The Journey of Two Sisters: Book 4 of the Kinstone series
Chapter 7: Fall of House Rivenfeld

A couple days passed since Miriam and Titania came to visit. I sit upon my balcony overlooking the Estate, finally having a bit of peace.

The sun is somewhat setting over the horizon as I sit curled up Silvi’s lap on my balcony. We spent most of the past two mornings training, with yesterday being light and today being a bit heavier. When I mean by “light”, it often entails at least one broken tree. It’s always been a joke between us at how hard we each choose to go at it.

Flying through the air once more felt incredible. It equally was as amazing to finally get some real exercise in. My muscles still burn from today’s session. I also put in at least three hours of training with my knights.

This time however, I started to train with a broad sword again. I knew I needed to bring my abilities with it up to some degree as with my kodachi. Initially I was trained on the broad sword thanks to both Silvi and Lyra. This merely was both a refresher course and a renewal of said training.

As I sit in her lap, I really wasn’t thinking of much, simply wondering about the idea of Arcturus being my dad. I giggled to myself, wondering if he and Mom would want to have kids, or if I’d still be the only child.

Heh, knowing Mom she’d only want to have me around. Not to say that I’m against having an actual baby brother or sister at this point. Funny thing is…they would be related to me because of how I am with my mother.

My sister holds me close to her, wrapping her massive arms around my tiny body. I still have to laugh at how small I am compared to her. To her I might as well be nothing but a large doll. Her body radiated a gentle heat as her chest rose and fell with her every breath.

Most people would find resting on a living heater, in the middle of summer, to be unbearable. But not for me. To me it’s just like sleeping on a warm bed. Heh, scales and all. I often don’t even transform into a dragon while I’m with her, right now this is perfect.

She tenderly rakes her claws through my hair. “Such a lovely little hatchling,” she whispers.

“Thanks,” I giggle softly. “I still think you backhanding a nightmare, so hard that it actually staggered back, was pretty badass, Sissy.”

She grins, baring her gleaming white fangs, “Well I am a badass, have to be for my baby sister.”

I giggle once more.

My sister continues to stroke my hair, “And you growing your ninth tail, that also was incredible to see. Can I ask how you did it?

I sigh into her chest, “Well, Fenris and I fused together.”

“You…‘fused’?” she asks, looking at me surprised.

“Yep,” I reply. “He told me that it was the deepest and purest form of our bond. At first I was scared at the idea, given how badly it turned out during our little experiments last year.”

She sighs, “I remember when we used to do those together.”

While those days feel like a distant memory given everything that’s happened, I still think of them as the foundation for what Fenris and I were able to accomplish that night.

“Yep. But the problem was that I delved too deeply into the bond and lost myself to it.” My eyes slowly open, “Yet in truth, there was no need to delve into the bond because it was already strong between us. All I had to do was know who I really was.”

She holds me closer, “And who are you?”

My smile grows, “Ariana Lucindel Edge. Daughter of Rachel Rivenfeld. My heart is hers and I will never let it go.”

She grins, “Exactly correct, Little Wing.”

I giggle, feeling the both of us swaying on the swing, “When we fused together, the power boost caused my ninth tail grow, which was a shock to me.” My cheeks burn a little, “I also grew into a young woman, being taller, even sounding older and a bit like Mom.”

Silvi kisses the top of my head, “You truly are her daughter. Now more than ever before.”

My smile brightens as I curl up tighter into her. “Hey…about Marron, I know I keep bringing her up when we talk. But-”

“Little Wing,” she interrupts, “I know what you’re going to say and as I’ve said before, I am not the one to pass judgement on her. She is still your sister after all as much as I am.”

She then sighs softly, “To be honest, while still angry with her, I don’t hate her. At first I did, but…not now. What I would like to do is simply chat with her, nothing more. So again, I don’t hate her.”

“Promise?” I ask.

She smiles, again kissing my forehead, “I promise.” I giggle softly.

The setting sun’s light somewhat flickers. Silvi turns her head, causing me to as well. Light shadows begin to flutter and darken the sky as whatever it is causing it begins to obstruct the sun. We stand up and walk over to the banister.

I cover my eyes and squint, trying to focus on whatever was in the sun’s path. I kneel down to a box I keep near the banister and pull out a pair of binoculars. I gaze out towards the direction of the lake, watching as something flickers against the barrier which surrounds the Estate.

My eyes grow wide as dozens of massive fireballs soon came into view, slamming hard against the barrier, causing it buckle. My heart then shudders as I soon see the source of the fireballs, a flight of black dragons. Even from this distance, I could make out the vague and yet distinct silhouette of dragons.

