The woods Ellyrie and Levion wandered were quiet, empty. A silence of exhaustion laid over them as they gathered the firewood, which was eventually broken by Levion.

"So that, creature, in the ruins. That was the lady in white?"

Ellyrie nodded and turned to the side. She did not want to show how pale she had gotten. "The very same. You mistook her for Aeterna, though their similarities never struck me."

Levion let out a sigh, his armour rattled. "I walked behind the Imperator for almost two hundred years. The only sight etched deeper into my memories-" He shook his helmet. "Did you ever get to see Aeterna, in person?"

"I have not." Ellyrie kept her head down, gathering branches. "I only lived in the palace for a few years, and my father never took me along. He didn't get to see her many times either." She shuddered. "He always seemed older when he came back."

"That explains why you are out here, rather than still in her service." Levion walked faster. "To be in her presence, it does something to you. I saw people armed and ready to fight her to the death turn around and walk by her side, through hell and back."

"Sir." Ellyrie stopped in her tracks, keeping her eyes cast on the ground. "If I may ask. The Imperator, was she really how she was described in the histories?"

Silence followed her words. A weight that pushed on her shoulders, her conscience.

"All my life I looked up to her, no matter what I saw, no matter what happened. I calmed myself saying she was far away, too busy with keeping the empire together to know every little injustice, that if she just heard, that if she could just find out."

"She was." Levion's words had Ellyrie look up. "I only got to see a few drafts of the histories, and much of it is made up, embellished and twisted. But not when talking about her, they never had a reason to."

Levion turned his helmet upward to the night sky. "When I met her she was still little more than a child, marching at the head of a rag-tag group of near starving refugees. Not that I was much better, exiled from old Mhall by Jhen-ol-Cye, or the soldier, as he was known later. Imagine, living in fear, day by day, starving and hunted by a walking god. And then this girl appears, and tells you she is going to fight for you."

His laugh caused Levion's armour to rattle. "And that I believed her, in a heartbeat! Not a single one of mine stayed behind, we all followed her along back to Jhen's fortress. A hundred starving lost souls against a divine warlord. And not for a moment did I even think of our chances. In truth, I can hardly remember a time I was at her side where I thought at all."

Ellyrie was now watching Levion, her eyes were glued to him. "You didn't think? You mean your head was empty, or?"

"Not at all. My heart was simply too full for me to notice anything else." Levion rose his voice. "We stood on the hill, the enemy right beyond. All warlords at the time stood in the back, surrounded by their best, but not Aeterna. She stood right there with us, in nothing but a dress and that giant hammer. I never thought, I only felt. Felt the certainty that we were going to win just as long as she was there. And no matter how injured I got, when a spear pierced my leg, my left arm was shattered, I could not even think of moving anywhere but forward because she was still there, and I was not going to betray her trust by doing something so shameful as giving up or dying!"

He slammed his fist against a nearby tree. "We won that day. Because not a single one of ours fled the field. They all kept hurling themselves at the enemy, until they broke ranks. The city was defenceless, Jhen submitted to Aeterna. We freed our own and chased out the rest."

"You let them live?" Ellyrie let out a gasp. "In the histories it said the inhumans fought to the last to deny humanity it's rightful land."

"Yes, it does." Levion leaned down to pick up the firewood he had dropped. "But we didn't, back then our goals were simple, free our people from slavery, and create a land of our own, for humanity."

He stared down at his hand. "I had never heard that word before. Yes there were Druniri, Heliers, Onthanka and all the others, and us, but never the idea that we would live on our own, without anyone to lord over us. That idea gave us hope in life, and disdain for death." He began to tear twigs from the trees close by as he talked. "So many of us died, what is there to expect in an army of hapless exiles. For every one we slew, four of us died." His hand clenched around a thicker branch. He tore it out. "But ten came to replace every one of us. We learned, we took, and we grew."

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"The magic or Parsae must have been a great help in these fights, right?" Ellyrie sough his gaze, and almost dropped her branches.

"With her and the others all the troubles began!" He turned his back. "We needed land for ourselves, to feed us, to live, yes. But then came Parsae and her crystals, and suddenly we needed more. Ever more. We conquered our way to a river, a mountain, a city, an end. But after a few days of rest, something would happen. Something, anything, that meant we had to charge on further ahead, to conquer more land, to build more farms, to tear down the fortifications we had built and set them up further beyond. Back then I didn't see it, not until I died."

