Ether returned to Pareidolia, where his fellow pre-Nobles discussed the next day. Except for Hylo, she had already drifted off to sleep.
She rested beside Hitirus, who remained the same female hybrid as before. However, Hitirus and Befehlnadir remained very close together.
They leaned on each other while explaining their next step. Befehlnadir would sometimes compliment Hitirus, causing her to grow a little closer to him.
Not wanting to disturb the duo from each other, Ether quietly sat down beside his daughter. He ran his fingers over her braids and gently massaged her cheeks.
While asleep, Hylo looked very similar to Pearl. This was a gift Ether cherished. He believed she looked this way because Pearl was looking over her daughter just like he was.
"Hey, Ether!" Befehlnadir's voice caught his attention. "All right, you're listening now, great. Pay attention to this fine lady."
Hitirus scoffed, smiling like a teen girl while diverting her gaze off Befehlnadir. "I - yeah, anyway. Ether, we've got some news. For starters, Gatruda managed to claw themselves into Pareidolia."
"What? How? Isn't Pareidolia somewhere off reality? They shouldn't be capable of -"
"Technically, no. Pareidolia is situated right on Coshire. It's complicated, but the short of it is Pareidolia's dimensions replicate Coshire's. Right now we're standing on the hills," the Iron Butler interrupted.
Ether fell silent, letting the other stalk. Hitirus rose to her feet before turning around and announcing the more important news.
"Gatruda came with a message from Nestres and his pre-Nobles. Tomorrow in the afternoon we're meeting on Galaad's furthest island and we'll settle our dispute. Remember our plan, Ether. You're taking Ventelu," Hitirus announced.
Befehlnadir laid down on the soft grass. Fresh dew wetted his messy cyan hair. He kept an arm out-stretched, as if he was waiting for someone.
"No matter what happens, we'll win sooner or later. That's the truth of this entire conflict. But for now, let's take it easy and let's know each other better. Hitirus, feeling a bit hot..." Befehlnadir's tone felt relaxed.
"I - okay, coming." Hitirus made her way over to Befehlnadir, then she promptly laid down beside him. She let her once-enemy encase her with an assuring hug. "Feeling better?"
Befehlnadir chuckled as he hugged Hitirus tighter. Seeing them bond together felt bizarre. After all, the first time Ether encountered Befehlnadir was when he blasted Hitirus away.
He was supposed to kill Hitirus, putting an end to an accident in a merciful way. Without anybody there to order Hitirus, it was a danger.
"So uh, what's the name of the girl you had little Hylo with? She seems to be very closed to having a discussion about her family," Befehlnadir asked.
Ether sighed, closing his eyes to forget. He hoped that he'd never had to think about the day he sent them away on Sky Beasts.
Deep down, Ether felt regret for not going with them. He wasn't forced to stay back and fight, in fact, he could've fled. And maybe he could've saved his family, if not, got lost with them.
"M - my wife and kids are... none of your concern. I'm sure they're somewhere around Imbushko right now waiting for me and Hylo to finish here so we can return to them. I'm sure - confident, I'm confident that they are." Ether bitterly replied.
"Must be something tragic. Me and Tirus here don't have family. Our origins are shady at best. Nobody truly knows who birthed who," Befehlnadir commented.
Hitirus reached for Befehlnadir's hand. "Strangely enough, even if we're supposed to be enemies, we're all we have. It's set in stone, he's going to kill me. But I want to experience a little love for once."
Ether studied how safe and comfortable the duo seemed together. They cheerfully smiled and wrestled closer, reminding Ether of early mornings with Pearl.
"You know what? Your rise to power, I want to hear it." Befehlnadir asked.
"Mine? Its not that interesting. Just me fighting, encouraging, leading my way through fights." Ether replied.
Befehlnadir laughed. "Come on, stop being so humble. I know you're more than that."
Ether groaned. "It was a dark time. I..." he remembered ordering Jakery to exit the bunker's room as he held Tellendor up to his neck. The memory of being chained up and tortured quickly surfaced. "I'd rather not talk."
"We've all fought conflicts. I lost a Legion," Hitirus replied.
"How about you two share your journey to Yarno. In exchange, I'll share my journey to where we are now. Deal?" Ether asked.
Befehlnadir adjusted himself beside Hitirus. "Deal. Me and Hitirus crawled out of Uvurim. As you know, I was tracking her down. I came across this guy, Excallar, a merc."
Hitirus sighed. "Yeah, that guy... I remember catching him and stupid little me accidentally killed Befehlnadir and didn't think to double check."
Befehlnadir laughed. "Yeah! You should've had a better eye." He hugged Hitirus gently before turning his attention to Ether. "So me and the merc teamed up. He would ambush Tirus, I would take the punishment."
"But wouldn't it be better if you did both?" Ether asked.
"Oh, that merc knew his duty. I thought ambushes and hit-and-run would slow Hitirus down. Wrong. Getting crushed, impaled continuously, gored by wild animals, do." Befehlnadir answered.
Ether fell silent. How Hitirus and Befehlnadir felt comfortable hugging each other without risking getting betrayed was beyond him.
But he didn't want to judge or question them. Dying repeatedly wasn't a simple task. He had experienced his own share of deaths before.
"You're probably thinking 'how did Hitirus get the Conqueror Legion?' I guess this is the perfect time to tell," Hitirus sat up. "I made my way along the Yarno-Imbushko border - found dozens of battalions wearing the same color.
I thought nothing of them, yet they chose to attack me -"
"Seeing you run from their arrows while screaming insults at them was hilarious!" Befehlnadir laughed.
"Yeah, whatever. We ended up fighting for roughly two days. They got me pissed off enough to hunt them down. Four days later, I killed the leader without noticing. And this is what I mean by 'loyalty is best earned by fear.'
Those same warriors? They got on their knees and hailed me as their new leader. I thought it was cool and decided to bring them along. But the Light Legion or something kept us in Yarno.
The Trilogy formed shortly thereafter. Niro urged for Yarno to unite against the looming threat. So I accepted cause war's fun and Light caged us in Yarno."
Ether sighed. "Woo. You did a lot of fighting during the same time my Legion was just growing."
Befehlnadir sat up to hug Hitirus again. "The rest of this story you saw. So, you said you'd tell us yours next..."