Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Sixty: The Last Breaths of Azul

Doom marched towards them, cold and unforgiving. Vera was pale as death, and had not moved since the news came through:

Viktoria was dead. Myra was captured.

The city was frozen, broken.

There would be no one to save them now. Their heroes were dead, their warriors were fallen. The gods had abandoned them. The gods were dead. Yet some still prayed to Belle, to Sarai, to Lyra. Kestra Isidore looked toward the horizon and wept.

Her dreams had rung true. The war that was coming had been the end of the Dragon. Soon, it would be the end of her, and of her queendom.

Azul was breathless, frozen in shock. The city was silent, in mourning and in grief. In the distance, the stomp of boots echoed. Yes, the Kallians were coming, and soon.Miras was bleeding out, dying. Their final stand had already been made.

Dried tears hung on her cheeks, from prayers unanswered. She could have sworn she heard her mother's goodbye hours ago.

The Kallians were coming, and there was nobody to save them.             -----------

They arrived within days, and Kestra had not slept whilst Azul waited for them. Vera had not moved from the balcony, so she had brought her water and food and forced her to drink and eat.

Kestra didn't know why she bothered. She supposed she was not ready to accept her death yet. Still denying the inevitable.

They all were, she supposed. What else was there to do, when doom hung above you like a cloud?

She was afraid. Afraid to die, afraid of the abyss that would greet her. Sometimes the panic gripped her like a cold hand. Would she see Viktoria? Or would she find nothing but a darkness to devour it all?
Once she thought she would have eternity. That she would grow up and have forever with her mother, with Viktoria and Vera. But she would not.

Kestra would die with her people, killed for bearing a birthmark she had wished was not there.

She was scared to face that death, that cold. Terrified of the abyss that might await.When she woke to the pale dawn and smelled smoke, she knew the end had come.

Azul was burning, and at last, Vera turned to look at her.

"You must run," she said softly. "Myra made me promise...you must run. Now."

"How?" She asked weakly.

"There is a passage in the castle," Vera said quickly. "Run. Get out."

"Where do I go?"

"Our people will rise up," her mentor said, finally sounding like a queen. "Help them. Led them."

"I-I-"

Vera gripped her shoulders with strength that Kestra did not think she had.

"You must. For our kingdom, Kestrel. You must save us. The escape tunnel is in my bedroom, behind the mirror. Run. Now."

She shifted, taking her snow fox form. It was the only one fast enough to escape the carnage.

Kestra bolted through the corridors, heart tearing as she ran. Without Vera...how could she go on? How could she do this?

You must save us, the words echoed in her head, giving her strength. She would. For Vera, for Viktoria, for Myra. For all the heroes, for all her loved ones who had died for this-to give her this chance to save her people. Kestra tore through the corridors and shattered the mirror.

The last thing she heard before she plunged into the tunnels was Vera's dying scream as the soldiers reached her.

Hope. She would be their hope. She would light the way for her people. Her feet burned as she entered the tunnel, as she ran.

When she emerged in the northern mountains, she turned around.

One last  glimpse.

She could give the city she loved with all her heart only one last glimpse.Azul was burning.

Kestra ran, the smell of smoke haunting her as she heard the screams.

Medea had won Azul, and with it, Miras.

But not for long.

They would rise.

They would rise and light up the world.

         To be continued...