He leaned against a tall oak, head lowered. "When I died, I thought it would be the end. You cannot imagine my shock, when I woke up, deep underneath the palace. With that sickening creature looming over my head. I saw my body, beaten and torn, lay beside me. I only saw a glimpse of what was further down in the halls Aeterna had carved into the earth. It wasn't. Right."

Levion turned around again, his voice quieting down. "I thought it was parasites. Parsae, Chimera, Hydra, the three advisors that had crept into my leaders good graces. That if we could expose them for what they were, for what they did, everything would change. She would realise, pause. I thought."

His voice broke, Levion rose his hands and covered his visor, letting his branches fall. "That we could have our leader back. And go back to how things used to be. But it didn't. She would not listen. Over time she visisted the fronts less often, even her most trusted officers like me had to speak through messengers. We marched on, and on, until I could no longer bear it. Bear another group of young men and women slaughtered so far from home, buried in shallow graves with nobody to remember them, only to march toward the next hill, and the one after that. The rest of my story you know."

Ellyrie opened her mouth, but did not know what to say.

"I know it is madness." Levion leaned down to pick up the branches once more. "But to me, the leader I followed, and the Imperator she became, are not the same person. Perhaps she is no longer there, or chained in some last recess of her mind. Perhaps she even only existed in my own. But I know that this person, this thing sitting on the throne, is not her. I will strike it down myself, so that it can no longer tarnish and mock her dream. My dream."

"Humanity as one, safe from all who'd harm us. At peace, in plenty." Ellyrie muttered, her eyes widened as the words fell out of her mouth.

"Yes. If I may, I wished to ask you, lady Ellyrie. Of your father and his work." Levion stepped closer while looking over her shoulder. "It is rare that anyone spoke privately with Aeterna as imperator."

"He is, or maybe was, her steward." Ellyrie reached for her chest. Guilt pierced her heart. Just how long had she not thought of him. Was he still alive? If Elias had been imprisoned for following his line, then what could she have done to him?" Her breathing became quicker and uneven. "He tried to change things. Open ourselves to talk, to visitors, revising the histories, giving the greater provinces more freedom. He had to fight tooth and nail with the Guardians, and."

Her voice failed her. She reached for her throat, and felt the tears run down her face. "He lost."

"You must not lose heart." Levion laid a hand on her shoulder, while still peering into the thicket beyond. "Especially not now. Someone is coming."

Ellyrie spun around, her right hand grasping down toward her sword. She grasped the hilt tightly until her knuckles turned white. A fight! A smile formed on her face. Just a few moments of not needing to think, or to feel.

The rustling of leaves reached Ellyrie´s ears, and she drew her sword. "Who is there, show yourself!"

"Now now, there is no need for weapons." A soft, female voice called back.

A woman stepped out of the thicket and into view, holding her right hand in the air. In the other she was holding a long stick, with a heavy metal pot hanging from the end. She wore a long woollen mantel, whose hood covered her hair. Underneath it two bright golden eyes peered back at Ellyrie, accompanied by a warm and gentle smile. "I am just a fellow traveller in these lands and heard two passionate voices from afar, so I sought you out. If my presence is inopportune, I can of course leave."

Ellyrie slowly lowered her weapon, while Levion had not even unsheathed his. She took a step towards her, blinking a few times. "I would not have thought to find a human in this place, least of all one with friendly intentions. How do you survive here unarmed?" Despite her body easing in her mere presence, her mind remained wary.

"It is not easy, admittedly. I understand your worry, it is in your right. I manage by walking the roads less travelled, forsaking the passions that trap the strong and weak alike, and only rarely crossing paths with others." The woman slowly lowered her right hand to reach for a small pouch on her belt. Before Ellyrie could raise her blade in response, the woman had already picked out a few golden coins, handing it to her. "Could these afford me safety of your company for the night?"

Ellyrie looked at the coins in disbelief. Then she looked back to Levion.

"We may as well." He responsed, "I will keep my eyes on her while the rest of you sleep."

"That is very kind of you, sir." The woman lowered her head and took a step forward, only to be stopped by Levion.

"Your name. If you would."

The woman let out a laugh and shrugged. "Of course. I am far from my normal roads. I am Nesara, the traveller. It is an honour to meet you."