With their sun hiding behind the mountain on the far land they look at the green sparkling grass changing abruptly to a snow surface and dead ground.
They feel their heads dizzy watching the climate changing so violently and as they make their last steps on the green ground they feel waves of pain in their heads leaving in a glimpse, they make their first steps and immediately they feel the cold striking them, Vasil goes beside Lixin and says "finding them will be hard" "but not impossible"
They continue for many hours with the horses walking slower and slower, and the wind getting stronger, putting to ease any fire and limiting their view, watching only shadows, Klaeben says to Ai "we will die out from the cold, we can still run and escape, nobody will follow us or even see us" Ai grit her teeth for a moment and then says as she looks at Eirana "we cannot leave when people depend on us" Klaeben sigh "it seems that even the storm can't change you" Ai walks further from him and goes beside Eirana "how is your brother?" "Luckily he is healthy" "after that you will have enough time to talk to him" Eirana at first doesn't respond, after some seconds of silence she opens her mouth "if I don't survive I want you to demand from Elizel to let him free" she draws a pouch from her backpack and gives it to Ai "along with this money and a message from me" Ai says nothing and listens and they continue silent.
From behind they hear two men screaming with their hissing voices "general, the cargo is stuck" Vasil look at them as clearly as he can and says "soldiers help the men" the men push the cargo but the wheels are stuck between the snow and the rocks, the general shout "take everything you can from inside and split it up" they slowly leave their horses and walk with the snow reaching above their knees "faster" the soldiers grunt and split the armor and the clothes.
They continue further and the general look at their army with the horses moving slower and slower, he looks in front of him watching the shadow of the mountain piercing the clouds, he then looks around him and sees light at his right, his eyes open wide and point his fingers, screaming "move forward" the soldiers look at the lights and try to mount fast but many of the horses tremble and die, the general look at them and a Grega soldier shouts "general, we cannot continue this madness anymore" Vasil responds "do not give up now that we are close" another man shouts "sir with all due respect if we continue there is no way to return home "
Another man says "why do we still hunt them? We took back the land and they will soon die in the snow" many other Grega soldiers demand their leave and Vasil shouts "we are not finished until we capture Konstantin until then we will continue in the snow" Vasil turn his back and some soldiers drop their weapons and start leaving, with more following them, Vasil turn and he stays silent for a second before he shouts "come back to your positions, that's an order" the men continue without looking back and the remaining soldiers look at them with envy, Vasil shouts again and again but the soldiers do not listen, he gets ready to raise his hand but Lixin stops him "it's not worth it to cause a bloodshed here" Vasil leans forward and moves with the soldiers following towards the lights, they get closer and the lights become brighter, General Lixin shouts "archers get ready to ambush the enemy"
The archers cough and slowly draw their bows, they starts approaching the army more and more and suddenly From the back of the army soldiers fall from their horses, the general looks around and sees the hills of snow shaking, like they are coming towards him, he raise his spear and the others watch him with his eyes wide open "someone is watching us" Vasil says "Lixin the enemy is right here" he points at the source of light and suddenly sees a silhouette falling, Vasil look carefully and suddenly more soldiers fall from their horses.
The others raise their weapons and Lixin watch the snowy hills shaking and shouts "archers shoot there" the archers do what Lixin says and the arrow falls into the snow, more soldiers fall and Ai goes close to them and place her hands on their faces "they have no temperature in their body"
Vasil eyes wide open and he look around and The archers fire at all sides with the arrows falling to the snow, from the back the horses neigh and the general shouts again "shoot again further" arrows fall and they see a silhouette falling down, their eyes wide open and more soldiers fall, they shoot again seeing another silhouette falling and as they look at the snow they see two crimson eyes looking at them, suddenly they see more all over the snow and they see
white skin women taller than the normal man, looking with a cold stare at Klaeben and the others as the white hair flow in the wind, they start moving backward and more arrows fall killing one of them while the others disappear in the snow, the general look at the enemy seeing many of them falling.
The general then watch around, seeing the snowy mountains shaking and the soldiers shooting desperately to find a target, the general screams "do not use any more of your arrows" the soldiers stop and
The general shouts "charge at them" the soldiers try to run as fast as they could but the deep snow hinders them
the women slowly go back and continue to kill the soldiers.
