User:XerxRthnah

Xerx R'thna- Summary
Ever since birth, Xerx had been trained to be "hidden" from everyone. He was one of three members of a secret organization of mercenaries that were only known to the Prophets. Not much had ever been known of the origins or use of the group. Xerx on the other hand became known to the Prophets as the "Master of the Blades." Using various blades such as the Covenant Energy Sword, Spears that Sangheili used on their home world, wrist blades, and even some human weapons when he had the chance.

Early life- Current
2534-2546

When Xerx was old enough to walk, his uncle trained him in the ways of fighting. Even as a child, his strength came from his arms, giving Xerx the advantage of natural power. Because his family tree was filled with expert warriors, it was no surprise that Xerx had natural talent as well. Devoted to the ways of the blade and believing long ranged weapons were dishonorable, he grew up full of pride, honor, and the want to find a worthy opponent.

Through an unknown path, the Prophets had taken notice of the young warrior and even tested him. At the age of only five, they paired him up against a full grown Elite Ultra. It doesn't take genius to know he had lost, but he had damaged the Ultra by barely slicing open a small wound on the knee by using a smaller version of the energy sword.

Utterly shocked by the fact that this five-year-old had drawn blood on an Ultra, they began training him too. Eventually becoming almost perfect, they secretly had a known and very revered Elite known as R'tas Vadum to spar against Xerx. Under the training of R'tas, his energy sword skills rocketed up, almost equaling R'tas'. Though he never bested R'tas using only energy swords, he did become the best all-round melee user of all covenant time. Thus he earned his name.

2546- Current

With his hatred for long ranged weapons, he refused the invite to join the Covenant army. Knowing he'd useful to them, they illegally bumped him up to Ultra and denied anything had happened. Never even touching a gun, his injuries he usually sustained were frequent, but never lethal or immobilizing. One reason he was never hurt too bad, a Jackal, or Kig-Yar, with a nickname, Wrk, carried a Beam Rifle as his main weapon, and would back up Xerx at multiple times. Their friendship and trust grew with every save, and led to the reason both of them still lived. One day, he and his Jackal friend were assigned to protect one of the sacred rings, ring 04, from the human known as Master Chief. He fought Master Chief, but quickly fell victim to Master Chief's performance. Believing he was dead, Xerx left himself fall to the ground, and watch as Master Chief kept running. Closing his eyes, he waited for death... but it never came.

He opened his eyes, and saw that Wrk had begun dragging him. He dragged Xerx from one end of the beach he had fought Master Chief to the other. Finally realizing he was heading towards a Phantom. Teleporting in the Phantom, he was cared for by another squad, where he was evacuated back to the Prophets. Viewing his loss as a failure, they agreed that a death sentence was in order.

Suddenly, Wrk grasped Xerx' sword, and turned it on, placing it only a centimeter away from the Prophet of Mercy's throat, and holding his Beam Rifle up to the Prophet of Regret's forehead. Xerx placed a hand on Wrk's shoulder, and pulled him back, fearing the Prophets would kill Wrk too. Realizing they had made a mistake and decided to settle for The Mark of Shame branding,

, no matter how much he tried, Wrk had been taken away from Xerx that day. Not knowing what had happened to Wrk, he accepted the Mark of Shame willingly. He was branded not only on the upper left chest, but on both shoulders as well by Tartarus. Just after, the Prophets gave Xerx a chance to redeem himself as a failure by offering the position of the Arbiter, but he refused, even though he knew they desperately needed an Arbiter. Fearing this in advance, they decided to offer him a new position, one that required to be hidden most of the time, but would involve only melee weapons. Reluctantly, he decided to do it, and by the time he got his armor, the ring was destroyed. His armor was very different than the others. Featuring Orange Primary and Red secondary, it also gave him the option to cloak and have extra back up shields.

Using his new found armor and strength, he was the first Covenant to actually step on Earth when the Covenant invaded. Yet, his entire new squad thought of him as a traitor and betrayed him by shooting him in the back. Using his back up shields, he kept himself alive, and waited for hours for help. That's when a young human woman had arrived and said she had seen the whole thing, but wasn't sure she should help.

Convincing her he did not want to hurt her, she nursed him back to standard health. She quickly bonded with him, and later on, so did he. Over the few hours she had him, she made sure everything he needed would be brought to him. By the time she started to trust him, he was able to stand up on his feet alone, and after many thank you's, he left, in pursuit of Master Chief. Never forgetting her, he carved her name into his left arm gauntlet, saying, "Linda."

Using his cloak ability and sneaking onto Master Chief's ship, he sat and waited in an unoccupied corner as they flew to ring 05. Watching and waiting, he followed Master Chief until he realized he was heading for the Prophet of Regret. Wanting to get some revenge, he kept using his cloak and arrived at Regret's location first. Sneaking behind Regret as he was basically alone in the room, he quietly fiddled with the Prophet's seat until the second and third level of shields were disabled. Then left, leaving the rest to Master Chief.

That's when he found the group that had betrayed him, and so he silently got behind them as they stood guard at the front door, and then pulled his sword out, killing everyone of them. Knowing he was a traitor now, he never went back to the Prophets, but did meet up with the Gravemind and it was for that reason that he was there to kill Tartarus when he activated 05's ring, though the actual kill was done by The Arbiter.

With the exception of the Arbiter, he was the first to join sides with the humans. Willingly becoming a useful adversary against his past kind that had betrayed him. After he defected, not much was known; just that he fought on. Some say he died, some say became sick of fighting and left, and others say that he found Wrk in a battle once and continued the partnership and fought head on against the brutes.