Chapter 63: Let the Journey Begin.

Jay couldn't help but grin as watched Xao trying his best to figure out how to walk in his new armour, it was obvious he wasn't used to wearing anything with any weight to it or that was as restrictive as what he was currently wearing.

To be fair it had taken Ketra to pry him out of Ova's grasp in the bathroom of her home as she had been very very insistent on checking every single seam of his armour to make sure he wearing it just right, in fact from what Ketra had said rather than just showing him how to put the thing on Ova had insisted on putting it on him herself.

By the traditions of the Beledon as a squire, Xao wasn't allowed to wear full plate mail like the rest of the knights including Jay himself, the armour that Xao had was an interesting mixture obviously designed to be both more flexible and lighter than plate mail, it kinda reminded him of something he'd learned about in school called Gambeson.

Gambeson was a kind of medieval cloth armour generally used by the peasantry within a lord's land, peasants couldn't generally afford leather armour or chainmail but the cloth was fairly easily available, to make Gambeson it was hardened and strengthened by being tightly woven to give it an almost kevlar like structure.

It appeared that the Beledon had done something similar for this armour, it seemed to be a Gambeson tunic that had been designed to be worn under additional armour that would be layered atop of it, like a chain mail shirt or in Xao's case a hardened leather and chainmail mixture, it was obviously designed to be flexible and as lightweight as their materials would allow.

The outer shirt was a fell chainmail shirt that had a piece of hardened leather bolted atop of it like on his shoulders and chest but wasn't fully leather, the dark brown leather had been embossed with the coat of arms of Lord Beltran to show whose knights they were.

His trousers were much the same, Gambeson main with chainmail over it and a few patches of curved leather to protect his thighs and shins, his boots and helmet were full leather though the helmet did have a ring mail veil that covered his neck and shoulder tops and the whole thing while very light by Beledon standards was most certainly not by Xao's standards as it was obvious the young human engineer had never worn anything like it in his life and by the way he was walking it kinda made him look like he'd been riding an invisible fire tiger all day as they followed along behind the cart that was packed with supplies.

Now while Jay was far more used to carrying heavy loads on his body because he had to wear Saviour armour in the field as well as carry all the gear required of them like weapons and ammo for said weapons which given that the railgun part of their weapons used tungsten slugs which was very heavy metal, though to be fair at least Clan Mason armour was powered and had exosuit elements which helped the Saviour to move while wearing it.

But this plate mail he now had on was most definitely not powered or equipped with any movement assists, it was heavy and hot and kinda awkward to move into the point where you pretty much had to preplan every step you took to ensure you adjusted and shifted your weight properly or you'd topple over.

Though one thing that made Jay really smile was watching how enamoured with his new sword and he kept seeing the young engineer fingering the hilt and large bronze pommel, "If you keep playing with that you'll go blind you know?" Jay said jokingly and Xao flinched and blushed before smiling shyly as he noticed all of the knights including Ova all turning to look at him.

"I-I've never held a weapon before let alone a sword hell I've only seen these damn things in old text books and you would not believe how hard those are to get back on Earth these days well I say these days but hell things could have changed for all I know given how long we've been in space, but when I left the mega corporations like Weyland Yutani and Seegson had royally dipped their greedy fucking fingers into the education system, they want to program the next generation of consumers so not only do they collect generous paychecks from the governments and parents they 'supply' education for they are also just spewing propaganda in the ears of those kids every single day, so yeah they really like to colour history, but I always found it fascinating so I went out of my way to dig up proper history and read about it, things like old fashioned siege engines and old school weapons of war were always fascinating to me and now here I am a real life squire to a knight and armed with a sword of my very own!" Xao said glancing first at Ova and then at the one-handed sword on his belt and Jay translated what he said for the benefit of the others which he had kinda got into the habit of doing now and visa versa translating what they said for Xao as well.

"Don't you worry my squire I will turn you into the finest knight these lands have ever seen, no-one will ever say that Lord Beltran and Lady Layla's knights are not the best of the very best, I swear it to you Xao you will be the best knight these lands have ever seen!" Ova said proudly puffing her incredibly ample chest out as she slowed her pace to fall in step with her human squire and placing a large hand upon his shoulders while balling the other into a fist to show off her determination.

Both Ketra and Ava looked at one another and smiled while chuckling then they turned to Jay who was walking a few steps behind the two Beledon Dream Warriors, "So Jay Ketra here tells me that that weapon of yours is incredibly powerful but I must say to look at it doesn't look like much?" she Ava said.

