At that moment, Kade tilted his head as he said, “You want us to hold back Solomon?”

I shook my head back before saying, “No, I want you to hold back the saint or saints underneath the barrier. If they collapse upon me as I hunt for the other remnant, I will die before I can absorb the fragments energy.”

Kade Leaned his hand into his face as he said, “You want me to sacrifice our tribe so that the murderer of my brother may do what he wants?”

I frowned as I let my arms lower, “No, I want your tribe along with the others to stage a false assault on the capital during my coronation ceremony. Distract them for two, perhaps three hours, and I will have obtained the other remnant.”

Kade stood before wrapping an invisible force around my neck with the lifting of his arm. He growled, “You cannot save us from this hell.”

As blood swelled in my face, I beamed a grin both brilliant and devilish. As his eyes opened wide, I said with utter and absolute confidence, “I am crushing as calamity and broken as bane.” He slowly lowered me as I continued,

“I am the misshapen terror of your nightmares, and he who carves a swath of shadow in my wake. Nothing in this world can stop me, not you, not time, not even Gaia. I rip through pain. I endure through agony. I’ve known no name. I abandon humanity.”

I roared like thunder and boomed like power, “Find faith in the coming dark, or squalor on the carcasses of your mothers and fathers. Choose to live your life as a man, or die as a slave. Decide, exiled saint.”

A suffocating silence crashed into the crowd as Kade’s shoulders shivered. After a long, leaden quiet cast over us, Kade murmured, “I once lived for the light. I embraced the teachings of Gaia and discovered the satisfaction of kindness. Look at what that gave me.”

He glanced down as he continued, “I will die while watching my tribe struggle every day for food or water. Every moment, I regret my past. I despise the church. I despise the palisade...I even despise Gaia.”

He met my eye, his own flaring with life and full of fire as he said, “If we cannot find hope in light, then we will follow darkness. The Blackirons will serve you, Darkened One.”

I laid a hand on his shoulder as I said, “Perfect. Three days from now, welcome the other tribes into your village. Let them use your tunnel to the saints underneath Nelastra. Bring the remnant to the palace within Nelastra once you’ve obtained it. I will be waiting.”

As I lowered my hand, Kade shouted while raising his, “Did you hear him Blackirons? We will end the curse of iron. We will end our tyranny. No more tribute. No more tives. No more missing children. Will you help me, brothers and sisters?”

The crowd boomed behind me before I stood tall, my shoulders wider than a door and my right arm raised high as I said, “To the end of your oppression. To the beginning of your freedom.”

After the crowd bellowed their approval, they dispersed, every voice vibrating with half hidden energy. Kade and I discussed a few details before I left them to their devices as they made preparations for the assault.

After having fought Kade myself, I had a painful understanding of just how destructive he could be. Having his clan’s power as well finished this piece of our plan. With that done, I left towards Nelastra, eating all the way there.

And so I slept at Solomon’s home, brimming with excitement at the prospect of nearing our goals. Gaia’s corruption would wane while we gained ground. As I drifted into slumber, I believed our plan full proof, yet cracks already formed just underneath the surface. They would appear at the worst of times.

Before then, Jack’s friends held an event in his honor. The night before our coronation, Solomon held a get together with our friends at his home. I’d never garnered that same reaction, though gaining the fellowship of humans eludes me, even now.

However, Deluge, it never seemed so difficult for me. During that night, Krakowah, Solomon, Joan, and Sophia all gathered before I arrived at Solomons. I crawled home after a long, arduous day at the archives. Abraham had chided me for the missing agents of the palisade since so many had gone missing so soon. Despite that, I dragged my feet with a satisfied exhaustion.

So much of the history of everything around me opened up over these past few weeks. I’d learned of the sciences and the arts. I’d explored the continent and the stories hidden in its hills and the mysteries in its mountains. Instead of roaming around without any understanding, I tread with a quiet confidence spawned from effort.

I’d always wondered why the people I met wanted power. After staying at Nelastra, I learned why. They believed that by controlling others, they would feel full and fierce and mighty. I felt all those things, yet not once did that satisfaction arise from a mastery of others. That assurance arose from a mastery over myself.

