Stalemate | A Rise To Power

𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘢

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Junia stared out the open window, watching the slaughter going down below. She was strangely calm as she watched them fall, like branches blown down by the wind, toy soldiers knocked down by the uncaring fingers of the powerful. At her feet, Cloud curled up, defeated as well. It was over and Junia was no longer naïve enough to believe that it would all be okay. Ethelind had arrived. She would kill Lynne and Lucrezia, and Landon would get the West. Ulysses could not stand against the North and East without the West's support, and they would all die for the greed of their ancestors.

Sometimes, good people don't win, she thought.

But she had learned the truth of it: there were no good people. No one could stay good in a fight for survival.

Somewhere in the distance, someone screamed in pain.

Junia closed her eyes to their suffering, running to a different period of time, full of hazy colours, bright summers, and the smell of books.

"Look, it's a shooting star!" Annalee's eyes gleamed as she looked up at the sky, twirling in the grass ahead of them. Her feet were bare, and she wore a white dress that spun with her, glowing in the moonlight.

Lachlan laughed. Back then, he had not been a hopeless drunk and his eyes had gleamed with something other than alcohol. "Indeed. But you would have to be a dullard to believe there is hope in things falling."

"I do. Things have to fall to make way for better things," Ulysses cut in.

"They say that each star that falls is the light of another world," Emelyn said, watching the stars.

"There is no other reality for us but the one we live in," Lachlan shrugged. "So we shouldn't worry about other worlds."

"Reality is stupid." Annalee stopped twirling and slumped next to Junia on the grass. "Reality means we all have an inevitable death."

"They say that the most astounding thing about people is how we can live so normally, although we know that someday we are going to be gone," Lachlan replied sagely. "We ought to be respectful of Xaedra. She isn't kind, but they say that She is a blessing for us all."

Junia looked over at Emelyn to find that her mother was still watching the shooting stars streak over the sky. Emelyn turned as soon as she noticed her daughter watching her.

"Make a wish, Junia," Emelyn whispered.

"I wish to be strong and not afraid of Death," Junia whispered back.

Junia's eyes opened, and her hands curled around the windowsill. She had never felt so lonely before. Her parents had been killed, she didn't know who Ulysses was anymore, Malena was a prisoner, and Annalee refused to accept Junia for her changed self. I am not afraid. I am not afra—

"You should be gone. You should have run," Katana's voice came from behind her.

"I am ready for what must come," Junia told Katana without turning. Her heart was beating fast, but she didn't take back her words. She would die or be captured, and she was resigned to that fate. She always had been, whether she wanted to or not.

There was so much she wanted to do. She wanted to mend things with Annalee and Ulysses; she wanted to write a book; she wanted to try to cultivate the farmland for the Southern commoners. So much to do, and all she could be was wasted potential.

"No one is." Katana was covered in dirt and blood, her blonde hair covered in sweat as she walked towards Junia. "They'll take you hostage if you don't flee now. At least if you run, you might have a chance of getting to the South."

Junia glanced out of the window. The tower was high, and she could see unmoving corpses sprawled across the ground from where she was.

I wish to be strong and not afraid of Death.

I wish to be strong and not afraid of Death.

"But I'm afraid you'd never get there," Katana added.

Junia froze. The words were unmistakable, but Junia couldn't understand Katana's sudden change of tone. "What?"

"I am sorry, Junia," Katana said.

Cloud bounced up and snarled, as if the dog could anticipate the future.

The dirk buried itself in Junia's stomach before she knew it was coming, pushing up into her chest.

Junia choked, falling to her knees in agony as blinding pain exploded through her body. She couldn't breathe. Invisible hands clenched at her throat and insides, cutting off her breath and pressing its gnarled claws into her stomach. She coughed blood as Cloud howled, unsure of what to do, and with every pulse of her heart, more blood spilled, seeping through the carpet below her feet.

Katana twisted the blade and pulled it out, leaving Junia gasping and shaking where she knelt. Her eyes widened in betrayal as she turned to Katana.

"I've always been loyal to the Shadowharts." Katana's voice dripped with venom, but Junia still saw the pain in her eyes and tears threatening to spill.

"I trusted you," Junia tried to say, but nothing came except more blood, dribbling out between her lips. Tears rolled down her cheeks in helplessness, but she didn't stop them. She wanted Katana to remember what she had done.

I wish to be strong and not afraid of Death.

But she was afraid. She was so afraid as blood poured from her body, staining the floor, and she could do nothing to stop it.

She came to the lurching, terrifying realisation that she didn't want to die.

"I'm sorry." Katana's voice cracked slightly but still walked forwards and pulled her up by her collar.

Their eyes connected.

I hate you.

Junia let the betrayal and hurt and anger show on her face. She wanted Katana to see it. She wanted Katana to regret her actions. She wanted Katana to feel her pain.

Because that's all she was anymore. Walking pain, burdened with the loss of loved ones, the atrocities of war, and stabbed by someone she had come to love.

It was tragic, really, how little her life had amounted to. Her death would be a peace offering to Ethelind, inconsequential... another life snuffed out in the long chain of war.

And that knowledge stung.

What would Annalee think when she found out about her twin's murder? Junia hoped her twin would fight to avenge her; she still loved her sister above everyone else, a bond that could not be snapped even with their differences.

She couldn't help a sob bursting from her lips, causing blood to spill down her front.

Remember this. I will haunt you.

Then Katana shoved her out of the window.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

The sprawling, endless sky watched her without pity.

Her hand reached out to grab onto something, but her fingers slipped through air.

The howls continued to call for her as she fell, an echo of her life.

And she waited for an existence where she could live without war or pain. Where she would be safe.

Everything faded into a warm glow, and the pain disappeared.

She was dead before she hit the ground.

RIP Junia 😔

Love you all,

Shelly M x