"Without Darkness, there is no Light. There is no good without evil."

Planet Vorkun in the Solana Galaxy was not a pleasant place at this time of the year. Sure, it is a planet where snow occurs throughout the whole galactic year, but always in the period close to the calendar winter snowstorms were very irritating and dangerous. But that didn't stop Clyde, a young man from the Iron Lords, an organization of Lightbearers, a users of a Space Magic, who didn't entangle themselves in politics like their Vanguard brethren. Despite the snow still pressing against his visor, the man continued forward to complete his patrol.

"I hope Lilith won't mind cuddling with me as soon as I get back to the temple," he commented.

After walking a dozen or so steps, Clyde saw fire rising in the distance. Intrigued by this phenomenon, he decided to check it out. So he adjusted his green, light Iron Lord armor and hooded cloak and moved on. Upon reaching the fire, he saw that it illuminated the entrance to the cave. Right at the entrance there were pikes with heads and skulls of various races impaled on them. And they had a certain mark engraved on them.

"Devils. Goddamn monsters."

The House of the Devils is one of the many Houses of the Eliksni, an insect-like, four-armed race of aliens who had a great civilization many centuries ago. After their home was destroyed by an unknown anomaly, they became pirates, bandits or bounty hunters. This also gave them the nickname The Fallen, which Eliksni considers a very strong insult.

Seeing what he has to deal with, Clyde decided to contact his comrades at headquarters, but a snowstorm was interfering with his communications. Knowing he couldn't leave this place unchecked, the man took his revolver, the Ace of Spades, named after the symbol on its case, from the holster and went inside.

The sight of skeletons lying on the ground or dried bloodstains did not scared the lord. After going through a rather long corridor, he found himself in a large cave. Many representatives of the Devils were doing their business, such as maintaining weapons, sparring, or taking life-giving Ether, a substance which help them grow. This allowed the man to enter without setting an alarm and find a good vantage point. Looking around, Clyde saw the cages in the distance. They were mostly empty, but there was someone in one of them.

A small, four-year-old Lombax boy with yellow fur with brown stripes.

"What is Lombax doing here?" Clyde asked himself.

After a while, a huge Eliksni approached the cages. Unlike other members of his group, he had all four arms, two held sabers, and a long, thick red cloak on his back. This captain was approached by one of the Dregs, the lowest-ranking representative of the bandit groups of the Fallen.

"Captain. The scouts have found this creature for you. They thought that it would be a good delicacy for you."

The leader of the group looked at the frightened Lombax. The child had tears in his eyes, was shaking with fear and was trying to get as far away from the big Eliksni. He just snorted seeing this prey, and then crushed Dreg's head with his large hand. This terrified the other members of the group and kid as well.

"Do you really think such a small creature will sew my hunger!? You are imbeciles! I'm going back to my quarters, and you're not allowed to disturb me. Do what you want with a child."

With these words, the Captain went to his lair, leaving the smaller Eliksni alone with Lombax. Without waiting any longer, they opened the cage and pulled out the screaming child.

Seeing what was happening, Clyde decided to step in. He emerged from the shadows and shot the first Fallen in the head, killing him and creating a fiery blast that only hurts enemies. Then every Dreg, Vandal, Wretch and Marauder rushed at him. The man, using his practiced marksmanship and parkour skills, was nearly impossible to hit. Sure, a few bullets hit his armor, but his shields kept him away from dying.

When the last of the opponents fell to the ground dead, Clyde stood for a moment, catching his breath and reloading his weapon. This made him lower his guard, which was only begging for consequences.

"Behind!" shouted the child, who saw the Fallen Captain standing behind his savior.

The Iron Lord quickly rolled forward and then sent a couple of projectiles at the enemy. But he was also wearing a shield.

"Lightbearer! Your species is a blemish in the history of my race! Die Spawn of the Great Machine!"

Eliksni teleported behind the man and swung his saber. Clyde luckily dodged this attack and after creating a small distance from the enemy fired again. As before, the bullets didn't do much. Seeing he had no other option, the Iron Lord summoned his Light, which took the form of fire, then transformed into a fiery revolver and knife. Clyde threw a knife at the enemy, which exploded and stripped the Captain of his shields, then fired six bolts from his fire weapon, turning the Fallen into a pile of ashes.

As the dust of battle settled to the ground, the young Lord called off his Light and ran to Lombax. The child immediately rushed to him, hugged him and began to cry. The man quickly came to his senses after this sudden gesture and also hugged the child, trying to calm him down. He then picked him up and headed towards exit, intending to take Lombax to safety.