That warm glow overwhelmed my mental exhaustion, so those thoughts bounced in my brain as I opened Solomon’s door. A smell warm as the sun and heavenly as home rushed around me. The smoke of a well lit fire ebbed ever so slightly into the room while I could taste fresh bread and bacon in the air. Once the door opened, absolute darkness met me as I walked within. Muffled breaths sounded around me before I walked over towards the table at the center of the room.

As I lifted a sheet covering a pile of fire opals, Solomon, Sophia, Joan, and Krakowah shouted beside me. Happy birthday, Jericho. Beside the fire opals was a violin with a carving on the side; “In memory of Jill.”

The words cut deep. Long ago, I’d kept a harp from my mother as my memento. Joan had smashed the instrument by accident not long after we met, and even now, she’d apologize for it every now and again. It weighed on her, and the violin I bought at Nern had snapped during our travel towards Nelastra. Jill was my mother’s name, and in her own way, this was Joan’s sincere apology.

The gesture struck the depths of my soul. Never since the death of my parents have I felt so full and warm and rich. Their death left a void in my chest, but I carried that burden with all the others. At that single, monumental moment, that emptiness ended.

My friends kindness blew away the cold of life, leaving the warm waters of affection. I bathed in that glow as they all beamed excited grins at me. This was something I thought I’d never experience again, yet here it was, hitting hard with the piercing potence of an unexpected joy.

A glowing ember formed in my throat as my vision blurred. My breaths grew short and strained. My eyes burned before streams formed on my cheeks as I choked on my words, “Thank you...for being my family.”

Joan and Sophia hugged against me before Solomon placed a hand on my shoulder like a father. Krakowah leaned away before she raised an arm, her voice shaking “That’s...I can’t.”

Tears fell from her cheeks before I puffed out a tiny laugh. Joan left an arm on me as she pulled Krakowah into the group hug, and there she sniffled out tears while saying, “It’s just...beautiful.”

The atmosphere infected the others as Solomon choked, “It’s been so long since I had a family...I’d almost forgotten what it feels like.”

As we hugged one another, I basked in that pleasant pain. In a sea of silk, I floated on air, like a newborn angel until falling back to earth again. After I recollected myself, I grabbed the violin before Solomon said, “I didn’t know you played the violin.”

I shrugged as I said, “I can string a note or two. Nothing special.”

Joan and Sophia giggled before Krakowah said, “Why not play something now?”

I pursed my lips, “It’s been longer than I’d like since I last played, but I worry that I might mess up a few notes.”

As I said so, I shifted my shoulders, noticing their weight. Since my stay at Nelastra, Deluge packed on hundreds if not thousands of pounds onto my frame. I’d gained several more inches in height, standing seven and a half feet high. Solomon stood over me still, but not by his head and shoulders anymore. I no doubt weighed more than him by then.

My fingers still moved as I remembered them to, however. As I shifted them around, a sly, smooth grin grew on my lips as I said, “I suppose I could pull a few notes together.”

Joan bounced on her heels as she said, “You guys are in for a treat.”

Solomon and Krakowah sat in chairs of stone before the saint of magma and metal grabbed Joan and Sophia, lifting them onto her shoulders as she said, “Don’t let a maiden’s tears go to waste now. Give us something good. Let this life inspire you, and in turn, stir the hearts around you.”

As her words ended, I tuned the violin, plucking the strings and checking its sounds. The violin echoed with an eerie, haunting beauty. The body of the wood held sound like a lost lover, never wanting to let go, and the strings shook with a change fluid as well made wine. As I pulled the strings, Solomon said,

“Ah, that violin is unlike any other you’ve ever used, no doubt. The strings are made of yara auberon silk. It’s a vicious variety of the bull spider. They have a habit of forming colonies laced with the silk. Hard to get a hold of that without dying, for most. The wood came from an ironoak. I figured you’d need something sturdy.”

As I eased into the instrument, Solomon continued, “It will take some getting used to.”

I beamed a grin as I said, “Thank you all. This is a gift deep as the ocean. It’ll take time to find all her secrets.”

Joan frowned as she crossed her arms and said, “You make it sound like your lover.”

I leaned over towards her before saying, “Ah, but she is simple fling. You are like the moon, deep, piercing, and forever.”

