“No one is going to give you a prize for not crying. No one is going to praise you or reward you for bottling it all up. So, just cry when you feel like it.” - Yoon Shi Woo, Moorim School: Saga Of The Brave ~ CASPIAN ~After the procession is over, families gather behind the pyres of their fallen.Some are carrying flowers. Others are holding their children too close, as if letting go for even a moment might invite Thanox to strike again. Their faces are streaked with tears, their voices crying out names that will never be forgotten.A hush settles over the place when the Head Elder begins delivering the tribute of passage.“Today, we’re gathered not as the living and the dead, but as a people bound by war, death, and sacrifice. Last night, the darkness came for us. He tried to break us, to tear apart everything we’ve ever fought for. And many of our own… they fought bravely and gave their lives so the rest of us could still be here this morning. They reminded us that our strength is
“Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.~ CASPIAN ~“I forgot to tell you all that this is only the beginning.”Those words reverberate like thunderbolts before they are gone again, their absence shifting the battlefield into a silence heavier than fear. Heavier than pain.Heavier than loss.It is heavier because death has claimed so many of our own. Countless bodies of my warriors—my people—are sprawled across the field. A warrior never fears death, but tonight, seeing the field littered with corpses of those who promised their families they’d return home, I'm shattered. Torn apart and left with nothing but the painful reminder that I'll never forget this night.Thanox did this, leaving us with wounds we never asked for. His armies of monsters are gone, but I know this is not the end.The ground is scarred and blackened with the ashes of his dead beasts. The wind catches the ashes, sweeping them away int
“We can look at the darkness and let it consume us, or we can recognize that it’s only temporary, trusting that once it passes, the light will return.” - Crestoria Vossendi Kildarion, The Prison Healer #3 The Blood Traitor.~ JOCELYN ~It’s nice meeting you in flesh, little Phoenix.”His words scrape down my spine like icy claws, his voice as deep as the grave, all too familiar just like in my dreams. Dreams he invaded with threats that made me wake up sweating and shaking. Hearing his voice now, in the flesh, on the battlefield where blood already paints the dirt black, makes my stomach twist.He is here, standing in front of me as though he owns this night, as though he owns me.But he doesn't.He is a curse to our world, and I won’t tremble before him. Not when Sarah, Elian, Caspian, and everyone else is out here fighting, bleeding, dying. Not when the fate of more than one pack hangs on the outcome of this battle.“You should have stayed in the dark where you belong!” I spit out,
“Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.” - Kahlan Amnell, Sword Of Truth #6 Faith Of The Fallen.~ JOCELYN ~The moment Caspian’s voice rips through the air, our world erupts into chaos.The creatures slam into us like a tidal wave of nightmares. Screams. Howls. Bombs and cannons going off and burning up large portions of the swarms. The thick smell of Wolfsbane gunpowder in the air nearly chokes me, but I know how to breathe through Wolfsbane during a war or a raid because the technique has always been one of the core lessons taught to every warrior in every pack and handed down to the next generations to come.For that, I'm deeply grateful.Right then, something inside me snaps wide open, like a dam bursting through invisible walls and intensifying the crackling light dancing around my hands and body. It starts when one of the beasts lunges at Sarah from behind.I don’t think. I just react.My hands flare with the blinding light exploding from my palms. It strikes the creat
“A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.” - Aragorn, The Lord Of The Rings #3 The Return Of The King.~ CASPIAN ~Night finally comes.The sun has long faded away, now replaced by a moon shining so brightly over the war fields just beyond the pack river. The fields separate the river from the boundary on the east side, and everyone—including Jocelyn—is already out here.This is where we make our stand.Everywhere I look, our warriors are lining up in their formations. The creature responsible for the attack on my pack that first bloody night—the one that murdered the boy by the river—must have seen these fields. We believe the attack will happen right here because there is no way we're going to let those monsters into the heart of our pack.The rest of the pack members, including everyone else who can't fight, have already been escorted earlier into underground bunkers built for times like thi
~ CASPIAN ~By afternoon, every living soul in my pack is getting ready for war.I'm in the armory, helping Callan ensure the weapons are properly distributed and arranged in order. Bombs. Grenades. Cannons. Wolfsbane gunpowder. Missile systems. Anything that can help defeat the enemy. The warriors around us are gearing up already, some loading more guns and explosives into different giant boxes.Sighing, I stop inspecting the gun in my hand, dropping it on top of the table before me. Looking out the window, I notice that the sun has dipped behind the hills, lower than it was a few minutes earlier. The clouds are also becoming purplish and a bit more orange.Evening is almost here. Fuck.Averting my eyes from the window, I nearly curse again to myself, hating how time seems to be moving so fast like it doesn't give a damn about us being prepared or not.“I hate unexpected shit,” Callan mutters under his breath as he inspects a box of grenades on another table beside me, and it doesn't