With Ingvar dead, it didn’t take long for Zara to finish off the exhausted wizard. Thanks to Calamity’s relentless assault, Bratha was forced to waste his energy on dodging. Pushing himself out of the way of a wave of fire, he tried to summon up enough energy to avoid Zara’s axe.

Magical energy sputtered dimly at his feet and his head spun. His body retched forward, spilling out the contents of his stomach moments before Zara cleaved him in two.

With the battle won, Zara leant against her axe, her chest heaving from exhaustion. That was so annoying. Calamity nudged her, its eyes jumping between her and Ingvar’s towering body. “Go for it.”

Calamity trotted over and started munching on Ingvar’s body, tacitly ignoring the shrivelled up body of Elder Bratha.

“Well done.” Madam Astoria’s voice drifted in with the wind, filtering in to Zara’s ear as a whisper.

She smiled slightly, looking around the room in search of her, only to be met solely by the ruinous hellscape that the great hall had turned into. Sighing, she stretched her back before leaving the hall, walking past Calamity who had now buried herself into Ingvar’s body, only a small portion of her body visible through the gaps.

“Can’t rest now. There’s still a lot left to be done.”

~

“No... Don’t go...” Ed flailed about in his sleep, his dreams haunted by visions of that nightmarish horse. The quiet sound of someone gently opening the door shook him from his slumber, causing him to nearly jump out of the bed.

He scrambled in search of his sword, worried that the horse had come back, but relaxed when he realised it was just Miriam. She had not slept a wink since yesterday’s events. The sight of losing her best friend tormenting her every time she tried to sleep. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, but she still tried to push through everything

“How are you feeling?” She asked, barely able to conceal just how tired she was.

“I, I don’t know.” Ed shook his head. Everything had happened so fast. He had no clue what their future had in store for them. He didn’t even know if they were safe now. “It’s all a blur.”

She nodded, feeling the exact same way. “Let me help you get dressed. The new lord wishes for everyone to be ready for her.”

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New Lord? Ed felt confused, his mind still not having caught up with everything that had happened.

“I’ll explain on the way.” Miriam helped him out of bed, cleaned and bandaged his wounds and helped him change into something that looked a bit nicer. Helping him out the door, she kept her voice to a whisper. “Lord Ingvar and Elder Bratha are dead.”

Ed almost fell over at the bombshell she just dropped. It was hard to imagine just how quickly his life had changed, but when he looked around at all the unfamiliar faces, and the constantly patrolling guards who wore the banner of his enemy, he knew he had to accept it.

The couple walked down the street, only occasionally seeing some familiar faces heading in the same direction. A lot of which were sporting similar injuries to Ed. The local population had been reduced to a mere fraction of what it was only a few days ago. Between the previous battle and yesterday’s massacre, only a handful of people made it out alive. And none of them were in any state to fight back. The old would die before they could return to their home kingdom. And the young, they would grow up not knowing that anything was wrong.

As they drew closer to the main square, they merged together with the rest of the survivors. Reaching the large open area in front of the main gate, they found themselves surrounded on all sides.

No matter where he looked, he saw a fully armed guard, and for a fleeting moment, he thought that they had rounded them all up just to execute them.

People constantly flitted past. Some were carrying construction materials around the place, while others were getting to work repairing the damages.

Ed noticed a few soldiers removing pieces of bloodstained cloth and armour. Flashes of Anthony getting torn to pieces popped through his mind, and he came to the grim realisation as to why he couldn’t see any bodies.

He flinched when he saw that nightmarish horse walking down the stairs. If it wasn’t for Miriam, he probably would’ve fallen over, and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself.

A figure in black armour strolled out beside the horse and stopped at the bottom of the stairs, maintaining a distance from the crowd. Zara took of her helmet and ran her hand through her hair before addressing her audience.

Ed barely heard a word she said. Something in his gut was screaming at him, telling him to run. That this woman was insane. But he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how he knew this. He chalked it up to him still being shaken after hearing the news, and didn’t think further on it. He tuned back in to what was happening around him, catching the tail end of her speech.

“... As long as you do not disobey me, your freedom will be returned to you. I may even allow you to return to your kingdom unharmed should you request it. But that would be foolish. Your kingdom won’t be able to last.”

Donning her helmet, she went back up the stairs and into the great hall, leaving the crowd standing there. Unsure of what to do, they looked at each other.

Are we supposed to just stay here? Can we just... go? Do they want us to help? Ed looked around awkwardly, hoping that somebody would make a decision and tell them what to do.

When no one came up to the group for several minutes, the group splintered off, returning to their homes to mourn the losses of their friends and family.