Claire POV-

There was a voice in her head that kept screaming at her to be rational, make a plan, think things through.

Unfortunately for that bit of her, she wouldn't listen, not this time. Not when listening to that voice had caused her to mess up so many times and allowed for others to die on her watch.

She could hear Tucker's reprimands at her awful plan as she ran, he would be so mad at her once he found out what she would do but he was the least of her problems.

She sprinted through the hallways, barely making out anything as she passed. Thankfully, the servants paid little mind to her. Her presence in the fortress wasn't uncommon and she should have thanked the gods that they weren't aware of her fight with their master or of what her intentions were.

Once she got to the door leading to the throne room she paused just long enough to gulp down an entire strength potion before kicking the giant doors off their hinges and drew her sword.

Dianite was sitting on his throne room as usual.

She was a fool for thinking that their fight would have upset him as much as it had her, seemed like Dianite was carrying on with his work like nothing happened.

She had expected to see his clothes slightly wrinkled, eyes strained with lack of sleep, and maybe signs of sorrow as she had been for a while when their fight sunk into her back at home.

To her surprise, he was as strong, elegant, and ruthless as she remembered.

It felt like a pin stabbed her heart then, not because he didn't care about her, but because that only supported her theory that he may be responsible for the attack on the pirates. If he was still his old self, he would have sunk that ship in a heartbeat.

He looked up at her the second the doors fell to the floor, the members of what she assumed were his council turned around and beheld the damaged she caused.

Jordan considered her next move in a heartbeat. She couldn't show any sign of weakness, couldn't let him see how much she cared about him and that she might hesitate in carrying out justice. He was unbothered, so she would have to be as well, not doing so would only give him an advantage.

She stalked up to the dais of the throne room at a very slow pace as if she had all the time in the world. Jordan even went as far as to look the others gathered in the eye and dare them to try to stop her.

It occurred to her then that se had no idea who most were. Dia had never shared much about how his domain operated and she had never asked.

Some of those gathered might be generals of his armies, they certainly looked the part. Two were pigmen like the ones she often saw outside the fortress, those were rather docile unless provoked, but the ones before her were bigger than the others, they certainly looked less friendly as they stared her down.

There was also some creatures she hadn't encountered before, in the nether or any other realm.

Once was tall and slim, arms longer than its legs, its sharp finger tips almost gracing the marble floors near the dais. The creature had eyes as dark as night and canines long enough to rip out her windpipe in one bite. That creature she outright ignored as she passed by if only because staring at it might take away the strength she possessed.

The one next to him...she had no idea what that was. He was more of an outline of a person rather than a physical being. It had the same transparency as a ghast but in a darker shade. The only part of it that was physical looking were his bright red ruby eyes.

Somehow the long limbed creature and the human ghast didn't seem like normal creatures, like they were parts of many of the nether creatures she had seen before put together. That sent a slight shiver down her spine.

The last member standing before Dia was human looking at least, human...in lava armor.

Stefan.

She totally forgot he worked there, but despite their 'friendship', he was more important than she thought or than he had led on. The fact that he was gathered among his most trusted meant he must be one of his best guards. Jordan couldn't see his face behind the helmet he had on, but she hoped he wouldn't stand against her.

The closer she got to Dia, the more her anger decided to vanish, fear slithering in it's place. Instead of letting it consume her, she focused on the images of the sunken ship. The pirates in the forest living out their last moments.

Then, Lord Dianite stood in an elegant motion and watched her approach, not saying a word.

Fine...

"Apologies for the interruption, I realize I'm not exactly dressed for a formal meeting such as this but I've been swimming in the ocean for quite some time today" Jordan said with all the rage she could muster.

All she needed has for him to admit he did it and she would attack. Or deny his involvement as some part of her hoped for his innocence.

"You must be Jordan. The master's...companion" the long limbed creature remarked before sniffing her direction, as if it could smell her anger, fear, and doubt. It seemed to have a very strong accent as it spoke one she hadn't ever heard before but certainly fit its rotten looks. It moved like a swift cat as it took a step toward her and cringed.

She must have looked awful...she was dripping water everywhere, bits of her hair clung to her face despite her fixing it before arriving. Her eyes stung too, from keeping them open underwater in the salty water for too long probably, so much so they were probably bright red.

Still, she couldn't let herself falter.

"I assure you my complexion has seen better days, but trying to fish out dead pirates can really mess up a look" she replied to the creature

It didn't take another step towards her, but it smiled, such a wicked smile as if it knew.

She fought back the instinct to kill it as Tucker would have and instead continued her way to the god.

Jordan heard Tom's screaming in her head then.

'Where are you?' he said in her head

If he showed up, he may defend his god and stand in her way...

'Walk, be back by dinner. Mind making us something to eat, I'm not really in the mood to cook' she replied with a kind tone to keep his suspicions at bay

'Ok, but don't blame me if we get food poisoning' he said

She took that as response enough and focused back to the task in hand.

Jordan made it in front of the members gathered, they stood side by side, blocking her way to they master where they were the moment she arrived. Stefan was at the center of the members gathered, right in front of her.

