Iridescent || DNF

Chapter 13: A Final Song

 After brushing out all the horses and feeding them lots of yummy treats, George and Sapnap made their way back to the castle. As they passed by the soldiers' barracks, they were immediately taken aback to find it empty. Where was everyone? George tilted his head in confusion, while Sapnap began to shake with anger. Before George could say anything, Sapnap picked up a discarded training sword and flung it into the ground in dismay.

"That fucking asswhole!" he screamed. "He promised he wouldn't do something like this again. He promised."

George reached towards Sapnap to console him, gripping his shoulder while the man raged.

"Dammit that piece of shit never thinks his actions through. And he left us behind George. He didn't even give us the decency to tell us anything. And he took all of my troops! Curse him to hell and back."

George frowned. Had Dream really gone to war in the hour they'd spent talking in the stables?

"How did they all leave so quickly? We couldn't have been gone for that long," George noted, surveying the empty camp where the troops had been staying.

"All of our soldiers are trained to break camp at a moment's notice. At our last practice time, we were able to leave for L'manberg in a solid ten minutes. They're probably long gone by now..."

"We have to go after them Sapnap. We have to do something."

Sapnap sighed. "Let's get the horses."

~~~

The ride to L'manberg had been mostly quiet, considering it wasn't the easiest to communicate while on horseback. George found himself contemplating what all of this meant, and wondering why Dream had made the decision to attack L'manberg yet again.

Once they made it back to the tall obsidian walls, George began to feel a sick sense of deja vu. It was almost laughable. Another war, yet again. But this time, it was so much worse.

Fire charges flew through the air, singing the forest trees and setting dry patches on the ground ablaze. People screamed as swords clashed, blood splattering on the ground. It was a gruesome sight, one that caused George's stomach to churn, threatening his breakfast to creep back up his throat.

George could already taste hints of peppermint tea in his mouth...

Sapnap charged into battle on horseback, swinging his blade towards the oncoming troops. George was about to surge forward, grab a sword from the ground and join the fight when suddenly a strange wind noise picked up in the back of his ear. It felt like everything he was hearing was being sucked out, and as he glanced around George realized he could barely hear the screaming and crying. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion. In the midst of a war, George had never felt so still.

A small spark lit in front of George's eyes. Then another. George followed the bits of light like Hansel and Grettle following breadcrumbs, distracted beyond belief and set on learning where the light charges were coming from. The floating beams of light suddenly stopped, and George turned to see where they had led him.

A large beam of light slowly dragged down in a line through the sky, like someone was cutting open the universe with a blade. The in-between. Whispers echoed from the light, and once more George felt drawn to it. He took a step forward. Then another step.

"George!" a voice called from behind him. Somehow George could hear it above the din.

George frowned, glancing back to see where the noise had come from. Dream. His golden hair was covered in mud and dirt, and his face was smeared with blood. He held his sword down low by his side, panting as he looked at George. The brunette had never seen the blonde look so... angry. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes darkened. George finally understood why so many feared Prince Dream. The man was batshit crazy. Dream's voice came out low and yet was the loudest he'd ever been.