Crushing a bush under his weight, Sydros was now moving upstream. The reason was to take shelter in the cave he had seen that morning. It wasn't him who needed shelter, he could sit in the vacuum of space for a long time, but the woman he saved would need shelter to survive the night. Her wounds were healing well, although at a faster speed than normal. Perhaps this was a mutation caused by a dangerous planet.

Once he found the cave and got a fire burning, Sydros decided that it was time to double check his equipment. Looking through his pack he noted that he had 6 more mags for the bolter, 10 plasma cells plus a fully charged one in the gun itself, his laspistol was unused, not that he could anyway, and there were 5 additional power packs for it. His grav-pistol had 3 mags ready for use, not a lot but he didn't think there would be much large enough that warranted its use. Both swords were in good condition, the only issue being that he would need to find fuel for the chainsword.

Sydros could only sigh. He had enough ammo to last for some time if used sparingly. But it was clear the first thing he needed to done once he found a place to stay was to being forging ammunition. If only the laspistol was larger, as it stood now and forever, he would never be able to use it. Despite this fact he kept the laspistol with him at all times, he never knew when it may be necessary. Plus it was a gift.

Standing up he pack away his gear before giving the wounded woman a quick medical check. She was healing very well, by his estimations she would be awake by nightfall. More than enough time for him to acquire food for her. She would need it to regain her strength. Standing up Sydros left the cave and went out into the forest, making sure to remain close by. As he stood once again in the peaceful forest, Sydros prepared himself to hunt down local game. He could only hope he didn't grab anything harmful.

Her body was in pure pain. She was fighting that scorpion Faunus when he stabbed her. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out from the poison and the pain was the smile on his face. She knew this was her end. Why did she think it was a good idea to run off on her own? She left Xiao and her girl without saying goodbye, and now she never would. Suddenly she felt warm, barely opening her eyes she saw a helmet, a massive helmet that looked like it was constantly angry, it turned to look at her, and everything went black.

She suddenly felt pain. It hurt, but the pain meant she wasn't dead. Or maybe she was and the afterlife was just that cruel. Opening her eyes she saw that she was in a cave. In front of her she noticed what was giving off the warmth she felt, it was a small fire. Whoever had set it up was not in the cave at that moment.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" she weakly said.

Receiving no response she decided to try and find her weapon. Looking around she was unable to find it. It was then she began to panic. Who wouldn't? She woke up in a cave after being attacked and she can't find her weapon. Frantically searching for her weapon she heard growling come from deeper inside the cave. She stopped, and prayed that it was only an animal.

It was not an animal. She clumsily dodged the claw strike from a bi-pedal wolf, a Beowulf. She didn't have a weapon and was in a confined space with a Beowulf, one that was also blocking the cave's entrance. She rolled out of the way of another strike, quickly recovering and grabbing a stick from the fire. Swinging the flaming stick she hit the Beowulf on the nose causing it to stagger backwards for a moment, long enough for her to escape.

But that escape never came. Her semblance wasn't working. She realized that her aura hadn't recovered from the fight yet. She panicked again, she had no way to escape the Beowulf, and her options for fighting back were limited. Then she heard more growls behind her. Glancing a look behind her she saw more Beowulf's coming from the darkness of the cave. Dread fully set in, she may have been able to escape one, but an entire pack? She was doomed.

BANG

The Beowulf in front of her exploded. It's chest ceased to exist.

BANG BANG BANG

3 shots rang out, their sound amplified by the cave. 3 more Beowulf's exploded.

"Your path is clear! With me warrior!" she heard a loud, somewhat distorted voice call out to her. Not caring about the voice right now she turned and ran towards the sound of the voice.

BANG BANG BANG

More shots flew towards the Beowulf's, each shot killing one. But they just kept coming, a pack this size had to have an alpha in it. Banishing the thought of an alpha from her mind she started running faster. She wanted to get out even more now, she wanted, no she NEEDED to see her girl again.

When she finally reached the entrance, she saw her savior. A being standing nearly 8 feet tall and wearing massive armor. This being was firing absolutely MASSIVE rifle into the cave, and was somehow hitting the Beowulf's that were inside.

"Good your here, stand back from the entrance, I have set demolition charges. These beasts shall be trapped inside." it said to her, not even looking away from the cave. Then the charges detonated. There was no massive explosion, just a cloud of dust being kicked up before rocks fell, crushing the few Beowulf's that had reached the entrance and trapping the rest inside.

She slumped to the ground, her eyes beginning to close again. Her body was still exhausted, and she made it even worse with all the running. Her eyes closed, and she could feel herself drifting into sleep. Before she fully fell into unconsciousness however, she felt large, warm hands grasp her back.

