The heavy thumping of bodies against the outer wall was the first sound that alerted the city to the presence of the attackers. This attack was something they had not been expecting for some time. It was early autumn, and the Pro‟Tea never struck before the Summer.
“What is going on?” A young Saagus, draped in robes with golden pauldrons atop his shoulders asked as soldiers rushed to the defence of the wall.
Ordinarily, they would have had several defensive walls in place to stop the enemy. However, since the Pro‟Tea were attacking well before their usual time, only the outermost wall had been repaired.
“Captain Tychus, what is happening?!” He shouted at one of the many soldiers that were rushing past him.
“The Pro‟Tea are here, Caius,” The captain stopped, “Now summon your weapon, private, and help us hold that wall. If it falls, we will not be able to hold the city!”
“But this is impossible!” Caius shook his head, “We only defeated them last month... We drove them back into the Abyss. They never attack this early!”
“Yeah? Well, tell that to the Pro‟Tea that are slamming against the wall!”
The captain ran off, following the line of soldiers that were rushing through the city of dome-like structures. People were running in every direction, anyone with a weapon, or even capable of wielding one, was rushing to the front line whilst civilians ran away from where the attacks were taking place.
Caius wanted to run. Everything was so unusual about this attack. It had never happened in this way, not in any instance. Everything was happening months too early, and none of the defences were ready. The soldiers were still tired, most of them had been enjoying the respite gained from their last victory.
His eyes followed the cavernous roof that was above their underground city. The spires stretched downward to the ground, some of them hollowed out for housing purposes. His eyes finally fell upon the wall that his kin were so desperately trying to defend.
He could see where the last attacks had got to; the inner wall and last line of defence for the city. If the Pro‟Tea had recovered enough forces to strike with as much might as the last attempts, then this city would be doomed regardless of what they tried to do to stop them!
He looked at the rebuilt section of the wall. They were fortunate enough to get that much of it rebuilt in this time, but it still seemed like such a futile effort. In Caius‟ mind, all it would serve was to buy them time before they were obliterated by the invading forces!
They had other cities they could fall back to. They could regroup; gather their forces in a place where they could actually stand a chance. He watched the hasty repairs begin to warp and buckle under the weight of the strikes. It was only a matter of time before bloody melee would ensue.
Caius was still trying to decide what he should do; fight with his brethren, which he truly should have done, or to flee with the civilians. If he stayed, he was sure he would be killed, if he left, he probably would face trials of treason.
A chunk of the concrete was flung out as something huge smashed its entire body against the wall that was just over ten-feet in height. The concrete stretched from the cavern roof to its floor, and walled off the only tunnel that the Pro‟Tea ever struck from.
They would need him there. They always would have needed him there. How could he simply run and let his kin fall onto the bladed arms of his enemies? Caius began running, glad that he was not the last one to rush into the area to join combat. Clearly he was not the only one having issues with rushing into a combat that they would more than likely die in. It was a natural issue to have, and Caius was sure no one could blame them for having it.
Caius darted to one side quickly, feeling the overwhelming presence of the enemy charging at the wall. He knew it was going to break. He knew it was in the next impact that the Pro‟Tea would be all over them like flies on carrion.
His feeling was correct. Something large hit against the wall and chunks of concrete were flung forward in a forceful spray that showed just how strong the attacker truly was. A few sizeable chunks hit the other soldiers rushing into battle, some of them being crushed and killed instantly, whilst others were severely maimed by the flying rubble!
Caius angled back toward the breech in the wall, seeing dozens of smaller, common Pro‟Tea rushing in like insects. They were no bigger than he was, and they still had the humanoid shape they were blessed with long, long ago. That was as far as the resemblance between the two races went.
The Pro‟Tea had dozens of mutated body parts, including talons, scythe-arms, extra limbs, whip-like limbs, fangs and anything else that the disturbed dreams of a mentally-ill person could spew forth!
The large one, however, just beyond the breech in the wall, was something that Caius, and indeed any of his race, the Saagus, had never seen before. It stood twice as tall, if not more, than anything else that was on the battlefield. It was broad across the body, with huge arms that the only noticeable mutation on it was the sheer amount of muscle that adorned them.
This was clearly some kind of new shock-troop the Pro‟Tea had evolved for this specific purpose, and the implications of its appearance on the battlefield disturbed Caius. If they were able to build something this big, what then, were the limits of what the Pro‟Tea could engineer from their bodies?
Blades, both of metal and energy, met with mutated body parts as the surmised melee broke out. The weapons of the Saagus were more than a match for the seemingly frail bodies of the common foot-soldier of the Pro‟Tea, but their numbers were overwhelming.
As Caius approached, he cupped his hands together at one side, focusing on the training he had been receiving in the military. Golden energy swirled about his hands and condensed within them, crafting a ball of dancing flames.
Before he met battle with his opponents, he thrust his hands forward, launching the fiery ball straight at them. The ball hit one of them and then exploded, engulfing several others nearby!
Caius lifted both hands above his head before flicking them out to the sides with a slight shout. Golden energy burst from his palms a short distance. As it faded there was a weapon in either of his hands. Both of them were short-swords, about three feet in length, and their blades made of pure, golden energy.
He swung one upward in a diagonal arc, slicing through his first attacker, before bringing his other around and cutting through another. A whip arm came toward him, its claws biting into his thick robes but causing no bodily damage to him. Caius swung upward, severing the limb and running for its origin, cutting down two other Pro‟Tea on his approach.
He drove both blades into his target, and pulled them out to either side, killing it instantly as it screeched in agony. It was then he looked up and noticed the lumbering monstrosity coming toward him.
It thundered at him on all fours with a massive roar, caring little for whatever found its way under its massive knuckles; be it ally or enemy! One of its massive hands arced upward through the ranks, aiming specifically for Caius! It slammed straight against his chest and sent him flying into the air, straight for the cavernous roof above his city of Sol!
Caius dropped both of his weapons, turning in the air and launching a bolt of concussive energy in front of him just before he would hit the solid-ceiling of the cavern! He knew if he hadn‟t, he would have been killed by the impact.
He began to fall, and he returned his eyes to his attacker, large and violent in the midfield of combat. Saagus were struggling to get any kind of upper hand on it, and whatever hapless Pro‟Tea got in its way were crushed without a single thought given to them.
Caius knew that if the Saagus could get some distance between themselves and the monstrosity that was assaulting them they would be able to use ranged attacks to gain an upper hand. However, the creature moved with such aggression and speed that gaining any kind of ground was almost impossible for anyone!
Caius realised it was down to him to make an impact on the creature, and he would have to utilise everything he had learned of Saagus magics in order to do it. He moved one hand behind him as he fell and he charged it up with masses of ice-blue energy, as much as he could muster before thrusting his other palm forward and causing a rope of golden energy to burst forward.
The rope wrapped about one of the creatures‟ arms. Caius focused on it and then began to retract the rope of energy into his body, causing him to approach his target at great speed. The creature saw his approach and moved to try and intercept him, but was far too slow in doing so.
Caius swung his other hand forward as he hit against his target, the energy amassed in his hands exploded violently, ripping an entire limb from the creature and causing fatal damage to the rest of it!
Caius was flung to the ground, hitting it heavily before a chunk of the warped flesh landed on top of him. He struggled to move it and heard the sounds of combat continuing on about him. Explosions filled the air, no doubt from the Saagus using their magic to strike down their foes.
For a second as he tried to wrestle his way free, Caius entertained the thoughts of actually surviving this encounter; of actually being able to win against this ancient enemy. Those thoughts, however, were nullified when he felt the ground shaking beneath him as something large came thundering up the tunnels. It wasn‟t just a single something, either.
Caius heard the impact these new arrivals had on his kin. They screamed in horror, they roared in pain, and one by one, he knew they were meeting their end. It was futile, as he had thought in the beginning, but perhaps they had earned enough time for the other cities to defend against this attack.
Caius chose to lie there, underneath the chunk of flesh that had landed on him. With it as cover, maybe he could avoid the destruction that was going to plague his home. Perhaps, hiding instead of fighting, would allow him to live to fight another day...     

Caius had stayed still under the chunk of flesh for some time, waiting for the moment when the sound died down enough for him to be sure that he could safely move from under it. In the day that it took for silence to replace the sounds of slaughter, Caius had recovered all of his power.
As he was about to emerge from beneath it, he heard voices about his home of Sol. Voices that were coming from no Saagus he knew. In fact, the slight accent to their voices indicated to him that they may have actually been Kil‟Zan, and not Saagus at all.
“What do you think happened here?” He heard the voice of a female.
“Look around you, Sil, I think it is pretty obvious what happened... If your eyes cannot tell you, then surely your HUD will be able to...” A male replied.
“It says Pro‟Tea... But that is impossible, they don‟t strike this early in the year, do they?” The voice Caius believed belonged to Sil asked.
“Don‟t know, maybe we should ask the Saa... oh wait, they‟re all dead!” The mocking laughter of the male filled the air.
Caius would not stay down, lying and listening to some Kil‟Zan mock his kin without some kind of response. He summoned energy about his hands, and in a blast of golden, concussive energy, the chunk of flesh that was covering him was blasted into several smaller chunks and flung across the area!
The female that he assumed was Sil turned to face him with surprise, his abrupt entrance no doubt catching both of them off-guard. The male looked to him and his laughing face changed to surprise as well.
The Kil‟Zan, in their armoured suits and possessing all of the technology that they had, could not have predicted that Caius was lying there. They stood amidst the ruins of Sol, and it pained Caius to see it in that way. He would never have imagined that the Pro‟Tea could destroy Sol, but, time had proven him wrong, and now it was reduced to a rubble-filled shadow of its former self.
“A Saagus... Alive?!” Sil almost sounded pleased to find Caius there, “Kael, there is one that is alive!”
“Hail, Saagus,” Kael greeted.
“Kil‟Zan...” Caius spat, “About the only thing I hated to see here more than the Pro‟Tea...”
“Hey,” Sil stepped toward Caius, “We were sent here to monitor what happened and search for survivors, you don‟t have to be so arrog...”
She stopped mid-sentence and Caius could see something on the glass-visor of her helm flashing with light. He had no idea what it meant, and his disdain for technology refused to let him care what it meant.
“What is it Sil..?” Kael looked at her, and then his helm showed a similar flashing light.
“Life forms coming up from the Abyss...” Sil informed Kael.
Caius turned to face the Abyss in disbelief. There was no way that life forms could be coming up from the abyss already, the last attack had only just been initiated!
“Hundreds of them, in fact...” Sil continued to explain, “Only tiny signatures though.
Tiny? Caius thought, Feeders, perhaps?
He kept his eyes peeled on the entrance to the Abyss, the same tunnel the Pro‟Tea always attacked from. He could see the bodies of his fellow kin, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of Pro‟Tea bodies all about them. Looking at them he could be proud of one thing; they didn‟t give up without making the Pro‟Tea pay for their actions.
He spotted the first one, and he almost let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was a tiny little insect creature, reaching a maximum height of no more than his knee. They had the appearance of a giant maggot or caterpillar, and moved quickly toward the corpses.
Caius expected the Kil‟Zan to open fire on these little creatures, just as he would have each time they had appeared in previous years. However, they simply stood there and watched as the insects moved over all of the dead in the city of Sol, consuming them.
“What are they?” Sil asked.
Caius lifted a hand to one side, lime-green energy swirling about his hand. It was only a level two spell he was working on, but it was all that he needed to destroy these creatures. The energy burst out from his hand and condensed into a sword of green-crystalline energy in his hand.
He wasn‟t going to bother explaining what these creatures were. All the Kil‟Zan needed to know was that they needed to be destroyed, and there was no better way of explaining this to them then attacking them straight away.
Caius sliced away at the feeders, and periodically launched golden fireballs with his free hands to maximise their destruction. He knew what they were there to do, and the more that he could stop, the better off everyone would be.
After killing several dozen of them quickly, Caius looked to see what the Kil‟Zan were doing, hoping that they were smart enough to actually realise they could help out. Sil and Kael looked back at Caius and didn‟t even bother asking the question; they seemed to know what needed to be done.
The armour on Kael‟s right arm twisted and morphed its way into a cannon and he began blasting away at the feeders about him. Sil‟s arms opened up and pieces of metal moved about to form two small scythe-head weapons in her hands. She began throwing them straight away, and wherever they were flung to, they always arched about and came straight back to her hands perfectly.
Caius was glad they were helping out without asking any questions. Kil‟Zan usually asked a lot of questions and stuck to protocols and their traditions rather than making snap decisions.
Caius slaughtered his way through the insects, disrupting their feeding as much as he could, making his way over to the two Kil‟Zan. They would be able to destroy a lot more if they were close together, and he would match their ranged combat style with his own magic.
Perhaps it was somewhat of a proud streak that plagued most Saagus; they felt the need to prove to the Kil‟Zan that their magic was ten times better than any technology that they had at their disposal.
As soon as he was between the two of them, his sword disappeared. Swirling golden energy condensed into orbs on either of Caius‟ hands, and he held them up, lightning blasting away from both of them! The Kil‟Zan were so busy fighting that they barely noticed what Caius was doing, either that, or they just didn‟t care.
Sil suddenly, retreated to Kael and Caius. Caius watched her helm flashing in an almost aggressive manner. She looked down the tunnel, toward the Abyss, and she her breathing sharpened as fears‟ icy talons gripped her.
“Sil, what do you see?” Kael asked as he fired away and Caius continued his magical slaughter.
“There are more coming up the tunnel...”
“More of these feeders?” Caius asked as he blasted a whole group away.
Caius was hoping it would be more feeders. The more feeders they destroyed now, the more they would stop from carrying the biomass back into the Abyss. With less biomass, the Pro‟Tea attacks would be less frequent.
“No, they are too big to be these things...” Sil shook her head.
“Damnit,” Caius grunted.
He knew what would be coming up the tunnel, and he knew that just the three of them would stand no chance against them! The Pro‟Tea were already launching a second wave upon the world, and he doubted that anyone was ready to defend against it!
“I recommend we retreat...” Kael said as he stopped attacking as well, letting the feeders go back to what they were doing uninhibited.
“I suggest that is a logical thing to do,” Caius shook his head, hating the taste that agreeing with a Kil‟Zan left in his mouth.
“Well then, let‟s go,” Sil moved toward Caius, “I can carry you when we take flight.”
Caius spat on the ground before her armoured feet, “Accept help from a Kil‟Zan and her technology? No thanks.”
“Hey, you don‟t have to be so rude,” Kael grabbed Caius‟ arm, “She was offering to help you. Does the arrogance of a Saagus know no bounds?”
“I can get there faster without her „jet pack‟” Caius grunted, pulling his arm free of Kael‟s grip with ease.
“Fine, be the arrogant son of a bitch you are all rumoured to be!” Sil shouted, “Let‟s report back, Kael, and leave this Saagus to his own fate.”
“Good,” Caius growled before running off through his destroyed city.
Caius heard Kael‟s voice as he ran off “If the council has anything to say about us leaving him, I will tell them exactly what happened. This Saagus wanted to be left alone.”
The sounds of their jetpacks igniting filled the area, and Caius watched as the two of them moved out over his head and he felt somewhat glad that they were out of his city. They had no idea how to fight the Pro‟Tea, they had left that job to the Saagus for centuries.
Caius blasted away at the ground with bursts of concussive energy every so often to increase his speed. He had to make it to another city, and he had to make it there quickly.

Caius made his way to the surface of the world from the underground city of Sol. It was a trek he had not made in some time, and he was glad to fill his lungs with fresh air and see the sky above again.
His moment of relaxation and peace was not to last, however. He could hear movement coming from the massive tunnel, known as Talon, behind him. There were several cities nearby, and he wondered which one would have the defences to hold out against a Pro‟Tea attack.
He hadn‟t seen them in years, and he doubted any of them were fully defensible. It had been centuries since they would have had to defend against full-scale attacks. They, like the city of Sol, wouldn‟t have expected these attacks at all, since it was much earlier than it normally would happen.
He continued on straight, using periodic bursts of magic to propel him forward faster than he would normally move on foot. He wasn‟t exactly flying like the Kil‟Zan had been, but he was still able to move faster than them.
He decided to go to the closest city to Talon; a smallish city called Core. It would have a small army of guards and that would be about it. It was also in a straight line from Talon, and if Caius knew Pro‟Tea like he thought he did, their simple intelligence would have driven them forward, instead of spreading out.
His thoughts were proven correct when he came across bodies, both belonging to his kin and to that of the Pro‟Tea. He didn‟t like the fact that he saw his own amongst them. It meant that a battle had already happened in Core, and that the forces of the previous wave hadn‟t been dwindled enough before they arrived.
He continued to approach and saw the walls of a city in the distance. From what he could see, they were still intact. The walls were a good sign, even though there were Saagus bodies amongst the long grass.
At least they had walls about their city, without them they may have been overrun by the enemy with ease. He hastened his approach, needing to know if the city lived through the attack or not. If it hadn‟t, his worst fears would be recognised and the destruction of the Pro‟Tea would be far worse than he had imagined.
There were no guards on the outside of the wall, only bodies. Blood smeared he walls and the bodies were piled in front of it. No doubt the guards made a desperate last stand on that very patch. Caius could tell from the amount of Pro‟Tea bodies around them that they had won.
Caius slowed to a walk as he got close to the wall, he could see nothing that resembled a gate before him and wondered how his people that were within it came in or out of the city if there was no gate. He began to round the wall, thinking that the gate may be on the other side of the city when he was stopped by the sound of footsteps behind him.
Caius turned quickly and lifted his hands, golden energy beginning to swirl about them as he looked to whatever it was behind him. As soon as he saw that it was two Saagus, armoured just like himself, his stance lowered and he allowed himself to be at ease, the magic dissipating harmlessly.
“Greetings,” Caius crossed an arm across his chest, a traditional greeting, “Do the two of you live in Core? How do I get inside the wall?”
“You are obviously from not around here, do you come from Sol?” One of them replied, stepping forward, “Your walls down there must be entirely different to ours up here... No matter, the Exarch will want to see you right away if you came from Sol.”
“So the cities guards are still intact?” Caius asked, stepping toward the two as they turned to lead him into the city.
“For the most part. We are operating with less than half strength. I, personally, doubt we could repel another wave of Pro‟Tea without the reinforcements we requested from the neighbouring cities.” The Saagus reported, “However, I doubt they will send them as they are probably in the same situation as we are.”
“So... How do we cross the wall if it is solid?” Caius asked when the two escorting him stopped.
They said nothing and turned to face the wall as if there should have been a gate there in front of them. One placed their hand against the wall and seemed to flex ever so slightly. Caius saw the slight movement and recognised it as a stressing of the mind; this Saagus was definitely using magic.
At a silent request, the solid wall parted and warped about, creating a walkway through its metre-thick stone with barely any effort at all! Caius had never seen such magic before in his life! The only walls they had down in Sol were solid and made to be as strong as possible without any thought about it being crossed!
“Before we address the Exarch, what is your name?” One of them asked, “I am Dantu, and this is my apprentice, Kileele.”
Apprentice? Caius thought to himself, These two are scholars and not soldiers? I hope this isn’t the nature of the entire city of Core, or we are in more trouble than I could have ever imagined!
“I am Caius, a private in Sol‟s army.” Caius responded.
“And perhaps the sole survivor of the conflict...” Dantu explained, leading into the city, “We have yet to encounter any others that made it out of Sol alive... But that doesn‟t mean they didn‟t get to other cities.”
“The... sole survivor?” Caius stopped as the thought dawned on him.
He hadn‟t thought about it, perhaps because he didn‟t allow himself to. He could be the only survivor from Sol, and that was something that gave him a chilling realisation of what the Pro‟Tea attacking so early meant.
“Point me to the Exarch,” Caius said to his companions, “You need to ready your soldiers and militia right now.”
He saw the urgency of informing them of the approaching wave of Pro‟Tea. They needed as much warning as they could if Sol was destroyed so easily by the first wave.
“Why? Wait... You‟re not telling me that a second wave is coming already? It has barely been three days since their last attack, normally it takes abo...”
“Normally? Nothing about these attacks is normal!” Caius shouted, “Everything is happening much earlier and faster than anyone could have predicted. Get onto your militia and guard now, and tell them a wave is coming. I don‟t know what you faced before, but make sure they are aware that it‟s not just small foot soldiers they will be facing.”
Dantu and Kileele seemed to look sick from what Caius was saying. Dantu pointed into the city, along the main street to a central spire-like building, “You will find the Exarch in there... We will organise the defenders as soon as we can...”
“Thank you.” Caius nodded and set off alone.
Dantu and Kileele walked off to the right and Caius continued straight forward down the main street. He could feel the mood on the air; it was tense, everyone was worried and scared.
Nothing was normal about the events of the past few days, and a second wave approaching already was only enforcing the abnormal nature of everything that was happening.
The city itself was much different to Sol, the buildings were less dome-like and built for aesthetics, stretching up several floors in most cases. Unlike Sol, whose homes were built only for necessity and filled with essentials. He felt like an alien in a city that was built by his own people!
He also noted the stark difference in skin tone between himself and the locals; he was pale, almost sickly so in comparison to their more bronzed coloured skin. His eyes were a much darker shade of purple as well. He was different, visibly so, but he guessed it would only prove to them he was from where he said he was from.
He pushed open the double, oak door at the base of the spire building and walked straight in. He saw the cities Exarch sitting in a chair at one end of the room that was adorned with dozens of tables covered with maps and other things that allowed the Exarch to keep track of everything that was going on in her district.
She looked straight up at Caius as he walked through the centre of the hall, straight up toward her without any regard for the other people in the room. Most of them would have been soldiers of some repute, he guessed, others may have been scholars, just like Dantu.
“Stay where you are and state your name, profession and rank,” The Exarch stood up and pointed to Caius.
Caius saw that she was no doubt a little agitated by his unannounced entrance into her building, but, he would quickly set her straight on that point.
“I am Caius, Private in Sol‟s armies.” Caius replied, ignoring the Exarch‟s request to stay still.
“Sol?” She gasped, lifting a gloved hand to her face which remained partially obscured by shadows cast by the hood of her robes, “You have come from there? Tell me... Is it as bad as we thought?”
“Well,” Caius stopped in front of her chair, which was elevated by a small stage, “That all depends on how bad you think it is, doesn‟t it?”
“We expect massive casualties and damage to the city... I assume you have been sent here to bring me some word of what needs to be done?” The Exarch replied.
“Well, in that case, yes, it is much worse than you thought. Sol is a complete loss. I was not sent here, either, I came here seeking temporary refuge so I can recuperate to join your defences.” Caius explained, “Furthermore, your defences need to be sorted right now as another wave is coming through Talon as we speak.”
The Exarch stood still, her lips not even moving as she tried to respond to possibly the worst fears she had ever had for her people, “A...Another wave?”
“Yes. Already. I don‟t know how they are organising so quickly and readily to come surging forward before we have time to sort ourselves out. The truth is, it doesn‟t matter, we have to react now or we will be overrun before we even have a chance to stop them.”
“You are from Sol... You have seen this ancient enemy up close many times, correct?” The Exarch asked.
“Yes. More times than I care to remember.”
“Then... what do you think will happen to my city?”
“Honestly? I hold grave fears for it... I suggest that you prepare the defenders and take yourself and any other high-ranking officials and leave.” Caius replied as honestly as he could.
“The walls won‟t hold them?” The Exarch pulled her hood down and Caius saw the extent of her fear.
Her soft-blue eyes were wide, the pupils contracted as tightly as they could be. She was scared, and the only thing Caius was unsure of was whether it was for her people or just her own salvation.
Caius rested a hand on her shoulder for the tiniest bit of comfort, “No. They will not, not for long, anyway. You need to go, inform the other cities of what is transpiring here and now. We will need all the help we can get, if we cannot muster help for here, we need to amass an army and retake Talon. There we will at least be able to stop them from spreading too far into the world.”
The Exarch grabbed hold of Caius‟ hand. She had never been in a position where she would take orders from a lowly private in the army, but, it was clear Caius had a wealth of experience that she did not possess when it came to the Pro‟Tea.
“You will stay and fight?” She asked.
“I watched one city fall, and was helpless to stop it... I hope this time I can assist a little more.” Caius explained, pulling his hand back, “You need to organise things, and you need to do it quickly. Once you think you are ready, go. Don‟t even consider staying, the other cities need you alive and to hear what is going on. They will be more likely to listen to you than me.”
The Exarch nodded, “You are right. Thank you, Caius... If you had not come, I doubt we would have been ready at all...”
“Don‟t worry... Just get everything ready... I will join the defence, but first, I need to rest a bit, maybe have a meal... I have not done either since Sol fell.”
Caius turned and left her. He didn‟t want to wait for her to respond to his words. She was worried, and understandably so. She would keep asking questions and delay in what Caius believed she needed to do. He felt like he had to do everything he could in order to stop the Pro‟Tea at Core, since he was so useless when he was in battle at Sol.
He kept thinking that if he had reacted sooner, or quicker, or with perhaps a little more dignity and honour, maybe the outcome would have been different. He doubted he could have made a huge difference in the end. Perhaps the only difference that would have been made by reacting quicker was that he would be dead and not alive to help the city of Core.
He left the spire and outside he could see movement in all areas of the city. At least they believed what he was saying rather than relying on what they thought they knew about the Pro‟Tea. Caius wondered if that was their problem; maybe they were too arrogant about an enemy they assumed to be predictable.
“If that‟s the case, then... We are just as much to blame for the losses of life as the Pro‟Tea attackers...” Caius thought aloud as he tried to find somewhere he could get something to eat.
He doubted it would be like the mess-halls in his now decimated home city. There would be some kind of restaurant here or something of the like where he would be forced to buy food. Buying food was something he couldn‟t do as he had no money of any kind on him. The soldiers of Sol were given everything they needed in return for their services and money never changed hands because it was not needed.
There was one such place not too far down the main street that Caius ducked into. It seemed quaint; dimly lit, rustic furnishings and small tables set up seemingly for couples or smaller groups. There was a woman standing behind a counter, watching Caius intently, noticing that he was wearing the usual robes and shoulder plates associated with a soldier.
She was nervous, as was the entire town. Caius was unsure if she had been told about the approaching wave of claws and death. He walked straight up to her and she looked away from his pale flesh, seeing him as an oddity to her usual way of life.
She wore a simple dress and apron, typical of a serving woman in her position, or so Caius thought. He had never truly encountered many people that held such professions in Sol. Sol was built on and for soldiers, with only smiths and scholars backing them up for reparation and spell training.
Behind her was a board with many different dishes written out over it that he could order. Beside them was the monetary value of each item and Caius was simply hoping he could appeal to her good nature in order to get fed for free.
“Wh... what can I get for you, sir?” The woman said slowly as she heard rushed footsteps outside of the building.
Caius heard them too and guessed it was the militia mobilising for war. He had no idea of how far away the Pro‟Tea were for sure, as he was moving faster than they could. How much ground he had made on them was left to be seen. He wasn‟t confident that he would even have enough time to finish a meal by the time they appeared.
“I just need something hearty,” Caius nodded, “I... uhh... Don‟t have any money on me, though...”
The woman stood up and looked Caius square in the eye. Her seemingly cowering demeanour changed instantly when a lack of money was discovered. She seemed to light a fire of bravery within herself and she glared at him.
“This is not a charity, sir.” She growled, “I need to make a living too, you know.”
“I haven‟t eaten in days, and I need something before the Pro‟Tea arrive...” Caius appealed.
The woman seemed to be frightened once again just by the mentioning of the name of that ancient enemy, “The... Pro‟Tea are coming here? Again? It‟s so soon!”
“They are. The militia are readying as we speak, and the Exarch is organising everything before appealing to neighbouring cities for their assistance in dealing with this wave.” Caius explained.
