Notable OCs up until now that I own: Pegasus Lance; Andromeda Shinta; Heracles Aguilon's Silver Saint Generation; Taurus Daniel's Gold Saint Generation;

Notable Original concept (until now): Pegasus Temple; Sanctuary Town;

Recurrent/Cameo OCs belonging to Jenny DeVic: Cassiopeia Cassandra; Behemoth Torak (Toruk); Mrs. Schafurwatt

Recurrent/Cameo concepts belonging to Jenny DeVic: 88 Knights Festival; Golden Line Heritage; The Great Bodyguard legend; The Sanctuary-sponsored orphanages; Andromeda Island's geography and tests;

Author notes:

-Drachmas: to those wondering what this is, this was the Greek currency before the European Union enforced the Euro in 1999. Since the story takes place in the 1970s, it is mandatory then that the currency used in Sanctuary in my story is the Drachma, which is worth nowadays approximately a third of an European cent.

Please enjoy and review.

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Golden Zodiac's Stairs Present Time

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Shinta patiently marched along the stairs between the Houses of Scorpio and Sagittarius, following Lance and surrounded by the entourage of mean looking Papal Guards. It seemed as if it was taking hours to cross just one set of stairs and he could swear the cavernous tick-tack of the Fire Clock the overlooked the Twelve Temples was getting louder and more ominous with each step they took. They were, after all, being taken to the Pope's Temple to be punished.

His green eyes looked up to Lance in search of some signal of reassurance, like a wink or a smile, but Lance seemed to just ignore him. Pegasus seemed to be observing everything around him, particularly the Temples and the passing soldiers and servants, like a wild animal being taken into captivity and carefully looking for a chance to escape. He didn't seem to mind the tremendous walk across a seemingly endless mat of stair steps they were being subject to. Shinta drew strength from his example and smiled. He had always been able to find a little more energy to try harder inside himself just by looking up to the Pegasus Saint.

After hours of silence, one of the guards seemed to suddenly whisper something to Lance. "I know who you are, Pegasus. I know the blood you got on your hands."

Lance glanced at him for just a moment before turning back to whatever he was finding so fascinating about the Twelve Temples' layout. "...Which friend or family member of yours provoked me and got sent to the hospital?" he asked.

At first glance, the Papal Guard didn't budge a bit, but Shinta saw how they then seemed to frown almost imperceptibly. It was hard to tell from their helmets, which shadowed most of their face. Shinta imagined that the only thing stopping the man from lashing out at Lance was the intense discipline he was taught to adhere to. "You broke my brother's arm in three places. He died on his next mission because he couldn't hold his shield right against a murderer with a spear." he commented. The corner of Lance's eyes saw the guard's grip on his weapon tightening in anger. "I know you're a murderer who deserves to rot in jail!"

Shinta widened his eyes. Lance, on the other hand, didn't seem the least bothered. "Your brother was a violent asshole too stupid to stay in the hospital until he recovered. He got what he deserved."

Andromeda gasped. "LANCE!"

Lance ignored Shinta's indignity and kept addressing the guard. "If you want to pick a fight with me, that's fine, but do it outside the Golden Zodiac after this is all over. I'm not going to give you just cause to arrest me by giving you the same treatment your brother got for crossing with me. Remember, you Papal Guards may have the authority to take me in, but until this 'breaking in' matter is settled, you can't lay a finger on me!"

The Papal Guard gritted teeth in anger, but turned back to his task of escorting them up the stairs. Shinta stared at the indifferent Lance in revolt. Sometimes, he wasn't sure who really started the fights whenever Lance got into one. Even if the guard was giving signs of wanting to throw the first punch, the Pegasus Saint's words were clearly exacerbating. Still, Lance just kept on analyzing his surroundings as if nothing had happened.

The Andromeda Saint started feeling curious about what Lance was so interested in. Now that he thought of it, it was the first time either of them ever set foot so deep in the Golden Zodiac. "These Temples sure are enormous, aren't they?" he asked via 6th sense. "I've never seen anything so majestic up close."

The Pegasus Saint nodded. "Yeah, they look more like palaces than places of worship, except for the 6th one. I bet the Gold Saints live like Kings here."

The Andromeda Saint awed at the sight of the enormous pillars. If they weren't in such a serious situation, he'd probably spend more time enjoying the scenery. He had read much about the Golden Zodiac and seen its buildings from afar countless times.

Shinta started imagining what would it be like living in the Temple of Virgo, the one that was his constellation. When they passed through it, it seemed like a very spiritual place with statues of Buddha, theology bookshelves and an aroma of incense in every room, even though only servants and seers lived there, with no Virgo Saint currently active. "Hey, Lance, did you get to see a seer when you got to Sanctuary to check your constellation? I had one and she said I had to go to Andromeda Island because I was born under the princess' constellation."

For some reason, Lance didn't answer right away. Over time, Shinta had noticed Pegasus did this whenever he wouldn't tell the whole story. "Yeah, but she only asked me a couple of questions and did some weird test on me. After that, they just told me I had to go to Mount Olympus." Lance still remembered that day clearly.

"Huh? That's kind of strange... Didn't they tell you if you were compatible with Pegasus or anything?"

Lance shook his head. "Not really, but you don't have to be compatible with a constellation to follow its Path. Most people are born without any constellation watching over them."

Shinta blinked and stared at his friend in suspicion. Lance wasn't told anything about his own stellar inclination as a Saint of Athena? Master Guardnia had told him that the experience with the seer and being told of one's destiny or lack of it was one of the marking moments of one's life as a Saint. It wasn't something to be phased over so lightly. Then again, Lance told him he was considered a problematic student with little hope for success. Even though it was extremely unfair, Shinta imagined it wasn't an impossible situation for a couple of steps having been skipped.

His eyes started looking around. He noticed how he hadn't heard the sound of chirping in the air for a while and realized that there was a really creepy lack of birds near the Temples. He could spot several flocks of them flying at the distance, but it was like they avoided the huge mountain they were on. The rocky terrain of the mountain's side also seemed to be lacking any sort of vegetation, like bushes or small trees. For a place radiating with light from Athena's Temples, the Golden Zodiac really looked barren and devoid of life.

On closer inspection, as he looked over his shoulder, though, he could spot a big garden at the Virgo House's patio and at the Taurus House's open roof. Still, the birds avoided these places like the plague, even thought the Second House's garden seemed to have several fruit trees which should attract the animals. He wondered if all of this had anything to do with Athena's protective blessings.

Shinta turned to one of the guards. "Why doesn't anything grow in the mountain?" he asked. "Even the mountains around Sanctuary have some grass and animals."

The Papal Guard Captain eyed him for a moment like he had asked something stupid. "Didn't you study Sanctuary's history? It's been like this since the Third Civil War twelve years ago." he answered. Lance's interest seemed to be picked by this. "Before that, yes, small things grew on this mountain, but... the Pope ordered the whole mountain side to be 'cleansed' and reinforced Athena's Blessings with some weird spell after an infiltration incident. Ever since then, the birds stopped landing around here and the seeds carried by the wind stopped taking root on the ground."

Lance scowled. "Long story short, nothing grows on the mountain because the Pope's paranoid." he joked to Shinta. Paranoia, in his opinion, fitted the blasted old man to a tee with all the people he had sent to follow a mere Bronze Saint over the years.

"Are you worried, Lance?" asked Shinta, via mental message. "You've been mostly quiet the whole time. I mean, I know you're usually quiet, but..."

