A procession of Ison's proudest warriors descended down toward the Gap. In a rhythmic march, their feet struck on stone in a near perfect timing. Their escort off into the Abyss was nothing short of a long train of superfluous pomp. In the torchlight of the catacombs, banners flowed and musicians played flutes, banged on camel skin drums, and strummed their lutes in a merry affair.

This was not, in any conceivable way, the norm for soldiers to be ushered down to kill Koronai. The daily drudgery of killing demons in the Abyss normally warranted no ceremony. Such marvelous spectacles were only done for the hunts that proceeded important festivities, such as the royal wedding of a princess and a Karo Shar that loomed over Kaden's head.

One hundred of Ison's finest soldiers were with Kaden and the prince and prepared for battle. Among those escorting them were General Durk, who Prince Relastin had personally requested to attend, and Sakhar Bul. As well as half of the dozen personal soldiers Kaden had at his disposal. The others were needed to guard the shop while he was away on this hunt and keep it and Sahl safe.

The Karo Shar hoped those excluded from being selected did not feel slighted. He did not want to be in the business of making enemies over having to make choices and committing transgressions against manly and often Rage addicted egos.

Each member of the procession had already been given a full complement of Rage and Courage for use in the looming war. Five sticks of each. Courtesy of the Karo Shar himself and the stills that Sahl had been running for him. The prince himself had approved of the quality of the product.

Quietly, Princess Lyla led the procession along its final leg. She was in head to toe purple silks matching the urk of the Karo Shar, and her future husband. Had their relationship been a typical one in Imeron with normal circumstances, once they married, she would be subservient to him and played that part well for all looking on.

But Kaden understood the real situation as it stood. It was he who would be at the princess's beck and call. Sitting at her feet like a loyal hound. All while she plotted her ascension to the throne. An ascension Kaden still found as doubtful, even as he believed she could do it.

"Is the Abyss ready for our arrival and glory?" Prince Relastin asked when they reached the Gap, and the musical accompaniment ceased on cue.

"It is, your Highness." A soldier dressed similarly to Sahkar Bul, complete with his head fully wrapped except for his eyes, snapped to attention as he stood tending the path down into the Abyss. There was no doubt he was another of the proud Savan Devotees.

The roars of demons below were loud and angry. Also hungry. Kaden had never heard anything like it. The Koronai's teeth gnashed so loudly that it was as if they were sharpening their fangs and an orgy of death was being prepared to great the men of Ison.

"They sound ripe for the killing," General Durk observed.

"That," the prince said with obvious pleasure, "is the sound of glory awaiting us all."

The rope and plank ladder was drawn up, away from the grasp of the beasts below. And as Kaden looked over the edge, he could clearly see demonic forms mulling about in the glowing red depths. Every now and then, one would look up as though eyeing its dinner. Of which, Kaden feared, he would only be an appetizer.

"Seems to be rather full down there," Kaden remarked, hiding fear welling up within him. "Who gets the dubious honor of going down first and walking into that meat grinder?"

"We'll ask for volunteers," the prince said. "It is a great honor to be the first in. And a greater honor if those who go first survive."

Kaden smiled. "That wasn't the answer I was expecting. I figured you'd have said it was to be me."

The prince laughed at his Karo Shar's naivete. "You could always volunteer. It would be recommended. It would be a great mark on your reputation." He snapped his fingers and two members of the entourage along with them, but not warriors, brought forth a brass globe that took both of the prince's hands to hold. "To ease your concerns, we'll drop this first to clear out some of the beasts."

"What's that?"

"You've never seen one?" The prince turned the sphere in his hands. "This orb contains the equivalent of a thousand doses of fear. It will scatter the demons for us. If we didn't, we'd never get the ladder down. But, as you've seen before, Fear won't last long against the Koronai."

Kaden considered the device as he unslung the Rohs Fang from across his back. "Well, if I'm not going to be shredded the second I set foot down there, then I'll go first."

The prince cocked his eyebrow at the Karo Shar's sudden, and unexpected, bravery. Even Kaden surprised himself. But he'd already learned what he was capable of doing on Rage and Courage. And Kaden felt at least somewhat confident that with a hundred men and the prince behind him, that he stood a better chance.

