Hey guys! Here I am with a brand new chapter for you guys to read. I also wanted to say thanks for all of your support, I hope you will continue to enjoy my story. That's all, have a great read everyone, bye.

A Shattered Life

Chapter 18: Eyes filled with Sadness

Sunny and her daughter were making their way towards the abandoned village of Caelkirk with a few other survivors that managed to escape from Solomon's uncontrollable slaughter back at Gwain. The main road that led to the ruined settlement was barely discernible through the weeds and grasses that had reclaimed it. Gardens grew beyond their artificial borders and began claiming parts of the streets and old houses. "Finally! We have arrived." She said while still carrying the young girl on her arms. Sunny didn't want to let go of her daughter has she was afraid something could happen to her while she wasn't looking. "This place sure has seen better days." Her eyes roamed the area around her and she noticed how terrible everything was.

"If I remember Avala's message correctly, I have to meet her at the ancient temple located at the far edge of the village." She resumed her walk, but unfortunately, she was forced to change her path has most streets were blocked with rubble or collapsed trees. "I have to go through that house, I have no other choice." Sunny broke the door with a single kick. Remnants of packages and magazines were laid at the entrance, unopened and long forgotten. Most doors inside seemed to be in a relative decent condition while others were destroyed and were indistinguishable from other collapsed walls and piles of rubble. "Oh god, the smell here is awful." She rushed throughout the house and found a way out.

Caelkirk was once a rich settlement, filled with life, hopes, dreams and aspirations, but now it's a hollow shell of its former self. The several sounds of wild animals who've made their home in this small village are carried in the wind and give a new sense of liveliness and vibrancy. But even with all of this chaos around there was a structure that remained intact, and that was the clock-tower. "Look mommy!" Katelyn pointed at the building. "Pretty birds have made their nest in the tower."

"Yes, I can see that sweetie." Sunny replied has sweat dribbled down from her forehead. "That fucking Solomon will pay dearly for betraying us, I hope Avala has a plan to bring him down." She felt nothing but hatred towards the man.

"Don't swear mommy." Said Katelyn with her sweet tone.

"Sorry." She apologized.

Fortunately, after a couple of minutes she was able to see the temple in the distance, there were five soldiers outside keeping guard. "Those men can't be regular Gwain soldiers, they aren't using the standard weapons given by our military leader." She then saw their armor was quite different from the normal soldiers. "They are Mirage Knights." A smile spread across her lips has she was happy to see a few of them had survived the battle.

One of the knights saw her approaching, he went to her while aiming his weapon at her head. The Mirage Knights set of armor has a rounded helm with two small metal plates at each side of the eye to protect the face. Attached to the forehead area are layers of spiked leather, creating the appearance of horns. The shoulders are fairly oval, short and fairly small in size, they're decorated with three straight lines of spikes, reaching from side to side. But the most important part of their armor is the breast-plate since its made from the best leather in the region and has the Casterwill's emblem painted in the middle. "Stay where you are!" He ordered.

"Take it easy buddy, don't you see that I have my daughter right here." Sunny tried to calm him down. "Now, lower your weapon soldier, I'm not here to cause trouble, I just want to have a word with General Avala about our current situation." She placed her hand on the knight's gun and lowered it carefully. "I know you are stressed because of what's going on, but you must try and relax a bit before you do anything stupid, okay?"

"...Y-Yes, you are right." He said. "Come with me, I'll take you to Avala but let me warn you that things inside aren't looking good, we have many injured people that need a medic and more importantly our supplies are running low so if you have something in that bag of yours that might help us please share."

"Of course, but the medical supplies I brought won't be enough for everyone." She replied. "I will have to see the patients and decide which ones can be saved and those who can't. You must understand that we don't the luxury of wasting precious resources on people that will die no matter what we do."

The knight sighed and nodded. "I understand."

They walked inside the ancient temple, most of the pillars were broken into several pieces but those who remained were keeping the structure together. Injured civilians were scattered across the area and the few who died due to their wounds were placed in the corner with blankets over their bodies. Sunny found this truly horrible and heart breaking. "Some of these people won't make it through the night." Sunny whispered to herself.

"There she is." He pointed at Avala. "If you don't mind, I will go back to my position outside, take of care of yourself doc."

"I will, stay safe soldier." Said Sunny, she then placed her daughter on the ground. "Wait here sweetheart, I need to talk with Avala, and have no fear you are safe as long you stay inside the temple."

"Okay mommy."

