Faveen, her men and General Alex made their way up a grand staircase that led to a giant golden door.

The door was guarded by two golden knights, which were inhumanely large.

Two ordinary knights opened the large door, revealing a grand room. At the far end of the room sat a throne and on the throne, sat a man. A very small man.

Faveen and the others walked up to the throne’s foot before bowing deeply.

“Greetings, Advisor.” Alex greeted.

The small man, who was dressed in what looked like a fine white silk dress, dismissively waved his hand.

“No need for the prolonged greetings. After all, you were here just yesterday.” Evon said as his grey eyes seemingly pierced through Alex’s skull.

Another man then entered the room.

“Ah, Quintin. Your timing is impeccable.” Evon said before sitting up.

“Allow me to get straight to the point. All of the necessary pieces are in place. The time to exterminate the vermin that lives just beyond our walls has come. Think of this, not as an order from me, but a plea from your comrades. End this. Quintin will provide any information you need.” Evon said.

“Oh, and I will be joining you on this final campaign,” Evon said.

“Yes, Advisor,” Alex said before Quintin led everyone out of the grand room.

“Whew! That was intense.” Alex said while wiping away the non-existent sweat on his brow.

“Now is not the time for such an attitude, General Alex.” The one known as Quintin said.

“Yeah, sorry. Anyway, the hole is a day’s ride away. But we have the added luck of having to transport the Advisor there.” Alex said while placing his hand on his chin.

“We already went through this. Everything should be fine unless those dogs attack us using underhanded tactics.” Quintin said as they made their way to the barracks.

“And I already told you that if we march directly towards them, Trevenor will surely make an appearance," Alex said.

“That’s the point,” Quintin said.

Everyone gathered their things and Quintin was ready to lead his force of two thousand men into the hole.

Unfortunately for the general, one half of those men were ordinary people who didn’t have a drop of magic in their blood.

Quintin sighed as he hopped onto his horse.

He, Alek, Faveen and her men would be leading the force eastward, with adviser Evon on a special carriage.

The afternoon sun eventually coated the land in a rather gloomy orange glow as they rode out of Eslaf.

The drums of war had long since numbed the hearts of every single soldier who performed in the deadly dance of battle.

So much so, that they couldn’t even appreciate the chirping of birds as they migrated, nor could they gaze in wonder at the sky above.

Danon winced as he saw a dark crater in the distance.

He squeezed his fists as they slowly made their way to the hole and on the eastern side, he could see an army of black and white.

.

..

The forces of Eslaf came to an eventual stop on the western edge of the crater.

It would take a hearty effort to push back the opposition and the order was more than willing to send soldiers into battle as long as it meant that the goal for closer and that goal was the complete eradication of all opposing forces.

Quintin and Alex were discussing various things in the general's tent.

As for Faveen and her men, they were patiently awaiting orders in their tent.

Danon took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

“Hey, umm… Captain, what if we come across one of them singing children down there?” Vael asked.

Everyone remained silent as Faveen lazily slept on her bed.

“Mmm… we’ll just have to do our best to kill it.” Faveen said, but not particularly convincingly.

Danon and the others looked at each other.

“Have you ever faced one, cap’n?” Vael asked.

“No, but I have seen one in action. They are fast, strong and you can usually identify them by that awful blue hair.” Faveen said.

“It’s strange. I kinda feel like this all leads back to Kalosýni somehow.” Vael said.

“That’s because it does.” Norn said.

“Do you think he’ll answer any of our questions if we manage to capture him?” Vael asked.

“That depends. How do you capture a monster such as he.”

“You’d need an equally powerful monster.” Danon chipped in.

Everyone let out hums of understanding as the moments ticked by.

.

..

The first of winters snow had begun to fall and the promised time had come.

Faveen and her men accompanied several soldiers as they heaved a large veiled object toward the hole.

“I’m so freaking nervous,” Vael muttered to himself.

“Will the elafriá truly come to our aid?” Trommer asked.

“No idea,” Danon said as they made their way into the dark crater.

An eerie silence descended onto the crater as the sun slowly set.

Everyone then arrived at a strange dark platform made from a strange obsidian like material.

It had three large spikes that pointed toward the sky.

Faveen and her men walked up to Quintin and Alex, who keenly inspected the workers as they placed the last of the spikes in place.

No one spoke as the dark device was prepared.

CLICK!

A loud click echoed throughout the trenches.

The mud was cold, but it had almost no effect on the fire in the hearts of the soldiers.

“Alright, listen up! Advisor Evon will be here soon. It’s our job to make sure that the gate is clear so that she may bring down the wrath of our goddess. Bare arms for your goddess! For her embrace shall soon grace us all. Bare arms for you kingdom! Fyouryour people tire of all this suffering. Bare arms for yourselves as you etch your names into history!” Quintin said before the trenches were filled with the cheers of battle-worn soldiers.

