Amara Raven

Knock. Knock.

Two urgent knocks on the door takes my attention off the piles of paper in front of me. "Come in." I answer, siting straight on my seat as the guard gives a deep bow before relying a royal command.

"Her highness, Queen Ophelia seeks your presence at once, Princess. She's waiting for you in the great hall."

"You are dismissed." I immediately get off my seat and leave the work for another time. Maybe that's the reason I was feeling restless the entire day.

Sighing I get up and make my way out into the hallway, but the uneasy feeling once again starts to surface, urging my feet to increase its light pace. And in no time, I stand before the entrance of the grand door leading to the summit.

I wasn't the only one being summoned here, Helen, Philip, Eliana, Christopher, Elias and Aya, they all stood on either side as my mother sat on the chair and my father kneeling beside her. And there was this heavy tension floating in the air, this eerie feeling. Just as I take a step in, Lucas grabs my hand from behind, squeezing his hands tight onto mine. Soaking into that stormy light blue eyes that glistened silver, I nod before we both make our way into the hall.

Looking around, I probe for some kind of heads up, some knowledge on the situation yet unexposed to me, but they all look back at me equally clueless. And as I finally look at mother, I notice her grim expression, tired eyes and the constant sweat beading her forehead.

My father exhales a heavy breath and stands up, his expression hard. And I knew that whatever he was going to say was not going to be any good either. Holding both my hands onto Lucas', I hold my heart silent to hear him out.

"Now that you have all gathered here. I have some disturbing news to announce." Now with a worried look on his face, he diverts his eyes back to my mother who had a distant look on her face.

"Your mother had another premonition. Ophelia."

A light touch on her shoulder and a whisper of her name, mother regains her posture but not the look on her face. She finally tears her gaze off father and looks around the room, until it finally settles on mine. Her tired eyes, lined with red veins, drought with tears, looks at my soul.

And for the first time, I see fear in those strong, eminent green orbs. They quiver, shake as she searches for reassurance in mine. "Amara..."

Even her voice, lighter than a feather, fear consumed in it, she sounds weak, scared. The great Queen Ophelia shudders in fear, frightened by the future only she knew of. I reach forward with Lucas still by my side and kneel in front of her, placing my hands on her lap.

"Mother."

"I saw them." She breaths the word out, her eyes glued to her laps, my clenched hands. "Soon. I don't know when, but I see thousands of them. Their number rising even then. Soon there will be a war raging on our door, Amara." Upon hearing her, my heart sinks further as the room continues to fall in silence.

A war.

Once again.

"Soon, this kingdom will be swarmed by turned Lycans led by one of our own. They-"

Holding onto her trembling hands, I squeeze them gently, reassuring her to continue. "Although they are not as powerful, they are greater in numbers. I fear that we are not going to be enough-"

"We will be." We have to be. I promise both her and myself.

I look into her glassy eyes which now reflects back my own, but she shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut, not quite believing my words, having too much belief in her visions. "Oh Amara. What are we going to do? My poor Althea."

My silent heart thumps a little faster as I hear my baby's name. Her premonition doesn't seem to end with just a war. There was more and I was not quite ready for it. None of us was.

Goddess above, please listen to this mother's plea, keep my daughter safe. I start sending silent prayers to the one above as I urge my mother to continue. "What about her? Mother, what about Althea?"

My small world only crumbles further as I listen to her.

"I see a world with no light."

I know that she sees confusion laced on my face, so she leans forward and takes my hands into hers now. "And in the midst of darkness, I see our dear Althea-"

But the loud banging of the door right before it opens wide, stops her from saying any further. A guard barges in, his face laced with tension as he takes a curt bow. "Your highness, we detected intruders heading our way."

Soon.

But this was too soon.

"Why didn't you report it earlier?" Father pinches the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed as everyone becomes alert on their feet.

"With all due respect, your highness, they seem to be moving at speed of a lightning. We just sensed them not too long ago when they breached our waters but that's not all. We have unauthorised aircrafts in the air too."

It was really happening.

Nobody dares speak. All my mother's prediction always comes true, but this one came too fast. Too early. We were unprepared. We needed more time. But we didn't have time.

"Give me the numbers, Alvin."