There was no reason he had to keep his information on what was happening a secret, the more people that knew, the better prepared everyone could be. That way, those who would be useless in the fight would make haste and leave, whilst those who could prove useful would be well prepared for what was coming.
“How do you know this?”
“I saw them at Sol. They are coming, and there are no defenders in Sol to weaken the numbers before they get here this time.” Caius nodded, “So if you please, miss, could I have a meal, I don‟t care if its scraps or leftovers. I just need to eat.”
She nodded slowly, “I have some leftovers in the cooler... I‟ll just heat them up for you and bring them out... I‟m sorry for being so standoffish...”
“It‟s understandable... Everyone needs to earn a living, I get it... but the soldiers of Sol were never paid, so I‟m sorry I can offer you nothing in return for the kindness besides my thanks.”
“You fight and kill Pro‟Tea for a living... Just slay a few for me and we‟ll call it even,” She smiled as she ducked into the kitchen.
No matter where the Saagus came from in the world, or how often they fought the Pro‟Tea or how little, they all had a common, seemingly hard-wired connection in their undying hatred toward the mutants!
Caius smiled and took a seat at one of the tables, looking himself over and making sure he was prepared in his armour, robes and physical condition for what his body was going to be asked for. He would have to dip into more reserves than he had ever done before if he was to hold the force here, he had no doubts in his mind about it.
He had surprised himself at Sol when he destroyed the lumbering monstrosity. He had never used magic at that level before. It showed just how powerful the Saagus‟ connection to the arcane energies that pulsated through the world truly was.
The woman returned with a dish of carved meats and vegetables. It looked little different to what he would have been served in the mess halls of Sol, which gave him a bit of comfort. If this was what leftovers looked like, his belly ached to see just what the full meals would be like!
“Thank you,” Caius nodded as he took a fork from her hands and began eating straight away. Once he finished his first mouthful and let out a satisfactory sigh, he added, “You should probably leave, miss. The Pro‟Tea will be here soon and those who can‟t or won‟t fight should leave; they‟ll only get in the way.”
“I... I know a little magic, maybe I could help?”
“Level three combat magics are the lowest level allowed to be in the army at Sol.” Caius shook his head, “I will allow it if you have level two combat magics, otherwise... you‟ll only serve as a speed bump.”
“I have a level 4 combat rated conjure bow spell,” She smiled, “See? Watch!”
Caius took another mouthful and decided to entertain what he believed was the idle fantasies of a young girl who thought she could do more than she really was able to.
She held a palm out in front of her and concentrated with her eyes closed for a second. Energies circled into her hand and then she turned it face down. She lifted it up slowly as the pulsating power moved to her finger tips and she drew a line with the icy-blue energy.
The colouration of her magics was enough to impress Caius a little bit, as usually a spells level could easily be determined by its colour. Icy blue was an indicator for level four combat magics.
She pulled her hand back, leaving the line in the air before thrusting her hand forward again, grabbing hold of the energy. At the contact of her hand, a burst of bluish mist expanded from the line, and Caius saw a bow of raw, icy-blue energy forge in her hands.
He shovelled another forkful of food into his mouth before watching her further, “Impressive, I‟ll grant you that... Can you fire it?”
The woman smiled and pulled back the string with her free hand. An arrow of magic appeared on the arrow rest a second before she released her grip and sent the arrow flying forward! It speared straight through the door to her restaurant cleanly. A split second later, the door was completely torn asunder by the force and speed at which the arrow had travelled through it!
Caius was now very impressed by this show of raw power. His magic was almost always gold, indicating that he limited himself to level three combat magics. She had a spell stronger than most of his commonly used abilities. Whilst it was good to see this, Caius noticed that a single shot had taken its toll on her.
“Ahh, that‟s why we use level three magics,” Caius stood up with a slight clap, showing that he was impressed by her ability, “They use less energy and are more reliable in the heat of the moment. Can you conjure a level three bow?”
The bow dispersed into a puff of icy-blue clouds as she let her focus break. She nodded at him, “But, wouldn‟t more power be better?”
“Not if you can only do it a few times before you need rest.” Caius answered.
“I see... but does that mean I can stay and help?”
“Well, you did what I suggested, so, yes. Just don‟t use level four magic unless you need to take out something really big.” Caius warned, “For the small opponents we need quantity over quality.”
The woman nodded and sat down in the chair opposite where Caius had been sitting, “Thank you. I will keep it in mind.”
“Now, I had better finish this before we have to go to war, eh?” Caius laughed, “What is your name, miss?”
“Mila,” She smiled, “I am Mila, and you?”
“Caius.”
“When do we need to get ready for the Pro‟Tea attack?”
“As soon as possible, they will be here within hours, possibly less,” Caius explained eating further.
He wanted her to leave him be and go ready herself for the oncoming wave of claws and blades, but he was not going to force her to do it before he was ready. As Caius was thinking it, it seemed Mila was also thinking it, as she got up from the table and left the restaurant, no doubt going to assist the defences.
“Thank you, Mila,” Caius said as she left the restaurant, “I hope we can survive through this and speak again.”
Mila smiled back at him, “So do I, Caius.”
With that, she left Caius to finish his meal. He found it every bit as filling as he required. As soon as he finished, he made his way out into the streets to join the defenders at the wall, awaiting the arrival of the Pro‟Tea front runners.

Caius stood amongst his new battle-brethren. He had never seen any of them before. None of them had seen him either. They were completely anonymous to each other, but, they were still brethren, united for a common cause. A common cause called the Pro‟Tea.
He had knowledge of the enemy. They had the numbers that would be essential for doing any kind of damage to that enemy. He hoped that together they would be able to defeat the enemy, or at least reduce the numbers enough. He hoped they could slow them so that the Exarch could make her way to a neighbouring town and raise the alerts he had told her to.
The ground began to shake beneath their feet, and the men and women around Caius were scared by it. Caius, however, knew exactly what it meant, and fear was not something that should have held them at that point in time.
When the ground shook, it was time to gather your bravery. When the walls cracked, it was time to ready your mind and body. When the walls broke, it was time to fight or die; these were the doctrines he fought by in Sol.
Here would be different, he doubted the walls ability to stand up for very long, and instead opted to leave a reserve of soldiers in the city, taking the most skilled out the front of it with himself. Those in the city were back up and the final line of defence.
Several dozen lined the top of the wall, Mila amongst them with her bow magic. Those on the wall would used ranged magic extensively in an attempt to whittle the enemy down before it engaged in its preferred bloody melee.
“So... Like... you‟ve faced these things many times, right?” A soldier to the left of Caius asked, fear no doubt wrapping its icy fingers about his heart and testing the limits of his resolve.
“I have. More than I can count,” Caius replied.
“What are they like... what kind of tactics do they use?”
Caius chuckled to himself, “Tactics? Well, the only notable tactic is the smaller ones run forward and the big ones come in second to finish what the front runners could not. Make no mistake, the Pro‟Tea are every bit as brutal as your worst nightmares, and the trick is to keep yourself steadfast in their approach.”
“Enemy sighted!” A soldier called out from the front of the pathetically small group of militia and soldiers that could be mustered from the city.
“And now it begins.” Caius nodded, “I cannot tell you how much we are outnumbered by, but make sure that if you are going to fall, you take as many of them with you as you can!”
There was a cheer resounding from the group that consisted of less than three hundred soldiers. Caius was uncertain of their abilities in combat, he had never seen what was required on the surface so he wondered what kind of combat magics they would be able to employ.
“We engage at will!” Caius shouted clasping his hands together, summoning swirling, golden energy about them.
Explosions followed almost immediately after he spoke as the ranged units took aim and fired their abilities, as well as anyone in the front group that had clear line of sight to the enemy. The group began to spread open, allowing more soldiers to fire at the oncoming horde.
As they parted, Caius caught a glimpse of just what they were up against, and he found himself dreading the thought of facing such a foe. There was a sea of them, by far the largest force he had ever seen of Pro‟Tea!
He tried to stifle his own fears and keep a brave face on for those around him. If he looked upon this as though it were normal then his brethren would look to him and feel the same way, even though it definitely was not normal in any measure of the word!
Normally the first wave was the largest, however, with all of the changes that had been happening this time, he shouldn‟t have been surprised that the first wave was not the largest. Their numbers were easily in the thousands, with dozens of hulking monstrosities wading through the ranks of the smaller ones.
We’re dead... I... I’m going to die... Caius thought to himself as he tried to maintain his mental stature, We cannot hope to survive this...
He shook the thoughts of death from his mind. He had to keep composed, he had to show these soldiers just what being a member of Sol‟s army meant. He had faced this enemy many times over, and this time there was only more of them for him to kill, that was the only difference!
He thrust both his hands forward as soon as the line of sight was clear, the colours about his hands changed from a golden hue to a blood red one just before a burst of energy came from them, moving forward in a straight line, piercing through at least ten Pro‟Tea before it exploded violently.
Caius shook the breathlessness that his attack had caused from himself before putting his hands back together again. He had warned Mila about using level four magics, and he went and used a level six beam attack, something his superiors said he would never really need to use!
Blood-red energy swirled about his hands again as he decided to use a second level six magic, but this time, not a ranged one. He thrust a hand to one side and a blade of energy burst from his palm, solidifying and forging into a wickedly curved, crystalline sword that bore the same blood-red colouring.
He saw plenty of golden blasts going out to the enemy, along with green, level two, spells being flung about. Level two spells were only just potent enough to put the smallest of the Pro‟Tea down on a lucky shot. Mostly, however, they just slowed them down. He didn‟t like the concept of fighting alongside level two spells as it meant someone would have to finish off their targets, which basically meant a wasted spell. The truth was, they needed all of the muscle they could get their hands on, regardless of experience.
Caius held his blood-red blade with one hand and opened his other toward the oncoming waves. Blasts of golden fire launched from his hands, hitting the front line of the Pro‟Tea, detonating and taking at least one with each shot and injuring two to three others.
It wouldn‟t be long, Caius knew, until blade would have to meet flesh. He hoped the soldiers of Core were used to getting their hands dirty in bloody melee. They shouldn‟t have been expecting a completely ranged battle.
He rushed forward when the enemy was getting too close to safely fire of volleys of magical munitions, as they may explode and injure allies. Friendly fire was not something they could afford to risk in this combat.
He swung his blade as soon as he met with the front line of the enemy, the blood-red crystalline blade sliced through the hardened armour that lined the arms of his initial target with such ease.
Slicing through a target wasn‟t all a level six blade spell could do otherwise it would be utterly pointless for Caius to have used it! As it travelled and impacted the target, a wave of energy blasted from its edge, cutting into several others nearby with just as much efficiency as the initial strike!
Slowly, the spell strikes became replaced with close quarter weapon spells, save for the ranged mages atop the wall, who fired their magical munitions into the mass of bodies beyond the front line melee.
Blades sliced into flesh, claws struck against robes and skin. It was every bit as brutal as Caius thought it would be. He tried to warn everyone how aggressive the Pro‟Tea forces could be in combat, that they cared little for what they hit as long as they landed a hit! Even when a limb was cut from their bodies, the Pro‟Tea would still do everything they could to move forward and continue the fight until their very last breath.
The Core soldiers may not have been used to fighting such an enemy, but it was something they needed to become used to very quickly. Caius saw two lumbering monstrosities bearing down on the front line, shrugging off most of the firepower coming onto them from the wall! It became ever more important that his battle-brethren get used to fighting the Pro‟Tea sooner, rather than later.
Caius knew that hardly any of his battle-brethren would even stand a remote chance against these huge beasts, and thus, the task of putting them down fell squarely on his shoulders. He swung his blade several times in quick succession, slicing down a smaller Pro‟Tea with each strike, and eviscerating a small arc of bodies in front of him, giving him the space he felt he needed to deal with a monster.
He rushed forward, leaping into the air and launching a concussive wave down at the ground with his free hand. It blasted him higher into the air, allowing him to soar above the smaller Pro‟Tea that were rushing into the gap he had created.
The monstrosity looked up at him as he moved through the air, lining up his target and preparing to strike. He would have one chance of defeating this creature, and he needed to make sure he did it perfectly, otherwise it was he who would face death.
Golden energy swirled about his free hand and he pushed it forward, launching a golden rope at his target which wrapped perfectly about its neck and latched on tightly. It was just as before, and Caius was glad for it! The rope retracted into his hand, dispersing into a shining, golden mist as it entered his body, and he sped toward the huge Pro‟Tea he had elected to fight.
He pulled the blade back, readying himself to put every ounce of his muscle into the strike, along with enough energy to make the dispersed arc from the attack strong enough to rend the creature to as little as possible!
He swung, slicing through a fist that was coming to meet him in midair and sending the arc outwards. It travelled through the arm, splitting it all the way to the shoulder and biting a sizeable chunk out of the body of his target seconds before Caius himself impacted against the solid monster!
It began to recoil in pain, but Caius was certain it was far from dead; in his opinion, it had only sustained minor wounds, even if its arm was no longer usable and the chest cavity was wholly exposed!
Using the energy rope that was still attached to the lumbering creatures neck, Caius pulled himself up along the body and sliced deeply into the neck, utilising the arcs of energy to severe it completely.
“Now you‟re dead.” Caius smirked as the body fell to the ground in a bloody heap, crushing anything that happened to be under it!
Caius turned about just in time to see the second brute coming straight for him, moving quickly and crushing everything that was unfortunate enough to get in its way! Caius lifted his blade and hoped he would be able to block the incoming strike he would be forced to take!
As Caius prepared to defend against the incoming strike, he heard the sounds of jetpacks high above him. He looked up to see a barrage of munitions coming down from the sky, as if heralding the arrival of a Kil‟Zan he recognised.
“Sil...” Caius said with half clenched teeth and a mind full of disbelief.
The munitions, which had come from Kael‟s arm-mounted weapon, smashed into the smaller Pro‟Tea all about Caius as Sil speared her blade straight down into the forehead of the giant monstrosity that had been charging straight at Caius!
Caius watched as Sil pulled her blade free, thrusting her other arm, which had two blade-like spikes protruding from either side of her hand, forward. Lightning crackled about the weapon, and Caius knew exactly what it was capable of doing.
Lightning energy blasted into the wound she had caused, and no doubt fried the brain of the lumbering Pro‟Tea! Sil jumped down from it as it fell backward, crushing anything beneath it. Caius looked to Sil in surprise; she was the last thing he was expecting to see in this battlefield!
“Let‟s get one thing straight here, Caius,” Sil pointed with the hand that wielded the lightning weapon, the energy crackling about her fingers as she did, “We are only allies for the moment. Like it or lump it.”
“Fine by me,” Caius laughed, shaking the disbelief from his mind, “Keep up if you can, little girl!”
“Little girl?” Sil glared at Caius as he rushed off into the horde of enemies, his level six spell blade cutting arcs through the enemy with ease, “I‟ll show you who is the little girl here!”
Caius had already sliced through at least half a dozen enemies by the time he saw Sil do anything but glare at him! He stopped and shook his head at her. He then watched as her weapon raised and blasted several bolts of lightning all about him! Caius looked about himself and saw the smouldering and broken bodies of several Pro‟Tea front-runners!
“Keep up,” Sil laughed as she zoomed past Caius on her jetpack, keeping a strong volley of lightning arcs going as she did.
She reached the lines of enemies and engaged them in close quarters with her blade arm. She switched between several slashes and blasting the enemy with lightning. This carved great chunks out of the ranks of Pro‟Tea with ease.
Caius saw his rival going further and faster than he was and he was not happy just letting her take point and gain more kills than himself. Perhaps it was a stupid idea for him to charge ahead and go all out, but, he simply could not allow Sil any kind of victory over himself!
Caius rushed past her, slamming his blade into the chest of a Pro‟Tea and pinning it to the ground. He released the hilt of his weapon and clasped his hands together. Now he was going to do something that would solidify the point that there was no way, in any world, that Sil could be better than he was.
Golden energy swirled about his hands, and then began to spiral about his body like sand glistening in the sunset. Sil continued her killing, seeming to not care what Caius had planned. He bet she believed it wouldn‟t even come close to matching her technology.
As the Pro‟Tea began to encroach, Caius thrust his hands outward, and the golden energy blasted out from him in a spider web pattern, tearing through flesh and bone as if they were little more than paper!
Sil dropped to the ground and the HUD on her visor pointed out that the energy from Caius had actually severed a portion of her armour! It wasn‟t an overly damaging strike, but, it still showed that Caius was so focused on winning he didn‟t care who got damaged as a result of his careless actions!
“Hey!” Sil shouted when the energy dissipated, “You hit me, you idiot!”
“Oh, oops, I forgot you were there... Just saves me having to do it later if you die along with these vermin!” Caius shouted, yanking his blood-red spell blade from the corpse at his feet.
“Sil, keep yourself calm and regroup with me. You are sitting ducks out there and it’s only a matter of time before you get killed,” Kael‟s voice spoke over the comm. in Sil‟s suit.
“I‟ve got this Kael,” She replied, “Just hold the line and don‟t worry about me and this Saagus.”
“I don’t care about the Saagus, I care about you!” Kael shouted down the comm., “Get back here before you bite off more than you can chew!”
“Is that an order, or a request?” Sil asked, “Either way, I‟m not going to come back, not until Caius understands who is the best here.”
Kael‟s response was cut off mid-sentence, and Caius laughed at the little argument that Sil and Kael had. He was kind of glad that she was stubborn and wanting to stay in the combat with him; it meant that he at least had someone that could keep up with him!
Caius swung his blade, cleaving another Pro‟Tea in half and the arc extending to slice another two as well. He sliced through a second and third in quick succession, and turned about to boast about it to Sil, only to stop when the ground began to rumble beneath his feet.
He turned about just in time to be collected on the knuckles of a Pro‟Tea behemoth! The impact sent flying through the air like a ragdoll! There was a flash of light, and Caius knew it was Sil attacking the Pro‟Tea monstrosity head first.
Caius thumped into the ground as Kael rushed past him, running straight for the monstrosity and Sil‟s defence. Caius stood and looked to the creature that had sent him flying. Sil and Kael were fighting the one that had attacked him, but there was a second coming up quickly. In the distance, Caius also spotted a third coming toward the battle.
Whilst this was the worst news, it was also accompanied by a bit of good news; Caius could see the back line of the Pro‟Tea, followed only by a few stragglers. This meant they had successfully managed to hold them at bay, and saved Core!
He then looked over the last of the defenders and felt a tinge of despair at the fact he had not been with them, protecting them. There were only a handful left, and if they weren‟t careful, if they didn‟t stay together, these defenders wouldn‟t hold off the remaining wave.
He knew he was needed to defend t wall with his brethren, but he knew he was also needed by the two Kil‟Zan allies they had picked up. Kael and Sil were staring down two behemoths, with a third rapidly approaching as well!
If the three of them could stop the beasts, the rest would be easier. However, if Caius didn‟t help them, and the monstrous Pro‟Tea defeated them, then he would have no chance at holding the city anyway.
The choice was clear; he would have to fight alongside the Kil‟Zan. He knew they were the only ones that would have any kind of chance at helping him defeat them. Caius ran forward, lifting his arm and calling his blood-red spell blade back to his hand from wherever it had fallen.
Sil recovered after receiving a heavy hit as Kael blasted away with both of his arm mounted weapons against the head of one of the behemoths! It seemed to be an effective attack, as chunks of the flesh were being ripped away from the weight of the attacks!
Kael pulled one of his arms back, one that had a cannon mounted, and kept firing with the rotating barrels on the other. The cannon began to charge up, no doubt a shot to end the life of the behemoth. Sil blasted lightning at the second target as Kael thrust the cannon forward and blasted with such force that the target was knocked clean off of its feet, with a head completely missing from its shoulders!
Caius rushed past Kael as he smiled at his slight victory. Caius leapt through the air, spearing his blade into the chest of Sil‟s target, a spike of energy piercing straight through it, causing formidable damage, but not having enough power to put the creature down completely.
Sil blasted it again with lightning as Caius ripped his blade out and jumped away from its body. The lightning was perfectly targeted, entering the wound Caius had caused and ripping it wide open! The creature roared in pain, stumbling a bit as both Sil and Caius moved to engage some smaller Pro‟Tea nearby, allowing Kael the opportunity to finish the beast.
Kael took aim, charged his cannon and prepared to blast as Sil and Caius kept the smaller creatures away from him. Following the crack of thunder that signalled Kael had fired his weapon, there was a mighty roar.
Caius turned to look at the roar, which sounded high above them. He had heard correctly when he looked up and saw the massive form of the Pro‟Tea coming down at speed, a fist aimed perfectly at Kael!
Caius dropped his blade and cupped his hands together, charging them with a level six energy attack. Sil turned about aiming the lightning weapon at the creature, in a vain attempt to stop what was clearly happening regardless of what they tried to do!
Both fists of the creature slammed straight on top of Kael, causing him to completely disappear beneath them. The lightning blasted away the arms and Caius‟ blood-red blast ripped apart the rest of its body with ease.
Even with them trying everything they could, it seemed they couldn‟t stop the attack. Caius dropped to one knee, expending far too much energy on his last attack. Sil turned her attention to the Pro‟Tea, no doubt wanting revenge for Kael.
Caius watched as Sil began slaughtering the smaller ones with a heavy dose of aggression, blasting and slicing away. He looked back to the city and watched as the last defender was struck down by the Pro‟Tea, now they were at the walls of the city and there was nothing to stop them from tearing it down. Nothing, besides Sil and Caius.
The numbers of the Pro‟Tea had been thinned to the point where they would be likely to save the city from total destruction, but Caius needed to help. He needed to get back up, he needed to assist Sil in her fighting rather than allowing the Kil‟Zan to protect him while he recovered from his own selfless actions.
“I can‟t believe I did that for a Kil‟Zan...” Caius grunted as he forced himself back to his feet.
“Are you alright, Caius?” Sil asked, turning for a split second before returning to her attacking.
Sil herself was actually thinning the remaining numbers quite effectively. Even still, for every five she put down, another six made it past her and were attacking the base of the wall, even whilst they were under fire from those manning the top of it.
“I‟ll be better once the Pro‟Tea are dead...” Caius struggled to focus on his magic.
The level six spell blade had disappeared after his last attack, the energy expended trying to save Kael from a certain fate was too much for Caius to maintain the spell. He tried to concentrate, focusing on a lower level weapon power. He clenched his fist and watched as green energy swirled about it for a few seconds before a blade extended from his hand, forging itself from the level two energies.
He felt dirty having to resort to such a low level ability in order to keep fighting. It was something he had never had to do before. He rationalised it with his own pride by saying the entire combat was filled with things he never had to do before.
Caius charged into the Pro‟Tea, feeling a dramatic difference between the sword he had been using and the one in his hand. It seemed dull and a little heavier, less capable of slicing through enemies. However, he knew it would have to do. He couldn‟t focus enough to get a better weapon spell prepared.
“What‟s the plan, Caius?” Sil asked.
“We need to fall back and protect the city of Core before the Pro‟Tea completely overrun it.” Caius panted.
He looked back as the wall crumbled under the weight of Pro‟Tea attacks. The defenders lining the top, including Mila, fell into the breach. Most of them probably were killed by the fall alone! Those that weren‟t were ravaged by the Pro‟Tea scaling the rubble and entering the city.
Caius had forgotten about the smaller group he had left in the city; the last line of defence. He took heart in them being there and thought that it would be enough to save the city, even if their spells were weaker.
“I‟m not leaving Kael.” Sil shook her head.
“He is dead, Kil‟Zan, we must attend the living,” Caius grunted heartlessly.
“We don‟t know that for sure!” Sil shouted, taking her frustration out on the last line of Pro‟Tea to move past them.
Caius took some of them out as well and watched as the last of them ran into the breach of Cores‟ wall, meeting battle with the defenders. Caius watched as the fight seemed even on both sides, and he needed to help them out, and he guessed he would need Sil to assist as well.
“Move it, Kil‟Zan, let‟s finish the Pro‟Tea, and then we will attend the fallen,” Caius growled.
“I have to check on Kael!” Sil shouted, moving toward the point where Kael had fallen.
Caius gritted his teeth and chose not to expend what little was left of his energy arguing with something that wasn‟t even a part of his race. He turned and moved as quickly as his tired body would allow him toward the city of Core, hoping the remnants of its defenders could hold out long enough to secure victory.
As soon as he was close enough, he sliced into the enemy and joined the fight with as much ferocity as he could afford for the contest. He struggled to even muster the strength required to wield the blade, but he was glad to at least be taking some of them down with his kin.
It didn‟t take too long for the combat to near its end, and Caius was among seven who survived the attack that stood in the breeched wall, looking back toward Talon. Bodies littered the ground in every direction and the feeling of ruination was heavy on the air, intermingled with joy for having won.
Caius, however, was not so easily nor readily going to engage in celebrations. He knew that even though they had survived and saved Core that it was not nearly enough. The Pro‟Tea had pushed this far back with only two waves, and they had wiped out almost every defender in each city they had come across.
If things continued to escalate as they had, he expected they would attack within the next couple of days, and the force would be much larger again, with more monstrosities in their midst. With no defenders close to Talon, they would be able to march on quite easily, destroying anything in their path. In Caius‟ mind, it looked bleak, it felt bleak, but what could he do to change what he felt was coming?
“We won!” One of the Saagus defenders shouted, lifting his arms into the air as his spell weapon dispersed into green mist.
The others cheered, yet Caius did not. “We may have saved ourselves, but they will come again... I suggest you retreat to another city and abandon Core... We may have saved it from being demolished, but it is still lost.”
Caius walked away from his brethren and moved toward Sil. She was the only one who seemed to see things the same way he did, and he figured if he could get one ally from the Kil‟Zan, maybe he could get them all to help out in what seemed to be a coming apocalypse.
“How can you be so sure?” A soldier asked, placing a hand on Caius shoulder plate, “Can‟t you let us have this victory?”
“The last victory I was allowed to have let the defences of Sol become lazy and unprepared. Look where that got us?” Caius pulled away from the soldiers hand, “We have to be ready. We have to be vigilant. Seven waves always come, and we have only just managed defeated the first two.”
The soldier looked to Caius and knew that he was right. He wanted to celebrate the fact that he had survived the encounter, but at the same time, now that he was made aware of it, he wanted to get things ready for another assault.
“I will take these men to another city, I will alert all who don‟t know.”
Caius nodded, “That is the best plan”
Caius continued to move away from them and the soldier went back to the others, explaining what they should be doing. Sil looked up from Kael as Caius approached, she looked back down at the ground as soon as her eyes met his.
She had pulled the heavy chunk of Pro‟Tea flesh from her Kil‟Zan brethren, but it still did not seem that Kael could have survived the strike from the monster.
“What do you want, Saagus? I told you our alliance would only last until the end of the battle.”
“You and I both know that this fight is far from over.” Caius shook his head, “There are at least five more waves of Pro‟Tea to come, and we need every soul we can muster to fight against them.”
“Are you requesting my allegiance, Saagus?” Sil stood up and faced Caius directly, silently hateful of the fact she could not wipe her tears away because of her helmet.
“You and your friend, Kil‟Zan.” Caius nodded, “If he still lives...”
“He is still alive...” Sil knelt beside Kael, “But he is only getting weaker, and my helmet tells me that his vitals are dropping by the minute... He will die here, in this field of death...”
“I‟m... sorry...” Caius almost choked on the words.
He didn‟t mean them. He honestly could not have cared any less about a single Kil‟Zan ever in his life. However, he needed to at least pretend to be compassionate toward them as best he could, otherwise he would not be able to get Sil onside for the coming battles.
“I know you don‟t mean that at all... But... thank you... for at least trying...” Sil sighed.
