Chapter Text
The sunset sky burned together with the intense flames cascading from the surrounding rubble. Chaos was alive and well, carried by the swirling sounds of screams and crumbling structures. All of which was ringing painfully in Sarai’s ears as she pushed herself up from the ground. Dazed, it took her a moment to remember where she was- and what had happened.
Aaravos.
That evil, vile man had been more prepared than the Moonshadows had thought. It was meant to be a swift and calculated raid- infiltrating the base of the Star-Touch and their “King”, as he would call himself. But of course, there was always a fault to a fault-less plan. Amongst the Moonshadow, there had to be a spy, because Aaravos had known they were coming. He’d prepared for the raid, gathered his loyal followers to bulk up his numbers, and now the entire city was in flames. The air was filled with the clashing of melee weapons, and the hissing of soul magic. The battle between the two groups raged on without stopping as Sarai felt a strong hand on her shoulder.
“Get up, Lady Sarai!” A strong voice commanded- Pyrrah, Sarai recognized- as the hand helped her up. “Our raid has failed, we need to evacuate all of the innocent people caught in our crossfire!”
Sarai groaned, her left thigh screaming in pain as she swayed on her feet. “The whole city is going to burn until there is nothing left, Pyrrah. Can’t you get these flames under control?”
She grimaced. “These flames are not of my power, Sarai. My soul’s magic can create controlled flame, which won’t help. We need to evacuate the citizens, the city’s all but lost now. I hate to say it, but Aaravos has bested us again. We have to retreat.”
Sarai scowled. “That bastard…” She jolted. “Our friends, our family! Is everyone okay?!”
Pyrrah shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. We’ve been spread thin due to the bulk of the gathered Star-Touch members. Lujanne and Amaya have been working together to balance the scales, and I know that Runaan, Harrow, and Ethari went after Aaravos. I haven’t seen them since the explosions. Zubeia and Tiadrin sent me to find any of us that need help while they start evacuating the people.”
Sarai’s blood ran cold. “Three of us against Aaravos? That’s far too dangerous, where is everyone else?!”
“I don’t know, Sarai-”
“We have to go help them!” Sarai cried in dismay, taking Pyrrah by the shoulders. “They won’t stand a chance against him, they’ve sent themselves on a death mission!”
Pyrrah grimaced. “Sarai, but the citizens…”
“Zubeia and Tiadrin can handle themselves! Where is your care about our own?!”
Pyrrah lowered her head, turmoil in her mind. Sarai scoffed, not waiting for an answer. She scanned the surroundings, taking note of the chaos around her. She could find where the group had gone; where Aaravos was, the magic vacuum was not far behind. All she had to do was follow the sounds of metallic combat.
“Lady Sarai, you are hurt!” Pyrrah protested, catching her arm as she began to limp off. “You and I jumping to their aid would not change the outcome! You are running off to your death!”
Sarai turned and glowered at the soul fire witch. “If I am to die today, then so be it. But there will never be a time I turn and run from the people I love. You may not have any family here today, no attachments, nothing to lose. But there is everything to lose here if we let Aaravos escape. All of these people our allies are evacuating now will continue to be in danger, every city, everyone. Are you keen to just let this happen, Pyrrah?”
Pyrrah sighed, clenching her free fist, but relented. “Alright. But you’re not going to be able to walk properly.” A soft and short melody played into the air, accompanied by a burst of blue fire erupting from her back, forming into wings. “Keep a strong grip on my hands, and let’s go find that bastard.”
From the air, the chaos looked so much worse. Through the smoke and fire, Sarai could see Moonshadow members fighting against the enemy Star-Touch members. Melee and magic combat swept throughout every space, taking up every corner possible. The entire city was ablaze with battle and fire- almost the entire city. Amidst the ruins, a grouping of people were fighting only with melee weapons, no sign of flames surrounding them. The two knew instantly that was the fight they were looking for- Aaravos’s magic vacuum kept the flames from reaching him, as well as barring the use of and other magic.
