"Why did I think you'd be reasonable?" He needed a new approach, but time was something he lacked. Even as he considered what to do, more Hathronians streamed through the portal and noticed him. "Oh, damn."

An idea took form. A very bad idea. A likely suicidal idea.

But an idea nonetheless.

His options continued being run with it and hope you don't die. Which, fair. He'd gotten this far operating as such.

Considering his current circumstances, the validity of that approach wobbled a tad.

"LEYLA!" At the same time, he called for Blizzy over their bond. Once he'd made it to the platform, she'd run off to continue her munching on Hathronians. According to Leyla's intel, Blizzy probably snacked on them so voraciously because of their auto-ascension overpowered BS.

Like a comet of violence, his partner blasted out of his still-creeping domain and beelined toward his position. She breathed heavily, her shoulders shaking as she landed before Xenith in the center of the platform.

"Take her... away." Xenith tried turning her face away from Leyla, but the chains secured her neck in place.

"Mother..." Leyla dropped her scythe and stepped forward to place her hands on Xenith's stained cheeks. "What have they done to you, my mother?" With her thumb, she gently smudged the silver on Xenith's face. "More importantly, how?"

"Daughter... I... am so sorry."

Aiden picked up Leyla's scythe and called on the power of the Vorpal Blade. The twinge of its activation drawing on a deeper power than Essence and the smell of burning darkness later and he held the powerful blade, his eyes dead set on one thing. With Silver in his right and the Vorpal Blade in his left, he went to work.

Each attack with Silver, he focused on Khione's Absolute quality and willed the blade to embrittle the chains. The Vorpal Blade cut, even without assistance, but in a way that would have him swinging hundreds of times to make meaningful process. With a right swing, then left, chunks of the red chains fell away.

Though with each strike, Xenith groaned and clenched her teeth tighter. Aiden tried not to think about how horrible the feeling of the chain shaking in her limbs must feel, but he imagined it and internally squirmed. Not an experience he'd be rushing to try anytime soon.

In but a few moments, the first chain, the one holding her right arm, shattered. Aiden gestured at Leyla for her help to hold Xenith's arm still, then wrenched the rest of the chain free.

"Aiden..."

Leyla's eyes drew his attention. "Oh damn."

Something had smothered his blizzard, squashing it and negating his influence. A blackstorm approached from the distance, but more pressing, the Hathronians surrounded the platform. None dared touch try to scale it to get to them. Prepared spells hovered over casters' shoulders, and archers nocked arrows to bows and kept their strings taut. Countless fighters barely skirted the edge of the platform and locked their gazes to Aiden, Leyla, and Xenith.

"Go faster." Her voice trembled.

Rather than answer, he swung faster and with more power. "Sorry in advance."

Xenith screamed through clenched teeth as his storm of blows tore through the next chain holding her other arm. Aiden didn't bother wrenching the chain free of her flesh this time and kept swinging with every intention to get done as fast as he possibly could.

Something big, bad, and nasty came their way, and he wanted no part of it.

"Almost!" The chains around her legs clattered to the ground, and he began striking the last around her neck. "Almost there! We'll get you freed."

Neither Xenith or Leyla asked the dreaded question, but it lingered in the air. Once we're free, then what?

Aiden already thought of that answer.

The final chain fell away, and Aiden tossed the Vorpal Blade to Leyla and scooped Xenith into his arms, grunting under her weight. "Geez, you're so heavy."

Leyla stared at him, her breathing hitched. With panic in her eyes, she hissed and turned to face the storm.

"Nope, we're not dying today." He ran toward the swirling red portal letting in countless enemies. "That's our ticket out of here! Clear the way!"

Like an arrow loosed from a blow, Leyla let loose.

Darkness spread beneath her skin. Violet and black hues shuddered through Leyla’s body. Unlike before, there was little excitement buzzing through Leyla---only a desperation, a desire to escape this place alive with themselves and Xenith in one piece.

“Chaos!” Violet streaks cut through the space between them and the army surrounding them. Spells fizzled, arrows loosed wildly as their wielders' fingers slipped from string, and any warrior standing in their path disintegrated in an instant. The blackstorm sped up, and a form of buzzing power approached. She locked eyes with him for a brief moment, then nodded before planting herself at the other end of the platform away from the portal. “Whoever you are, you're too late... Devastation!”

