Once again, thank you gagaball88 for the beta reading. You are amazing seriously and you've helped take quite a bit of stress off the editing!

Normally, Rayla would try to avoid water at all costs. Not this time, however. She needed it more than ever now. The cool liquid from the stream provided a refreshing touch as she splashed it over her face. This, of course, came at the price of a spike of pain in her right shoulder, rudely reminding her of the injury that she had sustained there. The sudden attack of the sensation caused her to involuntarily yelp into the silent forest, the gentle flow of the current being the only other sound for what seemed like miles.

Not that she was complaining about the silence, of course. She needed to be alone right now, having left the rest of the rescue team about a hundred meters back. She had spent the past couple of minutes absorbing the news that she had received back in that Earthblood settlement as well as the events that had unfolded there. Her eyes remained shaded in red, glaring back at her in her reflection, a reminder of everything she had just been through. However, now, after everything, she just felt a strange sense of emptiness.

Azymondias, the key to the peace everyone had worked so hard for, was dead. Along with him, his mother, Zubeia, had also fallen. Both of them had been slain at the claws of Sol Regem. Even hours later, she still couldn't fully process it. How did something like this just happen after everything was going so well? She didn't understand it.

Her feelings of failure crept back up on her as they did so painfully often. It truly seemed that everything she tried somehow ended in disaster, didn't it? She couldn't even keep her own team safe. She had started a fight they couldn't win for no reason other than anger, and that had almost killed everyone she was supposed to lead and protect. She would have to live with that now. The weight of this guilt would hang down on her for the rest of her life. It was at that thought that the emptiness inside her body finally became filled, more and more, like somebody pouring water into an empty glass. Water of grief and sadness that slowly rose towards her face.

She squeezed it down, falling back on her training as an assassin from so long ago. She didn't have time to cry again. She had a job to complete. Despite everything she had screwed up so far, she knew what she needed to do.

Forcing determination, she grabbed her gloves and slipped them on, pulling them tightly over her hands. She then walked away from the comforts of the stream and back into the dark forest, finally ready to face the music from her team.

The mood as Rayla returned was solemn and quiet. Corvus spared a moment to look up at her, however, his eyes immediately squeezed back together as he clutched his left leg in pain and let out a large grunt. A now less winded Nyx looked up at the Moonshadow elf with an agitated expression on her face. A pile of leaves the Skywing had presumably gathered from the forest was clenched tightly to her torso—the outline of the wound still visible around the greenery.

Amaya, Gren, and Soren just looked up at her with saddened expressions doused with traces of concern.

This isn't going to be easy, Rayla thought as she sat down, closing off the circle that the group had formed.

A couple of wordless seconds passed, making the heavy atmosphere thicker than it was already, thicker than Rayla could bare.

"Listen… I'm…" Rayla started but failed to find the words.

How did one approach this? After all that they had learned, after all that she had done to almost get her team killed, would they even forgive her for what she did? After what felt like forever, she finally cast aside all of her filters. Anything to try and sweeten this up would just send this whole situation into an even bigger downward spiral. She was just going to speak what she was feeling and see where that got her.

"I-I'm sorry. For all of that, back there. I r-really am I…." Rayla paused, her brain still attempting to strangle her emotions as she said the words. "I put all of you in danger, a-all because of … feelings that I should've had in check… I-" Nyx scoffed but otherwise said nothing. Rayla paid it no attention, partly because she was still too focused on keeping the tears down. "I was a horrible leader! I'm sorry! Zym was wrong to choose me for this… I mean… what kind of leader puts their team in a situation like that? I-I don't know what to do to make up for this and… to be honest, I don't even know if I can…"

All was quiet. Nobody had so much as changed their expression at what Rayla had said, causing her to gulp nervously before speaking again. "L-look, feel free to hate me. I probably deserve it… it seems all I'm doing these days is endangering the lives of my-"

Amaya began signing. Caught off guard by the sudden interruption from the general, Gren's interpretation came significantly delayed. "Enough," Gren said, perfectly interpreting Amaya's stern tone.

Amaya's face had also hardened now, staring Rayla right in the eyes. A small amount of time passed before Amaya began signing again. "You think that you're the only one who's made mistakes? I've been a general for many years, Rayla. Do you think all the missions I've led have been successful? Do you know how many people have died under my command? I've always beaten myself up over my failures, as you have, always asked the question 'what if?'. It led to many sleepless nights… trust me…." Rayla was paying her full attention now, listening very closely to what Amaya had to say. "But that question, those thoughts… they aren't worth it… You can't change the past… as horrible as it is, you will never be able to go back to see what would've happened. The only things you can change are the present and future. Stumbling on the question of 'what if' will only make you fall harder."

Rayla hardly noticed as her training began to give way. She could no longer hold it in anymore. The tears once again started streaming out of her eyes like the rapids she had ridden with Callum and Ezran, a moment which felt so long ago now, back at the very beginning of their journey.

"I- I don't deserve this." Rayla covered her face with her hands as she muttered the sentence in-between sobs. "I- I really don't."

Soren's, Corvus', and Gren's expressions only grew more concerned. Nyx, however, looked disinterested, rolling her eyes as she pressed the pile of leaves harder onto her side, grunting in pain.

Amaya, however, did something nobody was expecting. In the blink of an eye, she had moved over to Rayla and wrapped her into a tight embrace. The shock of the moment almost made Rayla try to pull out her swords and defend herself. That instinct wore off, though, when she realized what was actually happening and how much she needed this. Then, without even thinking, Rayla returned the embrace, the soreness of her shoulder not mattering at all to her right now.

The group sat there in silence for a while as the bottled up grief finally emptied into Amaya's chestplate. An endless waterfall that refused to cease.

Eventually, though, her tears were spent, and Rayla slowly loosened her arms, a gesture that signaled Amaya to do the same. Soon, they had both finally separated, and, for the first time in a while, a smile crept across Rayla's face.

"Thank you… for that," she said softly.

Amaya simply smirked and began to sign. Gren was much faster in his interpretation this time. "I am the aunt of two nephews, Rayla. One would expect that I know a thing or two about how this all works."

That elicited a chuckle from the elf as she wiped her eyes despite them already being dry from the general.

"Speaking of which…." Soren said hesitantly, a worried expression on his face. "What are we gonna do now? I mean… the one… the" Soren got caught in a stutter for a moment. "The one who sent us on this mission is dead now and… the new Dragon King is the one who arranged all this…"

Rayla raised an eyebrow as she looked at Soren before closing her eyes and sighing, a resolute expression forming on her face. "We continue doing what we set out to do… nothing has changed about our mission," Rayla said confidently. "Ezran is still in danger… and he's still our friend… in fact, he's family to some." Rayla glanced at Amaya with a small, weak smile on her face. "I don't care what Sol Regem says. If I have to go against his orders to do what is right then…" Rayla's eyes narrowed, "So be it. It was Zym's last wish before he passed on anyway, to see Ezran safe. I won't let him down. I've already let down too many people. I still have a chance to make at least this right."

A smile rose on Corvus' face after grunting and holding his leg in pain. "We'll be behind you all the way. I just hope this leg can keep up with us." He chuckled to himself.

This was quickly followed up with another smile from Soren, one which radiated confidence and agreement. "Trust me, as I alluded to when we first discussed this mission back at the castle, I know all too much about letting people down. I'm still in this as well."

Amaya didn't sign anything. She merely smiled, indicating a sense of heroism and pride. This was followed by a nod to confirm her agreement.

All that left Nyx, the one that had still not said anything, who just narrowed her eyes at everyone before scoffing again.

That caught Rayla's attention this time. "Why are you still even here?" Rayla asked in a loud, stern, and frustrated tone. "If you don't like this, you can leave, you know… Zym is dead! You don't have to worry about fixing your stupid standing with him anymore! It doesn't matter!" There was far more anger seeping into Rayla's words than she had anticipated. All her built-up and contained frustrations with this Skywing elf were now flying out of Rayla's body in a way she couldn't control.

Nyx simply raised an eyebrow at the Moonshadow, waiting for her to finish before laughing. "I'm so happy that you care so much about your teammate's health, Rayla…." Nyx gestured to her torso, causing Rayla to feel a pang of guilt which actually surprised the ex-assassin. "You know what, though? You're right. I guess I could leave you… I've done it before…but… there are reasons I haven't yet. Think about that little drama we started." Everyone's eyes began to grow in the realization of where Nyx was headed. "There's no doubt that this will be reported, and it won't be long until the news reaches Sol Regem… in other words…" Nyx paused before continuing, "I'm a fugitive. We all are. You want me to go back out into that alone? With this?" Nyx scoffed and gestured to her wound again. "Please… I don't think I would have to explain how that would end." The group remained utterly silent.

Rayla felt her frustrations rising once again. Of course that was Nyx's reason. Why would she suspect anything else?

