Chapter 21: The Covenant of Adele
The silence stretched until Asterion finally broke it. He looked around the circle at the mismatched group—warriors of the Shield, the Sea, and the Sun, sitting shoulder to shoulder in the dirt.
"Why are you together?" Asterion asked. "The Churches rarely mix their veterans like this."
The Hephaestus knight chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. "We are The Covenant of Adele."
"Adele?" Elian asked. "I don't know that city."
"You wouldn't," the Poseidon knight said, smiling softly. "It was a small mining town, ninety years ago. A low-level horde broke through the perimeter. We were all young then, squires and acolytes on our first tours. The garrison commander fled. We stayed."
She looked around the circle, her eyes misty. "We held the line for three days. Just us. Back-to-back in the mud. We swore an oath in that blood. Every ten years, we meet. We drink, we remember the ones who didn't make it this far, and we tell stories."
"This is our ninth reunion," the healer said quietly. "There are fewer of us each time. But the fire still burns."
"Stay with us," the scarred knight offered. "The road to the Sanctum is long, and even young prodigies need company."
Asterion and Elian exchanged a glance. They had the saddlebags with the dark books—massive tomes that felt cold to the touch. Having a guard of fifteen veteran knights was the best cover they could ask for.
"We would be honored," Asterion said.
For the next four months, the journey stopped being a mission and became a lesson.
Elian, usually the one to charm his way through a crowd, found himself taking a backseat. These were centenarians who had seen everything. They saw right through charm.
It was Asterion who thrived.
His mind, burdened by the weight of two lives, resonated with them. He sat with the knights, discussing the flow of Faith not as a student, but as an equal. He listened to their regrets—families left behind, wars that changed nothing—with a gravity that seemed to heal them.
One evening, while helping repair a wagon wheel, Asterion miscalculated the leverage. The heavy wood slipped, nearly crushing his foot. In the Sanctum, or with Cassian, this would have been a moment of shame. A crack in the perfection of a "genius."
Asterion simply stepped back, wiped the grease from his hands, and looked at the knight he was helping. He didn't use complicated terms. He didn't make an excuse. He just looked at the older man and asked, "Could you teach me?"
The veterans loved him for it. They saw an "old soul" in a young body. By the time the colossal, white-granite walls of the Aegis Sanctum rose from the horizon, blocking out the sky, the Covenant of Adele treated them not as famous monsters, but as grandsons.
They stood at the crossroads where the path to the main gate split from the traveler's road.
The scarred Hephaestus knight clasped Asterion's hand firmly. "You have a heavy road ahead, boy. I can see it in your eyes. Just remember... the 'Inner Crucible' makes you hard, but friends keep you human. Don't let the iron consume the man."
"I won't," Asterion promised.
The Covenant rode on, their laughter fading into the wind. Asterion and Elian turned toward the Sanctum.
They were fifteen years old. They were Holy Knights. They carried two books of ancient, eerie origin, and the knowledge of a parasite that could end the world.
"Ready?" Elian asked.
Asterion looked at the fortress that had been his prison and his forge. He looked back at the open road.
"Let's take the bath," he said. "And then we can go exploring again until we get assigned."