Prometheus waited by the by the rocks near one of the cottages on the mountains. He was steadily growing impatient for Nikita, another one of his recent sub-teachers, to arrive from the village, carrying the new girls for the academy. He was about to head inside and fiddle around with whatever equipment was in there, when he heard the wailing of a baby. It was later followed by almost seven more, then twelve more, and steadily increasing. Then Nikita and a few other teachers arrived carrying some of the screaming infants. They were placed by the rocks nearby Prometheus, and he carefully looked them over. Most of them still had their eyes closed, struggling against the gentle but pretty firm grasp of the other teachers. But then, he came across one baby, under the arms of Nikita, who had her eyes open, made no movement to struggle against Nikita’s hold, and stayed absolutely quiet, but was definitely alive and moving a bit. This non-restless infant, instead of struggling like the others, simply moved her head from side to side, looking at Nikita, then at Prometheus. Prometheus smiled pleasantly, then turned to Nikita.

“Let her go, see if she takes a specific interest in one of us.” Prometheus said. Nikita released the baby, and, after briefly struggling to stand up, walked toward Prometheus. “She doesn’t struggle, yet she is very curious at this age. I just hope that she can become a good warrior.” Prometheus thought. “What is the girl’s name,” he asked, turning to Nikita. Nikita turned away, trying to remember, then finally, after snapping her fingers a couple times, she replied “Alexis”.

“Alexis, what an attractive name” thought Prometheus, “I just hope that in the name of the gods, this young girl can pass the tests we will establish for her and the other girls.
About seven years later, after the babies had been put through some physical tests, with some of them being too weak to fight and thus discarded, Alexis grew into a young 7 year old girl, with whitish-blonde hair and shiny blue eyes. She and the remaining girls were put through all sorts of tough physical tests, including jumping over large crevices in the mountains, having to run and do somersaults, cartwheels, etc. Prometheus noticed that Alexis was doing extremely well, performing more than one summersault or cartwheel in one leap from her run instead of just one without flaw. Prometheus would pay special attention to Alexis, viewing her abilities with a look of satisfaction, though he tried not to meet Alexis’s gaze, knowing that if he did, it might distract her, causing her to mess up.

“Gosh, Alexis really seems to know how to pass almost every physical test we give her,” Philaeus said over his shoulder to Prometheus.

“Indeed” Prometheus said, in a low whispering voice, “It’s almost as though she had been preparing for such physical tests before she even came here.”
Another seven years later, the girls aged to fourteen, and became more and more physically active, each of them now beginning to handle their first sword. Philaeus, being a good woodcarver as well a good Spartan soldier trainer, had crafted some dummies out of wood for the girls to train against. And it was quite shocking to see the damage which the girls would do to them, some of the dummies actually being left in small shards by the time one of the girls was done with them. Alexis, didn’t hack them to bits, but instead went for the vitals only, and Prometheus identified this as Alexis not being reckless but instead very mindful of how to face and kill her enemy.

“Philaeus, I feel that the tests we’re putting Alexis through are completely tedious for her skills” Prometheus said, as he watched Alexis jump over larger crevices and wiggle right in between certain other obstacles. “I think that it is time that we get her to perform her first sword fight.”

“I would originally like to object to that,” Philaeus said “knowing that the girls don’t begin such training until next week. However, I can see your point, if we keep up this kind of training for Alexis, she’ll simply get bored. We might want to get her ready for a pre-duel.”

“We’ll pair her with Nikita,” Prometheus decided “Not only is Nikita a good warrior, she is also a good mentor, so I think it will work out fine for Alexis if we pair her with Nikita.”

The next day, Alexis was woken up earlier than usual, she got her sword, and met Nikita in the center plateau outside the rest of the barracks. They both had their swords drawn, ready for the first swing. It was Nikita that attacked first, swinging her sword in complete circles and parrying numerous swings from Alexis. Sometimes, they would clash together, then after about half a minute, would push away from each other. By this time, Prometheus and the rest of the teachers and other girls were up and watching the practice duel.

Alexis would do leaps in the air, sometimes doing a full backflip before landing on the ground again, and still be able to parry the blows. Nikita would always leap to certain sides, hoping to catch Alexis off guard, but usually, Alexis was quick to block these blows. However, at one point, Nikita disarmed her and pinned her to the ground with her foot. Alexis briefly struggled under her grasp, then forced her off, got her sword back, and swung stronger blows to repel Nikita. She tried to repel them as best as possible, but eventually, one blow, with the flat side of the blade, forced Nikita’s weapon out of her hand. Before she could get her weapon back, Alexis grabbed it, forced Nikita to the rocks, and held both swords at Nikita’s throat. Alexis even kept a leg pinned to Nikita’s legs to keep her from lashing out again. Both Nikita and Alexis breathed slowly, waiting for the next move, but it never came, and Nikita raised her hands in surrender, but gave an appreciated smile. Alexis returned it, and tossed Nikita’s weapon back to her.
Prometheus had watched this whole fight, and was completely struck by Alexis’s fighting skills.

“How is she able to do that” he muttered to Philaeus.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Philaeus replied “but sometimes I imagine her actually tossing and turning in her bed as though preparing for her next fight.”

“Perhaps that’s exactly what might be going on,” Prometheus said, then added “Change of plans, we’re going to reschedule the sword fighting for the remaining girls from next week to tomorrow.” Prometheus didn’t even bother to look at Philaeus’ thunder-struck face, knowing Philaeus was always skeptical of some of his ideas, especially when he rescheduled things.

The next morning, all the girls were told to be in pairs and to practice each-others fighting skills. Alexis was first paired with a girl who had brown hair, similar blue eyes, except they seemed to flash with the eagerness to fight. Her name was Chloe, and was one of the much more reckless fighters that Prometheus had noted. The two drew their swords, and Chloe lunged at Alexis, who blocked the blow, but impact of the swords forced her to the ground. Chloe swung the sword down at her, but Alexis rolled to the side as the sword clanged only a few inches from her ear. She regained her position, but Chloe kicked her hard in the stomach, forcing her back down, but again, she regained her strength almost as soon as she had lost it, and this time, instead of engaging her head on, somersaulted into her legs. Chloe, completely unprepared for this, bowled right over, and before she could regain her strength, Alexis was upon her, and hit Chloe’s palm with the flat end of her blade, disarming her.

Alexis and Chloe wrestled with each other, rolling over each other, and then Alexis threw her off, but Chloe was back on her feet, and hit her hard in the stomach. As Alexis fell to the ground, Chloe grabbed her blade, and charged her, but Alexis was quick to grab her blade, and as Chloe ran at her, she lashed out…but forgot to point it in the flat position. Chloe shrieked as Alexis’s blade pierced her arm, and Alexis drew the blade back in shock. Chloe’s blade clattered to the ground, and she fell onto Alexis, gripping her arm, some of the blood from the wound dripping onto Alexis’s arm. Alexis backed off, right into Prometheus. She turned frightened, expecting Prometheus to drag her away and get her punished. But instead, Prometheus had a look of impressed enthusiasm.