Jay nodded and tapped it, "It's a carbine rifle called a ZRT-21 it's a cut-down version of the Clan Mason main battle rifle designed for use by starship crews primarily for use in the cramped corridors of star ships, but regardless of its compact nature it still packs a serious punch as all Clan Mason weaponry does, our science hive takes great pride in making our weapons absolute top-notch, no wastage in either weight or energy, its got two modes one fires small tungsten slugs at hypervelocity which are designed to punch through armour as well the flesh, think of it like a really really advanced bow, its a projectile weapon, its second mode fires plasma which is a superheated gas which is compressed and constricted inside a magnetic field which holds it together, when it hits something it burns clean through it as it burns hotter than the surface of the sun," Jay said trying his best to explain the weapon's operation to the large Dream Warrior.

Ava glanced at Ketra who nodded in agreement, "I have seen his mind and memories and what he says is true and I have also seen the weapon in operation first hand, it took down four of the dark knights who stood with a corrupted one, it burns clean through them like they were made of paper, clean through their armour and flesh putting them down, one man with one of these took down four armoured knights without them even being able to able to swing a hit at him and if the final one had not been a corrupted one I have no doubt he would have fallen to it as well," Ketra said proudly.

Ava looked amazed, "May I see it?" she asked holding out her hand for the weapon but before Jay could answer Ketra grabbed her hand and shook her head making Ava frown at her questioningly.

"Their weapons cannot be touched by anyone outside of their Clan, trust me, sister, you do not want to touch that damn thing, it will put you right on your tail end without a second thought Blessed one or not, it's not for us," she said shaking her head.

Ava looked surprised and retracted her hand and glancing at Jay who nodded in agreement, "I'm sorry but Clan Mason protects its own whether it be people or property, we ensure that neither can be used against us in any way, so our weapons are code locked to us so only we can use them, not even Xao could use it so it's not a human thing, its a Clan thing," he said and Ava looked thoughtful and then nodded.

"Smart, weapons captured from an enemy and then turned on them are always a major asset so denying them that is very smart," she said and Jay smiled.

"Glad you think so too, hey mind if I ask you a question?" he said and both she and Ketra nodded.

"Are there a lot of Dream Warriors or Blessed ones on your world? I mean there are only a lot on ours because the Clan actively seeks them out and brings them to us for training from both the Yautja, Human and now the Serpentinus and Raptorian peoples, but overall they are supposed to be very rare so meeting two Beledon Dream Warriors and seeing a Nightmare Assasin variant so quickly after arriving is surprising to me?" Jay said.

"Each nation has their share of Blessed Knights like us, but n one nation trains them we are all taken to a very special place called the Temple of the Gods that answers to no nation and no person other than the Gods and Goddesses themselves, there we are trained to use our abilities for good and for the empowerment of our people not only as a nation that they hailed from but for all Beledon people everywhere, we are meant to be the champions and spokes people of the Gods and Goddesses, we are meant to be examples to our people and to lift them up and to show them what they can be, but there are those who do not believe this and they believe that this gift is not given to us to help other but to control them and rule them, even to enslave them, like the so called Great High Lord and Lady Teppran and Velara of the Eastern Islands," Ava said almost sounding like she wanted to spit at the end, Ketra did spit and then looked embaressed that she did infront of Jay.

"M-My apologies Jay that was very unladylike of me and very unworthy of a Blessed Knight but the mere mention of their names invokes a fury like no other in me," she said both angrily but also a little embarrassedly.

"So they use Dream Warriors to rule by force?" Jay asked curiously and Ava shook her head.

"They are Dream Warriors as you call us, they have been recruiting our disillusioned brothers and sisters and building up an army with them at its head, if the other nations did not have Blessed ones of their own they would be under their control, but they are growing more powerful by the day and now with these alien Cursed ones showing up and whispers of them working together it worries me for the future it truly does," Ava said and Ketra nodded.

"I will never bow to them, I have one Lord and one Lady and I bow to them and them alone, I will fight till my last breath for our land and our people," Ketra said defiantly and around her, all of her knights and even Ava nodded in agreement.

