(Note - Suggest you read the prologue first if you haven't already. https://pastebin.com/pJ3TkgzJ )

Chapter 1

Tap
Tap
Tap
What...?
Tap
Tap
Tap
What's that noise?  Where am I?
...
Did someone just say something?
"..xt."
What?  Did someone just...?  Where is that tapping coming from?
"I SAID NEXT!!!  DON'T MAKE ME COME OUT THERE TO GET YOU OR I SWEAR YOU'LL REGRET IT!!!"

With a start you open your eyes.  Your sitting in a soft seated chair in some sort of waiting room, there's a number of other chairs lined up against the featureless beige wall, all unoccupied.  You note that there are no windows and only one exit.

Trying to remember how you got here rewards you with nothing but a headache, the smell of a wood fire and something about... boots?

After a few seconds you give up.  It will come back to you, eventually, for now however you just need to work out where you are...

The sound of something heavy smacking into the wall on your left makes you jump.  Looking down at the wood panelled floor you see a small green figurine of a cat rocking slowly on its back, there is a dent in the wall above it marking its point of impact.  The figurine seems to be of a cat woman, she stares up silently at you, a wink and a lewd smile permanently fixed on her carved face.

"Did I get you?" a voice calls in through the door, the same one that was shouting out earlier if you weren't mistaken.  "No?  Then get yourself in here before I get really mad!" it shouts.  It sounds like the voice of a grumpy old man, the kind that used to yell at you as a kid for loitering near his yard and threatening to get his cane out.

Your head spins as you get up off the chair, a quick check of yourself tells you that there are no apparent injuries, but you feel like you've taken a beating.

Stepping through the little doorway reveals a musty old office.  The walls are chock full of parchment, rolls upon rolls are crammed into tight little alcoves from top to bottom.  In front of you is a large polished oak desk, the surface is littered with a haphazard collection of half written documents and more little figurines of various sizes and colours.  Its the person sitting behind the desk however that catches your attention.

There is indeed a grumpy looking old man sitting there, the owner of the voice you surmise considering there's no one else here, except he's a goat and not a human.  The tapping noise from earlier is actually his hooved hand (if its even called that) hitting the hard surface of the desk impatiently.

His long face is covered with long white hair that droops downwards, culminating under his thin chin as a stringy beard.  His nose and mouth jut outwards from his face much like you would expect from a regular goat, except a small set of gold rimmed glasses sit at the end just above his nostrils.  From his mouth you make out a number of crooked teeth poking out.

The top of his head is adorned by a pair of large black horns, they curl in towards themselves before circling out past his little flappy ears.  At the tip of each one there is a golden point.  One horn you notice, is slightly bigger than the other.

To finish the odd scene before you he is wearing what looks like a puffed out green smoking jacket, the red velvet lapels are spotted with a mix of brown stains and black marks, tobacco and ash singes you think at a glance.

You stand there staring at the odd little goat man, not sure what quite to say.  He hasn't looked up at you yet, his long nose buried in a pile of opened parchment.  As you stand there in silence you realise something is wrong about the room itself, apart from the goat that is.  There are no windows in here either, and the only doorway is the one you just came through.  Where's the exit and how did you even get in here in the first place?

 A noise from the goat draws your attention, he's still not looking at you though.

"Name?" he asks in an impatient voice.  Apparently your not interesting enough to stop reading whatever is spread out on his desk.  It strikes you that this is the first beastman you've ever met who actually speaks in the common tongue, its... odd.

"My name is Anon." you reply.  "Could you tell me what this place is or what I'm doing here?  I can't seem to-"

He ignores your questions and interrupts you instead, his little ears twitching in annoyance.

"Anon you say?  Foolish name... and not on my list.  What do-"

His own question dies on his lips as he looks up and finally catches sight of you, his oddly shaped eyes going wide in disbelief as he takes you in.

"What is this?  A human?  Here!?!  What is the meaning of this!?!" he bleats, he was obviously expecting someone, or something different.

It only takes him a moment to regain his grumpy composure however.

"Well?  Don't just stand there like an idiot!  Explain yourself!  How did you get in here?"

So much for finding some answers, he seems as surprised to find you here as you were waking up next door.

"I told you, my name is Anon." you say carefully, but forcefully.  You don't want to make an enemy of this strange little goat man, not without getting a better idea of how to get out of here anyway.  "I don't know how I got here, or where 'here' even is.  I just woke up in the other room there before you started throwing things at me."

With a huff, he seems to somehow look even grumpier.

"Typical human.  Blundering on in without even knowing where you are...  I suppose your here to plant a flag on my desk or dig for gold in my floor!"

Despite sounding like he was asking a question, the goat had no intention of letting you answer.

"Whatever your here for it doesn't matter.  This place isn't for you or yours, you don't belong here.  Period!  Now get out!"

With a sigh you decide to sit down on the little chair in front of the desk, although... you don't remember seeing one when you came in a moment ago.

"I told you, I don't know how I got here and unless there's a secret trapdoor behind that desk of yours, I don't see an exit!"

Your head still hurt and your patience was starting to wear thin.

"Show me an exit and Ill go.  If you can tell me where here even is then Ill make it a point to never come back.  Ever.  Deal?"

The goat looks less than pleased to have you sitting on his furniture, but with a grumble he relents.

"Fine.  This is the Office of Accounting.  At the end of one's life on the earthly realm they come here, to me, and I take account of their life, their deeds and failures, before sending them on to where they are supposed to go."

His words take a moment to sink in.

"Wait...  At the end of one's life?  You mean death?  Am I dead!?!"  A cold rock seems to have found its way into your gut, chilling you from the inside out.

"I'm assuming so." the goat muttered.  "You tell me."

When no other answers followed you began to lose your cool, causing you to jump up from the seat.  Before you could get up and start throttling the old git however something clicked in your memory, your headache eased and a flash of images seemed to dance across your vision.

A little wooden settlement...  A band of angry lizard raiders...  A particularly large brute standing over you with an axe...  The strange prayers of the old deer woman as the darkness claimed you...  As the proof of your own memories sink in, you slump back down to the chair.

"If I'm dead then... what do I do now?  Where am I supposed to go?"

A shrug was all the answer he gave.

Anger began to boil up once more.  "You don't know?  I thought you were supposed to be the one who sends people on or something, how can you not know!?!"

Another shrug.  The look on his hairy face tells you he's enjoying your little outburst.

"Dammit that's not helping!" you yell.

The old goat put on a crooked smile, showing off his crooked yellow teeth.
 
 "I account for the lives of 'our' people Anon, not yours." he explained slowly, as if speaking to a particularly stupid child.  "Only those blessed by the touch of the Lunar Goddess walk freely through here.  You humans are supposed to have your own place to go to, hell if I know where though..."

You stop and think for a second.

"Those touched by a moon goddess?  Do you mean beastmen?  I've never heard them called that before..."

A sharp "Harrumph!" from the goat brought your attention back to him.

"Oh?  'Beast Men' to you are we?  Hmm?  Say that again to my face humie!  I dare you!"

The goat was now standing on his chair, a particularly large sculpture of what looked like an ice skating hippo in his hands ready to strike.  He was surprisingly strong for a tiny old man-goat.

You raise your hands up in surrender, your not sure if a dead man can actually get his head caved in but you would prefer not to find out...

"Ok, ok I'm sorry!  Put it down old man!"

With a grunt he slowly put it back down, taking time to make sure it was in the same dust marked outline it had come from.

"There!  I've told you where you are and even taught you some manners!  Now go away already!  I have a never ending list of people to see and account for and your holding everything up!"

"How!?!" you nearly scream at him.  There still wasn't any way out of this room!  If there had been so much as a window you would have thrown yourself out of it by now!

The crooked smile was back, causing you to lurch between a desire to bang your head against the desk in despair and break the old git's teeth in with one of his little figurines.

"Don't look at me like that Anon..." he said to you suddenly, his tone changing from condescending to something almost akin to pity.  "Its not my fault your here.  Tell you what!  I really shouldn't do this without a proper accounting first but considering the alternative is having you stuck here forever...  Ill open the door for you.  How's that?"

You didn't know, in your confusion, whether to laugh or cry at this.  Did that mean he knew where the door was all along and could have just let you out right at the start?

"Why didn't you open the door in the first place old man?" you say slowly through gritted teeth.

"I told you Anon, your kind is not supposed to be here.  The door wont take you to wherever your supposed to go because there's nowhere here where you belong.  In short, I don't know where it will take you.  You could end up somewhere nice... or you could fall into oblivion.  I didn't say anything because I thought you maybe had your own way back.  Since you obviously don't then you might as well take your chances.  I certainly don't want you to stay here and stink up the place!"

You were at a loss.  Was this really happening to you?  Were you really dead and lost in what was apparently the wrong afterlife?  Was this actually just some crazy concussion induced hallucination brought on by one too many blows to the head fighting lizards?

Following the goat's gaze however, you see that the opening to the little waiting room had been replaced by a big black door.  It was polished to a shine and had a single large brass doorknob on the right hand side.

As you reach for the doorknob however another thought stalls your hand.  If the afterlife is actually real...  If this door somehow did take you back to where you were supposed to go despite what the goat said, then did that mean...  All those sermons during basic about The Legion...?

No.  You shake the thoughts away.  No point worrying about that now.  You were still a free man... in a sense, there was no sign of any hellfire anywhere so for now it was a matter of pushing forwards and seeing where events take you.  No turning back now.  Regardless of what awaited you behind the door, be it your eternal rest or damnation, you had never been one to just roll over and give up.

Still, there was one more thing before you left.

"What is your name old man?" you ask.

He just stands there blinking at you for a second, surprised by your question.

"I am known by some as Baphomet." he replied.

Turning to face him fully, you place your fist to your chest and give a small formal bow.

"You have my thanks... Baphomet, for your assistance.  Despite your... misgivings about helping a human, I am grateful."

Not waiting for a response you turn back to the door, pull on the handle and step through into the unknown.

The old goat sits himself back down on his chair, his crooked smile back in place.  

"Strange creature..." he mumbles.  "For him to be here like this it must mean someone upstairs must have messed up bad...  That or someone is playing a very dangerous game..."

Further musings were cut short by the sound of coughing from the waiting room.  The door had melted away once more and the next wayward soul was waiting.  With a sigh, the old goat got back with his ageless and until recently, thankless, task of accounting.

