Prelinsa opened a door and stepped into a waiting area of the Western Keep of White Blossom Fortress, where there were many people still present – mostly civilians taking shelter after their homes had been destroyed. Sleeping bags and various belongings were laid around the ground, though in a fairly orderly fashion. There were even some of the city foxes wandering and snoozing around. Some guards and soldiers were also keeping watch.

Some of the refugees and soldiers present – those who were mages – immediately took notice of the newly empowered Silvermoon, whose Phoenix Heart now burned so hot and brightly. They either knelt, or bowed respectfully. Prelinsa acknowledged them with gestures of her right hand, but wasn’t paying much attention, as she was looking for a particular ailuran lady.

At last, Prelinsa found her, staring out a window at some barricades and destroyed buildings. Her expression looked fairly calm, yet she was definitely worried.

“Mom,” Prelinsa said, approaching from the side.

Missus B. turned. She looked very surprised by Prelinsa’s new appearance.

“Marianne?! No, you’re not Marianne,” she said. Her eyes widened in recognition. “Prelinsa? Is that you, kiddo?”

“Yeah. It’s me,” Prelinsa said.

Missus B. gave Prelinsa a big hug, practically smothering her. “Congrats. I heard the news, but to see ya in person like this… I’m real happy for ya.”

“Thanks,” Prelinsa replied.

A medical checkup earlier had revealed that Prelinsa’s sickness was gone, and she would no longer need treatment. The phoenixfire had turned her fully into a pokkit by burning away the human side of her.

Missus B. pulled back from Prelinsa, sizing her up in more detail.

“My gods, you’re almost as tall as me now! Taller actually, with those ears of yours. Gonna miss lil’ one-eared Prelinsa though.”

“Well, I won’t,” Prelinsa commented, making a face. “My old look reminded me of my dad.”

Prelinsa really didn’t miss her human half. Her father had left her and Marianne, all because she was sick and ‘not right.’ This wasn’t her being prejudiced against humans, honest. Her father was just a scumbag, and she was happy to be rid of this reminder that she was his daughter.

Missus B. laughed. “Fair enough! Your father was a real piece of work, wasn’t he? Anyway! Come on, tell me about everything! I wanna hear it from you directly.”

Prelinsa nodded, and began her story. She spoke of her capture by House Goldensun, and the coldness of the airplane high in the sky. Her encounter with the avatar of the Phoenix, which let her realize the full power of the Primordial Fires, and allowed her to escape. The thrilling sensation as she realized she could fly, and used her newfound ability to try and save all the elves on the airplane. The appearance of Rex Goldensun, the man responsible for the war, and their suffering in the North Realm. The reappearance of Elder Kirith Silvermoon, who had reached enlightenment and purged Rex Goldensun, leaving no traces behind.

Missus B. listened to all this, nodding and reacting in various ways. She never asked questions, but she would occasionally interject. By the time Prelinsa was done, she had a mix of emotions on her face.

“My little girl really did grow up, huh? So fast, too.” She smiled, yet she also seemed sad at the same time. “Marianne would be so proud of ya right now.”

For a parent, watching their child grow up was a complex feeling – Prelinsa could sense it more clearly now that she had gained more power. These were the kinds of feelings that Marianne must have had, too.

The pokkit youth hugged Missus B. tightly again. “You’ll always both be my moms. And I’ll always be your daughter. That hasn’t changed, and it’ll never change,” she insisted.

Missus B. closed her eyes. “Thank ya kindly, Prelinsa.”

The two of them just stood like that for a while, feeling in each others’ presence. There were no need for words.

“Alright,” Missus B. eventually said, as the two ended their hug. “I’d love for ya to stay and talk more, but I think ya got more things to do. There’s still a war goin’ on. Ya gotta finish it.” She made a fist with one hand for emphasis.

“Yeah,” Prelinsa said, nodding. “They want me to show the other Silvermoons how to fly.”

