Chrysalis

The shadow falls like clouds, like rain;

Creeping dread begins to stain;

Shudder the heart, freeze the brain;

Ring out the laughter, again and again;

Call of you lover, daughter, son;

Sinks into your ears, your will undone;

Forward you step, your soul is wrung;

Cannot resist, Gon has come;

Who can defy that fateful call?

Who can escape the shadows pall?

Forward you go, heedless to stall;

Into the depths to meet the fall;

Lament the brave and pity the meek;

None can flee the song of the freak;

• Rinnidan children's rhyme.

death of his son had robbed him of both his children. Now that he'd been reunited with Morrelia and she had integrated into the Legionem Abyssi a part of him that had long been dead was once again full of life. Not that anyone could tell looking at his face, of course, to the world at large he appeared as stone faced and duty bound as ever. Ever since Morrelia had been selected for accelerated development his pride had almost been ready to burst out of his chest.

been lost. It had grown easier to bear over the years, but only a little. His acute awareness of how fleeting joy could be only made his current appreciation for

without armour on, the

all of it demanded the careful attention of

Titus crashed his fist down on the table as his thoughts strayed once

looked around the room as if expecting to see

superior, she froze when she saw the hard lines of his expression. Though he always looked carved from granite, right

wrong, Titus?" she demanded, using his name in a breach of protocol. "Is something

his wrath if the moment demanded it. After a long moment where he took hold of his temper, Titus breathed out his tension once

irritated and finding it difficult to concentrate," he admitted as he waved a hand towards the piles

about your daughter out working hard in the Dungeon?" she grinned. "I know how proud you

Titus frowned.

proud, but that doesn't mean I want

who we trained when she was a young lass? Why would

"Hmph," Titus snorted.

seen her stumbling into camp once every few days, covered in ichor and half dead on her feet. She spends so much time in the field they are rotating three squads to accompany her. She's doing three times the work of a normal

Titus didn't blink.

she say?" he

decision and the rest of us

"There it is."

serious, Titus! This is your daughter we're talking about, don't tell me that you

was concerned, but that didn't mean he got

told her, looking her straight in the eye, "you don't know what it takes to succeed at that level. If she worked any less, she wouldn't have a chance of making it

is insane! She could

decision," Titus stated, his tone hard as steel. "I will support her choices. She understands the risks and is willing to shoulder them. I will