"That's where the problem really is, your highness. Initially, we counted hundred, but their numbers keep increasing as we speak."

"How long do we have?"

The question to whose reply we dreaded to hear. "At the speed they are coming, they will be here before dawn."

A second of silence fills the hall before father becomes the ruler he is and takes control of the situation. We had a war knocking our way sooner than anyone expected, and we will be out there fighting with our lives on the line.

"Send all the elementals that controls air and water to the border now." Alvin gushes out upon hearing the command. "Lucas. Elias. With me. Philip. Christopher. Take the lead inside the walls. Get the warriors ready."

I feel a gentle touch on my shoulder, and I knew it was time. Time for separation. Again.

Time to prepare as much as we can. I get pulled up and engulfed into Lucas' strong arms as he whispers sweet words of love and encouragement. To stay strong. To survive. But it all just sounds too sad, too bitter when I stare into his sad silver eyes for one final time before he had to leave.

"I love you always remember that. No matter what happens, I need you to survive. Even if you are the only one left. I don't care, I just need you to. Do you hear that?"

And when I don't respond to his words, he lightly shakes me. "Koraki. I need you to be strong. I need you to be here when I return. I need you. Please love, promise me that you won't leave me again."

He brings his forehead down to mine, his breath sending sparks and when he leans down to swallow my lips whole, he ignites the familiar rush, sending me all his love. And even if it was just for a second, we forget about everything else as we fall into a world of our own. At this moment, all I could feel was his soft lips on mine, devouring me whole as if it was our last.

"Son. It's time."

We finally tear apart. "Promise me."

"I promise."

A smile so broken stretches over his face as he finally lets go of my hands. "I love you."

"And I, you. Forever."

He turns around and joins my father who was already by the door.

And just like that they all leave. One by one, all men exit the hall after saying their own goodbyes to their loved one and not even a second later, the cries of the war begins as warriors prepares themselves. My heart sinks further, but my face remains stoic, everything around me a crazy mess.

As the thunder rages, I was finally brought out of my miserable state. I look around me as the hall now fills with warriors, men, women, alike, stands with a hard expression but a body ready to battle. They all look at me to take control as the queen remains seated in her chair, her expression tense, nervousness clear in her movements, the biting of her nails, her flickering gaze fixed on the floor.

I exhale the breath that sat heavily in my lungs. The time had come again for the huntress to rise, to once again hunt, but this time to defend, to protect what I loved, what I treasured.

I release another breath along with all the nervousness, the sadness, all the worries, it was time to fulfil the duty I swore to abide as I took the title of the princess of Lycans. When I took the name Silvermoon. It was time for Amara Raven Silvermoon to come forth and lead.

"A war is heading our way, sooner than any of us could ever imagine." My voice cautious, low. "Soon we will have to fight with our lives on the line, to protect our loved ones, our home." I look around meeting their eyes as I speak. "But we will survive. We have to. For we will stand victorious."

My voice was one with the thunder as I declare, as I promise our safety, our victory. "We will be the last ones standing. We will show them what this land means to us and we will tell the universe what happens when they try to take it away from us. Let us be furious. Let us be our true self. Let us be free and let that raging beast out."

As my voice echoes the hall so does the crowd. The early hours of the day now screams with the drums of the war, the angry ocean, the howling wind, the roaring sky, and the voices of the true Lycans.

We let the monsters free to do as it please. Destroy. Annihilate.

And sooner than anyone expected, the dawn breaks as the battle cries echoes the land now filled only with anger and rage.

"Let the war begin."

The crowd in front of me roars louder, shredded clothes flies around as many starts shifting into their Lycan self, taller, prouder and stronger. And with a howl so powerful, they move past me and out the glass window, shattering it, as they charge forth into the battlefield.

I glance at Eliana and Aya. "Stay safe sisters." And with a curt nod they too jump out of the now open window. I bite my lips hard and clench my fists tight, my eyes shut. All I could hear was another ruin, a tune of catastrophe that had befallen on our kingdom once again.

"All alone, so broken, my poor Althea..." Mothers voice sound like the softest melody against the fuming voices outside. I peel my eyes open and turn to her, her glossy green orbs already on mine, her lips trembling, she had aged beyond time. "I see an end to all of us Amara. We will not-"

"We will."

