Xander stood still as the winged horses that he had raised flew about him, they congregated around him, waiting for their orders. Xander could talk to them with his mind and they understood him. Beautiful, majestic creatures that had left all the soldiers on the grass clearing in awe.

He had heard from his spies and scouts that General Dimerion was successful in gathering the battalions loyal to him and now they fought to protect the capital and guard the elegarii. That news brought a slight consolation to him.

"They have begun the attack, Commander!" a soldier came running. "Myrana soldiers hava launched attacks on the coastal towns, while some groups of soldiers have gone on rampage on the capital. Soldiers loyal to you are now fighting them, Commander."

The hissing of the winged snakes were heard again. The winged snakes that had come earlier to kill the children had been destroyed by the winged horses, and now there came more of them.

Xander grabbed Zeus' sword. He was ready.

He looked up to the horses, and the horses gathered in almost a perfect circle above him. There were about fifty horses now up there.

He closed his eyes, quietly spoke his command to them, and the horses understood. They turned around, and flew in high speed to meet the incoming snakes head on. The battle had begun up on the sky. Loud roar, shriek, and yelp filled the sky, as well as sounds of wings flapping furiously.

"Kill them all, my friends. Kill them all ..." whispered Xander while his eyes, burned with fury, trained on the winged horses on their way to destroy Ares' pets.

Loud cries of war were heard, and the battle began in all parts of the capital, as well as in the palace ground.

Myrana forces were strong, they bulldozed Halgard's forces who stood on their way. Leidra's sorcery had caused quite some Halgard's soldiers to fall under her spell and failed to fight to defend their kingdom. That dirty trick caused holes in Halgard's defense. Loyal soldiers fought hard, and these were well-trained, experienced soldiers who were battle-hardened. This high level of skills helped them hold off at least some of Myrana's forces advance.

When soldiers of Myrana arrived on the edge of the forest close to the main palace, Xander took a deep breath. "It is time," he whispered to himself. Then he turned around, took one look at the forest on the other side where Airin and the rest had run to. Rovan was wounded because of Leidra's dark sorcery on his mind and body, but he was well-trained enough to be able to protect the children and Lyanna, the future queen. Elisthia's sorcery would help them.

But it was Airin that worried him. She had no battle training, no sorcery, no weapon skills. "Be careful, Airin. Please survive this. I am fighting for you now."

Though one thing bothered him when he examined the incoming Myrana forces: Those forces were commanded by Queen Leidra's top general, her second-in- command.

Leidra was not with them.

Where would she be? Strategically this would be the most important battle because he was here, as well as Rovan and Lyanna, those who could lay claim on the throne of Halgard. And Lyanna was someone she had targeted for the purely evil reason of wanting to destroy the little girl's childhood and turn her dark. Where is she? But Xander did not have much time to ponder possible answers because Myrana had arrived.

The battle begun on the ground and up in the sky with the winged horses started to face off with the just-arrived winged snakes. The horses' furious neighing mixed with the hissing of the snakes, and the whooshing and flapping of the wings caused gust of wind that blew across the battlefield.

Xander went into the battle, fulfilling his destiny: An assassin, a protector, a wounded demigod. But his heart, in its gentlest, deepest, most human nook, had only a space for Airin. His worry and his hope.

<<<>>>

Meanwhile, in the forest ...

"Airin!" Airin turned and saw Elisthia regain her consciousness. She struggled to sit up and her face looked pale.

"Elisthia! I weaken her one more time, but I lost ... lost ... my jade," Airin wanted to cry but she toughened herself. Tears would not help her now.

"Let's send your emotion again to her! She is weakened, we have to act fast before she recovers!" Elisthia grabbed her hand, staggered to stand up with Airin helping her.

"Now!" Elisthia trembled but she persisted and tightened her grip of Airin's hand. Airin felt again like there were a lot of tiny needles poking her. Warmth that calmed her down. She closed her eyes, and her students came to mind.

Their smile, their tears, their funny expressions, their innocent banter, their happy dance, their coloring books, their stickers, their songs ... their life.

She whispered their names, imagined the face attached to the name, one by one. She felt warm, like there was a wool blanket that hugged her in the cold winter night.

Leidra fell, tossing and thrashing about on the muddy ground. "No! Not happiness! I hate children! Not those squirmy dirty little rats!" she cried out with her palms pressing against her temple as if she was attacked by excruciating headache.