"Well if we can find a way to contact Clan Mason I am sure they would help your people with that, normally we wouldn't get involved in internal disputes but given that there is already alien influence involved I'm positive our Grand Patriarch will be very interested in helping you and trust me when you see him and his Seekers of Truth in action you will see why he is referred to as the most powerful Dream Warrior to walk this universe, he and our Grand Matriarch are the light that shines through all darkness and where you find innocent people in danger you will find them and all of Clan Mason ready to fight for them," Jay said very proudly as he let his Clan pride shine through his voice.

"Well if you are anything to go by Jay your Clan Mason must be an army of truly incredible and fearless warriors as I watched you stand up to not one but two cursed ones despite not being blessed yourself, all to protect the innocent some of which you didn't even know so it shows me that the memories I saw in your mind of the beautiful place from which you hail are not rose-tinted, they are real because I saw you embody those principles with my own eyes, you stood tall in the face of death and you refused to back down, you pushed back the darkness with your own hands and that as a Blessed knight I can truly respect because it is our creed also, fight for the innocent till your last breath," Ketra said proudly and joyfully as she placed a large hand on Jay's shoulder.

"I think it is time we set up camp don't you, it is getting late?" Ava said and all of them nodded.

"Yes, we have made good progress today and I do believe we shall make the docks tomorrow if we maintain this pace, but that's when our true quest will begin because once at sea we are away from all the influences of our Lords and Ladies, we are on our own," Ketra said.

"I shall set up the tents! Xao you will accompany me in setting our tent up and then we shall have some food before I start your training, I am going to make you work up a sweat tonight just you wait and see!" Ova said excitedly before rushing off to collect the tent from the back of the cart Jay could only grin and chuckle at his friend as he saw him groan before heading to join the big excitable Beledon.

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The lone figure limped along the granite floor between the pews that lead to the thrones at the head of the black cathedral where all the people worshipped their living gods, he was not looking forwards to having to report his failure to his lord and lady, they did not take bad news lightly.

As he approached her could see four armoured figures standing before them and he instantly recognised them as some of the aliens that had come to their world a few months ago, it had only been a trickle at first one or two of them popping up here and there but now it seemed you couldn't move for tripping over these accursed foreign aliens and if it wasn't for their obvious power in both technology and in their abilities he would have happily tried to forcibly eject them not only from this world but this life as well.

He saw one of them turn and his purple and black eyes turned right into a sneer along with his features, it was the one they called Death's Touch, it was said he could kill a man with a simple touch but he knew it was due to the venomous barbs that he was covered in as he had once managed to catch a glimpse of him without his unusual armour and he had witnessed him kill a servant who had messed up his food by lightly jabbing him with one of these quills, a simple prick to the neck with a most as fast as pure shadow and the poor servant girl had fallen to the floor convulsing and frothing at the mouth before dieing what was obviously a very painful death.

"My lord and lady," Xanaran said dropping to one knee and pulling up his hand into a salute.

Both his lord and lady looked up from their discussion and Xanaran could already see the disgust and anger at his presence both without his knights or the heads of the Clan's men that he'd been sent to retrieve as both of the large black-furred Beledon stood from their thrones and stomped towards him.

"I am going to assume by your lack of knights or of rolling alien heads upon my floors that you have failed in your task?" Lord Teppran spat and he winced.

"Yes my lord but I can explain..." he began before Lady Velara snarled at him.

"Why should we listen to your feeble excuses?" You were given a simple task and you have failed and you know better the most the price of failure and of treason," she snarled in a deep gravely and thoroughly unpleasant voice.

"T-T-Treason my Lady!? I would never betray you!" Xanaran exclaimed looking up at the massive black-furred Beledon female whose blood-red eyes glowed like rubies lit with fire in her head.

"Failure is treason! It is a weakness and a disbelief in the principles that those touched by the gods should rule those lower than us!" she bellowed spittle flying from her mouth and splattering onto his face and armour as she flashed forwards so fast that even he didn't see her move.

"T-T-They had advanced weaponry my lady, one of them killed my knights while I was locked in combat with one of their so-called Blessed knights, before I could disengage and attack he used it upon me and I was barely able to make my escape!" he exclaimed and she snarled again and was about to strike him when another voice spoke and by the sickly sweet note to it, he knew exactly who it was, Death Touch.

"My lady one moment if I may?" the smarmy alien said and she turned her head to glare at him.

"Yes?" she asked.

"If I may be first allowed to read his memories before you beat them into mush, maybe we can truly see if what he says is true," the tall skinny alien said.