My heart drums louder in my ears as rage starts to flow in my blood. "We will win mother. We will stand victorious." She shakes her head, but I grab her shoulders tight and pull her to me, my hard eyes locked on her glassy ones. "You listen to me mother. No matter what we will win."

"Amara..."

"No mother. Not this time. I will prove it wrong." I place my hard glare on her, shaking my head as I call her a liar. But my heart falters, the more I look at her broken self. "Mother what if it wasn't everything. Maybe you didn't get to see the whole picture, the end. Just maybe you needed more time to see past all this."

"But Amara-"

My whisper softer and kinder as I plead her to be strong, to hear my desperation. "Even if my words aren't true mother, let's try and create a different ending. There's always hope if there is life in us. Please mother be strong. You are the Queen of all Lycans. If you fall, we all fall. And you rise, we all become one, connected, unstoppable."

She closes her eyes, and a lonely trail follows the curve of her cheek. "I promise I will continue this story and I will not stop until I create another ending. A happier one. One where there is you, me, everyone. On this very land. And you will sit right here after it all and smile at how we made it. We will tell another generation of how we never gave up. Together we fought and together we won."

And when she opens those eyes, I see a little light flaring in them, a hope rising. She wipes her tear away and holds my hands tight on hers, nodding her head as a small smile forecasts on her dull face.

"Together we are stronger." She lets go of my hands after one last squeeze and takes a step back, moving towards the broken window. "I need to let my people know that their Queen is not a coward, that she fights with them."

As she too disappears down into the raging field, I hear her soft whisper. "Let's create our own ending."

The morning has come, a new day but the sky stares back dark, angry, grey clouds hovering over, filling the entirety and lightning the ground alight. I take a step at a time to witness the befall of the kingdom.

Red river flows down the valley of our land, bodies lay across it, almost neatly, and everywhere, decorating the plain green land as if it lacked the horror. I look beyond the walls as more and more of them swims out of the dark blue ocean as if they owned the water itself.

Even the air was filled with their filth.

They fall down as if they were the devils that reign over the heaven. Their numbers too great for us to be prepared for and too great for us to win. As more and more bodies continues to fall, both theirs and ours, I start to see the end through my mother's eyes and sent her a silent apology for I was naïve.

And as I climb the window myself with one last plan in mind and a determination to win, my thoughts flies back to Althea. My sweet little child who suffered so much for so long and even now I couldn't promise her anything more than sadness and pain. I halt my descend and grab my phone from my pocket and dial her number to hear her one last time.

"Hey mum."

Oh, my poor sweet child.

"Mum?"

The sky cracks with a shattering cry. "Mum-"

"Althea." I smile as if she could see me. "What is going on?"

"Just...training." I breath out, and not wanting to worry her, I create a thick barrier of earth around me that I had forgotten to build. "Listen Althea. I just want you to know that I love you no matter what, alright. That you are the best thing that came in my life, of course apart from meeting your father."

"Mum."

"I'm kidding." A giggle comes off me as I joke with her, take her mind elsewhere. "Just wait until you find your mate and you'll forget about me too."

"About that..."

The line goes silent for a second before I hear another voice. A voice of a man, and somehow familiar at that. "I found her."

"Hello? Althea?"

"I found him. More like he found me." She whispers shyly and I close my eyes, smile lining my lips, at last, I hear something good. "His name's Aries. Aries Blackwood. We met not too long ago that's why I didn't get to tell you about him."

I close my eyes and thank the goddess. At least my daughter won't be left alone. At least she will have a shoulder to lean, a hand to hold. She will have hope even if- even when she has no home.

I know Aries to take care of my daughter more than anyone else. I trust the man that once held so much longing for someone that didn't even yet exist. I saw the pain, the sadness as he yearned for her when he looked my way. At that moment I didn't know what his gaze meant, I felt sorry for him and the fact that I forced him a liar.

But who knew that his feeling was only for the child growing within me. My Althea. Now that she was with him, a weight of decades in my heart finally gets lifted off.

I had so much to say to her. So much story I hadn't told her yet. But I didn't have time. For someone that had eternity, we lacked the time now. "Can I talk to him?"

"Hold on. Here."

"Hello?"

