The Dance of Chaos [IC-Fantasy-OPEN]

[Castle Crashers]

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Celio just tried to close his eyes and to go to sleep. A part of him really, desperately wanted to be anywhere else but there, to find a way to leave the room, to get away from her.., but truly, he was just afraid that faced with such an embarrassing situation, she was just going to throw him out of the room or something. He had no idea what to do in such a situation, and even if he had absolutely no intention to do anything weird, he didn't want her to feel bad because of him. It really seemed as if his presence here was really, really inconvenient for her... but still, truth be told.. he really didn't mind the idea of sleeping so close to her that much. He had no bad intentions, it was just that.. he had been meaning to ask her to hug him again for quite some time now..back during the morning, it was her hug that had snapped him out of it. When he was lost, surrounded by a storm of dark thoughts, hating himself and feeling filthy, it was her who had saved him. Maybe he was imagining it, or maybe it really was because of his dead heart, but he was always cold..and it was her warmth that for those precious, fleeting moments, had pushed the coldness of his cursed body away. And during the evening, the way in which she had hugged him like that had strengthened his resolve, it had made him sure that he had made the right choice.. that he had really found a reason to live...a reason not to hate himself for.

But oh well, he couldn't just ask her that.. and hopefully, him sleeping on the floor was going to be alright.. and it wasn't going to make her feel too uncomfortable. So the black haired boy simply closed his eyes, trying to pretend that he was asleep while desperately trying not to sleep at the same time.. when she said that she wasn't going to let him sleep on the floor. Was she going to just kick him out of the room? It might have been for the best, but much to his suprise, she said that it would be difficult for him to sleep there - so as she nudged him with her foot, she told him to get in the bed, trying to make him feel better with a joke at the same time. He tried to close his eyes again, to pretend that he was already asleep, but it was too awkward.. so he slowly started to get up. She smiled, clearly satisfied that she had managed to convince him..and then she removed her boots, and then.. she began unbuttoning her skirt, before poor Celio was even able to react. Confused and blushing just as furiously as her, the boy covered his eyes with hands, clearly expecting something else...to which the girl simply said that it wasn't anything like that, that she just couldn't sleep with that on. Taking his hands away, he tried not to look at her, but he couldn't but steal a glance, just as she was pulling her white shirt down, so that her attire would appear at least a little bit decent.. but she seemed to notice that he was looking her, telling him not to stare as she quickly hid underneath the bed's covers, her voice muffled as she seemed to explain her actions once again.

It would be difficult to explain just how confused poor Celio was, or just how much he wanted to just disappear.. but it was a bit too late for that. He hesitated for a few good moments, until it became far too awkward to just stay there doing nothing, as he also realized that he couldn't just sleep dressed like that. Reluctantly, he removed his own boots from his feet, and then he took off his coat - the piece of clothing falling to the floor with a bump and the sound of heavy, metallic objects hitting each other. A clearly embarassed Celio quickly picked it up, and placed it it on a nearby chair. His short sleeved shirt made the web of scars on his arms extremely visible, not that they were no longer hidden, and there was nothing that he could do about the metallic cuffs - they were still there, on his wrists, as they had always been. At least the bruising wasn't that bad right now.. Taking a deep breath, and trying to calm himself down, the crimson eyed boy climbed into the bed on the other side, also getting under the covers but turning around, to sleep with his back at and as far away from her as he could. "Good night..", he whispered, closing his eyes and wishing that this night would pass as quickly as possible...

But it didn't end like that. No matter of what he or others were going to believe, he was still an abomination, someone who deserved to suffer for his crimes. And the nightmares were there every night.. A black throne room, blood flowing on the ground, people laughing, suffering and despair, the slash of a sword and a moment of excruciating pain.. and then darkness. Hooded figures wearing black robes moving slowly through a camp, with knights and soldiers sleeping, the air filled with green dust. A red eyed boy, moving from tent to tent, his scythe stained with crimson, the blade cutting through flesh as if it was nothing, bringing death and darkness with it. Figures wearing black robes running through a forest in the middle of a great battle, metal meeting metal, the smell of burning flesh. A hail of burning arrows, and a white haired boy being the only to react in time with a shield of black mist in front of him, with the others pierced, their burning bodies falling on the ground next to him. Death, envy, hate, fear.

Still sleeping, Celio suddenly started to shiver, tears rolling down his cheeks even his eyes were still closed, desperately grasping the metallic collar around his neck as if he wanted to take it off..

As she hid her face with the covers, still blushing furiously, her heart racing from the wild idea of what was really happening right now...was she really doing this? How could she be so careless to show herself like this..? What would the other Servants of Light think of her? What would Benevolentia think of her..? No, it didn't matter now! None of it mattered...what was done was done...it was too late to take it back now. Though, she had to admit, it was kind of exciting...she had never done something so rash and daring before. And, well, she had to admit that the fact that he had taken a glance to her, even in such a state of indecency, well--it did make her heart race faster. It was exciting, almost. Now, there was no need to go wrong with this train of thought; she didn't want to do anything...bad with him, that wasn't the case, but it really, truly seemed to prove to her that maybe, just maybe, he really did like her as much as she liked him. She couldn't help but smile a little at the thought, blushing more as she gleefully hid her red face still.

She only lifted her eyes once more as she heard him shuffle to remove his boots, and then his coat; which she lifted her eyes more as she watched him quickly pick up the coat and placed it on a nearby chair. Funny; she thought it was cute that he took the time to care for something so simple. It felt like another sign of the humanity he still had. She...liked it. She also noticed then, as he did so, even in the dim light, the scars that were scratched deep into his pale skin. It...made her heart ache for him. It seemed like a constant reminder of all the pain and sorrow he had been through. Though, as he turned to get into the bed himself, she quickly hid her face with the covers again as she had before, to try and mask the fact that she truly had been staring at him. She lifted her eyes again as he whispered a good night, his back to her. She smiled, her cheeks still glowing red. "Good night, Celio." She told him softly, turning on her side to face him, kindly studying his back, and watching him simply breathe until she finally let sleep succumb her as well.

Well, she wasn't asleep for long, atleast. Luckily, she really was a light sleeper; she always had been. So, when Celio began to shiver and grasp his collar in his sleep, it didn't take long for Julie to awaken in notice of this. She slowly opened her eyes, sighing softly as she looked to him, frowning as she noticed his sleepy behavior. Well, there...weren't many ways to fix this, were there? She didn't want to wake him, but she could tell he was in a nightmare, too. So, well, she had one idea...and being half-asleep didn't help her disprove it. Gently, she eased over to him, taking his hands in hers as she gently moved them back away from his collar before she used her thumbs to wipe away his tears.

"It's okay..." She told him softly. "I'm here. You don't need to be afraid anymore. I'll protect you..." She whispered to him, albeit a bit sleepily as she gently kissed his cheek, slipping a hand under the nape of his neck to shield it slightly from his collar before she placed her other arm around his, and gently wrapping one of her legs around his waist before she pulled him closer to her, closing her eyes again as she did. She probably should've considered how awkward this could be considering she was kind of pants-less, but it was decided that it would be a problem for the morning. All that mattered was making him comfortable...and, well, as she held him close, she fell asleep once more with a gentle smile on her face.

[Tracian Empire]

The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia

To tell the truth, the yellow eyed girl really wasn't expecting the knight who fight back. He was wounded, and he obviously had no chance to beat her like this - and after all, humans were weak, feeble and cowardly creatures. How many of them hadn't just dropped their weapons in fear at the mere sight of her? And sure enough, this knight had been braver and more resilient than the others, but his older body had its limits. He was going to give up, she was going to kill him, and then she was going to finally be able to take care of that one person that she hated the most..and just as her mind was being soothed by the beautiful thought of her blade deepily piercing her twin sister's chest.. the knight attacked her. She was barely even able to react, parrying his first strikes, but Eric was putting so much force into his attacks that she pushed her back - much more force than she had thought that he still had. He then forced her sword close to her body, and right before she was able to strike back, he pushed her, and cut her inner thigh. A gasp of pain was heard, as she tried to distance herself from him and as her dark blood started to gush out from the ruptured blood vessel, but Eric closed the distance between them again, and dazed by the unexpected pain, the silver-blonde haired girl didn't manage to react in time - and his blade pierced through her left shoulder. He pulled his sword, now stained in black, and he kicked her in the chest, his last act before falling on the ground, weak and exhausted, shouting one last order for the soldiers of his accursed country.

Nearly falling on the ground herself, the evil princess literally did nothing for a few good moments, just staying there, in shock, bleeding, and in pain..until the shock suddenly turned into pure rage. "You little bastard!", the girl screamed angrily, her sickly golden eyes nearly seeming to glow, as she took a few hesitant steps forward, ignoring the bleeding, and then, she kicked him with her unwounded leg, nearly losing her balance in the process, but kicking with enough force that poor Eric was literally thrown into the air - crashing rather violently into a group of Duivenian knights. Tightly gripping her black sword, she started to move towards them, with the knights taking position around Eric and the knights that he had knocked to the ground while falling - but she never reached them. Before she was able to, she sensed someone behind her, and she turned around just in time to deflect the thrust of her twin sister's lance...

While Eric was fighting the enemy, poor Alexis, weakened and shaking, was being held up by Peter - who laid her down gently so that four Scripture knights could heal her. The noble tried to take her lance-banner and to wave it, with some of the Duivenian knights responding to his command to rally - but the banner seemed to be dead, no longer glowing or spreading around the same imposing presence that it used to while Alexis had it. With the crimson sky above them, and with the undead army still advancing, all hope seemed to be lost - and those knights who hadn't managed to rally around the place where the wounded Alexis was were slowly drowned by the horde of corpses. But the battle was still going on, the archers were shooting their arrows, blades of metal and silver were piercing through the cursed flesh of the enemy's servants, and their line was holding. But, as the battle was continuing, the princess refused the healing. "S-stop..", her weak voice was heard, and the knights hesitated. She was wounded, yes, and it's not like they were going to just let her die - as Knights of one of the Scriptures, they were more than ready to give their lives away in order to save one of the holy Seven Heroes - but they couldn't help but instinctively hesitate. One of them turned around, trying to look for Peter or for someone of a higher standing who could talk with the princess - but her voice was heard once again - "G-give m-me.. m-my.. l-lance..", she tried to say, as she obviously tried to stand back up - and one of the knights, the youngest of them four - gently took the lance from where Peter had planted it into the ground, and had given it to her. Tightly gripping its shaft just before she would have fallen again, Alexis planted it into the ground in front of her and used it to stand back up, while two of the knights rushed to support her. "O merciful Mother of the World, bless us, those who wander in the never ending darkness, with your light and power, to fight against those who would sully your creation. Queen of all, let my banner protect my people, please give us the light of the dawn! ", the princess shouted, praying, and her banner once against started to glow, a beam of holy light being thrown at the sky. The attack of the undead hesitated and then broke as the monsters screamed in pain, and the influence of the Night seemed to be weakened, as the knights of Duivene and their allies started to feel the sickness and weakness being replaced with hope and courage. The princess herself stopped struggling to stay up - she looked just as pale and weak as before, but somehow, the holy light seemed to have stopped the bleeding in her shoulder, and now, with a determined expression on her face, the princess was standing upright.

"G-go and h-heal him.. he.. he n-needs it m-more than.. than me..", she tried to say, looking at the four Scripture knights at pointing at Eric, who had just crashed into the middle of that group of knights. Alexis then took a deep breath.. and then she jumped, much higher than a normal human should have been able to. The princess landed gracefully but still rather violently on the head of some sort of a ogre/troll looking undead abomination, piercing through its skull with the other end of her lance, something that her sister, filled with wrath, failed to notice. Jumping off the falling monster and landing on the ground in front of her, Alexis rushed forward.. but her evil lookalike reacted just in time, turning around and deflecting her attack. The yellow eyed girl smirked, as the fight between the two princess began, lance against sword, light against darkness. One would think that the evil princess would have the advantage, after all, Alexis was still pale and weakened, and a sword was much better suited to close combat than a long lance - but despite that, none of them seemed to be able to gain an upper hand, as their weapons collided again, and again, and again. Alexis was keeping her distance in order to be able to strike with her spear, while her sister's position was complicated by her wounded shoulder and by the blood that was still pouring out of her thigh, weakening her and the strength of her feet which each passing moment. Her sister whispered something, and several copies of her blade appeared behind her, their blades covered in black fire - and all of those swords were thrown directly at Alexis by the spell. The hero-princess a heartbeat to do something, and she hit the ground with the bottom, smaller tip of her lance - focusing her energy into one simple command of protection - a wall of light. The blades pierced it as if it was made out of glass, but they stopped there, falling on the ground in front of her as the defensive spell disappeared. And blood started to trickle out of the princess' mouth - but her sister left her no time to breathe, as she rushed forward, her blade being parried at the last moment by the lance's shaft, as they exchanged hits, again and again.Their fight was going to be decided in the next couple of moments.. and yet, the golden eyed princess seemed to be stronger. Her blade locked into the space between the lance's point and and its wings, and the two of them started to push, trying to knock the other off balance - and yet, despite her wound, the yellowed eyed princess seemed to be winning, as the weakened Alexis started to shiver, being pushed back..

But all around their struggle, the battle was still going on. The knights, organized by Peter, were making their last stand, while at the same time, a brave warrior, looking like a monster, was fighting against the dragon all by himself, with an insane courage. The dragon seemed to be unable to understand that one of these little insects had somehow escaped his deadly fire - unfortunately, mind control spells really messed with a being's ability to think properly, and with his master being wounded, filled with wrath and fighting.. the once mighty dragon was now nothing more than a fierce and violent beast. A violent beast that was just hit with full force by an incredibly powerful half-Karaki, half-Giant warrior. The dragon simply lost its balance, falling on its back, and Yakr wasted no time, getting on top of it faster than any human would have been able to, and starting to punch it in the chest. The beast was filled with rage, and it started to breathe fire once again, but because of its position it wasn't able to do that properly, as much of the black fire started to burn around the dragon itself, burning the undead that were surrounding it. Yakr's punches seemed to hurt the beast, but he was going to need something much stronger if he wanted to actually kill the thing. Trying to push and to wave its wings around, the dragon also tried to stand back up, shaking and struggling to get Yakr off it, and here the difference in size between them started to be seen, as the dragon slowly managed to get up again, its fiery breath getting closer..

---

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Poor Celio remained asleep as she took his hands into hers, even if Julie needed a little bit of force to make him let go of his collar. He seemed to have been desperately trying to take it off, breathing rapidly and crying in his sleep, so who knew what sort of nightmares were tormenting him.. but then, as she moved his hands away, as she wiped his tears and whispered to him... the black haired boy seemed to calm down a little..she gently kissed his cheek, putting one of her hands between the back of his neck and the collar that always left bruises behind, and then she pulled him closer to her into a hug of sorts, or well, just a way for them to sleep closer to each other, with her other arm over his and one of her legs around his waist. This was certainly a little awkward, with her only being half-dressed like that..but it's not like the boy would have noticed. Instead, his breath slowly relaxed, and the tears stopped rolling down his cheeks. He stopped shivering and shaking, and instead, almost instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her and staying close to her, to her presence and to her warmth. And slowly, the nightmare seemed to pass, until finally, Celio seemed to be sleeping peacefully.....with a smile on his face.

And eventually, the sun rose and the morning, maybe too quickly. Celio was the first to wake up, opening his eyes and then closing them again.. and wait.. something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The first thing that his sleepy mind realized was that.. he had waken up slowly and normally.. this wasn't right..this wasn't like all those times when he had been awoken by or from a nightmare, crying and in pain..he had.. he actually slept pretty well, he had slept peacefully.. and he couldn't even remember having a nightmare. The first few minutes after he would wake up were always filled with that feeling of dread and despair, with him trying not to think about all the horrible details of the dreams that had been tormenting him.. and yet.. right now there was nothing. He couldn't remember anything but a nice feeling of peace and relaxation.. as if.. as if everything was alright. His eyes filled with tears once again.. it was..he was.. happy.. he couldn't even remember the last time when he had slept this.. in fact.. he was fairly certain that this had been the first peaceful night that he had experienced after waking up without any memories on that fateful day.

But.. why? What had he done to deserve something like this? What had happened? It was only then that the boy started to notice something, his eyes still closed as he tried to hide his tears..something next to him, the comforting sensation and warmth of..someone who was lying on the bed, close to him? Someone who had its arms wrapped around him, just like he had his own arms wrapped around that someone? It was just so calming, to feel that warmth... he was.. he was happy. So he just spent a few more moments, savoring that soothing feeling.. until it suddenly dawned on him. He opened his eyes.. only to see a girl's brown, silky hair.

For a moment, nothing happened. The boy tried to close his eyes again, to just ignore everything that was happening, to pretend that this wasn't real.. this couldn't be real..she was just so close to him, he could feel her heartbeat, he could hear her soft breathing.. The boy opened his eyes again, and quickly noticed just in what kind of a position they were, how close she was, how she was dressed and how one of her legs was wrapped around his waist like that, keeping him close.. he.. he instantly turned red. How.. how could something like this have happened? W-why w-was she s-so c-close? How could, how could this.. but then.. then he slowly realized that maybe.. maybe the reason for why he had slept so peacefully.. maybe the reason for why his nightmares had stopped.. was her...it was her that had calmed him down during the night, and it was her warmth that had made that horrible sensation of coldness and emptiness go away... and thinking about that.. he couldn't.. he couldn't help but smile. It was embarrassing, certainly, but he could.. he could somehow just ignore the weird part of it.. because being with her here just made him happy, and not in a bad way. He still couldn't understand why he cared so much about her, or what this warm feeling was.. but he was happy.. And even if he still had no bad intention, just being so close to her was just so calming and comforting.. it was as if the harsh and cruel world around them didn't matter at all.. it was as if he could just forget all of the pain and suffering and envy and hate and despair.. it was as if he could ignore all those scars, and the bruises and the collar and cuffs... all that mattered was that he was happy, and that she was here..

So he just quietly moved a little, so that while still lying in that position, hugging her, he could look at her face, and at her peaceful, sleeping expression. It was so funny to think how the Celio from that night when the two of them had met for the first time would have reacted to something to like this. But it didn't matter.. because he was happy.. he was at peace.. and he loved it.
But then, suddenly, Julie woke up, and their eyes met, blue and crimson looking at each other... with an already blushing Celio noticed how Julie was also turning red..and in that moment, poor Celio felt more embarrassed than he had ever felt in his entire life. He tried to get away from her, a still half-asleep and surprised Julie letting go of him, but the bed in which the two of them had slept wasn't all that big - so poor Celio rolled over the edge and fell on the wooden ground with a loud thump. He closed his eyes because of the sudden pain.. before he covered his face with his hands, trying to hide just how much he was blushing, unable to take the memory of them two being so close from his head. "I'm s-sorry.., he tried to say, confused and embarrassed..

