The coming war was painted on the sky.

Battalions of warriors clad in blood-red cape and face mask made of animal skin almost reached the white sand shores of the kingdom of Halgard. Their battleships had appeared in the horizon, with the banging of the drums could be heard from far away.

The sky was reddish, all what was left of the glorious sun rays that had shone earlier.

The sun had left its throne in the sky, and the night came soon enough. The light of the day had left, the same way the gods had abandoned them. Zeus, Apollo, Hephaestus ... they all had abandoned Halgard. Olympus and its politics had decided that Halgard was alone. That was Halgard's fate.

Alone or not, Halgard had to be ready for war. Their battleships were positioned at strategic distance from the shore, their soldiers stood alert. And of course, elegarii and the well of elegarii were heavily guarded. Their royal treasure. Their reason to be. Their gift.

Wars had come to the shores and mountains of Halgard before to try to bring the kingdom to its knees and rob it of their precious elegarii. Those past enemies had failed, and this time it would not be any different.

King Rovan of Halgard was standing on top of a watch tower, one of the many that were built with equal distance from one another along the bank of the elegarii, the river treasure of the Halgardians. A young man, solid-built, with light blue eyes, strong jaws, and platinum blond silverish hair. His expression was grave as his gaze pierced the river elegarii.

Two other people stood there with him. The one on his right side was also a young man, muscular, tall, at least a head taller than the king, with wavy dark hair to his shoulder, blue eyes, and stubby moustache and beard. A tattoo of a character was set in the middle of his forehead. His captivating blue eyes was cold, sharp in focus, and no emotion could be read there.

The one to the left of the king was an elderly woman – fair complexion, slender, with long grey hair braided to the side, and grey almond-shaped eyes.

All three stared at the river elegarii almost unblinked.

The river flowed calmly as always, not even a single wave was seen.

Orbs of lights of different colours and sizes were seen right underneath the surface of the clear water river, gliding underwater. Some orbs were as small as a coin, some others were as big as a horse carriage's wheel, most other sizes fell in between those. A beautiful sight. It made the river look like it glowed in the dim light of the sunset – glowing river that could be seen from kilometres far. Red, green, yellow, white, orange, purple, blue, golden, silver orbs of lights.

"Elegarii ... Ares, that wretched god of war, is sending his pawns to our land to claim it. And all the other gods have abandoned us!" King Rovan spoke with his head bowed slightly due to the weight of the pressure he felt. The other two were quiet in their agreement to what the King had just said.

From where they stood now, they could hear rumble of water from a massive waterfall. The river elegarii with all its orbs of lights flowed there, to the waterfall. At the waterfall, the light orbs along with the river water would tumble down, but not to another body of water or so like a normal waterfall.

The river elegarii and its orbs of lights would plunge into a well. The well of elegarii.

The elegarii and the well of it that had become the target of Ares, the brutal god of war and son of Zeus, king of Olympus. Thus, the cause of the war that now came to Halgard.

"Xander, the defense has to hold around the palace and the city. It just has to. Halgard has to withstand this war! There is no other way!" the king turned to the man to his right. His anxiety was thick, his eyes stared straight at Xander, his brother.

A short nod was all that Xander gave as a response. His face was devoid of any emotion. A kind of mask that he had put up to make sure noone see the real him inside.

"It is not fair. This war was created in the Olympus. Zeus and Apollo and Ares ... and their personal altercations. It drags us into it now! Why do my people have to bear the consequence of the gods' bickering?" the king protested, his fist clenched in anger.

"Elegarii, Your Majesty. With elegarii here, the happenings in Olympus will always have an impact on us human here in Halgard," the elderly woman now spoke.

"Nydda, isn't there anything in your sorcery that could help in this war? Ares is sending his winged snakes for sure! Myrana kingdom and Queen Leidra are his pawns and the winged snakes are his weapon!" King Rovan now turned to the elderly woman, a sorceress called Nydda.

"My king, you have the sword of Zeus, the enchanted sword will be able to hold off the winged snakes for most part to give a chance for the defense to be strengthened," Nydda answered with a voice so gentle it managed to help King Rovan calm down a little. "My sorcery won't be strong enough to fight the vicious snakes from Ares!" Nydda turned to the king and sighed. Her beautiful face shone with kindness and frail anxiety, and the king nodded.