“Master,” Alexis said, a scared expression displayed on her face, “I’m sorry about doing that to Chloe”

“Alexis” Prometheus said “The wound isn’t fatal, it’s just a slight puncture in the arm. We can easily get that fixed. Your fighting was impressive, and I can’t discredit you for that.” By this time, Chloe had regained her footing, and began to advance toward Alexis, holding her blade again, but Philaeus appeared behind her and held her back.

“Get her to the armory, and get that wound fixed up” Prometheus ordered, and Philaeus cooperated immediately, and gently dragged the furiously struggling Chloe away.
Training continued this way, with Alexis dueling the other girls. She dueled a girl named Cassandra, who was maybe a year younger than she was, but still displayed good fighting skills, such as leaping far above Alexis’s sight and trying to get her from behind, but Alexis still blocked the blows, and finally after pinning her to the ground with her arms and holding her sword to Cassandra’s throat, made her surrender.

There was also a girl named Evadine, who was the same age as Alexis, but had honey blonde hair and eyes as green as a cat. She was definitely a girl who had been trained with sharp instincts, but instead of engaging Alexis head on, she used the rocks at her advantage, leaping onto them, and scampering across them so quickly it took Alexis maybe a couple seconds to register her speed, but by that time, Evadine had landed right behind her and swung. Alexis, in a slight pang of fright, parried the blow, and forced Evadine back. Evadine scaled the rocks again, but Alexis was expecting this, and scaled after her. They dueled on the rocks, one end being a little high over the plateau, and the other end having a steep drop maybe fifteen feet far below into an abyss.

On and on they fought, until Alexis forced Evadine back, and Evadine lost her balance. She began to scream as she fell over the steep edge, but Alexis quickly discarded her blade and grabbed Evadine’s arm, and pulled her back up. Evadine immediately gave in, but added,

“Thanks for saving my life” as Alexis handed back her blade

“The rules of the training clearly state you can’t kill your opponent unless otherwise instructed by your teacher,” Alexis replied “Plus, I’m not ready to kill yet”

Alexis dueled two more girls, named Tiara and Nerita, both who had brown hair and brown eyes. They were sisters, and were 3 years older than Alexis. But despite how they fought together in a two-against-one attack, Alexis defeated them both by sliding her legs under Tiara’s and disarming Nerita, and finally after engaging her in light hand to hand combat, forced her to the ground. Alexis even did a couple more fights with Nikita, but both times, defeated her in the prep-duels.

Prometheus was beyond being astounded after watching each of these duels, with Alexis making each and every one of her partners surrender to her skills. He felt inclined to draw Alexis out of this training, but immediately changed his mind after Alexis insisted that these duels were fun and perfect for training. Prometheus couldn’t object to that, and decided to let it continue until the next set of training was ready.

A few days later, the government’s soldiers brought a group of Helots (slaves) to the training, having sentenced them to death to keep the Helot population under control. Prometheus had the girls get their swords, and had the Helot’s wrists and legs bound so they couldn’t escape punishment. Most of the girls felt no resistance to fighting the Helots, knowing this would be their first opportunity to actually kill. However, when Alexis was paired with a Helot, she had her sword raised, but kept feeling a pang of fear at killing the unarmed Helot. She swallowed hard trying to keep it under control. She already heard the painful cries of some of the other Helots as her friends slayed them relentlessly, but could not bring herself to do the same. Some of her friends kept chanting to her “The helot must not live…The helot must not live” but still she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Finally, with a worthless sigh, she said “I can’t do it” and dropped her blade. The Helot, instead of being pleased, looked surprised, and some of her friends gasped. What she had just said was an act of defiance.

Alexis was then taken by some of the teachers, tied up and whipped. And the whipping was really, really hard and painful. Alexis wheezed, gritted her teeth, and moaned as the whip hit again and again. Then after a while, Prometheus, who had been one of the teachers present in the punishment, stepped forward and said to the whipper “That’s enough.” The whipper however, ignored him, and kept on whipping. Nikita, another one of the teachers present, winced as Alexis’s moans and whimpers turned into brief wails. The pitch of her wailing was infuriating enough for Prometheus, and he suddenly grabbed the whipper’s wrist and held it firm and, for the first time in many years, yelled in anger at the whipper.

“If you whip her one more time, you pitiless, ignorant demon, you’ll answer to me!!” he yelled, almost right in front of the whipper’s face, “and it won’t be just a beating, I’ll have you hanged by the government for disobedience. Now get out of my sight before I break your wrist!!!” Alexis had her hands untied, and she was gently escorted to her room for a rest.

Later that night, Prometheus came to Alexis’s room, and gently knocked.

“Come in” Alexis replied in a tired but calm voice. Prometheus entered, and noticed Alexis lying on her stomach on her bed, exposing the gruesome scars the whip had done. Prometheus had spent the afternoon that day after the whipping getting herbs and other medical plants from a local doctor to cure the injuries, and knew that as long as he applied the medication correctly, the wounds would vanish at least five or six hours.

“I’m not sure why you decided not to kill the Helot, Alexis.” Prometheus said, as he wrung out the herbs and took small doses of the formula inside them and put them into a little flask. He then dabbed some of it and applied it to one of the wounds. Alexis briefly whined as the formula entered her body and took action, creating slight stings of pain in her back.

“You’ve been able to demonstrate great fighting skills with your peers,” Prometheus continued,“So why couldn’t you bring yourself to perform similar skills against the Helot?”

“He was unarmed,” Alexis said, then wheezed again as more of the formula was applied “Why must we kill those unarmed people?” Prometheus paused, then responded as kindly as possible about the matter.

“It was always believed that someday, the Helots might rise up against the Spartan government. Therefore, it was decreed that in order to terrorize them into obeying the government and not rising up, all Spartan soldiers, regardless of age and status, were to kill a small selection of Helots annually.” He then paused and a much more gentle smile replaced his previously serious face, then added “However, I can easily understand how you feel about it, and I’ll secretly bend the rules for you personally. Therefore, you only have to kill the Helots this year, and that will be good enough.” Alexis looked up into his eyes and smiled.

“Prometheus,” she said, doing her best to ignore the pain of the medication “Thank you so much.”

“I’m only doing this because I feel you specifically were born to be a great warrior for the Spartan army. I’ve been taking a personal interest in you ever since I first laid eyes on you.” Prometheus, “Yet you must understand, I can’t go to such an extent that you are to be treated differently from the rest of the Spartans, boys or girls alike, therefore,” he broke off, trying to find the best choice of words as he applied the formula to the last of the wounds, then continued “You will have to go through some more training that will be difficult to handle, so just be prepared for that.”

“Yes Prometheus,” Alexis said, wincing at the formula’s reaction to her body, “I understand, and I promise, over my own life, I’ll never say anything more that sounds as though I’m defying you, the other teachers, or the government,”

“That’s good to here, Alexis,” Prometheus replied “Now get some sleep, you’ll need it for whatever training we prep you for tomorrow.”

