Inhabiting a large depression in the Dune Sea of Tatooine rests one of the oldest creatures beneath the twin suns. A hundred meters of the sarlacc's gargantuan body lies buried beneath the sand, concealing its several stomachs which digest its living meals over one thousand years. Intent on swallowing its prey whole, the sarlacc's mouth and beaked tongue reside in a sinkhole several meters wide beneath the shifting desert, ringed with concentric rows of spear-like teeth to keep victims from clambering to safety.

Although the Great Pit of Carkoon is not visible from a distance unless one is able to gain a significant vantage over the sands, those who draw near enough to see it are often within reach of the sarlacc's tentacles—appendages branching off its buried form that can be used to latch onto unsuspecting prey and drag them into its gaping maw. Jabba the Hutt once held great entertainment in watching his prisoners struggle against the saarlac’s inescapable hunger; the remnants of his lavish sail barge, the Khetanna, now decorating its feeding ground as a marker.

Beyond the pit, the deserts of Tatooine represent their own dangers between the blazing twin suns and the frigid nights. Civilization is a long ways away, and the nearest city is not a walk to be made on foot by even the toughest of species.

It was hot, it was bright, and everything was so horribly beige. Just standing out in the open caused the sensation and stench of sweat to form on his skin as a result of the twin suns that beamed upon the Taldryan Consul. Save for the clear blue sky that stretched across the Dune Sea, There was nothing but the sand that stretched for miles around, the only exceptions being the downed sail barge that Appius had perched himself upon. For the fourth or fifth time in the few minutes since he had arrived, the Taldryan Consul peered over the edge into the gaping maw of the sarlacc. The Great Pit of Carkoon was as fear-inducing as it was a sight to behold, and if it wasn't for the sail barge, the Mandalorian would easily be in reach of the massive tentacles that no doubt hid underneath the sand-filled landscape. Who knew, maybe he still was and the massive sarlacc hadn't noticed him yet? Regardless, Appius had questions. Questions that could only be answered by a high-ranking official of Clan Scholae Palatinae, and a high-ranking official that was annoyingly late.

The Taldryan Consul felt her presence in the Force before he saw her, then the sound of flames from a jetpack entered his ears as light feet tapped upon the sail barge. Appius turned to meet the new arrival, a young woman in what appeared to be Mandalorian armor.

This caught Appius by surprise. Mandalorian numbers in the Brotherhood were slowly on the rise, and Mandalorian Force Users especially saw a gradual increase in their numbers. Despite how many people liked to mock the sudden emergence of Mandaboos In front of him, like somehow Appius was their glorious leader, it was a pleasant sight to see that the rigid history and dogmas of the old ways were adapting to a more modern era.

"Hello, th-"

"That is close enough!"

Appius was about to advance and greet the young woman, but was halted by the sharp tone of her voice.

"I am Duchess Komilia Lap'lamiz, daughter of the Scholae Palatinae Emperor, and I demand to know what the purpose of this meeting is," the young woman spat out her order like a spoilt princess, despite the fact the dirt and grime on her armor indicated otherwise.

"My apologies, Princess," the Consul said with evident sarcasm. The OSI were right in that it would only take a few seconds for the young girl to try and pull her royal lineage over him. "Mando'ad draar digu,"

Like a petulant child, Komilia scoffed and crossed her arms indignantly.

"If you are going to talk to me, then talk to me in a language that I can understand," the Duchess suggested. This statement, however, caught Appius' attention.

"You aren't Mandalorian," the proclaimed Mandaboo accused.

"I've spent time with some Mandalorians. My daddy is the Emperor and he gave me this old suit that he had and he let me tailor it to the way I like it," to make her point, Komilia did a twirl on the spot to show off the armor in question.

Appius' fingers twitched at his sides as he exhaled a deep breath. Only Mandalorians had the right to wear Mandalorian armor, and it was considered an insult if it were to be worn by anyone else. This would have to be something he corrected if he could.

"Why did you request this meeting? I followed all of your instructions and came alone," Komilia continued, bringing Appius back on track.

"Ria'd Stesca," the older Human answered.

"Who?" Komilia responded.

"Don't play dumb with me, I know that you know who he is, Princess," the Taldryanite snapped back.

"It's Duchess," Komilia retorted. "And what my daddy does with his prisoners is none of my business."

