About a year had passed since our arrival on Edenton and I had long since gotten accustomed to life on the Prince’s floating palace.

Adia lived alongside the other members of the Golden Choir behind the Prince’s chamber while I lived below with my fellow Hands.

I didn’t mind since he and I could meet freely and as for Caligo, He was often away as he had much business to do.

That being said, he spent most of his free time with me and for that I wad beyond grateful.

“Are you ready?” Lham asked, returning me to the moment.

He and I were training in hand to hand combat in a special yard reserved for the Helma but Sidus liked sneaking us here to watch us train.

It was a large yard made of marble and it was on the rear side of the palace. Like other parts of the palace, it was shielded by gigantic stone shields and two grand stairs led back into the palace.

Lham and I were dressed in our combat robes. Dark brown, loose fitting clothes. Our shins and forearms were wrapped in dark blue cloth that was both durable and anointed with holy water. Well… my forearms were covered, but Lham was shirtless as usual.

I raised my fists alongside Lham who dashed towards me.

He sent fourth a punch towards my face but I carefully deflected the attack before stepping away to a safe distance.

Lham’s eyes narrowed before be dashed towards me again and like before, he tried punching me.

I tried deflecting the attack once more but he grabbing my arm and pulled me towards him while raising his knee.

I knew I wad going to get hit so I let myself fall forwards while kicking back my right leg.

Lham saw that I was going to hit him in the face with my heel and so he let go before quickly dashing backwards while I flipped forwards.

“Dammit. Do you even have openings anymore?” Lham asked with a smirk but I remained silent while raising my fists.

“Sure she does!” Sidus yelled from afar.

I looked to my right and winced as the palace was bathed with light in a sudden flash.

I blinked and saw a fist hovering a few centimetres from my face.

“See? If this was a real fight, she’d have lost her head.” Sidus said but Lham walked up to him before shaking his head disapprovingly.

“What?” Sidus asked with a horrified face.

“In what way do you think what you did counts?”

“It does!” Sidus cried as his face twisted in pain, but Lham pointed up.

“You are a higher vessel of Summus’s Will. In what way do you think our sweet Zuri could have dodged your punch?” Lham asked with a raised brow.

“W-what? That doesn’t matter! Never judge your opponents purely by their raw strength!” Sidus said while raising his nose and puffing his chest.

“Technique, intelligence and other things also matter.”

“Says the person who could cook an entire city.” Lham said with crossed arms.

I found it hard not to smile at this.

When I first arrived, Lham saw Sidus and the other Helma as demi gods who we couldn’t speak to let alone tease.

He still saw them as demi gods, but he had since become more casual with them.

“That doesn’t matter! You know what? Come here!” Sidus said before leading us to the stairs where he angrily sat down.

We sat next to him while he removed the segment of armour on his right arm.

He then slid down part of his dark bodysuit before showing Lham and I a large scar that went all around his shoulder.

“See this? Guess what the man who gave it to me was?” Sidus asked.

“A Blood Raven?”

“A Yilon?”

Lham and I asked, but Sidus shook his head frantically.

“My arm was taken and I was nearly killed by a Liland Silver Knight!”

Lham and I gasped prompting the Helma before us to nod smugly.

“Come close, I want to tell you a secret, but you must swear not to tell another soul or I will burn you both alive.” Sidus said with a suddenly stiff face. His eyes glowing brightly.

Lham and I nodded returning a warm smile to Sidus’s face.

“The story of this scar is the story of the strongest silver knight I had the honour of facing, the man who challenged the sun and moon. You see…” Sidus’s still bright eyes narrowed.

“There was another collision before the two that you know.”

Lham and I gasped but we tried our best to suppress our reactions.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Unfortunately, I’m not telling that story. What I will focus is our war against an ancient race of beings known as the… let’s call them Stone men. They were the old gods of this world who had attained mastery over all eight aspects and they were this world’s original inhabitants. I’ll skip over the political particulars. Just know that the Moon King and the rulers of the Stone Men, the Stone Lords, disagreed on various things and this led to a war that shook the continent. Prince Caligo defeated countless Stone Men and its around the time near the end of the war that I heard word of a warrior who was fending off any knights who approached a certain Stone Man town in Medelona. I just happened be passing by and so I asked the knights in an outpost what was going on and they told me that the soldier in question was a man named Salé and he had turned traitor to defend the Stone Men. After seeing that they were losing, Salé decided to save those he could and on top of saving the them, he killed none of his fellow knights during the duration of the war. This was extremely interesting to me and so in entered the Lo-Anah forest within which the Stone Man town of Lo-Amin was located. I then learnt more details about Salé. I learnt that he failed to join any legions and so he served the moon as a simple Liland soldier who’s control over the aspect of space was so weak, his superiors didn’t even consider him a magician. I also heard that he had long grey hair even though he was fairly young. I knew that a negligible number of Rendaro had appeared on Edenton but to know that some of them had children with humans was quite the surprise. Anyway, I made my way towards Lo-Amin and like I expected, Salé was waiting for me by the town’s entrance and I was quite surprised when I saw a small man clad in the battered remains of his silver armour. His hair was indeed grey, but it had been blackened by mud and blood, much like the rest of his body. He held in his right hand a standard issue silver knight’s sword, but what was much sharper were his eyes which glowed like stars in the dark of the knight.” Sidus said as his eyes brightened.

“That man, Salé, raised his sword and pointed it at me. ME! A GOLDEN KNIGHT AND A HELMA AT THAT!” Sidus yelled as his eyes reached their brightest.