"You can rest warrior, your spirit may be healed but your body still needs rest. Do not worry, I shall make sure that you survive and can return to whatever you deem your home." the voice said to her, much calmer now. The last thing she thought before passing out was:

'What are they saying?'

Sydros took great care when he made the sling for the woman. Hoisting it over his shoulder, he rapped it around his right shoulder. He made this sling so that he could move the woman to a safer location while still having both his arms free in case further, complications arose. Those black wolves were of little threat to him, but he had a suspicion that those creatures were a major threat to the people of this world. No matter, it was his duty to protect humanity in all its forms, and that duty ended only in death.

But at the current moment, he had more pressing concerns. Namely finding a safe place to stay until the woman was fully healed, preferably a town. But that may not be an issue. Despite the woman taking wounds that should have taken days to heal, even with his help, she was mostly recovered in less than a day. Strange. Sydros was certain that the people of this world had some way to heal faster than normal humans, perhaps advanced technology, perhaps a local mutation. He did not know, but right now that healing was certainly a blessing, the woman seemed to have experience fighting those creatures, and having her awake would most certainly help him better counter them next time. Damn things ambushed him while he was hunting and scared away his prey.

"This planet has much more going on than it seems. Perhaps my assessment that my skills will be needed was correct."

It took some time, but Sydros finally found a town. It was small, with wooden walls that did not look like they could withstand a concentrated assault from the wolves. If the walls had held until now however, Sydros had no reason to believe that they were useless. Approaching the gate Sydros prepared himself for the coming conversation, and most likely him having to calm down civilians and militia undergoing trans-human dread, something he was used to dealing with. Then there was the issue of communication, Sydros did not know what language these people spoke, and did not know if he could speak to them. At the very least if they saw a wounded woman they would take her in and care for her, with or without his intervention. Well now was the time to see what would happen.

"Citizens of this town, I mean you no harm. I have a wounded person with me and would like to request the aid of local medical officers." he said in low gothic, hoping that they would understand him. And he was rewarded with all but one of the guards of the wall succumbing to to trans-human dread. The one who did not shouted back in low gothic, well whatever the native language was that luckily was the same as low gothic.

"Who are you?" the man shouted at him, some fear present in his voice no matter how much he tried to conceal it.

Sydros decided that now was the time to remove his helmet, it may have been a bad idea seeing as how most of the guards were armed and suffering from trans-human dread, and had a high chance of shooting at him. However removing his helmet in the past had done wonders the alleviate the affects of trans-human dread. So he took it off and held it in his left hand.

"I mean you now harm friends, my name is Sydros. I am a traveler. I found this woman after she was attacked by what I believe to be bandits and was wounded. I have done what I can to aid her recovery, but I appreciate a doctor being able to take a look at her." Sydros said as calm and non-threateningly as he could, well as much as an Astartes can.

To Sydros's delight the men on the wall immediately showed major improvement, the worst effects of trans-human dread gone. Now Sydros just had to wait for their response, and just in case he had his right arm ready to grab his bolter at a moment's notice.

"Come inside. We will gladly help any wounded, but I will be following you. No offense but its not every day you see a 8-foot tall man in massive armor that caused an entire wall of militia succumb to fear."

"I understand your worries, it is a unfortunate side effect of my appearance. I shall gladly abide by your terms, but I will warn you. Do not attempt to separate me from my weapons, I will not relinquish them."

"We won't try to take them, travelers don't usually like to part with them. And I'm not sure we could take them anyways."

Sydros attached his helmet to his belt, deciding that keeping it off was the best way to avoid any more incidents. Walking through the gate he was directed towards the local doctor. Looking around he saw that these people seemed to live in wooden homes, yet they had rather advanced technology. Potentially this settlement was on a frontier and could not easily get supplies. Sydros could not deny that despite the size and appearance of the town, it was still one of beauty.

"Your town is quite impressive. It has been a long time since I last saw a town like this." Sydros said to the escorting militia.

The man looked surprised for a moment, but quickly answered.

"I don't understand what you mean, our little town is nothing impressive. It's the average for towns of this size."

"It may be to you. But when you have spent your entire life fighting in the ruins of once great towns and cities, you come to see the few intact places you find yourself in as beautiful."

The rest of the walk to the doctor was silent. The militia kept their eyes on Sydros, while he just continued to admire the town. To him it was one of the most beautiful things he had seen. The cathedrals of the Imperium were grand and impressive, but many were a perversion of what the Emperor believed. To see a town such as this, one that was simple, without a hint of the imperial cult, it was something he had longed to see.

Once they arrived Sydros decided that it would be best if he remained outside. To prevent any possible instance of trans-human dread from occurring, and because he could not actually fit inside without breaking the building.

