Tyranny of Steel

Hours had passed since Honoria and her search party first descended into the river valley in search of the missing German Emperor, and yet they still had not found any additional clues. While this was a short period of time in the real world, it was several months within the Divine Realm of the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan.

The Byzantine Princess was just about to give up her search when she found something of interest near the waterfall. There were signs of a struggle, and a primitive obsidian ax lying on the ground. Clearly, Berengar and whoever he was chasing after had fought in this location. Honoria instantly called out to her comrades, signalling her findings.

"Over here! I think I found something!"

The soldiers under Honoria's command quickly followed her orders and investigated the scene of the conflict. It did not take much effort for them to see the footprints leading to the nearby cliff. What was curious was that there was only a single pair of tracks, which filled Honoria's mind with a sense of confusion. There was no sign of remains, and thus she could not fathom what had occurred with the person Berengar had fought with.

However, now was not the time to worry about such concerns. Since Honoria had followed Berengar this far, she would not falter now that she had come across a cliff. With fierce determination in her mint green eyes, the byzantine princess grasped hold of the ledge and began her ascent.

The rest of the search party followed their commander's actions and slowly but surely scaled the edge of the cliff beside Honoria. It took some serious effort, but eventually the unit rose to the plateau above, only to be met by a large and untamed woodland.

Honoria sighed in disbelief as she witnessed this. She had no idea what path Berengar had taken as his tracks seemingly vanished the moment she climbed to the top of the cliff. She could not help but vent her frustrations as she gazed into the myriad of directions that displayed themselves to her.

"God dammit! Where the fuck did he go?"

A nearby soldier broke the awkward silence that filled the air after her rant with a suggestion on how to continue.

"We should split off into smaller groups and search the immediate vicinity. He could not have gotten far..."

The byzantine princess took a deep breath to calm her nerves before nodding her head in agreement.

"Very well. We will follow your suggestion. You three are with me, the rest of you fan out, we must find the Emperor before it is too late!"

After saying this, Honoria headed straight into the woodlands, unaware of the nearby presence of the great goddess of Teotihuacan. A smirk etched itself on her beautiful face as she once more vanished into thin air, returning to her heavenly domain.

In the Divine Realm of the great goddess of Teotihuacan, Berengar lie on a hammock he had built under the light of the sun. It had been six months within this realm, and he had spent nearly every day doing four things. Helping the Aztec princess heal from her injury, teaching her German, learning her language, and currying the goddesses' favor, which usually came in the form of an oil massage.

Aside from this, he merely slept, as all of his needs were cared for by the goddess. Food, water, waste removal, the goddess could simply conjure and disperse such things within her realm at will. His life had been relatively peaceful in this domain, and he had to admit that he enjoyed the brief vacation from warfare.

However, just when he was about to fall asleep, the goddess appeared before him and ended his serene lifestyle with a shocking revelation.

"Your wife has entered the boundaries of the ancient city. Your time here in my heavenly domain has come to an end. I guess this is good-bye, I must admit it was fun while it lasted..."

Berengar merely grinned as he rose from his hammock and hugged the goddess with a gentle embrace. He had grown rather close to this deity during his stay and thus he assured her that everything would be fine as he said his goodbyes.

"I'll be back, eventually. After all, you have a claim on my soul. Sooner or later, I will perish from this world, and my soul will return to your realm."

A bitter smile formed on the goddess's face as she shook her head in silence. Before Berengar could react, she kissed him on his lips, where he felt a searing pain in his heart. With a look of shock on his face, he gazed upon the woman one last time as he suddenly entered the real world. The last words spoken with the mysterious woman left him hollow.

"Your soul is your own. I hereby relinquish my claim over it. You are now free to follow whatever deity you choose... This will likely be our last encounter. I wish you the best of luck in all of your endeavors. You are going to need it...."

With that said, Berengar entered the real world and gazed upon the ruins of the ancient city with a forlorn expression. He was not expecting such an outcome to occur. He could only sigh in defeat as he gazed off into the cloudy sky above, thinking about the time he had spent within the divine realm and the goddess who ruled over it.

After several moments of silence, Berengar gazed over to his right and saw the Aztec Princess asleep. As the goddess had proclaimed, the girl had lost her memories of the heavenly domain, and could only remember the time she had spent with Berengar, and the things he had taught her.

He quickly walked over to the woman and kneeled down next to her. Just when he was about to wake her up, he heard a familiar voice call out to him from the distance.

"Berengar! Thank God you are alive!"

Honoria rushed towards her husband as fast as she could before jumping into his arms, nearly knocking the man over as she did so. She assaulted him with a passionate kiss as she grabbed the back of his golden hair and smothered him with affection.

The search party who accompanied her averted their gazes and instead looked upon the ruins of the ancient city with awestruck eyes. They could not believe such a massive metropolis existed in such a primitive part of the world.

Eventually Berengar managed to pry himself away from Honoria and ask her what had happened.

"What's going on? Why are you here?"

The Byzantine Princess did not hesitate to reveal the effort she had gone through to track him down.

"I was worried sick about you. After coming across so many dead bodies, I thought for sure I had lost you, but you're okay! You bastard, I can't believe you would do this to me!"

Berengar chuckled when he heard this before wrapping his arms around his wife and calming her heart.

"I'm fine, I just got a little lost is all..."

It was at this moment that the Aztec Princess awoke. The first thing she witnessed was the sight of a bunch of german soldiers, armed to the death, and pointing their weapons at her. She immediately flinched out of instinct and hid behind Berengar like a frightened child while questioning what was transpiring.

"Berengar? What's going on?"

Though her German was shaky, she had clearly spoken in the language of the invaders, which was something that shocked the soldiers and Honoria alike. The byzantine princess became furious as she saw how close this savage woman was with her husband and begin to interrogate the man for answers.

"Who is she? How does she speak German? What the hell have you been up to in your absence?"

Berengar merely sighed as he gazed off into the distance towards the temple of the great goddess of Teotihuacan. His response had a hint of melancholy in its tone.

"It is a long story. Just know that she is a princess of a mighty Empire, and she is now our captive."

When Honoria heard this, she instantly issued a command to the nearby German soldiers.

"Restrain her!"

Though Tlexictli attempted to resist, she was quickly overpowered by the troops, and wrestled to the grown where she gazed at Berengar with confusion in her eyes.

"What's going on? Why are you doing this?"

Berengar merely sighed as he gazed at the Aztec Princess with a hint of pity in his eyes before expressing his plans.

"I am sorry, but as of right now, you are my prisoner, to be used in negotiations with your father. I know he will not relent without a show of force, and I intend to display the full might of my army. You will be well looked after in my care, so do not resist."

After saying this, Berengar did not wait for a response and merely issued his orders to the soldiers who had accompanied him.

"Now that we have captured the Aztec Princess, we will return to our camp and fortify our position. The enemy can not be made aware of our existence until we have secured the beachhead."

With that said, Berengar led his soldiers out of the ruins of the ancient city of Teotihuacan. He looked upon the city one last time as he wore a bitter smile, before pressing on back to the beach. He would forever remember the days he had spent inside the heavenly realm, and was grateful for the gift the goddess had given him.