After quelling the gang problems within the port city of Melusarej and stamping out the Cult of Chaos’s presence there, the group decides to head out to accomplish grander things.

“Gangs defeated, check. Cult of Chaos gone, check. What’s next my dudes?” Kayde asks the others as they start to leave the city.

“Orrin is still alive, I want to kill him again. And we should track down Sharn, so I could challenge him as well,” Drakthar states his desires.

“I don’t know where Sharn would have gone, he could be all the way in the Arctic now that he knows that the Cult of Chaos’ base is there,” Xander speculates, not wanting a search for Sharn to become a priority.

“I need to check in with the Silent Brotherhood at some point,” Gwendolyn reminds the others.

“Plus we still need to take down the Purity,” Xander reiterates as he and Kayde both nod in unison at their shared goal.

“Sounds like a lot of action lads... that is why I’m going to have to leave ya all behind. It has been fun saving the world and all, but I don’t think this old body is going to hold up if I go along with you,” Jorge speaks up, his voice cracking about halfway through.

“If you’re going, at least take this, it was Alcaeus’s bag. I grabbed it after he killed himself. I’m sure there is a lot of gold in there. It’s all I can offer you for being there for all of us,” Kayde holds out Alcaeus’s bag of holding. Jorge takes it and turns around. He cries silently as he walks away from the others, heading back to the capital.

“Of all the plans we mentioned, I think the Iron Legion’s encampment is the closest,” Kayde points out after Jorge is gone.

“Wait what about Lydia? Now that she is alive you two were getting close again from what I saw,” Xander points out, concerned over his friend’s love life.

“Actually I figured out Lydia is only sixteen,” Kayde cringes, still reeling from learning that information. The three of them stare at Kayde, their faces blank with shock.

“They could convict you of rape, especially if Sarge finds out,” Xander points out.

“Two things: one, is it really rape if you’re not human? And two, technically I am only twelve years old so she would be the one who is arrested,” Kayde points out in his defense, knowing how the law of the desert is concerning rape.

Xander and Gwendolyn’s jaws almost hit the sand as Drakthar chuckles a bit.

“That’s messed up man,” Xander retorts, making it clear that he doesn’t endorse Kayde’s joke at all.

Xander furrows his brow, realizing that he has no idea how old Gwendolyn is.

He looks over at Drakthar who must be thinking the same thing, because Drakthar asks, “You know Gwendolyn we don’t know how old you are”.

Gwendolyn is half surprised she has even been asked this, “You should really never ask a woman for her age. I’m physically twenty-four, but everyone here is going to think I’m twenty-two because of the whole time travel thing”.

“So you are around the same age as us,” Xander comments awkwardly, just glad that he didn’t have to ask the question and endure Gwendolyn’s wrath. She gives him a look sending a message that he isn’t off the hook for this. His relief fades away and is replaced with fear.

They follow their maps to the place where they found the Iron Legion encampment before. It takes them three days of heading North to make it to the encampment.

This time when they get there, they hear a commotion coming from the encampment. It sounds like people are yelling at each other. Kayde pulls out his rifle and looks down the scope to get a better look at what is going on. He sees specks off in the distance, only making out that a black-haired woman is arguing with what must be members of the Iron Legion.

“It looks like a girl is confronting the Legion about something,” Kayde relays to the others as he continues to look at the conflict.

“Interesting, can you get closer to hear what they are fighting about?” Drakthar requests knowing Kayde can go invisible.

“Sounds like a plan, buddy,” Kayde agrees right as he disappears. He gets close to the woman getting a better look at the muscles defining her shoulders. Kayde walks up right behind her listening in on her conversation with the Iron Legion members.

“You still haven’t given me an adequate reason,” the woman declares angrily, clearly frustrated by how she has been treated.

“He isn’t taking challenges from someone of your caliber,” one of the soldiers responds confidently.

The woman scowls, “It’s because I’m a woman isn’t it?”

“Yes a woman could never hope to defeat Orrin,” the man agrees proudly.

Kayde returns to the group as the arguing continues.

“The woman there is trying to challenge Orrin, but they are being sexist,” Kayde explains hastily, getting down to the bare bones of it.