But around midnight, Alexis was woken up a second time, but this time, it was from a small tapping sound at her window. By this time, most of the wounds in her back had vanished, but the formula was still at work as she struggled to wake up and go to the window. As she arrived, she saw a Helot just outside her window. And not just any Helot, it was the one which she was originally assigned to kill earlier that day. The Helot made a gentle motion, asking her to open the window. Cautiously, Alexis opened the window. The Helot came into the room gently, and Alexis closed the windows quietly behind her.

“What do you want,” she asked, and the Helot looked at her. He was a man of the usual Greek background, where many of the slaves came from, and he looked to be around his twenties. When the Helot spoke, Alexis was briefly startled on the inside, but quickly recovered.

“I overheard your conversation with Prometheus,” the Helot said, looking gently into Alexis’s eyes.

“What did you hear” she asked.

“That Prometheus wanted you to be one of the best Spartans that he had trained” the Helot replied, “And I personally agree with him.”

Alexis was a little thunderstruck by this. The Helots weren’t supposed to take an interest in their masters, especially the Spartans, because they were always subject to execution annually by them. But this one was different, and it really made Alexis a little quizzical.

“What is you name” she asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.

“Daeius” the Helot replied, returning the polite expression.

“And might I ask” Alexis asked “What you mean by you agreeing to Prometheus.”

“It means…” Daeius said “that I’m willing to die at your hands.” Alexis was struck again by this and almost started to cry, but held it back “You’re asking me to kill you personally?”

“Yes,” Daeius replied, then came over gently to Alexis, who was trembling at the thought of this. But then she remembered what Prometheus had said earlier.

“You must understand, I can’t go to such an extent that you are to be treated differently from the rest of the Spartans, boys or girls alike, therefore, you will have to go through some more training that will be difficult to handle, so just be prepared for that.”

“Now, please listen carefully,” Daeius said, as calmly as he could, “I want you to go to Prometheus tomorrow, tell him you’re ready to kill me, and say it with every bit of confidence you have in your body. With luck, he’ll pair you with me again, and you can end my life painlessly.”

“Understood, but…” Alexis said, trying not to disappoint Daeius “there must be some other reason your willing to give away your life for me.”

“Yes, indeed there is” Daeius said “I was originally owned by a wealthy and ignorant land owner. He did everything possible to make my life and lives of all the rest of his slaves miserable. That included feeding us very little and sometimes even beating us for not doing certain jobs correctly.” And to prove this, the Daeius showed several markings on his back. Alexis knew those marks all too well, the ones left behind by a long and snaky whip. Alexis was pretty well horrified to see how deep those markings had gotten, and they were much more harsh-looking than the ones she had received from her beating.

“If you don’t kill me, they’ll send me back to him, and my life will be torture as black and deadly as poison itself. Please, I beg of you, tomorrow, end my life so that I will not live to face such hardships again.” Alexis paused, and thought for a long time as Daeius made his way to the window, then finally, she replied “If it is better for you, then I accept to your terms.” Daeius smiled in response and left the room.

The next day, Alexis did what Daeius had asked for exactly as he had told her to, and Prometheus assigned her to Daeius. She stood there, her sword raised, then, she whispered “Forgive me, Zeus, that I must end the life of this badly damaged spirit.” Then, with one last breath, plunged her sword into Daeius’s body. Daeius simply grunted, then fell to the ground, having died immediately. She then walked over to the edge of the plateau, and her face of sorrow turned to that of rage and she muttered, “This is for that horrible menace that destroyed Daeius’s spirit,” and swung her blade into one of the rocks, completely severing it in half. She continuously hacking some of the other rocks, screaming in fury with each swing, then collapsed and started to cry.

Prometheus told the other teachers, “That’s enough with the Helot killing, I think it has very badly damaged her own emotions,” and gently, walked over to the still sobbing Alexis, and gently took her arm and escorted her to her room. She flung herself onto the bed, and continued to sob hard, into her pillow. The sobbing eventually reached an extent to where Prometheus felt tears welling up in his own eyes.

“I’m sorry, Alexis” he said “Listen, if you need anything, just come find me.”

Alexis didn’t respond, but Prometheus assumed she got the message and decided to leave her to cry herself out alone. He even told Philaeus to stand guard and not accept anyone except himself into Alexis’s room.

The next day, after Alexis had recovered from her traumatic depression state, she was back in action, dueling her friends and teachers in practice duels and doing more physical tests, acting as though her traumatic state and her having to kill Daeius had never happened. By this time, the other girls had really taken an interest in Alexis as well as each-others skills. Even Chloe was beginning to socialize a lot with her a lot more than she would’ve. Some of the girls would even dare each other during the social time, but none of these were actually carried out, because Prometheus would always be on the watch for anything that would seem like the girls were doing something of defiance or something that might kill them.

Finally, when Alexis reached age 16, and after seeing that she was improving over the extra training he was giving her, Prometheus decided to try another difficult combat prep. The only difference was that she was going to fight the boys this time. This was even harder than it sounded, because Prometheus remembered one of his students who was a year older than Alexis, but demonstrated fighting skills maybe a little more impressive than Alexis. His name was Aeson, and he wasn’t fully barbaric, but definitely a strong and well skilled fighter. He was very sturdily built, with slightly muscular limbs, and always kept a rather sarcastic yet pleasant face when not fighting. When Prometheus proposed this to Alexis, she simply laughed, saying “Let him swing as much as he wants, I’ll block them easily.”

Prometheus was pleased by the attitude, but still felt unsure that Alexis was ready for what she was about to face. Later that afternoon, she faced Aeson, and the two of them had their swords drawn, ready for each other to attack. This time, it was Alexis that swung first. But Aeson blocked it, forcing her back a bit.

“You don’t want to underestimate me, young lady,” Aeson said, trying to sound as competitive as possible.

“Oh, sure, bring it on,” Alexis said, keeping her own sarcastic face fixed onto Aeson’s. They fought constantly, with the boys chanting Aeson’s name while the girls chanted Alexis’s. Aeson was not as reckless as Alexis had expected, but instead swung or jabbed with concentrated reflexes, some of which came so close to Alexis’s stomach that she had to bend her middle section back a bit to avoid a fatal blow, even though she knew Aeson did not mean to harm her to that extent. But her swings were just as concentrated, and several times got pretty close to some of Aeson’s fatal points, including his stomach and neck, but he defended those areas very well. At one point, he held her against the wall, his sword at her neck. Alexis was just about to give in, but instead, formulated a plan, and without warning, brought her sword up so hard into Aeson’s that it knocked the blade right out of his hand and straight into the air. She caught it and held them both at his neck. There was no way Aeson could avert surrender now, and therefore gave in.