Aiden winced as a shockwave passed through him, but even as the ground beneath his feet threatened to shatter and give way, he stepped off it. Icy steps carried him to the portal. Blizzy wasn't too far behind, joining him. Blood covered her from head to toe, almost fully hiding the crystalline blue of her scales.

“Die!” Leyla shrieked. That was the only cue Aiden needed to hear to know he was better off being on the other side of the portal and stepped through as he heard Leyla's final attack cast the world in destruction. “Apocalypse.”

—

Aiden hadn't died instantly, so he knew Leyla still lived. But he had more pressing matters to attend to. If the army that had passed through into Valhalla was sizable, what he looked at now left him awestruck. Millions, maybe more. Hathronians everywhere. They'd setup a war camp right outside of the portal, and it was a sprawling city the likes of which he'd never seen.

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Their people were a machine of violence. Everywhere, anywhere at all. Training, blood, metal, heat, smoke. The Hathronians lived, breathed, and preached war. Aiden witnessed young slay young, the mass forging of equipment, and battle-crazed bloodlust rising up into a tidal wave of overwhelming sensation.

Shaking his head, he tested what he needed to know---and he could... He could sense his connection to Midrath and Earth once more, could feel the ability to teleport away from whatever place this war machine was.

Aiden didn't wait for fanfare to teleport Xenith away, then threw himself back through the portal. As if Valhalla hadn't suffered enough wear and tear from battle already, Leyla had mutilated everything even remotely close to the platform and delivered mercy upon the shackled Valkyr.

Blizzy chirped, appearing through the portal after him.

"Good girl." He pet under her chin as he scanned for any sign of Leyla. He was alive, so she had to be too. "Where'd you go, crazy woman?"

Kneeling, he placed his hand on the ground and manifested an Ice Wall. Within seconds, he rose high enough to look over the remains of Leyla unleashing her chaotic fury on the world. Violet-black sparks clued Aiden into where he needed to look, and he quickly made his way to her.

He used the icy steps to run and leaped down to her side where he crouched and checked for life. The black stigmata spread, pulsing dangerously. She twitched, even unconscious. Her attack had cost her greatly, but it had bought the time Aiden needed to get Xenith out and test to see if the other portal was a way out.

Now it was time to get her out.

He stuffed Silver in his pocket and pried the Vorpal Blade from her hands. The surrounding earth was corrupted and withered, empty of even ash and blood. As careful and tender as he could be, his hands dug under her neck and legs. Rising, he folded her close to his chest and winced as she groaned.

She spasmed repeatedly in his arms as he turned away to face the portal. Scanning left and right, he watched with great vigilance for anything that would impair their escape. The only combatants anywhere near them were fresh and came through the portal after them, and Blizzy made short work of them.

"Your time is coming to an end, Ruler." The origin of the black static rose up out of a crater, an armor of black and red not not scratched in the slightest by Leyla's attack. "You may run for now. Your time is limited. Go now. Recover your injured. Make the Hunt appealing."

Aiden didn't have to be told twice. With Leyla in his arms and Blizzy hissing at the figure, her head held low and tail raised high, he stepped through. Midrath's Authority activated the moment he stepped through and whisked away the trio.

"Finally." Aiden had never been so happy to return to Zion before.

—

Already, a large group formed around Xenith's prone form. They didn't crowd, and the Valkyr amongst them cried freely, some wailing their lamentations. Aiden couldn't even imagine what they must have been feeling, but he didn't have the time to try either.

"Back up! Make space!" An experienced, strong woman pushed through the crowd. "And someone go get the medics!" She knelt to check Xenith, eyes wide but collected as she scanned the already closing injuries and pale gold blood. With confusion and some respect, she looked at Aiden. "What's the situation, sir?"

"Don't call me sir," he immediately rejected, then gestured to Xenith. "Meet Valhalla's queen, Xenith."

That seemed to shake that calm a little, but when she looked at the reactions of the Valkyr in the crowd, she put things together quick. Sharp, that one. "Since you brought her here, it's probably safe to say you didn't do this to her. So what's the situation?"

