"Kirana! Wake up!"
The air around her was thick with the stench of gunpowder and scorched metal. The thunder of explosions and the screams of soldiers pulled Kirana back into the brutal present, she was on the battlefield of Arbora Village, her body sprawled on the cold, blood-streaked earth. Pain pulsed through her skull; blood seeped from beneath her cracked helmet.
Someone was shaking her frantically. "Kirana! Please, wake up!"
It was Lyra, a young woman, face smeared with sweat and blood, her eyes wide with terror. "We can't lose now… Please!"
Kirana tried to move, but pain shot through every nerve like fire. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to rise slightly. Her vision was blurred, but the world around her came into focus: a battlefield of nightmares. Flames devoured what remained of the village, and bodies lay scattered like fallen leaves.
"Raka…" she murmured, searching through the chaos for her advisor. "Where are you, Raka?"
Lyra looked at her with sorrow but said nothing.
Kirana crawled forward, desperate eyes scanning the wreckage. And then she saw him.
Raka lay still, lifeless, a deep wound carved into his chest. The wisdom that once danced in his eyes was gone, replaced by a vacant stare fixed at the sky.
"No…" Kirana whispered, her voice trembling.
She dragged herself to his side, her bloodied hands shaking as she clutched him. "Wake up, Raka… You promised you'd stay with me!"
Her cry broke into a flood of grief. A tidal wave of loss crashed over her, stealing the air from her lungs. "RAKA!!!" Her scream echoed across the battlefield.
Grief turned to rage.
She lifted her tear-streaked face, locking eyes on the Edenan forces in the distance. Hatred blazed in her chest, an inferno that consumed her pain.
"Lyra… Help me up," she ordered, though her body screamed in protest.
"Kirana, you're too hurt, "
"Help me up!" she roared, silencing any further protest.
With trembling hands, Lyra lifted her. Kirana reached for her bow, fingers slick with blood. Her eyes fixed on the enemy, still advancing with brutal force. And at the forefront stood Valarion, radiant in arrogant grandeur.
Kirana clenched her jaw. "It's not over… I won't let them take everything from me. Not while I still breathe."
With bow in hand and vengeance in her heart, she led the remnants of her force into a final charge, defying agony, defying despair.
The ground quaked beneath the last explosion, shaking the souls that still clung to life. Smoke choked the grey sky, casting Arbora into a deathly twilight. Corpses littered the soil, and cries of anguish twisted through the air.
Kirana, bloodied and barely upright, pressed on. Her bow, a symbol of her strength, now felt unbearably heavy. Blood streamed from the wound on her head.
Lyra stood beside her, face pale with horror. "Kirana, enough! You can't go on! You must retreat before it's too late!"
Kirana stared at her, fury and tears warring in her eyes. "Retreat? For what, Lyra? Everything we've fought for, everything they gave their lives for, it'll mean nothing if I leave now!"
"But you can't defeat them alone! Look around you, Kirana, we've already lost!" Lyra pleaded, her voice shaking. She tried to steady Kirana's faltering form.
In the distance, Valarion stood atop a ruined structure, clad in gleaming black armor. His laugh cut through the battlefield like a knife, chilling every heart that heard it.
"Earthborn scum! Behold your helpless leader! Did you think you could stand against us? This is your end!" Valarion raised his arms as if celebrating a foregone triumph.
Kirana glared at him, hate burning bright, but her body refused to obey. Her legs felt rooted to the ground. Each step was an agony, and at last, she collapsed to her knees.
Lyra knelt beside her, clutching her arm. "Kirana, please. If you die, it's truly over. We can still fight another day, but you must live."
Tears streamed down Kirana's face as she looked over the battlefield littered with fallen comrades. Beyond them, she saw the village's children hiding behind rubble, terror etched across their faces.
"All of this… means nothing," she whispered, her voice nearly lost in the chaos.
She closed her eyes, summoning what little strength remained.
"Valarion!" she shouted, her voice hoarse but resolute.
Valarion turned, still smiling. "Oh? The great leader calls out to me at last?"
Kirana raised her head, her gaze filled with pain. "End this… End the slaughter. I… I surrender. But please, let them live. The village is yours."
"Kirana, no! Don't do this!" Lyra cried, shaking her. But Kirana lowered her head, tears falling freely.
Valarion strode toward her, his footsteps echoing across bloodied earth. "You surrender? The great Kirana, on her knees? How touching," he sneered.
Kirana looked up, hatred and exhaustion in her eyes. "Stop the attack. Take my life if you must. But let them live. I no longer care what happens to me. But I won't let more innocents die."
Valarion grinned, standing tall before her. "Very well. I accept your surrender. But remember this, Kirana… This world no longer belongs to them. It belongs to us."
He turned away, raising his hand to signal his army. Yet the smile on his lips revealed more than a mere conquest, it hinted at betrayal.
Kirana collapsed to the ground, broken and spent. Lyra dropped to her side, wrapping her arms around her. "Why, Kirana… Why did you do this?"
Kirana closed her eyes. Her voice was a fragile whisper. "Because… I can't lose them all. If I must sacrifice everything to save them, then that's the price I'll pay."
Striding arrogantly toward his ship, Valarion gave the final command: "Kill them all."
His laughter echoed through the air, like death itself.
Kirana's eyes flew open. She pushed herself upright, horror clanging in her skull. The screams, those screams she'd heard before, returned. "NOOO!!!" she cried, helpless.
Lyra, her face stricken with panic, pulled Kirana up. "We have to go! Now!"
"No! We can't!" Kirana shouted, swatting Lyra's hand. "I can't let them murder everyone! My family!! My mother!!" Her voice cracked with rage. "Valarion… that bastard lied! They…" Her words broke into sobs.
Lyra, tears streaking her face, dragged Kirana with all her strength. "Kirana, we have no choice! We have to survive! If we don't go now, they'll kill us too!"
But Kirana could only watch, weeping, as the massacre unfolded. The Edenan forces moved in like shadows of death, gunning down all who tried to flee. Villagers were beaten mercilessly, their screams piercing the smoke-filled air.
She saw her mother, arms wrapped protectively around a child, as they fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
"My mother… MOTHER!" Kirana screamed, her soul ripped in two. "This isn't war, it's slaughter! MONSTERS!"
Lyra shook her again, desperate. "There's nothing we can do! If we stay, we die too!"
Kirana stared at Valarion near his ship, hatred seething in her blood. But her body was too broken. She felt herself unraveling, torn between duty and despair.
"We have to go… Kirana…" Lyra sobbed. "You taught us to survive, but we must survive to fight back someday."
Kirana bowed her head, her spirit shattered, barely able to stand. "I… I can't do this, Lyra. I have to… I have to stop it…"
But Lyra, crying, held her tighter. "Trust me. We will return. We will rise again. But not today."
As they retreated into the shadows of ruined Arbora, the cries and explosions still roared behind them. Kirana felt her heart crushed, her soul fractured, witnessing a ruin she could not stop.
Far away, Valarion watched them go, a satisfied smile on his face, as if victory had already crowned him king.