Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Thirty-Four: An Apocalypse of a Minute

"Did we really get four hundred thousand of them?" Talia asked in wonder.

"Give or take a few thousand." Viktoria smiled thinly. "I hear you played a key role."

"Not really," Talia scoffed, just as Zara trumpeted:

"Talia was the real hero of the minute."

Viktoria nodded slightly.

"I doubt you want to talk to her, though." Her Second whispered conspiringly.  "If the elves don't like MindWeavers much, then I can't imagine what the valkyries think."

"Don't like them much? The other eleven city-states turned on the Silverian line only to find their own people had wiped them out first." Viktoria replied. Talia almost laughed. The hatred for the MindWeavers was partially, she suspected, because they were the only ones who could steal a Name.

That had been in the era of she and Orion's father, Odin. They had agreed with the other ten rulers that the Silverians were too much of a threat, been prepared to wipe out their city-state, and then found the Lord and his family deposed by his own people.

"Well, we like them better during wartime." Zara smiled. Indeed, there were a few claps from the other elfin generals when they entered at last.

"I heard she killed a hundred Kallians!" One of the elves boasted.

"Are human minds easier to slip into?" One of the others demanded.

"Captain Talia Swallow,"  Viktoria said as the elf neared.

"Queen Viktoria," she replied, as though she was remembering a list. "Is this actually a strategy meeting, or are we just gloating?"

"We all deserve to gloat a little," she answered. "But I think we're being a little reckless with today's victory."

"Is it a victory?" Zara asked, cutting in. "With so many dead?"

"Not our own," she answered, confused.

"They didn't choose to be there, fighting us. Their minds feel the same." Talia added suddenly, feeling the need to back her Second up.

"Really?"

"The same as elves. The same as valkyries. Oh, don't flinch. I hate it when everyone flinches when we bring up the last war. We all shed each other's blood. Why be so very precious about mentioning it? I've slipped into your people's minds. Your blades slipped into mine's hearts."

"Don't speak about it that way." Myra retorted. "Especially not in front of people who lost more to that war than I have."

"How about me? I lost people to that war, too. But there's no way to move on if we let the hate fester."

"Move on? The only reason we're not ripping each other to shreds is because the last time we did that, we left our people worse off than the Isthmus."

"Why does it have to be that way?" Zara questioned.

"Because there is no way out of it."

"Why not? You don't spit at me now.  You didn't judge either me by what I was born as-an elf." Myra blinked. The elf's insubordination would earn her an expulsion in a heartbeat with all the various treasonous statements she had just uttered.

But they somewhat echoed in her own soul. She had always followed the rules to the letter, unless...she now remembered the unwavering devotion that had led her to break those rules in a heartbeat for what she thought was right. The instances when she had done so. The questions she had always had for her superiors-why had they done this or that? What if we tried things differently? And the last, a question she had never asked: why do we judge the elves or the humans by who they were born as? Are we truly as different as you say?