He then took a deep breath before gently rubbing his scar.

“I accepted his challenge but I said he’d only be able to face me if he defeated one thousand knights and I swore that I would not interfere until the thousandth man died. Salé simply nodded before walking back into Lo-Amin. I returned to the encampment on the edge of the forest where I told the knights there to crush Salé and the Stone Men whom he so dearly protected. Days passed. Then weeks and of the thousand soldiers that were sent into that damned forest, only two were killed and it was confirmed that it wasn’t even by him. This sent me into an ungovernable rage and so, after telling all other soldiers to pull back, I went to Lo-Amin and standing at the town’s centre was that man. Standing against a tall marble pillar with countless arrows in his body and with a body torn to shreds with scars and wounds. I looked around and saw that all the Stone Men were gone but before I could wonder where they went, Salé pointed his sword at me once again. This… this was the last straw. I threw my Lance to kill him instantly but with a level of skill I thought impossible, he deflected the Lance just enough that it missed his head and pierced the pillar. I saw that even though he couldn’t warp large amounts of space, he masterfully used little segments of space to bend the space around his body entirely to his will. This wouldn’t be enough to stand against a Helma… that’s what I thought as I dashed towards him while releasing so much energy that it charred the entire town. Salé, a Liland knight, then punched me in the face with so much force that it sent me stumbling backwards. I let out a wild roar before punching him in the face, but the madman tore apart the space in front of his face, forcing the wave of force from my punch to split into two smaller waves that completely missed his head. Salé then swung his sword and cut off my arm before raising it to kill me, but before he could deal the final blow, Cento threw his Lance at Salé, impaling his chest and pinning him onto the pillar.” Sidus said as his eyes dimmed.

“This… this taught me to never underestimate anyone. No matter who they are, where they come from or how injured they are. Fight with all you have for all you have.” He said before lowering his head.

“I had the honour of fighting such an amazing warrior… even though Cento ruined it at the end. Haha, my arm was messed up so bad, the healers had to completely make me a new one.” Sidus said while a weak chuckle before wearing his armour properly.

“Beautiful story.” Caligo said prompting all of us to look at the top of the stairs where he and Astír stood.

Lham and I lowered our heads while Sidus stood up with his Lance in hand.

“Your majesty! Is there something you need?” Sidus asked but Caligo shook his head before walking towards me. He wore a long silky white gown that had golden trimmings and had beautiful golden bracelets on his wrists.

He offered me his hand and I nervously accepted it.

“I’m actually here for Zuri. I leave for Middlen soon and since she has never seen the capital, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show her the best Lanceberg has to offer.” Caligo said with a gentle smile.

No one spoke as Caligo and I stared into each other’s eyes.

I Looked into eyes that tore apart all doubt, fear and anxiety.

He was like a lighthouse in a sea of darkness.

A beacon of light that warmed the hearts of any it touched.

“Is she free or should I wait?”

“Not at all, your highness, we had just finished training.” Lham said with his head lowered.

“Good. But… those look like combat garbs. Couldst thee get more fitting clothes for our trip?” Caligo asked.

“Yes!”

Sidus and Lham said simultaneously prompting Caligo to giggle.

That giggle made my heart ache with joy, but I remained composed.

Caligo then let go of my hand, saddening me a little.

“I’ll be waiting for thee in my chamber.” He said before leaving with Astír in tow.

I noticed that the captain of the Helma’s eyes were glowing a little, but I couldn’t focus on that for too long as I turned to face a panicked Lham.

“Umm… come with me.” Lham said before leading me to our underground residential area where he took me to the large bathing chamber.

“I’ll return shortly with your clothes.” Lham said before dashing away.

I let out a feint chuckle before removing my clothes.

Due to my augmented nature, I no longer sweated, but dirt still accumulated on my skin and so I entered one of the many baths where I washed myself.

I eyed the thin golden lines on my skin and thanked Summus again for giving me this body.

Lham eventually returned with a dark grey dress.

I slipped into it after drying myself and the dress was indeed quite pretty.

It was pretty conservative, with my ankles and wrists being covered.

It also had thin golden trimmings and was embroidered with the symbol of the sun at its back.

I slipped onto a pair of simple shoes before following Lham to the Palace’s front entrance.

Unfortunately, he was not allowed into the building and so Sidus took me inside and we entered the bed chamber to find Caligo dressed in a rather dashing white uniform.

His long hair had long since been cut and this reduced his intensity somewhat.

He faced me and his dim eyes flickered a bit, making my heart almost seize with excitement.

“Beautiful…” He muttered before suddenly becoming flustered.

“My apologies. I couldn’t help but utter the words after seeing thee.” He said while rubbing his head, messing up his recently uncombed hair.

“Oh no! You don’t have to worry about that. Also, you look far better than me. That uniform makes you look really handsome! But it seems like you’re traveling on official business… is it really OK for me to come with?” I asked with a trembling heart.

My appearance had changed quite drastically since my augmentation.

My hair no longer grew, so I was bald and I was also very muscular due to my training with Lham and Sidus.

I didn’t wanna embarrass-

My thoughts seized as Caligo walked up to me with a frown on his face.

“I cannot see myself going with anyone else.” He said before once again offering me his hand.

“Should thee decline, I’ll simply go by myself-“

Caligo stopped as I placed my hand on his.

His face then grew red and he promptly faced the door.

“Let us depart, then.”