Empires of Ashes Reboot

*she crouches next to him, and lays a hand on his shoulder as long as it takes*

Finally, he stops trembling. Silently, he stands up.

Diana: "Justinian?" She sounds concerned

Mordred: *Chuckles* “You can’t teach a dire wolf to play fetch with kids”

he quietly walks over to something in the corner of the tent. It is a small shrine to Arenae, goddess of War, Wisdom, Justice and Compassion. There is a small candle built into the shrine, burning warmly and softly, with what appears to be a basin or bowl at its' base. Justinian reaches down to his belt, and draws his Daggar, which like Trajan's, depicts the black centurion Damocles upon it. Slowly, grunting in pain as he does so, he draws the blade across the palm of his left hand, leaving a bleeding cut. clenching his left fist, he holds the bleeding hand over the candle, so the blood drips into the basin. "Arenae, Goddess of Justice, Patron of the 4th, I hereby swear to you, that so long as there is breath within my body, that I will defend Diana Marcia with my life, and bring justice to those who would harm her. For every ounce of pain she suffers, I swear I will inflict a thousand fold upon the perpetrators. I will die for her, if I must. I offer you my life blood, and ask that you grant me the strength of body and mind to fulfil this oath. And I ask that should I fail in this oath, you send the black centurion to take me in the night, and condemn me to Dis for all eternity."

Theresa: You fuckers can't, we can

Mordred: “Look at you acting all superior, where d’you even get them? They’re quite rare at home”

Theresa: Eastern part of the empire. We breed em.

Mordred: “That explains alot”

Theresa: that so?

Mordred: “Can’t get em this docile if they’re wild”

Diana: "Thats... ah... Justinian... Thats not necessary."

Justin turns back to her, pulling out a length of cloth and bandaging his hand. He gives her that awkward smile again, the one that couldn't come from anyone else. "Repaying old debts eh?"

Theresa: oh aye, yer not wrong there

Mord: “Which is why we use normal wolves”

Theresa: that so? *chuckles* you do everythin smaller down south?

Mordred: *Chuckles* “Not everything..”

Diana: "But... Justinian you... I didn't bet my life on yours to the gods!" She grabs him by the shoulders. "What have you done?"

Justin:... Diana... were all I ever had. Do you know that? I never knew my parents, never had any friends of any kind. Not before I met you. When I lost you... I was left empty. My very soul drained from my body. I felt no happiness, no fear, only the pain, and the hatred of my own, wretched self for being too weak to do anything as you were dragged, kicking and screaming, into a world of suffering and torment. I spent weeks trying to find a reason not to open my own worthless throat in penance for failing you like I did. Eventually I did find one. It didn't matter what happened to me any more. I had to find you, and end your suffering, no matter the cost to myself. I spent six years fighting, trying to find you. I saw things... did things I cannot forget. Every night your screams haunted me, only growing louder and louder as time passed. And now... *sighs* here you are. And with one defeat four years ago, it was all for nought.

Theresa: forgive me if I don't beleive ye, fancy pants.

Mordred: “Your loss, so what’s the plan with the incoming Kelthrovi? Gonna harass them? Just watch?”

Theresa: there aint any incoming kelthrovi.

Mordred: “The ‘Grand Army’ and their inevitable horde”

Theresa: got no idea we're here yet.

Mord: “I don’t believe that”

Theresa: how would they know, fancy pants?

Mordred: “Spies, informants, scouts, their leaders are probably wondering why out esteemed allies haven’t contacted them”

Theresa: Spies we woulda found by now. Informants, well that'd require someone havin survived that last battle who aint on our side. *she grins* And you can thank us lot for that not bein a problem. As for our esteemed allies contactin em, how exactly? No one can bloody shout that loud, and we're weeks away from anywhere close to where the grand army could be.

She slaps him across the face. Hard. The edge of one of the plates on her gauntlet nicks him in the cheek, and blood starts to well. "Don't you ever, say that ever again! I'm not the only person in the world Justinian! Think of how many other people you saved. They're not worthless."

Justin: I...you're right... they're not. But you're worth more to me than all of them combined. *he sighs* I'm sorry... I know I probably sound deluded...

Mordred: “Then you’re doing a good job, but army is almost a hundred thousand strong. The column is miles long. They know we’re here somewhere. If they know about the battle, they’ll know that we must follow fresh water to survive, this isn’t a raiding force either meaning we have a goal. All they have to do is look at a map and work out where we’re heading”

Theresa: forgettin one other thing big boy. They've got no idea this army's this big, or that it's coming this deep.

Mordred: *Nods* “Isn’t easy to hide something like this, it won’t be long until they notice. And then we’ll have a fight for the ages on our hands”

Theresa: aye, but consul's got plans fer that.

Mordred: “One of these days I will find something he hasn’t planned for”

Theresa: end of the world, probably

Mordred: “Oh he’s planned for that. I’d bet he’s thought about how to fell the gods”

Diana: "Just... Just a little bit."

Justin: I'm... I'm sorry

theresa laughs at that

Mordred lets out a little laugh
“Have you ever dealt with Voldamians before?”

Theresa: fraid not. 4th fought em, but that was before my time.

Mordred: “Ahh, nevermind then”

Diana: "its alright... you've been through a lot."

Justin sighs, sheathing the daggar. he's at least stopped trembling.

Theresa: sorry big boy.

Mordred: “Ah well..thank you”

Diana puts a hand on his shoulder, and smiles weakly.

justin smiles back, just as weakly. gently he pulls her into an embrace. Fin.

Theresa: no problem fancy pants *she chuckles*

Mordred: *He chuckles and walks off, returning to his portable smithy to work on that sword*

Diana walks back to the immortal camp with a thousand yard stare.

It doesn't take long for Belgute to walk over to her. Even with the veil and helmet on, he can tell from a glance something's wrong.
Belgute: Ma'am? *sounds concerned*

Diana: "Y... Y... Yeah. Fine." The words just wont come out.

Belgute:...talk to me boss. You know you're the only fucker round here I actually listen to.

Diana: "I... I'm not sure."

Belgute:...you went to see him didn't you?