Eres charged forward before he had any more time to think, and the giant human trailed right behind. Its shield protected her as its lance readied to strike.

  Banda darted back, flinging stones as he went. The giant kept her shield in front of the dark-haired woman, and so he aimed for her head. But none had any effect. Not even those that struck the eyes.

  A thought emerged in Banda’s mind. The giant could not be damaged, but the other human could. It protected her. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if she was the one to have brought it here. The more he thought that if he killed her, the giant too would return from where it came.

  Banda dug his feet into the ground and burst forward. The giant struck forth its lance as he leaned under its path, aiming straight for the smiling priestess. The shield covered Eres more tightly as Banda raised his fist. He drew close enough to see her arrogant purple eyes, and jumped.

  The change in Eres’ face showed her surprise, but it was too late. Banda was already right before the giant’s face. He smashed his thundering fist, and used the recoil to lunged at the priestess. He might not be able to damage the giant, but he could move it. And without the giant, he was certain he could kill the human.

  He raised his clawed hand, and the blade of the giant lance pierced through his chest. In the corner of his eyes, he saw that the giant woman had not been moved by his strike. As though it were bound to the air around it.

  A stillness came over Banda. It wasn’t the pain, or even the confusion that froze him, but a strange dark magic that turned his flesh cold and weak.

  The giant ripped the lance out of him. As he fell limply in the air, its shield slammed into him with a violent gong, and sent him crashing into the side of a cliff where he did not get up.

  Eres’ expression fell to one of resigned disappointment at the sight of it. She lingered no longer than a few moments, before turning away from the forest. And a surge of divinity more tyrannical than any she’s felt before exploded from the savage’s body.

  She looked back with thoughtless shock as his body rose up as if possessed. First upright and then hunched over on all fours like a beast, his eyes white and expression one of mindless rage. The large ivory horns of a bull grew from his head and the ground started to crack and crater beneath his feet.

  Banda shot forward no faster than he had before and threw a reckless punch. The giant shield moved in front of Eres and cracked against the sheer weight of the strike.

  The lance thrust at Eres’ shock, but the blade did not pierce. It merely clanged against him as though is flesh were made of the densest metal. Even the force of the blow barely knocked him a few yards. Eres could not even guess at how heavy he was to achieve that.

  Banda lunged again, attacking without a shred of strategy. No longer was there any sign of the savage hunter, cunning and sharp. Only the embodiment of primal might. With every passing moment, Eres could see the intent of a beast clearer and clearer. The intent of a monstrous bull.

  At the sight of this savage beast, her speechless expression filled with excitement and bliss. Her rich purple eyes began to shine with golden splendor as her divinity flared golden too, all tinged with the hint of madness within.

  She had waited so long for this, to find the one she was searching for. Though sense and reason advised her to end it now, blissful passion desired nothing more but to dance in the moment.

  Banda madly pursues her as she sailed back. Each rampaging strike broke more and more of her shield. Each response of her lance did little but scratch his dense flesh. But still she danced.

  A mauling thrash shattered what was left of her shield, a second hurled for her. Eres stood still as certain death drew closer and closer, a sense of joyful warmth in her crazed smile. And golden chains lashed out from within her.

  Fast as flashes of light, they wrapped around Banda and bound him to the world itself. The horned savage tried to break free but the chains would not budge against even his overwhelming might.

  Eres raised her hands but stopped at Banda’s roar, feral and savage unlike the mindless monster he had been in this form thus far. Cracks of iridescent light started to form over his body as he strained against the chains. Defying all logic, they started to budge.

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  Eres watched with amazement, as reason began to take the reins of her mind. “Much as I’d love to watch your defiance longer, I can’t have you break just yet.”

  The golden chains shone in a blinding flash and disappeared, leaving behind a dull bronze torc around Banda’s neck. He dropped from his immobilized state to the ground but did not fall from his feet. His ivory horns turned to ash and crumbled away as consciousness returned to his eyes.