Sunny then walked towards the General and for her surprise she found Yang taking care of her younger sister who was still unconscious. "Avala!" She called for her, gaining the woman's attention, but before Avala could say anything, Sunny hugged her with all her strength. "I'm really happy to see you!"

"...The feeling is mutual." General Avala was happy. "Listen, Ruby hasn't woken up yet and that is making me worry. Please tell me you have a couple of the pills you created with you."

"I do have some with me, wait just a moment." Sunny searched her pocket as fast as she could and grabbed one of them, she then turned to Ruby's older sister and said. "Take this Yang and give it to her, she should wake in no time." She placed the pill on the blonde's hand and she quickly gave it to Ruby. "Hey Avala, I need to have a word with you in private, it's extremely important."

Avala nodded. "Let's go to the old chamber in the floor above, we can talk there." The General replied.

Both of them walked to another section of the temple, leaving Yang alone with her sister has she waited impatiently for Ruby to open her eyes. "Come on! You have to wake up, I already lost you once when you ran away from home, I refuse to lose you again." She tried to contain her tears by rubbing her eyes.

"...You speak to loud you know that?" Said Ruby with a weak tone has she slowly opens her beautiful silver eyes. Yang couldn't stop smiling when she heard the voice of her sibling, she wrapped her arms around Ruby and squeezed her tight. "Oww! Not so strong Yang, you are hurting me."

The blonde warrior released her. "I'm so sorry sis, I'm just really happy to see you are finally awake. I mean you have been unconscious for quite a while now and I was starting to get worried you weren't going to ever wake up again."

"Well, I'm awake now, so you don't have to worry anymore." Ruby smiled has she rose herself from bed, she looked at her surroundings and had no idea where she was. "Can you tell me where we..." She paused has she immediately remembered what happened to her three days ago. "Oh no! Yang! We must get to Lord Aiden quickly and inform him that Solomon is a traitor and that his planning something bad."

Has she was about to move, Yang grabbed her arm. "Ruby...there's no point, Lord Aiden is dead, he was killed by Solomon." She said with a sad expression, causing the young girl's eyes to widened has she didn't expected to hear such horrible news.

"What?!...No, no t-that can't be true." Ruby's heart sank. "G-Geo!...Geo!" With teary eyes she called for her lover but he didn't answer. Ruby turned to her older sibling and looked directly into Yang's eyes and asked. "Where is he?! Where is he, Yang?!" Her voice was somewhat shaky and tears began running down her cheeks as she feared the worst.

"I-I don't know, the last time I saw him, he was being dragged towards the castle by that girl named Cinder." She replied.

"W-We must go to the castle and save him then."

Yang sighed. "Ruby, you must understand that going to Gwain at this moment is a bad idea. The whole town is a war zone and to make matters worse the fighting is attracting the local Grimm, we wouldn't survive long in a place like that."

"...Are you saying we should abandoned him? That we should run and leave him behind to die?" Ruby's hair covered her expression but it was clear she was getting angry. "Because if you are saying that, I'll, I'll..." She continued to cry.

"No, of course not." She hugged her sister again has she tried to comfort her. "I know you love him with all of your heart, and I swear I will do everything in my power to help you find him but we can't do this on our own, we will need help to get back inside Gwain." Yang said. "But, you know there's a small chance that he might be...you know...dead."

Hearing that word made Ruby feel worse, but she knew that was a possibility she might have to face sooner or later. "Please don't say that Yang."

"I'm sorry sis, I just want to make sure that you are ready for the worst case scenario."

Ruby nodded. "I know, but please don't say that."

Yang noticed how heart broken Ruby was, it was like they had returned to the time when they were back at their old home, living with their monster of a father. "I have no idea what you are going through Ruby, and I won't pretend to understand how you are feeling just know that I'm here for you."

"Thank you." Ruby tried to smile but she couldn't, her mind just kept thinking if Geo was alive or not, and what terrible things Solomon was doing to him if he was really alive.

Yang searched her bag and retrieved a very familiar weapon. "Here, you will need this since we are going to Gwain to save Geo." She returned Crescent Rose to Ruby. "I found it while making my way towards Avala's house when things started to get crazy."

Ruby grabbed her scythe and released it. "We don't have time to waist, lets go find Sunny and Avala maybe they will have a plan about how we can get inside the town without being seen."

"Okay, I think they went that way, follow me." She said.

Somehow, I know you are still alive Geo, so please just hold on a little longer, I will come and save you...just like you saved me when we first met at that village.