“Hang on tight!” Pyrrah shouted suddenly, diving and swerving in the air. “Star-Touch members are attempting to shoot us down!”
Sarai’s grip tightened as magic blasts of fire and energy shot past them, their casters amongst the flames on the ground. She grimaced. “We’re too much of a target up here, we should land! You can take care of those ones down there and I’ll run to reach our allies. You won’t be able to stay in the air the closer you get to him anyways!”
“Get ready to roll, then!” Pyrrah replied, beginning their descent. She took a large breath, and then soul fire spewed from her mouth. The magical flames torpedoed to the ground, causing the enemy Star-Touch members to scatter. With the ground cleared for a landing, Pyrrah flew to the ground, allowing for Sarai to land and roll first. “I've got these guys, you go to the vacuum! I'll send any reinforcements I can gather!”
Sarai nodded, drawing the sword from the sheath at her hip. She steeled herself against the pain in her leg, and took off at a run. The sounds of melodic fire and other elemental magic played in her ears as she ran, the sounds slowly fading as she went.
Please, let me get there on time.
Time felt like it slowed. Her legs felt like they were growing heavier with each step she took. Her arms shook with the weight of her sword that she gripped, and as the flames died out when she reached the border of the vacuum, she thought about who she was doing this for. Her kids.
Many of her allies here now had kids they were fighting for. Kids they were possibly giving up their lives for, just so they could have a future free of the Star-Touch King. They’d left the children in the care of a trusted Moonshadow member- Viren. He had kids of his own too, and while he'd insisted on coming to the raid, he'd eventually agreed to stay behind and keep them safe if anything went wrong. Sarai was glad they'd convinced him now- there was no telling how many of them were going to make it home now.
With a final few steps, Sarai made it to the battle. She stared with horror as her eyes found the sight of Runaan and Ethari down, the latter seemingly unconscious while the former kept a protective hold on him. Harrow still stood, facing Aaravos in a one-on-one battle. His movement blazed with fury, sword clanging against the false king’s. Aaravos himself continued to block and dance around the attacks, grinning devilishly.
“You all could be of better use, you know. Why fight against me when you could all join me? Each and every one of you are skilled, whether you possess magic or not. Why must we fight? We don't have to, if you'd just lay down your pride and join me.” Aaravos tempted with his smooth voice, blocking yet another swing from Harrow.
“As if we would surrender and serve you, Aaravos!” Harrow snarled in response, his offense never wavering. “You don't care about the equality that you claim, you just want to rule. What's best for the world means nothing in light of what's best for you.”
“Oh, but don't you see? That's not true at all!” Aaravos protested, grinning wider. “I do want equality, can’t you tell? Not once have I caused a fight with an advantage for my followers, my vacuum affects them too. None of you here now have any ability in magic, yet here I am, fighting with swords, for an even playing field. If anything, you Moonshadow fools are disrespecting the idea of equality. Four of you, and one of me? How imbalanced.”
“Four?” Harrow snarled, distracted for a moment. His searching eyes met Sarai and he froze, giving Aaravos enough time to properly escape the hyper-offensive onslaught.
“Aw, what a wonderful reunion! So relieving to see that you survived the Scorched Earth last resort, Lady Sarai. ” Aaravos taunted sweetly, giving her a dramatic bow. “Though perhaps not completely unscathed… shame.”
“Still not enough to keep me down.” Sarai combatted, raising her sword to point at the man. “You're not going to leave this place alive, Aaravos, I promise you that.”
Aaravos laughed, a deep and haunting sound. “Oh, your foolish confidence amuses me. Here you are, injured, so many of your friends downed or fighting somewhere else, and you think my life will end here? Truly comical. But please, I do invite you to try. No one has landed a hit on me yet, come be the first.”
