Tenisent Winterscar cracked his neck to the side, standing back up, sword drawn. His opponent stepped out of the tower, eyes focused, mind resolute.

In a way, Tenisent knew he was doing something anathema to the way of the white. Deathless were the emissaries of the gods, but beyond the simple religious aspect, they had always been the paragons of humanity. Guiding people on the right path forward, ever stalwart.

That resilience and determination were even more apparent in Lionheart. Despite death after death, the man remained unbroken. Still determined to win against him, still attempting different occult techniques and combat strategies to weave through and prevail. It wasn’t just that Lionheart continued to fight, it was the tenacity to keep hope alive in the face of hopelessness. Years could pass and this man would never give in to despair.

Tenisent had a deep sense of respect for that. One warrior to another. The old deathless were indeed chosen from the best of humanity. Not its strongest warriors, but those who would simply never give in.

Despite that, the mission was to protect To’Wrathh’s village, and to hold down the Deathless from attacking until they either surrendered or his son returned with the girl.

Each and every time Tenisent fought Lionheart, it was to eliminate the Deathless as quickly and mechanically as possible. He did not hold back to teach this Deathless any lessons. There was no attempt for mercy, or to prolong the fight. The only sense of mercy was Tenisent allowing the man to die with a sword in hand.

Each time, Lionheart stepped out of the tower, took the blade, and died again.

Some Deathless took a day to return. Others a week. Lionheart never took more than two hours. He never slept, never tired, and always took the sword in hand.

The Undersiders were, understandably, terrified of Tenisent by this point. Lionheart had disarmed and defeated a small team of relic knights from the city’s militia. Barehanded, with only the occult and his centuries of experience.

And now there was a monster that was killing him in under a second each time, no matter what occult spell or bladework the man attempted.

The entire park had been sealed off, but the city still watched from rooftops or windows, sharing the videos taken with each other. A few had attempted to step in to negotiate a ceasefire, but Tenisent simply ignored them, or drew arms in the event they got closer.

They eventually demanded he suspend his ‘activity’ or else cannon fire would commence. And very quickly realized that was a fast way to lose their expensive weapons and city defenses.

Time passed. The Deathless would return soon, and the cycle would start once more.

This time, his sensors pinged Winterscar signals first. Sound came later. Fighting further off, followed by a quick ceasefire.

He hadn’t requested reinforcements to arrive unless they had news to offer him.

Five knights marched through the city, following the same path he’d taken. At their center, was a man he recognized.

Drakonis.

And if he was here, then that meant Keith had returned. Some part of him relaxed.

The knights came to formation, and gave a swift bow as expected to a prime family branch. Which meant they acknowledged that Kidra was the family prime, and he was simply part of the main branch. Good.

He stood up to his full height from his sitting position, turning his full attention to the knights and Drakonis standing further off.

The Deathless looked more cleaned up. The beard was shaved and hair was combed. No armor, but Tenisent could sense there was an airspeeder further off the city defenses, and it had a Winterscar IFF. There was a weight off the man’s shoulders, some kind of inner pride that had been absent when he’d last fought on the plains. Even the eyes seemed less feral, more focused and clearheaded.

Tenisent had been an excellent judge of combat potential in the past, and a terrible judge of personality. Nuances in people’s features rarely made sense to him, besides the most obvious tells. Now, he had a Feather’s body whispering to him all the data points, the minute centimeters of differences in factual structures and muscle movements. The information presented through non-verbal and even subconscious cues was impressive.

It wasn’t completely accurate either. Only offering him percentage based reports. But the entire whole presented a story Tenisent could follow and understand.

Something had happened to this Deathless within the last few days, and it had scared him dramatically. Possibly healed something deeper down, or excised a rot from within.

If it would help the girl’s city out, or if it was renewed determination to cause chaos, that was left to discover.

“You. I remember you.” Tenisent said, voice skewering the Deathless and forcing the man’s spine to straighten by reflex. Good. Seems he hadn’t forgotten his last encounter. “Have you come to discuss terms?”

The ‘or else’ went unworded, but not ignored.