Kleaben focus on a woman far away and slowly takes her temperature and kills her, the women stare at him, feeling his body becoming colder, and two of them came forward, Lixin goes besides Klaeben and says "take their temperature again" "Klaeben responds "I cannot take theirs like that" "and why is that?" "Their temperature can get low enough before they die"
The general grunts and Fenhua comes from behind them "then we can kill them with some spears" he takes a spear and with all his strength throws one in a woman, piercing her skull and coming from the other side, the other women look at her and they let a loud pitch cry, they come closer and one of the woman runs towards Lixin and the others with her eyes half closerd and looking at the army, She goes in the front line and ten soldiers fall with a pitched voice coming from her and suddenly the woman leaves another scream and they stop, she stare at them and they abruptly turn their heads to the man and Konstantin, seeing the flames rising and the lighting that pierce the snow, the women start running on them and Lixin and the others try to follow them but the snow covered their view and reached almost above his knees, he walks back and everyone look with their pupils shaking and their hands doing the same, many fall to their knees and take deep breaths, looking at the bodies and crying, some others says "Vasil i cannot follow you, we cannot follow you anymore" many turn and Vasil clutch his palms and raise his hand "departing now will be shown as treacherous and dishonored, if you leave now you will not have anywhere to go, you will be outcasts" the men look at him and one of them says "we better leave wiht our hearts beating than frozen"
The men leave and from the lines women are heard coughing, Vasil's wide eyes look at them and back to the people, he start bitting his lips and quickly his teeth become red, general Lixin shouts "move, the wind will soon calm" Lixin and the others continue towards the mountain with more of the horses dying and leaving them in lines along with more people starting coughing.
Screams are heard in the distance as the wind calms and the generals see silhouettes in front of him, as they move they look at the bodies of the women and the enemy standing. They look at each other from the distance, the man's smile widens he look behind him and throws the cage with the light to the snow, he shouts "move towards the mountain" the soldiers start moving, having their fingers holding the strings and the man laughs out loud "what are you afraid of? They will freeze to death soon" the general shout "shoot them" the soldiers slowly raise the bows and try to pull the strings with the arrows falling many steps behind the man as he laughs, Lixin look at the enemy, having their numbers fleet and many trying to stand still.
Konstantin shouts "soldiers we may be at our limit, but the enemy is also at theirs, we can still survive"
Lixin shouts " pull your bows" the archers show their blue hands and Konstantin and his soldiers start moving towards the mountain, the soldiers pull their bows but even they couldn't pull the string at the fullest, the general look at the man calmly walking away, the general then takes his spear and rush at them followed by the others and a shout from Lixin "the swordsmen come to the middle, the others at the sides" the man turn and shout "they are coming"
The two armies clash and the generals raise his shield along with the other swordsman, Konstantin and the man come pushing them, Lixin look at the other sides seeing the spearmen, pushing them while the swordsmen step back and soon the spearmen kill the enemy and turn their weapons at Konstantin and his soldiers at the middle, Konstantin shouts "push forward" the enemy push as many scream, destroying the lines and the man placing his cannon forward and killing lines os soldiers,
Vasil comes from the side and swing his sword at the man and Konstantin rush with his horse at the general, the general look at the spear coming towards his skull and at the last moment he kneels, placing his shield above his head and blocking the spear and piercing the horse legs with his weapon, the horse stops and Konstantin caresses the horse's body and says "just a little more, I know you can stand on your feet my friend" the horse neigh and rush again at the general with less speed, the general takes one of his spears and throws it at the horse feet, Konstantin lean and with his spear blocking Lixins spear and coming at him, Lixin takes another one and throws it again at the horse making it fall along with Konstantin.
Lixin walks towards him and as he raise his spear an explosion happens behind him getting knocked back and seeing the man locking his cannon on him.
Lixin tries to get up and the man laughs, abruptly Vasil comes from behind and scratch with his sword the man's arm, the man smile and hit Vasil with his glove, sparking lighting and throwing him to the ground.
He laughs hysterically and grabs Vasil from his head and lighting starts coming from his glove and then all around Vasil, screaming for minutes until the man throws him on the snow, laughing and placing his cannon close to Vasils mouth, still breathing with scars all over his head.
