Azari

Nine years ago if anyone would have said Azari Valentia would be part of Cecania, a rebel group which helps children escape the kingdom to find peace, I would have been terrified. But I just grin at the seventeen year olds holding hands as they board the ship along with the other kids.

If all goes well, the only thing they will have to worry about will be storms, not war. The island they are heading to, Arkea, has been kind to the children of Kadetia, we will never forget their generosity. I had hoped the new queen would bring change and perhaps peace, but Axella Rotherier turned out to be even more bloodthirsty.

I can not believe she would wage more wars after our parents were killed in Syerna due to one. I had once hoped there was something left of the Ella I used to play with. But after making a law that ensures children die young, I am convinced she is only Axella Rotherier, Queen of death.

I often wonder what happened to the other kids in the boat with us all those years ago. We lost track of each other when the boat went down the waterfall, the water was deadly and the current unpredictable. I was too afraid to search for them when I reached the shore because I knew I would find more bodies than friends.

I place my hand on the charm linked to my pendent given to me by my mother merely a day before Demenia destroyed our homes, and I wish Ella too would have been one of those bodies I so desperately wished to avoid. I wave goodbye as the ship sails away while I wonder if my mother would be proud of me.

..•°•♡•°•..

When the soldiers knock at my door a few days after my eighteenth birthday, I am ready. I do not regret not getting on the ship that left yesterday, I will be able to do more good from inside the army than what I am doing now.

A king is dead and I will not let my kingdom find the same fate. "Warrior of Angels." I hear the kids who joined Cecania call me. I need no such titles to ensure my kingdom does not suffer the same fate as Syerna, but I accept it with a smile.

A few tears slip from my eyes at the fact that I might never see anyone I love from Cecania ever again as the soldiers drag me by the arm to their camp. This is the second home I have lost, and I will ensure it is not for nothing.

Three more kids of my age join us on the way. I push away the guilt of not being able to save them when I try to talk to them. Two of them are twins, Cassie and Eissac Wingrove, who prefer to stick to each other. The grief in their eyes only makes my own guilt increase. On the other hand, the orphan, Nico Atlanta, is too cheerful considering we might die soon. As much as I want to recruit him to help me in Cecania's mission, I do not trust him.

It takes two days to reach the camp. It is barely equipped, with little to no tents set up. Except for a few older and experienced soldiers, the rest of us are all young and untrained. We are to be one of the groups sent for slaughter in the war I suppose.

My mother used to say a monster is made, I wish she knows I have not become one. I am better than the men who killed my father and mother, because the world does not survive without goodness.