Resolve

"Tolmirak told you the basics, but only that. Of course I killed the last high lord, but he was no fool. He was a strong one, a mighty one, but he led us astray. That is how the Ages work. Their names are more esoteric than descriptive, more symbolic than depictive. The last high lord did not deceive us, nor did an outsider, he simply led us down a path that I felt spelled failure for the Div, and so I put an end to it. Had he won, it would've affirmed the strength of his vision, and put to rest the doubters. As it were, he fell, and my victory proved the frailty of his vision for our people."

De'mah had spent the night speaking with Jilnarok and learning of dragon lore and culture. The basic gist of the Ages being the dragons' religion was more or less true, but it wasn't exactly accurate. It seemed, to De'mah, that it was less about the 'why' and more about the 'how.' The dragons had no god, just the high lord. They had no spirituality, just the Ages and their tenets. It was a cycle that defined dragon culture, and formed the basis of their loose society. They sought only to answer the questions surrounding the nature of their being, and to strive towards a better understanding of life. Even, De'mah noted, as they fought and killed each other.

"So in killing him, you proved yourself the stronger dragon, and thus the one who should lead your kind" De'mah said, falling back on what he'd learned growing up. The strong always consumed the weak; it was the way of Sanghelios and the Sangheili. And, it seemed, it was the way of the dragons. They talked at length about their 'Ages' and presented themselves as intellectuals, but really they were a warrior culture through-and-through.

"Indeed, outsider. All dragons fight one another for dominance. Control of land, of hordes. If only the weakest of us die, the strongest will go on to advance the nature of our being, and perhaps it is those offspring who will find the answer to the great question of 'why are the Div, the dragons, immortal?'" Jilnarok finished.

De'mah took a moment to think on it when another question came to him. "The Ages, you claimed they are more complex than I was led to believe. Tell me more."

"Peace, Aggression, Subservience, Prosperity, Deceit. The five Ages, each belonging to the Cycle. Tolmirak told you what he did, but that was only half of it. He spoke only of when dragons are involved. The other half is when one of the other species is involved. Or when we involve ourselves with the other species. We all start in Peace, but in Aggression we come to understand our current place in the world. Most dragons consider Deceit the final age, but I believe Aggression to be the final Age" Jilnarok said.

"Elaborate, please."

"In the Age of Aggression, we are either victims or perpetrators of that aggression. Whether we win or lose, Subservience follows. Either of ourselves, or of our enemies. If it is us who come to be subservient, we strive to make amends with our conquerors, and eventually enter into Prosperity through mutual understanding and the guidance of the other race. Once that occurs, inevitably one of our own becomes restless, and they challenge our conquerors. The ruler of the species who subdued us is killed, and we become an independent species again. You see, under the tenets of Div Kora, the dragon code, the being that kills the high lord becomes the new high lord. Any being, dragon or no. This is how the other races play into the Ages."

"And when the high lord is dead, the new high lord takes over, and the cycle begins anew with Peace. Once peace has been attained, you or one of the other races plays into the Age of Aggression, and history repeats endlessly" De'mah said.

Jilnarok nodded. "You are wise for an outsider, it would seem. I can't help but wonder about you, and your kind, now. Sate a drake's curiosity, won't you?"

"Our history would take as long as it has occurred to explain it. We are not so different from your kind: strength through strength. The weak all fall under our boot in the end. That is how the Sangheili have lived for eons. If one cannot defend their honor or their blood, then let it be spilled upon the earth by the stronger. Blood, kin, and honor are how we ascend, and through this ascension we come to understand the magnificence of the Forerunners" De'mah explained.

"The Forerunners? Tell me of them."

"They are ancient gods, and in their grace and wisdom sought fit to gift us with their presence. None of our kind has ever seen them*, but they left signs of their presence behind. We dare not to tamper with their gifts, lest we profane them with our ignorant touch, so we resign ourselves to worship them, and hope to one day rise to their level" De'mah said.

"Fascinating. Tell me, where do your travels fit into this? Do you seek to spread the glory of these Forerunners to the other races, or to perhaps find a greater understanding from the other races?" Jilnarok asked.

De'mah shook his head. "Neither. I seek to find more of the Forerunners' gifts, and to find more planets graced by their touch, so that their gifts might be guarded against heretics. It is a vital mission, given to me by the elders of my state."

"More planets? You are from the cosmos? Tell me how this is possible" Jilnarok said, leaning forward. The two had sat upon the stones of Jilnarok's cave for many hours, and De'mah was only too happy to explain the accomplishments of his species.

