A feeling of absolute terror overwhelmed me, and I just froze where I stood.
Everyone went silent for one second. The next second, the whole building erupted in screams.
Faun held up a hand. Everyone went silent.
"We must overcome our fear and turn it into strength and bravery. We must fight until we die. The war is just beginning. We must protect our loved ones and fight for everyone in existence. We must never back down. We must stand in our strength. Now, who is ready to fight?" Faun asked, her voice never wavering.
All the Valkyries looked at each other, then burst into a deafening cheer.
"Get ready. I will send weapons, the ones each person can use the best," Faun said, and snapped.
Weapons appeared in everyone's hands. Some swords, some bows and arrows, some spears, and many other varieties of weapons.
"Alright. I am going to put up a magical barrier around the area we need to protect. It will hold up, but not against a certain amount of pressure. I am powerful, yet old. Once the barrier is broken, I want a wall of Valkyries with their weapons surrounding our areas.
I need Valkyries with mostly bows and arrows to make a flying circle, and use their magic to create new arrows. Create different types of arrows, like exploding arrows or fire arrows. Another few walls of Valkyries need to be formed, to protect everyone. Get rid of as many Dark Soldiers as you can, and I will attempt to make more barriers and impediments. We must stay strong to win this war. Juno and Eric will sneak into the Dark Realm and find both the necklace and the Light Leader. We must pray for our victory. Is that clear?" Faun asked.
The whole room agreed in unison, some saying,"Yes," and some nodding.
"The strongest and most powerful Valkyries will be the front wall," Faun instructed, then went around the room, nodding to some people, instructing them to be in the front wall.
Pora, Arie, and Sari were chosen for the front wall, and so were many other Valkyries I didn't know very well.
A Valkyrie named Dahn, or another named Mena.
Whoever was the strongest.
I saw that Arie, Pora, and Sari looked terrified. They were not happy about being in the war at all, but their expressions just mirrored everyone around them.
Arie looked up with her chin tilted halfway to the sky. She closed her eyes, and a tear streaked down her face.
I felt guilty that I had been so awful to her, even though she was horrible to me as well.
On instinct, I walked across the room, and looked Arie in the eye.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I was ever mean to you. We could have lived like sisters, but instead we chose to be enemies. I'm here for you. From the bottom of my heart, please forgive me," I apologized.
Arie began to cry even more. "It's me who should be apologizing. I can't believe I treated you differently because you look different. I accept your apology, but I hope you will accept mine," Arie sniffed.
"I do accept it," I responded. We hugged tightly, for the first time ever. I hugged her like she was the sister I never had.
"Thank you," Arie whispered. "Thank you." I began to tear up.
We broke from our embrace, and I returned to my position by Eric.
Faun asked,"Are you ready?"
Eric said,"No, but there really isn't anything else I could say or do to be ready." Faun turned to me and I responded in three words.
"Bring it on."