"I never said he was a prisoner," Appius informed as the young teenager fell silent for a moment.

"Does it even matter? He disappeared after Dandoran and no-one knows what happened to him," Komilia rubbed her forearm as she spoke.

"He's dead," Appius said bluntly. "Which is why we are here now. He was an old friend of mine, but something happened to him on Dandoran that changed him, made him hell-bent on destroying the dark side, and I have a feeling your Clan was involved. I want to know what happened."

Komilia, however, simply waved her hand like royalty would do before she responded.

"As I said, whatever my daddy does with his prisoners is none of my business. Sucks for your friend, but I don't know anything, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you anyways!"

Silence descended upon the two heavily armoured Force Users before Appius simply shrugged.

"Suit yourself," the Taldryan Consul stated as he stretched his right hand out towards the teenager.

Komilia's head snapped towards him, and her instincts drove her towards her blaster. However, the immediate sharp movement of her body being lifted into the air stopped her from reaching her weapon just in time. The Emperor's daughter was careened over the barge, over the sands over the Dune Sea and suddenly stopped when she hung over the Pit of Carkoon itself. She gazed down into the gaping hole in the sand as rows of sharp teeth spelt certain doom if she fell into it. The young woman scrambled again for her blaster…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Appius suggested, wagging the index finger of his spare hand. "We wouldn't want me to drop you now, would we?"

That halted Komilia immediately.

"Good move. I can sense how panicked you are, so at least there is some reason in that head of yours. They say the sarlacc digests its food over a thousand years, and if you don't want to be its next meal, then I highly suggest you answer my question openly and honestly. If not? Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about how much you frakked up whilst you are slowly being eaten alive."

"You aren't serious!?" Komilia exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm very serious," Appius answered coldly. "My friend is dead after his mind was warped from his time as your daddy's hostage. I want to know what happened, and not to mention, you have the gall to stand in front of me wearing Mandalorian armor when you do not follow the creed yourself. I'm going to give you until the count of three to confess what you know before I drop you."

"You can't be serious!?" Komilia repeated.

"One," Appius started.

"I told you, I don't know anything!" the Emperor's daughter protested.

"Two," Appius continued.

"MY DADDY WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!"

A brief silence hung in the air, just like Komilia did. Appius gazed at the young woman suspended in the air by his power.

"No, he won't," the Consul stated coldly. "Three."

The Arcanist released his hold of the Emperor's daughter as she immediately began to plummet to the jaws of the sarlacc below. Komilia screamed as she scrambled for the controls to her jetpack. Thankfully, she'd remained upright during her descent, and she scrambled to activate her jetpack. With milliseconds to spare, bright orange flames burst out of the thrusters and roared, propelling the young woman out of the path of the sarlacc. She landed with a hard thud back on the downed sailing barge.

"Huh, well… Your father is a renowned pilot. Like father, like daughter I suppose. That, or you are incredibly lucky," Appius commented.

Komilia, however, was not in the mood for any more of Appius' words. Third time was the charm as she finally retrieved the WESTAR blaster pistol from the leather strap attached to her right thigh. She aimed the crimson-armoured Mandalorian in front of her just a few feet away and pulled the trigger.

The Force flashed into the back of Appius' mind and compelled him to draw upon his lightsabers. Twin emerald blades ruptured out of the darksaber-inspired hilts in the Mandalorian Force User's hands and deflected the shots aimed towards him. Komilia, however, had a devilish idea. She turned the trajectory of her blaster towards a sheet of durasteel plating in-between both herself and her target. She aimed, and fired a volley of shots into it. The plasma bolts rebounded and took Appius by surprise, crashing into, and pinging off of his beskar alloy.

Utilising that momentary distraction, Komilia lunged forward until she was within a few metres of the Taldryan Consul. The Emperor's daughter activated the dual flamethrowers attached to her vambraces.

"Sithspit!" Appius cried out. The male Mandalorian summoned the Force into his body and leapt over the cone of flames that threatened to cook him inside his armor. Appius twisted into the air and landed behind her, connecting both of his lightsabers to form a saberstaff, and struck diagonally, and haphazardly at the young girl. With no other option, Komilia dropped her blaster and called upon her lightsaber with the Force. Green crashed against green, sparking and hissing as Appius gradually pushed her back towards the edge of the downed barge, using his greater size and physical strength to his advantage.