“Silvi…” I say nervously, “those are dragons.”

"I know, Little Wing,” she replies. “But I can’t believe that there are so many of them. Not this deep into North America. There’s no possible way the clans here in the States would allow such a massive flight enter the country uncontested.”

Black dragons mostly are native to eastern Europe and are not on the best of terms with many clans from around the world. There are dozens of clans within each color of dragon, with red and green dragons being the most common. But rarely do dragons from Europe cross the Atlantic, not due to treaty but simply distance.

Another barrage of fireballs crash into the barrier, with a third wave smashing through and soon lob over the breadth of the Estate and slam into the Manor, causing parts of it to explode. I stagger a bit as the house shakes violently. My home is under attack again.

Silvi lets go of me, “Stay here, Aria. I’ll handle this.”

“I’ll come too,” I reply.

“No you’re not,” she snaps back. She then leaps off of the balcony and flies off.

I watch as her body begins to change, growing even larger. She is now at least sixty feet in length, with the horns on her head reaching just behind her somewhat tapered snout. I had never seen my sister’s full form before and I must say, I am in utter awe by it.

“Aria!” shouts my mother as she bursts into my room.

I turn to see her, breathing hard and in a panic. She quickly races over to me.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I ask. “Dragons just destroyed down the barrier and Silvi went out the face them.”

“The tunnel has been compromised with scores of people and other creatures rushing through it,” says my mother. “The Estate’s defenses are on full alert but they are slowly being overrun.”

Worry then creeps into me as I turn to see Silvi barreling straight into several dragons, causing many to fall straight out of the sky and to the ground. While my sister easily dwarfs many of them, she’s simply far too outnumbered.

A few more fireballs come streaking across the sky, shaking the house as they impact into it. I fall to the floor as my eyes grow wide as one veers off and explodes into the greenhouse.

“NO!!!” I cry out. “VELHEMINA!!!” Tears run down my face as the metal framework disintegrates in the inferno. My heart sinks deeply into my stomach. NO…no…not my aunt. Please no.

“This is a priority message to all those who live upon the Estate,” I hear my mother’s voice ringing out loudly in my ears as if she were using a massive megaphone. “Our home is under assault. I want those who cannot fight to flee towards your designated evacuation points. I do not know if we will be able to fend them off. So I want you all to flee and stay safe.”

I turn to back to see Silvi slowly beginning to struggle as more dragons begin to surround her. I rise to my feet and grab my necklace. Hot, streaming tears run down my cheeks as I roll it between my fingers, transforming into a dragon. I then leap off of the balcony, flapping my wings hard, flying towards her.

“Aria…come back!!!” she screams.

I fly at top speed, soaring through the air faster than ever before, pushing my wings to their limit. The wind doesn’t even faze me as it stings against my cheeks.

I charge straight into the furball I see before me. Dragons ranging between twenty and fifty feet in length swarm around my sister, mostly juveniles and small adults. I dodge past several of the small juvies, blasting their wings with my ice breath, watching them fall as they try to break free.

I land on Silvi’s back, transforming back into a human and then once more into a kitsune. I use my tails to grab hold of several of her small dorsal spines.

She had already sustained several severe gashes to her back and legs. Part of the membranes in her left wing flap in tatters, but not enough to hamper her ability to fly. I watch as deep crimson blood trickled along her spine.

My tails unfurl, channeling Orbs mixed with ice, and gathering up the floating moisture in the air after several dragons fell into the lake, shooting up massive plumes of water.

Silvi grabs hold of another juvie and tosses it into a small adult. “Little Wing,” she says, her voice booming loudly in my ears, “You are a complete idiot for flying headfirst into a flight of dragons. Why didn’t you stay at the Manor like I told you to?”

I fire off several Orbs with them slamming into a pair of dragons, causing them to collide into each other. With tears running against the sides of my face, I stare into her golden eyes, “The greenhouse was destroyed.”

Her eyes widen as she then turns, growling and snatching another juvie and rip it in half. Fire then gathers within her mouth as spews it onto several more, instantly incinerating them. “You…you bastards are going to pay dearly for that,” she roars.

My heart shudders as I watch her tear into the dragons. I have a healthy love and respect for them, obviously with the one I’m being my sister. So normally, and in my childish brain, I’d much rather prefer talking to them.

But not this time.