---

Somewhere
The border between Wyzkia and the Ecclesiarchy

It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt... was all that Rafal could think, as he fell on his knees. Seeing her like that. Seeing her shock, seeing how she couldn't believe it, and then seeing how the realization struck her. Seeing her placing her hand over her stomach, seeing her crying, sobbing, and hearing her screaming. Seeing her broken by this...seeing all of the pain and devastation and despair.. why? Why was the world so cruel? Why were the gods so cruel? Hadn't she suffered enough already? Hadn't she suffered more than enough? Why would someone like her have to go through something like this? It hurt, it hurt so much to see her like this, to know that nothing that he could possibly do could save her from this fate, to know that no matter what, he couldn't change the past, that she was already hurt, that the damage was done and that nothing anyone could ever hope to do would change the fact that she had a baby growing inside of her. It hurt, it hurt as if his heart was being shattered into tiny little pieces, it hurt as if it was pierced by thousand of daggers at the same time, his chest hurt so much that he couldn't even breathe, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes..it was so painful to see her, to see the girl that he cared so much about like that.. but he hated himself for it. The moment he felt that pain, the moment he started to feel so horrible and so guilty about it even if there was nothing he could do about it - he hated himself for it. His pain, all these messy and painful emotions that he was feeling right now - they couldn't be compared to what she was feeling, they couldn't be compared to her suffering and to her despair.. he had no right to feel like this, absolutely no right, and to think of his pain like that made him a weak, horrible, and disgusting person. And the one who had caused all of this, the one who had crushed Alina with that realization.. was his relic.. his weapon.. his servant.. so in the end.. it was his fault. He should have stopped her, he should have controlled himself in time.. and he wanted to rip his heart out of his chest just when thinking about how he had stopped saying anything after the relic had shown him the presence of the baby - how his silence had made Alina realize that it was true, how it had hurt her.. it was his fault that she had found out like that, it was his fault that she was crying and broken right now, that she hadn't found out this horrible truth in a better way.. he had promised that he would protect her, he had sworn that...and yet, he was hurting her like this. He was a horrible person.. and yet.. and yet..

He couldn't help but feel bad for her... It was just so horrible. He had thought about it a couple of times before. As a noble, the head of a family and someone who was engaged and who was supposed to marry someone at some point, Rafal had of course learned stuff about how children are made..but he had always thought that Alina had managed to escape that fate. Maybe it was because of something that the cultists had done, or maybe she had just been lucky, he hadn't thought about any details, of course, but ever since he had learned about what had happened to her in the past, he had thought that she had somehow escaped that danger. So to find out that no, she didn't, that she was pregnant, and that she was going to have a child, that she had no choice about it and that this child had been forced onto her through such horrible suffering..it hurt him too, just to think about that. Having to be pregnant, to carry and to give birth to a child was bad enough anyway, and not even the best healing spells could completely make the pain go away.. but having a child after something like that, having one of the cultists as the child's father, having it forced upon you after such horrible experienced that had already messed with your mind, it.. he couldn't even think any more about it. It made him feel horrible, it hurt him, it made him feel just so bad for her and he felt horrible because of it...his pain couldn't be compared to what she had to endure..he had no right to feel like this.

But he wasn't even sure what he was feeling. It was more than just the simple sadness or pity that one would feel when hearing that something like that had happened to someone. It pained him to see her like that, it really did, and he just wanted to hide her and to protect her from the entire world.. even if his protection wasn't worth anything. He just wanted her to be happy, he just wanted her to forget her suffering and to just live her life like she wanted to.. and if he could have gone back in time to change all of this, he would have.. but he couldn't. And at the same time, he was just so angry.. he hated all those who had hurt her and who had used her, all those who had been so cruel and horrible to make her suffer, beginning with that father of hers and ending with those cultists and the wretched Sin that they represented. He was so angry that he would have killed all those cultists if he would have been able to.. he was so angry that he would have fought against the Gods if he would have been given a chance. How could they, how could the Gods have let her suffer like this? How could the Gods allow such cruel and horrible acts to happen in the world? If they did it willingly, if they willingly allowed such horrible acts of evil, if they did.. then they couldn't even be called gods.. they didn't.. they didn't deserve anyone's prayers. If they really did allow her to suffer like that without doing anything to save her... then they would deserve to be killed.

But those were just stupid thoughts. There was nothing that he could do. He had nearly failed to protect her now, in the present, and he had failed to stop his own relic from hurting her like this..if he couldn't even keep his promise, how could he hope to help her? There was no way for him to change the past or to punish the Gods.. all that mattered was what he would do from now on. She had all the right to hate him, to despise him, to want to hurt him. He was a liar, and worse than that, it was his servant who had hurt her by telling her those cruel news like that.. it was his responsibility, it was his fault. She had to hate him for that.. she had to blame him for that, at least. And he was going to accept it, he was going to let her do whatever he wanted.. even if the simple idea of her hating him was like a burning spike piercing his chest. He couldn't change what had happened.. but he could help her now.. he had no idea what he could do, or what he should do.. but he knew that he had to help her, he knew that at the very least, with the cruel world hitting her once again, he had to be here for her.. he had to be here for her, no matter what. And he was going to help her, however he could.. anything and everything.

Slowly standing up, with tears rolling down his cheeks, the green eyed boy took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He had to be strong.. he had to be strong for her, he had to be there to support her and to help her... he had to be her knight, and not just a weak and pathetic little boy who couldn't even keep his own promises, who couldn't even keep the girl that he had so many jumbled feelings for from crying and being hurt like that. And at the same time, being assaulted by all of his feelings, all of his pain, all of his guilt.. the relic started to cry too. "M-master?", she asked, tears racing down her cheeks as her normally hollow and empty eyes seemed to be filled with the same pain that was visible in Rafal's eyes.."W-why.. I don't.. I didn't..", she tried to say, choking on her own tears as she fell on her knees in silence. Saying nothing else, Rafal took a few hesitant steps and stopped right next to Alina..and he just hugged her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him...doing his best not to cry.

"I know that.. these.. these are just.. empty words.. but I'm sorry.. I'm sorry that there is nothing that I can do, I'm sorry that you have to go through this, I'm sorry that you had to find out like this because of me.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. if it.. if helps you.. you can hate me.. you can hate me all you want for it. But..no matter what.. no matter what, I'll.. I'll be here for you.." And Rafal took another deep breath. Why was it so difficult? The stories that his father had told him when he was little had nothing about princesses getting hurt like that, or about maidens becoming pregnant and having to suffer because of such monsters and heinous crimes.. and they had nothing about pathetic squire-paladins promising to protect them and nearly failing, or about weak and deplorable knights trying to comfort girls who were hurt like that..but in all those stories, the knights and the paladins were strong, and brave, they didn't cry, they never cried, they never looked weak, they were never hurt.. so why was it so difficult to not cry? Why was it so difficult to remain calm and strong for her?..

"I'll be here for you.. you're not alone.. I'll be here for you, and I will help you.. and even if.. even if I nearly failed, I will.. I will do anything to protect you, and to keep you safe.. I can't.. I can't change what happened with you.. and I can't.. I can't change anything.. about your.. about your..pregnancy.. but I will be here for you, I will make sure that you are safe, and I will make sure that you will get through it.. it hurts.. it hurts that you have to suffer like this, and that I can't just make all of your pain and despair make away...but I.. I care about you, and I won't abandon you.. no matter what. No matter what happen.. you won't be alone.. I.. I promise that.."

[Castle Crashers]

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Poor Celio remained asleep as she took his hands into hers, even if Julie needed a little bit of force to make him let go of his collar. He seemed to have been desperately trying to take it off, breathing rapidly and crying in his sleep, so who knew what sort of nightmares were tormenting him.. but then, as she moved his hands away, as she wiped his tears and whispered to him... the black haired boy seemed to calm down a little..she gently kissed his cheek, putting one of her hands between the back of his neck and the collar that always left bruises behind, and then she pulled him closer to her into a hug of sorts, or well, just a way for them to sleep closer to each other, with her other arm over his and one of her legs around his waist. This was certainly a little awkward, with her only being half-dressed like that..but it's not like the boy would have noticed. Instead, his breath slowly relaxed, and the tears stopped rolling down his cheeks. He stopped shivering and shaking, and instead, almost instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her and staying close to her, to her presence and to her warmth. And slowly, the nightmare seemed to pass, until finally, Celio seemed to be sleeping peacefully.....with a smile on his face.

And eventually, the sun rose and the morning, maybe too quickly. Celio was the first to wake up, opening his eyes and then closing them again.. and wait.. something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The first thing that his sleepy mind realized was that.. he had waken up slowly and normally.. this wasn't right..this wasn't like all those times when he had been awoken by or from a nightmare, crying and in pain..he had.. he actually slept pretty well, he had slept peacefully.. and he couldn't even remember having a nightmare. The first few minutes after he would wake up were always filled with that feeling of dread and despair, with him trying not to think about all the horrible details of the dreams that had been tormenting him.. and yet.. right now there was nothing. He couldn't remember anything but a nice feeling of peace and relaxation.. as if.. as if everything was alright. His eyes filled with tears once again.. it was..he was.. happy.. he couldn't even remember the last time when he had slept this.. in fact.. he was fairly certain that this had been the first peaceful night that he had experienced after waking up without any memories on that fateful day.

But.. why? What had he done to deserve something like this? What had happened? It was only then that the boy started to notice something, his eyes still closed as he tried to hide his tears..something next to him, the comforting sensation and warmth of..someone who was lying on the bed, close to him? Someone who had its arms wrapped around him, just like he had his own arms wrapped around that someone? It was just so calming, to feel that warmth... he was.. he was happy. So he just spent a few more moments, savoring that soothing feeling.. until it suddenly dawned on him. He opened his eyes.. only to see a girl's brown, silky hair.

For a moment, nothing happened. The boy tried to close his eyes again, to just ignore everything that was happening, to pretend that this wasn't real.. this couldn't be real..she was just so close to him, he could feel her heartbeat, he could hear her soft breathing.. The boy opened his eyes again, and quickly noticed just in what kind of a position they were, how close she was, how she was dressed and how one of her legs was wrapped around his waist like that, keeping him close.. he.. he instantly turned red. How.. how could something like this have happened? W-why w-was she s-so c-close? How could, how could this.. but then.. then he slowly realized that maybe.. maybe the reason for why he had slept so peacefully.. maybe the reason for why his nightmares had stopped.. was her...it was her that had calmed him down during the night, and it was her warmth that had made that horrible sensation of coldness and emptiness go away... and thinking about that.. he couldn't.. he couldn't help but smile. It was embarrassing, certainly, but he could.. he could somehow just ignore the weird part of it.. because being with her here just made him happy, and not in a bad way. He still couldn't understand why he cared so much about her, or what this warm feeling was.. but he was happy.. And even if he still had no bad intention, just being so close to her was just so calming and comforting.. it was as if the harsh and cruel world around them didn't matter at all.. it was as if he could just forget all of the pain and suffering and envy and hate and despair.. it was as if he could ignore all those scars, and the bruises and the collar and cuffs... all that mattered was that he was happy, and that she was here..

So he just quietly moved a little, so that while still lying in that position, hugging her, he could look at her face, and at her peaceful, sleeping expression. It was so funny to think how the Celio from that night when the two of them had met for the first time would have reacted to something to like this. But it didn't matter.. because he was happy.. he was at peace.. and he loved it.
But then, suddenly, Julie woke up, and their eyes met, blue and crimson looking at each other... with an already blushing Celio noticed how Julie was also turning red..and in that moment, poor Celio felt more embarrassed than he had ever felt in his entire life. He tried to get away from her, a still half-asleep and surprised Julie letting go of him, but the bed in which the two of them had slept wasn't all that big - so poor Celio rolled over the edge and fell on the wooden ground with a loud thump. He closed his eyes because of the sudden pain.. before he covered his face with his hands, trying to hide just how much he was blushing, unable to take the memory of them two being so close from his head. "I'm s-sorry.., he tried to say, confused and embarrassed..

For most of the nights of her life, Julie had slept alone; besides the rare occasions she slept with her parents as a child. She had never known what it was really like to sleep next to someone or to rest in someone's arms, and, despite being asleep most of the time...she liked it. And despite normally sleeping well as it was, it seemed like tonight of all nights, she'd slept the best. Perhaps it was the comfort of being encircled by someone's warmth and affection, or the soft sound of someone else's breathing alongside your own...but either way, it made sleep all the more better. So...when she did finally wake up, she didn't open her eyes just yet. She realized that he'd wrapped his own arms around her as they slept, and found that they had both been in a tight embrace for what seemed to be most of the night. It was quite easy to assume he'd done so unconsciously, perhaps by instinct, after she recalled clinging to him at some point in the night from a nightmare. She couldn't help but let her cheeks pinken a little at the idea of doing something so rash, so careless without making sure he was alright. But...she couldn't say she didn't like it.

So...while she was awake, while she could've gotten up and moved away, she stayed. She pretended to sleep, holding him as she did, wishing they could lay like that forever. She enjoyed having him there; she felt safe in his arms, even if he was supposed to be her mortal enemy. She knew he'd probably be mad at her for what she'd done, but...she wanted to relish in the act as long as she could. As long as he would allow her. So...she snuggled a bit closer, breathing in his lavender scent, and she couldn't help but smile as she did; but something was missing--she wanted to see him. Perhaps it was weird, perhaps it was intrusive, but she wanted to see what he looked like when he was at peace, totally unbothered by the world as he slept, something she imagined she wouldn't get to see often, if ever. But...as she opened her eyes, she realized that, in fact, he was the one that was watching her sleep. Their eyes met, and she blushed bright red, already seeing that his cheeks were red as well. She couldn't help but be embarrassed; seeing someone sleep feels so open and vulnerable, and it made her feel bashful and shy, even though she'd intended to do the same with him. She was speechless, really; opening her mouth to say something, but no words followed.

He seemed to be in the same situation. Quite clearly embarrassed, he tried to scramble away, and Julie had no intentions of holding him down; though she let go a little too quickly, and gasped in surprise as he rolled over the edge and hit the ground. Slightly worried, she scurried to the edge, looking over with wide blue eyes as he covered his face and apologized. In another moment, Julie couldn't help but laugh, something so honest and true that it almost made the entire awkwardness of the situation evaporate. She wasn't laughing at him, really; she was laughing at the whole situation they found themselves in. "You don't need to apologize, I'm the one who caused all of this after all..." She said when she finally got to stop laughing, a wide smile on her face as she continued to peek at him over the edge, her own cheeks a light red. "I mean, I said I wouldn't bite, but I admit I never made any promises about cuddling..." She said with another giggle.

After a moment of thought, she seemed to blush more, and looked away a bit bashfully, hiding some of her face with the edge of the bed. "But...I-I can't say that I didn't enjoy it, you know...it was...really...nice." She finally said, blushing more and more with every word. After a moment, she shyly turned her eyes to him again, and despite her mouth being hidden, it was quite clear she was smiling, even just from her eyes. "How about this...I...know that all the villagers and stuff can be really overwhelming, so...how about I go out and get us some breakfast, and bring it back here? That way we can stay out of their attention a little longer, atleast until we leave, sound good?" She queried, though she didn't seem to wait for an answer before she sat up and gracefully got off the bed once more. Though her shirt was pretty ruffled up, she didn't seem to bother fixing it in the same way she had the night before; she seemed more comfortable about the way she looked around him, though it was clear it was with no bad intention. In fact, she probably looked more graceful and cute in the state she was in, with her unkempt hair and sleepy state. Gently, calmly, she pulled her red skirt back on, and buttoned it up with ease. She gave him another, gentle smile as she pulled her boots back on, and took a moment to smooth out her wavy brown hair.

In a moment, when she seemed ready, she approached him again with a wider smile, though her cheeks still glowed pink. "I promise it won't take me more than an hour, and if I'm not back by then, you can come and find me, alright? There's no need to worry about me running off." She told him with a friendly gaze, before she wrapped her arms around him in a soft hug. "Just try to relax some. There's no rush to get going to do anything, alright..?" She told him, looking to his red eyes once more before her smile returned and she gave him a gentle, nice kiss. "I'll see you when I get back, alright..? Just...don't go running off without me again." She told him with another soft laugh before she finally released him, not taking her eyes off of him as she reached the door, blowing him a soft kiss before she, almost regretfully, finally closed the door behind her and headed back out into the village.

[Zapatha]

Border Between Duivene and Achisia

With Alexis back on her feet and fighting, Peter couldn't hold back a faint, tired smile but soon snapped back into the battle. He then remembered the older knight who had been fighting Alexis' twin and went with a few soldiers to bring him back to their defensive position up on the hill. Taking advantage of the princess weakening the undead, Peter cut down several undead soldiers while two swordsmen carried Eric to the defensive hill to be tended to. Once they returned, Peter ordered the remaining Duivenian men to reform their ranks, with spears and pikes up front and swords behind. Once they were in formation, they surrounded the hill in a square position and weathered the weakened undead's attacks. Meanwhile, two dozen spearmen were aiding Yakr in fighting the dragon, spearing it in the belly and necks while trying to avoid the dragon's massive body and flames.

Peter ordered for the spears and pikes to advance into the undead, with the soldiers and remaining knights following suit. After advancing about 10 meters, the spears and pikes lowered their shields to the ground and stabbed the undead in front of them, followed by the swordsmen and the knights who hacked the undead into pieces. The advanced training of Peter's contingent of troops instead of masses of peasant levies proved effective, as they continued on with this tactic while losing very little men. Peter then looked to the archers, and ordered them to fire a volley into the back lines of the undead with flaming arrows, which caught fire either on the undead or the surrounding vegetation and eventually encircled the undead horde between the disciplined Duivenian lines and the fire.

As Peter looked over the battlefield, he noticed that the Princess seemed to be losing in her duel against her...twin he supposed? It didn't matter, as he came down from upon the hill and closed in on the pair dueling. He knew that the princess was more important to the battle's outcome than he was, and decided that he should help her fight the witch. As he came within a few feet of the pair, he shouted "My princess join the army on the hill they need you more than me!" as he raised his shield in a defensive stance.

[Faal Lot Himdah]

The Mountain Crusher, Yakr Rugma
The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia

---

As the dragon started to get up, Yakr was faced with two choices. He could either continue to lay into the dragon, and hope to end the beast before it got up and pinned him. Or he could jump off now, and then attack the beast when it was back up. Not wanting to get pinned, Yakr jumped off from the dragon, and landed next to a rock that would have been large for a human to use, but large enough for Yakr to easily use. Seeing this rock, Yakr had an idea, he also noted the humans that had come to aid him, but at the moment couldn't thank them.

Grabbing the rock, he made a few fast and strong strikes on one side of the rock, shaping the end of the rock into a point. By now the dragon was back up, and Yakr had a clear line of sight to the area of the dragon's chest, where Yakr assumed the heart would be. With a roar from Yakr, he let loose the rock, with the pointed end facing the dragon, and watched as it flew towards the dragon's chest, hitting its mark. Not wasting time to see if the rock had killed the dragon, Yakr rushed forward, and delivered one more blow, with all his strength, into the rock, forcing it deeper into the dragon's chest.

[Charlia]

Alina barely registered any of Rafal's words, outside of a vague knowledge that he was trying to reassure her--but what good did it do? What could he do that could make any of this better? This was going to affect the rest of her life, was going to change everything. Any hope she'd had of people not knowing what she'd done was gone. There was no longer anywhere that she could go where she'd be able to avoid the hatred and disgust of the people around her--she deserved that, she knew, but it still hurt so much. She wanted to wake up, but she wasn't dreaming. It was all too real.