"You just sealed your fate, Princess," Appius said mockingly. "I'm going to enjoy tearing that armor off of your corpse."

“You perverted old man!” Komilia spat back at the Consul. “How dare you assume to lay a hand upon me!” Komilia’s knee flashed forward with a hitherto unexpected speed. Even with the aid of the Force, Appius had barely enough time to squeeze his thighs together, preventing an embarrassing and potentially fight ending injury.

With his knees now pointed inward his balance was unstable and Komilia seized the advantage. Dropping her blade, her aggressor tilted forward. As their blades crackled Appius stumbled, trying to catch himself before he went over the edge of the barge.

With Appius distracted, she ducked out of his spinning arms fighting against gravity. She slapped her lightsaber back into her jetpack and picked up her blaster. Spinning back she activated her pack and hovered several dozen meters off the barge. Not one to bother with the art of the duel, she grabbed with her free hand a thermal detonator, thumbed it on, and tossed it towards the slowly recovering Consul.

“I’ll teach you how to treat me with proper respect,” she howled above the din of her jetpack. Appius had managed to recover his balance in time to hear the ping of the detonator hit the durasteel plating. Whirling around, he saw the blinking light of the rolling ball bounce amongst the ruptured hull.

“Dank farrik!” he screamed as he leapt backwards off the barge as the detonator’s soft beeping ceased, a pregnant pause of the desert sand blew by before the silence was ruptured by the belching fireball. Appius’s back landed with a thud onto the shifting sand beneath the barge as he activated his own jetpack. For several moments he was little more than a rocket sled sliding down the dune towards the gaping hole of the Sarlacc he had just moments before been threatening Komilia with.

Within meters of the resting tentacles he was able to bring himself upright and shot up into the air. Komilia didn’t give any quarter and let loose a smoldering assault with her WESTAR-35. Appius, not for the first time, gave a silent blessing to his Beskar armor that repelled the worst of the assault. He shouldn’t have underestimated the daughter of Kamjin. He knew of the Emperor’s reputation and, if what he had heard about Ria was even half true, then messing with a Lap’lamiz was a deadly affair.

“I don’t care who you are or who raised you. How dare you threaten to take away my precious armor,” Komilia continued to rant like a spoiled child while she circled over the barge. As if each blaster shot was meant to emphasize her rage, she continued, “I will not let some perverted old man despoil me!”

“Now wait just a minute,” Appius snapped back. Reigniting his emerald dual-blade. Springing to life, the blades danced with an electric charge. Komilia, who had neglected most of her Force training, failed to respect the design and inclusion of the Sorian crystals. If she had, she may have had some measure of respect for the tall man who clearly had a fair amount of credits to lay down on his weapons.

Matching Komilia’s lazy circular flying pattern, Appius twirled his blades, creating a sizable shield in front of him. The blaster bolts now careened wildly in all directions. Yet Komilia did not ease her rate of fire.

“I don’t know where you get off calling me old,” Appius started, his pride clearly hurt. “I can’t be much older than you are princess.” He still sneered at the honorific. “Furthermore, I am not a pervert. You clearly have a bodysuit under the armor.”

Komilia gasped, “Why are you looking at my bodysuit!”

Appius’s eyes rolled. Does this girl never stop, he thought. “Would you give it a rest! That isn’t what I mean,” Appius shouted with exasperation.

“Then what do you mean? Mr. I’m-going-to-take-that-armor-off-of-you. Seems like that’s exactly what you said.”

Appius lost his composure. “No, I said I would take it off your corpse!” he yelled across the billowing sandstorm kicked up by their jetpacks. In that split second loss of focus, one of Komilia’s blaster shots made it through his defense and connected squarely with his forehead. The sound echoed across the desert as Appius did a flip from the force of the impact. The Beskar held and while his head was rattled he was otherwise unharmed.

Komilia, however, was manic. As the Mandalorian was going through his spin she had holstered her blaster, lurching forward, she ejected her lightsaber again. Catching it deftly, she thumbed on her grandfather’s emerald blade. The blade screeched out of its shrouded emitter as she hurled herself full speed at her stunned opponent.

Despite his throbbing head, he acted on instinct and parried the rocket assault. Komilia flew by unstopped. His vision slowly came back into focus as she swung around and rocketed back at him. She was definitely formidable but she lacked finesse. Komilia may have adopted some of the Mandalorian ways but he had been raised in them.

