The Return

The cover of The Return by Rachel Beaudoin

The Return is the twelfth short story in Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe. Written by Kevin Grace, this story follows a Sangheili Ship Master as he travels back to the Human colony world Kholo. This story takes place after the events of Halo 3 in which the Sangheili are no longer serving the San 'Shyuum. The Return follows a unique writing style in which as the Shipmaster recalls past experiences, the text turns to italics to indicate a shift to a previous time period.

The Return was adapted into a motion comic series by ONE, in the same vein as Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian, with the first part released on April 3, 2010 and ended on April 24, 2010.

Plot synopsis

The Shipmaster carving the Glyph of Faith onto Kholo's surface via Glassing.

Set six years after the end of the Human-Covenant War, a Sangheili shipmaster returns to the glassed colony of Kholo in order to find forgiveness for his sins. He ventures lonely through the remains of the colony, occasionally remembering the glorious days of when he interrogated a human pilot and glassed the colony, as well as the dark days of the Great Schism.

He experiences flashbacks where he showed his loyalty to the Prophet of Conviction by glassing Kholo. During the process, the Shipmaster marked the Covenant glyph representing "faith" on the surface of the planet.

Human research of Forerunner Monitors.

Years later, when the Jiralhanae betrayed the Sangheili over High Charity, the Shipmaster confronted the Prophet of Conviction and disarmed him. The Shipmaster then exposed the Prophet's deception and killed Conviction in front of his crew.

In the present timeframe, after several days of searching, he discovers Kig-yar pirates fighting humans at an excavation site. After killing the Kig-yar he finds a lone human survivor. Realizing the survivor would soon be dead, the Shipmaster leaves him and continues looking around the base. Soon, he finds photos of humans interfering with Forerunner technology, including a monitor. Realizing this could be what he was looking for, he returns to the human survivor and calls for help to aid the human.

Characters

• Prophet of Conviction
• Prophet of Truth
• Thel 'Vadam
• Unnamed Sangheili Shipmaster

Motion comic

The Zune Video Marketplace logo for the motion comic.

The Return has three instalments that were later edited into one long episode. Screenshots converted to wallpapers are released on Halo Waypoint in July 20, 2011. From January 28, 2012, the series will be available for download on the Zune Video Marketplace. Each episode can be purchased for 80 points or a season pass can be purchased for 280 points. Below are links to the episodes featured at the Halo Official Site:

• The Return Motion Comic Adaptation