Lance, to his surprise, nodded. "Yes, of course I'm worried. They're discussing my future up there and Sanctuary isn't exactly known for its 'modern' punishing methods." he commented, sarcastically. "The discussion is probably just a formality. Hell, they must be sharpening the guillotine as we speak."

Shinta gasped. "Lance, don't say that! That's a horrible thing to be thinking about. They won't...they 'can't' kill you just because you failed the Heracles Saint's test." he protested. "Remember, above all, you're a good person. I know you are. You... You've been my best friend for a year and a half. I don't want you to say something awful like that like your life is worthless!"

The Pegasus Saint sighed. "You seriously need to stop putting me on a pedestal. I'm not infallible, Shinta. I've done plenty of wrong stuff way worse than breaking some dick's arm in three spots. Sanctuary murders trainees for failing blot tests." he exaggerated. "They won't have any qualms in punishing me."

Shinta narrowed his eyes in frustration. "Lance, you learned Japanese because you were my friend." he reminded him.

"It's not that hard once you figure out how to order the words in the sentences."

"You saved my life a whole bunch of times."

"Comrades save each others' lives all the time. You've done the same for me, too, remember?"

The Andromeda Saint growled in frustration. He wished he knew just what exactly was at the bottom of Lance's self-hate. It was also strange how comfortable he was with it, as if he accepted whatever crime he thought himself guilty of.

"You've saved other peoples' lives, too. Lance, you remember Alexis, don't you?" he said out loud. It got the guards' attention, but he didn't care. "You remember how you saved her life?"

Lance's red eyes widened for just a second. He hadn't thought about that in a while."...Yeah, I do."

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A year before, early September of 1974, Sanctuary Town

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It was still very early in the morning, but the sunrise already shined brightly over the city overlooked by the Golden Zodiac. The Greek Summer was almost over, but the days were still long and very hot. Shinta practically glued his face against the store keeper's stand and tried to decide what to get. "Hum... I want...I think I'll take the orange sodas and..." Shinta started getting nervous with the shopkeeper's impatient glare. Usually, the nice lady he fathered would tend the store, but the aged, bald man of whitened mustache seemed to have taken her shift to guard the business with his stern look. Shinta didn't want to take another bag of corn to pop with cosmos for his next mission because he was getting so sick of it, but the pressure of the man's glare weighed on him. "Do you have chips?"

The man's hand reached for a pack of Ruffles from the stand and gave it to the green-haired boy. It was a welcome alternative in short missions to the small sacks of corn Saints usually took. In long missions where going back for food was not an alternative, Saints would usually take a single corn, which was small, easy to store and durable, and 'pop' it by burning it with a bit of cosmos. It was a popular choice due to its convenience and nutrition, but also a bit hated due to it being one of the few good choices there were.

"That would be seventeen hundred Drachmas (five euros)." the man said.

Shinta gasped with the price. A couple of sodas and a bag of chips were that expensive? He started looking over his wallet. He could afford it, but he had no idea it could get so pricey.

The shopkeeper's daughter, a pretty young woman with long brown hair, passed by all of a sudden. She looked at the money Shinta was handing over. "Dad! What are you doing?!" she shouted. She took Shinta's hand and placed on it the real change. "Here, I'm sorry. It's only eight hundred." Shinta blinked. Was there some sort of mix-up? Her dad groaned something in complaint and walked away. The young woman rolled her eyes. "I'm really sorry. My father is... old-fashioned. He doesn't like Asians and was trying to charge you double," she whispered.

"Oh... I'm sorry if I angered him." Shinta apologized. He knew he didn't do anything wrong, but it was still a situation he would have preferred to be avoided.

Her heart melted a bit with the sad look in his eyes. "Oh, don't worry, sweetie. You didn't do anything wrong. If you want to buy anything here just talk to me, okay? I'll give you a fair price." she assured. She then recognized him. "You're that Andromeda Saint, right?" Shinta nodded. "I heard the Andromeda Cloth was the second hardest Bronze Cloth to get. I'm impressed."

"I had a great Master." Shinta promptly answered, having no doubts that this was the true reason for his success. "When I got to Sanctuary, I thought I would never survive here, but Master Guardnia showed me I was wrong and that I could make my cosmos burn and accomplish miracles. I owe a lot to him. He's like a Father to me."

She seemed to recognize the same, as she rubbed her chin, humming to herself. "Guardnia, huh? Yes, I think I've heard of him. Poor man." she commented, recalling the last ten years. "Not only was your Grand-Master involved on the wrong side of the Civil War, but I believe your teacher has had to see a lot of trainees lose their lives on his island. He must be really proud of you, specially since you got the best Cloth on his Training Ground." she commented. Shinta's smile beamed up. "Don't you work with Saint Pegasus?"

Shinta brightened up. "Yes, that's right! Do you know him, too?"

The young woman's semblance got serious. "You should stay away from him. Don't you know what kind of person he is? That guy is dangerous." she warned.

"Dangerous? No, Lance is nothing like that... well, not to someone who's nice to him." Shinta protested. "He's a really good person once you get to know him. Besides, he's my teammate. We trust each other."

She sighed and petted the young teen's innocent head. "All bad boys have good hearts, but they'll still break yours in the end, you know?" she joked. She could tell from Shinta's embarrassed frown that he didn't like it but since the Saint looked so much like a girl, she couldn't resist. "Look, just heed my advice and keep away from that r-" She then hesitated in her wording. There was never any proof that what happened to that girl from the Pacific was Pegasus' fault, even though it just felt like one of those things were everyone knew who was responsible but no one could prove it. "-that punk. Stay away from that punk before he drags you into something you'll regret."

Shinta narrowed his eyes. He really appreciated her concern, but it was starting to sound like she didn't think he knew what was best for himself. He hid his frustration, bagged his things, thanked her for everything and headed off to the MMC, where his teammate would be awaiting.

The Andromeda Saint wondered if he should have gotten something healthier than a bag of chips for a mission meal. His Master had always enforced on him the importance of a good diet. He even tried to get Shinta to switch his soda addiction to a juice one. The problem was that the Saint's usual diet was always very focused on the same nutritional, tasteless meals so it was very easy to get sick of it.

Shinta arrived to the Mission Management Center. It was a bureaucratic building on First Street which directed and recorded the assignments given to Saints. Most of Sanctuary's work in helping the world stand on its feet despite natural disasters and bad people with cosmos was done through there. It towered over the adjacent houses thanks to it's triple flooring but mostly followed the same architectural style of white walls and orange tile roofs.

As soon as he entered he was engulfed by the faint murmuring of Saints, soldiers and bureaucrats giving and being given orders that characterized the interior. There were several desks lined up against the wall with signs that indicated their purpose. It almost felt like the inside of a bank. Everyone was either in a line or being attended by a clerk or secretary.

Shinta found Lance standing in front of the white boards were missions were scheduled. He rushed to his teammate's side. "Lance, I got the food. Has anyone given you a mission yet?"

Lance shook his head without taking his eyes off the whiteboard. "There's a couple of jobs, but they're mostly easy. They only redirect them straight to me when they have a tough, Silver-Class ones." Shinta nodded in understanding. "Lance, how come a Gold Class mission never shows up on the board? I mean, I wouldn't really want to take a scary assignment like that, but..."

"I've been told that Gold Saint get their assignments handed directly by the Pope." Lance explained. "It could be for a whole bunch of reasons; to protect their identity, for convenience or just for the sake of not sending lions to crush ants." Lance then suddenly narrowed his eyes. "But let me tell you one thing; it wouldn't hurt the Pope to send them to give us a hand every now and then. God knows I've needed it..." he hissed thinking back to Death Queen Island. Shinta imagined Lance must have really suffered once at the hands of this policy.

