“When I go,
everything is left up to you. If you want your mother to rule, that
is your choice.”
“I will
rule only as long as he needs me to,” replied Snowbridge.
“Then it
is… settled.” He smiled, and tried pouring out more quiet words,
but the life was taken from him; his chest stopped moving as soon
as he exhaled.
Ematay,
Eleanor and Christian were in crowd control of
all
the people
in
Swansie. They saw everything that was happening,
and all they could really do was watch, even with all this revved
up power from the
S
pirit
S
tone it had given them.
Its pure, old magic
k
still flowed strongly inside t
he three
; it was hard not to notice or feel, even at
times like these. The crowd watche
d
what happened, which made them gasp, scream and
even made odd ones cry. Watching, observing, was a painful process,
and not being able to get involved in some way; but if the crowds
of Swansie did, they would be slaughtered in minutes, and
that’s
at the best of
times they could last.
“What do we
do?” asked Eleanor, with a sense of urgency in her voice,
scared.
“We wait,”
said Ematay. “That’s all we can do right now.”
“But they
are both coming from opposite sides, there is little time that
stands between us and the Shadows.”
“That
may be true, but what can be done doesn’t always work, or help. We
have to think sensibly. I don’t like it myself little ones, but
orders are orders.” Ematay seemed quite annoyed that he had to stay
with the crowd of about one thousand in between both
entrances
on either
side. H
e
continued to
push them
all
as close to the
middle
and
a
s far away from the Shadows as possible.
Etch
turned his head frantically, seeing pain in so many eyes. And also
life leaving them. He wasn’t sure what he could do to fix the
problem, but then war is never a thing that could be fixed. It is
the emotional rage of hate and fear that keeps war fuelled in
hearts.
The prince
saw more of his own drop to the ground as the minutes went on. Even
two of his personal three guards fell, and Etch felt solely
responsible and ashamed by it, as if it was in fact his very own
fault.
There
seemed to be a trigger in motion that quickened Prince Etch’s pace
at this time somehow. It was, of course, from loss. An
understandable fear that did trigger something that only Etch
himself noticed and saw that day. And it happened at this very
time.
His mother,
Selina Snowbridge, was to be struck down, and she was—for a time.
Yet it was in these moments that this something remarkable
happened.
The very
movement of all those around him slowed dramatically. Though not in
a way from mere exhaustion. It appeared as if time itself had
slowed down, and Etch was the only one moving at an ordinary
pace.
His initial
reaction was that none of this was happening, at least not as it
did and was. It took him some time to accept this was very
real.
However, it
seemed to be that this dreamlike state helped the prince save his
mother from a horde of Shadows rushing and flanking her from
behind. He levelled the odds for his mother by taking out several
of them quickly with his steel sword imbued with magick (a sword
that could never break), and alarmed his mother.
The queen
managed the rest on her own. And quite easily too.
Then—just
like that—the movement of everyone around Etch went back to its
original speed, him not feeling so emotionally intense now.
The
cities light had failed. The battle between opposing sides had
wrecked the blue tower that gave them their source of light. It was
no more than rubble to look at, blocking and destroying a road of
homes of those who lived there in seconds.
Selphira
was not the original Astorian whilst the enemy Shadows numbers
where starting to thin coming through the front entrance. The
moving pieces entranced her actions for some time. Though the enemy
didn’t reduce to this fragile state from their lack of mass, that
much was clear.
Everyone
near the front gate could see the blackness moving away for
whatever reason. Of all the beings, Mileena knew exactly what they
were doing right away.
“They are
thinking of what tactical advantage they can pull out on us,” said
the captain looking at them, her looking to the Water Spirits as
they fought, thinking they were listening.
For some
time their enemy was not moving at all outside the city of Swansie.
Though most of the eyes fighting to keep the lands as it was found
a disturbing thought in that these beings could now possibly think;
they had shown no great feat of it in the past.
Selphira
morphed into the mighty Original Astorian for her safety. She stood
behind the Water Spirits, who seemed to be doing very well at
holding them off.
The room
around them was little because of the frozen Shadows covering their
battlespace. Even though the roads were wide, it could not hold
numbers at this level to keep stacking up.
The female
Edeolon Warrior stood next to her dearest friend, the only one that
survived from the latest group of the Edeolon Warriors. Her eyes
were closed, and held her palms facing upwards in her humanoid form
once again. It was as if something was coming from her turned
hands, travelling into the air. Some kind of invisible energy she
was summoning; almost everyone could feel it, even Eleanor and
Christian from so far away gave a brief glance to its presence, but
none could see the energy with their naked eyes.
It was
only thirty seconds later when Selphira opened her eyes and saw
that their battlefield had changed yet again. The Shadows stopped
coming in altogether and were moving somewhere, but to where they
were not entirely sure of. They could only imagine it was to the
other entrance, or exit, depending on how you looked at it, where
the last people of Astora would be easier to get to. To get rid
of.
“The
king needs help,” shouted captain Mileena turning to her people,
“move to him. Protect the king.”
The sound
was so quiet now, except the movement of the Shadows feet moving in
the background.
Selphira
turned into a soaring cheetah, a creature none of the Astorians had
ever seen in their lives before; they all stood back in wonder from
when she appeared as one. She ran with the speed of this creature
on its side, the very reason she chose it. Her limbs positioning
themselves in such a way that she was springing herself forward
with every stride.
Selphira as this cheetah had to pass by Ematay and the crowds when
she got to the other side of the city, they were not very near, as
the city was not particularly big, but not small either. Selphira
managed to get there within five minutes because of her great
speed.
