"No!" Elena exclaimed, collapsing on her knees next to her father. With shaking hands,
she tried to stop his bleeding. It proved futile as his blood gushed out the more. Her father
groaned, every part of his body in severe pain. He looked at his daughter-the daughter he had
wronged for years. She had become a woman now, and she was beautiful, just like her mom.
However, she carried the majority of her attributes from her maternal grandmother. She was
crying over him, and he wanted nothing but to wipe her tears away. She shouldn't worry about
him. She was never at fault; he was. He could finally meet his love and tell her about their
daughter. He wished he could have spent more time with her. Fate had other plans, it seemed. It
was better for him that he died at her hand. He didn't think he would be able to survive if he
killed his daughter. He had lost so much already, all for his greed for power.
"Don't die," he heard her whisper repeatedly. He wished he could honour her wish, but
his time had come. He didn't want her to cry anymore, neither did he want to cause her guilt for
the rest of her life.
So, knowing that his time had drawn close, he forced a smile on his face, his eyes
expressing all the words he couldn't muster. He had so much he wanted to say to her, but in the
end, the only thing he could say was this…
"Thank…you so m-much. And goodbye, my daughter."
He looked at his daughter one final time, ingraining her picture in his head, then he took
his last breath.
Elena felt empty as she watched her father die by her hands. She didn't know what to feel.
She was crying over a man who was the sole purpose of her revenge. She found herself
regretting all her life choices. Had things been different, would he still be the same? Would he
have changed?
The sound of clapping destroyed the silence that enveloped her.
"What a good performance." Slovic said, slowly walking towards her. "I am impressed."
Wazir and his soldiers had come to the war with barrels of ashes to use to fight against
the Alliance. They had used some of he when the war started, but it was not proving effective as
it had once been before. But now that the primary battle was about to start, he was worried about
his niece. He couldn't help to look back at where he had last seen her, but she wasn't there.
"What are we to do next?" Darukï said, breaking him away from his musings. He quickly
turned back to look at his people. They were weary, worn out, but their eyes were determined.
"Now that I think of it, I do not know how to erect a barrier." Wazir said, suddenly
confused. Svetlana rolled her eyes.
"You had a vision without understanding it?"
"No. I understood it clearly. We are to use the same method we used when we first fought
against the Allikans. But the only thing I can remember us doing is dipping our weapons in ash
to counter their powers."
"Why don't we do the exact same thing then?" Svetlana questioned.
"Because defence is different from a barrier. We need to create something that would
protect us all from the effect that would come from the final battle. That is were I am having
problems coming up with something."
"Ash is a powerful tool against the Allikans." Darukï said after nobody talked. "If used
correctly, it can seriously harm one of them, especially when combined with metal. They become
weak and can't do anything against anybody."
"Metal," Wazir said, his eyes lighting. "That's it! Why did we not ever think of this
sooner? We erect a barricade over our people, made with metal than has been dipped in ash. We
need metals. Lot and lots of metals. How many black smiths did we bring along?"
"Several, your highness." Duke answered.
"Good. We might also need a lot of help from the blood warriors too. Call them over and
share with them our plan."
Elena faced Slovic with dead eyes.
"That was much too easy for me, I'd say. I thought it would be fun watching father and
daughter go at each other. Still, you ended it before it even began. What a sharp move!' he said,
laughing maniacally.
Elena could barely hear him say anything. There was a loud ringing noise in her ears
preventing her from taking in her surroundings. Louder than that was the voice that kept
reminding her that she had killed her father. She wasn't supposed to feel that bad, and that much
guilt for someone who doesn't know her, nor was ever there for her. She hated that her heart was
tearing up. She hated that she was proving Slovic right when he said women aren't meant for
battle. She wanted to stand up, but no matter how much she tried, she found it impossible to do
so.
Slovic saw the devastated look on Elena's face, breaking out in glee. He had finally
broken the wife of the blood king, and he didn't even have to raise a finger. That doesn't mean he
still wouldn't have his revenge. He had been belittled in front of his men because of the girl right
in front of him. He wasn't going to take it lightly.
"You are a joke." He started. "When are you going to stop deceiving yourself? You
should have stayed back with your husband's family. Now you are going to have slow, painful
death. Empress Firoza may choose to keep you alive, just so she could torture you for eternity. I
am going to be pleased. I am going to be very happy with that development. You can trust me on
that."
Elena remained silent.
"Suddenly quiet now, huh?" Slovic said, slowly getting annoyed. "Don't have anything
more to say? Suddenly blank in the head? Huh? Answer me!" he fired a shot at her, causing her
to fly several feet back.
