Few minutes had passed since the sun had peeked above the horizon at Rhanar when the first wave of Aeron's forces surged through the eastern quarter of the city. The air was alive with tension, thick with the promise of violence. Yet, beyond the obvious, another, far more insidious and invisible force stirred, unwinding all it touched with slow deliberation.
Aeron stood at the head of his army, his gaze fixed, his mind a maelstrom of strategies. The soft humming of the Aether Crystals in his veins was a silent reminder of the power at his command. That power, though, he had come to realize over these last few grueling weeks, came with its own price. The fear in Kara's eyes clung to his memory like a burr and gnawed at the edges of his confidence.
"Out!" Aeron yelled, his voice cutting through the air, almost cracking a whip over the head of any man to cross it. His soldiers moved forward with disciplined precision, each a cog within the gigantic machine he'd so rightly assembled. Yet, even as they moved into action, Aeron couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong-the pieces in motion, with too many unknowns and too many cracks in the base.
Steel rang against steel, the sound of it clashing down the street as he forced the thoughts aside.
The Red Dawn's Counterattack
It would seem Vallius was not quite as unprepared as Aeron had counted on. As his forces entered the eastern quarter, the street exploded in a frenzy of combat. The Red Dawn had prepared for this and lashed back with such ferocity that they were surprisingly thrown back. Barricades, traps, and ambush points-even the streets Aeron knew were twisted into labyrinthine deadliness.
Aeron gritted his teeth as he cleaved his way through enemy lines; his instincts were on high. His soldiers fought inefficiently and brutally, yet not even they could completely ignore the creeping sense of unease that moved with them into the thick of battle. Something was wrong. Too organized, too coordinated the opposition was-the forces of Vallius-for any opponent that should have been caught off guard.
A shadow caught his eye as Aeron made his way across the battlefield; turning, he found atop a building some ways away, a figure from afar: Kara. The shadow all but swallowed her whole, with the sun just breaking through, yet the unmistakable glow of the Aether Crystals about her hands seemed enough to leapstop Aeron's heart.
She should not be here, had stayed behind insisting that she needed to oversee the city's strategic defense. But here she was, fighting in the first row.
A Storm of Doubt
Aeron waded through the mayhem, his men at his back, but his stomach had a feeling the battle ground was sliding out from beneath him. With every step he had taken to bring himself closer to KaraOnly, it felt like an anchor weighed his chest down. His mind was racing as he approached her position.
"Kara!" Aeron yelled above the din, scrambling toward her. She didn't turn to him at once, but finally, as he drew closer, she faced him-her eyes cold, distant.
"Why are you here?" Aeron exploded, his voice low but tight with anger and confusion. "You need to be overseeing the strategy. This isn't your fight."
Something flickered in Kara's eyes, and a glance unreadable crossed her face. She did not promptly answer. She turned again behind her shoulder, toward the battlefield, where the forces of the Red Dawn had managed to form a solid defense.
"I came because this isn't just your fight anymore, Aeron," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "You've taken too much power into your hands. The people, the factions—they're starting to see the truth. You're not just leading them anymore, you're controlling them. And you've forgotten what that will cost us."
He had clenched his fists. "I'm fighting to keep us alive, Kara. Nobody's taking away everything we've had to work for."
Kara's face relaxed somewhat, but the sadness of her eyes told another story altogether. "You are fighting for control, not survival. And there is a difference. One will save us; the other will destroy us."
The words cut like a knife in his heart, but Aeron couldn't afford to give in. "We don't have time for this. The Red Dawn is already reorganizing. We have to conclude things. Now."
One more look at him, with doubt brimming in her eyes, and with the weight of her heart, she will plunge deeper into the fight to prove a point-possibly even to herself.
The Cracks Start to Appear Aeron went back into battle, but his mind was filled with Kara and her words echoing in his head. And for the first time in years, one question echoed in the back of his mind: What if she's right?
He tried to push the doubt aside and focus his attention once again on the fight, but the question lingered in his mind. In a seamless motion, another Red Dawn soldier hit the ground, but as that man fell, Aeron's gaze managed to catch on to something that stopped him dead in his tracks. Far off, standing on one of the rooftops lining the street, a figure was standing-watch.
A figure shrouded in darkness, with features not shown.
Aeron's heart danced in his chest. The figure stirred a memory; in that instance, he knew right off who it was.
Malthus.
But Malthus should have died, betrayed by his own and confirmed as such by Aeron. And yet, here he stood, alive and watching-out of the reach of Aeron's forces. His eyes met Malthus's, and time stood still-the world around them slowing down, the moment not ending. Malthus lifted a hand, one finger pressed to his lips as if to silence Aeron's thoughts, before he vanished into the shadows once more. The Breaking Point But the battle still raged on, yet Aeron's focus had shattered; all of it: Malthus, the betrayal, the consuming whispers of power, all meshed together in a storm of uncertainty. Hard, he fought, like a man trying to ignore the beginnings of cracks in his world. As the fight reached its culmination, the troops of Vallius were in retreat, but Aeron couldn't care less for his victory. His mind was fixed on one thing that had eluded him up to then: control-the power of the Aether Crystal, the city, the loyalty of his people, all trickled through his fingers, and he was helpless to do anything against it.