Sylvia Talgan’s POV.

It felt like an eternity that day. The battle started just past mid-day, and by the time we returned to any semblance of normalcy, it was the night of the following day. After our initial fight, we rested for a short time to recover, and we spent a day and a half helping the soldiers and guards clear out pockets of resistance.

Some of those white-robed bastards held hostages in buildings, threatening to kill them if anyone entered. To those people, we forced our way in and destroyed them all. I must have raided at least ten homes that night alone. Sometimes we saved the hostages… sometimes we did not.

The other people just went on indiscriminate killing sprees. There didn’t seem to be any reasoning behind those insane monsters’ actions. A report would come, and we would go there and put down the person only to move on to the next. Flumare was lucky that many skilled individuals were here in the town, thanks to the tournament. But that also meant there were more innocent civilians here than usual as well.

However, I spent most of my time hunting my own kind. I personally killed fifteen blood-starved and maddened Vampires with my own hands. All of them looked like walking corpses, yet they plowed through crowds of people or hunted people cowering in their homes. The scenes which those Vampires left behind were as gruesome and bleak as they looked…mangled and torn bodies…a sea of blood wherever they went.

I didn’t know how to feel about the Vampires or anything about this, for that matter. I turned my brain off and moved forward the same way when the Dragon attacked. I felt that if I let my mind wander, I would crumble. So I told myself I was too tired and drained to care for others because the only thing that mattered was that my family was safe.

Because now, all of this was over. Flumare had been secured. All the Vampires were dead. The rebellion had been put down. The Exarch and that bastard slaver had escaped.

But…there was someone who didn’t fare as well…and it was my fault. I was too slow to save him.

“Captain Fairchild, may we go inside?” Kaladin asked, his voice tired.

Captain Fairchild looked down at us with sunken eyes. The blood on his face, in his hair, and on his armor had barely dried. The man was leading plenty of soldiers and town guardsmen in their operations. He must have remained awake the entire time, and even now, he stood guard.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one. The entire royal villa was locked down. Guards and soldiers roamed every inch of the estate, inside and out. No one could move a muscle without rubbing shoulders with an armed individual or hearing the squawk of a Gryphon from outside.

“Yes, please, go inside,” Captain Fairchild said with a croak.

The double doors leading to the royal-only section were opened for us, but as I followed Kaladin, Captain Fairchild reached out and grabbed my arm. He looked down at me with pleading, tired eyes.

“Please…save him, Sylvia,” he said as he bowed his head.

A swirl of guilt hit me as I was reminded of my previous failure. “I’ll do my best,” I promised as I walked in.

The doors closed behind us as Kaladin and I made our way to the back section. This side of the mansion was eerily quiet, and the severe lack of people compared to the other side of the doors only bolstered that feeling. I stared at Kaladin’s back in silence.

I knew he was dead tired as well, but he never once complained. Just like me…well, just like all of us, he silently moved about the entire day, completing each task that was given to him with a cool and calm efficiency. But as the day wound down, the stress and worry started to creep into his movements and voice.

Maybe if it were three years ago, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but I could now. And even though Kaladin might not admit it…he had grown very close to King Maxwell over the years. I don’t believe that it was presumptuous of me to even say that the two of them had become close friends. It sure didn’t feel like a king-and-his-subject relationship, that was for sure.

But I perked up at the sounds of armored footsteps slowly approaching us from around the corner. Kaladin rounded the wall, took a step to the side, and narrowed his eyes. I did the same as Prince Xander stopped just a few steps away from us.

Just like everyone else, he looked utterly fatigued with sunken eyes. Black and golden armor was splattered with blood, and his fiery red hair was flaked and matted down with brown splatters of dried blood. He didn’t look at us in any particular way like he usually did.

Kaladin once told me he believed that Prince Xander was putting on some kind of act, pretending to be something he wasn’t. Before, I disagreed; I thought he was just a pompous jerk. But now…seeing the tracks of dried tears etched through the dirt, dust, and blood on his face, and his bloodshot eyes looking at us, I started to believe that maybe Kaladin was right.

Because a power-hungry noble wouldn’t cry over their father.

Prince Xander slightly opened his mouth but shut it instead of speaking. His head dipped, and he continued to walk past us without saying a word. We watched his back round the corner as Kaladin and I shared a quick moment of understanding. I let out a sigh, and we continued to the end of the silent hallway. Professor Garrison was guarding the door, and he gave us a short but tired greeting. I gave the door a quick knock.

“Come in,” Lauren croaked.

