"per aspera ad astra."
(through adversities to the stars.)

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The Final Month
Iftia: War Zone, Tivaet Perimeter, Planning Room

• Rowan •

Rowan dipped the pen in red ink, trying to mark several things on the paper while Tristan continued to explain how rations should be sorts and distributed. On the other hand, Alec and Kaylon were trying to figure out the logistics. They were all busy coordinating the plans until Ilias rushed into the tent and he exhaled through his breathlessness, "Ro."

Jerking his head up, he waited for Ilias to catch some air before he dropped a red card above the huge map that all of them were working on. The quiet thud of the card against the surface was followed by a heart-dropping explanation, "Card of last battle. All of us would meet at the front-line in ten days."

This was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing to end the devastating war sooner than expected but a curse because their faction had been caught unprepared once again. The loss suffered on their end had yet recovered enough before they were thrown into another wave of misery. Rowan dropped his head and sighed, resting his palms on the back of his head. It was only in front of his knights that he would allow himself to appear this vulnerable. As the commander, he cannot falter and destroy the morale of his army. This war had cornered him since the very start and he took a while to say, "Let's redo everything again, everyone."

"I can be of help." A soft, feeble voice sounded from the front of the tent and Naailah appeared, together with his wife. Even when Naailah had stayed with them for a while now, her complexion was still heart-wrenchingly pale. All the maltreatment she suffered on the other side must've ruined her in many ways and whenever he thought about it, it always caused anger to boil in his blood. He watched slowly as Elianna helped her onto a chair and Naailah said firmly, "I'll help everyone out of this calamity."

"No," Rowan frowned, rejecting her in a firm voice. "Naailah, you're not here so that we could take advantage of your gift."

"I know, Rowan. I know that you'd never do that," Naailah smiled.

"If you understand that, there's nothing to be discussed at this moment. Please return to rest, Naailah. Your health is still in a crippling state," Rowan urged, quickly dismissing her but Naailah remained unmoved.

"My concern is beyond my health, Rowan," Naailah insisted, looking straight at him with determination flashing amongst the vibrant hues across her pale grey eyes. She continued, "The war was never meant to reach this devastation and it's only right for me to steer everything back to how it should be."

"Naailah—"

"It's my divine duty as an oracle," she stressed on her words. "You cannot take that away from me."

Rowan admitted defeat, he had no words to refute when she laid her claims on her role as such. Exhaling helplessly, he only pleaded, "Naailah, make sure you're doing everything that you're supposed to, do not play against fate. Please?"

"You don't have to worry about me," Naailah nodded before requesting, "Before we start, can I speak with you and Elianna alone?"

Without hesitation, he dismissed the rest of his knights and Elianna took a seat beside him. When it was left with three of them in the planning room, she began, "Rowan, I need you to promise me that you'd believe in every word I say."

"Why wouldn't I?" Rowan asked, unsure. "I've never doubted you, Naailah."

"This is the most absurd thing I'll ever tell anyone," Naailah gave him a wry smile and bit on her lower lip nervously. She clasped her hands together and held them so tightly till her knuckled paled, leaving him to wonder what she was going to tell them.

"Please do speak," Rowan gestured.

"If you meet Matthias on the battlefield," Naailah explained slowly and Rowan pinched his brows together in reflect, not understanding whatever she said but something complicated rose in him when Naailah continued, "You'll be facing Lyra. She was the one that was under the Queen's manipulation."

"What do you mean by that?" Elianna was the one who articulated every word that muddled his mind.

Naailah was careful as she threaded through her words, "I know it's hard to believe but I only found this out a while ago too. Since the ritual that happened when they were nine, the two souls had been chained together. They lived within each other's consciousness."

"If Lyra was the one that is—" Rowan heard the tremble in his own voice, "Then, what happened to Matthias?"

His heart was rattling against his chest and he was unsure of how he should be feeling. He feared the truth in Naailah's words, but he also feared for Matthias. He lost a sister, he didn't think that he could live through the grief of losing a brother.

