Acheron sauntered into the office with a permanent grimace on his face. A scar from his hairline to his left eyebrow and continuing down his left cheek past the corner of his mouth to his chin. An old wound that fortunately left him his eye. The office was simple and barren, a symbol of the piety faction.

None of the trapping of wealth and power that he preferred. Yet Acadius had been given the lead on this mission, disappointing and minor as it turned out to be. Acadius leaned toward devotion and piety, regardless of that downfall, he was a man of commitment, focus, and absolute will. If Acheron was forced to follow someone, Acadius was a decent leader.

The leader in question sat at the plain desk, stacks of paper piled upon it. His quill worked furiously as he penned whatever new orders he had for his lackey’s. He had long golden hair pulled back into a long ponytail, a strong jaw and a neatly trimmed beard.

He could have been anywhere from late twenties to early forties from his looks, but Acheron knew the man’s epic rank meant he could be well over a hundred cycles. Acheron himself had just made the epic ranks, and though he looked like he was at most thirty, he was going on his eightieth cycle.

They were not the only epic rankers in this remote island nation, but there certainly weren’t more than a handful in total. Acheron simply watched on as Acadius finished whatever it was he was writing, there was no other seats in the barren office. As Acadius finally set down his quill and wiped some of the ink from his hands on a stained rag.

“How did it go with the obsidian king?” Acadius asked. “Exactly as we expected. He was more than happy to take up our company of mercenaries to defend against the harassment of his border towns.” Acheron was a masterful tactician, but these petty politics and schemes were not his forte. Acadius on the other hand.

The plan had been simple, Acheron and his men had gotten the livery for the forest king's men, then gone and attacked the stone kings' villages. Now the Stone King was paying them to defend himself from the very men performing the attack. Both kingdoms had what they called an army, though it could barely be called a battalion anywhere else. Yet they stood uselessly to the side guarding stretches of walls and doing patrols that the simplest martial man could subvert.

Now they had the stone kings livery and would be harassing the forest king, soon, the two would be at the brink of war. That was where Acadius’ scheme really blossomed. It was too slow and easy for Acheron, He could take the few men that he had crossed the ocean with and dominate both kingdoms in his opinion, but he wasn’t in charge.

His one attempt to go rogue had not ended well. Fortunately he had silenced the village, but he had never found what the artifact he had been looking for. Acadius had not been pleased.

“Good. You know the next steps. Things are going well here, I have even found some potential recruits for the church. They have strong potential, and the blood of the primeoginator.” Acheron was shocked.

A branch of the primroginators bloodline was an important find. This would be another feather in Acadius’ cap. If Acheron couldn’t find a chance to make a name for himself on this excursion, he would never make legendary rank.

“How many have you found?” Acheron asked, doing his best to keep his annoyance from the surface.

Acadius looked at him with a smile, as if he knew exactly what the man was thinking. “Enough. Enough for perhaps even two to receive favor. Of course, I would need that person to owe me a favor.”

Acheron did not want to owe a favor to the piety faction, especially to someone as scheming as Acadius. Yet the reward was dangling temptingly in front of him.

With a sigh, he finally just asked.“What kind of favor?”

Acadius lips just turned into a wicked grin.