Terminal (Halo 2: Anniversary)/Six

Covenant Record: Will of the Prophets

The scene opens high above the lower districts of High Charity. The camera slowly zooms toward the center of the cityscape, and it enters a cloud. The scene fades to a closer view of the structures in the lower districts and tracks through the urban sprawl until it reaches a high tower covered in accessways and landing pads meant for San'Shyuum anti-gravity chairs. The camera moves through a door on the outside of the building and into the private chambers of a San'Shyuum scribe as he works on his terminal.

• Scribe: "Regarding the history of the Covenant and its glorious founding species, the San'Shyuum and Sangheili, the Record of Punished Deeds would not be sufficient without a word on the Arbiter. Not the consignment of shame that it is currently, but what came before; the legendary warriors of Sangheili past."

The camera zoomed closely into the scribe's right eye, and the scene then switches to a scene in a craggy wasteland on Sanghelios, long ago. The bodies of dead Sangheili litter the ground, as an ancient Arbiter stands atop a hill triumphant, his cape billowing in the wind as lightning flashes around him.

The scene fades to another view of the waste, a great dust storm blowing. Vast lines of Sangheili form to pay homage to this Arbiter.

• Scribe: "They ruled their world with pride, and vigilance, surviving the perils of both land and sea."

The scene cuts to a large trireme-style ship with an ornate metal figurehead and ram tossing in a great gale on an ocean. The ship steers directly into a massive wave, as the rowers attempt to drive their ship upward.

• Scribe: "These were the Arbiters of old; part king, part judge. Warrior-rulers unlike any of which would follow."

An Arbiter clad in crimson loincloth and cape stands atop a platform in a city on Sanghelios, and raises his blade, roaring. The crowd below him cheer and raise their fists to the sky in answer. The scene fades to a scene on a cliff on the world of Ulgethon. Three Sangheili, including one in Arbiter body armor stand atop the cliff, looking across a canyon at the Forerunner Dreadnought. The Arbiter holds a blade covered in blood.

• Scribe: "When we arrived on their frontier world of Ulgethon, the cost of life was severe. Led by a mighty Arbiter, the Sangheili resisted our entreatment with ruthless force, leading to decades of war."

An anti-gravity device covered in a large cloth floats over to the waiting San'Shyuum. One of the San'Shyuum gingerly moves the cloth, and a look of shock and despair crosses his face as he views what is under the cloth, currently offscreen. The Dreadnought immediately begins takeoff. The winds generated by its thruster blow the cloth off the anti-gravity device, revealing a pile of severed San'Shyuum heads.

• Scribe: "We would eventually triumph, of course, and when we did, we would not ignore the mantle of the Arbiter."

Fade to a Forerunner structure on an unknown world. Several Sangheili kneel before a group of San'Shyuum.

• Scribe: "Like everything, we would bend the Sangheili to our own ends. The Arbiters would become the very will of the Prophets."

The same San'Shyuum that unveiled the butchery of the San'Shyuum ambassadors looks down upon the kneeling Sangheili, a slight look of satisfaction on his face.