The Land: Anarchy

Chapter 35: Those Quiet Days

Few months had passed.
The wretched war continued on, the rebellion had now officially joined the war. The rebels were now all over the land, some more even defected from the kingdoms. Andeena had pulled back their attack and instead only defended its territory. It was Ravenrock who was still on the offensive, swiftly moving forward to cities and villages with their landships and muskets. Rebels had tried to stop their advance but the success rate was low. The ruined Levenhood kingdom has started rebuilding, Princess Selena oversaw the progress there herself, she had recalled the Levenhood people to join her side and many did. Andeenan mages helped with the rebuilding, it was a way to repay them for what Ulric had done to the people. Ulric had disappeared, no where to be found.

Meanwhile, the rebel headquarters, Floran City had grown fast and was flourishing. It became the center point for trade. With only months to count before Zuno vanishes, he decided that it was time to end the war. He told Grim that they need to form an alliance with Andeena in order to defeat Ravenrock and end the war. Grim was never fond of the kingdoms, but even she realized that this alliance was necessary. So she sent Zuno, Jennifer, Wize and Arya as her messengers to the Andeenan sibling leaders.

The four were on their way to Andeena.
"Hey guys, never have I realized that we have been doing this (fighting the war) for almost a year now and to think that this will end very soon makes me happy and sad at the same time." Wize chatted as they rode on their horses.

"Don't get too excited, we have yet reached Andeena and asked them about the alliance, they could very much reject the idea and leave us be." Arya commented.

"Well, for a fact that the two royal highnesses wanted to make peace in the realm. It is very likely that they will cooperate and help us end this war. But then again, I don't see this war ending soon. Ravenrock have extremely advanced technology and knowledge on how to make weapons. Their landships are inpenetrable with pretty much anything besides magic, even using magic needs very much mana to take it down. Even their muskets shot faster and didn't take long time for them to reload it. I even saw one of them shooting 10 bullets without reloading. This scares me." Jennifer joined in on the conversation.

Zuno was dead silent during the conversation. He didn't know what to say or do, because the deal he made haunted him. He just wanted to get the war done as soon as possible, he hadn't even used the shadows' full power yet. They say unleashing it will immediately end the war, by the means of destroying everything around him. He couldn't do that with his friends around. He had the idea of sneaking into Ravenrock kingdom himself and just destroy them, but getting there was a near impposible mission without the help of the others. He was utterly confused on what to do.

Arya tapped Zuno on the back, shocking him and waking him up from his deep thoughts. "Hey, are you alright? You just zoned out throughout most of the journey. What's going on?" She asked.

"Uh, nothing. I'm fine, its just.... I've been thinking on how we storm the Ravenrock strongholds. Its a really tough job." He replied in disdain of himself. He had to lie.

"Don't worry about it, we will figure it out together, all of us. We will end this." Arya calmed him down.

Little did they know that they were already entering Andeenan territory. They stopped in an opening in the woods to rest up. They didn't want to cause trouble by going to a village to stay. They tied their horses to a tree and started making a camp. The four of them sat down around the campfire.

"You know, once I slept under a tree and as I was fast asleep, an apple fell on my head. And I thought to myself, what the hell did I do wrong to this apple that it had to attack me. Well, I had to eat it in the end and it was  appleasant fruit. Get it?" Wize tried to be funny as most of them had serious faces and were worried about the war.

"Shut up, that's not even funny." Arya replied and giggled a little. "You dumb."

Jennifer got up and approached Wize, she casted a fire ball on her hand.

"Hey now, I know my jokes aren't funny but you don't need to----" as Wize was speaking, Jennifer threw her fireball behind Wize, killing a bat with red eyes.

"Aaaahhhh!" Wize screamed. "What the hell??"

"Its a lookout bat, it had been enhanced with magic. Look at the eyes, it was glowing red. Somebody is watching us and now they know that we know about them watching us." Jennifer explained.

"Your words are making me more confused." Wize rubbed his hair in confusion.

"What she meant was that there is a spy and the spy knows that we know about the spy." Zuno explained it again mockingly.

"Ah okay, I get it ehehe." Wize laughed.

"Hello travelers." A distant voice was heard from the woods. "What business do you have entering Andeenan territory through its woods?"
Zuno thought to himself, it must be an Andeenan mage protector, those assigned to protect the borders.

"We are messengers from the rebellion and we have an urgent message for your leaders. If you could be so kind and escort us there? Its regarding the war." Zuno answered.

"Oh alright. Ah yes Jennifer, the war hero. How can we say no to your audience and Zuno the renowned summoner, of course. Follow me to the nearby village where there is a teleporter." The protector said in a humble manner. She revealed herself and bowed to the four and then guided the way to the nearby farming village.

They eventually teleported and arrived at Andeenan capital city and headed straight for the royal castle. There, they were welcomed by Princess Eena. They sat down at the meeting hall.

"Welcome, What brings the rebels here?" Eena asked.

"Greetings your majesty. Thank you for the warm welcome. We as the free people of the land without borders would like to offer a proposition. We would like to form an alliance with Andeena to eliminate the brutal force which is Ravenrock. Looking at the current conditions, we see this as a perfect opportunity to unite and end this war once and for all." Jennifer addressed.

"Given the fact that now, our academy has been struck from the inside by Ulric's men and the fact that Ravenrock had been relentlessly attacking cities, we do need all the help we can get. So yes, we accept the proposition. We are now allies until proven otherwise. We hope we can end this war swiftly." Princess Eena replied.

"Thank you, your highness. Let us now end this war once and for all." Jennifer and the others felt relieved. They took a toast and signed on an agreement of alliance.