When Ellyrie awoke, she found Melthaine laying by her side, clinging onto her. Her strength had returned, and she got onto her feet, slowly as to not wake the princess. She did not know for how long she had slept, for the sun had remained in it´s exact location. The world around them however, had changed.

Much of the sand had receded, giving view to a magnificent, sprawling city. Ellyrie´s heart was quaking at the sight of brilliant golden towers, wide marble streets, each building, from the smallest to the grandest looked like little more than a palace fit for an empress.

Yet above this scenery hung the melody, the quiet flute that dampened Ellyrie´s mood. It drew her in it´s direction, and kept her head held low.

The flute lead Ellyrie to a large round plaza, paved in a mosaic so fine that she could not hope to make sense of it unless she were to see it from the very sun itself. In it´s middle sat Elodie. The moment their eyes met, the music stopped.

"So you came on your own." The void of tone continued to make Ellyrie shiver, she nodded and got closer.

"Many have followed Melthaine, but never before has she bonded to someone else so tightly. I wonder why. And more importantly, I wonder if you know what it means."

"I, do not know." Ellyrie could not keep eye contact, and cast her gaze to the ground. "I only know that if we were separated, we would die."

"That is a very cruel fate, is it not? To be chained to another, to go wherever they do?" Elodie leaned her head to the left.

"She saved my life, and risked hers many times now for my-" The words were stuck in her throat. "My mistakes. So many did, so many people, my friends. They all trusted me, even when I ignored their advice, even when I could tell it myself, I."

The dam broke. Her legs could no longer carry her, she did not even feel pain when her knees hit the stone.

"I lead them to their deaths! I saw them butchered, torn, eaten, and I could do nothing, nothing at all!" Her tears blurred her vision, again and again she struck against the stone, even as her hands turned bloody and her cries echoed through the empty streets.

Elodie watched as Ellyrie´s body rebelled, her cries died down, and she was reduced to a quivering shell. "Whatever end may have come, I know not. But you must have lead them for a reason."

"I just, wanted to help." Ellyrie hid her face behind her bloodied hands. "I just wanted to make the world safer, for everyone. And all I did was make it worse."

She did not hear when Elodie rose to her feet, or see when she sat down right next to her. "And so they followed you."

Elodie took Ellyrie´s hands into her own, and looked into her reddened eyes. "You saw a world, better than the one you live in, and through you they caught a glimmer for it as well. And so, come what may, they followed. You may cry for them, you may regret your choices. But not their sacrifice. They chose their path with you, do not lessen that with your loathing."

Ellyrie was still shaking, though Elodie´s words were a chill that calmed her.

"Why would you not help us?" She asked Elodie, her voice little more than a whisper. "Melthaine said we are trying to stop the end of the world itself, can you really stay calm in the face of that?"

"No, I could not. But that is not what Melthaine is fighting for." Elodie shook her head. "Melthaine is a most kind and loving soul, and it is exactly that reason why she is wrong. Because she does not see Seraph for what she is, only for what she did."

The mentioning of her name made Ellyrie´s eyes widen. She jumped to her feet and looked around. Within a moment the warmth of the city had seemed to fade, replaced by a sensation neither warm nor cold.

"We, we shouldn't say her name, right? Doesn't that rouse her?" She looked at Elodie, who shared none of her panic.

"It may. Or it may not. Regardless, I care little." Elodie stood up as well. "There is little she could still do to me that she has not already. I do not fear her. But your look tells me that you have met Seraph. Melthaine must have spewed much venom about her, undoubtedly. Can you tell me what she told you?"

Ellyrie was still shaking, her hands clung to her chest. "Only that she is the most vile, evil person who seeks to erase the world itself."

Elodie laid her hand on her holster, and from it took a small black flute. "So it would seem to her, of course. I do not blame her, for I could not hope to comprehend her pain. But that same pain has warped her very being and all that she remembers."

"You say that, as if you knew. But, aren't you, weren't you human, like me?" Ellyrie took a step back, her eyes pinned on the flute.

"That is true. I am Elodie, the first princess of eld, of the first kingdom. I know of Melthaine and her siblings, for I was there when they became the heroes of their time." Across her features fluttered a sense of joy, a weak smile bending her lips. "It has been, many an age since I could tell this tale. Would you listen?"

Ellyrie nodded, and Elodie let out a sigh that echoed through the city, bringing a halt to even the smallest grain of sand. Then she brought the flute to her lips, and began to play.

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The melody was warm, fast and lively, of an energy that took a hold of Elodie´s body. As she played the princess moved across the mosaic in a dance, lost to all but her tune.

The music was overwhelming Ellyrie´s senses, it made her eyes tear up. She wiped her tears away, her eyes briefly closed. When they opened, she was not where she had stood.

Instead Ellyrie found herself on a wide open field, the music still playing all around her. At her side stood Elodie, who pointed forward with a smile.

Before them Ellyrie saw a small group, four in number. A tall man clad in armour of bright crimson, another, shorter in stature, with the same features, clad in green with a bow bigger than him on his back, a woman covered head to toe in black robes, and a girl in blue. No matter the age, no matter the appearance, She could never not recognise Melthaine.