"Good to see you Stefan" Jordan said by way of greeting

He took off his helmet and stared at her with a confused expression.

"What are you doing here? Did Mianite send you here again?" he asked

"She's an Ianitee general" one of the pigmen answered for her

Stefan stared down the pigman and then turned a questioning glance at his master.

Jordan had been avoiding eye contact with Dia for the past few steps but she dared to look at him then. He smiled at Stefan and descended one step from his throne.

"Jordan is an Ianitee, I'm surprised she didn't tell you given that you are both such good friends" Dia said, looking her direction during those last words

"Im surprised you didn't tell him since he must be an important member of your council it seems" Jordan replied

"How disrespectful of me. General, this is Jordan, Ianite's champion, and my lady" he said

Stefan's head spun toward her so fast she though he might dislocate his neck. He didn't look angry at the revelation, but was assessing her instead, as if she would deny it any second.

But she was Ianite's champion, and proud of it. As for the other part of his claim...

"Not your lady anymore" she said, her heart aching at the mention of those words from her mouth.

He didn't flinch at the words but rather smiled and turned back to Stefan, holding out a hand in his direction before looking her in the eye again.

"Jordan, this is General Stefan, leader of my best legions. He is so good at his job you may have heard of him through his more common title... Furia" Dianite said with a gleam in his eyes

Her heart may have stopped right then and there...

It was him, the one she had been looking for all that time. The man that almost killed her and Tom while burning a full village of innocents.

He had deceived her, probably lied the whole time they were together. Perhaps he went to her house that day to kill her.

"You're..." she couldn't finish the thought.

"Leave us" Dianite said with enough firmness in his voice that all the members gathered left, including the various soldiers on the outskirts of the room.

Jordan didn't even glance at Stefan as he walked past her, she kept her eyes on Dia instead.

Once she heard the steps in the distance, she tightened the grip on her sword and stepped closer

"Why! You killed them!" she screamed. Tears fell down her cheeks as she walked, tears she hadn't expected or bothered to wipe off her skin.

"Why would I go through the trouble of going out and doing dirty work myself" he said calmly

That stopped her dead on her tracks as she realized he was right. He would never get his hands dirty, not when he had so many to do it for him.

He would have likely sent his....his general to do it.

That person was Stefan, the man who had stood before her seconds ago.

"Furia did this?" she asked

"Of course I didn't" said a voice from behind her. Stefan's voice...no...Furia's voice.

"I said leave us" Dianite screamed at the person behind her.

"You would! You are a despicable being!" she said as she turned around to face him "You're as bad as Dianite is!"

"Oh yeah! How so?" he asked, stopping a few steps between them

"You tried to kill Tom remember. Guess what, I was there too. You probably don't remember but I was the person with him when you chased us to the falls. You almost killed us both, and you certainly slaughtered that whole town of innocents" she screamed at him

Stefan turned stiff for a second, shocked.

"Leave at once Furia" Dianite said again, probably a few feet behind her but she didn't dare take her eyes off Furia.

"Tell me, did you even care that you were killing innocents for your childish revenge? Did you laugh when you killed the pirates?" she asked

"I never tried to kill you" he said with a deadly quiet tone

"You would have had to go through me to get to Tom, so yes you did"

"I never went after Tom! I have been planning to kill him but I told you I had just returned from a trip! How could I have done it?"

"Don't lie, Tom said it was you!" she screamed, swinging her sword at him, a sloppy move he easily dodged.

"Dianite was there as well, he was the one that saved us!" she said turning to find Dia standing a few steps behind her "He said it was you!"

She turned back to keep screaming but he was staring at Dianite, confusion marked on his face.

"No" Furia said

"That wasn't me" he said, facing her this time

She marked his expression, searching for signs of his lies, but found none.

"Then who?...Then who was it then" she asked

"Was it you?"Stefan asked Dianite

She couldn't keep the shock from her expression as she turned enough to face them both, standing between them.

Dianite gave Furia a cold look and sighed.

"Indeed it was" he said

"But you were there! You saved us from Furia" Jordan screamed

"I went to go kill Tom for his disobedience and...interventions" Dianite said calmly "But you were there, so I camouflaged myself as my best general, one that so happened to have a feud with Tom" he said

"I knew witnesses could testify the encounter and it would be justifiable because Furia would attack Tom. I thought he would send you away once he saw who was coming for him at last. Then you dragged him away so I had to chase after you both, I had planned to separate you both at some point when you could no longer run out of exhaustion but then you got to the water fall" he continued, stepping closer to her

"I though I had you both trapped. Then you jumped...so I saved both of you knowing you would despise me if I didn't. Becoming the hero seemed like a great convenience then, you would be happy with me saving you and Tom would owe me. I planned to have him stay away from you as payment for saving him actually". Another step closer and Jordan took a step back.

"The villagers...why?" she asked, her voice barely audible

"They are my brother's subjects, I kill them every day. Furia would have killed them, so I proceeded to make my performance more believable by doing so" he said

She dropped her sword and its clash with the floor rang across the large room but she barely registered it. That day she had thought him a hero, had been impressed at his ability to do good.

