The sky was a dim red, the eclipse encroached slowly upon the heavens on high.

Soon enough darkness would swallow the land.

The army of Sol, led by Solomon, would have to reach their first waypoint by then; it would not serve for them to delay their departure by another hour or more.

Thus he and his men trod the path beneath the shattered gates, their armor shining crimson, orange, gold and white.

Solomon turned his eye back but once to the man formerly known as the Lord of Artemis, their new Sovereign, or rather, Regent, Aden, who had come to see him go.

He did not know what he was expecting to find, his gaze wandered to the chamber window where his old friend lay.

The lights were on, there was a shadow in the window. 

She was likely hiding so as not to expose herself to the vision of those not in the know.

She was watching from afar, but she did not come to see him off.

He smiled solemnly, the thought that they hadn’t managed to talk since the night The Goddess temple shook irked him just a little bit.

He thought to steal away into her room and placate her one final time, for she cursed at his insistence that he alone should march upon the armies of Augur.

When he thought she was a man he never would’ve insisted on that, even when he first learned the truth of it in fact his opinion hadn’t changed, not until she took to the sheets with him.

Thus he insisted, and thus she protested, the incident in the temple had everyone on edge.

With his many years of experience, he knew that there were few women who couldn’t be coaxed if one knew the method, but he didn’t want to treat her like the others.

He bid their new Sovereign in all but name a cordial farewell then, and turned on his heels to tread the path to the south: The lands now under siege by Augur and his army.

 

O

 

The Regent watched as Solomon walked away.

His unflinching expression was hard to read, even by the men who knew him so well.

Something had changed, be it with him or his surroundings, but no man could say for sure.

Aden turned on his heels to return to his duties.

His eye wandered then to the tower, adjacent to the royal bedchamber.

That place was where the Sovereigns of times past locked away their brides.

There were plenty of rooms to accommodate a fair maiden, her servants, a cook, a closet, you name it, and there was no way out except through the bedchamber of the man keeping her imprisoned there.

Modern times had seen that practice to extinction however and the chamber was only really used nowadays as an extension of the royal couple’s private domain.

There were some eccentric monarchs who had made use of the cooking quarters to enjoy a wholesome family dinner, and there was plenty of space to care for an infant child or two.

He saw his bride sitting by the window, blank eyes staring into the aether.

He’d refurbished the tower and turned the place back into the prison it had once been.

Now he kept her there for her own safety and his peace of mind.

 

O

 

Three days passed in a flash since that solemn departure.

The Lord of Sol trod the soil about Jupiter’s fertile lands, the border with the southernmost territory was finally in sight.

Until here he hadn’t paused much more than necessary.

The march was strained, but necessary.

He froze here however, for the sight of firelight in the dim horizon drew his eye.

He squinted, sighted the camp, its tents, and the all too familiar crescent moon shaped flags flapping in the wind.

After that, he sighed, and heavily so.

“I was not aware that The Lord of Luna and his men would be joining us on this campaign,” Said his most trusted lieutenant.

“He’s not supposed to be,” Said Solomon with a hint of venom.

The Lieutenant fell silent, his Lord’s reaction was very foreign to his memory.

Indeed Solomon wasn’t prone to expressions of annoyance, especially in this circumstance. 

Arcadias was, after all, his friend and equal in many meanings.

Why would he spurn the help of such a man now after so many years?

The Lord said nothing as his ilk marched into the camp.

The distance was neither close nor far, it took them a while, but they reached it in a reasonable length of time. 

He looked about and ended up catching sight of Arcadia’s most trusted men.

That was when her voice, disguised as a man’s voice, caught his ear.

He turned to spy her standing in a man’s garb and giving orders to the soldiers.

His anger fit to burst, he marched over.

The ‘Lord’ of Luna noticed the mood of her men.

She sighed, closed her eyes, then turned to face her ‘friend’.

The man paused in front of her looking terrifying and tall, yet all she did in turn was smile as though nothing was amiss.

“We must have words. Now,” He demanded, then gestured with his chin to the tent that was clearly her own.

The “Lord” of Luna’s shoulders fell as a huff escaped from her scarlet red lips.

They walked into the tent.

She went first, then trod to the back and turned to find the man blocking the only way out.

Solomon then commanded all the men nearby to leave them a wide berth so that they could speak in privacy.

The Lady felt a little trapped, that was true, but she suppressed a sense of satisfaction as well which was spurred on by his aggressive reaction.

Yes, she wanted him angry, angry and worried, but she did not want to push his buttons more than the need may warrant.

The man was already furious, she could see that, but his tone remained level and tempered. “What are you doing here?” He asked, though he was sure already that he knew the answer she would offer.

“Why shouldn’t I be here?” The Lady said with a sneer.