“Of course they are, strong women will always be underestimated by fools,” Gwendolyn throws in her two cents.

Drakthar begins to laugh, “The old man is afraid of women now”. Gwendolyn shoots him a look, not amused by his laughing. Drakthar ignores it.

“What are we going to do this time? We don’t have the support of the Silent Brotherhood,” Kayde points out to the others.

“We are stronger, but based on how they are treating this woman, I don’t think challengers should have to fear for their lives anymore. I’ll go alone, the rest of you wait here,” Drakthar tells the others as he confidently strides off towards the woman and the soldiers.

Drakthar is spotted walking up, but he makes it to where the woman and other soldiers are arguing before he is confronted. As he gets closer he notices the woman’s muscular arms coming out of her armor guarding a tanned body one not too uncommon in the desert, and the large sword she keeps on his hip. He nods in approval to himself upon further inspection of her weapon.

“I Drakthar Borro’vaga have come to challenge Orrin,” Drakthar proudly declares.

“That’s funny, sorry but it seems they aren’t accepting challengers today,” the woman informs him.

“It is because their leader grows old and weak. He knows he cannot survive challengers anymore. So he hides behind his men and his legacy, not wishing to prove himself,” Drakthar explains what makes Orrin tick to the woman.

Hearing this causes a wide grin to appear on the woman’s face.

“Look who came back, it’s the deserter, Drakthar,” one of the Iron Legion members comments during a silence.

“This doesn’t matter, you all know why I left. Now I want to challenge Orrin. Where is he?” Drakthar looks down at the man trying to make him tremble in his boots.

The soldiers begin to whisper to themselves unsure of what to do.

“What is going on out here? I was trying to finalize battle plans in my tent,” Orrin complains, finally making an appearance.

A soldier gets him up to speed on what is going on, “We have a couple of people here who have come to challenge you”.

Orrin eyes the two warriors standing in front of him, “One is a girl and the other a useless pup who ran away from his duty. I would say it is good to see you again Drakthar, but that would be a lie”.

“I’m not surprised. Why would you be glad to see the one who will hand you defeat?” Drakthar declares cockily.

Orrin starts to laugh, trying to squash the doubt in his subordinate’s heads, “You have no idea of what you speak”.

“I know more than you would think,” Drakthar grins knowingly, having defeated him before.

“Enough of this back and forth. I am Kali and I have come here to challenge you, Orrin,” the woman interrupts them, drawing her sword to point directly at Orrin’s throat.

He looks down the blade at who he views as a little girl, “And why would a small flower like you want to challenge a mighty warrior such as myself?”

“I come from the house of Strazor, I’m the guardian of the fountain of luck. You drank from it while my uncle was standing guard. I have come to avenge his mistake,” Kali explains her reasons for being there, sounding equally as confident as Drakthar in her chances to win.

Drakthar looks down at the woman almost a foot shorter than him and grins, impressed by her grit.

“It looks like I have a couple of thick-headed kids on my hands. Do you know what else you two have in common? An inability to defeat me. But I am feeling rather generous today. I’ll tell you two what, I will accept a challenge from one of you, but you two need to decide who it will be first,” Orrin offers with a smirk.

Kali turns to Drakthar and looks him up and down, noting his scars and overall menacing figure. But even so Drakthar doesn’t scare Kali in the slightest, she has fought many people as big as him and came out victorious.

“Let’s get to it then,” Kali redirecting the point of her sword towards Drakthar, determined she will be the one to fight Orrin.

Drakthar slowly approaches her and leans in to whisper, “Stow your sword. My quarrel is not with you”. These words take Kali by surprise, but she listens all the same and holsters her sword.

“The old man just wants us to weaken each other first before he has to face one of us. He is trying to gain every advantage he can. It is best if we determine who will defeat him between the two of us without exchanging blows,” Drakthar continues to whisper.

“Okay, so how do we decide?” Kali asks, curious about Drakthar’s idea.

Drakthar starts to think; “We could decide arbitrarily, either of us will defeat him so it doesn’t really matter”.

“How do I know you will defeat him? Weren’t you his subordinate?” Kali asks not completely trusting in Drakthar’s ability to defeat Orrin.

Drakthar grins remembering what happened in the alternate future, “Because I have done it before”.