Nor do I think they’d be willing to talk to me. There’s also the fact they are currently attacking my home, possibly killed my aunt, and are more than likely here to kill me and everyone here. So…to hell with these jerks.

I gather kitsune-bi into my hands and fire them like machine gun bullets, which only serve to bounce harmlessly off of the dragon’s scales. Frustrated, I start aiming for their eyes, shooting out several while also flinging more ice Orbs into them, observing as my targets’ bodies lurch as the orbs make their return trip. Silvi follows up by grabbing a few in her mouth and claws, ripping them in half.

A few of the juvies try and swoop in between her wings and came straight after me. My eyes grow wide as one of them charges towards me with its mouth open wide.

I snarl and lob a massive orb into its mouth, laced with ice and dragonfire. The ball of opposing magic explodes inside of it, knocking it away from me. The force of the explosion nearly causes me to loosen my grip of Silvi’s spines, but braces myself by grabbing onto more of her spines with my tails.

A few of the juvies begin to bug off and flee only for one to be caught by my sister and have its head ripped off. Witnessing what my sister just did, the others high tail it out of here, leaving only a dozen or so adults. Silvi turns her attention back onto them.

She then turns and dives towards the lake, letting the adults follow after her. She begins skimming the edge of the water, kicking up jets which splash around us. I continue to fire kitsune-bi into their eyes, trying to blind them.

I hold out my arms, gathering the spewing water and form them into large ice spikes, lobbing them at our pursuers. A few merely bounces off of their faces, while some fly straight into their wings, with a couple burrowing into the joints, causing them to crash into the water.

“Hang on, Little Wing,” Silvi roars as her wings suddenly flung open, acting as massive wind brakes, completely halting our forward momentum.

I cling tightly to her spines, attempting to not go flying off of her back as I hit her back hard. The impact felt like being thrown completely against a wall. But hold on I did. Several dragons fly past us, with Silvi flapping hard to chase after them. She catches one by the tail and slams it into the lake, blasting it with a massive stream of fire.

I look up to see a pair of adults racing towards us. “Silvi, two at six o’clock!” I yell out to her.

Her massive body effortlessly turns and flaps her wings, causing two plumes of water to shoot out from under her. She then soars in between them, and slicing along their bodies. The pair tumbles into the lake below as she flies towards the rest. We sail higher and higher into the sky. I peer back as more continue to pursue us.

Just three more.

A massive beam of light then rockets through the air, piercing clean through my sister. She roars in pain as her body convulses and jostles. Her body thrashes hard enough to where I’m flung from her back.

“Silvi!!!” I cry out to her.

Tears float past my eyes as I fall through the air, watching her fall towards the forest below. I growl angrily, firing dozens of freezing orbs at the remaining dragons.

Several miss, while others find their mark, shooting straight into their wings, freezing them solid. I scream, reeling the orbs back to me, slamming once again into the dragons, further disabling their ability to fly as they float away from me towards the ground.

My body continues to fall, tails flapping violently in the wind. I try urgently to grab for my necklace to transform but is unable to grab hold of it.

“Your Highness!” hearing someone calling out to me.

I turn my head to see Kateryna flying towards me with her wave-rider. The elf comes screaming in fast with her hand held out to me. I reach out to her, trying desperately to grab her hand, only for them miss several times. We finally connect with her pulling me onto her back.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?” she asks. I nod, only with more tears flow down my face.

I peer down to see Silvi lying motionless on the ground. “Silvi!!!” I call out to her.

But my sister doesn’t move. I turn and bury my face into my knight’s back, crying heavily, clinging tightly to her as we rocket towards to the burning Manor.

We arrive in the courtyard in front of the house. Overhead I hear the sounds of heavy sniper fire ringing out from the top of the roof. I peer down to see Marie firing from her massive rifle along with two others, which sound like railguns, towards the main road.

In the distance, I watch as harpies and dryads begin attacking seemingly never-ending stream of vehicles. The dryads themselves form massive bodies of trees and other plants and begin bashing into the oncoming cars. The harpies meanwhile begin strafing runs, flinging knives at the invaders which in turn explode moments later.

As the harpies perform their runs, several of the other dryads launch thousands of wooden spikes to give them cover. However their targets begin firing back as spells fly through the air towards both groups of defenders

Kateryna gently lands in front of the stairs where my mother, Xiphos, Orga, Fenris and the other combat maids are all waiting for us. My mother quickly runs over to me, gently pulling me down, holding me tightly as I cry hysterically into her chest.

“Mom…they…they got Silvi. They also destroyed the greenhouse.” I cry.