It was true though. This whole situation made things a lot harder than Rayla had initially thought. It was only a matter of time until they'd all start getting hunted, and what would happen to them when they were caught remained a mystery.

Soren was the first one to speak, letting out a short cough to get the group's attention. "So… what's the plan? I mean, we're pretty much back to square one here, and now we're gonna be on the run as well…"

Rayla sighed. Despite her determination, she couldn't deny that, on top of everything else that was going on, they had lost the only chance they had so far to narrow the search area.

"I'll...I'll figure something out," Rayla said, less confident than anticipated. "For now, I guess we just go back to what we were doing before, searching everywhere we can. However long that will take, it seems to be the only option right now." She then gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Who knows… maybe we might end up finding some lead on the road eventually…."

The team wasn't all too convinced by her sentiment. Nyx leaned back on the tree behind her and looked towards the sky, seemingly shutting everything else out while Soren sighed and everyone else stared idly ahead. Rayla herself looked down onto the grass in front of her and shook her head.

I'm sorry, Ezran… I'm sorry we're taking so long…

I promise you we're coming...

Just hold on for us…

Please…

The evergrowing nighttime darkness consumed the vision of the young storm dragon as he continued to push onward. Zym had been walking for 3 days at this point and now only had a vague idea of where he was slowly trodding. However, he knew he was still crawling west or, at least, in some direction close to the west, and that was all that mattered to him.

His limbs had never stopped screaming at him, sending flares of pain through his body with every step he took, made worse by his previous skirmish. The shot of adrenaline that had rocketed through his body during the encounter had been just enough to silence them then, but now they were back with a vengeance, crying from their overexertion. Several additional muscle aches had also joined in since; weaker, lingering aches that pierced every one of his joints, even the ones that remained uninjured.

His burnt wing, too, was back to causing trouble. While the dip of the troublesome surface in the lake had provided some relief, the benefits it had long-term were… marginal. It continued to simmer in the background and then scream in agony each time it was either accidentally moved a little or rubbed against something the wrong way, forcing Zym to take extra care with each step he made to avoid the appendage revolting.

Then there was the itching. His short splash in the water during his fight had done little to clean the sheer amount of dust and debris that still clung to him, as well as the blood, both from the clash with Sol Regem and with the knights, which had long since dried into a hard crust over his scales and mane, refusing to let go.

Exhaustion had also been taking hold, gripping him tighter and tighter for quite a while now.

Zym had not slept since that previous altercation. The paranoia of his possible pursuers gaining ever closer was enough to keep him awake and moving, but even that couldn't last forever. His already slow pace was beginning to slow down further. His eyelids felt like they had been chained to large anvils that continuously attempted to force his eyes shut with all their might. In addition to all that, the moon beamed down on him, offering its comforting rays to invite him to the world of slumber, maybe as a friendly gesture, maybe as a taunt, he didn't really know. However, he continued to resist, knowing that if he let the anvils or the moon win, even for a second, he would lose his grip on his consciousness the instant his eyelids touched. Then… he didn't know what would happen then, how long it would take for him to come back to reality.

Already, he seemed to be losing his grip on himself. Try as he might, he was unable to remember vast chunks of time. He would be somewhere at one point and then be at a completely different place the next, almost as if he had teleported.

He also just couldn't stay as alert for his pursuers as he once was. Every now and then, he'd half-heartedly glance in some direction in an attempt to keep on the lookout for any more of those golden armored knights, everything just looking like a blur of motion to him as he did so. It was a far cry from the constant and active surveillance of his surroundings that he had been doing when he first started moving.

False alarms filled his head, like the sight of a person moving in the corner of his eye, or footsteps that rang out behind him. However, those always just turned out to be a small, passing creature that sometimes looked up at the blue dragon with curious eyes, and then quickly turned and skittered off into the ever-expansive plains. Whether it was the paranoia or his distinct lack of sleep, he didn't know. Perhaps it was both, feeding off each other in an ever-expanding, toxic, symbiotic relationship that feasted on his mind like a leech sucking its victim dry.

Eventually, the Sky Dragon's body was going to give up. He didn't know how long that would take, but he knew it was an inevitability that he would have to face sooner or later. No doubt, the constant push westward was making everything worse.

He had to find somewhere to rest soon. There was no other way he would make it to the Human Kingdoms. The grass underneath his claws felt so soft as it kissed his scales. He truly did wish he could just lie down here. He couldn't though, he knew that. He would be too exposed here, and then all the time he had spent resisting would've been for nothing.

Knowledge of the general land of Xadia told him that small patches of trees and greenery like the one he had rested in on his first night dotted the entire half of the continent. He just had to hold on until he found the next one.

After what felt like an eternity, Zym finally found the relief he was looking for. The weak light of the last shred of joy his body could muster under the heavy demand of sleep flared through his neural network at the sight. Ahead and to his left, lay the familiar outlines of an inviting patch of trees.

Zym was much more careful in the location he chose to set himself down this time. No longer wanting to go for something directly in the middle and easily locatable, he took several twists and turns around different shrubs and towering plants. This process continued for several minutes as Zym tried to be as random as possible until he was certain that even he himself had no idea where he was.

Finally, after the long process of curving himself around the tree patch, he came to a small stone overhang. Its size seemed just large enough to provide him with some sort of cover, at least from one direction.

The gray of stone clashed with the dark green of the vegetation as the ceiling met its overgrown top. The interior wall of the overhang seemed wet and closer observation made it easy to see why. Small veins of glistening water were streaming down the back from an unseen source, eventually pooling in a small puddle at the bottom. As the Storm Dragon slowly wobbled closer, his body desperate to finally be set down, he could hear the comforting, trickling sound from the liquid as it fell from rock to rock on its descent.

The ex-Dragon King slowly curled up under the overhang, keeping his head facing the exit to the rest of the forest, just in case. He sighed a hefty sigh of relief as the crushing weight of his body was finally released from his limbs. The sound of the miniature waterfall next to him, along with the continuous chirp of the crickets and cicadas that kept this spot alive relaxed his nerves. As a result, it was only a matter of time before the weights tied to his eyelids took over, and the sounds of the forest meshed together and began to reverb as he slowly drifted from consciousness.

However, a crunch in the shrubbery put an early end to the dragon's peaceful slumber. His head sprang up from the floor, his heart thumping fast and hard, accompanied by small and short breaths. His vision sharpened almost instantly as he looked for the source.

Not again

He did not know how long he had been out, but he noticed that the sky seemed to have taken on a faint blue glow.

Zym's eyes quickly darted around the tree line. Luckily, the crunch had been heard in the general direction visible to him, however, his continuous scanning of the forest ahead did not appear to yield any results. That was until he looked a little harder.

Positioned a bit of a distance away from the dragon, deep into the trees, was a figure. It stood eerily still, almost like a statue as it stared back at him. It didn't appear to be one of Sol Regem's knights, wearing what appeared to be a soft gray coat instead of the typical armor. A hood was also pulled over its head, casting a dark shadow on what lay below.

Zym came to a sudden realization as he focused in on the figure's face, or at least, where the face should've been. Covering it was a bare-bones white mask featuring what appeared to be two small holes for eyes, with the nose and mouth simply being shaped onto the front of it.

What he had seen that night at the border had been real after all. Despite all that Zym wanted to do to confront the figure, to ask it who it was, and why it was here, Zym found he couldn't do much of anything but stare as it did the same right back at him.

Suddenly though, without warning, it turned and took off running.

"Hey!" Zym yelled.

The abrupt turn of events had snapped him out of his haze as he bolted to his feet and attempted to give chase. He didn't even notice the pain emanating from his legs as they protested the movement. However, his weaker joints made him noticeably slower despite that, and after a moment of sprinting through the trees, struggling to keep up, the masked figure vanished, concealed by a wall of vegetation.

Zym tried to continue to follow, but it was too late. As he broke through the foliage, he found nothing, no trace of who he was pursuing, not even the sound of footsteps to lead him in the right direction, just a labyrinth of greenery stretching around in all directions.

Zym let out a grunt of frustration shortly before his physical exertion caught up to him and he was once again able to take notice of his whining body.

Reluctantly and with more caution than before, he made his way back to his overhang, unsure of the possibility of further sleep.

A quiet, ominous, and foreboding atmosphere hung around the border between Duren and Katolis. Once a beating artery for trade between the two kingdoms, the winding cobblestone street extending from Windrip deep into their southern neighboring kingdom had become nothing but a capillary for the occasional cloud of dust that effortlessly drifted across the grey rock.

The path had now been split in two by a shallow canyon erected from the ground, rising to about chest height. Its walls were crafted using an array of sandbags, with the exterior lined by an entanglement of barbed wire. Built up to the interior walls lay several hastily prepared platforms occupied with ballistas that had been brought here from anywhere possible with the short notice given, looking out into the deep forest.