Faveen looked up at the sky as her eyes narrowed.

“What’s wrong?” Danon asked.

“No, it's nothing. I’m just really hoping this works.” Faveen said.

Danon boldly placed his hand on her shoulder.

“It’ll all work out, I’m sure.” He said.

“Aren’t you a little too blindly optimistic?” Faveen asked.

“Maybe so. But everything has an end. I just hope ours isn’t a tragic one.” Danon said.

Faveen and her men eventually got into position about a kilometre deep into the crater.

Their orders were simple.

Kill anything that dared approach the centre point of the crater.

Danon sat nervously next to Faveen, whose nervousness from before had completely disappeared.

She was in complete battle mode and Danon was almost afraid of what she was going to do to her enemies.

Well, that’s what he thought until-

“Ugh, I wonder what my stupid old man would think if he saw me right now,” Faveen said.

Every captain had been given a certain amount of supplies, this plus the fact that knights didn’t eat as much as normal people meant that they’d be in the trenches for quite some time.

“Forgive me for assuming, but I think he would have been proud,” Danon said.

Faveen looked into Danon’s big green eyes and saw a deep honesty.

“Mmm… I’m not so sure about that.” Faveen said as she leaned against the inner walls of the muddy trench.

“What makes you say that?” Danon asked.

“Mmm… My older sister was far superior to me in every conceivable way. She was tall, smart and beautiful. Not to mention strong, but after she abandoned the order, my father kinda abandoned any expectations he had of me.” Faveen said.

Danon wondered why she was being so open with him.

Yes, they were comrades who had seen death together, but this was the first time Faveen was being so open about herself and her family.

“I see. Would it comfort you to hear that you don’t need his approval?” Danon asked.

“Not really. I always wanted him to look at me the way he looked at my sister. To see me as a warrior worth acknowledgement.” Faveen said as she looked at nothing in particular.

Danon sighed.

“Well, if there’s one thing I want is to see Kalosýni the blue,” Danon said, causing Faveen to gasp.

For her, this was the first time she’d heard Danon speak so boldly.

“Why in the world would you want to meet that monster?” Faveen asked while placing a bit of loose white hair behind her left ear.

“Because he saved my mother and my younger brother in Iannton,” Danon said.

“Oh,” Faveen said as she lowered her head.

“We may have lost our home, but it was Kalosýni who chose to dig into the rubble that was our house and save them,” Danon said as he pulled out a certain case from his box of supplies.

He opened it, revealing a magnificent- no, a perfect sword and dagger.

They had simple, yet awe-inspiring designs that were far too beautiful to be on a weapon.

Danon took a deep breath before offering the velvet-lined case to Faveen.

“Oh- I couldn’t. Those are yours, no?” She asked. Her face riddled with confusion and fluster.

“But I want you to use them until I prove myself worthy of facing Kalosýni. Then and only then, will I take those weapons and return them to him. In that moment, I will thank him for what he did and challenge him to one on one combat.” Danon declared.

“My goodness… have you gone mad?” Faveen asked, but Danon simply smiled.

“Maybe, hehe. Oh, and you can use them as you wish. Think of it like this: if you can skillfully wield those divine weapons, then you are worthy of a title that not only your father would be proud of, but even you, yourself.” Danon said.

Faveen's mouth hung open.

“Why- where has this attitude been all this time?” She asked as she awkwardly took the case.

“When our backs were against the wall and we fled Llendor, you remained silent. When we suffered heavy casualties in Ianndor, silent you remained. From now on, I want the more talkative Danon present at all times, ok?” Faveen asked as she turned away in an attempt to hide her tear ridden face.

She then hurriedly stood up before wiping the tears that fell from her silver, almost white eyes.

She then grabbed the dark sword and dagger after carefully placing the case down on some nearby crates.

“What did you name these two?” She asked.

“Mmm… Ray and Yuu.” Danon said as Faveen skillfully swung her new temporary weapons.

“Oh? Does the Ray part have anything to do with the betrayer?” Faveen asked as she sat back down.

Unfortunately, her new weapons didn’t have custom sheaths so she placed them in her rather cheap leather and steel ones.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Danon said.

“You’re being cryptic again. Bah! No matter. Let’s change the topic to something else. What do you most often dream about?” Faveen asked.

“Mmm… nothing, most of the time. I usually close my eyes when the sun sets and I open them when it rises. However, I have had strange dreams in the past. Why do you ask?” Danon asked.

“My mother often said that dreams usually held special meaning. I don’t necessarily believe that, but it is a curious thought.” Faveen said.

“Mmm… I see.”

Danon and Faveen continued to talk about such things as the hours ticked by.