Alexis also dueled Aeson’s friends, Cyrus and Salmoneus, who were a little more reckless than Aeson, but definitely kept the fight going on for quite some time. But they too were no match for the amount of training Alexis had been put through, and eventually they gave into her. Aeson was not upset about having been beaten by a girl, and in fact, took quite an interest in her skills. Eventually, the two became friends, and a truce was made between the boys and girls of the order. However, Alexis would always challenge Aeson as well as some other friends of hers to some fights on her spare time. In one such duel, Alexis asked Chloe to team up with Aeson  and have both of them fight her together. Chloe and Aeson were definitely a good match, but they still couldn’t outnumber Alexis in strength. Chloe even once attempted a sneak attack while Aeson kept Alexis occupied, but Alexis, just at random, was able to sense the threat and counter it. Alexis would also team up with Aeson and they’d fight each-others friends in similar practice duels. Thankfully, as intense as the duels seemed, no blood was shed, and both the girls and the boys thought it fun to do this kind of training.

It was around this time that a new emperor had come to power in Persia. His name was emperor Jahandar, a very aggressive emperor who, for many years, had loathed the way of the Greeks, whom he thought declared themselves superior to the world. This also included the other territories in around Greece, including Sparta. When he came to power with his wife, Queen Azam, he made Greece his primary target in a war conquest to overthrow the current way of life in Greece, including banishing the Pagan religion from Greece.

It was a few months later after he came to power that the first warships began to arrive in Greece, deploying Persian troops in large organized formations that quickly spread across the streets and quickly seized control of Athens and a few other cities. The leaders of Greece desperately tried to negotiate with Persia, but all attempts were futile, and all the local armies in Greece itself couldn’t hold off the immensely powerful Persian army of Jahandar. As the situation became more and more desperate, Greece called upon Sparta to help fight the Persian army. Many Spartan armies responded, including the Order of the Pegasus.

Prometheus approached Alexis, and briefed her about the whole situation, and added, “This time, Alexis, you’ll be doing actual killing. This is no longer a practice duel. This is war. You’d better be prepared for the events that will occur throughout the battle.”

“I am ready, Prometheus” Alexis said, as boldly and obediently as possible. Philaeus then approached her with the armor and clothing she would need for battle. She was taken behind a curtain where she removed her regular clothing and put on her battle clothing. First, she put on a helmet that was not too heavy at all, and fit her perfectly, but had a section in the middle of the helmet to protect her nose, and this would sometimes make her go cross-eyed, but she quickly got over it. It also had a small head crest on the top for decoration. She then put on a rather heavy armor suit that partially weighed down her shoulders, but did not restrict her movement. Next was the skirt, which was very flexible around the legs and made movement very easy. She then put on some knee pads and lower leg guards, and some chest armor as well.

Then came the arsenal, a large vertical rectangular shield, a long spear that measured almost five feet long, and then finally, her original sword which she had used in training.
When this was all complete, she emerged from behind the curtain and approached Prometheus.

“How do I look?” she asked

“Shiny and ferocious” Prometheus said, smiling. “Just a few more things,” he added. He beckoned to Nikita, who asked Alexis to stand straight, then added “I’m going to test your physical resistance one last time before battle.” Alexis obeyed, and Nikita hit her quickly in the arms, the sides, and the legs, checking to see if any of these sections were weak at all. But none were, and Alexis only slightly flinched at some of the hits, but none caused any actual pain. Nikita nodded approvingly, then fastened the mail strap on the back of Alexis’s vest. When this was finished, she stepped back and Prometheus approached her again.

“I also dub you as one of the lead commanders of this army.” Prometheus said, taking a sword and tapping it gently on her shoulders. Alexis also briefly took off her helmet and noticed that the head crest was also slightly larger than the usual size of the head crest on a traditional Spartan helmet, but also was colored bright red like blood. This, along with the red embroiderment on her vest, was one of the top ways she and anyone else could identify that she was commander. She looked at her fellow Spartans, including Chloe, who had the same color on her head crest, but of a smaller size, and was examining her blade. It was only then that she noticed Aeson, who had a similar uniform on like hers, but his head crest was colored blue like the sea. The two nodded to each other, and then ordered the other Spartans to stand in line. Alexis proceeded up and down the line of girls, keeping a head count and checking to make sure they were as bold and ready to fight like she was. Aeson did the same thing, only he was checking the boys, a couple of which briefly slouched, but his strict orders quickly got them into the correct position.

The next day, the Spartan battleships began landing in Athens, deploying Spartans by the hundreds. Alexis and Aeson’s units were the second to leave the ships. The Spartans quickly charged into the city, swords drawn. Alexis and Aeson split up, taking each others units into opposite sections of the city. Aeson took his army and went straight down the main street, taking the Persian army head on. Alexis took the girls along a side path through one of the alleys, but they did engage occasional Persian guards in hand to hand combat. After side stepping through the alleyways, Alexis met up with Aeson again on the main street. The two then turned and ordered their soldiers to take up positions behind their shields as a large wave of Persian forces came charging down the pathway, waving their spears ferociously.

Everyone got behind their shields and pointed their spears at the oncoming enemies. Shortly after that, Alexis was successful in killing a few soldiers already with her spear without even moving it. But the Persians kept coming, desperate to take out Alexis and her soldiers. Once, a Persian slammed his shield into Alexis’s, and the force knocked her down, and she lost her spear among the crowd of Spartans, but she quickly pulled out her sword and quickly thrust it out, killing her attacker. Similar incidents occurred throughout the battle, and a small number of Spartans fell, but none of these casualties involved anyone from the Order of Pegasus.

The day went on, with continuous fighting, screaming civilians running to safety, market stands toppling throughout the street, and so forth. But eventually, the Persian army turned back.

“You suppose that’s it ?” asked Aeson, as he saw the warships depart toward Persia in the sunset.

“Pfft. Yeah right.” scoffed Alexis in an inoffensive tone, “Based on what I heard from Prometheus, the soldiers of this new Persian emperor aren’t just going to run of after one fight.”

“I guess you’re right,” Aeson said, “Still, I’d like to see the look on the emperor’s face when he finds out that a large majority of the army was defeated by women, no offense”

“Even so,” Alexis said, taking off her helmet briefly and shaking her head a little, “we should probably set camp near the coast, just incase the Persians return.”

“I agree,” Aeson said, his face changing from joking to actual seriousness. And a smart alternative it was, because sure enough, as Alexis predicted, the Persian warships returned, this time, with stronger reinforcements. Chloe, whom Alexis had assigned as lookout, was able to sound the alarm by blowing a Cornacopia-like horn, and the Spartans got their weapons together just as the ships began deploying their soldiers onto the Athen’s beach. The fights continued like this each day, for what seemed like 3 full weeks, but the majority of casualties were the same as the first day, with more being inflicted on the Persian army than on the Spartans.

Back in Jahandar’s palace on the Ionian colonies, Jahandar was annoyed that his objective had been interfered with by the Spartans, but what bothered him the most was when his generals reported that about 25% of the army was made of women.

