The War (All Chapters + Synopsis)

Chapter 6.2 - Amalia

I involuntarily shiver, and open my eyes to a bright light flickering in front me. I take in my surroundings, finding that I'm sitting in a cave in front of a warm fire. Definitely not in the throne room in Euros. I move closer to the fire to stoke it so it doesn't go out. I look out of the opening of the cave.

Bright sunlight shines on the world, giving everything a golden hue. It's cold despite the sun, so I move closer to the fire. I'm still dressedin the green and copper of Spero, the same clothes that I wore in Feralis. I hear a noise and jump into a fighting position, tensing as I see who it is.

"Don't, you'll only hurt yourself," my enemy says as he catches my fist midair.

Lues is also dressed in the same clothes before, minus the military coat.

"Wait, how long have I been asleep?"

"For about five days now. It's the fourth day of Reen," Lues responds then walks back towards the mouth of the cave.

He drags a wild boar into the cave and my stomach rumbles. Lues glances at me. He smiles then pulls out a small knife, made of Varieturan Steel, from a holster on his belt. Even a blade that small must have cost a fortune.

He slices the boar from chin to stomach, and I look away as he scrapes out the entrails and allows the blood to drain out of the animal. I look back as he starts to cut the boar into chunks then puts the bloody meat on a spit over the fire.

"Where are we?" I ask, staring at the lip of the cave. I don't recognize the landscape.

"About half a day's travel from Cyfala," the king responds, his focus on the cooking meat.

"In Mawrhydi? How do you know?" I inquire. I don't have to ask how we got here, Ilena and that magic circle were probably responsible.

"Go to the cave's mouth and look up the mountain, you should be able to see the Glass Gardens at the top," Lues tells me.

I walk cautiously out of the cave, and look up the mountain. Sure enough, a little ways above us I can see a dazzling pyramid made of glass. I look down, and by the water's edge a large city sits surrounded by small shapes that I assume are boats. The city must be Porthladd, and the sea is the Shadowed Sea.

I realize that what I thought was a bunch of rivers is actually the Sparkling River, winding its way down the mountain to form the infamous Spiraled Mountain. Small villages and cities run along the shelves of land in broken pieces.

I'm taken back by the beauty of this landscape. I've never been out of the archipelago before, and have never seen anything half as incredible as Mawrhydi. Behind me Lues calls saying that the food is edible, but I stay staring at this new land, enamored with the novelty of it.

I turn back at last to the warm fire and the freshly cooked food. I take a bite and then another and another. I feel as though I haven'teaten anything half so good before, but I decide that's because ofhow hungry I was. Lues eats one chunk then tells me I can have the rest of the meat. He goes to the mouth of the cave and leans against the wall, staring out of the opening in what almost seems like amournful manner in the direction of Feralis.

It is a mournful manner I realize, because his sister is in all likelihoods dead. That thought makes my heart race, the Angel of Death may have finally met her match. Despite the joy I feel at the Demon King's defeat, I can't bring myself to smile. I return to the meal, sobered by my thoughts. I finish three chunks of meat before feeling full. There's still two pieces left.

"Why didn't you leave me and just go to Cyfala and the Brein?" I ask the one I call my enemy.

"My mother taught me never to leave my enemies unattended. Seeing as I have no armies or soldiers at my command here, I couldn't very well leave you alone," Lues answers. "Also, I didn't think it would be very courteous of me to leave you here to be killed by bandits or die of the cold."