Inside the structure, looking out into the trees through his white hood as his blue tunic flowed in the wind like the flag of his kingdom, was a dark-faced man. His blue eyes strained into the endless abyss of the forest in front of him, watching, waiting for the inevitable—his deep breaths slow, rhythmic, and ready.

"General Livius!" A voice rang out from next to him.

He turned to face the source. Standing beside him was a man slightly taller, with blond hair, also wearing the same Durenian armor. His brown eyes were opened wide as they stared into his superior's.

"We have received a crow from our scouts in the South. They have reported a fast-moving army of Knights in golden armor with a squadron of dragons flying overhead, heading in this direction. Sol Regem's army is approaching, sir."

The general took another deep breath. This was the moment that he had been waiting for. All the preparation that they had made had been building up to this.

"Thank you, commander Solon. Get the troops to man their stations and wait for my mark, and send a shadowhawk to Queen Aanya to inform her of the news." The general's voice was empty and monotone, enforcing a blockade against any apparent emotion.

"As you wish, general." Commander Solon nodded and then walked back through the sandbag valley to execute the orders.

No matter what happened today, they had to hold off the forces as long as possible. More reinforcements were already on their way, and Livius had to hold the line until they arrived. The people of Duren depended on them, and they would not leave them to die.

Duren would not endure the same fate as Katolis. He would make sure of it.

Time ticked slowly while everyone waited at the ready with ballistas loaded and bows knocked as they felt the presence of Xadian forces drawing ever closer, slowly creeping up to claim the kingdom and its citizens.

Suddenly, as the tension began to build up to almost unbearable levels, a shape was spotted in the distance, quickly followed by more, similar ones behind it.

They were faint and small, but the general could quickly make out the distinct shape and motion of flapping wings as they approached, and it appeared that he wasn't the only one.

"Dragons!" A yell rang out from behind the general.

"Take aim! Wait for my signal to fire!" General Livius called out. He then glanced at the men standing just to his right and pointed in their direction. "You! Prepare to light the fuse on my command!"

They nodded and quickly ran off, disappearing into the crowd of people slowly increasing in commotion.

The general eyed the shapes as they got closer and more defined. He only had one shot at this. He just had to get it right. He was almost pleading for the forces in the distance to move faster, his training only marginally working to suppress the building stress on his heart.

In addition to the dragons, the outline of the sea of ground forces mentioned in the report also became visible—the previously dead cobblestone street was now pulsing like an artery once more.

Just a little further…

Come on…

He waited, silently judging the approaching army's distance and speed, hanging on for the perfect moment as their shapes became larger and more vivid. Then, it arrived.

"Light the fuse!" he screamed out.

To the right of General Livius, a group of men struck a pair of flint and steel, forming a spark that caught on a long, thin black wire. The wire tip lit up in a flickering ball which quickly crept through a tiny space under the sandbags, out of view.

General Livius' sneaky little trick.

More time passed as Duren's army waited in anticipation. The exposed soldiers ducked behind the sandbags, some seeking cover from what General Livius had planned, others for the coming encounter.

General Livius began to become nervous as the seconds ticked away, rapidly tapping his foot faster and faster. That army was getting uncomfortably close. Something felt wrong. Did the fuse snuff itself out? Did Sol Regem's forces catch on? Was the plan a dud?

His thoughts, however, came crashing to a violent end as, suddenly, the harsh BOOM of an explosion rang out ahead of him. The incredible volume of the sound pierced through his body, causing him to block his ears reflexively as the second BOOM quickly followed. Jets of fire and smoke spewed up from both sides of the road, launching dirt, grass, and anything else that stood in their way in every direction. Some of the knights were entirely absorbed by the blast, while others were flung into the air, hitting their fellow soldiers or the cold, hard ground.

An orchestra of explosions, all at different positions, quickly joined in around the startled army, sending up similar jets of flame, debris, and knights, one after another.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

They cried out in a seemingly never-ending pattern as the invading army dispersed in random directions, attempting to escape the chaos on the main road.

And then everything went quiet.

A constant ringing intruded General Livius' ears, muffling all the sound around him. He slowly and uneasily attempted to regain his orientation as he saw the last explosions shine an aura of orange glow in the distance and watched intently as the smoke began to clear.

The airborne dirt and pebbles fell back to the ground like a relentless hailstorm. Bodies that had been thrown about the street and piled onto each other were revealed in the explosions' wake. Their armor was blown apart, black, dented, and bent in unnatural angles as they lay motionless.

His plan was a success.

Slowly, his hearing began to seep back, the continuous whistle in his ears gradually running out of air to blow as if to commemorate his achievement. It wasn't over yet, however.

As if on cue, the offensive forces began to recover from the initial detonation, forming back together just as quickly as they were torn apart—albeit now down several men. However, the period of marching was over, those blasts had officially been the first shot fired of the battle, and the river of gold now began surging forward, spears at the ready.

The dragons in the sky were, similarly, also rapidly gaining speed, their mouths alight with a variety of colors corresponding to their respective arcana.

Livius had no time to waste.

He held up his right hand to signal the archers and the ballistas.

"Hold."

He waited, they approached.

"Hold!"

He waited, they approached.

"HOLD!"

He waited, they approached.

Then, just as it looked like the first dragons were right on top of them, bursts of magic on the verge of escaping from their mouths, Livius gave the awaited order.

"FIRE!"

Immediately, the sound of the heavy firing of ballistas and bows filled the battlefield. The sky was filled with a cascade of ballista ammunition, charging straight for the flying reptiles. Similarly, the wall of their canyon had been extended upwards by a wall of seemingly infinite arrows reaching up towards the sky only to come crashing back down on the army below.

Some dragons were pushed back through the necessary evasive maneuvers as they performed rolls and flips to dodge the bullet hell screaming at them. Others weren't so lucky. Roars of pain erupted from two Sun Dragons as the ballista arrows embedded themselves into their scales. Livius watched as the dragons spun out of control and fell to the ground like rocks. Loud bangs emerged from their impacts, shaking the earth as plumes of smoke and fire arose from their gravesites.

Seeing the tsunami of arrows, the ground forces attempted to fall back, but many were still struck as the wave broke—some arrows finding slits in the armor and sending the once walking troops to the ground.

Cheers erupted from those inside the sandbags as they celebrated the success of the first wave.

"Don't get cocky!" General Livius called out. "We have a long way to go, and they won't fall for the same thing twice! Reload and fire only if you feel you need to!"

Another ballista was fired. This time, however, the dragon easily avoided its trajectory. Spears from the ground forces were thrown like a return avalanche by the knights who now seemed more keen on keeping their distance. Some white-hooded soldiers had to take cover, while others didn't react in time and were met with the impalement of a spear traveling right through their heads as they stumbled to the floor.

"What did I just say?! Stop being wasteful! We are still outnumbered!"

A cleverly placed shot grazed the dragon that had previously outmaneuvered the ballista. Another roar echoed as more ballistas took aim at the scaly beast, forcing it to fall back, almost crashing into a Sun Dragon which General Livius noted, had been curiously staying back the entire battle, not even showing any signs of attempting an attack yet. It troubled him, what were they planning exactly?

The sound of another fired ballista next to him brought him back into the moment, however. He couldn't think of that now, he just needed to focus on resisting what was in front of him.

That's all they had to do right now.

Just keep on resisting.

If the reinforcements came soon, maybe they would stand a chance.

Callum took in a long breath of nighttime air as the soft, white glow from the rising moon bathed the castle and the courtyard he was standing in. Many different stars shone through the night, dotting the cloudless sky and purging the dark void.

Callum would have found this display mesmerizing if it were any other day. It was nights like this when he would want to get lost in the different constellations for hours as he drew them in his sketchbook. However, this wasn't one of those days. He knew what was coming, and so did everybody else out here with him.

Around Callum stood a sea of people, all poised and waiting. Among them were castle guards; members of the council, including Opeli, who stood right next to him; servants; and the entire rest of the castle staff. To the left of him, a few people away, Callum could also make out the faint shine of a Glow Toad, tucked securely in the arms of Iris. These were the only group of people that Callum had gotten to know in his life. The only people from that group that were still here, that was. Another deep breath flooded his lungs as the pang of grief hit his chest again, the pain of his brother's situation and his longing for the Moonshadow elf and everyone else who had gone to save him roaring back with a vengeance.

The castle lay empty and devoid of life, the interior candles having been extinguished for the last time as the building was prepped for its demise.

Callum had been one of the last to leave. He remembered navigating the long, dark hallways and the eerie feeling that crept its way throughout them. There was never any sound except for that of his own muffled footsteps on the carpeted floor. Doors to rooms he had recognized had been closed and locked forever, other rooms remained open, revealing nothing but their four walls and the last pieces of furniture that the staff had been unable to pack.