“Above the rest, there is one who wears a head crest and clothing as red as blood and fights stronger and more skillfully than the rest of the women.” one of the generals reported to Jahandar before the throne, “We’ve tried to ambush her from behind, but she senses our presence and reacts before we even have time to attack ourselves.”

“Idiot!!” yelled Jahandar, standing up abruptly from his throne. “You just keep throwing our regular soldiers at this red-crested female warrior who you claim is as quick as a shooting star! I want you to change your battle strategy all together.”

“Well then,” the general replied “what do you suggest?”

Jahandar remained silent for a brief moment, his eyes closed deep in thought, until he finally responded.

“Send our strongest warriors, the Immortals, to the front lines, have them divert this red-crested warrior away from the rest of the army, divert her whole division if you have to. Then, only once you’ve got her far enough away will you send our regular armies at the rest of the Spartans.” Jahandar replied.

“Sure that takes care of the big challenge” the general replied, trying to keep a steady but loyal tone, “But the rest of the army….”

“SHUT UP!!!” shouted Jahandar, his body shaking angrily, “I only want the red-crested warrior and her division out of the way, that’s all I care about. If you fail that objective, then believe me, your life shall pay the forfeit of the failure. I’ll brief you on what else to do afterwards, but not now.”

“Yes...Sir” the general replied in a slightly weak tone.

The next morning, Evadine, who was assigned as the lookout for the night, noticed the Persian warships arriving. She reached for the warning horn, but before she could blow into it, she hesitated, feeling like something was amiss. She carried the horn with her along with a custom-made spyglass, and ventured to the outer sea rocks to get a better view of the ships.

From her new position, she had a perfect but safe view of not just the ships themselves, but also who were on board. At the front of the fleet, the ships were loaded with cartloads of supplies, but the soldiers wore headdresses that, from how she could see, had the ability to be pulled down over the whole face of each soldier, which many of them did. They also had scale armor coats that looked stronger than the armor used on the regular Persian soldiers. It only meant one thing, the Persian army had decided to send in the Immortals, the most feared warriors of the Persian army. Terrified, she took off back toward the shore, tripping and stumbling a couple times along the way, and once she reached her position, she blew the horn, but not in the long one note tune indicating a regular attack, but in the more frantic double-noted tune indicating a danger approaching on the battlefield. After blowing this note several more times, she ran to Alexis’s tent, stumbling a few times along the way. Alexis was up and ready by the time Evadine arrived.

“Evadine,” Alexis said, noticing her frightened expression “What’s the danger?”

“It’s the Immortals,” Evadine said through frantic puffs “They’ve been dispatched at the front lines.” Upon hearing this, Alexis grew pale. She’d heard about the legends of the Immortals, and knew they weren’t just made up and what kind of damage they could do on the battlefield. There was no time to lose, so Alexis quickly grabbed a different Cornucopia horn, the one used for amplifying one’s voice a quickly got to the point.

“Attention all armies,” Alexis shouted “Fall back, the Persian army is sending out the Immortals.” She made several other advisories to remove the camp and push it back farther. The generals of all the other armies likewise took their own Cornucopias and passed on the message. Everyone, regardless of their army, obeyed and quickly took all the supplies and equipment they could carry and began making their way hurriedly inland just as the Persian warships got within a mile’s range of the coast. As the Spartan armies moved inland as quick as they could, with the Immortals now on land and following in a slow but fierce formation, Alexis started thinking “In a way, I feel extremely stupid for doing this, because it is probably going to make the Persian forces think that we’re to scared to fight.” They were able to make it to the city, where they gained reinforcements with the inland forces of the Athenian army.

It was almost an hour later that the Immortals began arriving into the city. As was the common first move for Spartans, Alexis and all the other Spartans at the front got behind their shields, their spears protruding outward like deadly needles. Some of the Immortals fell for the trick, but some threw their spears. The spears flew through the air, taking down more Spartans behind the lines. Because most of the Immortals were without their spears now, Alexis and Aeson knew it was safe to come out from behind cover and draw their swords. Alexis had dueled fierce Persian warriors earlier, but the Immortals were definitely stronger than she anticipated.

Some of the Immortals would slam their shields into her own with enough force to cause her to drop her shield, but she was able to avoid, parry, and eventually, kill her enemies. But there were times that it was just luck that saved her. Once, Alexis was fighting against the Persians, but she didn’t notice that a stone had been slingshotted though the air until it smacked her right in the forehead. Luckily, her helmet protected her from any critical injury, but she felt dazed and occasionally stumbled a bit. Alexis knew that the stone had been shot at her deliberately, not just at any random soldier. To prove her case, an arrow flew in her direction, penetrating her right shoulder and knocking her to the ground. As she hit the ground, her impact caused a painful ringing in the ears, and the next thing she knew, a Persian soldier was advancing toward her. Weakly, she groped for her sword, but found that it was out of arm’s reach. The Persian held a bow and arrow, ready to fire it into her.

That’s when Alexis heard what sounded like the swinging of a sword behind the soldier, and the Persian gritted his teeth and collapsed almost on top of her. Shoving off the body, she looked to see Aeson, who also held her sword. He also held a small rag with him, and gently removed the arrow from Alexis’s shoulder, which already started glowing red with a little blood from the wound. Shortly after removing the arrow, he placed the rag over the wound, and the slight sizzling feeling of the rag on the wound made Alexis recognize the exact same medical formula that Prometheus had used to clean her scars from her whipping a some number of years earlier. By this time, Alexis had regained her strength, and taking her sword from Aeson, whispered “Thanks for saving my life”. Aeson would have wanted to add on, but as more Persian forces swarmed into the town square, he simply nodded, knowing that conversation could be a distraction in the current situation.

Hours passed, and just as the sun was beginning to set, the crippled Persian army, with only ten of their thirty immortal forces, fled to their boats, some being taken down under a slight shower of arrows that continued to be fired from the archers just above.

“Ha, what idiots” laughed Chloe, pointing tauntingly at the fleeing Persian forces. Some of the other soldiers from both Alexis and Aeson’s forces joined in the laughter, including Aeson.

Alexis smiled, then, walking up onto the cliffs that overlooked the shore, looked out at the Persian ships, then stabbed her sword into the ground and yelled “Next time you come, bring your commander. See if he can get through us!” She hoped that the enemy heard her, smiled triumphantly, and returned with the rest of her forces.

“Commander Alexis!” someone called out, and Alexis turned to see a messenger approaching. “It’s your teacher, Prometheus, he wants to tell you and Aeson that he’s coming tomorrow to explain a new strategy.”

“New strategy?” asked Alexis, removing her helmet and shaking her long golden hair, which glimmered in the fiery sunset.

“He wouldn’t say, but says he’ll be here as early as tomorrow morning,” the messenger added.

“New strategy,” the word kept repeating itself in her head, and Alexis just couldn’t find the link where it went.