"...You don't have to lie to me," she choked. "I know how this is going to go. I'm pregnant, I'm not married, I'll never be married... but I won't even be the worst off, will I?" Her hands curled into fists, and she sounded like she was about to cry again. "Yes, people will be cruel, but I deserve that, I know I deserve that. But the baby... my baby..." I suppose I should start getting used to that. "It didn't do anything wrong, but it has to grow up knowing that it has a--a harlot like me for a mother... people will treat my child badly because it's my child. But that's not the baby's fault, it's not... it's not fair to punish a child for what I did..." Her voice cracked, and another sob wracked her body. "And--and what happens if it gets older and starts asking about its father? What am I supposed to say to that? I don't know--there were so many of them, I don't know which one--I can't even remember half of their faces, I barely knew any of their names, what do I say to that? Am I supposed to tell them that I'm--that I'm such a whore that I can't even tell them who their father is?! What if it hates me, what if it thinks I'm disgusting? And I am, I am, I know I am, but it'd hurt--it'd hurt so much, I don't want my own child to hate me, I can't--I don't want to--I don't want to have a baby!" Her last sentence came out as a strangled cry, and she crumpled.

I can't do this... I can't!

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Eric de Villegagnon

As his eyes closed and his senses started to fade away, one could still see a faint, sarcastic smile displayed across the warrior's face. It was the feeling of defiance, the one he flirted with for so long. To defy the Ecclesiarchy, to defy the Inquisition, and now, to defy that person who seemed so certain of his failure, of his inability to even harm her... Could very well be his last act of defiance, of stubbornness.

He felt the kick breaking his ribs, and the impact of his body against other bodies, like someone used him as an object placed in a catapult.

The prayer made by the Princess wasn't even heard by the former Noble. He only woke up when the pain of the healing settled in, quickly repairing his bones and the bleeding at his left arm. Slowly, he got up, testing his body to see how effective the healing was. He could fight: but one of his arms was weakened enough to be used in a two hand stance, which required constant effort.

He searched around the battlefield for a different weapon, one he didn't use for some time, but still carried the theory and a rusty practice with it: the rapier.

"Argh... Thank you for the healing service, I guess. I need to help the Princess now. You make sure not a single abomination get in the perimeter of that fight, or you might be carrying her corpse back to the capital. And no, I am not creating fear. I am being realistic."

When Death whisper sweet words and give you a false sense of safety to you, your stubborn old man... You know exactly what to say to her.

One day. But not today.

Quickly assuming a fighting stance, he ran towards Alexis's opponent, looking at her and examining her body. He needed to impair her capacity of reaction, but the only thing left was the vision.

In a quick run, he did a small and somewhat extravagant slide, pulling the blade slightly to the side, opening a cut above the eyebrow, in a manner that the blood would drop over her eye, forcing her to disengage Alexis at least temporarily. However, the Noble that joined the fight seemed eager to perform a heroic act by fighting the twin and letting Alexis fall back.

"You! Don't fool yourself thinking that she will fall back now! The army and your soldiers will follow the example set here, so if you want to help, join this fight!"

[Zapatha]

Eric de Villegagnon

As his eyes closed and his senses started to fade away, one could still see a faint, sarcastic smile displayed across the warrior's face. It was the feeling of defiance, the one he flirted with for so long. To defy the Ecclesiarchy, to defy the Inquisition, and now, to defy that person who seemed so certain of his failure, of his inability to even harm her... Could very well be his last act of defiance, of stubbornness.

He felt the kick breaking his ribs, and the impact of his body against other bodies, like someone used him as an object placed in a catapult.

The prayer made by the Princess wasn't even heard by the former Noble. He only woke up when the pain of the healing settled in, quickly repairing his bones and the bleeding at his left arm. Slowly, he got up, testing his body to see how effective the healing was. He could fight: but one of his arms was weakened enough to be used in a two hand stance, which required constant effort.

He searched around the battlefield for a different weapon, one he didn't use for some time, but still carried the theory and a rusty practice with it: the rapier.

"Argh... Thank you for the healing service, I guess. I need to help the Princess now. You make sure not a single abomination get in the perimeter of that fight, or you might be carrying her corpse back to the capital. And no, I am not creating fear. I am being realistic."

When Death whisper sweet words and give you a false sense of safety to you, your stubborn old man... You know exactly what to say to her.

One day. But not today.

Quickly assuming a fighting stance, he ran towards Alexis's opponent, looking at her and examining her body. He needed to impair her capacity of reaction, but the only thing left was the vision.

In a quick run, he did a small and somewhat extravagant slide, pulling the blade slightly to the side, opening a cut above the eyebrow, in a manner that the blood would drop over her eye, forcing her to disengage Alexis at least temporarily. However, the Noble that joined the fight seemed eager to perform a heroic act by fighting the twin and letting Alexis fall back.

"You! Don't fool yourself thinking that she will fall back now! The army and your soldiers will follow the example set here, so if you want to help, join this fight!"

Listening to the obviously much more experienced older knight, Peter nodded his head and moved in closer to the fight. Well I guess he's right about that, if we show that we can beat her that will give our men all they need to fuel their will to fight... he thought, looking at Alexis' twin who was temporarily incapacitated with blood flowing over her eye. Though he wasn't an excellent swordsman like the older knight or a legendary warrior like Alexis, Peter wasn't stupid and used the opening that the knight created to his advantage.

Peter raised his shield up and sprinted straight into the twin, intending to knock her off of her feet or at the very least cause her to lose her balance. He then drew back, readying his shield to parry any attack she might try to use next.

[Tracian Empire]

Somewhere
The border between Wyzkia and the Ecclesiarchy

No.. he couldn't.. he couldn't cry. He had no right to cry.. he had no right to feel pain. It was selfish, it was horrible, and he hated himself for it.. but it hurt to hear her talking like that, it hurt to see her like that, so afraid and hopeless and alone..it was like thorns of guilt stinging his heart. Why? Why did she have to be broken like this when she had finally found a glimmer of hope in her life? Why did all of her dreams have to be mercilessly crushed like this by something that she had no control over? It was his fault, wasn't it? He had brought the relic with him here, he had failed to stop her in time.. it was his fault that she had found out about all of this like that.. it was his fault that she had been broken like this..and he was never going to forgive himself for it. But her fate.. who was guilty for her fate? For everything that had happened to her? Why did someone like her have to suffer so much? Why were the gods just so cruel to her? She deserved to be happy, to do whatever she wanted in life, to be free, to be safe, to find true love.. why did she have such a horrible father? Why did she have to suffer like that at the hands of those cruel cultists? Why would the gods take away all her chances at true happiness by making her pregnant, by putting her in such a danger, by binding her to a child's fate, a child that would always remind her of the nightmares of her past, a nightmare in itself that she can't run away from without creating new nightmares? It was as if all of his demons and suffering couldn't ever be compared to what she had been through. It made him want to scream in rage and to cry at the same time.. but he couldn't.. he just couldn't. He had promised that he would protect her.. and yet, in so many ways, he had already broken that promise. He had nearly lost her to the Faith Keepers after already having failed to defend his liege..and he had brought with him the relic, his servant, that had hurt her like that, revealing a terrifying truth that she should have never found out like that, not even in her most harrowing dreams. He was a failure as a knight, he was a failure as a man, he was a failure as her.. friend if he was even that. She had to hate him somehow, for what had happened.. she had to... but he was going to be strong for her. No screaming. No crying. No weakness. Just like his father had once told him.. just like how those knight in the fairy tales were like. He was going to help her, he was going to be there for her, no matter what...and if that meant burying all those feelings deep inside of him.. that is what was going to happen. When she was crying like that, drowning in despair.. how could he show her that his heart was in so much pain?

"I'm.. I'm not..I would never.. never lie to you..", the green eyed boy tried to say, hugging her even tighter.. as if he could somehow make her understand that jumbled mess of feelings that was making his chest hurt. "Y-yes.. people will be cruel.. people are cruel, and evil, and twisted, and I can't change that, but you didn't deserve that.. you didn't deserve any of that.. it's not your fault that they fooled you like that.. it's not your fault that you had to suffer like that.. it's not your fault, and it never was your fault that the gods are also just so cruel..you're not a harlot, you're not a whore, you're not...you're a victim, you're someone who suffered, you're a good and innocent girl who didn't deserve any of it..and.. and..it's not.. it's not.." He couldn't.. he could feel his eyes getting teary..all the desperation.. her cry.. her calling herself a whore, saying that she didn't want to have a bay, and the hopelessness.. he had to stay strong.. and he had to remember it. What his father always said to him.. the training.. a paladin had to be strong. The crybaby that he had been when he was little was gone. He had to remember it.. the pain.. the wooden cane hitting him again, and again, harder and harder for every tear that rolled down his cheeks until none would come anymore..the paladins had to be strong, to shield the frail with their plate, with their mail, with their flesh..but this was Alina.. he had to be strong for her..only for her.. and nothing else mattered anymore. But how could he even hope to help her? How could he shield her from this harsh and bitter world? How could he keep her safe, how could he ever hope to at least give her tiny little bits of happiness? He couldn't do anything, he couldn't change human nature, he couldn't change that she was going to give birth, he couldn't change how her baby was going to be like, he couldn't change anything, and he couldn't do anything.. or could he?

He hated himself for this idea..and he hated himself because his heart skipped a beat when thinking of it. It was horrible, it was disgusting, and it was only going to make her hate him more than she already had, and it was probably going to ruin so many things..but who else would care about it? From the five people who could have opposed it, two were dead, one was insane, one was going to understand it..all that was left.. was her..Alina. But even if it was going to make her despise him.. it was.. it was the only way. And Rafal took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "I can't.. I can't change the world, or the past, even.. even if I would have wanted to. I can't go back in time and kill all those bastards before they would do anything to you I can't.. I can't stop your baby from coming into this world. I can't change how cruel and filthy and disgusting and hateful humans are.. and I can't change what your baby would think about you...but I can be here for you, no matter what.. I can help you, I can protect you.. and I can.. I can shield you from the disgust of others, I can protect your baby from being despised for something it couldn't control either.. I could.. I could do that.. I could do that if you.. if you would marry me.." And the boy stopped for a moment.. his voice strained, as low as a whisper. "If you would.. if you would become my wife..then no one is going to ask what happened to you.. no one is going to make you relive those memories again.. no one is going to question your honor. They're.. they're just going to see a noblewoman marrying the lord of a noble house...no one.. no one will ever call you.. a .. a w-whore again.. because they.. they would face my sword..no one would dare.. to ever question anything...and the child.. the child.. I can.. I can say that.. that it's mine...I could.. I could pretend to be its father..so that it would never have a reason.. to question who its parents are..and the child would never hate you.. and.. and I would always be there.. for both of you.. protecting you.. and.. even if there isn't much that I can do.. I could try.. I could try to make you.. feel even just.. a little happiness..."
And then Rafal stopped, feeling tears welling up in his eyes again. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry for ever saying anything like that.. I'm sorry for ever thinking about anything.. please.. don't hate me for that..please.. I just..you've suffered so much.. and so many.. so many people.. ignored what you actually wanted.. ignored your dreams and wishes. I can't just.. I can't just throw something like this at you.. and I could.. I could never force you to do anything.. but.. if you were alright with it.. if you would accept it.. I would.. I would marry you.."

---

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Covering his face with his hands, Celio really, really wished that he would just disappear from this world right there and then.. completely forgetting that she had been the one to hug him like that first, at some point during the night. He was expecting her to scold him, to tell him just how bad and how disgusting what he had done was, to tell him just how much she hated him because of that.. but instead of that.. instead of that.. she laughed? Her laugh seemed to be just so honest and innocent that the entire atmosphere of awkwardness and his fear both seemed to disappear at the same time.. he couldn't understand it, but it seemed that he hadn't.. done anything bad? Her saying that he had no reason to apologise and joking about how she hadn't said anything about cuddling made him realize that everything was alright, so while he was still blushing, he took his hands away from his face, hesitantly looking at her with his blood red eyes. And then.. well, his face immediately started to resemble the color of his eyes as soon as he heard her saying that. That she enjoyed it.. and that it had been nice? Could that mean that she was just as happy as he was? Could it mean that it had actually been alright for them to spend their night like that? Oof, this was far too much for him to handle.. so the black haired boy couldn't help but let his own feelings get the best of him and he just said what he was thinking. “I.. I enjoyed it too..”, his voice as low as a whisper, but still loud enough for her to hear. “It was… it was the first night that I can remember.. when I.. when I had no nightmares.. it was.. it was really nice..”

But poor Celio closed his mouth as soon as he had realized what he was saying, feeling the sudden need to cover his face again..But luckily for him, Julie simply suggested that she would go out to bring them some breakfast for them to eat back here in the room.. and he had to admit it, that sounded like an amazing idea. Both of them enjoying a calm breakfast together, hidden from the villagers.. “It would be.. it would be a-amazing..”, he tried to say, as she stood up, making no effort to arrange her shirt.. and of course, Celio couldn't help but steal a glance at her as she took her skirt on… and he had to admit it.. she was really, really cute even with that messy look.. even if he was never going to say that. And then, just as he also stood up, she approached him, smiling, telling him that it wouldn't take long, and that everything was going to be alright..and then she hugged him. Hesitating for a moment, he wrapped his own arms around her, but he had no time to properly enjoy the warmth of this hug, the one that always made him feel at ease, as she looked directly to his eyes, making him blush even more.. before she gave him another kiss. He barely managed to answer with a confused “A-alright..” as she let go of him.. and he said nothing else as she blew him a kiss before she finally left. His “S-see you l-later..” came too late, when she was already gone.. so Celio just sat back on the edge of the bed..his head filled with all sorts of cute thoughts.. and with the idea that maybe.. maybe he should have asked her to remain like that, hugging him.. for maybe.. maybe a little longer…

But suddenly, he felt someone embracing him from behind…

---

She could have perhaps felt it as soon as she entered the inn again..An ominous presence, an aura that hadn't been there when she left.. but she couldn't be sure. Celio sometimes spread the same feeling of envy, like he had done each time when they had fought - but it was obvious that something was wrong.. very wrong. For some reason, the inn itself seemed to be deserted, with the innkeeper gone, and no one else in sight..but even if she would have rushed to back to their room.. it would have been too late... and as soon as she entered, she would have seen two people on the bed - a boy lying down with his back on the bed, and a girl around their age on top of him - with both of them being naked, and their position making what they were supposed to be doing all too obvious..

While not the first thing that would have attracted her attention upon entering the room.. but Celio's position was probably the most shocking. It looked as if.. as if something had changed within him, but Julie couldn't be sure what. His earlier bright happiness had been replaced with what looked like simple satisfaction, and his earlier embarrassment also seemed to be gone, even if he was in the middle of a situation that was for more embarrassing than anything he had experienced for the past few days. While it was a bit difficult for her to see due to his position, Celio was clearly completely naked, his shirt and pants carelessly thrown on the wooden floor. Even if the scars and the cuffs on his arms were still completely visible, Celio's hands were touching the girl who was sitting on top of him in some rather.. inappropriate places, with the girl's hands placed on top of his, holding them in place. The boy seemed to be quite content with his position, looking directly at the girl.. in a way that made it so that Julie was most likely going to miss the slight hollowness in Celio's crimson eyes. But of course, the first thing that the brunette girl had probably seen.. was the other girl... it would only take a couple of moments for her to realize that the white haired girl was certainly not human. She was... far too perfect. She wasn't wearing any clothes either, with her black dress thrown on the floor next to Celio's clothes, but her pale, porcelain-like skin was just too smooth and flawless. She simply seemed such an allure that put her above normal women, and as she turned her head around to look at Julie..the Archbishop immediately realized that this wasn't just an impression - the girl's beauty was simply divine, and her very appearance was more than enough to make her heart twinge with envy, even without her magical aura's influence. And as Julie's blue eyes meet the other girl's purple... Invidia smirked.

"Didn't you learn that it's polite to knock before entering someone's room?", the goddess asked, looking carefully at Julie as if she was analyzing her.. the brunette's unkempt hair and messy appearance seeming to make Invidia smirk even more. Not even waiting for an answer, the deity turned to face Celio again, leaning over the black haired boy and kissing him directly on the lips, with the two of them taking their time with something that seemed completely different from the shy displays of affection that Celio and Julie had shared the day before - this was certainly an act of lust. They stopped only when they could no longer breathe, and Invidia turned her head around again, licking her lips in an overly suggestive manner as she looked at Julie again. "Can't you see that you're interrupting us?", she asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

[Castle Crashers]

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Covering his face with his hands, Celio really, really wished that he would just disappear from this world right there and then.. completely forgetting that she had been the one to hug him like that first, at some point during the night. He was expecting her to scold him, to tell him just how bad and how disgusting what he had done was, to tell him just how much she hated him because of that.. but instead of that.. instead of that.. she laughed? Her laugh seemed to be just so honest and innocent that the entire atmosphere of awkwardness and his fear both seemed to disappear at the same time.. he couldn't understand it, but it seemed that he hadn't.. done anything bad? Her saying that he had no reason to apologise and joking about how she hadn't said anything about cuddling made him realize that everything was alright, so while he was still blushing, he took his hands away from his face, hesitantly looking at her with his blood red eyes. And then.. well, his face immediately started to resemble the color of his eyes as soon as he heard her saying that. That she enjoyed it.. and that it had been nice? Could that mean that she was just as happy as he was? Could it mean that it had actually been alright for them to spend their night like that? Oof, this was far too much for him to handle.. so the black haired boy couldn't help but let his own feelings get the best of him and he just said what he was thinking. “I.. I enjoyed it too..”, his voice as low as a whisper, but still loud enough for her to hear. “It was… it was the first night that I can remember.. when I.. when I had no nightmares.. it was.. it was really nice..”

But poor Celio closed his mouth as soon as he had realized what he was saying, feeling the sudden need to cover his face again..But luckily for him, Julie simply suggested that she would go out to bring them some breakfast for them to eat back here in the room.. and he had to admit it, that sounded like an amazing idea. Both of them enjoying a calm breakfast together, hidden from the villagers.. “It would be.. it would be a-amazing..”, he tried to say, as she stood up, making no effort to arrange her shirt.. and of course, Celio couldn't help but steal a glance at her as she took her skirt on… and he had to admit it.. she was really, really cute even with that messy look.. even if he was never going to say that. And then, just as he also stood up, she approached him, smiling, telling him that it wouldn't take long, and that everything was going to be alright..and then she hugged him. Hesitating for a moment, he wrapped his own arms around her, but he had no time to properly enjoy the warmth of this hug, the one that always made him feel at ease, as she looked directly to his eyes, making him blush even more.. before she gave him another kiss. He barely managed to answer with a confused “A-alright..” as she let go of him.. and he said nothing else as she blew him a kiss before she finally left. His “S-see you l-later..” came too late, when she was already gone.. so Celio just sat back on the edge of the bed..his head filled with all sorts of cute thoughts.. and with the idea that maybe.. maybe he should have asked her to remain like that, hugging him.. for maybe.. maybe a little longer…

But suddenly, he felt someone embracing him from behind…

---

She could have perhaps felt it as soon as she entered the inn again..An ominous presence, an aura that hadn't been there when she left.. but she couldn't be sure. Celio sometimes spread the same feeling of envy, like he had done each time when they had fought - but it was obvious that something was wrong.. very wrong. For some reason, the inn itself seemed to be deserted, with the innkeeper gone, and no one else in sight..but even if she would have rushed to back to their room.. it would have been too late... and as soon as she entered, she would have seen two people on the bed - a boy lying down with his back on the bed, and a girl around their age on top of him - with both of them being naked, and their position making what they were supposed to be doing all too obvious..

