Shattered Kingdoms | Book 2 ✔ (REWRITING AS 'THE EXILED KING')

Chapter 8 - Lost

Lirya buried her face in her hands, tears streaming down her face, cutting a trail through the dirt on her face. Her shoulders shook with each sob as she sat on the remainder of a once mighty tree, reduced to ashes scattered by the wind and the tree stump she sat on.

Why are you crying, Soulseeker?

Lirya cried harder, her staff broken in half by her feet. Near her, the corpses of her friends lay. Taryn lay sprawled on the barren ground, his chest coated in blood. Jaons had an arrow through his throat and Jason laid with his face upturned towards the starless sky, his eyes forever unseeing.

Why are you crying, Soulseeker?

A hooded figure lay dead, but the hood had fallen to reveal delicate pointed ears and ethereal beauty - A druid. She had an armband on her wrist, coloured deep emerald, like the forests of her homeland, Handemon. A stocky figure with a fine beard had also perished - Another Guardian whose life was forfeited because fate chose them to be heroes. The wind blew, ruffling Jason's golden hair.

Why are you crying, Soulseeker?
Because I am lost and don't know the way.

Lirya looked at the landscape. The world was in ruins. Anhua remained barren, but the desert cities that had sprung up since the last Demon War had entirely been destroyed. Sand blew around the heated desert, lapping up against the ruins of once grand buildings. Nothing lived there anymore. The sun beat relentlessly on Anhua, flaring the sand bright golden - Anhua was a broken kingdom. Sanobar, Silvardor, Westik and Handemon were likewise destroyed. Forests had been burned, cities leveled, mountains reduced to rubble.

A sharp pain flared in her right arm and she hissed, grabbing it. Her hand grasped cold metal. She peered down at her wrist and saw an armband of the darkest obsidian encircled around her wrist.

You are not lost, Soulseeker. The way is open to you. Embrace your power, and all will be made clear.

I cannot. My friends died because I tried. I will not. Not again. I can't lose them.

A groan from one of the bodies reached her ears. Her head jerked up and she saw Jason's eyes flutter.

"Jason?"

She stood up and ran to his side.

Soulseeker... embrace who you are...

"J-Jason?" she asked hesitantly.

He took a deep breath and tried to sit up. Jason let out an agonised cry as his muscles and wound protested.

Lirya slid her arms under him and got him to sit.

"It's... not... your... fault..." Jason whispered.

His hand tightened around her arm before it fell limply to the side. He exhaled and slumped, his chest still.

"NO!" Lirya cried, and tried to shake him, rouse him, slap him. He responded to nothing.

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Lirya sat up, breathing heavily. She looked around - All her friends lay asleep, except Jason and Aidan. Jason sat on his bedroll, in deep thought and Aidan sat on watch.

Soulseeker...

"Jason?" She asked, and he turned to her, "What's wrong?"

He sighed, then replied, "A bad dream."

She hesitated then said softly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I dreamed... that everyone but you had died. Even me... and all of the kingdoms were as barren as Anhua."