Shinta smiled nervously and tried to change the subject. "...I see...S-so, how do you think they gauge the assignments? Do they send scouts or something?"

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "They wouldn't really have to. As soon as they sense signs of trouble, they only really have to try to determine what kind of power level they detect in the area. There's also Sanctuary's information network composed by its Undercover Saints and agents." A man then came along and started scribbling something on the board with a black marker. While most of the other posted missions had details regarding the Class, the location and so on, this one only seemed to have the acronym DQI written on it.

Shinta watched Pegasus immediately rush forward and write his full title and name in front of it. He then marked it at the end with an asterisk, which was an indicator of special circumstances. "What is it, Lance? Are we going there next? Do you want me to sign up, too?"

Lance, to his surprise, shook his head. "I'm going alone on that one later." He saw Shinta widen his eyes and open his mouth to inquire him, but Pegasus explained himself right away. "I know the Pope is forcing us to be a team, but this one is different, trust me. Even if I didn't put my name on it now, they'd just ask me about it later. We'll find something else to work on."

"...Hmm, okay, if you say so..." Shinta looked back at the board.

Lance looked over a small notepad he had been writing possibilities on. "I've been thinking of Ismara. It's a Sanctuary outpost town placed between the Danube river and the German border with Czechoslovakia. It watches over Sanctuary villages in the area, covering everything between the Austrian Alps and the Soviet Union. They've been asking Sanctuary to send a reinforcement team to deal with local Skeleton Soldier patrols. I figured it would be a welcome break from all the damn Black Saint missions."

Shinta looked for this in the board in search of more details. For some reason, Hades' foot soldiers were not a strange sight in southern Germany. Master Guardnia had told him that Hades' Earthly Castle would usually pop up in that region, so maybe this had something to do with it. He spotted an ongoing mission next to it where a familiar name was signed in.

He beamed up in excitement. "Hey, look, Saint Cynthia is in East Berlin! That's just beyond Ismara's region, right?" he cried out. Lance blinked. "She was an Amazon Cassiopeia Saint who worked together with my Master in Andromeda Island. She's a really nice person and a great cook...Well, except in my 'Labyrinth of the Queen' test where she was acting kind of violent...She even told Mufasa, the island's pet lion, to attack me at the end of it!" he recalled.

Lance raised a brow. "I'm sorry, she did what?"

Shinta, however, just kept talking about the Amazon. "Saint Cynthia used to prepare some of the challenges I had to go through and sometimes she looked after us and trained us when Master wasn't around. Maybe we could meet up with her." he suggested, anxious to introduce Lance to one of the dearest people he knew.

Lance grunted. He'd really rather not follow Shinta around and take a detour to Germany just so he could recall precious memories with an old trainer of his, especially someone who sounded like she had some really crazy mood swings.

"I wonder what she's doing there..." Shinta murmured. "She's always working in tense areas where there's violence or injustice. She must be helping people there, too."

The Pegasus Saint rolled his eyes. Maybe Shinta was too young to know anything concrete about modern political conflict and the Cold War, but he wished his forced partner wouldn't be so oblivious about those situations. "Well, she's not guarding walls, I'll tell you that."

"Huh? Why would you say that, Lance?"

"...Never mind." The two Saints then signed themselves up in the Ismara's mission and left the MMC.

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Rodario

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Having left Sanctuary Town, the two Bronze Saints entered Rodario so as to leave Sanctuary via land. Although they could easily use sound speed, Bronze and Silver Saints were required by law to use normal velocity in the village because, while it was isolated, the surrounding region was one of the spots in Sanctuary's wing most exposed to normal societies. The objective was for the tourists, hikers and scouts that passed by the region would not be caught off guard by the sight of things moving around at the speed of sound in the apparently normal, though isolated, village.

The streets of Rodario weren't much different from that of Sanctuary Town in terms of architecture asides from the more antiquated layout and rural aspect. Stone houses were a common sight as well as straw roofs in the peripherals spots of the village and a lot of the roads were narrow or of dirt. There was also a clear difference of population density. Every street in Sanctuary town was filled with people and soldiers moving around. Rodario, in contrast, only had a couple of villagers or guards in every street.

By far, the most impressive sight was that of the original Sanctuary Coliseum, which could be seen from any point in the village thanks to the low number of mulch-storied houses. It was the main reason why Rodario was still seen as a major culture spot of Sanctuary, even though a ruin-less replica had been recently constructed in Sanctuary Town, where Lance had fought Kastiel.

The two Saints reached the main street of the village, which consisted of a crossroad centered by a rather large and impressive looking stone fountain. Shinta awed at the sight of it. Amidst the rural homes and quaint streets, it was a stunning and rather elaborate sight. Its large pond surrounded what appeared to be a stone replica of the Gemini Cloth's rest form, it's four arms holding a large plate above its two-faced head on top of which a group of Gold Saints seemed to be forming a protective phalanx around Athena while stepping on corpses of heterogeneously armored fallen enemies. Athena held her Nike staff high in the air and rested her shield on the plate while the tip of the Gold Saints' spears gushed out water into the lower pond.

They stopped to admire it for a second. It was a triumphant sight of majesty and victory that completely stood out in the neighborhood. It had countless aging marks such as cracks, old vines and wear scratches but this all seemed redundant compared to the beauty of the greater picture.

A large group of camera totting tourists then seemed to waltz in, led by a young, blue-haired child which didn't seem to be older than five or six years old. "And if you step right here, you'll see the Great War Fountain, a landmark of Rodario." he recited in English. "As you can see, it is also devoted to the Goddess Athena, who was still worshiped around these parts even after Christianity spread throughout Europe."

Many camera flashes captured the fountain's picture. One tourist raised his hand. "Tour Guide Milo, what Great War are you speaking of? If people built this to worship Athena, then it is not about the World War, right?" he asked, also in English and with a clearly North American accent.

The boy, Milo, shook his head. "Oh, no, it is not. This fountain was built to commemorate the end of a terrible, terrible War fought, like, a thousand years ago, so as you can see, it is almost as old as my grandpa!" The tourist crowd chuckled with the child's joke. They then headed off. The extremely young tour guide waved at the ruined Coliseum in the distance. "Over there we have the Coliseum of Rodario, which was built by Romans a really long time ago so that they could watch us kill each other for their amusement." he lied. "We'll be visiting it next."

Lance's red eyes stared at the group for a while, shocked that they were led by such a young brat. He walked over to the fountain and read the inscription in Greek outloud to Shinta.

"By the light of Athena and Pope Alexander we emerge victorious. We shall never forget the hatred and violence of this age and the comrades we have lost along this terrible road. Let us leave behind the darkness and walk towards the future with purity in our hearts.

-The Greatest Generation'."

Shinta stared at the stone faces of the Gold Saints. They were featureless, sporting only a carved frown in the stone and a nose, but no eyes. The artist had managed to capture something awful in said frowns, as they looked terribly pained to the Andromeda Saint, as if these warriors had gone through a nightmare. "What is this fountain really about, Lance?"

"Well, the tour guide actually told the tourists the truth. This is about the 11th Century Wars." explained Lance. He then noticed something important."Well, Gemini is technically depicted here, but why isn't he up there with the others?...Well, there is no good talking about it right now, so let's just go. You have everything ready, right?"

