The Unseen Road

Chapter Thirty-Three

In the aftermath of battle, Kylie, Celeste, and Mina stood still; beside them were Prince Nicolas, Charles, and the other shifters. Prince Nicolas still held Kylie tightly in his arms, while Charles stood alongside Mina, who remained mounted upon Lightquill.

"... Did we win?" the younger girl asked slowly, carefully.

"We survived," Prince Nicolas replied, looking out over the battlefield. During the clash between the Angels and Demons, the Dryrian army had retreated and scattered, left alone without their commanding officers. The remainder of the bloodstained battlefield was wide, open space which stretched between the moat and fortress of Solaire, scattered with the injured and fallen from both armies. Standing among them, just over half of the Arcadian soldiers remained; victorious, they swayed wearily but exaltedly on their feet. Overhead, the soft late afternoon sky blanketed a boundless horizon of rolling hills, bordered by the expansive White Forest.

Taking a deep breath, the Prince rose his voice to address those still living. "Tend to the fallen and injured," he directed, his voice firm. "Sori, Fae, Werewolf, Succubus, Incubus, Vampire... leave nobody to die."

Nereus and Caraeon, not too far away from him, nodded. They sheathed their swords and broke in two directions to begin recovery of the survivors. Further off, General Witthorn held her affected arm at her side, cupping it at the elbow, having sustained a deep gash which ran along her left shoulder and down the oblique.

Kylie looked at the Prince; in his gaze, she saw a new kind of courage, a valor that shone strongly within the deep, emerald pools of his eyes. His spirit was steadfast, alive with quick vitality.

In his eyes she saw a leader, a King.

"Prince Brightam."

Nicolas turned towards Queen Margareth. Before making eye contact, however, he looked down and met Kylie's gaze with concern. "Are you alright to stand?"

Kylie nodded. Then, softly, the Prince set Kylie onto her feet; Celeste, taking his place, slipped her arm across Kylie's back to support her. He drew his sword and, with both hands on the pommel, plunged the blade into the earth as he knelt to the ground. "... Queen Margareth."

"I am truly sorry about your father," she said, walking towards him. "He was a great Sori; I can only understand all you've had to endure."

"... Time revealed the truth to me on its own course," Nicolas replied at length, standing to attention. "Thank you for your consolation."

"... Time..." Margareth cast her eyes past the battlefield, looking far over the horizon. "It is indeed a mystery, even to me. It works in ways I cannot fathom; and I cannot intervene no matter what it gives me glimpses of."

She sighed. "Yet I have transgressed just this once."

"The Light and Darkness... they no longer exist, do they?"

"That is correct." The Queen returned her gaze to Nicolas. "They consumed one another, because I untethered them from the celestial plane. They have been restored to their rightful state, as nothing, as all, as one; and Alysia, too, relieved from its burdens, can be one once more. A rebalance was indeed long overdue; the arcane ways of old, in such transient times, can no longer sustain our ever-changing way of life."

"And what of the Demons... they allowed you to do this?" Nicolas asked.

"Indeed. The Demons took part in the agreement before the battle; and so, they will be pardoned. It was decided the moment Beatrice Hunter stole the artifact from the human realm and declared war on the Light- that Alysia would no longer be connected to Heaven and Hell as its liaison. But they will still be awaiting us as the worlds after, which the Angels and Demons shall continue to govern; and one day we will each find their Gates once more, when the time comes."