“So...”
“So?” Sil repeated Caius‟ word.
“Will you join me in fighting these coming battles?”
“I have no choice...” Sil replied, her hand closing into a tight fist, “The planet needs saving, Kael needs avenging...”
“What of your council?”
“They never would have agreed to me coming here if they knew I was going to join the battle.”
“Well, I am heading for Serath Point, South West of here by the sea...” Caius thought about the things he would have to do.
“Why so far? You won‟t be anywhere near the next wave?” Sil looked up to Caius.
“I know. However, they have trained troops there that used to routinely come to Sol for training and relieving us during Pro‟Tea assaults. If any of our soldiers will be ready to battle the enemy that approaches, it is them.”
“I need to get Kael back to Cloud Runner...” Sil pushed her hands beneath Kael‟s body, “After you go to Serath Point, where will you go?”
“I will come to one of these neighbouring cities... Hopefully I‟ll make it all the way to Talon, to fight and hold the Pro‟Tea there.” Caius explained, “If you can get any more Kil‟Zan to join you for the fight, I‟m sure we can put our differences aside for the time being.”
Sil stood up and lifted Kael off of the ground, the mechanics of her suit making his weight next to nothing on her body, “Why are you so ready to ally with a race that has been your most bitter rival for as long as I can remember?”
“The same reason you came to my aid.” Caius nodded sternly, “You know as well as I do that we need everything we can get our hands on to survive the beasts that are coming.”
Sil nodded, “It is true... I can promise that I will aid you in battle... As for the other Kil‟Zan... I cannot speak for them...”
“One is better than none,” Caius extended his hand as he would to any other battle brother, “I will see you on the fields of combat, then.”
Sil moved Kael to one of her shoulders and extended her hand as well, the two of them gripping each other about the forearm. Caius held her tight, and could see Sil wasn‟t entirely sure what the gesture meant, save for that it was something that she had seen many a Saagus soldier do.
Caius let go of Sil‟s arm and turned away from her. Nothing further was said between the two as Caius moved away. As Caius departed, he heard Sil‟s jetpacks engage and she left. He wished she could stay, and help him now, but, he knew she needed to get Kael medical attention that could only be found in Cloud Runner.

Caius had spent a whole day moving as fast as his energy would allow him to. He knew he was running out of time before the next wave of Pro‟Tea attacks. Throughout his years of fighting them Sol always had at least a week to prepare for them. With everything in the Pro‟Tea time schedule being escalated this time, he had no idea of how long they had in order to prepare themselves against an enemy that could potentially swarm across the entire world uninhibited if they weren‟t there to stop it.
Serath Point was just before him, and he was glad to see some familiar sights within it. Whilst the city was set against the ocean, and primarily functioned as a fishing city that traded seafood to the other cities, including Sol, it still had a very military vibe to it.
A portion of the town, closest to the water, was home to taller buildings, made for comfort rather than practicality. This portion of the town mostly resembled the city of Core. The other portion resembled Sol, with low dwellings that were built just for sleeping and little else.
Caius smiled when he saw them, and felt some comfort emanating from it. This was what he knew. This was the style of city he had spent most of his life in. He would find soldiers here, good soldiers that knew what they were doing and would know a little bit about what they were up against.
The thing that surprised him most about the city of Serath Point was the fact that it had no defensive wall around it. It was open and anyone, or anything, could have walked in or out without any kind of challenge. He felt a little sick when he imagined how easily this city would fall under the weight of a Pro‟Tea attack.
“Caius...” A gasping voice identified him as he entered the outskirts of the city.
Caius recognised the voice, but only because he had heard it the day before. He turned quickly to see Core‟s Exarch standing before him with a soldier either side as escort.
“You... You survived... How is Core?” she asked, hopeful that she had a city to return to and govern.
“Only a handful survived...” Caius sighed, hating the fact that he had to deliver the bad news.
“Oh... Why are you here?” She asked, “Are they marching here now?!”
Worry ran rampant across her face and she tried her hardest to keep some kind of composure in the moment. Caius kept calm and strong, he was well aware now that the other Saagus he encountered would draw that strength from him.
“We stopped the wave, but we have nothing to stop another one if it surfaces... Judging by the time between the last two attacks, we won‟t have long before we need to organise a defensive line...” Caius reported, “I am here to gather soldiers. As many as I can get my hands on.”
“Then I am the Saagus you wish to see,” A voice interrupted from behind Caius.
Caius turned about to see a familiar face, covered in sharp-edged tattoos and several piercings in the left ear. His skin wasn‟t as coloured as the Exarch‟s, but nowhere near as pale as Caius‟. Caius recognised this soldier from many battles in Sol.
“Treyce!” He greeted, extending his hand and collecting the soldiers in the same way that he had done to Sil, “It has been a while, my friend.”
Treyce was one of the rare soldiers from Serath Point who routinely volunteered to go and relieve tired soldiers, rather than waiting to be told to do so. It seemed he loved the concept of combat more than most. The only thing stranger than his desire to fight the Pro‟Tea was the fact that he refused to get transferred permanently to Sol.
“So, have they made you Captain yet, Caius?” Treyce asked as he moved his other arm and pat the shoulder guard of Caius.
“Nope, still a private... sort of.” Caius shrugged, “And you? General of the town yet?”
“Captain.” Treyce laughed, “I‟m working my way up. I still have enough sway to give you assistance in Sol if you need it.”
“We won‟t be going to Sol.” Caius shook his head, “I think we would be lucky if we can even get to Talon.”
“They have done that much damage?” Treyce was shocked to hear it, “So... What happened to the soldiers in Sol? Couldn‟t they stop them? Did they fall back?”
“They were destroyed; unceremoniously torn limb from limb by the Pro‟Tea.”
“I see...” Treyce‟s features hardened, “And you are the only survivor?”
“It seems that way...”
“I am going to keep alerting the other cities, Caius... Or did you need me to do something else here?” The Exarch asked.
“She‟s taking orders from you?” Treyce looked at Caius in surprise, “He is a private, you know that right?”
Caius had truthfully forgotten what his rank meant besides having a name. He had so readily taken control at Core because he was the only one with knowledge of the enemy. He had no qualms with telling the Exarch what she would do in order for their race to survive the conflict.
“He... He knows more than I do.” The Exarch admitted with rosy cheeks, “I cannot make decisions about things I have never encountered before.”
“I would like you to keep alerting everyone. The more Saagus that know of the plight the better...” Caius nodded, not caring that his rank should have disabled him from doing as he had been.
“So, you‟re here for soldiers to march against the next wave of Pro‟Tea... How long since the last wave?” Treyce asked as the Exarch began to leave.
“It doesn‟t matter... It doesn‟t appear that they are working toward a schedule this time around... We just need to be ready as soon as possible. The last time, they only gave us three days.” Caius explained.
“And what makes you think my soldiers are the right ones for the job, or that I will even allow them to go?”
“You know the enemy and what it is capable of. I am sure you would much rather fight them at Talon than on your own doorstep.” Caius reasoned.
Treyce smiled at Caius‟ words, and it was a smile of respect, “This conflict has changed you much, old friend...”
“What do you mean?” Caius asked, but he had a feeling he knew what Treyce was talking about.
Caius, himself, felt that he had changed. He was less happy to simply take orders and do what he was told in order to get the job done. He was doing what he had to do in order to get through the conflict.
“You are thinking and acting on your own will... Best part about it is... I believe you will make the right decisions... To that end I will gather the men as soon as possible, and we will leave for Talon.” Treyce nodded.
“Good, thank you, Treyce... I appreciate it.” Caius said.
“Caius, it‟s not just your world you are trying to organise defence for... It is mine as well... even the people of this city‟s... This world belongs to everyone.”
“I have a Kil‟Zan coming back to help as well... Hopefully she will be able to bring some of their warriors to assist us...” Caius admitted.
“A Kil‟Zan? A female? Gees, Caius, when did you lose your standards for finding someone to sleep with?” Treyce laughed.
“What?! No! Not in a million years! It is an alliance out of convenience, nothing more!” Caius shouted in his own defence.
Treyce kept laughing before forcing some composure to return, “In all seriousness, though, do you think the Kil‟Zan can be trusted?”
“I know this one can be.” Caius replied without even thinking about it, “She came to the defence of Core without even being asked. She sees the issue as belonging to everyone, not just the Saagus.”
“That is a rare mind to find amongst those traditionalist sheep,” Treyce said, almost scoffing at the thought of the Kil‟Zan way of life, “Well, if you trust her, then, I trust your judgement, old friend. Come, we will find you a place to rest your head and get a feed, you look like crap.”
“Thanks... I think? I haven‟t had much time to get either of those things lately...” Caius sighed as Treyce led him further into the city.
“Well, you rest up, I‟ll organise the troops, and I‟ll come collect you when we are ready to march, okay?” Treyce suggested.
“That... Sounds like a grand plan... Thank you, Captain.” Caius nodded.
“That is fine, Private, you get some rest in that building, and ask the woman within for some food. Her name is Kell.” Treyce advised, pointing toward a building nearby.
“Who is she?”
“Well, that is my home, and she is my wife,” Treyce laughed, “My kid is in there too, if he makes too much noise or won‟t leave you alone, just tell him to go away.”
“Thank you, Treyce,” Caius offered his hand to the captain.
“Don‟t mention it, old friend,” Treyce replied, taking Caius hand in the same way again, “Oh, and, help yourself to some new robes, and armour, ask Kell where they are, she‟ll help you out.”
Caius nodded as he let go of Treyce‟s arm. Treyce turned and left him, moving toward a larger dome that Caius knew would be the barracks. It was exactly same building that as the barracks in Sol. He turned to the home that Treyce had pointed toward and made his way over to it.
He knocked on the door lightly and a woman opened it up to him. Caius smiled and introduced himself as cordially as he could in the circumstance. Kell was more than happy to let him inside and to do everything Treyce had suggested she would.
“Come, this way and have a seat. I have a soup that is almost ready, hopefully that will hit the spot,” Kell smiled as she led Caius into the small home which was only just large enough to house Treyce, Kell and their child.
“It most definitely will,” Caius nodded.
He moved over to a small table set up in the centre of the dome-building. One area of the home was used for sleeping, with two beds set up, one of which being little more than bedding over the ground. Kell retreated into the kitchen where the scents of soup were emanating from and finding their way into Caius‟ nose perfectly.
His mouth watered and belly grumbled for food, but he suppressed any desire to make her hurry up about making his food.
“Treyce has mentioned you many times, Caius, you are exactly the way he described you to be,” Kell called from behind the counter as she stirred the soup.
“I hope he hasn‟t been talking me up too much,” Caius laughed.
“Not at all,” A child said as he jumped up from behind a few crates.
“Marus, behave yourself please,” Kell chastised the child before he could really do anything.
“That is okay, Kell... Maybe Marus would like to show me where Treyce keeps the armour... That way I can get myself sorted before we leave,” Caius turned to Kell with a smile.
He was shocked when the smile was not reciprocated at all. At first, he couldn‟t understand why she held a serious look on her face. He quickly realised that Treyce wouldn‟t have had time to tell Kell that he would be leaving to go and fight the Pro‟Tea.
“Mum... is dad leaving again? I thought he wouldn‟t have to leave until the next waves of Pro‟Tea...” Marus objected.
“So... the whisperings are true then, Caius? The Pro‟Tea have struck much, much earlier than expected?” Kell asked, “And Treyce is going to go with you to fight them at Sol?”
Caius shook his head. He was getting sick of repeating the same story over and over again. It made him sound and feel like a failure whenever he told them that Sol was destroyed and he was the only one who made it out of there alive.
“Sol is no more.” Caius said with a sigh, “Nor are its‟ people.”
“All gone?” Kell stopped stirring and stared at Caius in disbelief.
“What? How can the whole city be gone?” Marus asked, “Did the Kil‟Zan attack while Sol recovered from the last Pro‟Tea attacks?”
“No. It was the Pro‟Tea.” Caius corrected the boy whose eyes widened when he heard the truth as well.
It was a shocking truth to all that heard it, and Caius could understand and identify perfectly. He had been just as shocked when he heard the first sounds of the wall being attacked when they resurfaced far ahead of time.
“They are attacking this early?” Kell couldn‟t believe it either, “How far did they get?”
“The first wave seemed to be stopped before it could do any damage to the neighbouring cities. However, Core was made into a ghost town by the second wave.”
“Two waves?! Already?!” Kell couldn‟t believe it!
“Yes. I fear a third one is going to be coming shortly, and that it is going to bigger than the previous two,” Caius explained.
“Marus.” Kell turned to her son.
“Yes mum?”
“Help Caius get everything he needs... And set out your fathers‟ gear.” Kell ordered.
“Is dad going to go and fight them?”
“He will... As much as it pains me to send him off to war, Caius is going to need as much experience and strength as you can get,” Kell nodded, “How long until you leave?”
“I hope before the end of the day... Or early tomorrow... There is no telling how much time we have to organise ourselves,” Caius explained as Marus motioned for him to follow.
“I will make sure this soup is ready for when you get back here,” Kell nodded, “You will need a hearty meal if you are marching off to war.”
“In here,” Marus pushed open a door.
“Thank you, Kell,” Caius nodded before ducking into the room with Marus.
“Don‟t thank me... Caius... This problem is bigger than just you, Treyce, or even me... It is bigger than all of us if it is even remotely as bad as you make it out to be...” Kell said to herself as she cut up some vegetable and threw it into the soup.
Marus moved through the room quickly, opening up several wardrobes as he did. Each contained robes and armour, similar to that which Caius was already wearing. The colouring of them, however, was slightly different. Caius‟ robes were a deep blue colour with a patterns of browns and yellows marking the centre of the front and back.
The ones in these wardrobes were a little brighter, and served as the only real way to distinguish which city a soldier was from. Each city had its own colour schemes and were easily recognisable. Caius liked it, simply because it would let him know who was going to be sticking around after each battle and who would be leaving.
“Did father say which one you could have?” Marus asked.
“Any.” Caius answered, “He didn‟t give me a specific one.”
There were a few pieces of equipment Caius had not used amongst the collection. These included wrist bracers, a helm, a circlet or crown-like headpiece and several physical weapons, a sword, axe and mace. Caius found their presence an oddity as most soldiers he knew of summoned their weapons; any physical weapons were only used as training devices in Sol
“Then, I shall let you suit yourself up,” Marus nodded and moved to leave the room.
Caius watched as the young boy left and as soon as the door was closed, he began to remove his stinking equipment. Now that he looked at them, he could see that they really needed some repairs and cleaning! He removed the plates on his shoulders first dropping them to the ground and enjoying the new level of movement that he gained from not having to wear them constantly.
Next were his robes, which were torn in various parts and covered in the stench of death. To a normal Saagus, it was probably a potent smelling thing. To Caius, however, it was barely detectable. He had spent long enough around Pro‟Tea dead to no longer be affected by it.
He moved a hand inside the fold across his chest and undid several buckles, which was all that held the robes in place. As soon as they were undone, he drew in a deep breath, all of the tightness of the robes disappearing.
He let them fall to the ground and enjoyed the feel of air against his pale skin. He stood in nothing more than his undergarments and boots for a moment, just enjoying the feeling of fresh air before sitting down and removing his boots as well.
Sitting on the ground, he looked his body over, as though he hadn‟t seen it in a long while. There were marks there he didn‟t remember, and he surmised that he acquired the scratches and cuts in combat with the Pro‟Tea. He hadn‟t even noticed that he had taken any hits from the enemy, but the evidence on his body was overwhelming and it was saying that he did.
He waited another minute or two before selecting what he would be wearing. He picked a robe out of one wardrobe, and then lifted two shoulder pads and one of the circlets from another. He found a replacement set of boots, and was happy with what he had chosen. He didn‟t change his equipment at all really, nor did he feel the need to do so. The equipment he had chosen was what he was used to using and comfortable fighting in.
He pulled on the boots and then the robes. He struggled a bit to buckle it up by himself, but eventually triumphed. Once the buckles were done, he focused on attaching the shoulder plates
and finally sat the circlet upon his head. A simple change of clothes made him feel fairly refreshed. He was glad for Treyce being so willing to assist him in what was happening.
He stepped back to the main room and saw several bowls sitting upon the table in the centre of the room. Kell sat at the table, next to her husband, Treyce. Their child, Marus, was on her other side.
“The troops are being organised now, Caius,” Treyce reported, “They should be ready to move within the hour.”
“Just enough time to fill your belly,” Marus nodded.
Caius took a seat at the table and slid a bowl toward himself. Once again, there seemed to be no time for rest. Caius didn‟t feel that he really needed it, but he knew a little rest never went astray. He spooned some of the cream-coloured liquid into his mouth and was surprised at how flavoursome it was, and he made a point of smiling at Kell so she knew of his approval.
“It looks good to see you in my colours, Caius,” Treyce laughed, “Does that mean you‟ve joined under me?”
“Hah!” Caius retorted playfully, “I am the last soldier of Sol, and I‟m going to remain a soldier of that city until I die, you Serath Point scum!”
“Scum? Scum?!” Treyce grunted in disbelief, “This scum is going to be saving your hide next time you go back to Talon, don‟t you forget that, soldier of Sol!”
“Come on you two, just eat, you will need all of that strength if you are going to be leaving soon.” Kell attempted to stop the mock argument between the two friends.
“Dad, can I come with you?” Marus asked.
“Not a chance.” Treyce shook his head, “I need you to stay and look after mum.”
“Aww come on, I can fight, I know three level two spells!” Marus defended, “You need all of the soldiers you can get, right?”
“You‟re not going, Marus.” Kell placed an enforcing hand on the young boys shoulder.
“I can‟t allow you to go anywhere like war, Marus... I have lost enough battle brothers and sisters to know that is not a fate I want for you.” Treyce shook his head, “It‟s not going to happen so don‟t even think about it.”
“But...”
“No buts.” Caius decided to weigh in, “You have your whole life to go before you have to worry about going to war. Stay, and guarantee your own survival. Allow myself and your father to go into battle; it is our job as soldiers.”
Marus went silent and the four of them turned their attention to the food in front of them. Treyce and Caius needed as much of a feed as possible, and this soup was just the hearty meal that Caius was after.
It didn‟t take Caius long to finish a single bowl and then move onto a second one after Kell gave him permission to. He couldn‟t believe just how hungry he was, but then remembered he only had one meal since the Pro‟Tea arrived in Sol. There had simply been no time for food in his opinion, there was always far more important things that needed to be taken care of.
Treyce and Caius finished their second bowls at about the same time and pushed them away from themselves with a satisfied sigh.
“That was definitely what I needed, thanks, Kell.” Caius praised with a smile.
“Absolutely... She has out done herself once again...” Treyce reached an arm out and placed it about Kell‟s shoulders, “Definitely got the best deal when I found you, Kell.”
Kell‟s cheeks went red with the praise, “Oh stop, you... I know you don‟t really mean that, you probably tell all of your girlfriends that, right?”
“Just you,” Treyce played with the base of her ear which Caius saw sent a chill along her spine, “Though... We should probably get going, Caius...”
“They will be organised by now, for sure.” Caius nodded.
He wished he could have left Treyce there with his family. He knew he could have asked Treyce to stay, but it would be rejected. Treyce would never pass up the opportunity to face off against the Pro‟Tea. Caius also got the impression that because he believed the next wave would be the largest ever, Treyce was getting all the more excited!
“I‟d imagine so...”
“Do you really have to go, dad?” Marus asked as Caius and Treyce stood.
Kell put her arms about Marus as Treyce ran his hand through the thick hair on Marus‟ head, “Someone has to save the world, right Caius?”
“Absolutely, and I‟d bet your dad will do a good job of saving it as well.” Caius nodded.
Treyce‟s eyes turned to Kell, and Caius had to turn away when he saw the obvious signs that tears were welling up inside them. He hated seeing women cry for their partners. It always showed just how alone Caius was as he had never seen eyes crying those tears for him.
“I‟ll leave you to say your goodbyes, Treyce...” Caius left the house.
Caius had to leave the house, not just because he was already ready to go. He always felt awkward and almost pained when he saw families being torn apart by the call to war. He didn‟t have those things; no family, no wife, no children, no nothing. He was a soldier of Sol, trained and honed for one task; killing the Pro‟Tea. When all you do is kill, there wasn‟t a lot of time for anything else.
Caius stepped outside and he saw a group of soldiers amassing just outside the invisible borders of the town. He could see it was nowhere near as big as he would have liked it to be, but there were still more and more coming toward it. In the circumstances he had found himself in, he had to accept everything he could get his hands on for the coming battle.
He found himself thinking about Sil for a moment. He hoped that she was able to convince the Kil‟Zan to get off their high-horse, to come down to the ground and help defend the world which was under threat.
Sil, it seemed, out of everyone he had encountered since the fall of Sol, was the only one who understood the need for rapid action and intervention against the attacks in the same way that he did. Was that why he felt ready to trust her? Why he felt so ready to believe in her?
“Sorry about that, old friend...” Treyce placed a hand on Caius‟ shoulder, “I have said goodbye to them hundreds of times... Let me tell you, it never gets easier.”
“I imagine it was harder this time than others...” Caius sighed.
“Yes... How do you say goodbye to your loved ones when you are going to a battle where the odds will be stacked against you?”
Caius turned and placed a hand on Treyce‟s shoulder plate, “You don‟t have to. You can stay, with your family, and say alive.”
“If I go into battle, I may die on the fields, this is true. But if I don‟t go... and you all lose, and the horde comes this way, what chance do I have of surviving then?” Treyce asked, “I would rather die fighting alongside my brothers-in-arms, somewhere I can make a real difference, than as a coward in his home.”
“Hopefully dying is something we get to think of some other day, a long time away from this one,” Caius nodded, “To be honest... I would rather have you at my side, too. I have seen you fight. You have seen me fight, and I can only identify a few others in the crowd. The rest of
these soldiers may not even understand the unrelenting brutality of the enemy we are going to be facing.”
“They will learn quick enough. As soon as the fight begins... as soon as they face their first Pro‟Tea, they will learn what needs to be learned. They will learn or they will perish in order to teach others.”
“Shall we, then?” Caius extended his hand to Treyce.
Treyce took it, gripping Caius around the forearm firmly, “We shall.”

Caius had found that walking back toward Core with an army behind him took far longer than when he had done so alone. They walked at a uniform pace instead of rushing blindly as he had been doing.
All in all, it took the rest of the day he had arrived, and all of the night with no setting of camp for the soldiers in order to reach Talon. Talon was the only place he felt they would stand a chance of fighting the Pro‟Tea.
Caius spotted from a distance a lone figure standing before the great mouth of Talon. He couldn‟t accurately guess who it was, but the yellow armour adorning the figure meant it was definitely a Kil‟Zan. Caius knew there was only one Kil‟Zan that would ally with him for this, it had to be Sil.
A few of the Saagus soldiers gasped behind him as they saw the Kil‟Zan. There were mutterings of an impending attack and all manner of superstitious things because they saw her. Caius, however, felt glad to see her.
It was strange, he was viewing her as a battle sister first and a Kil‟Zan second. He didn‟t think too much into it, and instead, lifted his hand to bring the army to a halt. They did as they were instructed, and he imagined that every single one of their eyes were on Sil as she looked back at them. He wondered what was going through their mind as they looked upon someone who should have been a bitter rival.
Caius turned to his left and looked at Treyce, his eyes fixed on Sil‟s form, “Keep them back here, let me talk to her alone, Treyce.”
“Caius... you said she would bring an army... She is but one Kil‟Zan, last I checked, that was not an army...”
“Maybe they are on their way... Just let me talk to her before we make any hasty assumptions here.” Caius nodded.
Treyce agreed with a slight nod and Caius moved away from the rest of his group. Sil kept her eyes on him as he approached, and Caius knew every Saagus behind him was wondering what was going to follow. They had fought Kil‟Zan before, and they expected this was some kind of combat that was going to explode before them.
“Caius,” Sil greeted, the corners of her lips turning upward in a smile.
“Sil,” Caius responded in kind and extended his hand to her.
Caius heard whispers amongst the soldiers. He couldn‟t accurately discern what they were, but he assumed it was to do with the fact that Sil had taken his arm in the same way any battle-brother would. It was a sign of respect between the two, a sign of respect that they wouldn‟t understand.
“I‟m sorry I came alone...” Sil replied, “The... council... wouldn‟t even begin to understand why I helped you at the last battle... Nor the reasons why I would do it again every time...”
“So once again... You come to us alone... To offer your help...” Caius nodded, “I never thought I would encounter a Kil‟Zan like you, Sil... Believe me, though, I am glad you are here.”
“As am I, Caius... But I am not here as a Kil‟Zan anymore... I was made an Outcast for my arbitrary actions...” Sil sighed.
“So you turned your back on your own race to join with us in battle?” Caius looked surprised, “I don‟t think there is any other like you at all, Sil, not even amongst the Saagus!”
Sil went a little red in the cheeks from the praise she was receiving. Caius knew she wasn‟t doing all of these things for him specifically, that she was doing what she felt was the right to do
in the situation. How could she let hundreds go into battle without assisting when it was her world they were trying to save as well?
“What of Kael?” Caius asked, “Did he not come with you?”
“He...” Sil rubbed her armoured arm slightly, “He was... killed...”
“I thought you said he was alive?!” Caius was shocked to hear it, “That‟s why you rushed off so quickly, to save his li-“
“I know why I left, but it was not the Pro‟Tea that killed him,” Sil‟s features suddenly became stern, “The Council had him killed for his actions.”
“I... I‟m sorry to have said anything,” Caius retreated, “I did not know...”
Sil forced a smile for him, and Caius could see she was hurting inside but didn‟t blame him for not knowing, “It is okay, Caius... You might say accepting my exile was easier because of the Councils actions toward Kael.”
Caius nodded, understanding it perfectly. What better thing to assist you in hating your superiors than if they had your friend killed? Caius wanted to change the subject from betrayal and the Kil‟Zan council. He needed to bring her mind to the now and focus on what needed to be done.
“Come, meet your new army...” Caius waved for Sil to follow him to the army he had brought from Serath Point,”We will set up lines here and prepare for the moment when the Pro‟Tea arrive.”
“They won‟t be coming for a while, I don‟t think,” Sil began to follow Caius toward the army of Saagus.
“What makes you think that?” Caius asked, watching the guarded and tense actions of his fellow soldiers.
They were unsure of Sil, and they were right to be so. In any other situation, Caius would share their uncertainty, but he knew he could trust Sil.
“Well, I haven‟t seen any of the feeders that we saw before... Don‟t they come before the waves do, like last time?” She replied.
Caius stood next to Treyce at the front of the sizable group of Saagus, all their eyes were on Kil‟Zan before them, “That isn‟t always the exact order for them... In the years I‟ve been fighting them, we just figured the feeders work to their own schedule rather than that of the Pro‟Tea horde.”
“Oh.” Sil said slowly.
“You must be Sil,” Treyce offered a hand for her to grip, as she had done to Caius.
Sil looked to the hand and then back to Treyce‟s eyes. Caius watched this with great interest, because she had absolutely no trouble accepting his arm when he offered it. He could see the level of respect Sil had for himself was something that the others may have to earn.
“I am,” She replied, ignoring the extended arm, “Caius has spoken of me?”
“Yes, he has. He has much respect for you, Sil, or at least that is how he makes it seem... I am glad you are here, but tell me, did you come alone?” Treyce let his arm drop.
Caius found Treyce‟s attempt to be civil with Sil odd, since he had openly hated the Kil‟Zan for some time. This stance toward them wasn‟t unique to Treyce, but quite common place in Saagus. Even Caius had felt the hatred, but Sil was an exception; she was unlike the rest of her race.