"NEXT!!"
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Chapter 2
You didn't quite know what to expect after stepping through the door, it certainly wasn't the sensation of freefalling.
The second you passed the threshold everything disappeared, you felt the air whipping through your hair and clothes as you fell into an empty black abyss.  It was thankfully short lived however.
It continued long enough for you to draw breath, ready to scream, but the hard ground found you before your voice did.
Coughing and wondering how your still in one piece, you roll over onto your back.  Whatever you landed on crunches underneath.
There's something else drawing your attention however.  Upon looking up, you see stars.  An ocean of bright twinkling stars adrift on a canvas of black and hues of dark blue.  The moon sits amongst it all, bigger than you've ever seen it and shining with its own ethereal light.
Despite your abrupt arrival and what you've seen so far, the perfect night sky holds you in a trance, as if your seeing it for the first time.
You're not sure how long you lay there, but eventually your senses returned and you knew it was time to move.
Your joints creak and snap as you slowly rise to your feet, a reminder of your abrupt landing.  
The world around you almost matches the heavens above.  The light of the moon shines almost as brightly as the sun, bathing all it touches in silver, even the shadows seem to glitter faintly.
From what you can see of your surroundings, you've landed in the middle of nowhere.  Only grasslands as far as the eye can see.  As pretty as it is you cant see any buildings, settlements or signs of civilization at all.  The only thing worth investigating is a little thicket of trees just at the edge of your vision.  Its hard to tell in this moonlit twilight but it almost looks like there's a flickering coming from within...
There's nothing else that seems to jump out at you as far as destinations go.  If you can find someone then perhaps you can make sense of what this place is.
As you start your march however you notice the crunching from beneath your boots.  With each step the grass seems to actually crumble under your feet, making a sound reminiscent of walking through fresh frost.  There's no moisture or cold here however, on closer inspection you see that the grass is almost crystalline in nature.  Its really quite amazing but not useful information to have right now so you continue onwards.
Getting to the thicket took longer than expected.  The odd glow from the moon seemed to play tricks on your eyes, things that looked close were far away and vice versa.
As you closed in however you see that there is indeed a flickering of light coming from within, not the moonlight dancing but what looks like a campfire within.  That must mean people!
You make your way in towards the source of the light and eventually come to a clearing.  Upon seeing the campfire you are able to identify two figures sitting around it, both deep in conversation with the other.
Much like your encounter before however, you realise that their not human.
The one on the left seemed to be some sort of large squirrel.  He (if what you can make out of his voice is anything to go by) is sitting cross-legged on the ground, his large bushy tail curled around himself like a blanket, his dark brown fur shimmering in the flickering light.
His companion looks like a large mouse man or possibly a rat.  You make out two round rodent ears, twitching whiskers and a long pink tail held in its hands.  His fur is a solid black colouring.
They haven't noticed you yet.  You might be able to get some answers from them if you try the soft approach, charging in and grabbing the old goat in a headlock earlier might have saved you some time in retrospect but maybe asking nicely was the way to go here.
As you ponder what approach to take, you hear snippets of their conversation and decide to listen in.
The squirrel seems to be doing most of the talking.
"I mean, think about it!  Why here?  Like this?  With nothing!  I thought it would be like, giant trees for miles and nuts the size of boulders or something, not this place..."
The rat man is sat still, staring into the fire and fiddling with his tail.
"I don't know..." he squeaks sadly.  "Our elder always said that you gotta earn your place, you know?  That you don't just get rewarded for crossing the line..."
Interesting, but not relevant to you or how you got here...  Time to ask some questions of your own.  Stepping forward slowly into the light of the fire, you clear your throat.
"Hello there...  Can I join you by the fire perhaps?  I'm a bit lost and..."
The two furry campers didn't respond to your attempt at friendly engagement as you hoped.
"Aghhh!  Human!" squeaked the rat in horror.  "OHMAHGAWDRUN!!!" screeched the squirrel.  The two lept to their feet and bolted.
Cursing your poor judgement in not just rushing them, you give chase.  They had run towards the edge of the trees and out into the open, breaking through the foliage however, you find nothing.  The two had completely disappeared.
A quick search of the perimeter gives you nothing, you would have thought that they would have left some sign considering how brittle the grass was but there were no prints apart from yours.
Feeling somewhat deflated, you head back to the little campsite to look for supplies, or clues, or anything at all useful.  Sadly, you strike out on all counts.
Apart from the little fire the two campers had left nothing behind, nothing that could be used to sleep on, no weapons or food, not even so much as a toothpick.  All things considered you didn't know if eating and drinking were still necessary here but you still would feel a lot better with a meal in you.
Instead you sit yourself down by the fire, weariness crawling through your very bones.  Since waking up in that odd little office you had lurched from one emotion and situation to the next, somehow fallen a great height and not injured yourself, walked for what could have been miles before chasing a pair of furry campers fruitlessly through the trees.  Suffice to say, you felt done in.
With no other courses of action available, you decide to lay yourself down for the night.  Perhaps a quick nap would restore your waning energy and it couldn't hurt to wait til morning so you could try find your way around in daylight instead of moonlight.
With that you plop yourself down by the fire, careful not to get too close.  Your eyes begin to feel heavy the second your head is down, hopefully things will look better in the morning.
-----------------------------------------------
Its the smell that reaches you first.  The stench of sulphur and rot.
Your held immobile by unseen bonds, something heavy and black covers your eyes.  
As panic begins to set in you hear a noise, distant at first but steadily getting closer, and louder.
Thunk-klang
Thunk-klang
Thunk-klang
You've been in the army long enough to recognize the sound of armoured boots marching in formation, it sounds like someone is stomping down in full plate mail though, not a unit's first choice for a long journey...
As the noise gets louder your whole body seems to vibrate with each thunderous step.  You desperately want to shake whatever is blocking your vision away but your muscles refuse to obey.  You cant even call out.
A familiar voice speaks over the sound of the approaching march, you can hear each word perfectly over the noise, as if they were speaking to you, and you alone.
"Men!  Today you have taken your final oaths.  Today you have ascended from commoner to warriors of the republic!"
Wait!  That's where you know that voice from!  The day you and the rest of the recruits finally finished your training and were deployed as soldiers.  The temple priest who presided over the final rites...
"Remember your vows!  As warriors you hold the future of our great people in your hands, our survival is borne on your shoulders.  You have sworn to carry both this honour, and burden, with you until released in life, or relieved in death!"
As the marching reaches deafening levels, you begin to remember exactly how this little speech ended.
"For those however, that shirk their duty!  Who turn from our cause without leave!  Remember!  Those who fight with honor in life will be rewarded in death.  Those who turn in life, will serve The Legion!  They will know no rest!  Death will be a mercy forever denied you!"
At his final words the marching fell silent.  Still you could not see, could not move or speak.
Another voice spoke, spitting directly into your ear.  It was deep, guttural, and dripping with hate.
"You.  Will.  Serve!" it roared.
A burning pain sprung from your wrist as something large and deathly hot held it in an iron grip.
Your voice finally broke free of whatever held it.  You screamed as you were dragged seemingly to hell itself.
---------------------------------------------
You awaken thrashing around and screaming.  It takes a full minute before you realise that your back at the little campsite, had you left?  Was it actually just a dream?
Your tunic is soaked with sweat and your whole body aches, if anything you feel worse now than when you went to sleep.  
Several things slowly bring themselves to your attention.  Its still dark, darker even.  The little fire has gone out.  Looking up through the branches of the trees you can see the large moon peeking down at you.  It doesn't look like its moved at all...  You must have been sleeping long enough for the fire to die so...  Is it always night here or something?  Will there be a morning?
A sharp pain cuts through the dull aching of your body as you try and pull yourself up.  Its coming from your wrist.
Looking down, you see a fresh burn where there hadn't been earlier.  The skin just below your hand is an angry and blistered red.  The burn covers the back and front of your arm, the pattern almost looks like you've been grabbed by a large gauntleted hand...
Your nightmare comes back to the forefront of your mind, the smell of sulphur and rot...
No.  It was just a dream!  This crazy place is messing with you!  The burn is probably from you thrashing about in your sleep and accidentally putting it in the fire.  It probably went out because you rolled over it or something...
Whatever the case, you decide its time to move on.  Sitting here dwelling on things isn't going to get you anywhere.  You need to find some water or something for the burn, just tying a dry scrap of cloth over it will most likely make things worse...
With a sigh you make your way once more out of the trees, your tracks from before stand out in the eerie light so its not hard to avoid backtracking.
You only make it a few feet from the tree line however before the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.  Someone or something is watching you.  You could never work out how you always seemed to know but it had never been wrong.  
Scanning your surroundings reveals a lone figure just off in the distance.  The odd light here makes it difficult to judge exactly how far out though.
They are covered from head to toe by a large dark cloak which almost made them impossible to spot in the twilight, the telltale glint of metal from underneath however gave them away.
Perhaps sensing you've spotted them they start to advance, first at a walking pace, then a jog, and then a full sprint.
Your taken aback by their speed, whoever it is has just cut the distance between you by half in virtually no time at all!
Considering the nice approach hasn't got you much so far, you prepare for a fight.  Your unarmed and despite having appeared here in the tunic you normally wear under your armour plates the protective gear didn't come along for the ride.  You fall into your unarmed defence position, whoever's coming will not find you defenceless.
As the figure rushes closer, they manage to surprise you.  Instead of stopping or even charging into a tackle, they leap a good couple of feet into the air!  You can only watch dumbstruck as your assailant sails straight for you feet first and connects solidly with your chest.
You have just enough time to notice that their feet are actually quite big, covered in brown and cream fur, and also a plate of silver armour, before your flying back towards the trees.
Your attacker had used your chest to somehow springboard into a backflip and land gracefully on one knee, a single arm held outwards for balance.
You ended up a crumpled and less graceful heap on the grass a good distance from where you had been standing.  Damn whoever this is must have some crazy powerful legs to move like that...
Despite the force of the blow your ribcage had somehow survived intact.  You were gasping for breath and hurting all over but nothing broken.  Maybe dead people don't get broken bones...
Using a tree for support you manage to pull yourself back up, your attacker is already moving towards you.
They stop a few steps away.  Your left gaping as they throw back their hood and speak.
"Be gone from this place human!  Your kind is not welcome here.  Return to whatever vile place spawned you!"
Firstly?  Not friendly and certainly not human (no surprise then really).  Secondly?  The voice was feminine, husky and had an accent you couldn't place, she seemed to roll her 'r's slightly and her words were clipped, as if unwilling to waste any of them.  Thirdly?  She was some sort of rabbit.
Her long face looks different from that of a regular rabbit however, you would know having hunted a few in the past.  The brown fur on her cheeks was smoothed back instead of the puffed out look you would have expected, making her face look thinner.  Her nose sloped down the centre of her face and ended in a darker brown patch just above her tightly pursed lips.  Her eyes though, they were the strangest part of all...  They were larger than that of a human, the pupils dark and focused on you with unmistakable anger, but the irises were a striking shade of violet.  Despite the hostility emanating from them, you were temporarily struck dumb by her gaze.
"Human!" she barked, obviously annoyed you hadn't either run or at least responded.  "I said leave!  Why do you stand there still?"
"I can't." was just about all you could say.
Unfortunately for you, she took it the wrong way.
"Really?  Your kind is not welcome nor wanted in this place, if you will not leave then I will cut you down where you stand!"
As you try to speak, she pulls out a wicked looking pair of curved daggers from under the cloak.  She's obviously done talking.
Your really starting to wish that you had stayed at home and been a blacksmith like your old man wanted, seems there would be no peace for you as a warrior, even in death.
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Chapter 3
Things were not looking good.  You're trapped in a strange place, wounded, confused and now you have an angry rabbit getting ready to disembowel you for the crime of simply being here.
Still, your not done yet.  What exactly is keeping you going is a mystery, even to you, but you've never been one to just roll over and take it.
As she starts to move into striking range you prepare to meet her, no fancy running jump kicks this time.
As her blades flash out, you dodge to the side and aim a kick.  She's too quick though and leaps just out of range.  It gives you breathing room however, for what its worth.
She's a bit more weary now, guess she wasn't expecting much in the way of resistance from an unarmed man.  You can tell however that she's not stupid either, even as she approaches you can see her violet eyes scanning you for weaknesses and openings, trying to find the most effective way of ending you.
She spends the next minute circling you, looking for her chance, you do your best to stay on your toes.  Eventually she springs forward, slashing at your face with a lightning quick flick of her arm.  You dodge backwards, just like she planned.
Her feint sends you back and tripping over an old tree root behind you, she'd manoeuvred you to exactly where she wanted you.
As you hit the ground, yet again, with a crunch, she's already leapt into the air and is descending with both daggers bared.
You raise your left arm instinctively to block, as futile as it would be against her deadly blades.  
A metallic 'clang' sounds out instead of the violent stabbing you were expecting.  Your attacker is perched on top of you, a look of surprise on her face, your shield between you and blocking her blades.
You don't know how, or why, but its all the chance you need to turn things around.
With a roar you push up with the shield using both arms and roll to the left, your attacker is thrown off balance and lands hard on the ground beside you.  Your already up on your feet, shield ready.
She flips back up onto her feet, daggers raised and ready for round two.  
"I knew it!" she growled.  "Only one intent on causing harm would come here armed for battle!  What is your true purpose here human!"
"Armed?" you reply incredulously.  "I would hardly call a shield alone armed for battle!"
"Then what is that?" she spits, pointing to your other hand.  "I suppose that's just what humans use to scratch themselves then, no?"
Raising your other hand reveals your blade, held tight in your fist like it had never left.
With a shrug you get back into position, gift horses and all that...
The suddenness of your attack catches her off guard, your blade slashing out towards her neck.  She pulls back in time to avoid your strike, but not to save the clasp of her cloak.  
The dark garment falls away as she regains her stance, giving you a clear view of exactly what you were up against.
She was kitted out in a series of light armour plates, shining silver in the moonlight and held in place by straps and belts.  Rather than a full set it seemed she had opted for just enough to provide protection to her vital areas but not enough to limit her movement or weigh her down.  This of course left a number of open areas, covered by nothing but her almost silken brown fur a tuft of cream down her front.
Her chest was covered by a solid looking  breastplate, obviously forged to offer not only an ornate but functional design.   
Below the breastplate there was nothing protecting her toned abdomen, a descending V of cream fur cutting through the brown and disappearing below the sash that encircled her groin being the only exception.  On each hip another plate was fastened.  The sash itself was a deep blue and fell down between her legs to her knees.  Each of her sizable thighs had their own light plate, while her shins and feet each had a segmented section, slightly thicker looking, perhaps to aid those wicked kicks of hers.  Her feet, while partially hidden beneath the armour plates, held special attention.  They were larger than a human's, wider and longer, covered in a mix of brown and cream, with a set of large fuzzy toes at the front.  Her toned biceps and forearms also had their own silver plate.  
The last thing you notice is what you first thought was a shock of dark hair dropping down behind her head, perhaps tied back by a ponytail.  You soon realised however that it was actually a set of huge ears, the same brown fur covered them but they were also lined with black.
Your lack of a follow up attack seems to vex her.  As her eyes narrow at you, the two large ears prick up.
"Why do you stare?  Have you not seen a female bear arms before?  Or perhaps clumsily swinging your weapon about has worn you out already?  Hmm?" she scoffed.
"I've seen plenty of women take up a blade." you respond.  "Just never been attacked by a bunny be-"
Your sentence is cut short by a powerful blow to your shield, sending you back a few steps and a painful jolt up your arm.  She had sent you reeling with a powerful spin kick, again showing you that the daggers were not the only threat here.
"I am no soft 'bunny'!" she seethed.  "I am a hare and proud!  You will show me respect or live just long enough to regret it!"
Well great, now you've gone and pissed her off on top of everything else...
You trade blows back and forth,your blades shining in the light of the unmoving moon.  Her deadly blades could not breach the protection of your shield, while you found each of your own strikes deftly deflected, each swing of your sword being redirected by her daggers instead of outright blocked, robbing them of the power needed to punch through.
It went on for what seemed like forever, neither of you willing to give ground or surrender.  Apart from a few minor nicks to her arms she was unhurt.
You on the other hand eventually began to flag.  It had become a contest of endurance and you still had not recovered from your nightmare.  Aches pains and a nasty burn (not to mention the two large hare feet sized bruises developing on your chest) slowed you down, although you soon came to wonder if you could have even kept up at your best.  Her strikes were lightning fast, she dodged, weaved and flipped away like a gymnast, her forme kept changing and defying your attempts at working out a pattern.
Eventually, your strength failed.  As she struck out once again with her daggers you raise your shield to block, and once again you've fallen for a feint.  Instead of connecting with her blades, she hits you with another spin kick.  This time you go down.
She leaves nothing to chance, she leaps forward and lands heavily on your chest, straddling you and pinning your arms with her big feet at the same time.  Her daggers are at your throat.
Your beat, you know it, she knows it.  Rather than a look of victory however, her face is troubled.
She's panting heavily from the exertions of literally kicking the everloving hell out of you (as are you), but she speaks with a composure that surprises you.
"That mark, on your arm? What is it?"
Air struggles to find its way into your lungs, between your own fatigue and the hare on your chest made speaking difficult, but you managed.
"Its a burn... from the campfire... in there..."
One of the daggers disappears behind her back and she grabs your wounded arm.  You hiss in pain as she not so gently pulls your wrist up for closer inspection.  Her eyes are focused elsewhere but the other dagger is still pressed under your chin, you could try throwing her off but...
After turning your wrist this way and that, she brings it to her face and sniffs at it.  Despite the odd turn of events and the still imminent threat of a good stabbing, you cant help but notice the conflicting sensation from her hand on your skin.  You say hand but it was more of a paw, she had digits long enough to work like fingers but were still sorter than a humans, a series of small black claws could be seen just poking out of the fur at the tips.  She dropped your hand and glared at you, her big violet eyes taking on a new light that you couldn't identify.
"This is no ordinary burn from simple fire." she stated simply, her voice had lost some of its menace but still had an edge to it.  "This is a brand.  It marks you deeper than any wound.  Something has a hold, a claim, on your soul.  It binds you to them and they to you.  Where did you get it?"
Your left stunned by this little statement of hers.  A brand?  Inspecting it closer yourself you see that the wound has somehow dried up on its own accord, but it now looks more like a mark from an armoured hand than a simple burn.
Looking up at her you shake your head.
"I had a dream as I rested by the fire.  Of darkness and the march of... something terrible.  When I woke up it was there, I thought I had just rolled into the fire by accident...  You said it binds me to something?  Can you tell what?"
The hare looked thoughtful for a second before answering, still perched up on your chest.
"I know not what you are bound to, nor is that my concern.  What troubles me is that whatever it is has a connection to you, here.  As long as your in this place whatever is on the other side of it has a means of following you here.  It is a small bond now, but with time it will grow and become an anchor.  I cannot allow this.  The balance must be kept."
That sounds like a very good reason to be getting stabby with you, but she remains sitting there, lost in thought.
"I hate to interrupt..." you say, now thoroughly bamboozled instead of just confused.  "What happens now then?  I don't understand this whole bond thing, or how I got here, or pretty much anything that's gone on so far, but I at least would like to get up if your not going to kill me just yet?"
She stares down at you for a second before answering.  "You leave this place, you take your 'taint' with you and you never return."
"Ok, sounds like a plan...  How do I get out of here then?" you ask.
Confusion wrinkles her brow.  "You cant go back the way you came?  How did you get here?"
Your patience had reached its end.  Was this truly what you were going to get after death?  Go to place, animal person either verbally or physically assaults you, tells you to leave, then you go to next place and repeat?  Maybe this wasn't hell but it certainly smacked of limbo.
"Ok, enough!  Get off of me!" you yell, pushing up against her and moving to get up.  Surprisingly she withdraws the blade and complies, getting to her own feet and standing a little way from you.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told that old goat.  I don't know how I got here!  I died, I woke up in some sort of waiting room, went through a big black door and wound up here!  I don't know why and I don't know how to get out!  If your going to kill me for that... again!  Then fine, just get on with it!"
She stood back and watched your outburst impassively, dagger still in hand but not raised.
"Old goat?  I know who you mean.  Of course he would just usher you through the door and make it someone else's problem...  No I'm not going to kill you, its too late for that now."
More confusion.  
"What?  Why!?!  Not that I want to die, again, or whatever, but you were all set to gut me a second ago!  What changed?"
"That." she said, pointing at your wrist with her dagger.  "That brand binds you to something.  If you die here then your spirit will dissipate, but the brand will remain, linking this place with theirs.  If you cannot leave then I will take you to the Nexus, there you can go to wherever else you are supposed to go, or they will claim you, whichever is not my concern as long as you are gone."
Oh, well...  She's going to help you get out of here, and for such heartwarming reasons too...
"Come!" she barks.  "There is a long way to go and time is wasting."
With that she sheaths her blade and turns to go.  You see that there are two curved sheathes attached to her lower back, just above a tuft of cream fur poking out from between her ass cheeks.  Her fluffy cotton tail...
Shaking your head, you pull your lingering eyes away and retrieve your weapons.  You still don't know how they appeared out of thin air like that but perhaps your new 'guide' could answer a few questions along the way.
You didn't like all the talk about a brand and being claimed by something, particularly if that something was what you feared it to be...  Guess you'll find out one way or another soon.
-------------------------------------------------
At first you journeyed through the moonlit landscape in silence, only the constant crunching under your boots marked your passage.
Your attacker turned guide had retrieved her cloak and set about leading you to whatever this 'Nexus' was.  If leading you actually meant marching ahead wordlessly in the effort to get rid of you as quickly as possible that is.
The endless march through the darkened land did little for your mood.  After the fight it had been straight to walking, no rest.  You still ached all over and you still had no answers.  
An idea struck you.  A way to get the rest and answers you craved...
"Ok, I'm done." you call out, and promptly drop down onto the ground.  The hare warrior turns back in exasperation to find you sitting cross-legged on the grass, your arms also crossed.
"What are you doing human?" she demands.  "There is still far to go and I have no intention of wasting more time than we already have!  Get up and follow.  Now!"
"No." was your only response.
She drew one of her daggers and took a step closer.  "I said Now!" she growled.
"Or what?" 
That stopped her, surprise replacing the angry look.
"Seriously, what will you do?" you press.  "Kill me?  You've already said that you cant or this brand thing is going to cause problems.  So unless you plan on trying to throw me over your shoulder short stuff then I think its time for a quick break."
Her mouth drops open at this, revealing a large set of rabbit (or hare to be more precise) teeth.  Whether it was your sudden act of rebellion that rendered her speechless or your jab at her height, you took advantage and pressed further.
"I think its also time you answered some of my questions too.  I'll happily come with you to this 'Nexus' of yours as long as it means getting out of this crazy place but only if you fill me in on some things.  I'm tired of stumbling around here, being yelled at and attacked, when I still don't even know where we are.  Either you make with the info or I'm staying put."
She didn't look happy with your little ultimatum, not at all.  She had closed her mouth and was now clenching her teeth at your cheekiness, her two large buckteeth were visible and a faint grinding noise could be heard from within.  Her large ears had risen up completely from their relaxed position behind her head and were now standing up straight, adding a good deal to her height.  Most alarming though was that her left foot had started rapidly stomping down on the ground, it was moving at such rapid speeds that you could barely see it.
Finally she reigned herself in, deciding to try once more for calm authority.
"Last chance human.  Get up and start walking.  Now!"
"Nope." you reply with a smile, before falling backwards completely, crossing your arms behind your head and exhaling with an audible sigh.
For a moment she remains silent.  No stomping, grinding teeth or even any breathing.  You start to worry she's getting ready to just disregard the whole 'cant kill you' thing and fall on you in a stabbing frenzy of rage.
Instead she plops down onto the grass herself and sighs deeply.  "Fine human...  Ask your questions and rest if you must.  We cannot dally for long though.  Its important that you spend as little time here as possible."
Ok, now we're getting somewhere!
"Thank you." you say sitting back up.  "First things first though, my name is Anon, not 'human'.  If you want me to respond then address me properly."
She looks pissed again, but she complies.
"Fine...  Anon."
"See that wasn't so hard no was it?" she looks ready to say something less than kind back so you move quickly along.
"If we're going to be travelling together then I need to know your name.  Otherwise I'm going to have to start making up nicknames for you..."
Honestly you didn't think she could look any madder, but when her eye started twitching...
"My name...  Is Zelena." she admitted grudgingly.  "I'm a Warder in the service of the Divine."
She didn't look like she was going to expand past that right now, but it was a start...
"Ok, thank you Zelena.  Despite the fact you've already tried killing me once already, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."
You were a man of manners after all.
"Next question, what is this place?  Where are we exactly?"
"That's two questions huma-...  Anon."
Following a withering look from you, she sighed and answered anyway.
"These lands are known as the 'Proving Grounds'.  It is the place where those wayward souls are sent who did not meet what was expected of them in life."
"What does that mean exactly?" you ask.  
"Each of us who is born blessed by the Lunar Goddess is set upon a path that has been set before us.  We are not bound to it so it possible to stray.  Those who follow the traditions passed down will find peace, those who deliberately turn from it are punished.  This place is for those who have lost their way, perhaps by circumstance beyond their control or deliberately turned from it by others.  They come here and are granted another chance to reassume their role.  Those who do will move on, those who cant will stay here, living their 'unlife' perpetually until they can change.  Those who choose to turn away, to cause harm to the others here or fall beyond salvation... they are 'removed'.
Considering how adept she was with those blades, you can imagine what that meant.
"Is that why I'm here?  Did I not follow some godly plan or something?  This place sounds like what my people call Limbo..."
"No." she states with a somewhat alarming certainty.  "Your people are not, and never will be, touched by the grace of the Goddess.  There are no humans here, there never have been and there never should be.  You are supposed to have your own paths to follow at the end, none of them should have led you here.  You do not belong."
There's that phrase again.
"What does that even mean?" you ask angrily.  "You keep telling me that but I didn't ask to come here!"
She pointed down to the grass.  It had crumbled to a dark, fine dust below you, the same as the patches marking your footsteps.  You notice for the first time however, the grass below Zelena has not crumbled.  It reacts as normal grass, the blades bending and flattening under her but not breaking...
"This place was meant for our people, your very presence here disrupts the natural order of it.  The longer your here the worse it will get which is why we need to hurry."
Oh, that's just peachy.  Not only does everyone hate you here but you're literally cancer to the place too.  If you didn't feel crappy about being here before you do now.
"I..." you start, not quite sure what to say.  "I didn't know I was having that sort of affect here."
Jumping up, you stretch and once again shock Zelena.
"In that case we better get moving again, if you keep talking then I'll keep walking.  Deal?"
She jumps back up to her own feet and glares at you suspiciously.
"What is this?  One minute you refuse to move now your eager to go?  I heard that you humans jumped at the opportunity to claim new land, isn't that why your really here?"
You look her in the eye as you respond.
"I told you already, it wasn't my choice to come here.  I don't know how I got here but the last thing I want to do is damage the place any further than I have already.  If leaving fixes things then that's just fine by me."
After another moment of awkward silence she points off into the distance.
"We head that way.  Our surroundings will change as we go, these grasslands do not make up the whole landscape here."
As you resume your march it seems her curiosity had been piqued.  Its her turn to ask a question as you ponder yours.
"Anon?  You said that you did not come here by choice...  How did you end up speaking with Baphomet?"
The memories that had so readily eluded you before came rushing back.
"I died." you respond matter of factly, content to leave it at that.
"How?" she pressed in response.  The look in her violet eyes told you she wasn't going to drop it either.
"I died in battle.  The 'New Lands' as we called them, had been invaded by lizardmen from the East.  They were threatening the Republic's interests there so we were sent to repel them."
She looked almost disappointed at your response.
"So it was fighting over land then, as I thought."
You weren't done though.
"We were on standby waiting for word of where the enemy was headed.  They had been spotted marching on the new silver mines so we were ordered to defend it.  I disobeyed orders however and met a lizard raiding party instead."
She looked back at you when you said this, one of the large ears hanging loosely at the back of her head springing up in surprise.
"You disobeyed orders?  Why?"
"I spotted the raiders heading for a small settlement of deerfolk, there was no intention of helping them from my unit so I left and did it myself.  Beat the raiders but wasn't quite fast enough to avoid taking an axe to the side and well..."
She stopped walking and stared at you in disbelief.
"A human leaving his unit to protect another race's people and giving his life in their defence?  I don't believe you!"
She prided herself however on being able to work out when someone was lying to her, she had called out every attempt made to do so.  Staring into the human's suddenly sombre eyes however, she could find no sign of falsehood.
"Why?  Why would you give your life like that?" 
You knew why.  The little charm still dangling from the inside of your shield was a constant reminder of it, but you had no intention of revisiting it right now, or ever again if you had a choice.
"I have my reasons." you mutter.  "Anyway, its supposed to be me asking the questions here so lets get things back on track shall we?"
You resume walking and she has little choice but to continue on after you, soon catching up.
"Does this place ever have any sunlight?  Its been dark the entire time I've been here.  When is morning?"
Her troubled expression turned to one of mirth as she listened to your question.
"Sunlight?  Here?  Silly human!  Haven't you been listening?  This is the realm of the Lunar Goddess, her light shines eternal here.  It is to guide those who remain here and remind them of her love.  There is no need for sun."
You had to admit, the place was pretty.  The moonlights' silvery glow making even a boring old bush look like a work of beauty.
"Okay, that's a little weird but at least I know not to waste time waiting for sunrise..."
Your next question had to wait, a harsh laugh from behind had you both spinning around and reaching for your weapons.
Standing in the moonlight were three armour clad figures, all wolfmen by the looks of their furry faces.  The armour was of similar design to Zelena's but there was more of it.  While she had intended to maintain freedom of movement and dexterity, they obviously preferred the increased protection for heavier fighting.
The first of the wolves, a large black furred brute, called out, a large halberd gripped in his paws.
"There you are!  We been looking all over for you!  We were supposed to go out hunting for the human as a team remember?  Yet you shoot off all on your lonesome and now we find ya hogging him all to yourself.  What you up to?"
They obviously knew each other then.
"I couldn't afford to wait for you to get your ruffians in order Malek." Zelena shouted back.  "There was a sighting in the grasslands and I was the only one fast enough to get there in time."
The big wolf known as Malek grunted and spat at the ground.
"Oh!  Then if you were so desperate to deal with the intruder then why are you here leading him along on a merry strole?  Hmm?  Looks to me like you gone got cold feet!"
"Watch your tongue wolf!" Zelena replied, she looked annoyed but also... a bit worried here... 
"Things have changed.  The human has a brand of some sort that means he cant be dealt with here.  We need to escort him to the Nexus so that-"
One of the other wolves, a grey one with a serrated long sword, interrupted her.
"What you on about now girl?  He's branded?  So what?  His kind has done worse to ours down there in the land of the living!  Who cares what he says he's got on im, just gut im and be done with it!"
"I said he cannot be killed Harred!  Are you not listening?  We need to make sure that-"
Malek cut her off this time.
"What is this eh?  You sticking up for the skin job now?  Has the little bunny boiler gone all soft or summit?"
As the three wolves barked in laughter, you see Zelena tense up visibly.  These guys are getting under her skin, fur, whatever.  You can clearly see the third wolf, who had remained conspicuously quiet slinking off slowly to the side.  They obviously had no intention of letting you go on your way and they looked like they had no qualms about turning on Zelena either...
"Enough of this nonsense!" she shouted suddenly.  "If your not going to assist then leave!"
"Ohhh watch out boys!" jeered Malek.  "Our little bunny buns here is getting mad!"
"Don't you dare call me that!" spat Zelena, she had taken a step forward and had a dagger in hand.
As the third wolf circled almost completely behind her, you notice that no one is paying any attention to you.  There was nothing stopping you from slipping off in the inevitable fight to come and making a break for it.
Except...  You couldn't just leave her face these three alone.  They were here for you after all...  You're not sure why this lot is so intent on picking a fight with one of their own but you've got no intention of leaving them to it.
As the third wolf makes his move on the hare, you rush forward, sword and shield bared and ready.  A small charm bouncing along under the strap of your shield, a constant reminder of the boy you'd left behind and the man you wish you'd never become.
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Chapter 4
With a shout you charge the wolf sneaking up on Zelena, sacrificing what element of surprise you might of had over him but robbing him of his own in the process.  He had already raised what looked like a spiked mace and was swinging it towards her head.
At the sound of your voice Zelena was able to react in time, ducking and rolling away as the mace flew overhead.  Although it had saved her from a sneak attack your warning had created an unintended consequence, she had rolled out of the wolf's reach but now the other two were between you.
With a snarl Malek quickly barked new orders.
“Take the bitch!  I'll deal with the human!”
It looked like they considered her the bigger threat...
As the ringleader advanced you began to wonder about his choice of weapon, the halberd, it was a useful thing to have if you were trying to unseat a charging cavalryman and a unit of pikemen would give anyone second thoughts, but one on one in close combat?  Once inside his guard he would be wide open...
“Alright human!  Let me show you how a real Warder fights!” he sneered.  
You choose to hold your tongue, the last thing you needed was to let him goad you into making a mistake.
He had the advantage at range.  His first thrust forced you to dodge to the side, you were not close enough to counter properly though.  Your swipe back at his weapon met only air as he quickly withdrew it and thrust again.  This little dance went on for a few minutes as he sought to keep you at range and wear you down, spitting little taunts and insults all the while, trying to force a foolish response from you.
“What’s wrong skinny?  Can’t keep up with an old wolf like me?  Ha!  If your the best that they could send to invade these lands then we got nothing to worry about after all!”
Again you remain silent, waiting for your chance to close the distance and teach him some manners.  His barbs however ended up providing you with the opportunity you needed.
“I know what’s eatin ya!” he bellowed suddenly following another thrust.  “I bet your busy thinkin about some bunny cunny aintcha!  I know I am!”  
He seemed to find his own little joke funnier than you ever would, he took his eyes off you, just for a split second, to laugh at the play on words.  It was then that you sprung forwards.
With your shield you bash at the halberd as you charge, sending the blade-tipped end to your left as you followed its length down towards his open guard.  Your own blade flashes forward towards his throat, a gap in his collar providing a tempting target too much to resist.
Your opponent spun away however, using the momentum of his bashed weapon to pivot on his heels.  Your blade found only thick armour and clattered  away.
His next move almost caught you.  It was only through your experience and muscle memory that your shield came up in time.
The wolf had continued to spin until he had faced you again, during the spin however he had sprung his trap.  In drawing you in close he pulled apart the halberd into two separate parts, the top becoming a handaxe and the bottom becoming a small warhammer, he had flipped the latter so the weighted end of the halberd was brought to bare.
At such close range these types of weapons were deadly.  As the hammer crashed into your shield his axe chopped down towards your head, your own blade only just managing to stop it.
“Ready to give in yet?” he sneered, pleased that he had nearly caught you off guard, that you had underestimated him.
“Not really.” you snap back.  “I’m just getting started.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Another resounding crash marked the warhammer connecting with your shield yet again.  The wolf was surprisingly sprightly for his size, swinging both axe and hammer at you relentlessly with a speed that should have been impossible.  Your shield arm had gone numb from the ferocity of the constant attacks.
This wasn’t the first large angry wolfman to try and take you down however, there were ways to deal with them if your blade couldn’t get through...
Dropping to one knee, seemingly in fatigue, you’re blade arm falls limply to your side.  The wolf stops his frenzied assault, panting heavily but with the look of victory in his eyes.
“Knew it!” he wheezed.  “Knew you was just a weakling!  No match for a real warrior!”
You mutter something under your breath, apparently too badly beaten to say it out loud.
“What was that?  Got some final words before I end you is it?  Go on then!  Speak up!”
You mutter again, even quieter than before.  In response the wolf leans in slightly closer, eager to hear your last words and bask in your defeat.
With a burst of energy that he thought you no longer possessed you sharply send your shield bashing upwards, directly into his waiting snout.
The resulting impact hits with a sickening crunch, the front of his muzzle caving inward.  Looks like bones can break in this place after all...
As he tries to pull back, his hand now no longer holding the hammer but clutching at his ruined nose, you leap up with your blade, and run him through.  His howls of pain ceased as he fell to the ground, his body already seeming to fade and dissipate before your eyes.
Guess you know what death in the afterlife looks like now.
Remembering that the fight isn’t over yet you turn and run to where Zelena is, her own two opponents still standing...