Komilia dove head first at Appius, lightsaber raised more like a club than an elegant weapon from a forgotten era, he relaxed his grip. As Komilia came swinging, he parried, with a little boost he spun Komilia over onto her belly. He kicked out hard, sending the Duchess falling from the sky. She connected with the sand and the air was forced out of her lungs. Her saber fell softly beside her into the sand.

“Now, Princess, I want to know what happened to my friend and I want you to tell me now!”

The self-proclaimed Duchess pulled herself clumsily out of the sand, rattled and bruised, but mostly unharmed. Despite appearances, the bunker she had landed in was not soft in the slightest. The sand was rough, coarse, and got everywhere within the gaps in her armour. It was so kriffing undignified!

Not that Komilia had time to dust herself down when Appius descended upon her, she heard the whirring of his jetpack before she saw him, and when she looked up, the Consul fell towards her with his right palm outstretched like he was going to choke her.

"Sithspit!" Komilia exclaimed as she narrowly sidestepped the heavily armoured man flattening her like a pancake. Despite this, she was unprepared for the sudden explosion of energy that burst from Appius' hand. The Taldryanite had coiled the Force into his hand, and had created his own detonation on impact. Sand catapulted from the makeshift crater Appius had formed, knocking Komilia off balance and tumbling back to the ground. The teenager was about to do what most teenagers Komilia's age try to do, being stubborn and defiant against her better judgement. Though, she stopped when the crackle of a lightsaber resonated in her ear.

"You know, I tried to give you the easy way out, Princess. Get you to Tatooine, spill the details on Ria'd, and head home with absolutely no drama. Instead, you had to be a stubborn little bitch about everything! And to top it off? You wear Mandalorian armor like it's a fashion statement rather than honourably like so many warriors before you. It's maddening!" Appius scolded the young girl. Komilia tried to stand on her feet, but the Consul tapped his lightsaber against the side of her beskar helmet. It left no damage, but made his point very clear.

However, Appius was so focused on his target that he failed to notice something slithering in the sand. The fighting upon the barge, and the consequent explosions, followed by the impact on the sand had woken a giant creature from its slumber. It was huge, it was dangerous, and it was hungry.

A tentacle slowly wrapped around the Taldryan Consul's ankle, and Appius glanced down at the sudden tightening sensation around his appendage.

"Huh? Oh, FRAKK!"

Suddenly, the tall Mandalorian was yanked down the sand dune at a speed that would put most basic landspeeders to shame. Appius twisted and turned, trying to free himself as he was being dragged towards the centre of the Pit of Carkoon.

"Sithspit, sithspit, sithspit!" the Force using Mandalorian cursed. Thankfully, he'd managed to keep a hold of his lightsaber, he twisted himself onto his back, summoned for the twin emerald blades and cut the tentacles a few seconds before he would reach the sarlacc's beak.

A violent shriek sounded across the desert as Appius breathed a sigh of relief. He clung to the sand and was about to use his jetpack to escape the creature when he heard something thud in the sand beside him. A small, rectangular-shaped device started to beep, making Appius' heart skip a beat.

"SITHSPIT!" Appius swore, this time much louder as he activated his jetpack, narrowly escaping the radius of the thermal imploder as it blew up underneath him.

A thunderous boom echoed in the Consul's ears as a cloud of sand and dust enveloped the area beneath him. He let go of the breath he was holding, sighing in relief until he felt the unmistakable warning from the Force. In mid-air, Appius turned to face his would-be attacker, only to get drop kicked in the side of his head by two lithe feet.

"Did you forget about me, frakker!?" Komilia shouted triumphantly.

The Taldryanite crashed into the sand, skidding to a halt against the coarse substance. Unfortunately for Appius, this time he was unable to keep a hold of his weapon. The makeshift saberstaff had split back into two, and had fallen into the ocean of beige just a few feet from each other.

That was when Komilia descended from her brief flight and landed next to Appius' weapons. With no hesitation, she used the blaster in her left vambrace and shot them. Sparks hissed out of the Darksaber-inspired lightsabers, and as Appius rose to his feet, he was privy to what the teenager had just done. Damn it! Why did this sithspit keep happening to him?

"There! Now you… aren't a threat to me anymore!" Komilia said with as much smugness as she could muster, deep down though, she was getting tired, as evident by the huffing and puffing in her chest. "You might as well… give up! If you do, I might see if my daddy will let you off easy."