While not the first thing that would have attracted her attention upon entering the room.. but Celio's position was probably the most shocking. It looked as if.. as if something had changed within him, but Julie couldn't be sure what. His earlier bright happiness had been replaced with what looked like simple satisfaction, and his earlier embarrassment also seemed to be gone, even if he was in the middle of a situation that was for more embarrassing than anything he had experienced for the past few days. While it was a bit difficult for her to see due to his position, Celio was clearly completely naked, his shirt and pants carelessly thrown on the wooden floor. Even if the scars and the cuffs on his arms were still completely visible, Celio's hands were touching the girl who was sitting on top of him in some rather.. inappropriate places, with the girl's hands placed on top of his, holding them in place. The boy seemed to be quite content with his position, looking directly at the girl.. in a way that made it so that Julie was most likely going to miss the slight hollowness in Celio's crimson eyes. But of course, the first thing that the brunette girl had probably seen.. was the other girl... it would only take a couple of moments for her to realize that the white haired girl was certainly not human. She was... far too perfect. She wasn't wearing any clothes either, with her black dress thrown on the floor next to Celio's clothes, but her pale, porcelain-like skin was just too smooth and flawless. She simply seemed such an allure that put her above normal women, and as she turned her head around to look at Julie..the Archbishop immediately realized that this wasn't just an impression - the girl's beauty was simply divine, and her very appearance was more than enough to make her heart twinge with envy, even without her magical aura's influence. And as Julie's blue eyes meet the other girl's purple... Invidia smirked.

"Didn't you learn that it's polite to knock before entering someone's room?", the goddess asked, looking carefully at Julie as if she was analyzing her.. the brunette's unkempt hair and messy appearance seeming to make Invidia smirk even more. Not even waiting for an answer, the deity turned to face Celio again, leaning over the black haired boy and kissing him directly on the lips, with the two of them taking their time with something that seemed completely different from the shy displays of affection that Celio and Julie had shared the day before - this was certainly an act of lust. They stopped only when they could no longer breathe, and Invidia turned her head around again, licking her lips in an overly suggestive manner as she looked at Julie again. "Can't you see that you're interrupting us?", she asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

As she closed the door behind herself, leaving Celio in the room, she nearly collapsed against the wood frame. She was overwhelmed with embarrassment, her face quickly flushing red as she leaned against the door, placing her palms against her cheeks as she stayed there in bewilderment. How had she confronted him so calmly?! How had she been able to act so collected and comfortable!? She almost couldn't believe her own cool behavior...or the fact that she had willingly acted so in the first place. Either way, she had to take a moment to breathe as she struggled to swallow her embarrassment, slowing her breathing before she gave a slight cough, regaining her balance once more as she smoothed out her skirt. Though her cheeks were still dusted red, she calmly headed out of the hallway and out of the inn, into the daylight, her mind already procuring simple, giddy, light-hearted fantasies of what might await her in the rest of the day. She was truly unaware of what might await her back at the inn, as she walked with a smile on her face, her heart racing with excitement...

---

As Julie approached the inn once more an hour or so later, goodies stored into a small bag in her hand, a smile still on her face...she felt it. The nausea, the unsettling atmosphere...her mind immediately jumped back to the Night of the Bloody Moons, when Celio had been his strongest, when she herself almost fell into Envy...could that be happening now? She bolted back into the building at full speed, her mind racing; she failed to notice the emptiness of the building. Had Invidia brought him back into a thoughtless slave once more? Was he going to try and raise the dead once more? That could be the only explanation for such a feeling...couldn't it..? What else could be the reason for such an aura?

In a moment's notice, not waiting for an answer to the door, Julie quickly kicked it open. "H-hey, what's going o--" She began, but her words fell as her eyes finally accepted what lay before them. It couldn't be...could it..? There, in the bed she had slept a mere hour ago, lay Celio, clearly in the middle of something very, very inappropriate with the white-haired girl that sat on top of him. Her breath caught in her throat. He didn't look embarrassed, or shy, or terrified...he looked...satisfied. Not only did the bare girl sitting there give her the idea, but Celio's clothes being strewn about did, too. His coat still hang neatly on the corner of the chair from the previous night, the only sign that it had been a reality at all compared to...this. Her eyes continued to analyze the situation as her heart sank, blue orbs tracing the girl's hands over Celio's, holding them places they shouldn't be, and as he looked at her with content. It was easy, so easy to know who it was, even from where she stood. The bag of goodies dropped from her hand and hit the ground with a light thump.

Invidia spoke, asking her a question, turning to look at her, Julie frozen as she felt the goddess' purple orbs trace her figure, smirking as if with pride of her appearance in comparison to Julie's. It almost made her uncomfortable, had she not been frozen with shock. She wanted to speak, to say something, but her mouth felt as if it were filled with cotton as she watched them, watching still as she leaned down and enveloped the boy Julie had grown quite fond of in a deep, long kiss, in a way that was most unsettling. There was nothing...loving about it. Nothing...kind. She still watched, her blue eyes dull even as the goddess licked her lips, explaining that she was interrupting them, smiling at her...but it felt so distant.

The silence was madding. She could hear it roaring in her ears, her heart thumping slowly in her chest, her breath barely escaping from her throat as she stood, cemented to the ground she stood at. This couldn't be real, could it..? He wouldn't do that, would he..? Finally, she drew her eyes away, turning them to a point on the floor, her brow furrowing in...pain. Even when she didn't look at them, even when she turned her eyes away, she could still see it, could still see them kissing, touching, doing things that any god would consider unholy...her eyes ached for tears, yet none came. Just a thought; how could she be so stupid..?

How could she be so dumb? Why did she ever think he could like her? Why did she ever assume he would prefer her over a goddess? She had the perfect shape, the perfect body, slim-yet-curvy, proportioned so perfectly it would make any girl cry. Her striking purple eyes, her soft white locks, her pink lips...everything about her, anything about her made Julie want to shrink, feeling awful and self-conscious. She seemed to gain circles under her eyes as she stared at the floor, seeming like she tried to burn a hole into it, the pain slowly leaking into her expression. Why did she ever think she could compare to her..? It was stupid of her to think he would ever choose her over a goddess, wasn't it..? How could she be so foolish..? She could feel the Sin crawling against her back, leeching to her like tar, trying to get the best of her...but she didn't move. She stayed dull.

She stood, feeling as though her heart was shattering in her chest, the beats slow and steady, but she almost wished they would stop altogether. All she could see in her mind was his smile, his joyful red eyes, his red cheeks; she closed her eyes. She didn't want to see him, she didn't want to see her. She didn't want to see anything. "..why..?" The word finally leaked from her throat, just barely above a whisper as she kept her eyes low, unblinking and dull. "..h-how..? when...w...why..?" She let the words fall from her tongue, though her mouth still felt dry and stuffed with cotton. "I...thought..." But her words never finished, and she fell silent once more; she seemed like a glass figurine slowly fracturing with every passing moment.

[Elysian Kentarchy]

Solomon de Velira
The de Velira Estate
Training ring
The morning of the day before the Night of the Bloody Moons

I have spent the last two hours going at it with my sister and she is pushing both of us to the limit, this leather armor of ours is stifling and the staves are heavy in our hands but we still fight.

She sweeps my feet out from under me and brings her staff down for the final blow but I block it and kick her leg causing her to stumble which I follow up with a blow to her side causing her to stumble and lose her staff and I jab at her chest to knock her down.

“Enough.” My grandfather’s stern voice rings out before I can bring it to her head. “That is the match and I declare Solomon the winner.”

“Well brother you won our bet.” My sister says with a smile and holds up her hand so I can pull her to her feet and she removes her leather helmet and I do the same.

“So where is it?” I ask.

“One moment brother, one moment. Let me catch my breath and change out of this armor.” We do so and she takes one of my hands in hers, puts the wager in it and closes it. “Here you go little brother, keep it safe since it belonged to mother.”

I open my hand and see a necklace, the chain is black iron and the pendant is the symbol of our homeland, the golden flames of Achisia and the serpent, for the eyes of the snake are made from onyx gemstones. “I will be sure to do so.”

“Try it on.” I put it on and she smiles. “Looks good on you little brother.”

Grandfather claps his hands. “Now that that is resolved we should have breakfast, the day is still early for that after all.”

Augustine de Velira,
At breakfast

Breakfast is a quiet affair but that is because the entire family isn’t here, Silvia’s seat is virtually a void when she isn’t here. But I shake my head and look up at my grandson, time to see if this works. “Solomon?”

“Yes Grandfather?”

“We have recently received an offer, well one can call it an offer but we were approached recently with throwing our lot in with an effort to throw the invader out. If we accept we will be fighting the Duivene and their Princess.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Princess Alexis I presume?”

“You remember her then?”

“I met her on the battlefield back during the war, her sister too.”

“Ah right… her sister.” I look at my reflection in my glass and my expression is one I would describe as incomprehensible. “That aside we will be joining our allies come tomorrow and we will drive the invader from our border and secure it, I will brief you more when the time comes on who our ally is and all that since she asked me to keep it a secret. That and I need to assess things more and meet with more people.”

“I… don’t know if that is right Grandfather.”

“Why not?”

He frowns. “Necromancy will be involved won’t it? And the Cult of Sins?”

I sigh audibly. “Most likely yes, but if we are to see our homeland be freed we must make all the compromises possible. We must fight for Achisia and if we are to use such abominable weapons for the salvation of our homeland.”

“But necromancy is indeed an abomination, it and its darkness was what led to our homeland’s fall.”

I smile. “Truly your views are the same as they were during the war but let me pose this question, if there is darkness where is the light? If there is no light there can be no darkness. Our family has been a form of light for generations and we will continue to be, all in the service of our homeland. If we will do wrong either we or our descendants will fix it.”

“So we will cross that bridge when we get to it?”

“In a nutshell yes.”

He exhales air through his teeth. “... I really hate this grandfather but if it is for our homeland I can go along with it. I could be mistaken after all.”

I nod and smile. “See to it that the mobilization of what reserves we can get begins quickly and you be ready to lead from the front again. I expect you at your best.”

“Of course Grandfather, will Illania be joining me?”

“She will soon, I need to discuss something with her in private so you go on ahead.”

“Yes, General.” He bows and leaves with his plate. After a few minutes my granddaughter approaches me.

“Well it seems like it worked, there is almost no way he would have agreed with that argument otherwise.”

“Are you certain there will be no negative side effects?” I ask, internally hating myself for what I have done, what I ordered Illania to ensure.

“Nothing is completely certain Grandfather but there shouldn’t be any, the enchantment simply makes him more open to suggestion to members of our family.”

“I hope that stays true, this is such a despicable act to use family heirlooms that way.” Especially since my granddaughter in law’s family line died in the war.

“I don’t like the idea of doing this to my little brother either but it needs to be done to bring him around to our way of thinking. The pendant shouldn’t cause him to compromise his deeply held views so it is likely he agrees with the pragmatism deep inside of himself.”

I sigh and place my hand against my forehead. “I’ll ask the Gods for forgiveness later I suppose. In the meantime get ready for war Illania, the first salvo is soon to be fired.”

“All for the glory of Achisia.” She replies beating her fist over her chest.

“All for the glory of Achisia.” I return the gesture.

[Elysian Kentarchy]

Augustine de Velira,
His Study,
The morning of the day of the Bloody Moons

I look out my window at the troops marching in parade formation for the inspection, though it is hard to call this an army given our low numbers but over a thousand showing up within a day is pretty good all things considered. Especially since they are armed with stockpiles of weapons and armor we hid after the end of the war so they aren’t mere rabble. There are the old shield formations and spearmen followed behind by crossbowmen and women and archers picking up the rear. We even managed to scrounge up a couple dozen horsemen from the old cataphract units and they are practicing different formations in the distance, if we were willing to lower standards of horses there would be more but we only spared the warhorses for them while all the others have a more important part of the mobilization, a few are used for scout patrols though. And it only the beginning as it seems like every minute that goes by more and more are pouring in, being ferried by carts that I have had sent out, and join up with the formations after being issued their equipment from the quartermasters. Most of them will be deployed elsewhere to assist the other attacks but some will be accompanying us to the border with Duivene as they are the most pressing threat. Looking out at them I feel though I recognize some of their faces, many of them being veterans of my old army. I smile as I remember being told last week that if I called my entire army would come even if they had to return from the dead.

Though one might consider the scene macabre as well given the crucified remains of three men and and a woman, one of the men being badly charred, they have tied to a couple banners that they are parading around my house with. These remains being the people assigned by the Council to monitor my estate to see if I was sincere in my desire to retire and live in peace. What these spies didn’t understand though is that the village they were living in most of the population was keeping tabs on them while waiting for my order. When it came they were dragged through the roads and killed by the mob before my front door, except for one who my granddaughter wanted alive so she could kill him herself.

Speaking of my grandchildren I look out to where they are observing the parading troops along with a some officers from my old army. My grandson looks resplendent with that plate armor that covers everything besides his legs which he uses a lighter armor for, the breastplate adorned with the eternal fire and serpent as is expected and you can see that the armor has seen its battles in the past, while my granddaughter is wearing the robes of an Achisian battlemage, but the black robes have more gold threaded into them to indicate her rank in society and on the sleeves are golden fire to indicate her specialty, she is carrying a staff while she has a sword tied to her side as does her brother, no de Velira would ever enter the battlefield without their sword. Suddenly the officers start barking out orders and certain groups break off to form up and begin marching as their inspection is done. And this is why in the distance we have plenty of carts and horses as the goal is to move as many men as possible to the different locations. We have spent years preparing for this and it seems though we are meeting the timetables we expected when the last meeting of the Emperor’s Council of Generals planned this out, and that is what I didn’t tell my grandchildren, that I had already had most of this planned out and in motion before I told them but I know I couldn’t do this alone so I am glad so many remained true to their old oaths and could arrive for this. Many of the cart drivers have to be tired though as we had been moving troops all night to different locations but it seems that they are pushing themselves hard.

I turn and look at my armor, having been prepared overnight, with a smile and run my wrinkled hand over the set of full plate armor, it is truly well crafted and in the center of the armor is the symbol of Achisia, never had it failed me when I wore it during the war and it will not fail me again as long as my body lasts. “Your majesty, my Emperor.” I mutter to myself. “We will not fail you, we will turn this war around and Achisia will reign for eternal. For we are the Land of the Eternal Fire and Serpent.” That is right, because, for us, the war never ended and it will not end until we win, that is my oath and I will ally with whoever I have to in order to ensure that it is fulfilled, even the cult of sins, even the shadows.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Calaria
Border Region
Night of the Blood Moons

Konstanze was the last to step out of her tent. She rubbed her eyes which had gotten tired and ached after all this time in the tent, discussing and planning in the dim and flickering light of candles. Then she stretched herself and yawned loudly into the night. She didn't care if that wasn't exactly the behaviour that was expected off her, it felt so damn liberating. Besides, not like anyone here cared right now. She could feel it, could feel the nervosity pervading the very air around her, the anxiety and fear that everyone felt before battle. Everyone was mostly preoccupied with him- or herself tonight.

Ah, tonight. The night that should make the breaking of this stalemate possible. Konstanze looked up into the night sky to see the famed astrological event but pouted when she noticed that heavy clouds had gathered, making the night sky one, simple, dark mass. Well, suppose that too had its advantages, what with eliminating the enemy's vision on the battlefield and allowing her to get troops closer to the walls. As if on cue, she stumbled and almost fell over something that was lying on the ground in the darkness. She muttered a curse as she caught her balance again and tried to see what she had stumbled across but simply couldn't make it out. Ugh, it really was her own fault. She had ordered to dim the lights in the camp and overall place less of them ever since the mercenary forces had returned to them. She also tripled guards and redrew the shifts every couple days to make it more difficult for infiltrators to enter the camp despite the more favourable light conditions. She'd take a few accidents and spies anyday over the enemy being able to just watch their every move from the walls and make out strategically important persons in the camp.

Now, what was she going to do again apart from giving her eyes some rest and stretching herself? Ah, yes, of course, she wanted to give Vivian a little present. Well, she was giving her nothing but presents but since Vivian was practically a willing slave of hers those presents of course still belonged to her. It was just that they were more useful in the girl's hands. She clasped the small package tightly before carefully continuing on her path through the camp to find Vivian. A few bodyguards of hers, bearing the Unsterb's coat of arms followed her closely, weapons at the ready.

The siege camp bristled with activity. Men, working with the industriousness of the coward who didn't want to see the fighting up close, brought and prepared new missiles for the siege engines while the siege crews operated the engines themselves. Over the weeks they had been bombarding the fort the men had gotten pretty good at their job. They knew exactly in which arcs to fire to hit which part of the fort. She had personally commanded them to use flaming projectiles. Sure, they would do much less damage to the actual fortifications but they could help immensely against the defenders, setting them or their supply stores alight. And if the enemy didn't let it burn, they had to use mages or the preciously rare water to save their comrades or supplies. It was all to exhaust the defenders. Afterall, even the greatest and most expensive fortifications could be taken if the enemy was incapable of defending them properly.

But the main activity stemmed from the preparations for the actual assault. Only moments before she had been in one last briefing with the other commanders of their siege, just to make sure again that everyone knew the plan for this siege. They had returned to their units by now and in the darkness of the camp she had quickly lost sight of them. Of course, the men were also informed and captains and other lower ranking commanders had already started gathering and organising the smaller units that had been formed for the siege merely a week ago. Sieges were chaotic once the actual assaults started and high ranking commanders with large numbers of troops below them would have difficulty to keep an overview over all of them and would either lose control over their units or they become inflexible and would then not act when the situation required them to. She'd see if this little experiment worked out the way she wanted. If it did then she'd keep this system of smaller rigid smaller units rather than ad-hoc created units and named sub-commanders.

She found eventually found Vivian at the field kitchen.

"I should've guessed she'd be here, even before a big battle..."

, Konstanze muttered as she approached the girl with her bodyguards in tow. Vivian had probably noticed them long before they had seen her but the girl didn't show any signs of recognition. She just stayed seated and kept spooning up her soup...and had apparently been eating quite a lot of soup, judging by the small tower built from bowls right next to her. Damn it, the girl's appetite was just unfathomable. Konstanze sat down on the other bench on the opposite side of the table and attempted to start a conversation, saying:

"Well hello there Vivian, how's dinner today?"

Vivian looked up from her bowl and put the last spoonful of soup into her mouth. She then proceeded to seemingly casually throw the bowl into the air but it actually landed perfectly on top of the small tower of bowls. Her usually completely dead eyes communicated one simply word, one wish.

More.

Konstanze's smile got a bit forced as she remembered that she was paying all this. Not only all the extra food that Vivian had just consumed but also all the extra food that had to come with the next shipments to properly restock their inventory. She sighed and pointed towards the large cauldron filled with soup with her head. One of her bodyguards went to get some more soup.

"Alright Vivian, I suppose dinner is VERY good today. I hope it won't impair your ability to to get to where you need to go RIGHT THIS INSTANT?"

Vivian rolled her eyes as she waited and simply said:

"It's not far."

Konstanze just sighed in exasperation. Sometimes she wanted to spank Vivian...but she had a suspicion that Vivian actually liked it so she'd rather not. Instead she placed the package she wanted to give Vivian on the table between them. Vivian looked at it for a moment and then again at her. Konstanze felt the need to explain:

"Well, Vivian, I thought I'd make you a little birthday present."