Lady Velara snorted and then gestured to Xanaran, "Go right ahead Death Touch pry the truth from his mind and show us all the truth of his weakness and treason," she snarled and Xanaran felt a kernel of fear as the lanky hooded alien who partially hid his features behind a mask approached him and like a striking serpent his hand came out and grabbed hold of his head.

"Let's see what secrets you hide," he said and Xanaran felt a cold sensation like a worm squirming through his mind as the alien invaded his thoughts.

After a moment he let go and turned to the Lord and Lady, "He tells the truth, good Lord and Lady, he and his knights attacked the cowards at one of their festivals where they should have been at a disadvantage being only armed with their swords but unarmed, as he attacks and did combat with one of their Blessed Knights one of the vile aliens that I warned you about turned his weapons on your knights slaying them before they had even chance to blink let alone respond, this is exactly what I warned you about when I first came here and now here it is as truth, they are here and they are going to arm your enemies with these powerful weapons, even with the power of righteousness on your side it will not be enough to stand against an army armed with these weapons, they will take your lands, your people, everything you hold dear if you do not stop them, you must act now!" Death touch said.

Both the Lord and Lady looked at one another and even Xanaran could feel their fear of losing control of their lands passing between them, which given he'd seen just what one of these creatures and this one was not even blessed could do it was a fear that he felt was justified, he dreaded to think what an entire army of these creatures could do to them.

"Look I know what you are thinking good Lord and Lady, if I am so concerned about these people why am I here helping you good people instead of protecting my own people? Well this is a good question but my Lord feels that stopping these people here and now will stop their vile influence from spreading to other worlds and polluting other people, so by helping the Beledons to protect themselves from them it will go on to help protect my people from them as well, that way not only will we protect the Galaxy from these vile people but we will ensure that Beledons are ruled by Beledons and not just that but rules by those that are meant to rule and not simpering unblessed weaklings, together we will show them what true strength looks like as you will show all Beledons what it looks like and then they will have no choice but to kneel at your hooves as they should," Death Touch said.

As much as Xanaran hated the man he did make a very persuasive argument as well as some very good points and he knew that it was his Lord and Lady's distinct wish to rule over all of the kingdoms of Beledon, a point that was further backed up by the smiles he saw cross their features moments later.

"You have brought us nothing but truth Sir Death Touch, so we will trust you on this as you have not led us astray before, you are a credit to your people good sir and it is our wish that what we accomplish here now will not only protect our people but yours as well," Lady Velara said and Death Touch bowed to them both.

"This is my wish as well my good Lord and Lady and it is the wish of the Dark Seed as well, his wish is for nothing more than for species to remain pure and controlled by their owned, he bestows these blessings upon people like us so that we can rule our lessors and to show them their place, they are meant to serve nothing more, so here is to a free Beledonia made by Beledons and for Beledons and to a free Velona made by Velons for Velons and only for Velons," Death touch said proudly.

"Here here, well then I believe it is time to get to work, Death Touch we are giving you free rein to do what you need to in order to stop these villains, take Xanaran here and put him to good use," Lady Velara said gesturing to him.

"Yes my lady, gladly," Death Touch said giving Xanaran a look that made him feel sick to his stomach, this was not a good thing.

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Jay sat on the fresh tree stump left from them cutting down a tree for use for firewood for the night, as he sipped from his canteen he watched Xao training with Ova and he had to admit the large Beledon knight was actually a very good teacher, not so good at setting up tents but an incredible swordswoman.

He couldn't help but giggle as he remembered watching Xao and Ova setting up their tent, despite being an engineer capable of working on starships or even building colonies it had been pure entertainment watching him struggling with securing large canvas sheets with poles while also having to deal with an over-enthusiastic Beledon woman.

The pair had tripped over one another more than once and on one particularly memorable moment, Ova had tripped herself up on a guide rope and got herself tangled up in it and when Xao had come to help her thrashing about managed to take them both out and somehow she's wound up with his head jammed against her rear end and tied in place with ropes.

It had taken both Ketra and Jay about twenty minutes to untie Xao's head from under Ova's tail not that they'd worked very rapidly as the pair had been trying not to laugh and the muffled human who every time he moved or talked made Ova make some very interesting noises that sounded a lot like squeaky braying, plush it was kinda funny to see her long tail slithering all over his forehead, fortunately for him, there was at least enough room between her incredibly solid buttocks for him to breathe, just as well she was wearing a battle skirt, not the heavy greaves that Ketra had on.