WOOSH! Jahandar’s knife flew threw the air and killed the Persian general within a second. Jahandar was so infuriated about the Immortals failure to conquer Athens, that he paced back and forth across the throne room, throwing certain objects across the room or into the walls to vent his anger while his wife, Azam, watched, periodically shielding her eyes or wincing when Jahandar yelled really loud or threw something that shattered with frightening impact.

“If I ever get my hands on that red-crested commander of the Spartan armies, I’ll crucify her” snarled Jahandar so menacingly that if Azam hadn’t found an alternate fidgeting with her hands strategy to distract herself, she might have cried out of fright. Never, for nearly five years, had her husband thrown such a rage. Azam, knowing Jahandar automatically granted permission to doing so, left the the throne room to take a walk around the outside of the palace. She approached one of the officers outside the palace.

“See if you can gather up a small ambush force,” she requested “I want to see to it that we can defeat the red-crested commander and her allies discreetly.” The officer nodded but added, “It may take a few days to plan such a strategy. Does the emperor know of this?”

“No, I want to keep it a secret from him,” Azam said, a small evil grin beginning to appear “almost like a surprise gift.”

“Well, we’ll do the best we can, but I don’t know if it can be ready immediately.” the officer replied.

“Fine, fine, just do it please.” Azam said in a rather bored tone.

The morning after the battle, back at Athens, a Spartan ship arrived on the shore. At least six spartan guards were offloaded and in the middle of their ranks was Prometheus, who wore shiny silver armor, which was different from the gold and bronze-colored armor of the other Spartans from the Order of the Pegasus. When Alexis and Prometheus made eye contact with each other, they briefly exchanged a hug, for it had been a long time since they’d seen each other. After that, Prometheus talked with Alexis and Aeson about the new strategy he was planning.

“I’ve heard that we’ve been able to turn back the enemy at least three times,” Prometheus inquired gently.

“More than that” Alexis remarked, a smile that was the mixture of snicker and a triumphant grin appearing on her face, “We’ve repelled them for nearly two-weeks straight with no casualties to our unit.”

“The Persian armies even sent the Immortals at us, but we still were able to hurl them right out of the city,” Aeson added. “I wonder what their ruler must be thinking of them now?” he added to Alexis and the two of them exchanged brief giggles about the joke. Aeson even imitated the emperor and began pacing around pretending to yell and growl with intense rage, and Alexis threw her head into her hands and started laughing like crazy.

“Well, this is far better than I expected” Prometheus replied, his own triumphant smile appearing on his face.

“You said something about a new battle strategy,” Alexis said, recovering from her laughter.

“Of course,” Prometheus replied, “I talked with the Athenian government, and we’ve decided that in response to the Persian attacks, we should launch our own attack at their Ionian Colonies, where their central government is for the time being, and hopefully we can force them to surrender.”

“Sounds good to me” Alexis said, then looked to Aeson for approval.

“Well, if we can turn back the Persian armies, even the Immortals, then we should be able to launch a successful attack on the Persian capital. I think it would be great,” replied Aeson.

“Good,” replied Prometheus, “The attack will be launched as early as tomorrow morning,” he added.

The next day, Alexis was onboard a Spartan ship heading for the Ionian colonies. Aeson was on the same ship standing next to her as they looked out over the ocean to where their target was expected to appear soon. Chloe had the duty of commanding the other spartans to pull the oars for the ship, and she had also just been promoted to second in command of Alexis’ division of the Spartan army for her skill in the past battles.

Back at the throne room on the Ionian colonies, Azam waited in the main room while her husband, at her suggestion, was resting in his bed. The doors suddenly flew open and a messenger arrived looking very panicked.

“What is the meaning of this” Azam demanded, a quizzical look on her face. The messenger paused to catch his breath before speaking again.

“It’s….the…..Spartans. I saw their ships approaching. I think...they’re coming...to attack us in...response…” Azam ignored the remainder of the words and rushed to Jahandar’s bedroom.

“WHAT!!!” Jahandar exploded when Azam told him what the messenger had told her, but in less of a exhausted tone, “Get every last soldier on these colonies to the front,” he ordered, and his infuriated tone changed to that of a quieter but much more threatening tone, “And if they find the red-crested warrior, kill her on site immediately. And I want her to pay for her actions in the worst way possible. That’s their orders.” After saying this, he exhaled a loud puff of exhaustion and fell back against his pillow.

Not long after, Spartan battleships began to pull up at the shore of the Ionian colonies. The Spartans immediately got off and quickly took out their swords, shields, and spears, ready for whatever came at them. They were first met by soldiers out on the coast, but Alexis rolled her eyes in annoyance because the Persian forces just didn’t seem to be changing their formation behaviors, they just kept charging straight at them. Repelling these forces seemed disappointingly easy, but as the soldiers pulled back, Alexis only had to blink before the sky was filled with a shower of spears and arrows. Now this really scared Alexis. She only had time to yell “Duck!” before taking cover under her own shield as the arrows and spears smacked and bounced off the cover of her shield. Some others weren’t so lucky. Salmoneus took a spear right through the stomach and collapsed without another word. This smacked Alexis with a mixture of sorrow and anger, and before Aeson could even react, Alexis, with her shield in front of her, lead the other girls in a charge on the archer’s defensive lines, repelling the projectiles and quickly killing off the enemy forces. Any of the surviving soldiers turned and fled, leaving the Spartans a clear path into the city.

But they were met by much more fierce resistance in the city than they were met with on the coast. It definitely seemed the Persians were ready to defend their homeland to the death, but Alexis and Aeson’s forces continued to push through. Some of Alexis’ soldiers took cover behind overturned market stands and would slay any enemy that came within sword or arrow’s reach of them. Nikita fought with Alexis and Chloe, sometimes even covered them from enemy arrows with her own shield. It even shocked Alexis to see Nikita move so quickly that she could literally deflect enemy arrows with a simple swing of her sword. Alexis was so focused on Nikita and the enemies in front of her that she almost didn’t notice a Persian assassin try to shoot her from behind. It wasn’t until she heard the flick of Chloe’s bow-and-arrow that she turned to see the assassin, dead from a shot to the neck.

“Good thing you got my back” Alexis remarked, and Chloe simply smiled and nodded.

They kept fighting, until they were just a mile’s reach from the main gate to Jahandar’s palace. The guards, however, were already at work with their arrows, shooting into the Spartan ranks at random. One arrow penetrated Nikita’s right shoulder blade, critically wounding her. Alexis saw another arrow fly from the same direction at Nikita, but Alexis moved quickly and sliced the arrow to prevent it from doing anymore harm. Chloe took care of the rest. Alexis bent down to Nikita’s side, and saw the wound was fatal. Even if Aeson could provide the same medical attention that he’d given to Alexis, the wound wouldn’t get any better.