The man opens Vasil's mouth with ease and place the cannon inside his throat, pressing the trigger and having parts of his burned brain flying on the ground, Lixin stays still for a second and the man says "I think some of your men are dying general" Lixin hears many coughing and vomiting behind his back, in front of him seeing a small number from both armies fighting.
Konstantin gets up and the horse slowly walks towards him and Konstantin mounts, hunching forward and running away, Lixin throws a spear and the man burns it and laughs and look at Lixin who looks with intensity at Konstantin "I have to say general it was really entertaining fighting with you"
Lixin says nothing and beside the man two soldiers stand beside him, the man raise his cannon and as he press the trigger an arrow pierces his hand and the explosion pass besides Lixins head, the man look to his right and sees Anjian pull the string again and as the arrow comes and he moves his head scratching his skin, the man moves his cannon and Anjian dodge the explosion, he then look in front of him and sees the generals running to him the man raise his shield and moves forward with the general stepping back and two men coming from his sides, Anjian throws another arrow and the flames consume it,
the man starts moving towards the general and Anjian tries to move behind him, the man turn his shield at her and she continues to run and the man starts moving towards the mountain with his shield up for a while before he lowers it, revealing the burning skin.
the soldiers attack Lixin As he stands still, he look at them and he raise his spear, having the two of them two meters away from the end of the spear, Lixin starts running towards them and both of them try to hold their distance while they run at the opposite direction, Lixin attacks the one at the right, striking him on his shoulder and swiftly turning seeing the other soldier swinging his sword close to His head with Lixin blocking it with his shield and piercing the eye of the man, hearing his scram as Lixin Swiftly pulls the spear from inside the man and placing it in his throat.
Ai kills two men as she raise her eyes he sees two men running at her, the first man swings his sword and Ao blocks it and push it down and olace her feet on the blade and push her sword forward with the man leaving his sword and dodging the sword making it hit below his shoulder and grabs Ais arms, he bites her arm and Ai drops the sword as she scream and the man place her hands at her head and hitting her knee, kneeling, he holds her head pulling up with his thumps pushing her eyes woth Ais scream being heard all over the battlefied and as the sword comes closer, Eirana comes and slice the men, Ai gets up both looking at the dead bodies and tje naked battlefield and Ai says "thank you" Eirana speaks as she tries to put down the coughing, suddenly she stands still for a moment and she takes her arm down and spills blood, she fall to her knees and Ai catches her, holding her in her shaking arms as she kneels and wtach as Eirana spills more blood and her eyes stop moving.
Ai let her down slowly and tears start flowing, feeling the cold wind in her cheeks and cleaning her eyes with her elbow, seeing bodies everywhere, she makes some steps back and she feels the bodies beneath her and steps even further
She suddenly hears the shouts of the others and turns on them seeing Klaeben raising his hand and making a sign for her to come at him, she runs at them as she clean her eyes to not shed any tear she reach them and Fenhua shouts "the general is hunting the man" they run towards the general who pulls his spear from the head of a woman, they all look at the man
Running close to the mountain and raising his shield, slowly destroying the mountain and suddenly a light comes from inside, he lower his shield and sees the lean stone entrance he made and the strong light, lighting all the way to the eyes of the general and the others, the man continues with his silhouettes fainting at the light.
The general runs up a small hill, seeing no trace of Konstantin, he then look at the mountain and run with
the others running behind him and
they make their first steps close with the light blurring their vision for a moment, suddenly the man raises his shield high and burning the roof, making stones fall.
Lixin look at Klaeben and shouts "move the stones" Klaeben slowly move them one by one and as he makes a small opening the general rush at it, going forward and
looking at the lean walls and he open his mouth and shivers come down his spine, seeing yellow paintings with tall houses and clouds beside them, fires behind tall white buildings, humans with emphasis on their eyes and mouth looking like they scream and look with terror with their large pupils at tall monsters around killing people, some humanoid tall ones and some having wings with no legs or arms and in the center of the painting crystals surrounding a wide sword and yellow lines above it and at the corner seeing some words on another language but still trying to pronounce the word "pletvia" the others look with awe and Ai asks "what can all this mean?" The general says with his deep voice "we don't have any more time to look at them" he looks around him seeing a rough and twisted stairway down, they slowly descend and soon they see another source of light coming from below, they go down and they see A skeleton of a man, kneeling with his face looking downward, Graves and many of the bodies limbs showing from the dirt, Klaeben look carefully at the skeletons, seeing their arms almost reaching until Klaebens worst, the general walks closer, seeing one of the hands almost reaching his chest and from the other side he sees a hole and walks towards it with his spine shivering.