The two wolves had worked themselves into a rhythm, despite her superior speed she couldn’t properly focus on one without in some way leaving herself open to the other.  There wasn’t time to try and wear them down or retreat, the human, Anon, probably wouldn’t be able to hold against Malek for long...
Even as she again tried to manoeuvre herself into a position to get a clean hit at the closest wolf a howl of pain arose from behind.  It sounded like Malek ....
The two attackers seemed to agree.  They broke their attack to go to their captain's aid, only to find Anon advancing, alone.
Faced with the prospect of a fair fight, they turned tail and ran.  Before they disappeared into the twilight however, Drack shouted a few parting words over his shoulder.
“You'll pay for this bitch!  Mark my words!  The rest will hear of this an there'll be no hiding for you!  No matter how deep you dig!”
Zelena had only one thing to shout back.
“I’m a Hare you fleabitten idiot!  I don’t dig holes!”
With the immediate threat apparently over you both drop down to the grass and rest.
For now you are both beyond words.  You simply sit on the ground together in silence, knowing that each now owed their life to the other.  The time for talk would come, for now you were both content to sit and bask in the moonlight.  Even in death, it can feel good to be alive.
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Chapter 5
After a short rest you both decided it would be best to move on, unsure if the wolves had tracked you there or just come across you by chance.  The line of dark footprints in the grass didn’t help, but Zelena had an idea on how to cover for that.
After a long and silent march you came to a thick woods, the kind of place the unprepared could easily get lost in, or those on the run could lose their trail.
Eventually even your furry companion tired and it was time to make camp, the two of you settling down where the trees thinned out somewhat.  It wasn’t cold and there was enough silvery light coming through the gaps in the canopy for you to see so neither of you suggested starting a fire.
Many more questions had bubbled across your mind during the march here, none had been asked though, all your energy had gone on moving forward.  You weren’t some greenhorn recruit anymore so a couple of scuffles and a forced march or two shouldn’t have worn you out so easily.  Considering you were supposed to be dead too you would have thought that tiredness would no longer be a concern, and yet...  Even as you settle down against the tree you feel your joints pop and crack, your back feels like you’ve been lugging a full pack of gear around instead of just your weapons, your shield arm still hasn’t recovered from where the wolf Malek had pounded on it and the burn on your arm?  It still hurt like a bitch.  It had darkened in colour and if you didn’t know any better, it had spread slightly down your wrist and along your arm...
Either this 'brand' was having some sort of affect on you overall or this whole place was, Zelena had shown you what touching the grass did, but what was it doing to you in return?
Closing your eyes, you try not to worry about it.  All you have to do is get to this Nexus place and things should hopefully start to improve.  Your aware however of being watched, opening your eyes reveals a pair of violet ones fixed on you from a few feet away.  
“Why did you not run?” she asked, breaking the silence that had lasted since the fight.  “When they attacked they were focused on me, you called out and warned me of their strike, why?”
She seemed to be genuinely stumped as to your motives if the look on her face was anything to go by.
“Honour used to mean something time ago.”you begin with a sigh.  “Times may have changed, the people giving the orders change and those who decide what’s honerable and what’s not change with them, but I try to remember what’s right and wrong if I can.  I couldn’t just run and leave you there like that, not on my account.”
Rather than answer her question, you seemed only to confuse her more.
“Who are you?” she asked.  “I have not met any humans before, but I’ve seen your influence, I’ve felt the consequences you leave behind and I’ve spoken to those whose lives you destroy.  Yours is not an honarable people!  So why do you speak like this really?  What game do you play?”
“Guess we humans don’t have a very good reputation among the beas-... I mean your people.  I mean we’ve not exactly come to your lands in peace...”
You couldn’t really bring yourself to defend the actions of your own kind past that, having been complicit in them yourself.  Her next question surprised you however.
“You told me before that you died protecting the home of some deerfolk, that you had cast aside your orders in order to help them.  They burn the bodies of their honoured dead with the things they hold most dear in life, it is how you came to keep your weapons here.    They would not do this for anyone outside of their kind normally.  So I ask again, who are you?”
Her eyes were ernest now, she wanted to know just who Anon was.  Well, might as well tell her then.  No point in letting her think you were some sort of hero type.  In the absence of your own gods in this place, might as well get judged by someone.
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As a boy you had been taught two things; how to beat a lump of iron into the shape of a horseshoe, and to avoid your old man at all costs if he happened to lose at whatever new game he lost money gambling on down at the local ale house.
Born to a long line of blacksmiths a few miles out from the Capitol City you had been destined for nothing greater than to pry the hammer from your old man's cold dead hand, raise another generation (with at least one son named Anon) and wait for them to do the same.
Things had changed during your teenage years however.  The Republic had began to falter, internal strife and rapid expansion had caused famine and unrest, there was talk of rebellion and even civil war.  As a result it had looked outwards for new lands and resources.  A new continent was discovered out across the previously unexplored sea, a new land flush in forests, deep deposits of iron, silver and other precious minerals.  Whole stretches of fertile soil, rivers teeming with large fish not seen elsewhere and other wild game sweetening the deal.
The only problem?  It was also inhabited by races of strange beastmen.  Tribes of savage creatures that walked as men do, huge wolves who hunted the explorers in packs using uncanny cunning.  Strange cat like creatures who lived high in the mountains but came down in the dead of night to raid camps and steal horses.  There were more, so much more, but they were described as monsters, living nightmares that stood between the Republic and it’s rightful salvation.
Army’s were raised, patriotic propaganda spread far and wide calling for brave young men and women to answer the call and make safe the new land for its rightful new owners.
That is how you came to leave your family behind, how you were disowned by your angry father for breaking tradition, and join the army on the great pacification.
Following the strict training regime and the taking of your oaths, you were sent to fight the savage tribes of beasts.  With each battle you grew into a fine soldier, earning the respect of your comrades and your superiors alike with each furry head you parted from its shoulders.  Outside of the first few battles there was surprisingly little resistance, the various types of beast seeming just as shocked to find each other on the battlefield as the humans.
It would turn out to be because of their tribal nature, there was no unified authority amongst them just separate tribes who traded, fought and occasionally joined together before splintering apart again.  The ‘pacification’ became a case of claiming land and forcing the beasts from it.
Things changed for you however when winter hit.  Your unit had been ordered to secure a crossing for the larger force at a river deep in the forest.  It was rumoured to have been held by a particularly vicious tribe of wolves.  Normally they would move their villages and encampments before the army could reach them, fortifying a position seemed to be an alien concept to them, not this time though.
It had been cold, bitterly cold like nothing you had experienced back home.  While scouting you had been ambushed by a large grey wolfman, leaping out of the trees and snarling.  You had bashed him in the snout and cut his throat.  The other men, impressed by your kill had dragged the corpse back to camp.  You found out why when they presented you with the pelt as a cloak the next day.  It provided the perfect protection against the elements and gave you quite the intimidating look, the head folded neatly across from your shoulder to your chest, a small charm dangling from its ear like a warmedal.
When your unit struck the crossing you were front and center.  It had been protected by a large fence made of felled trees and a sturdy gate, it was no match for your ram however.  Inside wasn’t just a raiders camp or even some sort of tribal military post, it was a village.  The defenders were quickly cut down and the crossing taken.  You had been ordered into the little huts to clear out any stragglers.  What you found however changed everything for you...
In the hut you were faced with a wolfess, stood in front of a much smaller one, a pup, baring her fangs and ready to pounce.  Instead however she had stopped at the sight of you, instead of  pouncing she simply stood deathly still and stared at you.  Then she screamed.  A shrieking howl of pain, sorrow and rage.  It froze you in place with how human it sounded.  
It took you a moment to realize that it was your new cloak that had illicited the reaction, the wolfess had an identical charm threaded through her own ear.  She had thrown herself at you, not with teeth and claws but grabbing at the cloak, she had started yelling at you in a strange and foreign language.  Her tear stained eyes bore into yours as she screamed.
Your comrades had burst in then, drawn by the noise, and put her and the pup to the sword.  All you could remember at that point was just standing there, in the house of the beast, no, the man whose skin you wore, surrounded by the bloody remains of his family.  It had struck you then just how much like your own distant home it had been, small trinkets and pieces of cloth decorated the walls and shelves, a bundle on the floor marked their bed, and what looked like a small carved idol of a bear sat in the corner, it’s features exaggerated and comical, like it had been made for a child to play with.
You had left that camp with a hollow pit where your pride had once been.  The cloak had been left with the bodies of its former wife and child, to burn with the rest as your unit burnt the remains of the village.
No longer did you see yourself as a patriot securing the future of the Republic.  You were an invader here to plunder these lands and kill its people.  The speeches of your instructors, commanders and visiting politicians before you deployed now rang hollow in your ears.
When finally the tribes were broken and had surrendered, when they no longer raced out to meet your forces but slunk away in defeat, the order had been given to go home, to go back and celebrate victory as heroes while your people enjoyed the spoils.  You couldn’t leave however, you volunteered to stay with the force stationed here, unable to go home and look your family in the eye.
It was there that you stayed, in self imposed exile, until the lizards came.
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At the end of your little story, you showed her the little charm that hung from your shield.  A small dangling thing made of what looked like twine, a mix of blue and red woven through in an intricate pattern, and a small tuft of grey fur sticking out of the end.
“I kept this, it belonged to the wolf that i had worn as a cloak.” you whisper.  “I think it was what they used to show they belonged together.  They weren't  the savage beasts we were told they were, that we treated them as.  I kept it to remind me what I had done in my ignorance, and to remind me not to just blindly follow orders either.”
Zelena remained silent for a time, taking in your words and processing your tale.  Eventually she spoke.
“So...  When you stood for the deer...  You were trying to make up for your actions?  Trying to absolve yourself of your sins?”  Her voice was accusatory, but her eyes were uncertain.
“I don’t know.” you respond.  “Honestly I don’t know.  I'll never be able to make up for the things I’ve done, certainly not now, but I just wanted to stop it happening again if I could.”
She looked poised to say something else but you were done revisiting the past for now, so you forced yourself back up onto your feet instead.
“If were going to stay here and try get some sleep then one of us needs to be on watch in case our friends come back, I’ll go first, you try get a few and we'll swap over later.”
With that you turn and stomp off to the edge of your make shift camp without waiting for a response.  
If she didn’t like you before then she most likely hated you now.  Still, it felt strange to finally get it off your chest.  There had been no one amongst your fellow soldiers who could have understood, most contented with seeing their enemies as animals rather than people.  
The woods around you was cloaked in darkness and dead silence, nothing moving, not even any insects.  It was going to be a long, endless night...
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Chapter 6
You open your eyes slowly, wondering if you’ve overslept again.  It’s dark out so must still be early...
A noise causes you to sit up and look around, sounds like... 
Thunk.  Clang.
Thunk.  Clang.
Shit.  
Your sitting in a forest, the one you were hiding in with Zelena and supposed to be on watch in.  The moonlight seems to have disappeared, the whole forest is completely dark, except for...
There’s a faint red glow coming from ahead, slowly moving between the darkened trees.  You can’t tell what it is yet but you have an idea.  Getting to your feet is difficult, it’s almost as if your legs are caught up in something.  Once your up you look for the hare, only to discover that she’s nowhere to be seen.  Had she left or had something happened to her?
The sound of marching armoured boots was getting louder, it wasn’t only coming from the direction of the glow either but from all around.
Deciding that staying put is not the best of ideas you run, if Zelena was smart that was what she bad probably already done anyway.  The path you choose however is blocked.  A large figure is standing between the trees, it looks like a Republican soldier but... It looks wrong.  Their wearing a full set of heavy plate armour, but it's completely black, not by design but because it seems to be charred and burnt by some great heat.  What looks like a bastard sword is held in its grip, the blade however is marred by rust and decay like it’s been left unused and unmaintained for time unthinkable.  
The knight slowly lifts up its visor, to reveal a face that chills you to the bone.
What was once a man stares down at you, his face a ruined mess of whatever it once used to be.  His lips are gone, by the looks of it chewed off by the broken teeth that smile out at you without mirth.  His cheeks are sunken and cut into two, channels have formed from his eyes down to his jaw, as if the flesh has been worn away by an unending stream of tears over countless years.  As for his eyes themselves...  Shrunken black husks where they have dried and shriveled up.  Somehow though, it is still using them to see, they are locked on to you.
It doesn’t speak, perhaps it can’t, but it howls at you.  A wordless call of nameless horror. 
As you stumble backwards it advances, it’s armour screeching and groaning in protest as it does.  The red glow has now gotten close enough to light up the area behind you.  Taking your eyes of the creature in front seems like a bad idea but you need to see what’s making the glow...
Turning around reveals another armoured figure, this one much bigger however, and burning.  Flames leap up from cracks in its thick plates, it’s almost completely glowing red from the heat that must be contained within.  A monstrous double headed axe is held in one hand while the other is reaching out for you.
The sight of two burning red eyes from its visor pins you in place, not that you could escape now anyway, there are more black knights like the first emerging from the trees around you by the second, all closing in.
“Anon?”
A voice calls out to you from somewhere...
“Anon wake up!”
Even as the burning hand reaches for you, something gentler shakes your shoulder and pulls you spinning out of its grasp...
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You find yourself sitting back down on the ground, leaning against the base of a tree.  Zelena is crouched in front of you with a hand on your shoulder, she’s shaking you quite violently.
“Anon wake up!” 
You try to bat her hand away with yours but find it trapped, what’s going on here?
You groan and shake your head.  “Ok ok I’m awake damn it!  What happened?”
She stands back up and steps away.  You notice her armour shining in the moonlight, where’s her cloak gone?
“You were sleeping, and having a nightmare by the look of things so I decided to wake you.  It’s time we started moving again anyway.”
It’s then you realise why you couldn’t move around, your covered by her cloak.  She must have thrown it over you like a blanket, but why?
“I was dreaming about... never mind.  I was on watch, what happened?” you grumble, pulling yourself up and handing back the cloak.
“You fell asleep.” She stated bluntly.  
Before you could work out an apology she continued.
“I don’t actually require much in the way of sleep so it was not a problem.  You on the other hand looked exhausted so I left you to it.”
“Huh... sorry about that, and thanks.  About your cloak though, you didn’t have to-“
With a wave of her hand she turned and walked off.
“We need to get moving now, we’ve wasted enough time here as it is.”
The nap had made you feel a little better, even if the dream has damned near made you shit yourself.  Still, no burning knights around the woods now though so everything should be...
A glance at your arm stalls your thoughts.  The burn has turned black and has indeed grown in size.  What look like tendrils reach out across your skin towards your elbow, like it’s spreading below the skin rather than over it.
You tear off a strip of shirt and wrap it around the burn, no point in staring at it all the time so best to just cover it up for now...
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Zelena led you through the woods without further incident, somehow finding her way through with ease when you had completely lost track of direction.  Once you reached the outskirts you had a clearer view of what lay ahead.
The grassland seemed to stretch on a bit further ahead but then it abruptly ended, to be replaced with what looked like a field of snow surrounded by tall glittering mountains.  The moonlight made the frosty ground shine and sparkle like it never had back in your world.
It would take some time to reach it however so you decide to air out some of those questions that were still lingering in your mind.
“Now that we're out of the woods and there doesn’t seem to be anyone following, why don’t you tell me why those wolves were attacking?”
She seemed to tense up as you started talking, almost missing a step.
“I thought it was obvious, they wanted to kill you.” she stated, a slight hitch in her voice betraying more.
“I get that they were after me, same as you were to start with, no I want to know why they were so set on attacking you too.  You seem to be kitted out in the same type of armour and they called themselves Warders too so what happened?”
“I don’t have to answer your questions.” she responded with a huff.  You had no intention of dropping it though.
“I told you about my stuff.  Plus if they are going to be a problem then really I should know what to expect.”
You were expecting more resistance, instead however she surprised you with a reply.
“The wolves and I are from the Warders, a group chosen by the will of the Goddess to patrol these lands and ensure that order is maintained.  Most commonly this comes in the form of dealing with the souls who fail to find peace here, the ones who try to harm the others or fall to darkness.”
“Impressive.” you say with a little whistle.  “Doesn’t explain why they attacked you though.  If anything they seemed to get more riled up about you than me.”
Her steps slowed and she seemed to pull the cloak tighter around herself, looks like you had hit upon a sore spot.  After a few minutes of silence however she continued.
“They were not particularly happy that I had been chosen to join their ranks...  All of those chosen before me have been of the more predatory clans, like the wolves, tigers or even the lynx.  No hares.”
As the mountains slowly crept closer, Zelena turned and gave you an odd look.  Her violet eyes holding yours with a much sadder expression than you had yet seen from her.
“I feel that I must offer you an apology Anon, and some explanation.  Since your arrival here I have treated you with distrust and anger based on your being human instead of your actions.  Perhaps once I have told you my own tale you will understand, and perhaps forgive.”
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Zelena in life, had hailed from a tribe of harefolk who had lived in the forests north of where the humans had begun their invasion.  The tales of strange furless creatures clad in shining armour had reached the hares but ultimately they had remained untouched by the fighting, there was little this far up that the humans could want for now so it mostly passed them by.
Being herbivores and mostly peaceful, the hares were broken up into several small tribes.  They mostly kept themselves to themselves, growing simple crops or scavenging fungi and herbs from the woods and fields until the spring.  Around March however the tribes would meet out in the open fields, a mix of the strongest and fastest males from each camp would compete in feats of speed, agility and basic combat.  The prize?  Females of the opposing tribes.  The aim to impress and win as many of the watching females as possible from the other camps to bring back to their own, in doing so they would claim a mate, increase their numbers and ensure fresh bloodlines for the tribe.
This had changed one day however.  One of the less successful tribes had encountered a band of humans who had struck out on their own, humans who despite not knowing the local language knew enough to instigate trade.  For supplies they had offered something precious in return, a shipment of human made weapons.  Steel swords, daggers and more, the kind of things that could easily change the balance of power among the tribes...
The next time that the tribes met to compete, they found the normally ridiculed smaller competitors armed with strange new glittering weapons.  The competition became a slaughter as the well armed few butchered the males of the other tribes and took the females watching in horror as prisoners and trophies rather than rightfully won mates.
They were not contented however, they sought more.  With their new found power they marched on the camps of the other tribes themselves, intending to cut down any who might oppose them and take the rest of the females as their own, creating one single tribe of hares to live under their rule.
So it was that they came to Zelena's camp.  With most of the men slaughtered at the fields they should have been easy pickings.  They had not counted on one thing however, the females fighting back.
Word had reached the camp of the treachery and slaughter, of the perpetrators marching to their home to come and take them away.  Survivors from another camp had arrived just before, bringing tales of how they had come bearing the arms of the evil humans, corrupted by their need to conquer and take.  They had come, demanded the females surrender themselves for inspection, while the elderly and adolescent males still too young to have competed but too old to be taken in, were executed.
When they came however, they found that the females were not ready to surrender.  In fact they had mobilised for battle, under the leadership of one young hare, named Zelena.  They had come expecting to claim the females as their prizes, when they fought back it threw the invaders off guard.  If they slaughtered the women then they would leave with nothing.  It was in that moment of hesitation and confusion Zelena led her make shift defenders to victory, catching the overconfident attackers in traps and ambushes.  When it was over they claimed the human weapons for their own and succeeded in creating their own tribe.
The peace didn’t last long however, Zelena sought to lead her people on a new path.  She called for the abolition of the old ways and traditions, to create a tribe where the females were not simply breeding stock to be won or taken.
The result had not been as she planned.  Some agreed and followed her calls, others decried her ideas as sacrilege against the old traditions decreed by the old gods so long ago.  They refused to follow and left claiming her to be no better than the ones who had used the human weapons in the first place.
In the end it didn’t matter.  The tribes split up into smaller, fractured camps, the human weapons spread out between them, none trusting the others.  When the wandering tribe of wolves came north, fleeing the march of the humans further south, they found the scattered hares to be an easy target.  They fell on the small camps, eager to take what they could, the human weapons in particular.  None survived.
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When the saddened hare had finished recounting the story of her people's fate, you couldn’t help but feel your own burden grow.  Even though neither you or your unit had made any active move against her people, the campaign you helped wage further south had led to the destruction of her home and tribes, without even realising you had caused more damage than you could have comprehended.
Seeing your pained expression however, Zelena stopped walking and sighed.
“I can see that you seek to claim responsibility for what I have told you Anon.  Please, don’t.  I do not blame you for what happened.”
You stare at her in confusion.
“Why?  You just told me that your whole society basically fell apart because of my people.  Nothing would have changed for you if we had never come to your shores.”
“Perhaps.” she conceded.  “It was not because of the humans that we were all lost in the end.  We had been attacked before by other tribes, by wolves or the big cats from the mountains, but we survived because we always stuck together, we ran as one.  It was because I tried to change my people that they fractured in the end, if I had simply agreed to go back to the old ways then we might not have been caught fractured and alone.”
“What?  You can’t take all of the responsibility for that!” you say aghast.  “You saved your people from being taken as slaves by the other tribe, you did your best to make things better how can you not see that?” 
Your own sudden vehement defense of her surprised you as much as it did her, but you couldn't see how she could take all that blame herself like that...
“Your kind words are wasted on me Anon...” she said sadly.  “The Goddess did not agree with you.  When I passed through the door I was not taken to my end as the old tales told of, I was brought to the alter of the Goddess.  For defying the old ways I was no longer welcome at her side with the rest of my people, instead I was given a choice.  Either I descend down to the darkness and accept my punishment for breaking with the old ways, or I join the Warders and use my abilities to serve here for as long as I am needed.  To wear this armour and bear these blades, it is my honour, and my punishment.”
You can’t get your head around that.  She fought for her people but gets punished in death for not going back to her assigned role as a breeder?  Women back in the Republic still did not enjoy the same rights as the men there (it was a work in progress) but this was something else.  
Zelena continued speaking however as you struggled to understand.
“At first I took pride in my assignment, to be chosen to serve the Goddess is no small thing.  When I saw my new comrades however, they were all just brutes in armour.  They had been chosen for their desire to fight, even in death, and repurposed so as to be useful.  They resented me because I wasn’t one of them, not really.  They enjoyed the fighting, the chance to draw blood once more.  I realised that is all I am now, a blade in the dark.”
This wasn’t the angry warrior who had so thoroughly whupped you earlier, her big eyes were full of sorrow, no, worse than that.  Acceptance.
“It’s why I had to apologise earlier Anon.  I blamed you for my fate, I blamed your people for giving mine those weapons.  I am here because I deserve to be.  I will get you to the Nexus, you can count on that at least.”
As she moved to walk off ahead of you, your mind tries to make sense of what she just told you.  How could a benevolent Goddess condemn someone like Zelena to an eternity of servitude for the apparent crime of trying to help her people.  Putting her alongside those like that bastard Malek?
You grab hold of her shoulder and spin her around to face you, a shocked expression on her face.
“Anon?  What are you-“
You cut her off.
“Listen to me.  From what you’ve told me it sounds like you’ve done your best for everyone, despite the odds, and then to be pressed into service like this...  You deserve better.”
All she could seem to do was stand there staring up at you, your words catching her off guard.  After a few seconds however her composure returned and she turned back to walking again.
“We're almost to the snowfields now Anon, it’s not as cold as down in the real world but the ice is just as slippery.  Please make sure to watch your footing.”
For a moment, you had caught a glimpse of the person under the armour.  Fleeting as it was, you saw someone not all that dissimilar to yourself.  A truly odd moment of understanding between you and this non human girl.  Both of you were lost here in your own way, at the whim of some unseen God.
As the crunching grass is replaced by glittering snow beneath your feet, you wonder just how this whole thing is going to turn out.
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Chapter 7
The change in scenery had been jarring to say the least.  From rolling plains of grass and deep green woods it had changed to steep mountainsides, a thick blanket of glittering white snow covered everything while shimmering blue glaciers shone on the horizon.  The night sky, while lit by the moon before now danced with a whole pallet of colour, this strange moon dominated plain creating its own dazzling version of the northern lights.
As you trudge through the snow you are hit by a mix of feelings.  Although you can feel the chill in the air and through your boots, its not actually cold.  As you run your hand along the top of a snowdrift you marvel at the familiar texture of the icy crystals but the bitter cold that normally would come with it feels as if it has had its fangs removed.  It has all the feeling but none of the bite.
As you looked about you in wonder, Zelena trudged on in silence.  She had said very little since opening up to you before.  You surmised that either the cold here was getting to her more than it was to you or the glimpse she had given you earlier of her actual self had perhaps left her feeling more exposed.
She led you further into the icy wastes and towards your eventual goal.  She had been evasive when you had asked what exactly Nexus was, only telling you that "it was the way out of here and back to where your supposed to be", wherever that turned out to be.  
Eventually, you realise that your guide wasn't so much just struggling with the chill as actually beginning to succumb to it.  The space between her footsteps shrank as she slowed her pace, she clutched her cloak to herself that much tighter and her path began to cut side to side instead of a straight line.
Following a particularly big stumble you decide to intervene.
"Zelena?" you ask, your voice seeming to echo through the cold around you.  "I think that we should perhaps stop for a bit, maybe look for some shelter.  What do you think?"
When she turned to look at you, she wasn't looking very good.  Ice crystals had formed along the fur under her twitching nose and her misted breath was coming out faster than it should have been for the speed you were travelling.  She nodded in response to your question but that seemed to be all she could manage.
Your not sure how she can be this badly affected when your barely feeling a thing, but you know she wont last much longer like this.
She reacts in surprise when you make your move but she can do little but just go along with it in her current condition.  You move on over and quickly throw open her cloak before clutching her shivering form close and wrapping it back around you both.
Even though the snow itself has little effect you cant help but notice just how cold her small furry body is as you hold her close.  Apart from the cloak she's not exactly wearing much and the silken brown fur adorning her is by no means a winter coat.  You stand still for a few moments, letting your body heat warm her back up slowly under the cloak.
As her shivering subsides slightly you realise that you need to find some shelter.  Before realising that the cold didn't really affect you much you had gathered some pieces of wood in a little bundle on your way towards the snow.  You had nearly thrown it but was now glad you hadn't.
You carried her forwards for a while, steadily moving up hill, before you came across a small cleft in the mountainside.  It led to a small dead-end cave, perfect for what you needed.
-------------------------------------------
Things had not exactly gone to plan for Zelena.  Taking the path through the snowfields had been a risk, but with the other Warders apparently not willing to listen to reason and most likely hunting for them, this path had been the quickest one, and the most dangerous.
By some small stroke of fortune it seemed Anon was having no trouble with the cold, striding forward taking in the sights with wonder.  This place had been created to accommodate peoples who lived in colder and more mountainous climates but somehow it barely touched him
For Zelena though it was far from okay.  Her assigned realm had been the grasslands, the cold of this place was a danger to her as she currently was.  If her previous life had ended during the winter it might be a different story but as she was now the cloak was her only defense.
Despite powering onwards and making good progress Zelena had started to succumb to the bitter cold.  Her vision had blurred, her thoughts slowed to a crawl and she couldn't feel her feet, hands or even her ears.
Then something had changed.  In her daze she felt a moment of weightlessness followed by an intense warmth all around her.  Not knowing how, why or what, she clung to it desperately, like a drowning woman to driftwood.
Eventually, her frozen senses began to thaw, and she once more started to become aware of her surroundings.  
She was no longer moving, the feeling of a cold surface beneath her and another behind suggested she was sitting on the floor, the cold had left her extremities and she felt a peaceful coziness that she had not experienced in... she couldn't even remember how long.  She was almost fully under her cloak, only her face exposed.  Yet she also had the sensation of something both solid yet yielding in there with her, her arms had wrapped themselves around it tightly, seemingly of their own accord.  The smell of burning wood tickled her nose suggesting a fire had been lit nearby.
In her still partly conscious state she imagined she was home again, snuggled up amongst her siblings as her parents bickered over what they were all going to have for supper.  She could almost hear her mother boxing her father has he tried to sneak off with some of the berries she had been saving for dessert.  A wave of pleasant memories washed over her as she tried to snuggle in deeper to the source of the warmth...
As she pressed her face into the softness however and took in a deep, contented breath, the scent of what she was cuddling up to filled her senses.  It was not the familiar smell of her siblings.  It was an alien, musky scent.  One that spread a very different kind of warmth through her...
Her eyes sprung open and she pulled herself to sit upright with a start.  She was sitting in a cave, the walls danced with the flickering light from a small fire just in front.  As she slowly turned her head to look at her former pillow she was horrified to see that she had been cuddling up to the human, Anon!
He had sat himself down next to her and covered them both with her cloak, making sure there was enough to separate her from the wall and floor.  By the looks of him he had just been in the process of dozing off to sleep but her sudden awakening had knocked him to alertness too.
She could only sit there, mouth agape, as he sat there with her, inside her cloak!
With a tired smile he shifted his weight to turn towards her.
"Oh good, your awake." he said happily.  "I was  beginning to worry that you had gone into hibernation or something..."
Oh Godess!  She thought.
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She was awake, finally!  It was hard to keep track of time here, considering its stuck in a perpetual night, but you were sure it must have been a good few hours since finding this cave and starting your efforts to defrost the frozen hare.
Despite having prepared some firewood it had been a poor amount, lacking a pack or anything to bind it with you could only bring so much and there was precious little left.
You had wrapped yourself up in the cloak with her in an effort to share your body heat.  The cold just wasn't affecting you, at all, but Zelena obviously wasn't immune so it made sense.  Considering that she was, what was it?  A 'Warder'?  You were surprised that this place would have such an effect on her.  What kind of God creates a realm but makes it deadly for their own enforcers to go there?
There seemed to be a problem however.  She had not said anything after waking up but was just sitting there and staring at you.
"Are you ok?" you ask, getting a little worried.  
She responds by scrabbling to get up, a difficult task since your inside the cloak with her.  Still, you don't particularly want to freak her out right now, especially considering how deadly she is with those daggers of hers, so you stand yourself and free her from you.
As she springs up to her feet you see a suddenly angry look on her face.  Her two big ears are standing to attention and you're sure that there's a pinkish hue to the middles of them where the hair thins out, almost like a blush...  Must be a reaction to the cold.
"What are we doing in here?" she demands.  "How did we get in here and... why were you in my cloak like that!?!  I did not give you leave to invade my space so!"
You hold up your hands in a show of peace.
"You don't remember?  We were walking out in the snow and you got all woozy and nearly toppled over.  I picked you up and brought you to some shelter, that's all.  I only sat that close to you to warm you up faster, nothing sinister if that's what your worried about."
She looked slightly less hostile following your explanation, but the blush in her ears didn't go away.
You decide to change the subject.
"How come the cold got to you like that anyway?  Thought you were on the payroll so what gives?"
She looked like she was already starting to shiver again, so without the need for much prompting she sat herself down by the fire, keeping it between the two of you...
"This is not my area, it's designed for those who prefer the cold and ice, I have not really been given leave to be here so I am ill prepared to face it,"
There was still something odd about this whole Warder thing so you decide to press her on it.
"I don't think I understand your role here...  You told me that you were chosen to be here by this goddess of yours, but it was actually more a choice of this or damnation.  Then you say that the others of your... unit, for the lack of a better word, are all battle crazed brutes who were chosen because they wanted to keep on fighting in death as they did in life, or something.  Then you tell me that there are places you can't actually go at all despite being being one of the elite here...  What exactly are you getting out of this deal?  I mean are you working it off like a debt or something?  If you spend so many years here will you go somewhere better or something?"
She actually responded to your question by going from angry, to kind of sad.
"I told you before, this is an honour and a punishment."
You still didn't get it.
"But what do you get out of it in the end?  You said this place is for the souls who didn't quite get it in life but have a second chance here.  By the sounds of it you have to patrol it but don't get a second chance yourself.  Am I missing something here?"
The angry look was back but she didn't seem to have an answer, instead she just gave an angry huff and turned her head away.
Well, looks like you made her mad again...
Doesn't look like she's ready to go just yet either so you sit yourself back down, on your own this time though.
As she continues to fume silently, you sit back against the wall and stare into the fire.  Your still feeling tired but after what happened the last time you fell asleep you don't want to try that again.  You'll wait until the last of the firewood has burned up and then it will be time to get going again, hopefully the borders of this particular land wont be all that vast and Zelena wont have to worry about the cold for much longer.
Even as you sit there and fight the need to sleep however,  you can feel it's warm embrace reaching out to pull you away...
Thunk. Clang.
Thank.  Clang.
Thunk.  Clang.
Oh shit not again...
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Chapter 8
Zelena had drifted back off into an uncomfortable sleep.  Anon's words had affected her more than she cared to admit.  When she had been uplifted from her  fate to become a Warder, she had accepted it without question.  The silent but inescapable words of the divine had made it clear.  She had turned from the old ways and traditions in life so she would instead serve them in death, overseeing the lands where others like her had fallen on the path but would be offered a final chance to redeem themselves.  As the silver armour and daggers had strapped themselves to her she had even felt a measure of pride, that despite her failures she would become an instrument of the Goddess herself.  And yet...  The other Warders were all mindless brutes, was that all she was to the Goddess?
Her dreams returned to her younger days, before the first blossoming which signalled her transition from child to adulthood, the words of her mother.
"Soon my sweet you will be grown, it will be time then for you to follow the others of our kin and attend the trials.  There your future husband will compete for the right to claim you for his tribe.  Remember the words I have taught you, for it will be your duty to pass them on to your own daughters.  There's a fire in you child but you must remember your place."
It was once she had 'blossomed' it had been decided, it didn't matter that she could beat all the boys her age in speed, agility and combat.  She would go to the following year's gathering to be claimed, as was tradition.  When instead the other tribes had used the human weapons to change everything she took her chance and sought to become more...  To show the men that she and her fellow females could be more than just exchangeable breeding stock.
When the result had been to stand before Baphomet and be judged as lacking...
Her dreams turned from unpleasant memories to more recent ones.  The feeling of a warm body close to hers, the strange but alluring scent as she had breathed it in...  
Her mind wandered to places that it had never tread before.  Places that her living self had denied the very thought of on principle...
There was something wrong however.  She became aware of a strange howling slowly growing in intensity, not that of the wolves that occasionally haunted her nightmares but of some massive restless beast.

Zelena woke to find herself still sitting in the cave, wrapped in her cloak.  The fire had burnt out and... Anon was gone!
The howling persisted, rising in volume and intensity by the minute.  With growing trepidation she realised that it was coming from outside, but it wasn't the sound of some angry beast, it was the roar of a storm.  In this created place an impossibility!  
Rising to her feet she began to run towards the exit to the cave.  Something was wrong, very wrong, and Anon was in the middle of it.
------------------------------------------------------------------- 
As Zelena had slept and dreamed dreams of both past and possible future, you had slipped into a nightmare of your own.
Losing your battle with that sneaky shit of a sandman, your eyes had closed and invited the dark figures stalking you to get that much closer.  They reached out across the void, no longer content to try and draw you back to them, oh no, it was time to come for you.
As you drifted off, you could hear the sound of the armoured boots approaching.  Even in the darkness you could feel them coming, reaching out for you.
You somehow stumble to your feet, unable to make out anything around you but instinctively trying to get away from what stalked ever closer.   As you stagger away, you feel a close heat rising all around you, no, through you.  The sudden sensation of a bitterly cold wind hits your face and takes the darkness away with it.  Your acutely aware that the cold, even though having dropped to far more severe lows, was affecting you even less than before.
With the retreat of the dark however comes unwelcome revelation.  Standing before you is one of the black armoured figures from before, it's  rotten sword is in hand. 
Instead of advancing on you however, it simply raises its other armoured hand to you, palm first as if to shove you, and waits.
As you move to flee, nothing happens.  Your legs seize up and you end up on your knees instead.  The blackened wound on your arm bursts into flame and pain wracks your entire body, it's like the thing has reached out and taken hold of your very soul.  You can't even scream.
You remain there on your knees, the heat and pain slowly consuming you.  The blackened figure continues to watch you,  but it's words reach out directly into your mind and cut into the very core of you.
"You belong to the Legion.  There is no escape, no salvation.  You are of the damned now and forever.  You will march with us until nothing remains.  You.  Will.  SERVE!"
As the flames and pain consumes you, as your vision darkens, all you can hear is the marching of the Legion...