And finally, it was Xander that came to Airin's mind, much to her surprise. His earthy warmth, his sheepish smile, his hungry kisses, and his hope and dream—she was his hope and dream.

She felt lighter, the warmth of her thought had helped her feel better about the shitty situation she was in now. Her lips moved, and she knew she broke in a smile.

No, I cannot die today. I have too many things I still want to do, too many questions I still want the answer to. Too many days I still want to go through. Airin told herself, over and over again.

Leidra let out a gargling sound like she was choking on something, her head moved like someone had grabbed and shook it, then she fell, rolled on the ground, and the black cloud which hung next to her, the one with Airin's jade necklace enclosed within it, disappeared. The jade necklace flew back to Airin.

Airin grabbed the necklace and with one hand that was not grasping Elisthia's hand. The warmth of the necklace strengthened her, and she started dreaming of a future.

Her kids in class. The origami folding she wanted to teach them.

A possible better relation with Dad.

And even Xander. Xander and her. Maybe. Who knows?

Leidra let out a long, painful shriek, and her body started melting to the ground like wax being heated.

"You did it, Airin. You did ... you were right, the emotions, the powerful human emotions, killed her," Elisthia fell kneeling on the ground.

Airin heaved a sigh of relief, she kneeled next to Elisthia. "No, we did it, Elisthia. This would not be possible without you!"

Leidra turned completely into rancid pool of dark liquid which slowly got absorbed and disappeared into the ground.

All of a sudden Airin groaned and grabbed her wrist. A sharp, stabbing pain caused her to start trembling. She glanced at her left wrist and saw a scratched wound about 10cm long. A wound from her struggle with Leidra. The wound was now bleeding blackish-dark red blood.

"Leidra must have scratched me with her nail during our struggle," she whispered, and the pain from the wound increased the more blood flowed out. She shut her eyes and started shivering from pain. Her body trembled and her breathing got heavier.

"There must be poison in Leidra's nail that scratched you!" Elisthia rushed to examine the wound.

A loud whooshing sound came from above them, and they looked up. Xander rode a winged horse and the horse lowered itself, but the flapping of its majestic wings caused quite disturbance in the air.

"What happened? The soldiers of Myrana seemed to lose all energy and they became confused, started killing their own comrades or surrendering to us! Where is Leidra?" Xander rushed to them while the horse stood alert behind. Blood spatters were on his face.

"Their source of strength is the dark sorcery of Leidra their queen. Airin killed Leidra ..."

"We killed Leidra, Elisthia. We ..." Airin struggled but she felt an absolute need to make sure Elisthia receive proper credit.

"Fine. But Airin is scratched by Leidra. She is poisoned! We have to get back to the palace, Xander. I will try to make the antidote!" Elisthia sounded like she was holding back tears, she did not address Xander as my lord anymore, she stood up and stared Xander square in the eyes.

Airin struggled to draw breath, she could not hear anymore what Xander was saying—it was all just sentences, meaningless and jumbled together.

She knew Xander carry her in his arms, took her on the winged horse, and they flew. An extraordinary experience that she missed because she just slumped, sitting limp in front of Xander on the horse, while Xander held her from behind with one hand, while the other hand controlling the flight of the horse.

Xander's voice sounded farther and farther away as if he was talking to her from the opposite end of a long tunnel. But she heard what he had whispered right next to her ear:"Airin, please hang on. Please stay with me. Please ..."

Airin tried to answer but the poison from Leidra's scratch on her skin had spread further within her body. Breathing became so laborious that she had to gasp a few times, and Xander tightened his grab of her body when the winged horse rose higher in the sky and sped up its flight. He leaned closer to her, and whispered, "I am here ... I will make sure you survive this, Airin."

Her mind was too blurry by now to process what Xander had just said. Her muscles gave up more, grew weaker, and almost as a last ditch effort to gather more strength, she grabbed Xander's hand tight and Xander grabbed her hand back, pressing it close to his chest and letting it rest there.

She knew that her consciousness was slipping fast, she knew she had to somehow survive this, that was why she started trying to count Xander's heartbeat. The heartbeats thumped gently on her hand, she counted till five then she lost track of the number of counts, and was too weakened to continue counting.

All went grey like a thin curtain that fell in front of her eyes, then it was dark for her. She did not even feel the wind that blew on her face anymore, nor did she hear the flapping of the wings of the horse, or Xander's heartbeat. It was all dark and quiet. So quiet like the world had died inside her.