“She has.” Caius replied for her, “She is the only reinforcement we will be getting from the Kil‟Zan.”
“Does that change your battle tactics, Caius?” Sil asked him.
Caius shook his head, “Not at all. We just have to make sure everyone is ready for the moment the Pro‟Tea arrive. No hesitation, no laziness... Everyone must be prepared.”
“You definitely sound like a captain there, Caius.” Treyce laughed, and Caius felt that it may have been slightly mocking, “I am happy to call you one, especially in a fight against the Pro‟Tea. You have more combat knowledge than anyone here.”
“Well then, Treyce, as Captain, I order you to get these Saagus prepared!” Caius laughed.
Treyce pressed his fist against the left side of his chest and stood straight, the traditional salute to superiors, “Yes, sir!”
There was only a slight level of seriousness in Treyce‟s tone; it was mostly just playful. Even though it was mocking, and nothing said was about rank was especially serious, Treyce still held to his orders and began to get the army ready.
The group of soldiers began to move about as Treyce gave his instructions. They were simple instructions; make a defensive line, be sure that they were ready. While they waited, Caius expected them to begin light training exercises to keep the minds sharp and ready. There was no time for fun and games. The Pro‟Tea could strike at any moment, and they had to be ready.
“So... I gather the plan is a simple one... Hold them here, don‟t break the lines and fight to your last breath?” Sil surmised as she watched the line extend to cover the exit of Talon, which was like a gaping maw set into a green field.
“We aren‟t master tacticians... Though, neither is the enemy, so, we just have to do whatever works in order to come out on top, right?”
“That... Makes sense, but what if they don‟t just surge forward? What if they actually attack with some kind of intelligence?” She asked, “We, in the Kil‟Zan, are taught that the enemy can fight in exactly the same way we do, so we should always be prepared for our tactics to be used against us...”
“There‟s just one problem with that, Sil,” Caius smirked, “You aren‟t a Kil‟Zan anymore.”
“True, but the teachings still have value, no?” Sil shrugged, “But, you have fought the Pro‟Tea longer and more often than I have, so you would no more about what they are capable of.”
“True...” Caius thought aloud, “However... They have shown many changes this time around that I had not seen before...”
“Like what?” Sil sounded surprised to hear a veteran of the Pro‟Tea say such things.
She must‟ve expected his knowledge of the enemy was unparalleled and infallible. The truth of the matter was that Caius was not an expert, and many things were changing.
“The lumbering creatures, the huge ones, they have only just surfaced in the last two waves...” Caius nodded, “Never seen anything remotely that big before.”
“Really?” Sil looked shocked as Caius began to walk around the area a bit.
Sil walked about with him, and Caius felt like they were two generals, discussing an upcoming battle. It made him smile a little at the thought of what he was accomplishing with the Saagus and Sil.
“Yes. There was only one or two in the first wave, but this last wave, the one that made Core a ghost town... There were at least five,” Caius answered, “And if the escalation of the first two waves, and the earliness of the attacks, is any indication, I expect more in the next wave, and maybe even new varieties...”
“So... You are expecting new tactics, then?” Sil stuck her tongue out, as if Caius‟ admittance was enough to prove her point.
“Nope, the same tactics with bigger creatures,” Caius laughed.
“I still suggest we prepare ourselves, just in case something other than a wave-runner comes toward us...” Sil pressed the issue.
“Okay.” Caius relented, “I don‟t think it will be essential, but, in the unlikely event you are right, they will be required to be ready for it. What, in this case, do you suggest we ready for?”
“I expect the enemy would target the weak points in our line. That is what I would do if I had a clear advantage of numbers on my side. Break the weak point of a line and then I‟d have the opportunity to outflank my opponents and engulf them from all sides,” Sil nodded.
It was not an elaborate tactic by any means, but it was something Caius knew he should prepare for. Every single time he had fought the Pro‟Tea, they came from a single area that was maybe a dozen metres across at most.
Outside of Talon, they had more room to move, and hence, Caius had more ground to cover with a defensive line. This would stretch the numbers he would have over a small distance of a large one, and undoubtedly give him weak points.
The simple tactic was a bit of an eye opener for Caius. If he had realised sooner that there were many differences fighting on the surface than underground, perhaps the damage sustained in the battle of Core could have been lessened.
“I will alert Treyce and everyone I can,” Caius nodded, “As for you, Sil, where will you be fighting?”
“In the thick of it... These monsters took Kael from me... I intend to return the favour to as many as I can.”
“I understand that... Even if the Council did kill him, the Pro‟Tea are the ones responsible,” Caius nodded.
“I‟m pretty sure it was more of a mercy killing...” Sil sighed.
“How do you mean?”
“He was practically dead after he was crushed by the monstrosity for one,” Sil explained, “That and I had done exactly the same things wrong as he did, so why didn‟t they kill me for it too?”
“I see your point,” Caius nodded, “I expect you‟re eager to see the enemy, then.”
“I am. On that note, in your expert opinion, Caius, when do you think the next wave will surface?” Sil asked as Treyce came up to join them.
“Within the next day... Everything is happening out of the ordinary, so even experts on the Pro‟Tea would have no idea of what was going to happen in the future. It‟s a matter of tossing a coin and hoping for the best results.”
“You are Treyce, yes?” Sil addressed the captain.
“I am,” Treyce looked at Sil a bit oddly.
Caius looked between the two of them, knowing what was going to follow and wondering how Treyce would stomach it. Sil was making sure she had the right Saagus before issuing requests, and Treyce would not be overly willing to listen to a Kil‟Zan.
“The soldiers need to make sure they are ready to move and defend any points in our line that seem to be weakening,” Sil explained to him.
“You think we need to be told what to do by you?” Treyce looked as though he were insulted by her attempt at helping, “What makes you think we‟ll listen?”
Caius placed his hand on Treyce‟s shoulder pad, “Because I agree with her. In Sol, we had a small area to defend, here, it is more than double.”
“We need to have the soldiers prepared for what that will mean for us,” Sil finished Caius thoughts.
Treyce looked between the two of them, disbelief written over his face. He couldn‟t even begin to understand how the two of them earned the respect of the other, but it was clear he found it odd and unusual that a Saagus would stick up for a Kil‟Zan over his own kin!
“I see... Do you really think we should do as she says, though?” Treyce asked, “I mean, you know the Pro‟Tea better than anyone here... Why are you accepting her thoughts when she has never fought them the way you have?”
“Do not talk about me as though I am not here, Treyce...” Sil growled.
“I‟ll talk about you how ever I want,” Treyce scoffed back.
Caius could see the tenuous treaty between races personified right before him! He stood between the two of them, placing a hand against Sil‟s collarbone and Treyce‟s chest, stopping them from getting any closer to each other.
“Treyce... I respect her, okay?” Caius defended Sil and Treyce looked surprised yet again that Caius would defend her!
“I... respect your... judgement...” Treyce backed down slowly, and Caius could tell that Treyce did not like the taste of letting it go.
“I don‟t understand,” Sil shook her head as Caius‟ hand left her, “Why do they have such trouble trusting me, or respecting the fact that you do?”
“The same reason your kin would have trouble trusting me, or respecting your decision to do so,” Caius reasoned with a slight chuckle.
Sil nodded with a smile. There was little she could say in response to what Caius had said, because everyone knew that it would be not just a likely outcome; it was definite. The main difference was that Caius could at least get his people to listen.

“It‟s kind of strange being around so many Saagus and to not have an argument every two minutes!” Sil Laughed as she and Caius moved away from the main part of the army, “They certainly treat me a little nicer than Kael had treated you!”
Caius laughed, not really minding whatever Kael had said or done to him. She was at Talon, with him, fighting the fight that needed to be fought. That, in his mind, was all that mattered. They needed all the help that they could get.
“It‟s...” Caius began but stopped mid-sentence when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming up through Talon.
He turned slowly and looked for its source but was unable to see it straight away. He wasn‟t the only one to hear it, either. The lines of soldiers began to ready themselves with a more urgency.
He had expected the Pro‟Tea to come and he was proven right. He was simply glad of the fact that he was ready to meet the enemy at Talon. At least there they could hold the enemy before it could spread too far into the world!
The ground began to tremble under the weight of the creatures‟ footsteps and Caius found it slightly odd. Normally, when he felt heard and felt the footsteps of his enemy, it meant they were running toward him in their usual psychopathic nature. This time, however, there seemed to be a pattern to the footsteps, and he could not see anything rushing them as quick and crazily as they could!
“What is it, Caius?” Sil asked when she noticed im become visibly tense in the situation.
He didn‟t respond and instead kept his eyes on the darkest parts of Talon‟s entrance. He kept watching and waiting for the moment he saw something tangible to fight and be fearful of. All along the line, weapons were being summoned and prepared. Everyone was getting ready for a surge of Pro‟Tea in numbers never before seen. That was what Caius had instructed them to be ready for.
He then spotted the enemy and his jaw dropped in surprise. There were only seven of them, all hulking monstrosities, a little bigger than the ones he had previously beaten! All of them, however, looked different. They each had their own assortment of mutations, much like their smaller kin.
He then spotted the female rider on the back of the central beast as they came into full light. The lines went tense and the seven beasts stopped moving as the single rider lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Well... this was not expected...” Sil summed up Caius‟ thoughts when she spotted the opposition that was there to face them.
His allies began to get restless as the beasts held their ground. The rider looked about and soaked up the sights of the world. She could no doubt see the soldiers before her, waiting patiently for her charge. Something told Caius she was not ready to fight just yet.
He kept his eyes fixed on her and he felt a chill moving through his spine. He had never seen anything look nearly as calm and calculating as the creature that rode on the back of the monstrosity. He wondered what she was looking at, and hoped it was nothing more serious than just a little sight-seeing in a world she had never set foot on before.
“Seven beasts and a base Pro‟Tea? This is almost insulting, Caius,” Treyce grumbled, “Maybe you took out all of their main troops and this is all that‟s left...”
Caius shook his head, his eyes transfixed on the smaller Pro‟Tea as she dismounted the beast she rode. He knew she was not just another base creature, and was something far greater. She didn‟t share the crazy, drone body language of her kin.
The normal Pro‟Tea were always skittish, moving about rapidly and almost as though they had no control over their own bodies. She was calm, upright and holding herself with an air of superiority. Caius could sense she was going to be the strongest form of Pro‟Tea they had faced yet.
“Do... Do you think she wants to negotiate?” Sil asked as she tried to get a grasp of the situation as much as Caius was.
Once again, Caius shook his head in response, watching the creature intently. He held his hand to the side as he felt her fiery, crimson eyes that were tinged with periodic bursts of golden colour locked directly onto him. Blood-red energy surrounded his hand and a second later, it leapt forward, forging itself into the same level six blade he used at Core.
“A level six weapon summon? Impressive, Caius. I didn‟t think you had matured that far yet,” Treyce taunted.
“Treyce... I suggest you shutup and get ready to fight.” Caius ignored the taunt without even looking away from the female.
The figure pointed straight at him, and at a silent request, the seven behemoths let out howls and began charging all at once!
“This looks like a new tactic to me,” Sil laughed a little nervously as the creatures charged.
Even with the creatures bearing down on them, Caius‟ eyes never left the female that stayed at the back. She clearly played some kind of leadership role in this encounter. Who was she? What was she? Questions were filling his mind, and battle was the last place he wanted such questions on his mind!
“Hold the line,” Caius tried to think like a military man, “Strengthen it in the middle, that is where they‟re going to strike... We need everyone here, now!”
Treyce relayed the order and Sil deployed her weapons; the same lightning projector and blade-arm. As soon as there was a target close enough, she blasted away at it with the lightning. Caius was glad she was not rushing into combat with the enemy alone. If she had done, he felt she would have been overpowered for sure.
As she began firing, so too did the Saagus around her, launching volleys of elemental magic at the behemoths. Caius, however, stood still, his eyes still on the same figure. She began walking toward the opening conflict slowly, as if she was simply going for a casual stroll! If Caius didn‟t know better, he would have said that she was a hundred million miles away from any kind of battle!
“Caius, are you going to fight at all today?” Treyce shouted at him as he kept watching.
The attacks from the Saagus and Sil seemed to have little effect on the enemy apart from slowing them down. These creatures were more solid, more defensive, than the previous ones they had encountered. That alone made them much deadlier as they approached the line!
Caius burst forward, the actions he would take set perfectly in his mind. He swung his blade, slicing across one of the legs of the behemoths, and he continued sprinting straight past it! The attack was enough to ground the enemy for a few seconds, giving Caius‟ battle-kin an edge against their rapidly approaching enemies.
Caius kept his intended target squarely in his sights, and she to smile a sadistic smile at his approach, knowing that the Saagus was coming to fight with her. Now that he was getting closer,
he could see more of what she was. She was lithe and graceful-looking, save for the ridged growths that adorner her shoulders, forearms and torso.
Caius swung his blade when he was close enough, and she reacted faster than he would have expected a Pro‟Tea to be able to. She lifted her arm, and as she did, it stretched and warped, bones creating plates across the strange growth on her forearm and she blocked the attack with ease!
Caius‟ eyes widened in surprise at the sudden mutation of his opponent, he had never seen that happen before. He was even more surprised when he felt a whip-like arm that was not their previously wrap about his waist and lift him off the ground!
His quarry looked at him, tilting her head questioningly at her opponent. The bony-shield on her arm shrank quickly, accompanied by the sounds of bones creaking and cracking under the immense weight of some invisible force. The arm reforged itself as a solid blade of bone right before Caius‟ eyes. She lifted it up and prepared to spear it straight into Caius, who was held in place by her other whip-like arm!
Caius closed his eyes and focused his magic. He summoned golden fire about him, which seared the whip-arm and forced the Pro‟Tea to drop him. As soon as she did, the whip-arm retracted, reforging itself anew as a regular limb!
Caius had never seen anything like it before, she was able to mutate at will, and into whatever she wanted to. Caius kept questioning what she was, and why was she was so different to every Pro‟Tea that Caius had faced before!
“What the hell are you?” Caius voiced his thoughts.
His words were only met by a slight smile before she swung a fist straight toward him. As the fist travelled, spikes extended from the knuckles. Caius jumped back, avoiding the attack narrowly, but not being able to avoid the second arm as it swung, smashing into him with a mace-like mutation that sent him flying backward!
For the most part, Caius wasn‟t wearing armour. However, the robes were thick and heavy enough to dispel at least a portion of the force. Even thus, he still had the wind knocked from his lungs, and he struggled to reclaim it as his opponent approached.
Her two arms changed back to normal for an instant before huge, scythe-like talons began to replace her hands. An extra two arms began to grow from her back, carrying the same bladed talons that looked more than capable of making short work of any kind of armour, not just robes!
The Pro‟Tea placed her foot upon Caius‟ chest as he struggled to get breath. She pressed harder and harder against Caius, the blades of her arms lifting up and getting ready to strike down on him. Caius was powerless to stop her.!
Caius looked up, air finally re-entering his lungs as the scythe-hands were coming down toward him. He closed his eyes tightly, preparing for the moment when his body was impaled multiple times. With a sound that was like a huge clap of thunder Caius felt the weight of his opponent disappear altogether!
He opened his eyes and looked about trying to figure out what had just saved his life. He saw his enemy struggling back to her feet, small discharges of lightning arcing about her limbs as she did.
“Sil...” Caius smiled, knowing exactly who owned the timely intervention that saved his life.
He looked up to where she hovered in midair with her jetpacks. He could‟ve sworn that she smiled back at him for a moment before she dropped from the sky, her blade-arm pointed downward.
She speared the blade straight into the head of one of the massive, lumbering monstrosities. Shortly after the impact, the creature collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap! Caius felt glad to see at least one of them die. With a quick count, he realised that was the second of them to go down in the fight so far.
More spells began to be thrown around as the remaining five opponents continued to slaughter everything in their paths. Caius watched Sil rush about the battlefield with her jetpack, blasting with her lightning weapon and swiping with her blade in an attempt to ward off any killing blows, saving Saagus lives in the process. She as doing an impressive job, but, unfortunately, she couldn‟t be everywhere at once.
“A Kil‟Zan?” The Pro‟Tea Caius had been fighting gasped as she got back to her feet, “Saving the life of a Saagus? I would never have expected that...”
“Expect the unexpected in battle!” Caius shouted as he turned and rushed his opponent, slamming a fist surrounded by golden flames into her stomach, sending her flying through the air this time!
He leapt again after his attack, calling his blood-red blade back to his raised hand. He swung it down, aiming for one of her arms. The blade bit into her skin, and the energy arc dispersed, severing it completely!
She jumped away in pain, green-black blood spraying from the wound as she roared in pain! Caius watched as one of the growths across her body, which had the appearance of a feeder, compressed quickly, as if pumping something into her body. Shortly afterward, her screaming stopped, and a replacement limb burst from the wound of the severed one!
Caius couldn‟t believe what he was watching! He had said expect the unexpected, but this was ridiculous! She could regenerate at any stage in battle, how could he defeat that?!
“You will pay...” She growled, lunging forward quickly.
Caius lifted up his blade, getting ready to parry an attack. Her arms warped in midair as she leapt. The scythe‟s returned to two of them as the other two were reabsorbed by her body. Caius was expecting that to be the limit of the mutation, he was wrong. Her arms stretched like whips, the blades moving passed Caius and catching him completely off guard. She pulled the weapons toward herself, and the blades bit into his back, piercing straight through the robes as though they weren‟t even there!
Caius dropped to his knees and let the blade fall from his hand from the surprising attack. The arms retracted and lost their elasticity as she approached once again, preparing to end the fight quickly.
Her arms lifted up, the blades tinged with the crimson blood from Caius. Caius arched his back in pain, trying his hardest to ignore it and stay in the fight. He knew he had to get back to his feet quickly, otherwise it was all over for him.
Everything he had done and struggled for would be lost. He couldn‟t just let himself die right there and then without doing everything he could to stop this creature. As the blades began to fall toward Caius, he caught a glimpse of something golden move between them, sending dust into the air about them!
The dust began to settle around them and Caius‟ mouth was agape in surprise when he saw Sil standing just before him. Her blade was placed perfectly in front of both the Pro‟Tea‟s arms, saving his life a second time!
The creature that had come from the Abyss looked down, wide-eyed with surprise at Sil‟s second intervention. Sil struggled to overpower the Pro‟Tea, but was at least able to hold the scythe-arms in place.
“Thanks, Sil...” Caius coughed.
The attacks on him were so quick and simple that he scarcely believed they had caused as much damage as they did. He wasn‟t sure of the extent of the cuts, but they felt deep, and he just hoped no organs were damaged!
“Don‟t mention it...” Sil grunted her reply as she continued to struggle against the Pro‟Tea.
The Pro‟Tea leapt back. It was clear that she knewshe was not going to overpower Sil in that instance. Her crimson eyes scanned the battlefield, the same flare of golden colouring returning every few seconds. Her features changed to slightly surprised at whatever it was she saw.
Sil reached down and grabbed hold of Caius‟ forearm, helping him back to his feet. He looked over his shoulder himself and saw that the seven Pro‟Tea monstrosities had been dealt with now. Best of all, the feeders hadn‟t even reached the surface yet! The battle was over, and the Pro‟Tea before Sil and Caius was their only survivor.
Under the gaze of the creature, Caius leant slightly on Sil for support. She seemed somewhat surprised by the assistance of Sil, as if she knew the tenuous relationship of the two races. Once Caius able to stand on his own, Sil turned to face the Pro‟Tea and lifted the lightning weapon, getting ready to blast her away.
The Pro‟Tea looked past Sil, her crimson eyes calculating the unimaginable odds of her surviving from this point on. The army was marching toward her, Caius could hear their feet on the ground, it was only a matter of time before she was slaughtered.
The Pro‟Tea lifted her hand as the bony-blades on both her arms retracted into her body, “Stop.” She said in a commanding tone.
Caius was confused by the order, “Stop? Why stop? You‟re the ones that started all this!”
He was so confused by the sudden order that he didn‟t even think about the fact that the Pro‟Tea was speaking, another thing he had never encountered!
“I am Dusk. This battle is over.” She nodded, “There is no sense in pursuing an impossible victory here. The day is yours, Saagus... Kil‟Zan.”
As she said the name of each race she directed her attention to either Caius or Sil. Caius didn‟t want the battle to be over, he wanted to kill whatever Dusk was! He looked to Sil beside him, and she nodded, as if affirming that her retreat was enough of a victory for her.
“We can‟t just let her go...” Caius growled angrily.
“Why not? She has surrendered...” Sil shrugged, “And besides, she will be more than capable of killing plenty of your kin before she is felled... and we need everyone we can get, right?”
Caius nodded with a defeated sigh. He looked to Dusk as she turned about and huge, bat-like wings sprouted from her back as three of her feeder-like growths contracted. Caius watched this and noted that the growths on her body, positioned like pieces of armour, seemed to shrink. It was as if they were pumping the necessary biomass into her body to fuel the rapid mutations.
Perhaps... Caius thought, They don’t just look like feeders... Maybe they actually are feeders!
“Don‟t let her escape Sil...” Caius croaked as he realised how painful the stab wounds really were.
Dusk opened up her wings and flapped them, taking flight and speeding off quickly. Sil turned to face Caius and shook her head, “I don‟t think we should make chase... Leave her be and focus on the next battle.”
“But...” Caius started.
“No buts. You are injured! I think she was merely testing us... The next wave will be as you expect it to be... Larger.” Sil said, taking hold of Caius‟ arm and putting it about her shoulder.
Caius found himself willing to accept the help of this Kil‟Zan outcast, unlike the last time she offered it. He felt less awkward or weak accepting it, and he wondered what had changed between them. Was it the fact that he respected her? Was it that he trusted her?

“Here, lie down Caius,” Sil ordered as they entered one of the buildings that belonged to the city of Core.
All of the homes in the city were abandoned. Treyce, Caius and Sil thought it would be beneficial for the remaining soldiers to get some rest before the next attack. Since all of the homes were abandoned, they wouldn‟t be imposing on anyone!
“Thank you,” Caius said as he dropped onto the bed heavily, coughing as he did.
“Do you want me to have a look at the wounds? You don‟t look so good...” Sil looked genuinely concerned for Caius.
“I think it‟s okay...” Caius tried to remain strong even though he felt much weaker now than before they left the battlefield.
“At least let me look... There‟s no harm in looking, right? I might be able to do some work on them with the various tools I have in this armour...”
“You won‟t accept no, will you?” Caius laughed.
“No.” Sil smiled.
“Fine,” Caius rolled onto his stomach, groaning a little as he did.
“I‟m going to have to cut your robes...” Sil said as she inspected the wounds, which were obviously obscured by the clothing Caius wore.
“Really?” Caius glanced over his shoulder at Sil, feeling a little embarrassed.
He knew Sil only had his health in mind and he trusted that fact. Even still, the fact that she wanted to take away any portion of his clothes made him slightly uncomfortable. No one had wanted to do that before her, so he guessed it was a reasonable excuse to be embarrassed.
“I can‟t see properly with them on...” Sil replied, “Don‟t worry, I‟m not going to take them all off... Just enough to inspect the wounds, I promise.”
“Okay...” Caius still wasn‟t completely comfortable with the idea of her removing his robes, regardless of how honourable her intentions were!
Sil lifted her right arm and the blade extended, causing Caius to flinch in slight fear. He knew she wasn‟t going to use it against him; if she was going to try and kill him, she would have done it long ago!
“Settle down,” Sil laughed, “I‟m not going to cut you with this... Unless you move too much!”
“I know...” Caius rested his head back on the bed and tried to remain calm as Sil positioned the blade just against the back of his neck, angling it down into his robes.
She was slow and very cautious as she moved it down along his back. The robes parted as the blade glided through the, and with her other hand, she was able to pull the cloth back and reveal the two wounds on Caius‟ back.
When enough had been cut away to give her full view of them, she stopped slicing and removed the blade from Caius‟ back, reverting it back into the usual gauntlet. Caius looked up at her as she inspected the wounds on his back, the look of concentration was affirmation of her desire to help him and nothing more.
“This may sting...” She warned as she brushed a finger across each of the wounds, reaching as far down as she could without having to push too hard.
Caius squirmed a little. In all honesty, he didn‟t think the pain was too bad, it was just felt weird having her put her fingers that deep into his wound! He heard a few beeps and struggled to see what it was from. Sil had a readout on her wrist and was pressing a few buttons, and Caius knew it must have been an analysis of what was in the wound.
“Well, doc, how does it look?” Caius coughed.
“Surprisingly healthy... Well... as healthy as a hole in your back can be!” Sil replied.
“Oh good, can you fix it?”
“I will have to do some stitching, but, it looks like it‟s completely repairable with time... So you may have to take it easy for a few days...” Sil explained.
“A few days?” Caius objected, “What if Dusk returns, what if she has an army with her this time?”
“If that happens then we will deal with it... You can‟t fight in your current condition, you will only get yourself killed.” Sil shook her head, placing a hand against Caius‟ back to stop him from rolling over.
“But...”
“No buts, now lie still, I‟m going to bind these wounds,” Sil ordered, her hand still remaining firmly on his back, holding him with enough force to restrain him from nearly any form of movement!
“To be fair... You aren‟t really giving me a choice but to be still...” Caius grumped and rested his head back on the bed. This time, he didn‟t lie completely face down, and was able to see Sil out the corner of his eye.
Sil‟s right wrist-guard opened up, a needle moving into her hand and the thread trailing behind from its own compartment on the wrist. Her left wrist opened up similarly, but it deployed a syringe of clear liquid.
“I‟m not going to have to get any needles, am I? I hate needles...” Caius said with a sigh.
“No, no needles,” Sil lied as a needle extended from the end of the syringe.
She poked it down into his back and Caius flinched at its contact, “What was that then?!”
“The first stitch, sorry, should have warned you it always stung...” Sil stifled her laughter.
Caius knew it was a slight lie on Sil‟s part, and that she had actually injected him. He didn‟t hold it against her. He hated needles, but he trusted she knew what she was doing. If nothing else, she at least looked confident enough to make him believe that!
She lifted her arm and the needle and syringe were pulled back into her wrist guard, then, she set about actually stitching the wound. Caius was surprised he didn‟t feel a thing when she began doing so, perhaps the initial needle was to numb the area so he wouldn‟t.
She worked slowly but with great care on his back. Caius was glad she was being so calm and methodical about it, something he would normally have hated the Kil‟Zan for. However, in this case, it meant she was being overly careful not to hurt him, or get the stitch wrong.
“Are you even doing it yet?” Caius asked, not sure she was actually doing anything, even though he could see her arm moving about.
“Yes, and progress seems to be good,” Sil gave a knowing, “It will be finished shortly, and then its bed rest for you.”
“Probably not a bad thing... I am pretty tired... I can‟t remember the last time I slept...” Caius admitted, “What will you do while I sleep?”
“I will find us some food... There is bound to be some somewhere in Core, right?” Sil shrugged.
Caius felt as though he needed to be protective of her. She would be going out into a Saagus city, filled with Saagus soldiers. He wondered if she would be okay amongst them, or if they would try to attack her. Having a Kil‟Zan ally walking among them was a bridge that none of them would have crossed before.
“I don‟t know that‟s such a good idea...” Caius admitted as Sil pulled the thread on the first wound tight, sealing it perfectly.
“Why? Do you think someone will try something?” She asked, moving onto the second wound.
“It‟s just... strange to have a Kil‟Zan in our midst... I don‟t... I don‟t know how everyone else will react to it.”
“I‟ll be fine, Caius,” Sil pulled the thread through the wound with a reassuring smile.
Caius realised then that he cared about Sil. He was displaying that care in the only way he really knew how to do it, and he hoped she understood. It was a strange thing to happen to either of them, a Saagus caring for a Kil‟Zan, or vice versa, but they were living proof that it could.