The entire structure had been frozen in time completely, and Callum felt like he could feel its sadness as he walked, as if it was alive, as if it knew what was coming for it. And once he had stepped out into the courtyard, he had realized that the gates to the castle lay wide open, like it was welcoming its executioners.

That was the last time Callum would ever set foot in his old home.

Callum struggled but eventually buried those thoughts deep down within himself. He couldn't be focusing on these things right now. Those were all the least of his worries. Therefore, he continued to stare blankly ahead at the gates, waiting.

It wasn't long before Callum could see something at the other end of the bridge, softly lighting up the night. As Callum focussed his eyes more and more, the shape became apparent to him. A significantly sized squad of knights, lit up with the fury of the sun, were marching in his direction. Their mounts shone with almost the same intensity as their armor, with golden manes and tails that seemed to end in fire. Callum recognized them as Twin-Tailed Inferno-Tooth Tigers, the mount he had seen Amaya and Janai arrive on at the Storm Spire way back when.

Callum tensed up almost immediately. He had heard the reports since this whole thing had begun about what these knights had done and were capable of. Now was the first time Callum had seen them in person, and they looked even more intimidating and horrifying than Callum had imagined. Their entire body, from head to toe, was encased in thick, gold-like plating. Each knight gripped a spear that glowed more intensely than the armor, a weapon seemingly forged from flame. The knight walking a small distance in front of the rest, presumably a leader of sorts, also held a rolled-up piece of parchment in their other hand.

The crowd began to murmur as the knights approached, some curious, but most just as tense as Callum was.

The arrivals finally made it past the castle gate. The leader just stopped and stood wordlessly like a statue in front of everyone as the rest of them spread out to all sides, distributing themselves along the walls of the courtyard. Each of them stared down the audience, their visors forbidding any sort of emotion from reaching the crowd.

It was then that the leader moved forward at a highly regulated pace, stopping after only a couple of steps. A monotone female voice emanated from behind their helmet. "Prince Callum, please step forward."

Callum's heart skipped a beat, and his body became rigid at the sound of his name being called. He slowly craned his head to the left and to the right, quickly taking in the scene. Most eyes in the crowd were now glued to him, filled with melancholy and pity, while other's conveyed a very clear message.

"Good luck."

Callum gulped as he slowly began to inch forward, one step at a time. His building anxiety was at war with him, spiking at every moment the soles of his boots made contact with the cold stone floor. The corners of his vision began to fall away more and more, dissolved by a black void as he focused on the person in front of him.

No words were spoken as Callum completed his short journey, now standing centimeters away from the one who had called him. The silent anticipation of what was to come acted as more fuel to Callum's nervousness as he desperately tried to control his breathing, not wanting to collapse in front of these invaders.

That anticipation finally broke when the knight spoke again, her tone quieter and more personal now, yet still utterly devoid of emotion. "You are Prince Callum, then, I presume?"

Callum quickly coughed in an attempt to dissuade any remaining tension in his body. This, unfortunately, proved to be unsuccessful. "Y-yes, I am… Your uh—"

Callum didn't know what to call this person in front of him, and that began to manifest itself into more and more dread that bubbled up inside his body, transforming him into even more of a stuttering mess than he was before.

There was no reaction from the one he was speaking to, however. She simply took the rolled-up parchment and handed it to him, who hesitantly accepted it with shaking hands.

"I trust that you have ensured everything will go smoothly?"

Callum looked back at the knight with a hint of despair after briefly unrolling the paper to view its contents. "Yes… yes, I have."

His eyes then fell to the floor as his mind once again confronted him with everything that was about to happen and everything he was expected to just stand by for. It was no longer something he'd have to deal with in a few days' time, no, this was all actually happening now, and that realization drove a hard pit right into his stomach.

"And I presume that you have your speech written and ready to be checked as requested?"

Callum inhaled a short breath through his mouth as his hand reached into his coat pocket for his own, neatly folded-up piece of paper. Slowly, he handed the speech over to the one in front of him, his hand shaking more and more as it crossed the distance.

Once in range, the knight snatched the document from him and quickly unfolded it, leaving Callum, despite never being very religious, to close his eyes and pray that the speech was up to Sol Regem's standards. After said praying had ended, he opened his eyes to see her still intently reading what he had written, seemingly scanning every tiny detail, adding to the torture of the already painful wait.

But finally, "Good." A massive amount of weight was taken off Callum's chest as the word from the leader alleviated his stress. "Stand back. His majesty, King Sol Regem, will be here shortly."

Callum nodded weakly as the knights ordered and pushed the entire crowd back to make space for the incoming dragon before moving back to their original posts.

It was then only a matter of minutes before a large outline on the horizon marked the Sun Dragon's arrival, appearing as only a dark shadow in the night sky. Alongside the blind dragon, there was another, smaller figure of a mounted knight flying slightly ahead of Sol Regem, presumably to guide him in. The sight made Callum feel smaller than he ever had.

The last time Callum had met Sol Regem, it was under entirely different circumstances, and he wasn't a big fan of where that encounter took them back then. Now, however, times were far more dire. There would be no simple tricking the dragon with smelltriloquism this time, not unless he wanted to put his people at risk.

Callum held his breath as Sol Regem touched down right in front of him, causing a powerful thundering noise and vibrations to race through the ground, kicking up dust and making Callum struggle to keep his balance.

The pale moonlight illuminated Sol Regem's face just enough to expose the seared and crusted skin of the scar across his eyes and the unsettling smile that had taken shape on his lips. In addition, the torches outside the castle cast an ominous orange glow on his now curled-up body that caused the Sun Dragon's yellow scales to take on a look of anger and lethality.

The knight that had been guiding Sol Regem landed silently next to the beast and appeared to take a harsh surveying glance of the crowd before focusing in on Prince Callum himself. They then got off their mount and tapped the dragon to get his attention, to which Sol Regem lowered his head in response. The knight quickly whispered something into his ear before returning to their mount.

Sol Regem's smile stretched wider as he stood back up into his original position, towering over the crowd once again. His head immediately locked onto Callum's general location, causing the teen to stumble back in surprise. Despite the dragon being blind, Callum could feel his gaze piercing right through him.

"Greetings, Prince Callum. It is an honor to meet you again. Forgive me if my forces have already asked you this, but I trust that you have prepared yourself for the coming ceremony?" Sol Regem's voice was hushed but still as thunderous and as powerful as ever.

"Y-yes… Y-yes, I have King So–your hi-majesty." Callum was desperately trying not to sound weak. His voice betrayed him, however, as he squeaked and stumbled over his words and then became caught in a panic as his brain desperately tried to figure out the most appropriate way to address Sol Regem.

Callum breathed a sigh of relief, though, when the dragon didn't seem to display any sort of anger at the blunder with the names. However, his heart dropped when he realized that this whole situation appeared to be deeply amusing to Sol Regem.

"Very well, Prince Callum. I have been informed that your staff are all standing with you. Now may be the time to say your goodbyes to most of them. We need this area cleared for our spectators, after all." The Dragon King's smiling mouth appeared to hang open a tiny amount at that last part, showing his clear enjoyment of this.

Callum sighed. Feeling too powerless to give any objection, and finally having his brain focused on the right title to call Sol Regem by, he simply responded with "Yes, your majesty."

A somber mood dominated the environment as Callum made the rounds. Despite having rarely interacted with these people, if at all, he couldn't help but shed a tear as he parted with everyone; those who had defended him, who had fed him, and who had kept the castle (and most importantly, his room) clean and orderly.

Callum had a bit of a light chuckle with the cleaning staff at that last one, reminiscing in the memories of the accidental annoyance that Callum could sometimes be with how he kept his room. It was a last, much needed, lighter moment to brighten the mood of the current situation.

However, it still hurt him to know that he would never have this experience again, and it became harder and harder, with every handshake, for him not to completely fall apart. He knew deep down, though, that despite the pain, this was still for the best. Many of these people had families, families they would now be reunited with. Despite that, the thought still did little to fill the growing emptiness that Callum felt within him as each one passed the castle gates.

Eventually, the crowd had thinned down to Iris, still holding the glow toad, its skin overtaken by a bleak and lifeless gray; the crow master; and, of course, Opeli.

"Well, I guess this is it, Opeli. I just want you to know that you have been a great help around the castle… I don't know if we will ever see each other again, but just know that I am forever in your debt."

Opeli listened to Callum's farewell with what seemed to be a blank stare before her lips curved up into a small, caring smile. "Oh, don't worry, Prince Callum, I don't intend on going anywhere."

Callum's eyes widened with surprise, not knowing how to respond to this information.

"If that's ok with you, of course," Opeli followed up before her face fell into one of slight melancholy. "I am going to be honest, Prince Callum, advising the royal family has been my entire life ever since I reached adulthood… and unlike many of the people you have already parted with… I… don't really have anywhere to go."

Callum stood as rigid as a statue, still wide-eyed, not making any sort of noise, allowing several moments of uncomfortable silence to pass.