"The four siblings travelled across a world marked by cruelty."

As Elodie spoke, once more the world around them continued to shift. Ellyrie saw the four fighting giant insectile creatures across a vast desert, tribes of inhumans across white, snow covered plains, preparing for battle at the foot of a volcano, darkened by a shape the size of a mountain.

"And they did so without fear, for they believed in a world better than the one they lived in. For they believed in the one who showed them the way."

Now she saw them kneel in pitch black, illuminated only by a figure of a beauty Ellyrie had never seen before. Her very dress was shining as brightly as the sun, her features radiating a warmth and kindness that brought tears to her eyes.

Tears that froze when she saw, when she realised that she was looking into the face of Seraph.

"The lady in light showed the four the way, to meet with the two greatest heroes this world had seen, my elders, Entu and Rana, stewards of the first city."

For a moment it appeared as if they were back in reality, for they stood in the selfsame city, only that it´s streets were filled with people, human and inhuman alike, an overwhelming cheer for Melthaine and her siblings, and the two who walked in front of them. Two women, one carrying a spear whose tip shone in the light of the sun, the other carrying a shield on her back that was larger than herself.

"In a world lost to hunger, strife and greed, plagued by monsters of incalculable malice, they challenged the very foundation. They lived a dream, and their lady in light must have been overjoyed at their struggle. Until the unthinkable happened. Until they succeeded."

Six thrones stood in the room they found themselves in, two larger than the others. They were empty, and screams came from the open gate, leading to the open, toward a sky filled with comets. Balls of fire and rock that struck the city in a merciless stream.

Melthaine stood at the steps as her siblings ran through the streets, as Rana and Entu climbed the roof of the palace. She stared into the sky, at the moon, and the figure that cast it´s shadow on the pale white.

"The lady in light, who guided the heroes, who urged them to dream of a better tomorrow, and the lady in white, the first beast, the mother of dragons."

A deafening roar silenced even the terror of the city, as titanic wyrms descended upon it, creatures of scales red, black, gold, silver.

"In the end, they were one and the same. Parts played by a wicked, smiling god."

Ellyrie left Elodie´s side, and ran towards the Melthaine of old, who had fallen to her knees, her cries ringing in Ellyrie´s ears.

But she could not reach her, for the scenery changed once more. They stood atop the palace, at the side of Rana, who now held her shield in both hands.

"My elder challenged her, with a plea. That the blows that struck her city should strike her instead. And they did."

The very comets changed their course, as from Rana´s shield extended a barrier of light that surrounded the very city itself. They struck at it´s middle, at Rana itself. The Dragons joined the fray, showering it in breaths of fire, lightning, acid and ice.

"Unbreakable did my elder, did even the lady in light call her. It brought Seraph too much joy, to see how she would break. A joy that she was not given so easily."

Ellyrie struggled to follow as she watched Rana, saw her knees bend, every muscle in her body tense. The barrier was showing cracks, her arms were shaking. But still she held, until a bright red light consumed their vision, and all Ellyire could hear was shattered glass.

"Seraph had made one mistake. She focused on one, not on both."

A dark smoke was filling the air, Ellyrie saw not even her own hands before her. Until a shine of silver light broke through the dark. It raced up from the streets, into the sky, towards Seraph, and even from this great distance, she saw the weapon pierce through her chest.

It was as if the world had frozen still. Then all went dark around them, until Ellyrie was left alone in a pitch-black void.

"I." Elodie´s voice was uncertain, for the first time. "Know not, how she retaliated. Only that it must have been terrible."

The music had stopped, and without it they returned to the empty plaza. The real Elodie holstered her flute and sighed. "The city was emptied, save for the four, and myself. They ran, to continue their fight, though I could not. Melthaine, was right, and she was wrong. A world was ended, that better world they sought to usher in, and another age of hunger began. But in their loss, they were triumphant."

Elodie shook her head. "Never again has Seraph shown herself as anything but the lady in white. Entu´s spear hurt not her body, but her pride. Perhaps the only spot she can be wounded."

Ellyrie was struggling to stand, her head spinning. "And you, what was your role in all of this?"

"It was, little." Elodie cast her gaze to the ground. "My elders sought me to lead the city, they wanted to leave and spread our vision far and wide and needed someone to take care of matters. In the end, what is important about me is that, I survived. To remember. To retell."

She wrung her hands. "And that is why I cannot join you. I am all, that is left. Melthaine, her siblings, they remember, but as they lived it, not as it was. So long as I live, some of it is alive."

Ellyrie stepped closer. "But if you left, you could tell the story, like you did to me. If the empire, if Aeterna knew, so much could change, please, you must consider it!"

Elodie shook her head violently. "I cannot."

"Why, what is stopping you?" Ellyrie wanted to make another step, as she noticed that the sand, falling from all the buildings around them, had stopped. Grains hung in mid air, and already she felt a sickness spreading in her stomach.

"That would be me."