress Conversion is still hanging on a spike. You are a coward who is afraid of the Covenant falling, and his species losing protection."

Discovery sighed at the way Xytan read him like an open book. "You are right. Lord Regent. You have destroyed the unity of the Covenant and doomed us to perhaps a millennium of civil war unless you put it back together and reforge it." Discovery hated every last word of what he said. "And you have my species held hostage."

Xytan smiled. "Then matters are simple. Are they not? You provide me with technology, cry yourself to sleep, and wake up to continue working for me. And I will reforge the Covenant into the mightiest empire seen since the time of the Forerunners."

"Why?" Discovery blurted out. "You were always a paragon of the Covenant. The greatest leader we have seen in a thousand years. Why did you tear apart the Covenant?" Discovery found his voice to be shrill. "You could have taken power and seized the whole Covenant. But you are happy to let it all burn except your own little realm! Why would you do this!?"

Xytan turned around, looking every bit as imposing as he had always been, and Discovery wondered if he had finally gone too far. That Xytan was finally going to kill him.

But instead of killing him, Xytan walked up to his throne and sat down. "Let me tell you a story, Discovery. It should make things clear."

"When I was young, my life was consumed by pain," Xytan said. "Growing pains you see? I had them until I became an adult. Pains the likes of which I doubt you could imagine." Xytan stared directly into Discovery's eyes, and the Prophet looked back into his. And in the depths of those dark cold eyes, the San'shyuum thought he could see something approaching emotion.

"Do you know what it feels like, to have your bones and muscles try to destroy each other? The feeling of tendons and muscles fraying as your bones grow far too fast. Bones cracking as muscles grow too tightly around them. The nausea of growing so fast, I did not learn my balance until I was six." Xytan leaned into his throne, reaching for a cup carved from the skull of a human demon. He drank deeply from the blue liquid inside, savouring the moment by clicking his mandibles in satisfaction.

"I was discarded when I reached my year of maturity. Discarded because I wasn't physically perfect, and considered 'deviant' like the other failures and runts that year." Xytan said.

"Dragged out of my bed in the middle of the night, and brought to a great lightless abyss beneath the dungeons of the Wattinree keep. A fate reserved for all whose blood had failed to produce a perfect warrior. From the stillborn to youths who had failed one of the many trials. All children of the Kaidon."

"But you are the largest Sangheili ever. How were you considered a deviant?" Discovery asked, utterly taken aback by the confession.

"It took many years before I finished growing, and my body reached this state. And while I was, I was a lanky and ill-kempt Sangheili. More skin and bones than muscles. Although I was strong, yes. I had not been given the feeding I eventually needed to grow the physique I was blessed with, to its full potential." As if on queue, an Unggoy approached carrying a great silver platter, upon which a small headless bird lay. It had been plucked, stuffed, and tied up with strings of intestines that made it difficult to make out what the creature was.

Discovery was certain he had not seen the delicacy before. He had tasted every piece of fowl and poultry the Covenant could provide. "Forgive me. But what is that creature?" Discovery asked. He had never see

"It is called a 'Shik-En' according to the Kig-Yar that acquired the creatures. It is livestock the humans on a frontier world tended to before their destruction. Fascinating creatures. They can apparently lay an egg each day fertilized or not. Remarkable creatures." Xytan grabbed the roasted bird with one hand and shoved it between his mandibles. With an exertion of force and grinding mandibles, Xytan crushed the bones of the creature, held his head back so he looked up at the ceiling, and with a series of chugging motions, devoured the food wholesale.

"As I was saying. We were to be thrown into a pit that led into the caverns beneath Wattinree keep. The abyss in which the previous Kaidon of the keep and his family had been thrown. Before the Wattinree name had even been uttered. Most of those thrown inside died speared on the sharp rocks below, or killed by the drop."

Xytan leaned back, looking satisfied with the growing look of horror on Discovery's face. "I survived. Unbroken. Unharmed. And as I was surrounded by the bodies of the failures of my keep, I knew that the gods had great plans for me."

"The walls were too slick to climb, and I would have been slain on the spot if I attempted to climb out. I had to make my own way out."

"I was starving down in that pit. Left with no food, and the only condensation to suck from the walls, as well as the occasional rain. The guards of the pit laughed at my misfortune." Xytan's words began to rumble with something approaching anticipation. "I went down the tunnel that led to the vast catacombs beneath the keep."

Discovery did not react, instead staring on in mute horror. Xytan looked somewhat disappointed and then continued.

"There was a fissure deep beneath the keep. A tiny amount of lava a day's down into the depths. But I was so… so hungry at that point. So hungry that I returned to where I had been thrown into the caves, and dragged off the fattest body I could find."

Discovery swallowed hard.

"I used the heat of that room to smoke the meat of his body, while I turned his hide into clothes, using his bones to make basic tools. For two months I survived down there, living off of the dead. But eventually, there were no more bodies. And I thought I would starve anyways.

Xytan grinned. "And then another was thrown into the pit. He lived, unfortunately. A male who had become incapable of fathering offspring due to a sparring injury. I beat him to death with a bone club. I became the pet beast of the keep. Any offender was thrown into the pit, to be devoured by me. I grew larger, bigger, more and more muscular the harder I trained my body for my inevitable escape."

