Crimson Kingdom

Chapter Fourteen

Aegis arose from where he lay bloodied and torn with his ears pounding, with one breath of clarity he realized he was in a body collecting cart that was headed straight for the western gate of Catra. The city that Alastor had claimed as his own. Aegis breathed in ice and reasleed fire as he willed himself to disappear a magic that his mother taught him years ago and as quick as the wind he was gone but his magic sputtered running low in his veins, he only had enough time to dive behind a tree before he heard an enemy patrol nearby. So Aegis with all of his military training quieted his breath and he became the shadows with stilled movements the untrained eye would not be able to see him. A gift, it seems.

It was all a gift, the constant pressuring of Ryla to send him to the northern border, if that quiet voice had not spoken he would have been murdered in the street beheaded for treason against the new throne. He did not care much for the ideals of Edward but as hand to the king he must serve, he must obey and he must live. He could hear the breath of the enemy soldiers,

"The King wishes to wed the missing shadow, what a funny thing, I hear she has hair akin to the sun and eyes as bright as the dawn. But her power is wicked and she is vicious I heard she killed her mate for sport"

"I heard that her hair was a dark as night and her skin is covered in tattoos that she carved herself, one for every soul she has taken" and so they continue

Rumors he realizes is what they are spreading and if they did not know the truth of who she is than that means she escaped and without conscious effort, Aegis lets out a breath one filled with relief. His eyes open wide in panic with a raging heartbeat he steels his spine but the patrol was now too far away to hear and so Aegis of Catra Hand to the Ex-King of Odessa using what magic he had sends his letters as many as he can while he marches towards the desecrated land that was once known as the Elven Kingdom. He had no Kingdom, he had no-one but himself and before this war is over, he may have to break himself to survive.

The irony of this situation breathes life into his bones, he would have to break himself to survive. Just like a girl, so far away from home, and maybe, just maybe, she never had one.

What kind of home could the damned forest of Odessa be?

Once upon a time, in a kingdom so far away, there lived a Queen who loved her people and a King who loved himself and so their story began.

So Aegis told himself the story of his monarchs, until he breathed the story into his bones, until all he could do was rage at the truth that tore him apart.

Nobody was coming for him, not his king who cared only for himself and not the prince who only cared for his indifference.

Aegis still did not know that far away so very far away traveled a young woman who was searching for him, because even if the whole world forgot him, she would not, because traveling with a man with crimson eyes and a god with soft blue eyes, she knew what it was like to be forgotten. So the Queen remembered him, she remembered, she remembered.

Aegis walked along the path headed for the Elven Kingdom that now lay in ruins, its people scattered and its Queen thought to be dead. Asteria Eliza Odessa. Last Elven Queen. The rumors say she died with Amaris after Alastor stole her away, she died before she could even take one breath of air, when those lungs opened the only air that flowed through her lungs was celestial. Just like the universe that named her. So begins the story of Gera the Knight from Hell.

Ryla took one last look and turned away a blue eyed god by her side and a man with crimson eyes, she looked back only once, to say goodbye to this place of strength and mercy and redemption it deserved that at least. Ryla turned away, and so her gait one only a warrior could manage swaggered slowly as she sent flutters of her magic into the earth a spear to seek out a man. One she is sure the world has forgotten, but never her, she will never forget. Not if it was worlds between them she would never forget because she knew what it was like to be forgotten what it was like to lose all hope what it feels like for the sobs to never cease and she knew what it felt like to break herself to survive, but never forever. She would never be broken forever. It was temporary as was this shell she wore as was the cage locked around her heart heaving with cracks. This was step one, find Aegis, even though her soul screams to find Ara, she knows this war was bigger than her personal need. May the world damn her because tears streamed down her cheeks at the sorrow that clung so tightly to her soul. A magic so old and so profoundly selfish surrounded her heart, attempting to seal the cracks that had formed but to no avail, the magic did nothing, because the weight of a fae's heart mixed with the depth of an Elven soul could not and would not be tamed not even by the Fates who ruled this world for as long as she could remember. She met eyes with Blade, and he gave her a wicked grin, a small court for a crownless Queen.