She rocks me gently, “Shhh…Shhh, my love. Please calm down, please, my girl.”

“Mom, what if Velhemina was killed?” I sob. “Silvi wasn’t moving after she crashed into the forest.”

My mother kisses the top of my head, “Your sister will be fine. It’ll take a lot more than that to kill her. As for your aunt…I cannot say at this moment.” She then holds me even tighter her as I bury my face into her chest.

Another round of gunfire rings out overhead. “We have incoming,” shouts Marie. “We couldn’t hold them off.”

My ears flick back as I hear the sound of trucks driving towards us, cutting straight through the fields. I pull away from my mother, splaying out my tails, growling as they approach. I scream, gathering water from the nearby pools, forming it into a massive ball. The ball swirls and churns as my hands move through the air, freezing some of it into massive spikes and lobbing them into the air, causing them to rain down upon the invaders.

Several of the vehicles explode, but occupants emerge and continue their rush towards the courtyard. A few begin launching spells at us, mostly fire and lightning bolts. We scatter, dodging several of their spells, with Fenris and my knights charging headlong to the fray.

The knights show no quarter to them, killing several on the spot. These weren’t children we were facing but adults, and apparently my mother had given them free reign to do as they wanted on the battlefield.

I pan over to see Orga charging his sword and swing it, launching a dozens of magical blades into the air which rain down upon the would-be assassins. A few manage to dodge and retaliate with more fireballs. He’s quickly shielded by Kateryna as she steps in between the assault.

Those who actually survived his attack charge towards him with knives and bats. Orga easily dispatches them. Both knights dance and swerve on the tiled driveway, back to back, covering each other’s blind spots. While they do move away, neither is more than but a few paces from the other.

A few come after me. I snarl at them, tears still streaming down my face as I crouched low.

“So this is the ‘Fox Princess of Colburn’,” one man says gleefully.

“She’s so tiny, but you can’t help but love those flowing tails,” says another.

“Heh, good thing that huge ass dragon was shot down. Otherwise this wouldn’t be nearly as easy as we were promised,” adds yet another man.

My eyes flare as my magic surges. All three men are either in their late twenties, early thirties, but look more like they bought their clothes from some ratty store. Thugs that looked more like a gang than anything.

I pull out several tags from my jacket, a practice I picked up after I fully healed, and threw them on the ground, summoning a pair of clones with several more being thrown onto the men. The tags I latched onto them start to glow.

I cast the image of them staring down angry dragon, blood gurgling from its gaping maw, ready to swoop down and eat them. They cry out of horror trying to shield themselves from it, running around in circles.

The clones leap at them, kicking and blasting them with kitsune-bi. The men fall back to the ground, screaming as they now see the dragon breathing fire onto them. The clones then kick them in the heads, knocking them out.

My mother summons her staff and fires three massive beams of magic, destroying more of their SUVs while also blast several more away with a tap of her staff on the ground. More pour into the driveway, gunning straight for her.

“Master Cromwell is paying us well to see you and your precious little fox dead…my Lady,” says one man, mockingly bowing to her. “He sends his regards.”

She smashes the pummel of her staff into his face, “No one dares touch my daughter, you swine.” Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She then slams her staff into the ground, activating the pylons. But only half emerge from the ground, sending some flying into the air while more merely bulldoze through them. I jump in and wrap several in my tails, sending fire along them and igniting my captives, only to fall back.

I peer over to see the combat maids, fending off the attackers. As with my knights, they too no longer had to hold back as Lyra and Abigale tear into dozens of men, ripping and slashing them apart. Marie up top still continued to rain fire upon anyone present, taking out several before something flew at the roof, causing it to explode.

My heart shoots again into my throat, only to see the automata swing down from the roof, firing another shot at the source of the RPG. And another at man carrying more rockets, which they both explode, sending shrapnel to the surrounding enemies. Bianca hangs back, dodging sword and club strikes while freezing her attackers in place and shattering them.

I fall back to Rachel after blasting a few more away. “Mom, who are these guys?”

She fires a series of magical bullets the size of lemons at many more. “They belong to other covens. I recognize a few from last year’s harvest gathering. It would seem that Regulus has paid them off to attack us.”

“Where’s Sebastian?” I ask.

“He is attempting to oversee evacuation efforts,” she replies. “Although I wish he were here with us.”

I nod slowly.

I turn back, knocking a few more away, hitting them with orbs and summoning more water and having it crash down onto them. I peered over to see that my clones had been surrounded, with one lunging at its back with a knife, only for it to erupt into a torrent a dragonfire I had infused into the tag. The fire engulfs the men, making them retreat into the eager blades of my knights.