"How did you survive? Get out, I mean."

"I dug," Xytan said. "For three rotations around my homeworld's primary star, I dug a tunnel, working the bones of those thrown into the abyss into nubs, or using them to support the tunnel. Through solid granite I dug, stopping only to eat and exercise my body. When I saw light through a gap in the walls, it nearly blinded me." Xytan looked into the eyes of the skull of the human Demon as if expecting it to answer.

"I waited until it was night, before climbing the mountains around the Wattinree keep. Where I exacted my revenge."

"I killed them. Each and every inhabitant of the keep. One after the other, over the course of many cycles. I made their lives ones of unending terror and violent horrific deaths. By the end, they had called an exorcist, believing me to be a vengeful spirit, and slept in turns inside the keep."

Xytan put the skull down. "Then I barricaded the doors of the keep, and set its wooden interior alight. None survived. I then left for the nearest Spaceport, and swore fealty to the Ministry of Intervention as a Minor warrior."

Discovery felt overwhelmed by the story, for but a moment, after which he suppressed the horror of the revelations the Covenant was now ruled by one who had eaten his own race's dead. And instead, he sharpened his words into pinprick daggers, aimed at what he perceived to be gaps in Xytan's proverbial armour. Words that might put him off balance, and give Discovery a concession.

"What's the meaning of this story? Most Sangheili would tell a story of myth from their world. Some great story with a moral lesson to follow. Do you consider yourself on the same level as the ancient arbiter-kings of your race?" Discovery narrowed his eyes. "You need me, Xytan. My knowledge and connections can shave a century off of your plans for destroying the Citadel. So cut the anecdotes. I am too old for them. Tell me what your end goal is, and what you need me for."

For a moment, Discovery was worried that he had gone too far and that Xytan would stand up and rip him limb from limbs. Instead, the Regent-Emperor seemed to be taken aback by the provocative words, before his steely demeanour returned. "You hide your fear well. I will be blunt then."

Xytan stood up and looked down at Discovery. "What I learned. Is that this universe is a cruel place. Where survival and strength are all that matters in the end. Nothing will be left at the end of the Great Journey except an empty timeless heat death. An eternal dark void that will swallow all creation and leave nothing. I. Am the strongest Sangheili there is. I survived the caves. I survived five decades of service on the front lines of a hundred pacification and subjugation campaigns and twice as many victories as Fleet Admiral."

Xytan made a sound that was more akin to a pained groan. "And in the end. I was sent away to some backwater fleet, so the San'Shyuum could assuage their concerns about my growing power and influence." Xytan tapped a claw on the armrest of his throne. "They were right, of course. I always intended to take control of the Covenant. That is my right."

"Right? How is it your right to overthrow the Writ of Union!?" Discovery prattled, his previous machinations dismantled by Xytan's carefully aimed words.

"Right of Conquest." Xytan rumbled. "Because I am the strongest, Discovery. The right to rule the Covenant isn't given by the Council and a ceremony. It is taken with fire and blood! I will purify the Covenant of weakness. I will bring the subject races to heel. I will exterminate the unworthy until the clouds of their homeworlds are turned grey with ash. Until oceans of tears have been wept by their children. I will march my armies over the surface of every homeworld, lead them through Slipspace, and across every Mass Relay. I will break all races into our fold, and forge them into an army that can reach the very edge of creation itself. I will find the Sacred Rings before I die. Or I swear to the gods, I will burn this entire galaxy to ashes around me. And nothing. Not even the Reapers will stop me."

Discovery felt his heart racing. He cursed himself for helping a monster like Xytan seize power. Trillions were going to die to the fires of Xytan's ambitions, and Discovery had led to it happening. He felt tears swelling in the corners of his eyes. So consumed was he, that he barely registered the mention of 'Reapers'. He had not heard of the term. But he was so overwhelmed by emotion, he couldn't process the information.

"Why do you tell me this? What do you want from me?" Discovery couldn't keep the emotion out of his voice as he asked the question.

Xytan slowly walked up to Discovery, leant forward, and whispered. "Because you are a pathetic coward that will do anything to stay alive. Anything to increase his chances for achieving ascension when the Sacred Rings are lit. And because you know that if I tell the truth about how you helped me achieve power, you will be torn limb from limb by your kind, even if you bring me down."

"You have two options. You either work with me and give me your full cooperation and assistance. You will get all the technology you want, all the wives your withered husk of a body can still satisfy, and most of all? You get to live. Or you oppose me, and I will slowly torture you to death over the course of a hundred years. Nothing you heard here could turn any of my warriors upon me. And none would believe you, even if you tried."

Discovery began bawling, crying at the dawning horror of the situation he was in. All he had wanted was to make the Covenant more accepting of new technology. Not this nightmare he now lived in. "I'll serve."

Xytan smiled, then took another swig from the Demon-skull turned drinking cup. "I will be approaching the Coalition with an offer for an armistice. It should focus their attention inwardly and upon the warlords on the frontier. The base instincts of the Jiralhanae will see to that. You will represent the San'Shyuum at my side. Now stop crying, before I place an explosive collar around your neck."