"Then why kill the pirates?" she asked

"They stood in his way as well... Tom cares for you so he had to be destroyed, those pirates were Ianitees so they had to be destroyed as well" Furia said with understanding

"You are his lady after all, my lord would go to great lengths to keep it that way it seems" he added, stepping closer to her but she backed away from him as well

"I did not kill the pirates" Dianite said to her

"Technicality! Then who did you send to do it? I analyzed the damage and distance from the beach. It had to be someone with magic...." she said but then remembered Tom's words

Furia had magic, powerful magic from what she heard.

"You!" she said, coming up to Furia

She slapped his helmet from his arm and backed him against a pillar, arm against his throat.

"Did he order you to kill them? Did he order you to come to my house that night too?" she screamed, her voice ragged

"Let me explain" Furia said, but she was already choking him

She would have pressed harder but then remembered who he got his orders from

Jordan let him go and swerved towards Dianite. Furia didn't crash to the ground or gasp for air to her surprise, he just stared at her.

"This was no act of mine Jordan. I had nothing to do with the ship, I didn't even know about it until a few minutes ago. Thats why my council was here, they brought me the news and we were attempting to figure out who did my dirty work for me" he said as she reached him

Her blade was still discarded on the ground a few feet away but she still had a few minutes left of the strength potion, not enough to beat him, but it was something.

"Don't you see? I did it all for you, the day of the waterfall, I did it for you. I did it so that we could be together" he said, raising a hand to stroke her cheek but she flinched away in horror

"You were gonna kill my best friend and burned a town full of innocents for me?! Don't you dare tie me with that! Did you think I would swoon and thank you for it" she screamed

"You left! left with my brother and it was Tom's fault, those were Mianite's subjects" he said

"So you killed them out of spite!?" she screamed

"They were all right...I was a fool for thinking you would at least try to change for me, for yourself." Jordan said as she backed away a few more steps

Her legs threatened to give out under her but she kept her knees locked as she wiped her tears away and gathered her sword.

"You are your father's son after all" she said before turning away towards Stefan.

She was too exhausted...too hurt to fight today, but Furia had a few things left to answer for.

"Then you chose to leave me? You know that same darkness calls to you! We are the same" Dianite said from behind her, anger punctuating his tone.

"Consider this an official break up" she said "and a promise that I will defeat you in this war, me and Ianite, together. Don't go killing on my name anymore while you're at it"

She stared Furia down as she approached, weapon in hand.

Then she fell back, something pulling her arms behind her and towards the floor.

Once she was on the floor she looked behind her to find a set of shackles around her wrists attached to the floor behind her with a long chain, they were made of solid nether brick like the floor below her.

She thrashed, trying to break the chains with all her strength but the strength pot had ran out.

Jordan glared at Furia, cursing his dumb magic and that ridiculous grin on his face.

"Apologies my love but I cant have you killing my general" Dianite said as he grabbed her sword from the floor next to her and threw it into a pit of lava nearby then proceeded to disarm her.

Not Furia's magic, but Dianite's then.

Thats when the panic set in and she began to scream in anger. Not just at Dianite and how he had deceived her, no....at how he had deceived himself, thinking that all he had done were righteous acts of love....at herself for not seeing the truth.

"It seems you were busy in my absence by lord. Though I would like to thank you for trying to get rid of Tom for me, I would request that honor for myself someday" Furia said as he stood up and bowed.

"I have to say, your plan was brilliant" Furia chucked at the thought

"From now on, consider yourself one of my champions, but in return I expect your outmost loyalty" Dianite said

That was what Furia had always wanted, according to Tom.

Perhaps he should have been angry at the fact that Dia had pretended to be him, but that title was all he always wanted, what he had probably killed and trained all those years for.

Besides, Dianite would have killed Tom and by the look on Furia's face, thats all he had wanted for a long time.

"Of course your majesty, I'll carry the title with honor. What about the Ianitee?" he said pointing my direction "The sweet little liar"

She had never lied to him! Withheld the truth of her allegiance yes, but how dare he!

"She is my lady, you will address her as such" Dianite said

Another pain of shackles came around her ankles and the long chain from her wrist shackles separated from the ground and appeared at Dianite's hands.

"Of course my Lord" Furia replied, a gleam in his eyes

"It has been a rough few days and Jordan just needs to sort out her thoughts. She is too angry and confused right now to make a rational decision so she will stay here for the time being" the god said, pulling her chains forward and bringing her deeper into the fortress.

She screamed and tried her best to stop him but he was much stronger than her and her energy was depleted.

"You cant do this!" she screamed "Let me go!"

"I won't have you get hurt in this war Jordan, not when you're not thinking straight" Dianite said, not bothering to look back as he continued to drag her along.

"Stefan, you cant let him do this" she begged

"Why not? I was around you because I was curious, I knew there was something about you and now that I know it I don't particularly care. Besides, you are my master's lady, I will protect you and do as he asks. Don't get me wrong though, I liked spending time with you, this way we can spend more time together" he said from his place next to Dianite

She screamed at him too and planted her heels on the floor, pulling away from them.

She had been foolish, so foolish....

"Jordan, you're being irrational. Stop fighting me!" Dianite screamed