A mighty crash pulls you from your despair.  As you fall forward panting into the snow, you see a flash of silver as a dagger buries itself info the exposed elbow joint of the armoured creature. It roars in fury as  another dagger stabs up and into its armpit through a gap in the plating.
It should have been a killing blow, but this thing was already too dead for that, even by the afterlife's standards.
Zelena quickly withdraws her weapons and tries to strike again, but the element of surprise is gone.  The armoured fiend swings its blade at her, missing only due to the virtue of her agility, but continues onwards regardless.
Your limbs are like jelly, your shield is still in the cave but your sword is still in its scabbard.  You manage to draw it, and with no small effort plunge it into the side of the attacker.  
Again a killing blow, but easily shrugged off.  It spins back towards you, wrenching the blade from your grip.  It reaches out for you once more, smoke and what looks like pus oozing from the wounds left on it's arm.
Instead of returning it's death grip to you however, it jerks awkwardly to the side and begins to topple over.  Two large furry feet have hit it side on and knocked it off balance, and towards the edge of the steep hill you had climbed earlier to get here.
Your attention is split, both by the blackened creature screeching as it begins to tumble down the hill with increasing speed, and by Zelena, who had released a small scream of her own upon making contact with the armour.
Ignoring the rapidly fading sight of the falling warrior, you instead shuffle over to the injured hare.  She's laid out in the snow and clutching at her feet.
"Zelena!  Are you a-alright?" you wheeze.  "What just happened?"
As you get closer you see more clearly what has happened.  Her two bare feet... the bottoms are almost completely burnt!
"That thing..." she manages to say between clenched teeth.  "It's armour...  It was like it was on fire!"
It doesn't look like she is going to be able to walk again unaided any time soon, she's not going to last long out here either like this so looks like it's back to the cave for now.
Ignoring her surprised squeak and subsequent demands to put her down, you scoop her up into your arms and head back to the shelter of the cave.  You no longer have the means of lighting a fire and you don't know if that thing survived its fall, so the cave will  only be a temporary stop at most...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Once inside the relative safety of the cave, you do your best to assess the damage to Zelena's burnt feet.  It's a task made more difficult by the hare's reluctance to let you examine her.  At first you had tried to lift up the damaged appendages onto your lap while sitting on the ground to get a better look, making sure to not touch any of the damaged parts.
Her big cream tinged toes were curled up in pain but you needed to see, as you gently moved your hands to her ankles however to lift them her legs bucked violently and sent you sprawled out backwards.  She hissed in pain as her burnt feet connected with you.
"What the hell!" you shout.  "I'm just trying to help here!"
"I-I don't need your help human!" she yells back, far more flustered than you've seen her previously.  Must be shock from the burns you guess...
"I need to check the wounds." you say, in a much calmer tone.  "I-..."
She cuts you off.
"I will be fine Anon!" she shouts.  "I am a Warder!  Given time my wounds will heal.  It's one of the perks.  I'm more concerned about that thing that attacked you, I've never seen anything like It!"
You normally wouldn't be so easily distracted once you had your mind set on something, but she had a point.  The thing that had attacked you just now, it had done so outside of any dream, Zelena's burnt feet were proof of that...
"I think I know what it was." you say after a moment of silence.  "I think it was one of the Legion.  I think they are the ones who put this brand on me."
She gave you a concerned look.
"Legion?  You recognised it?  How can such a thing even exist?"
You open your mouth to answer but a sudden pain through your arm stops you short.  It was a shadow of the burning horror from before, but it told you that the armoured fiend was still close, it's trip down the hill hadn't killed it.
"Tell you what..." you say, trying to cover up your unease.  "I'll tell you everything I know about the Legion, but we have to get moving.  I don't think that thing is gone for good.  If we stay here then it might just come on back and trap us."
She still seemed to have reservations.
"How am I supposed to guide you in the right direction exactly?  I can't walk right now, not until my feet heal..."
"Fine, I'll carry you then!" you exclaim hurriedly.  "I do the walking, you do the guiding."
She had that flustered look from before back on her face, perhaps she just really doesn't like the idea of being carried...
"Th-that's no good Anon!" she huffed.  "I'm not a bundle of wood to be slung over your shoulder and carried around!  The best thing to do is you go on ahead, I'll wait here until my feet have finished healing and then I'll catch up.  I'll point you in the right direction first and then..."
There wasn't time for this...
"Ok, enough is enough!"  Your outburst stuns her to silence.  "I'm not leaving you here.  Either that thing will come back and get you or you'll freeze trying to catch me up.  Your coming with me and that's that!"
At first you tried doing as she had feared, hauling her over your shoulder.  A few lightning fast rabbit punches later however had you backing off again, but she could see that you had no intention of leaving.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn!" she asked, exasperated.  "You need to get moving, carrying me will only slow you down.  If that thing came here because of your brand then things are getting worse the longer your here.  Just head out in the direction I tell you and go!"
"I'm not leaving you." 
She blinks at you in surprise.
"Why?"
"We've come this far together, I can't just leave you behind now." is your reply.
She doesn't seem to have an answer for that.
After a bit of negotiation, you pick her up and carry her piggyback.  Her arms are wrapped around your neck while you hold her two legs in your arms.  She's pressed tightly against your back and her injured feet are bobbing along at your sides.
Her cloak is wrapped around the two of you as you walk and your shield is slung on her back, your blade is lost but there's no worrying about that now.
As you resume your journey across the frozen landscape, Zelena pointing out the way with her head resting on your shoulder, you begin to wonder about why you had insisted on making sure she came with you.  Was is because you needed a guide?  Was it because you owed her for breaking the black warrior's hold on you?  Or was it because she was the closest thing you had to a friend,  or at least an ally in this place?  
Whatever the answer, you couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of her pressed to your back like that.  The feel of her strong legs in your hands...
It had been a long time since you had been this close to another person who wasn't actually just in the act of trying to gut you.  It felt... nice.
With each step you come closer to your final destination, one step further from the creature behind.  It hadn't escaped your notice however that you felt actively warm now, that it wasn't so much that the cold didn't affect you as you felt a heat radiating from within.  Not the warm feeling after a hearty meal or from sharing a moment with your beau, it was the unpleasant feeling of flames licking up at you from within...
You hoped that the Nexus wasn't too much further ahead, it seemed time had stood itself with most of the other things in this place, firmly against you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9

For a time, you continued to make your way through the snowy plains and rocky terrain without incident.  Zelena had not not spoken outside of whispering the occasional course correction directly into your ear from over your shoulder, her breath tickling slightly with each word.
Eventually however, she remembered your bargain, or perhaps believed the threat was far enough behind to speak openly about it.
"Anon?  Tell me of this 'Legion'.  What was that creature that attacked you back there?"
Up until now she had been quite stiff as you had carried her on your back, now though she seemed to have relaxed somewhat, the steady thump of her heartbeat now making its way through her armoured chest to your back...  Wait.  Why were you paying so much attention to details like that?  Mind on the problems at hand.
You took a few seconds to gather your thoughts before you answer.
"The Legion of the Damned, it's a myth, a story told to frighten unruly children.  The fate of those who don't do as their told."
You feel Zelena's arms tighten around your neck slightly.
"A story huh?  That thing seemed real enough to me."
You sigh.
"Yeah, I know.  When I joined the Republican military we all had to take a series of oaths, I and every other recruit.  Most of it was just words and ceremony, but the last one, the oath of loyal service, I'm beginning to think there was more to it.  We had to stand before an alter, in the Grand Temple, there we spoke our last oath and the priest made a cut on the palm of our hands, we then made our mark on the alter itself... in blood.  We vowed to serve until our duty was fulfilled in life and we were discharged, or until we gave our lives in service.  Any who turned from their oath however, any who deserted or betrayed their fellow soldiers, they would be punished in life and their souls sent to the Legion in death."
You take another moment to remember the old stories, ones you hadn't thought about since childhood.
"They say that the Legion started after the Republic first formed.  That when man started making oathes and bonds in the eyes of the old gods, a separate place was created for those who broke them.  When one falls to the Legion, they are lost to both life and death, they are bound in armour that is sealed shut with flame, the soles of their boots are lined with broken glass, supposedly to symbolise the shattered pieces of their honour that they trampled in life and will be forced to walk upon ever after.  They are sent to March onwards across a never ending plain, away from the light of life but towards a destination they can never reach.  They march for all eternity, or until their soul wears away to nothing.  Those who abandon their duty in life, will serve in death."
"That's horrible..." she whispered.  "That your kind would create another hell for yourselves in death just to try and enforce loyalty in life..."
You slow down slightly, her words strike you as... odd.
"Your one to talk." you say over your shoulder.
She tenses up again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asks, more than a little taken aback.
"You told me that much the same happened to you.  You didn't keep with your people's traditions in life so you were pressed into service in death, even got some armour too."
"That is completely different!" she huffed angrily.  "I serve a purpose here!  The Warders keep the balance and ensure-"
"Yet you didn't really get a choice in the matter." you interrupt.  "From what you told me earlier all you did was stand up to some of your own people who were breaking their own traditions anyway, how did that warrant an eternity of servitude?"
"Th-thats not...  I mean they...  We're not talking about that were talking about this Legion of yours!"
You had hit a nerve again.
"What's left to say?  They have a claim to me now.  I abandoned my post to go fight those lizards, it doesn't matter what my reasons for doing it were.  I just don't know how I ended up here.  Their coming to claim me now and this place is at risk because of it, your hurt because of it, because of me."
You stop walking completely.  Her head is resting on your shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
You just stood there for a while.  The cold wind blowing around you.  Explaining it all had brought everything into focus.  Your fate was sealed, whether they took you here or if you made it out to the Nexus, they would have you either way.  In trying to make  up for past mistakes you inevitably brought harm here with you.  The blackened footsteps left on the grass far behind, an ample metaphor for your path through life in general, you only brought ruin in your wake, whatever you did or wherever you went.
With some surprise however, you feel Zelena's grip tighten on you, both her arms around your neck and her legs at your sides.  It was almost as if... she was hugging you...
"Anon..." she whispered.  "I think I know how you feel.  To try so hard to do the right thing, but see only ruin come of it...  Perhaps we're not so different after all, you and me."
You bow your head down, resting your chin on her arm.
"I..." you start, but words fail you.  The feeling of her wrapped tightly around you, the closeness of another person...  For the first time in a long time, you don't feel alone.  The sensation robs you of words.
After what could have been a few minutes, or a small eternity, Zelena breaks you from your trance.
"Anon?  We have to keep moving.  There's still a little way to go before we leave these lands and then it's a straight shot to the Nexus.  Perhaps once we get there we can work out why all this is happening, maybe we can find a way to break that brand and the Legion's hold on you.  Either way we can't stay here.
With another deep sigh you continue marching, after a few seconds though her words finally register and you stop again
"Wait?  Find a way to break the brand?  I thought the plan was to kick me out of here and back to wherever I'm supposed to be?"
Her breathing actually stops for a second or two, like she's been caught with her hand in the cookie jar or something.
"Well... What I mean is..." she stutters.  "Maybe you were sent here for a reason, I just thought that it would be in all our interests to find out why, in case anything like this happened again...  Maybe the Legion weren't supposed to have you after all and that's why your here, it's my duty keep the balance so maybe I'm supposed to help you, even if you are a human..."
You're strangely touched by her words.  She was going to actually try and help, despite everything.
"Thank you... Zelena."
Three simple words were all you could manage, but they earned you another backwards hug.
As you continued onwards you could just make out something in the distance, it looked like some sort of structure...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
You battle your way through the thickening snow until you can make out what lay ahead, what you see however takes a bit of time to believe.
"What is that?" whispers Zelena, still holding tightly to your back.  "I've never seen anything like it here before...  Do you think the Legion has something to do with it?"
What sits before you in the snow, looks very much like a small two story ale house.  A human structure... here, of all places?
"I don't think so..." you reply.  "It's definitely a human building though.  How can it be here?  Does it mean there are more of my people here?  Is that possible?"
You feel a tickling on your nech from her head slowly shaking over your shoulder.  
"Human?  No it can't be...  We knew immediately when you arrived, just not where exactly.  If there were more of you here I would know."
Yet there was an ale house sitting in front of you both, light coming from beneath the shutters and what could only be music faintly playing below the noise of the wind too.
"We need to find shelter for now anyway." You say, breaking the silence.  "We've been travelling for who knows how long and I need a break, and we need to check your feet.  You said that they should have healed themselves by now right?  Have They?"
Her silence provided the answer.

A plan was hatched and you soon found yourself knocking at the heavy wooden door.  Zelena still hung from your back but with only one arm around your neck, the other kept hidden beneath the cloak, tightly clutching one of her daggers.
The faint sound of music suddenly stopped, replaced by the sound of footsteps and shifting wooden furniture in its place.
The door opened, bright candlelight poured out and limited your vision as your eyes adjusted.
A tall figure stood in the doorway, perhaps a good head taller than you, but casting an almost hourglass like silhouette.  
No one speaks at first, until finally your vision clears and you see who's there.
There's a large cat standing before you, with clear blur eyes, silver fur speckled with dabs of black, wearing what you can only describe as a human corsetted serving wench dress, an ample bosom barely contained at the front with a big fluffy tail sticking out of the back.
"Uhh, hi?" was just about all you could say.
The large cat, one of the mountain dwelling snow leopard tribes if you had to guess, brought her paws up to her mouth and stood there shocked.  You suddenly expected a repeat of your meeting with the two campers from before, lots of running and screeming, or considering her race, some sharp claws and biting...
Instead however, she squealed like schoolgirl and started bouncing on her toes.
"Squeeeeeeee!!!!!" she went, nearly breaking your eardrums in the process.  "OHMAHGODDESSITSAHUMAN!!!!!"
You try taking a step back but she already has a paw grabbing onto your tunic and yanks you roughly inside.
Somehow you stay standing, staggering out into the middle of the room.  Zelena is holding onto you for dear life.
Looking around you can see several more large figures, all standing or sitting in various stages of shock.  By your count there are at least four more snow leopards and what looks like two wolves.  All are dressed in human dresses or skirts, all female.
As you stand there, shocked and speechless, some of the women start to advance.
It's at this point that Zelena acts, she throws off the cloak and raises herself up a bit further up your back.  Your left struggling to maintain your balance as the hare continues to swiftly climb until she's sitting on your shoulders, and acutely aware of her bare furry thighs pressed tightly either side of your neck.
"Back off!" she yells, causing the advancing cats and wolves to stop.  Now she's on your shoulders her hands are free, she has both of her daggers drawn and pointed menacingly outwards.
"I'm a Warder!  Explain yourselves!  What is all of this?  Why are you dressed like that?"
As the others back away, one of the leopards steps forwards, her colourings a little darker to the one who opened the door, and wearing a slightly less revealing but more figure hugging blue dress.
"Peace Warder.  We mean you no harm.  This is a place of peace and enjoyment, please, put down your weapons.  We are unarmed."
Zelena lowered her daggers slightly but not her guard.
"Then answer my questions.  Who are you and what is this place?"
The one who had spoken answered again.
"My name is Evetta, this place is known as the 'Widow's Watch'.  We are a collection of lost souls who have come together to remember what we have lost and share what we once had.  We mean you no harm."
Zelena still wasn't convinced, at least you thought so considering how hard she was squeezing your head with her thighs.
"Ok..." you say, drawing the room's attention back to you.  "Why are you dressed in human clothes and why does this place look like a human ale house?  Are there more of my kind here?"
Evetta smiled at your questions and reached out a paw.
"We will be happy to answer all of your questions human... and more.  First however I must ask your companion to sheath her weapons, this is a place of peace.  There will be no fighting here.
You risk tilting your head up to look at the still suspicious hare, feeling the back of your head brush against something soft in the process.
Her attention snaps down to you.
"Anon what-?" she starts.
"Zelena I don't think these people are a threat and we were looking for a place to rest.  It's out of the cold and they might even be able to help with your feet."
She looks set to protest but after a moment of thought relents.
"Ok fine." she mutters.  "But I'm keeping my blades."
"That is fine by us Warder.  Right girls?" calls Evetta.  A surprisingly enthusiastic cheer goes up from the others.  A few seconds later the music starts up again, one of the big cats has some sort of violin and is playing a merry little jig.

With some effort you manage to get Zelena down from your shoulders and on to a wooden stool, her daggers are sheathed but she still has a paw firmly fixed on one of the hilts.
Evetta had sat herself next to you and the one who had opened the door, named Sephie, had set up behind the bar.  She was leaning forwards with her elbows on the bar top and her head resting on her paws, she was giving you a very difficult to ignore, and deliberate, view of her cleavage.
Without waiting to be asked again, Evetta began to tell you their tale.
"Both Sephie and myself come from a tribe high in the mountains, we spent our days hunting, braiding or caring for the cubs, while our menfolk fought amongst themselves over territorial borders or raiding the lowlands.  Until they met 'Him'."
"They raided a camp of newcomers, humans, in the night.  They took all kinds of new and exciting things from them, things we had never seen here before.  It of course caused the humans to come looking for us in return, they wanted their things back.  The one who led the humans though, he was different.  When he came upon our village, he took us instead."
There was something about this story that rung a bell in the back of your mind, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it.
"He killed the menfolk who got in his way and brought us back to his camp.  We thought he would kill us or worse...  instead however he showed us how the humans live, how much better their lives were than ours, how they wore things like clothes not just to stay warm or dry, but to look nice too!  In time we came to love those humans, our lives were so much better there...  They showed us so many things, so many... wonderful things..."
You weren't quite sure you liked how she said that last part, or how Sephie's tongue had started to poke out a bit as she smiled at you...
"In what felt like no time at all we were in love with our own humans, we were married!  It was wrong though, for us to be so happy while our sisters toiled away, so we told the one who liberated us where more camps were, where the other tribes hid in the mountains!"
Zelena had been listening in shocked silence, until now.
"Wait, you gave yourselves to the humans... and then turned the others over to them too!?!  Why!"
Sephie answered this time.
"How could we not?  The human men treated us so much better than our own kind.  They opened our eyes to so much.  It was the least we could do for our sisters,"
"Evetta took over again.
"Everyone here took a human husband in the end, our lives had never been better...  Then it all went wrong.  The leader, the one who freed us and taught us, he found someone in the woods, someone special, her coat shone like gold..."
She stopped talking for a moment and looked away, she seemed to be on the verge of tears.  Sephie took back over.
"He found his own love, one of a kind...  He talked about leaving the battlefield and building a house, of putting war behind him to live with his one...  There were others among the humans who were jealous though.  Those who didn't have their own mates and coveted what he and those who were mated had.  They turned on him, they tried to take us..."
Evetta started to speak again, her voice wavering.
"The next thing we knew we were here.  The old goat had judged us as having fallen from the path laid out for us, that we had abandoned the old ways.  So we were sent here to try and return to the customs of our people and earn forgiveness."
"Instead however, you built a human inn and share stories of your time with the humans?" you chime in questioningly .
"Well... yes!" answered Sephie brightly.  "We found each other out here but instead of building a boring old camp we decided to build this place!  We made our own pretty clothes too see?"
She took this opportunity to give her chest a jiggle, causing her assets to threaten leaving their tight fitting prison.
Zelena had heard enough.
"So instead of trying to earn forgiveness from the Goddess you just went ahead and did this?  But you'll be stuck here forever!  You'll never be able to move on!  Or if the Warders who patrol these lands find out they may just put an end to it themselves!"
As Zelena continued to argue the point with them, you finally remembered why this sounded familiar.
There had been tales during the pacification of a particular unit, led by a particularly brutal raider.  He had gone through the land cutting down his enemies in bloody fashion, earning both fear and respect from his enemies and allies alike.
Word had gotten out that he had started taking something valuable from the beastmen, something that drove them to a frenzy.  Then nothing.  All contact was lost.  Until a messenger returned with news.  His entire unit had been found slain, dead to the last man and apparently by each others hand.  Only their raider captain was missing, no trace of him except rumours of a man fleeing into the unknown lands carrying something they assumed to be a sack of gold, glittering in his arms...

Your attention returned however when the discussion between the ladies got heated.  Apparently Zelena had just questioned the gathered collection of 'widows' state of mind.
"All I'm saying is that it sounds like the human took you from your tribes and did something to your minds!  If you accept this and focus on going back to your roots then you might still move on to a better place!"
One of the others had moved over to join the discussion.  A big grey and white wolfess.
"You doubt our commitment bunny?  We built this place to wait!  To hold ourselves until we can find our way back to our loves again!"
"That's impossible!" Zelena scoffed.  "And don't call me bunny..."
"Really?  Your human made it here, why can't ours?"
The hare nearly fell off her stool, you suspect if she had been drinking anything at the time then someone would have been wearing it now too.
"What do you mean MY human!  This is different!  I'm just helping Anon to-"
The wolf interrupted with a giggle.
"Oh on first name basis already are we?  You are a sly little bunny aren't you..."
At this it looked like Zelena was ready to go for a dagger so you intervened.
"Ladies, please!  Stop this!  We didn't come to cause any trouble, did we Zelena."  You say that last part with a pointed stare at the angry hare.
"All we needed was some shelter and maybe some hot water for my friend's hurt feet here, if you would be kind enough to provide that for us then we will be on our way."
They were all staring enough daggers at each other to outfit a good sized war band, but after a tense few seconds they seemed to relent.
Evetta was the first to speak.
"Ok Anon, your right.  No one wants trouble here.  Tell me what's wrong with your Warder friend's feet hmm?"
Grudgingly, Zelena showed her the soles of her still blackened feet.
Tutting slightly the snow leopard got back up and whispered something to the Wolfess, before turning back to you.
"That is no ordinary burn, it's coated with some foulness that stops the wounds from closing.  Luckily we have a source of water here that has excellent healing properties!  We can't repent after all if we hurt ourselves falling down the mountain now can we.  We have a room upstairs where the Warder can soak her feet in privacy."
"Thank you, that's most kind." you respond, noting that she addressed none of this to Zelena herself.
"As for you, we have had quite some time to practice making human ale, we got quite attached to the stuff back then.  We didn't have any humans to taste test it though so we would be honoured if you would be the first!"
Your not sure if getting drunk is the best idea here but there's a full frothing mug in front of you before you can voice an objection.
Zelena doesn't look best pleased either, but the two wolves had already helped her up and were making for the stairs.
"Hey!  I didn't agree to anything yet!  Unhand me!"
The wolfess she had argued with before was grinning at her as they moved.
"Stop complaining!  We're trying to help you.  Those feet need to be seen to before anything else.  Once we're through with you, you'll feel a whole lot better.  Promise!"
Zelena had stopped complaining but there was something about the way that wolf was talking that seemed off.
You were distracted from further thought however by a pair of barely contained furry melons bouncing in front of your face, nearly toppling the waiting drink.
"Soooooo Anon..."  It was Sephie.
"Tell us alllll about you!  It's been a while since we spent any time with a human, we're all just dying to get to know you better!"
You were very much aware now that all the remaining snow leopards had dropped what they were doing and had taken up seats around you.  Evetta had already taken Zelena's stool.
"Yes Anon, do tell..." she seemed to purr.
You take a sip of ale, more out of unease at them all staring at you than any need to quench a thirst.
They all seemed to smile a little wider, a little more predatory, as you drank.  The room was starting to spin slightly, the bittersweet taste of their homebrewed ale still swimming across your tongue and somehow up to your head instantly.
A strong pair of furry arms caught you from behind as you nearly fall from your stool.
"Careful Anon, you look like you need a rest...  Come up to bed with us, we'll make everything feel better..."
Your vaguely aware of being dragged towards the stairs, the sight of several snow leopards bouncing excitedly behind you.
Then you knew no more.
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Chapter 10

