"Kene comes first." Nephern and Sterthen, previously the first and second captains of the Sun Guard, were exiled. Banished to the edges of the empire that they used to call home. There, just outside of the city of Anghelen and on the edges of the Helefiran - the dark forest - they lived in relative peace, raising their daughter Kene. Nearly a decade has passed, and the "dark forest" hardly lived up to its name. For the two elite soldiers, the creatures that occasionally wandered out of it were barely a nuisance. Until now. Faced with a declaration of war from one of the Empire's oldest foes and the emergence of... something else... the two have to fight to hold onto the life that they built in exile. --- --- --- This story is continued here: The Life Between Worlds - VOL I