COF 3: The Fallen Dynasty

3 | Peltra (III)

Xai-Ren wasn't any better.

They passed through the length of Yin Alora in a muted procession until they got into the opposite wall which was peppered with yet more graspel-sized holes. The wall opened up to a vast plain filled with both trees and houses coexisting with each other. Xanthy craned her neck to see the same mountain with the ruins glaring down at her from her northeast. When she turned to her left, another mountain towered over her. Both mountains were crowned with a ruin of some sort of buildings that could have been several stories tall.

Some remnants made it to the valley below that was Xai-Ren and Xanthy spied splinters painted red and gold. "The sacred colors of Pixies," June's voice explained over the rage of Xanthy's thoughts as their paulsaris took them further into the city.

The roads were not manicured like that of Yin Alora but the same blood, the same ever-burning embers, and the same debris from houses and other buildings stained and littered the narrow streets. Xanthy's heart wrenched when they passed a slew of half-burnt marquine dolls that a child could have owned. This...

Xanthy shook her head. Forward. There might have been some who survived.

They continued forward. Xanthy lost count of how many corpses they passed that bore the same, ragged gash in their necks. This wasn't the Death Knight but who was responsible for this?

A few more hours of riding and they came into the middle of the city which was the flattest ground and the densest in terms of forests. Nothing has changed. There were still no pixies around and only more embers greeted her. This was cruel, even by Cardovia's standards. What made the Heiress tick this time? Killing off an entire civilization with just one attack? The hate for the organization rose notches in Xanthy's heart.

This wasn't right. The Heiress could manipulate her pawns all she wanted but raining fire over an innocent city, killing hundreds if not thousands of souls, and uprooting an entire civilization...it's not right. Not now. Not ever.

Xanthy clenched her fists around her paulsare's reins. Something has to be done. Xanthy couldn't watch any more of this and there's bound to be more if she didn't step in. She gritted her teeth as her vision sharpened. She wouldn't let anything like this happen again. Not on her watch.

She flicked the reins of her paulsare and rode forward. June's cries of alarm and question faded behind her. Without much agency nor control over her limbs, she disembarked her steed and started pacing. Anger burned in her eyes, turning her vision a tinge of red. Was it not enough to purge half-bloods from Cardina? Was it not enough to steal the shadows of brownies? Was it not enough to destroy lives that they already did?

A guttural scream tore off Xanthy's throat as darkness replaced the red as it ate her vision. Her fist kissed the ground as a powerful blast of magic tore off her. Soft clay erupted and gave way below her feet. What—

Her rear hit compact soil and as the darkness rescinded from her eyes, she registered a different kind of darkness that suffocated her. This wasn't Drodham all over again, right? She was just...overwhelmed by her feelings that a little release from the Virtakios was needed. She didn't mean to destroy anything!

She craned her neck up and noted that the light from the outside world was already a small circle above her. Her eyebrows met as she moved to run her hands on the nearest wall she could find. Coarse particles stained her fingertips. Underground?

Was she dead? She had to find June. She froze.

Frachdal family missing. The pixies vanished.

Xanthy's heart dropped to her feet. Could it be...?

The wind was knocked out of her when something heavy slammed into her shoulders. Suddenly, she was pinned against the wall of dirt and something cold and sharp pressed into the side of her neck.

"I suggest you don't move if you don't want your head to fly away from your neck."