Seeing red, Sarai lunged, sword at the ready. Harrow fell into step with her immediately, and the two continued on the hyper-offensive that he had started. Swords clashing and clanging, two against one, yet neither side was showing any signs of budging. Every attack the pair threw at the Star-Touch King, he blocked with ease and a sinister smile. This dance continued, before Aaravos cut in with a huff of boredom only he had the nerve to let out.
“Spare me these theatrics, both of you. All you're doing is wasting my time. You've caused the destruction of this entire city just to act out a raid that utterly failed. You've managed to cut down some of my loyal followers, and in turn they have cut down some of yours. Don't you think this balance is enough? Must you be so incessant as to tip the scales against yourselves?” Aaravos drawled, leaning on the hilt of his blade as his opponents faltered, out of breath. “If you keep pushing now, your group will end this day with more losses than wins under their belts. The city is gone, and I've had my followers go and help the evacuation effort. It's you and the rest of the Moonshadows that are causing this blaze to continue.”
Harrow sped forward, thrusting his blade towards Aaravos- another parry. “An evacuation that you caused the need for! If you truly cared about these lives, you wouldn't have caused the city to fall into ruins to begin with!”
Aaravos sighed, rolling his eyes. “Such a self-righteous way of thought. It's not my fault that you decided to let loose your draconic witch in places I had safely stored explosives. You really should have found a magic wielder that can use soul frost, at least they could've controlled the mess you've made. You are just as responsible for this as I. Equality, remember?” He said, swiftly kicking Harrow away. “Your priorities are misguided. If you would just join with me instead of trying to foil my plans, you wouldn't be struggling so--!”
Sarai, having gained another boost of angry energy after the blow to Harrow, had surged forward and landed a blow across Aaravos’s arm. He dropped his sword in surprise, staggering away with his free hand over the wound. But despite this, he was still grinning, almost madly.
“Nothing I wouldn't expect from you, Sarai. Always full of surprises…” He said, letting his arm go limp and picking up his sword again. “But that's the only upper hand you're going to get.”
In the blink of an eye, he moved towards Sarai and bashed her away as well, using the hilt of his blade to knock the wind out of her. He sighed, watching with disappointment in his eyes as she struggled to get back up.
“I don't want to have to kill you all here, you know. It would be such a shameful waste of so much talent. If you would all just stop being so stubborn and listen, you could still walk out of this without any more pain.” He continued, stepping back and sitting himself down on a charred piece of rubble. “I can be patient, you know. Just take a moment to think about it.”
“Lady Sarai!” Pyrrah’s voice cried out from behind her.
Aaravos rolled his eyes in exasperation as Pyrrah came running up to the area, reinforcements in tow. Tiadrin, Lain, Avizandum, along with a few others. But before Sarai could feel relieved, on the other side, Star-Touch members began to emerge on Aaravos’s side, ready to fight.
“I believe highly in balance and equality, remember?” Aaravos said with a smirk, pushing off from his makeshift chair. “If you want to fight, then you will have a fight. Simple as that. I'm giving you a chance to spare yourselves. You have your injured, and they will need medical attention. Give them a chance to live before you foolishly throw your chance away.”
Sarai knew, despite the words of the Star-Touch King, that there was no chance for all of them to leave alive now. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a breath as she decided what to do. She opened them again, turning to Pyrrah. “We have injured people that need to get out of here. Take Ethari and Runaan to get some medical help. Make sure that everyone else escapes. Tiadrin, Lain, Avizandum, you stay with me and Harrow. We're going to stay and… talk.”
“But--!”
“No arguing!” Sarai cut the draconic witch off. “Do as you are told. Take everyone you can find and run. Survive. We'll meet again, I promise.”
Pyrrah set her jaw, looking between Sarai and the enemy. Aaravos shrugged his shoulders, waving his unharmed hand.
“Tend to your injured. Listen to your Lady Sarai, if you know what's good for you.” He said simply. “You wouldn't want any more to die, would you?”
