By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
STARTING OVER
I was selected to join Urs with my friends, I felt happy about this but the expression of Sesa’s face kept reappearing in my mind...Why was he so shocked?
We were all gathered in three lines in the courtyard, the Sangheili masters were at each end talking to each other. Eventually, Sesa’s voice boomed loudly across the courtyard, “Proceed on me!”
We all obeyed, I was next to Rtas who seemed eager to get the day over with. The massive entrance doors swung open and we all emerged into an open hall...It was really quite beautiful; there were small trees and a variety of Sangheilian flora and fauna. Glowing green crystals provided light and there were several large statues, they were of old Sangheili warlords who’d obviously become known to their species.
“Welcome to the Academy.” Sesa said, holding his arms out.
The three houses split up, each one going a different direction for the guided tour. Sesa was our guide as we took time to examine our surroundings.
“Beyond here, my students...” Sesa smiled, “A brave new world.”
Another door opened and we shuffled through it to see a colossal room with what looked like thousands of floors; a stairway led both up and down going underground at to the skies. A small artificial sun was at the top which gave light shining down all the way to the bottom, we could only stare in amazement.
Sesa held out his arm, showing off a strange device on his wrist.
“This,” He said, indicating the device, “is a short-range teleporter to get you around this place easier. Later tonight at the great feast, will you receive one.”
Everyone was crowding round now, trying to get a look. The look on Sesa’s face didn’t disguise the fact that he was enjoying the attention, “Observe!” he said. He clicked a button and suddenly disappeared in a green flash, there was no trace of him until a minute later when he materialised in front of us again.
All the young Sangheili students began clapping, their initial fears of Sesa seemed to have vanished along with the green flash. How wrong they were...
It was several hours later that the tour had finished, it seemed the Academy was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. I was in the Great Hall with my friends, everyone was eagerly chatting about their experience so far and their impressions of the masters.
Sesa and the other two masters were sat at chairs behind a long table, there was a seat in the middle which was empty. The three masters stood, the noise of the students became quieter and my instincts told me that the Headmaster was about to come in.
My initial thoughts proved correct when there was a great flash of green light and a new, older, Sangheili stood in front of us.
“Welcome, students...” He said.
His armour was different to any I’d ever seen before, the headdress was an elaborate metallic silver colour and was twice the size of the Sangheili’s head. It was clear he was a skilled swordsman as there was a long hilt on his left leg and there were small bits of grey hair on his elderly face.
“I am Caan ‘Paratonee, the Headmaster here. Now, before we start, I must go through a few rules.”
Everyone was on tenterhooks, both hungry and nervous.
“First, none of you are to abuse the privilege of your teleporter devices. Second, no duelling anywhere in the Academy without express permission for practice...” Caan paused before stating his third rule, “It is strictly forbidden to go any lower than sea level. There are things down there your minds could not comprehend...” He said this sentence with a sinister tone in his voice.
His expression changed once again as he clapped his hands together, “Let the feast...Begin!”
It appeared that the food had come out of camouflage, each of the tables lined in the hall suddenly was filled by all different kinds of meat and various drinks.
At both sides of the hall was large windows, it was night at last and the prospect of waking up tomorrow seemed to be ever more promising.
A hour later...
Caan dismissed us after a big desert, I realised why it was called a great feast and we all went up to bed, guided by Sesa. Our House Room was guarded by two Honour Guards with large energy pikes and were dressed in ceremonial red and gold armour.
“Good night, students. You all have a long day tomorrow...” Sesa said.
He turned away but before he closed the door, I caught his eye staring at me with curiosity. Sesa nodded and I joined the others.
“What d’you reckon?” Rtas asked us. We were all gathered in a circle in the middle of the Urs Common Room, in comfortable chairs by a burning fire.
“About Sesa? I don’t know...He seems...Strange.” I replied.
“Definitely going to be a problem, in my opinion. Hope someone puts him in his place.” Usze said.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, I’m going to get some sleep now.” Thel stated.
We departed, our beds were extremely comfortable, they were large and looked like a bowl or a saucer. Tomorrow was going to be the end of our childhood ways; tomorrow we would embrace our swordsmanship and walk down the longest path in the driest desert. With Sesa ‘Refumee observing our every move.