He looks inside the hole and sees a strong blue light and the face of the man as he holds a curved crystal blade, he looks at the general and the man shouts with enjoyment "finally" the general throw one of his spear and the man dodge it, he place his glove and the lighting sparks all over the crystal blade, the man place his eyes on the blade and looks through it the general and the others, the general throws another spear and the man deflect it, the earth start shaking beneath his feet and the man jumps back, he swiftly takes the blade from his face and says with enjoyment "it seems I cannot complete my experiment with your intervention" the man place on his other hand the cannon and powder as the group attacks him, in a glimpse lighting and fire come towards them.
A wall raises in front of them and deflects the attacks
and Klaeben fall to his knee, Anjian takes her bow and Swaiwan raise his sword and shield, tand Fenhua and Lixin rush from the sides, Anjian pull the string of the bow and the man throws his canon and raise the Shield burnjng the arrows, Fenhua and Lixin move behind the flames with her continuing to shoot, as Lixin and Fenhua swing their sword and spear lighting comes again and thw man deflects them with the sword and the lighting strucking them, they make a violent scream with the man laughs surpassing their voices and fall to the ground, Anjian stops shooting more arrows and the man lowera the shield making a faint grunt, Swaiwan rush at him and Anjian look at Ai helping Klaeben "Ai come here and help us" Klaeben slowly gets up and Ai rush at the man as Swaiwan and the man deflect and strike each other, Ai comes and the man deflects them both with Ai and Swaiwan pushing their swords and faintly cutting the traps of the man, lighting comes out and And Swaiwan back down, Anjian pull her string again and the man almost dodge it but the ground pulls him back, hitting his left shoulder.
The man keep his smile and he raised their shields again, Swaiwan steps back leaving a short scream and he run backward as he look at the flames reaching him, Ai rish behind the man again and the ground move again, with Klaeben falling to his knees and screaming and the man losing his balance and Ai strike his shoulder, cutting a deep wound and hearing metal clinging, Ai eyes wide open and the man open his shield, Ai falls back and her weapon got burned, the man moves towards her and Klaeben push the ground but the man jumps and grabs
Ai, she stand still and with her mouth open and her eyes looking at the man's eyes, the glove starts sparking and lighting comes, he starts laughing and suddenly his smile fades, looking at the sparks touching Ai without hitting her, the man look at Klaeben spitting blood from his mouth and the man shouts "damm preaka, let's see you as I kill your friend" Swaiwan comes from behind and slash the man's othwr shoulder, he slashes it all the way hearing the metal shattering, the man falls back and leaves Ai, Anjian shoots another arrow and the man dodge it, he try to raise the arm Swaiwan cuts but it remains down, the man look at them and sees Anjian havkng no more arrows, Ai tries to help Klaeben stand but he falls to his knees again, Lixin shputs Ai to help them and she takes Klaebens sword and they all spread around the man, the man look at them with his smile until his ears, they all rush at him and the man holds the weapon on the hand with his glove with
lighting coming again, stronger than before and the man laughing stronger, everyone attack him and the man with the hwlp of the sword raise his shield and burns the roof and stones start falling, everyone dodge them or place their shield on top of their heads and as they move closer a large boulder falls on Anjian, making her hand crumble and lower her shield and the rock hitting her shoulder, she let a scream and fall to her one knee and the others contknue attacking the man woth him deflecting them,the general and Fenhua rush at him again feom the same sides and as the man goes to grab Lixins spear he drops it and bash his shield, making him go towards Fenhua and Fenhua slash the mans fingers and rhe sword almoat toucht the ground before the general take it and slash the mans stomach hearing metal clinging, light sparks from the glove and he swings the shields forward with Fenhua slashing the mans hand, cuttibg the glove with the wires twisting in the mans neck and body, and Ai shlashing the other hand with him letting a small scream and the general poushing the sword deeper and cutting the man in half with his upper body falling on the rocks, revealing wires and metal falling iside from his limbs and stomach, ths rocks surrounding him and looking like people are holding him and huging him, the man raise his head slowly, looking with his eyes wide open at the rocks and at the blade, whispering
"Is this a determination stronger than mine? Or construed by weavers?" the man takes a deep breath and says with a smile as he laugh "in the end nothing matters in this prison"
The man raise his arms touching the rocks, grabbing their cold arms and faces "will I join you?" The man's eyes open wider, his smile widens and starts laughing hysterically with his laugh breaking and slowly becoming weaker and fainting and in the end his face turns into a cold smile.