  Eres opened her mouth but before she could speak, Banda lunged for her throat. The golden chains reappeared around him in an instantly, immobilizing him just before he could make contact.

  “These chains won’t allow you to harm me.” Eres explained, not even having flinched at the attack.

  The chains vanished just as quickly as they appeared, and without hesitation, Banda fled at full speed, only for the chains to lock him in place once more.

  “I can also use them whenever I want.” She spoke with a teasing tone.

  Banda waited in a guarded state, unsure of what to do, his state of mind completely on edge.

  “It’s good that you learn quickly. We are bonded together now, in essence and fate. My life is yours.”

  Banda didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about, his mind still clawed for ways to escape his predicament. His attention snapped towards her as she withdrew a thin dagger from the air with a solemn expression and plunged it into her own heart.

  Banda clutched his chest as though something had stabbed his own. His head swirled with confusion as his senses had detected nothing to warn him of danger. But the pain subsided as quickly as it came and he removed his hand to find not a single trace of a wound.

  “A human trick.” He thought.

  Movement caught his eye again as Eres raised the dagger in front of her. The fresh wound over her heart had already healed, but this time she thrust it towards her eye. Banda grabbed her hand in an instant, having darted with all his mind out of sheer instinct, and stopped the blade just short of her.

  Worry and confusion replaced the suspicion on his face, accompanied by beads of sweat. The woman had aimed the dagger at herself, but it felt no different from being aimed at him.

  “Experiencing is faster than hearing.” Eres smiled. “If I die, so do you. So protect me, my champion.”

  The dagger disappeared as she reached out to softly hold his face towards her. There came a peace and restlessness by the gentle way she held him that he didn’t understand, but even that was melted away by the overwhelming passion in her face. By her eyes that shone like the mesmerizing and tyrannical sun.

  “What’s your name?”

  “...” Banda didn’t respond, he was far too concerned with figuring out this strangest of humans that now held his life in her hands.

  “We’re going to be together for a long time. It makes everything easier if I know what to call you.” Eres tone somehow bordered between impatient and relaxed.

  “Ensimbanda…”

  “...Young Horned Lord?” Eres mused. “Or Fierce Horned Lord. The second seems more fitting.”

  “It’s Wild Horned Lord.” Banda frowned.

  “It’s all three.” Eres corrected him with an amusement smile. “But yes… That one suits you best.”

  “It seems everything has been settled?” Montu asked as he hopped over. Not a sign of a fight could be seen on himself or his attire.

  “Yes. Finally-”

  Banda lunged at the first opening he found, but the throat he grabbed turned to mist in the air. Failure did not change Banda’s expression as he was far too focused on the hunt.

  Sight, hearing, and smell did not aid him, so he forced his instincts to heighten. Immediately, his eyes snapped to an empty space to his left, and for the third time, golden chains bound him in place.

  Montu reappeared at the spot Banda targeted, with a bit of sweat forming on his brow. “What a dangerous guard you’ve found.”

  “Do not do that again.” Eres told Banda sternly, with a trace of annoyance. “While it does please me to know you are capable, accept your place at my side or I will be less lenient with my leash.”

  There were some words Banda didn’t understand, but he recognized it as a threat. In any case, three times was more than enough to understand the chains. Even if he had taken her human hostage, they would render the act pointless.

  Eres kept her eyes locked on him for a few moments before sighing away her other complaints. “Listen. We have a long and vast journey ahead. Where we’re going isn’t so forgiving that we can overcome it with our sword at each others necks all the while.”

  Banda had something to say about the way she worded that, but he had something even more important to ask. “...Where?”

  “That’s a secret, for now.”

  “How long?” He asked.

  “For good.” Eres spoke with a trace of disdain and resolve. “We’re never coming back here.”

  The answer caught Banda a bit off guard, and filled him with a strange feeling. The sense that he had lost something of his but it had not yet happened. Before he was able to response, his eyes turned sharp to the horizon, to the horde of red and white humans charging straight towards them.