Prologue
"Sekhmet," said Cale. "I think you've got us going around in circles."
"I know where I'm going!" snapped the Warlord of Venom. He continued walking through the mountain forest with everyone else trudging behind.
"And we are following him through this place because?" asked Sage.
"Just let him go," said Ryo. "If it's helping him, leave him be."
"It's a good thing Mia and Yuli stayed at home," said Rowen, pushing a branch out of his way. "I don't think they'd make it through this place."
"Thank the Ancients for the Armors." Dayus grinned, patting his sub-armor.
"I'm sure they would say, 'You're welcome'." Kayura looked at him.
"Did Sekhmet actually say why we're walking through here in the middle of the night?" Cye asked.
"All he said is that it's very important to him, and he wants us to be there." Cale shook his head. "Personally, I think he's lost his mind. He hasn't slept that much for a few weeks."
"Well," said Kento. "We only beat Talpa a couple months ago. Who has had a decent night's sleep?"
The Warriors continued on, climbing rocks and helping each other up small cliffs. Sekhmet was a little bit ahead of them. When they caught up to their comrade, he was standing at the edge of a small clearing, lighted by the moon.
"Sekhmet?" called Ryo.
They walked next to him and saw who Sekhmet was looking at. There was a man standing at the other edge of the clearing, one hand resting on his hip, the other behind his back. He was looking at Sekhmet and only him. Everyone could tell just by looking at the two that Sekhmet had some connection to this stranger. He had large, golden, whiteless eyes, with vertical slits for pupils. His hair was the same green color as Sekhmet's, and he wore a red robe with a black short-sleeved one over it. The only other difference between Sekhmet and this stranger were the greenish-gold scales that were on his cheekbones and arms, and no doubt that the scales covered the stranger's body.
"You're late," he scolded.
Sekhmet nodded. "I got held up."
The scaled man smiled at him. He brought a little girl, about six or seven years old, holding his hand out from behind him. She had long red, yellow, and black hair, her eyes were like Sekhmet's with black diamond-shaped pupils, and she was wearing a white cotton robe. One fingertip was in her mouth and she timidly looked at the group. Her eyes landed on Sekhmet and she stared at him.
Sekhmet looked at the little girl; his expression was a mixture of relief and fear. He took a few steps forward and stopped. His heart was pounding so fast he thought it was going to burst through his ribcage. Sekhmet looked at the man and then back to the child. She let go of the man's hand and started walking slowly towards Sekhmet, and then broke into a run.
"Daddy!" she cried, running straight into Sekhmet's arms and he laughed happily, lifting her up into his embrace, her little arms wrapping around his neck. Everyone else just stood there.
"Did she just call him 'Daddy'?" Cye asked.
"Uh-huh," was Rowen's answer.
Ryo looked at the other three Warlords. "Did you know that he had a kid?"
"Uh-uh," said Kayura as Dayus and Cale shook their heads.
Sekhmet turned around. The look on his face was so happy that even the others couldn't help grinning.
"Everyone," he said. "I would like you to meet my father, Essah." He looked down at the little girl. "And this is Chadih, my daughter."
____
The lightning cracked through the sky, the thunderous boom following closely behind. She walked on the path, heedless of the rain pelting her cloak.
"So it begins again, my dear sister."
She turned around and saw a figure standing on top of a rock pillar.
"Leave me alone, brother," she warned.
He cocked his head a little. "How could you betray me? Betray our father?"
"I will never admit him as my father!" Her eyes narrowed in anger. "My maker, yes, I will admit that he is half of the reason we are here, but I will never call him 'father'. He is not worthy to be called that from me. I won't give him that honor. You never asked me what happened that day when he came."
"I don't have to, sister. I saw with my own eyes what happened. I saw him pull a sword out of our father's dead body. I saw him take you away from me."
"We were children then. He went back to find you, I begged him to. But you were gone."
"Because I left. Unlike you, I didn't want to stay with our father's murderer. And as I have suffered, so shall he."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, dread filling her.
"Since he took away our father," he smiled, "I will take away his child."
"No!" she shouted. "You can't! His child was born after it happened!"
"It doesn't matter. What's a century or two?"
"Don't even think about going near or doing anything to either of them."
"And why not, my dear sister?"
"Because, my dear brother," she snarled. "I will fight against you to protect them."
"Another betrayal," he sighed. "Will it never end? This shall be our final game. And this time I will win." He smiled at her and disappeared.
You are a fool, brother, she thought. Why don't you listen to me? But you are right. This will be our final game.