The mid-day sun shone brightly in the clear, blue sky, scorching hot as ever. White, small, fluffy clouds gathered atop the barren mountains ahead. Between the gap of the valley's bare surface, the whole world seemed to dance in a wave as the burning temperature gave off a fierce and fiery blast. Ferlah and Kalen's figure crawled underneath this unseen, cruel heat tracing the path in the middle of the surrounding mountains. Their mouth has run dry but their sweat unceasingly poke out of their skin's pores. It was only half an hour since they entered the place but it seemed forever already. They haven't even reached half of the length of the path through here and their legs began to give out. Injured and exhausted, it only made the journey even harder for them. But there's no time for them to take a rest. They have to keep moving forward. With no words spoken, it was like they're both invisible creatures amidst the barren land. Only their struggling breaths and footsteps could be he
"Stop! Don't shoot her!" Someone shouted from behind the flock of soldiers. The soldiers automatically lowered their weapons on Ferlah except on Kalen's and made way for the person. Kalen's face was scrunched in fright and disbelief. His eyes were being watchful on the weapons pointed at him and the soldiers. "Hey! Wait! Why are you still aiming at me? I am with her! This is so unfair!" Kalen complained bitterly but there was a hint of horror on his expression. Unfortunately, no one even listened and he just continued tasting the bitterness of being ignored despite how frightened and worried he was. "Ferlah," the person called Ferlah once he arrived in front of her. "Did you find anything?" It was Ado. At this crucial times, even thought he haven't gone into a proper training about military affairs, King Astius had entrusted him a troop. But King Astius didn't look at this. Instead, he was pointing out Ado's potentials and ability to lead since Ado had shown him great improvement
Ado's strength left him. It was like the whole world just dropped on his shoulders. He was frozen on his feet he watched every Eastians slained in front of him. Their screams filled his head as though it was trying to destroy his hearing sense, coiling throughout every single nerve endings inside. Petrified and drowned with self-blame, Ado couldn't move a muscle a muscle anymore. He couldn't accept that within just a blink of an eye, his troop ended up like this. While he was in this state, he suddenly felt a strong force pushing him sideways. As a result, he painfully dropped on the barren ground, making the mixture of dust and sand spewed on impact, surrounding him. He also heard a loud thud beside him but he didn't care to look at it as the tingling pain drilled onto the bones of his ankle. Before he could recover from the fall, he was tossed again following a purple glowing light that was coming towards them. This time, felt a strong arm pinning him
"Here we meet again, King Astius! And what a surprise to see that you've brought friend to fight with side by side." King Marcellus chuckled when he finally got to face King Astius. His knuckles cracked as he tightened his hands into fists. Unknown to everyone, he was already preparing from the inside. King Astius and King Ambrose stopped for a second when they heard King Marcellus. Both were surprised to see him as it was only a second when they saw him at the other end of the battlefield. It was like he just teleported on his way towards them. But more horror struck them seeing there were barely soldiers from both sides that were still breathing to fight for their desired victory. King Astius looked at King Marcellus' cunning, evil face and was immediately filled with overwhelming fury. The way he stood proudly and victoriously seemed like he wanted them to surrender, like the battle has ended and he was the only one alive, standing in front of his
Without warning, King Ambrose was already lifted into the air. A loud cackle left King Marcellus' mouth, enjoying the struggle of his miserable victim. "How was it, my friend?" he asked the struggling King Ambrose. His eyebrows raised in pure mockery as he tried to calm himself from what he's doing. "Let go of my daughter!" King Ambrose instead said selflessly as his feet kicked in the air. His nostrils flared every moment he gasped for a huge amount of air to fill his exhausting lungs. One of his hand was holding the whip around his neck, trying to escape from it or at least loosen it for a bit. His other hand that was holding the sword didn't stop swooshing in the air as he attempted to cut of the whip. Hearing his selfless words, King Marcellus' face quickly turned expressionless. His eyes blinked for a couple of times. A line appeared between his brows as though he was between in an utter surprise and confusion. Slowly, the co
King Astius kept on attacking to keep King Marcellus' attention on him. He was buying Ado enough time to execute his plan. Ado quickly thrust the tip of his sword on the ground, leaving it there standing in front of him. He grabbed the bloodstained bow near his feet and also took two arrows, positioning it carefully on the bowstring as he stretched it backwards. He could hear it creaked as though it would break upon stretching it. However, when King Marcellus almost turned around because of the strong thwack that King Astius gave him which he almost lost his grasp on his sword, Ado's concentration was disturbed. "Let me go!" King Ambrose suddenly squeaked who has been quiet while the fight was still going on due to exhaustion. It was because he saw the scene and Ado was almost caught by King Marcellus. Fortunately, he managed to catch King Marcellus' attention and prevented him to fully turn around. Though King Marcellus never said a word, he co
