Only the devastation could tear them out of the monotony of their travels. For days all that set the endless green apart were ruins they traveled through; demolished towns, fields of battle, torn banners and great effigies were strewn across the landscape, almost at random.

At some places, they found it all covered in ash, with the remains of great pyres as last reminders of those who perished, while in others the dead were still laying where they had fallen, many brutalised and torn apart.

They mostly walked in silence, with Ellyrie hanging her head low at every ruin they passed. Day followed night and despite them passing through nothing but flat lands, not once did they see another living soul.

Until the third day, when the ground trembled.

They were following the same dirt path when the sound reached their ears, and they turned their heads to look back and see the cloud of dust on the horizon.

"There is no point in running." Melthaine was the first to speak, her shoulders hanging low. "I would hope for them to be friendly, but with how this region looks I doubt it."

Ellyrie looked around for a moment before having to nod. They were in the open, and trying to evade would only arouse suspicion. She unsheathed her blade, it weighed heavy in her hands, and took position at Melthaine's left, while Levion took the right.

As the cloud of dust neared them, they could make out individuals within, and Ellyrie wished she didn't.

What approached them was a host worse than what Ellyrie had imagined in her darkest nightmares. All were women, all had at one point been human, though some hardly resembled ones anymore. Unlike the inhuman, these were evidently made into what they now were. Stitches showed where animal limbs and attachments had replaced normal flesh.

Some walked on quadruplet or octuplet lower bodies, some covered in scales, chitin or thick fur, while others had their arms replaced, coated or additional ones attached to their backs.

Yet all of them still retained human faces, if disfigured, some having two or three pairs of eyes, resembling those of reptiles, arachnids or insects. They pulled along several great wagons, and only slowed their pace down slightly upon reaching them.

At the tip of their spearhead ran a woman, the one and only who had retained most of her human features, if for a price. She stood twice as tall as Ellyrie and thick red scales covered most of her body save for her face. Over her shoulder she carried a club the length of a grown man, grizzling hooks covering the smooth surface.

With every exhale trails of steam clouded her head, and her voice was a roar as she stared down at Ellyrie. "You're in the land of clan Manticore, and you are in the way."

"We felt that running would cast a bad light on us, we did not intend to stand in your way." Ellyrie took a step back and lowered her blade. The gaze of the woman was withering, it took all her strength not dispell the tremors that made her body shake.

"We've enough Sky Spear and Earth Star maggots in our territory, and you look just like those bastards." The woman reached back to the handle of her club, it made the ground trample when she let the head of it hit the floor.

"We're not affiliated with any clan, warrior of Manticore." Melthaine stepped past them and looked up to the great scaled woman. "I am Melthaine, last of the four, and merely on the way to my homeland. We seek no part in your struggle."

A moment of silence was shaken by laughter. "Melthaine of the four, in the body of a little human woman? Nonsense."

Ellyrie was about to take a step forward, to put herself between Melthaine and the beasts, when their laughter was ended by a sickening clicking noise.

"Halt, Se-la-ne." Out of their number stepped a woman, tall but thin, ghostly so. She seemed to almost sway in the wind, her long white hair ran all the way down to her feet and obscured her face and body. "I, sense-feel, great, age, in, this, one." Every word was followed by the clicking of mandibles that Ellyrie was thankful not to have to see.

"So what?" Selane turned to her companion, the air around her body was flickering with heat. "There's not an ounce of strength to her, even as a meal she would mean nothing. Let us just end them and keep moving."

"The, four, can-not, die, Se-la-ne. Mo-ther, told, you, list-en-hear. Do, not, ma-ke, more, en-e-mies."

When Selane exhaled, it was another cloud of steam. "Fine Yana, have it your way." She stared down at Melthaine. "Don't head further east. Most of my sisters don't have this amount of restraint or urgency."

As she spoke, the world turned white. Flashes of lightning erupted in the east, erasing sound and sight, until the thunder rolled over them in a single, deafening roar. The others of clan Manticore began to whince and cry, staring up at the open, clear sky in horror.

"He's come, the old man of the mountain."

"We need to head home, mother needs us!"

"Against him? Mother is insane, we need to get her to run!"

Selane slammed her club into the ground, the tremors threw Melthaine, Ellyrie and many of her own to the ground. "Shut your mouth girls, that old man is little more than sinew and bone now, quit your whining. We're the first chimera, are you going to disappoint mother? Or are you going to rip and tear these ascetics and teach them about power?"

Her yelling was followed by a defiant roar at the skies, which roused her companions to rise back on her feet. "We move, our new sisters need to get to mother as fast as possible."