"Do you think I would let you go first? And myself be considered a coward?" The prince lifted the bomb above his head, turning away from Kaden and to the men. "Hear me, noble warriors of Ison! I, your prince, rightful heir to the High Throne of Imeron, will go first into the Abyss. And my Karo Shar will be second behind me. Who will be brave enough to follow us?"

The crowd of assembled warriors roared. Those with steel breast plates banged their weapons off them with a thunderous clang. The prince held the device higher, and the calamity of the cheers increased.

Kaden was stunned when Princess Lyla snuck up on him from behind. He flinched as her arm draped around his waist with seductive intent and made him loose track of the prince's speech.

"Be careful, my love," she said to him. It was the first time she had addressed him as such. "I expect you to return to me."

"I have every intention of doing so, my princess."

"Watch your back," she warned. "There are those who would use the chaos that is about to commence as cover to eliminate you. General Durk, for one, is not your friend." The princess used the din of the revelry to cover her words. "No matter how much he might try to pretend he is."

"And what about Sahkar Bul?" Kaden asked.

"Sahkar Bul is one of the few you can trust absolutely. You will earn the trust of more men as you are valiant in the Abyss and the warriors see it for themselves. But not before such. Men must see such things with their own eyes."

Kaden gripped his weapon tightly as he looked out across the myriad of faces that stood entranced by the prince's continuing words of encouragement to his troops. "Consider your warning as taken to heart," he said to her, returning his weapon to its sling on his back.

"Yes, your demon scarred heart." She rotated in front of him, her eyes locking onto his. She touched his breastplate where the scar of his first encounter with a Koronai remained. "Such a lovely heart, too. Trust your instincts. The way you see things is unique to the men of this world. And that is your advantage, my love. These warriors do not know what you know. They do not see what you see. They see everything only as steel and skin and bone and muscle and sinew. You see what lies beyond the battle. Your mind processes the finer details of what is happening in between each stroke of the blade."

After a few more words to his troops, the prince turned and held the bomb of Fear over the crack in the world leading downward. He released it and gravity pulled it down. Then he announced the formal start of the festivities. "Let this glorious hunt in honor of the Karo Shar and the princess's looming wedding commence!"

"You'd better go," the princess said with a wry smile as she stepped back from him.

Before the crack of the bomb tearing open as it hit bottom ever occurred, the ladder became unfurled, and the prince was on it, leading and descending. Kaden, understanding why the princess had said what she had, rushed to be next as the prince proclaimed. The other soldiers began crushing towards the gap, not caring about what had been said about the order.

Kaden barely made it before the next man did, and then he was on his own way down. The ladder was highly unstable as soldier after soldier climbed on above him. The unlikely Karo Shar nearly had his hands stepped on more than once, as no one waited for him and his inexperience at climbing down the ladder.

Whiffs of the orange vapor from the device were only scantly visible when the Gap opened up into the ceiling of the large entry chamber. By the time Kaden reached the stone floor, they were completely dissipated, but had done their job masterfully. No Koronai hovered within striking distance.

The demons recovered quickly from the essence of Fear thrown into their midst, however. Just as Kaden knew they would.

He'd only had enough time to reach under his breastplate and break the first of the three vials of Courage and Fear mix that laid hidden beneath his armor with a firm press. The fact that he'd entered the Abyss without even considering using his essence before was only slightly on his mind.

While the prince charged and more warriors scampered down the ladder behind them, Kaden's body lurched as the blend of essence soon struck his heart.

The sensation was different than before. He'd already tested a sample of the mix Sahl had made from the stills running hotter than was deemed normal and prudent. Thus he already knew how his body would react.

Even though the dose of each was significantly smaller, they accelerated him beyond what either of the two would have accomplished individually. The higher temperature they'd been distilled at not only made them more stable when mixed, but added increased potency.

And as his body drank of the power, his hesitation was only slight. He was quickly into the fray.

Demon ichor coursed through the air and the bladed end of his Rohs Fang sliced them open. Each took more than once strike to fell, of course, but Kaden dissembled each Koronai coming before him methodically. Bit by bit and stroke by stroke.

The area beneath the gap was populated by mostly lesser Koronai, their human-like appearance still unnerving Kaden. Although there were a few Greater Koronai among the throngs they faced. He left those to others, however, opting to focus on the weaker ones and build up a body count.

Even as more than one sought to attack him, Kaden found his mind giving him commands and plotting the course forward by upwards of ten strikes ahead.