Kalen and Ado found King Astius first. King Ambrose was nowhere to be seen so they had to separate ways. Ado presented to assist King Astius and so, Kalen had no choice but to find King Ambrose by himself. Both of them had agreed that Ado must head first to the said place according to Ferlah. Of course, it wasn't that easy for Ado to break through the criss-crossing weapons on his way. However, he managed to get through it despite of having minor wounds as some enemies recognized him and the king. King Astius was a huge person and Ado could barely took steps forward because of the heavy weight on his back. But after almost crawling away from the battlefield, a breath of relief escaped from his mouth. As he walked further, silence began to take over the defeaning noise that used to absorbed deep into the veins of ears. Until he could no longer see the battlefield, he finally gave up. With his knees fell first on the hard, parched ground, warm sweats fell off from his for
King Astius had a fast recovery than King Ambrose. After three days, he can sat himself up on his bed, defying the physician's words. He wasn't allowed to do so to avoid disturbing his wounds whenever he moves. But because of his reason that his back was already hurting from lying and that he felt like it was already glued on the bed so he wanted to take a walk for awhile for fresh air, the physician allowed him to sit but never to get out of bed. "How's King Ambrose?" he asked the physician who was now packing up his things to leave. "He's doing well now, your majesty. He's now out of danger." "That's good to hear." "Fortunately, your majesty. He must've went through a lot that caused him to lose all of his strength." King Astius let out a deep sigh as he leaned his back on the headboard. He knew that King Marcellus tried to take suck King Ambrose's soul in the battlefield through the whip. "Do you think he will wake up before a week would pass?" He was concerned if King Amb
The golden rays of the sun broke out through the thick, dark clouds that were slowly dissipating away. The sun sat above the golden capped mountains in the west, about a few minutes before it would rest from a long day of work. The bright light vanished and the small crystal ball fell on Keir's chest. Then it slowly disappeared as soon as it touched his skin. Kalen was greeted by the silence of the world. The thick fog was cleared and the sky was full of hope. But for him, it wasn't the same sky anymore. It was the sky of new life and new beginnings. He looked around and everyone was lying on the ground. There was no trace of Purple Smoke. But he recognised Méah's figure lying ahead of him for half a mile away by her clothes and armour. However, as much as he wanted to check on them, he would have to chose his brother first who was lying right next to him. But judging on Keir's injuries, Kalen decided not to touch him. The arro
"Useless!" Purple Smoke screamed in both fury and disappointment. She hated it when someone fails her and had a long history on it. To her anger, struck Méah with her palm on the chest. Méah flew a few yards away from where she stood. But she didn't complain. For Purple Smoke was her master and the only one who has the authority to do anything to her. She rolled on the ground for a couple times and spat out black blood. She was on knees but her face was still blank and didn't show any hint of pain. Purple Smoke faced Keir and the princess's body. Her vision quickly darkened. "Love. This is what love bring to people. What a pity. They're even willing to die because of it." She grinned. While she was feeling the moment of victory, she heard a swooshing blade coming from behind her. She quickly avoided it and saw Kalen. "Oh, another silly boy. But I like you already. You're braver than your brother." "I w
After they ran away and the battlefield was almost emptied, Purple Smoke was furious when she saw Méah kneeling on the ground, frozen like a statue. She couldn't believe a simple trick could affect Méah. "Come, my dear." Purple Smoke walked in front of Méah. She bent down and held Méah's chin up. Black and purple veins appeared on her neck down to her arms. Then all of it crawled into Méah's chin down to her neck, spreading towards her back. Her injuries were healed and the arrows were burnt into ashes. Méah stood up straight. "Avenge yourself. Kill them all. Kill." Purple Smoke whispered to her ears. "But first, I want you to do something." Then, Méah suddenly disappeared in Purple Smoke's eyes. She was now off to do what she's told to do. Purple Smoke burst into a boisterous laughter. But she eventually stopped when a loud blow of horn was caught in her ears. Among all the four kingdoms, only one would use horn