"But my birthday was months ago and I already got a present for that."

, Vivian answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, tehe, how dumb of me. It's of course an early birthday present for your next one."

Konstanze's face was unmoving and still showed that bad impression of a friendly face while she cursed herself for her stupidity behind this facade.

"Now please, unpack it. See what I gifted you."

Vivian looked at her again before slowly taking the package and loosening the threads holding the package together. It didn't take long untill she found what seemed to be a finely crafted metal tube on the table in front of her. She looked at it, lacking emotions just like she usually did and then asked:

"And what's this supposed to be?"

Konstanze leaned back and proudly explained:

"You see, shortly after I bought your last present, I had an idea. This was a ranged weapon yet the human eye is limited in its perception and we have a hard time to see what's far away. We can use telescopes to remedy that and make out what is hidden from our eyes far far away. Now, it's hard to operate this weapon on greater ranges by holding it in one hand and a telescope in the other. You probably won't even be able to fire. So I thought, what if we combined the two things? I hired a dwarven inventor with realising my vision, a smaller telescope that could be mounted onto a barrel. Really, a normal sized telescope would've been overkill, I don't need you to see the moons in all their glory, I need you to see whatever you need to see clearly even when it is hundreds of meters away. And because it is a small telescope, I decided to just call it scope. You see, it's smaller so it makes sense when the name is smaller, right?"

Vivian took the scope into her hands and turned it around carefully, looking at it from every direction before finally raising it to her eyes and looking through it. Konstanze thought she heard a little gasp but she couldn't be sure and shortly after Vivian put the scope back down again and repackaged it.

"Thank you very much. I'm sure this will be of great use to me mylady. Just not tonight. It doesn't help me to see far when there is only blackness in the distance."

Meanwhile Konstanze's bodyguard returned. Empty-handed. Vivian of course saw it so she got up and said:

"Looks like I'm finished here. I wish you best of luck in your assault mylady. I will now ride hard to make it to mine and make sure that everyone acts as you have commanded them to."

She bowed and made her way past Konstanze who kept sitting and smiled, now in earnest. This was the last thing she had had to do tonight. All that was left now was to watch...or sleep if she wanted to. But this was HER achievment, HER assault, HER plans so of course it had to be HER viewing experience as well. Of course she didn't really want to get too close to the danger but well, she could see enough from here...well...as much as one could see in this darkness.

The assault started at midnight. Thousands of Anselmian soldiers had used the siege trenches which they had dug meticulously for weeks to get relatively close to the walls. They did so as quietly as possible. The trenches were about two meters deep and at the top the Anselmians had used the dirt from the trenches to pile up small walls to make it even more difficult to shoot at them while they were in the trenches. The Anselmians were quiet though, making their way through the trenches without light, without battlecries, just their uniforms and their weapons. Of course they couldn't make no sounds at all, no their shuffling and the sounds of their weapons and armour could be heard. And yet the Anselmians did not attack. They were waiting, waiting for something very specific to happen, something that had been prepared for a long time.

Strategically important parts of the Anselmian siege camp had also been surrounded with dirt walls and palisades. But that dirt did not come from the trenches, nonono, the trench dirt had already been used to improve the trenches. The dirt used here came from two very different things. The Anselmian had dug deep into the ground in the back of their camp. Experienced miners had worked for weeks on end, received double rations and increased pay to make this possible. Against all odds they had dug deeper and deeper and then always further forward. Learned men, mathematicians and architects who had accompanied some of the wealthier men in this war, had helped immensely, having measured and directed the digging efforts of the miners. Once they had reached the walls, the miners had expanded their tunnels, dug below the walls, tried to cover larger parts of it. The tunnel was of course secured, the miners being miners had set up wooden support beams everywhere. Made from a highly flammable wood that Konstanze had imported upon the sappers request. Due that the tunneling efforts always had to be accompanied by mages, who would lend magical light to the operation.

And now it was time for the sappers to get to work. In the hours leading up to midnight they had been at work down there below the Calarian walls. The wood was flammable so they basically just had to set it on fire to collapse the entire tunnel the larger caves they had made below the Calarian Wall...and the structural integrity of it surely couldn't handle the ground beneath it just giving way. They had made sure to that there'd be a sufficiently long part of the wall affected by the cave-in of the tunnels that it just couldn't hold all by itself. But what had these damn sappers been doing for the past hours now? Well, the Anselmians had looted the Calarian villages around the forts and had taken everything of any worth. But they had looked out for one thing in particular. Flour.

Jepp, they spent hours emptying sacks of flour and spreading it through the air down there below the walls. And you know what happens when you set just a bit on flour on fire? Now think of the quantities of which we speak here.

The sappers had set up a fuse, from like halfway back to the siege camp to under the Calarian walls. This way they could trigger the fortress' doom without having to be close to it or endangering themselves while also ensuring that their fuse would burn up quick enough to still make sure that all the flour they had thrown into the air was still floating around. They lit the fuse exactly two minutes before midnight.

[Tracian Empire]

Somewhere
A village
An inn
A room

Covering his face with his hands, Celio really, really wished that he would just disappear from this world right there and then.. completely forgetting that she had been the one to hug him like that first, at some point during the night. He was expecting her to scold him, to tell him just how bad and how disgusting what he had done was, to tell him just how much she hated him because of that.. but instead of that.. instead of that.. she laughed? Her laugh seemed to be just so honest and innocent that the entire atmosphere of awkwardness and his fear both seemed to disappear at the same time.. he couldn't understand it, but it seemed that he hadn't.. done anything bad? Her saying that he had no reason to apologise and joking about how she hadn't said anything about cuddling made him realize that everything was alright, so while he was still blushing, he took his hands away from his face, hesitantly looking at her with his blood red eyes. And then.. well, his face immediately started to resemble the color of his eyes as soon as he heard her saying that. That she enjoyed it.. and that it had been nice? Could that mean that she was just as happy as he was? Could it mean that it had actually been alright for them to spend their night like that? Oof, this was far too much for him to handle.. so the black haired boy couldn't help but let his own feelings get the best of him and he just said what he was thinking. “I.. I enjoyed it too..”, his voice as low as a whisper, but still loud enough for her to hear. “It was… it was the first night that I can remember.. when I.. when I had no nightmares.. it was.. it was really nice..”

But poor Celio closed his mouth as soon as he had realized what he was saying, feeling the sudden need to cover his face again..But luckily for him, Julie simply suggested that she would go out to bring them some breakfast for them to eat back here in the room.. and he had to admit it, that sounded like an amazing idea. Both of them enjoying a calm breakfast together, hidden from the villagers.. “It would be.. it would be a-amazing..”, he tried to say, as she stood up, making no effort to arrange her shirt.. and of course, Celio couldn't help but steal a glance at her as she took her skirt on… and he had to admit it.. she was really, really cute even with that messy look.. even if he was never going to say that. And then, just as he also stood up, she approached him, smiling, telling him that it wouldn't take long, and that everything was going to be alright..and then she hugged him. Hesitating for a moment, he wrapped his own arms around her, but he had no time to properly enjoy the warmth of this hug, the one that always made him feel at ease, as she looked directly to his eyes, making him blush even more.. before she gave him another kiss. He barely managed to answer with a confused “A-alright..” as she let go of him.. and he said nothing else as she blew him a kiss before she finally left. His “S-see you l-later..” came too late, when she was already gone.. so Celio just sat back on the edge of the bed..his head filled with all sorts of cute thoughts.. and with the idea that maybe.. maybe he should have asked her to remain like that, hugging him.. for maybe.. maybe a little longer…

But suddenly, he felt someone embracing him from behind…

---

She could have perhaps felt it as soon as she entered the inn again..An ominous presence, an aura that hadn't been there when she left.. but she couldn't be sure. Celio sometimes spread the same feeling of envy, like he had done each time when they had fought - but it was obvious that something was wrong.. very wrong. For some reason, the inn itself seemed to be deserted, with the innkeeper gone, and no one else in sight..but even if she would have rushed to back to their room.. it would have been too late... and as soon as she entered, she would have seen two people on the bed - a boy lying down with his back on the bed, and a girl around their age on top of him - with both of them being naked, and their position making what they were supposed to be doing all too obvious..

While not the first thing that would have attracted her attention upon entering the room.. but Celio's position was probably the most shocking. It looked as if.. as if something had changed within him, but Julie couldn't be sure what. His earlier bright happiness had been replaced with what looked like simple satisfaction, and his earlier embarrassment also seemed to be gone, even if he was in the middle of a situation that was for more embarrassing than anything he had experienced for the past few days. While it was a bit difficult for her to see due to his position, Celio was clearly completely naked, his shirt and pants carelessly thrown on the wooden floor. Even if the scars and the cuffs on his arms were still completely visible, Celio's hands were touching the girl who was sitting on top of him in some rather.. inappropriate places, with the girl's hands placed on top of his, holding them in place. The boy seemed to be quite content with his position, looking directly at the girl.. in a way that made it so that Julie was most likely going to miss the slight hollowness in Celio's crimson eyes. But of course, the first thing that the brunette girl had probably seen.. was the other girl... it would only take a couple of moments for her to realize that the white haired girl was certainly not human. She was... far too perfect. She wasn't wearing any clothes either, with her black dress thrown on the floor next to Celio's clothes, but her pale, porcelain-like skin was just too smooth and flawless. She simply seemed such an allure that put her above normal women, and as she turned her head around to look at Julie..the Archbishop immediately realized that this wasn't just an impression - the girl's beauty was simply divine, and her very appearance was more than enough to make her heart twinge with envy, even without her magical aura's influence. And as Julie's blue eyes meet the other girl's purple... Invidia smirked.

"Didn't you learn that it's polite to knock before entering someone's room?", the goddess asked, looking carefully at Julie as if she was analyzing her.. the brunette's unkempt hair and messy appearance seeming to make Invidia smirk even more. Not even waiting for an answer, the deity turned to face Celio again, leaning over the black haired boy and kissing him directly on the lips, with the two of them taking their time with something that seemed completely different from the shy displays of affection that Celio and Julie had shared the day before - this was certainly an act of lust. They stopped only when they could no longer breathe, and Invidia turned her head around again, licking her lips in an overly suggestive manner as she looked at Julie again. "Can't you see that you're interrupting us?", she asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

As she closed the door behind herself, leaving Celio in the room, she nearly collapsed against the wood frame. She was overwhelmed with embarrassment, her face quickly flushing red as she leaned against the door, placing her palms against her cheeks as she stayed there in bewilderment. How had she confronted him so calmly?! How had she been able to act so collected and comfortable!? She almost couldn't believe her own cool behavior...or the fact that she had willingly acted so in the first place. Either way, she had to take a moment to breathe as she struggled to swallow her embarrassment, slowing her breathing before she gave a slight cough, regaining her balance once more as she smoothed out her skirt. Though her cheeks were still dusted red, she calmly headed out of the hallway and out of the inn, into the daylight, her mind already procuring simple, giddy, light-hearted fantasies of what might await her in the rest of the day. She was truly unaware of what might await her back at the inn, as she walked with a smile on her face, her heart racing with excitement...

---

As Julie approached the inn once more an hour or so later, goodies stored into a small bag in her hand, a smile still on her face...she felt it. The nausea, the unsettling atmosphere...her mind immediately jumped back to the Night of the Bloody Moons, when Celio had been his strongest, when she herself almost fell into Envy...could that be happening now? She bolted back into the building at full speed, her mind racing; she failed to notice the emptiness of the building. Had Invidia brought him back into a thoughtless slave once more? Was he going to try and raise the dead once more? That could be the only explanation for such a feeling...couldn't it..? What else could be the reason for such an aura?

In a moment's notice, not waiting for an answer to the door, Julie quickly kicked it open. "H-hey, what's going o--" She began, but her words fell as her eyes finally accepted what lay before them. It couldn't be...could it..? There, in the bed she had slept a mere hour ago, lay Celio, clearly in the middle of something very, very inappropriate with the white-haired girl that sat on top of him. Her breath caught in her throat. He didn't look embarrassed, or shy, or terrified...he looked...satisfied. Not only did the bare girl sitting there give her the idea, but Celio's clothes being strewn about did, too. His coat still hang neatly on the corner of the chair from the previous night, the only sign that it had been a reality at all compared to...this. Her eyes continued to analyze the situation as her heart sank, blue orbs tracing the girl's hands over Celio's, holding them places they shouldn't be, and as he looked at her with content. It was easy, so easy to know who it was, even from where she stood. The bag of goodies dropped from her hand and hit the ground with a light thump.

Invidia spoke, asking her a question, turning to look at her, Julie frozen as she felt the goddess' purple orbs trace her figure, smirking as if with pride of her appearance in comparison to Julie's. It almost made her uncomfortable, had she not been frozen with shock. She wanted to speak, to say something, but her mouth felt as if it were filled with cotton as she watched them, watching still as she leaned down and enveloped the boy Julie had grown quite fond of in a deep, long kiss, in a way that was most unsettling. There was nothing...loving about it. Nothing...kind. She still watched, her blue eyes dull even as the goddess licked her lips, explaining that she was interrupting them, smiling at her...but it felt so distant.

The silence was madding. She could hear it roaring in her ears, her heart thumping slowly in her chest, her breath barely escaping from her throat as she stood, cemented to the ground she stood at. This couldn't be real, could it..? He wouldn't do that, would he..? Finally, she drew her eyes away, turning them to a point on the floor, her brow furrowing in...pain. Even when she didn't look at them, even when she turned her eyes away, she could still see it, could still see them kissing, touching, doing things that any god would consider unholy...her eyes ached for tears, yet none came. Just a thought; how could she be so stupid..?

How could she be so dumb? Why did she ever think he could like her? Why did she ever assume he would prefer her over a goddess? She had the perfect shape, the perfect body, slim-yet-curvy, proportioned so perfectly it would make any girl cry. Her striking purple eyes, her soft white locks, her pink lips...everything about her, anything about her made Julie want to shrink, feeling awful and self-conscious. She seemed to gain circles under her eyes as she stared at the floor, seeming like she tried to burn a hole into it, the pain slowly leaking into her expression. Why did she ever think she could compare to her..? It was stupid of her to think he would ever choose her over a goddess, wasn't it..? How could she be so foolish..? She could feel the Sin crawling against her back, leeching to her like tar, trying to get the best of her...but she didn't move. She stayed dull.

She stood, feeling as though her heart was shattering in her chest, the beats slow and steady, but she almost wished they would stop altogether. All she could see in her mind was his smile, his joyful red eyes, his red cheeks; she closed her eyes. She didn't want to see him, she didn't want to see her. She didn't want to see anything. "..why..?" The word finally leaked from her throat, just barely above a whisper as she kept her eyes low, unblinking and dull. "..h-how..? when...w...why..?" She let the words fall from her tongue, though her mouth still felt dry and stuffed with cotton. "I...thought..." But her words never finished, and she fell silent once more; she seemed like a glass figurine slowly fracturing with every passing moment.

“You thought?.. What did you think, little girl?”, Invidia asked, with the same condescending smirk on her face. The two girls seemed to be pretty close to each other in terms of age.. but that couldn’t fool anyone. Even for someone who wouldn’t have been able to feel the aura and power of this goddess..anyone looking into her purple eyes would have noticed it...those weren’t the eyes of a random human girl. She was beautiful beyond imagination, perfect like those princesses from the fairy tales..but there was also something.. wrong about her, something clearly non-human and malicious, an enticing and dangerous feeling at the same time. No one should have considered these two girls to be equals in any way..and Julie was certainly feeling it, that poison-like jealousy that was spreading through her veins. “Oh my...don’t tell me that you thought.. that he actually loved you? You?” The white haired goddess giggled, putting her hands on Celio’s chest to help herself stand up from the bed, fully turning around to face Julie - and fully revealing her bare body in the process. The deity of Envy didn’t seem to be ashamed at all - she certainly enjoyed basking in her own superiority and splendor. She remained quiet for a few good moments, carefully absorbing every little detail of the girl’s appearance with her eyes..before her superior smirk returned, only adding insult to the injury, as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “How could you think something like that? Did you really think that he was yours, with the symbols of his bond to me still on him?”, she asked, as an ethereal chain appeared in her right hand.. a chain that was connected to the few metallic links that were still attached to Celio’s collar. While Invidia had been speaking, the boy had also stood back up, still naked of course, and as soon as the chain appeared, he obediently sat down next to her. Something.. something still seemed to be wrong about him.. but unlike just a few minutes before.. that hollowness seemed to have disappeared from his eyes. He stole a glance at the brunette girl, as if he had only now realized that she had entered the room, and he started to blush furiously.. but despite that.. he remained quiet. Was he even himself anymore? Did he even recognize her? But Invidia gave Julie no time to think about such things. “Ah, you humans, always so innocent and delusional..always ready to believe in anything that you want to believe. Listening to your heart even if makes no sense at all.. how could you think that he would love you, you, the little servant of my greatest enemy.. when he had already chosen me, long ago? You tried to mess around with him with a couple of days, and you think that his heart will belong to you just like that? How could you be so foolish?” And the girl giggled again. “You’re just a normal, little girl. There is nothing special about you. If someone would have taken your noble birth away from you, you would have just spent your entire life as a peasant girl, in some ruined village.. and look at you, with this messy appearance that would perfectly fit in that fate. How could someone like him, born out of the highest blood of Achisia, ever care about you? You’re luckily that you are my enemy’s Archbishop and that he had to fight against you, otherwise, he would have probably never remembered you...I’m sorry that his attempts to get closer to you have broken your heart like this.. but you should have known better, don’t you think? Than to believe that he liked you after just sleeping together for one night? Especially when it’s so clear whom his heart truly belongs to..”, she said in a low and suggestive voice, running her fingers through his hair, before she gently touched the metallic collar around his neck. And even as she was talking, Celio certainly hadn’t stopped at all, his hands continuing to touch her in the most inappropriate of places..it was as if couldn't keep their hands off each other..

“But you shouldn’t feel bad about it, you know? It’s an unfair and cruel world after all.. how could a lowly mortal such as yourself be compared to a perfect goddess like me? Anyone would choose me even if I were to use magic to cover how I truly look like with your dull appearance..but that would be such a tragedy, wouldn’t it? Giving up my divine appearance for a child’s dull and flat body...”She was enjoying it.. she was certainly enjoying all of it.. and Julie could feel it, more and more, that nauseating aura of jealousy and envy filling the entire room. “It’s just so amusing.. but hey, maybe you won’t believe me.. so let’s stop pretending that our little prince isn’t there with us..and let’s just ask him!”, she said, turning her head around to look at Celio. “Tell me, my little Celio, where does your heart truly lie? Whom do you love? Me.. or her?” And the black haired boy responded without any hesitation, looking into Invidia’s eyes, crimson meeting purple. “Of course, my goddess.. I love you...” And Invidia smiled, pulling the chain and Celio himself towards her, their faces now so close that their noses could touch..and for a heartbeat.. nothing happened.. until Celio kissed her. Not the quick, embarrassed, and happy moments that Julie had him shared just the day before, and just before she had left the inn.. but pure desire and thirst.. but this time.. it was him doing it. The goddess and the mortal stopped when the two of them remained without air, and breathing heavily, Invidia looked at Julie again. “Well, you’ve got your answer, little girl.. but don’t be sad.. I’m sure that if he’s alright with it, I could maybe share him with you from time to time~”

[Castle Crashers]

As she closed the door behind herself, leaving Celio in the room, she nearly collapsed against the wood frame. She was overwhelmed with embarrassment, her face quickly flushing red as she leaned against the door, placing her palms against her cheeks as she stayed there in bewilderment. How had she confronted him so calmly?! How had she been able to act so collected and comfortable!? She almost couldn't believe her own cool behavior...or the fact that she had willingly acted so in the first place. Either way, she had to take a moment to breathe as she struggled to swallow her embarrassment, slowing her breathing before she gave a slight cough, regaining her balance once more as she smoothed out her skirt. Though her cheeks were still dusted red, she calmly headed out of the hallway and out of the inn, into the daylight, her mind already procuring simple, giddy, light-hearted fantasies of what might await her in the rest of the day. She was truly unaware of what might await her back at the inn, as she walked with a smile on her face, her heart racing with excitement...

