"Mom! Dad! What happened?!"

Raphaela dashed towards the procession of soldiers coming through the gate. They’d been gone for so long and she’d been worried sick. It was deep into the night now and they left for the Gathering at midday. Last time they went, they were back before sunset.

Her father was usually at the front, leading the soldiers, but she couldn’t spot him so she ran towards her mother’s guards instead. None of the outer line of soldiers dared bar her way, not that they had the strength to. She easily wedged herself between them as she frantically called for her mother.

"Mom! Where's dad?!"

Her mother didn’t respond. She laid unconscious on a thin hammock held aloft by four of her guards. All four of them were injured, but nothing compared to her. While they all sported spinsilk bandages and excess healing ointments, only her mother still bled through them. Her father was still nowhere to be seen.

"What in Aegues’ name happened!" She bellowed.

"Be silent child. Now is not the time."

Her aunt, Selene, trudged through the gate not long after her mother was carried through. She was also injured, but not enough to incapacitate her.

Raphaela couldn't possibly be silent. Never in her life had she wanted to scream more.

"What happened to you all? What's going on?"

"Quiet. Come, I'll explain once we're inside."

She didn’t want to be quiet, she wanted answers. How could she stay silent and obedient when she could see her mother bleeding through her hammock. Where was her father? No. They needed to stop being quiet and answer her. She’d force them to if she had to. And she planned on doing just that, until she caught a glimpse of what laid beyond the gate.

Corpses. Many, many corpses. More than she’d ever seen.

She froze, “What..ha… hap—”

Selene averted her eyes, “Enough child, come with me.”

This time Raphaela listened.

They both walked in silence until they reached the archon’s castle. Even though it was meant to serve as her father’s home, he never used it as such. Instead, it was reserved for important meetings, festivals, and ceremonies. Raphaela was born in it and would one day complete her coming of age in it. Today however, they would be conducting a funeral. A massive one… and Raphaela had yet to see her father.

Once inside the castle, the guards handed her mother off to more experienced medics. Her aunt assured her that she’d be okay, but the sullen look in her aunt's eyes gave her no confidence. She didn’t dare ask where her father was. The answer may break her.

Still in silence, she and her aunt made their way to the Hall of Heroes. Though it was called a hall it was actually just a large room within the castle. The largest room in fact. Within it, statues of every previous archon stood at attention, spiritually guarding it against their enemies. Paintings of each of their triumphs, be they in combat, art, or technology, adorned the walls. Holy scriptures, written in gold and outlining the core edicts of their colony, laid in cases next to them. Its name may have only mentioned the great leaders of the past, but the contents of the room were far richer than that.

Also within this sacred chamber was an exceptionally detailed map stretched across a large table. This was the venue, under the guidance of those that walked before them, that any and all important discussion about the colony occurred in.

“Sit. We’ll wait here for your uncles.”

Only uncles? What about aun—No. Don’t think about it. At least they lived. At least… at least… but dad...

Raphaela shook her head. She wouldn’t think about that until she saw him. Alive or…

…

An hour passed before her uncles appeared. Only two of them walked through the door and they were both injured, heavily. Her uncle Cleon was missing a leg.

Without saying a word, she ran to embrace him.

He failed to withstand the weight of her hug, collapsing into a cuddle, "So strong! Already wrestling me to the ground huh?"

Desperately, she so desperately wanted to joke back, but she just didn't have the heart for it.

He carefully rubbed her back, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

She didn’t know when she started crying, but by the time she unlatched herself from him, his shoulder was drenched. Seeing his soft smile, his attempts at reassuring her, only made the tears flow more. She didn’t understand what was happening, everything was perfect just this morning. Why was the whole world upside down? Her advanced stealth training just started last month and her parents had been taking her out hunting every week. Their next hunt was supposed to be tomorrow. Now they were...they were…

Stolen story; please report.

Before the streams of tears turned into hysterical waterfalls, her mother lumbered into the room.

“Mom!”

She wanted to run to her mother immediately, but she stopped herself. Her mother didn’t look good at all. The bleeding had subsided, but her face looked almost withered. Her whole body seemed shriveled and wilted. They weren’t the typical signs of battle.

“Come my daughter.”

Raphaela listened and walked towards her, slowly. As soon as she got close enough, they tapped foreheads.

“It’ll be alright.”

“...Wha..what happened?” Raphaela was almost too afraid to ask anymore.

Her mother heaved a heavy sigh, “That is what we’re here to determine.”

“We know what happened! We’ve been betrayed! If not for Aegeus’ blessing we’d have all died there. They’d have massacred us all!”