She smiled before wrapping her arms around my neck. As I stood up, she lifted of the ground before giggling as she rubbed her nose against mine, her eyes laughing and her smile dancing. After the heartwarming scene, Joan jumped down before I said as I prepared the bow of the violin,

“It is best I recite a classic since I’m rather rusty. How about Gaia’s coming?”

Without waiting for a reply, I played. The echoing of the violin stretched each note until the rhythm coursed through the air of the room like warm wind in winter. Notes cascaded against one another, each telling a tale of two lovers. They fought fiercely, yet over time, their blows softened until the couldn’t bare harming the other.

The sounds harmonized like healing and lingered like loneliness. The music exposed every lapse and imperfection of the two, but they coalesced, a magnetic force pulling them together. They filled every fault. They found peace in each other.

As the melody meandered through their walkways of life, each of them grew old. Their bodies waned and wilted. Time aged there affection until the fervent bonds cooled into a warm glow like embers after a fire. The world changed around them, but they only came closer until overnight, one outlived the other. As anguish swelled in the song, I told the timeless tale.

“Once was a woman who lost her lover of times past. A melancholy dark as despair and cold as a mountain’s peak impaled the lost lover. Stuck in a daze, the woman fumbled through years that turned to centuries. Like a haunting ghost, she found her heart holding on, burnt black and still as death. In her wake, she spread gray onto the land, a shadow of what she was.

Overtime, this gray grew and grew until the very sky cracked and he who holds the sky upon his shoulders wept at the weight. Life lingered despite that perpetual shadow, endless as the gray widow's sorrow. Those who crept close to shadow or toiled in twilight congregated there. They found a home amidst the silver sky.

The songs notes evolved into a growing dread as I continued, “The god of the sky, Baldowuh, discovered the spreading gray. He hated all that wasn’t light, but even his brother, Nox Luna, hated gray. They wished for purity and order and chaos, yet here stood a mere apparition who dared challenge them. In their anger, they fused into one supreme being, Equinox.

Equinox shook the earth with each of his steps as he neared the lonely, lost widow. As Equinox neared her, it roared its voice, “You who spread gray. Leave this world. It is mine and mine alone.”

The widower replied, “I only wish to die. If you may give me release, I would relish your company.”

Equinox thundered, “Being beneath the dirt would suit you well. Bury yourself alive, worm’s meat, or I shall do so for you.”

And so she dug her grave, somber as silence and desperate for death. As she laid the last handful of dirt upon her face, the ground latched onto her. Sensing her power, it connected itself with her, fusing her into the ground. In that instant, a new god was born, Gaia.

She tread through every part of the land before casting her gray into the ground and onto the earth. Every part of the world drenched in the everlasting ash that she forced into our planet. In time, Equinox left the flawed, tainted earth, creating the night and stars and sun. Gaia ruled the earth, her every move a storm of thunder, her every thought a maelstrom of worms.

The earth obeys her, along with those who live on it. Those that ignore her are pulled into Gaia’s grasp, infected with the despair of her lonely longing. Follow her teachings and prosper, dare defy her, and you shall decay into worm’s meat.”

The ominous, eerie echoes of the violin died down until silence blanketed the room. The sensation soaked deep, into every chink, slit, and crevasse of the room. Right at its peak, Krakowah’s voice shattered that oppressive atmosphere,

“Now that was a song worth remembering. Absolutely splendid. I’ve heard the song so many times, yet it has never felt so...haunting. Almost like an omen.”

I shrugged as I said, “It’s the effect of the violin. I couldn’t measure the drawn out notes all that well, though I love the sound it makes.”

Solomon slapped my shoulder as he said, “Nonsense. If I hadn’t known, I’d have gathered that you’d played it all your life, let alone one evening.”

A simple smile crawled up my lips as I said, “It’s one of the few things I have a talent for. Thanks for the compliment.”

Solomon nodded before saying to Krakowah in a not so hidden sarcasm, “Now if we could sharpen his fighting to the same level...”

Joan and Krakowah giggled before I said, “Eh, we can’t all be kings of every kingdom.”

I reveled in the joy of that night. Every single second hummed delight and breathed bliss. The air shimmered. The laughter spilled over like a tipped barrel of wiltworry wine. Perhaps my own account casted the memory in a rosy tint, but whoever I open my eyes, I can see it no other way. The night was joy. Nothing more, nothing less.