"Lyra said he fell asleep," Naailah dropped her head low, avoiding their gaze. Her voice sounded exceptionally pained when she mentioned, "Maybe Matthias fell too deep to ever wake up again."

Rowan wasn't sure what to make out with everything that was said to him but he knew better than anyone else that Naailah wasn't one to lie.

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The Final Month
Iftia: War Zone, Elgens-Eseia, Battlefield

• Elianna •

Never in her life had she ever witnessed this massiveness of devastation before. The clangour of swords intensified and the shoutings of slaughter rose into a deafening peak; anguish lay on the red-stained snow.

Elianna continued to pour her magic into the war stone, amplifying her strength to the thousands of soldiers that fought fearlessly for freedom and their lives were tokens to exchange for future peace of Iftia. Gazing up, the pale bleak sun did nothing to source any warmth against the harsh atmosphere of the tundra and the snow-covered plain was dirtied with scarlet and steel — the colour of blood, corselets and broken blades. The dead laid in heaps around the entire expanse of the battlefield and the life in their eyes died faster than the wisps of smoke dissipating from snuffed out candle flames.

The panthers were also in a heated, vicious fight against the wolves. Beastly growls filled the air as the blacks prowled against the whites so antithetically till crimson bled between the contrasting canvas of their furs. The therianthropes fought without their hearts, severing their enemies cruelly by ripping out each other's spines from neck down. The macabre sounds of screams that pierced through the air were blood-curdling enough to define a living hell.

Her shadows were amplified through the war stone and they frenzied through the blood-filled devastation, as though this wretched arena was their playing grounds. She directed her attention towards the other end of the battlefield, where it raged in crimson flames and the man who stood in the middle of this massive pyre was none other than Matthias. The heaviness in her heart was tugging her down as she prayed.

Matthias, please wake up.

Yet, her words never reached him. He was merciless and his flames slithered through the grounds, charring bodies into ashes. Her eyes searched farther, spotting the wicked queen as she pulled the glowing threads of red that were wounded around Matthias' neck. Elianna stood too far but she could hear the grating cackles of that vile woman, as though they were echoing overpoweringly through the tense air.

White knuckles from clenching her fists too hard and gritted teeth from the effort to remain grounded, Elianna was failing to contain the surmounting anger within her. She exerted against the war stone too forcefully and her shadows ricocheted off the ground and charged towards the direction of the queen. Those terrible phantasms exuded her animosity, glissading down like poisoned icicles — sharp, slicing, potent.

Her anger grew far greater than her when her attack was countered by soaring flames. The flames that suddenly brought her back to the horrible memories of burning stakes and her darkness was engulfing her within them. Those violent shadows screamed in her ears, overwhelming against her conscious and will.

Surrender! Surrender! Surrender!
The soul belonging to darkness shall be consumed.

Blood! Blood! Blood!
You'll be us and we'll be one.

Rise! Destroy! Murder!
We are the sanguinary nightmares wearing your human skin.

A sudden tackle quickly snapped her back to reality and all her shadows disappeared in an instant, together with their ear-splitting outcries. Thunder hovered above her, arching into his human form as he yelled at her while shaking her violently, "Eli!"

"Thunder," she gasped as fear pounded wildly in her chest at the thought that she nearly lost herself. She heaved several sharp exhales and focused on Thunder's eyes, grounding herself in reality before she nodded, "I'm back— I'm back now."

"Please, Eli, please don't lose yourself," Thunder begged, gripping tightly on her arms. "Everyone else is counting on you for this battle. We want to go home, Arell is waiting for us to go home. Hold your darned self together, Elianna Evarix!"

Thunder's warning was a rude awakening and Elianna quickly shook awake, remembering that if she fell into her depths, the child that was longingly waiting for their return would be the one she would shatter the most. She mumbled his name, "Arell, mea lux."

"Yes!" Thunder snarled. "Keep him in your heart! Keep every one of us in your heart and fight!"

"I understood," she reassured.