On one of the high mountains of the planet Vorkun was a temple. Built into the very top of the mountain, the building was a veritable impregnable fortress, mainly because of how difficult it was to get here and that there was only one road leading here. Inside the temple was a huge complex, reaching even to the foot of the mountain. It was the headquarters of the Iron Lords, the Iron Temple.

Centuries ago, this place was buzzing with life. There were so many members of the Order that some had to sleep on the floors, and the kitchen often ran out of food. Now, however, it is a place where the remnants of the Order live and wait together for next missions.

A robotic woman stood at the entrance to the temple. She wore the heavy, red like her case and eye color armor of the Iron Lords, with wolf and tree engravings. The woman was looking at the door with a concerned expression, which was also indicated by her notorious stomping on the floor. This did not go unnoticed by her companion.

"Calm down Lilith. Clyde will probably be back soon. You know snowstorms often disrupt our communicators."

Behind the heavily armored woman was another female. Her light blue, almost pale skin, white hair, and violet eyes made her the epitome of beauty among her race, the Awoken. She wore green Iron Lord robes with occasional pieces of red. She was currently sitting in a chair and eating her snack.

"I know that, Skorri," Lilith said with a heavy sigh. "But that won't change the fact that I will continue to worry about my husband."

After a while, another member of the order joined the ladies. A man clad in yellow heavy armor with white trim and a cape made of black bear fur. The man walked over to the fire in the center of the hall, which was connected to the entrance, and added a few pieces of wood to the fire, then looked at the statues of the former leaders of the Order standing nearby.

"He's not back yet? Felwinter managed to arrive a few minutes before the storm," the man said in his very deep voice. He received only a shake of the head from the mechanical woman in response.

"Unfortunately, no, Lord Saladin. We can't even contact him because of this goddamn storm."

Hearing the worry in Lilith's voice, the current leader of the Iron Lords wondered what to do. Sending a search party might be more dangerous than staying in the temple. However, before he could think of anything else, the gate to the temple opened with a loud bang, and Clyde, covered in a thick portion of snow, entered through it. In his hands he held something, or someone, wrapped in his cloak.

"Quick! Give something warm to eat and prepare a warm bed! This child needs warmth!" shouted the man.

Everyone who was wondering about the man's fate stopped dead as they heard his worried voice. However, they quickly shook themselves off and ran to prepare what the man asked for. After a few minutes, Clyde sat by the prepared bed and slowly fed little Lombax, wrapped in two blankets, with warm soup. The other members of the Order watched, wanting to know if the baby was all right and how it got here. After Lombax finished eating and fell asleep, all the Lightbearers left him alone and went to the recreation room, where they could ask questions in peace.

"Are you OK?"

"Where did you get this kid?"

Clyde reassured his companions and told them about his little adventure. When the Lords heard that the House of Devils decided to come to this planet, they did not hide their anger. They still remembered how two centuries ago, since the Light prevents death by old age, but does not stop aging at all, hordes of the Fallen from various Houses came to the Twilight Gap, where legions of Guardians and Iron Lords gave their lives to defend the capital where the former reside. This day took its toll, especially for Saladin.

Clyde, however, did not know how Lombax got here, but he suspected that the damaged capsule that was in the Devils' pit could be the reason. However, with no more answers to the remaining questions, the members of the order went to their quarters, where they spent that frosty night.

The first thing Clyde heard in the morning was the cry of a child. Awakened by this sound, an Awoken man, with dark blue skin, light blue eyes, brown beard and ponytail hair, quickly got out of bed and ran to the room where Lombax was. Behind him ran Lilith, who was also awakened by a scream. They both burst into the room and saw the little boy having a panic attack. The mechanical woman ran over to him and began to calm him down. After a few minutes, Lombax's breathing calmed down. When everything was okay, the couple asked the boy if everything was okay, to which he replied that he had a nightmare related to the Fallen from House of the Devils. Seeing that this must have shaken him up, Lilith asked her husband to bring them something for breakfast. After a few minutes, the three of them ate their meal.

"Miss?" the boy asked.

"Yes?"

"And how do you eat if you are a robot?"

The question amused the woman, who took another bite of her sandwich, then smiled at Lombax.

"Most robots don't need food. I don't really need it either, but I used to have an organic body that was, unfortunately, sick. So I transferred my consciousness into the body of an Exo-type robot. Sure, choosing a Simulacrum body would be cheaper, but I would have to give up many pleasures, like eating."

The boy turned his head slightly to the side, as if thinking about something.

"Simu…Simulu…Simululucum?"

Attempts to pronounce the name amused the couple. Lombax realized that they were laughing at him, which led him to pout, which amused the couple even more. After the three had eaten their breakfast, they headed to the recreation room.