---

As Julie approached the inn once more an hour or so later, goodies stored into a small bag in her hand, a smile still on her face...she felt it. The nausea, the unsettling atmosphere...her mind immediately jumped back to the Night of the Bloody Moons, when Celio had been his strongest, when she herself almost fell into Envy...could that be happening now? She bolted back into the building at full speed, her mind racing; she failed to notice the emptiness of the building. Had Invidia brought him back into a thoughtless slave once more? Was he going to try and raise the dead once more? That could be the only explanation for such a feeling...couldn't it..? What else could be the reason for such an aura?

In a moment's notice, not waiting for an answer to the door, Julie quickly kicked it open. "H-hey, what's going o--" She began, but her words fell as her eyes finally accepted what lay before them. It couldn't be...could it..? There, in the bed she had slept a mere hour ago, lay Celio, clearly in the middle of something very, very inappropriate with the white-haired girl that sat on top of him. Her breath caught in her throat. He didn't look embarrassed, or shy, or terrified...he looked...satisfied. Not only did the bare girl sitting there give her the idea, but Celio's clothes being strewn about did, too. His coat still hang neatly on the corner of the chair from the previous night, the only sign that it had been a reality at all compared to...this. Her eyes continued to analyze the situation as her heart sank, blue orbs tracing the girl's hands over Celio's, holding them places they shouldn't be, and as he looked at her with content. It was easy, so easy to know who it was, even from where she stood. The bag of goodies dropped from her hand and hit the ground with a light thump.

Invidia spoke, asking her a question, turning to look at her, Julie frozen as she felt the goddess' purple orbs trace her figure, smirking as if with pride of her appearance in comparison to Julie's. It almost made her uncomfortable, had she not been frozen with shock. She wanted to speak, to say something, but her mouth felt as if it were filled with cotton as she watched them, watching still as she leaned down and enveloped the boy Julie had grown quite fond of in a deep, long kiss, in a way that was most unsettling. There was nothing...loving about it. Nothing...kind. She still watched, her blue eyes dull even as the goddess licked her lips, explaining that she was interrupting them, smiling at her...but it felt so distant.

The silence was madding. She could hear it roaring in her ears, her heart thumping slowly in her chest, her breath barely escaping from her throat as she stood, cemented to the ground she stood at. This couldn't be real, could it..? He wouldn't do that, would he..? Finally, she drew her eyes away, turning them to a point on the floor, her brow furrowing in...pain. Even when she didn't look at them, even when she turned her eyes away, she could still see it, could still see them kissing, touching, doing things that any god would consider unholy...her eyes ached for tears, yet none came. Just a thought; how could she be so stupid..?

How could she be so dumb? Why did she ever think he could like her? Why did she ever assume he would prefer her over a goddess? She had the perfect shape, the perfect body, slim-yet-curvy, proportioned so perfectly it would make any girl cry. Her striking purple eyes, her soft white locks, her pink lips...everything about her, anything about her made Julie want to shrink, feeling awful and self-conscious. She seemed to gain circles under her eyes as she stared at the floor, seeming like she tried to burn a hole into it, the pain slowly leaking into her expression. Why did she ever think she could compare to her..? It was stupid of her to think he would ever choose her over a goddess, wasn't it..? How could she be so foolish..? She could feel the Sin crawling against her back, leeching to her like tar, trying to get the best of her...but she didn't move. She stayed dull.

She stood, feeling as though her heart was shattering in her chest, the beats slow and steady, but she almost wished they would stop altogether. All she could see in her mind was his smile, his joyful red eyes, his red cheeks; she closed her eyes. She didn't want to see him, she didn't want to see her. She didn't want to see anything. "..why..?" The word finally leaked from her throat, just barely above a whisper as she kept her eyes low, unblinking and dull. "..h-how..? when...w...why..?" She let the words fall from her tongue, though her mouth still felt dry and stuffed with cotton. "I...thought..." But her words never finished, and she fell silent once more; she seemed like a glass figurine slowly fracturing with every passing moment.

“You thought?.. What did you think, little girl?”, Invidia asked, with the same condescending smirk on her face. The two girls seemed to be pretty close to each other in terms of age.. but that couldn’t fool anyone. Even for someone who wouldn’t have been able to feel the aura and power of this goddess..anyone looking into her purple eyes would have noticed it...those weren’t the eyes of a random human girl. She was beautiful beyond imagination, perfect like those princesses from the fairy tales..but there was also something.. wrong about her, something clearly non-human and malicious, an enticing and dangerous feeling at the same time. No one should have considered these two girls to be equals in any way..and Julie was certainly feeling it, that poison-like jealousy that was spreading through her veins. “Oh my...don’t tell me that you thought.. that he actually loved you? You?” The white haired goddess giggled, putting her hands on Celio’s chest to help herself stand up from the bed, fully turning around to face Julie - and fully revealing her bare body in the process. The deity of Envy didn’t seem to be ashamed at all - she certainly enjoyed basking in her own superiority and splendor. She remained quiet for a few good moments, carefully absorbing every little detail of the girl’s appearance with her eyes..before her superior smirk returned, only adding insult to the injury, as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “How could you think something like that? Did you really think that he was yours, with the symbols of his bond to me still on him?”, she asked, as an ethereal chain appeared in her right hand.. a chain that was connected to the few metallic links that were still attached to Celio’s collar. While Invidia had been speaking, the boy had also stood back up, still naked of course, and as soon as the chain appeared, he obediently sat down next to her. Something.. something still seemed to be wrong about him.. but unlike just a few minutes before.. that hollowness seemed to have disappeared from his eyes. He stole a glance at the brunette girl, as if he had only now realized that she had entered the room, and he started to blush furiously.. but despite that.. he remained quiet. Was he even himself anymore? Did he even recognize her? But Invidia gave Julie no time to think about such things. “Ah, you humans, always so innocent and delusional..always ready to believe in anything that you want to believe. Listening to your heart even if makes no sense at all.. how could you think that he would love you, you, the little servant of my greatest enemy.. when he had already chosen me, long ago? You tried to mess around with him with a couple of days, and you think that his heart will belong to you just like that? How could you be so foolish?” And the girl giggled again. “You’re just a normal, little girl. There is nothing special about you. If someone would have taken your noble birth away from you, you would have just spent your entire life as a peasant girl, in some ruined village.. and look at you, with this messy appearance that would perfectly fit in that fate. How could someone like him, born out of the highest blood of Achisia, ever care about you? You’re luckily that you are my enemy’s Archbishop and that he had to fight against you, otherwise, he would have probably never remembered you...I’m sorry that his attempts to get closer to you have broken your heart like this.. but you should have known better, don’t you think? Than to believe that he liked you after just sleeping together for one night? Especially when it’s so clear whom his heart truly belongs to..”, she said in a low and suggestive voice, running her fingers through his hair, before she gently touched the metallic collar around his neck. And even as she was talking, Celio certainly hadn’t stopped at all, his hands continuing to touch her in the most inappropriate of places..it was as if couldn't keep their hands off each other..

“But you shouldn’t feel bad about it, you know? It’s an unfair and cruel world after all.. how could a lowly mortal such as yourself be compared to a perfect goddess like me? Anyone would choose me even if I were to use magic to cover how I truly look like with your dull appearance..but that would be such a tragedy, wouldn’t it? Giving up my divine appearance for a child’s dull and flat body...”She was enjoying it.. she was certainly enjoying all of it.. and Julie could feel it, more and more, that nauseating aura of jealousy and envy filling the entire room. “It’s just so amusing.. but hey, maybe you won’t believe me.. so let’s stop pretending that our little prince isn’t there with us..and let’s just ask him!”, she said, turning her head around to look at Celio. “Tell me, my little Celio, where does your heart truly lie? Whom do you love? Me.. or her?” And the black haired boy responded without any hesitation, looking into Invidia’s eyes, crimson meeting purple. “Of course, my goddess.. I love you...” And Invidia smiled, pulling the chain and Celio himself towards her, their faces now so close that their noses could touch..and for a heartbeat.. nothing happened.. until Celio kissed her. Not the quick, embarrassed, and happy moments that Julie had him shared just the day before, and just before she had left the inn.. but pure desire and thirst.. but this time.. it was him doing it. The goddess and the mortal stopped when the two of them remained without air, and breathing heavily, Invidia looked at Julie again. “Well, you’ve got your answer, little girl.. but don’t be sad.. I’m sure that if he’s alright with it, I could maybe share him with you from time to time~”

As Invidia spoke, Julie stayed rigid. Her eyes stayed dull and unblinking, refusing to lift from their position on the floor, her neutral expression beginning to crack into a frown, turning from shock into sorrow. She could...feel the envy consuming her, the jealousy, a cold, creeping feeling that seemed to wrap its own cold, prickly arms around her as she stood. Her resolve was weakening; it had since she'd entered the room a moment ago. She could almost hear Benevolentia screaming for her to snap out of it, to run, to leave Invidia's presence, but the voice only grew softer and softer in the back of her head. Her heartbreak was too powerful--she didn't feel the need to run anymore. How could she run from this? How could she leave like this? It was...her...duty...was it not..?

Even then, she could feel the doubt, the comparisons building in her mind as the envy began to poison her, and yet; she didn't move. Why couldn't she look like her? Why couldn't she be like her? Why did she always win everyone and everything..? What was wrong with Julie that made her so repulsive, so unwanted, so much...lower than the goddess before her? Her brow furrowed again, her resolve continuing to chip away as she stood. Invidia spoke again, giggling at the idea that Celio could love her, causing Julie's dull expression to crack more from the sting of the words. Yes, she truly was stupid to think that, wasn't she..? How could she ever imagine he would choose her over a goddess, an immortal, beautiful woman who could give him anything he wanted..? In hesitance, in fear, she brought her sad blue eyes up from the floor once more as she heard Invidia move, watching painfully as the goddess meaningfully placed her hand on Celio's chest to stand, judging the Archbishop's mortal form before she smirked once more, sitting on the edge of the bed before her. It made her...self-conscious. Uneasily, she lowered her eyes again, silent as she cautiously rubbed her arm, truly wishing she could simply shrink and disappear.

The goddess once more rubbed salt into the wound, asking how she could believe that Celio was hers when he was still tied to Invidia, as if...implying she was truly stupid for believing such a thing. It was only when she heard someone else move that she raised her eyes once more, only to catch a glimpse of the bare raven-haired boy as he moved to the goddess' side, seeing the chain Invidia held, but looking away in pain before she could notice Celio's changed expression. When he looked to her, she was...perhaps more hurt, more embarrassed than she had been before. Her face burned red. She was humiliated, hurt, and self-aware; and even worse, in the corner of her vision, she could still see him touching her, the same way he had before...

Invidia continued, explaining humans would believe anything they wanted to, that she listened to her heart, that how, how could he love his mortal enemy? How could she believe his heart was hers after a few measly days? She giggled, and Julie's expression grew more strained and heartbroken. She was barely holding it together, even in her dull state...she wanted to kill her, wanted to slaughter the goddess right there, to try everything to do so; but her feet stayed cemented to the ground, the envious idea of killing someone so beautiful would be an irrepentable sin in itself. She was losing herself, losing her morals, losing her mind...and still, she felt her heart beat slow in her chest, her fingers growing cold with hurt. Her morals were leaving her. Everything she stood for was leaving her, all because she had been so stupid to trust her heart, to trust her feelings...

The goddess hissed that there was nothing special about her, that without her noble birth, she would've lived as a peasant forever...that her messy presentation would fit such a fate, that she was dumb to believe someone with high blood like him could ever love her, that she was lucky to be his enemy, lest he forget about her entirely. She apologized that she had been heartbroken, but it felt empty. She told her she should've known better, that sleeping with him for one night wouldn't change anything, that it was clear who his heart belonged to in that disgusting, seductive tone of hers...and, well, she was right. And yet...his smile came back to her mind, his embarrassment, his wide red eyes...and, somehow, her heart still clung to the little shred of hope she had left. It was enough...it had to be, it had to be to keep fighting this.

Her mouth was dry. "You're...you're wrong...I know it...I know you are...you...you just want to hurt me...just want me to be jealous..." She said weakly, almost a whisper, her eyes still locked to the ground. They seemed soft now, as if, almost, wet with tears. Her heart still thumped slowly, but the hope...the hope was there. It kept her heart from stopping at all. Invidia explained that it she shouldn't feel bad, that the world was unfair, that a mortal like her could never compare to the goddess--that anyone would choose her, even if she looked like Julie...a tragedy, she explained, to seem so flat and dull. Julie's brow furrowed with self-consciousness again, and she gripped her other arm more tightly. "It...doesn't matter what I look like..." She said softly, her will returning in a fragile form, the envy slowly receding from her veins once more. "What matters is the bond we've formed...one that you will never, ever have because...you...don't know...how to care for someone..."

But before she could even finish much, she spoke of asking Celio...and she listened, keeping her eyes low. Her heart began to beat faster, her hope building despite the mounting nausea in her stomach. Invidia asked if he loved her or Julie. Time felt like it was slowing as her hope ballooned. But...the answer was not what she wanted. Her hope deflated. Her heart filled with dread as she heard him speak of the goddess, of his love for her, and she lifted her eyes in disbelief and hurt as Invidia smiled, pulled him close, and watched as he kissed her. Deeply. Lustfully. Horribly. Her chest swelled with pain, her stomach lurched with nausea, her eyes locked onto them--onto him as he kissed her. No...no, this wasn't right, was it..? No, her doubts couldn't have been true this whole time, could they..? Her expression was one of full, unbridled shock and pain. She stared even as he broke from the kiss, even as Invidia spoke of sharing him, she...stared. Hurt.

It was the last straw.

In a swell of heartbreak, of hatred, she grimaced and retrieved the bag of goodies from the floor, the only movement she'd made since she'd entered the room, and she opened the bag. She took the pastry from the bag and threw it, with full force, not at Invidia, but at Celio. "You bastard!" She screamed, her voice breaking with emotion as she picked out another pastry and flung it once more, as hard as she could. "You bastard, I shouldn't have trusted you! How could you do this to me!?" She yelled, throwing the last pastry at him, receding to words to a simple scream before she turned on her heel and exited the room, walking fast. The walls spun around her as she strode forward, everything she knew crumbling around her; dizzy, she leaned against one of the walls as she tried to regain her balance, not stopping for a moment as she headed for the exit.

She didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to feel. She just knew that her chest ached, her face burned, and that she had only known such grief once before. Finally outside the building, she retched, the sorrow and the authority of envy not making a good mix for the brunette's stomach. She stayed only for a moment, wiping her mouth as she proceeded onwards, away from the inn at a steady pace. She didn't look back, She didn't want to. She couldn't breathe. Every pump of her heart stung. Her eyes ached for tears, yet, still, they never came. She only had one very clear thought in her clouded, sorrowful mind; how could she have been so stupid..?

[Elysian Kentarchy]

Illania de Velira
The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia
The Night of the Bloody Moons

We have been marching since the afternoon, us with the hundred handpicked men to serve to protect our retreat if, Emperor forbid, that is needed, in the distance but now we are finally here. The border between our sacred homeland and the cursed Kingdom of Duivene. Now is the night of revenge, now is the time the redemption of Achisia begins, in the name of our Emperor who we eternally serve.
-Excerpt from the Diary of Illania de Velira

I look up from my writing in the cart and observe the battle along with my family and truly it is a battle that would be worth a tale, a brave princess and her knights fighting so many undead, an evil sister, and even a dragon is involved, perhaps it will be remembered as a tale if we leave anything of Duivene alive after the final victory, a story whimpered in around the light of fires of the scarce few survivors. It is almost a pity they must all die but that is what they deserve for standing in the path of their betters. My grandfather tilts his head at an old Imperial Mage who accompanied us. “Is it ready?”

“The spell is ready General, the undead will recognize your troops as comrades and not harm them.”

“Excellent. And the second spell?”

“The spell should hide you and allow you to approach the Hero to come to her aid while being able to see each other. I am unsure how long it will last but it should be enough.” He nods and I smile, it is ironic that the one the Mage called hero is who our enemies call traitor but it is truth for us. “Also General I am even more unsure how long it will last for you since you are using your white magic at all times right now. I suggest you limit it until you get into battle to make sure the spell lasts long enough.”

“Duly noted. Anything else?”

“To lift the spell use the word ‘solace’ but beyond that no.”

“Very well, let us begin.” The mage nods and chants his spell, but before that grandfather discards his normal longsword in favor of the lighter longsword that he keeps in his cane. Even though I can still see each other I can feel the magic around me and grandfather tilts his head as the three of us walk in single file towards the battlefield. I shake my head as I observe the knights fighting desperately against their foes, a pity for had Achisia dominated them as is our right they would have been good soldiers in the Emperor’s armies. Finally we get close and grandfather opens his mouth to speak but then sees two knights rushing to aid the Princess.

“Solomon you go and deal with the Princess. Me and Illania will handle those two.” He nods and moves in the direction of those two sisters, one the great enemy and another the hero who stood alongside our emperor, while me and my grandfather turn to face them, still hidden. “Illania, cut them off.” He orders and I bring my hands together for just the spell I had in mind I then seperate my hands conjure a wall of fire to cut off the two knights from their princess and I move my hand in a circle and the wall spreads out and encircles the two knights and I do so again and another circle begins and surrounds the cursed Princess and my brother but cutting our princess off from the battle. All this magic causes the spell keeping me hidden to fade though.

“Solace.” My and grandfather says to reappear. We draw our swords and I protect us from the fire as we walk though it to the otherside to meet the two knights who still haven’t recovered from the shock.

“Unfortunately we can’t let you actually help your Princess.” I casually inform them as if I was talking about the weather.

Grandfather takes his blade and points it at the older knight. “I am Lord Augustine de Velira, Fourth Lord of the House de Velira. Son of Achisia and General of the Armies of His Majesty the Emperor of Achisia, member of the Council of Generals and the General who led the first invasion of the enemies of our Empire, and your foe on this day.” He issues his challenge as expected and changes his posture to hold his sword in both his hands, though I wonder if his opponent will respond with his name and titles in kind. I know him saying that is at least a point of pride for the old man anyway.

“How old fashioned of you grandfather but I suppose you are right with that, it is only proper we introduce ourselves to our foes on this night.” I stab my staff into the ground and point my sword at the younger knight. “I am Illania de Velira, Battlemage in service of the Emperor and daughter of Achisia. And to get to your Princess you are going to have to go through us.” I smile and I know the smile has to be called what a normal man says evil. “Do try to fight us well, this is the first real fight we have had in years after all and we have been waiting for it so much...” With that I move my blade to my lips and kiss it, the edge of it then develops a small flame under my enchantment. I then move to strike the young man with my sword, for I will not wait as my grandfather does, and shout. “We are the Eternal Flame!”