Appius, however, had been through enough. His pride was wounded, his weapons were destroyed, and his neck hurt from the dropkick Komilia landed on him. On top of this, he wasn't exactly fresh himself, but he was certainly doing better than Komilia was when it came to fatigue.

"Let me off easy? Please. If you are anything to go by, I bet he's as much a pushover as you are," Appius mocked, causing Komilia to tense.

"You take that back or I'll…"

"Or you will what?" Appius interjected before the Duchess could go off on another rant. "Make me pay? Tell your daddy how mean I was to you? Kill me? Let's face it, Princess. You are nothing more than a teenager with a god complex living off of her daddy's position."

"If I'm a teenager with a god complex, then what are you supposed to be!? A Mandalorian wannabe pervert?" Komilia snapped back.

"No," Appius said, his tone of voice deepening. "I am your devil!"

As if to prove how much of a threat he still was, Appius summoned the darkness in his heart, coursing it throughout his body to his fingertips. Electricity cackled before he launched it at the young Adept.

Komilia responded on instinct, drawing her lightsaber and allowing the blade to absorb the dangerous storm coming her way. Little did she realise that under his helmet, Appius smirked.

The Clan Taldryan Consul poured the Force into his body, using it like an adrenal stim as he rocketed across the sand dune towards his enemy. Komilia sensed the warning and raised her saber, ready to cut him down. However, just before Appius reached her, he threw forward his hand onto the desert, sending forth a wave of telekinetic energy. The result was a brief wave of sand that obscured the teenager's vision and took her by surprise.

As Komilia was disoriented by the sudden sandstorm, Appius used the opportunity to sneak behind the Emperor's daughter. The Arcanist was prepared with lightning darting from his fingertips, and by the time Komilia realised what was happening, it was already too late.

"AAAAGH!"

The Duchess screamed and wailed and collapsed to the ground as lightning tangled around her body. It was unlike any pain she had ever experienced. She could feel her skin burning underneath her armour as every fibre of her being begged for it to stop.

Thankfully, a few seconds later, it did. Komilia twitched in place for a moment as Appius inspected his handiwork.

"There… that ought… to do it," Appius said between gasping breaths. Yet, before he could do any further damage, he felt something shifting underneath the sand.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a tentacle rise out of the sand, then another, and then another, each getting closer with every passing second. So, he did the only sensible thing he could do at a moment like this.

Appius activated his jetpack, the thrusters propelled him into the air and out of reach of the hungry beast below. Though, he remained suspended close enough to witness the tentacles wrap around the damaged body of Komilia. The young woman, to her credit, fought back and struggled as much as she could, but thanks to her sustained injuries, she was unable to stop herself from being dragged towards the sarlacc's beak. .

"That was for Ria'd, you bitch..." Appius commented. If somehow, Komilia was able to escape the sarlacc, then maybe, just maybe, she would perhaps be worthy of the armor she wore, but for now, there was nothing left here to do. Appius left Komilia to her fate as he soared into the horizon, whatever that fate may be.

Komilia blinked away the tears as she gasped for breath. Rolling onto her back, her chest rose and fell like the hammer of a blacksmith as she struggled to refill her lungs. Appius circled lazily above her, his lightsaber held casually by his side.

“I do not want to kill you but I will know what happened to my friend and I will have that armor aruetii,” Appius said. Komilia propped herself up on her elbows. Her breathing slowly came back under her control. She stared up at the hovering Consul before unleashing a most unladylike stream of verbal abuse.

“You, farkled krong, karking druk. Bantha poodoo, shab-licking, laserbrain nerf herder. How dare you touch me! I am not some schutta for you to snark! I’ll rip your sculag, dwang, head off sleemo!” Komilia screeched up at the Mandalorian.

Appius shook his head in amazement. Mandalorians were not exactly known to be the most polite speakers and the drivel coming from Komilia would have made some of his clan members blush. “That’s some mouth for a princess,” he said, mocking her and trying to process just who this girl thought she was.

“Shove this up your mouth,” Komilia spat back in response. Having taken advantage of the distraction she had activated her Thermal Imploder. Having counted down the seven second timer she now hurled it at her hovering opponent.

