Summer Garden

Claven

Claven was shocked.

The small group walked through the ruins of the city. If this could be called a city. She could guess where roads had once been because of cracks and chasms that formed. She could guess where houses had been from foundations. But there will little else left intact. Debris was piled everywhere. There was signs of fire and more earthquakes. Here and there she could see pieces of rubble that didn't belong to anything around them, they had to have been propelled to where they were from somewhere else.

She was struggling. Mortals didn't mean much to her. Trei had already been twisting on that belief, the belief that Fae were better. Luna saw him as an equal, and loved him every bit as much as she loved Claven. As much as Claven loved Luna. Here, in this broken city, she was being hit in the face with the belief. Forced to try and reconcile what she knew with what she could see.

Most were hiding the shadows, trying to avoid being seen. Weak and frail mortals in fear of their lives.

Now and then a mortal would fall to their knees, begging to be spared.

Is that how they saw the Fae? As walking weapons of destruction that wanted nothing more than to kill them? It hurt. That was exactly the way that Claven had viewed Hero, the mortal who had made it to the Faen realms. He'd walked across their worlds, killing and destroying everything in sight. He was an abomination. Yet... That was exactly how these people saw her.

It was enough to make her cry. She just wanted to protect them, these fragile creatures. She didn't want to bring war to them, not now. Even after everything that had been done. Summer's garden had been destroyed. Luna's heart had been broken. Yet... She couldn't blame them. It was the same with Trei. As jealous as she was, she didn't blame him for his connection with Luna. He wasn't in control of it, it was just something that happened. These people were innocent. They didn't deserve what had been done here.

A hand snagged her wrist, and Claven looked down in surprise. She saw the mortal's eyes widen in terror, and caught them as they went to run, "Wait. Please."

The mortal stood there, shaking, and Claven patted their arm gently, "Please. What happened here? I don't understand."

The human looked back at her, "Please. Don't be mad."

Claven smiled as gently as she could, "I'm not. Really. What happened? Why... Why is everything gone?"

"The Fae." The woman shook, "The Fae. A light like the sun. She took it all. Destroyed it."

Claven glanced over at the others, "A Fae did this? Luna. Could you do this?"

Her love shook her white head, "No. This was... An incredible force. I can feel the magic in the air. Something summoned enough power to destroy this city, but I've got no clue how they could do that. Summer, or Janus, maybe... But they're both dead."

Claven winced, turning back to the woman, "Thankyou."

She ran away as Claven released her, leaving her confused. "It's your eyes."

She glanced over at Trei, "What?"

"You have red eyes, Madam Claven." He said slowly, "Humans don't. Not normally. You look, well, like a demon."

She tried not to feel offended at that. Being told she looked like a monster by her romantic competition was not the best thing in the world for keeping her temper in check. "What about you?"

"I don't look human, not to them." Trei replied, and sighed looking around, "We're a few blocks from the centre. I can't see the palace, so I'm guessing something happened there. Vastras would have kept the centre of her power close."

Claven felt the pain in his voice. He was a monster too, then. None of this was fair. She didn't like feeling pity for him. It was hard enough accepting that he was mortal and that Luna didn't have a problem with that.

The few moved through the desolate city, as the people who had become refugees in their own home watched them cautiously.