Opeli looked back at the prince, her eyes making small incremental movements, left and right, seemingly searching for something. Despite always being known for having a prominent official, confident, and stern presence, this time, she was utterly devoid of any of those traits, looking just as lost and vulnerable as everybody else.

Opeli let out a deep sigh before her gaze became fixed on the floor. "This might be a foolish request on my part, but…I guess…I was just hoping to come with you, wherever you end up going." Opeli slowly tilted her head back up and forced a smile onto her face. "You never know when you might still need that little bit of advice, right?"

Callum's vision began to blur at that last line as a surge of emotion traveled through him. Not caring about any sort of standard royal protocol, he rushed at Opeli, completely catching her off guard before squeezing her in a tight embrace.

A steady stream of tears, which quickly evolved into rapids, flowed out of Callum's eyes as he sobbed, staining the white of Opeli's robe. He never realized just how much of a relief it would be to not have to go into whatever lay ahead alone until now. "Y-yes! Yes, of course, of course you can come… that… would be amazing, thank you, Opeli…"

After recovering from her shock, Opeli closed her eyes, then slowly and unsurely wrapped her arms around the prince to return the gesture, shedding a small tear of her own in the process.

Callum was still sniffling as he separated from the counselor. After wiping away the newly formed tear tracks, he slowly made his way over to the doctor responsible for maintaining the health of both Ezran and him for the last two years. "Iris…"

"Don't even think about it, Prince Callum." He couldn't even finish his thought before Iris interrupted him with a smile on her face. "Somebody has to make sure you stay in good health, and, of course, care for Bait here, right?"

The glow toad in question croaked in agreement, his mouth forming what appeared to be a small smile as his tail began to wag and his skin filled with color, changing back into the familiar yellow hue.

Callum felt like he was going to immediately start crying again, feeling the all too familiar sensation rising in his throat. However, his body was still completely dry from the tears he had just shed moments ago and so nothing came of it. He managed to smile and choke out a "Thank You…Iris" while doing everything he could to hold back from embracing her as well.

"I… I guess I'll be sticking around too… I-if t-that's ok with you." Callum immediately swiveled his head in the direction of the slightly high-pitched and nervous-sounding voice. Next to Iris, the Crow Master stood timidly, looking in his direction, rubbing his fist in his other hand as if he was cold. "I mean, I have let my crows go by now… but i-it might still be helpful for someone to handle the mail?" The crow master wore a sheepish smile as he said that. "I…uh… I also… like counselor Opeli… don't really have anywhere to go."

Unable to say anything initially, Callum just simply nodded in response as his smile grew. After gathering his bearings for a few moments, however, Callum's ability to speak had finally returned. "Thank you, everyone… You… you all have no idea how much this means to me… I…" Callum stammered for a moment, wanting to say more but then cut himself off.

Afterward, Callum closed his eyes and let out a long sigh before slowly turning around to face the massive Sun Dragon, still looming behind him.

Although seemingly waiting patiently, his lips had curved into a frown, showing Sol Regem to be largely disinterested and bored with everything taking place. Callum made sure to take a few more deep breaths to calm his nerves before speaking. "Alright, your majesty I-I'm-we're finished."

Callum waited nervously as the immense creature slowly filled its lungs with air, paused for a moment, then expelled it in a slightly annoyed manner.

Afterward, Callum faintly heard what seemed to be Sol Regem muttering something under his breath before addressing the prince with the same boredom that the dragon's expression had just displayed. "Very well, Prince Callum." The lethargy and agitation then completely dissolved from his face as his lips curved back into a menacing smile. "Well then? Let us get set up. It won't be too long until our guests arrive."

"Wait." Callum suddenly interjected.

Sol Regem immediately focused on him in a state of slight shock. Callum could feel the knights around him slowly gaining a tighter grip on their weapons as they prepared for something, but he didn't care about that right now. These thoughts had plagued his mind ever since Sol Regem's first letter came, growing and festering like a tumor. And now, with a sudden burst of courage, Callum was going to get those thoughts answered. "I know you have my brother, Sol Regem."

Another smirk began to take shape on the dragon's face. It was a confirmation that Callum was less ready for than he thought.

"Can you at least promise me that you won't hurt him? Is there anything you need me to do to guarantee his safety?" Callum's initial confidence was abandoning him, his words becoming far more pleading in nature.

Sol Regem merely chuckled, the deep vibrations being felt all the way down at ground level, before responding. "I should have known you'd figure it out. I guess you are more intelligent than I gave you credit for."

Callum didn't say anything back, he just waited nervously for Sol Regem's answer.

"I will say this," Sol Regem began. "You have done all you can. What happens to him is entirely in his hands now."

Callum closed his eyes and let out a fearful breath. It wasn't exactly the answer he was hoping for, but then again, he didn't know what type of answer he could have expected from Sol Regem, honestly.

What happens to him is entirely in his hands now.

Callum opened his eyes and looked up at the lightly shimmering dots in the sky.

Ezran… Callum thought with desperation.

Wherever you are… please… don't do anything stupid.

Callum, flanked by two of Sol Regem's knights, each with spears resting at their side, stood on the high balcony over the vast courtyard that was beginning to fill with people streaming in from the main gate. The moon shone almost directly overhead, casting a ray of light straight down onto the prince. A table had been set up in front of him, and placed upon it was the treaty of surrender the head knight had given to him as Sol Regem's forces had arrived at the castle, complete with a blank line at the bottom for his signature. Placed by Callum himself, neatly beside it, was his speech. A speech containing words that filled him with fear when the thought of saying them publicly infiltrated his head.

Behind Callum, peeking out of the dark entryway, stood the three castle staff who had chosen to stay with him. Throughout this entire period, he had occasionally turned his head to look at them, and they looked back, their expressions dominated with worry.

Directly below the balcony stood the rest of the knights, neatly forming a line that faced the entrance, while in front and slightly to the right sat the great Sol Regem himself. His body was, again, curled up to reduce the space it filled while his head was angled towards the arriving mass who gawked at his sheer size.

Some expressions were filled with fear, some with hatred, and some cast the unforgettable look of absolute despair. Their faces betrayed many of the same emotions that Callum himself had felt for the past few days, almost creating an exact mirror image. And so, his heart ached even more for every single one of them as he continuously reminded himself that this was the best thing he could do for their sake. Callum couldn't see Sol Regem's face from behind, but he knew that the Dragon King had that familiar menacing smile that Callum had seen too many times this evening.

The inflow of people began to dissipate as the courtyard approached capacity. This crowd was far quieter than in any of the speeches Callum or Ezran had previously given. Not a sound emanated from them except for a few hushed words that were quietly exchanged.

Callum took a deep breath as the remaining trickle of arrivals ceased, and the two knights on each side of him gestured for the crowd to stop what little noise they were making. It did not take long at all for the people to heed their instructions, and soon the atmosphere was filled with the silence that Callum knew all too well and was starting to loathe.

Suddenly, Sol Regem's voice shot through the air, noticeably louder than earlier, causing Callum and a few people in the crowd to jump.

"Greetings, everyone! I welcome you all on this fine evening," Sol Regem started. "If you are here today, that means that you most likely know what has recently transpired between our nations."

Callum saw parents tighten their grip on their terrified-looking children who squirmed and made weak, fearful sounds as they tried to stay close to the comfort of their mothers and fathers. In addition, soft sounds of sobbing were beginning to take hold in the crowd, coming from several unseen locations.

The noise came to a sudden stop, however, when the knight to Callum's right swiftly and fiercely slammed their spear onto the stone railing in front of them, creating a harsh CLANK followed immediately by a short sizzling sound as the area of impact began to melt, emitting a violent orange glow and a plume of smoke before cooling down.

The knight then wordlessly rested the spear by their side once more as Sol Regem began to speak again, his voice feigning sympathy. "I understand that it may be hard to lose the kingdom that you all have lived in for so long." Sol Regem's voice hardened again. "Rest assured, however, that the decision your prince has made was the right one. The Kingdom of Katolis never stood a chance, and by continuing to fight against us, he would only be prolonging the inevitable." Callum, through the tone of the dragon's voice, could again feel the smile re-emerge as he spoke. "However, do not despair. We do not intend to do you any harm so long as you comply."

Tell that to the town you massacred.

"In fact, this is cause for celebration. This is the only way humans and Xadia can finally, truly achieve peace and put an end to our constant scuffles."

The audience did not seem convinced.

"Now… I presume it goes without saying that there will be some new… rules in place to abide by, once Katolis is officially handed over to us. The first of which being the total and complete ban on anything relating to dark magic." Sol Regem paused. "It should have been clear from the beginning that Xadia would never tolerate the use of dark magic, and that all traces of it must be crushed. Unfortunately, due to your land's inability to take this necessary action, we had to intervene." Suddenly, Sol Regem's voice became much harsher, seemingly holding back a wave of intense fury that seared the air around him. "Any attempt to use this vile practice will lead to severe punishment, and any attempts to assist these Tainted Ones in any way, including harboring or failing to report those guilty, will also lead to such measures. I don't care how long it takes, bit by bit, we will cleanse your lands. You've brought this upon yourselves."