Her voice had returned to its natural pitch now, she didn’t care to put on airs around him anymore.

The Lord of Sol frowned all the more, his teeth visibly clenched to hold back a burst of anger, and then he calmly told her,

“I told you I would do this alone.” She heard him, yet she sneered again.

“Just you? Alone against the Lord of Neptune and his four allied Lords? Lucky for you, the Regent recognised that for the fool’s errand it is.”

Solomon fell silent.

Now he was at a loss.

“Aden?” He stuttered out, and Arcadia nodded in reply.

“With his permission,” She said.

“And I’m guessing you had no hand in suggesting the idea?” The man scoffed, then frowned all the more deeply.

She watched him squirm in his silent fury, part of her even marked it with pride and schadenfreude, it’s what she felt he had earned, what she believed he deserved, to be frustrated so by his lack of say so.

“For all of Ymir’s,” The man sighed as the truth of the matter dawned on him, and then he hardened his heart, “Woman, I forbid it.”

He spoke with authority, a man’s, a husbands, authority.

The father she hardly remembered flashed like a vague silhouette through the corners of Arcadia’s mind.

Alas she was left biting her lip, but her conviction didn’t waver.

“You can’t forbid it,” She said, sneering back toward him.

The man stood in silent stillness then.

He frowned toward her all the while.

She looked so delicate to his eye nowadays, he was terrified to lose her now.

He knew what had changed, it wasn’t just the realization she was a woman, it was not alone the fact he’d slept with her either.

Some part of him was already yielding itself wholeheartedly to her.

He was falling in love, what a way to realize it.

“The Regent,” He said, “he can forbid it.” Arcadia closed her eyelids halfway to a frown. “I’ll tell him your secret,” He said with a heavy glare.

Her eyes went cold as they faced him then.

“Oh really? Is that a genuine threat?” She asked.

“Yes,” He replied, “If you don’t turn your butt around and go back to Jupiter on your own.”

The Lady of Luna crossed her arms and stared him down.

He saw her as she sneered in that knowing, mocking manner that she was oh so prone to.

“How well do you think I know you?” She asked, sure enough, his confident frown gave way to a frustrated grunt, “We both know you’re too good of a man to do anything like that, so don’t even try to threaten me.”

Now she says this? Now? After using “keeping his mouth shut” as an excuse to offer him her body night after night? He could only call her sly for daring to say so.

“Damn it, woman, don’t you get it? You could die!” His tone was stern, he did not dare to plead with her to the bitter end, he knew such things would get him nowhere.

“YOU could die!” She shouted back.

She poked his chest and leaned forward to press upon his space.

Every trick she’d seen other women do, she let loose an imitation of their manner.

All of those years of buried longing, at last she could put it all to practice.

She had no strength, but pressed him against the door with her advance, a finger poking his chest with the edge of its sharp nail again and again as she said,

“Like my Father, like my brother! Far away, in some distant battlefield where I can’t see you, you could die!”

The man stopped, even so a defeated scowl appeared upon his brow.

She was doing this deliberately, he could tell because he’d seen it all before, and she was admittedly a novice.

Ironically however the little slip ups here and there only made her more endearing, and her plea alone, at least, did come from the heart.

Yes, he could guess that was how she truly felt: She truly didn’t want the same thing to happen again.

After her father, then her brother, if she also ends up losing her lover like that then it would be the last straw.

“Don’t shut me out,” She implored him, “If you’re going to treat me like this then…I wish you never knew, I’d rather anyone knew but you!”

“Ok,” He said, sighing as he found himself giving in.

He cursed and cursed again, but he knew he’d never win.

He couldn’t stop her, and not because he had no methods but, rather, because he couldn’t muster the will.

There was never a man who could truly win an argument with the woman he was in love with.

“I need to be there…no matter what happens.”

The man heard her plea, and so he gave in completely.

“Damn it, Woman.”

“I’m sorry,” She said, whispering.

She clenched his collar and hid her face against his chest.

She knew she was manipulating him, that she was being cunning just like all those other women he hated, but she could not help it, there was no other way.

“Don’t be,” He said, huffing in a horribly exhausted manner, “As you say…I cannot stop you anyway.”

The two of them stood unmoving, a tense air hung between them.

He only wanted her to live on in safety while she only wanted to stay by his side, even if it was in death.

From the very beginning he could never win, for both of their desires were fundamentally the same in only one thing: she was the object of both their wishes, it was up to her to decide whether she stays or goes, from the very beginning he simply had no power to stop her.

 

O

 

And so they marched together, the Lords of Sol and Luna, into the Ceres Territory Border…

Where they died, and their names, as mortals at least, were forgotten forever by the annals of history…