Once they'd gotten him free Ova had been dancing about kinda nervously and obviously rather embarrassed looking like a heavily armoured schoolgirl, while Xao was blushing so hard he looked like they wouldn't have to bother cutting the tree down for firewood after all as they probably cooked their meal on the heat coming from his face, but oddly enough he also kept smiling when he thought no-one was looking.

But now as Jay watched them train there was no hint of embarrassment between the two, there was a constant clanging of metal on metal as the pair went through the motions of the sword stances and she taught him about parrying and deflecting incoming strikes.

Suddenly Ketra appeared at his side having left Ava and the rest of her knights setting up their camp including the large metal tripod that would hold the large cooking pot that would make their evening meal.

"She's an incredible teacher I must say," Jay said gesturing to Ova who was now standing behind Xao with her massive arms around Xao adjusting his posture and showing him where he was going wrong.

Ketra nodded happily and smiled at the pair, "She was top of her class in both short and long sword skills, I've told her more than once she should have taken the posting to our combat training school but she would not leave my side, she is as loyal as you could ever imagine a person being and there is no-one I would ever rather have guarding my back even if we were in the underworld itself, that goes for all my knights as I picked this team myself and they all excel at what they do," Ketra said proudly.

"It really shows," Jay said.

"Would you like to do some training with me?" Ketra asked sounding hopeful and Jay glanced up at her in surprise and found her looking kinda hopeful.

"Umm sure ok, it's been quite a while since I did any blade work so I'm pretty rusty, as Saviours we are required to recertify with them once a year and to be fair most of us do keep the skills sharp though not all of us tend to favour swords as usually, wrist blades are the flavour of the day," he said getting to his feet and stretching his muscles.

"Wrist blades?" Ketra asked walking with him a little way from the camp to a small clearing a few feet away.

Jay nodded, "Yeah they are a retractable bladed Yautja weapon favoured by both Yautja and humans alike on my world as I have said Clan Mason is a multispecies Clan, they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and models but the principles are all the same, its considered one of the greatest honours in the Clan to earn a hand made set of these made by our Grand Patriarch, I've seen a couple of them and I must say they are true works of art in blade form, in fact every single set our Grand matriarch owns are hand crafted by him and it is a running joke in the Clan that any fashion conscious Yautja woman in the Clan follows the Grand Matriarch's example, also any man or indeed woman trying to turn a Yautja girl or boy's head better get good at hand crafting blades because nothing says I like you more in Clan Mason than a beautifully hand crafted blade, especially to our Yautja" Jay said with a soft chuckle as he remembered the guys lining up to take the Grand Patriarch's Blacksmithing classes so they could make a blade capable of making the predlocks of their crush swish as they turned their head.

"And what of you Jay, does a good blade turn your head?" Ketra asked as she drew her own blade and took up a battle stance opposite him as he did the same and felt the unfamiliar weight of his new sword in his hand.

"Hmmm not really, honestly I've never really thought about it I mean sure if a girl had gone to all that trouble to make me a hand-crafted blade and poured her heart and soul into it sure I'd be flattered as hell by such a beautiful gesture but it's not something I'd actively seek, though to be fair I'd never ask for it either," Jay said as he quickly parried a lunging strike from Ketra and circled around her quickly.

Ketra let out a little snort obviously impressed by his rapid movements and his form however rusty it was, "So what is it that you look for in a woman then?" she asked coming in low this time causing Jay to have to deflect and attempt to dodge the secondary follow up attack which thankfully given that it landed on his shoulder pauldron with a ding was super underpowered given that it was training and not real combat.

But despite being severely underpowered it still knocked him flat making him wince, as he lifted himself to his knees he saw an armoured gauntlet appear right in front of his face, he glanced up and saw Ketra smiling down at him and he took her hand and she hoisted him to his feet one-handed and he just couldn't help but be impressed by her raw strength as she barely looked like she felt the weight of him or the armour he was wearing.

"Thanks," he said and she nodded before rotating her blade through a circle before readjusting her stance again.

"So you didn't answer the question," she said as she looked at him from behind her long shining blade.

"Well umm I've never kinda thought about it really, I've always just kinda focused on my work, hell I even signed a no consent to be hunted form back in the Clan so that I could focus on becoming a Saviour and learning everything I needed to become what I am without any kind of distractions, not that I believed for a second that there'd be a queue at the arbiters office for me, I'm no Remal Rainbow scale, damn the queue for that boy ran right passed my house and I live on the fucking outskirts of our capital city, hell I remember my sister going out and giving refreshments to those girls who were queuing up," Jay said with a little bitter chuckle as he dodged under an overhead strike and then spun and tapped the side of Ketra's flank with his blade making her look at him in surprise.