Shinta nodded. He put down the Cloth box and opened its lid to place the food inside. As soon as the pink of the Andromeda Cloth was hit by the light of day, though, a spear-tipped chain came lashing out like a vicious snake in Pegasus' direction. Lance, however, used to Shinta's Cloth's behavior, easily caught the links and stunned the metallic tentacle by squeezing on it with his burning white cosmos.

Shinta detected a sharp yelp from Andromeda who then retracted her chain inside like a punished dog. "O-oh, sorry, Lance. I don't think she's ever going to get used to you. The Princess can be really stubborn about it when she doesn't like someone. She loves Master Guardnia and Saint Cynthia, though." He stored his things inside and closed the lid carefully while whispering a kind word to his Cloth, requesting her to behave. "I guess it's a good thing that, at least, she gets along with Pegasus, right?"

Lance only scoffed something and headed off with Shinta following in tow. Not since they got back from their first mission had Shinta seen Lance say anything to Pegasus or talk about the fact that he had just found out it could speak and have a personality of its own. It was almost like Lance was angry at it or something.

The Andromeda Cloth whimpered inside its Cloth in pain. If only Lance didn't have a Silver Saint's cosmos, she would be able to teach him a lesson. "I don't understand how you can trust him! You should only trust me. I don't hide anything from you."

"Lance doesn't hide that much from me, Princess. Even in our first mission he didn't have bad intentions when he kept his plot to take down the Black Saints to himself." Shinta defended. "Besides, you keep attacking people you don't like despite me telling you not to. I can't really trust you like that, either, can I?"

"Oh, really?" her sly voice asked. "Well, that refusal of him to let you participate in that 'special' mission of his sure seemed suspicious. He was in such a rush to sign himself up, too... I wonder what exact circumstances let him ignore the Pope's command to have the two of you go together everywhere...Oh, Shinta, get a brain!" she berated. "He keeps manipulating you and you don't even realize it. If only you'd listen to me... but, alas, I must let you learn your lesson by yourself, you...naive stupid-head." Andromeda then fell completely silent.

Shinta ignored her warning. For some time, he had started to realize that Andromeda seemed to try to manipulate him a lot more than Pegasus did, and in a bad way, too. Thinking of Saint Cynthia and her Silver Cloth, Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, Shinta recalled how his Master had once told him that the Amazon sometimes did certain things without wanting or even realizing it because she was being influenced by her Silver Cloth. Was Andromeda trying to do the same?

Lance didn't seem to have that problem. The few times Shinta and the Pegasus Cloth conversed were short and gave Shinta the idea that the winged horse was rather shy and wavering, an attitude so different from Lance's, which certainly didn't fit the profile of manipulator Shinta had learned to recognize.

As they passed through the streets, Lance saw eyes turning towards the two of them either in surprise, fear, or anger. They were either recognizing the infamous Saint or were just shocked at the contrast the pair of Saints presented to them. Shinta 's head only reached his shoulders, short as he was, and the remaining physical differences only made their proximity more staggering.

Eventually, they passed by a small group of Bronze Saints. Shinta felt himself quiver as their glares met Lance's. For a second, it seemed as if the vicious sparks between them would start a fight by themselves, but Lance ignored them and marched off. Pegasus was so unpopular even his fellow Saints seemed to hate him. They didn't seem to enjoy the sight of Shinta, either. Shinta remembered the shopkeeper's father. "Lance, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Well, when I was buying supplies, I was saved from being tricked by the clerk by his daughter. She apologized and said it was because her dad didn't like Asians. There's a lot of people who's nice and smile and even wave at me, specially girls, but there's also a lot of people who don't seem to like me. Why is that?"

"Well, you're fucking annoying, just to start!" Lance growled. "You're short, you look like a girl, every guy's girlfriends seem to like you more than them and to top it all off, your voice is apparently immune to puberty." Shinta widened his eyes, not sure to be hurt or amazed by the merciless onslaught of insults. "Asians are viewed as weaker than Europeans here. We think that the only thing you guys have going for you is sheer numbers. Besides... Sanctuary has always been mostly white guys, preferably from the Southern Balkans and Italy. Do you remember seeing a black guy anywhere in Sanctuary outside the African bases?" Shinta gasped as he realized he truly hadn't. Lance continued. "We don't even want our own women in the army, so much that we forced them to wear masks, so why should we want former slaves and slit eyes here?"

"Well, you're European, aren't you?" Shinta asked. "You don't mind that I'm here, right?"

Lance glanced at him for a second. "What? No, of course not, Shinta. Do you really think I care about any of that? I got enough to worry about." he said. "I can't stand putting up with this forced partnership for a whole other set of reasons, trust me."

Shinta's eyes saddened. He knew there was racism in Sanctuary for a long while. Kids in Andromeda Island would often pick on him for being Japanese and Master Guardnia had given him the 'It's Okay To Be Different Talk' a long time ago. He just never thought that in Sanctuary Town, among adults, it could still be so bad or even worse. "That doesn't make any sense. Doesn't Athena preach love, peace and equality?"

"Athena preaches what's fucking convenient to her!" Lance suddenly snapped. "Relying on Athena for anything here is a sure ticket to disappointment and death, Shinta. A pacifist such as you should not like someone who shows up around here every two centuries to wage war and then bolts as soon as the time to repair Sanctuary comes. And when you're dying in battle or desperate for aid, she's not gonna pull your hand from the abyss. It will be your own strength and that of your teammates!" Lance then decided to shut up before it turned into a full on rant on the deity in the middle of her holy grounds, but he still seem to mumble something to himself. "She's a Goddess of War! How can she preach fucking peace?"

Shinta felt surprised at Lance's sudden outburst. While it did fit in his head that a guy like Lance, who was so independent and such a lone wolf, wouldn't think of relying on Athena for anything either, it was news to him that Lance dislike her at the point of having such a reaction to Shinta's inquiry. "Well, you must believe in her somewhat, right? You've become a Saint, after all."

Lance sighed. "Shinta, you can't really be an atheist if you know God exists!" They then finally reached the gates of Rodario, where they would be able to depart safely at super speed. "Now let's go. The guys at Ismara probably have a ton of work for us to do for them."

The Andromeda Saint nodded and quietly followed Lance throughout the Greek countryside. Hopefully the mission would be uneventful, specially if they are going to what was considered a border region with Hades' territory.

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Chapter 6

First Arc

Episode 5

Bonds Forged by Fire

Part 1 of 2

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Meanwhile, in Arcadia, a Sanctuary village near the Ismara outpost...

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Her alarm clock started ringing loudly, awakening her. She instantly smashed the top of it with her hand to shut it up and turned her lamp on. It was seven in the morning already? She shook her drowsiness off and got out of bed.

She looked at the mirror. Her jaw-length red hair, her most defining characteristic in the mostly brunette village, was all over the place and her brown eyes seemed to struggle a bit to stay open. After tidying herself up and getting dressed, she headed out her room to prepare breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen, her Mom seemed to be already awake drinking a cup of coffee. Her tired, old eyes turned to her daughter and she sighed. "Alexis, what are you doing? It's Saturday morning! There's no school today. Go back to bed." She then hid the bills they got for that month in a nearby drawer.

The red-haired, twelve years old girl shook her head and started preparing her cereal. "It's okay, I'm not sleepy." she lied. "There's a lot to do in the house. You're the one who should still be in bed, Mom. This morning cold is not good for your health. Seriously, old lady, you could get pneumonia or something." she joked. "I'll take care of things. Go lie down, okay?"

"I'm fifty, not decrepit!" the farmer woman hissed, though she hid the slight smile that hit her lips.

