Bronze Burning

I would have claimed the glory. Instead, my brothers fed me shame.

I kneel beside the great mountain altar that saddles the oceans of our world. Waves rage. Pillars of white marble and shimmering silver pierce the volcanic peak.

Around us swirls a noble selection. The great Gold Houses of Venus claim the best of our year. Their ships slice the aquamarine waves, cutting across a world of froth and fortified islands for Olympus. None will come to claim me. Though fresh blood drips from my face, I was denied the scar of the Peerless.

My guardian thinks he has broken me, but he's wrong. While his sons collected seashells, I collected scars.

I am the blood of Akama the Stormwind, who fell in the Iron Rain with Silenius Lightbringer. Daughter of Anaxa au Caecilli, who held the Mons Miraldi for two years against the Obsidian Hordes, unrelieved. My honor and pledge demand satisfaction. I will steal the Virius's glory as he stole mine . . .

. . . or die, a woman on fire.