Near the ruins of Sarnath, Ancient Kingdom ofSarnor.
Two days after they arrived.
"We should reach the river in two hours, Your Excellency" Claudius told me, to which I nodded in response. I was riding my Griffex, Aquila, moving calmly alongside my fellow gladiators, petting a small purple drake, which, surprise, surprise, gave me a slight, playful electric shock.
I smiled at the little one who had taken a liking to me and I to him, and he wasn't the only one. The truth is I was a little surprised, of all the drakes there were, ten to be exact, the three electro had been following me like little puppies. The one I was holding was the most playful.
What we had discovered was disconcerting for everyone, everything we knew about our echoes had been left aside with our arrival to these lands, not only could we no longer store them in the terminals, which now only worked to communicate with each other, but their bodies now functioned like those of any living being, they were no longer just frequencies made physical beings but complete living beings, they still had their abilities as before, but they tired a little faster now and needed more food, something that was scarce at the moment.
We had discovered that while exploring with the Griffex. Their speed had dropped by about ten kilometers per hour, and they couldn't stay in the air as long as before.
Perhaps these were disadvantages to having them around in this situation, but the truth is, we were quite happy with them. It wouldn't just be a cultural thing anymore; now we had real companions with us.
I looked back to see situations similar to mine, causing me to chuckle a little.
"Looks like you're popular, Avidius! Haha!" I said to him, who was also riding his Griffex. My comment made the people around me laugh and joke around as well.
"I'm jealous, Avidius!" shouted Lucius, the youngest of us all, barely seventeen, red-haired, with freckles on his face.
He had been the one to calm everyone down when I had given them the news that we probably wouldn't be able to return, after not being able to communicate with anyone. The echoes being another clue that we were no longer on Solaris. 3.
"Yes, yes, keep mocking, traitors" Avidius responded with a pout, he was being taken over by the rest of the drakes and not only that.
An echo we were all surprised to find among us: Arsinosa, or rather, a child-sized version of the Lioness of Glory, who was playing with Avidius's hair.
They had begun to say that she had followed us because of the danger we faced, something that might have been true, if Arsinosa could leave Septimont, which she can't. Meanwhile, I had another theory.
I turned my gaze to the front, while thinking about the reverberations that had supported me against the False Sovereign.
I no longer felt them, well, not entirely. They had left some of their energy in me, but it was much smaller. So, it would not be surprising if those reverberations had formed a small Lioness, after all Arsinosa had been formed in the same way.
Anyway, I was happy for her company.
As we continued forward, my mind returned to the previous night.
'Lucius'.
His action, not so simple or so common among the Septimontians, had made those who were beginning to despair focus on what was important.
That we had survived.
He had been at the back of the group when I told them what we had discovered. It was as if he realized that they were going to start screaming or wailing.
He moved forward slightly, pushing some of the more temperamental ones in his way towards me, making the others pay attention to him, he had stopped in front of me with a serious look directly into my eyes. He was searching for something. Then he had nodded, then quickly he had knelt before me, then he spoke with his head bowed.
"You took a risk saving us all, when you could have saved yourself, Your Grace" he said.
Then he raised his head to look at me again, not a judgmental look, but one that one gives to someone you trust, and his next words backed him up.
"For that action, I will be forever deeply grateful, from now on, I, Lucius of the House of Costa, swear to support and defend Your Grace, Augusta, from this day until my last day, I swear this by the blazing sun, for Septimont" he had finished, with his fist over his heart, it was an ancient oath, one that was almost never used anymore, perhaps only for when a house was in such bad shape that it gave itself over to another.
It was literally giving your future to that house or, in this case, to me.
The others seemed to have their breath taken away for a moment, but as if it were a signal, they moved. The first to accompany Lucius were the triplets, Valeria, Vanessa, and Valentina of the Scipio house, twenty years old, all with silver hair and strong by themselves. The difference between each one was their eyes that seemed to coincide with their abilities, electro, aero, and glacio respectively. They also swore their vows to me.
Then came the other women with their partners, Julia and Marcus. They were the cheerful duo, always joking, thirty years old, gladiators without a House to support them, both black-haired with blue eyes. They were always the first to join me on the hunts.
The other couple was Felix and Aurora, aged twenty-seven and twenty-eight, perhaps the most affected by not being able to return. They had left their seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son in Septimont in the care of their grandparents, who were merchants. They had only joined this hunt out of civic duty. 'No self-respecting Septimontian wouldn't go into battle against the Dark Tide and act in such a strange manner' Felix had said at the camp when they had asked him why he had appeared there with his wife. But they still swore at me.
Then came the warm-blooded ones, all warriors, hunters, heroes in their own right, the ones who spent all their time on the Sanguis Plateaus fighting the dark tide.
If I was honest with myself, they were probably more upset about not having any alcohol to drink or about having died a good death, either of which it might be.
Gaius, thirty-eight, stubborn was his nickname, cheerful, but sometimes followed his own advice, tanned skin, black hair with gray on the sides, golden eyes, a scar that ran from his right eyebrow to his chin.
Titus, thirty-five, more serious than his sister, but always had your back on hunts, more tanned than Gaius but with blond hair, green eyes. He had no scars, but now he had a patch on his forehead from a rock cut from what we had been through.
Julius was forty, not the oldest of them all, that was Claudius, but he looked as young as Felix, and he behaved as such, always playing along with Marcus's jokes. Although, well, all resonators lived longer than normal people, with red hair like Lucius, but no freckles, gray eyes, with a large scar over his right pectoral which he proudly displayed. It had been made by a Corrosaurus no smaller than Tyrannous.
And the last of their group, Cornelia, thirty-nine, Titus's sister, but not nearly as tanned as him, looked pale next to him, blonde hair, green eyes. Despite how tomboyish she behaved, she was the one who cared for us more than anyone, always checking if we were hurt, if we had eaten, or giving words of encouragement when someone failed at something. Or if, in several occasions, we had lost someone dear.
They also gave me their oaths.
The last of the group in front of me was Claudius, forty-five years old, a veteran in the arena and hunting. He was the one they looked to for advice, the one who guided the novices on their first journeys. He was always polite and outspoken when speaking to the nobles. He had black hair, a goatee, and blue eyes.
He had been watching each one as they knelt, and after Cornelia, he looked at me, then smiled proudly and swore the oath.
I was shocked for a moment, then grateful, because they had not only given me their trust, but they were giving me their lives. They were confident that I would continue to guide them on the right path, no matter what.
"Your Grace" I heard from beside me, so I turned to see Avidius, who was also kneeling.
"In gratitude for this new lease on life you have given me, I, Avidius of the House of Cassius, swear to support and defend Your Grace, Augusta, from this day until my last. This I swear by the blazing sun, for Septimont".
I looked at him, 'Even he's entrusting me with his life' I thought.
This was Avidius, the nobles' favorite to supplant me, and yet he had knelt.
'Then, there's only one option'.
"I have heard your oaths and I, Augusta of Fabianum, swear on my honor, that I will guide you, watch over you and protect you, from this day until the end of my days, this I swear, by the blazing sun that illuminates our Gryphon's Fortress, for Septimont".