The two wolves managed to between them help the only partially cooperative hare up the stairs and into a small side bedroom, where they deposited her onto a small bed.  Zelena had little choice but to sit and scowl, with her feet dangling off the side, as they waited for the water to boil and be brought in.  Without someone to help her she wouldn't be able to get very far without crawling around on the floor, a depth she wasn't going to sink to if she could avoid it.
The wolfess who had insisted on calling her 'bunny' was named Krysta, her smaller and darker furred friend was called Mika.  As they waited, they told her some of their own tale.
"We were part of one of the roaming packs, we carried our homes and our people on our backs.  When our warriors moved to strike at the humans we followed behind, carrying the supplies, tending to their wounds, seeing to their... needs.  When the humans came for us... they didn't take us prisoner, they set us free."
There was something about the way that the wolves were talking that put Zelena on edge, the way they spoke about the humans wasn't just affection, it was reverence...
Before her unease could develop into a full blown awkward silence one of the leopards arrived, she was carrying a tub of hot steaming water and had a particularly put out expression on her face.
"Drew the short straw huh?" smirked Krysta.  The approaching leopard poked out her tongue in response before bumping the door closed behind her with her hips.
Once the tub was down the wolfess known as Mika motioned for Zelena to dip her feet in.  As she complied, she let out a sharp hiss as her wounded feet made contact with the steaming water, yet she couldn't deny the sense of relief that came with it.  To her surprise Mika was not content to just let them soak, she reached down with her paws and gently began to dab at them with a soft cloth.  In what couldn't have been more than a minute the mix of pain and creeping numbness began to leave her feet.
"So..." began Krysta.  "How is he?  Your human?"
Zelena hadn't even realised she'd closed them but the question caused her eyes to snap back open again.
"He's not MY human, I already told you that!" she snapped back, a bit too quickly, even to her own ears.  "What do you even mean how is he?  Go ask him yourself, I'm sure he'll tell you."
The wolfess gave a sly little smile.
"Come now dear, there's no need to be coy.  We all know what you bunnies get up to behind closed doors, about you... appetites.  We just want to know how you found him compared to your own kind."
Zelena was quickly going from confused to somewhere between alarmed and outraged.  The hell was she implying?
"What do you mean my 'appetites!?!  What are you even saying?"
Krysta's smile fell into a frown as she didn't get the answer she wanted.
"Really dear?  You want to keep playing the simple virgin girl part then fine, we'll know for ourselves soon enough anyway.  I was just trying to make conversation.  We can smell him all over you, not to mention how comfortable you were with his head between your legs earlier..."
When she got only silence in response she looked back over at the hare, Zelena's face was a picture of shock, her mouth hung open as she tried to form words but just couldn't.
The grin returned to the wolfess's face as the realisation hit her.
"You haven't done it yet have you?  You've been wandering about with the only human here and you haven't even..."
Her laughter knocked the shock from the other two women's faces, soon all three were laughing almost hysterically as the hare sat in a horrified stupor.
"Ohhh sweet girl you have no idea do you?" Krysta sighed as her laughter died down, wiping a tear away in the process.  "One thing the human men showed us after we were free was just how much fun we had been missing!  Oh you poor sheltered thing..."
She had finally managed to find her voice at this point.
"What are you even saying?  Did you... I mean with the..."
She couldn't finish the question but it had already clicked in her head what the wolfess had been talking about.
The snow leopard had moved over to Krysta while they were talking and whispered something into the wolfess's ear, an even larger grin appeared on her fuzzy maw in response, showing off a full row of sharp teeth.
"That's an excellent idea Leeta!  You go get them and we'll get everything ready!"
The snow leopard now identified as Leeta slipped out the door and nearly ran down the hallway.  Before the wolfess closed the door behind her Zelena could hear some sort of commotion coming from downstairs, the music had stopped and there were a lot of excited voices.
This whole thing had gone from odd, to weird, to full blown creepy, and the hare had had enough.
"Ok I don't know what you lot have going on here and I don't think I want to know.  Thanks for helping with my wounds but I think I've got it from here.  I'm going to go get Anon and then we're going to leave.  Ok?"
The two wolves had other ideas however.
"You can't go yet dear." cooed Mika from by her feet.  "We haven't had the chance to spend any time with Anon yet..."
"Wait what?" Zelena asked, her worries about this place now escalating to dagger related levels of concern.
"The girls are going to get him warmed up in the other room and  then it's going to be our turn!" chirped Krysta with a wink.  "We've been waiting out here so long without any human  men to keep us company that it almost became unbearable... and then you go and bring one right to our door?  He's not going anywhere until we've had some fun with him.  You can join in too if you want?  I know you want to really..."
Zelena had realised just how messed up this all was at just a second too late.  She reached back for a dagger but Mika had already thrown herself up on top of her, pinning her in place.
At that point the door opened and Leeta came back in, she was holding two boxes.  A big one about the size of a small crate and a much smaller one which looked like it had been dug out of the snow.  Behind her the other leopards were dragging something along the hall...
As Leeta moved over next to the tub, Zelena's feet still held submerged by the weight of Mika on her legs, Krysta moved over to the other side of the bed.  She reached down and pulled out the daggers from her back, placing them down again gently by the door.
Then she returned to the bed and used her own weight to hold the hare's arms in place.
"What are you doing!" Zelena screamed, doing her best but failing to wriggle out from under the two wolves.  "Get off of me!"
Krysta's smile had changed from wicked grin to an almost motherly one, she stroked Zelena's pinned head gently as Leeta fiddled with the boxes.
"Shh don t worry, were not going to hurt you dear.  We can see that we're going to have to do for you what we did for our sisters time ago, to help you understand why we are here.  We don't have any human men here to help us though, apart from your Anon but I suspect he's otherwise engaged right now...  So we will use something that we made ourselves when we got too lonely."
From her position on the bed she couldn't see what the leopard was doing but she could hear the clicking of the lock on one of the boxes springing open.  As the leopard got busy unpacking whatever was in there Krysta continued talking.
"You see, when we were part of the pack, when we followed the old ways as we were told, we did what we were supposed to do.  When the men were ready we would get on our knees, bend over and let them have their fun.  Then when they were done, we would have to sit there, for an hour, while they congratulated themselves on a job well done and waited for their stupid knot to go down!  Do you know how painful, and BORING that was?"
"Knot?  Wh-what are you even talking about?" the now panicked hare asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Their junk of course silly!  Wolf men have a knot that blows up inside afterwards and gets stuck!  Not very fun for us, let me tell you..."
"At least you didn't have to put up with those spines..." chimed in Leeta with a visible shudder.
"When we started getting close to the humans though..." Krysta continued.  "When our time of the season came they offered to help, oh and help us they did!"
Her eyes had taken on a distant look as she remembered some fond memory.
"It'll be easier if I show you."
She motioned for Leeta to pass her something from the box.
What she held in her paw however the hare wasn't prepared for.  It was a long shaft of wood, about nine inches, and quite thick.  It had been carved with great care to look like...
"This is what a human's meat looks like.  It's what they use when they mate."  Krysta had dropped her voice to a reverent whisper as she spoke.  She held it in her paw like some great treasure.
"It's what they all have down there, it just hangs out like this..."
In a much smaller voice than before, Zelena dared to ask her question.
"Why are you showing me this?"
Mika answered.
"We want you to understand, to see as we do.  Look at it!  No knot, no barbs or anything, just long and strong and..."
She couldn't seem to finish, instead just shuddering with delight.
"We want to do for you what was done for us.  We don't have the time or 'Him' here to take it slow, so we think the best way is to show you first hand with some of our favourites!  That way you will have to understand!  Then maybe you can go find us more humans like your one.  It'll be fun, promise!"
Zelena could only stare at the wooden sculpture in horrified fascination.  They must have spent days working to get it finished in so much detail...  Where the hell were the Warders responsible for this area?  How could these women have been left alone long enough to reach this point?
Leeta had passed up another one to Krysta, they seemed to be trying to decide which one would be best for her 'first time'.  Eventually they settled on a winner as Zelena watched helplessly, it was a slightly bigger one than the first that they had affectionately nicknamed 'Titan'.
"Now dear..." the wolfess cooed.  "It'll feel funny at first but once it gets going you won't want anything else.  Once we've finished with it there's another one that will take the edge off, we call it the 'heat breaker'.
Leeta held up another one, pulled from the partially frozen box.  It had been sculpted from ice.
"D-don't do this!" she pleaded.  "I believe you ok?  Jus let me go and we'll  talk about it more alright?"
Krysta just smiled and continued stroking her head.
"It'll be ok dear, you'll enjoy it, I promise.  Once we're done with you then I bet you'll be first in line to give Anon a go yourself!  Now, let's get you ready shall we?"
They couldn't gain access to the required area of Zelena's body on account of Mika being laid out across her.  So as Leeta began to try and fumble with the clasps about her groin, the wolfess shifted over to give her better access.
It was a mistake that the desperate hare was only too pleased to capitalise on.
With enough room for her legs to bend she pulled her now healed feet up and out of the water, and brought them to bare on the surprised snow leopard.  She went flying backwards into the wall, crumpling into an unconscious heap on the floor as a result.
Using the kick as a base she brought her knees up and into Mika's ribs, causing the wolfess to screech in pain and roll away.  This gave her the room she needed to hit out at Krysta.
With all three off of her she quickly sprung to her feet and got moving.  While Mika was still rolling on the bed in pain, Krysta had made a dive for the daggers.  She was no match for the freshly healed and thouroghly freaked out hare though, another kick sent the wolfess into the door headfirst, she then joined Leeta on the floor unconscious.
Not bothering to deal with Mika she charged out through the door and tried to figure out where the others had taken Anon.  The door at the end of the hall was closed, and there was what looked like a silk scarf hanging off the handle.  That had to be it.
With a sense of rage not felt before, Zelena made for the door.  Her daggers were ready and she was determined to get those crazy leopards off of her human, friend, whatever...
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Whatever was in that ale was strong, but it obviously wasn't designed to knock someone out for any long time.  These predators wanted their prey awake when they started to play with it.
When you came to your senses, things were not looking good.  You were tied to a large four poster bed, your clothes were missing and you were surrounded by four very hungry looking kitties.  Their clothing seemed to have gone missing too...
"Uhh ladies?" you ask carefully.  "What's going on?"
The one in charge of the show, Evetta, stepped forward and answered.
"Don't worry Anon, we're not going to hurt you.  It's just been so long since we've had the company of a strapping human man that we couldn't let the opportunity go by.  Your the only real man we've seen since, well... we were still alive anyway.  We need you to help us Anon.  Won't you stay here with us?  Won't you give us what we need?"
This was not how you had expected this day to go.
"Wait where's Zelena?  I uhh need to get going with her pretty soon actually, you see this thing on my arm it-"
They didn't let you finish.  Sephie had sat down on the bed with another smaller tub of hot water and had started bathing your blackened arm.  It didn't seem to make an awful lot of difference to the black already creeping along your skin, but it took the edge off.
"Shhh.  Don't worry so much Anon, just sit back and relax yourself." she purred.  "We know how to care for our man.  Just let us look after you, the others are looking after your friend, I'm sure she'll be along to join us shortly.  Krysta is nothing if not... persuasive."
This was getting more messed up by the second.
"Listen, I can't stay here.  I've got to get to the Nexus, there's some nasty things coming to take me away and it's important that I get there before they mess this place up any more than it already is.  Come on, untie me, please?"
Your appeal to their senses fell flat as Evetta sat down on the other side of the bed and started running her paw up and down along your chest.
Your safe here Anon, no one is coming.  The Warders have no idea we are here so nothing else will either.  We won't let anyone take you away from us, not now, not ever.  Not after we have waited so long..."
She spoke with care in her voice, but you saw at least ten shades of crazy in those big green eyes of hers.  It was a look shared by all the others gathered around.
Sephie has gone from washing your hurt arm to washing your stomach, she's slowly wiping in circles with the warm cloth.  
The other two leopards have sat down at the foot of the bed too, they start to run their paws, and claws in one case, along your legs, slowly making their way further up.
It's about all your willpower can take.  Your manhood begins to swell from the ministrations of their velvet soft paws, they have you exactly where they want you, where they need you to be.
"Oh shiiiit..." you manage as Sephie ditches the cloth and starts using her tongue.  The rough surface slowly scraping up along your chest as she takes her time to savour your taste.
Evetta has climbed up on the bed and has sat herself on your thighs, she's staring down at your traitorous, and now fully risen erection, she's licking her lips in anticipation.
The other two have gone from stroking to using their tongues too, all three are happily giving you a raspy tongue bath.
You try and voice a final protest but a furry pay settles over your mouth.
"Shhh Anon, no need to speak.  Let us care for you the way no human woman, or even that hare ever could."
The mention of Zelena brings your mind back from the gutter where it had started to consign itself to.  She was somewhere in this place with God knows what happening to her...
"This is wrong..." you mutter, little escapes through the paw over your mouth however.
Just as Evetta rises up and positions herself over you, the door bursts open.  It's a very angry looking Zelena.
"Oh thank fuck for that!" you cry.  "Hurry up and get me out of here!"
She stands there blinking for a second, taking in the site before her, but soon is back on track.
"That's enough!  Get off of him and back away, now!"
She sounds pissed.  You don't know what went on in the other room but she has has daggers out and is ready to use them.
The three that had been busy licking you hiss and back away to the corner of the room, the shining daggers more than enough to give them pause.
Evetta on the other hand just glares at her, she's gone from ten to at least fifteen shades of crazy now that she s been interrupted.  Instead of getting off however, she begins to lower herself down on you.
"I said get off you bitch!" roared the angry hare, advancing towards the bed.
She stopped however when the crazed snow leopard extended a set of razor sharp claws from her paw and held them over you.
"That's close enough Warder!" she hissed.  "I've been waiting too long for this!  If I can't have him then nobody can!  Leave now or I cut him open!"
She was crazy.  She had stopped barely a centimetre from your now throbbing member, close enough to feel the heat radiating off her engorged nethers.  Yet her claws were held shakily over your chest, it would only take a quick swipe to open you up like a fish at market...
An idea strikes you.  Looking over at Zelena you give a little wink, she doesn't react but you know she saw.
In one quick motion you buck your hips just enough to boop her dripping nethers with your tip and send her jumping up in surprise.  It's all the opening that Zelena needs.  She darts forward and hits the distracted snow leopard with one of her powerful kicks.
Evetta is sent flying backwards and into the other waiting girls.  
Unfortunately (some might say), the leap behind the kick was a little too powerful, it carried Zelena straight up onto the bed.  As Evetta flew away, the hare fell back onto the bed, onto you.
Shaking her head she is left face to face with your still standing to attention manhood.  
She freezes.  Seconds pass as her violet eyes just continue to stare at it.
"Uhh Zelena?" you say uneasily.  "Hate to interrupt but... any chance you could untie me?"
Your words break whatever spell she was under and she scrambles wordlessly from the bed.  She uses her daggers to cut your restraints and quickly moves over to the fallen pile of fur on the ground, making sure they don't move while you get up.
Once you find your clothes, get dressed and retrieve your shield, the two of you make your way back out the front door.  As it closes however, you look back in time to see Sephie on her knees at the bottom of the stairs.  The fur around her eyes is soaked with tears and her paw is stretched out and reaching out to you.
"Please...  don't leave us..." she whimpers, but then you're gone.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 11

It's been a little while now since you both escaped from the Widow's Watch, neither of you daring to break the silence as you trudge as swiftly as possible through the snow.  Since the appearance of the Legion here the weather had taken a turn for the worse.  Instead of a perfect, glistening snowy plain, a harsh wind batters the landscape and brings a blanket of fresh snow with it.  Zelena had told you that there shouldn't be any storms here as it was just supposed to be a recreation of the living world those who come here had left.  After the black armoured warrior had attacked however, it had been anything but calm.
You are worried about Zelena.  With what had happened up there you didn't blame her for not wanting to talk about it, but with the weather getting worse than before there was a real concern of her succumbing to the cold again.  Your own body heat had continued to rise since leaving the inn, from not being bothered by the cold you had escalated to feeling uncomfortably warm.  At any other time you would start to worry about hypothermia being the cause but the growing mark on your arm told you it was far worse than that.
"Hey Zelena!  How much further until we reach the end of this?" you yell, struggling to make yourself heard over the wind.  When she turns back you can only just make out her face hidden under the folds and hood of her cloak.
"We should have reached it already!" she shouts back.  "Either the snow has spread beyond it's borders or the landscape is changing somehow!"
She's doing her best to hide it, but you can tell she's struggling with the cold.  The sound of her teeth chattering together was a giveaway in itself without the weary look in her eyes.
"You can't keep on going like this!  You'll end up collapsing again!"  The wind is still forcing you to shout but with her hearing you know that she understands what you're saying.  "Either we need to find some shelter or we're going to have to share your cloak again!  I've still got heat to spare here!"
Her eyes go wide and she actually takes a step back from you, the idea of sharing suddenly seeming to fill her with what looks like horror.
"N-no A-anon!" she stutters from under her hood.  "There's n-no need for that, I'm fine!"
Why the sudden reluctance you wonder?  Granted she got an unexpected eye full of you back in that crazy situation up the hill but considering you had been physically carrying her around up until that point...
Not waiting for you to voice any further suggestions she turns and marches off, apparently preferring to continue on and freeze rather than consider any alternatives.
It wasn't long however until you saw the tell tale signs of her struggling again, the shorter steps, the more frequent stumbles...
You don't know if it was luck or providence that caused you to take a tumble, but as your footing gave way below, you slipped and rolled down a few feet of hill.  The reason you considered luck to be the culprit behind it was because as you came to a stop you were almost directly in front of a small opening that burrowed into the hillside.  Some ready made shelter where you could perhaps catch your breath and for Zelena to get out of the cold.
With a shout you mange to catch her attention and guide her to your find, she seemed all to pleased to climb in through the narrow gap than get any closer to you but at least she would be out of the bitter winds.  Once you were both inside you use your shield to block the entrance.  This effectively cut out all light and plunged you into darkness, but at least there wasn't much of a draft.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
The little tunnel had opened up into a small chamber a little way in, it was smaller than the cave from before and the lack of any ventilation would make a campfire a really poor idea, if you had anything to start a fire with or the space for one that is.
After a few minutes of just sitting there in the dark, the almost silence started to eat at you.  Only the noise of Zelena's teeth still knocking together could be heard.
As you were considering how best to break this uncomfortable atmosphere that had developed between you a gentle light appeared in the centre of the chamber.  It bathed your surroundings in a pale glow of what looked to be almost moonlight, a small orb rising up from the hare's cupped paws looked to be the source.  It continued to slowly rise until it came to rest against the ceiling, you almost expected it to burst like a wayward bubble upon touching the rough surface but it instead just hung there, much like a miniature moon.
You look to Zelena for an explanation, your mouth agape as you struggle to comprehend how such a thing can be.
"Remember I told you that we Warders have access to some 'perks' as a part of our service to the Goddess?" she asked with a little smile.  "I was granted the ability to light the darkness with a spark of the Lunar Godesse's power.  I can shine her light where normally it could not reach."
You were impressed, but unless it provided the warmth of the sun as well as the light of the moon it wasn't going to help her much.
With your vision restored you could see that she had sat herself on the opposite side of the chamber.  She had wrapped herself up tight in the cloak but was still shivering, the walls and floors were a mix of dirt and stone so even out of the elements it was still freezing.
Most worrying though was the way she seemed to be unable to even look at you, her head was turned to the left with her eyes staring down at the floor.
"Zelena?" you ask uneasily.  "Are we... Ok?"
The two of you had spent quite some time in these strange lands together, talking and telling each other things here that you had not spoken of to anyone else in the land of the living.  The thought that the strange little bond that had developed between you had been harmed, or even broken, actually concerned you more than the brand marking your flesh.
After a long moment, she finally answered.  Her voice was distant at first and she held her eyes firmly at a point on the floor.
"Yes human, we are fine.  I'm just concerned that it's taking longer than it should to reach our destination."
Her voice had taken on a formal tone to it, and had she just called you human?  She hadn't done that since you first met and she was intent on stabbing you to death...
"Wait, you've gone back to calling me 'human' now?  I know things got pretty crazy up there but..."
She finally lifted her gaze from the floor and fixed it on you, but it was anger shining in her violet eyes this time.
"A bit crazy?  Those... deviants!  They almost..."
She seemed lost for words for a second, and you remember that you were not the only one alone at their mercy.
"Zelena, are you ok?  Did something happen up there when-"
She leaned forward suddenly and her eyes flashed with something deeper than anger.
"Yes!  It did!  I saw first hand the effect that your kind has on those it meets!  Those women were broken!  All they could think about was the humans that had taken them from the path that the Goddess has laid for them!  Instead of coming here to heal and reconnect with their natures they just festered like an open wound!  Even in death your people don't stop hurting those they corrupt!"
Her voice had risen sharply and she was near shouting volume towards the end.  Your not sure what happened in that other room but...
The memory of the snow leopard Sephie came back to you, the look of desperate despair, and loneliness, that had marked her whiskered face as you fled.  Granted the crazed felines had drugged and then tried to have their wicked way with you but...
"Have you thought that it might not just be my people's fault that those girls ended up like that!" you interject.  "Yes the humans who took them from their tribes also took them from their traditions but...  The way they spoke about their 'husbands' didn't sound like just madness to me.  It was like they had been separated from their loves and had fallen apart.  If our souls really do go to separate places in the end then they'll never see those men again..."
Zelena's jaw had dropped open at your words, disbelief written across her features.
"How can you even think to defend them after they tried to... I mean they tied you down and..."
She was getting more and more worked up about this, perhaps it would be best to wave the white flag for now...
"Ok fine." you say, holding your hands up.  "Lets just agree to disagree for now, there's no point arguing about it."
The hare however seemed strangely reluctant to drop it.
"No!  I mean how could you think that they actually felt anything for those humans that took them?  They were obviously tormented in some way to act like that!  It's not natural for them to feel that way for a human, it's impossible, and wrong!"
You had already tried pulling out of this conversation so who was she trying to convince here?  Still, if she wanted to argue the point...
"If anything I'm starting to think it's this place that's wrong!" you shoot back, your own voice starting to rise.  The anger on her face is now tempered once more with shock, but you don't give her a chance to cut you off again.
"Let's just say that in death, those girls had been able to meet up with their human men again?  What would have happened?  Would they have built another little inn and tried capturing people again, or would they have spent time actually resting in peace?  The way I see it they were dumped here by a so called Goddess without compassion and told to forget about everything they loved and go back like it never happened.  Is it any surprise they went nuts?"
One of her violet eyes was actually twitching now, but you were on a roll.
"Its this place that's wrong!  All I've seen since I got here is lost souls left in servitude or torment not because they were bad, but because they didn't follow some damned path!  If they loved each other then how could that be wrong!?!"
Anger had won out over the shock on her face, she looked ready to blow.
"How can it be... wrong!?!" she nearly screamed.  "I-its unnatural!  I-its wrong!  How could you even-"
At this point she had tried jumping to her feet, but only succeeded in hitting her head on the low ceiling.
With a cry she dropped down to her knees, holding her head in her paws as crumbs of dirt still fell down from above.
You get up to your own knees and shuffle over to see if she's ok.  As you reach out she tries pulling back away again, but you catch her paw and hold it gently yet firmly.  
"Damn Zelena your frozen!"
Her furry paw was like ice in your overwarm hand, she was visibly shivering too.
"G-get back..." she sobbed, tears now building in her eyes.
Instead you pull her into a hug, returning the ones she had given you back up on the mountain at last.
She seemed to crumple into your arms as you pulled her back down with you to sit on the floor and against the wall.
You both just sat there, her head pressed to your chest as you held her close and rode out the sobs that shook her smaller frame.
In time she calmed down, the sobbing stopped and she sat herself up so that she was sitting side by side with you.
"Listen... I'm sorry if I upset you just now..." you begin, but she slowly shakes her head.
"No Anon, it's just...  Since you came here nothing seems to make sense anymore.  I used to feel pride in being a Warder but now... you were right about it being no different to your Legion.  I'm going to be trapped here forever, watching over other lost souls as they try find peace knowing I will never find it myself."
She shivered again, so you pull her in closer, shifting the cloak so it covers the two of you and traps in your raised body heat.  It should help warm her back up.  She doesn't resist.
"I don't know if I can forgive the actions of the women back there, there was a madness there, a need that wasn't completely natural.  Yet...  I have only ever seen that kind of dedication between those who have been paired for life.  Back among my own clan,  remember I told you that the females are competed for?  As prizes?"
You nod, aware that she has slipped her arms around you and is now resting her head upon your shoulder, apparently trying to get as close to your warmth as possible.
"For most this would result in a marriage of convenience.  The women would have a new clan and would bare children, the men would have someone to raise his offspring and see to his needs.  For some though... it was different.  I could tell.  They would lock eyes at the trials and it was like they chose each other...  They would return together hand in hand, it wasn't like the rest, they were together because they wanted to be..."
You were now starting to get a sense of the conflict raging within her.  
From her life before she was punished for trying to break free of the traditions that bound her, even though she had longed for the comfort they might have brought.  She had hated seeing the women of the Widow's Watch brought so low by their desire of human companionship, and yet...
She was slowly starting to warm up, your warm body more than sufficient to chase the chill away.  Yet you can feel that her paws are still cold, it's taking longer for the ice to leave her smaller extremities.
You reach down under the cloak and hold the paw that is resting on your chest into your hand, without a word you just hold it there, contented for the moment to just be there.
Zelena's breath catches in her throat as a result and she shifts her head to look up at you.
Returning the look, you gaze into those big violet eyes, wondering how something so beautiful could have been forced to see so much...
Your own breath catches as she gently reaches up and plants a tender kiss on your lips, the fur tickling slightly as it brushed against you.
You return her affection, losing yourself, your problems, your fears, in those sweet tasting lips... until she breaks off and pulls away.
For a moment you worry that you have overstepped, that in responding so eagerly you've scared away whatever just happened.  It's her who speaks first however, and not with the words you thought she would ever say.
"I want you to show me Anon.  I want you to show me what those leopards and wolves saw in humans that changed them so.  I want you to... be mine,"
Any surprised response you might have blurted out died in your throat as her lips once again found yours.  Her tongue pushed its way inside and found yours, a strange but pleasant experience considering it was so small in comparison to your own.
As the now more animated hare began to shift from your side to your lap, the last of your worries and regrets retreated from sight.  Zelena occupied your full attention, your thoughts, your senses and, without even fully realising it at the time, that formerly cold and empty place in your heart too.
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Chapter 12
If there's one thing that you've learnt during your travels its that time waits for no man, particularly in this strange place.  Right now however, time has stopped, or at least it ceases to matter so much anymore.
All you know is the hare currently sat on your lap, kissing you with what you can only describe as a rising hunger.
In the ethereal light cast by the softly glowing orb you hold each other close,  neither willing to release the other.  Eventually however, it was Zelena who broke contact.  Something had drawn her attention away from your lips.
She moved back slightly, pulling the cloak away with her.  In the heat of the embrace something had started to poke into her thigh, something of yours.  As you caught your breath she sat astride your legs, staring downwards at the developing bulge.  She had already seen what hid within back at the inn, she had stared at it in horror at the time.  Now she bit her lip, eager to see it once more but hesitating to take the next step.
"We don't have to do this if your not sure..." you whisper.  As right as this feels, you want, no need her to feel it too.
In response she gives you a smile, one of reassurance but with a twinkle in her eye.  Without speaking she drops the cloak from around her shoulder to the ground behind her, the silver of her armour glitters in the light.
Reaching up to her side, just below her armpit, she begins pulling on a hidden buckle.  Her paws are shaking, either through nerves or the still present cold, and she cant quite get it loose.
You slowly reach across and offer to help, gently pulling at the leather strap wound through the buckle and tugging it free.  Her whole body shudders as your fingers do their work, you don't think its from the cold this time.  Instead of continuing herself she directs your hands to the other side, and waits, holding her breath as you work the other strap free.
With the two buckles undone her breastplate hangs free from her neck and shoulders, so you lift it carefully up and over her head, making sure not to catch her long ears in the process.  Beneath you find her chest is bound tightly in blue wrappings, her paws are already moving to pull it free.  With surprising speed she unwinds it from around herself, eager to be free.
When it finally falls away you are able to take in her uncovered beauty.  The fluffy tuft of cream that had been only slightly poking out through the top of the armour now spread out unobstructed.  It flowed across her collarbone and curved down to a point around mid chest, to your eye it almost formed the shape of a heart...
It was what poked out either side of the lower point of fluff that made your jaw drop.  Two perky little breasts blossomed out, each marked by a dark point that could only be the nipples.  You notice that their very much hard and standing to attention, either its a reaction to the cold in here or...
"Well?" she demanded.  "H-how do I compare to your human women?  A-am I too different?  T-too strange?"
You realise she's already starting to doubt herself, she may have never seen a human woman to compare herself against but she had seen the snow leopards back at the inn, their 'assets' had been... substantial.
You provide the only response you can.  Taking hold of her paws in your hands, you stare into her eyes and speak the truth.
"Your perfect."
You then raise her paws to your face and place a gentle kiss upon each.
"You are beautiful, if I found my way somehow back to the world of men and lived my life again a hundred times over, I know I would not find another like you."
At your words fresh tears formed at the corners of her big violet eyes, but she didn't cry.  Instead she blinked them away and replaced them with a look of almost predatory hunger.
Her confidence restored she began tugging at your tunic, forcing you to quickly assist in pulling it off lest she tear it from you.  Next she sat back further, off of your legs and on to the spread cloak, where she began pulling at your boots and pants with the same fervour.  Soon you were sat almost completely naked, only your meager undergarments between her and your now throbbing erection.
Zelena had already moved up onto her knees and was pulling at some straps and clasps under the plates on her hips, soon even that had fallen away along with the various other segments around her body.  
As the last of your own clothes fall away, your plans of easing her into things slowly take a turn in the opposite direction.  The needy hare lunges forwards and pins you to the wall, her lips once more locking with yours.
Your hands get to work exploring her body, one finding its way along her side and up to her breast, cupping and gently squeezing, eliciting a shaky gasp from her.  Your other hand reaches around and slowly glides down the silken fur on her back, only stopping when (with some surprise admittedly) you reach the base of her fluffy cotton tail.  Rather than pretend its not there you decide to experiment.
Keeping the base at the point where your thumb and index finger meet, you gently close your grip around it and lift upwards, stroking the small fluffy appendage between them and pulling your hand away.
The result was a husky moan from Zelena, the kissing stopped and her whole body shuddered once more.
"Enough playing." she whispered, her cheek pressed to yours now.  "Take me."
While you were pinned to the wall she had been on her knees over you, her arms and chest pressed to yours but her lower end kept infuriatingly clear of your crotch.  That was going to change.
Moving your hands down to her ample hips you pull her forwards and direct her down towards your waiting member.
You stop as you feel yourself glide up her inner thigh and reach her hot, wet opening.  With your cheek still pressed to hers you whisper.
"You ready?"
A small nod gives you the go ahead.  Slowly you pull her down onto you, your now diamond manhood pushing past her tight opening and working its way inside.
She gasps at the sensation, a fresh wave of shakes and shudders flowing through her, followed by a breathy moan.  You slow down your entry, worried that it might be to much, her response was to push herself down the rest of the way, not stopping until you were fully hilted within.
You take a second to fully enjoy the sensations rushing through you, the feeling of her hot tightness twitching and contracting around your member as she adjusted to you, the scent of her fur as she clutched tightly to you in your arms, the scent of her arousal filling the chamber, her heart beating fast within her chest...
With another husky moan she tried to lift herself back up, but her legs seemed to give out part way up and she came back down with a not unpleasant bump.  It looked like she needed some help though...  Either you could help lift her up as she tried to ride you or...
Planting a kiss on her neck, you lift her up in your arms slightly, careful not to pull her to far, and gently lay her back down on the cloak.  She doesn't resist or speak, her only response was to wrap her powerful legs around your waist and hold you tight.
She wasn't completely flat on her back, her hips had turned to the side slightly to accommodate her tail, but she was down, and she was ready.  
Slowly at first you pull out of her now sopping wet opening until only the tip remains within, then with a little more force you push back in, eliciting yet another moan from her.
You give a groan of exertion yourself, her walls seemed to contract as you pulled out, like they were reluctant to let you go, now as you push back in they clamp down on you from all sides.
You get into a steady rhythm, each thrust earning you another moan or desperate kiss from Zelena.  You slow down again when you realise she's trying to form words between each panting breath.
"Are you ok?" you manage to ask, yourself now out of breath.
"F-faster...  Please!" she moans.
You're more than happy to oblige, but with the way she's wrapped around you, getting more leverage would be tricky...
As you bring your hand down to try and pry her legs from around you, she gets the picture, loosening her grip.  Instead of waiting for you to reposition however, she takes the initiative.
She suddenly tightens her grip once more and shifts her weight, flipping you over onto your back and sitting atop.  You land with a curse, but any complaints would have to wait, her lips once again meet yours, cutting off any words daring to try pass them.
The weakness from before is gone, desire now driving her powerful legs and thighs to action.  She breaks her kiss and lifts herself up, no hesitation this time, and then brings herself back down again, hard.
Another husky moan escapes her mouth, her head thrown back and her clawed paws digging into your chest.
She begins to rise and fall with increasing speed as she starts riding you for all your worth.  Your hands reach up and grab ahold of her ass cheeks as they buck on top of you, holding on and squeezing in time with her.
As her speed increases you feel yourself getting closer, she has leaned more forward now so she can look into your eyes as she bounces on you.  The look in her eyes tells you she's almost there too.
You push your hips up to meet hers as she continues to ride, adding your own need into the mix.
Just as you feel yourself about to lose control she brings herself down much harder than before, and screams.  Her head snaps back, her tongue hangs from the side of her mouth and you feel her squeeze tight around your aching manhood.  She screams your name out into the echoing chamber as she orgasms, a hot wetness dribbling down towards your sack.
This in turn pushes you over your own edge, your fingers dig into her ass cheeks as you cum, releasing your seed deep inside her.  Her tight folds quiver and squeeze, almost desperately milking every last drop coming from you.  For a time she continues to rock against you, her hips riding out the aftershocks.
When finally you are both spent, she falls weakly to your side, both of you panting and shaking.  You pull her in close and wrap the cloak around you both, cocooning you together in the warmth of your afterglow.
"A-anon..." she whispers, not quite able to speak fully just yet.
"T-that was..." you try to respond, but you too have yet to recover.
Instead, you both choose to lay there together in silence, a feeling of belonging and contentment that neither of you had experienced before filling the void.
Time, time waits for no man.  In this fleeting moment of happiness however, you hold her close and know a peace that not even the gods could grant.  Whatever may come next, you were glad to be dead.
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Chapter 13

You don't know how long it's been, the two of you just laying here in each other's arms like this, but you know it can't last forever.
Following the mad passion that overtook you, sleep had come to claim Zelena.  You had pulled her in close and in turn, she had wrapped herself around you, her arms around your chest, her legs intertwined with yours, and her head resting upon your shoulder.
You held her in your own arms, but you couldn't follow her into blissful slumber, as much as you wanted to it wasn't an option.
Your branded arm had begun to ache.
It had been causing you pain since that first nightmare but now it almost pulsed with discomfort, the only time it had felt this bad was when the black armoured legionnair had stepped out of your dream and attacked in reality.  You feared it could mean only one thing, that it was coming back, or another of it's kind even.
It had struck you that the dreams and attack had only come as you slept, the only exception being when the Widow's drugged you.  To sleep now would be too risky.
Really, you should have woken Zelena and told her your fears, of the pain and possible approach of the enemy.  Her peacefully sleeping form however had killed the words long before you could give voice to them, you knew this moment was already beginning to crumble away, that soon it would end, but you couldn't help but try and keep it intact for just a little while longer.
A sudden rumbling from her throat snapped you from your anxious thoughts, she stirred at your side, and you realised why guiltily.  As your mind ate away at itself, the problems and concerns slowly building back up, you had been unconsciously rubbing the tip of one of her long silky ears between your thumb and finger, a result of your anxiety, and it had woken her up.
"I'm sorry." You whisper.  "I didn't realise that I was doing it until-"
She interrupted you with a sleepy mumble, the words only just forming into something coherent.
"Mmmhhh... don'ttt sstopppp..."
She was actually enjoying it?
Again, the part of your mind that valued self preservation above all else called on you to rouse her fully and get moving.  Instead however, you resume gently rubbing the tip of her ear.
As you start to pay attention to what your doing you begin to see the effect it has on the still sleepy hare.  Some gentle rubbing and soothing seems to loosen her grip around your chest as she relaxes more and melts at your touch, some firmer massaging of her ears however cause her to hold on a little tighter, one of her legs even starts to twitch and kick slightly.
Being totally absorbed by your ministrations, taking mental notes for possible future reference, you don't hear the new sounds until they are nearly on top of you.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
With each sound a small sprinkling of dirt dislodged itself from the ceiling and scattered around you.  There was something stomping around right above you.  Just as the now intensified throbbing in your arm told you exactly what it was, you knew deep down that it felt you too, that it was up there looking, and puzzling, why it couldn't see you.
Zelena began to shift unhappily at your side, you had stopped paying attention to her ears and she was getting impatient.
The moment of peace you had shared with her was now gone, there could be no more pretending it would last forever.  It was time to move.

