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All Our Strength
Last Updated:
2025-02-01 07:23:57
Latest chapter
The One An Unexpected Vision
*Permiton*It’s been two weeks since the first clash beyond the barrier, and somehow life inside the castle has adjusted to the rhythm of siege and skirmish. Every morning begins with patrol updates and casualty reports. Every evening ends with silence and smoke. And in between, we’ve found some sense of normalcy. The people of the kingdom have transformed from terrified refugees to a brave community. Walking through the crowded halls no longer feels like walking through a graveyard. The people have come back to life in unexpected ways, turning their fear into action. They help in the kitchens, create gifts for the soldiers, tell stories and grow closer than they ever have. While I wasn’t in this kingdom long before the war, I know that there’s a closeness amongst the people that didn’t exist before. They aren’t just neighbors anymore. They’ve become something of a family. It's equal parts encouraging and unsettling. Then again, everything unsettles me lately. For instance, River ha
The One Comfort in the Chaos
*Maerilee*I sit by the window of my chambers, the stone seat beneath me chilled despite the fire burning low behind me. Outside, my kingdom glows orange and gold with the fires still burning from our enemies. Smoke rises into the sky, making it nearly impossible to tell if it’s night or day. Not that I’ve been paying much attention anyway. Time means nothing anymore.Akin may have died days ago, or seconds for all I know. There’s no telling how long it’s been, I just know that there is a definite split in time. Before Akin died, everything made sense. After, everything crumbled into ash. I know I can’t let this grief swallow me. I know that I have to show up for my people and for myself. But it feels like there’s nothing left to live for, and that alone keeps me glued to this bench, staring aimlessly at my kingdom on fire.There’s some hope, though. Where I’ve faltered, Brook stood up and took charge. He gave the army a strategy to hold onto. When I’m able to focus, I hear about thei
The One Changing the Tide
*Brook*I stand at the table in the middle of the war room, the edges of the massive map curling up slightly under my palms, and listen as the generals argue around me. Their voices are low and tense, an overlapping hum of uncertainty and exhaustion that fills the space. At least they aren’t yelling at each other anymore. No one has the energy for that left in them. Instead, they speak in clipped phrases, drawing lines and circles on the map trying to find the best approach to end this war, like any of this can still be planned.Maerilee is a shell of herself now. She sits at the head of the table, a heavy cloak pulled tight around her shoulders, her eyes glassy and distant. Her hands stay folded in her lap. Her mouth never moves. She’s still breathing, but only barely. It’s like I can feel her grief in my own body. I wish I could carry it for her. Her people need her far more than they need me.River enters the room not far behind the king. I don’t know where he’s been all day, but I
The One A Future King
*River*I can’t take the silence anymore. Grief fills every hallway, every breath, every conversation that ends before it begins. Akin’s death has carved a hollow space inside each of us, and even though no one says his name out loud, it echoes through the palace like a ghost.It’s been two days since his death, and the silence threatens to crush me. It presses too close, sits too heavy on my shoulders. I need to move. I need to do something, anything, other than sit in that war room listening to generals argue over plans they can’t agree on. Outside of the room is no better, though.Maerilee has completely shut down, unable to function since she erected the barrier around the castle. Grief has stolen more from her than anyone. Permiton is likewise pretending he isn’t unraveling, but something is wrong with him. He’s barely spoken since Akin’s death, but unlike Maerilee, he seems more agitated than anything. Brook is still recovering, barely able to stay upright, despite the Bright Wa
The One An Impossible Ask
*Maerilee*Oceanan soldiers are sprawled in unnatural shapes across churned earth and stone, their limbs slack, faces limp with unconsciousness. None of them are dead. I can feel that, somewhere in the strange bond between my magic and the land. But they are incapacitated, stunned by the burst of power that tore out of me moments ago like it had been waiting all along to be freed. No one speaks. No one moves. It feels like the world is holding its breath.But all I can think is that Akin is gone.I stare at the space where he fell, where he reached for me, but it is empty. He was there. I know he was. I saw him. Permiton saw him. Permiton was going to go back for him so we could revive him. Yet now he is gone, and something inside me feels like it has been ripped away at the roots.Somehow, I end up in the courtyard of the palace. I don’t remember moving here, and I have no recollection of leaving my place behind the barrier. My gown is torn, my hands are scraped raw from the ground,
The One Lost
*Akin*I have never felt fear like this in my life. The Oceanans are everywhere, relentless, swarming us on all sides. I can barely see two feet in front of me through the wall of bodies and smoke and flaring magic.There’s no formation to our soldiers now, no real lines left. We are hardly an army at all now, just soldiers fighting for their lives, one man against five or more Oceanans at one time. The only thing keeping this army from swallowing us whole is the barrier still shimmering weakly at our backs. We will retreat if we must, but there’s the very real possibility that the barrier will not hold up against our enemies. We have to fight them back as long as we possibly can… which, I fear, isn’t much longer.I fight. That is all I know how to do. I swing and block and press forward, my sword a blur in my hands, my muscles screaming with every movement. My boots slide in the blood-slicked mud. My shoulder throbs from a blade I didn’t deflect fast enough. My lungs burn with smoke.
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