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.

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

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, but only a little. His acute awareness of how fleeting joy could be only made his current appreciation for

was the backbone of the Legion, and though he would rather charge into a horde of demons without armour on, the commander would do his duty and defeat the enemy that rested on the flat surface before him. Once more focused on his task, Titus took hold of his pen, dipped

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

fist down on the table as his thoughts

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

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

his name in a breach of protocol. "Is

a long moment where he took hold of his temper, Titus breathed out his tension once more, his expression softening

admitted as he waved a hand towards the

working hard in the Dungeon?" she grinned. "I know how proud you

Titus frowned.

but that doesn't mean I want

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

"Hmph," Titus snorted.

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.

Titus didn't blink.

did she say?"

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

"There it is."

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 succeed at that level. If she worked any

much is insane! She could

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