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Under Matriarch Rensa’s leadership, House Silvermoon moved efficiently and decisively. As soon as Rensa had heard that Silvermoons could not only fly, but use magic without even needing any mana, she was incredibly excited and capitalized on this newfound knowledge right away. She announced publicly that Rex Goldensun was dead, and as proof, his staff was paraded around for everyone to see. This led to a massive morale boost for the East Realm – the Supreme Leader was no more.

Meanwhile, House Goldensun and the Magic Freedom Fighters had not only lost their Supreme Leader, they had wasted extensive resources on their bombing raid against Pyrus, as they needed enough power to overwhelm Kirith Silvermoon. It was true that they managed to cause significant damage to the capital, but the former Matriarch did a lot to reduce the damage before being captured herself. Smaller bombing raids caused damage elsewhere and led to even more casualties, but because House Silvermoon’s powerful mages had been spread out across the East Realm, they were ironically well prepared for this, while also escaping the destruction at Pyrus.

As a result, the fighting core of the East Realm remained largely intact. On the other hand, the West Realm lost many clones, planes, and mana crystals to House Silvermoon. While House Goldensun and the Fighters were confused and in panic, House Silvermoon executed a series of deft military offensives, which forced the opposing armies to surrender in short order. The war ended, and though many people had died in bombing raids from the West Realm’s airplanes, the East Realm was victorious, reinforcing its position as the dominant power of the Greater Realm.

Once the war ended, one of Rensa’s first acts as the new Matriarch was to grant significantly more autonomy to the other Realms. According to her, the war happened largely because people were unhappy that House Silvermoon had so much power over everything. Therefore, Rensa was willing to give people what they wanted, and both House Goldensun and the Magic Freedom Fighters lost one of their key motivations for fighting against House Silvermoon. Instead of remaining a dependency of the Greater Realm, the West Realm was allowed to become a completely separate country, with full independence. It would no longer operate under the thumb of House Silvermoon. However, the East Realm would still keep part of the territory they conquered during the war, as a reminder to stay in line.

Of course, House Goldensun would not become the new imperial government of the West Realm. Instead, the West Realm would become the Western Republic, with elected officials operating at every level of the government. This, Rensa stated, was an acceptable solution that allowed the masses greater self-determination, like the Magic Freedom Fighters wanted. If anyone from House Goldensun felt confident enough, they could run for election. Naturally, the transition of power would not happen right away. House Silvermoon would ensure that things didn’t happen too quickly and lead to societal chaos, so for the time being, the West Realm would remain a dependency of the East Realm.

The opportunity of independence was also granted to the South Realm, which hadn’t even participated in the war and was just standing by the whole time. The South Realm accepted, but generously argued that the damaged West Realm should take priority, and offered their support now that the war was over. As for the North Realm, it was still too heavily damaged by the actions of House Crimsonstar and House Goldensun, and would remain a dependency of the East Realm while it recovered. Only then would its future be decided.

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The Fighters were still unhappy about the monopoly over the Path of the Phoenix. Rensa went a step further because of this – she ordered a storm of news articles, papers, and other publications on the Path of the Phoenix, giving an overview of how difficult and dangerous it was, and explaining the horrible fates that past practitioners had suffered in graphic detail. Of course, while everything contained in the papers was technically true, none of them went into any real depth about how the Path of the Phoenix worked – Rensa wasn’t willing to give up that card.

But her strategy was effective. People criticized the Fighters for trying to spread such a dangerous form of magic. In fact, some of the papers that Rensa ordered encouraged people to pursue different paths of magic as safer options, including House Goldensun’s Way of the Leviathan. This prompted House Goldensun to refute this. They could not remain silent, because of the pressure from losing the war. But they still wanted to keep the Way of the Leviathan for themselves. Therefore, they released a statement that the Way of the Leviathan was also too dangerous to learn, which was factually true but led to a public relations nightmare.