Looking back towards the field, I watch as several the wooden constructs are in flames with dryads trying to put them out by kicking dirt onto them. The harpies again make several strafing runs, flinging knives upon anyone in their sights. My heart again shudders as a few suddenly stop in midair and begin to fall to the ground.

“Amira,” I whisper, “please be alright.”

A massive wind then blows into the courtyard as one of the larger young adult black dragons I fought earlier appears to have recovered somewhat. One of his eyes seems to be filled with blood as his left wing collapses into a heap. He slowly turns his head towards me, his lips forming into a fang-filled grin.

“I owe you for knocking me out of the sky, little furball,” he says as his claws rake against the tiles, digging into them. The dragon begins to charge at me, flames spewing from his mouth.

I run towards his underbelly, only to be met by a sweep of the adult’s claws, knocking me back. I tumble on the ground, feeling the ground shaking as he barrels towards me.

A howl lets out as Fenris appears, fangs bared and digging them into the dragon’s neck. My bonded then summons forth a maelstrom of wind, forcing the dragon down onto the ground. The wolf snarls as he digs his fangs deeper into the dragon’s neck.

The dragon thrashes, trying to fling my wolf away. Fenris did, landing some distance away. The dragon stands up, growling at him.

“Tiny wolf, trying to best the superior species,” spouts the dragon.

Fenris crouches low, his massive body swells with magic as he causes the water around him to swirl, becoming a mini blizzard. “You will not have my little girl,” he says. “Poor excuse of a dragon. Sil’vari is ten times the dragon you are.”

The dragon growls and soon charges at Fenris. The wolf easily sidesteps the dragon. I then see its front leg sinking into a large deep shadow. The adult dragon roars the more he sinks, trying to free himself.

Fenris leaps onto his head, biting into its neck. Ice forms around the bite wound, digging deeply. The dragon roars, thrashing his head, slamming Fenris into the ground. My bonded yelps, but gets up. The dragon pulls hard on the entrapped leg, roaring as he finally frees himself.

“Stupid wolf,” he snarls. “I am a dragon, you are nothing compared to me.” Flames spew from the dragon’s mouth as he then unleashes a torrent of flame.

Fenris whips up a blizzard, shielding himself. The wolf begins stepping forward as flames erupt around him. He remains calm the closer he steps. The dragon continues his assault until my wolf disappears into flame. My heart shudders, thinking I just lost him too, only to see him reappear underneath his foe, having emerged from a shadow.

The wolf bites into the adult’s leg, dragging it back down into the shadow. He appears on top of the dragon, and again bites into his neck. The ice from earlier grows even faster until it slices the dragon’s head from its neck.

Fenris shakes off the blood from his fur and leaps over to me. “Are you hurt little Aria?” he asks.

I smile, “I’m fine Papa Wolf, but we need to keep going.” He nods and we rejoin the fight.

I fall back to my mother, rushing over to her, and wrapping my tails around several more invaders. I flip onto the ground and twirl, sending them into the stone tiles, Mom in turn slams the pummel of her staff into the ground, blasting them away. Lyra and Orga both rain dozens of magical blades onto more and more enemies, but they just…keep…coming.

As more time passes, it seems the fields are becoming more and more filled with a near-endless stream of people. Several bare the sigils of their covens, Tolsva, Gurkos, Meriuol, and Plutoin. All rival covens to Colburn, but never once have attacked ours in the last hundred years according to Mom.

Most of the covens in North America have a quasi-nonaggression pact with one another. Only the top ten strongest have a true treaty with the top three of Allister, Colburn, and Multhaine (respectively) possessing strong ties of friendship which go as far back as before the settling of Jamestown, Virginia.

Most of the time, the covens pretty much stay of each other’s business apart from little gatherings such as harvest festivals. With the apparent bribery of Regulus, this gathering of covens has come to attack us here.

I become separated from my mother when a pair of teenage girls pull my away from her side. Both were about my age, each brandishing ropes comprised of magic. Each would toss the rope in order to ensnare me.

I dodge each attempt, until both wrap around my neck and arm. They begin to reel me in, pulling me to the ground. As they pounce onto me, they soon are enveloped in smoke. The girls look around confused only to have their heads knocked together I appear behind them.

I quickly receive a blow to the face, causing me to stagger a bit before blindly firing orbs into a dozen or so people, watching as they lurch forward as they boomerang back, slamming headfirst into a wall of ice I erected after summoning more water.