Solomon de Velira
The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia
The Night of the Bloody Moons

The flames of my sister startles the Princess as she looks around trying to figure out what is going on, even the other one who I am here to help is having her eyes dart around a little to try to figure it out.

“Solace” I whisper as quietly as I can from behind her. “Siblings really shouldn’t fight you know.” I comment and strike with my sword at my distracted opponent and I am unsurprised when my target manages to parry my strike and put in some distance despite being surprised, in fact I had timed the strike so that she would have time to react, it would be a dishonor to her and to the times we fought if I didn’t do so. “But I suppose it is better than the both of you trying to kill me again.” I remark as I maneuver myself in front of the Princess who supported our Emperor to protect her, even if the gesture is pointless since my sister's fire separated them and smile at Alexia. “Good evening your majesty, it is a pleasure to see you again, dare I say you and your sister are as charming as ever.” I remark with a pleasant tone in my voice as if I am meeting an acquaintance that I have not seen in a long time, which is true.

[Zapatha]

As Peter drew back from attacking the evil twin, he heard the faint word Solace in the background and saw three people appear from out of thin air apparently. I fucking hate magic. Peter said to himself, turning to face the three new faces. However before he could do anything he and the older knight were surrounded by a wall of flames, sealing them off from the princess and leaving them facing two of the three people. Peter inspected their dress, and saw that they both had the emblems of Achisia emblazoned on either their armor or clothing.

Ever since his father had been killed by an Achisian mage during the war, Peter harbored an intense hatred for magic of any kind, let alone Achisian magic. The older man introduced himself, surprising Peter as he expected all Achisians to be dark, corrupted mages and mindless soldiers. Peter actually took a liking to the former general, admiring his chivalry and old-time way of doing things. Before he could speak however, the younger woman had turned toward Peter and also introduced herself. Great, now I feel like I'm back at royal court... he thought to himself, who while distracted barely reacted in time by raising his shield up and parrying her subsequent attack after she had finished. He took a moment to inspect who he was fighting, most likely some sort of mage after the pyromancy she just displayed. She was older than he was, around Alexis' age he supposed and had a certain...beauty to her. A beauty that belonged to an evil Achisian sorceress unfortunately though....

Peter then quickly pushed the woman back forcefully, using his shield mostly. He then looked to her and said:

"Oh so no manners from you beautiful?" Peter playfully said. He then took a some sort of half-bow towards her and introduced himself: "I am Lord Peter of House Clermont, son of Lord Pierre Clermont who was killed fighting your people."

Peter then rushed at her, attempting to ram into her with his shield....

[Elysian Kentarchy]

As Peter drew back from attacking the evil twin, he heard the faint word Solace in the background and saw three people appear from out of thin air apparently. I fucking hate magic. Peter said to himself, turning to face the three new faces. However before he could do anything he and the older knight were surrounded by a wall of flames, sealing them off from the princess and leaving them facing two of the three people. Peter inspected their dress, and saw that they both had the emblems of Achisia emblazoned on either their armor or clothing.

Ever since his father had been killed by an Achisian mage during the war, Peter harbored an intense hatred for magic of any kind, let alone Achisian magic. The older man introduced himself, surprising Peter as he expected all Achisians to be dark, corrupted mages and mindless soldiers. Peter actually took a liking to the former general, admiring his chivalry and old-time way of doing things. Before he could speak however, the younger woman had turned toward Peter and also introduced herself. Great, now I feel like I'm back at royal court... he thought to himself, who while distracted barely reacted in time by raising his shield up and parrying her subsequent attack after she had finished. He took a moment to inspect who he was fighting, most likely some sort of mage after the pyromancy she just displayed. She was older than he was, around Alexis' age he supposed and had a certain...beauty to her. A beauty that belonged to an evil Achisian sorceress unfortunately though....

Peter then quickly pushed the woman back forcefully, using his shield mostly. He then looked to her and said:

"Oh so no manners from you beautiful?" Peter playfully said. He then took a some sort of half-bow towards her and introduced himself: "I am Lord Peter of House Clermont, son of Lord Pierre Clermont who was killed fighting your people."

Peter then rushed at her, attempting to ram into her with his shield....

I twirl to the side and strike down with my sword but he twists his shield arm in such a way to cause my blade to glance off of it so I jump back to gain a bit of distance and comment lightly. "How charming Lord Peter but if you want to push down a lady you will have to try harder than that." I return the bow with a chuckle and blow a wisp of hair out of my face as I examine him for a weak point. It was always unfair those two got the honorable duels while I got knights who tried to murder me despite me challenging them so this is different. "But pardon my rudeness as it is a learned habit. And it is always unfortunate for one of noble blood to perish in the great challenge of war but that is the path to glory." I point my blade at him again, "Let me see you try to honor him on this night where our nation is reborn." With those words I jump off towards him with both hands wrapped around the hilt of the blade. I don't think I can't win this, for he has the advantage in armor, but I know I can't lose here, for Achisia will be reborn on the blood of our enemies. And we will put on a show for our domination.

[Zapatha]

As Peter drew back from attacking the evil twin, he heard the faint word Solace in the background and saw three people appear from out of thin air apparently. I fucking hate magic. Peter said to himself, turning to face the three new faces. However before he could do anything he and the older knight were surrounded by a wall of flames, sealing them off from the princess and leaving them facing two of the three people. Peter inspected their dress, and saw that they both had the emblems of Achisia emblazoned on either their armor or clothing.

Ever since his father had been killed by an Achisian mage during the war, Peter harbored an intense hatred for magic of any kind, let alone Achisian magic. The older man introduced himself, surprising Peter as he expected all Achisians to be dark, corrupted mages and mindless soldiers. Peter actually took a liking to the former general, admiring his chivalry and old-time way of doing things. Before he could speak however, the younger woman had turned toward Peter and also introduced herself. Great, now I feel like I'm back at royal court... he thought to himself, who while distracted barely reacted in time by raising his shield up and parrying her subsequent attack after she had finished. He took a moment to inspect who he was fighting, most likely some sort of mage after the pyromancy she just displayed. She was older than he was, around Alexis' age he supposed and had a certain...beauty to her. A beauty that belonged to an evil Achisian sorceress unfortunately though....

Peter then quickly pushed the woman back forcefully, using his shield mostly. He then looked to her and said:

"Oh so no manners from you beautiful?" Peter playfully said. He then took a some sort of half-bow towards her and introduced himself: "I am Lord Peter of House Clermont, son of Lord Pierre Clermont who was killed fighting your people."

Peter then rushed at her, attempting to ram into her with his shield....

I twirl to the side and strike down with my sword but he twists his shield arm in such a way to cause my blade to glance off of it so I jump back to gain a bit of distance and comment lightly. "How charming Lord Peter but if you want to push down a lady you will have to try harder than that." I return the bow with a chuckle and blow a wisp of hair out of my face as I examine him for a weak point. It was always unfair those two got the honorable duels while I got knights who tried to murder me despite me challenging them so this is different. "But pardon my rudeness as it is a learned habit. And it is always unfortunate for one of noble blood to perish in the great challenge of war but that is the path to glory." I point my blade at him again, "Let me see you try to honor him on this night where our nation is reborn." With those words I jump off towards him with both hands wrapped around the hilt of the blade. I don't think I can't win this, for he has the advantage in armor, but I know I can't lose here, for Achisia will be reborn on the blood of our enemies. And we will put on a show for our domination.

Peter smiled as the girl followed in suit with a bow, he had never expected for the battle to unfold into a duel with an Achisian mage before, let alone one who didn't attempt to blast him into dust with magic immediately. Peter became enraged somewhat when the woman said that his father died for "glory". To hell with glory, his father had been electrocuted to death by an Achisian's spell all because the Mage-Emperor became evil or something. His death didn't mean anything, his father's demise didn't affect the war or Duivene in any way and neither did the deaths of the countless millions of people.

"To hell with glory my lady. There is no 'honor' to be won here tonight, only death and the vengeance of a nation that is following its leader into dark depravity." As he finished, the Achisian showcased her agility and attacked him once more, but this time he was ready and parried her with his longsword and stood in place with her with their weapons locked against one another.

"You fight for a dead Emperor who corrupted your once great nation my lady, why go on and use the remnants of his darkness to finish a war that he started?"

[Kingdom of Irhk]

[align=center]

Grandfather takes his blade and points it at the older knight. “I am Lord Augustine de Velira, Fourth Lord of the House de Velira. Son of Achisia and General of the Armies of His Majesty the Emperor of Achisia, member of the Council of Generals and the General who led the first invasion of the enemies of our Empire, and your foe on this day.” He issues his challenge as expected and changes his posture to hold his sword in both his hands, though I wonder if his opponent will respond with his name and titles in kind. I know him saying that is at least a point of pride for the old man anyway.

Eric de Villegagnon

Oh, the old fashioned ones...

Suddenly, he was separated from the Princess and once more the battle became a completely different thing. Inside the burning ring of fire, an old man - and not a random old man, an old General - shared the space with him, giving him an old fashioned challenge invitation. However, the name wasn't entirely strange to him... He threw the rapier to the ground and walked around, trying to remember the source of the memory related to the name... Until the old man said Achisia.

"You know, I actually met Duivenian soldiers who were deadly afraid of you. And honestly, I thought you were dead by now but, here I am, surprised by this land again. You are alive and fighting another war... Seems to me that we, old man, are stubborn old beasts that carry the shards of a past that will be soon forgotten, as your relative quickly demonstrated by her impatience and as the younger Duivenian showed by his shield rush."

Quickly, Eric unsheathed his sword, holding it by the blade and extending his right arm, before making a slight bow. If one wants to dance like the battlefield was an old ballroom, Eric could very well play along the rules of etiquette established by the old nobles.

"Lord Augustine de Velira, Fourth Lord of the House de Velira, Son of Achisia and General of the Armies of His Majesty the Emperor of Achisia, member of the Council of Generals and the General who led the first invasion of the enemies of your Empire, I am Eric Antoine Roch de Villegagnon, legit Duke de Bellegarde, former Scripture knight, and I accept you as my foe on this day. En garde!"

In a show of swordsmanship, Eric threw his sword on the air, grabbing it by the handle and spinning it, advancing towards the older general with a basic, yet safe attack towards the chest of the Achisian that presented himself as his foe.

[Elysian Kentarchy]

I twirl to the side and strike down with my sword but he twists his shield arm in such a way to cause my blade to glance off of it so I jump back to gain a bit of distance and comment lightly. "How charming Lord Peter but if you want to push down a lady you will have to try harder than that." I return the bow with a chuckle and blow a wisp of hair out of my face as I examine him for a weak point. It was always unfair those two got the honorable duels while I got knights who tried to murder me despite me challenging them so this is different. "But pardon my rudeness as it is a learned habit. And it is always unfortunate for one of noble blood to perish in the great challenge of war but that is the path to glory." I point my blade at him again, "Let me see you try to honor him on this night where our nation is reborn." With those words I jump off towards him with both hands wrapped around the hilt of the blade. I don't think I can't win this, for he has the advantage in armor, but I know I can't lose here, for Achisia will be reborn on the blood of our enemies. And we will put on a show for our domination.

Peter smiled as the girl followed in suit with a bow, he had never expected for the battle to unfold into a duel with an Achisian mage before, let alone one who didn't attempt to blast him into dust with magic immediately. Peter became enraged somewhat when the woman said that his father died for "glory". To hell with glory, his father had been electrocuted to death by an Achisian's spell all because the Mage-Emperor became evil or something. His death didn't mean anything, his father's demise didn't affect the war or Duivene in any way and neither did the deaths of the countless millions of people.

"To hell with glory my lady. There is no 'honor' to be won here tonight, only death and the vengeance of a nation that is following its leader into dark depravity." As he finished, the Achisian showcased her agility and attacked him once more, but this time he was ready and parried her with his longsword and stood in place with her with their weapons locked against one another.

"You fight for a dead Emperor who corrupted your once great nation my lady, why go on and use the remnants of his darkness to finish a war that he started?"

"Because for the sake of Achisia we have no choice. Our homeland must be redeemed from those who occupied and destroyed it." I whisper as I push back with my blade, try to attack, but lock swords again. "We were His people, His soldiers, and He was our beloved sovereign who we followed to the day He died and beyond."

My mind flits over to my brother who denounced our methods the day the Emperor died and did before that but I dismiss them and channel fire into my blade and he leaps back to avoid it with me pursuing but, dismissing the flames around that blade, I strike with my blade and he blocks it with his shield while I leap back as he goes to stab my stomach. "There is so little of our homeland left so if we must use methods that others view as evil then so be it. If we risk our souls for the reclaiming our glorious land then so be it. If we reclaim the glory of yesterday, rebuild our land to how it was before, and drive the invader out then it is worth it as all will be right with the world and the natural order will reassert itself. We have known no other life and so if I must give it all up for my family and homeland then I will happily damn myself."

I smile lightly though. "But I would disagree, even if war itself is questionable in its glory for honor is so rare, the acts of the individual in the moment of decision making is glorious to watch. I watched you all fight as we approached the battlefield and it was glorious in its own way, worthy of a tale of nobility and valor even if you do not see it that way I view it with respect... but in the end will it be part of your victory saga or be tales told by whoever is left around the fire as the world as we know it ceased to be? Perhaps our sentiment will be understood if it is the latter for that was the fall of our homeland to us." I laugh. "I don't even know why I am saying all of this to be honest, it is probably just because it is the night we have been waiting for so long to arrive that is making me more... excited." With that I lunge at him and move my blade to strike at his head.

[Charlia]

He said he wasn't lying, but she knew that was a lie, too.

He'd lie to her if he thought it would make her feel better, she was certain of that--he was doing it right then, telling her that it wasn't her fault, that she wasn't a whore, that she didn't deserve it, that she was good and innocent--and that was a lie, all of it was a lie, she knew it all too well. She couldn't ever fall for something so transparent, not when she knew the truth perfectly well, knew who and what she was.

He kept talking about all the things he couldn't change, and she knew that, too. She knew there was nothing he or anyone else could do. Her fate had been sealed long ago, though she hadn't known it. And now it was far, far too late.

She buried her face in his chest and kept crying, unable to stop the tears. She was scared, beyond scared--terrified beyond all reason. There was a deep horror rooted inside her now, fear of the uncertain and frightening future that stretched out ahead of her, years and years of more suffering and constant reminders of the depravities she'd endured.

But he wasn't finished, he wasn't--he said he could protect her, could make sure that people weren't disgusted by her or the child nestled inside her, but she didn't understand, she didn't know how--

"If you would marry me," he said softly, and she could almost feel her heart stop.

It was true, what he said. If she were to marry now, before the child made itself evident, before anyone knew that she was pregnant, then she could pretend that it had a father, a real one that no one could deny--that she wasn't just a whore--that she wasn't all the horrible things she knew she was. Her baby could grow up thinking that she was the person she'd always been told she was supposed to be, it wouldn't learn to hate her, nobody would--nobody would ever realize what she was. If she could do something like that, then things would be all right, but--

"I can't," she choked, the deep, shuddering sobs returning, her fragile frame convulsing in his grip as she tried to bite back the cries. "I can't. You can't--you know that--you can't marry someone like me, you're already engaged, you have to marry that other girl, and even if you didn't, I--I couldn't--it wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be fair at all to ask you to tie yourself to me, you don't want someone like me, you can't, not a whore like me. I can't ask you to do that--I can't ask you to be with someone who's already been with so many people--I can't ask you to care for someone else's child. I can't ask you to care for me--for the rest of your life--it wouldn't be right, I can't ask you to do any of those things..." She knew she must have seemed so pathetic, crumpled in his arms, crying pitifully, her voice unsteady and her words weak. No wonder he offered--someone like him couldn't see someone as pathetic and weak as her and not want to help. He felt sorry for her. But if she let him do that, then he'd just grow to resent her.

"Thank you," she whispered, trying and failing to stop the tears of pain, fear, and self-loathing. "But I can't... I can't let you do that... not for me..."

[Zapatha]

Peter smiled as the girl followed in suit with a bow, he had never expected for the battle to unfold into a duel with an Achisian mage before, let alone one who didn't attempt to blast him into dust with magic immediately. Peter became enraged somewhat when the woman said that his father died for "glory". To hell with glory, his father had been electrocuted to death by an Achisian's spell all because the Mage-Emperor became evil or something. His death didn't mean anything, his father's demise didn't affect the war or Duivene in any way and neither did the deaths of the countless millions of people.

"To hell with glory my lady. There is no 'honor' to be won here tonight, only death and the vengeance of a nation that is following its leader into dark depravity." As he finished, the Achisian showcased her agility and attacked him once more, but this time he was ready and parried her with his longsword and stood in place with her with their weapons locked against one another.

"You fight for a dead Emperor who corrupted your once great nation my lady, why go on and use the remnants of his darkness to finish a war that he started?"

"Because for the sake of Achisia we have no choice. Our homeland must be redeemed from those who occupied and destroyed it." I whisper as I push back with my blade, try to attack, but lock swords again. "We were His people, His soldiers, and He was our beloved sovereign who we followed to the day He died and beyond."

My mind flits over to my brother who denounced our methods the day the Emperor died and did before that but I dismiss them and channel fire into my blade and he leaps back to avoid it with me pursuing but, dismissing the flames around that blade, I strike with my blade and he blocks it with his shield while I leap back as he goes to stab my stomach. "There is so little of our homeland left so if we must use methods that others view as evil then so be it. If we risk our souls for the reclaiming our glorious land then so be it. If we reclaim the glory of yesterday, rebuild our land to how it was before, and drive the invader out then it is worth it as all will be right with the world and the natural order will reassert itself. We have known no other life and so if I must give it all up for my family and homeland then I will happily damn myself."

I smile lightly though. "But I would disagree, even if war itself is questionable in its glory for honor is so rare, the acts of the individual in the moment of decision making is glorious to watch. I watched you all fight as we approached the battlefield and it was glorious in its own way, worthy of a tale of nobility and valor even if you do not see it that way I view it with respect... but in the end will it be part of your victory saga or be tales told by whoever is left around the fire as the world as we know it ceased to be? Perhaps our sentiment will be understood if it is the latter for that was the fall of our homeland to us." I laugh. "I don't even know why I am saying all of this to be honest, it is probably just because it is the night we have been waiting for so long to arrive that is making me more... excited." With that I lunge at him and move my blade to strike at his head.

As Illania finishes with her comments about how "honorable" this battle has been for the Duivenians, Peter's facial expression changes which would seem to let off that her comments have struck a nerve with Peter somewhat.

"Honorable? How honorable is it where a three headed dragon is roasting man and horse alive, and their charred remains being left to serve your people as slaves until they are struck down once more? Maybe the three years since the war's end have dulled your senses....war hasn't changed since we toppled your corrupted Emperor and cast down the traitorous Knights of Light. It is still every bit as terrible as it was back then, and if what you say comes to pass then it would seem only you and your two companions will be the only free-thinking uncorrupted humans left."

