Kaizan's steps were steady as he walked back to the their side of the battlefield.
The war was done. At the very least for now.
The soldiers already injected with chicken blood were unrelenting. They chased the retreating dark army, cutting down on their already whittled down forces.
This battle had lasted too long and had taken too much from them. They were glad it was over.
Alleon looked on solemnly as his soldiers exacted their revenge on the dark forces. The already destroyed forest could finally see a path to regrow. He raised his arm, a signal for the soldiers to return.
Like a tide, they fell back to their side of the plain, their eyes still red from the stimulation.
"My Soldiers.... The time has come to return home"
They cheered loudly. Their voices causing tremors in the already wounded earth.
After sixteen years of blood and carnage, the Soldiers packed up their broken souls and blood soaked armors. The journey towards home.
*********
The Journey towards home was uneventful. They had no need to camp. The little settlements before the capital were in ruins. Their inhabitants already crowded in settlements within the capital.
It had been sixteen years already.
Alleon sat on his horse the other two commanders at his side.
Their muscles were tense. Nervous.
Afterall they were riding with their emperor.
The man that single-handedly united Sivennia. Though his hands were forced at that time.
Alleon chuckled lightly. He had watched the both of them grow from cubs to adulthood.
They had indeed grown very capable.
Soon they reached the dark towering gates of the border city(luva).
The city walls were lined with citizens holding giant banners.
The soldiers eyes were red. Tears glistening their rims. The troupes passed through the gates, flower petals falling slowly on their heads.
Cheers filled their ears...
*******
The sun shone through the thick drapery in the room. The walls were painted in mellow tones, a mix of black and grey.
Damian sat still on his bed his black hair hanging loosely on his shoulders.
His always neat strands fell messily slightly covering his red eyes.
He was in deep thought. He sure hadn't gotten even a wink of sleep.
He remembered the night breeze. The way the crystal droplets shimmered and danced around her. He vividly remembered his slip and also the view of her retreating back.
His heart and mind were a mess.
He had never felt so helpless and jittery before a person.
It was driving him insane.
Light Knocks on his door pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Father.... are you okay?"
Raven had thought it weird that her father had not come down for breakfast neither had he seemed to be going to work.
He had never purposely missed a work day. He only ever stayed back if she was sick.
" I'll be right out..."
He didn't want his little darling to see him so pitiful.
He took a few seconds to clean up.
He opened the doors in his dark pants and a half unbuttoned white shirt.
" I was a little lazy to get up this morning..., I'll go down after I get dressed."
His red eyes had regained their clarity. Looking at his daughters worried face, he sighed. His heart settling all his internal wars.
Raven hummed in acknowledgement and proceeded to walk back to the living room.
Damian went ahead to finish his preparations for work.
Clad in his signature black coat, he greeted his family in the living room and left for work.
The bloodwing company was now lacking a secretary.
Damian couldn't put it off any longer than he already had.
Nairel was gone.
He sat behind his desk as he looked through the files of potential secretaries.
His eyes lingered particularly on the file of someone he at least knew.
Alfred Whitestone, a man of very few words.
He had a decisive character but hardly spoke.
He had worked for the bloodwing company for twenty years.
Damian had met him quite a number of times.
He was relatively trustworthy. His whole life was a plain sheet of paper laid bare before Damian's eyes.
He reached out and tapped a button on his desk, a company wide mic.
"Mr. Alfred Whitestone, please come to my office"
He had decided on his new secretary.
***********
On the darkened South side of Brusselie, a tower stood against the wind. Its dark roof competing with the darkness of the night.
The tower was dark all year round. A silent guardian at the border.
In the darkness, a dim light shone from the dark tower.
Inside its black brick walls, faint echoes of heels hitting the ground bounced off the walls.
Valaria walked through the dim tower hallways, a slight giddiness in her steps.
The click-clacks echoed with each step. It seemed she was alone in the high and mighty witch tower.
Reaching the top, she reached out her hand to push open the only other door in the tower.
Her hand paused slightly as she took a deep breath to control her curved up lips.
The moment she walked into the room, she knelt on one knee and bowed her head.
"Master, the second phase has been set..."
She went silent after the words came out of her mouth but the master didn't make a sound.
His silhouette was faintly outlined in the darkness.
He sat on a lonely throne facing directly across the southern border.
His white hair was cascading down his back like ghostly threads.
He raised his hand to his face and covered his purple eyes.
His facial features were distorted slightly as he broke out in a fit of maniacal laughter.
His elation gave Valaria the courage to resume her grin.
They were doing this for Brusselie.
Only so they could forever live in peace.
Maybe they both firmly believed their conviction. Maybe they knew deep down that there was no Brusselie in their innermost thoughts.
There was only them and the darkness of the witch tower.