Alexis smirked without taking her eyes off the milk she was heating. Their old oven was getting so rusty. Pieces of electronic and technology were only partially tolerated in Sanctuary's dependencies and outright barred from Training Grounds, from what she had heard. She often wondered how the poor trainees ever got a decent breakfast in all those islands and remote places of the world the Cloths were stored at.

Her mom watched her getting her study books ready on the table while preparing her breakfast. Not a single time had she ever had to tell Alexis to go study or clean her room. In fact, sometimes she felt like the young girl took more care of her parents than the other way around. "Someone your age shouldn't be getting up so early to do chores and work hard in her studies. Athena knows that when I was your age I wish I'd done that, but..."

"...but I should go have some fun, right? Yeah, yeah, I heard that one like a thousand times!" the preteen complained. "Where's Dad? Is the old man still sleeping or what?"

"I'm here!" someone shouted. A bald man named Fergus with whitened mustache and mining clothes, complete with hardhat and an old set of goggles, came rushing out of her parent's room with several tools including a shovel and pickaxe under his arm. "I'm just going to the iron mine for a while. It's my day off, but they need my help over there." he kissed his wife and daughter's cheeks and went straight for the door.

Just as he was about to leave, the miner winced in pain and touched his thigh. Alexis sighed and shook her head. "Dad, wait! You can't carry everything all the way there." she reminded him. She turned off the oven flame and took some of the heavy tools from him. "I'll go there with you and head straight back."

Fergus sighed. "Thank you, 'Lexis, but your dad is fine. He can still carry the weight of the family-"

Alexis shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "The doctor told you not to carry so much heavy stuff all the time." she complained. "This is so stupid! The mining company has enough money to buy big drills to replace you guys, but not enough for a proper tool shed? It's like they want you to break your hips by carrying these things back and forth from your home."

The old man's eyes saddened for a moment. "I'm a miner. I have to strain my bones somehow by the end of the day."

"Mom, I'm heading off with Dad, but I'll be right back." she shouted, purposely ignoring her dad. She grabbed her Dad's arm with her free hand and dragged him out of the house to the street. "Come on, Mr. Fergus. You're not to manly to let your daughter help you, right?"

Her father opened his mouth to protest, but decided not to insist. The stubborn girl cared about her parents way too much to listen. His old eyes started looking around and saw kids her age either playing soccer or being with their friends. Not one was studying or doing extra chores or even putting up with their parents. "Alexis, don't you want to go play with your friends?"

She hook her head. "No, that's okay."

"Don't you want to go play soccer with the boys? You always loved that."

Alexis smirked. "Dad, I got plenty of time to that later."

"Here, I feel better, let me take the tools-"

"Dad, I'm fine! Don't worry about it. It's not that heavy. If I feel tired I can always burn cosmos, right?" she reminded him. "I may not be able to punch a rock to smithereens but I can lift my own weight, okay?"

Fergus nodded. It was not uncommon in villages under Sanctuary's protection and tuition for children to awaken cosmos. After all, they were introduced to subject since birth and were always in contact with foot soldiers and Saints, who made a career out of using it and teaching it to others.

Alexis had awakened her cosmos at a fairly early age and, fortunately for her parents, unlike many other careless or playful children who did the same, had enough sense not to abuse it. He still remembered Alexis coming home, years ago, crying and shouting she had almost killed her classmate.

"M-Mom, D-dad, what's happening to me? I was just playing soccer a-and.. and my hands were burning and I...I think I hurt my friend!"

"It's okay, Alexis. This...This is normal."

"W-we were just p-playing and I twisted his arm around! H-he... T-they said he was r-really hurt and had to go to the h-hospital I...I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to hurt hi-him."

"It's alright, sweetie. Calm down...We believe you..."

Fergus turned to his daughter and saw her diligently carrying her share of weight without a single complaint. She even offered him a smile of encouragement. Maybe she wasn't very sociable, but Fergus still thanked Athena for giving them such a kind and hard-working daughter to love.

It was a twenty minutes walk past the wooden palisade that surrounded their village to get to the iron mines. It consisted of a massive hole on a cliff-side sitting on harsh, rocky terrain. The industry was fenced all around and usually had many vehicles carrying loads of metal and gas canisters back and forth. A massive building sat next to the mine where carts of iron were railed into for refining and filtering of the ore. Several magnetic machines were used inside the mine to find and retrieve the metal, but workers were still required to open way inside the mountain with pickaxes, shovels, explosives and the occasional mechanized drills.

The iron was usually taken to Tibet, for Lemurian craftsmen, and to Greece so that Sanctuary could build standard equipment for the foot soldiers. This time, however, the entire infrastructure seemed to be closed and several workers were locked outside together with a man who seemed to be explaining the situation. "Huh? What's going on at the mine, Dad?"

Fergus shrugged his shoulders and tried to get closer. They eventually were able to hear the man's voice despite the grumbling of the many miners. "It is not safe to operate the facility. Sanctuary's authorities are hence closing the mine until further notice. Please return to your homes and answer to the local guards. This is not a drill!"

The mine's owner, surrounded by his engineers, raised his fist. "Are you kidding me?! Do you have any idea of the quotas I have to fill for my clients? This is MY factory and I want it open, right now! Sanctuary has no business in closing my enterprise!"

"So long as its in Sanctuary's land and protection, the Pope has full powers over your mine. Please disperse or I'll be forced to call the guards!" warned the man.

Fergus turned to one of his worker friends. "What is going on?"

"They've received word from Ismara yesterday that a group of Skeleton Soldiers is roaming about." the friend explained.

"It's always the same thing. They see trees rustling in the distance and they tell us not to go to work for safety reasons." commented another. "I bet it's nothing. They'll do anything to make their base look useful to Sanctuary just so they don't risk having their men sent to 'Elba'."

The red-haired girl blinked. "Elba? What's that?" she thought. Alexis turned to her dad. "Well, I guess you're not going to work today, huh?" Her brown eyes saw her father hide a sigh of frustration. "You could at least smile a bit about it. You'll be able to spend the day with your lovely family and you won't get to break your back with all these big machines and tools, right?"

Fergus chuckled against his will. "I was... actually hoping to get a few extra hours. We could use the money." Fergus then turned away and frowned.

Father and daughter started heading back to the village. Alexis frowned sadly at the sight of her old father. He had spent his life working in the mine so he could feed his wife and herself. It didn't help that they had her at such a late stage, when they were already past their working prime. She saw her dad hunching forward with the weight of his pickaxe and shovel. She didn't like to think about the strain he would put up with inside that mine everyday.

She wrapped her free arm around her father's so as to help him march forward. "Don't worry, dad. I know we're a bit tight on money, but we can still pay the taxes to the Pope and put food on the table. For now, that's enough, isn't it?"

Her father concurred with a somber head nod. "For someone so young to be saying such a thing... I didn't think my middle-school daughter would be so much better at being an adult than I am." he joked.

After entering the village, the two of them walked past once more through the streets filled with playing children and farmyard animals pulling carts of vegetables and wheat. Alexis took a look at the wooden palisades that protected her hometown. Though sharpened into a point at the top, the logs used to build the wall were a laughable obstacle to a roaming Skeleton Soldier group. She imagined the only thing keeping them really safe was the nearby Ismara outpost which their village helped keep fed and paid and the fact that, unlike Black Saints, Skeleton Soldiers followed basic sets of war guidelines. Hades' foot soldiers would have to fight Ismara head on long before they could afford to turn their sights on the countryside.