As carefully and quietly as you could, you wake Zelena up, trying to make sure she doesn't speak or even yawn with what was stalking about above.
"Zelena..." you whisper, your voice barely more than a breath.  "We've got to go, the Legion is here and it's not safe anymore."
As she roused herself you had your hand gently pressed over her mouth, not enough to obstruct her breathing but to stop her from talking.  As soon as she looked into your worried eyes however, she understood.
In as much speed as could be silently mustered you both got dressed.  Fitting Zelena's wrappings and amour back in place was a two person job but even now, you couldn't help but enjoy the closeness that came from strapping her up.  If her silent reactions were anything to go by, neither could she.
Eventually you were all set to go, even the cloak, which had been somewhat soiled by the mixture of fluids left upon it, had been seen to.  With a wink, she had given it a light shake before wearing it again, the result had been the disappearance of every trace of dirt and wear.  Another perk, she had whispered, can't have Warders going about their business with dirty cloaks, especially with no facility to wash so a simple shake would refresh them.
One plus side of your brand was that you could use it to work out roughly where the stalking fiend was up above.  With a bit of concentration you could just work out that it had moved away from the little entrance blocked by your shield.
As quickly as you can, you push out and clear the built up snow with the shield and crawl out, Zelena following closely behind.  Without looking back you both head once more down the hillside, eager to lose what was searching for you in the darkened flurries.
With each step you feel the ache die down a bit, a good indication that you had successfully snuck away.  You knew though that it was a temporary relief, it had your scent now, it would catch up eventually...
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Zelena had told you what to expect once leaving the snowfields, a mixture of marsh and wetlands to accommodate some of the more exotic people's that still existed out in the world your kind hadn't met, or conquered, yet.  Beyond that would be a small stretch of empty land that wasn't so much dangerous but designed to not really be accommodating to anything, there would be the gate to Nexus.  There shouldn't be any more hills, mountains, forests or even thickets to block your path, just some boggy and uneven terrain, but an otherwise straight line to your goal.
Upon reaching the end of the snow however, things were not as they should be.
Where the ice stopped only dead or dying brush continued.  Instead of water logged plains and greenery there was only decay, the moonlight barely peeking through a dark layer of dirty, low hanging clouds, casting a pale withering glow over it all instead of the glittering beauty you had come to expect.
"This isn't right..." whispered Zelena sullenly.  "How could this happen?  All of this should be alive...  What could have done this?"
You had your suspicions.
"Could it be because of the brand, because of me?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
"What?  You...  No it couldn't be..."
She didn't seem to want to believe it.
"You said it yourself when you first saw the marks on my arm.  The brand connects me to what we now know to be the Legion, you said that the longer I remain the more out of balance this place becomes.  All of this... (You gesture towards the devistation) must be the result.  It must be happening faster than we thought..."
She turned to face you, a remarkably stern look on her face.
"We don't know it's because of you.  How could it have even come ahead of you when the lands you have actually touched weren't  so affected?  There's no point worrying about something we can't even explain yet.  Let's just keep moving and get to the Nexus, there we should hopefully get some answers."
Before you could offer any further complaint, she grabbed your hand and started pulling you along.  Even after you had surrendered to her point and matched her pace, she didn't let go.
As you walked hand in hand through the dusty waste that was a wetland, you realise that neither of you have spoken about what had happened back in that chamber.  She had clutched to you tightly without any concern as you left the icy lands and she was comfortable with your touch now, but her thoughts were still a mystery.
"Zelena?" you ask suddenly, hesitant to break the comfortable silence between you but wanting to talk.
"About what happened back up in the snow, the time we spent together..."  You struggle to find the right words.  "What did it mean?  To you I mean?"
She slowed her pace slightly, but your hand was still held tightly in her furry paw.
"Are you worried Anon?" she asked playfully.  "That what happened was some sort of trick?  Or perhaps that you have 'corrupted' me somehow like those others we met?  That you took advantage of the poor helpless hare girl in her moment of weakness?"
She continued on before you could formulate a response, pulling you in closer.
"I like what happened." she said simply with a sigh.  "I wanted it, wanted you."
It takes a second for her words to make it through, but your glad she's holding you when they do.
"Good, because I feel the same way." you respond.  "I was just worrying that..."
She looks up at you and smiles.
"That it somehow wasn't what I wanted too?  The way I remember it I'm the one who claimed you in the end..."
You stop and pull her into an embrace, locking your lips with hers as she reaches up on her tip toes.  She only stops to let you breath again when you reach down and give her ass cheek a firm squeeze with your free hand, causing her to gasp, and then lightly tap you on the face playfully with her paw.
With a grin plastered across both of your faces, you continue onwards, the murky surroundings suddenly not looking so bleak.
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Your time with Zelena wandering through the wastes is spent either silently enjoying each others company or exchanging stories from your youths in an effort to distract your attentions from the grim surroundings.  There's another problem however that soon forces a more serious mood.
Just as she is giggling at the story about how you once broke the local tax collector's foot as a boy with a poorly aimed horseshoe, you stop in your tracks and groan in pain, doubling over as you clutch at your burning arm.
"Anon!" she shouts, doing her best to keep you standing.
At your feet is a body, obviously not human but charred black and twisted in agony.  It looks to have been some sort of birdman, until recently.
"What is..." she asks, struggling to focus her attention on the grizzly find while worrying about you.
The deep slash going from its neck to its abdomen however gives you a good idea of what this is.
"The Legion..." you wheeze.  "Must be close. I can feel it..."
It's not a legionnair however that sends you both jumping out of your skin.
"Zelena?  Is that you?"
Spinning around you see a group of silver clad warriors, Warders by the look of it.  Most are of races you recognise, wolves, a couple of bears and a large feline you have never seen the like of before.  It stands taller than you, with a thick set build, large shining armour plates and a gleaming black coat of silken fur.  It, no she, looks to be the one in charge, and the one addressing Zelena.
"What is this?  Explain yourself!"
Realising that if this newcomer is some sort of commander figure then Zelena holding you like this is not going to look very good for her.  You pull yourself free of her grip, or at least try to.  She keeps you standing right where you are.
"Captain Aailyah!  I have news of the current situation and a way to hopefully remedy it!"
The captain (A panther apparently was what her race was called) narrowed her dark green eyes in response.
"I have already received a report Zelena, one that tells of your apparent betrayal of your station.  Tell me, is it true?  We're you complicit in the slaying of one of our own?"
The wolf that attacked before...  His cowardly friends must have reported back telling tales of how she had helped you end the smug shit, even though she was busy defending herself at the time you did the deed.
"It is not so simple captain." started Zelena.  "There are other forces at work here that-"
"So it's true..." interrupted the big feline.  "You are involved.  You were sent to find this... interloper, and report back with his head.  How is it that instead I find you here, right in the middle of this blight supporting him no less?  Explain!"
To your ears she wasn't really giving Zelena much of a chance to answer, so you do your best to stand up straight and speak for yourself.
"She's here because of me!" you yell, drawing the attention of the gathered Warders.
Zelena tugged at your arm in alarm.  "What are you doing!?!" she whispered urgently.
You carry on regardless.
"I was sent here to these lands by some sort of mistake, I don't know how, your Warder here offered to show me to the exit rather than dispoil the earth here with my human blood.  It was I who killed the wolf, he and his men attacked first and I had no choice but to defend myself.  If there is to be any blame here then it is mine to claim not hers."
Zelena looked on the verge of shouting at you but the big panther got to it first.
"You claim to be the one who slew our man?  Nonsense!"
Not the best reaction you could have hoped for...
"You claim she spared your life and stood by as you took that belonging to her comrade just to spare the land your taint?  She knows her business better than that human!  It would take time to wash away your stink but it would recover."
Zelena stepped in again, she could see the heckles and the weapons of the gathered warrior's starting to rise.
"It is true!  I spared him!  He bares a mark that-"
"I have heard enough!" bellowed the captain.  "Your continued defense of this human is damning enough even without the words of the witnesses.  The only question I have left it why?  How did this human turn you away from your duty so easily?"
You realised words alone weren't going to be enough by themselves, perhaps if you showed her the brand, she would see it for what it was like Zelena had?  Granted she had to get really close...
"Please, look at this!"
You try showing her your aching arm, stepping closer in the process.  As the two of you approach however, the captain's nose twitches and shock spreads across her features.
"What is that..."
The shock turns to disgust, she draws her weapon and hisses her next words at your companion.
"So that is it Zelena?  That is why you protect him so?"
You turn to look at Zelena, wondering what the hell was going on now.  The expression on her face however is unreadable.
"I can smell him on you!" hissed the panther.  "I had doubted the reasoning of the Goddess to add you to our number but for you to betray us like this?  To fall so low!?!"
Zelena remained silent, unable to withstand the now horrified stares of her former brothers and sisters in arms.
"End them, end them both!" the captain roared.
As they advanced you tried one last desperate time to make them see sense, to warn them of the Legion and the threat they posed.  Stepping between the shocked hare and the Warders, you raise your stricken arm up for them to see.
Instead of understanding however, your act elicits only more horror.
Your arm bursts into flame, it pours from the brand and stabs up at the sky.  You fall down to your knees as the pain takes hold, the marching of armoured feet shaking through your skull.
From the ground itself rises three armoured figures, coated in black and baring large rusted weaponry.  One has what looks like the burnt remains of your sword sticking out of its side.
The Legionairres focus their gaze on you, and screech their ungodly battlecries.
As they advance, your vision starts to go black and you feel yourself fall backwards.
The last things you make out before the darkness takes you are the cries of Captain Aailyah calling her men to arms, and of Zelena shouting your name.
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Chapter 14

Your in darkness again.  Something you really should have become accustomed to by now.
It's different this time though, instead of floating in a void or standing in a place with no light, it feels as though something blocks your vision.  That and the unbearable heat all around you.
As you try to move, you realise that your tied down to something.  Your in a sitting position and something that feels worryingly like shackles bind your wrists and ankles, there's also something pressing tightly against your throat.
A sudden burst of sound causes you to jump, nearly choking yourself against whatever bound you.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
You know that sound.  It's something you grew up hearing, that you had sworn never to go back to.  It was the sound of a hammer meeting anvil, the sound of a blacksmith.
As you begin to breathe heavily and struggle against your bonds the hammering stops, with a whoosh and a blinding burst of light, whatever was covering you is sharply pulled away.
When your eyes adjust you are greeted with the sight of an ancient forge.  It's not like the one your father owned though.  The furnace roars in front of you unattended, no bellows or other implements used to maintain the heat, the flames seem to twist and writhe of their own accord, producing a monstrous heat.
The walls are made of rusting metal, no stone or wood to be seen and a host of battered old tools hang from various points.  You can't move your head but you can tell that there's something to your immediate right, an orange glow flickers in your peripheral vision.
You are sitting in some sort of chair,  bound and naked.  Your sweat pours from you as the heat and growing fear do their work.
The glow shifts slightly and you feel the chair turn to face it, tortured metal beneath you screaming out its displeasure all the while.
In front of you now is an armoured warrior of the Legion, instead of the usual black however it's plates pulse red with barely contained heat.  You recognise it as the one from your dream in the woods, when you had first got a look at the horrors that pursued you.
It stood next to a huge black anvil, a glowing plate of metal held in place by a burning hand.  In its other it clutched a large hammer, you remember enough of your apprenticeship at your father's forge to see what it is doing, what the noise from before was.  It was beating out a plate of armour.
You try to renew your struggles but it's no use, you're held tight.  The glowing fiend had stopped its work to watch you struggle, it's visor covering whatever face might still remain but you feel it's eyes on you.  Then when you are spent, it speaks.
"Do you know why you are here Anon?"  It's voice is surprisingly human sounding, but there's a hollowness to it that sends a chill right to your core.
"Do you understand why this is happening?"
You don't particularly want to answer that question but something about it's voice, it's stare, this whole place even seems to compell a response.
"Your from the Legion." you manage to croak.
"Yes Anon." it answers, seemingly pleased by your feeble response.  "It's good that you understand, it is the first step towards accepting your fate."
"When you fail to ask the question he decides to answer if for you anyway.
"Your here Anon because you made a pledge, an oath in blood upon the stone to serve in life and be rewarded in death.  An oath that you failed to keep.  As such your soul belongs to the Legion now.  You will serve with us from now until the end."
At that he returned to hammering out the metal upon his anvil, sparks and flames shooting out with each thunderous stroke.  You got the sense however that this creature was a talkative type, why else would it have bothered explaining all of this?
"Who are you?"  Each word was a burning burden to work out your dried and cracked lips, but if you could get him talking then maybe you could find a way to get out of here.
He stopped his work once more and turned back to face you.
"I was once known in life as Cornelius, I am the first."
The name rung a bell, from your days in training where all recruits were required to spend time attending sermons at the temple.  The first...  Did he mean...
"The first... to join the Legion?" you ask carefully.
"I am the Legion." was his response.  There was no pride in his words however, just a cold statement of fact.
"I was the first of the young Republic's soldiers to take the vow of service, the first to plant his mark upon the stone.  When I ran from my duty I was sent here.  My armour became my prison, my shame the everburning flames that burn within it, my broken and shattered honour dogs my every footstep.  It is my duty to take all those that come afterwards and forge them their own armour, their own shame will burn to the heat of their disgrace.  Then I will lead them onwards forever more until finally we are as nothing."
Well, you wanted him talking...
"If your fate is to just march then why were you hunting me?"  Another more pressing thought causes you to interrupt his reply.
"Wait, where is Zelena?  She was there when you...  Where is she!?!"
The thing once known as Cornelius simply watched with pitying eyes as you again buck and struggle against your bonds.
"Your worldly companions mean nothing to us.  Only you are our concern.  It was unfortunate that you chose to hide in such a place from us, much harm was done, another burden to our already unforgivable crimes, but there can be no running from fate.  No running from the Legion."
He turned away again and resumed his hammering.
"What do you mean not your concern?  Is she ok?  What happened to her?  Tell me damn you!?!"
He didn't answer this time, instead he picked up the piece he had been working on and added it to a pile in a small fire pit next to him, where is continued to burn hotter still but somehow not melting.
The chair you were bound to then suddenly  creaked and grinded underneath you, changing shape and forcing you to stand upright.  Your captor then picked up another piece of burning armour from the pile and turned back to face you.
"Do you know what this is Anon?" he asked, his emotionless voice striking a full shard of ice into you where there had been a chill before.
"This is the armour I have forged just for you.  It will accompany you on your long march as a part of you until the end of days.  Do you have any final words before I bind it to you?  Any final regrets?"
You begin shaking your head, this couldn't be happening... could it?  Was this really how it ends, or how your eternal afterlife truly begins?  You wouldn't even get to see Zelena again, although you had only been together a short time this thought seemed to hurt the most.
"No!  No no no no no!!!" you shout.  "This can't be it!  I only took that stupid oath because they made everyone do it!  I didn't believe it was real!  How can you do this when it wasn't even a choice!?!"
He took a step closer, the still red hot armour plate in his hand and moving towards your uncovered flesh.
"You made your mark on the stone Anon, in your own blood.  There isn't any going back now, not for you, not for any of us who are sent to serve.  We don't know how you managed to evade our call for so long but the end will be the same regardless."
As you try and press yourself as far back into your restraints as you can, the searing heat of the metal plate inches ever closer.  Just as you begin to despair however, another painful sensation hits you.  It felt like someone had slapped you across the face, hard.
Cornelius kept on talking regardless, but it wasn't him who had slapped you...
"In death you will serve as you should have..."
"..non?"
"...In life.  You will carry your dishoner with you as..."
"Anon?  Answer me!"
Another sharp slap made your head spin, but there was another voice, breaking through his droning.  A voice so tantalizingly familiar...
Cornelius had realised there was something amiss however.  He had stopped his little speech and was staring at you in disbelief.
"What is this?  How can you be..."
As your head continues to spin and the slaps keep on coming, your surroundings blur and begin to fade away.  Your captor however makes his anger very much known.
"No one can leave!  No one who is claimed may walk free!  We will have what is ours Anon!  Even if we have to march on the heavens themselves we will take what belongs to us!" 
The deafening rage of the Legionairre faded from your senses as something else resolves itself in your vision, a worried hare that you had feared would be lost to you forever, as she continued to beat the everloving hell out of your face.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
You awaken with a deep gasp for air, sucking it down like a drowning man as life returned to you.
Zelena was sitting on top of you and had been mid slap when you nearly threw her off, her shriek of surprise was music to your ears that were still ringing with the sound of hellish hammerstrikes.
As you pant and wheeze you realise your laid out on the hard dusty ground of the lands you had lost consciousness in, you were fully clothed but feeling very much like shit.
As Zelena bends forward to clutch at your aching face you reach up and pull her down into a tight hug, of all the things you were currently very thankful for, the feeling of her again in your arms was right up there at the top.
Eventually she manages to pry herself loose, or at least enough to sit back up and look at you anyway.
"Anon your awake!  I thought I'd lost you!"
You blink your eyes to clear your now blurry vision and try to compose yourself.
"How long was I gone?  What happened to you when they took me?  Are you ok?" you ask.  There's a whole host of other questions fighting to be asked too but these will do for now.
She gives you a worried look for a moment before answering.
"Gone?  Taken?  What do you mean?  You've been here with me!  After the Legion attacked and started fighting with the Warders you just toppled over.  I thought you were...  Anyway I managed to drag you out of there in the confusion and pulled you as far away as I could but your really a lot heavier than you look.  Then you started calling out but you wouldn't wake up so I... gave you a little bit of encouragement."
"You started hitting me until I woke up you mean..." you  respond, but without any anger.  It had worked after all.
"Do you mean I was asleep all this time?  I mean, I was there...  The Legion had me and they were..."
Your recollection stalled as you notice that Zelena is hurt.  There's a nasty gash cutting along her left bicep, the small pad of armour had been torn away too.  Her breastplate also had a big dent running along her right hand side and there were a number of other nicks and cuts here and there that told the story what must have been a pretty heavy battle.
"Your hurt!" you exclaim.  "Are you alright?  What happened?"
She pulled herself off and sat down in the dirt beside you instead, keeping her wounded arm turned away.
"Its nothing, just a few scratches from when I pulled you out of there.  Neither the Warders or the Legion wanted to let you leave but luckily for us they were to busy fighting each other to stop me leaving, it got a bit hairy but it could have been worse."
You know she's not telling the full story here but decide not to push it for now.  Instead another question comes to mind.
"You said I was calling out just now?  Could you make out what I was saying?"  It probably wasn't important but some of the things from your visit to the Legion had already got a bit hazy, you had forgotten the name of that damned first Legionairre for one but perhaps it was one of the things you had called out...
She looked away before answering, almost as if she was feeling a little bashful about something.  Not something you had seen from her before actually.
"You were... well...  You were calling out my name... but it was like you were calling from somewhere far away..."
Oh wow, that must have been why she had decided to try rousing you with some hearty slapping rather than gentle shaking then...
"Thank you Zelena." you say, sitting up slowly.
"All I did was hit you until you woke up, there's no need to thank me Anon..." she responds, but your not finished.
"No I mean it.  I can't really explain it but I wasn't just knocked out or sleeping just now, I was there, held prisoner by the Legion.  "They were going to do something terrible to me, something that there would have been no coming back from.  Your voice... and your hitting, are what pulled me back from the brink.  You brought me back here.  I don't understand how but...  Thank you."
You pull her in for another hug and she returns it this time.  You spend the next few minutes just sitting there like that, but time had already given you one perfect moment and it wasn't in the mood to give you another.
A shriek rips across the empty plains from off in the distance causing you to break contact, Zelena's large ears shoot up as she tries to pinpoint the source.
There's no need however, as you stagger back to your feet you can feel which way it came from.  The ache in your arm had spread up and beyond your shoulder now, the throbbing gave you a good indication as to where to look.
In what must have been the direction Zelena had dragged you from, you can make out the dark silhouette of what could only be a Legionairre slowly marching towards your position.  It was still some way off but it knew you were there and was slowly homing in.
"Damn it!" grumbled Zelena.  "Either that one broke away from the fight to follow us or it's the winner.  Either way we can't stay here.  Can you walk?"
"Yes I think so." you say with a little groan.  "I might even be able to do a little jig in exchange for a kiss..."
Not even you could work out where that one came from, perhaps nearly getting encased in burning armour for all eternity had left you a bit... out of sorts.
Despite the approaching menace however, Zelena actually gave you a pleased little smile followed by a peck on the lips.
"Keep the jig, that one's on me.  We have to move though."
Holding on to Zelena for support you once again make your way towards your goal.  Between the distance already covered before your little nap and how far she had dragged you, there wasn't actually all that much left of the now dry wetlands to travel.  Soon the land would become featureless desert, the empty no man's land leading up to the Nexus.
If you had looked back for a bit longer then perhaps you would have seen the other black figures slowly rising out of the dirt and join the first.  The Legion was coming in force now to claim their new wayward recruit, one way or another they were not going to stop until satisfied.
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Chapter 15