They slowly see a blue aura fleeting from the body of the man and flying to the sky and vanishing
And The general and the others stand still, suddenly Klaeben says with a weak voice "what are we doing here?" Fenhua eyes wide open "who is that man?" The general look at the blade and Ai feels a strange aura and says "we were searching for this weapon?" The general reply "maybe, but we have to move" they rush outside and they see a man crawling to the entrance, the general look at his armor and his white pale skin, the man stare with one eye bleeding and the general raise the curved sword and Ai stands between them, raising her arms towards the sword and the general closed his eyes for a moment and let the sword plunge on the ground "let's go" the others start walking and Ai grabs the mans arm, Lixin says "you must not help the enemy" Ai try to lift the man as the others look, the man starts whispering to his language and he lean himself forward, making Ai and him fall and he crawls towards a sword, Lixin slowly approach him with the man whispering, he takes the blade and turns his eyes on the general raising the sword.
The man look Lixin at his eyes and he screams as he stab himself in the heart, Lixin plunge the sword beside the man and look at him for a while and then kneeling and looting his body, Ai says "general we must show respect at the dead" the general says nothing And finds a letter in his leather pouch without understanding the language, he place it on his own pouch and finds nothing more.
He turn and sees Ai looking at him with her eyebrows pulled together but ignores her and says "we can find some food and hunt Konstantin"
They find some horses tied at rocks and start mounting to the snowy terrain but they feel no cold, they slowly pass back to the grass and they feel no heat, soon rain starts but they continue to not feel cold.
Everyone look at each other with mutual understanding, they mount for miles and miles and Lixin finds no trace, he sigh and says "We will go back, now we have enough time to talk about the people at the castle" Ai spines shivers and says "where they still conscious in this form?" "We don't know, but we have to inform the emperor" he make a pause "when we meet people like them again I order you to keep them alive" Ai says "that's cruels" "but that can save many more lives" they stay silent and they walk for mile and miles, feeling no need to rest, sleep, eat or drink, they finally reach the gates of the castle, the general shouts but no one answers back, they see the debris beside the gate and Klaeben raise the ground and go inside.
Ai gasps and tears fall from her eyes, the others stay cold still seeing bodies and bodies of chained men, women and children on the streets, hearing the wind strike at the destroyed buildings, they stay still and soon the general makes the first step and walks down the debris,
Klaeben walks in front of Ai to limit her view and Fenhua shouts "is anyone here?" They hear nothing and they continue to the road of bodies shouting and getting no respond.
The general turns his back and walks outside "we have to go back to the capital and speak with Elizel" Ai says "wait here" and runs at the hills looking in front of her chained silhouettes still standing, Ai look at them most of them looking at the ground with their eyes closed, Ai takes her sword and breaks the chains, and everyone starts to run, she look at each of them and finds Eiranas brother and grabs his arm and gives him the pouch of gold, she look at him plaintive and says "please cone with me" papyrus seems to not understand her words but look at her with sadness and comes with her.