Betrayed? The Gathering?

Her mother slowly made her way to a seat as her other uncle continued yelling. She sat on the central one. The most prominent one. The one reserved for the leader of their colony... in taking that specific seat she had accidentally confirmed the thought Raphaela had been desperately avoiding. Her mother was now archon. Which meant her father wasn’t. That meant..he was…

“Dead! They won’t stop until they've killed us off and assimilated the rest. We must evacuate immediately. We must!”

Cleon took a seat to her mother’s right, “Ewan. Stop. Have you no shame? You speak of running away in the presence of our ancestors?”

“This is no time for shame. They killed more than half of our combatants! If they sieged us now, what could we do?”

“First.” Her mother cut in, “Let’s ascertain the facts. What actually happened?”

Everyone looked towards her aunt, the best spymaster and scout in their colony and probably in all the colonies.

“Ewan is correct, we were betrayed. After the Gathering of the Archons, we were all to begin our marches home as we do every year. Two of the archons didn’t. They circled back with their armies and ambushed us in a pincer attack.”

“How did they manage to sneak around our scouts?”

“They didn’t, they killed them. Swiftly and silently... It is my failing, I had grown complacent and gave that role to our most inexperienced. I… I have been doing so for the last few years. It was meant to give the youth a taste of their future responsibilities. The thought that anyone would dare attack us never crossed my mind.” She bowed her head low, "I am deeply ashamed. I can not possibly apologize enough."

Cleon attempted to comfort her, “It is not your fault. No one could have expected such an ambush. The Gathering is a sacred event.”

“Sacred no longer. Aegeus may have saved us once, but now we must make the wise decision.”

"To flee in shame Ewan? To forgo and forget all that we are? That is the wise decision?"

Ewan recoiled a little at Cleon's line of questioning, "Our..our foremost duty is to faithfully follow the path Aegeus provided us. Does the scripture not read 'be proud of who you are, but be humble in your dealings for the prelude to catastrophe is often pride.'? Does it not? Is it anything, but pride, that keeps us here fated to be consumed by the others? Would the humb—"

“Enough, Ewan. The last, very last option is evacuation. We will not abandon these grounds.” Her mother stared him down. Even gaunt, her stare turned him meek. “It is true the scripture says that pride preludes catastrophe, but it also says that 'To bill your ideals to pay for your life is to die in soul and walk as mere flesh.' You believe that is the path Aegeus wishes for us, or is that the path you wish for us?"

Ewan stammered, "No! I..its—we…" He seemed to deflate, "I apologize, but I still believe It should be considered."

"If all other routes lead to failure, it will be. Now." She turned to Selene, "I only fought Fedon and his band of buffoons. He is no orchestrator. Who was the other?”

“Alexander.”

Raphaela watched in awe as the air around her mother twisted and contorted. It appeared like reality bended to her rage.

“That disgusting rat. I should have known. No wonder he arrived so late. He was preparing."

Raphaela's vision of her mother continued to distort.

"They have feared our power since his grandfather's time. Years they’ve been seeking a greater position and now they’ve made their move. They will pay for this.”

Cleon chimed in, “Until you’re healed, we’re likely bottom of the pile now. Even below them.”

Ewan mumbled, "Only likely?”

How can they speak so calmly??

“Yes, only likely. Our strength had never been direct combat.”

Ewan regained his posture, “True, it has always laid in subterfuge, in ambush. Like the very same one we suffered from. They used our own tactics against us and it worked! We barely survived.”

“Speaking of which.” Her mother, no longer subverting Raphaela's sight, redirected the conversation, “Do we know what that was?”

“Aegeus’ blessing no doubt.”

“Ewan, please. I’m asking for specifics.”

No one said a thing.

“So my ahjer soars from nothing, my guards suddenly gain strength at the brink of exhaustion and we have no understanding why or how? Cleon?”

“I already checked the hidden scriptures and there was no mention of it.”

“Serene?”

“I’ve never heard of or seen anything like it. When things are more..settled. I'll reach out to our spies in the other settlements.”

“Something to look into for the future then. Now we must discuss what t—”

One of Selene’s top scouts burst through the door, his legs shaking.

Ewan yelped, “They’re here!”

“Calm yourself! What news do you bring?”

The scout was truly exhausted, “An..an… angel. An angel appe...appeared. It attacked the..the…”

An angel?

“Take a moment. We’re not understanding you.”

The scout did just that, taking a moment to stabilize himself before delivering the news, “An angel appeared in front of the Menos. They attacked it, but the angel can control the sky. They may all be dead.”

Her mother looked around the table, but she only met confused expressions

“What?”