Drakonis took a breath, and Tenisent could hear the Deathless’s heart start beating slightly faster before relaxing. “Yeah. I have. Talked to your son. And then to To’Wrathh. I’ve got a better idea of what’s going on now.”

That confirmed they were back and safe.

Tenisent didn’t need his Feather’s sensors to tell him that was the truth. However, he did want to know what had gone on in the background. He turned his gaze to one of the Winterscar knights escorting their captive. “Report.”

They did. And equally sent him a copy of a massive video file. One recorded by Journey, showing all the misadventures his son had somehow landed himself in. And the tools he had brought back. His shell raced through the entire thing, showing him the important bits and all he needed to know within seconds.

At this point, nothing about his son would surprise him anymore. Too many events from legend had occurred around him, including Tenisent’s own personal fate.

“Where is he now?” He asked.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“Sir. Lord Keith has remained among the village and is currently taking the time to devise new weapons with Lady To’Wrathh.”

It both pleased and annoyed him to hear his son called a Lord. Not in the sense of a political position, but one of a Deathless or near saint. These knights revered Keith, either because their own personal families and loved ones were truly taken care of, or that Keith’s actions as a whole had led Clan Altosk to the golden age it most certainly lived under now.

Or that he was a prophet of the gods, having spoken to Tsuya herself. And now, given the Records of Aztu he’d read through as part of the data package, very much on his way to take the post left behind in leading humanity as a whole. That would… complicate the Winterscar knight’s personal feelings, hearing their supposed prophet was now a mitespeaker and on the way to treading upon the same ground the gods had.

And given they had been the ones to carry that video data back to him, he had no doubts Keith had let them all watch the highlights and important parts already.

Perhaps that was even worse than the ‘Lord’ his knights called Keith.

‘Emperor’ held far more danger behind that title.

It was petty. Tenisent knew that. He should feel proud that his son was living up to that. But he still wished Keith to survive through the events safely.

At the least, his actions had brought to him a small army of the most dedicated warriors on the earth. He’d need to train them further, since Keith would certainly drag them into hell itself at this rate.

“I see.” He said instead. But somehow, he could tell the knights understood far more in those two words.

He stepped back, one sword pointing over to the pillar heart beyond. “Your Deathless master will return within the hour. Prepare yourself.”

Drakonis nodded, and stepped forward, walking across the grass park. The Undersiders of this city all watched on from the rooftops, all holding their breath for the madness at the center of their city to finally come to an end.

The other Winterscar knights marched up and took formation next to him, standing at the ready.

“You understand what will be demanded of you next.” Tenisent spoke to the knights gathered around. “The boy is treading upon ground few would survive through. Your chance of returning to your families is slim. Possibly non-existent. Death may not even be the end of your service, surviving longer like those tombbound with your captain. This fate will not be kind to the human soul.”

They stayed silent, helmets turning to one in particular. The one in charge of the current expedition to deliver Drakonis here. He, in turn, looked over to Tenisent. “Sir. When sacrifice calls, we shall answer it.”

“What will be demanded is far beyond the vow you made to the clan. You know this.” Tenisent answered back.

“We are even more honored for the chance.” He replied.

His sensors confirmed this was not a lie. The other knights all drew their occult knives, and gave a salute. “For House Winterscar.” They spoke.

This, however, triggered a different set of responses to his sensors. They weren’t doing this for the House alone anymore. They were here for a larger cause than even that.

Tenisent nodded, his questions concluded. There was no need to demand anything further. The soldiers here understood what they were stepping into. And they did so with the seriousness that Keith lacked.

His son might stumble around in the world from event to event, but the knights here would march behind lockstep. If his own efforts and their combined might wasn’t enough to keep the boy safe, nothing in this world could.

They waited, minutes passing by, until his sensors pinged again. This time an arrival had appeared within the pillar heart. Three minutes later, Lionheart stepped out from the shadows of the building. Once more in his blood soaked clothing. They’d run out of clean clothing long ago, and instead Tenisent had simply repaired, and folded up what was left after each fight, before leaving it within the small antechamber of the pillar heart itself.

This time, Lionheart paused, looking over the line of Winterscar knights that had assembled, and his eyes then locked onto Drakonis, standing further ahead of them.

“You’ve returned.” He simply said.