However speaking this long had distracted Peter from paying attention to the duel, as he barely reacted in time to dodge the battlemage's attack, which left a large cut from the corner of his mouth to nearly his ear. Peter drew back, pulling his hand to his face and feeling his warm blood streaming through the spaces between his fingers and onto the ground. Peter then closed the distance between the two opponents rather quickly, slashing diagonally downwards at the Achisian's torso.

[Tracian Empire]

The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia

Mortals fought and won their own battles. Long gone were the ages of myth were heroic men and gods fought together on the battlefield, and the times when all warriors could easily feel the Gods watching over them were now all just stories and legends, with the protection and miracles of the Gods were now reserved to only few brave heroes. But even in this forsaken age, where the might of the Gods often seemed gone, some priests taught that battles were actually fights between Cassia and Praelio, over who could grasp the scales of fate first. And sometimes, the struggle between two mortal armies could be decided in the span of a few moments.. the moments of fate, when anything was possible... like how for a few heartbeats, two sisters, a dead princess who should have been alive and a living princess who should have been dead, held the outcome of an entire battle in their locked weapons. But this was no mere fray between mortals.. it was a clash between light and darkness, between life and death, being white magic and corruption. Who even cared about the Gods anymore, if humans could bring so much pain and suffering and destruction upon the mortal realm? It was just pure, delightful chaos. For a moment, it looked as if victory would belong to those few, courageous warriors of the light.. but then, their weakened princess was pushed back, and the scales tipped in favor of the darkness, until two knights bravely risked their own lives to attack and wound a being that was much more powerful than then, giving the amethyst eyed girl a chance to start chanting her spell...but the scales wouldn't stand still. As a new force joined the battle on the side of the cursed hordes, three new warriors appeared in the middle of the battle, and walls of fire were conjured, breaking the battle. Each of them, the hero, the old warrior, and the young knight were each trapped inside a ring of flames, having to face three servants of the Eternal Serpent - the old general, the witch of the flames, and the righteous swordsman. The entire battle stopped dead as the flames appeared, as the leaders of the two armies disappeared.. but as long as the sky above them was stained in blood, the ground beneath them was going to be dyed in crimson.

The one place on the battlefield were the game of death and blades never stopped was around the dragon, where a group of stupidly fearless humans who continued to harass it as it was standing back up, buying just enough time for Yakr to jump off it and to find.. a weapon, or well, a rock. But a pretty large one, that the hybrid warrior turned into an improvised weapon, one that it quickly threw straight towards the beast's chest, with a force that no normal human could ever hope to match. The rock pierced through the dragon's scales, and the beast screamed so horrifyingly that many knights simply fell on their knees, dropping their weapons and desperately trying to cover their ears - but there was no hesitation in Yakr. The half-Karaki warrior jumped and hit the rock with all of his strength, forcing the rock right into the beast's heart, stopping its final, dying scream before it ever escaped. The one sound that could be heard above the rattle of the battle was just the dragon falling and shaking the ground, crushing a few unlucky undead in the process. Most of those who were fighting for their lives barely noticed it- but someone did, feeling the spell breaking, almost as if a part of her died too.

On the other side of the battlefield, beyond the rings of fire, the golden eyed princess choked back a scream of pain, as she nearly fell on her knees. A group of silent cultists, wearing black, hooded robes, were healing her, and she was gripping the handle of her black sword so tightly that a normal weapon would have been broken long ago. It hurt, and despite her best efforts, this body, being alive, it was just so weird, so different that she felt her powers slipping from her grasp.. and she had no intention to thank these Achisians. As soon as this was going to be done, she was going to kill her wretched sister, and nothing was going to stop her..

All while this "wretched" sister was trying to recover from the shock. She was just so focused on her chanting that she had failed to notice the appearance of the new enemies. Suddenly, a wall of fire had appeared between her and her long lost sister, breaking her concentration and her spell, and before she was even able to react properly, the wall turned into a circle of flames that surrounded her. Alexis looked around, trying to understand what was happening, before she suddenly heard someone whispering behind her - and she barely managed to parry the strike and to jump away in time, her reflexes, that had been honed during so many brutal battles, weakened by her current state. Piercing the ground with the other end of her lance and using it to keep herself standing, a very confused Alexis recognized the white haired man in front of her - yet another ghost from the past that she had never thought she would meet again. "S-Solomon.. de..Velira..", the blonde haired princess whispered, blood still trickling out of her mouth. Even with the diffuse crimson light that was covering everything, Alexis seemed to be even paler than him - almost as pale as a dead body. "Unfortunately.. this isn't just a.. squabble.. between.. siblings. I have to finish..what was started.. long ago..", the princess tried to say. " It's good.. to see you again.. I thought.. that you had.. died..but.. you haven't changed.. either.. always appearing.. at the worst.. possible.. moment.." And the purple eyed girl took a deep breath. "But don't you worry... we'll fight again.. like in the good times.. and like then.. you.. and your darkness.. will lose.."

Out of a sudden, the princess threw two purple colored stones on the ground between them, and they broke into little shards, throwing golden dust in the air, golden dust that quickly turned into two golden figures of light and magic - two knights, both armed with swords and shields. "I hope that you'll enjoy.. me trying to.. kill you again.. and after I'm done.. with.. you.. I will do what has to be done..and bring an end.. to.. to my traitorous...sister.." And tears started to roll down her cheeks, with the girl looked as if she was on on the verge of bursting into tears, but instead of that, she just started to cough blood. She looked directly into Solomon's eyes for a moment, purple meeting black, before the two magical servants rushed forward, trying to cut Solomon into little Achisian pieces, and Alexis' strained voice quickly murmured a chant - and two golden magical circles appeared in the sky above him - faltering for a moment before throwing two spheres of white fire directly at poor Solomon.

She looked as if she was on the verge of dying.. but Solomon was fighting one of the Seven Heroes, after all..

[Faal Lot Himdah]

The Bestial Butcher, Auryon Rakhasa
The Slaughter of Perigny, Kingdom of Duivene

---

“No. No. No. No. Gods help me…” A knight begged as he was on the ground, pinned by his horse. Approaching him was a nightmare, a beast, an almost unnaturally powerful Wendigo, the Archbishop of Gluttony herself, the Bestial Butcher, Auryon Rakhasa in her full Wendigo glory. The knight lifted his blade with a shaking hand, and pointed it to Auryon as she got closer. This battle did not go as the knights planned. As Auryon approached the poor knight, the battle raged on around them. Screams of the knights could be heard as they were ripped apart, limb by limb, and somewhere eaten alive. Blood and gore covered the battlefield, and the Knights could not retreat, as the dark force had fully surrounded them. As Auryon reached for the already damned knight, he started swinging his blade wildly in an attempt to fend the beast off. “I can’t die! No! No! NO!”

She pulled her clawed ‘hand’ back as the sword cut it. Shaking it and growling, before swiping at the wildly swinging sword. With her claws plus the forced used and how tightly the knight was holding the blade, it was no surprise when the sword was knocked away, impaling into the ground, with the knight’s now removed hand landing beside it. With that she ran her claw by her mouth and the knight watched as she licked the blood clean off the claw. She would then reach down and remove his helmet, throwing it at a charging knight with enough force to knock the other knight of his horse. With the threat to her meal on the ground, Auryon once again turned her attention to her meal, the poor damned knight.

“Don’t you see?” Auryon spoke, though since she was in her Wendigo form it was hard to determine whether it was a male or female voice, as it sounded like many voices overlapping, some human, and some animal. Her claws came down, striking the ground the to sides of the knight’s head. The glowing red of what appeared to be eyes pierced through the knight’s eyes and could feel as if it was looking into his soul. The body which the glowing eyes belonged to was fused into Auryon’s chest, but the head that belonged to the central fused body was not the head that did the seeing, chomping or speaking. The knight was smart enough to realize this, but despite that, could not look away from the glowing out of a mix of fear and curiosity. “No gods. No heroes. No knights. No one is coming to save you. You are nothing to them… But to me, you are important… my delicious meal.”

With that the knight looked up at the jaws of Auryon as they opened up and slowly descended. He continued to scream as the beast known as Auryon’s saliva dripped onto the knight’s unprotected face. He could feel it, not because it was wet, but because of the noticeable burning sensation it caused. When some dripped into his eyes, he felt the burning sensation even more. If he wasn’t screaming already, then the pain would have gotten him screaming. As the maw got closer, the knight went from just screaming “Please no”, to screaming and crying “Please No”. The knight’s screaming was only silenced once the maw was low enough to take the poor damned knight’s head. One would assume he fell silent because of the maw snapping shut, but that was not the reason. No, the reason he fell silent was because of Auryon’s tongue, running all across the knight’s face.

“Your fear is exquisite…” Auryon spoke and chuckled after she raised her head back up. She looked back down upon her meal as it no longer screamed. He was not dead, and Auryon knew that. No, the knight had finally broken, and all to easily. As such, Auryon was disappointed. But disappointed or not, she was still hungry, and this was her meal. “But now… you are just a pile of flesh… I do enjoy playing with my food, but eating it up is just as enjoyable.”

“But first, lets get rid of this outer shell and get to the intestines.” With that, she raised one of her claws, and ripped the knight’s breastplate straight off. Then her claw hovered over the knight’s body as it slowly traveled down the knight’s chest till it reached the knight’s lower gut. It was then that she lowered the single claw, piercing through the skin, and slowly made a lateral cut across the knight’s lower gut. With the cut and all the blood came the screams of pain. Once the cut was made, Auryon opened up the knight’s lower gut, and slowly pulled the knight’s intestines out. Using her claw she cut the intestines out with surgical precision, and the knight’s life faded away as the screaming was silence once and for all, and Auryon spoke once again. “I don’t enjoy the taste of… Oh, nevermind, looks like you were one weak knight... That’s a shame, I wanted to play some more… oh well… time to eat.”

With that she cut the intestine’s open, emptying them of their contents before sucking them up. Once the intestines were eaten, she ripped the knight’s chest open, splattering blood around the body and over Auryon. She plunged her claw into the chest cavity, and started to ripe organs out and devour them one at a time. The stomach, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas, and so one. The sound of the organs being ripped out and the feeling of the blood on her claws brought almost as much pleasure to Auryon as the taste of the flesh. Once the organs were devoured, she turned to the limbs.

Pulling the knight’s lifeless corpse out from under the dead horse that had pinned him down, she had access to all the dead knight’s limbs. Starting with the crushed legs, she slowly pulled them from the sockets with a delightful wet popping sound. Removing the armour as if it was a wrapper, making her way down the leg, eating both flesh and bone. Then came the arms, with an equally delightful wet popping sound, and quickly removed of all the armour. She devoured both the arms at the same time, with only a few bites the flesh and bone of the arms were no more.

Once the limbs where no more, she turned to the rest of the body, and lifted it up. Her maw opened and positioned the knight’s lifeless head between the maw. It snapped shut, removing the head with ease while crushing the skull. After a few crunches the head was no more, and Auryon continued to devour the no limbless, organless and headless corpse of the unfortunate knight’s body. Only a few moments later, the body was no more, and Auryon turned to find more prey.

Not long after, only one knight remained. This knight was not only a skilled fighter, but the leader of the knights that had attempted to save Perigny. Even when he had no chance of getting out alive, he fought as if he could. However, this did not impress Auryon. As she approached the knight, the rest of her force took a step back, and the knight turned his weapon to face the eldest Wendigo. The knight watched as the Wendigo that he was about to face, changed before his eyes, and turned from a beast into a human form.

“You stand alone, against an army of darkness lead by me. The Bestial Butcher, the Archbishop of Gula, Auryon Rakhasa.” Auryon spoke while smirking, “And yet you do not accept your fate. Do you believe someone will come to save you? Whom would that be? More knight? Did you not see how fast your brothers in arms were slaughter? Or do you think a hero will come save you? Or do you think the gods will protect you? On this most unholy night, I highly doubt it. Or maybe, despite knowing your struggle is hopeless, you think you must go down fighting, and taking as many of my force out with you. Either way, you will die this night…”

It was then that she reached her hand out, “That is unless you submit to the hunger. Submit, and survive. Submit and be free from the laws of man. Submit to the hunger and be free from all things. Everything hungers for something be it physical or not. To submit to the hunger is to recognize not what you wish for, but for what is missing. To submit is to recognize the hole in your existence and what is required to fill it. Deny my hand, and become nothing but prey, a meal.”

“I decline.” The knight spoke, “I know I will fall, but I will stand my ground and fight. For Duivene. For my fallen brothers. And for the city of Perigny. I will not falter. So, come at me, monster, and taste my steel.”

“Very well…” Auryon said with a smirk as she drew her trusty butcher’s knife, and licked at the dried blood that coated it, “But steel is not what I will taste… what I will taste is your flesh, blood and bones.”

With that, she charged forward as she raised her butcher’s knife and brought it down towards the knight. Of course, the knight was a skilled fighter, and easily parried the knife with an amount of strength that surprised Auryon. With the parry came an opening for the knight, and the knight took it as he slashed at her. But he never made contact with her flesh as one of Auryon’s chains became active and blocked the knight’s blade. Using the momentum of the parried knife, Auryon was able to bring her knife down low as her arm swung behind her shoulders. With the knife now down low, she quickly adjusted her grip, and swung it upwards towards the knight.

Auryon would not make contact with the knight however, as he was able to jump back before the knife could hit him. He held his shield up, and prepared for her to approach him. And so she did, lunging forward at him again, with the knife in her other hand now, and being held far out to her side. Once she was close enough, she swung the knife horizontally only for the knight to block it with his shield. But this strike was not like the ones before. There was far more power behind it, and the knight was knocked off his feet and towards a couple mortal members of Auryon’s dark force. They caught him, and pushed him back into the fight.

“Taking me serious now…” The knight said and lifted his shield once again, “I guess all my training paid off.”

“Silence. Food doesn’t talk unless I tell it to.” Auryon said with a smile and an angled head before licking her lips and charging at the knight once again. The knife was back in the original hand this time. Once again, she was holding it as if to make an overhead slash. The knight saw this, and instead of attempting to parry, he took a step to the side causing Auryon to miss. As the knife came down, the knight raised his own sword and then brought it down. There was two distinct thuds, one a thud of a large butcher’s knife hitting the ground, and the other of a hand falling to the ground. Auryon pulled her arm back with a scream “Ahhh! My hand!”

As she seemed to be reeling back with pain, the knight took this moment to step towards Auryon. He smashed his shield into her face, knocking her back, and followed it up by swinging his sword with an overhead slash. He would not make contact with the sword as Auryon was able to jump back. But he had her on the defensive, and was not going to give her a chance to take the offensive. As such he followed up the slash with a thrust forward, and when she avoided that, another slash. When she avoided that, he lunged forward again, bashing his shield once again into her face, and knocking her to the ground. He didn’t waste this opportunity as he stood over her. No last words. No nothing. He was smart in that way. But as his sword was thrusted towards her heart, it was suddenly stopped.

At this point Auryon started chuckling and then laughing to herself as the knight noticed why his thrust ceased. A chain had suddenly wrapped around his arm, and was holding his arm back. Before he could do anything about the chain, more chains started wrapping around his body. He felt as they forced his arms behind his back, making him drop his shield and sword before forcing him to fall to the ground on his back. As he laid there on the ground, he saw where the chains were coming from. They came from Auryon, who had now gotten up and stood over the knight.

“Did you really think you could kill me?” Auryon laughed and showed the knight the hand that was already growing back. “It takes more than a simple sword wielded by a simple mortal to even be considered a threat to me. You wouldn’t even be a life threatening opponent to a basic Wendigo, and the only way you’d know that is if you had fought one before. But seeing as you truly thought you had me, then I can assume that you have never fought a Wendigo before, let alone a Wendigo like me.”

With that she crouched down to the knight, “But I like your spirit. Normally, I’d try and break that, but you see the moon? The night is almost up and the survivors of Perigny still need to be hunted. Don’t worry, because of your spirit, I’ll make sure more than one person survives to tell the story. But will you survive? That depends on you… Once again, I offer you a chance to survive. Embrace the hunger.”

“I will never join you monster.” The knight spoke, “Threaten me. Torture me. My blade will never fail. I will die a m-”

As the knight spoke, Auryon sighed and stood up before signalling to her forces. Before the knight could finish, he was set on upon by multiple Wendigo. Auryon just stood with her back to the feeding frenzy, with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. The screams of the knight along with the sound of bones breaking, flesh being ripped and limbs being removed from their joints brought only pleasure to Auryon.

“Die a man then.” Auryon spoke once the screaming ceased, “Though with your spirit, you would have made for a great beast. Come along now, the rest of you… we still have a town to finish painting red with blood and gore.”

With that Auryon and the dark force returned to Perigny, while a number of Wendigo remained on the former battlefield, to finish devouring the bodies. Once they had re-entered the town, Auryon ordered all the survivors to be gathered in the centre of Perigny. There she waited as survivors were brought to her, as Auryon would remain true to her word, and would leave at most five survivors to tell the story of what happened. She also ordered for a number of bodies to be brought to her, as while she’d let five survivors remain to tell the story, she’d also try to turn a number of them before slaughtering the rest. Once all the survivors were gathered, Auryon began to inspect them.

“You. You. You. You. And you.” Auryon said, pointing to five of the survivors, “I may be a monster. I may be the Bestial Butcher. I may be the Archbishop of Gula. But let it be known that I do not know of mercy. You five have been chosen to survive as mortals, in order to spread the word of this, the Slaughter of Perigny. Show them out of Perigny.”

With that, the five designated survivors were taken to the far southernmost entrance of the city, so that they could leave safely. Once the survivors were gone from Auryon’s sight, she gave a predatory smile as she changed forms once again. Now standing far taller than anyone else among her force or the rest of the survivors, she looked over them once again.

“I will grant the rest of you a choice.” Auryon spoke in her Wendigo form, “Surrender yourself and embrace the hunger. Become a disciple of Gula, and obtain the power of the Wendigo. Or, become food for our endless hunger.”

There were no takers, and once that became clear, Auryon chuckled to herself, before lunging into the remaining survivors. The other Wendigo among her forces did the same. The screams could be heard by the five designated survivors as they left the city. By time the Night would come to a close, Perigny would be in ruins, stained with the blood of the slaughtered, and no bodies would remain to be found. Not even the bodies of the members of Auryon’s dark force that fell in battle.

---

The Mountain Crusher, Yakr Rugma
The border between the Kingdom of Duivene and the Fallen Achisia

---

Pulling his fist from the chest of the dragon, Yakr rose up, and stood over the lifeless corpse of the beast. Looking down at it, he scoffed at the beast before turning his attention to the humans who aided him. Without saying anything, he nodded to them before turning his attention to the rest of the battle. His blood was boiling, and there were still enemies to be defeated. He looked in one direction, and his gut told him that there was a threat beyond the fire he looked at. A threat that needed to be eliminated.

With that he roared out, and began a charge. As he ran towards the flames, he knocked swaths of undead away with his arms. Undead that remained in his way, and were not knocked away by his arms were simply trampled over. As he neared the fire, he lifted his arms to block his face, and bursted through the flames. Yakr screamed the entire way as he passed through the fire, into the central area of the ring, and back through the flames.

After bursting through the flames a second time, Yakr lowered his arms, and locked his sight on to the evil princess that was currently being healed. With a mighty roar, the green half-giant took the air as he jumped forward towards his next opponent, and pulled his fist back. As he was descending, he started to extend his fist. If the evil princess dodged, his fist would just hit the ground. If she didn’t Yakr was expecting her to go splat between his fist and the ground.