She looked shocked that he'd got her but then nodded approvingly and stepped back to rest again but as she did she seemed to be wracking her brain obviously looking through his memories for what he meant, and then her pretty face lit up and nodded as she realised what he was talking about, "Ahhh the mate hunt, yes I see this in your memories, I find this very strange but oddly beautiful, you put your hearts in the hands of your Goddesses and let them choose the one who loves you the most and would give you their entire self for life, I think this is a very beautiful thing," she said and Jay nodded smiling.

"Thank you and I'm very sure our Grand Patriarch and Matriarch would be very happy to hear you say that, there are exceptions given obviously like the rule we call the Star Hunt designed for our brave Guardians who travel to other worlds to help and fight alongside other species, it is accepted that if a Guardian falls in love on another world among another species that their hunt was held across the ocean of black and across the stars, that their heart travelled all that way to be captured by the one that was meant to hold it, so their relationship will be bless and accepted by the Clan it will also be ratified by the Grand Patriarch and Matriarch giving them an automatic entry to the Clan," Jay said and Ketra nodded before spinning around him and hitting him in the back with the pommel of her sword before he twisted and found himself looking at the tip of her blade.

"Yes I see this in your memories and it is a beautiful rule I must say, it means that a girl would not have to work twice to capture your heart or give anyone not entitled to its beauty a chance to steal it from the one who earned it," Ketra said making Jay blush under his armour, did she just refer to his heart as beautiful.

"So then rules of your Clan aside what is it in a woman that attracts you?" she asked again and Jay felt his blush burn a little hotter.

"I'm sure you can probably see that in my memories can't you?" he asked and she gave him a smirk before launching into a series of heavy strikes that he deflected and dodged before throwing out a few of his own putting her on the back hoof as he threw his embarrassment into fuel to use to boost his speed and strength.

"Oh I could but I would prefer to hear you say it yourself, then I can be sure of the truth of it rather than any bias my mind could create, some of your memories are as clear to me as glass and others I wonder if my mind generated based on a bias I hold, this way I can be sure," she said in between snorts and grunts.

"Honestly I don't know, strength I guess and confidence in both themselves and their convictions," he said and Ketra smiled as they danced around parrying and deflecting one another.

"There we go that's a start," she said and instantly he felt that she was going to push for more so he got in there quicker.

"What about you then, what do you look for in a man?" he asked and by the way, her ears shot upright he'd obviously caught her off guard for a moment a point that was proven as his next series of strikes pushed he back, but it didn't last long.

"I want a smart man, a man who has not only a beautiful face but a beautiful mind, a man who can solve problems not only with his sword arm but with his mind and his words, plus while I do want my male to be my equal I would like him not to be a physically strong as me so that I can show off for him and I can protect him at times, now do not get me wrong I do not want him to be weak or to control his actions I just like the thought of being able to protect him and stand for him, oh and lastly but possibly most importantly I want him to be furless and definitely with very soft looking ebony skin that I can enjoy for hours and very pretty eyes that I can get lost in," Ketra said making Jay's heart lurch in his chest and throwing him right off his swing which enabled her to deflect it easily and then counter him with what would have been a killing blow to his chest knocking him on his ass.

Ketra loomed over him and as he looked up at her massive frame leaning over him he felt a stab of fear hitting him right in the heart and it must have shown in through his eyes because the smug smirk that was on her face when he first looked up instantly vanished like it had been wiped from her face and was replaced with a look of concern.

"I have not hurt you have I Jay?' she asked and he shook his head and she reached down and scooped him off the floor to his feet and made to reset again but Jay put his blade away and shook his head.

"Thanks for the sparring matches Ketra I've really learned a lot but I'm done for the night, so umm yeah thanks," he said turning and heading off quickly towards their shared tent leaving the surprised and obviously confused looking Beledon stood there holding her sword forlornly as she watched him go, he was also aware of all the others watching them as well, well all except for Ova and Xao.

Jay got into their tent and let the flap close behind him and then he just felt his shoulders and whole self just sag, he was painfully aware of the fact that he had done it again, he just didn't know what the flying fuck was wrong with him, not only had Ketra given him a wonderful compliment but she all had but basically told him to his face that she was attracted to him but what had he done?