Sol Regem's volume then softened. It wasn't the good kind of softening though because although he was now speaking a lot quieter, his voice turned into one of pure, dripping venom, creating a terrifying mixture of calm and rage. One could almost hear the thick, black ooze seeping from his mouth as he finished off, "In addition, any sort of resistance or disobedience to any of our orders will be met with a similar fate. Do. Not. Test. Us."

Those last four words shook Callum to his core. He wasn't even aware that Sol Regem was capable of producing those types of tones. And him speaking in that way to innocent civilians once again made him question his decision to surrender, if it was really a good idea to go through with this. But it was too late now.

Sol Regem held all the cards, and he knew it.

If Callum refused now, Sol Regem would likely just kill him and possibly everyone else here and then take the kingdom by force.

The dragon seemed to relax afterwards, taking a deep breath while slightly arching his neck to mimic the airflow movement. "That is, without a doubt, the main law. There will, however, likely be others introduced in time. Just remember, comply with our laws and all instructions from the Knights of Sol Regem, and we won't be forced into such extreme action." There was another pause while the audience slowly processed everything Sol Regem had just said. "All of this information will, of course, be released to those unfortunate enough not to be able to attend, so do not worry your little human heads."

A gust of wind was heard, gently rustling the leaves of nearby trees before coming to a dead stop at the castle walls, unable to penetrate through. Those listening to the speech seemingly no longer even had the energy to produce a reaction if they wanted to. Most weren't even looking at the dragon. Rather, almost all of them stared off in different directions, with the only common feature between them being that all of their gazes were slightly angled towards the floor. Their faces were completely overwhelmed with hopelessness. Even the smallest children, still wrapped up in their parents' arms, had now fallen completely still. If one didn't know any better, they could mistake them for husks.

"Now..." Sol Regem's ominously drawn-out voice cut through the scene. "Now that we have gotten all of the basics out of the way."

Sol Regem turned his head back to where Callum was standing. The dragon's colossal teeth, easily capable of tearing apart practically anything or anyone, shone brightly in the night, exposed by likely the most disturbing grin that Callum had seen from the dragon up until now. The sight made him almost feel sick to his stomach.

"I'd like to give the floor to Prince Callum, who will be making a short speech of his own before signing the treaty that will seal the surrender and annexation of this kingdom. May his words usher in a new, brighter future."

Sol Regem looked back towards the audience as Callum steadied his nerves. The people, his own civilians, looked back up at him, appearing desperate and pleading. Callum steadied himself and practiced quick breathing exercises as he stepped forward until his clothes brushed the table in front of him, getting as close as he could to the crowd.

This was not going to be easy.

He glanced down at the speech he had written, checking on it periodically as he spoke to be absolutely sure that he didn't mess anything up.

"My fellow citizens of Katolis. Unfor-" Callum paused and squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a quick grunt before continuing. "As you know, I have recently been forced to surrender the Kingdom of Katolis and all of Ezran's and my associated power with this kingdom to Xadia and King Sol Regem."

Callum paused, silently hoping for some sort of reaction from the crowd. Something that would give him a more concrete picture of what may have been going through their heads. There was nothing.

"I ask you to please understand that this is not a decision I have taken lightly. I made an informed choice with the knowledge I had at the time to attempt to keep my people safe and keep casualties to a minimum."

A traitorous lump, threatening to destroy the carefully crafted image of formality that he had so painstakingly created in the written words of the speech, gradually climbed its way up his throat as he continued to speak.

"I still stand by this decision today. Katolian forces were completely unprepared to deal with a Xadian invasion at the time, and Sol Regem had the kingdom completely outmatched. To attempt to continue to resist would have led to our complete and immediate destruction."

The audience's pleading-like expression went away, replaced with the familiar sadness from before. More than a few eyes appeared to be bloodshot and or glossy. The sight made the lump in Callum's throat surge ahead as his voice began to shake.

He was beginning to lose himself again, at the worst possible time. He just had to make it through this speech. He couldn't fall apart in front of his own citizens. He had to keep pressing on.

"S-sol Regem had promised to stop the bloodshed if we surrender. Thereby, while the kingdom is lost, your safety has been secured, and that, to me, is what is most important."

Another pause as his rebelling emotions assaulted him harder and harder, his eyes already stinging.

"As the l-last order from the K-Katolis royal family: after I have signed this document here tonight, I a-ask you all to go home to your families. Continue to live your l-lives, and take care of your c-children… k-keep smiling…don't let the e-energy and s-spirit of our people die. I, however, also ask you n-not to cause King S-Sol Regem and Katolis' new o-occupiers any trouble. However you may f-feel about this, it's not worth it… just… d-do what they say, and you'll be fine…"

Callum took a moment to wipe his face of the small drops beginning to trickle down his cheek.

"I… I am sorry. I-I am sorry for all of this… I-I am sorry that I wasn't the p-prince I was supposed to be… I don't k-know when or i-if you all will hear from me again. I just hope that you all can f-forgive me, but even if you can't…"

Callum gulped, and immediately a large anvil began slowly squeezing, scratching, and tearing its way down his throat and into his chest.

"Know that wherever I end up, I will never stop thinking of you, and I hope you will be able to do the same with me, with us…"

Callum took in a large lungful of air, laying some of his feelings to rest before picking up the pen that lay almost perfectly parallel to the treaty in front of him. Its placement seemed eerily similar to that of the pen during the signing of the alliance treaty just days ago, almost like a perfect re-creation. The thought brought back a surge of memories that flooded his brain, memories that were now far too painful to think about. And so, to make them stop, using all of his mental energy, he forced them down into the darkest depths of his mind, where he locked them into a safe, never to be opened again.

"I… I thank you all…for everything…"

Callum stared at the document. The text appeared to be burning itself into the table. Having read it ahead of time, he already knew its contents. In addition to what had already been stated, it was more or less what he expected.

This was it. There were no steps left. It should've been so easy to simply sign his name as he had done a thousand times. However, Callum realized that he was unable to will his arm into moving. It was as if the limb in question had completely severed ties with his brain. The black line stared back at him, unchanged, mocking him.

Callum had to do something, and soon. While his vision had been wholly narrowed down to the parchment, he could sense Sol Regem's impatience growing off to his right the longer he waited, almost as if he could feel the dragon's increasingly frustrated breaths trickling down his neck. If Callum waited much longer, Sol Regem was going to do something, and he didn't want to find out what. That fear finally blasted the electric signals in Callum's body into action as he slowly began signing. The marks scratched themselves into the paper, bearing the look of shackles, a new chain being added with every stroke.

And then, finally, it was finished. Callum looked mournfully at the filled space before him, gently placing the pen back down where it had initially resided. Suddenly, it felt like the world came to a halt around him as he became lost in an ocean of thought. What he was thinking of exactly, he wasn't sure. His mind moved too quickly to even begin processing the images flying by. Fragments of different voices that he knew, words and phrases broken off and stitched to other sentences altogether, all accompanied the barrage of distorted pictures that briefly flashed by him.

He became so lost in his mind that he only vaguely realized the presence of one of the sounds among the horrible cacophony at first. However, it soon began to grow louder and louder as he recognized it. The sound of crying, soft sobs at first, but slowly crescendoing as the rest of the voices in his head lowered in volume before becoming nothing but a mere whisper and then fading away entirely with the images joining them.

Then he was back. Callum blinked, quickly looking around to reorient himself. The treaty in front of him was gone. However, the crying from before was more prevalent than ever, emanating from the crowd.

Multiple people, including Callum, began to turn their heads towards the source as the noise started sticking out like a sore thumb. They were led to one, specific individual within the mass of people, a middle-aged woman with ginger hair. Her hands covered her face as she slowly got lower and lower to the ground.

Then he heard it. It was faint at first, but unmistakable. The sound of Sol Regem's breaths becoming heavier, faster, as if growing in frustration.

Nonononononononono.

He wanted to shout, to beg that women to stop, but he remained frozen, only able to watch as the scene in front of him began to unfold.

"Why…" The women said weakly at first, in between breaths. "Why why why why…"

"H-how? – C-c" She seemed to be attempting to say something, but every word was shattered and interrupted by an intruding sob.

The knight next to Callum slammed their spear on the railing again, hitting the now darkened spot from before. While it got everyone else's attention, the woman was not deterred.

"That's enough…" Sol Regem gnarled.

As if that had been the trigger, the women suddenly erupted into screams, causing the entire crowd to jump back.

"WHY, PRINCE CALLUM?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?! YOU JUST LEFT US IN HIS HANDS!"