“Alexis,” Nikita said weakly, “Just keep going, okay. Prometheus taught you well. I did too.” Alexis nodded, and Nikita, with one last breath, collapsed into Prometheus’s arms. Alexis felt her eyes build up with tears and felt about ready to cry. But she couldn’t do that, not now, the battle was still going on. Crying would expose her weakness, so she decided to resume where she currently was. Her anger and stress exploded when a Persian soldier threw a battle axe into Tiara’s back, killing her immediately. At this, Alexis slammed into the attacker and stabbed him multiple times in her anger. She then took the axe out of Tiara and in her still flaming anger, threw it far off, hoping that it would kill another Persian soldier. Finally, Alexis and the other Spartans, after assisting a battering ram by throwing their own bodies against the gate, broke through the fortress. Alexis was quick to run ahead, deflecting arrows and cutting down enemies as she went. Chloe, Aeson, Prometheus and a few other followed right behind. Alexis then heard Prometheus grunt, and skidded to a halt, scared that Prometheus had been killed. But when she turned around, she saw that he had only received a slight disabling wound to the knee from an arrow.

“Go go,” he insisted “I’ll be fine.”

Alexis obeyed and took off with the others. They fought through the palace guards, and then after continuously raming themselves against the palace door, forced their way into the palace grand hall. Jahandar was waiting for them.

“I see you’ve made it through,” said Prometheus in a sarcastic tone, ignoring the frightening looks of anger that Alexis, Chloe, and Aeson showed, “But I’m afraid your luck has run out,” and jumped from the top balcony, drawing two swords and landing in the middle of the living room. The duel that followed was intense, to the extent that Alexis was knocked out of the fight twice. Chloe was able to cover her and Aeson, parrying Jahandar’s blows with incredible ability. Alexis was able to regain her strength fairly quickly though, so she didn’t need too much protection. At one point, she intervened in a sword fight between Jahandar and Chloe. The next moment, the three got into a brief tussle, which ended when Chloe made a slight moaning sound. All three of the duelers backed off, and Alexis noticed blood on one of Jahandar’s swords, then saw Chloe fall to the ground, clutching her lower left side. Jahandar, apparently seeming startled and frightened, took off while Alexis rushed to Chloe’s side.

“Chloe, speak to me!” she pleaded.

“Alexis…” she murmured, “Why did you intervene?”

“I was trying to defend you” Alexis insisted.

Chloe looked up, her sharp blue eyes glassy with tears and her breathing only coming out in small puffs and wheezes, and smiled.

“Alexis, just get Jahandar..” she wheezed, and Alexis looked to see a small red coloring slowly expanding from the wound that Chloe was holding. Chloe finally breathed one last sentence, “Alexis…….thank you”. At the last word, Chloe’s eyes shut, and her body went limp. Alexis, her own eyes tearful now, glanced briefly at some Chloe’s blood on the palm of her hand, and finally broke down, screaming with tears. Aeson, who had watched Chloe’s death unfold, gritted his teeth and felt his own tears build up, not just for Chloe, but for Alexis. He had never heard her cry before, and it felt like his brave and iron heart had dissolved as he watched Alexis sob her head off. Just then, his heart seemed to resealed itself, and he was startled by a loud bang on the palace door. He wheeled around just in time to see the doors fly open, releasing a stream Persian soldiers into the room. Alexis regained her strength, but Aeson looked with horrified eyes to see her own expression twisted and snarling with anger at the fall of her ally. She stood over Chloe’s body, screamed a war cry at the oncoming forces, and charged into the soldier’s ranks, her anger powering her moves. Aeson was taken out of commission when an arrow hit him in a non-vital section of his arm, knocking him to the ground.

“Alexis!” he yelled, but didn’t seem to catch her attention as she continued to slay mercilessly. He tried again, “ALEXIS!!”. This time, she heard and turned her head. Aeson continued “Alexis, go fight Jahandar, I’ll hold them off” he said, and in doing so, struck an oncoming soldier through the stomach. Alexis didn’t speak, but merely nodded and took off in the same direction that Jahandar had fled to. She found Jahandar in one of the corridors, but he noticed her first.

“You just can’t stop fighting someone, can you” he said in a rather annoyed tone. Alexis didn’t reply and instead just charged at him, letting her rage overpower her once again. But Jahandar was expecting this and countered the moves with quick reflexes. Alexis wasn’t about to let him think that she was a weakling and tried all sorts of moves, from jumps to three-sixty-degree swings and so forth. Finally, after what seemed to be a full hour, she disarmed Jahandar by catching him off guard and smacking the handle of her sword into his chin. Jahandar quickly fell to the wall with Alexis’s sword aimed at his chest. But yet, as Alexis held the sword, she felt...resistant to killing him, almost like she’d made some sort of mistake.

“Well,” Jahandar asked shortly, “What are you waiting for? If you want to kill me, this will be your only chance.” He could hear Alexis breathing slowly, but the sword remained unmoving. Just then, a knife flew past her and speared into the wall. Wheeling around, Alexis saw Jahandar’s wife, Azam, holding a second knife. Azam charged with the knife in hand, but Alexis quickly blocked the blow, forcing Azam to the ground. Azam found Jahandar’s blade and used that as her primary weapon.

“Don’t you dare touch my husband” she hissed in the most venomous voice that Alexis had ever heard. Alexis took her sword up so that the blade seemed to reflect her face, which had cooled from rage and fright to a mixture of calm and attentiveness in addition to a little concern. Azam lunged at Alexis and swung the blade downward, but Alexis blocked the blow with a quick parry. However, the force from the blow knocked her to the ground hard. Alexis’ red-crested helmet rolled off, leaving her head exposed now. But this didn’t concern her, because she’d been fighting in training duels without a helmet numerous times. This duel, despite the fact her opponent really meant to kill her, just felt like a simple training duel. The two dueled on and on and into the courtyard. But the duel was becoming increasingly difficult as Azam intensified her attacks, making Alexis exhausted, but still, she kept her guard up. But Azam then tripped Alexis with a swing of her leg from behind. Alexis fell against the walkway, and her sword clattered out of her hand. It was still within arms reach, but Azam was above her before she knew it.

Suddenly, as Azam made a move to swing the sword, someone, a man, jumped in front of Alexis and blocked Azam’s blow with so much force that Azam fell to the ground. Quickly, Alexis grabbed her sword and regained her footing. She then faced the man who’d just saved her life, and was surprised to see Prometheus, whom she thought was out of the fight for good. Next to him was one of Alexis’ fellow trainees, Cassandra, who held her sword outward cautiously at Azam.

“I know what you’re thinking, Alexis” Prometheus said while Alexis just stood there, blinking her eyes in disbelief, “You thought I was out. But you’d be surprised with how much it takes to put me out of commission for an entire battle. Oh, by the way, I’ve got something of yours” he added, tossing Alexis her red-crested helmet. Alexis put it on just as Azam regained her own footing, and made a move to attack Prometheus.

“Who are you!?” Azam asked threateningly as she swung at Prometheus.

