Chapter 1

Eros, the best blade in the academy, with dark hair brushed back atop a soft-skinned brow, glanced with eyes of hazel, that betrayed the sagacity of his youth and gentleness of his soul, at his instructor, Echo Pan, who now walked towards he and the others.

The charismatic chevalier was much liked and respected in the military school of Hyperion because of his precociousness, his fortitude and leadership. It was all wrapped up in an athletic build - well-cut - a firm jaw, and high cheekbones. If you were to ask him how he perceived himself, one would get a very timid, almost shy and underwhelming reply. He was afterall, a naturally unconfident person. But the view from the interior was very much different to the exterior. People looked up to him.

"I trust you understand the severity of the situation," Pan said slightly out of breath from the brisk pace with which he'd walked towards the lower vestibule of the barracks.

"Sir," Sabriel interjected before Pan could get started, "Must we be paired with them?" The young woman was a gunslinger, who'd made her reputation by mixing it up with the worst the kingdom had to offer. Late night drinking, gambling in the foulest taverns to be found. The white knight, that is to say Eros, often asked her why she sought out such company; she replied that she was comfortable in such environs and people, it was in the pristine, almost bourgeois academy that she felt out of place.

"They're unpredictable - reckless."

"It's been decided," Pan said, whose face revealed that he harboured reservations of his own.

Sabriel exhaled sharply, crossed her arms, and looked away in the sultry manner that became her so well.

Sabriel's uneasiness was rooted in the fact that for her final exam, the very same that determined whether or not she would go on to graduate, she was paired with Eros and Thanatos. Eros was a remarkable cadet, but his Achilles heel was his best friend - Thanatos. The pair were inseparable, and in their style and approach - symmetrical. Thanatos was every bit the swordsman Eros was, some would argue - better. He didn't suffer from shyness or timidity, no, he was bold and enterprising. He had an abundance of confidence focused within an iron wrist. He was a touch taller than Eros, a shade darker, slightly more handsome. The two men lived only for each other, and so it was that Eros would often be led by the character of Thanatos. That is what worried Sabriel because that man thought he could best an army - on his own.

"I have the authority to stop the mission if you act out of place." Echo Pan concentrated upon Thanatos, then Eros. "Fall in line, follow orders."

Thanatos smiled but said nothing.

The squad then followed the other cadets to the stables, saddled their horses, and rode out beyond the city limits. Columns of cavalry galloped for the horizon where an outpost had gone silent. Several leagues passed before Eros turned to look at Thanatos beside him. His friend had fallen silent. Typhon and Sabriel rode together in front. The former had the misfortune to be born the wrong colour, or at least, that's what the natives thought. He was an immigrant and a mage. The prejudice he'd suffered served only to galvanize his will, harden him, and somehow, this strengthened his mana pool. He suffered but he would not let others suffer. He was recruited into the military school, like the others from a young age, but he was cherry picked by Lord Erebos, the highest ranking mage in the kingdom, who had the ear of the king.

The squad surveyed the outskirts of town before Echo Pan led them down the narrow streets. It was a typical village out on the tremendous plain that stretched out from the castle's walls in all directions. The plain was bisected by a river on the northern side, but nevertheless on it ran, to the horizon and beyond. Only the mountains in the far distance terminated it.

The village itself had quaint provincial housing with roofs of hay and timber framed walls. The streets were cobbled and muddy. From a crow's perspective it was circular in shape, with an old bent clocktower at the centre. Lynx village belonged to Hyperion, but in ancient times, the neighbouring kingdom of Lemuria, had once possessed it. Presently the village lay idle, the smithy's fires were not burning, the church bell didn't sound upon the hour, market goers were absent and even houses seemed bereft of their owners. Eros, Thanatos, Sabriel, Typhon and Echo Pan all exchanged a lugubrious look because there wasn't a soul to be found anywhere.

Deeper they delved, still not meeting anyone before arriving at the central square. Eros looked up at the clock tower, whose hands had stopped. He overheard the other student's conversations, 'Did you find anything?' 'No did you?' 'Nothing.' 'What's going on?' 'I don't know.' Then he saw Echo Pan join the other squad leaders in counsel. The cadets in their blue uniforms without epaulettes, but black belts and boots waited impatiently.

Under her breath Sabriel said, "Where are all the people?"

No-one answered.

"It's not normal," she continued.

Eros looked at the leaders while they conferred. Then he saw Yuki, a young woman from his class, enter the tower. She emerged after several minutes. Her supervisor looked across at her, but she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She must have looked for the logbook.

Time passed, Eros paced back and forth, unable to remain still, Thanatos was the same. It was like looking into a mirror with them. Then Echo Pan strode across to where Eros was leaning against a wall, and said, "We're leaving."

Thanatos's jaw hung open, "What?" He wanted answers.

"We've searched the town," Pan looked from one squad member to the other, "There's nothing here. We'll report back, and await orders."

They followed Pan back down the cobbled streets; Sabriel looked to Typhon and said, "It doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," he replied, "Where are all the people?" He paused. "And where is the captain, and his men, who were sent to investigate?"

"Exactly. If they discovered what we have, that is to say, nothing, why have they not returned?"

"And where has the logbook gone?" added Typhon.

This caused Eros to reflect: the captain should have returned, but he hadn't.

"We've searched the town," Thanatos interjected. "It was easier than expected but--"

That was it. The others looked on as Eros dashed down a nearby alleyway.

"What is it?" Thanatos called after him.

They caught up with Eros while he crouched down a dark path. Brick walls several feet in height enclosed the narrow alley. behind them, rose the thatched roofs of the dwellings. "Don't you think the town seems smaller now we are within than when we saw it from without?"

Thanatos said, "It does."

Eros stopped at the end of the alley. We have already portrayed what stood on either side of him, now in front, there was a solid wall. The only way to proceed was to return the way that they had come. Sabriel had been angered by her pairing, but now, she hoped that the astute mind of Eros that had proven itself so well over the many years that she'd known him, would surprise her. He didn't disappoint. He slid his hand along the brickwork of the front wall until suddenly he stopped, pulled at something and then turned revealing in his hand a stone. The wall behind meanwhile, vanished.

"An illusion crystal!" Sabriel exclaimed.

Echo Pan hastily dispatched the mage and gunslinger to inform the others, while he and the chevaliers proceeded down the path that Eros had opened to them. Eros's heart beat fiercely because he knew he was getting to close to the matter.

When Eros rounded a bend in the alleyway - that led into a plaza - he saw the sanguinary remains of the townspeople. Their bodies lay in pools of their own blood; their faces stared emptily at him. They'd been dead for days.

"Lemuria has done this," he was quick to say. "They've been courting war with us for too long."

"We don't know that," Echo Pan replied, "We need to find out what happened here."

Eros had turned his head from the scene, so repugnant was the smell and the sight, but now, at last, returning his gaze, he managed to see the tavern door on the opposite side, swinging listlessly in the breeze. Through it, he thought he saw someone he knew.

He crossed the threshold to the inn that had become a torture chamber. Captain Andromeda's body lay tethered to a chair. The wooden flooring wore his blood. The execrable scene was to become worse because by the fireplace lay what must have been the proprietor's wife and child. Eros brushed the strands of hair behind the girl's ears; her bosom had a hole in it. He grasped her bloody linen. The enemy could have spared this one, he thought, it wouldn't have made a difference to them and their purpose.