“Haar’chak,” Appius said to himself as he dove to avoid the imploder. His arms flailed as the first explosion knocked him forward, only to find himself careening backwards as it receded into the second, large explosion. Komilia rolled over and ducked into the sand, avoiding the worst of the waves of flames. The sand turned to glass at the epicenter and she could hear the wail from Appius as he was flung through the air over her. Getting up, she broke into a run towards the Consul, picking up her lightsaber on her way.

Smoke rose off the superheated armor on Appius. The beskar had saved his life, as it had saved his life dozens of times before. The red paint was blistering and peeling. As he regained consciousness he heard a distant thud-thud-thud growing closer. Who’s knocking on my bedroom door this early, his addled mind thought. “Just a minute,” he muttered aloud, wondering why the noise was getting louder.

“I am not going to give you a minute. What are you mir’osik?”

That doesn’t sound right, his mind was reeling. That pronunciation was horrible. It sounded like a child reading the words from a textbook and that haughty, holier-than-thou attitude. He snapped back to reality in an instant. Komilia was racing towards him with her lightsaber pointed ahead of her like a spear. He quickly realized his jet pack was damaged and nearing an explosion. Depressing the release on his gauntlet, the pack snapped off. With a sweeping motion of his hand he hurled it towards Komilia.

Komilia, showing again her lack of tactical sense, swiped at the jetpack with her blade to deflect it. While this would have worked with a less elegant weapon, the lightsaber sliced into the fuel cells, igniting it. The explosion hurled Komilia backwards in the edges of the newly formed glass. The sound of it splintering made Appius cringe.

“Would you please stop? You’re going to get seriously hurt,” Appius said, softening his voice.

Komilia responded by crawling herself back to her feet. The bodysuit under her armor was ripped to shreds. Blood slowly darkened the pink dyed cloth. Appius took a moment to inspect himself and noticed he looked equally worse for wear. When did that piece of shrapnel embed itself in his shoulder? Gingerly he reached up and pulled it out while focusing his energies on the wound. Feeling the muscle knit itself together felt like an eternity while Komilia stared him down.

If Komilia could still form cohesive thoughts, she may have wanted to retreat at that moment. But her eyes burned with rage. This impudent peasant of a man had ruined her outfit. Did he know the quality of the cloth that had been used? The hours spent getting the color just right? The screech that escaped her was animalistic as it echoed across the Dune Sea. Kilometers away, Tuskens raised their heads in concern at the noise.

While Appius was worrying about his injuries, Komilia tugged the Dioxis grenade off her belt and hurled it at the dazed Mandalorian. The canister spun through the air, the noxious green gas growing quickly into a poisonous fog. Komilia would later claim she knew exactly what she was doing but it was just luck that Appius’s armor was not configured to filter out chemical agents. As the canister embedded itself into the sand, it sprayed up upon the Consul’s armor.

Appius panicked momentarily as he was deprived of oxygen. His hands instinctively reached towards his throat, clawing at the fabric as he struggled to breath. As he remembered his training he kicked the grenade into the air. As it flew up into the air in a spray of sand, his hands flew forward propelling the canister, and its fog of death, towards Komelia.

Despite her fury, she had learned from her earlier mistake and ducked under the projectile hurled by Appius as she closed the final meters between her and her prey. She pounced on the Consul. As their bodies met, they both dropped their lightsabers. Appius fell back, hitting his head against the sand as Komilia bounced upon his chest. If Appius had a death wish he would have mentioned the pain in his ribs as Komilia landed on him.

Komilia unleashed her pent up rage with her gloved fists. As she wailed upon his helmeted face, she sang a song of curses like the Mon Calamari operatic troupe would blend together in a crescendo towards their climax. As her fists tore through her gloves and her knuckles bled, her fists opened as she began to slap at the rigid lines of his helmet. With a roar of frustration she began to fumble for the lock on his helmet.

“No…don’t…” Appius muttered through the onslaught.

“Shut up!” Komilia screeched, ripping his helmet free from his head. The ashen hair was a tangled mess as blood streaked the otherwise average face. Except for the wide blue eyes that shone brightly up at Komilia, she didn’t bother to take notice as she crashed the helmet into Appius’s nose, knocking him out.

Komilia breathed heavily as she held the bloodstained red helmet in her hand. She stared at the unconscious form under her. After a moment she tossed the helmet to the side and stood up. “I told you not to touch me,” Komilia said as she stumbled away.