Callum's own tears had now finally begun falling down his face. He tried unsuccessfully to get them to cease, but it had already been set in motion, and there was no stopping what was coming. His all too familiar doubts came back with a screaming vengeance. He was supposed to protect the kingdom that his dad had left him, but when it came down to it, he barely allowed even a moment of thought that fateful night. Had they put their heads together, maybe they could have figured something out. Maybe they could have stopped this.

You understand that after you send that letter, there will be no going back.

Opeli's words played on repeat over and over in his head. Tormenting him with the decision that he had made. He just felt so, so sorry, so awfully guilty. Not like it mattered now what he felt, the deal was already signed, and now, as the women had said, his people were left in Sol Regem's claws.

"I said… that's enough!" The heat of Sol Regem's ghastly growl melted through the air like a sunforge blade piercing through ice.

Please… just stop… just listen to him… please…

The woman stood up straight and stared the towering dragon down. A cold glare filled her eyes as a dark hatred joined her sadness.

"AND YOU!"

NO

She clenched her fist.

"WHY DID YOU COME HERE?! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?! WE HAD PEACE!"

Her teeth were squeezed together, her face red like a dying star.

"LEAVE! GET… GET OUT OF OUR KINGDOM, YOU'RE… YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!"

Sol Regem produced a disappointed sigh before he turned his head to his knights and delivered a confirming nod.

Callum's heart stopped as he watched a group of four of them storm into the audience in response to the apparent order, harshly pushing people aside, making a beeline for the woman who just now seemed to register what was going to happen to her.

Her former defiance immediately evaporated away, leaving nothing but the sheer look of terror in her eyes. Shaking and seemingly stuck to the ground, she began to hold her hands out in front of her.

"Wait…. No…please… I-I didn't mean that I'm sORRY-"

Her pleading jolted into a yelp as two knights, one on each side, forcefully wrapped their arms around her shoulders, and she was lifted off her feet, her heels dragging along the cold pavement with the other two knights following closely behind.

"NO! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID! JUST PLEASE! LET ME GO!"

"PRINCE CALLUM! TELL THEM TO STOP! PLEASE! Pleeaasse!"

That last exclamation faded into a steady stream of sobs as she approached the castle gates and one of the trailing knights beckoned two of the mounts they had arrived on to follow. Out of mere instinct, Callum turned to look at Sol Regem.

The dragon must've sensed this or just knew Callum would try to say something because he turned to face the young prince, smiled, then shook his head.

That small gesture told Callum everything he needed to know. As much as he wanted to do something, he couldn't. He was utterly powerless now. What happened to her would be up to Sol Regem and Sol Regem alone.

The woman's cries continued to erupt into the night sky. However, her howls fell on deaf ears. Mostly, at least. They continued to beat Callum down even more than any opponent ever could. Every yell, every scream, every attempt to stitch together a sentence broke another tiny peace off the poor boy.

"Wait- whe- where are you taking her?" Callum managed to stutter out.

The smile on the sun king's face seemed to grow as he turned his head in response. "Unfortunately, that's none of your business, Callum."

Sol Regem sighed lightly as he turned his head back towards the situation unfolding, "I'm afraid you were given multiple chances to comply with my instructions, and yet you still chose to ignore them," he said as the woman was dragged through the gateway. "I had warned you that this disobedience would not be tolerated, had I not?"

The dragon's words did little to impede the woman's hysteria, her struggling figure becoming smaller and smaller before finally disappearing over the bridge. Her weeps proceeded to turn into a mere distant echo before eventually fading away into nothing as everyone else merely watched on, a somber expression on their faces.

"Does anybody else feel like making a scene?" Sol Regem challenged assertively, his full attention bearing down on the crowd.

Much to Callum's relief, Sol Regem's question was met with nothing. Most people looked as if they were retreating into themselves as silent tears became visible on some of their cheeks.

Sol Regem waited a good while for any response before speaking again, "Good! Well then, I believe that's all we needed to get through..."

As some people slowly began to turn towards the exit, Sol Regem thundered one last thing. "Rest well!" His voice then melted into an ominous tone that sent chills through Callum's spine "For tomorrow…marks the dawn of a new era."

Callum stood in an open field on the edge of a cliff, joined by the likes of Opeli, Iris, the crow master, and, of course, Sol Regem, who was standing next to him. The dragon was also accompanied by a group of six knights, significantly less than what had originally shown up earlier that day. Their mounts were tied down, waiting patiently behind everyone. The illuminated lights of the Katolis capital shone brightly next to them, contrasting the now dark castle standing just over the bridge.

Callum had just spent the last half an hour or so speaking to some of the last people to leave the ceremony as they made their way out of the castle walls, wishing them safe travels and at least trying to offer reassurance that everything was going to be ok, despite his smile being extremely easy to see through.

And now he was here, with Sol Regem, waiting for the now abandoned property to meet its doom.

Ten minutes came and went with no sign of anything happening. It felt like nobody had even moved since they got here. The ever-expanding wait for something was beginning to make Callum feel antsy. He had tried occupying himself with a few of his own thoughts, but even that had failed after a while. It was perhaps for the best. His thoughts were, after all, not that much better than the world outside.

With the lack of his mind to occupy him, he resorted to quickly fidgeting with his hands, fingers, and even his clothes. It didn't really do all that much, but it still helped distract him and thereby brought some peace of mind to his situation, as it always did.

Eventually, though, the anticipation became too much to bear, despite everything that Callum tried.

"S…so… W… What are we waiting for? Exactly?" Callum asked in an attempt to at least get some answers.

Sol Regem didn't even turn his head in Callum's direction this time. He just put on the familiar smirk that Callum knew all too well and was beginning to hate more and more.

"Patience, Callum." Sol Regem sounded like a father speaking down to their rowdy kid. "We are just waiting on some friends."

Before Callum could even wonder or worry about what that meant, a loud roar from the skies behind him immediately caused him to rapidly swivel his whole body in that direction. It was only after a few moments that Callum realized he had gone wide-eyed and was breathing harder than normal.

Peering through the holes in the canopy of the treeline behind him, Callum could see the unmistakable shapes of two medium-sized Sun Dragons, soaring fast and low to the ground, rapidly approaching his position.

"Aaaaah, here they are!"

Everybody else had now turned around as well, their expressions all painted with shock and fear for what was coming.

Callum watched as the two dragons reached the clearing, roared, and then began to circle overhead. The constant flapping of the two pairs of wings provided a continuous, uninterrupted noise that bled into a now emerging feeling of temporary emotional numbness. He still felt fearful, of course, but it was like those fears that had been building up in anticipation of what was about to happen began to mute themselves without warning, leaving the other emotions to fight over the new territory, clashing, mixing, and blurring into a murky haze.

The sudden force of the gust from the Archdragon next to him quickly spreading his mighty wings managed to catch Callum off guard. He proceeded to lose his balance, impacting the grass on his side with a hard thud as stray dust from the field, lofted by the wind, sailed over him.

Without saying another word, Sol Regem took off vertically into the sky, the new force from this liftoff pounding Callum's slightly raised head back into the ground as he attempted to stand up.

Callum got up just in time to see Sol Regem, presumably using the sound of the dragons overhead, fly straight into the center of the circle. One of the two beasts roared to the other as the dragons created a sort of formation, with each medium-sized dragon flying slightly ahead and then claiming a side of the much larger creature between the two.

Once it had organized itself, the resulting trio made a straight shot for the castle, the smaller dragons in front seemingly guiding their leader despite him not looking like he needed it, quickly picking up speed as they went.

Callum took a deep breath.

Here we go.

It only took a couple of seconds to see a familiar fiery glow begin to rapidly take shape on each of the lines of Sol Regem's neck, starting near his chest and moving up to his head before feeding another, much larger shining light coming from Sol Regem's maw. Two similar glimmers also joined in from each side, flickering on in an almost harmonious nature.

The sudden and unmistakable howling and hissing of flames marked the dragons' arrival at their destination as three luminescent beams of fire were shot from the sky, lighting up the night around them and shooting out in all directions as they blasted the ground. Callum heard the distant screams and shocked cries from the capital city, the city that was now watching the events unfold with him, the city that wasn't told of what was going to happen.

Billows of smoke poured into the air as every flammable body on the castle grounds instantly ignited and began slowly burning into nothing but small leftover ashes which drifted upwards into the hot surroundings.

The castle windows were lighting up for the first time since the candles had been extinguished earlier that day, but this time with a much more violent and hate-filled aura than ever. The flames punched through every opening in the castle, spiraling into small tornadoes as they shot through the now shattered glass and burned doors.

The dragons' assault continued without pause or mercy. Once one flyover was completed, they turned around and performed a new sweep from another angle. During the periods where Sol Regem was not able to use his fire breath, the other two dragons took over completely as he just followed along, joining back in once it resurfaced.