Pyrrah gave a hateful snarl in his direction, but quickly walked over to Runaan to help him carry Ethari away. While they and the others rushed away, the three Sarai asked to stay moved closer into a defensive position, weapons still drawn. Sarai’s gaze turned cold as she turned back to look at Aaravos.
“Alright, Star-Touch King… let's talk.”
As the leftover Moonshadows ran from the ruins they had played a part in causing, the sounds of melee combat and shouting erupted from behind them. Pyrrah grimaced at the sounds, her hopes for Sarai’s promise keeping true falling by the second.
The remaining group consisted of her, Lujanne, Amaya, Zubeia, Ibis, and a few others. So many had already fallen in the crossfire, on both sides. Pyrrah knew this entire situation would make national headlines in the coming days, and that it was in their best interest to lay low and hide to avoid being caught.
“This is a disaster. All we've done is cause death and destruction on a monumental scale! We're no better than the Star-Touch…” Ibis lamented.
“This isn't what we wanted. We never intended for all of this to happen, our plan was only to take out Aaravos. It was his choice to put his last resort plan into motion, and there wasn't anything we could've done to stop it once it started.” Zubeia responded. “We evacuated everyone we could find. We did all we could after we found our plan had been leaked.”
“Yeah, but that begs the question: who of us is a spy for the Star-Touch? How can we regroup when our trust in each other is broken?” Amaya signed furiously as they ran.
“I don't know.” Zubeia responded in honesty. “Perhaps these are things we're just going to have to think about later. We need to keep our focus on surviving now.”
“Zubeia is right.” Runaan added in. “We were doomed to fail the moment we realized Aaravos was waiting for us. We've taken some of his army and destroyed his base and supplies. Next time, we'll come back for him.”
“But how many times is next time?” Pyrrah dismayed. “How many times are we going to say that before it becomes true? No matter how much we plan, no matter what we do, Aaravos and his cult are always one step ahead of us. We've delayed him every time, but never truly stopped him!”
“We will say it as many times as we have to before it becomes the truth.” Amaya signed decisively. “We aren’t going to give up. We can’t now, after everything we’ve lost. Aaravos isn’t going to change his mind about the world. If we give up, he will take every city one by one and rule them all. No matter what, I will never let this happen. Can I count on the rest of you to stand with me still?”
A solemn silence swept the group for a moment, before the voices of the survivors all agreed on their choices- They would stand against Aaravos, no matter what.
“Good.” Amaya responded after she rallied the support of the leftover Moonshadows. “It may be best now for the rest of us to split up to lay low. Staying in one big group will just give more risks. Half of us will go back to Katolis, the other half will go to Silvergrove. After a few weeks we can regroup.”
With the new objectives set in place, everyone shuffled into the two groups, and with some last goodbyes, they split on their separate ways. Amaya had chosen to keep most of the core group with her, while Ibis and Lujanne took the other half to safely hide in Silvergrove.
“Amaya is taking charge like a natural leader, it seems.” Ibis commented as the backup group made their journey to the city of Silvergrove. “She didn’t mention it, but… based on her quick choice to act as the leader, do you think…?”
“Amaya is far from stupid.” Lujanne responded grimly. “She will always have faith in her sister, and everyone who stayed behind. I think everyone does. But I expect the reality will hit soon for everyone. Not even the strongest of illusions could keep them believing in a future where that group survived… the fallout of today has only begun.”
“They chose the outcome that would allow for their children to have a future. A choice that allowed the rest of us to escape.” Ibis agreed. “But… What kind of future is this really? For them? A future of growing up without their parents. Is that really a future at all?”
“I don’t know, Ibis.” Lujanne answered solemnly. The sky roared harshly, as the clouds began to let loose a heavy downpour. The group, disheartened further, did their best to shield themselves from the rain as they walked, but the rain served as a dooming omen.
“I don’t know.”