Up in the air, unarmoured with my arms folded, I was looking down at the fortress we had taken two days ago. The commanders of the war had pushed up the frontline to here and were now holding thanks to the natural advantage the territory had against the east.

As such I had been watching the war machine of Spartari push up and secure this location for days. The previous fort had turned into a bastion of defence. So much artillery, heavy weapons and heavy armour.

I still had no idea where that giant mech disappeared to, but I doubted very much it would be able to break through these defences without going down.

It did leave me curious though. Mechs were clan Dinnac tech, majorly. So it left me to ponder if that clan was logically different compared to the other clans? Clan Emoth basically stayed and fought down to the last Drakoshi and the battle with the Silver pauldrons the day before they only fled because we killed war heroes.

I would have to look out for smarter tactics whenever I noticed Dinnac in the area.

I then took in a deep breath of the crisp air of this world. IT was abundant in Psionics Looking across the horizon, the red fields of this location of the world were beautiful. I had yet to see any of these Redoxuite crystals around yet, most were underground, but from what I have heard from the Phalanx, some have seen massive crystals hundreds of meters tall in the sky floating like megalophobic monstrosities.

I really wanted to see them as this was the first, non-artificial, Psionic world I have been in. Home world only became one because of Jewels inconceivable power.

’Plus If I can steal one of the crystals and get it back home, I can talk to Jewel all the time.’ I thought with a smirk on my face. I would probably forget about that though, like I did those underground lights during the mercenary mission. ’Though they are still at Sophia’s I could just take them back next time... If I remember.’

*PEW*

A subsonic round suddenly sprinted past my ear, getting my attention. Looking towards the direction where the bullet came from. Nerissa was just pulling back from a shooting stance and folded her arms, expectingly.

Not sure if I was in trouble, I said goodbye to my few moments of unarmoured time since my ’nice smell’ came on and flew down to her.

Planting my feet firmly and carefully on to the floor, I smirked at myself for not causing any indent before turning to Nerissa. "Hey Ness, everything ok?"

She took a moment to reply before asking me. "Apollo, you trust me right?" Not what I was expecting to hear, I reached forward and placed my hand on her pauldron.

"Ness? What’s wrong? Why do you sound so bleak?" I asked, but she only responded to my question with a question.

"Do you know that I value your friendship before almost anything and would never intentionally do something to harm you? Do you know you can trust me with anything?"

"I-Um? Yes? Nerissa, what is this about? You are worrying me."

Nerissa stared blankly at me for a moment before coughing. "*Ahem* Apollo, I need you to join me on a private mission. It will take two days by foot to arrive at our destination. Can I trust you to not ask any questions until we arrive? This is important to me."

I began to nod my head, it would be good to get away from this fortress for a bit, but then Nerissa continued.

"I would also request you leave Onyx, Sapphire and Sithrik behind. It needs to just be the two of us."

I was about to ask for follow ups, but before I could Onyx appeared next to us and pointed a finger at Nerissa. "You plant it. If you swallow it, I will murder you. I’m not joking. Understood?"

"Nope."

"Yes."

I and Nerissa said in order.

Nerissa didn’t even question Onyx, she had a hunch for a while about Onyx’s powers so her telling her that almost confirmed her current belief about what is happening. The thought left her secretly giddy about the fix to the ’problem’...

Onyx then turned to me and gave me a cuddle and whispered into my ear in a voice not her own, but the hive’s will. "Don’t worry, my universe. We don’t count this one. All is ok."

I pulled away from Onyx and looked at the two sneaky sneaks with suspicion. Especially after Onyx used that voice... "Alright, out with it. What’s going on? I’m confused."

Onyx then pulled my head down to match my gaze. "Do you trust me?" She said, in her usual voice, her big green eyes were wide and began practically sapping my soul away. I just sighed, defeated. "Of course."

I then turned to Nerissa and smiled. "I assume Skaja knows we are going?"

Nerissa nodded. "Yes. I have also made an official Praetorian statement saying I am taking you for a personal mission. Though she doesn’t know the details... Now come, the longer we idle, the longer it’s going to take."

...

Two days of travelling, and me asking multiple times where we were going without receiving a satisfying answer, Nerissa suddenly stopped, looked around and nodded. "We have arrived."