“All done...” She cut the thread with an automatic pair of scissors that deployed from her right wrist, “Now you just lie down and I will bring some food back for us.”
“Can I lay on my back?” Caius rolled slightly to face Sil.
“I suggest not... maybe your side, or prop yourself up against the wall so you don‟t have all of your weight on it,” Sil felt her cheeks tinge with red as she looked over the body of the Saagus before her.
Caius saw her eyes on him and looked down over himself, wondering if she had seen something more that was wrong with him. He looked over his muscles, which were tight and heavily toned, as most soldiers of Sol would have been.
Perhaps it were the scars across his torso, there were plenty of them. There were all manner of slash marks, a few puncture marks caused by teeth. Both were there because of his fights with the Pro‟Tea. There were also lash marks across his back, they were there because there were times when every soldier made mistakes.
“Well...” Sil shook her head, “I shall get us some food... You stay here.”
Caius nodded as Sil turned from the bed and made her way to the front door of the simple dwelling they found themselves in. There was no area for food to be kept in the building, which was single storey, with a bedroom as the main part and a bathroom connected and that was it! Caius wondered what purpose it could have served, and then imagined it was for tourists, or some form of guest house attached to a larger manor.
As soon as the door closed behind Sil, Caius began to feel just how sleepy he had become. He let his eyes close slowly, his mind convincing the rest of him that it was just going to be for a moment, just so that the muscles could catch their breath.
His muscles weren‟t lied to, either. His sleep was as brief as sleep could possibly have been. However, hid did not wake up on his own terms.
“Let‟s just get this over with before Caius knows we are here,” A voice said from outside the room.
Caius couldn‟t understand everything that had been said, nor could he identify who the voice belonged to. He guessed, however, that it was a Saagus directing their hatred of Kil‟Zan toward Sil.
“Treyce?!” Sils‟ voice confirmed Caius thoughts, “But... why?”
Caius struggled his way from the bed and moved toward the door. There was a small window on either side of the door, with curtains that were closed. The curtains, however, were thin cloth and he could partially see through them.
Caius peeked out of the curtains before doing anything further and was surprised to see that Sil was indeed talking to Treyce! He couldn‟t believe Treyce would wait until he was asleep to do this!
“You are corrupting one of our own with your Kil‟Zan stench... I don‟t know how or why he trusts you, but it ends now!” Treyce shook his head as he stepped nearer to Sil, two Saagus soldiers moving behind her in order to outflank her.
“You think I am forcing him to listen? You think I will betray him, is that it?” Sil glanced between the three of them quickly.
Treyce had been nice to her previously, speaking out against her only when she came up with ideas different to his own. It was understandable for him to feel annoyed by Caius going with her over him, but why would he feel the need to kill her because of it? Did Treyce think Caius was incapable of making his own decisions on who he should trust? Maybe the feud between Saagus and Kil‟Zan couldn‟t be forgotten with everyone as easily as it had been with Caius.
“Careful of her weapons you two... They will make an easy kill out of either of you.” Treyce warned as the two with him lunged to grab Sil.
Caius was about to burst out of the door and intervene, but Sil was all too ready to evade her attackers. Her back opened up and the jetpack deployed, sending her straight up into the air as the weapon on either of her hands forged into place, “Treyce, I am not here to fight the Saagus, I am here to fight Pro‟Tea!”
“Good, if you don‟t want to fight back, that‟s your choice,” Treyce shook his head, “You will leave our ranks today, one way or another!”
Sil shook her head. She wouldn‟t leave, and Caius knew it. She had seen what they were up against. Maybe if Treyce knew what she had abandoned to be here, amongst sworn rivals of her people, he would be more willing to respect her, even the tiniest bit.
“So, Kil‟Zan, what is it? Leaving on your own, or do we have to force you to leave?”
Sil‟s jetpack stopped spewing flames out to enable her to hover and she dropped back down to the ground, on the opposite side of Treyce to his two wingmen.
“I am here to fight the enemy that threatens us all, not you.” She growled, “But that does not mean I won‟t defend myself.”
Lightning crackled about her lightning weapon and she was ready with the sword to stab at any given moment. As soon as Treyce looked as though he would try anything funny, she would run him through with no hesitation.
“Do you think that is enough to make us fear you, Kil‟Zan?” Treyce scoffed at Sil.
“No, I don‟t want you to fear me... I want to fight alongside you, not with you....” Sil tried to reason with the three of them
“Hold her, you two, I‟ve had enough of her lies,” Treyce ordered, “Where is Caius, why is he not here to defend you, Sil? Don‟t tell me you are all alone here... against the three of us...”
The first lunged at her, and Sil reacted quickly, moving her blade into the path of her attacker, running him through with ease! His body fell from her blade, hitting the ground in a lifeless heap as Sil‟s eyes met Treyce‟s. He didn‟t even seem to care about what just happened before him! His own ally had been killed and he didn‟t even blink an eye about it, did he truly hate Sil that much?
The second moved to grab her and Sil reacted again, this time blasting his face with a bolt of lightning and dropping him in a single shot. Treyce, once again, didn‟t flinch. He didn‟t care, and in fact, if anything, he seemed to be glad that it was now just Sil and himself.
Caius watched as blood-red energy began to swirl about Treyce‟s hands. It was a level six spell, and regardless of what it was, Caius knew it would have more than enough power to turn Sil‟s armour into scrap.
Caius looked down at his hand and blood-red energy circled it before forging a blade of the same colour. It was a struggle, and possibly required all of the energy he had left to summon the weapon. He gripped the door handle with his free hand shaking the weariness from his head. He twisted the door handle and yanked it open quickly, yelling at Treyce at the same time, “Enough!”
“Caius!” Treyce moved straight onto the defence, his power disappearing quickly, “She killed two of our soldiers in cold blood, murdered them, right before my eyes!”
“What?!” Sil almost choked on the word, “That is a lie, a blatant and obvious one at that! Treyce wanted to kill me, and ordered these two to do it for him!”
“Ha!” Treyce spat in Sil‟s direction as Caius allowed his power to subside as well, barely having enough cohesion to keep his balance, let alone fight, “Likely story, don‟t you think, old friend? Who are you going to believe, a Saagus you have fought with numerous times, or this hussy from Cloud Runner?
“You‟re right, Treyce...” Caius nodded slowly, looking to Sil as disbelief smothered her features. The disbelief subsided to a smile when she heard the second part, “I have fought many times alongside you, enough to know of your hatred toward the Kil‟Zan. Sil... I believe you... Please go inside the house...”
“What?!” Treyce shouted in disbelief as Sil did exactly what Caius has suggested.
Sil brushed up against Caius as she walked passed him, and he knew it was a subtle way for her to show how much his words meant. Treyce watched Sil disappear behind the closing door and then returned his eyes to Caius.
“I outrank you, private!” Treyce shouted, “Relinquish the Kil‟Zan so that we may get her away from us!”
“No.” Caius shook his head, “You told me I was a captain, and besides, I am not part of your army. Come to think of it, I never have been part of it, either.”
“Are you disobeying a direct order?!” Treyce‟s face began to redden as other Saagus soldiers began to surround them, wondering what the commotion was all about.
Caius was glad that they didn‟t know what was happening. Treyce‟s attack on Sil was not necessarily smiled upon by the others in the army, the confusion on the faces of the approaching soldiers confirmed this. Caius returned his gaze to Treyce, who now knew he wasn‟t able to continue, lest he show his battle brothers his true colours.
“This is not over, Caius... You can‟t protect that creature forever.” Treyce growled before he turned away.
Caius was glad that he did not have to fight his old friend. In that particular situation, with his wounds and tiredness, he knew that Treyce would have made short work of him, and he would barely have presented himself as a challenge.
The group that had gathered about to watch were surmising what had happened. Whether or not they had the right story mattered little to Caius, all that mattered was that only a small amount of blood was shed, and that none of it belonged to Sil. He too, found it odd that he was so ready to defend her against his own. Had she truly earned that much trust from him?
Caius turned back to the building and pushed through the door. He struggled to maintain his composure right up until the door closed. As soon as it was closed, he dropped to one knee and let out a pained grunt.
Sil rushed over and bent down to help him up. Caius steadied himself against her and she helped him over to the bed to sit down. Caius knew that Sil leaving the house alone was a bad idea, though he didn‟t expect it to be Treyce that would attack her.
“Thank you,” Sil sat down beside Caius.
“For what?” Caius asked, leaning against her slightly.
It was partially for support whilst he sat, but mostly because he was in a surprising amount of pain from having done what he did. He knew it was worth it, however, and that kept him from complaining about his own stupidity.
“For what?” Sil repeated Caius‟ question, “For speaking up for me... for defending me against Treyce.”
“Treyce...” Caius tried to find a convenient excuse for his actions, “Treyce is a prejudiced pig...”
Sil smiled and it was clear she knew Caius was just making excuses.
“He was never in the right anyway... You would have be-“ Caius began before being stopped when Sil moved toward him quickly, pressing her lips against his perfectly.
Caius‟ eyes widened in surprise, but he did not retreat from her affections! He felt her lips on his, he tasted her on his tongue and he held the moment for as long as he would be allowed. It was strange for him at first, but his eyes slowly closed and he found that he enjoyed it more than he would have guessed.
Sil pulled away first as Caius‟ hand moved along her arm slightly, “I‟m sorry... That was... wrong of me...”
Caius looked at her in surprise. How could she say that was the wrong thing for her to have done when it felt perfect and right for the moment? Caius had never thought a Kil‟Zan and a Saagus could be anything more than tenuous allies. To have Sil kiss him was something that no Saagus mind could have dreamt up!
“I don‟t think that it was wrong...” Caius reached out and placed a hand against the armoured suit Sil was wearing, “It certainly didn‟t feel wrong to me...”
In the back of his mind, he knew what she meant. The racial segregation between them was significant and would act as a barrier if they were intending on becoming anything more than tenuous allies. He could only imagine what the other Saagus in Core would say about such an event, especially Treyce.
“Because... the timing, what I am... What you are...” Sil defended, not allowing her eyes to meet Caius as he looked to her, “There are just way too many things and people that say it is wrong...”
“Yet... none of those things are you... or I for that matter... right?” Caius asked and Sil‟s eyes finally met his, “You don‟t think that it was wrong, do you? Otherwise... why did you do it?”
“It felt right...” Sil‟s cheeks tinged with red, embarrassed by admitting to it, “It felt so right that it had to be wrong... I have never done anything like that before...”
“What? Kissed a Saagus?” Caius laughed, “I doubt you have ever met one like me before...”
“I meant kissing anyone...” Sil corrected Caius, “And you are wrong... I have never met anything like you before...”
“So what does this mean?” Caius asked, “Where do we go from here?”
“Back to battle?” Sil laughed.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do... but I don‟t know the answer to your question...” Sil replied, “I have never crossed this path with anyone before...”
“Don‟t worry...” Caius comforted her as best as he could, “It is completely new to me as well.”
“I suggest... I suggest we just get some sleep, Caius...” Sil nodded, “You are tired, after all.”
Caius smiled and saw the convenient evasion of the point that needed to be addressed. He was tired, he needed sleep. Sleeping and resting would allow his wounds to heal just that little bit quicker. He would be much more useful in the next battle that would no doubt arise in the coming days with a bit of rest under his belt.
Caius did as she suggested and shifted up the bed, pressing his back against the wall and looking to Sil. He wondered how long he would have between battles. How long did he have to share these moments with Sil? How long did he have before Dusk returned to get her revenge?
Sil reached out to Caius‟ hand and held it tightly through the gauntlet she wore. Even though it wasn‟t a literal physical touch, the two of them felt it. She moved up beside him at the head of the bed. Caius liked having her near, he wanted more time before Dusk came back. For the first time in his life, Caius felt a strange sense of peace that didn‟t come solely from the destruction of the Pro‟Tea.
“Caius...” Sil said, resting her head against the wall behind them.
“Mmm?” Caius replied sleepily, feeling the tiredness he had suppressed in order to protect Sil coming back to him.
She linked her fingers between his and squeezed tightly. Caius smiled at the simple act of Sil holding his hand tightly. It was strange how quickly things were turning around with them. They were quickly becoming more than just simple allies.
“I feel safe with you...” She admitted.
Caius didn‟t respond with words, and instead, let her know he was proud by the slight smile that adorned his lips as he began to fall back to sleep.
“And you feel safe with me, it seems,” She laughed with a slight shake of her head.
Someone who had been her enemy only a week before was now her closest and most trusted friend. If anyone needed more proof, the peacefully sleeping Caius next to her would certainly suffice.

A fist bashed against the door and Caius only stirred slightly at the sound. They had only been at war the day before, and Caius‟ body needed as much rest as it could get. It wasn‟t until the second round of hasty knocking that he began to wake fully.
He looked about, stretching forward with his arms and listening to the bones at his elbows click slightly. He looked about and saw Sil sleeping peacefully next to him, her body hidden by the blanket he had been sleeping on top of.
He glanced to the floor and saw all of her armour pieces there, resting on the ground and showing just how extensive the simple-looking combat suit was. There were so many components that it seemed almost impossible that it all fit together in such a sleek design.
He watched Sil right up until the invasive knocking returned and shocked him out of his semi dreamland. He knew nothing had happened whilst they slept besides sleeping, but for a second, based on the lack of clothing she was wearing, he entertained thoughts that something more had happened.
He rose from the bed, wrapping what was left of his tattered robes about his waist like a tasset and answering the door. Treyce was just outside of it, and Caius wondered why he was bothering him already. Was he there to try and finish off Sil, or was he planning on fighting Caius for the fact that he took her side?
Caius purposely left the door mostly closed so that Treyce‟s prying eyes wouldn‟t land upon an mostly naked Sil sleeping in the bed. He was certain that if they did, rumours would arise about what didn‟t happen. Whilst he was still sleepy, he had the presence of mind to know that the last thing an army needed when battle loomed was rumours!
“What is it, Treyce?” Caius addressed him coldly.
“I‟ve come to let you know that your numbers have been reinforced. Contingents from neighbouring cities received word of our defensive line here and have come to join you.” Treyce reported.
“Me? My army? What about you? Aren‟t you the ranking official here?” Caius asked.
“No. I am leaving. I cannot work with that creature you are protecting in there.” Treyce growled.
“Well then... I‟m sorry you feel that way... But if you can‟t put the differences aside, then maybe it is better you are leaving...”
Caius watched as Treyce seemed to wince in pain at the sting in his tone. Trecye would never be able to understand why Caius was so willing to defend Sil over Treyce. It was something Treyce was prepared to leave over, and Caius saw no reason to stop him.
“This is goodbye, Caius, I doubt I will see you again.” Treyce turned his back and began walking away.
Sil moved up behind Caius as he closed the door and put her arms about him, holding him tightly. Caius felt her naked body pressing against him and felt his cheeks flush with red. He could feel every curve of her body perfectly against his skin, and even the mechanical gauntlets that were on her hands.
“Good morning,” Caius could hear the smile in her tone.
“It is indeed,” He placed hands over hers, “So... You managed to put the gloves on, what about t rest?”
Caius glanced over his shoulder at her face, not wanting to be improper and turning around to view her fully, regardless of how tempted he was to do it.
“The gloves?” Sil cocked her head, looking at him quizzically. Then realisation bloomed in her eyes, “Oh, they never come off... Haven‟t for years...” Sil admitted.
Caius looked down at them and could see the truth in what she was saying by the slight pinching of skin at the end of the gloves.
“Why don‟t you take them off?” He asked.
“I... I don‟t know...” Sil shook her head, “They wouldn‟t look nearly as good, and I haven‟t seen my own hands in years...”
“It‟s okay,” Caius ran his hand along them, “Keep them on if that makes you more comfortable.”
“So who was that at the door?”
“Treyce.”
“Did he come to apologise?” Sil asked.
“Nope, he came to inform me that we have been reinforced, and that he was leaving.” Caius explained, “He couldn‟t handle having to fight alongside you...”
“Am I really that bad?”
“Not at all,” Caius smiled, holding her gauntlet-covered hands against his chest, “You may have to get dressed, though... I should address everyone and make sure we can be ready before another attack...”
“Oh... right... I didn‟t think about putting the armour back on...” Sil laughed a little, “You have to promise not to look, okay?”
“I promise...” Caius nodded, looking squarely at the door while Sil moved away from him, no longer having his body as something to hide her own behind.
The sounds that followed were something that Caius couldn‟t even begin to put images to. It was a light sound of metal moving, and then bits clicking into place. He tried as hard as he could to imagine what was going on behind him. He could have just turned and looked, but he promised he wouldn‟t.
“Okay... you can turn around now...” Sil said.
Caius turned about and was almost disappointed to see her fully suited up as the night before. Perhaps he did want to see her without her armour on, maybe he did want to see her body as opposed to her combat suit.
“What about you, though?” Sil asked, pointing to Caius, “Your robes are destroyed... And you are still injured...”
“The wounds feel much better already,” Caius lied, “As for the robes, I‟m sure there is somewhere in town where I can pick up some replacement ones, so we don‟t need to worry too much about that.”
“Okay, so did you want to go find them first, or address the new soldiers?”
“I should probably follow my own advice and get dressed first, right? Let‟s head over to the town barracks, they should be somewhere near the Exarchs‟ office I imagine,” Caius nodded.
Sil smiled and seemed happy to go with him. The two of them left the building to find the barracks. Caius heard Sil give a slight sigh of relief when they stepped outside, and he guessed it was the lack of Saagus out there, specifically, the lack of Treyce.
Caius led the way out of the small building and into the streets of the partially ruined city of Core. He knew his way about the city almost as good as Sil did, which wasn‟t very good at all. He hadn‟t spent a lot of time within the city at all, only ever visiting it when the Pro‟Tea threatened to wipe it from the face of the world!
As they walked along the streets, Caius caught a glimpse of the reinforcement that Treyce had told him about. There were many more Saagus soldiers about, some were walking along the streets and others were just sitting. They were all waiting for the next attack to occur, which Caius believed was only a matter of time.
Some were training, summoning weapons and conjuring abilities in light practice with one another. Caius preferred it when everyone prepared for the moment that the Pro‟Tea attacked. However, as Caius and Sil passed them, the soldiers looked them over in confusion. Caius didn‟t need to ask them why, the answer was standing right beside him. Sil was something they never expected to find in their ranks. Some of the soldiers may have questioned why she was even there in the first place.
Caius found the barracks right where he assumed they would be; next to the Exarch‟s building, the central spire of the city. It was a small building and single floored, barely having enough room for the things that should have been in an armoury. It spoke volumes about how safe Core thought it was when this was the size of its barracks!
After finding it locked, he blasted it with magic and the Sil and Caius stepped into the small armoury that was lined with racks of robes, armour plates and weapons. Caius still found it odd that weapons would be available to the Saagus, almost insulting. It was as though they were making it a easier than having them summon their own weapons.
“So this is what a Saagus equipment store looks like,” Sil nodded, “It‟s so... basic...”
She looked over the plates of armour and robes as Caius picked out a new one and ingloriously dropped his old rags to the ground before pulling the new one over himself. He took his old shoulder plates off and added new ones.
Caius flashed her a grin before turning to face her, tightening the straps on his vambraces as he did, “So... You‟re allowed to watch me put my armour on, but I wasn‟t allowed to watch you?”
“Ha...” Sil‟s cheeks flushed with red, “You were being proper... Treating a lady as she should be treated...”
“And you were doing... what?” Caius continued to poke at the issue, doing up the buckles on the robes.
The colour of the robes was a soft magenta with a purple trim to it, the pattern being similar to his previous set of robes. He liked the purple, but he didn‟t feel the magenta suited him at all!
“I... was... uh...” Sil tried to find an excuse, “Making sure the stitching on your back was holding well...”
“I see,” Caius stepped closer to her, “I thought maybe you were looking at me rather than your handiwork.”
Again, he noticed a change in his own attitude toward her. They had gone from being enemies, to allies, to trusted friends. It left him wondering what they were becoming now? He could barely keep up with how rapidly things were changing between them to sit back and question whether he should even let it happen!
“Well... maybe I was...” Sil returned the light flirting, “What would you do if I said I was, hmm?”
Caius didn‟t bother answering, and took it upon himself to make the move this time. He pushed his lips against hers and held them there whilst a hand moved down to her waist. He felt her kissing him back and they held it for a brief moment before parting.
This time, there were no apologies made, as none were needed. There was no awkwardness in the moment, only passion that they shared. It was clear that they both agreed that it was
perfectly right. They had no reason to say anything, perhaps it was simply written across their smiling lips.
“Perhaps.... Perhaps we should see to the soldiers... The Pro‟Tea could be coming at any moment,” Caius resisted his urge to kiss her again.
He enjoyed his lips locked on hers just as much as she seemed to. If he could have his way, he would keep doing it again and again. He had a feeling that Sil would not have complained about that at all.
However, they had a job to do and a war to win. Unfortunately for them, romance would have to wait. Pro‟Tea had already sent three waves of attack at them. They usually would throw seven at them all up. That meant there would be at least another four to go before they could begin to think they had won this war.
“I think that is a wise decision...” Sil breathed heavily.
Caius nodded and stepped away from her slightly, moving toward the door of the armoury. Caius reached for the door handle and pulled his hand back quickly as a Saagus he had never seen before opened it up quickly.
“Are you Caius?” The Saagus asked, “Are you the one who is leading this army?”
His voice sounded urgent, almost panicky. Caius was a little concerned that maybe the Pro‟Tea were already at their doorsteps after only a day! If they were here already, then the troops would have had little time to recover. With tired troops, they would be relying far too heavily on the strength of the new reinforcements!
“I am, what is going on?” Caius said quickly.
“A sc... wait, is that a Kil‟Zan? I heard rumours, but... what is she doing here?” The soldier asked, his voice not showing too much disdain toward Sil.
“She is with me,” Caius acted defensively, standing up to the soldier.
“I... umm...”
“Is there a problem with that, soldier?” Caius asked.
“No... I guess not...” He replied, lifting his hands defensively. “Anyway... a scout brought back news from Talon... Feeders are emerging in great numbers...”
“They feed on the dead, they shouldn‟t be too much of a concern to us right now,” Caius shook his head.
“There‟s something else...”
“Dusk?” Sil surmised judging by the worry on the soldiers face.
“Who?”
“Was there a female Pro‟Tea among the feeders?” Caius asked.
“Yes... Standing there, in the midst of Talon, unmoving... Just... standing, as if waiting for something...” The soldier reported.
“Negotiation, perhaps?” Sil asked.
“I doubt it, I have never encountered a single Pro‟Tea willing to negotiate before,” Caius shook his head.
“You haven‟t encountered a Pro‟Tea like Dusk before, either.” Sil reminded Caius.
“This is true... But I still don‟t think she is interested in any kind of negotiation... When I fought her... She seemed... cold... uncaring... I doubt something that fought the way she did would simply give up and then open for negotiations...” Caius explained.
“So what do we do, sir?” The soldier asked.
Caius looked at him in surprise. This was the first time he had been called sir without it being intended as a joke. This soldier meant what he had said and looked to Caius as leadership, even though he was a private in Sol‟s armies!
“We need everyone ready to move toward Talon.” Caius nodded.
“Are you expecting an army to come from Talon the moment we arrive?” Sil asked.
“I have no idea what to expect...” Caius shook his head, “All I know is that if we are not prepared, we will be caught off guard.”
“I will round up the soldiers, sir.” The soldier turned to leave.
“Wait, what is your name, soldier?”
“I am Captain Anteles,” He replied.
Caius was even more surprised that a Captain would be so willing to call him sir, even though his rank was actually lower than captain. Maybe they just didn‟t know and assumed the sole survive of Sol had to be a ranking official!
“Thank you, Anteles,” Caius said as the captain disappeared into the network of buildings.
“You obviously foresee heavy combat coming, right?” Sil aksed.
“I don‟t know what I foresee happening. All I know is that Dusk is not there by herself, regardless of how it looks,” Caius nodded, confirming his thoughts.
“So... Are you just going to attack?”
“No... I will go and talk to her and the army will be on standby, just in case I am right about an army being with her...” Caius explained.
“And where will I be?”
“With me, of course.” Caius said with a smile.
Sil laughed and the two of them made their way from the barracks to find where the bulk of the army was assembling. It was at the ruined patch of the wall, and Caius was surprised at just how many soldiers were there. The group numbered in the thousands now, and he felt confident they could repel anything that Dusk had with her, as well as anything she was planning to throw at them.
He heard whisperings among the gathering group about a Kil‟Zan being alongside him. They were not used to having a Kil‟Zan in their midst, and they were unsure of what it meant to have one there. Caius would have to assure them that he knew Sil was more than trustworthy. That she was more trustworthy than anyone else who had come to join his army.
They looked up to him, regardless of the fact that Sil was there beside him. They needed his leadership. They needed his plans. He wasn‟t much of a tactician, but he was slowly learning the craft since he was still a private and tactics were never his area of expertise.
The questions about Sil slowly left everyone‟s minds and they quickly changed to „what are we going to do?‟ Caius had a plan. It wasn‟t a very inventive or cunning plan. It was, however, at least something even the lowliest of soldiers could understand and not mess up.
“We are going to march toward Talon,” He instructed them as soon as the crowd began to quieten, waiting for his instruction, “I imagine the Pro‟Tea sitting there is not alone, and we should act as if she is not.”
“So... it‟s going to take all of us to beat one Pro‟Tea?” A soldier asked from the front rows of the group.
“No. The army will stay back, Sil and I will approach the Pro‟Tea. We believe her to be the same Dusk that we have fought before.” Caius explained.
“Does she want to negotiate?”
“I doubt it.” Caius explained, “That is why everyone is coming too. I expect negotiations are the last things going through this creatures mind. If combat arises, everyone is free to engage at will, form defensive lines and repel the attackers.”
There were no further questions. The plan was simple. It was so simple even a child could have followed through with it. Caius was hoping its simplicity in design would be enough to get everyone to follow it and for the day to be theirs.
“Let‟s go,” Caius ordered, turning about to face the ruined wall.
Those that carried weapons lifted them and seemed happy enough falling in line behind Sil and Caius. Although at first they questioned Sil, and why she was there, as time went on, they just ignored the fact that she was different.
“They seem to be more than happy to follow you, Caius,” Sil smiled.
“They just need someone to follow... I just happen to be that someone, I guess because I survived Sol and should know these creatures better than anyone. Truth be known... both you and I would know Dusk better than anyone in this army, as we are the only two to have ever engaged her in combat...”
“They look to you, though, not me...” Sil shook her head, “You are the leader here.”
“I know... but you are here with me, right? Even if they don‟t recognise what you are, know that I do, Sil. Out of all the soldiers here, you are the one I trust the most.”
Caius spoke his words with unwavering conviction. Anyone who had heard them would know they were inarguably the truth. He noticed Sil look down at her hands from the corner of his eye, and he knew that she could feel the weight of what he said was truth as well.
The walk from Core wasn‟t long at all. The ground between Core and Talon was mostly flat, partially covered in early morning dew. Had the times been anything but what they were, it would have been a picturesque walk.
However, times were what they were, and the walk was surround by the bodies of previous fights. They were slowly rotting and decaying amongst the grass, left to the whim of time as there had been no respite to give them all a proper burial.
The feeders were also amongst the grass, moving from corpse to corpse, gathering the biomass that they would then take back to the Abyss. Caius had never truly known what the feeders did with the biomass, but he had his theories. He theorised that they would take the biomass to drive the Pro‟Tea armies forward, fuelling the mutations perhaps in a similar way to the plates on Dusk
Caius ignored the feeders; they were not a priority at that moment, getting to Dusk was. The other soldiers kicked and blasted them as they passed by, but it made little difference to the sheer numbers of feeders that were pouring through the field like torrential flooding.