"Hello Aries. It's been a while." He doesn't speak. I don't know if he doesn't recognise my voice or if he did know my voice. But it had been a long time since we met. Everything changes with time. "I know it's too sudden, but I need a promise from you Aries?"

"Yes."

I guess not him. "Promise me that you'll keep my daughter safe and of course happy. Love her till the end of time and never let her fall. Protect her. I know you will, but I just need to hear it from you. Just for a mother's sake."

"I love her, and I will forever keep her safe even if I have to take the strike for her I will, I promise."

"Aries."

I smile a little at his love for my daughter. It was more than what I needed. It was enough. I clear my throat in hopes to bring them to track. "Sorry to interrupt but I'm kind of in a hurry, may I have one last word with you Althea. Do you still remember that room in the palace that you used to spend most of your days in? And I told you it once belonged to someone. A family member who had left us all."

"Yes."

But just then someone manages to break through my barrier and cries from the battle comes deafeningly loud into the vacant space I created. And I panic a little as a soft gasp comes through the phone.

"Could you help me find her and send her a message?" As the war cries gets louder, I desperately try and relay my message. I had to in order to win. She was my last hope. My plan will never work without her.

"When you find her, tell her that Raven needs her to return home, tell her Raven knows everything, that Raven remembers. But just be careful when you-"

Another loud noise booms through and my walls comes crumbling down. "Althea, when you meet Harmony-"

Something sharp shoots right by, pining a hole through my phone and sends it flying across the hall. I feel a line of hot liquid down my cheek, just where it passed by. I close my eyes and inhale a shuddering breath, my fists clenched by my side. Now I was really mad.

"Althea. I just hope that you got my message." I try calming myself.

But my anger pikes up once again as I feel the air of his movement right behind me, I open my eyes and turn to face him as a sharp knife aims for my heart from behind. One thing was for sure, he was not trained. Well, not enough. "That's not how you kill a Lycan."

And before he can process the learning, I snap his neck and pull it hard until it detaches itself from the rest of the body. "That's how you do it." I let go of his head as his body too falls and look at the broken screen, knife pierced right through the middle.

Althea, I just hope that you understand my silence. Do whatever but never return back. I send her one last plea before I finally tear my eyes off the now useless gadget lying on the floor.

Once again, I make my way towards the wide-open window, the air gushing in through the massive hole, as if warning me of the horror outside, as if wanting me to take a shield, away from it all, but I continue forward and climb up the window.

Scanning the heart of our home, I see more bodies lying on the bed of red, angry ocean rising up high, grounds burning bright blue with flames of rage, but their numbers only seem to have increased further. Fatigued, the warriors continue to defend, to fight back the never-ending war.

And with one final breath of death into my lungs, I let go and fall into the well of ashes. It was time for me to join the battlefield, to be a warrior or the huntress that I once was.

The land meets me halfway, rising high, and as my feet lands on them it shatters like glass, swallowing the enemies within its open mouth.

I will the earth to break beneath their feet and swallow them whole, the vines to grow bigger, spikes deadlier as it wraps around them until it eventually sucks the life out of them. A gift written only in my name. To take life of these vile creatures as I please.

Walking through the empty path I created, I move towards the centre of mayhem and to a flaming Eliana who was diligently turning every obstacle to ashes. "I can take the ones on land, but I need help with the one up there."

The earth creates a wall behind Eliana just as one of them throws a knife. "I got it." She nods her head and goes off leaving me to deal with the increasing audience. I inhale a deep breath and lower my stance.

Now.

Finally letting the beast out, I grow taller and physically stronger than my human self as I feel Agnes come forth. I feel the sharp canines elongating through the corners of my lips, my nails turning into deadly claws. "Let's end this." Agnes whispers through my lips, but it only comes out as a harsh growl. And like any good little puppies they heed my words and stream my way.

The earth crumbles underneath them and those who survive the fall, I don't let them past my canines or my claws. I rip their head, tear their limbs alike and leave them to fall to their end. I don't know how long it continued for or how many I defeated but they continuously keep coming my way. Like they have been surged back to life even after their fall.

But I can't fall now. Not until-

No.