I then looked around, confused. We were just standing in the middle of a glade in the middle of... "Whoa, when did the trees change their leaves?" We had been walking underneath red treetops for hours and now we were suddenly in the middle of an evergreen grove.

Not only that, I couldn’t see past the trees around us and the sky had suddenly gone from a blazing midday to a cold full moon.

"Where are we Ness?" I asked, removing my helmet.

"We are at a glade gate Apollo. A place very secret and sacred to us Nature Praetorians. A place secrets cannot escape. My sister, who believes me about something, should already be here, but I do not sense her."

"So... Can I know why exactly you have brought me here, Ness? I won’t lie, I feel kind of at home here... But I don’t understand why we are here exactly. And why couldn’t I bring Onyx and my chonk?

Nerissa removed her helmet before replying to me and my eyes opened wide slightly. She had returned to a green colour, but the green was much darker than it was before. Her hair had grown longer and also became a darker colour and her lips had changed colour from green to a provocative red. The biggest change though was she seemed to have a pattern of a leaf on her forehead? Almost like a tattoo.

I noticed her cheeks begin to blush. "Apollo... There are three reasons I have brought you here today. The first-"

"Oh wow! He is so cute!!!" A feminine voice suddenly yelled from behind me. I turned around, surprised by the other voice, but I was greeted by a green suit of Praetorian armour diving towards me and tackled me to the ground.

I was confused by what was happening. For a moment I thought I was being attacked, but as I felt the helmet of the praetorian begin to rub up against my cheek like a cat, I had my doubts.

"Um, hello?" I greeted as I felt the gauntleted hand glide through my hair.

"Oh my~ *Sniiiif* You smell like just ripened elderberries wet with rain. That is intoxicating. I could smell you till the day I die!"

"*AHEM!*" Nerissa suddenly cleared her throat with an aggression I have never heard from her. The green plated Praetorian suddenly looked at her then and me and tilted her head to the side.

"*Gasp! Oh no, where are my manners?!?" She declared and lifted herself up, but proceeded to straddle my chest.

"I’m Rhapso, it is my honour to meet you, Apollo... Though perhaps we have met before? Hehehe~"

"Rhapso! Thats last. First you agreed to help me with the first... Situation." Nerissa started off yelling again, but quickly became shy? For some reason.

Rhapso then grabbed my armour and pulled me up and gave me a hug. "I don’t know Ness, I wouldn’t call this a thing needing fixing. He smells so good~ Oh, but I suppose we should get that thing out of him though, huh? Okie dokie."

Rhapso then finally got off me. I then rose up to my feet and smiled at the Praetorian. "Nice to meet you Rhapso. I like your Green armour, any reason it’s different to the other Praetorians I have met?"

Rhapso began to giggle and sway her whole body in excitement like a little girl. It took me completely off guard as all the other three praetorians I have met were not as... Giddy as this one.

"No, well yes there is, but it will take too long to explain, for now I think we should give ’Loch Ness monster’ as you call her, the explanation for why you have been asked to join us here. Hehehe~"

I folded my arms and turned to Nerissa. "Well I have been asking pretty much every hour we have been travelling and nothing, so I hope I get to know why now... Though if it was just to meet you, I wouldn’t call this trip wasted."

"Hehehe~"

I then kept my gaze upon Nerissa, it was like she couldn’t maintain eye contact with me now, but she managed to begin speaking.

"Um, Apollo... Now don’t get me wrong this isn’t actually what is happening, but in terms you can understand, it’s the closest word to the truth, so please don’t get upset with me or think I have done something to you. It was a pure accident I promise." Nerissa seemed flustered, her new skin tone getting even deeper as she blushed.

"Ok? So what’s up?" I said, getting a little concerned.

"Well... Um... When I healed you the other day, that phenomenon that healed you so fast... After contacting my kin the other day about some things we have come to a conclusion about what happened with that healing, my second bloom and your scent smelling so..."

She paused and I looked at Rhapso for a moment, the praetorian was bouncing in place, extremely excited.

Nerissa finally caught her tongue and blurted out the most obscene thing I had ever heard.

"Apollo... You are kind of pregnant..."