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.

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

dwelt on what had been lost. It had grown easier to bear over the years, but only a little. His acute awareness of how fleeting joy

of demons without armour on, the commander

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

crashed his fist down on the table as his thoughts strayed

burst through the door, his old comrade looked around the room as if expecting to

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!

using his name in

she was prepared to face his wrath if the moment demanded it. After a long moment where he took hold of his temper, Titus breathed out his tension

I'm just irritated and finding it difficult to concentrate," he admitted as he waved

the Dungeon?" she

Titus frowned.

course I'm proud, but that doesn't mean I want

who we trained when she was a young lass?

"Hmph," Titus snorted.

is a real issue and she is clearly pushing up against the 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?"

was her decision and the rest of us should

"There it is."

daughter we're talking

concerned, but that didn't mean he got to overrule Morrelia's choices. Or the

straight in the eye, "you don't know what it takes to succeed at that level. If she worked any less,

insane! She could

her choices. She understands the risks and is willing to shoulder them. I will hear