Xander was still quiet. He was grim, the chaos in his mind was kept well hidden. It was obvious that he was not a man with many words. He was used to receive command from his king, and to do exactly what was asked of him.

"Xander?" Nydda walked closer to him and gently tapped the shoulder of the warrior.

Xander turned to the sorceress.

"Your Majesty the king has to stay and fight in Halgard. Now if ... if anything goes ... wrong ..." Nydda's voice grew softer and more somber.

"Nydda ..." Xander opened his mouth. "Our defense will hold. It will." Flat intonation. No anger, no sadness, no anxiety.

King Rovan took an audible heavy breath. "Lyanna has to be protected at all cost."

Nydda nodded her agreement to the king's statement. "Lyanna, our crown princess, the future queen of Halgard, the only child of the king, has to be taken away to a safer place."

The king stared at Nydda and there was a silent understanding between them.

Xander stiffened.

The king cocked his chin and spoke,"If it comes to that, Xander, it is your duty to take the crown princess, my only child, to safety. And that is an order."

"It will not come to that," Xander answered without taking his gaze away from the elegarii.

"You are my brother, Xander. I trust you with my life, and my child is in good hands under your protection should the need come for that," King Rovan paused after his words then turned around, and left without any more word.

Xander stood still as if he did not notice the departure of his brother-king.

Nydda took a deep breath. Her lips shivered in an effort to control her bubbling emotion inside. Something else other than the war had taken over her mind because the calmness she had shown while the king was there had now dissipated.

She took a few more deep breaths, then she opened her mouth,"Xander, I sometimes wish that you never have heard the secret about ... that. It has ruined you. Please forgive me ..." Nydda's voice broke as she fought back tears. The dark secret she could not even bear to mention now.

"Please do not apologize, Nydda. I accidentally overheard your conversation that night. Yes. It has ruined me. But it cannot be undone. I have kept it all this time to myself. Rovan and everybody else do not know and they, this kingdom, never need to know. Let me carry this burden myself."

Tears fell on Nydda's cheek. "That dark, dark secret brought the death of your parents. Xander, I have said it before and I will say it again: The death of your parents is not your fault. You were just a child ..."

Xander shook his head. "It is my fault, Nydda. I killed them."

"You did not."

"Nydda, I live my life now all in atonement of what I have done. I will make sure Rovan, and Lyanna ... this kingdom ... safe."

"It is done, Xander. You have lived in grief and guilt all these years. It is enough." Nydda closed her eyes, sighed, and said in a softer voice,"You have beautiful gifts. Do you remember those? Gifts that you never use anymore since what happened. It has been too long that you let those wonderful gifts buried deep within you, among your wounds."

Xander did not react. His eyes stared straight ahead to elegarii. Nydda knew that it would be pointless for her to talk to Xander about grief and guilt.

Nydda let her tears fall, and she whispered,"Ares is the mastermind behind this invasion of Myrana. The god of war himself. He ..."

"I will destroy him, Nydda. There must be a way to destroy him!" his cold blue eyes now glared with rage and his breath was fast. He clenched his fist and punched the wall of the tower next to him. It shook and some piece of rock fell off. The mention of the name Ares brought down his wall and his anger spilled over.

Nydda closed her eyes and calmed herself down. "I love you and Rovan like my own grandchildren, Xander. I helped your birth. I was there. I wish you and Rovan all the safety in this war ..." she paused, took a long deep breath, and said with a trembling voice,"This coming war is a war where we, human, pay for the sins of the gods. We can never let elegarii fall into the dominion of the god of war, Xander. We can never let Halgard become a kingdom of dead hearts."

Loud commotion was heard together with explosions from far away.

"They have come," Nydda nodded and a moment of her sadness had ended. Her tears had dried out. She nodded at Xander, patted his shoulder, and rushed downstairs from the tower.

Xander sighed. His expression grew even darker.

There was one more secret of him.

One that even Nydda did not know. One that only he knew. His secret about those creatures. They could help Halgard win this war. But he could not ... raise them. He was too broken inside to summon them.

Xander closed his eyes and his jaws clenched, shook, trying to withstand the pain of a haunting past. A past he held on tightly because he did not know how to let go and be fine with it.

Cries of war brought him back, and he ran to meet his battle. Nydda's words echoed in his mind. A kingdom of dead hearts.