I look over to see Xiphos teleporting dozens upon dozens of people, a few attempting to launch spells at the sphinx, merely for them to either poof into smoke or be redirected at them with triple the force. Seriously, why try and tangle with a sphinx of all beings?

I bat away another group of teenagers when I see a barrage of magic bolts rocket towards Xiphos. The professor is actually knocked back a little as another sphinx races towards him.

This one is younger, his face appearing to be no older than late twenties early thirties to my eyes. The sphinxes clash, with the very air trembling as the two supreme magical beings lobbing spells and slashing at each other. My body shudders as the sight of such power.

Xiphos and the youngster continue to battle, with getting a few good shots into the librarian. I couldn’t make out anything that the two were saying other the cacophony of voices and explosions but I could tell the youngster was insulting the master Loreian. Xiphos wouldn’t be goaded as he intercepted a spell which had been fired from behind him and teleported it away.

A moment passes between them for then the youngster suddenly explodes. My tutor then falls back, blood dripping from lacerations in his stomach and forelegs. While injured, he continues to fight on, but the small momentum we gained soon vanishes.

I peer over to see Marie and Bianca soon come under fire as the automata again is forced from her sniper nest, having been blasted with another rocket blast. The glacie is surrounded by a dozen people. She freezes them in place, but is hit from behind before she can completely encase them in ice. I start moving towards her, just to see Abigale swooping in and slashing at the attackers.

Lyra falls back yet again, battling dozens of people at once. Her swords begin to shatter with every blow, to quickly be replaced by more. With each passing moment, we were being forced back. Even with the living armor fighting at our side and the dryads and harpies slowly joining us, we simply are outnumbered.

I blast away a couple more attackers. As they hit the ground, I spin around to see my mother battling a pair herself. A third appears from behind her, brandish a knife. My eyes grow wide as it pierces her in the chest.

Everything fades away, no sound, no world, just the image of my mother with a knife sticking out of her chest. Another draws a sword and runs it in from behind. My heart sinks as it pierces her stomach.

“Mom!!!” I scream.

The force of my cry echoes and reverberates off of the stone walls, causing many to momentarily stop fighting and stare at me. I rush over to her, blasting the trio of attackers away. They soon are slain as Orga and Kateryna arrive.

I hold my mother up, who rises to her knees. Tears stream down my face as blood trickles from her mouth. “Mom…Mom you’re, you’re going to be ok right?”

She looks up at me, “You must flee my girl. We cannot hold them off much longer.” Her violet eyes flutter as tears roll down her cheeks, “You must live on my beloved girl. If…if you don’t, then Regulus will surely win.”

I shake my head, “No…no Mom, we can still fight them off. We…we just need more time.” I know it’s a lie, but I want to cling to some measure of hope, even if it’s a false one.

She smiles, “No my girl,” her voice now sounding weaker. “You must flee. I have given you everything you need in order to survive. I have taught you so much, you know what to do. You are strong my Aria. As your mother, I shall ensure your escape.”

My mother then looks to my knights as the surround us, “Take her,” her voice now choking up, “take her and ensure that she lives.”

Both knights hesitate for a moment but bow. “We shall my Lady,” both speak.

Fenris drags several more attackers into the shadows, having them reappear from the other side of the Manor’s third floor, watching them fall to the ground. He then races to our side.

I shake my head, tearing up even more than before, “No…no Mom, I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to lose you too.”

She presses her head against my mine. “I will always love you, my most precious creation,” says, holding the crystal on my necklace. “My beautiful Aria.”

I shake my head even more, “Please Mom, don’t.”

She smiles to me, “Never give into despair my girl.” She lowers her head, “Take her now,” she orders.

Hands soon grab hold of me, pulling me away from her. “No,” I protest, still fighting to cling to her.

“We have to flee Your Highness,” says Orga. Kateryna spins and shields us from a barrage of spells, firing a slashing wave of magic at their source.

“Your Highness please,” hearing the pain in her voice. “We must flee.”

“Aria, we cannot stay here,” says Fenris.

“No…no Mom.” I want to take her with us, but she lets go of me. I am finally ripped away from, crying out to her as Orga and Kateryna summon their Wave-riders with Fenris leaping into my shadow. “Mom no!!!”

Orga hoists me onto his back, tying me in. I struggle to free myself from the clasps as we rocket into the air. I look back as she slowly grows smaller and smaller.

“MOM!!!” I cry to her as I watch the Manor becoming but a large speck in the distance.

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