Professor Garrison gently opened the door to the massive and luxurious room of the king and queen. The carpet was bright and velvety red, and the golden trims along the ceiling and base of the walls were as elegant as the black marble columns holding it up. The room was fit for royalty, but the atmosphere was as grim and dark as it could be.

Only four people were inside the room. Ren and Lauren sat at the edge of the giant bed while a man wearing a gray suit and bearing the symbol of Linnetia’s House Paine stood off to the side. Ren was half lying on the side of the bed, dead asleep. She, like everyone else, had spent the last day and a half slaying the intruders; she hadn’t even changed out of her armor yet.

Lauren gave us a weak smile—the evidence of the long days present on her as well. It was also clear that she had been crying just as recently as a few moments ago.

“Thank you for answering our summons, you two,” Lauren said.

“Of course. Any time,” Kaladin said with a nod.

I nodded back as I stepped forward to the side of the bed. I looked down and grimaced at the scene. The unstoppable and unmoving figure that was the ruler of the kingdom lay silent and still, wrapped in bandages from head to toe in his bed. His booming and energetic voice and presence that seemed to fill any room he was in…was gone.

The ritual cast by the Exarch had gravely wounded His Majesty. I was unable to wrap him in my barrier before the destructive blast that leveled a city block hit us, but his magic was enough to save him. Even so, it wasn’t enough to leave him unscathed. King Maxwell was alive, albeit barely.

“I understand this is a difficult thing to ask of you after such a long day, Sylvia…but can you please try again?” Lauren requested as she bowed her head.

I nodded, and Lauren moved to give me room and access to the king’s arm. In truth, I had tried to heal him before the second we broke him out of his crystal cocoon, but I was unable to. I had never run into a person I couldn’t heal, nor had I seen such injuries before until today.

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I didn’t know how to explain it to someone else. It was like the wounds not only refused to be healed by my blood, but the damage itself rejected any of my attempts and even caused me, the healer, to feel immense pain. I almost blacked out the first time from it. The wounds were something Kaladin had also mentioned to me. Wounds caused by Holy Artifacts could produce something called a stigmata; this must be that.

Even so, I would try again because I need to learn how to heal him, not only for the king’s sake…but for Kaladin as well.

I glanced at Kaladin’s bandaged arm, also bearing a burn mark that would not heal with light magic or my own. It was a minor wound compared to the king’s condition that would hardly affect his day-to-day life, but I also ran into the same problem of being unable to fix it.

I took a deep breath and bit down on the king’s arm. I immediately felt the searing pain assault me. As my fangs drank the blood, it felt like molten metal was coursing through me. I winced but pushed through it. All I wanted to do was just heal his fingers, something that simple should have taken me but a moment, but even that proved too difficult.

The wounds seemed to fight back against my pressure to heal them, and the pain intensified the deeper I went and the harder I tried. Tears filled my vision, and I was forced to rip myself away as I let out an involuntary scream and fell to my knees from the overwhelming pain.

“Sylvia!” Kaladin shouted as he wrapped me up from behind.

“I—I’m sorry…I can’t do it,” I whimpered.

“It’s fine, it’s okay…it’s something we’ve never seen or dealt with before…we just need some time to figure things out,” Kaladin said softly.

—

After I took a few moments to recover and had woken Ren, I apologized profusely. I felt awful that I couldn’t save their father, as the two princesses just looked at me with dull eyes of defeat, and my fatigue only made it that much worse. We left the royal family to themselves and decided to get some sleep.

Thankfully, Mila was already waiting in our room, and she woke up the moment she heard us open the door. Once I wrapped her and the others up in my barrier, I made sure they didn’t see what was going on beyond the blood, but Mila was still shaken up by everything.

But she was a strong girl, and even with everything that happened, she didn’t complain one bit. Instead, she walked over to us and gave both of us giant hugs. It was refreshing and much needed. Admittedly, I felt a little better.

I offered to shower first, and I quickly jumped into the cold water and rinsed myself clean of the day's filth and grime. I didn’t care much for anything else, let alone drying my hair, so it was the quickest shower of my life. I just wanted to end this awful day as quickly as possible.

“Do you want some water? I’m going to grab some from the kitchen quickly,” I asked Kaladin as I wrapped my head in a towel.

Kaladin was playing with Mila in a chair, and he nodded and said, “Yes, please.”

I smiled softly and quickly made my way through the villa and to the kitchen. I swapped our water pitcher with a fresh one. On the way back, I ran into someone, basically dragging themselves through the hall. Out of everyone who wasn’t injured, she was the one who looked the worst. And even though she hadn’t slept in days…she still went out to fight.

Cerila lumbered down the hallway toward the kitchen. I should have just let her be, but…

I signed.

She hesitated but just shrugged after a moment.