You had wondered if perhaps you would even notice passing over into the final stretch of terrain, Zelena had described it as a 'no man's land' devoid of life or feature but with the decay that had met you at the wetlands it was doubtful there could be another place more desolate.
You were very wrong.
Upon hitting the border, everything changed.  The air lost all texture, the ground evened out into a flat and endless straight, the stars you remembered seeing at your arrival vanished from the night sky...
All that remained was an empty expanse of nothing, only the moon remained above to provide reference but even the light that shone from it was now more of a sickly hue.  She hadn't been exaggerating when she had said that no one would, or could try to live here.
Zelena no longer had to support you, strength had gradually returned with the more distance you put between yourself and the following warriors, but you branded arm now refused to move at all forcing you to tuck it in to a make shift sling across your chest.  The Legion may not have claimed you yet, but this brand made sure you knew that they still had no intention of letting you go either.
With nothing else to focus on you decided to see if you could get some answers about your final destination, about the Nexus.
"How does it work?" you ask.  "Is it an actual door like in the old goat's room that we just walk through or what?"
She considered your question for a moment, tugging at the strip of tunic you had used to bind her arm as she did.  Either she had been struck by one of the Legionairres' weapons or the Warders used something similar, her wound hadn't healed, much like the burns on her feet from before.  The chances of any special healing water sources out here were slim to none so you would have to make do for now.
"I can only tell you what I know, which actually isn't all that much..."
"Wait.  You don't know?" you ask, surprised that your guide didn't really know what waited at the end of your journey.
"The Nexus is supposed to be a point where the various realms of the Goddess meet, not so much for free travel between them, at least not in the traditional sense anyway.  We were told that it would be the final fall back point in the event of any calamity or if the realm was to be abandoned for any reason."
You look at her with a raised eyebrow.  "You planned for the loss of an entire section of the afterlife?"
She shrugged her shoulders.  "More that our captain did.  She had a contingency for just about everything that could possibly happen here.  Except for a human turning up it seems anyway.  They didn't tell us what would happen if we had to go there, just that 'the Goddess would provide'.  Whatever that means."
Great.  So no idea then.
Another question then came to mind.  One that hadn't occurred to you before but with each new revelation became a bit more noticeable.
"Actually there's something that's been bothering me..."
Zelena looked over at you questioningly.
"When you first saw the brand on my arm, you seemed to know what it was.  You said if I died here that the brand would be stuck here like an anchor and cause problems.  If you could tell that then why didn't you go warn your captain?  Why did you choose to escort me all this way yourself?"
As you spoke, Zelena's pace slowed slightly and her eyes began to stare down towards the ground.  When you finished asking, she didn't immediately answer.
You begin to worry that she wasn't going to answer at all, but with a sigh, she eventually responds.
"I wasn't quite telling the truth before."
"About what?  Did you know I was coming or something?"  The possibility that she knew more than she had been letting on caused a pit to open up in your stomach.
"No!  I don't mean about that!  I mean about..."
She had become quite flustered all of a sudden, but you believed that she wasn't lying about that at least.
"I said that I was proud to be a Warder.  That when the Goddess made me one it was an honour.  That was a lie."
You were a little shocked by this, she had always held herself with a certain air of... dignity.
"I'm sure you heard the captain back there, about how she had doubts about me being here?  Well it went deeper than that.  I was the only one of my kind ever to be assigned as a Warder, all the others are hunters, predators, you saw them.  Even though I knew how to fight, even though I'm faster than most of the others, I was a joke to them!  Every patrol, every assignment, I was treated as a child in costume Playing at war!  They made my existence miserable, I was the butt of every joke, the target of every prank!  They all went out of their way to make sure I knew I was inferior to them!  A good day was when I was sent somewhere alone or they chose to ignore me..."
There's tears forming in her eyes now as she speaks, except it's not tears of sadness or even anger you see there, it's shame.
"Zelena..." you start, but she has something to get off her chest and there's no stopping her now.
"Do you know what it's like Anon?  To be made a part of something that hates you?  To know that you can never leave?  That even if you did just turn and run that there was nowhere to go?  I'm trapped here forever...  When the order came to go find the intruder, to find you...  I was told to follow the wolves and 'assist if necessary'.  In other words, watch the 'real' Warders do their job and try not to get in the way."
It starts to dawn on you what she's getting at.
"That's why you came to find me on your own, why those wolves were so angry with you..."
She nodded.
"I thought if I dealt with things myself, if I proved that I was every bit as capable as the rest then they would have to treat me at least with respect!  As an equal!  When I saw the brand...  I should have reported it.  I should have tied you up or knocked you out or... something!  But I didn't.  Instead I decided to use you.  I made the choice to take you to the Nexus by myself."
Unwittingly you had pulled on a loose thread and unravelled a hidden ball of guilt.  Looking at it objectively, you could see why she would do what she had done, if even half of the things she had told you about her life here as 'one of the Goddesses' chosen' were true then she must have been desperate.
"If I had just taken you in to the others right at the start then maybe things would have worked out different...  The captain would have seen your brand and..."
She had slowed to a near crawl now and doing her best not to break out into full sobbing.  Her paws were wrapped into tight fists and she was starting to shake.
"If I had just swallowed my pride and accepted my place here we wouldn't be in this mess...  The wolves wouldn't have had reason to attack us and... and..."
You couldn't listen to any more.
"And then we wouldn't have gotten to know each other." you finish.  This causes her to look back up from the floor and lock her eyes with yours once more.
"Yes but-"
"No buts Zelena.  Yes things are bad.  Yes very little here makes sense to me anymore, and yes, there's a chance that your captain might not be so inclined to run me through if she knew about my arm.  A lot of things have happened here that shouldn't have.  If I had stayed at home and become a blacksmith like my old man wanted instead of going off to war then chances are I wouldn't even be here at all.  There's no point worrying about it though, things happen, either by chance or by design.  Whatever the reason is that brought me here I'm glad that we got to spend this time together.  Do you... feel the same?"
She stood there just blinking at you, her tears dripping down her silken cheeks.  Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to form a response.  Her face displaying a number of different emotions in quick succession but not settling on one for more than a second.
Eventually, she dropped her head and broke down, her shoulders bobbing up and down in time with her sobs.
You step forward and pull her in close with your one good arm, she buries her head into your chest in response.
After a while of just holding her there, and stroking her long ears with your good hand, she pulls back and speaks.
"Why Anon?  Why is it that my own kind in life treated me as something to be won or claimed, that the people I am supposed to serve with in death treat me like dirt?  Why is it that the one human I meet, one of those who created the weapons that destroyed my people, the one who I should hate the most... is the only one who has ever treated me... like me?"
You pull her back in and plant a kiss on the tip of her fuzzy nose.
"How could I not?  I meant what I said before, you are one of a kind and despite everything I feel blessed to have met you."
Her sobbing threatens to start up again, but you are aware that time is growing short.  Your arm is slowly starting to throb again and over Zelena's shoulder you can make out the shapes of distant armoured figures slowly marching their way towards you.
"Come on." you whisper softly.  "We can't stay here, not for much longer anyway.  The Legion is coming and we have to move."
With a last little sniffle she manages to compose herself once more, the calm and collected Zelena you had come to know and respect was back in control.
"Ok, let's move.  I'm not sure how much further it is but I think we're getting closer.  I can feel it."
With that you resume your own march forwards, moving ever closer to your mysterious goal.  Hoping against hope that there was something there that could help you out of this whole mess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
After another small eternity of walking you had begun to suspect that there was nothing here in this empty waste to find.  If it wasn't for Zelena's word that you were getting closer then chances are that you would have turned back long ago, or gone mad.
When you did finally reach the outskirts of your goal, the reason behind its absence fro the empty horizon became apparent.  The flat terrain dipped into a gentle slope that led down to what looked like a crater of some kind.  Anyone looking for it from a distance wouldn't have been able to spot it until right there with it.
Once you make your way down to the centre a new problem becomes apparent, there doesn't seem to be anything here.
You both set about splitting up and searching the vicinity, kicking at the ground, looking for any symbols or clues.   After a while however you both meet up again back in the middle and sit down upon the floor.
"I don't understand..." grumbled Zelena.  "This is the place, I know it is!  I can feel it!  So where it the Nexus?  There's no door or sign or anything!"
Your only able to focus on about half of her words at this point.  A deep fatigue had risen up and gripped you during this last stage of the journey and the heat within had reached almost fever like levels.  You shake your head, trying to clear your thoughts a little, but only one thing shakes loose.
"You said that the Goddess would provide... or something..."
She perks up a bit at your words, they seemed to have triggered something for her.
"Of course!  Why didn't I think of that!  Anon I could kiss you!"
"Nexus first... kiss later..." you mumble.
Zelena jumps back up to her feet and cups her paws.  Between them forms the little orb of pale light that she had used to light up the chamber before, the light of the Goddess or something she had called it...
It rose up slowly into the dark and featureless sky before seemingly just vanishing from sight, leaving the both of you a little confused and disappointed.
"Its never done that before."  Zelena was looking particularly miffed, but not for long.
From where the light had disappeared came a bright flash.  The whole area lit up as if the sun had finally decided to show up and chase away the endless night, but it was fleeting and the dark returned almost immediately afterwards to reclaim what it had so briefly lost.
When your vision cleared you saw that a small gateway had appeared not three feet in front of you.  It stood freely in the open, apparently unattached to anything in particular and had a large white door through its centre.  This must be the Nexus...
Before either you or Zelena could make a move towards it however, a blood curdling scream breaks the silence from beyond the ridge above, from the direction you had both come from to get here.
A glint of silver in the darkness charts the flight of a Warder flying through the air and down into the crater, as he lands in a broken heap on the floor you can see that it's a wolf.  A deep burning gouge in his armoured chest marks where a mighty blow had nearly cleaved him in two before sending him flying.  Suffice to say, he's dead.
As you climb to your feet you see a line of more silver clad figures slowly backing towards the edge of the crater, they look to be engaged in battle with something and are being pushed back.  You can guess what they are fighting against.
"We have to get you out of here!" Zelena yells into your ear.  "If the Warders have fallen back to this point already then that means.."
"That the battle is almost lost." you finish for her.
As you both turn and move to the gateway, some of the Warders crumple and fall to the blows of as of yet still unseen attackers, the rest retreat down towards the centre.
You reach out to the door and feel a sense of relief as the little handle turns in your grip.
"Zelena come on!  We have to go!"
She doesn't answer you.  Turning around you can see why.
She is only a step behind you but is pressed against some invisible wall or force.  Her paws are up and feeling along it looking for an opening but it looks like there's no way through.
In confusion you try and pull her through, your hand passes the barrier and makes contact with her paw.  As you move towards the door however a sharp jolt sends her spinning away and to the floor, while you end up on your ass.
Somehow it's you who gets up first, so you run over to where she fell and pull her back to her feet.
"What is that thing and why won't it let you through!?!" you wheeze, the shock and exertion taking its toll.
"I'm not sure..." she responds panting.  "It only seems to react to me for some reason..."
Another voice from behind causes you to spin on your heel to face them, your sword is gone but you still have your shield.
"She cannot depart this place as the Goddess has not granted her permission to."
You see the battered looking Warder captain Aailyah standing wearily in front of you.  Her armour is scratched, dented and even punctured in a few places but she still looks ready to take care of business.
"What do you mean she can't leave?" you demand angrily.  "I thought this place was supposed to be your fall back point or something, why is it blocked?"
"That door is only supposed to be opened when all is lost, even then only with the express blessing of the Goddess herself.  It's to stop any of the wayward souls here escaping out before they are ready, and to stop any 'confused' Warders (she cast a glance in Zelena's direction at this point) from abandoning their posts."
You stare at the big panther woman and wait for the 'but'.  When it doesn't come you get annoyed.
"I don't know if you've noticed captain, but things here are looking pretty dire right now so if there was ever a time to go then this would be it!"
She gave you an annoyed look of her own.
"Things have not yet reached the point of no return human.  These things run rampant but they come for you first and foremost.  There are also many souls still in this realm who cannot be simply left behind, our duty as Warders is to keep the balance.  Either we strike down these monsters and purify the lands of them, or we fall in the attempt.  It is our duty.  It is her duty too."
That last comment was definitely directed at Zelena.
A monstrous shriek filled the air as the last of the Warders tried to regroup around their captain.  All along the ridge stood the Legion.  Warrior after blackened warrior, all the way around and weapons drawn for battle.  They had left no room for retreat.
"I can sense the mark upon you human." stated the captain.  "If you fall here then these lands will be lost.  The longer you are here the more of them find a way through.  I don't like it but you need to leave through that door and take the connection with you."
You didn't like where this plan was going.
"What about everyone else?  What about Zelena?  If I go what then?  Surely this Goddess of yours won't just let this realm die will she?  She would at least give the Warders a way out right?"
The panther's look told you everything.
"The Goddess assigned us here because despite popular opinion, she can't be everywhere at once.  It is our duty to oversee and maintain this place, she will only come if it is in danger of falling completely.  If that point comes it will be because we are already dead."
Zelena had kept quiet through this exchange but you could tell that she understood all too well what this meant.  She couldn't leave.  None of them could.
"No I'm not leaving you behind Zelena, understand?  We find a way through that door together or not at all!"
She gave you a sad look, her violet eyes conveying more in that moment than her following words could.
"Anon...  You have to go, the captain is right.  The longer you stay the worse it will get.  If this many are here already then it's only a matter of time before they tip the balance completely and it all falls apart anyway.  If you go now then there's still a chance you could escape and that we might be able to turn the tide on the ones already here.  You have to go."
You still weren't getting it.  You couldn't, wouldn't!  To have come all this way just to go now and leave her to get torn apart by these monsters?  You could tell by the number of armoured figures now advancing slowly towards the waiting Warders that it was a losing battle.  How could you just walk away?
"No!  I'm not going to leave you here like this!  These things are here because of me!  I won't just cut and run while you fight and..."
You couldn't bring yourself to finish the sentence.
You see that Zelena is crying again, before you can say any more however she nods to Aailyah.  A strong pair of clawed pars grab you from behind and deposit you just in front of the now open door. 
It doesn't take a genius to work out where this is going.
Looking back at Zelena you see her start moving towards you.  
"No Zelena please! We can find another way!" you cry, but her mind is set.  "Maybe if I give in to them they will just take me and go?  I don't care about running away anywhere if it means leaving you here to die!  Listen to me!"
It was too late though, she had already made up her mind.
Mouthing a final 'Goodbye' to you, she struck you with one of her mighty spin kicks once more and sent you flying out through the door.
The two Warders simply looked at each other in silence before drawing their weapons and turning to face the oncoming enemy.  There was nothing left to do now but fight.  Fight and die in the name of their Goddess, no matter how undeserving of their devotion she might be.
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Chapter 16

Everything spins as you fly through the door, aflesh of silver is all you can see before it slams shut and blocks off any further sight.
Your guts lurch as somehow you go from flying backwards to falling downwards.
You land on something hard with a bang, you feel wood splinter below you with the force of the impact but somehow, you don't feel any additional pain.  In fact, apart from the winded sensation caused by Zelena's powerful kick, you couldn't feel much of anything...
As your vision clears you start to become aware of your surroundings, it's a small room with plain walls and a number of chairs around the perimeter, one of which was a broken mess beneath you.  This looked all so very familiar...
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
That noise...
"Are you going to keep me waiting again Anon?  I do have things to be getting on with you know."
As the words echo in through the sole doorway, you remember exactly how you know this place.
Scrambling to your feet you practically throw yourself through the doorway, and are confronted by the sight of a grumpy old goat man sitting behind a large wooden desk.
"There you are!  I was starting to think that perhaps that fall had been to much for you..."
It was the old goat who you had first met at the start of this crazy mess, Baphomet.
"How am I back here again!?!" you demand.  "I thought that the door went to the Nexus?  Wait!  Where's Zelena?  Did she come through too?"
Infuriatingly, the old git simply gave you one of his crooked smiles and proceeded to light up a small ornate smoking pipe.
"Never mind about any of that now Anon!  I have some good news for you.  Come!  Sit down and I can tell you all about it!"
You don't move a muscle.
"Never mind?  Never mind!?!  The last thing I saw just now before coming back here was Zelena being charged by the damned Legion!  I have to find a way to get her out of there!  Open up that door of yours.  Now!  There's no time!"
Baphomet let out a disappointed little sigh.
"Anon, that really should be the least of your concerns right now.  You need to listen to what I have to tell you, the rest can wait.  Now, sit."
You still don't move.
"I don't think you are understanding me old man.  I don't have time for this!  Open the door or-"
Suddenly your not on your feet anymore.  Your pinned against the wall on the opposite side of the little office, your feet are roughly about two feet off the ground.  Baphomet is still sat behind his desk.  His eyes are now a deep crimson and his gnarled hand is lazily held up in your direction.
"I suggest you think very carefully before speaking your next words human." he says in a tired voice.  "This room, this realm, this duty, they have all been entrusted to me for a reason.  In this place my word is law, my judgement is final, and my will is supreme.  You will sit.  Then you will listen.  Understood?"
The invisible but undeniable force of his will had crushed all the air from your chest, you managed a small nod before it finally released you.  Instead of falling back onto the floor though, you land neatly upon a cushioned chair that you swore hadn't been there a second ago, as you blink in surprise it suddenly moves forward across the room, bringing you right up to the desk.
"Good!  That's much better wouldn't you agree?" chortled the old goat.  He had gone back like nothing had happened, merrily puffing on his little pipe and shuffling through his papers.
"Perhaps I should explain something before we begin.  How do you think I get through each individual soul here one at a time?  Hmm?"
You really hadn't thought too much about it...
"Time doesn't really mean anything here Anon.  An eternity could pass in this room without more than a second passing elsewhere... or vice versa.  It means whatever you're worried about out there hasn't happened yet or already happened a very long time ago depending on my mood.  Either way there's no point worrying about it now.  Understand?"
Between his previous display and this new thinly veiled threat, he was making it clear who had the power here.
"Now, as I was saying Anon.  Since your departure from this room I had a message sent 'upstairs', just to let the powers that be know what was going on.  Despite all the trouble you've caused I've had word back that you're getting a reprieve!  Isn't that some good news?"
You stare dumbfounded at him.
"A reprieve?  What does that even mean?"
He let out a little chuckle and tapped some if the ash from his pipe.
"It means Anon that you're too much of a bother to have here so we're sending you off to where you're supposed to be, with your own kind.  Once the connections have been made you'll be off, it'll be up to whoever sorts out the human souls then to sort you out."
As his words sink in you try to make sense of what it actually means, after all, you had been branded by the Legion after all so was this just an elaborate handover to them?  Or was there some other implication here?
Baphomet seemed to be able to sense your thoughts.
"If you're worried about that brand of yours...  I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Word is... This whole thing is some sort of mix up by someone really quite high up the chain.  No one knows by who exactly but since that's not your fault they may be willing to reconsider where your soul finally ends up."
You finally manage to find your words.
"So... what?  Are you saying I'm home free?  I've just got to go to where you send me next and that's that?  No more Legion?"
He gave another little nod, puffing on his pipe once more.
This is what you had been hoping for wasn't it?  To escape the clutches of the armoured monsters that had been hunting you?  To be out of this whole mess and anywhere else?
Despite the burning and pain finally having gone away, despite the promise of a reprieve, there was something that held you back.  There was something that you couldn't leave behind.
"What about Zelena?  If I'm getting a reprieve then what's going to happen to her?  Will she get in trouble for what she did?"
Baphomet's crooked smile slipped as his confusion took hold.
"Who?  That's the name you were blubbering about when you came in wasn't it..."
Your ready to give him a mouth full about who exactly you're talking about when his expression changes again and he starts rifling through his papers.  Eventually he pulls out a dusty looking piece of parchment and strains to read it through his glasses.
"Ah yes!  I thought I recognised the name!  A hare...  Assigned to the Warders as an experiment following a less than glowing appraisal from yours truly almost had her sent below..."
His brow creased up as he returned his gaze to you.
"How is it that you are on a named basis with a Warder then hmm?  Just how much trouble have you caused down there..."
You were starting to get annoyed again.
"I thought you were the all powerful one here, surely you already know exactly what's been happening out there?  Why don't you tell me?"
He narrowed his eyes but you didn't immediately go flying across the room, perhaps you had piqued his curiosity.
He looked back down to the parchment and squinted once more, his lips twitching as he read through whatever was written there.  After a good moment or two his eyes widened, not quite believing what he saw there.
"Oh my..." he whispered.  "Oh the people upstairs are not going to be happy about that...  Not one bit..."
You didn't know what he had read there exactly but you had a good idea.
"She knocked me through the door to try and stop the Legion getting any stronger, to try and save the souls still trapped there... and to save me.  I can't just go without knowing if she's ok.  Please... can you at least tell me what's going to happen to her?"
The old goat gave you a very strange look as you voiced your request, as if working through some internal debate within.  When he answered his usual expression had gone, replaced by a far more serious one than you had seen before.
"I think it's best that you don't ask that question of me Anon, you won't like the answer."
No.  Oh hell no.
"Answer my question, please.  I have to know."
He added another sigh to the already considerable collection he had acquired since your arrival before responding.
"That realm is lost Anon.  They got you out in time to stop it collapsing entirely but there's no way anyone will survive it.  The Warders there are too few to repell the number of abominations that leaked through, they will fight to the last man but they will fall.  Then, the realm will be purged, reset if you will.  Once it is clean then new souls will be sent there once again and the natural order will continue."
You couldn't believe what he was telling you.  That they would just wipe it all clean and start again.
"If it's a done deal, if there's no way that the Warders can win then why not pull them out?  Why leave them there to die like that?  What's wrong with you people!?!" you shout, the absurdity of this post life bureaucracy sending you from annoyed to just short of murderously angry.
"The Warders can't leave their post unless sanctioned by the Goddess herself, and she isn't going to get involved with this mess.  It's why she set all this up in the first place, so she could focus her attentions elsewhere."
His face hadn't changed from its dead serious look.
"That's a load of crap!" you roar.  "What kind of God would let her own people get wiped out like that?  In her own damned afterlife no less!  Doesn't she care!?!"
He remained impassive in the face of your anger, surprising considering he had thrown you around like a rag doll moments earlier for just raising your voice.
"The Goddess can't get involved Anon, not unless the realm itself is at risk of collapse."
You're not going to drop it, but the old goat is already talking again.
"It's a moot point.  There's nothing to be done now.  Anyway, it's time for you to leave, your connection is here!"
Turning around, you see that the door has appeared.  It looks like the same black door that you took last time.
"Just step through that door Anon, then this will all be over."
You remain seated.
"No."
The old goat's face is getting a full workout today thanks to you, surprised disbelief now sends his aged features into yet a new shape.
"Sorry what?  Did you just say no?  I've just told you that your free to go, that your getting a second chance!  What's the meaning of this?"
You couldn't do it.  You couldn't just walk through that door and go live on a cloud or whatever the afterlife was supposed to be for humans, not knowing that Zelena would be at the mercy of those burning monsters in your place.  In fact, you were starting to doubt you could actually leave at all knowing that you would never see her again...
You stare the befuddled goat right in his strange eyes as you make your position clear.
"If there's no help coming for Zelena, then send me back there.  I can't go like this, it's not right."
He sputtered on his own pipe smoke for a second at your words.
"Send you back?  That would be madness human!  Not only would you be surrendering your reprieve but your mere presence there could tip it over the edge!  If it collapses then everyone there is lost anyway!"
You give him a grim smile of your own.
"What was it you said?  The Goddess won't get involved unless the realm itself is in danger of being lost completely?  If I draw her in directly then maybe she'll save her people at least, save Zelena..."
Baphomet stared at you strangely, you could almost feel his gaze scanning over your very core as well as your face.
"Why is the Warder so important to you Anon?" he asked eventually.  "What is it that you want from her?  That brand of yours is still there, if you went back there then they would still be able to claim you.  Would you give up your very soul for this?"
"For her?  Yes, yes I would." you respond, without hesitation.
"Why Anon?  You have spent little in the way of time together and most of it running or hiding, why would you do this?"
"I can't explain it." you admit.  "Its like... we made a connection.  Like some part of her filled a hole inside of me I didn't even know was there.  I've never felt this way with any other, and I certainly didn't expect to feel it for someone who... isn't human, but I do.
He took a few moments to ponder your words before answering.
"If I sent you back Anon...  There's no guarantee that the Goddess will come in time, that she will actually release any surviving Warders from their duty.  She may do nothing at all, and your soul will be lost for nothing."
"Open the door." you respond.
As the door reappears, you stop to consider something.
"I thought you said that you couldn't control where the door would send me, because I 'didn't belong'.  What changed?"
He gave you another of his crooked little smiles.
"I did say that didn't I...."
With no other answer forthcoming you shrug and pull open the door.  The sound of battle drifts through, so you ready your shield and march on towards your fate.
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As the door closes behind the human, the old goat heaves yet another heavy sigh.
He was probably going to get in trouble for this, letting the human back in when he had been told to send him back to his own kind.  He had looked deep into the core of that human however, that Anon, and saw something burning there that there that had surprised him, no easy feat considering the amount of souls, both good and bad, he had judged over the millennia.
Considering the other things that he had been up to since the human's arrival however, it wasn't like he would be getting off without some form of punishment anyway...  He hadn't been all that truthful when he had said no one knew how this had happened...
Taking another puff of his pipe, he blew a fresh cloud of smoke.  Before it could dissipate though he waved a hand through and froze it in place.  A few muttered words later and an image had formed within the swirling plume, of on old deer woman standing over the broken and bleeding body of a certain human.
She was speaking some sort of prayer, something in a language that the hurt human had no way of understanding.  Baphomet however...
"Ye Elder God of creation hear my words.  Hear my plea.  Have mercy on this broken soul, on this one who has shed blood for those not of his kin.  Guide him to your side, help him find the peace in the great beyond that was denied him in life.  Hear my words..."
It was an old prayer, very old.  One that hadn't been spoken since there had only been one Lord over creation...
Dispelling the cloud from his sight the old goat smiled to himself.  He looked forwards to the day when that old doe finally passed and stood here before him, so he could ask her exactly where she had learnt it...
It was going to be interesting to see what happened next, what fate awaited that human.  Even if his half baked plan worked, a mortal daring to lure a God into action...  Such cheek wouldn't go unanswered...
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Chapter 17

To you, barely any time had passed since stepping through what was supposed to be the door to the Nexus and coming back again via Baphomet's interference.  The land you had left however was not quite as you remembered...
Upon arrival you had nearly been knocked off your feet by the stench, for the lack of a better word.  The reek of burnt flesh, hot metal and rot pervaded the landscape, the unmistakable mark that the Legion had left behind them. 
The sky had been an empty darkness before, lit only by the dim, almost uncaring glow of the moon.  Now it was far from empty. The heavens seemed to broil with huge banks of evershifting clouds, streaks of amber cutting through them high above, almost as if some great clawed beast raked at them from the darkness beyond.  Occasionally a fork of sickly green lightning would flash across them, causing the ground below to spawn shadows in the shape of nightmares for an instant before retreating again just as quickly.
The place where the Warders had made their stand could easily be seen.  What could only be the bodies of those who had fallen lay strewn about here and there, identifiable only by the rough shape of what they once had been and patches or shards of tarnished silver armour sticking out like a final badge of honour.  They had not gone quietly however.  You could also see piles of blackened metal, some in the process of turning to ash in the sickly breeze, some unmistakably the remains of a bested Legionairre, the insides still smouldering and spitting, in some cases still twitching.
In this nightmarish landscape however, there seemed to be no sign of Zelena.  None of the burnt remains bore the shape or markings of the hare you had come for, identifying any of the fallen was next to impossible but she had a distinct shape to the others, one you had spent some time getting to know quite well.
As you stumble through the battlefield your arm once more begins to throb, the temporary peace granted to you in the old goat's realm now a distant memory.  Your arm still hung uselessly in its sling, so as you trip on something and topple over on to your bad side, you can't reach out to stop yourself.  Cursing your now crappy sense of balance you try lurching back up to your feet, knocking the item that had tripped you into the open as you do.  
It's a dagger, a curved silver one.  The same kind of dagger that Zelena had been using, exactly the same...
An icy claw grips your heart as you pick up the weapon.  It couldn't be hers... could it?
Looking about you however reveals only one burnt corpse that could conceivably belong to a Warder, it's too big to be hers so how did this get here?  Had she lost it?  Dropped during a skirmish perhaps?  Or had she suffered some worse fate still?
Picking up the dagger you tuck it into your belt, your sword is long gone and you doubt Zelena would mind too much if you held on to this until you find her again...
Gathering your strength you decide to head up to the top of the ridge, from up there you should have a clear view in all directions unless the topography of this place has changed as well.  It takes you longer than you would like, the effort draining your energy much quicker than it would have normally, but you make it up.  What you see when up there however gives you a thrill of joy, but also a stab of fear too at the same time.
Off in the distance you see a small island of silver amidst a sea of darkness.  A whole host of black clad warriors are advancing on a small group of Warders, the latter are somehow stood on higher ground to their opponents.  It takes you a moment to realise that it's because they are standing upon a mound of their own dead, those who had fallen were providing one last service to their still yet living comrades.
There doesn't seem to be many left, you count maybe five Warders to roughly about four or five times that number of Legionairres.  Standing tall at the centre of the desperate formation however is the one Warder you had hoped to see among the living more than any other.  Zelena.  She stood resplendent in your eyes, her cloak gone but her silver armour shining like a beacon across the field of battle, back to back with the captain Aailyah.
She only had the one dagger, but with each strike she made the best of it, stabbing through gaps in her enemy's plating that a larger weapon would miss and forcing her terrible foes to stop or hesitate as the other Warders struck home.
Despite her prowess however, you can see her glorious battle for what it is, the brave last stand of the lost.  Even as the team of Warders heap untold damage on the fiends in their reach the enemy doesn't fall, each individual Legionairre requiring catastrophic  levels of carnage to bring them down for good.  The Warders themselves however were imbued with a more traditional constitution, even as you watch, one blackened warrior stabs forward with its rusted blade, ignoring an axe sticking out from its shoulder, and catches a wolf in the chest.  The unfortunate Warder fell, clutching at his wound even as his fur and flesh charred and crackled before your eyes.  His comrades could do nothing but shift their formation to plug the gap,now down to four.
You see it then, the folly of your plan.  In your current state you had no chance of cutting your way through the hoard of abominations to reach Zelena.  You had intended to fight at her side, helping her survive long enough for the realm to further destabilise and bring the Goddess.  At this rate though she wouldn't survive long enough for you to reach her at all, if you you even could.
Instead, another plan forms.  Similar to the original but...
Standing to your full height, you take a deep breath and roar your challenge.
"Legion!  Hear me!  Know my voice and despair!"
A bit cheesy, but the few closest to you turn their terrible gaze to you, a chill through your spine tells you they recognise you.
"I am the one you want!  I am the one you have come to claim!  I am the one who defies your march!  If you want what is yours then you must come and take it!  Pry it from my cold dead hands!"
The closest of the Legionairres almost seems to cock it's head to your words, before issuing an ear splitting screech in response.
As a result, the whole lot of them turn towards you, ignoring the desperate Warders like so much wood.  You suspect that your escape from their leader's clutches and temporary disappearance from their sight had driven them to this bloodrage.  When they start advancing on you as one, your suspicions are confirmed and your new plan put into action.
All you had to do was keep out of their hands until the Goddess showed up, how hard could it be?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Damn.
Things were not going to plan.
Once more you fall over your own feet, the mix of fatigue and pain robbing you of strength.  Once again, you pull yourself back up and stumble onwards.
The world seemed to shake and spin with each step you take, you hope it's a sign that this place is starting to destabilise, that the Goddess is almost here.  A part of you fears it is just your mind succumbing to the brand and the horrors it brings with it.
Each time you fall they get a bit closer, each time you rise, you move a little slower.
Eventually, they catch up.
The leading Legionairre steps within striking distance.  Swinging his aged claymore he forces you to evade, stepping to the side and almost losing your balance.  His next swing comes sooner than you expected, he brings the large weapon back to bare with supernatural swiftness.  Evasion isn't an option so you raise your trusty shield to try and deflect the blow.  This one seems to be that much stronger than the warrior you first encountered in the snow, his sword connects with terrible force, cleaving your shield in two and sending you falling back.  Somehow your arm is still in one piece, but what little protection you had is now in separate smouldering parts.
Your enemy stands triumphantly over you, the others of his number gathering round to bare witness to your fall, and to block any further attempts at escape.
You can feel the ground shift and quake beneath you, but there is still no sign of any divine intervention.  Hopefully Zelena took the chance you gave her to pull back with the other Warders, there might still be hope that she could at least survive this.
As the Legionairre raises his armoured hand, much like the first one had before to claim you, your memory shifts back to that moment, when Zelena had saved you from your fate by stabbing at it.
Your good hand slips to your belt and finds the hilt of her retrieved dagger.  Holding it tight, you find yourself comforted by having this small thing of hers, and some of the weariness seems to melt from your aching frame.
The Legionairre reaches out, but instead of your brand he finds the silver blade of your dagger through his palm instead.
He recoils from you, screeching in pain.  His comrades however begin to close in.
"Come on!" you scream.  "Come get me!  I'm ready!"
You strike out at the closest attacker, the silver blade cutting through its fingers and sending the rusted sword it had been swinging dropping to the ground.  Another strike went in through the faceplate of another as they reached forward to grab you, a small gout of blackened blood spraying out as you then pull the blade free.
You fight like a man possessed, even with only one good arm you almost manage to hold them all back.  An upwards sweep of another Legionairre's blade however knocks the dagger from your hand and sends it high into the air, with the weapon out of your grasp, your new found strength leaves as quickly as it had come.  
Two burning hands reach out and take you from behind, one on each shoulder.  Stifling a scream you are forced down to your knees.  
A flash of silver pierces your vision.  Looking up you see the form of Zelena, leaping through the air to retrieve the lost dagger as it fell, and landing amongst the gathered Legionairres before you.
"Back off beasts!" she growls.  "He.  Is.  Mine!"
You try and speak. Desperate to call out her name.  The touch of the burning hands on your shoulders however freezes you in place and renders you silent.  You are a forced spectator now.
Fate had other plans that day however.  Watching Zelena fight these abominations to the death wasn't on the cards.
Instead the ground starts to give way beneath you, the trembling in the earth below had grown to a something far worse and now the land tore itself asunder.
A deafening roar overtook the battlefield as the Legionairres began to fall down into newly developing cracks and fissures.  The dissolution of this realm was now in full swing and it was only a matter of time now before it collapsed completely.
The hands holding you in place fell away as their owner lost its balance.  You pull yourself up and make for Zelena who despite the crumbling landscape still danced between two armoured fiends, striking and stabbing as they struggled go maintain their balance.
"Zelena!" you call, desperate to reach her.  A pain in your ankle brings you back down a few steps away, a blackened hand wrapped around it, the warrior it was attached to had fallen through the cracks and was holding on to you for dear unlife. 
To your right, another Legionairre stumbles forward, it's weapon drawn and ready.  It swings the rusted blade towards you and time slows down, you watch as it arcs down through the air... and into Zelena as she throws herself in front of you.
"No!" you scream, reaching out to try and catch her as she fell.
It's at that moment however that things take yet another twist.  The churning clouds up above freeze and part, the moon once more shines down upon the land, but this time it's as bright as the sun.  It's light is blinding and it hangs lower in the sky, bigger, it almost looks angry.
Your arm stops as a silver chain wraps itself around your wrist, your ankle is freed from the grip of the Legionairre only to be replaced with a silver shackle.  A metal collar pulls tightly on your neck.
You can only watch helplessly as Zelena falls to the ground,  the terrible wound across her stomach burning from the damned blade that cut her.
She reaches up to you, her shaking paw trying to touch you one last time.  Her lips try to form the words but no sound comes out.
You strain against the bonds, doing all in your power to reach her, but the chains don't give an inch.
The light from the moon continues to grow brighter until nothing else is visible.  You feel the chains pull you back towards their source, away from Zelena.  
You scream her name one last time as she fades away, your eyes locked with hers.
Then you know no more.
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Chapter 18

