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.

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

slow release of breath he pushed out the grief that rose within him as his thoughts dwelt on what had been lost. It had grown easier to bear over the years,

mind away from Morrelia and back to the numerous papers scattered across his desk. Administrative work was the backbone of the Legion, and though he would rather charge into a horde of demons without armour on,

the wave was a monumental task. Thousands of soldiers and thousands more auxiliaries needed to be accounted for, equipped, fed, billeted and kept happy. Promotions, training, Skill development, Class upgrades, managing morale, all of it demanded the careful attention of the commander in charge and Titus knew just how important each of these were to the successful running of a military force. This was the sort of discipline that the Legion drummed into

his fist down on the table

wrong, commander?" Aurillia burst through the door, his old comrade looked around the room as if expecting to see a

didn't lose his temper. He just didn't! For him to yell like that, something must be seriously wrong! As she glanced back to the face of her old friend and superior, she froze when she saw the hard lines of his expression. Though he always looked carved from granite, right now the commander appeared as if he was forged from Abyssal Iron! Knowing him for as long

demanded, using his name in a breach of protocol. "Is

officers of his Legion, she was prepared to face his wrath if the moment demanded it. After a long moment where he took hold of his

it difficult to concentrate," he admitted as he waved a hand towards the piles of forms and applications in front

out working hard in the Dungeon?"

Titus frowned.

but that doesn't mean I want to hear

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

"Hmph," Titus snorted.

boundary," Aurillia grew serious as she laid out her concerns. "We've 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 legionary! You can't

Titus didn't blink.

she say?" he

it was her decision and the rest of us should leave off," the tribune

"There it is."

be serious, Titus! This is your daughter we're talking

concerned, but that didn't mean he got to overrule Morrelia's

"you don't know what it takes to

insane!

his tone hard as steel. "I will support her choices. She understands the risks and is willing to shoulder them. I will hear no more of this