Joan and I loved one another than night with a blooming passion. As lustful as our young love was, we slept as the moon crept midway across the sky, white as the sheen off well water. After we’d had our fun, we met with Sophia as Krakowah snored on the furred sofa in Solomon’s study.

As she created tiny, little sonic booms from her ogreish wheezing, I reviewed over our plan for taking the remnants of Gaia. Joan and Sophia would penetrate through the underground entrance with Razor and the other clans. Aether would service as the distraction for Solomon during the ceremony. I and Deluge would absorb the remnant before interrogating the king and finding the last piece of it.

After assimilating the two other remnants, Razor would carry Joan and Sophia while Aether and I run through the other direction. The plan operated like any good one, with plenty of breathing room and fallbacks, yet simple and steady enough for shifting circumstances.

As we reviewed, Krakowah interrupted our wording with her ridiculous hacking slumber, but we spoke without worry of her waking. If she could sleep through her snores, she could sleep through our planning, I assure you.

With the plan finalized, I slept before Deluge reviewed the plan with Aether, Razor, and even the tribes. My worries peaked that morning, but Solomon and Krakowah kept an obvious, buzzing excitement with their every movement.

As the sun reached the highest point in the sky, we three saints left Solomon’s for the palace, ready and waiting for the coronation. We reached past the polished marble of the entrance, fountains fuming water that reflected rainbows. As we walked up towards the unopened iron doors, the pontifex stood with a warm, welcome smile. His arms crossed in front of him, hidden under his robe, and the fortune of treasure embroidered on his hat and garments glimmered golden and bright in the sunshine.

As I stepped up, Solomon bowed before the pontifex as he said, “My liege.”

The pontifex grinned as he said, “It is good to see you, The Immortal Saint.”

Solomon replied, “And you as well. Is the ceremony ready?”

“They are ready. After Jericho changes clothes, we will let him enter of his own accord.”

He turned towards me and said, his voice sharp, “Follow every order exactly that the ceremony commissioner gives you. Do you understand?”

I nodded as I said, “In Gaia’s name, I do.”

“Good. He’s waiting in the well room at the Eastern side of the main entrance. I’ll be waitin for you once you're inside.”

After finishing his words. He walked along the red and gray granite tiles surrounding the palace. Alabaster gleamed behind him, bathing his silhouette in a white gleam before an armored knight opened the door beside the giant iron doorways. Solomon guided me as we walked towards the left of the palace towards a small, but luxurious room. Inside, three servants, garbed in the green and white of Bastion, stood with several garments of white and green in their arms.

Smooth flowing patterns interlaid the cloth along with Gaia’s symbol in green, the tree surrounded by twelve circles. A rope dangled over a white well, full of floating pink petals from roses. Flowers adorned the pillars of the walls, bunched into beautiful bouquets of asters, amaryllis, callas and carnations and freesias. As I walked up, a man with a black markings around his eyes looked me over before saying,

“You look young for a saint. You’ll wear these old fashioned garbs like a second skin despite that I’m sure.”

I nodded before he continued as his servants handed me dozens of different shirts, belts, and cloaks, “Whenever you enter, do not smile or laugh. Walk with your head straight and center, like a statue pointed towards the remnant. If you glance away, they’ll take it as a sign of your betrayal, got it?”

I nodded as his servants wrapped several garments around my waist and shoulders that draped past my feet. They weighed me down as the commissioner continued, “Walk in, slow, very slow. Make your steps from your heel to your toes. We don’t want you tripping while you stare.”

Krakowah chuckled before saying, “Oh mighty Jericho, the juggernaut. Please don’t forget us after the ceremony,” as they placed a fancy hat over my head and laid the last mantle on my shoulders. I looked like a Blackiron covered in daisies. In a word, ridiculous, so I frowned as the commissioner continued,

“You’re a saint. I shouldn’t hear any complaints about something as simple as clothes. Anyways, Solomon and Krakowah will walk beside you incase you respond poorly to the remnant. Before the pontifex hands you the remnant, recite this oath with both your hands in front of you,

‘I swear to live and breath for Gaia. Each and every part of myself is devotion, my body faith, my mind resolve. I give unto her what I am so that I may be more than human. I am henceforth Saint Jericho.’”