I asked.

She shook her head tiredly, and against my better judgment, I had a question I really wanted answered. She risked so much…she was even poisoned by the sword that nearly ended her life with a single strike. If that blade had pierced her heart, she would have died regardless of what I did.

Cerila stared at me, the deep bags sagging underneath her eyes. Every bit of her exuded an intense lethargy that was not like her. But without even being specific, she knew exactly what I was asking, and a small light returned to her amber eyes.

Cerila walked over to me and grabbed my hand. She twisted my fingers into a sign and smiled.

I looked down at my hands.

Cerila tilted her head.

I asked imprudently.

Cerila, instead of getting mad at my useless questions, just smiled at me. she signed confidently.

Cerila continued to lumber down the hall, leaving me to myself and my own thoughts. Was it relief or frustration I was feeling? How was I supposed to feel about any of that?

I’m not sure…

I trudged back to our room and found Mila nested in Kaladin’s lap, fast asleep. He used one hand to stroke her head gently, and the other fumbled around with a large pale yellow crystal.

“What are you going to do with that?” I asked.

“It may be early, but I’m due for some answers,” Kaladin said as he glared down at the crystal.

—

Kaladin Shadowheart’s POV.

Despite falling asleep, my eyes fluttered open, and I knew I was in a dream. But it was the same realistic dream I had on my birthday where everything felt so real despite not being.

I was atop a single flat mountain, and around me was nothing but a dark, cloudy sky. Despite that, I could see just fine as the bright moons in the star-filled night sky shone down on me. And for some reason, the largest of the moons seemed much closer than usual. Which only meant one thing.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of people died today. If you had warned me, I could have prevented that,” I spat as I glared up at the largest of the four moons.

The large moon glowed as a soft voice spoke to me, “Mortals making their own moves are one thing, and because I can not see everything, Kaladin. I should only interfere if you are straying down a path that would have you lost forever.”

It sounds like a convenient excuse. Maybe she just doesn’t care because none of her followers died.

“Then where have your eyes been drawn, that they couldn’t notice such a massive attack?” I questioned.

“Explaining everything is too costly. So know this, Kaladin: Amon-Ra is making its move. Muster everyone you hold dear and those who can battle alongside you and bring them back to the capital immediately. You cannot afford to waste any time and only have but a few days. Head West to the city there and prepare for the wave of death. Because if you and your people fail there, all in this region will be lost,” the Moon Mother hummed.

“Wave of death? What does that mean? If the forces of the Holy Kingdom were to strike, it would be from the East… and go back to the capital, then head to Curia? Why are you being so cryptic when apparently its importance concerns all of the region?” I demanded.

“It’s all because of my limitations. Please understand me, Kaladin. I am on your side, and I have not led you astray yet. And you will not be alone during this next battle. So I beg of you, for the sake of everyone, warn those around you. They will listen to you, but you must be preemptive in your actions. Strike as soon as you awake,” the Moon Mother said sorrowfully.

“If this is all a ruse, I swear you will regret this,” I said.

The one giant moon began to back away into the night sky. As it retreated, she said, “As I should. Put some faith in me, Kaladin, and you will see what side I stand on.”

—

With those final parting words, I awoke in the morning, staring at the ceiling. My distrust in the Moon Mother was at its highest. But if it were true that a more significant threat lurked in the West…then ignoring it would be catastrophic.

This one time…I’ll put some faith in her.

Transportation over land back to the capital would take a little less than a week if we pushed horses to the maximum with no luggage. So, first thing in the morning, I went to the only group of people who could authorize the quick movement of a large group of people over the kingdom and quickly. Thankfully, with some explanations, Lauren agreed without much hassle.

She must have sensed that it was a serious matter as I had never made such a request before. I had expected to ask the queen but she was off handling well, her entire nation as we learned that Flumare was not the only city that was attacked by rogue elements. Reports had been coming in from all over the kingdom confirming as much. And if that was true, that meant there was a good chance that the capital had been hit as well, which made authorizing the movement much easier.

I rounded up everyone whom I considered either close to me or could fight in a battle, and within the hour, we were ready to set off using the kingdom’s Gryphons. Almost all Gryphons were used in warfare, but a few that did not make the cut were instead used as quick forms of transportation in times of need or to relay important messages.

“You shouldn’t have to do anything at all. These monsters are trained to fly to Fort Castra, and there you will make a switch to get to the capital,” the handler said to Professor Garrison.

Professor Garrison spurred his Gryphon around and faced us. “Alright, everyone, hold on tight! We are going as quickly as possible, and we are not stopping until we reach the fort!”

The wave of death…what could it be?