People viciously attacked both House Goldensun and the Fighters for spreading such dangerous magic, and teaching it to innocent clone children who didn’t know any better. Personal rights activists demanded an inquiry into how many clones were killed by being forced to learn the Way of the Leviathan. The number turned out to be alarmingly high, which led to even more outrage. There was a furious amount of backpedaling as House Goldensun renounced their claim, but the damage was already done, and many important figures in the House stepped down and disappeared from the public eye. Meanwhile, the Magic Freedom Fighters became even more irrelevant, and eventually disbanded entirely. Rensa was ruthless and made sure that her enemies had no way out. But to be fair, they had made things much too easy for her.

There were other foxy caveats to Rensa’s actions, as expected. In particular, no nation was allowed to start another war, or House Silvermoon would come for them with aggressive amounts of force. This was no idle threat. During their offensives, the East Realm had seized a number of facilities that produced mana crystals and airplanes, so the advantage of anyone else having these tools was now neutralized. Additionally, Silvermoons could fly and use magic above the ground without the need for mana crystals. As a result, they became a major deciding factor in aerial combat, tipping the balance over the edge. Once again, House Silvermoon was the supreme military power, and it was all thanks to Prelinsa and the ex-Matriarch.

Speaking of Prelinsa, she was given high honors for helping people during the bombing raid on Pyrus, and for her contribution to advancing the Path of the Phoenix. She was, after all, the first to learn how to fly. Because she helped enable the war to be won, some people even suggested that Prelinsa be nominated as a new Elder. However, she refused, citing her own youth and inexperience. People who knew her personally also knew that she didn’t want the responsibility, and would rather go with a hands-on approach to helping people. As a result, she was simply knighted and given the title of Dame Prelinsa Silvermoon-Brunswick.

One mystery that remained was Rex Goldensun’s mention of technology and military tactics from Earth. Prelinsa could guess that he didn’t mean earth like the ground people stood on. It had to mean something else. She asked Rensa about it, and the older Silvermoon speculated that Earth might refer to another world, completely different to their own. After all, it was said in legends that other worlds with their own people could exist. But where Earth was, what it was like, or how and when Rex Goldensun had come into contact with it all remained unknown.

Always eager for more knowledge, Rensa ordered an investigation into the matter, pressing important figures in House Goldensun for answers. At first, they tried to deny everything. But Rensa wouldn’t take no for an answer – she was quickly convinced they were trying to hide something, and she hated that. After several more failed interrogations, she sicced Rupeth on them and told him to do whatever he wanted. The resulting chaos, the fact that they lost the war, and the mounting public pressure all meant that House Goldensun was not in any position to refuse.

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The answer that came out of the investigation was shocking. A single young human man was presented before House Silvermoon. His name was John. He claimed to be from Earth, and provided House Goldensun with the knowledge that he knew about it. Although he looked like a normal human, his knowledge was almost completely alien in nature – so much so that he sounded delusional at first.

John spoke of Earth as a world with the human race as its only sapient species. When asked about the subject of racism, he said that it still existed – the humans of Earth instead unfairly judged each other by their skin tones. This, he said, was the racism he was familiar with. Like people of the Greater Realm, humans of Earth also found all manner of other prejudices, including some that were not so familiar. War, famine, inequality, and poverty were all still present on Earth as well. It sounded like a terrible place to live, but John insisted that it had its good points, and gave many examples that did sound fairly appealing.

Speaking of terrible, Earth was described as being completely devoid of mana, meaning mages and magic didn’t exist there. Instead, technology reigned supreme in all regards. When asked how the balance of nature was retained without mana, John said he didn’t know. But he also said that the humans of Earth were responsible for great ecological destruction. Maybe Earth had some other means of self-correction that was unknown. Or maybe it just didn’t have one, and was destined for destruction. It was impossible to know right now, for nobody knew where Earth was – not even John.

