Acheron-VII

The artwork accompanying the poem.

Acheron-VII is the second poem from the short story collection Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe. It was written by Jonathan Goff, while Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier created the artwork.

The poem

“

It's barren The air chokes: on dust and smoke the ground cracks: surrendering to the heat It's lonely with only the dead as company, but anymore, this has become his closest companion; death There was once a purpose to all this a specific design Soldiers sent forth in the name of retribution In their path: an alien Covenant vast in number ardent in their belief now, but one stands Only one survivor His friends taken by conflict Their adversaries delivered unto Alone now: he treks the wastelands Cut off: stranded Knowing somewhere above: Out and beyond His brothers, his sisters, continue to struggle Continue to fight, to die: to strive A million stars between here and home A million enemies: more Yet here he stands: ever vigilant And here he'll stay: A lone warrior, on a desolate plain.

”