"Awaken."
A single word, spoken but not shouted, snaps you from the darkness.  It is a command, and it cannot be disobeyed.
As your eyes flicker open you draw in a deep breath greedily, like you had just surfaced from deep underwater.  You are not underwater however.  You're on your knees, locked in chains, and bathed in a single beam of light in an otherwise pitch black hall.
This wouldn't be the first time you had woken up after a hard night partying with your unit in a strange place and deprived of your liberty, but something deep within tells you something is wrong, very wrong.  Your head is full of some unholy union between fog and wool, clouding your memories and slowing your thoughts, only that deep feeling of loss and anger rings clear...
You try to stand but find the chains unyielding.  A metal collar binds your neck to some sort of post behind, your arms are pulled out to either side of you by sturdy shackles at your wrists, the chains suspending them in place disappear out into the dark.  It feels as though your legs are shackled to the floor just below the knee, forcing you to remain kneeling on the hard floor.  A crossing of chains across your shoulders and down your chest finishes the bindings, they loop back at your waist and further bind you to the post.
As you struggle against the sturdy bonds another beam of light suddenly shines down from above, illuminating a raised pedestal ahead of you.  Two more beams then appear a little way either side, this time revealing two massive seats, or by the grand look of them, thrones.  On the throne to your left sat a tall, regal figure.  A great shroud  that seemed to glow with its own pale light covered the one sitting there from the shoulders down, a masked face stared down at you impassivly.  The mask itself seemed to show the serene visage of some sort of creature, a short snout with wide but heavily kidded eyes and a ruff of gilded fur.  Behind the entity's head shone a crescent moon.
To your right sits another regal figure, almost identical save for the fact that this one's shroud glowed with a harsher golden light that hurt to stare at for too long.  Their mask was of a stern human-like face, with thin cheeks, a pronounced brow and a flowing beard.  Behind their head was a shining sun.
Both stare down at you in silence as you wait for something to happen.  In this moment of silent judgement however, your mind clears somewhat, and you begin to remember the events that led you here...  
The final vision of Zelena flashes before your eyes.  The sight of her silently reaching for you...
"Where-" you start to shout.  A single word echoes through you however, seeming to come from within.
"Silence!"
Your mouth snaps shut instantly.  The command somehow overriding your own self control.
"You will speak only when spoken too."
Again you hear no voice, the words seem to simply appear upon your consciousness, received and obeyed by every cell in your body.
You don't know how, but you know that it had been the golden figure that had spoken.  It had not moved or made a sound  but you could feel it's will upon you.
An actual voice breaks the silence, one that you recognise.
"Anon, son of Anon.  You are in the presence of the divine, you will show respect."
It's that old git Baphomet.
He is standing now behind the central pedestal, using it like a lectern.   
"You are here Anon to answer for your actions and to explain them.  The divine Lunar Goddess (He gestured to the figure on your left) and the divine Lord of Sol (he gestured to the other golden figure) have chosen to judge you personally and to hear your testimony.  You will answer all questions asked of you.  Once they have been satisfied, your fate will be decided.  Do you understand?"
As all three looked at you expectantly you realise that your voice has been restored, it looks like they have 'graciously' decided to let you speak...  If these two are truly the actual gods of creation then that would mean...
"Where's Zel-"
Again, you feel the golden figure, this so called Lord, shut you down.
"You will answer the question asked of you!"
As your rage begins to build you see a change in the Goddess, her mask has changed shape.  The strange face depicted upon it now has what can only be an amused expression, and it turns it's attention to the Lord before you feel her speak in the same way.
"What is wrong Sol?  Does your creature not understand what is asked of it?"
The Lord, this Sol, answers.
"Cease your mockery Luna!  This is serious business!  If he no longer understands it is only due to the time he has spent among your beasts!"
The two 'divines' continue to bicker between themselves and shatter any budding feelings of awe you might of had of them.  Baphomet is still standing between them, his lower jaw is jutting out slightly and his eyes have a forlorn look to them.  Noticing your gaze, he trots on over.
"To think..." he sighs.  "Your the first human in an age to actually bare witness to the two Gods of Creation together and all they can do is argue."
You have a number of burning questions to ask the old goat but your mouth is still sealed shut.  He notices your frustrated stare however and decides to take a crack at providing some answers, just not to any of the questions you considered to be the most pressing.
"This may take a while so I might as well fill you in.  As I mentioned earlier, you are in the presence of the divine, the gods of creation as it currently stands.  The Lady Luna there is the Lunar Goddess, she is responsible for the creation of those you so eloquently called 'beast men'."
You give him a withering look in response to this but he continues regardless.
"It was her realms you were lost in and she really isn't best pleased with what you did there.  The other is Lord Sol, the God of the Rising Sun.  He is actually the God of you humans, he was really rather amused that you caused Lady Luna so much grief but even he takes exception to the loss of an entire realm."
You give him a look that you hope says "What does this have to do with why I'm here?".  The look he gives you in return suggests that he might think you just have gas.  He seems to twig in the end however.
"The two Gods here had a bit of a falling out a while back.  They couldn't decide whose creations were the more worthy, if the humans born under the sun, or the other races born under the moon were the greater.  They have been fighting and playing off of each other for as long as they have existed."
This was all a bit much, plus you didn't really care, but he had you as a captive audience and carried on regardless.
The way he described it, there had been a split long ago.  As creation got more complex, the single entity responsible for it all divided itself in order to govern it all.  Instead of the two working in tandem however, they began to compete.  They attempted to outdo each other with each new creation, when one crafted a stunning lake the other crafted a range of mountains to overshadow it.  When one populated the fertile lands with wild deer and other small fluffy things, the other created wolves and other predators to hunt them.
In the end they had decided on a contest.  The Lord Sol created mankind, a creature less suited to living within nature but adept in altering it to his needs.  The Goddess Luna created similar creatures but more in tune with the world, they took the forms similar to the feral beasts that came before but were gifted with intelligence.  They wagered on which side would prosper and which would fall.  It was why the administration of the fallen souls had been left to designated overseers, the gods themselves were too busy watching the chaos below, revelling in the petty victories and failures of the living.
As the bickering subsided, Baphomet returned to his position, leaving you to consider his tale in silent horror.  You had never been a religious sort in life.  You had gone to prayer like a good boy, followed the edicts of the temple but worship had not been a part of your life.  The thought however that there were deities up here all along, betting and laughing at the trials and tribulations below like so many spectators at a cock fight...  It was galling.
Your lips were still sealed, but it looked like they were at last ready to start whatever this was.
Clearing his throat, Baphomet continued.
"Now that we are all ready, we will begin.  As I am a part of the events leading here I have been assigned to lead proceedings.  Prepare yourself Anon, there can be no lies in the presence of the gods."
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What followed was a tedious reading of your exploits since appearing in the old goat's office.  From your first fight with Zelena, to your trip through the woods, the slaying of a Warder, all of it.  Bar of course the events in the snowy mountains.  That was when the Legion had arrived and things got messy.  It ended with the attempt to send you back to Sol's domain, and your refusal to go.
As Baphomet's report finally ended, the Lunar Goddess leaned forward slightly, her mask changing to show a less than pleased expression.
"Now human, we get to the purpose of this gathering.  We wish to know how you got to my realms, and why you refused the offer to send you from it?  Because of your actions, it was required for me to personally intervene and halt the loss of an entire plain.  You will start with the how, then we will attend to the why."
Before they could release you from your imposed silence, the old goat intervened.  Saving you from telling them you didn't know but robbing you of the chance to start throwing insults.  Kneeling here in chains was not doing much for your good humour.
"I can answer that my lady if I may?" he bleated.  With a small nod, she gave him permission.
"I discovered that upon this human's end, one of your people, of the deerkin, invoked a prayer.  A very old and powerful one.  It was one that was used in the ages before the split by the first to be created.  It asked that his soul be spared its assigned fate and be sent to the side of the one creator."
It was Sol who spoke next, his mask crumpling in anger.
"The one creator?  There no longer exists such an entity!  No prayer directed as such should have any power over my creations!"
"And yet..." continued the goat.  "I believe it somehow did.  This human's soul was set for the Legion my Lord, that part of your own realms that the humans created for their own punishment."
Luna snickered at this.
"Yes indeed!  Your creations found your idea of eternal punishment so lacking that they had to make their own!"
"I left them that relic so that they may better understand an worship their God!" Sol grumbled.  "How could I have known they would bend it to such a purpose..."
"...Anyway..." continued the now annoyed looking goat.  "I believe there was just enough power in those words to deviate the human from his intended path to your realm my Lady, I do not believe it to have been a deliberate act on anyone's behalf."
"Ha!" roared Sol.  "See?  I told you I wasn't cheating!"
Held in place by your chains, you could but sit and watch as the two supposedly most powerful beings in existence jeered and bickered like a pair of children.  All that you had been through up to this point, all the pain, horror and...  
You began to strain against your bonds once more, the jingling of the chains drawing the attention of the Gods back to you.
"I think he has something to say Sol..." tittered Luna.  "Perhaps you should let him speak?"
Just like that, you find your lips once again unsealed.  They were waiting for some insight were they?
"Fuck the pair of you with a shard of glass!" you shout.  The two masks both changing instantly to that of horror.
"All this is just a game go you!?!  We fight and kill each other just for your amusement?  The only reason I ended up in that place with a foothold for the Legion was because you were too busy fucking about with-"
Your mouth seals shut once more as Sol decides he has heard enough.  He can't silence you completely though.  The frustration within boils over and you scream out from behind gritted teeth, producing a sound more akin to a beast's roar.
With the two deities now staring daggers at you, Baphomet takes the opportunity to move things along.
"Ahem, yes...  That about answers that I think...  please remember to keep a civil tone in front of the Gods Anon, for your own sake if nothing else...  Perhaps now it would be best to move on to the 'why'...
"Yes!" interjected Sol.  "You were very graciously given the opportunity to return to my realms and be judged properly.  Why exactly did you instead return to the stricken realm?  To do so served no purpose."
You get ready to go off on yet another verbal rampage, perhaps if you hurl enough abuse at these so called Gods you can make those stupid masks crack...  The old goat forestalls you however.
"Please remember Anon, keep a civil tongue or they might just remove it.  Oh, and speak the truth, anything else just will not do."
His last comment holds your venom coated tongue, he had an odd look in his eye as he spoke...
With a sigh you decide to comply, if only because you had almost forgotten what was most important while blinded with anger.
"I went back for Zelena." you say simply.  "I couldn't leave without her."
The gods had apparently been ready to hurl scorn on whatever answer they expected, this one gave them pause though.
"What do you mean human?" enquired Luna.  "You went back for the Warder that had ejected you?  Why"
"I told you.  I couldn't leave her there, not to face those things in my place.  She is... special to me."
The masks now show a mix of confusion and surprise, they have no idea what you mean.
Baphomet once again clears his throat, interrupting to produce a piece of parchment from somewhere.
"Perhaps this might explain my Lady, it is the record of the Warder in question..."
If that's the one he had in his office then...
The look of blatant disgust on the goddess's mask tells you it is.  The parchment soon finds its way to Sol, where the sentiment is repeated.
"You would dare defile one of my servants in such a manner!?!" the goddess shrieks, her words all the more painful from being felt internally rather than spoken.
"You would consort with beasts!?!"  Sol was also getting in on the outrage, his choice of words illiciting an angry look from Luna however.
You stare up at them defiantly.
"I defiled no one and Zelena is no beast!  We spent time travelling and fighting together, she did her best to get me out of there when others wouldn't listen!  We became close, I began to care for her, and I believe she for me."
"Care?" scoffed Sol.  "My creations cannot 'care' for a beast other than as a master for his pet!  Just because they have a similar method of breeding does not make them comparable to my design!  Your 'relations' with that one was no more than as when a dog has its way with its bedding!"
"How dare you!" yelled Luna.  "Just because your humans will happily rutt with just about anything doesn't make my creations beasts!  They breed with purpose and order!  If your human forced himself on my Warder then that makes him the beast!"
Their bickering soon raised in tone and became heated, they ignored you once more.
Their words however had set a flame to you, something inside snapped.
"Enough!" you roar, the chains themselves creaking as you rose against them.
Once again the gods stopped and stared at you in shock, there was no way they could seal your lips this time though.
"No!  No more!  You both sit there in judgement of me?  What of you?  Both of you speak of Zelena like she's nothing!  A beast or a servant to be used and discarded!  She's more than that!  More than either of you could understand!"
Sol started to speak but you cut him off.
"You!  So called God of Man!  You speak as if she is some animal or thing.  She was one of the most honourable people I have met, in life and death!  I have known men of my own kind with more in common with actual beasts than her!"
You turn your angry gaze to Luna, who was actually looking quite pleased at the sight of you shouting Sol down.  That soon changed.
"And you!  Lunar Goddess!  You chained your own peoples in life with traditions, punished them in death should they disobey with an eternity of servitude!  You accuse me of forcing my will on her when you are the one who bound her to an unlife of endless misery!"
You didn't know if these two were of the smiting variety of gods, but the looks on their masks told you it was a definite possibility.  But you didn't care, not anymore.
"Now tell me!  Where is she?  Where is Zelena?  You came and you saved your precious realm and you chained me, so what about her?"
"She's gone."
Luna's words echoed through you, stopping your rage fuelled heart.
"What do you mean she's gone?  She was right there, in front of me!  If you took me then you had to have seen her so-"
"I didn't save her human." she stated simply.  "She was not with the other Warders, she had abandoned her duties and fled.  She is no more."
You stop pulling against your bonds, the weight of her words robbing you of strength.
"No..." you whisper.  "No she can't be...  She came back to save me...  To stop the Legion from claiming me..."
You return your gaze to the goddess, a desperate pleading look in place of the anger now.
"You're a God, if you created her entire race, all those things, then surely it is in your power to bring her back?"
"Why would I do that?" she sneered.  "From what I saw on her report of her actions, it was her choice to escort you instead of turning you in that caused all of this to happen.  Why would I want to save such a soul?"
The anger came rushing back.
"Damn you!" 
Your words echo through the hall, seemingly through eternity itself.
"I went back to save her!  I went back because he told me it would draw you there!"  
As you gesture angrily at Baphomet, he takes a step back, a sheepish look on his hairy face.
"You were supposed to come and stop the realm from falling!  You were supposed to take Zelena away to safety with the other Warders and souls!"
As the tears run freely down your face, the mask of the Lunar Goddess changes from anger to confusion, and something else you couldn't quite understand in your current state.
"What...  You mean you refused the reprieve...  Went back to the stricken realm and to the clutches of the Legion...  Just to draw me there and save the Warder?"
Restrained as you are, the rage had no where to go, so it burned up inside you instead.  The result was bitter defeat, the knowledge that you had failed...  Zelena was gone.  You hang limply in your chains, nodding weakly in response to her question.
For once the Goddess is lost for words, her mask bearing a troubled expression.  Sol however still looked confused.
"You caused untold destruction, forced a God to action and nearly damned your own soul... for a bunny rabbit?"
There it was.  The last shred of your sanity, gone.  There was nothing left.  His words, a simple insult, nothing remained to counter it but world bending rage.
You stare the God in the eye and scream at him.
"She was a hare you motherfucking idiot!"
With a final bellow of rage you rise up, the shackles binding your legs shatter, the chains around your chest and wrists snap and the collar around your neck shears free.
You charge at the God, only his death or yours would stop you now.
As you leap up towards him, hands outstretched and ready to start ripping, everything stops.  Sol's own outstretched hand is barely a few inches from your face and some divine power has stopped your attack.
"Be gone!"
With that you are no more.
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The two Gods (and one worried old goat) sit in stunned silence.  The fury of the human's attack had shocked them, both in its intensity and suddenness.  
"How did this happen..." mumbled Sol, to no one in particular.
Luna remained quiet, a troubled look of contemplation frozen over her mask.
As the two gods of creation pondered what had happened, the old goat began to snigger to himself.  As the seconds ticked by, and the as the others just stared at him in exasperation, he escalated to full blown laughter.
"Baphomet!  Explain yourself!"  Luna was less than impressed.
Slowly regaining his composure, the old goat turned to face his mistress.
"Apologies my Lady, the situation just tickled me is all..."
"What exactly is funny about this goat?" demanded Sol.
"Well...  It just that you both created a race of people with the sole intent of competing against and beating one another.  The only feeling they should share is hate.  Those two however, found common ground, respect and even a touch of love for one another...  The Warder, Zelena, chose to sacrifice herself rather than  salvation, and saved the human.  He was only in that position because he had made the exact same decision himself!  Perhaps your creations aren't so different after all..."
Both gods as one began to sputter out their protests, only stopping as they saw the other doing the same.
Finally, it was Luna who spoke next.
"This is but one instance Baphomet, a fluke!  His humans and my children are separate.  Apart!"
"Not quite my Lady..." grinned the goat.  "I have seen some others come through my doors who showed similar feelings towards humans they had met in life, I judged them broken, corrupted.  It had not occurred to me that the humans might have felt the same way to them...  This was the first human I had met after all."
The three sat in contemplative silence for a time, each turning over the recent happenings, and the despaired rage of the human at the loss of his hare.
"We designed them to live apart..." began Sol.
"Yet they somehow come together." finished Luna.
"What if we changed our wager?  What if instead of having them fight..."
"We watch and see what they do together?"
The two Gods were speaking almost as one now, for the first time in a long time, the two sought the same thing.
Each rose from their throne and lifted an arm into the air.  In the hand of the Goddess, a small silver light began to glow.  In that of the Lord, a small golden one.
Together they cast the lights out through the void and back down to the world below, to the land of the living.
As the two faded from sight, returning to their own realms, Baphomet sat himself down on a stone step and pulled out his pipe.
He lit it and took a thoughtful puff.  This wasn't quite how he had seen this whole sorry episode ending, but he couldn't complain.  Things had been so very... dull, these last couple of centuries.  Now though, it looked like things were going to be getting very interesting indeed...
As he eventually rose and turned to leave, a few small pieces of silver fell from his pocket and clattered to the floor.  To the trained eye, they might have looked like parts from a set of shackles and chains... but why would something like that be in a simple administrator's pocket?
The old goat smiled his crooked little smile, and made his way back to his domain.
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Epilogue 

Damn.  It's raining again.  
You're on duty in South District 3, it's nearly 10:30am and you still haven't had any breakfast.  It's the day of the big unity parade, the city's effort to bring all the various peoples that live here together in celebration of their differences.  This of course meant several days of rampant heavy drinking, pop up street parties, a surge in interracial violence and the inevitable vandalism of the various memorials around the place.  This meant all hands on deck for the security force and you were front and centre.
Your name is Anon, you've lived in New Impiris all your life.  For as long as you can remember all you wanted to do was join the New Impiris Security Service, NISS for short.  There was something about it that just felt right, that called to you. 
The logic of your calling started to ring hollow to you right now however, standing in the pouring rain, watching a group of overly merry deer guys wolf whistle at a group of much bigger tiger girls.  All a bit of harmless fun for now, the guys had been drinking but the girls were finding it all quite funny.  No point intervening, yet, especially by yourself...  Still, your backup was due to arrive soon.  Well technically they should be here already, but they were coming.
The whole point of this celebration was to commemorate the coming together of the different races, of humans, wolves, deer and more.  Time ago all had stood against all, the Republic of Man had invaded these lands, pillaging and claiming it as it's own.  Only for it to nearly lose it all when the lizard tribes had decided to invade as well.  It had looked like the depleted Republican occupation forces would lose, leaving the land and it's people to the mercy of a merciless scaly hoard.  Yet something had changed the course of the new invasion, word spread of a human fighting and dying in defence of a local village of deerkin.  As a result the locals started to work together with the humans, eventually repelling the lizard hoard (It didn't hurt that winter came and froze half the invaders to death but the historians glossed over that part).
The Republic had ended up collapsing in the end, unable to sustain its overextended boarders.  In the new lands however, a new age had dawned, a little settlement called Impiris sprung up populated by not only the local peoples but by humans too.  Word had spread, more had come, the settlement grew and prospered... and then got burned down by an angry mob of mole people...
The survivors banded together, stronger than before, and New Impiris was born.
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A couple hundred years later and here you were, standing in the rain and still hungry.
The crowds had grown, more and more people milled around as a street party threatened to form.  
You activated your radio.
"Control?  This is Anon.  I have increased activity down here in my sector and still no backup.  What are you guys doing up there?  Over."
After a brief crackle of static the operator answered,
"Received Anon.  Hang tight, we've got activity across the board right now so unless you have a full blown wolf riot down there you'll have to make do with what you got.  Over."
"What I got is just me and a whole lot of people getting really very merry.  Where's the backup you promised?  Over"  You were starting to get annoyed.  The crowd was getting bigger now and the group of tiger girls had decided to take the party over to the deer, who were only just realising how much trouble they were in.
"Their not there yet?  We sent the new rookie down to meet you like an hour ago, they really should be there...  Over."
"Tell them to hurry up will ya?" you snap.  "And tell him to bring a sandwich or something, I'm starving down here!  Over and out!"
The group of tiger girls had now moved up from worrying the deer guys to outright groping and fondling them.  One of the guys was in to it but his friends were starting to freak out, causing a scene and exciting the crowd.
With a sigh you make your way over to try calm things down.
"Ok ladies put the bucks down please!  If they wanted to be felt up that bad they would have tried sneaking through immigration and walking funny."
Some of the girls laugh and drop the grateful looking guys, one or two look a bit disappointed, but the one who was actually enjoying himself gets kind of angry.
"Piss off humie!  We're partying here!"
The surrounding crowd reacted with a mix of gasps and sniggers.
Well that tore it.  If you let him get off with nothing then it would all go down hill from here with others taking his example to cause trouble, cracking him over the head and dragging him off by the antlers however wouldn't exactly go down well either...
"Ok hot stuff, calm it down." you smirk, trying to keep it calm and easy.   "There's plenty of time for partying today, just not here or right now.  Move it along, now."
The edge in your voice should have been enough, and it nearly was.  Except a trio of wolves had stumbled through the growing crowd towards the commotion, you could tell they were not here to calm things down.
"Hey!  Pig!" shouted the leader.  "Whatcha doin talking to my buddy like that huh?  Where you get off pickin on us little guys?"
The fact that both the buck and the wolf were taller than you didn't seem to matter all that much...
"You know these... gentlemen?" you ask the buck.  He shakes his head in response, suddenly looking less sure of himself.
"You callin me a liar bub!?!" yelled the wolf.  
This was going down hill fast, the wolves were out for a fight.
"Ok sir, back off!" you warn the leader, only to notice too late that where there had been three there now was only two.
"Watch out!  Behind you!" shouts an achingly familiar female voice.  
You duck just in time to miss a bottle that had been swung by the missing wolf, his attempt to glass you from behind foiled.  The offending wolf then went sailing through the air himself, hit by a powerful flying kick.
The other two don't waste any time turning on you, still intent on taking on someone, anyone, in uniform.  You're ready for them though, the element of surprise had gone the same way as their friend. 
Your riot stick now in hand you proceed to relive the first wolf of his teeth, hopefully he had a good dentist...  your return swing lands a glancing blow on the second.  As he staggers to the side, he growls menacingly and pulls a knife.
"Oh you gonna get it now pi- Eeeekkkk!"
His taunt turned to a shriek as a standard issue tazer shot two barbs into his fur and proceeded to pump him with bowel loosening amounts of electricity.
The source was another uniformed officer, the one who had kicked the other wolf, in full riot gear no less.  They had pulled the tazer upon seeing the knife and had shown no mercy.
As the wolf collapsed to the floor frothing at the mouth, you call it in.
The crowd had started to disperse after the second officer had arrived, the street quickly emptied almost completely after the writhing wolf shat himself.
You turn to the officer and extend a hand.
"Thanks for the assist.  You my rookie?"
The hand that comes to meet yours is covered in brown fur, more of a paw actually.  You hadn't expected a non human, Control rarely paired different races together, at least not in the middle of days like this anyway.  They preferred to let them get to know each other back in the safety of the station and assess compatibility first.
The riot helmet still covered the officer's face and hid their race but the moment she spoke, a thrill jumped up from your gut.
"I told the others back at Control already, I'm no rookie!  I have two years experience out in the boarder towns and I know what I'm doing.  The name's-"
"Zelena..." you whisper.
She freezes in place, taken aback by your prediction, or perhaps something else...  You feel her paw shaking as it squeezes your hand.
"H-how did you..."
You reach up and lift her visor.  A pair of beautiful violet eyes are revealed underneath.  The sight of them causes a pain to shoot through your chest, no...  You realise the pain has always been there, you had just gotten used to it, like on old poorly healed wound.
"My name i-is..." you stutter.  But she interrupts you this time.
"Anon?" she whispers, blinking back tears.
You both stand there dumbstruck for a moment, lost in each others gaze.  When the van pulls up to collect the unconscious (and slightly soiled in one case) wolves, you barely notice, having pulled of each others helmets and started kissing passionately.
The two officers from the van get out and stare at you both in confusion.
"Is that Anon and the new girl?" asks the first, a short badger named Bill.
"Looks like it..." whistles his partner, a much taller bear named Ted.
As they set about collecting the battered wolves, Bill looks back and shakes his head.
"Damn that Anon moves fast!  I thought he was all like celibate or something?"
"Nah man." tuts Ted.  "He always said he was waiting for someone, just didn't know who.  Guess he found her though..."
As you finally break for air, you both simply hold each other in your arms.  You know for a fact that you have never met before, at least not in this life.  Yet you also know that she is yours, and you are hers.
You will never let each other go again, not for anything.  
"I've missed you." she whispers in your ear.
"I've missed you too," you whisper back.
Hand in paw, you pick up your helmets and head off into the city.  You both have a job to do after all, and may the gods themselves have mercy on anyone that dares get in your way.

Fin~