Other warriors joined in. Bodies of the dead demons began piling up, even as they spilled ever forth from the deeper levels of the Abyss. As though knowing fresh blood had come to them.

The initial battle to gain a foothold in the Abyss lasted for several minutes. As Kaden single-handedly downed his twelfth Lesser Koronai, the war took a breath, even as the Karo Shar's body craved more action and carnage.

A hand on his shoulder caused Kaden to whirl around, the forked of his Rohs Fang swinging instinctively for Prince's Relastin's head.

The prince was unphased, swiping up his own blade to block the wild and coarse strike born from Kaden's instincts and fueled by what coursed through his body. Prince Relastin glowered at his Karo Shar. "If you are not in control," the prince spoke smoothly as if expecting such a response, "you will die down here." Then he looked over the corpses. "Impressive."

Kaden lowered his blade, his muscles throbbing and anxious but realizing his mistake after a moment. He noticed the other soldiers looking on at what he had done. There was noticeable surprise in the eyes of some. Many still doubted his ability, but he could tell, he'd won some new converts over. And they could help him win even more.

Off in the passages, demon howls roared.

"I am sorry, my prince," Kaden said as Prince Relastin sheathed his weapon.

"A dozen Koronai lay dead by your hand. You have nothing to be sorry about. The Rage does it to the best of men. But you must be better than the best of men."

"Better than even you?" Kaden quipped with a tongue looser than it should have been.

The prince smirked. "If you could accomplish that, Ison's throne would be yours. But you will not accomplish that." The warning was clear as a bell. The prince then addressed his assembled army. "Divide the men into four groups," he ordered, pointing directly at the men he would call out in his next breath. "I will take forty including you, Sahkar Bul, and you General Durk. We shall go through the western passage and see if we can make the Gates. My Karo Shar will take twenty of his choosing and head north. Whoever remains, those unworthy to go with us, will split into two squads. One to head east, and the other to the south."

Sakhar Bul stepped forward and bowed. General Durk did the same, displaying obedience to his sovereign.

Kaden allowed the prince to select those who would accompany him. Then the Karo Shar made his own selection, picking his own men first and then filling out the group simply by trying to figure out who were best remaining warriors based on how menacing they looked. But he had to admit, he was only guessing.

Still, when he was done, he felt that his chosen companions were adequate. The other remaining soldiers of Ison broke up into haphazard groups and made their ways off east and south to do battle with the beasts of the Abyss.

"We aren't to go together?" Kaden asked of the prince.

"Not to start," his sovereign answered. "The west and the north passages do, however, join up three levels down. If you make the right turns."

"I know the way," one of the soldiers Kaden had selected spoke up. It was the Savan Devotee who had met them at the Gap and who Kaden had selected because he knew of their prowess in battle having fought Sahkar Bul. He was as menacing as any man among them. And five times more so than Kaden. "I can lead the Karo Shar down that path."

"Excellent, Kord, Son of Yavin. But remember, the Karo Shar is your leader. You will follow his orders. And should I find you've disobeyed him, even taking so much as a piss without being given permission, he will be granted permission to cut you apart. And do so with my full blessing."

Kord looked at Kaden, keeping a stern face. "I understand, my prince. I would never disobey your Karo Shar. To do so would be to disobey you and disobey my family name."

It was at that time, Kaden noticed something he had not before. Kord's urk was black. He was the son of a traitor.

The prince didn't say anything else to Kaden or Kord. He rounded up his soldiers in strict military fashion, and led them off to the west.

Kaden and his company of soldiers remained. "Ok, men," he said adding depth and gravel to his voice. There was already the sound of Koronai being engaged to the south. "We're going north. Kord, you will make sure we meet up with the prince."

Kord nodded. "As you command, Karo Shar."

Kaden twirled his Rohs Fang in what he hoped was a display that impressed his men. Twice around and then behind his back, he and the weapon ended in a fighting stance. "You will all bring glory to Ison today."

The men roared in approval.

"We shall fight for you, Karo Shar!" One voice rose above the rest.

"No," Kaden said, sensing a trap and a test of loyalty was being hurled at him from the crowd. "We will fight our prince, and for Ison. What we do here, in the Abyss, must bring honor to Prince Relastin!"

And the men cheered again, louder than all the Koronai in the Abyss.