They started hearing shouting and murmuring from afar. Curious, they headed towards the source of it and were surprised to see a large crowd gathered around a group of Sanctuary foot soldiers. They had posted a large sign reciting 'Join the army of Athena' in big, bold letters above an image of Athena's Colossus and now seemed to be encouraging potential volunteers. The captain in particular, seemed to be outright shouting at the crowd why they should offer their sons and local young orphans to Sanctuary's servitude.

"By the light of Athena, we beseech thee!" the captain pleaded, spreading out his arms to the people. "Answer the call of Sanctuary and of the cosmos. Even nowadays, Sanctuary struggles to protect the world from the Gods of Olympus. If you have a young son or daughter or are yourself young or with awakened cosmos, you can help our cause and give new meaning to your servitude by joining our ranks."

Alexis saw her father's expression growing grim and the people in the crowd mumbling even louder. A mother nearby tucked her sons together and several men exchanged suspicious glances. "What are they doing? They're drafting people?" she asked.

The captain saw the villagers were not convinced. Understandably, they were not willing to send their sons to what was sought to be certain death, but he insisted, as was his duty. "Families who send their sons or daughters to be trained into Sainthood will be amply subsidized by Sanctuary, as vows the Holy Father, Pope Arles III. The education, human rights and salary of said volunteers will also be guaranteed and further rewards await those who can conquer the approval of a Cloth. Moreover, the honor alone of becoming one of the selected few to wield the power of cosmos and become a part of the grand army which safeguards the dignity and liberty of human society shall be bestowed upon your family."

A man in the crowd near Alexis scoffed. "In other words, 'give us your kids and we'll be grateful to you.' Bastards! It will be a black day before I send my son to die for your thirst for manpower." The skeptical man then walked away, not interested in sending any of his kids to training grounds were only one out of ten trainees were estimated to survive.

Another one also walked away while expressing his opinion. "Human rights! Yeah, sure, tell that to all my three brothers you've sent to be captured and tortured by Black Saints!"

"The only thing they educate you in is how to shut up and kill!" a pacifist grumbled. "Children, family, friends; Heck, they'll have you murder pregnant women if it suits them!"

"They can shove their honor up the Pope's as-"

"Sign yourselves or your children up to join the army." the captain appealed one final time. "We do not accept signers above ten years old unless you have already awakened your cosmos. Have the courage and determination to become one of the soldiers of Sanctuary or, if you prove yourself worthy, one of the eighty eight Saints of Athena."

Alexis watched as a couple of the poorer children were taken to the soldiers' desk to be signed up by the adults. She stared at the Colossus in the sign for a while, intrigued. Her father saw this, grabbed her by the hand and took her away. "Forget about them, Alexis. No good ever comes from paying attention to what recruiters say."

The red-haired preteen obediently followed her father, but kept looking over her shoulder to the recruiters, skeptic villagers and the orphans being dragged into the desk. She shook her head to try to get it off her mind. Dad was right. Nothing good could come out of considering something so stupid.

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Meanwhile, in southern Yugoslavia...

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Andromeda Shinta came to a full stop when his team mate, the Pegasus Saint, abruptly halted his supersonic sprint. They had come across a town at the foot of the Dinaric Alps which cross along through much of the Yugoslav coast. Both Saints had stopped at a considerable distance from it, but they could still clearly make out details of the burning building.

Lance's red eyes squinted at the sight of destruction. It didn't seem to be work of Black Saints, but rather ordinary bombers. Several firefighters and police officers seemed to be surrounding the building. There was nothing they could do. "Come on Shinta, let's go."

Shinta blinked. "Lance, what happened there? Did a fire break out?"

Lance glanced at the blasted pillars and shattered steel frame. "No, it looks more like a terrorist strike from the separatists."

Shinta followed Lance, but unable to take his eyes off the destroyed building. He saw people being pulled out from the burning ruins and carried off by the ambulances. "This is terrible! Who would do such a thing?"

Lance sighed. "Terrorism is just like that, Shinta. When people have strong, desperate feelings about something or feel they are being oppressed, they'll do anything to force the government to listen to their demands."

"Shouldn't we do something?!" Shinta demanded to know.

"Well, Sanctuary would actually like to see Macedonia liberated, but it's not our fight."

"But, Lance-"

"Shinta, I thought I told you you'd better not be a pain in the ass for me as a forced teammate!" Lance shouted, startling the younger Bronze Saint. "Listen, Shinta, I know there are people down there in pain and in danger of dying, but it's not Sanctuary's place to interfere with the social matters of countries. We didn't kill Hitler when we had the chance and we're definitely not going to put our finger in something like this either! If there were people with awakened cosmos involved or if it was a terrible natural disaster, that would be different but, right now, this is something the nation has to figure out for itself."

Shinta opened his mouth to protest, but ended up nodding sadly, knowing that Lance was right. "I just thought that we could maybe help pull out some of the people there..."

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea!" Lance mocked. "We'll go down there, lift those tons of cement with our bare hands in front of everyone and then go all Jesus Christ on their asses by healing the burned with our magical powers. Yeah, maybe Sanctuary won't execute us for treason if we convince enough people that we're a traveling pair of witchdoctors. No, thank you, sir!"

Shinta nodded. He quietly followed Lance out of the area, reflecting on the matter. "Lance,... wouldn't you be able to say the same about Black Saints?" he asked. Lance squinted at him, indignant, so Shinta tried to make his point quickly. "I-I mean, I... Black Saints are like terrorists and criminals, but to Sanctuary rather than to a nation, right? Wouldn't some of them be just people who don't think Sanctuary is a just place?"

Lance hesitated. "I...You... Look, Shinta, do you want to let Black Saints run loose around the world?!" he asked. Shinta shook his head. "Well, then, don't you think they're dangerous and murderers and such?"

"Well, yes, some of them like Ray, but maybe a couple can be people with just reasons not to obey Sanctuary, right?" Shinta asked. "Maybe they don't believe in Athena. You hate Black Saints but you don't like Athena either, do you Lance?"

Lance stared at the innocent look in Shinta's eyes, which simply sought to quench a doubt he had rather than confront Lance with hypocrisy. Had it been anyone else other than the naive Saint asking him that, Lance would probably just brush it off as trash talk. He tried to change subject. "I h-have my reasons for hating those bastards, okay?! L-look, let's just forget about this! They're waiting for us at Ismara."

Shinta nodded obediently. He was sure that Lance, experienced as he was, had an answer to his question but was probably a cruel one or not for a novice's ears like his and so the Pegasus Saint kept it to himself.

"Seriously, I don't know why I have to keep explaining these things to you, Shinta." Lance complained. "It's like I have to be your big brother or something!"

Shinta chuckled. "Y-yeah, I suppose. It's like you have to be my nissan. I guess you are just so dependable."

Lance glanced at him. Did Shinta just compare him to a car brand? "It's like I have to be your what?"

"Oh, I mean, it's a Japanese endearing term for 'big brother'. Forget about it. It was just a silly thought." the younger Saint excused himself. As they were about to resume supersonic speed, Shinta's green eyes turned to the Dinaric Alps' peaks, which were coated in a layer of white even though it was still technically summer. "Look, Lance, the peaks are all white. Isn't it pretty?" he asked. Lance only grunted something incomprehensible. Shinta then had a great idea. "Hey, Lance, maybe we can cut some distance by going straight through these mountains since Ismara is just beyond them. What do you-"

"What?! NO! NO WAY! Forget about it!" Lance exploded all of a sudden. He nervously looked at the mountain peaks and quickly averted his gaze. "We'll keep going around them. We won't lose much time by going through our original course, okay?"