The rest of
the forces to help were still some minutes away, and as as soon as
she got near, Selphira pushed passed the large crowds. Most of them
being the people of Swansie with magick weapons.
Each one
moved out of the way in an urgent manner, Selphira then morphing
into an Astorian—but as she did—orange dots flew through the sky in
the horizon, hundreds of them. They lowered themselves to the city
below, and flowed from the Edeolon Warrior who was a
Beast-caster.
The
Fireflies glowed brightly in the dark night, and in the distance
the Solar flare power from Queen Snowbridge, and also the fire
magick.
There was
only the star-bracelets now allowing the fighters to see. It seemed
the dark did not affect the eyes of these shadowlike beings endless
in numbers. The so called and done ‘destroyers’.
The doors
at this end were being held closed by Selphira’s beast magick
again. Until some others helped, even though she did not need
it.
But now
there was about five hundred little, bright dots of what resembled
flying fire bringing some natural light to the battlefield.
Fireflies
went passed the hordes of Astorians and carried on straight to the
powerful Beast-caster. The lights from the creatures all brought
attention to her towering height and monstrous look, before moving
again.
Yet hope
came to them from the Water Spirits and Fireflies in front, flying
through the air and into the Shadows, them turning to dust with an
aura of flames, sizzling their now turned black soot into the air’s
breeze, landing on the ground.
The two
very different beings all darted through them seamlessly, taking
out hundreds at a time, clearing a path for the Spell-casters wrath
to be let loose on them.
Shadows seemed to dwindle at an incredible rate.
With the five hundred Fireflies alone flying through the dark
enemies, the Water Spirits kills were just a bonus helping.
Although not all was well. Fireflies were made from the fires of
the god Emae. And it is fire that is the Water Spirits direct
weakness. And because of this, t
wo Water
Spirits turned to steam from coming into contact with these small,
but powerful creatures. Covering a part of the city to quite a
surprising degree.
Time
had passed, and the Shadows were thin in numbers now. None of them
ever thought they would see this day come so quick. But still with
a great amount of effort.
The Water
Spirits and Fireflies were nearly taking out thousands at a time
with this new unique yet powerful army.
An army
that could be said was from the gods themselves.
It was only
a further few more minutes before all the Shadows were gone, and
what was left had turned to soot.
“Finally.
It is over,” said Prince Etch.
Queen
Snowbridge hugged her son and smiled. Even though she also wanted
to mourn at the same time.
The prince
felt almost the same as her mother, but also with an added pressure
about what to do next. Whether he should rule or not, even though
he knew inside his heart it was not the right time.
Eleanor
and Christian felt annoyed, to an extent, that they had just had
all this temporary power, and not used it in a better way.
Ematay,
however, didn’t. Because he understood what power and impatience
leads to; and it’s not a place he wanted to begin at. Again.
Eleanor and
Christian pounced on Ematay, and Ematay was ecstatic enough to
repay it back with a tight embrace before letting them go.
“It was a
nightmare of an adventure, but we got there, didn’t we,” said
Christian.
“All
adventures appear that way,” said Ematay. “But in time you will
want to go on many more; once you have an adventure, it is hard
going back to a menial lifestyle.”
“Well I
don’ think that will be happening to us anymore,” said Eleanor.
“No,
definitely not,” replied Ematay. The roar of the crowds was
deafening now, with a hesitant rush to check to see if there was
anymore surprises waiting—which there was not.
The crowd
of all cheered even more mightily, and a huge relief came over
them.
But it
seemed as Eleanor and Christian got closer to the queen, she was
not all that happy about the situation in these times. Though
everything changed when they saw her husband, the king. He was
dead.
They
all went back to their normal lives, which they became more
appreciative of than before.
Eleanor,
Ematay, Christian, Prince Etch and Queen Snowbridge returned to the
Silver Cathedral, with the captain of the Water Spirits.
Everyone
was in the Throne Room, watching history change yet again, a
history not recorded in books, but within order. The queen was
supposed to take over from her husband, by reason from his son.
Prince Etch felt it was fit for their world, and he knew there was
so much to learn from his mother before he would take his turn to
lead the people. The silver crown was placed upon Snowbridge’s
head, and they all cheered. She looked to her husband’s throne, and
felt empty and somewhat alone. She then stood as everyone else
knelt, and signalled them to stand. Even her son. She spoke:
“This day,
the Water Pirates of the Shade Sea. The guardians of Oranos… will
be set free from their lifelong duty of looking after the Anchor
Fields beneath us. They now have a choice to serve at our side as
they have done today, and live in the cathedral, or carry on with
the Anchor Fields. The choice is theirs to accept. Our world is now
yours, and hope you feel the same way about us using magick and
travelling on the Shade Sea without being attacked by you.”
“This
change has been long overdrawn, and we all gladly accept. I will go
to tell my kind and will come back with our numbers, and where we
all stand.” Captain Mileena had a great sincere smile on her face.
She thanked the queen before bowing and rushing away,
gleefully.
Eleanor,
Ematay and Christian felt warm inside standing in the crowd in the
Throne Room, instead of heavy hearted for a good long time with the
Shadow war at work. But there was a feeling Ematay couldn’t shake.
He couldn’t understand why it was as easy as it was; it wasn’t
precisely straight forward, but was still easier than he expected
it to be. The Star-caster feared there was more at work in the
shadows. Or rather—with the Shadows
Seven
months later. Selphira and Oddius were with Ematay, Eleanor and
Christian; the two children on their first official quest outside
the Silver Cathedral after basic training had passed. It was a rare
thing since they were still so young, but they were making such
good progress in their different areas.