Ellyrie let out a sigh of relief as their host reorganised, turning east to their right, it seemed as if they had forgotten about them. Then her eyes fell on the wagons they were dragging along, and her heart sank.

They were filled with girls. Stuck behind bars, huddled together, either having closed their eyes, staring at the ground, or at her. The few that saw her crawled to the bars and stared at Ellyrie, their pleas drowned out by the cacophony of yelling.

Tears ran down her face. Without thinking her body moved, but Melthaine held her back by her arm.

"Don't be stupid, El!" She hissed at her, panic screaming from her eyes. "We just got away from being torn inside out, I know it is awful but we cannot-"

The sound of rattling armour had her halt, and look in horror as Levion approached Selane.

"You will not take these girls with you." He spoke calmly, his voice echoing through his helmet.

Selane turned her head and looked down at him in amusement. "And who is going to stop me, you?"

He rose his blade he had taken along from the grave of his legion. "I am Levion, late commander of the second legion. In life and through death I have sworn to defend my kin, and I will not let you take them."

Selane rose her club, the heat rose off from her body, sweat evaporating into mist. "Let's see about that then little man."

Melthaine was tugging at Ellyrie´s arm, and they made way just in time.

Their weapons clashed and Levion stood tall, though the very ground around him was flattened at the impact of Selane´s club. She swung at him with reckless abandon, every strike faster than the last. Her very scales were glowing more brightly as she pushed Levion back, and landed a hit against his side that took him off his feet and sent him flying upward.

She was not done, bent her knees and leapt up into the air, and with a brutal swing spiked him back down into the ground. Dust sprung up in a cloud when the two hit the earth, leaving a large crater.

As the dust settled Selane cracked her knuckles and turned to leave, when she heard the rattling of armour.

Levion´s body had been shattered, but the pieces slowly came to life and reformed. He picked his weapon back up, albeit with a shaking hand, his voice betraying the exhaustion. "We are not done yet."

When Selane looked back at him, she did so with a wide grin. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

Within a moment she was upon him, a struggle even less fair than the first. Despite her size she moved like lightning, and another well placed blow shattered his body once more. The girls in the cages looked at the fight in horror, while Melthaine had to hold Ellyrie back with her all.

"Please, please just stay, don't you see!" She hushed into Ellyrie´s ear. "She's not trying to kill him, she will get bored and just leave us alone."

"I've watched enough of my companions get hurt and killed, I am not doing it again!" Ellyrie broke free from her grasp and ran down the crater towards Levion.

He had reformed, and turned to look at Ellyrie, only to shake his head. "Stay."

She halted in her tracks, in disbelief.

"Let this battle be my own." He nodded his head, and charged once more at Selane.

The great scaled woman took great joy in their fight, tearing out his arms, legs, beating him into the ground, over and over again. And every time she turned to leave, he once more stood up, once more stood tall.

The sun was descending, showering the plains in a dark red. Ellyrie had lost track of how many times Levion had fallen. But this one seemed to be the last. He was on his knees, his armour rattling as he was forced to look up at Selane.

"It was fun, but now you're starting to bore me." She growled, and slammed him into the ground. "Stay down, or I'm going for your friends next."

He did not struggle, even as she let go and returned to her comrades. They left eastward, a cruel stampede, but Ellyrie paid them no mind. She went to Levion´s side, her hands shaking. "Are you going to be alright?"

The light behind his helmet was dim for a moment, then he laughed. "Better than I have in a long long time. These inhumans really cannot be underestimated." He struggled to his feet, pushing and cracking pieces of his armour back into place.

"But, you lost." Ellyrie clenched her hands to fists. "And they still, are taking them."

"And you almost cost us our lives!" Melthaine was pulling at her hair, staring at them both. "It is a sheer miracle that people like you still live when you continue throwing your lives away for nothing!"

"Not for nothing." Levion shook his head. "For everything." He gave Ellyrie a long look, and she nodded.

"And what is that supposed to mean, they're still going to get taken to their leader for who knows what purpose, what exactly did you achieve except getting thrown around like a toy?" Melthaine´s voice was shrill, but it had no effect on Levion.

"I couldn't save them. But that doesn't meana I could just not try. You told me what my home has become. What I helped build. What monsters I let rule over my people and those I love." He faced Melthaine, and stared her down. "And I will not let that be my legacy. Not while I can still fight. Not while I can still try to make a difference."

Ellyrie´s gaze had shifted lower, to the sword at Levion´s side. "Why didn't you use your own weapon back then?"

He followed her look, and rested his hand on the hilt. "This one is reserved for a special occasion.

It is what I will use to sever Aeterna´s head from her shoulders."