He barely tapped my finger as he said, “Touch the remnant like that, just the tiniest touch. Do not hold it. The remnant will destroy your mind. Only Solomon and Kade have made it out alive, though I’d argue that Kade was dealt a fate worse than death.”

I nodded as I said, “Don’t worry. I have a strong will and a stronger soul.”

He tapped my shoulder as he said, “I’m glad you got yourself a protege Solomon. He sounds like you, with a little less mutt mixed in his voice.”

The words cut like an envenomed whip, Krakowah wincing back as a grinding noise came from Solomon’s helmet. After a second, the man leaned towards me and said,

“Try not to let anymore of that rub off on you. If you get any grayer, they’ll think you're a Blackiron. Trust me, there’s nothing worse in this world.”

I snapped my words like slitting a throat, “I’ve seen far worse fates, I could be like you for example.”

He stepped back as a relieved breath escaped Solomon’s helm. The commissioner’s eyes squinted tight as he said, “Well then, I see you’ll just be another dog like him.”

Before I could slap him, Krakowah roared, her eyes bloodshot, “Speak no more, little man, or I’ll show you that a woman can break more than just your heart.”

The commissioner bit his lip before stammering, “Bah. You can all rot in hell for all I care. Go to your damn ceremony like good hounds.”

I clamped my teeth before I said, “Of course, commissioner. Besides, I’m tired of speaking with trash.”

As we walked away, the commissioner seethed under his red skin. I raised a hand before Krakowah clapped it, satisfaction spread on her face in the form of a grin. Solomon half heartedly said, “That was inappropriate...but thank you.”

I nodded before saying, “Anytime, Solomon. Anytime.”

As I walked towards the iron gates, I glanced at their soaring height as I said, “He never told me where to enter, did he?”

Before Solomon could stop me, I clenched my hands onto the edges of the doorway, my fingers digging into the entrance before stone minced under the doorway. Once more, I pulled this doorway open, my body straining as I swelled with tenacity. The ground quaked beneath us. The sound echoed off the inner place wall and around Nelastra.

My arms quivered with exhaustion as I finished opening our path, but they steadied soon after. I struggled less than last time, so much so that Solomon said, “You’ve gotten better at this. They’ll be calling it Jericho’s gate here soon.”

I rolled my eyes as I said, “You sound as sincere as a slave merchant.”

He chuckled as he said, his voice confident, “I’m at least that sincere. Mostly.” He grabbed the edges of the door before pulling them closed as he leaned back. They glided over the stone before clamping shut, Solomon’s brawn evident.

After a few quick breaths, we stepped up the alabaster steps leading towards the palace doors. By now, the tribes already clustered in the musty tunnel leading towards the spring that pierced Nelastra’s underground entry. They’d blitz the city’s center. My act hinged on my ability to act and control my emotions. If I let myself rampage, Solomon and Krakowah could restrain me, if not kill me outright.

With a quiet resolve, I entered through the hickory doorways. As they opened, Galen stood beside the pontifex, a fearful panic in his eyes at the sight of me. I stayed cool and composed, my steps slow as I entered. Knights surrounded every entry around us, the armor’s shining like stars as the gems hummed with power.

Golems stood beside the doors, preventing any escape as rows of eyes planted onto my skull like roots growing through my eyes. Upon a pedestal, the remnant shook the air near it, Gaia’s energy distorting everything around it, bathing those here in corruption. I swallowed saliva at the sight of it, my palms sweating like little streams. Cool air brushed my feet as my head heated from the muggy scent of heavy breaths.

Fear, frenzy, rage, violence and hysteria swelled in the room like a pus filled cyst. Banisters lined the walls, Bastion’s colors coating them. A palpable tension simmered like a lit fuse, threatening a wall ripping detonation. As Galen’s eyes fell onto mine, he smirked, his eyes satisfied and his smile etched like a wooden carving on his old face. In reply, I grinned back, my expression like frozen fire. With that glance alone, I shook all faith he had in his plan as his sudden smile crumbled like gray ash. After taking a few steps, Solomon said,

“Ugh, soooo...Why are so many mercenaries here?”