Genesis (Prophecy Rock Series, Book 1)

Chapter Thirty Five

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35

“Xander?” Aric could not believe his eyes. He must be hallucinating; perhaps he had fallen off the cliff and had moved on to the afterlife. This simply did not make sense.

“Relax, little brother, I’ve got you.” Xander lifted him back onto solid ground. Aric dropped to his knees, clutching the few clumps of grass beneath him. Never had the cold comfort of dirt and rocks filled him with such joy. He rose to his feet to witness the unfathomable. Swarms of Vicedonian soldiers were pouring in from the southern pass. The Krakens proved no match for the sheer number of fresh Vicedonian troops. One by one, they were cut down, screaming in their final moments, an excruciating sound that signaled both considerable pain and release. A release from the torment brought on by the sickness of the Dark Forest. The extent to which they had become infected was unimaginable. Had Aric known it would end this way, he never would’ve ordered them to march through it. His brashness and impatience had now sacrificed to the Creator the Vicedonian army’s most battle hardened fighting force. 

Aric was still bewildered by the current happenings. “How did you find us, Xander?”

“When father heard of your undisclosed departure, he sent me to find you. We already knew your destination. You disappeared shortly after our meeting with the war council. If you had just been patient, we could’ve charged into this battle together.”

Aric looked down at his feet, unable to meet Xander’s eyes. Shame was a difficult emotion to mask.

“But you were right, Aric, possessing Lake Raphia is essential in this war, and without it we can’t afford to march against the Renzai capital. If I was marching this way anyway, it made sense to bring fresh reinforcements for the battle at hand. We thought we were close on your trail… until it disappeared into the Dark Forest.”

Aric stood there silent. The gravity of his error weighed heavily upon his heart. The pressure upon his shoulders too heavy a burden of guilt. He had nothing to say, no words of remorse would turn back what had already been done.

“I still can’t believe you marched through that place and survived. We marched around the Dark Forest, beneath the shadows of the Phalanx Mountains and made it to Lake Raphia just in time apparently.” 

Xander could tell his little brother was hurting. Ever since they were young, Xander wanted to protect Aric from harm. Aric was young, impudent, and brash, but Xander always made room for him in his heart, forgiveness never a long way off. A part of him couldn’t help but feel guilty, too. Father constantly compared Aric to him, always criticizing his faults and seldom acknowledging his accomplishments. It must’ve been hard growing up in Xander’s shadow. Even the severity of Aric’s current mistake could not truly rile the anger of his older brother. 

Xander gestured towards a dead Kraken. “What happened to them… in there?”

Aric tried to find the right words to explain. How every fear had become a reality, how the ghosts of the past had never moved on, but remained chained to this world in an endless cycle of torment. How the terrors possessed your very soul, infecting you with the symptoms of dread and doubt. How he almost died at the hands of Captain Izik, his own Royal Guard. All of this, Aric tried to put into words to explain to his older brother. But the words never came. He just stood there shaking his head.

“Well, it doesn’t even matter anymore, Aric. What’s done is done.” The brothers watched as General Yagar, atop his giant red horse ordered the remnants of the Renzai force to retreat. They fled into the safety of the Wild Woods, running off into the early morning light, disappearing from their sight. The last of the Third Unit had been killed. The tentacles of the Kraken sliced off, and the body sent back to the bottom of the sea. A quiet peace echoed across the battlefield. The silence was deafening. Bodies littered the field, piling up in heaps left and right. The fires still burned on the northern pass. The southern pass had been destroyed and flames put out when Xander arrived with reinforcements. The Vicedonians had won. They now possessed one of the greatest resources in the Disputed Lands, but at such costly a price.