Thunder jumped off her and pulled her up. He slunk back into his panther form but kept on looking back to check on her. In a firm voice, she recited the words that Thunder always reminded her since she turned nine, "I am the power above my shadows, I command them — they don't get to reign over me."

The panther exhaled a sigh of relief before resuming into the chaos again and she hovered her hands over the floating war stone. All of them continued to fight for everything that mattered to them.

※

• Rowan •

Rowan managed to force his way to the last line of defence and he was impelling forward with dangerous speed towards Silvestra but she pulled on her strings and shielded herself with Matthias. Rowan quickly veered to the side and left with no choice, he fought toe to toe with his brother.

Matthias slashed with pure force pouring through his limbs and flames ignited with his movements. Rowan was quick to counter all of his attacks as he manipulated the air surrounding him to extinguish his blaze. He flickered forward and clashed their swords together. Rowan pushed, pressing their bodies closer to stall any further strike as he shouted, "Matthias!"

The hazel of his irises remained lifelessly dull and Matthias held the piece of floating amber up in his hand. A wave of fire blinded Rowan as he stumbled back out of reflex. When his gaze refocused again, Matthias appeared right in front of him and they leapt and spun, crashing against the ground before rolling themselves to stance again and again. Their arms reached and whirled, they punched and grabbed while slicing their swords through the air in antagonistic movements but always missing each other — from perfect dodges and deliberate misses. Rowan clenched his jaw tighter and forced Matthias back, making him fall on his back. He dropped his weight on Matthias, immobilising him and yelled, "When are you going to come to your senses?!"

The body writhed beneath him and Rowan pushed his knee deeper against the celiac plexus, causing Matthias to choke on a breath. His heart ached to see his younger brother suffering as such but he needed to wake him up. There was so much to lose from this war and he didn't want to lose someone important to him, not Matthias. Rowan had to try, he had to try waking his brother up because his wife and his daughter were still waiting longingly for his return. A strangled voice sounded beneath him, "B-Brother."

Rowan was caught by surprise when Matthias seized the chance to turn the tables around. The puppet removed himself from beneath and wrestled above him. Rowan's arms were trapped to his side and the body above him pushed his entire weight down. Rowan coughed out a breath and stared towards the vile woman standing behind them. He cursed through clenched teeth, "How dare you. How dare you use Matthias against me."

Rowan didn't fear death. But his heart ached, knowing that if his brother were to wake from this nightmare, it would be difficult for him to overcome the grief and guilt. On his last attempt, he asked, "Matthias, why aren't you waking up?"

A raucous laugh sounded in the background, mocking him for the ridiculousness of his question but Rowan had no intention to beg his way out of death. A sudden thought flashed across his mind and he remembered everything that Naailah told him before they arrived in this battlefield. At this point, Matthias' arms began to move. Wielding his sword with a firm grip, the blade flashed as Matthias brought it over his head.

Rowan closed his eyes, whispering his last words, "Matthias, we'll always be brothers. Half-siblings or whatever it is, we're always brothers. Lyra, you and I would always be family, always."

The expected pierce didn't come through and Rowan opened his eyes again, widening in surprise when he saw the man above him fought against the manipulation on him. Rowan drew in a sharp breath as he tried, "Matthias? Lyra?"

Rowan didn't take Naailah's words too seriously at first, but when the frown furrowed deeper in between Matthias' brows, he finally believed. Matthias flexed his arms tighter, trying his hardest to resist the control over him. Rowan struggled, trying to free himself but Matthias was rooted too firmly against the ground for him to do anything. The fear that lodged against his throat only swell when a pained groan sounded from Matthias and the sword kept lowering till the tip of it pricked against the apple of his throat.

"Please," Rowan winced and exhaled helplessly, "Please don't let her control you."

In split seconds of a moment, Matthias swung the sword with all the strength in his arms and drove it right through his own body. The sickening sound of flesh tearing against the pierce of the sword caused Rowan's heart to stop momentarily as he watched Matthias fall on his side, thudding lifelessly into the snow.

When senses came back to him, Rowan jolted right up and shouted, "Matthias!"

※

*a nervous laugh and fading author's presence*

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