“Yeah, no shit. We fucked up.”

“Language, young one.” Lionheart said, half chuckling. Somehow still jovial, as if nothing from the prior experience had so much as affected his spirit. He reached for the familiar occult blade on the grass, but paused before he marched out as usual to fight Tenisent. “Given your demeanor, I sense you have changed your mind on your cause? It has certainly gone beyond what a single Deathless could handle. We would need to leave this to the imperial chapters to fight.”

“At this rate, I’m pretty sure they’re all going to be busy fighting the machines in their final battle.” Drakonis said, which got an eyebrow raised from Lionheart.

“You believe events would lead to that apocalyptic moment already? Interesting. What have you encountered?”

“What haven’t I fucking encountered is more what you should be asking. The cultists, they weren’t lying. A Feather actually turned against the machines. It’s not a ploy too, you fought Feathers before, old man, you know they can’t lie for shit or pretend to be anything else for all the gold in a church chapter’s vault. So if one says they’re turning on the machine empire and on the side of humanity, they aren’t lying.”

That got Lionheart to frown, eyes far more focused. “Explain.” He said. The tone was neutral. He was open to understanding, but skeptical all the same.

Tenisent allowed them to continue discussions alone, waiting with the other knights here. From this point onwards, it would be on that young Deathless’s terms to handle. He would follow his mission to the end: Continue to pin down Lionheart here, until the Deathless recanted and swore to leave To’Wrathh’s village alone.

It was a lengthy discussion between Deathless. Convincing Lionheart to consider his side of the bargain complete was fairly easy. Drakonis simply said that his vendetta against To’Wrathh had come to an end, and he had all he needed to resolve his prior issues.

What was more difficult was to convince the Deathless not to pursue To’Wrathh herself. As expected, learning she had returned and was on this strata, possibly less than a hundred miles away, and within striking range of civilians, had rankled the veteran.

Learning that Drakonis had somehow managed to convince an entirely different Feather, was another matter entirely that required the Deathless to sit down and watch through the video footage.

Learning of the Icon, a golden age AI currently under the control of a Feather, and yet still working for humanity had been an additional complex blow.

And then… ‘Bob’ as the boy called the sentient fungal infection. That had been something of a discussion. To the credit of Drakonis, he abused the information as leverage in order to get an agreement from Lionheart on leaving the Feathers alone, or at least being peaceful with them.

The idea of a centralized method for all Deathless to connect to one another and organize was already a draw that Lionheart could not ignore. That this also came with even more occult powers would make it worth nearly anything. Testing had to be done, but Lionheart volunteered to be first in line. A discovery like this would be worth his entire lifetime’s worth of achievements, and the man knew it as easily as he breathed.

The secrets of the occult being freely shared by his son was a different matter to Tenisent. He didn’t particularly care if such secrets were dolled out. They were the discovery of the boy and his to choose what to do with. The clan had already made full use, likely to the point they would travel downwards and meet with To’Wrathh’s people.

Even if every other human out there turned and threatened Clan Altosk with their own discoveries, the clan had To’Wrathh and a portion of the machine empire there. Ones capable of change, and working hand in hand with clever Reachers. The knightbreakers alone would even the entire battlefield. So let them come and crash upon the knights of Altosk.

With an agreement reached, the Deathless clasped hands and shook. Tenisent rose from his meditation, eyes fixed to Lionheart.

“Do you admit the terms of surrender?” He asked once more.

Lionheart nodded. “I do. I will withdraw from attacking or engaging the cult gathering and the city they are forming. That will be for other pillars of society to judge.”

Tenisent nodded. “Your words are accepted.” He turned, and walked off.

The knights behind him equally filed behind, marching lockstep.

“The airspeeder is prepared for takeoff, we will be back at the village within the day.” The leader of the Winterscar team here said.

“Understood. We remain unable to send a signal back yet?”

“No sir. Our pings will not reach the village from this far, and the machine network itself remains offline.”

That had been a large part of Drakonis’s bargain and posture. The machine empire as a whole was blind right this moment. Large movements needed to happen while Relinquished could barely contain it.

The next great war had silently begun.

And all sides would be waking to it soon.