The three of them were in utter astonishment when they saw the enemies were swarming again. They had no idea where they came from but now they seemed stronger than those that they fought with earlier. King Astius shoulders dropped. At the other end, he saw the Deep Caves and everyone struggling to defend it. The enemies were about to break in. "What the hell! They're like locusts!" Keir cursed under his breath. Suddenly, they heard screams coming from behind them, the main gate from the city of Noartias. As they turned around, they saw the remaining of their soldiers, the war veterans and majority of Eastian soldiers who were assigned to defend the city. They were rushing to the battlefield, ready to give their life for the sake of the world. And then, they joined them to launch an attack on the battleground. Weapons clashed hard against each other. Some tasted flesh, blood and bones. Blood were splattered everywhere, leaving a crimsom
"Oh no! They're here! They're breaking in!" Queen Jainah cowered into the corner of the room in the royal underground where they were hiding. Princess Jiyanah sat down with her, arms snaked on one arm of her mother. King Ambrose wasn't there with them because he was out in the battlefield. Unlike Noartias, Eastias don't have any shelter like the Deep Caves but they have a vast underground shelter that they called as the Underground Shelter, enough to cater the whole kingdom's population. It has one entrance which can only be found in the secret chamber of the royal hall. The five exits extend in five directions away from the kingdom's borders. Four of it share the same distance while the other one was the longest which almost reaches the border's pf Noartias. King Zarduz was the first kingdom to surrender to Purple Smoke. Being named as the weakest, poor kingdom, King Zarduz chased the opportunity to get power, enough to purge a strong kingdom l
Ferlah brought King Astius to the Deep Caves. After that, she left back to the battlefield outside. More enemies were coming. They don't seem to decrease at all. The more of them die, the more of them come. Prince Zaeius and the mysterious woman in red were trying hard to defend the door of the shelter. General Kapono was defending the walls together with the rest of the soldiers since the enemies were trying to climb up through tall ladders. Seeing all of these, King Astius didn't think twice to carry out his responsibility. He climbed to where the archers were stationed on the walls. "Aim for the enemies! Kill them! Leave none of them alive!" He shouted. Upon seeing his presence, the soldiers' morale was boosted. Their spirits soared high and their hearts filled with hope. From afar, Ferlah could be seen battling alone. She couldn't risk to transform herself so that she won't get exhausted when it was time to go
When King Astius and the rest of the troops arrived at Noartias, they were flabbergasted by the army of the enemies flocking inside. Only a few of the war veterans were left standing, fighting bravely despite being outnumbered. King Astius was suddenly eaten by guilt. He blamed himself for not seeing the trap ahead of them which made him led the whole Noartian army into deception. The moment they stepped a foot inside the kingdom, the bloody clash began. The enemies looked like a swarm of locusts, attacking them in every possible way. There were clamours of death and courage as well as the shatters and clatters of weapons. Blood were spilled everywhere and the parched ground quenched its thirst through it. While King Astius was slaughtering the enemies, he suddenly remembered the prince. Fear struck him hard. He wished his son was safe in the royal underground as it was difficult to find. But judging from the prince's behaviour, he probably
"Méah!" With eyes closed, Prince Zaeius screamed in terror and sat up from his sleep without even knowing. He just had a horrible nightmare about Méah dying, covered in blood and vanishing into thin air. However, even though it was just a nightmare, he began to pray to himself that it would only remain as a nightmare. As his breathing slowly calmed down, the throbbing pain came raging from all over his body, starting to penetrate deeper into his senses. He let out a painful hiss with a twisted expression as he went weak and limp, slumping himself back into the soft mattress of his bed. An agonizing groan followed that made him shut his eyes in a tight manner. With this, it all came back to him. But despite after being rescued and seeing the woman he loved in that situation, the flashes of tortures that he had gone through in the hands of Purple smoke held a consistent spot in his memory. That no matter how hard he tried to set
The awaited dawn finally came. It was summer but the breeze, though it blew calm and gentle, felt like a touch of a blizzard's chill. Passing through the steep trails of well-tilled earth, forests, rivers and marshes, a couple of hundred thousand men set off from Noartias to the battlefield under the command of King Astius. This was the last number that he could bring with him. And not all of them were soldiers. Some were mere folks, men and women but brave and courageous, who voluntarily swore to protect their kingdom, their homes and their families. Every abled person in no particular age requirement were allowed to go to battle with them as long as they can walk at such distance and can ride on horses and fight with willingness. However, as he couldn't leave the kingdom and the people alone unguarded, he left this task to the war veterans of less than thirty thousand. Half of them guarded the kingdom with Kalen among them and Bek was told to stay with o