Both go back and Lixin asks "who is this person and how was he still alive?" Ai says "its the brother of a dear friend, he will come with us and he will clean his name" Lixin says nothing And they mount day and night with the horses running without getting tired and at four days they reach the capital a d the general hides his sword at a leather sheet and they come inside, seeing everyone making lines to get some food, many looking ar papyrus with wrath as he look at them with his cold eyes and
soldiers guarding at every corner and Elizel outside the palace having his soldiers surrounding him and speaking "people of Grega, yesterday we achieved to retake the pletvia and King Konstantin was killed by my sword, begging for his life and crying and I gave him the death he deserved for killing our people" he makes a small pause and says "We are rebuilding it and soon you will not have to starve anymore, our nation will finally grow and we will rule it for millennials as our ancestors once did"
The people clap and cheer with their voices hardly reaching the ears of Elizel as he goes inside, Ai look at him with anger and soon
they go inside the palace seeing the empty blue hall, hearing the soldiers cheering and bottles opening, the general walks first towards the other doors and sees a large table along with candles everywhere and canvases, the general look at Elizel and Elizel look at him with respect and then at papyrus and his shaved head "general, what does this mean?" Lixin open his mouth but Ai talks first and swift "he is one of the prisoners from the castle" before Ai could say anything else Elizel shouts "soldiers, kill him" they go towards him but Ai steps forward and shouts "we demand you to free this man and give him a job and a place to stay" Elizel sighs and says "then let it be, but he will be watched by our guards day and night" "I want you to tell it all these along with a message, live your life without burdens" Elizel speaks to papyrus in their language and his clenched fist open, he look down and sigh massively, speaking to his language and then look at Ai still talking to his language and Elizen says "he says he is thankful for bringing him here and that he wishes your life to overflow with blessings" Ai smile at him and he smile back, two soldiers come beside him and he walks forward leaving.
Ai look a bit happier and Elizel look at the general
"general, I'm so grateful for your work" the general says fast "will you now ally with the huagjin and the emperor?" Elizel says with excitement "of course, maybe we can talk about the loan now" "and our demands" Elizel looks displeased for a moment before he smile again "of course I will be glad to hear them" the general nod his head and they move to a door at the other side, the soldiers grab the chairs and move them close to the group, giving them glasses of bottle and food,
Almost everyone look happy except Ai who stare with anger, Klaeben look at her intensely and she notice him and let her hands free.
Fenhua watch Swawan drinking a small portion of the wine and quickly leaving it down and coughing "your father didn't teach you how to drink alcohol?
Swaiwan makes a small smirk and says "he tried to make me drink a glass of wine one time and I spitted it in his clothes"
Fenhua laughs loud and Swaiwan look at him with a cold Face, the time pass and The general comes inside and sits beside them along with Elizel, they eat silent their food with Elizels soldiers cheering and screaming.
The time pass and the general gets up from his seat "we stayed enough" the others get up too and Elizel says "wait general, I want to give you some food to have on your way" the general nods his head and the soldiers bring one sack full of food for every member, Fenhua look at the food with his eyes shining and they take the food along with some wine.
Ai swiftly taking it and swiftly leaves the place with the others following her as she walks faster than the previous step.
as they walk at the broad light that strikes the uneven roads Ai sees a man and a woman, sitting hand in hand at the road with dirt all over their faces, she goes beside them and opens the sack, the couple smile at her and Ai continues walking.
Klaeben look at the sack all the time they walk and before he realise it everyone takes their horses by a man giving the leash to each of them.
Klaeben look at the dirty man and throws the sack and rides his horse, the old man offer him the sack back with wrinkles forming on his face as he curve an unpleasant face
Klaeben ignores him and they leave, as they mount Ai look at Klaeben with a smile and Klaeben takes his eyes away from her, they mount to the borders and suddenly everyone gets silent, their body shiver and feel a cold on their chest, Fenhua change his face first and open his mouth but no words came out, The general mount faster as he looks in front of him with an unemotional face
And Ai's eyes glisten, Klaeben goes beside her and says "they will reincarnate again and we will meet them" Ai cleans her eyes and they continue.
Passing to the withered land with the clean ocean on their left side, on their right the tall mountain and coarse naked black stones everywhere, the horses stumbling and walking slower, Fenhua shouts "I hate so much cascedinia" in five nights they pass cascedinia and in four weeks they reach the borders of Huagjin, the general face calms and as they move inside soldiers come with their grey armor, the curves clouds on their torso and the feathers on their helmet, one of them says "are you an enemy or an ally?" The general speaks to their language "we are the army sent in Grega" the general shows him a piece of paper and the man sees the green mark with a palace on the clouds, he gives it back and the man says "I will tell my men to accompany you to chusheng" "it is no need" "at least we can give you some food" "its no need" the man nod his head and the group pass.