Inside were the other members of the Order. Lord Saladin, Skorri, Felwinter, who was also an Exo with a black colored frame and green eyes, Gheleon, an Awoken man, Perun, a brown-furred representative of the Cazars, an anthropomorphic cat-like race, Efrideet, also Awoken woman with short blond hair, Jolder, Radegast, Silimar, who are also Cazars, and Timur, Dryden, Orimund, Crimil, Frostmire, Jorum, Gunnora, and Orewing, who are representatives of the Markazian race, a humanoid race whose men have thick beards and women have thin tails, and their skin colors they range in various shades of purple.

Each of them was either resting, making food, or watching television. Everyone's attention was caught when Clyde, Lilith and Lombax entered the room, which caused a small incident.

"Oh fuck! Fel, your pancakes!" shouted Jolder.

The Exo man looked at the pan where he was making food and saw not food but fire. The robot cursed under his breath and in a gesture of quick thinking ... threw the pans out the window. Several of the lords watched as the utensil fell into the frosty abyss.

"Welp, there goes your legendary pancakes, Fel. And I wanted them so much," said Gunnora.

"What was I supposed to do?! Leave it alone?!"

"Cover it with a lid, you metal, black fucking tin can!" shouted Radegast.

This led two men to start wrestling each other, which led to the rest of them stopping what they were doing, and they began to urge both men to continue fighting. All this was watched by the married couple and Lombax, who was laughing at this. Saladin watched as well, and while he wanted his companions to calm down, he decided it would be a nice memory for the last day at the temple in this galactic year. He then walked over to Clyde and Lilith and greeted them.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well."

"Can't complain. Especially when you have such a wonderful woman around."

Lilith laughed slightly hearing what her husband was saying. Young Lombax let out a sound of disgust. Saladin looked at the boy after a moment. The latter, seeing a heavily armored man in a helmet, got a bit scared and hid behind Clyde. Seeing this, the leader of the Iron Lords removed his helmet, revealing his Cazar lineage. His fur, hair, and beard were black in color with occasional gray hairs. His eye was blood red, because the other one was blind and damaged from the scar that had been there.

"Hello, young one. I am Saladin Forge, current leader of the Iron Lords. Nice to see you in good health."

The boy stared at the man for a moment, then looked at the couple. They smiled at him and motioned for him to come closer. Trusting them that nothing bad would happen to him, Lombax stepped out from behind Clyde and approached Cazar, holding out his hand, which the man shook.

"Good morning, sir. Thank you for taking care of me."

Forge gave the boy a warm smile, put on his helmet, and then he looked at his comrades-in-arms and shouted in a loud voice.

"ATTENTION!"

Immediately, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood up. The sight of the leader giving them an angry look, even behind helmet, immediately brought fear to them.

"How are you guys behaving?! We have a young guest in our house, and instead of welcoming him, you hit each other in the face?! You're lucky I'm in a good mood right now, or I'd have sent you out on patrol in your underwear! Understood?!"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

"Good. At ease."

Everyone in the room relaxed. Even Lombax, who, when he heard the order from Cazar, also stood at attention. Then everyone went about their business. Seeing that everything was back to normal, Clyde took the boy, and he and his wife sat down at the table, where they hoped Lombax would answer some questions.

Unfortunately this turned out to be very fruitless. The boy couldn't remember anything before the events in the cave. Name, family, nothing. This made the boy cry as he realized he didn't know anything about himself. Lilith immediately took him in her arms and began to calm him down. Saladin and Clyde were wondering what to do with the boy.

After a bit of brainstorming, the Awoken man came up with a pretty crazy idea.

"Let's adopt him."

Everyone who heard what he was saying looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"Are you crazy?"

"Did that storm yesterday mess with your head?"

"It's early in the morning and you've already been drinking?"

Hearing these, Clyde explained that he and Lilith would gladly adopt the boy, or rather take care of him until his actual parents or someone close to him came for him. He argued that they would be leaving the Iron Temple soon anyway to return to their homes, and would not return until the beginning of the calendar spring.

As crazy as it sounded, the others were able to see some sense in this plan. Saladin also thought it was a good idea for now. Of course, they asked the boy what he thought about it, to which he replied that he felt good with the people present here.

And so a new soul was added to the Iron Lords.

In another part of the universe, in the Polaris galaxy on Planet Corson V, in an orphanage, a babysitter had quite a nut to crack. Why? Because the city authorities stumbled upon a capsule containing a baby. A Lombaxian infant with white fur with blue stripes. And the problem was that Lombaxes need a strict diet to thrive.

But the babysitter didn't care at all.