Without looking back, the two leaped over the edge of the wall, falling in the fields between the first and second walls of the castle. The second walls were burning, as wooden ladders were resting on them, which were probably used before by the soldiers of Æhre to make it inside. The point was further proven by the many bodies of guards and soldiers at the top of the walls, burning with the rest of the structure.
From the walls, the two leaped onto the roofs of the houses, running towards the place where they left Vella. Zephyr could only look as Ili was getting further and further away from him, not being able to catch up to her. He could feel tiredness take over his body, as he saw Ili disappear in the distance, jumping down in between some buildings. He made up the shape of the building, realizing that that was the inn. He was closing in to the building, but then, he felt a new presence to the right. As he turned his head, he noticed her. At a distance of a few buildings, another person was standing calmly, looking at him. The person's body was slender and not much different from Ili's. Her whole body was covered by a white cloak with dark edges, and from beneath the cloak… In that moment, he was barely able to make up an unmistakable pair of pure white hair and deep blue eyes, watching him. Before he could even react or process what was happening, he felt his whole's body's temperature fall drastically in an instant, as he was pushed with a massive force into a house far away, cracking the wall and falling onto the ground on a bunch of wooden boxes.
Zephyr shakily got up, trying to stand on his feet. His head was spinning and his vision was blurry. He had no idea where he was, as he felt as if he went past tens of buildings in that instant. His body's temperature was normal now, but he could still not feel the tips of his fingers.
He moved out in the streets, holding a hand over his mouth because of the drowning smoke all around. Fire was everywhere. Through the flames, dark shadows could be seen fighting and killing each other, screams being heard each time one died.
A group of city soldiers ran past Zephyr, before disappearing in the flames as well. He moved to the other side of the road, to another path between two buildings, resting on one of the walls and coughing. In front of him on the road, another small group of soldiers was staying, tending to their wounds.
'Where are those damned white cloaks?!'
'Æhre... They will pay for this!'
On the road from the other side, Æhre soldiers could be seen running, caught and killed by another group of soldiers.
"Don't let a single one escape!" the harsh voice of the general was heard, raising his spear in the air.
All around, the cheers of soldiers started to be heard. The bwovnine soldiers were starting to turn the tides of the battle, as more and more corpses of Æhre soldiers started to fall to the ground.
Zephyr continued moving, past the wounded soldiers, exiting to the main road, where the bwovnine soldiers were staying. The atmosphere seemed to calm down. The Æhre soldiers were retreating, and the fires were dying down.
Cheers of victory started to be heard from all around, as relief washed over Zephyr... It was over. The bwovnine army won...
"The sky…" one of the soldiers spoke, as more heard raised towards the dark clouds.
The cheers started to die down, replaced by silence. Through the clouds, orange lights started to appear, lighting up the sky.
"It can't be…"
Through the clouds, a large boulder of fire started to fall towards the city. A few moments later, another one exited the clouds. And another... And another... The clouds were broken by hundreds of boulders of fire, shooting towards the ground. Muffled sounds of burning started to engulf the silence, as the boulders broke through the clouds.
"This kind of magic... It can't be…"
"How is this possible..? She was gone…"
"She's here... We're all doomed…"
"The leader of the liberation army... The flame of chaos…"
"The leader of Æhre... Inferna…"
The boulders of fire fell on the city, destroying anything in their path, as explosions started to deafen everything... In the distance, on the road parallel to this one, soldiers were seen running for their lives.
"General! She's here! The leader of Æh..." one tried to shout from a distance, before the whole road was cleared off the map, engulfed in flames like a furnace, turning all the running soldiers into nothingness.
The flames retracted, as from the other road, the shape of a woman turned the corner. Behind her, endless Æhre soldiers were walking, filling the streets.
The woman was unarmed, but at the mere sight of her, all of the soldiers froze in place, sweat starting to drip on their foreheads. The woman was walking calmly, followed by the whole army behind her. She had a cloak surrounding her body, much like the ones on the Æhre soldiers were wearing, but in a deep black color. The hood of her cloak was down, revealing her long, flowing black hair with red highlights near the ends. Her eyes were colored like rust, with subtle yellow glows inside them.
She stopped, along with the whole army. Her lips parted, revealing one, single word.
"Surrender."
The general walked in front of his soldiers. "Never."
The woman looked at him with a calm coldness. "Surrender, or die."
"We'll die. But you won't leave this place either! We are the soldiers of the Bwovn Empire!" the general screamed, taking out his sword. "Fear not death nor the flames, for we are the will of the Emperor! We will not betray our country! Die!"
The general ran towards the woman, screaming.
A flick of the woman's finger, and a massive blast of flames was shot from the buildings next to him. After the second the blast lasted, nothing was left, other than the scorched ground.
The soldiers stood still for a moment, looking at everything that happened. But then, one other soldier took out his sword, stepping forward. The rest of the soldiers followed him as well, unsheathing their swords.
"I see..." the woman spoke. "So, this is your choice. Very well then..."
The soldiers started running towards her, knowing that this would be their last fight. They screamed in anger, running towards the enemy, making their last stand...
The woman raised her hand towards them, as a sphere of flames started to build up in front of her palm.
Zephyr looked at the scene, frozen in place. That's when he realized... He was going to die as well. It was too late to find cover. This was it...
But then, he heard someone screaming his name. Looking to the side, he saw Ili, running towards him on the path between buildings he came out of before, with Vella right behind her. He tried to motion her to stop, but it was too late, as she already entered onto the road.
Ili's eyes moved from Zephyr to the right, looking at the woman and the sphere of fire. A mutter escaped her lips. "Rosa..."
The woman's eyes fell on Ili for a moment, her expression seeming to change for an instant, her hand closing slightly. But then, her eyes turned back towards the soldiers, who were ready to strike her down. Her lip seemed to move, muttering a silent word.
Zephyr felt Ili's hand on him, as he looked back at the woman. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion once again, as he saw the sphere of fire expanding, and the bodies of the soldiers slowly turning to dust as the sphere grew in their direction, engulfing everything in flames.
Zephyr felt a hand on his back. He could feel the flames touching his face. In front of him, there was nothing but flames. Looking at Ili with the corner of his eye, he saw her and Vella's bodies starting to be eaten by the flames as well. He saw Ili holding his hand in her's, and Vella's hand in her other one. But then, who was touching his back?
Everything turned back in an instant, as he felt a weird sensation in his stomach, as if he was falling into the void. The flames were no more. He couldn't see anything anymore, but he could still feel Ili's hand holding his... He couldn't breathe anymore. He couldn't move... He was slowly losing his conscientiousness.
But then, a bright light hit his eyes, and air filled his lungs once again...