Hestia's Wish [2019 ONC Longlist]

19 | Resistance

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Hestia and Alastair walked closely to each other, their eyes never swaying from their surroundings as they attempted to make their way back to the training grounds. They needed to find any soldiers willing to fight and judging by the light show that was going on in the sky, they decided they would take it as some sort of divine sign. The Isles were still filled with the Concordians, so they had to remain on guard for any sign of surprise attacks. Occasionally, Alastair's eyes would dart to Hestia's tense figure out of concern. Even though they had the healing pools, he felt like he had come so close to losing her. He would only be truly at ease once the war was over and she was tucked safely in his arms.

As if she could feel his heated gaze on her, she replied to him, "For the last time, Ali, I am perfectly fine. Quit staring at me like I'm about to break. I'm not that fragile."

"Perhaps if you weren't getting into too much trouble, I wouldn't have to watch you so closely," he teased.

She stopped walking, turned around and jabbed her finger at his chest. She lowered her voice and said, "If I recall correctly, you're the one that always needs saving." He couldn't help but watch in amusement at the sight of her standing up to him, completely ignoring the apparent difference in height. He very much liked this side of her.

He gently grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips for a gentle kiss. He looked down at her innocently, his eyes boring into hers, "It seems I'm the lucky one." He chuckled as he watched her stomp away in an attempt to conceal the deep shade of red her face was donning. "I love you."

"—love you too," she mumbled.

Every time she said it was music to his ears. Every time he heard it, he felt a slight twinge in his chest, feeling saddened the moment was over as quickly as it manifested. He would never get tired of hearing those simple words, for they made him love her a great deal more.

"Ali!" she called, clearly disturbed by something on the other side of the trees.

He briskly ran to catch up with her. What he saw through the thick foliage was astonishing. It was their comrades taking up arms to fight against the intruding Concordians. They fought valiantly despite the number that had fallen thus far. The Tree of Hope had done something when it released its energy into the air.

The sound of swords clashing against each other and boisterous yells were the only noises to be heard in the vicinity. He suddenly felt the urge to jump in and fight amongst his comrades, the current sight in front of him motivated him to continue protecting what he thought was worth his protection.

When his attention redirected to where Hestia stood, he realized that she was no longer there but fighting alongside Lieutenant Barak and their old blacksmithing friend, Serapheim. His eyes widened in surprise, it had been a long time since they'd seen Serapheim. The last he heard of him was that he was Master Liourdis' heir. He almost thought it impossible for him to be fighting alongside the others, but his shock only increased when he saw Master Liourdis amongst the soldiers.

Alastair jumped in, never missing a step with every strike and slash he delivered to the enemies that meant to surround them all. The amount of blood that spilt upon the ground didn't bother him nor did the anguished cries for mercy.

"Hey, Romanos. Where have you and Castellanos been? We could have used your help a while ago," Lieutenant Barak asked, grunting as he was fending off a Concordian with a large mace.

"We had to take a bit of a detour, Concordians were at the déntro tis elpídas. Tia and I killed them, though they put up quite the fight," he replied in-between strikes. 'One, two, feint,' he thought rhythmically, moving his body weight to the right to make it seem as though he was going to strike on that side. His opponent fell for it easily and was instantly impaled at the end of his blade.

Another Concordian jumped in just as his comrade fell, which forced Alastair to take a step back. 'One, two, block.' He held up the sword and blocked the oncoming attack from the opponent's dual blades. The metal screeched under the immense pressure of his opponent's blade, as he slightly struggled against his strength. He channeled all of the power and energy he could and forcefully shoved him back with a loud grunt. "What about you? We were told that everyone surrendered and ran away."

Lieutenant Barak took down Concordians, one after another. Although he had his sword gripped tightly in one hand, he used the other hand to contain those that dared charge at him. One of his opponents made the dreadful mistake of running at him with her dagger raised in the air. Her pathing was clear. He grabbed the woman's hand and swiftly bent it at a grotesque angle, effectively breaking it. The sound of bone snapping reverberated through the area. "You might call me crazy..." he paused, taking a moment to run his sword through the woman before she had a chance to recover. He immediately pulled his sword from her body, watching blood pool around his feet.

"We're fighting against Concordians and two Celestial Deities are dueling against each other for these lands. What could be crazier than that?" Serapheim jumped in.

"Would you all shut up? Do you want to die?" Hestia said in a huff of frustration, cutting down another person.

Lieutenant Barak ignored her and continued, "It's true that we did run away, but I don't think we had control over it. I could see my feet moving, but I didn't feel like I was the one that ordered my body to do so. It felt like I was just the spectator."

"It must have to do with the light that radiated from the Tree," Alastair commented as they tore through several more Concordians. His action was enough to send some running back to their ships while others continued to fight despite their chances of winning dwindling dangerously low.

Everyone stopped in their places when they looked up to see a bright blue sky, absent of gloomy clouds that appeared upon Libra's arrival. A strange warmth radiated throughout Alastair's body as he stared down at his hands. Before they had time to question what was going on, the ground shook violently, roughly forcing everyone to the ground.

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