Alitia: Hellfire and Blizzard

XI: Continue to Crumble

Aithne should have seen it coming. 

She had known going into all of this that it wasn't going to be easy to defeat Brynn. A woman like her would never go down without a fight, and Aithne had expected that much. Still, she had imagined she would have at least a little bit more time before the world seemed to crumble around her. Aithne had been sure that Brynn would take a little while longer to try and gather the information she needed to launch her biggest and boldest attacks. After all, it was beyond illogical to start a war before knowing what to do. 

Aithne should have known that Brynn had been planning this for far longer than she could have ever imagined. The Queen of Pyre hadn't missed a beat in charging off to take out any of the Millennium Six she could force to kneel before her. She hda been preparing for this day for years. Attacking Etruna was convenient, but it was not the only reason she was doing all of this. Brynn wanted as much power as she could get her hands on, and if that meant attacking other planets, then so be it. Aithne had known Brynn was ruthless, but she should have expected an attack on another world would happen sooner rather than later. She had been a fool to ever think she would be granted the mercy or time to come up with a counterattack plan. 

Aithne had heard the news almost as soon as the battle against the Millennium Six had ended. The information had come in all at once, and Aithne had been left rattling with anxiety as she tried to remind herself that everyone there knew what they were doing. She had keyed out a message to Helena and Carys once she was able to regain her composure, but it wasn't enough. She wouldn't truly feel at peace until her nieces responded to her and told her that they were alright. 

Luckily, Aithne didn't need to wait long. Carys had been blunt in her response, saying that she was going to turn in for the night soon and wouldn't see any other messages until the morning came. Carys and Helena were both exhausted from the recent battle, and Aithne could hardly blame them. She would have been tired had she been in their shoes too. Hell, she had been exhausted right after the battle against Brynn's forces ended on Etruna not long beforehand. She couldn't imagine being so young and still being in-training when a battle like that occurred. 

Aithne had been doing her best to keep herself calm, but it was a battle she had been losing for a while. She had taken to pacing the length of her room to find any sort of peace she could get her hands on, but it wasn't working. Markos was sitting with her, and they were alone. Both Elcynder and Isleif had turned in for the night an hour ago, too tired to keep themselves upright. Aithne was glad they were tired enough to be able to rest. Aithne didn't know if she would be able to rest for herself for another handful of hours, assuming she was able to lay her head down at all. 

"I wish there was something more we could do," Markos muttered. "But we don't know what Brynn is up to, and if we go off to Millennia to help Helena and Carys, then..."

"We'll be leaving Etruna behind to be picked dry," Aithne sighed with a shake of her head. "There's nothing we can do to help everyone else right now, but I really wish there was. We can't just sit around here forever. There has to be something else we can do even if we can't see what it is yet."

Markos nodded solemnly, trying to find a response that they both already knew would not come without a fight. In the end, he settled on staring at the place where his shoes met the ground. "I... I believe it may be time for us to call in the aid of the others in the Etrunan army," he muttered. "I don't know what happened the. night they helped us to fend off the attackers from pyre, but... I think that asking them for aid is our best option right now."

Aithne really wished she still had the energy to argue with him on that... But she knew he was right. What other choice did any of them have but to turn to the people who had helped them so recently? If not for the aid of the Etrunan army, they would have all been torn to pieces by Brynn's forces from Pyre. Even though the Etrunan army was largely loyal to Dolores even after her death, they still wanted to defend their family... And at this point, siding with Aithne felt like the lesser of the two evils they were faced with. No one from the army had breathed a word of their aid to Aithne or anyone else in the castle since that night, but everyone knew the truth. As long as Pyre was still intent on destroying them, they only had once choice, and it was to work together. All they needed to do was decide what they wanted that to mean for their planet's future.