They stopped at the top of the slope that led down to Talon. Dusk stood there, alone just as the soldier had told them. She looked up, as if sensing the fact that Caius and Sil had arrived, even though it was probably more the sheer amount of footsteps shaking the ground. Even from the distance they were from Dusk, Caius was able to see a twisted smile spread across her lips.
“Hold this position.” Caius ordered, lifting a closed fist into the air.
“Are we going to her?” Sil asked as the order was repeated through the ranks of soldiers that had come with them.
“Yes.”
“You... do know that it is clearly a trap, right?”
“Yes.” Caius nodded and began walking down toward Dusk, whose blood-red eyes followed his steps perfectly, “However, I don‟t see the enemy to make this a trap...”
Sil followed him without questioning his judgement. They stopped just a metre from Dusk, who still remained completely still before them. She showed no signs of mutations yet, and Caius felt gave them an advantage.
“So, you two are brave enough to come face me alone?” Dusk asked, “Or do you believe that the army you have back there will survive long enough to assist you against me? Perhaps... Perhaps you think we can negotiate some kind of peace between our races?”
Dusk laughed at the thought and then regained her serious and cold composure.
“We know this is a trap.” Caius shook his head, “Perhaps we have walked into and sprung it... But perhaps, we wanted to see just what it was you wanted?”
“You top-world races understand so little about what is at play here. We are the accursed, the abandoned, the shadow on the moons at night and the terror of dreams.” Dusk said with a clear level of pride in the words, “What I, what we, the Pro‟Tea, want, is for you to bleed. We want you to fall broken, so that we can prove we are every bit as worthy of walking amongst the light as every other race!”
“Prove? To who? If you destroy everyone you will be proving to no one as no one will remain,” Caius shook his head, “Your plan is flawed.”
“Our plan is not flawed, but you will not live long enough to see that plan come to fruition, Saagus!” Dusk shouted and lunged forward, her arm becoming a solid blade of bone almost instantaneously!
Caius lifted his arm and took the hit on one of his vambraces, the blade of bone almost biting straight through it with ease! The armour about Sil‟s arm twisted and turned, becoming the lightning weapon she always wielded as she aimed it at Dusk!
Dusk moved in with her other hand, the knuckles twisting and warping into a mace-head that she slammed into Caius‟ chest, sending him flying through the air by the time Sil was able to launch a volley of lightning at Dusk!
Caius hit the ground and looked up at the army. His eyes widened with fear as he saw Pro‟Tea bursting from the ground all about and through the ranks, even large ones! Before they even knew it fully themselves, they were already being attacked!
He looked back to Dusk as she rose from the ground, lightning crackling about her body from the hit Sil had just landed. Dusk rushed at Sil, the mace hand turning to a shield of bone whilst the blade hand stayed the same. A blast of lightning hit and was dispersed by the shield harmlessly and the blade-arm of Dusk stabbed toward Sil!
Caius rushed in, seeing that Sil had not readied her other weapon yet, and hence, had little protection against the incoming strike! Golden flames engulfed his hand and he punched squarely for Dusks‟ arm! As he hit it, flames exploded and caused Dusk to pull her arm back quickly as she retreated several steps. This brief retreat gave Sil the time she needed to get her blade-arm ready for combat!
Dusk was not nearly done yet and charged back into her two opponents. She slammed Sil to the side with the shield, and tried to stab Caius with the bone-blade! Caius sidestepped the strike and summoned his own, golden sword in the same movement.
Caius swung his blade and it was met with the blade arm of Dusk. The two of them struggled against one another for a moment, and Caius caught a flicker of movement as Sil moved up behind Dusk.
She stabbed with her blade quickly, but was forced to stop when the feeder-like armour pieces squeezed tightly and caused two extra arms to burst from Dusks‟ back! A shielded arm moved quickly and blocked Sil‟s strike!
Both Caius and Sil jumped away from Dusk and looked at her for a moment with surprise. Caius had seen many mutations on the Pro‟Tea, but for one to instantly grow additional limbs was new.
Sil seemed less surprised by Dusks‟ mutations, and proceeded to blast away with her lightning weapon. The lightning was dispersed over the bony shield, and a second later, a whip-like arm extended toward Sil with a blade-hand on the end.
Sil managed to narrowly block the strike with her own weapon, darting off to one side. While Caius was distracted watching this exchanged of hits, Dusk moved toward him with a blade arm to strike.
He jumped back again, but then surged forward with his own blade, slicing downward in an attempt to sever the limb. The strike landed true, and Dusks‟ arm retreated quickly. The arms attacking Sil were drawn back toward her and Dusk laughed at the two of them.
The feeder-like armour pieces contracted and from within the wound on the severed arm, a new limb burst out, spraying Dusks‟ blood across the ground. She laughed a little bit more as Caius realised she wasn‟t as easy as he may have thought.
“What‟s the matter, heroes?” Dusk taunted, “Are you afraid to fight me? If you don‟t fight now, you‟re army will be defeated before you can help them!”
Caius looked up to his soldiers. They seemed to be doing a good enough job of holding their own against the aggressors that had literally popped out of the ground. This moment of distraction was what Dusk was waiting for, and she charged straight at Caius, slamming the shield into his face and knocking him down to the ground!
She proceeded to stab down with both the blade-arm on the front-side of her body, and the blade-hand coming from her back. Caius deflected the incoming strike from a first blade with his own sword and blasted a fire-bolt of green energy straight into Dusks face before the second could land its strike.
Dusk recoiled slightly and Sil blasted with her lightning weapon several times as she rushed in. Caius looked to her at the exact moment she swung her blade arm. The lightning had hit against Dusks‟ body, but she didn‟t seem to be bothered to much by the attacks. However, the blade-arm of Sil landed a perfect strike on one of the feeder-like armour plates on her body!
Dusk wailed in pain and smashed a shield into Sil‟s face, causing a cut across her cheek. As Sil recoiled, a whip-arm wrapped about her throat and Dusk proceeded to choke her tightly! Caius struggled back to his feet, the two wounds on his back aching from the amount of movement he had been doing, as well as him landing flat on his back after Dusks last attack.
He charged up another orb of energy in his left hand and performed a leaping strike with his sword, stabbing it downward toward Dusk! Her shield lifted up, and the golden blade was deflected by the bony-guard. Caius had planned for this, and swung his hand with the orb downward quickly. As it smashed into the shield, a huge field of energy expanded quickly, knocking Dusk off of her feet and pushing her away from both Caius and Sil!
Caius helped Sil back to her feet as she coughed and spluttered from being choked by the whip arm. The two of them stood side by side as Dusk got back to her feet, the arms on her back retreating into her body once more. Caius glanced back up at the army, making sure they were doing well against the creatures that were still coming from the ground.
Casualties were no doubt being taken on both sides, but from what he could see, they were managing fine. The group he had fought along in the last battle were no doubt a little versed in taking down the behemoths, and could impart the knowledge on anyone who had recently joined them.
Dusk came rushing toward them, the remaining armour pieces constricted and bat-like wings burst from her back! Caius turned to Sil as an idea sparked in his mind.
“Distract her a minute, and we can finish this now.” He ordered.
Sil didn‟t question and counter-charged, holding her blade to one side and firing arcs of lightning at Dusk. Dusk was able to deftly block each of the lightning strikes with the shield, and blocked Sil with her the blade of bone as Sil swung her own weapon toward her.
At the moment of impact the jetpacks on Sil‟s back fired, blasting her off of the ground and putting space between Dusk and herself. As she soared higher into the air, she continued to send volleys of lightning strikes at Dusk, hoping to land a single, lucky hit!
Caius stood off to the side while Sil and Dusk fought. He had unsummoned his weapon and was now clasping both hands together with blood-red energy swirling around them. He had never tried to use this ability at level six before, but it had to work; he needed it to. He closed his eyes and focused for a moment before pulling his hands apart quickly creating a line of energy between them that began to solidify into a large, crystalline, blood-red bow!
He gripped it with one hand, slamming one end into the ground for stability since the weapon was as tall as he was! He pulled back the string as far as he could, an arrow of blood-red energy appearing on the rest. He took aim at Dusk who was busy parrying and deflecting Sil‟s attacks.
Caius breathed in deep, and let the breath go at the same time as the arrow flew. The arrow of energy did not whistle like a normal arrow, it roared like a hurricane! When it hit Dusk, the impact sounded something akin to a tree splintering as lightning ripped it a part!
Dusk was knocked off her feet and she fell to the ground with a solid thud. Dust flew up about her, and Caius watched with a certain amount of joy as the Pro‟Tea looked down at the blood-red arrow buried in her shoulder!
“Move!” Caius shouted.
Sil‟s was already airborne, but took the order and moved away further. The arrow exploded aggressively and the feeder-armour piece was completely obliterated in the process! He had figured out the source of her mutation; the armour pieces didn‟t just look like feeders, they actually were! They were obviously filled with biomass, and when they were on her body they could inject it directly into her, so that she was able to mutate instantaneously on the field.
Dusk stood up, holding a gaping wound where her shoulder once was. The shoulder, and the arm attached, had been destroyed in the explosion. The remaining feeders squeezed and the wound healed itself quickly, but Caius had learned that he could definitely beat Dusk.
“We have to take those feeders away,” Caius informed Sil as she landed beside him, “I can keep firing with this if you want to keep distracting her...”
“I don‟t think she‟ll fall for the same trick twice,” Sil shook her head, “You fire and I‟ll head for taking the next one off.”
“Right,” Caius said, pulling another blood-red arrow into the string of the bow.
Dusk finished repairing her shoulder and then rushed straight toward Caius. Sil ducked to the side as Caius let another arrow fly. The roar followed the blood-red arrow as it flew straight passed Dusk as she dodged. As it hit the wall of Talon behind her, it explode and left a large hole in the cavernous wall!
Caius let the bow disperse from his hands. Regardless of how powerful the strikes were, he couldn‟t maintain the energy for each shot, and Dusk was about to engage him in close combat. Dusk swung her arms downward, both of them mutating into blade-arms as she did. Caius
slammed his hands into the ground. A golden barrier burst into existence about him and blocked both attacks while Sil got into position to strike.
Dusk recoiled from the block slightly. Caius took the opportunity and let his barrier down. He pushed forward, lowering his shoulder and slamming it straight into Dusks‟ stomach! Sil didn‟t miss her cue, and charged in, her blade-arm extended and ready to impale.
The blade speared through one of the feeders on Dusk. With a quick movement, Sil moved the blade and ripped the feeder from Dusks‟ body! Seconds after removing the feeder a massive mace-head on the end of Dusks‟ arm smashed into her chest armour, sending her sailing through the air.
Sils‟ jetpack caught her in midflight, breaking her fall perfectly. Dusk leapt away from Caius, who was actually glad she did as it gave him some time to recover and plan his next attack against her. She was down three feeders. That left only two to go!
Sil blasted with lightning and Caius clasped his hands together, summoning a blood-red energy once again. Dusk dodged the lightning arc and leapt into the air. Growths appeared on her back, as they had done when her wings formed last time. This time, they did not form into full wings quick enough to catch her before gravity did!
Dusk fell to the ground and Caius summoned a two-handed blade of blood-red energy. Sil capitalised on the moment and arced lightning into Dusk as Caius rushed in with his new weapon. Dusk was only half way back to her feet when the lightning arc hit her, knocking her back. Before she could even think about recovering Caius stabbed his blade straight down into her chest, impaling the feeder there!
Dusks arm began mutating, but Caius was able to retreat long before it became like a whip and she tried to attack him! Dusk rose slowly, gingerly. She was clearly not used to the feeling that was travelling through her body as her chest, where Caius had stabbed, repaired itself slowly.
Sil moved to the opposite side of Dusk to Caius. Caius lifted his weapon and Sil readied herself as well. Caius knew this battle was coming to a close, all that was left to do was to end it.
Both Sil and Caius rushed toward Dusk at the same time, Sil with her sword raised just as Caius had! Dusk tried to mutate in response to her two attackers, but she couldn‟t do it quick enough! Sil‟s blade sliced one of Dusks‟ legs off, and Caius cleaved straight through the torso, starting at one shoulder and ending at the base of the ribs on the opposite side!
Dusk looked shocked as her body fell to the ground in several pieces. Caius and Sil looked down on Dusk. She flailed uselessly, refusing to admit defeat even in pieces. Both Sil and Caius lifted their swords and stabbed straight down into her at the same time. This combined strike more than enough to finish Dusk off for good!
Caius looked up at Sil, the both of them panting from the fight they had only just survived. A small smile crept onto Sil‟s lips and that was about all the encouragement Caius needed. He grabbed her about the waist with one hand, pulling her in roughly and kissing her square on the mouth while the other hand made its way to the back of her head!
She kissed him back, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the sensation rippling through her. Caius held her tight, and broke away only so the two could exchange half a laugh before he breathlessly kissed her a second time.
Caius felt her hands moving their way up his back, holding him just as tightly as he held her! If there was even half a doubt in either of their minds about whether or not they should be together, their actions did not show it at all!
Cheers surrounded them as the army rushed toward them, victorious over the Pro‟Tea that had come from the ground! They were so elated that they didn‟t even care that a Kil‟Zan and a Saagus were kissing right in front of them!
The army retreated back to Core to celebrate their victory over the Pro‟Tea. None were more so eager to celebrate a victory then Caius and Sil, who were victorious over Dusk! Whilst the others celebrated in the streets, Caius took Sil back to the same dwelling they had been in before leaving to fight the combat.
Sil pushed Caius in almost, latching the door behind them before she moved over to him quickly, her lips finding his perfectly in the dark that had since fallen on the world. She ran her fingers up his arms and onto his chest, her lips failing to leave his right up until she undid the clasp holding his robes on!
A magical explosion filled the room with a brilliant white light, illuminating Sil as her hands slipped into Caius‟ robe and began to remove it. She unbuckled the shoulder and wrist guards, letting them fall to the floor with a heavy thud before she peeled the robes from him slowly, kissing his now exposed shoulder.
Caius moved his hands along Sil‟s armoured body, feeling a little bit at a loss since he had no idea whatsoever of how to get the armour off of her! Sil solved the issue for him when she kissed him on the lips and then pushed him back on the bed!
Caius looked on as tiny lights lit up about her armour, the plates moving and coming off her automatically. He could slightly see her body in the dark of the night, with only the dim lights of her suit components illuminating anything.
He could see the faint curve of her body against the gloom, the pale of her flesh. But that wasn‟t enough for Caius, he wanted to see Sil. He wanted to see all that she was. He eagerly awaited the moment his battle-brethren let off another magical explosion so that he could catch even half a glimpse!
As if on cue, a magical explosion filled the room with white light, and Caius saw everything that Sil was. He knew that what has been seen can never be unseen, and he was so glad for this rule! She was more beautiful than he would have thought a Kil‟Zan was capable of being! The curve from hip to ribs was perfect. Her skin was perfect. Her breasts, perfect.
In short, Caius felt like he had hit the jackpot on some kind of lottery to find himself on a bed, wearing nothing and waiting for this creature to come and join with him!
Sil climbed onto the bed slowly, a hand feeling its way up Caius so that she knew where she was going. The only thing Caius found weird was that she still wore her gauntlets, but even that was not enough to detour him from what was going to follow!
He lifted his hands and gripped Sil, rolling with her so that he was over her and she was laying beneath him. Both of them breathed heavily, their lips trembling centimetres away from each others. Caius kissed her again and positioned himself over her as Sils‟ legs curled about him slightly.
He pressed himself against her and a moment of hesitation filled his body. For a split second, he wondered if this could possibly be as right as it felt. Sil helped him dispel such uncertainties by guiding him into her!
As soon as he pushed his way into her, both of them shuddered! Caius had been in this situation before, not even with his own kind and he couldn‟t believe just how good it felt! He moved with Sil, who bit his neck lightly to stop herself from making too much noise!
Caius moved his lips to hers, and she bit his bottom lip softly! Another magical, celebratory explosion lit up the room, and if anyone had been watching, they would have been able to see Caius over Sil, the two of them moving as if they were one being in absolute ecstasy!
“Caius...” Sil said breathlessly before letting out a slight shriek as Caius pushed into her hard.
“Yes... Sil...” Caius replied, equally as breathless.
“I... I think I love you...” She whispered into his ear, “I don‟t know how... or why... but... I love you.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and she held Caius tightly as he stopped moving, just for a moment. He thought about what she said. Not only did he think about it, he felt about it. Could it be possible that he felt the same way? Could they have truly broken all barriers to be at this point together?
“I do too.” Caius gave an affirming nod and kissed Sil softly, watching as another brilliant explosion caused the tear of happiness rolling down her cheek to sparkle, “I love you.”

Caius opened his eyes slowly. They still felt weary even though it was morning now. He looked to the light filtering into the small building and then wondered if it was actually morning, or closer to mid afternoon! Either way, he felt like he needed more sleep.
He rolled slightly and looked at Sil laying beside him. She was wearing as little clothing as he was, and it was a pleasant sight to wake up to. The blankets of the bed were all twisted and knotted at the foot of the bed, a small portion of them were covering Sil‟s legs up to her calves. Caius leant over and kissed her cheek, causing her to stir slightly.
He still couldn‟t believe what the two of them had done the night before, it was like a perfect dream, perhaps even better. He couldn‟t help but look at her as she slept peacefully. For once in his life, everything seemed to have fallen into the right places.
The celebrations of the troops had lasted through most of the night too. Caius couldn‟t have been sure when the other soldiers had given up on their celebrations. All he did know was that when they had fallen into silence, Sil had uttered a pleasured scream that could have been mistaken for a murder victim!
Caius sat up and climbed out of bed slowly. As soon as he put weight on his legs, however, he fell straight to the ground with a thud! He couldn‟t believe how worn out they were! It was like he had run a marathon, maybe even two!
Sil stirred a little more by the sound of him collapsing onto the ground. Caius stopped moving completely, he didn‟t want to disturb her more than he already had. He stood slowly again, this time with much more caution then the last, just in case he would fall over again.
He looked about the room once he found his stability and saw his robes and armour mixed in amongst pieces of Sil‟s suit. For whatever reason, seeing them there like that just made him smile more at how fortune had smiled upon him.
“Umm...” Sil spoke, her voice sounding as hung-over as if she had been drinking all night. She stretched and yawned as Caius turned to face her with a smile, and then she added, “I must say I haven‟t slept that good in a while...”
“Oh?” Caius flashed he a cheeky grin, “Did you do something differently this time?”
“Maybe something a little different, yes,” Sil replied with a laugh as she stood from the bed.
She didn‟t have nearly as much difficulty finding her balance as Caius had. He guessed it was mostly because of the boots that remained permanently attached to her. It must have been like the gauntlets on her hands, neither of the pieces of equipment would have been removed in years.
“We should probably get dressed and find out what the army is doing, right?” Sil suggested as she put her arms about Caius.
For the second time, Caius got to feel Sil‟s body against his, and he wished that moment of contact could last forever. He knew from past experiences, particularly against the Pro‟Tea, moments of peace were never to last long.
“You say that whilst you press your naked body against me...” Caius shook his head in mock confusion, “Talk about mixed signals here...”
Sil kissed his cheek, “Shutup and get dressed.”
Caius broke away from her, turning about and placing his fist against his bare chest in the traditional salute, “Yes sir.”
Sil shook her head and lifted her left gauntlet up, pressing buttons on the underside, calling her combat suit back to her body. Unlike last time, Caius got to watch each piece of armour link
in perfectly with the others as it formed around her. This was the first time he was actually surprised at the technology that the Kil‟Zan possessed! Perhaps his arrogance toward them disabled him from seeing just what they were capable of creating.
Caius lifted his robes over his shoulder and began doing the buckle up at the front. By the time he had it clasped, Sil was already fully armoured, and she moved to help Caius with the rest of his equipment. She began attaching the vambraces to his forearms, and Caius felt like some kind of strange king or lord, being dressed by one of his subjects.
He did the pauldrons himself, with a little assistance from Sil right at the end, and then the two of them stood there, looking face to face, in the silence of the room. The soldiers must have still been sleeping, which Caius found odd since they had gone to bed far earlier than Sil and himself had.
Caius led the way out of the building and onto the streets of Core. It didn‟t take him too long to find a soldier, passed out on the ground. Seeing the unconscious soldier answered his question as to why everyone was still asleep; they had been drinking far too much the night before!
After having seen the first one on the ground, he spotted several more. Then the sight of bottles and kegs all about the ground followed soon after. Someone had discovered a cellar full of alcohol somewhere in Core. The troops no doubt had a lot of fun once they found it!
Caius couldn‟t help but chuckle at them. He couldn‟t blame them for having their form of fun when he had his own with Sil all night! Even with most of them sleeping peacefully on the ground where they had fallen, some of them looking a little worse for wear, Caius couldn‟t help but feel tension heavy in the air.
He wasn‟t sure if it was everywhere or just within himself, but it was definitely somewhere around him. It was tense because there was peace, and he knew there were still more waves of Pro‟Tea to go before they were in the clear from the conflict. Even that would only last until the next time the Pro‟Tea decided to attack.
He wondered if it would ever go back to the way it was, or if they were forced to think quickly and endure erratic attacks from an enemy that had always been so consistent with its form.
“It‟s so quiet.” Sil said to interrupt the tense silence.
Caius could tell, just by her comment, that she, too, felt the tension he was feeling. Tenuous peace, but for how long could it last? How long would it be before the Pro‟Tea rose up once again to strike? Caius took heart in the fact that they had killed Dusk, and that was no doubt a heavy blow for the enemy.
However, if there had been one consistent thing in this entire process of Pro‟Tea attacks, it was that where there was one, there was always more. Caius held a slight fear that there was another creature in the Pro‟Tea ranks just like Dusk. Perhaps it was something even stronger.
“The soldiers got into some alcohol it seems,” Caius kicked the legs of a nearby sleeping soldier.
The soldier didn‟t even move, he just kept snoring his head off as he hugged the base of a barrel that had no doubt been full the night before. Sil laughed at how drunk they must have been to fall unconscious in the ways that they had!
“Something seems to be bothering you, Caius,” Sil pointed out, stepping up beside him, “Do you expect another attack... so soon?”
“I don‟t know what to expect now... However... I know they will attack... It‟s just a question of when...”
“Should we move to retake Sol? Catch the enemy there before they can gain momentum?”
Caius put a hand to his chin as he thought about the suggestion. It made a lot of sense to him. If they were there, in Sol, the enemy would only have so far to gain momentum before they caught them. At least in Sol, the war could be somewhat contained.
“I think we may have to wait before we put that plan in motion, though...” Caius looked around at his inebriated army with a smile.
“Hmm, yeah... They don‟t look like they‟ll be ready to move any time soon...” Sil nodded.
“I wonder if we could get any extra soldiers from nearby...”
“That would mean leaving, though...”
Caius nodded. It did mean leaving Core to find extra soldiers. Sil and Caius had more experience about the horrors that the Pro‟Tea could spew forth than almost everyone else in their army. They had to stay. The army needed their leadership and knowledge.
He had no idea when the Pro‟Tea would attack again, either. Leaving Core would mean taking an exceptionally risky gamble. If the Pro‟Tea struck while they were gone, he had grave fears for the survival of his brethren.
“We have to stay here... Maybe I‟ll send one of the soldiers when they finally awaken from their slumbers.”
Sil looked about and laughed, “We could be waiting a while!”
Caius nodded. Waiting was something he didn‟t want to do, not when the air about the city of Core was so tense. He still couldn‟t find a direct culprit for it, either. He needed to know why it felt the way it did, and figure out if he could do anything about it.
The looming threat of the Pro‟Tea was the only likely cause. Caius kept reminding himself that they would come when they come. There was little he, or anyone, could do to control their schedule.
Caius hadn‟t even bothered looking to the sky, he just expected it to be sunny and beautiful, reflecting the night he had just experienced with Sil. All those thoughts and expectations were shattered when he heard the sound of rolling thunder move through the skies.
“Looks like they‟ll be up earlier than we thought if that thunder has brought rain with it.” Caius laughed.
He took hold of Sil‟s hands and led her under an archway which served as a pathway to the front door of a manor. Sure enough, as soon as he was under cover with her, rain drops began to fall over the city of Core, and Caius took great pleasure in listening to the soldiers beginning to stir.
At first there were groans, as if a hundred angry zombies had been resurrected. Then there were shrieks, followed by louder, angrier roars of discomfort. Finally, there was the shuffling of feet as the angry creatures that had been awoken far ahead of their intended schedules tried to find cover from the rain!
Several were unlucky enough to find their way into the archway with Sil and Caius. Caius figured that the four of them were as good as any for volunteers to go out and try to recruit more soldiers for the army.
“It is your lucky day, soldiers,” He addressed them with the level of happiness that made any hung-over creature want to throttle the speaker.
“How are you so awake?!” One of them groaned as if he was on his deathbed, “Did we run out of alcohol before you could have any or something?!”
“I didn‟t have any,” Caius glanced sideways at Sil with a smile, “I had better things to... uhh... drink...”
Sil nudged him playfully. Caius knew she wouldn‟t want him to display their nights‟ activities with the rest of Core, and he had no intention of doing it either. The soldiers may have accepted Sil already, but would they so readily accept the fact they were sleeping together?
“Right, well, your beverages were clearly non-alcoholic then... why are we the lucky ones?” Another squinted in the dull light as if it was supremely bright.
The rain continued to pound down upon the city of Core, and Caius smiled at the four in front of him. He knew they were not going to like what he wanted them to do. Nor would any hung-over soldier, for that matter.
“I need you four to go about to neighbouring cities and find me more soldiers. Tell them Caius calls for them. Tell them that if we don‟t get reinforced, it is likely that this city, along with many others, will fall to the waves of Pro‟Tea.” Caius announced to them as though it were some kind of royal proclamation.
The four of them grunted amongst themselves, groaning and bickering like elderly men at a bar. Caius then realised they were trying to pick who was going to be heading off on this mission. He laughed a little, drawing their attention back to him.
“Don‟t worry. You‟re all going, so you don‟t need to discuss it too much, right?” Caius tried not to laugh too much at them.
“Fine...” One of them growled, “Do we at least get to rest up before we leave?”
“Yes, but don‟t take too much time,” Sil chimed in.
Caius was expecting a negative reaction to a Kil‟Zan telling the soldiers what to do. The fact that they simply grumbled and agreed with her surprised him greatly! Maybe more of the soldiers were used to the idea of a Kil‟Zan with him than he thought. Maybe they, too, simply respected the fact that Sil had combat knowledge of the Pro‟Tea.
Perhaps it was just a simple fact that they were more willing to listen to her because she was alone amongst them. Their reaction could have been much different if there were even two, three or a dozen more like Sil in their midst.
“Fine... whatever...” The soldiers grumbled as a group.
The rain continued to fall, imprisoning the six of them to the area underneath the archway. Caius and Sil didn‟t mind too much, it forced them to be where they wanted to be; close to each other.
Caius put his arm about Sil‟s waist and there was a slightly questioning look from one of the drunkard soldiers. It didn‟t linger too long on his expression. It was likely he just wrote off what he thought he saw as the alcohol talking lies in his system!
Green energy swirled about Caius hand before he lifted it to his shoulder level. A beam extended upward and then spread out as though it were a spider web. The gaps between the strands of web filled in with energy and when he stopped concentrating, he had an umbrella crafted out of his magic!
“Shall we see how everyone else is going?” Caius asked.