Fucking run from it yet again.

Every single time a woman had ever shown even the slightest bit of real interest in him he had run from them like a little bitch and he wasn't talking about the joking flirting that the girls on his crew did, while that was embarrassing as hell he could deal with that, but when it came to what was blatantly the real thing this always happened to him, the fear took hold and he ran as fast as he could from it, now while he continually told everyone that he'd signed a no consent to hunt form to focus on his becoming a Saviour while it was true the main reason was that the mere thought of intimacy scared the living daylights out of him but it also made him angry but with himself.

Jay sighed heavily and kicked at a small stone on the floor of his tent next to his collapsible bed sending it flying into the side of the tent, "Fucking fool, stupid fucking cowardly fool," he grumbled to himself before he sighed again and thought of maybe going back out to apologise to Ketra, as a Saviour he was supposed to embody honour and to be a representative of the Clan, not act like a frightened child.

But what would he even say to her?

But as it turned out Ketra had been more concerned about him than her own embarrassment about being left standing there, because as he turned to head back outside he found her standing there behind him and his heart nearly popped out of the top of his head as it jumped for his throat and overshot, how long had she been standing there and how the hell could someone so large wearing full armour move so quietly?

It was obvious by the hurt expression on her pretty face she'd heard his outburst and obviously thought it was aimed at her and not at himself, now he might not be an expert on Beledon body language you didn't need to be an expert to know what a pair of drooping ears and a droopy tail meant.

"I'm sorry Jay it is obvious to me that my words have caused you some kind of offence and discomfort, that was not my intention at all, I thought I was being flirty and playful but it is obvious to me now that I misjudged you and your feelings and have made a fool out of both myself and of you with my unwanted attentions, I believed that you felt as I do but I believe my bias has coloured my memory of your memories and I appear to have compeletly misread the situation, so I whole heartedly apologise for any discomfort my words and attentions have caused you, I will leave you alone to your thoughts now as it is obvious that my presence is not a welcome one, I am sorry that I have made you feel this way Jay truly I am, I will keep my feelings to myself from now on and I will keep my distance from you," she said and with that, she was gone now leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging open almost swinging in time with the canvas flap of the tent door.

Jay stood there dumbstruck for what felt like an eternity but was in reality about ten seconds, oh boy had he fucked things up this time, now he really had hurt her and her feelings, he had to fix this quickly, he could not let this stand, he was a a fucking Saviour Goddess damn it and he would not let that wonderful woman believe that she was the source of his woes, he had caused this, him and his bloody irrational fears and he had to make this right and first, that meant he had to find her.

So he charged out of the tent and nearly ran straight into a very angry wall of meat and armour in the form of Ketra's knights Pemra and Beva and they did not look happy one bit.

"What did you say to Blessed Knight Ketra!? I have never seen her so upset!" Beva demanded angrily as she loomed over Jay.

"It's all a stupid misunderstanding! Please I have to find her and make it right which way did she go?" he said looking passed them and into the camp and not seeing her anywhere.

Perma growled at him, "Why so you can make her feel worse?" she snarled and Jay turned and glared right up into her eyes as a flash of hot fire lit his blood aflame out of no-where.

"No! So I can apologise to her as my honour demands me to do, it was the fault of neither of us but a misunderstanding has led to this and I will make it right, so either tell me where she has gone or move out of my way so that I may find her unaided, so speak or fucking move but do not judge what you have no idea of!" he snarled in an angry voice that seemed to shock both of the large knights, though not as much as it shocked Jay himself, where the hell had that come from?

They both simply stepped to one side and both pointed into the forest leaving him to give them a nod of thanks and to run as fast as he could move in the heavy armour for the forest following her trail.

As it turned out she hadn't gone all that far, she was about two hundred meters from the camp sitting upon a fallen tree in a clearing left by said tree, as he neared something stopped Jay dead in place, it was like the hand of the Goddess of the Eternal hunt herself had just slammed her mighty hands down on his shoulders and the roots of the Great Tree had bound his feet to the spot.

A single shaft of golden light from the setting sun had broken through the trees and now fell upon the thourally miserable-looking Beledon woman as she sat upon the tree cradling her tail and playing idly with the fluffy tip, he could see the way her armour shone, the way her horns glimmered, the ay her fur looked like liquid flames flowing over her body, the way her tears sparkled upon her cheeks.

