The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Forty-Five: Turn
The foals mock-battled on the edge of the mountain cliff. Such practice had become common among the younglings, and was even encouraged by the Sentinels as early training. Most thought that the two colts were too old for such foolery; these foals were on the edge of becoming adults. Even the Unicorn with the weakest sight could catch the slight darkening of their white coats, the hardening of their hooves, and the sudden growth spurts in height and in horn. But no one said anything, as these were the offspring of an Elemental's favorite mare. So the pair parried and lunged as if they were real Sentinels, fighting for one of the last times without blood.
They never noticed the Twilights.
Neither did anybody else.
The Twilights descended upon the field like an eclipse on the sun. Everything in their path was swallowed up, but they bee-lined straight for an Elemental. Hephaestus.
Not even the Metal unicorn could defend himself.
The two foals had watched the battle before two Sentinels swept down on them, trying to herd them to safety. The larger and more heavily built of the two escaped his guardian and stared down at Hephaestus. So much time with his father had meant that all the Elementals were like multiple parents. His eyes streaked with tears as he watched the loosing battle. The Sentinel tried to push him away from the scene.
"No!" he cried, his voice echoing off the mountain. "Hephaestus!" Aestus Aestus aestus aestus stus stus tus tus.
As the last notes dies on the rocky face, a faint skidding noise was hardly audible among the sounds of the fighting. A few pebbles slid down the steep incline, dislodging larger rocks and tumbling into stones and boulders.
Hephaestus, Master of Metals, is dead. But the Twilights join him in the land beyond the mist.