ASCENSION: BOOK 2 - SHADOW BLOODS.

Epilogue.

The War Of The Shadow Bloods had come to an end. Mount Weather crumbled to rubble from the explosive yield of its own weapon of destruction. All who still dwelled within perished, hundreds of lives lost to this war.
With a heavy heart, Lexa led her people to Arkadia for medical attention. She delivered the news of the death of Clarke Kom Skaikru to her people, knowing that whilst all others celebrated their victory, Skaikru mourned for the loss of their sky daughter.
Lexa maintained her stoic composure for The Thirteen Clans, but inside she was broken. Love had blessed her and cursed her. She'd lost the love of her life, yet she was still expected to walk tall, to lead with strength, when all she wanted to do was to break down and tear the world a part. Lexa would be forever changed by her loss. The love she was capable of now remained buried deep in a heart of stone.
Those who returned from war held their heads high in victory, knowing that the reign of terror from Mount Weather was finally over.
For Niylah Kom Trikru she'd fought with her clan in honour of her parents who'd been taken by The Mountain many years ago. At last she had found her peace with its demise.
As she rode home to her humble trading post in the heart of Trikru territory she passed a river and paused to allow her horse to drink. Downstream she noticed a figure laying in the snow and approached with caution. Upon inspection she saw a woman with blonde hair, struggling to open her eyes.
Niylah took the furs from around her body and wrapped them around the stranger, "Can you hear me?" She asked.
The woman nodded, clearly in pain from whatever led her to this situation.
"Can you tell me who you are?" Niylah pursued with concern.
The woman met her gaze, her sky blue eyes full of sorrow, "I am no one."
As she lay in the snow a decision had been made. There would be no grand return home for this fallen warrior, no complications for those she loved, no faces to remind her of the things she'd done. It was heart breaking to leave her life behind, to leave the woman she loved.
She knew deep down that the world would not be kind to this warrior with blood as black as night, that how she would be viewed by others was now forever changed.
The reality was simple, she would be either honoured as a martyr if she allowed her people to assume her death or be cursed as the Shadow Blood that survived the fall of The Mountain; the warrior who once turned against her own people. Better to be a dead hero than a living reminder of the shadow of Mount Weather.
Maybe one day she'd once again be ready to be a part of the world, but for now, Clarke Kom Skaikru would remain lost, a fallen warrior, taken by the cruelty of war.