"I will remain outside, I an unable to fit inside this building. My only condition is that you get this woman the help she needs." he said to the men.

"Of course, you don't need to worry about her."

Sydros was sitting in a small park near the edge of town. He was watching the birds, taking in the sight of a world that was not engulfed in fire for once. It was calming for him, 500 years of constant war and death had taken it's toll on him, even if he did not show it.

"Emperor, I did not understand why you sent me here when I arrived. But I now believe that I do. My brothers, no, all Astartes and the men and women of the Imperial guard. We have spent the last 10,000 years fighting to protect humanity. Yet in all that time we have never once known the peace that those we fight to protect do. I thank you for granting a warrior such as myself the honor of being able to see the peace that I fight so hard to protect. And I swear upon my oath as a defender of humanity, that I will not let this world suffer the same fate as so many others."

"Sir, the woman you brought is safe. Whatever you did to help her was amazing, the doctor had never seen such skill before. I don't understand why you thought she needed more help." the leader of the militia said to him as he approached.

"I brought her to this place for two reasons. The first being that I needed a safe place to let her rest. And the second being that in my life I have seen many die because they could not get the aid they needed. Even with my skills, I still fear for the lives of those who are wounded. And I was unsure if the poison she was affected by was properly cured."

The man moved to sit down beside Sydros. In all his life he had never seen someone like him.

"I must say, I have never before seen someone like you. Your name is Sydros correct? My name is Earl."

"It is good to meet you Earl. You do well protecting this town."

"Thank you Sydros. I must say though, you are strange."

"How so?"

"You carry yourself in a way that seems relaxed, but to someone who has experience fighting, you are not relaxed. You are ready to strike out in an instant. When we first saw you, all my men fell to the ground in fear, some even considered shooting you. But you have done nothing but act kindly to us, why?"

"My life has been long, much longer than yours. In that time I can never remember a time when I was not fighting. A very long time ago I underwent a trial, a procedure to become what I am now. I do not regret that decision, it has allowed me to spend my life saving the lives of others. But one of many side effects from that procedure is what is known as trans-human dread. That is what affected your men. I do not know what to think of that affect. On one hand it terrifies many of my enemies, allowing me to more easily prevent deaths, but on the other. It terrifies allies. Your willpower is strong if you did not suffer the affects."

"I see. So if you have spent your life fighting what do you plan to do?"

"I...do not know. Where I once lived is far from this place, and I do not believe I will ever return. And I am somewhat glad. Here I do not need to watch comrades die every day, I do not need to see a city burn because I was too slow. Here I can finally find peace, and maybe one day, my skills for combat will no longer be needed. But until that day comes, I will continue to fight."

"Have you considered that there are more ways to protect than just yourself fighting?"

"If you mean teaching then yes. Over my life I have taught many how to fight and protect. I must admit, I am somewhat weary of all the fighting I have done in my life. I will still fight do not mistake my words, but I envy my Chapter Master. He rarely engaged in combat anymore, he spent most of his time teaching the young ones how to fight. I am but one man, no matter how powerful I can not be everywhere. But teaching, teaching the younger generations to fight will be a good use of my skills. Those I teach to fight can use my lessons to save more that I could possibly save alone."

"In that case why don't you try applying for a job at Beacon."

"Is this Beacon a place where warriors are trained?"

"Huntsmen are trained there yes. But it is somewhat new."

"Then after the woman is healed, I shall travel to Beacon. I would request a map. I must admit that my knowledge of local geography is... lacking."

Earl stood up and turned to head back into town.

"It's late out, ill get you a map in the morning. For now you should get some rest, its a long walk to Vale."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I am afraid that I can not take up your offer. I am unable to remove my armor as it is now and I don't believe you have any buildings or beds that can support me. I shall stand watch tonight, you need not fear any danger tonight."

With those words Sydros stood up and started walking towards the wall. He was not going to let anything harm these people tonight. Tonight Sydros was going to patrol the edge of the town, and ensure that these people could rest knowing that they were safe. While he was patrolling his mind began to wander. This Beacon, if it trained warriors like the silver-eyed woman than his skills would be put to great use there. He was not at all opposed to fighting like he had before. But on this world he had a chance to do more than he could possibly do alone, and training the younger generations was an honor that he rarely performed. Yes, Beacon was his destination, and it would provide a place for him to put his skills to better use.

All he had to do now was ensure the town stayed safe tonight, and that the woman was safe before he left for wherever Vale was.

"Emperor, I do not know if you can hear your grandson, but I thank you for this chance. I shall not squander the second chance at life you have given me. And I will perform my duty, whether through direct actions, or through those who I have taught, humanity shall have defenders who will not falter, and I shall make sure of that."