He didn‟t want to give the soldiers any moments to slack off and become lazy in their vigilance. After such a victory, it was even more important for everyone to remain focused, waiting for the next time their enemies appeared. The partying they had done the night before was far more than what they needed to celebrate. Now it was time to focus on the real reason they were there; the Pro‟Tea.
Sil stepped under the umbrella of energy and the two of them walked together out into the rain. It hit the top of the green field and caused a slightly luminous spark on impact. As the water
moved along the umbrella, it glistened with greenish energy before falling off the edges, landing harmlessly next to them as they walked between the buildings of Core.
It didn‟t take them long to find groups of others, all in a similar state to the ones they had just charged with collecting more soldiers. Caius‟ instructions were fairly simple and excessively straight forward; recover and then get to training their bodies and skills, readying for the next wave of attack which could come at any moment.
There were no rules with the Pro‟Tea now. Caius was beginning to gain the opinion that they would have to continue killing them until there were none left to be thrown at them. Maybe that was what Dusk was there to do, to push the war until there was only one side left. If that was the case, Caius was glad that she had died without her dreams or plans coming to fruition.
Group after group they approached, and whilst all of them groaned as if they were all arm and leg amputees being asked to fetch a bucket of water, they all agreed. Caius wasn‟t asking them to do anything they couldn‟t. He made sure that they knew they had time to recover before they did it. A well-rested, untrained soldier was worth ten times more than a tired, trained soldier.
As he met with each congregation of soldiers, each seemed to be at a different level of returning to sobriety, which Caius was glad for. At least some of the soldiers would be ready to fight if a Pro‟Tea army appeared on their doorstep!
“I think that is everyone,” Caius nodded when he and Sil stood before the ruined hole in the wall.
“So now what?” Sil asked.
“We wait.”
“We can‟t go on the offensive against the Pro‟Tea?”
“Absolutely not...” Caius shook his head quickly, “We, that is, Sol, had sent several squadrons of soldiers into the Abyss once, and not a single one of them had returned. Furthermore, a tracking team was sent down into the Abyssal Tunnel, the only way to get to the Abyss, and they found no trace that anything had ever been down there.”
“So we‟re stuck waiting for them to come to us each time? How will we ever be sure that they have been defeated with that? Couldn‟t we cave the Abyssal Tunnel?” Sil suggested as Caius walked her outside of the city walls.
He could see feeders still scurrying about the battlefield, and he wanted to destroy them before they could get back to the Abyss. Sil was trying her best to assist the war, but she was suggesting everything that Sol had tried before.
“We caved it in once... Their numbers were more than capable of pushing it to the side and striking back at us with as much ferocity as normal...” Caius answered, “If we try to cave it too many times, eventually we will open up a hole through the roof of the cavern and the Pro‟Tea could circumvent Sol altogether if that happened...”
“But then... that means we may never truly defeat them...” Sil sighed.
“Even if we did, there would be no way to be sure,” Caius agreed, “Come on, let‟s get to the concept of training... We can take down these feeders while we‟re at it... I‟m pretty sure they are linked to their numbers increasing over time.”
Sil didn‟t object, and her weapons deployed quickly. Within a few minutes, they were moving about the field, slashing and blasting at the Pro‟Tea feeders that were consuming the dead. It wasn‟t hard work, but, it kept their bodies ready and maybe inhibited the enemy as well.

The rain continued to fall for several days. Several days of tension. Several days of uncomfortable quiet. The only Pro‟Tea to have come through Talon were the Feeders. They kept coming, feeding on the dead, harvesting from them. Caius couldn‟t help but remain on edge; he knew there was a battle coming. After several days of tense quiet and destroying feeders, he just wished it the battle would come and get itself over with!
Sil had remained with him for the entire time, and they had grown much closer still. They no longer cared what anyone in the army thought about their union. They were open about it, holding hands, kissing and hugging each other when the mood so took them. Usually it followed them defeating a group of feeders, or one besting the other in a training bout.
No one in the army could offer even a lick of evidence to disprove that the feelings of their commanding officer and his Kil‟Zan girlfriend were true.
The soldiers had been doing as Caius instructed; training and going through drills in order to keep their minds and skills sharp. Some of them found it difficult with the rain at first, not wanting to get wet and risk getting a cold, but quickly came around to the fact that some Saagus could erect a barrier to block the rain if it was that much of an issue!
More soldiers came in from neighbouring cities, some from farther off townships in other provinces. News of the plight had no doubt spread throughout the world, and Caius was just hoping they had enough for the battle that was coming. The Pro‟Tea seemed to be waiting this time.
This was what made the entire time seem tense to him. Normally, they would just throw everything they could at the world. The last few waves were in quick succession as well. He expected them soon, and they were simply making him wait.
Was this perhaps a new tactic employed by an enemy that had been completely tactless up until this point? Perhaps that was what caught everyone so off-guard, the fact that no one knew how to counter a serious shift in combat tactics!
Caius had sent scouts to Talon routinely to keep track of what came in and out of it. For the past days there had been nothing moving in and out of it besides the feeders. These reports only added to the tension he was feeling about the situation.
“Sir.” One of three soldiers he had sent on a reconnaissance mission to Talon addressed Caius.
Caius turned and did the respectful salute, as he always did. It was never necessary for a commanding officer to salute his subordinates, but Caius‟ elevation to a ranking officer was so rapid that he still felt a bit like the private he should have been.
“What news?” Caius asked, his hand held tightly by Sil.
Sil stood beside him, as she always did, but in the last day, she had decided to abandon her armour until it was necessary and dress like the Saagus she was among. To that end, she wore a thick set of robes with only vambraces about her wrists. Her hands had even come out from her gauntlets which had always been there! At first she was embarrassed by them until Caius kissed them and held them in his own, and she felt things in a way she never had before.
“Feeder activity in and out has increased throughout our checks today, going from half a dozen in and out every hour to more than thirty,” The soldier reported.
Caius ran his thumb along Sil‟s knuckled, which were bony and much paler than Caius‟ skin when he left Sol for the first time! It had clearly been some time since they saw the light of day.
“Perhaps they are stockpiling the biomass in the form of an army, and it is almost ready?” Sil suggested.
When Sil had first begun suggesting things of military significance, the Saagus disliked it. However, Caius had defended her on several occasions, and, after thought, most of her suggestions weren‟t as stupid as the Saagus wrote them off as being.
Caius rubbed his chin in thought, “I think that is a likely scenario... Perhaps we should do a drill and see how rapid everyone can be ready.”
Caius turned his attention squarely at the soldier, “Summon the army, and tell them to meet at the ruined wall. Make sure they know they will need to be ready to move. Twenty minutes.”
The soldier nodded. Most scouts he had deployed knew they would be used as a form of communication with the troops if there was a message to be sent around. Caius did his part too, but, it helped when there was more than one person delivering his orders. He imagined the first few groups of soldiers informed would talk about the orders as well, and it would spread through Core quickly.
“Twenty minutes? That seems a long time...” Sil looked at Caius in confusion, “Why so long?”
Caius turned to face her with a smile across his lips before he ran his hands along her robes, “You need to get suited up properly, milady.”
Sil looked over herself and laughed that she hadn‟t even noticed herself. Caius smiled at her, knowing that she had grown comfortable with them in the past few days. He was glad he reminded her, otherwise, they may have walked into battle and only realised she was without weapons and armour when she needed them.
“You‟re point is well received,” She laughed, her cheeks reddening with a tinge of embarrassment.
Caius escorted her back to the building that served as their home now. He opened the door and looked over the slight modifications they had made to it in the last couple of days. One was an armoire, where both Sil‟s and his own armour would be kept during the night or whenever it wasn‟t in use. Another was a food store so they wouldn‟t have to keep leaving the building to ransack a local inn or house.
Sil moved over to the armoire and opened it up as Caius closed the door. She struggled with the buckle on her robes for a few seconds until Caius made his way over to help her. He moved his hands along the fold of the robe softly, unbuckling it slowly and looking Sil squarely in the eyes as he did it. In that moment, both wished Caius hadn‟t issued an order for everyone to be ready to move in twenty minutes!
The robes fell from her body, sliding along her perfect skin as Caius kissed her bare shoulder. She pushed him back slightly and reached into the armoire, picking up her gauntlets. They opened up and she slid her hands in them one after another. The gauntlets seemed to hesitate on her hands. It was as though they were scanning the changes in her hands before they tightened up around them.
She clenched her hand tight several times, getting used to the gauntlet on her hand once again before she pressed the wrist screen to call the rest of her armour to her. Caius watched, still amazed at the way it happened when the pieces of armour moved across her body, finding the right places and interlocking perfectly with the others to form the suit of armour she wore, along with the weapons contained therein.
“Okay,” Sil turned to Caius and smiled, “All set.”
Caius moved closer to her and kissed her lips softly before saying, “Alright then, let‟s get ready to move out.”
Sil followed him out and then along the streets of Core to the ruined wall. Others were already gathering, their armour ready and their minds sharpened, as Caius had wanted them to be.
His army had grown substantially. He had also a lot more confidence in it than before. Even still, the tension about the Pro‟Tea lack of action in the area still bothered him. He wondered if everyone in his forces felt the same way about it as he did. He hoped not. He wanted them to keep their minds on what lay ahead of them.
He found it a little amusing that what he wanted his army to avoid doing was exactly what he, himself, was doing the whole time. He wanted them to be sharp and keep their minds on the objective. Whilst he was doing just that, he was anything but sharp about it!
The forces gathering at the ruined wall swelled and Caius figured that most, if not all, were already there. The stragglers would be able to catch up quickly enough, so there was no point in delaying it any further.
“Alright, let‟s move out, we‟re heading for Talon!” Caius shouted.
He turned to lead the way with Sil at his side. As soon as he began walking, the army moved after him, following his orders perfectly. He doubted they would find anything that would indicate a coming wave of Pro‟Tea at Talon, but there was no harm in checking it out, just in case.
Caius was glad to feel the tension in the air drop as they began marching. It meant that his troops were anything but as tense as he was. In a way, Caius hoped to find the enemy in waiting there, because his army was ready now.
Feeders scattered about the force as they moved forward, abandoning the carrion they were feasting upon in preference of their own survival. This was something he had never seen feeders do before. They were always single minded and driven to that singular purpose of gathering. He thought into it maybe a little more than he should have. He wondered if it had any deeper meaning than the feeders just having a healthy appreciation for their own lives.
They reached the start of the decline that led into Talon and Caius ordered his army to stop there with a closed fist in the air. He looked down into Talon, and saw dozens of feeders moving in and out, moving faster than normal, as if they were being driven by some overpowering force. Something was definitely there to modify their actions, but what was it, and where was it?
The army began to grow restless with nothing to fight. Not all of them were aware that this was a simple drill to see if they could be ready quick enough to react to the Pro‟Tea breeching the surface. They had marched all of this way for nothing, it seemed, but Caius kept watching the feeders. They perplexed him, some of them moving into Talon with biomass collected from the dead, whilst others returned with nothing.
Furthermore, as if only to make him think more, feeders were coming out with a small cluster of something he couldn‟t identify, and returning to Talon empty-handed. Another activity he had never seen the Pro‟Tea do before, and it could have had any number of potential reasons behind it.
“Well... I guess there is nothing here...” Sil said to Caius, “At least the soldiers can be ready quickly, right?”
Caius didn‟t respond straight away and Sil could see from a bead of sweat running down the side of his forehead that he could see something that no one else was willing to notice. Sil
watched his eyes and then followed their direction, finding them on the feeders coming out with a cluster of mass with them, only to return after depositing it on the ground somewhere.
“Caius?” She asked.
Again, he didn‟t respond, he was too focused on trying to find meaning behind the slight change in activity. There had to be a reason for it, there had to be something to gain from the feeders acting in the way that they were!
“Caius!” Sil shouted and it shocked Caius from his trance.
“Sorry...” Caius answered her finally, “I guess... It‟s like you said, nothing here...”
Caius turned to address the army at his back. As he faced them, all he could see was a flicker of greeny-grey knuckles that smashed squarely against him, sending him sailing through the air!
He slammed against the ground and shook the weight of the hit from his head, looking toward where he had been standing moments before. A large behemoth of the Pro‟Tea began pulling itself completely out of the ground after it had landed a heavy hit on Caius!
Caius got to his feet as quickly as he could in his semi-dazed state. The army reacted quickly, weapons and magic being prepared instantly, but even that reaction was slow compared to the Pro‟Tea attack!
All amongst the army Pro‟Tea of varying sizes and levels of mutation burst from the ground, attacking in a similar way to how they had struck Caius! Caius rushed over to them, blood-red energy swirling about his hand and making a blade for him to fight with. It was starting to become a lot easier for him to summon that particular weapon, since he had used it so many times in this war against the Pro‟Tea!
Sil had used her jetpacks to gain distance between herself and Caius‟ attacker, something Caius was glad that she did. Caius rushed in, slashed with his blade as he approached his attacker, cutting it across the chest, and the arc emitted from the blade cleaving it cleanly in half!
Seeing one felled seemed to bolster the armies efforts at replicating Caius‟ lead. Sil rejoined him as he began to engage anything and everything that was close to him. He slashed with his sword, blasted with elemental powers as Sil sent out arcs of lightning and sliced through them as well.
It seemed the Pro‟Tea had underestimated the force Caius would bring to the battlefield at first. But they kept coming from their underground hiding places, dozens and then hundreds. Caius was beginning to wonder at just how many he would have to face this time around. One thing he was glad for was that there would be no Dusk to worry about this time.
As the thoughts moved through his mind, Caius felt something hit him from behind with such force that he was sent face-first into the ground! Sil jumped in to defend him, but she was met with a similar result even facing the enemy!
Caius rolled over and looked up to see another unusual Pro‟Tea. It stood taller than he was by a good two feet, boasted a second set of arms and huge wings. Its‟ body was thick and muscular, yet covered in the same feeders as Dusk had been! Was this another creature identical to Dusk, but male?
Caius got back to his feet and rushed the creature with his blade raised. The targets arm warped and became solid like rock, while another became two, razor-sharp talons that swung straight for him! Sil jumped in front of the attack, blocking it with her sword!
They had distracted two of the arms, but neglected the other two. They mutated into mace heads on the end of whip-like arms that smashed both of them in the chest, sending them flying backward!
Caius tried to catch his breath as Sil looked down and saw a fair amount of damage to her chest plate!
“Any ideas, Caius?” Sil asked, rushing over to him.
Caius rose gingerly to his knees after catching his breath. He didn‟t have enough time to give her an answer as the creature flew toward them, the scythes looking ready to slash straight away. Caius opened a palm to the ground, grabbing Sil about the waist and blasting himself up into the air with a heavy, concussive strike!
The creature looked up as Sil took flight on her own and Caius clasped both his hands together, white energy swirling about it. Caius moved his hands outwards quickly and two wings of white energy burst into existence on his back!
“I didn‟t know you could do that!” Sil exclaimed in surprise.
“Neither did I... That‟s a level one version, and that guy down there inspired it,” Caius pointed as the creature took flight, coming straight for the both of them.
Its two left arms melded together, becoming a huge mace head at the end of a long, whipping appendage! Caius lifted his sword and his wings worked a lot easier than he had predicted.
“I distract, you remove one of the feeders, okay, Sil?” Caius suggested.
He didn‟t even wait for her response before diving straight for his opponent. He held the sword out to one side, trailing behind him slightly as ice-blue energy swirled about his other hand. The creature began to swing its massive arm in a wide arc and Caius knew he would have one chance to get the timing perfectly right.
He waited, held off, and then, thrust his hand forward, spreading a sizeable, ice-blue shield in front of him that the massive mace-arm smashed into! The force of the strike sent Caius reeling through the air uncontrollably! Sil blasted with lightning as he passed her and charged with her blade held high!
Once Caius‟ wings caught him, he turned in the air to see Sil blast the creature with lightning, directly in the face, before she stabbed him through the gullet. Caius reserved his desire to scream out praises at her for a job well done, because he knew it would take so much more to take whatever this fiend was down!
Caius‟ white wings angled him straight at his opponent and he flew as hard and fast as he could straight at the Pro‟Tea! Sil withdrew her blade quickly, and with a strong boost from her jetpack, she moved away from the creature.
Caius abandoned his sword, letting it disperse into blood-red energy before he held his hands to either side of him, blood-red flames engulfing both of them. He would only get one strike out of this spell, so it was critical he found his target! The Pro‟Tea held himself in the air, his body repairing from the wound Sil had caused.
“Pathetic, wretched Kil‟Zan... you will-“ He started to taunt as Caius smashed into him!
Caius thrust both hands at the Pro‟Tea as he hit it, the blood-red energy spewing forth and exploding violently upon contact, sending chunks of the target straight down to the ground and causing Caius‟ wings to disperse as he was flung in the opposite direction!
Sil rushed after Caius, catching him seconds before he would hit the ground and helping him back to his feet. Caius stumbled a bit as he tried to find his balance. The spell had taken much more out of him than he expected it to, and he hoped it was enough to put a stop on his opponent once and for all!
His eyes moved across his army as they fought with the Pro‟Tea, most of them doing well against the opponents that seemed to continuously come from the ground beneath their feet!
Caius stopped when he spotted the Pro‟Tea he had been fighting. The creature simply lifted himself up from the ground, completely repaired as if nothing had even happened to him!
“Sil...” Caius said as he tried to maintain his presence of mind.
“Yes?” Sil moved up beside him.
“This one is a lot stronger than Dusk...” Caius nodded.
“Is that your way of telling me you have no plan?” Sil laughed.
Caius shook his head, how could she be making jokes at a time like this? There was a creature of obscene levels of power bearing down on them, and it had a penchant for their demise, how could she be so light-hearted about it?! There was almost nothing that they could do to stop it, Caius had used a level six spell that was more powerful than he had ever used before, and it seemed to shrug it off as though it were nothing!
The creatures wings opened up and it surged forward. Caius summoned a green sword to his hand and lifted up quickly to stop an incoming blade-arm strike. He had to move it quickly to block a second, then third time to prevent two other bladed-arms from landing blows on him!
Sil took flight, moving over the Pro‟Tea and blasted it with lightning before dropping out of the air, slicing it down the back with her blade-arm. The creature didn‟t even seem to notice the fact that its blood had been spilt by Sil, and slammed its only non-mutated fist into Caius‟ jaw, knocking him back several feet!
Caius was able to regather himself just as a blade-arm swung for his head! He lifted his sword up, blocking the attack and jumping back to avoid the other two he knew were coming. Sil rushed up, launching more arcs of lightning at the Pro‟Tea, which blasted against his back without him even flinching. She ran him through with her blade arm, and that was what it seemed to take for him to stop and acknowledge her attempts at attacking him!
“Good... pay attention to her...” Caius nodded, letting his sword disappear and clasping his hands together, “Come on body, just one more...”
Blood-red energy struggled to appear about his hands as he focused as hard as he could. This would probably be the last attack he would be able to make before unconsciousness took hold of him, especially if it was going to be of this calibre!
The Pro‟Tea faced Sil, the act of him turning about to do so caused her blade to cut his body open further, and even that seemed to cause him little or no distress at all. Sil leapt back with a blast of her jetpack, launching more bolts of lightning at him in the hopes it would slow him down!
The blood-red swirling energy about Caius‟ hands turned to flames and he knew it was now or never to strike. He rushed forward, moving his hands apart, each surrounded by the blood-red flames. Sil saw him charged and moved close to reengage her opponent, keeping the Pro‟Tea in the same spot so that Caius could land his hits!
She deflected a blow from a blade-arm, and then took two more directly on her armour. Fortunately for Sil, their opponent didn‟t have the required strength to cleave straight through the armour, but it came closer to doing so than Sil ever had experienced!
Caius roared as he approached, “Remove the feeders, Sil, make sure you get them all!”
Sil knew he wasn‟t talking about right at that moment, she would be hard pressed landing a blow on this opponent, let alone removing all of the feeders! The Pro‟Tea turned slowly, just in time to see one of Caius‟ flaming fists slam straight into the base of his chin! Caius leapt in the air following his first attack, clasped both hands together and slammed them down squarely on his opponent as he left the ground!
The double explosions ripped chunks of the Pro‟Tea‟s body off and sent him crashing into the ground with such a heavy impact that the earth cracked and fissured! Caius hit the ground, panting heavily as he did and his body feeling like it weighed at least one hundred times what it should have.
Sil took the opportunity to do as Caius had instructed; she moved quickly over the fallen Pro‟Tea, slicing the feeders from his body and rendering him unable to repair the serious damage that Caius had caused! Once his ability to regenerate was lost, Sil speared the Pro‟Tea straight through the heart and all movement ceased.
As soon as she was satisfied with the kill, she rushed over to Caius to make sure he was still alive. She cradled his head in her arms and looked down on him as he lay there, breathing heavily. Caius smiled up at her as a tear of relief rolled along her cheek.
“If I ever needed proof that the words you say to me are true... I think I just found it...” Caius chuckled, coughing slightly as he did.
“That was reckless... What if you had died?” Sil shook her head, trying to chastise Caius.
“I still would have weakened him enough for you to take him down,” Caius nodded slowly, “I had to make the attack, otherwise we never would have beaten him.”
Caius tried to sit up and Sil assisted him. He looked over the rest of the battle, and it seemed to be less of a one-sided victory than he would have liked. He saw soldiers of his own on the ground, covered in hundreds of slash marks and others laying on the ground, screaming with broken or missing limbs!
A group of Pro‟Tea moved toward both himself and Sil, but Sil made short work of them before they could get close enough to threaten Caius. He was glad he had such a capable partner with him. If Sil had not been with him, he would have perished a long time ago.
He watched as Sil rushed toward another group, blasting with her lightning as she approached before slashing with her sword. Once she had felled half a dozen, she turned back to face Caius, seeing another group approaching him. With aid of her jetpack, she sped toward him.
Just before she was within range to engage the enemy, she stopped her jetpacks in surprise when a huge blast of white-energy came down from above them, obliterating the group of Pro‟Tea with one strike!
Both Caius and Sil looked up quickly. Caius had seen attacks of that magnitude, but he didn‟t believe it would be possible for the owners to be there. His mouth hung loose in surprise when he saw a massive army of Kil‟Zan flying down toward the battle field.
All of them were armoured up, some rode war-machines as well. There was clearly more than enough to destroy any remaining Pro‟Tea without much trouble at all. Caius looked to Sil, and he could see it on her face; there were way too many Kil‟Zan for this battle.
Sil stood up before Caius as the bulk of the force landed amidst the Saagus troops and began blasting away. They targeted the Pro‟Tea, even as they were bursting from the ground! The HUD on their visors allowed them to detect the movement of the enemy before they actually appeared, and they targeted accordingly.
The Pro‟Tea were falling in droves, unable to summon up an army quick enough to deal with the amount of firepower the Kil‟Zan army was dishing out! Sil watched on, keeping close to Caius. His eyes remained on her, her expressions told him that something was amiss here, something was out of sorts. He felt the same way; why were they here, after refusing to aid them in the past? Did they now see the threat that the Pro‟Tea truly posed, or were they playing at a larger game?
“Sil... I thought you said they wouldn‟t ally with us...” Caius sat back down on the ground when he found he was barely able to stand, “Why are they here?”
“I... I don‟t know...” Sil shook her head, watching the fight continue to unfold before her, “The Council would never go back on the decision they made... Right or wrong, they just wouldn‟t reverse it...”
Sil‟s eyes widened and Caius followed her line of vision to see the true reason the Kil‟Zan were here. One of the soldiers turned about to a Saagus, lifted his light-lance, one of the main weapons employed by the Kil‟Zan foot soldiers, and blasted away with a burst of brilliant energy! Sil flinched as she saw the Saagus, who was completely caught off-guard by the strike, fall to the ground in smouldering pieces!
“What? No!” She shouted as she lifted her arms, seemingly ready to engage her own people!
One by one, they watched as the Kil‟Zan turned their weapons against Caius army, and Sil‟s newfound allies! It was just as bad as the Pro‟Tea appearing in the middle of the army and attacking at random; by the time the Saagus realised what was happening, they had already taken heavy casualties!
Cannon fire came from the war machines, blasting entire groups away with single shots. Sil grabbed hold of Caius and moved him away from the bulk of the combat, closer to Talon, where it would be safer even if Pro‟Tea came out.
Several Kil‟Zan troops came toward them and Sil didn‟t even flinch before engaging them. She rushed forward, blasted one in the face with an arc of lightning before running another through with her blade. She pulled the weapon out, spun about, sliced through another and sent a heavy charge of lightning into the chest plate of another!
Caius was slightly surprised at Sil‟s willingness to engage her former brethren. It showed him that she meant everything she had said to him prior to this moment. She said she loved him; it was now made crystal clear to everyone that those words were as true as they could be.
Another two came toward her, and Sil was more than willing to take them down with just as much ease as the others. It wasn‟t until someone in heavier armour, carrying a completely different weapon, came toward her that she hesitated. Caius could see she was a little wary about attacking this target, and he was struggling against his own tiredness to get back to his feet and help her fight.
“Councilman Shry...” Sil addressed him, stepping backward, not wanting to fight someone who was of such a high rank, “What are you doing here?”
“Isn‟t it obvious, Sil?” Shry asked, “We are here to deal a decisive blow in every war we need to wage. The Pro‟Tea, the Saagus, both will be crippled beyond repair this day, and you, Youngblood, allowed us to plan the strike perfectly.”
“What?!” Sil gasped in disbelief before looking down at her armour, “You... You could monitor me through this?!”
“Yes.” Shry replied with a smile from behind his visor.
Behind him, more explosions ripped apart the ground, scorching Saagus and Pro‟Tea alike from existence. The Saagus were fighting back, dealing minimal casualties. They were outnumbered and outmatched in every sense of the word.
Caius watched the same explosions, and every sent a tremor of rage through his tired body. He had to get up, he had to help Sil against this Shry.
“How could you do this? They were fighting for the entire world!” Sil growled, getting closer to Caius so that Shry could not get any further.
“And we are fighting for us,” Shry countered, “You should be honoured to have been used in such a manner. Not many people can say they were crucial in the toppling of two empires. We‟ll even overlook the six Kil‟Zan you just murdered to protect your... friend...”
Caius realised that if they had been monitoring with her armour, they would have known practically everything that he and Sil had said and done. He could see her look down, and she felt as violated as he did by the spying that had been done on them.
Three Kil‟Zan soldiers came up to them, ready to fight and take Caius down. Sil would not allow it to happen and Caius was not going to without putting up a fight either!
“I don‟t want the honour you are bestowing... How can I even like the idea of betraying these people, just so your race can look good?” Sil growled at Shry.
“My race? Are they not yours as well, Youngblood?” Shry looked confused.
“Not any more... I don‟t want to be a part of such... animals.” Sil shook her head.
Shry sighed in an uncaring way, “I really wish you could see the good you have done here, even if you didn‟t know you had done it... But, if that is the way you wish to play it, then... You have forced my hand. Soldiers, kill these two.”
Shry turned his back as the three Kil‟Zan moved forward, ready to engage. Caius saw a look in Sil‟s eyes; he knew she wouldn‟t let Shry leave without receiving just punishment for what he did. She burst forward, her jetpack causing her to speed past the three soldiers, and she stabbed Shry straight in the back, running the blade right through his chest!
Caius‟ eyes opened wide from the sudden action of Sil, and he watched as she twisted the blade, taking a moment of satisfaction in the pain she was causing Shry! He watched as Shry squirmed, trying vainly to reach Sil and somehow recover from this inescapably fatal strike.
Make him bleed, Sil, make him feel the pain of every one of our soldiers... Caius thought.
Caius was forced to move his attention from Sil and Shry to the three bearing down on him. He barely had enough energy to stand, let alone fight! One lifted the light lance toward his face, and Caius detested the idea of what he had to do, but there was no other choice in the matter.