She was so familiar, so alien and so radiant all at the same time, she was beautiful in a way that Jay had never truly believed possible, that's when she lifted her ears and they seemed to be listening to something and she looked up to the heavens, "I-I don't understand my Goddess? What do you mean redemption approaches?" she said and that's when a rush of wind so powerful it parted the bushes around Jay revealed him stood there while at the same time yet another sun ray broke through and hit him full in the face lighting him up like it was a spotlight and he was on stage.

Ketra jumped to her hooves and instantly her face soured as she rapidly tried to clear the evidence of her tears away, "Oh it's you, what do you want?" she asked flatly making Jay's heart burn with the sting of the coldness of her words.

Suddenly the invisible binds that had held him released him and he stumbled forwards into the clearing the light seemingly tracking him, "I-I came to apologise to you Ketra," he said sucking up as much courage as his soul could pull in.

She folded her massive arms across her very ample chest and the metal of her gauntlets clanked on her breastplate, "For what? I think you made your feelings most clear, it appears I am a fool who took a step that I was not meant to take," she said flatly and he shook his head.

"That's not true!" he exclaimed and one ear pricked up and her eyes narrowed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

Jay took a deep breath and then an idea struck him as his brain scrambled for words to put into the correct order to explain himself, what had she said to him, she wanted a man who could use his mind to solve his problems, well it was time for brain power!

He strode right up to her and grabbed her hand and strained against her incredibly powerful muscles to pry it free and his audacity shocked her so badly that she didn't even respond, she just stood there staring at him in shock as he placed the hand on his face.

"You want the truth, here! Take it, raw and unfiltered!" he exclaimed and Ketra stared at him in disbelief but then she reached up with her other hand and took his face in both of them and with a flash, Jay felt her walking through his mind once more just like before.

The process only took seconds but when she released him Jay's head felt like it was full of fog and then Ketra stepped back and looked confused, "S-S-So it was not what I said, it was the fact that I said it at all, it did not make you uncomfortable it made you afraid, but not of me, of yourself!?" Ketra exclaimed and Jay nodded.

"And my words in the tent were not in any way aimed at you, I was angry at myself for running away from you like a fucking coward without answering you, you did nothing wrong you were simply trying to be flirty and playful, b-b-but I never do well with that kind of stuff I'm sorry Ketra I'm just not wired that way, it freaks me out and scares me to my bloody core, for all my training and skill I am still a bloody coward and I wound up hurting you because of it and that I will not allow to stand, think of me whatever you must but I will not allow my honour or yours to be questioned, so here it is Ketra, I offer you my whole hearted apologies for the grief my words, actions and this misunderstanding has caused you, I kneel before you now and ask you what it is I must do to earn your forgiveness," Jay said dropping to one knee and bowing to the mighty Knight before him.

He heard some rustling before him and then a sword tip appeared before his face causing him to wince before it very gently lifted his chin, she was smiling down at him and he felt a wash of confusion pass through him, "Duel me," she said and Jay cocked his head in confusion.

"E-Excuse me?" he stammered and she leaned down and hoisted him to his feet drawing his sword for him and planting it in his hands.

"Duel me and do not worry I will not use my Blessed strength, just as when we sparred I will use a level that you are capable of fighting against, I know you will fight with honour as will I," she said.

"B-But why?" Jay asked as she strode a few paces away and got into a battle stance, gone were the tears, the self-loathing and the doubt, back was the fire filled mighty and confident woman that he was rapidly starting to adore, she looked like a radiant and determined Goddess made flesh and fur, the way the sunbeam framed her just took his breath away, she was exquisite.

"Simple because I saw more than the truth of your words in your mind Jay, I saw the truth of your heart and soul, I got the answer to the question you dodged and deflected and I now know exactly what I must do, so for this duel there is a prize, if you win I will accept your apology and we will exit this clearing as comrades in arms ready to fight together against any foe," she said.

Jay readied himself seeing that this was obviously what she wanted but he felt that there was something much more profound to this, something he was missing, "Ok but what if you win then?" he asked and now a sly smile lit her face.

"Oh that's easy, if I win I get something I have just realised that I want more than anything, something that I have realised in this very moment that I have been waiting my entire life to have," she said and Jay was still confused until her smile widened and the final words dispelled his confusion like a Xeno fart clears a room.

"If I win I get you Jay, all of you," Ketra said and with a bellow, she launched herself at him.