Halo covenant: Burnt Beauty

“It’s…beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like it, there’s so many different colours, what’s it called?”

“We don’t know, but we’ve been observing it for three months now, scans say that it’s populated by humans”

The two elites stood in silence and stared at the planet through the energy field window for a few seconds, the elite on the right named Jrk Mdelm wore all black armour while the elite on the left Kas Voham wore a very dark blue.

“Shipmaster, may i observe this planet a little longer” Jrk asked while continuing to stare at the planet.

Kas smiled and nodded “You may, for as long as you can”

Jrk was too dumbstruck by the planet to even realize what the shipmaster had just said, he had seen thousands of planets but none of them we’re this breathtaking, there was something about this one that seemed like a work of art, maybe it was the mix of colours, maybe it was the way the clouds covered parts of it, keeping most of the planet.

After fifteen minutes of staring at it Jrk decided to his duties, he made many mistakes while he worked which was understandable since the only thing on his mind was the planet.

:Later that afternoon:

Jrk had spent the entire morning drawing the planet he had just seen, he didn’t know what it was but there was something about that planet that just took his breath away, he didn’t know what it was, but something about that planet really caught his attention.

The door to Jrk’s room opened, shipmaster Kas stepped inside the room “Jrk, come with me, there’s something i want you to see”

After putting down his drawing he stood up and followed the shipmaster, They both made their ways through the ship, passing through hallways and doors, Jrk recognized the path they we’re taking, it was the same one they had took earlier.

“Remember that planet i showed you earlier?” Kas asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Of course, how could i forget?” Jrk replied with a somewhat serious but also cheerful tone.

Once they approached the window Kas gave a wide toothy grin “Beautiful isn’t it?”

Jrk’s mandibles dropped, the planet that he once enjoyed staring at for hours was now unrecognizable, the red, green and blue colours he had once loved we’re now gone and replaced with fire, smoke and ash.

“What…when did…?”

“Three hours ago, it took only ten minutes for our best ships to completely glass this meteor they call a planet, in my opinion, i think it looks better now”

Jrk lowered his head for a few seconds before lifting it, he stared at the planet he had once admired and watched as the fires burned, all of it’s beauty was now just a memory.

Kas placed his hand on Jrk’s shoulder “we are at war Jrk, this is a human planet, humans are the enemy, just because something looks beautiful doesn’t mean it is, the sooner you realize that the sooner you become a real elite” the shipmaster began walking away to get back to his duties.

All Jrk could do was stare in anger as the one thing he couldn’t stop thinking about was slowly deteriorating, rage, anger and hatred began boiling up inside him until, his hands turned into fists as he whispered under his breath.

“He shall never harm another planet again, i’ll make sure of it!”