Feet pound the cracked and upheaved ground, this war that had threatened them all had come back into their lives like a raging storm. They never stood a chance in truth. How could they be against an enemy that never revealed its motives? The same enemy never explained their actions but purely enjoyed the killing spree they had been hell-bent on over the past decade and a half.

The soldiers' feet stopped at the once entrance to the palace grounds. They soon discovered it was far worse than when they were high above. Being on the ground had changed everything.

Feet dug deeper into the rubble; it was a forgotten sensation, the stench of death that filled the void of silence. Matthew could hear behind him the gagging's from the soldiers that stared at some of the bodies when they entered the ground.

Their Commander moved out; first, weapons gripped, and the soldiers were quick to maneuverer behind him. With every step he made, they followed suit.

"Eyes front, we have had reports of monsters still lurking," he instructed, "they could still be in this vicinity. Prime one, I want you to patrol the front ground. Artemis two west wing. Vizier team, outer grounds. The rest of you head into the capitol, or what is left. Back courtyard in thirteen minutes, then we will head inside the palace for another sweep."

There were nods of agreeance, and they disbursed from the man.

---- ----

Hollowed steps echoed the ruined world before them, footsteps kept light as he made his way towards the palace entrance, the double sword harness strapped to his back, one of his swords ready in his hand.

Matthew knew he didn't need it, not with the powers coursing through his veins. However, if a situation turned ugly, he wasn't about to show these worlds what kind of warrior he had been.For he was the very same warrior that had alluded most of the districts of his and his other warrior's actual identities. 

Jesse closed on his shoulder, and she stepped in time with his own pace amongst the debris. Richie and Toni were further spread out to what they were, the same double sword harnessed to their backs, swords in hand, ready for anything that might spring up on them.

"Nothing's moving, unfortunately." Richie initiated.

"Unfortunately," Jesse scoffed at the man that had held his bun in tight formation, looking for a fight almost it seemed, "not feeling like taking on a Hyport or Reaper tonight, thank you very much."

They fanned out; the same course of power that ran through them as their leader had was the same power that made them different from any other soldier.

Toni and Richie entered the palace hallways first. Stepping out from Matthew, his steel eyes gaged the room just as they had been. Stealth-like in each movement.

"Connors's team swept through here already. Is there a reason why you wanted to go through here again?" Jesse whispered, a step back on his shoulder coming through the debris.

"They weren't prepared, which tells me something more went on," pointing his sword to the massacred bodies that were riddled before them. Scorched burnt marks decorated the walls instead of the pristine cream that was once there hours ago.

Watching where he stepped, it seemed this death and tragedy cracked even his toughest façade to the world. Death had always been staring him in the face ever since he could remember and all he could do was laugh it off.

Yet, this couldn't be laughed off.

This had stripped away some comfort that he still held within himself. Some reassurance that they could stop this with their powers, yet, look what was before them. They couldn't have prevented this. Cautiously they continued their way along the palace hallways, ducking into rooms and closing them off behind them as his warriors fanned out further amongst the ruins of the palace.

Matthew reached the half-destroyed back balcony alone at this point. Jesse, Richie and Toni had taken off in different hallways with some of the soldiers they had met along the way. It left the Commander to take in the eradicated view of a decimated civilization that once prospered here.

Steel blue eyes travelled onwards until his vision blurred with the skyline. Gone were the pristine, beautiful gardens he had seen earlier that day. Gone was the clear view of the world before him where the giant blue planet that was their home radiated. Gone were the stairs that he saw the servant upon, and he stood before a Princess who scolded him about this exact situation.

"Matthew," his device on his wrist radioed in. Toni's voice was clear now.

"Anything?" Eyes monitored the burning haze of one of the towers that had crumbled from the attack. It was currently being assessed by a team of soldiers searching for survivors.

"The high guards of the palace had reportedly been found near the Queen's ship. Only their skeletons remain. Burnt to a crisp, it seems. We found some more servants in the palace on the higher floors. Reapers got to them; most are unrecognizable."

"The Queen?" his brows furrowed.

"Un-located so far."

"I'm here on the balcony," steel eyes took in the view again, shaking his head only to himself, "I want to search the sites next where the ships were destroyed. Get the team."

"Five minutes out," Toni confirmed, and the line went dead.

"Jesse, Richie," Matthew commanded over the communication device.

"Yep," Jesse acknowledged, with Richie near her on the third level of the palace.

"Toni's making his way to me now. Keep searching for any further traces of the Queen or Princess."

"Easy," she replied, and the line cut out.

Matthew dropped his arm, this was beyond a nightmare, and he hated how Seraphina's words echoed in his mind again.

"When this goes wrong."

"When this goes wrong," he muttered when he repeated those words, his grip on the balcony forced his knuckles to crack in annoyance, "so fucken stupid. She couldn't have known, no fucken way."

His mind tried to recapture any other helpful information the Princess had spoken about in the afternoon when he was here. Nothing came to mind. Nothing where he thought that she had been trying to give him some blind signal that they were going to be attacked.

Matthew drifted off from the thoughts. The world was reminiscent of the one from his childhood, and as quickly as the roaring, terrifying, ear-splitting flames; he had heard as a child from the roaming monsters that lurk in the smoke around him, had he snapped back to reality.

He continued to monitor the soldiers in front of him, medics had been attending to the survivors that were removed from the rubble. His own fear was understanding, with the way the reports had been flooding in, that the probabilities of any form of survival for these people at this point had been minimal.

They were buried for too long, their injuries winning against the time they just didn't have. Bodies stepped carefully past more rubble, and every soldier checked for movement and signs of life, their calls left unanswered. Steel blue continued trailing along the carnage line until he saw something shift, something move. He wasn't paying enough attention to it at first.

The rubble shifted again. Eyes widened a fraction, and again it moved for him. This had been the moment that he never saw coming. A hand clear enough to form movement had reached up for the sky above them. It had been straining to gain any attention, trying to tell someone they desperately required help.

Matthew's face dropped, and he shot from his position, feet pounded against the broken cobblestone, racing towards the hand begging for support.

"Medics now!" he roared to everyone that saw him running towards the hand.

Place your votes now and tell me who you think the hand in the ruble is!!!

Seriously, vote, I'll just kill them off if that makes you happy.

I mean what kind of person wishes for me to kill my characters off?