Ashton Flare

I hate this. Glass metal is an Unscathed's worst nightmare. Made with several alternate layers of glass, wood and metal, it restricts the powers of any Unscathed. I used to train with them on when I was just a princess and not a crown heir.

It took hours to break out of them by bringing my feet to the bindings and melting them from the inside and out. Once the wood in the center of the contraption starts burning inside, I win. But each time I had exerted myself too much, and each time I passed out.

Leona sits at the far end of the cell towards the bars of the gate while Arieon and I lean against the wall. She is rather chirpy considering we are behind bars and are about to face death. She whistles happily but she has not said a word to Arieon. She even addressed me as lying two faced snake but my brother's presence irks her like nothing else.

"Did she lose her mind?" Cory whispers to Katrin who is sitting right beside him against the left wall.

"Leona, Cory is asking if you lost your mind." Katrin asks, smirking at Cory. I knew I liked something about her. Cory puts his hand across his face while Luca and Jade try to suppress a giggle.

"Maybe." she replies with a smug face. "I was born in the shadows, hidden in the darkness and lived beneath the stars. It is pretty ironic that I find each of them at prison waiting for my execution."

Arieon sighs. He looks exhausted and feels like he is someone way older than me even though we are twins. "Colonel Agnor would be proud of you Leona." he finally says.

Something crosses over Leona's face, it almost looks like disbelief. "Yeah well, I helped kill your father and killed your mother with my own hands. He would probably be laughing about how his daughter failed in killing the little bastard of the family."

Her words cut deep. My hands release fire involuntarily but all that does is weaken me further. I can tell by the look on Arieon's face that he has given up.

A few moments later, I gulp as I hear the battle cries outside retreat. The sounds of explosions and gunshots slowly wither and die. Just then, the Luca gets up and push open the prison door. It creeks as it falls open with ease.

"But how?" Jade asks blinking up at Leona.

"The Unscathed idiots were so focused on the Flares that they did not even think we pose a threat. It must have been easy to slip in a dagger or two." Katrin answers. Leona just winks as they start to head out.

I bite my tongue, not wanting to take the help of my inferiors. But Arieon has given up his dignity long ago when he asked Axel to let me go. "We are more useful to you alive than dead. Or well we are more dangerous to you dead." Arieon states simply.

Leona clucks her tongue, "You know nothing, Flare."

"Right. I totally do not know about your Wanderer country and your plan to attack either Grawhearts or Evercrest as soon as one of us weakens the other." Leona looks as taken aback as me upon hearing his words. "You might want to save us, you know?" he says grinning at her.

Leona grunts as she pulls out her dagger and start working on our glass metal bindings. "Stay close. Be useful." she says and moves ahead.

"How did you know that?" I ask while we jog out the underground prison, careful to watch our backs.

He rolls his eyes dramatically, "You did not read the book I left at your doorstep, did you?" I flush. So it was not an apology note I stored away to embarrass him with later?

As soon as the setting sun outside the castle hits my face, I feel better than ever. Azela always used to say the sun represented our freedom and power. It never fades. Just like us.

"Get ready for the lights." Katrin says as she starts running faster.

I look behind me to see what she means. Alarms of all kind begin to scream about our escape. A few hundred soliders get into formation behind us as we continue running as fast as our feet can take us.

I look back once again to see Melody and Crestia, princess of House Drecats, leading different battalions. Oh no.

"Thank you!" Katrin screams as she swipes a bow and arrows from the security check post that leads out into the wild. We should really stop leaving our weapons unchecked.

As we weave through the trees outside the castle, Luca tosses Leona, Cory and Jade a gun each as we keep running. Meanwhile, a howl comes from behind us, forcing me to turn my head.

As expected, Melody and Crestia created the beast I taught them. The metal wolf gleams in the draining sunlight. The yellow eyed wolf is a piece of art if it was created by Melody alone. It would just be a canine made of metal, it's teeth sharp enough to scare any grown man or woman while it's claws alone can shred a soldier to pieces.

But with Crestia, the wolf is a different danger altogether. Controlled by both a Metallica and a Drecat, the wolf can not die unless they both do. I let some of my adrenaline lose in the form of flames when it almost catches up to us.

The metal structure melts beneath my flames, as it slows down. Melody does not take a more than a moment to send it after us again. An arrow cuts through my cheek, narrowly missing my neck. The sight of blood only speeds me up as I move.

But it slows Arieon down, he falters in his step and before he can get up, a long metal spike, as thin as a needle heads straight towards him. I try to tackle him out of the way but it is too late.

The spike passes straight through his heart before it clatters to the ground. Everything passes in a blur. One moment he is spitting up blood while in the next Leona's loud scream echos throughout the forest. The metal wolf melts into a puddle in it's place as I let my flames consume me.

Fire bleeds warmth. But looking at the dead prince of flame, my brother, it only leaves me cold.