Chapter Fifty-Four: At Peace

Sapphire Nightborne

I clenched my jaw as I shouldered Xander’s weight, trying my best to gently move him to the arena. He smiled down at me and tried his best to make light of the situation, but deep in my heart, I knew that he was in a panic… a wolf that can’t move is a dead one. All I could hope was that just like how I was able to move again, he would soon recover and do the same.

My legs burned with each step, the adrenaline rush that I felt when I shifted had come to a crashing halt, all the pain from whatever that liquid did to immobilise my muscles coming in waves, each hitting me without any mercy.

We finally made it to the centre of the arena, where the wolves were waiting for us, my head tilted as pups tussled with each other, oblivious to the deaths that had occurred around them… the sweet ignorance of their innocent minds.

“Maxwell…”

The large wolf walked forward, a few others flanking his side, before his stretched his left front leg and sank into a bow, those around him following suit soon, even the pups had separated from their little pile to follow the adults.

*“All hail the Rightful King and Queen of Avarelia.”*

Xander smiled as I gasped before grunting as my hand started to slip.

The wolf named Maxwell rose first before walking closer to me.

*“I doubt that you truly remember who I am, but maybe is best that you do not remember… sometimes the past should stay where it belongs and not bother the lives of those in the present.”*

My lips were moving to form words but none left them, all I could do was look around at all the wolves that started to move around us, the cubs now tussling at our feet without a drop of fear.

I started to blink rapidly as the image before me began to distort, the wolves shifting in and out of focus before I finally saw it… their true form.

I saw mothers in dated clothing smiling fondly as their children played with each other, soldiers still in armour standing proud, and Maxwell, his lips twisting into a smile as he realised that my eyes had finally opened.

“All of you, have been trapped in the world of the living for far too long.”

My eyes drifted once more to the children playing, my heart aching as I thought of what my father had once said:

*“The holes they leave in the earth are the smallest, but the ones they leave in our hearts… will always be the largest.”*

*“Our deaths were too horrific for us to find peace, we would have roamed this land aimlessly, unable to accept what that monster had turned our home into.”*

Xander tilted his head as he surveyed the wolves around us.

“Are the rest of them in the clearing?”

His words seemed to turn the air cold as the children stopped playing and went to their mothers who held them close.

*“The bodies your Goddess gave us may have kept us sane and rooted, but there are of flesh and blood, and in battle… there will always be death.”*

I nodded at his statement, one that had been repeated to me again and again each time I stood beside the pyres of my warriors. I slowly licked my lips before speaking.

“So those whose physical bodies were slaughtered in the battle… they crossed over.”

Maxwell slowly shook his head.

*“Our physical bodies if destroyed, will take our spirits along with it… they will cease to exist… oblivion.”*

I closed my eyes and slowly leaned my head back at the thought… they were gone forever, torn from both the world of the living and the world of the dead, never to have grasped the peace they deserved.

*“All of us knew the consequences, Sapphire, and we willing to bear it… as long as our home was freed.”*

I gently placed Xander on the ground, moving a stone to support his back before limping to stand right in front of Maxwell. Our eyes met as I bent my knee as sank to the ground, my arm bent and placed on my knee as I placed my head on top of it.

Howls and growls of protest rang as Maxwell nudged my head.

*“Do not kneel to us, Sapphire! Who are we for you to lower yourself!”*

I kept my body firmed as he tried to shake me, ignoring the shooting pain from my knee as it bore most of my weight.

“I do not know much about my life as Rose, but

if I was your Queen in my past life, then I was your servant before I was your ruler. What I know for sure is that in this life, I have knelt only to the people who deserve my respect, and all of you have earned.”

With the last line, I raised my head and looked at all of them, a lump forming in my throat as I saw their heads lowered in a bow.

*“Then allow us to do the same.”*

I forced myself to swallow that lump as I stood back up.

“Rise.”

My jaw clenched as I held back tears… all of them barely knew who we are, yet had so much faith in us.

“Why did you need to see us, Maxwell?”

He smiled, his eyes lighting up with a happiness that I had rarely seen possess a person.

*“We are here to say goodbye.”*

I turned around to look at Xander, who looked back at me with the same confused look on his face.

“What are you talking about?”

*“Our home is free, Sapphire. The Shadow Mountain Pack ousted Black Blood from Blackwater, their Alpha deserting his pack and that, in accordance to your laws means…”*

“Blackwater now belongs to the Shadow Mountain Pack… under Alpha Alexander Lykos.”

“And Alpha Female Sapphire Ragna Nightborne.”

Maxwell smiled as he saw the realisation on our faces.

*“The land which Avarelia once proudly stood upon has returned back to its rightful rulers… and all of us can finally be at peace, hence goodbye.”*

I stepped back as their human images began to shimmer brighter, families slowly moving to stand closer to each other as they looked up.

I squinted as looked at Maxwell.

*“As rulers you vowed never to abandon us… thank you for keeping your promise.”*

Tears started to stream down my cheeks, the product of the bright light against my eyes or the mixed emotions I felt clenching my heart, as I lowered my head once more before running to Xander as they glowed brighter, shielding him with my body as a bright flash engulfed the arena.

It lasted for only a second before it faded, the soft glow of the torches bathing the arena in a dim light as I turned around, rubbing my hand against my eyes to get rid of the spots in my vision.

I shook my head as my vision cleared, only to see what remained of the People of Avarelia.

My footsteps echoed through the arena as I walked around the wolves before me, trying to search for even the slightest movement… they were like statues, frozen in time.

“Are they alive?”

I walked back to Maxwell, his wolf still with its eyes forward, staring aimlessly at where Xander and I were.

“I’m not sure… they are so life-like but there is not life behind their eyes.”

My hand trembled as it stretched out towards Maxwell, wrenching it back as the wolf disintegrated at my touch, crumbling to dust at my feet. I stepped back as all the wolves followed suit till there was nothing in front of us, as if they never existed.

“They’re gone…”

I slumped to the ground next to Xander, his hand gripping mine as I leaned on his shoulder.

“They are finally at peace, Sapph, a new story is just on the horizon for all of us… a new beginning for everyone.”

“Their story has ended, but why do I have this feeling that our fairy tale has not ended, it is just continuing to write itself.”

Xander grunted as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him.

“If that is what is going to happen, then we do what we always do… prepare ourselves and fight."