Soon, not even the towers and walls could stand up to the continued onslaught of dragon fire. Callum saw as parts of them slowly became more and more radiant, shining bright and brighter.

Several cracks, booms, and noises that sounded remarkably similar to thunder became audible as the towers visibly shifted on top of their now softening supports, sending up plumes of dust with every harsh motion.

Finally, a limit was reached. Callum watched in horror as the same tower that once housed his room began vomiting an excess of dust, flames, and smoke out of its newly opened wounds and shifted downward one more time with a large CRASH before tipping over. It emitted a deep, continuous, reverberating rumble on its way down, joined by an assailment of harsh clatters, clangs, and slams while the tower fell apart completely, spewing debris and molten rock out ahead of it.

A large array of other ear-splitting sounds screamed out as the pieces of the tower impacted the ground, expelling a tsunami of smoke and rubble which collided with and masked several other structures in the castle, surging over the outer walls before dissipating in a multitude of tiny splashes in the moat below.

Looking around him, Callum noticed the reactions of the rest of his group.

Opeli was frozen, her eyes wide with her hands over her mouth. Her jaws were stretched, hanging open underneath their covering. She seemed to be speaking a large assortment of soft, pained, broken murmurs, saying things that Callum couldn't quite understand from where he was standing.

The crow master, meanwhile, was overtaken by unrest. His head flinched to different, seemingly random locations, never making full eye contact with the fire for long. His eyes, for about half a second, met those of Callum, showing the boy a heavy look of anguish before turning away to briefly look at the castle again. Callum could have sworn to hear a faint sniffle as he did so.

Iris was staring straight into the blaze. A stoic expression on her face challenged the flames' glare as it reflected off of the whites in her eyes. She showed little to no movement or emotion other than in her arms which were cradling the now distraught Glow Toad, trying to offer reassurance and comfort as it squirmed around in her grip.

Eventually, after the entire castle had been engulfed in a violent firestorm, the trio of dragons flew around its perimeter one last time before heading back to where they had originated. The castle continued to sputter and crumble behind them, the inferno casting an ominous shadow on the approaching beasts.

Sol Regem stopped, hovering just above and in front of the cliff face, facing Callum, while the other dragons began to circle their king once more. A wide, beaming smile was visible on the Sun Dragon's face.

"I appreciate your compliance." Sol Regem's strong voice overpowered the continuous gusts of wind that Callum felt being pushed out in front of the dragon's wings as they worked to maintain altitude. "Consider yourselves dismissed."

And with that, the three dragons made their departure, soaring high above the forest that lay behind the clearing, quickly disappearing from view. They were followed closely by the group of knights, working with haste to untie and climb onto their two mounts before taking off after them, leaving the group completely alone for the first time that night, with nothing but the crackling and roaring of the flames to accompany them.

"So… What- uh… what now?" asked the crow master, his voice overtaken by grief.

A glance around made Callum realize that all eyes were focused on him. He closed his eyes and took a moment to himself, attempting to process everything before looking back at the group.

"I guess we go to the only place I still have…" Callum said dejectedly as he viewed the fallen towers of the castle before immediately pulling his head away, the sight now becoming far too painful for him to bear.

"The Banther Lodge."

Sol Regem felt the sun's warmth flowing through him, empowering his body as it peaked over the horizon. The wilderness of Katolis surrounded the large clearing that he and his group of knights stood in, giving off a relaxing whiff of pine trees that steadily blew through the morning air.

Sol Regem had to hand it to the Human Kingdoms. Despite being utterly devoid of magic and therefore inferior in almost every way to anything Xadia had to offer, the wilderness here still had its charm.

It was such a shame that he had to go to all these lengths to protect the East, but humans were humans at the end of the day, a lesser species that could only spiral out of control if given any sort of power.

Sol Regem took a deep breath. Maybe it was the smell of the forest or the sound of pines softly rustling in the wind, but he felt largely at peace. It was official now, Katolis was his, and its leadership was completely dissolved. On top of this, he already had his invasion force moving in to take Duren and finally neutralize the last of the power these kingdoms held. Xadia would be safe from the human vermin soon, and everything would be just as it should have always been.

However, Sol Regem's peace was quickly shattered when the familiar distant screeching of an arriving shadowhawk pierced his ears. He instantly turned his head toward the sound despite knowing that he wouldn't be able to see anything. It was arriving from the North, peaking Sol Regem's curiosity as he realized what this would most likely be about.

Irida, who had been standing nearby, moved instinctively to collect the shadowhawk as it made its arrival. One glance at the seal and Irida was able to confirm Sol Regem's suspicion.

"Your majesty, it's from our forces in Duren."

A brief moment went by before Sol Regem responded.

"Well?..."

"Right… right, of course… my apologies, your majesty."

Irida wasted no time, hastily opening the letter and reading through its contents. Her breathing audibly tensed as she digested the information contained within.

"Your majesty…"

Her voice did not at all sound enthusiastic about what she was reading.

"Spit it out," Sol Regem demanded.

He had no time for this pointless stalling. If something was happening, he needed to hear about it immediately.

Irida let out a soft exhale before starting.

"It seems our attack on Duren has met an unexpected amount of resistance. We have suffered the first losses since the invasion began and are unable to breach the border…they-they must have figured out what we've been doing…"

Sol Regem sighed loudly in frustration as he began to think hard of a possible solution. Despite having expected his element of surprise to be compromised eventually, he didn't realize it would change things so drastically this far in.

"So we are in a stalemate, then?"

"No… your highness…"

More stutters as the worry in her voice began to increase dramatically. She seemed to be looking for the right words to convey the information before giving up entirely and just offering it as it was.

"It's…not just a stalemate… they're… they're pushing us back!"

A deep, low, long-lasting growl squeezed through Sol Regem's teeth as increased agitation mixed in with his focus. This was just what he needed right now. How his superior force of elves and dragons was being beaten back by a few humans was beyond him. One thing was clear, however, there was going to need to be an immediate re-evaluation of their plans if they hoped to achieve their goals efficiently.

Irida, who was staring up at the dragon, still rooted to the same spot, cleared her throat. Sol Regem, suddenly being snapped out of his thoughts, angled his head towards the knight below him expectantly before Irida spoke, the tight grip of nervousness clearly not having left her.

"It's- p-possible we could try to hold out for now. Our numbers are beginning to grow as they arrive from the East and the rest of our forces there have also reported that they are mobilizing and will be ready soon. With their assistance, I'm sure we would be able to-"

"No." The sudden and stern nature of the interjection caused Irida to flinch visibly.

Sol Regem let out a long, tired, conceding sigh before he started again. "We'd be risking a pointless amount of military continuing an attack like this…I know when I've been bested…"

Irida slowly began to deflate at the words, almost as if something was being continuously drained from her body.

Meanwhile, the cogwheels began to grind harder in Sol Regem. The many possible scenarios and outcomes blitzed through his thoughts as he continued to explore possibilities of a way out of the predicament he now found himself in. Then, suddenly, the hard wall of concentration on Sol Regem's face finally gave way…

To a smile.

His mouth opened slightly, welcoming a quick, excited breath into his lungs, a drastic change in tone that even managed to pull Irida from her current thoughts.

"Issue a statement to our forces on the border of Duren. The mission has changed. The invasion force is to head West towards Del Bar. From there, element of surprise or not, we shall make quick work of the three Western kingdoms."

Sol Regem was well aware of the critical condition of the army in these nations. Even before the Battle of the Storm Spire, their combined militaries were weak, unable to hold a candle to Xadia's forces. And that battle had made their situation even better for him. With the armies of these kingdoms decimated, they would be easy to pick off.

"Once those kingdoms have fallen, we will be able to ensnare the Kingdom of Duren and leave them with no way out but a surrender. With our full forces, victory will be practically certain." Sol Regem's smile widened a little as the last sentence passed through his lips. "However, do make sure to keep some of our army stationed at the Durenian border, just enough to keep them occupied… We… can't have them interfere."

Although this wasn't what he had initially planned for, Sol Regem had to admit that the benefits of such a plan in the form of all the new territory and resources they would be able to use to take down that Kingdom once and for all were all quite appealing.

"Yes, your majesty."

Despite her statement, however, Irida seemed rather unsure of something for a moment, quickly darting her head around before finally finding the words of what she wanted to say. "Uh… a-and my apologies, your majesty but are you sure we have the numbers at the moment for such an operation? I mean, despite everything, it is still three kingdoms and… Duren is still going to be trying to push as hard as they can… with our forces incomplete and split… I-I know I shouldn't be, but I feel… Well, I'm just a little nervous, is all."

Sol Regem's smile widened significantly as he listened to her concerns before replying calmly. "Do not worry, Irida… you may distribute the message to all of our forces that if they are ever in need of some fresh blood… well…" Sol Regem scanned his head around their surroundings to emphasize the point.

"We now have an entire kingdom full of eager volunteers."