Kali’s eyebrows raise, her interest piqued, “If that is true, it’s fine with me if you’re the one to fight him, I just want him eliminated, so that none that have drunk from the fountain remain living”.

Drakthar steps forward, “It looks like I will be your opponent today, Orrin”. Orrin looks a bit shocked seeing as how they agreed on Drakthar without even fighting.

Orrin tries to backtrack, “I don’t know, I still don’t think you have proven yourself”.

“Sir you gave your word, backing out now would be a sign of cowardice, a trait we thought you didn’t have,” one of the Iron Legion members tells him.

Orrin looks around and sees other members of the Legion nod in agreement. Orrin grabs a hold of his hammer, “It looks like I will be taking you on boy, get ready”. Drakthar draws his axe.

The two warriors stand across from each other for a few moments before Orrin makes the first move. He leans forward and brings his hammer down towards Drakthar’s shoulder.

Drakthar sees through Orrin’s movements easily, almost as if he was fighting someone moving in slow motion. He steps back and spins around Orrin, almost taunting him. Orrin swings horizontally at Drakthar’s side, but whiffs after Drakthar easily dodged.

Drakthar realized that Orrin is nowhere as fast as Frederick, the Black Sun Empire knight that he faced off within the tunnels. Knowing that he will always be faster than Orrin he begins to play with him, dodging each attack easily, making sure to humiliate him in front of the subordinates that look up to him so much before ending his pitiful life.

Orrin just keeps pushing himself further; desperate not to be bested by the one he has looked down on for so long. He almost loses his grasp on his hammer, his hand coated in sweat. He swipes at Drakthar one more time and realizes that his opponent isn’t sweating at all.

Orrin lets out his last few attempts before falling into the sand, grains starting to stick to his body.

Drakthar puts a foot on top of Orrin, pushing him down so he is lying flat on the ground, “Members of the Iron Legion, you see your leader on the ground before me, defeated by nothing but his own arrogance and fatigue. He was foolish and scared, he has been weaker than me for a long time and has never admitted it. Now he will die, losing everything he worked so hard to keep”.

Drakthar lowers his axe onto Orrin’s head, decapitating him in front of all of his men. They look upon Orrin’s face and see the very last emotion he felt, fear.

In the distance, Kayde, who watched the whole thing through his scope, tells the others that it is over. They all head over to Drakthar.

When they get over there Xander pats Drakthar on the back, “What, no screaming in victory this time?”

“There is no reason to celebrate, I knew I was stronger, this outcome was inevitable,” Drakthar explains, thinking the lack of a reaction is founded.

All the members in the Iron Legion gather before Drakthar and kneel, “All hail Drakthar Borro’vaga, the strongest warrior of our time, slayer of Sand Dragons, son of the desert, and leader of the Iron Legion”.

“Stand up,” Drakthar orders those before him. They comply immediately awaiting his orders.

“Who among you is the strongest?” Drakthar inquires authoritatively.

“You are,” one of the soldiers speaks up in the back.

“No, other than me,” Drakthar gets annoyed a bit by the misunderstanding.

The members of the Iron Legion start to whisper to each other, trying to find an answer to his question.

Finally one speaks up, “I think he is”. He points towards a young man near the front.

“What is your name?” Drakthar asks the one who has been singled out.

“Shash,” he stands up meeting Drakthar’s gaze.

“Shash, you are now the leader of the Iron Legion. Lead with a strong will and determination. Oh, and don’t do the Sacrosanct Empire any favors,” Drakthar decrees. Shash nods and walks back into the members of the Iron Legion.

Drakthar and the others begin to walk away, his mission here is over.

“Wait!” They hear from behind them. They turn to see Kali jogging towards them.

She catches up and addresses Drakthar, “I thank you for defeating Orrin, you’re indeed a strong warrior”.

Drakthar looks down at the tough young woman, “I am, we should fight now, defeating Orrin took no energy, I am ready to determine which of us is the strongest”.

“For that to happen you would need to trespass in the sacred forest in the marshlands and attempt to drink from the fountain of luck. I will be there waiting for you Drakthar,” Kali struts away, still beholden to her station over her own whims. They watch as the toned woman clad in fine silver armor disappears behind a dune.