Shinta blinked. "But, Lance-"

"NO BUTS! We're going around through flat terrain and that's it! Now, come on!" Lance then sprinted forward at mach 5 without a word, forcing Shinta to cease the discussion so that he could keep up.

Even so, Shinta kept staring at Lance. What was that all about?

To further his surprise, the lid of Lance's Pegasus Cloth Box seemed to open up just a little. The Pegasus Cloth helmet red gems locked gaze with him. "Don't worry, Shinta. Lance has his reasons not to go through that mountain range."

Shinta widened his eyes. "Pegasus? Do you know why Lance acted so strange?"

The Pegasus Cloth nodded. "I've watched over him since he first came to Mount Olympus. I know his strengths and weaknesses and also his fears. Lance wouldn't like me telling you about 'this', though. It's a... unique vulnerability he has." he explained. "Have patience, Shinta. He won't talk to me since I've kept myself hidden all this time, but maybe someday you can get him to become friendlier and confess things like this. He just doesn't trust enough in you yet." The Pegasus Cloth then retreated back to its box.

The Andromeda Cloth, who had listened to the whole thing, scoffed inside hers. "Oh, boo-ooh. I bet he insisted on going this way because he has a horrible trap awaiting us all. Don't trust that horse, Shinta. He's just as rotten as his owner if he let someone like Lance become it's Saint."

The Pegasus Cloth didn't seem interested in responding to Andromeda's taunt. Shinta smirked. It was always interesting seeing their Cloths interacting, even if it consisted just of Pegasus' shy words being instantly attacked by Andromeda's mean-spirited comments.

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Several hours later, at Ismara...

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The afternoon had just passed when the two teammates arrived at their destination. Both Saints halted their march at the entrance of what was supposed to be the Sanctuary military outpost of Ismara. However, as both Saints widened their eyes and Shinta let out a small gasp of horror, the little that was left of what laid before them didn't match their expectations at all.

Lance's red eyes analyzed the destruction. The reinforced gate had been smashed down, the stone walls and watch towers had been shattered to ruin and several spots were blackened. The barracks were razed to the ground and clouds of black smoke emanated from everywhere, covering the sky. Several fires still raged all around the ruined base and the slaughtered corpses of foot soldiers littered the ground.

Shinta couldn't stop staring at the destruction. "W-what?! What... What happened here?!" he demanded to know. He rushed past the forced entrance into the base. "What happened to everyone? Is anyone out there? Please, answer!" he shouted.

Lance calmly followed the horrified teammate, his eyes turning left and right. He would be lying if he said he wasn't taken aback too. While Shinta kept shouting out in search for survivors, Lance walked towards one of the dead soldiers on the ground and knelt down. He took the shining object he had spotted on the floor into his hand.

The Andromeda Saint covered his mouth and contained tears. He ended up having to cover his nose, too, as the stench of burnt corpses infiltrated his nostrils and made his stomach want to turn upside down. "N-no! This... this is too a-awful! Who did this?" He then turned to Lance, who seemed to be analyzing something he had picked up. "L-Lance what happened here?!"

"It was recent, so much that we were the first to discover this." Lance hummed in reflection. "I found an arrowhead by this dead man. It seems like the work of Skeleton Soldiers." he explained "Black Saints occasionally raid Sanctuary Bases, but they'd rather use high-caliber guns and rockets. Hades' soldiers, however, though they use primarily scythes and medieval melee weapons, are also known to use crossbows." He knelt down once more and analyzed the footprints. "Yeah, it definitely was a Skeleton Soldier raid."

Shinta looked at the footsteps in the sandy ground, but didn't detect anything special. "Why do you say that?"

Lance pointed at the heterogeneous-looking feet marks. "Black Saints can't craft foot soldier equipment of their own, so they often rely on stealing it from Sanctuary and others. This is because even the foot soldiers' armor and weapons is built by the Lemurians in Tibet. It's an effective alternative, but I'm sure you've noticed Black Saints don't seem to wear similar sets of armor, right?"

Shinta recalled all his missions that involved said enemies. They always carried vicious looking weapons and armor, but they were always very varied. He nodded his head. "Y-yeah, I think you're right."

"That means that the metal footing they wear, if they wear any, are often of different design styles. Hades's army, however, is professional. Skeleton Soldiers are drilled and equipped in the same manner and style. Even if people have different boot sizes, the foot protections all look the same." Lance's finger pointed once more at the footprints. "In all my missions hunting Black Saints, their footwear always seemed to have different shapes or a little add-on that altered the silhouette of the footprints. Some of them wore normal boots or even sandals. These footprints, however, were made by standardized metal equipment. Right now, the only active standing army besides' Sanctuary that could take this base out like this is that of Hades himself. Bastards! They're going to pay!"

The Saint of Andromeda nodded, still wishing to find explanations even though not sharing Lance's vindictive desire. Still, he was impressed by Lance's tracking skills. It was always amazing how Lance could deduce so much from so little. The looming threat of something much worse than whatever had happened in that base entered Shinta's head. "Wait, what does this mean, Lance? Does it mean Holy War is starting?"

Lance got up. "Well.. from what I've been told, Hades' declarations of war are usually a lot flashier than this sort of thing, like an Eclipse out of time or a sudden major assault on the Golden Zodiac during the night. This doesn't mean Holy War is starting. In fact...Holy War isn't expected until another twenty years. I'd say this is just normal, regular... border friction." Lance seemed to be disgusted by this term. "But you're right, Shinta, this unprovoked attack is too awful!"

Lance then rushed towards a half-intact watchtower and climbed to its top. From there he looked all over the surrounding forest area. Shinta tried to keep up. "What is it, Lance?"

"I'm trying to determine just what kind of force passed through here. If it was an army, there would be damage to the surrounding area during both the march and the siege. It had to be a regiment small enough to be organized into sneaking to Ismara's walls but powerful enough to take the base out quickly. Ismara had no Saints guarding it, only foot soldiers. I also don't think Ismara wouldn't be able to send an SOS via mental message or something else if they were just facing Skeleton Soldiers. The strange thing is..." Lance then jumped down from the damaged tower. "No one felt the attack from afar. I have heard Gold Saints possess an insane capacity to sense cosmos which is connected to why they are so powerful and fast, so..."

"It was a small group of Skeleton Soldiers with a few strong members, but not too strong to be detected?" Shinta concluded.

The Pegasus Saint scratched his chin. "Yeah, something like that. Maybe a couple of Terrestrial Stars with them." Lance sweated nervously, suddenly confronted by a tough choice. "They must be still in the area. We have to notify Sanctuary, but what if they attack someone else in the meantime? What do we do?"

For the first time they were teamed up, Shinta saw Lance truly undecided. The red-eyed youth kept looking at Shinta and back to the ruins, as if considering choices. Shinta's green eyes also turned to the burned chaos of blackened corpses and buildings. He tightened his fists in resolution and decided to support Lance. "Let's go after them."

Pegasus blinked. "What?"

Shinta looked down on a corpse. "I know I'm probably surprising you with this, but I want to go after them with you." he said. "What they've done here is too awful. We have to find them and take them down before they can hurt someone else. Neither of us know how to send mental messages far enough to reach Sanctuary from so far so going back for help will put people here in danger." Shinta waited a small bit to judge Lance's reaction to his decision. He didn't seem happy with it. "I want to help you stop these people, Lance. Let me help you."

Lance shook his head. "No way. Forget it, Shinta! I'll go after them while you go warn Sanctuary and get help. If I run into them they might just be weak enough for me to take down. If they are too strong, I'll just keep watching their movements."

