For Whom The Bell Tolls (2)

      “Dom. What are you-” I'm cut off.

      “Flee, you fools, and my Lord! I pray thee happiness that will last forever.”

      He turns his back to us, and walks further into the courtyard to meet the Beta. I try to run and catch him but Charlie holds me back. I struggle with all my might, but as nothing more than a normal girl, a perfectly average, normal girl, I can’t break from her hold. I hear Fennis scoff behind me. I notice Charlie handing me over to Kay and Mimi for a moment as I continue to struggle. Fennis moves Abi into Charlie’s hands, and reaches around my waist.

      “No! No, no, no! Don’t do this, you bastard! All of you! How could you let this happen? We can’t leave Dom here!”

      I struggle with all of my might. As Fennis puts me over his shoulder, I punch him with all the strength I can muster. We are moving further and further away from Dom.

      “Put me down, now. I don’t care what the fuck happens to me! Go back for Dom! Why aren’t any of you listening to me? You’re all just looking away! How can you possibly be okay with this? How are you cowards not able to face the man you are sentencing to die?”

      None of them speak as we move through the armies. I look around and see hundreds of Beta and Eld falling at once, despite Fennis recalling all the troops as we pass them. It’s only then that I notice Rose holding both Mimi and Kay’s hands. Her beautiful braid is no longer scraping the ground. Her hair floats freely in the air. The cold feeling usually associated with her doing this is easily nulled by the burning rage inside of me.

      These selfish, selfish bastards. I lost Nina already. I refuse to lose anyone else!

      “Kay, Mimi, stop it! You don’t know what she is doing! She’s using your souls!”

      “If it can help us get you to safety, we are okay with it. Isn’t that right, Kay?”

      She lets her lips form a full smile and gives me a nod. “No price is too high.”

      “You are all out of your minds. Fennis! They’re your Valkyries! Stop them!”

      “We both know that isn’t true, girl. Now shut your mouth. Your cowardice invalidates this entire day every time you open your mouth!”

      Swarms of Beta attack us and fall. Some even attempt to run, but to no avail. Our troops watch on in astonishment as they march to the floating boat. We, too, before long, walk up its ramp. The moment Fennis puts me down, I try to make a run for it, but the man merely picks me up again, this time by the scruff of my collar.

      “Kyle,” he says, “set our location to the western front. The One King bastard has a lot to answer for.”

      I scream and scream while we fly away; no one even looks at me. Once we make it to the air, Fennis lets me go and watches as I scramble everywhere looking for any possible means of escape.

      The air itself opens up, followed by the sky. A beautiful shimmer lets us peek into the heavens itself. From them, a ball of fire emerges, or rather, it’s a rock.

      No… it’s an asteroid? A meteor? I don’t know the difference. I never bothered paying attention to that kind of stuff.

      All I know is it's on fire and absolutely massive. As it starts to break through the sky, the air, even this far away, starts to burn. As it descends, I realize that it’s heading towards the Academy.

      “No! Dom…”

      As it approaches the surface of the planet, a beautiful white dome appears around the Academy. The entire Hercynian forest catches fire and blazes across the sky as the meteor is now so close to the surface of the planet.

      “This is beyond anything I would have conceived as possible. I have to burn every moment of this into my mind so I can record it later,” Kyle says next to me.

      “You’re going to record a good man dying…” I murmur.

      “I’m going to record a great man dying,” he corrects me.

      The meteor passes through the barrier as if it didn’t exist. A moment later, the loudest sound to ever form on this planet pierces the sky. The entire dome of the barrier is encased in fire.

      My tears won’t stop flowing.

      Why has my life taken so much from me?

      Why me? Dom, he… he insinuated I was related to the Beta somehow, and thinking back on my time inside the void, that voice told me that to save Kay, I had to do what only a Beta can. I thought he meant to do the impossible, but what if he meant…

      Just then, we’re overcome by a pressure wave that blows right through the ship. Half a dozen of our men fly off the boat as it rocks to the side. I try my hardest to hold on to some people, to save as many as I can. By the time the boat has righted itself and the danger has passed, I notice something horrible.

      There, in the distance, where the Academy used to be, is a massive crater.

      I fall to my knees and weep.