"James, are you okay?" Cameron asked him as he got back to the apartment. 

"Yeah, I'm alright." James lied to her. 

"James, what did he do to you?"

"What're you talking about?" 

"James, you unlocked Invictus, you got angry. He did something to you."

James walked over to Cameron and Nova and hugged them both. "He made me see things, things that I thought I would never have to see." 

"What, what did he make you see James?" Cameron asked him. James looked her in the eyes, the deep ocean blue of her irises gave him a sort of reassurance that everything was going to be alright. 

"They were both memories, they were fake, but they felt so real." He murmured. "One-one of them was where you had a child, and I apparently left you for someone else. You were both heavily injured; then he killed the both of you. Nova, oh god, she was raped and, and, and." James couldn't even stand anymore, even thinking about these memories made him upset. Cameron got down to his level and cuddled the Exo close to her. "Everything will be okay James." 

"Nova, she told me I failed her, and she was right, I have been failing." He cried, some tears were pouring down his face as he put his head on her shoulder. 

"Dad, you've failed nobody," Nova replied getting close to him.

"Wait, did you just call me dad?" 

"I did, you've more than earned it," Nova said with a smile. James looked at her eyes, the purple glow was assuring to him giving him an odd sense that everything was right in his family. He embraced all of them. "I think we should all try to get some sleep now, I've got a big day ahead of me tomorrow." 

"Why's that?"

"I start my mission for the Queen; I need to hunt down Skolas for her so that I can bring him to justice." 

"Dad, may I come with you?" Nova asked him. She'd wanted to get back at Skolas for what he had done to both her mother and her father six months ago. "I don't see why you can't." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skolas headed out towards Cairo by himself. A slight sandstorm had begun in the area, the particles of sand fell onto his armor as he walked toward the site of the King's lair. He needed to begin his conquest of the Fallen Houses, to prove to his men that he was, in fact, the Kishari that they had been waiting millennia for. That lowly dreg had planted the seed of doubt into the minds of the House of Wolves; now he had to remove the seed before it sprouted. 

His first goal was to kill the Kell of the house of Kings. As a result, he would have more soldiers in his army and a whole new house to add to his repertoire. Skolas was a ruthless fighter; he had lived for nearly two thousand five hundred years. He fought in the war against the Laatheros Empire and was second in command of the Eliksni Armies. Of course, as time went by many grew to forget the amount of power that he held. 

Skolas approached the gates to the sandstone temple and looked at the guards that were at the front. "What is your business here Skolas?" The Captain at the front asked him. 

"I seek an audience with your Kell." He demanded. 

"Soriv? Very well," He replied opening the gate. The House of Kings was perhaps the most reclusive house in all Eliksni culture, seldom interacting with other houses unless absolutely necessary. Skolas entered the Kings lair to notice that many guards were about on the balconies above. Soriv rose to power not long after the battle of Twilight Gap. His armor looked similar enough to that of Skolas who now faced him at the end of the hallway. The armor that Soriv wore was similar to that of the Egyptian god Anubis. Clad in a black helmet that looked like that of a dog with gold accents on the sides, his entire armor set was black and adorned with strips of gold. His cloak was black with a golden symbol for the house of kings on it. 

"Skolas, why have you come here?" Soriv asked glancing towards him. 

"Your ears have not been open for the past several days, have they? I am the Kishari, and I have come to unite our houses."

Soriv rose up from his throne and looked him in the eyes. "And how do you propose to do that?!" 

"Simple, I challenge you to a duel, one on one, one man dies, one becomes Kell." 

"You're proposing a duel to the death aren't you?" 

"That is my intention," Skolas replied coldly. 

Soriv drew his blades from his hips and looked him in the eyes sternly. "Very well," His swords were gold and engraved with Eliksni hieroglyphics, mimicking the khopesh style of sword that was common to the ancients of the area. Soriv considered himself a pharaoh rather than a Kell.

Skolas, in turn, drew his two-handed blade. Two-handed swords were of the old time and eventually replaced by using two one-handed blades in return. The pair began their duel with Skolas making the first move. Amid the yellow banners that hung above, there was a fight to determine the fate of the House of Kings. Skolas knew that it was his destiny to unite the houses under one banner, and it would be the banner of wolves. 

Their swords created visible sparks as the blades clashed in the underlit chamber of the Kell. The twin khopeshes and the Eliksni greatsword were more than a match for each other, but Skolas was far more experienced in combat than the younger Soriv. He had fought foes with two blades using the greatsword before. Soriv used all kinds of spinning attacks with his two swords, turning himself into a spinning top of death. He had a more acrobatic style fighter as opposed to the rock steady, counter focused style of fighting that Skolas had employed. Skolas's fighting style was similar to that of the ancient knight orders of Ralterra. He would know how they fought; he'd fought and killed his fair share of them during the House Wars. 

Skolas continued to block the incoming attacks from Soriv, constantly scanning for an opening for a lethal strike. Soriv's onslaught of spinning attacks and jumps was too much for himself to handle, he could feel himself slowing down. Skolas's defense had prevailed, and Soriv began to falter. Skolas, seeing his opening took one swing at the Kell of kings, getting the blade caught in his collar bone. He let go of the handle and walked up to Soriv. He took the greatsword and pulled it out of his shoulder. Soriv let out a guttural scream once it was removed. 

"Kneel before your Kell," Skolas stated to Soriv coldly. Soriv, with blue blood falling from his armor to the floor knelt to Skolas. He took his great sword and placed it on his back taking the Khopeshes from Soriv's hands. Skolas crossed the swords put the sharp ends of the blades to his neck, then in one swift motion pulled. Soriv's head fell to the floor, disconnected from his body. 

The vandals and captains looked at their fallen leader, then back to Skolas. Reluctantly, they all knelt before him. "One down, three to go." Skolas thought to himself, placing the blades around his hips. Now it was on to the House of Winter, Skolas had been starving them for months, having his men there steal all the food that they can before leaving. Their kell would be too weak to fight at his best. Easy pickings for the Kishari.