Hope

2.The Storm Kingdom shall never die.-ENG

Storm Kindom, Thunder city, the Ruler's castle.

Gardeners were walking through the garden, watering various beautiful trees and other green plants. The ruler of the Storm Kingdom was sitting on the stairs that led to the back of the castle.
She was sitting with her arms crossed, her mind deep in thought. Unlike the other gods, she did not look like a human. More like a black shadow with white, glowing eyes on some kind. The figure looked menacing, but she was capable on being caring towards her workers. The black cloak was put on her back as always, her neck-tie underlined her elegant and calm personality.

"My lady? You seem to be overthinking once again."

One of the workers spoke as he approached the ruler. He was always glad to have this woman as a protector of the land.
The woman looked up as both of her white glowing eyebrows raised in doubtfullness.
"What has caused him to want this land and backstab me? We were allies." She spoke in a calm way, but her sadness was clear.
The worker sighed heavily and sat next to the woman. "Shadow, people are selfish and greedy." He muttered as he smiled slightly, hoping to make her feel better. "But he is not going to get our kingdom, is he?" The worker looked at her. "Will you let him to do so?"

Shadow glanced at the sky for a moment, just as if she hoped that this is not the end. "I won't." Her eyebrows rose up slightly.
"Don't lose your hope." The man said, placing his hand on the Shadow's shoulder and grinning from ear to ear, which definetely has brightened the Shadow's mood a little bit..

The woman looked at the worker, as if she was thinking of his words and was shocked by them. She was somehow left speechless.
"Al- alright." The ruler stuttered a bit, since she was still suprised.

It was as if she remembered those words, from the Flame kingdom's king herself.

She sighed slightly and stood up. "Thank you, Brandon." And then she started leaving back to her castle.

Brandon looked a bit suprised too, that the Shadow remembered his own name. After all, there were many workers. Dozens, maybe even more than a hundred of them. Yet, she has still remembered his name correctly.

"You're welcome." He thought.

In the next morning, the Shadow went towards the stables. She had her own sword with herself, probably ready for a fight.
The god approached the stall, her lips forming into a smile as she saw her stallion that was named Knight, because of his bravery. The woman felt as if her horse was her bestfriend, that understood her no matter what. "Hello, boy." She greeted him, offering a carrot that was in her hands.

The blue roan male ardeness neighed back, as a happy greeting. His ears got pointed forward, as if he was happy that his owner was here.
And with a swift movement, the stallion grabbed the carrot with his mouth, and ate it.
"You have quite the appetite, don't you, giant?" She chuckled softly.

After a while, they started going towards the border of the Storm Kingdom. After all, Shadow could not defeat the king by herself. She needed help, since it would be too risky.
"Let's go to the lilac kingdom. Maybe they could help." The woman murmured as she patted the horse's neck. Knight seemed as if he looked forward to an adventure. He even started galloping instead of trooting, which made the ruler chuckle. "Let's go then."

The way through the border of the Storm Kingdom and the Lilac Kingdom was suprisingly calm and peaceful, despite the fact that there were many problems, especially with the Flame kingdom's soldiers disguising as a Storm Kingdom's knights. And that was a problem.
Everything was fine until they reached the woods. Lilac kingdom was known for it's calmness, though it's forests were most dangerous of all time, because of the barbains that hided inside the deeps of the Woods, where nobody could find them, so that they could attack anybody on their way, and steal whatever they possessed.
"This place is darker than the mountains in our kingdom..." Shadow murmured calmly, though she knew this was not a safe place, and she had to keep watching every single move of the trees, because they could awaken at anytime. They were known for their ability to twist somebody's mind and make them remember most traumatic days of their lives. Which ended sometimes in paralyzing the magical tree's preys, and that gave them the chance to kill them, with just a few seconds as they released purple leaves that grew on the tree's peaks. And they were very deadly.
"Knight, please do not wake them up." The woman whispered to the stallion, and knight looked back at her, as if he understood.
And then, suddenly the ardeness broke a single branch that was laying on the ground, which let out a loud sound. Shadow looked quickly around, checking if the trees have woken up. She felt a little bit of sweat dripping from her forehead, even though she was not known to be scared. But these were the trees called Eksklozus. And even gods had trouble with avoiding them.
Slowly, the Ardeness kept slowly walking in a steady pace, though his steps were not silent due to him being a draft, heavy horse.
"Do not panic..." Shadow said very quietly as they kept on going. The blue roan horse's ears perked up, as if he was getting afraid and alert.
Something appeared on the trees. Those were the black eyes of a person who just woke up from a good, deep slumber. And now they were ready to torture anybody who has disturbed their sleep.
"GO!" Shadow yelled out. The ardeness reared up, and started to gallop through the dark forest, his eyes now being wider.
Shadow looked back as they galloped, seeing the trees trying to add a curse on them that would make them remember their worst memories. "GO!" She once yelled again. The stallion's breathing has become more rapid and urgent as he fastened up his pace in running.

And then, the horse tripped by a sudden medium-sized hole on the ground, that made them fall and lose conciousness.
"No..." Shadow murmured as a bit of blood dripped down from her forehead as her vision has become more blurry. Her horse was near, laying on the ground, probably bleeding a little aswell.

Not now. She couldn't die this day. She had to save her people from the Flame kingdom...

And then, she fell unconcious.