Airplanes were common in Earth society, and used not only for war, but transportation – in fact, this was their primary use. The airplane had sparked an era of globalization on Earth, interconnecting societies in ways never thought possible. Earth also had machines that could fly even higher than airplanes – spacecraft, of which there were many different types. They were a major part of life on Earth, providing global communication services and enabling observations of the entire world. If airplanes and spacecraft existed in the Greater Realm, then the disasters of the North Realm could have been prevented much earlier.

Similar machines to spacecraft had been attempted before in the Greater Realm. It was well known that the world was round, and theoretically, objects could be orbited around it by using nothing but gravity and inertia. However, intense radiation high in the atmosphere denied any successes and destroyed computers. John stated that Earth had a weaker magnetic field and radiation belt, which meant it also lacked the constant auroras that danced in the night skies of the Greater Realm. This had made spacecraft comparatively easy to build and promoted travel beyond Earth’s surface, promoting an age of exploration beyond peoples’ wildest dreams.

When confronted with the fact that his knowledge had contributed to a major war, John seemed genuinely repentant and begged for forgiveness. He was truly not aware that his knowledge was being put to such horrible uses. He had been told by House Goldensun that airplanes would be used for civilian transport, connecting people across the planet and creating a better world. As this was what they were primarily used for on Earth, he had believed them. Considering that he was a victim himself, John was granted parole, under the condition that he share what else he knew with researchers.

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Years passed after the war, which came to be known as the Second Civil War of the Greater Realm. The East Realm changed its name and governance in recognition of the changing times, becoming the Eastern Grand Principality of Silvermoon. The newly renamed EGP Silvermoon – ‘the EGP’ for short – adopted a constitutional monarchy in which the head of state still held considerable power, but was more restricted in their actions and had to prioritize the rights and wellbeing of the people.

In line with this, Matriarch Rensa’s title was reverted back to Princess Rensa Silvermoon, but with a twist. She was now Grand Princess Rensa, to set her apart from her siblings. Supposedly, this was done to limit associations with the previous regime, but some who were more familiar with the monarch claimed that Rensa just didn’t like being called a Matriarch, and wanted her old title back.

With knowledge from Earth, the world rapidly became more interconnected than ever. Airplanes became a new form of transportation and took to the skies, and although trains remained dominant, planes were able to bridge far more remote regions. Mana crystal production sprung up, first across the Greater Realm, then on other continents – but more sustainably, to avoid the mistakes of the past.

A rocket was built, then more. It wouldn’t be long before the first spacecraft that could survive the radiation belt were launched. They couldn’t last long, but they were able to take some measurements and grainy pictures, and send them down to the surface before breaking. In the future, this technology would surely only be improved upon. With the ability to observe the surface from outer space, a disaster like that of the North Realm would be less likely to happen ever again. Which was not to say that it couldn’t. Couldn’t was a strong word.

The spacecraft also gave people a clearer view of the universe beyond the world. It was vast, full of unknowns, and exciting. Beyond the veil of the aurora, the stars, planets, and galaxies were more numerous than anyone could’ve imagined. A new age of exploration began – the dawn of the Space Age.

The people, now with a clearer picture of how tiny their world truly was, started calling it something new to distinguish it from the countless other worlds. As they gazed upon the first images returned from space, they saw the glowing auroras, which shone so brightly from the surface, yet looked so faint against the backdrop of space. It was like a tiny wisp of light, floating around the infinite darkness of the universe, and the vast brightness of stars and galaxies. The scientists named it Circula Aurorea, the little circle of auroras, which was quickly shortened by the masses to just Aurorea. It was the glowing orb that they all lived on.

As all this was happening, Prelinsa grew up to be a strong young woman who helped those in need, just like she wanted. Her power, talent, and skill all continued to increase, and she eventually became known as one of the strongest Silvermoon Phoenix Warriors in existence. But she never forgot her origins, and remained compassionate to those weaker than her. At times she would work alone, while at others, she would work alongside others, such as Rona or the people she fought in the tournament. However, those stories are for another time.