Even before my eyes finds her, my heart senses the threat heading her way. Losing focus on my own battle, I send all the power in her aid. Don't be late. Please make it on time. The earth reaches forward but my mother was already falling on her side, facing me with a small smile on her bloodied face, but before she falls further, the lush ground picks her up and wraps itself around in a protective barrier.

Then I, myself, cough a heap of blood as a searing pain blinds me for a second. I look down as my heart bleeds, a sharp end of a knife coming from behind my back. It hurts but this wasn't enough to stop me. Not now, not ever.

This was a war, if you want to survive, you need to strike first but right. That's where they all went wrong. They striked first but they did it so, wrong.

"Already told your friend that's not how you do it." I pull the knife out from behind my back and strike it right at his throat and pull it sideways, ripping his head apart. "I don't want to play anymore."

I turn my head towards where my mother lay, cuddled within the greens, my body slowly returning to its human self and they thought it was their chance to strike again, to bring me down, but little did they expect the vines sprouting from the ground, barricading them within the cell of thorns. Even if it was for a while, I was left free to kneel besides my mother's weak body.

"It's okay." I whisper as the vines retraces itself, revealing her bloodied face to me. "You are going to be fine."

Her eyes flutter weakly as she looks up at me. Slowly I lift the leaves away and there it was, angry, ghastly wound by the side of her neck, barely holding her alive. My breath gets sucked out as tears fill my eyes. "You'll be fine. We will all be. I promise."

She blinks her eyes twice. "Cre-ate...en-ing..."

Her chest heaves slower and shallower and her eyes comes to a rest. Tears cascades down my eyes and I can only bite my lips hard to stop the cries that was erupting from deep within. I couldn't even express my own sadness in the middle of this war.

Did she know of this too? "Mother did you see this? Is this the end you wanted to tell me about?" I fall lower and bring my hands to her cheek. "So warm."

Then I finally look around me. Really look.

'I see an end...'

Yes, I do see it too now. Without his queen, a king is bound to fall no matter what, even if he was a god himself, he would eventually fall.

'Not only our kingdom...'

But our world too.

I close my eyes and hear the cries of the enemies, my people alike. And another traitorous tear escapes my closed eyelids. This was the end she was talking about. There was no end to this war.

It doesn't matter how many of them falls, they keep coming at us, their numbers, infinite. The sky cries louder than the screams of land, and it finally sheds the heavy tears of its sorrow as it rains upon us.

I fall into the dark pits of my defeat, but a soft voice stops me from falling any deeper.

'Let's create our own ending.'

And she shines upon my darkness as she shines my world with a bright white light with her presence. She gives me a ray of hope even when there was no thread left to hang onto.

"Let's create our own ending."

It was time to take action. For my ultimate plan to take place.

Raven, born out of the woods. Raven, who once had nothing to lose. Raven, who belonged only in the wild. She now has a place, a tiny land somewhere in this universe where she could be someone more than a huntress. Fight to protect rather than to survive.

I stand tall as I call out to my mother. The mother who wombed me in her shelter for many years of my life. The mother who comforts me in sadness and soaks my tears. The mother that embraces all of me. "It's time to be one, mother. Help me be strong. Help me protect."

I feel the ground vibrate as she comes forth, alive, thousands of vines start growing under me, around me, wrapping itself tightly onto my body as it flourishes above me and takes a form of a tree. I close my eyes as the ground shakes once again, and the land where it meets the ocean rises higher, and at the same time, the land that holds us all in, descends lower than ground itself, stopping anymore from entering our land and whoever was left behind, the vines coils around them, sucking the life out of them.

I take the injured into the safety of my outstretched territory and help them in their recovery, to keep them breathing until they can start their own healing. I look at the now green scenery in front of me, satisfied with my plan.

And just as I predicted, I too start to lose conscious of my body, maybe for forever, even though immortal, the strain of exerting a power beyond this world was too much for this body to handle, my eyes fluttering weakly and going blurry by the second. I had exchanged the lifespan of this body to take control over the land so although alive, I could not remain one.

Now it's all on you Harmony. I truly do hope that you return.

Lucas I love you. And I'm so sorry for breaking our promise.

But this was the only thing that I could do to protect you, this land, the people in it. Because no matter what anyone said, this was home now.

Raven's home.

And Raven would do anything to protect what's hers.