Knight of Iron

Orpheus wrestled with his quite literal inner demon. GO. Eᴠᴇɴ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴜsᴛ ɢᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ. Wᴀɪᴛ ɴᴏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ. But I could stay in this tower. Xeus sounded like he could take care of this. Dᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʀᴜsᴛ ʜɪᴍ. Hᴇ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛs. Before Orpheus could respond, Cara walked up to him and said something, but Orpheus didn't hear. Zanidar pressed upon his mind painfully, and Orpheus wiped away sweat, panting. "I... I need... to go. We need to leave. Now."

"I do need a moment of privacy, if you wouldn't mind, I'll be right back." Exodus leaves a bag of cookies behind and walks until he is out of earshot.

Okay I am way too hyped for June 11th and for this series to come out that I literally cannot contain my excitement and shall thereby preemptively start The First Loki Series Thread on the 17th Shard, two months early. Oh, well. To start, WHO HERE HAS SEEN THE NEW TRAILER and WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT???

Exodus nodded. "That's okay. Just... so long as you know your limits."

"How come?"

"Hello Kailer!"

"You and Ara need to be a team as well," he insisted. "Know strengths. Know weaknesses."

"Mm, yes, who is that?" says Zlatt.

"We'll be sneaking into the dragon's homeland, you know. It's going to get dangerous soon, and I'm going to need both you and Ara."

Zlatt walked over there too.

"It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. I like to make them sometimes. Reminds me..." Exodus shook his head. "Of... nothing."

Exodus gives Minuet a small chocolate chip cookie from Exodus's latest batch, which he had made only two days before.

"Uh, it's like flour and sugar and stuff, with little chips of chocolate in them."

"Yeah, a little thing I kind of invented, based off of a very ancient delicacy. They're delicious."

Exodus pulled out a mysterious, circular baked good and took a bite out of it. It was crunchy. "Regardless, Minuet, want a cookie?"

"Mmm, yes, aluminum. I totally know why that's important," says Zlatt.

"The happy Sharder gets too sad and reads Dark Avengers romantic-comedy comics" is not the doomed future of the crystal Radiant Sharders, it's bloodthirsty kittens.

"Oh, you're fine," said Exodus, "We can get plenty of practice in sometime soon. Anyone hungry?" @Condensation

"You've done fairly well before," he insisited.

"Thanks."

"On par is something I can be," said Zlatt, "And joining is why I'm here."

"I'm a twenty-year master of the sword with the ability to predict opponent's moves, what do you think? And I'm fairly good at ranged weaponry." "I'm pretty flexible," he said.

"Sure," said Zlatt, failing to mention he was once a tyrannical king.

"Anyways, need my help for anything? I am happy to be of service."

"Oh, hello there. And while you could probably call me a seer, I'm afraid I'm not sure what atium is. I don't think I need it."