"You are so weak." He said, coming to where she lay, her eyes clouded in pain. "So many
people are going to die because of you. You have already killed one. You are a disgrace. You are
nothing against my niece. You are just a weak person. What on earth did the blood king see in
you?" he walked towards her, his eyes filled with hate. "Do you think you are special? Did you
actually believe that you are strong? The war hadn't even started, and you are already
heartbroken. Ha! You deserve to die."
Elena's body hurt everywhere. She was tired. She was weak. She couldn't think. She tried
to look for her husband, but she could barely move her body. Slovic was right. She is a weak
person. She shouldn't have come to this war. What was she thinking? Calhoun was also correct.
She should have listened to him and stayed right at home. She was also starting to suspect that
perhaps, her uncle's prediction was wrong. Maybe she wasn't the one the fate of the world laid
on.
She really couldn't go on any longer.
"Elena!" a powerful voice shouted. Suddenly she was surrounded by a light so bright. She
winced, hoping that her eyes didn't go blind.
"What kind of a queen are you? Perhaps the fates calculated wrongly. You are the worse
person to hand over the fate of the world to. Millions of people are going to die because of this
silly attitude you are putting up. One man died, so what? Now is not the time to mourn. You can
mourn him later. I have placed my bets on you girl. You better don't fail me now."
Elena couldn't move, but she could still talk. "I have heard you before. Who are you?"
"That isn't what you should be asking me right now, blood queen. Remember your
position. Remember who you are now, who you have moulded yourself to be. The fate of the
world lies in your hands."
"But I don't know how to defeat her. Even Calhoun's sword of blood flame could barely
scratch her. What makes you think I can cause a dent on her armour?"
"A sword made from the souls of a hundred men is enough to kill her. Your sword, the
one which you bought when on your fight journey, was specifically placed there for you to see. It
fits my first description on the weapon needed to finish her."
"H-How?" Elena said, stuttering.
"Like I said, everything had been ordained by fate. Only you can finish the fight now."
Suddenly, the white light disappeared. She blinked, trying to get her eyesight back, when
she saw Calhoun hovering over her.
Wazir was curious as to why Firoza and Calhoun had stopped fighting. They suddenly
disappeared into the crowd all of a sudden. But he had no time to waste. It was hard to find
weapons while being attacked by the Alliance and by innocent people who were being coerced
against their will to fight others. They had to finish building the barrier and immediately. They
had no time to lose.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" he shouted, waving his hands hurriedly as he stabbed an Allikan
on the chest and then took the weapon that hung from his side. We have no time to lose."
"What is it?" Elena whispered to her husband, whose face was drenched in sweat. He
didn't like this feeling of fear that surrounded him. He didn't like the fact that not only could he
not avenge his wife, but that while he was fighting, she was busy struggling for her life.
"Are you okay?" he asked instead, hoping that his voice wouldn't shake. "Suddenly,
anything close to you couldn't move." He had seen Slovic with his hands raised, about to give
Elena the final blow, while he couldn't move in his fight with Firoza. Even Firoza had a hard
time trying to move. Suddenly, they got their powers back, and Slovic was blasted several feet
away from Elena. Without thinking, he rushed towards her to see if she was okay.
"I am fine," Elena said, trying to comfort her husband. The voice that spoke to her was
right; she was just a weak person. She couldn't believe that she had already accepted her fate of
dying. Just what kind of a queen was she? She would make it up to him. She tried feeling her feet
and hands and found that she wasn't as tired as before. Whoever had spoken to her must have
helped her in some way. She began to stand slowly, with Calhoun aiding her. She found her
opponents standing several feet away from her; Firoza looked at her curiously, and Slovic with
pure hate in his gaze.
"I have relaxed a lot, making you both to take me for granted. That is going to end now."
Firoza smirked. "You can barely stand on you two feet without Calhoun's help." She
looked at Calhoun. "Your wife is a weakling. Are you really going to deny my proposal, and
cause the deaths of millions of people because you are trying to be a faithful husband? I'll have
you know that what we were doing up there wasn't a fight. I was simply playing with you."
Calhoun didn't say anything, and Elena couldn't blame him. That didn't matter anymore.
She knew what could kill Firoza. She had that tool already. She looked down at her sword, with
the snake carved by the hilt. She was going to put an end to everything.
"You really are a weak person." Slovic said snidely. "You killed your own father, then
you acted all faint about it, now you can barely stand on your own. Ha! A disgrace."
She was going to put an end to everything, starting with Slovic.
She started running towards him with a loud shout, her sword drawn out while Calhoun
tried to stop her, his hands reaching out.
She was going to put an end to everything.