"But what if they are too strong and they attack someone in the meantime?" Shinta protested. "Lance don't you trust me? Let me help you defeat them-"

"I said NO! Go back to Sanctuary right now and warn someone. This is not on your league, Shinta! This is serious!" he shouted. Shinta widened his eyes in shock. "If they attack someone...I'll do what I can. I'll stall them, save as many people as I can...I'll just DO something!"

Silence fell between them for a while, as the Andromeda Saint found himself surprised to see in Lance such an intense desire to protect whomever the Skeleton Soldiers would put in danger. More and more, Shinta felt like the rumors about the Pegasus Saint in Sanctuary were nothing more than that. Maybe the cold distant warrior Bronze Saint truly had a good heart.

Moreover, for the first time since Shinta met the Pegasus Saint, he saw him worried and perhaps even a bit scared. This frightened Shinta as well, who was so used to see Lance as the stronger of the two. Shinta, however, had his own strength. He placed his hand on Pegasus' shoulder. "Lance, you can count on me. I know I don't seem very reliable in combat, but..." Shinta then hesitated, should he tell Lance about it? Master Guardnia had made a fuss about ensuring Shinta kept it a secret. "There is something that I can do. It's dangerous to those around me, but..." Once more, words failed to come out of his mouth.

The Pegasus Saint turned to him in curiosity, but his professional side got the better of him. "If it's dangerous, then it may not be worth the risk... Is it a technique of yours?" Shinta nodded as an answer. Lance squinted at him. There was no way Shinta's level of cosmos could produce an attack powerful enough to take on several Terrestrial Stars at once. Moreover, the possibility of a Celestial Star, an elite Specter, being with the enemy worried him immensely.

"SHIT! If I let you come with me and something bad happens, that will be the end of it, but if you go get help then there's still hope for a bad situation." he argued, but something else preoccupied him. "But what if the both of us can take them out but not just me? A lot of time and lives could be saved if I just trust Shinta..." He looked over to Shinta's green eyes, who awaited an answer. Did he trust his partner's strength, or did he not? "I...Shit, I can't take that risk! I can't let more people die around me like that. Shinta, listen to me. Go to the nearest Sanctuary outpost and warn someone. I'll try to find the bastards and maybe hold them off for a while, if I can. Do you understand?"

Shinta opened his mouth to say something, but kept quiet. He trusted in Lance's judgment and strength. He was a more experienced Saint than the green-haired boy and he surely knew what he was doing. "But what if you-"

"Head straight there and don't look back. I'm counting on you." he warned. Shinta however kept staring at him, worried that Lance would get hurt or killed. Lance sighed. Sometimes, he had the feeling Shinta really did look up to him as a big brother or something. "I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time, Shinta. I've taken down foes stronger than me in the past. Playing it safe is my specialty. I'll be fine."

Shinta gulped in nervousness, but nodded. "Alright, I understand. I won't let you down, Lance." Shinta then took Lance's forearm and grasped it tightly. "Don't get hurt, okay?"

It was Lance's turn to hesitate. He eventually answered Shinta's gesture of comradeship evenly. Shinta then departed the scene by sprinting off at Mach 1 speed, heading straight for the nearest Sanctuary base.

Lance then found himself alone on the ruined Ismara. His red eyes narrowed and his fists tightened. If the trouble at the DQI area wasn't enough, now he was embroiled in this dangerous mess, too.

Handling Skeleton Soldiers was always a lot more risky than mere Black Saints. They had usually much tougher morale and took a lot more risks than Sanctuary's foot soldiers due to being zealots obsessed with their 'chosen people' complex and, unlike Athena's men who were trained to guard and protect, Hades' troops were raised to wage war and torture their victims. A well-coordinated regiment of Hell's troops was usually enough to endanger a fully trained Bronze Saint's life. Led by a Specter, they could be a force to be reckoned with.

Lance followed the trail of footsteps out of the base and started tracking down the bastards' path through the woods. It would take a while, but he would find them, hopefully before screams were heard at the distance.

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Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Arcadia...

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Bennu Yakos and his renegade group of Skeleton soldiers silently took cover among the trees that filled the hillside that overlooked the Sanctuary village of Arcadia. The white-haired youth's green eyes squinted viciously at the sight of all the townspeople walking back and forth. Behind him, his men took cover behind their own rocks, trees and bushes, hiding the black shine of their armor and the blood-soaked edges of their weapons before their lord gave the order.

Yakos's disdainful stare intensified. "Look at them...Servants of Sanctuary." he announced. "Leading simple lives in a simple town. Occasionally offering tribute and manpower to Athena ensures their safety, much like cattle sheltered by a farmer. What pathetic, meaningless lives they must lead...led around by Athena through the feed in her hand..." he commented. "Yet..., our lives are even more pathetic than theirs,... aren't they?!"

The Skeleton Soldiers all around him nodded calmly. "Yes, pathetic..." one of them muttered. "Pathetic lives..."

"Meaningless existences..."

"Slaves..."

"Lambs..."

"Cattle for slaughter..."

"Just a bunch of fools!" one finalized, to which many of his comrades concurred through angered grunting and tightening of grasp on their weapons.

"Men...Today, we make the day as dark as the night!" Yakos announced. "Everyone will feel our anger, our burning hatred, our revolt! The rivers will run red with the blood that will be stained today. No one shall be spared! NO ONE!" he shouted. His men shouted back at him, their black hearts set on fire by their lord's words. Yakos's black cosmos burned all around his body in the shape of a dark flame. It started moving up towards his shoulder, crawled around his arm and then focused on his palm in the shape of a black ball of energy. "Today, Sanctuary burns with our anger!" Yakos then crushed the ball of energy with his fingers, causing them to be set on fire that failed to harm him. "Shaman, do it!"

Shaman Kairos, a Specter of Hades with a Surplice themed after a Native American witchdoctor, appeared from within the trees and took Yakos' side. His helmet was shaped like a wolf's head, protecting his chin and neck with the wolf's lower jaw. He had shoulder pads shaped like bear claws, a segmented torso protection, a belt with an eagle insignia on it from to his tight protections were linked and a large hide-like cape raining down his back.

Furthermore, he had a round shield doubling as a drum strapped around his left gauntlet and carried a long staff with a hollow sphere head, reminiscent to Athena's own staff. "Yes...I will turn the day as black as the night for these miserable creatures!" He then drummed his shield with his stuff a couple of times and burned his cosmos. He spread out his hands to the sky. "Black RAVEN!" he shouted to the heavens.

All of a sudden, the clouds started shifting swiftly, covering the sun, and the mountainous horizon seemed to be covered with a strange mist. The villagers in Arcadia started looking up, gasping and pointing at the sky, unsure of what was going on.

"Soon it will be as dark as the night... and the Gold Saints will not sense cosmos through my spell." Kairos explained.

An evil flame burned in Yakos' green eyes. "And before the sun shines once more in this village, everyone on it will be dead!"

Yakos and Kairos then slowly marched forward towards the village, stalked by their soldiers. Scythes and swords rattled all around them. Maybe this was not what the Star of Pride had intended for them, but Yakos did not care. He would satiate his frustration with Sanctuary's blood long before anyone could stop him.

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Chapter End

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Next Chapter: Bond Forged by Fire Part 2

Release Date: 3rd August 2014

Description: Night unexpectedly falls in Arcadia. As fire and destruction suddenly breaks out in Alexis' village she finds herself in a sudden fight for life only alleviated by the arrival of a Saint of Athena.