“He’s my teacher!!” shouted Alexis in reply and intercepted the fight, drawing Azam’s attention right back to where the original battle was. Cassandra helped Alexis duel Azam by attacking Azam from behind and drawing her attention away from Alexis. Alexis would then repeat Cassandra’s move, drawing Azam back to her. The intention was to keep Azam occupied in two directions, hopefully exhausting her, thereby possibly exposing a weakness. However, after a while, Azam kicked Cassandra in the legs and then jumped into a nearby fountain in the courtyard. Alexis followed, and felt a brief shock of cold as her legs absorbed the temperature of the water. She grimaced, but kept up the fighting. Cassandra regained her footing, but lost Alexis amidst the fountain’s pouring water.

“Azam must be trying to use the falling water to blind me” Alexis thought, which she found to be frustratingly true as she could not make out Azam’s shape very well through the pouring water all around her. Azam shape changed in all sorts of odd forms, and sometimes Alexis would swing at what she thought was Azam, but was really just a reflection of Azam from a different angle. But then, she saw her opportunity. Through the white water, Alexis couldn’t see Azam’s face, but she could see her legs wading through the water of the fountain. And this was definitely not a reflection.

“You’ll never get me” Azam sneered.

“Says you!” Alexis shouted, and thrust her sword forward. She was rewarded with a brief gasp, and Alexis, peering through the white water, saw Azam looking shocked. Azam’s face then started to cringe and grimace as her eyes shut and her arms covered a deep wound to the abdomen. Azam then fell face flat into the waters of the fountain, and Alexis turned away in utter disgust as the water around Azam began to take a slight color change of foggy red. Alexis stepped out of the fountain, her body dripping from head to toe. Prometheus and Cassandra smiled at Alexis for her success in the battle, and not to long after, Aeson and all of Alexis’s remaining friends ran into the courtyard to greet her.

Later that day, Alexis, Aeson, Prometheus, and Jahandar sat at a table in the throne room. There was some lecturing between Prometheus and Jahandar, which was calm but boring to Alexis and Aeson. But finally, Prometheus presented Jahandar a scroll, which Jahandar read quietly and finally, after a brief but seemingly disappointed sigh, he pulled out a quill and signed the blank line at the bottom. This ended Jahandar’s conquest of seizing Greece and the surrounding areas.

Back in Athens, Alexis and Aeson marched in paired ranks of soldiers toward the central square, where a funeral was being held for the fallen warriors. A priest stood at the top of the stairs to a monumental palace-like building, and he read some blessings to the fallen soldiers. Alexis, not wanting to stand around to hear most of it, walked to the stretchers that held some of her fallen comrades: Salmoneus, Nikita, Tiara, and Chloe. Each of the bodies was neatly laid on the stretcher and each warrior’s arms had been carefully placed in an X-shape across the chest. Aeson was with her too, and he could hear Alexis sniffling a bit, knowing that she was trying to hold back from just collapsing to the ground and sobbing in her sorrow. Alexis then kneeled, holding her helmet at her side and clasped her hands over her nose and mouth. Aeson couldn’t understand exactly what was going on, but deep down inside, Alexis was whispering a prayer through her heart and mind, praying that the souls of her fallen comrades would flourish in the afterlife, if the gods thought that they deserved such a place.

After the funeral ended, Alexis and Aeson walked back to the shore, where a ship would be waiting to take them home to Sparta. As they walked along the street, Aeson decided to ask Alexis a question.

“Alexis, why didn’t you kill Jahandar when you had the chance. I mean, I’m sure you would’ve disarmed him before you started engaging Azam.” It took a while for Alexis to come up with a response.

“Aeson, the reason I didn’t kill Jahandar when I had the opportunity was because I felt that if I had killed him out of my rage and despair of my fallen allies, then surely, I would have destroyed myself.” Alexis replied “You see, when a person becomes too overwhelmed with rage, they lose control of their actions, they do things they can’t imagine they’d do. I couldn’t afford to become a raging demon and start just letting my rage control me, even though I will admit that it had happened quite a few times during the war.”

“I don’t blame you” Aeson said, shrugging his shoulders. The trip back home was long, but Alexis made use of some cloth stock-ups on the ship and quietly went to sleep. When they finally arrived, Aeson gently woke up Alexis and they got off the ship and were met by a celebration for their success in battle. There was a brief but large feast followed by a commemoration for Alexis and Aeson by Prometheus, who placed medals of pure gold on their chests.

“Alexis,” Prometheus said after the ceremony had ended, “I was consulting with the Spartan government about the program, and they’ve decided to let it continue because of you.” Alexis felt flattered, but also overwhelmed with a sweet feeling of success.

“I was wondering though,” Prometheus began to inquire, “Would you be committing enough to become one of the teachers of the program yourself?”

“Oh absolutely” Alexis said, a cheerful grin shining on her face, “Nikita would certainly love it if I did.”

“Very well,” Prometheus replied “We’ll begin getting our first girls within a week.”

Alexis stood at one end of the dueling field on the grounds of the Order of the Pegasus with her sword drawn and ready. At the other end of the field was a young girl of about twelve-years old, also holding her sword. Alexis went lightly, weaving the sword while the youngling repelled the blows with quick reaction time. At one point in the duel, Alexis had the girl against the rocks, her sword within vital distance of the youngling, but Alexis secretly let her abilities slip to allow the youngling a chance at victory. At a kind of expected and unexpected moment, the youngling retaliated with her own training moves, forcing Alexis to retreat by stepping backwards and parrying the swings. The girl was reckless, but Alexis had no objection; her late friend Chloe had been just as reckless in training when she and Alexis were just kids. Finally, the youngling caught Alexis off guard and pinned her to the ground, holding a knife at Alexis’ neck. Alexis nodded and the youngling made a pretend slash across the throat.
“Well done, young one” Alexis said, regaining her footing and facing the youngling. The youngling responded with a simple honored bow. Alexis turned to face the other teachers, Prometheus, Evadine, Aeson, and Cassandra. Most of them cheered, not only for the youngling, but for Alexis as well. Prometheus simply smiled and nodded toward Alexis, and she understood that deep down inside, he was cheering for her and the youngling.
Later that day, Alexis and the youngling sat by the edge of the mountain looking at the sun as it began to set over the mountains.
“Young one” Alexis asked “Could you tell me what your name is?”
“My name is Castalia.” the youngling replied, “And you are Alexis, the woman who successfully commanded a legion of Spartans against the Persians in an effort to save our homeland.”
“You guessed it Castalia” Alexis replied.
“I sure hope that I can be just like you,” Castalia replied “Fearless, courageous, and ferocious like you. Maybe even successful in another war, regardless of whether the enemy is the Persians or some other intruder.”
“You will, Castalia,” Alexis replied, a gentle smile appearing on her face “You will. In fact, that’s why you’re here, so that you can learn to be like me and many other fearless Spartans. I believe that someday, you will leave your own mark in history. I know you will”
“Yes, Alexis” Castalia replied, and the two began to trek back down the trail to the encampment as the last lights of day vanished behind the cliffs. And Alexis was right, for every warrior, regardless of his or her task, there would always be a war to fight. Always
THE END