"Let's get them taken care of, and then I'll bring everyone to the Town Hall and host a council." He sighed. "No matter how much I want to avoid the danger of bringing everyone into this, I don't think I'm strong enough to go to war."

"War, sir?" someone in the crowd asked, their wary eyes scanning the same expression across the faces of everyone else gathered.

Aiden regarded them. The people of Zion had seen much, but rarely against other people. Sentients like the Valkyr, which the Hathronians definitely qualified as, even if they were a giant pain in the ass. Monsters, Zion dealt with them with grace, coordination, and skill.

But even with their uncertainty, he could see dedication to Zion and courage to protect what they stood for.

"War," he confirmed. "I will need to discuss more with the leadership to begin preparations. Make sure the message gets around to prepare for battle." As much as he wanted to avoid causing a panic, his people had been through countless hardships since coming to Midrath. They could handle the truth, and if he ever wanted to be a true leader, he needed to trust them with it. "The enemy is great, great enough to overcome Xenith, the queen of Valhalla and the holder of an Authority. This will not be easy, so go."

The Valkyr heeded his message with near zealous speed, launching themselves into the sky and departing to warn others. Everyone else took a brief moment to process the information and let the message truly sink in.

"We will be ready to defend Zion with our lives, Ruler. This place is as much our home as it is our salvation," another called, giving Aiden a short nod of respect before turning around.

Only the veteran looking woman remained behind to aid the trio, even going so far as to offer to relieve Aiden of Leyla. He refused, of course, but appreciated the offer nonetheless.

"When you say you're calling the leadership, what does that entail?" the girl asked. "I'm Kendra, by the way. We've met before, but it's been some time."

He vaguely recalled her back when he'd held the council to save those captured by the Valkyr and raid their Town. So much had happened and he had so much he worried for, Kendra and all the other middle level management of Zion went forgotten for Aiden. If it weren't for Oli, Anna, and all the others taking great care to make everything run and to establish crops, training regiments, equipment supply, and taking over all of the development of Zion's infrastructure, they'd likely still only have a Town Hall.

No matter. "We need everyone. I'll share the details then, but it makes everything we've faced until now look like we just started the fight for Zion."

The numbers, the power and durability, the aggression... The Hathronians wanted this fight, and the armored mystery figure had already brought Xenith down.

"Even if they're stronger, they won't be able to take us down, sir. This is our home, and we haven't stayed idle defending it." She balled her hands into fists and rested them against her hips. "We might need more healers though. And maybe a few more weekly raids to the hydras." She gestured toward Xenith. "This one will likely be a great help to the defense, but as she is, there's no way we'll get anything out of her.'

Another headache assaulted Aiden. The scale of trouble he found himself in only grew with each incident, and it never seemed like it would end.

Aiden knelt and set Leyla beside Xenith as the medics came rushing from the infirmary. They looked horrified by the state of Xenith, giving him questioning looks as if to verify whether they should actually try to do something to save what looked to be a corpse.

"Make sure they both survive," he ordered. As much as he wanted to stay with Leyla and Xenith and ensure they got treated properly and healed well, he needed information---the kind only a few Midrath natives might have.

"We'll do our best," one of the medics answered, as confident as a quiet mouse backed into a corner with little choice.

Kendra kept pace with Aiden as he began to leave Zion. "Just back and already heading out."

"Such is the life when you're trying to save the world as you know it," he absentmindedly responded as he tried to straighten out the questions he needed answers to.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She sounded sincere as she clenched the space between her leather armor tight enough for it to squeal. "Name anything, and I'll do my best to aid you."

He stopped, realizing who Kendra was. "Oh damn, Kendra." He snapped his fingers. "I'm sorry it took me this long. Do you think you can find Trixie or get ahold of Queen Onnamixia Calvex? Maybe they have some answers..." Now that he thought about Zion and all the forces he could draw on, he started considering his options. "Actually, send delegations to all the Towns. We need all the help we can get. They got into Valhalla, so I have no doubt they have a way to get into Midrath."

The afterlives were supposed to be even harder to get to than Midrath, since Midrath was connected to all realms. Halla and Valhalla only received souls from the mortal realm and barely interfaced with the upper realm at all, even if there were ways.

Or so he thought.