The blast of energy exploded from the tip of the lance, Caius ducked, summoned a level one blade of white energy and stabbed it straight up into the chin of the soldier! The blade lasted only a few seconds, but it was all he needed it to last for. The Kil‟Zan fell backward, dropping the lance straight into Caius‟ hands.
He moved quickly to one side, dodging another blast before launching his own counter-attack, sending a bolt of white energy straight into the chest of the second as he tripped over himself and toppled to the ground. The third took aim with the lance just as Sil placed her lightning weapon against his neck.
The soldier turned slowly and looked Sil right in her fierce eyes, and managed to get out “Traitor...” before she sent a bolt of lightning through his body that sent the Kil‟Zan cart-wheeling through the air!
Sil rushed to Caius, cradling his head once mre, “I‟m sorry... I‟m so sorry for all of this...”
Caius believed her. She had no idea that she was being used as a monitoring device. If she did know, then there was no way she would have let herself get as close to him as she had. She gave everything of herself to Caius, and she didn‟t seem that she was forced into it at all. How could Caius even begin to doubt her?
“It‟s not your fault,” Caius watched as soldiers moved toward them, “They betrayed you... they betrayed us all...”
Caius could no longer hear the sounds of battle in the distance, and he knew it meant they had lost. There wasn‟t even a slight chance that they could win the fight, so it didn‟t surprise him to know that all of his troops had been slain by the dishonourable Kil‟Zan traitors.
Soldiers took aim with the light lances and myriad other weapons that were employed by the attackers. They were undoubtedly coming to wipe both Sil and Caius from the world, having seen what Sil did to Shry.
“Lower your weapons,” A voice ordered from the back of the group.
The soldiers parted and Sil recognised the woman who stepped through them, “Palli...” Sil said through gritted teeth.
Caius was quick to realise that Palli must have been another high-ranking Kil‟Zan, maybe a Council member as well. Why would she have spared their lives, considering what Sil had just done to Shry?
“Stand up, Sil,” Palli ordered.
Sil shook her head, whispering to Caius, “I‟m not leaving you... the last time I left someone unguarded against the Council, they had him slain...”
“Kael?” Caius assumed.
“Sil, I said stand.” Palli ordered again.
“You are not my leader. I will not stand just because you order me to!” Sil shouted back.
“We will not kill you, nor your... Caius...” Palli said slowly, not even liking the idea of what Sil had been doing with Caius.
“I doubt that,” Sil growled, “I have killed eight of your kind today, one of them was Shry... You will no doubt want revenge.”
“We aren‟t killing you...” Palli shook her head, “We are taking you in as prisoners.”
“To be executed later at your leisure, I see how it works.”
“Perhaps.” Palli shrugged, “You either come with us willingly, or, we will take you by force. Either way, you are coming back to Cloud Runner with us.”
Sil moved quickly with her lightning weapon, sending an arc of lightning straight at Palli! A soldier dived in the way of the bolt, getting struck by it and launched back several feet where he clutched his chest tightly.
“Then I suggest you make it by force.”
“Take them... Take both of them, but I want them alive! The general is no used to me dead!” Palli shouted, pointing toward Caius and Sil.
Caius felt strangely honoured to be thought of as a general. Only a week ago, he was nothing more than a private, a dumb grunt in the armies of Sol defending the world against the horrors of the Abyss!
Sil rushed forward as soldiers came in to take her. She stabbed and blasted away with the lightning weapon. She took down at least a dozen of them before she was overwhelmed by numbers and eventually taken down to the ground. Even on the ground, she kept fighting, right up until she received a solid punch to the face which knocked her out!
Caius felt completely useless that he couldn‟t even offer any kind of fight against his captors, he was so drained of all energy that they could have dragged him most of the way back completely conscious and he wouldn‟t have been able to resist them!
However, they at least gave him a bit of dignity in knocking him out so it looked as though he had resisted them! The last thing he saw before blackness overcame his senses was Sil, on the ground, underneath at least a dozen soldiers, still fighting, still struggling, right to the very moment she lost consciousness too.
His final thought was that of how lucky he truly was to have found anyone even remotely like Sil in the world.

“Caius...” Sil‟s voice filtered into his ears as he slowly regained consciousness.
His mind felt leaden, his head rolled about loosely and his body ached. He wondered just how long he had been out for him to feel this way. He slowly regained memory of what had happened, about the betrayal, about the slaughter of his men. A slaughter brought about not by the Pro‟Tea, but the Kil‟Zan.
“Caius... Are you alright? Answer me... pleas...” How long had Sil been calling out to him for her to sound so worried, and more than a little panicked?
“I‟m here,” Caius croaked, “I‟m okay...”
He was only telling a half truth. By saying okay, he simply meant he was alive. Everything else was still a mystery to him. His heavy mind slowly became aware of what was around him.
Three walls of cold steel surrounded him, with the four wall of his cell being solid bars with energy pulsating around them. He was in a prison, and he had no doubts that it was a Kil‟Zan one. He looked about for Sil but quickly realised she wasn‟t in his cell. She must‟ve been in the cell next to him.
“They didn‟t hurt you too much, did they?” She sounded concerned.
Caius looked at the ground beneath him and saw a slight pool of well dried blood, indicating he had been out for days at least. However, it was like seeing the blood triggered feelings in his face and he became aware of several cuts to his lips and cheek! He had no doubt been roughed up by his captors before they placed him in the cell.
He felt pinching about his wrists and lifted his head up slowly to see his hands bound by orbs that were chained to the roof above him, forcing him to either stand or hang by his arms. Since he was unconscious, he was doing the latter of those two things.
He stood himself up and felt relieved to have his arms at a new angle. How long had it actually been that he was unconscious for? The blood was dry, his arms ached, and he was so groggy about every detail he couldn‟t be sure of what was real.
“I don‟t think so...” Caius shook his head, wanting to itch at the wounds across his face but unable to move his hands.
He looked down across his body and saw that his robes had been cut and now hung about his waist, covering his groin and a bit of his legs, and that was about it. They had clearly searched him for all that they could find from his physical self before tossing him in the cell. Maybe that was the reason he had been roughed up.
“They didn‟t hurt you, did they?” Caius asked.
“No... Not much... I‟m just glad you‟re okay.”
Caius wasn‟t sure if he really was okay with what had happened to him, but he knew just saying it would add some kind of ease to Sil‟s mind.
He froze up when he heard footsteps against the concrete flooring coming toward them. Who was it and what did they want? Palli stopped in front of the cell-door, looking directly in at Caius and seeming slightly glad that he was awake.
He recognised Palli‟s face above anything else as she was no longer wearing combat armour and was back to ceremonial robes. Next to her was another Kil‟Zan, a male, similarly dressed, and Caius assumed he was another member of the council.
Palli led over to the next cell and Caius was forced only to listen in on what they were saying to Sil.
“Youngblood,” Palli addressed.
“I am not a Youngblood!” Sil refused the title aggressively and Caius was surprised at the tone she used.
The betrayal at Talon must have hit her just as hard, if not harder, than it had him!
“Either way, Councilman Raven and I have come to a decision on what to do with you,” Palli replied calmly.
“Public execution, I imagine?” Sil scoffed, “Some plan, thanks for keeping me informed.”
“Not quite. We have an alternative. The people of Cloud Runner, our people, need a hero to thank for our previous victory. We also need a replacement Councilman. In accordance to the laws we strive to maintain, a Councilman defeated in honourable combat will be succeeded by the victor.” Palli explained.
“Honourable combat?” Sil laughed, “I stabbed him in the back and cleaved his traitorous heart in two!”
“Yes, well... We are prepared to overlook such things,” A new voice, one which Caius assumed belonged to Raven, spoke up, “You have earned, through honourable combat, a place among the council, if you would take it. You would also be hailed as the hero who infiltrated the Saagus and guaranteed our victory at the Battle of Talon.”
“We will not tell of your transgressions, either, they will remain your memories and be removed from all records. We will have the third councilman, the public will have a hero, and you will have your freedom.” Palli said.
Caius couldn‟t believe they were so willing to praise someone who was so defiantly against the council and everything the Kil‟Zan stood for! Even though it was so unbelievably to him, he wanted her to go with it. It would give her the freedom she needed to survive. Perhaps she could lead the Kil‟Zan on the path where the Saagus left off; killing the Pro‟Tea once and for all.
“You‟re willing to give me all of these things, just like that?” Sil‟s inability to believe was heavily evident on her voice..
“But, there is a condition,” Palli said slowly, as if to make sure none of her words went unheard, “You must publically execute the Saagus general as a pledge of your allegiance.”
Caius knew they were referring to him when they said general. Who else could they have been talking about? They wanted Sil to kill him in order to become a member of their council? They must have known just how close the two of them had become, and that asking such a thing would never have been accepted.
Caius was thinking about it quickly, maybe faster than Sil, as whilst all of these things were rushing through his head, he did not hear her reply. Maybe it would be better if she did kill him, so that she could obtain the freedom and status she would need in order to survive and save the world from the Pro‟Tea threat.
“You want me to kill him?” Sil growled back, her voice sounding as though it was forced through gritted teeth.
“Yes. Only then will the city believe our story about you,” Raven replied.
It made a lot of sense as to why Caius was a necessary sacrifice in order for Sil to receive the status. He couldn‟t understand the real reason why he was even contemplating his own death in that cell, as opposed to devising a way for Sil and himself to live and be free. Why did he feel that she needed the protection of Cloud Runner, when before he was enough?
“You want me to kill he thing I love most in this world?” Sil shouted.
“We understand how you must feel about your... Caius...” Palli seemed to stumble over his name, as though she hated how it tasted in her mouth, “But this would show us your absolute allegiance and put you beyond question.”
“You two are out of your freaking minds! Find someone else to be your puppet! I won‟t buy into it anymore!” Sil ordered them away.
“Naturally, Sil, we will give you time to think over the bargain... We will be back for your final answer within the next hour.” Raven explained.
Sil didn‟t respond further, and Caius heard the two sets of footsteps moving back along the corridor, and straight past his cell once more. Palli looked in and smiled at Caius again, and he couldn‟t understand the reason behind the smile. What was its hidden meaning? What did this Kil‟Zan councilman know?
“Can you believe that?!” Sil growled and Caius could hear her footsteps as she paced in frustration, “They want me to kill you. No, they want me to publically kill you. Why in the world would I ever do that? Do those arrogant fools not understand how love works?”
“I actually think it is worth thinking about...” Caius spoke up.
His mind kept mulling over its reasoning, trying to find the root of it all so he knew why he felt that she needed to be so protected. He loved her, that much was certain, but he would bet that they could have broken out of prison and escaped if he were to try. Something told him that there was something bigger in the picture than just the two of them.
“You do?” Sil replied bluntly.
Caius knew she couldn‟t believe it, and he looked to his right, over to the wall, beyond which was Sil‟s cell. He wondered what expression was over her face, and he longed to see it once more. He longed to touch her, he longed to kiss her.
“Why would you think that way, Caius?” Sil sounded upset, and Caius found it completely understandable.
Had the roles been reversed, he would feel the same way.
“You need the city... and it needs you...” Caius spoke slowly.
His mind was still abuzz with trying to figure out why he was being so protective of her future. What was it that had changed? What could he feel in her that needed so much protection?
“Why? Your words make no sense Caius!” Sil replied quickly, her voice quivering as though she would cry at any moment.
“I don‟t know, Sil... I just feel you need to be protected by them... I can‟t explain it better than that!”
“I need a reason... I can‟t just accept that you are acting like an overprotective father!” Sil shouted back.
That was the word he was waiting for. That was the word that made everything he was thinking and feeling make sense. It was so obvious, why had he not seen it before that very moment?
“You‟re right... that‟s exactly what I am being...” Caius nodded his head.
“Huh?” Sil replied, “What is?”
The connection to the arcane forces of the world, that had to be what triggered the thoughts in his mind. Nothing else made sense, there was no other way for him to know what he now believed to be true.
“An overprotective father.”
“Well stop, I don‟t need to be protected by a father figure, I just need you...”
“Sil... Don‟t ask me how I know this... But I do. Maybe I just feel it happening, I don‟t know...” Caius explained very slowly, “But inside of you, our child grows slowly...”
Sil gasped. She was as disbelieving as Caius was until he said the words. He was a father, and Sil was a mother, of a baby that would be born of both Kil‟Zan and Saagus.
“H... How can you possibly know this?”
“I don‟t know! Maybe it‟s my connection to the arcane forces of this world... Our child would have the same connection...” Caius looked up at the spheres binding his hands, “It has been said that Saagus families can sense each other... like, where they are, or if they‟re in trouble...”
Caius was no expert on the arcane connection, and how it could be felt within a family situation, as he had never really been close with anyone before. Sil was the first person he had let get close enough to him, but she had no connection to the arcane, so he was merely guessing what it would feel like.
“I‟m... I‟m pregnant..?” Sil said the words aloud herself. Caius heard shuffled feet, no doubt as she stumbled a bit at the realisation, “I can‟t believe it...”
Her voice quaked with both terror and excitement at the idea. Caius was just glad she believed that he could feel a connection to the tiny being growing inside of her. His thoughts of demise were not for his own benefit; they were so his child could be born in a safe city. Cloud Runner was a city with a full army that was ready to fight the Pro‟Tea, there was no safer place for his child.
Caius needed to see her, face to face, to discuss what they would have to do about the fact that they were, or at least Sil was, going to bring a child into the world. Their child would be unlike any other in existence! He closed his fists in his bindings and summoned his arcane powers. Golden energy shifted about the spheres, moving through them as though they weren‟t even there. Then, as Caius‟ mind flexed, the energy turned to flames.
In a brilliant flash of light, the spheres binding him exploded as the fire blasted within them. Caius dropped down to his knees, feeling the relief on his arms now that he was free of his bindings.
He could have kept going. He could have blasted his way out of the cell and then fought his way from Cloud Runner to freedom with Sil at his side. However, he had to be careful now that she was pregnant. He had to be sure the baby would be safe, in his mind, it was something irreplaceably precious, and it needed to be treated as such.
“What was that noise, Caius?! Are you okay?!” Sil‟s voice was panicked.
“I‟m fine, I was just breaking out of my bindings,” Caius laughed, “Stand back from the wall, I‟m coming through.”
He heard footsteps and hoped it was Sil complying with his order. He lifted a hand and balled it into a fist as icy-blue energy surrounded it. He swung his fist at the wall and a small explosion of force blasting straight through it upon impact. He smiled as he looked through the new hole in the wall and saw Sil.
“Sil!” Caius greeted excitedly, running over and wrapping his arms about her.
He noticed upon holding her that she was without any of her armour. Even the gauntlets and boots she always wore were not on her. Instead, she wore a simple set of dark robes that hung loosely over her body.
“Caius...” Sil held him tight, burying her face into his shoulder.
Caius looked Sil over as he held her, he noticed a few bruises but no cuts like his own, which he was thankful for. Clearly, the torture was only reserved for him. He ran his hand along her arm and down to her waist before moving it to her stomach.
He held his hand there and could feel a throb of arcane energy moving about her stomach, proving his feeling that their child had a connection to the Arcane.
“What does this mean, Caius? What do we do?” Sil asked.
“We need to keep our child as safe as possible...”
“Does that mean we need to run away and start over somewhere far away from the Kil‟Zan, Saagus and Pro‟Tea?”
“I don‟t know that we could run that far...” Caius shook his head, “Sil, you need to agree to the councils‟ terms and become one of them... You would be able to do so much from that position of power. You would have an entire city of people more than willing to save you from anything that looked to attack you... You would be safe, and so would our baby.”
“But... I don‟t want to live without you there with me...” Sil shook her head.
“This is more important than me,” Caius said very seriously, “This child is both of ours, think about what that means.”
“Our baby would be a Kil‟Zan... embodying the mind of the Ancients...” Sil nodded slowly, remember the teachings that had been drummed into her mind from early ages.
“Not just the mind... Our baby would also be a Saagus, holding the fire of the Ancients spirits...” Caius continued, “Now you may see it as I do, and understand why the survival of this child is so much more important than my own,” Caius held Sil tight.
He didn‟t like the idea of leaving her alone in this world anymore than she did, but it was something that they would have to do because more important things were at stake.
“We could make another child...” Sil reasoned, “There is no way that this could be the only one...”
“One of us may not survive a full escape plan, and we need both of us to make another one, Sil...” Caius disagreed with a sigh.
He could feel the weight of what he had to do, and it made deciding it all the more difficult. In order for everything to work out the way it was meant to, Caius would have to be the sacrifice, otherwise the child may never live a life at all!
“But why must we do it this way? Can‟t we find an alternative?” Sil shook her head.
“This is what needs to happen, Sil... You have to sacrifice me, so that you and our child can live a life of safety.”
Caius could see Sil trying her hardest to find an alternative that allowed everyone to live. Caius was trying to do the same thing, but everything else seemed like a suicide mission, or one that was doomed to failure.
The only option that worked was the one where he was sacrificed so that their child may live. He knew it deep in his heart, and even though it was the best possible option, it didn‟t make choosing it any easier.
“Sil,” Palli‟s voice interrupted their conversation.
Caius and Sil looked to the iron bars of her cell, waiting for the councilman to appear. She was back already for the answer, and they hadn‟t finished discussing what needed to happen at all!
“I‟ve come for your final answer,” Palli smiled standing in front of the bars, not even caring that Caius had broken through the wall! “So what‟s it going to be, Sil? Heroism and a title, or do you choose a traitors demise?”
Sil looked to Palli, and then to Caius. Caius didn‟t break eye contact with her, and he kept willing her to choose heroism and the title over him. It was the only way that they would be able to bring their child into the world.
Sil let out a long sigh and her head lowered as melancholy came over her entire being. She was clearly not looking forward to what she had to do.
“Well, Sil?”
Sil looked to Caius, and Caius nodded to her. He was as ready as he would ever be to accept the fate he had told her to give him. If it meant she would be safe, and that their baby would be able to live, it seemed the smallest of sacrifices to make.
“I choose...” Sil placed a hand on Caius‟ cheek.
Caius leant into it slightly, kissing her palm softly as Palli watched on, “It‟s okay, Sil, I think it has to be this way.”
Sil turned to face Palli, her hand still on Caius‟ cheek. She let out another sigh, not making eye contact with Palli, “I choose to become a member of the council...”
“You know what is required of you, correct?” Palli wanted to make sure there would be no questions about what Sil would have to do to Caius.
Sil nodded, “How long do I have with him?”
Palli looked at the tear rolling along Sil‟s cheek and felt somewhat moved by it, “You have until high noon. That is, three hours, and then I will come to escort the both of you to the main square.”
Sil just nodded mutely, staring down at the ground just before her. Three hours was all she would have with Caius, and then she would be forced to terminate their relationship in a very physical sense.
Caius could see she was unsure of what was happening. There were doubts circling her mind, and he understood it, he felt them too. Caius knew what was going to happen, and he was fearful of it just as much as she was.
Palli turned and began walking away. As soon as she was only the echoing of footsteps off the cold walls, Sil moved straight to Caius, wrapping her arms about him. Within seconds, the few tears that had rolled down her cheek become a torrent of them! Caius held her tightly against him, his hands rubbing her back slowly as he let her cry into his shoulder.
Never before would he have thought he could possibly mean this much to another creature, whether it be Saagus or Kil‟Zan! Her hands clung to him and refused to let go as she continued to cry into him. Caius could feel just how much the decision hurt her, and he wondered if she would ever be able to see the reason that it was the right decision.
“Sil,” Caius whispered into her ear as she cried, “Sil...”
He pushed her away slightly so he could see her eyes. They were already red and puffy from her sadness and Caius felt her heartache hit him like a jagged knife in the chest. He hadn‟t really thought about the repercussions of being dead, it meant he wouldn‟t be able to see her either! He would never be able to fight alongside her, train with her, kiss her, hug her, marry her, or anything that he would have wanted to do. Whilst this made him feel like he had been on the wrong end of a level seven sledgehammer spell, he knew his decision was still the right one.
“These are our final moments together...” Caius stopped as she sobbed a little harder as he said it.
The sobbing only lasted a few seconds before she cracked a half smile, accompanied by the appropriate giggle, “You were never good at sweet talking, were you?”
Caius smiled and looked down, breaking eye contact with Sil, “I would have liked to learn how to do it better, but that is outside of my power...”
“It‟s not... we could...” Sil tried to argue but was silenced by a stern hand raised from Caius.
“No, this is how it must be,” Caius was very sure of it, “As much as I would like to be around you for much longer, I have to play a game that will keep you alive and protected. But
enough of that, the decision has been made, and I intend to enjoy these gifted few hours we have.”
Sil cuddled into him and Caius held onto her waist, rocking slowly with her in the silent cell. Sil‟s body felt a little at ease in the simple, rocking movements, with her head against the bare chest of Caius. She pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heart beat. Caius could feel it racing, and he wondered what its hastened rhythm was telling Sil. It would be telling her of his fears, of his doubts. He hoped, amongst all of that, it would tell her that he was sure his choice to be sacrificed was the right one.
It was further proof of how strong Caius was, even if it wasn‟t a trait he had always held! Caius rested his cheek against Sil‟s head, humming a tune to fill the silence that surrounded them. They didn‟t say any words, because neither knew the words to say. This was their last moment together and neither wanted to ruin it.
Sil worked out the tune Caius was humming, even though she would never have heard it before in her life. It was a simple tune, something used to lull Saagus babies to sleep. Once she figured out how it went, she joined in humming with him as they rocked slowly in the cell, caring little about anything else but themselves in that moment, their final moment.
Caius stopped humming first, and even stopped swaying as well. Sil looked up at him in worried confusion, hoping that everything was alright. The confusion only deepened when she saw him smiling back at her.
“What‟s wrong, Caius?”
“Nothing at all, Sil,” Caius replied, running his hand along the top of her head and feeling her hair against the palm of his hand as he looked right in her eyes, “I love you.”
Sil smiled at Caius, “I love you, Caius... More than I think I ever can love again.” She moved a little closer to him.
“That tune we were humming...”
“Yes?”
“Will you teach it to our child? It is called Rain at Dawn, my mother used to sing it to me when I was little, though I cannot remember the words...”
Sil seemed to flinch a little as she tried not to cry again, “Our child will know everything they can about you, Caius... There is no way they will not know where they came from.”
Caius smiled and held Sil, “There is also one last request I must make of you...”
“Oh?”
Caius didn‟t bother voicing his request, and instead, acted upon it. He pressed his lips against Sil‟s and pulled her in close to him as he did. They held the kiss for as long as they could, neither wanting to tear away. They both knew it was going to be their last kiss, and they wanted it to last as long as it possibly could.
Their lips left each other, and Caius held Sil close to his chest, rocking with her once again as he hummed the tune. Sil didn‟t have to wait this time before she joined in; she knew the way Rain at Dawn sounded.
Time passed them by, and they simply held each other, quietly humming, both wanting the time to go on forever, but knowing it would come to an abrupt end soon.
“Does it really have to end this way?” Sil ran her hand down Caius‟ chest.
“End?” Caius looked at her, slightly confused, “My love, this is just the beginning, let me assure you.”

Palli led the two of them along the main street of Cloud Runner. A crowd had already gathered about them. Word had no doubt spread quickly of the Saagus general that was going to be executed in main square.
Caius was still finding it amusing, even in the doom and gloom that was set before him, that they assumed he was a general in the Saagus armies, even though he had only ever been a private. His assumed rank came from the fact that he was looked to for information on an enemy that the rest had never really fought before.
Beside him, in a more regal-looking set of robes and carrying a ceremonial lance was Sil. She kept her chin high and her eyes dry, even though Caius knew she felt like breaking down with each and every step that she took. No one else saw it, only Caius, and he tried not to look at her for too long at any one time.
He heard the crowds roaring with displeasure at him, and he didn‟t care. He was almost glad he was so hated by the Kil‟Zan public, it made him feel he was doing his job as a Saagus right. The only Kil‟Zan he wanted liking him was one that was in love with him, and her name was Sil.
Palli waved to the people, showing her position amongst them, yet Sil didn‟t replicate this behaviour. Caius was confused at first until he saw the glistening of a tear that she was struggling to keep back. The only reason she wasn‟t engaging with the audience was because she was fighting her own emotions, stopping them from showing her to be a fake.
They stepped up onto a stage in front of the crowds. They gathered before the stage, all watching, all waiting.Waiting for the moment when Caius was executed before them, slain as a symbol of the Kil‟Zan might over their Saagus enemies!
Four soldiers dressed in white armour, carrying spears that looked more ceremonial than combat based, stepped onto the stage, taking positions at each corner. Caius looked at them each in turn, and they glared at him, hating him for what he was.
Palli moved across the stage, standing next to a small altar that Caius was no doubt going to be executed on, “Prisoner, to the block,” She ordered, indicating with a quick point to the altar.
Caius moved mostly of his own will, but just in case there was none there, he had two soldiers to escort him. His hands were bound behind his back, and that seemed to serve as perfect justification for the soldiers pushing him down to his knees and forcing him to lie across the altar.
“Councillor Sil, if you would do the honours,” Palli smiled wickedly at Sil.
Sil walked along the stage slowly, her eyes fixed on Caius as he was held in place by the two soldiers. If they were going to do anything but follow the plan at this point, it was going to be very difficult. She looked him straight in the eye, and Caius looked back, a smile crept across his lips. Even in the moment when his death was all but assured, he was still happy to see Sil.
“Does it have to happen this way?” Sil whispered.
Caius only heard a breath on the wind, and read the rest from her lips, “It does... It is the only way...”
“What about our life? The one we were supposed to have together...”
“This is no longer my story, Sil, it is yours.” Caius said with a reassuring nod.
“Sil, if you would do the honours, please,” Palli reminded Sil of what she needed to do.
Sil nodded, stepping closer to Caius and the altar. She lifted the spear high above him and heard the crowd roaring with happiness as the last minutes of Caius‟ life came to a close. Sil
hesitated, she wasn‟t sure, how could she be sure? How would she ever be as sure as Caius was about this whole scenario?
“Sil... Look at me,” Caius said slowly to her. Sil‟s eyes met his one last time, “I am ready, and the time is now.”
Sil couldn‟t break eye contact with him, and with her eyes locked on his, she could not plunge the spear down into his heart. The gathering before her began to grow restless, as did Palli, waiting for her to do what she said she would do to the supposed „general‟.
“Sil... Do it...” Palli ordered.
Everyone wanted that spear to drop, everyone except for Sil, the one holding it. She was trying to force herself to do it but her muscles refused to budge while she looked at Caius.
“Sil.” Caius spoke to her, “Close your eyes and let my voice guide you...”
Sil followed his instructions, closing her eyes and listening for his voice.
“Drive the spear straight down as hard as you can, count to fifty in your head and do not open your eyes until you get there, regardless of what sounds I make...” Caius said, “Remember... This is the beginning, the beginning of your story... Now start the first chapter!”
Sil knew that Caius‟ last words were the order for her to plunge the spear, as he had told her to, straight down. She thrust it, felt the impact against his body, but kept her eyes tightly shut. Caius felt the cold steel of the ceremonial spear enter his body, but it was not forced down hard enough to pierce his heart, as was the intention!
The crowd roared with appreciation and Caius struggled with his own mind to keep all sounds denoting his pain silent as Sil continued to push down on the spear! Caius was released by the two soldiers as the spear dropped a little bit farther into his body. It was at that moment the tip of the spearhead pierced his heart.
Caius watched as Sil nodded ever so slightly, counting to herself, just as he had asked. The world began to fall into darkness and his body, whilst aching beyond all imagination, began to go numb.
“Sil...” Caius fought with every force of nature to spoke his last words, “... I love you...”