On the cliffs furthest to the west on the Muspelheim Continent was a city made of gold that shone bright beneath the crimson light of the dim giant sun.

Were one to paint this image upon a canvas, it would be both desolate and beautiful, a utopia amid the barren cliffs and wasted soil.

The streets of this city were lined with black, sparkling stones that granted one the illusion of a cosmos under their feet.

What bountiful mercy could birth such a city? What gift of the gods?

The female Einherjar, The Lady of Vesta, descended.

Her mist-like form passed over the city’s golden walls in an instant.

She landed in the streets, her body exhausted and covered in cracks that leaked Ash like steam.

Even then she did not relax or focus on reforming.

She knew that her counterpart would not be long behind her even though she’d managed to lose him just a few days prior.

She raised her head towards a silver grated gate.

This city, that seemed so wealthy, disgusted her aplenty.

She remembered in her groggy memory that Authun had entertained her praying worshipers by turning the streets into sparkling stone and the walls into solid gold.

Gaudy wasn’t a good enough name for it, but this was why she was called a goddess of wealth and fortune.

The Lady stumbled closer, her presence caused a commotion that attracted a truly massive crowd not long after.

Should she say it was as expected from the City of Mars that over eight tenths of the population in sight were males?

Furthermore, the few fair maidens she could spy were clearly not locally born.

For them these walls were like a gilded cage, many of these girls were even sent here because they were politically inconvenient; indeed it was the same fate that had befallen many a man who'd been married into Venus.

One such example was Lucretia of Jupiter herself, who was arranged by her Grandfather to marry the Lord of Mars' nephew, Oposal.

However, it must be said that for many of these women it was a cage quite willingly entered, for like the men who married into Venus it was far safer for them than to remain in the places that they once called home.

“Gallum!” She yelled, her voice bellowing loud as thunder through the streets.

The men at the gates stumbled back, frightened by the power behind her voice.

Even in her current state one must never forget that she was a being thought to be a god by mortal men, lesser or no.

Their salvation came only in the form of a calm voice from behind the gates they guarded.

“Why so hasty, Lady of Vesta?” The men sighed in relief as their lord approached them.

Gallum, the Lord of Mars, was a man of dark bronze skin who had a smooth bald head and a well kept combo of moustache and beard.

Beside him walked his nephew, the future Lord of Mars and Fiancé of Princess Lucretia of Jupiter, Oposal of Mars.

This young man mirrored Gallum in some respect to his looks, but as he still had a full head of hair and showed no signs of a shadow much less a budding beard, it could be seen that he was as expected many years, even maybe a few decades, his uncle's junior.

The female Einherjar raised her head to behold the men before her.

Gallum frowned back at her as he saw her haggard state and soon enough found himself feeling alarmed by her behaviour.

Among the Lords of Western Muspelheim the Lady of Vesta’s godhood was as like an open secret, but the fact she wasn’t even trying to conceal herself at all told him that something very serious had to be happening.

The Lady of Vesta met his gaze and exhaled in relief a hefty breath, all the while her form began fading into vapour on the wind.

“I’m being chased,” She said, “My pursuer is another Einherjar, but stronger than me. Stop him, delay him, I care not which you do, by the will of the Goddess I call on you.”

The words nearly stung her throat to speak them, but she said them all the same.

Not long after that, her form dissipated before the eyes of the four men of the manor and the gathered crowd behind her.

“Should you succeed...I will ask her to lift the curse that ails you...I will ask her to forgive you,” Those were the Lady's final parting words.

The Lord of Mars then frowned as he watched her vaporous form fly away into the aether.

The street fell silent and stayed that way for the longest time, but not just from the shock of her true identity being exposed.

The Goddess’ will was everything to these men, for they were the final generation of her Guardians who had long served to protect these lands in her name.

Yet three hundred years had passed since she cursed them and two hundred more had passed since she fell silent in the aftermath.

They had long forfeited any hope of being forgiven.

Now however, her Einherjar, her representative upon this Ymir, had offered them her redemption.

How could they not jump at the chance?

Gallum gave a resigned smile as he turned to face his men.

There was no putting a lid on the fire that had just been lit, he knew it, Oposal did too, even the women who weren't part of these ancient legacies naturally knew it from the time they'd spent with the men they had married to get in.

“You heard the lady, what’re you waiting for!” Shouted the Lord of Mars.

The men roared, they raised their fists into the air ready to fight.

The lord turned with a smile back towards his golden manor.

“That was the Lady of Vesta?” Oposal bid to inquire.

“Aye...she was,” The Lord of Mars gave in answer.

“People like that...you can tell at a glance that they’re trouble." The Lord of Mars fell silent.

After a while he shot his heir a troubled glance and then expressed his agreement with a truly bitter tongue.

“She is indeed trouble. But, she is also the Goddess’ Einherjar.”

Oposal frowned when he heard his uncle’s words.

He couldn’t ignore his impression of that woman as being one of those “troublesome” people with a scheme hidden behind her every action.

Indeed Gallum didn't care to claim that he was wrong either.

The Lady of Vesta was trouble, that too was an open secret about her.

“Uncle,” He asked, “How exactly...does one even do what she is asking?” The Lord of Mars turned to face him, he had a troubled look in his wizened old eye. “How does one defeat a god?”

___________________________________________________ 

Within the walls of Mars stood a figure clad in silver.

The Knight of Cain watched as the female Einherjar he spied fled towards the North-Eastern direction.

He had heard everything, both her plea and the reaction from the men of Mars soon after.

Originally his objective here had been to kill Gallum and usurp his form if he failed to convince the man to ally himself with their goals.

Overall, it was the same thing Cain was doing everywhere else, the sole difference in his case was that he’d come to realise Gallum was both a staunch follower of Authun and a difficult man to kill.

He raised his sleeve, which morphed into a hawk.

The Knights of Cain were gathering, readying themselves to face the Einherjar known as Orthrus.

Naturally, however, they would not just let this woman go either.