"We achieved space-flight long ago, through the work and wisdom of our ancestors. We build and enclose great ships to soar among the stars, to spread our influence to other worlds, and seek out the gifts of the Forerunners, as I said. Myself, I have touched foot upon a dozen planets. Yours was the most recent. I've never seen another world such as this one; my home world looks nothing like the great forests and oceans of this planet."

"Amazing. Truly amazing. I can only imagine what it is like to visit an entire planet so unlike your own, nevermind to do it dozens of times. It is my earnest hope that one day one from our own world will be the visitor on your world" Jilnarok said.

"It's hot there. Much hotter than it is even here, in this desert. It's a beautifully dangerous world; a testament to both the nature of the universe and the strength of the Sangheili. Nature is the ultimate foe, and nature is how we came to understand that only the strong survive in this universe."

Jilnarok was silent for a moment, his great reptilian face unreadable. "I'm not so certain that it is only the strong who survive. Obviously one must have some strength, and it is how we dragons see the world, but there are other races who survive and even thrive on other tenets and ideologies. The Equestrians, for example. A strong race, but total pacifists. They survive on the strength of their ideals. Peace, harmony, tolerance. Compassion and friendship. Dragons understand kinship, but we do not subscribe to these other ideals. They seem to work well enough for the Equestrians, however."

And now they were back to this. The Equestrians. Everywhere De'mah went, it seemed, it always seemed to lead back to the Equestrians. Harmony? Compassion?! Friendship? These were the cornerstones of an entire species' culture?

"I've heard of them, but I struggle to understand how a species of pacifists could survive long enough to found their own civilization. Perhaps you know" De'mah said.

"I'm afraid I know little of the Equestrians beyond what little news trickles back to us. I know only of their rulers, Celestia and Luna. Sisters who guide their race in an unending Age of Peace, or the Equestrian equivalent. If you wish to know, you'd have to seek them out" Jilnarok explained.

"This is my final question. You've explained to me the nature of the Ages, and the tenets of dragon code, so now I must ask you, as the high lord, why do you not seek to crush the other races? If you wanted, your kind could easily stamp them all out, or at least subjugate them into servitude. Why have you not?" De'mah asked.

Jilnarok shrugged. "Why would I? We would gain nothing from their subjugation. They have nothing to offer us, be it knowledge or resources, and we have nothing to offer them. Our two species leave each other alone because that is what benefits us most. Because there is no reason to do otherwise."

De'mah was bewildered. That such a species built upon a warrior culture and the philosophy of the strong conquer the weak would simply sit by and do nothing but proselytize to each other about the nature of life was bizarre. Alien. That the strong would conquer the weak was a divine certaintiy, as sure as the sun rising in the morning and as sure as the great trees blooming to breathe life into the world. De'mah may have been afraid of this 'high lord' at first sight, but now his words only confirmed what De'mah had first suspected. He was a weakling.

Something had to be done about this. De'mah had never once questioned Sangheili culture. It was what made them the Sangheili. The might and pride of their world, that gave them the right to name their world after themselves while so many other species of fauna wallowed in their states of ignorance and non-sapience. Strength, HONOR, pride in one's name and BLOOD.

These dragons...they could be so much more. They could reign over all that their sun's rays touch. They CHOOSE to sit here. Why would they do this? 'We would gain nothing by subjugating the other races'? They GAIN NOTHING by DOING NOTHING De'mah thought.

They could serve us, too. They could serve the Sangheili. Just because something is, doesn't mean that's how it has to be. The high lord can be replaced, and if I kill him, I shall become the new high lord. All of dragonkind would swear fealty to De'mah 'Tokam, to the state of 'Tokam. If I returned to Sanghelios with these dragons under my control 'Tokam would become the ULTIMATE state of SANGHELIOS. I would just have to prove my strength to them all.

I would have to kill Jilnarok.

This he would do. He would take the reigns of this great species, and lead them to a glorious future under the guidance of the Sangheili and the state of 'Tokam. This was his promise. THIS was his rite of passage. His worth as a warrior and his service to 'Tokam. It was this that would prove himself, and earn him his suffix, he was sure of it.

He would not back down.

Author's Note

*In the years before the Forerunners fired the Halo array they preserved many specimens of the Sangheili on Installation 00(along with specimens of innumerable other species), and these specimens were returned to Sanghelios by the Librarian following the array's activation. It is not known, however, whether these ancient Sangheili were evolved enough to be sapient, were cooperating with the Forerunners, or were forced onto Installation 00 to ensure their species' survival. For the purposes of this story, these ancient Sangheili were not yet evolved enough to be truly intelligent, and as such retained no records of the Forerunners when they were returned to Sanghelios.