The night following the fight, Aeron again stood upon the balcony of his fortress-tooth, the city flung before him, with lights which glimmered like star-points. Victory cries should ring in his ears, and yet the vacant silences of his mind were all he could hear.
The Red Dawn had been driven back, their forces decimated. It should have been a victory worth having. Yet, in the pit of his stomach, he couldn't shake off this feeling of unease. Kara's words replayed in his mind a thousand times, each voice deeper and deeper, gnawing doubt into his very soul.
You're fighting for control, not survival.
His hand closed over the railing of the balcony, the knuckles white as he did so. Control: was that what he had boiled down to? Smitten with the need for power, never to let go of it? He had secured a future with the Aether Crystals, but for what?
The thought remained incomplete as, in the stillness-a characteristic of hers-Lira appeared beside him, quiet as ever. She stood beside him, her eyes drinking in the view of the city below, following his.
"Something on your mind, Aeron?" she quietly asked, threading a thin edge of concern within her voice.
He didn't answer immediately; his gaze was still fixed on the far horizon. Finally, strained, he spoke: "Lira, don't you ever wonder what we've become? All this power… is it really worth it?"
Lira didn't answer right away. She knew better than anyone the toll that leadership and ambition could take. "The Aether Crystals have given us the power to survive, Aeron. You've made sure of that. Without them, we'd have been crushed by Vallius's forces. The world… would have buried us long ago."
"At what cost?" Aeron's voice cracked slightly, the rare slip of vulnerability breaking through the coldness. "I've created those who would be enemies within, Lira. Those who once would have named me their ally now question my motives, doubt me. Kara, Malthus… and perhaps even you, I fear could prove no different."
Lira's eyes softened as she set a reassuring hand to his shoulder. "I'm still here with you, Aeron. Always have. But… I am concerned about the ways things are going. I've seen the man you've become. You are not the same one who began this war."
Aeron's face had set, and he shifted away from her touch. "I am no different now than I have ever been. Times change, and with it, so must we. The Aether Crystals are needy. I did what was necessary."
Lira fell silent, then spoke once more, a note of warning tingeing her tone. "I believe in what we build, Aeron. I do. But the minute we stop thinking about what it is we're fighting for, we're no better than the ones we're fighting. It is not only Vallius that might be your enemy; it may be right within your own ranks.".
Aeron's head whipped to her; his eyes were ice. "Are you challenging me, Lira?"
She met his gaze without flinching. "I'm questioning everything, Aeron. For the first time, I'm not sure what side I'm on anymore."
Aeron didn't respond. He only pivoted and headed for the door; his steps echoed in the quiet chamber. "Prepare the next phase," he called back. His voice was crisp, without emotion. "We move on Vallius's stronghold tomorrow."
The Unspoken Betrayal
Standing deep within the quiet profundity of the Aether Crystal chamber, her hands leaning against the glowing crystals as the power coursed through her, Kara had been there for hours, lost in thought. The hum of the Aether Crystals comforted her yet was a warning to her. There was something about them, something which she could never understand, though felt now more than ever.
Her mind still dwelled on Aeron-the change in him, the space between them that was growing, and not just in distance. Power was an insatiable greed that had consumed him, and honestly, Kara just was not that sure anymore that he grasped exactly into what he was morphing.
A soft sound behind her turned her to him. The creaking open of the door, a figure stepped inside, a shadow in this poor light. Kara instinctively went to her blade but caught herself when this figure proved to be Nick.
"Lord Malthus," she said, her voice tight with barely contained shock. "You're alive."
Malthus smiled wryly, coming fully into the room, his presence as imposing as ever. "Alive and well, Kara. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
The heart of Kara skipped a beat. "Why are you here? What do you want?
Malthus didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked toward the Aether Crystals, his eyes lingering on them with a mixture of reverence and disdain. "The power you've all been chasing," he said softly, "it's too much for any one person to control."
Kara stood still, peering narrowly at him. "I don't believe you, Malthus. If you came to warn me of the perils of power, you are a little late in your timing. Aeron has already chosen his road."
Malthus turned to her, his lips playing with a dark smile. "And you still trust him? After all this? All the deceptions?
Words that were harder than she had anticipated made Kara's chest tighten. She had trusted Aeron, all but blind. She followed him because she believed in his vision. How could she now, after what happened, after he had changed? "You've always been a pawn in his game, Kara," Malthus said, the space between them closing. "Just like me. You are not so different from me as you may imagine. The Aether Crystals have a way of changing people. Of consuming them."
"I'm not like you," Kara said firmly, though she felt a coldness creeping into her words. "I'm loyal to Aeron."
Something dark danced in Malthus's eyes. "Loyalty, Kara? Or is it a fear of what happens when you leave him? I was loyal once, too, but I saw into the truth. You are standing at a crossroads, and soon enough you will have to choose where you truly belong."
She glared at him, her heart wrenched between old loyalties and the stubborn doubt seeding its way into her mind. She wanted to believe Aeron's vision was the right one, yet the path they followed was getting too perilous, too unsure. Malthus leaned in, his voice a whisper. "If you want to save yourself, Kara, you need to make a choice. Before it's too late." Saying thus, he turned and left the chamber, leaving Kara alone, consumed by herself, in the wide space filled with Aether Crystals and the weight of his words. Aeron's unseen foe By morning, the forces were moving to Vallius's stronghold. Anticipation filled the whole city, words of betrayal and doom to come festering in every home and building. The army moved down the streets, purpose in each step, but the battle was never to be on the field, in the hearts of men fighting and in the moving shadows. There was little opposition against Aeron's forces as they swept over the fringes of the stronghold. Vallius's forces had fallen further inwards, right to the core of the city, where they would make their last stand. Yet, Aeron could not shake this feeling that the enemy was not the only one to be wary of. His men burst through the gates, and the battle began in earnest. Still, as he fought, Aeron could not help but wonder-who was his real enemy: the Red Dawn, Vallius, or something darker, lurking in the shadows of the night, waiting for the chance to strike?