CHAPTER 70

WHEN CIRA WOKE up after fainting, she was already in Sollel's bedroom and Sollel who was looking after her was gracious enough to tell Cira everything that had happened since the moment they parted ways in Ager until what happened after she fainted.

Cira was crying after listening to Sollel's story. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness! I'm so sorry!"

Sollel frowned at Cira, she clearly didn't understand why Cira was crying. "Why are you crying? Did your mission to find the stone that could negate the moonrite's stone effect failed?"

"What...?" Cira blinked at Sollel while drying her tears. "No. I succeed."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because I didn't see you at your full power while burning the city of Faberion!" Cira wailed again, like a child that could get what she wanted. "Waaaaah! Waaaah! I hate you, Hakkeran! How could you not update me that my queen is already back in full power! You piece of shit warlord!"

Sollel shook her head at Cira. "You really didn't know that he's Hakken?"

Cira cried harder because she felt betrayed. "No, Your Highness. If I knew, I wouldn't pair you with Hakken." Then suddenly, Cira stoped wailing and crying as if something just entered her mind. "Wait— if Hakken was Hakkeran, then does that mean he took his own money?"

It was Sollel's time to frown. "What are you talking about, Cira?"

Cira immediately shared her story. "Remember when I was kicked out, Your Highness? It's because I visited Yther which was the town of Adral now. But at that time, there was still no town here and that's where I met Warlord Hakkeran. He was living in the ruins of the temple of Ignis — which was where this castle was located now. I thought he was homeless, but after we talked, we both realized that we wanted the same thing and that's to free the Yther's queens. So he recruited me and I accepted. But that idiot sent me away to Beastrela to study medicine that does not involve my essence saying it'll come in handy in the future," Cira rolled her eyes, "which, it did. I learned a lot of things. I thought he had forgotten about me until he just suddenly appeared in Beastrela carrying you."

Sollel got confused. "I thought you found me in the river after I fell..."

"Warlord Hakkeran found you in the river, then he brought you to me." Cira corrected her small little lies. "He told me to heal you in any way I can and that I should accompany you wherever you go."

"So you knew who I was at that time already?"

Cira looked down and nodded. "But I was so excited when you told me yourself that you're the Mistress of flame. I didn't need to tiptoe around you anymore and I can myself." Cira offered Sollel an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for deceiving you, Your Highness."

Sollel shook her head. "You're just trying to help."

Tears fell from Cira's eyes and she just launched at Sollel and hugged her while crying. "Thank you so much for understanding me, Your Highness. It means so much to me."

A soft smile appeared on Sollel's lips as she combed Cira's hair. "You're always so silly, Cira. Without you and Hakken, I don't know where I'll be. The end doesn't justify the means, but for me, in my situation, it does. Thank you, Cira. Thank you for sticking with me and for being there for me."

Cira cried even harder that Sollel started laughing at her.

"I'm still mad at that warlord! Even though it was his money that we spent traveling, I still hate him because he accepted his own money as payment for his services! What a lousy benefactor!"

Sollel laughed and flicked Cira's ear. "And here I thought you're too rich because you're the Elven Princess."

Cira gasped, then she pulled away from embracing the queen and looked at Sollel in awe. "You knew?"

Sollel tapped the side of Cira's neck, just below her pointy left ear where a small flower-shaped birthmark was located "That's Gatria's mark that only appears in the Elven royal family."

Cira immediately touched her birthmark. "I thought this was just a normal birthmark." Then Cira started crying again. "Your Highness! You're really amazing!" Then she hugged Sollel again. "Thank you for forgiving my lies!"

And that's the scene Gatria saw as she entered Sollel's room. And when Cira saw her, she immediately pulled away from Sollel and sit straight and formally on the bed.

Cira had been with Sollel longer, that's why she acts how she act with Sollel even if she called Sollel 'Her Highness'. To Cira, Sollel was not just her highness anymore, but a close friend she can wail and cry on.

But Queen Gatria on the other hand was different! Even the air around her was different! Or maybe because she was an elf and Queen Gatria was their Majesty?

To Cira, Queen Sollel felt like the devastation and destruction in a storm, but Queen Gatria felt like the calm before the storm. She was scary even though she had a gentle face.

Gatria raised her eyebrow at Cira. "You're not going to faint again, are you?"

Cira immediately and vigorously shook her head. "N-no, Your Majesty."

Sollel was trying her best not to laugh at Cira, especially when Gatria started grilling Cira.

"Elven Race is my people," Gatria started. "So, I'm wondering why you love Sollel more than the other queens— more than me. It was your words, not mine." Paused. "So, tell me, Princess Ciradyl Raenisa Valqirelle, am I not your queen anymore?"

Cira was so pale as she answered. "Y-you are my Q-Queen, Y-Your Majesty, Queen G-Gatria, b-but Queen Sollel is my favorite."

Sollel clapped at Cira's bravery to admit that she was her favorite, while Gatria laughed at how pale and scared Cira looked.

Meanwhile, Cira was looking at the two queens who seemed like they were having fun because of her.

Putting Cira out of her nervousness and fear, Gatria walked to Cira and made a flower crown for Cira as she patted Cira on the head. "I was just teasing you. As I recall, your grandmother, Celaena, was also Sollel's supporter and devotee."

Cira blinked at Gatria. "Y-You're not mad, Your Majesty?" Tears were now falling from Cira's eyes. "I can really love Queen Sollel more than all the other queens? Fore real?"

Gatria chuckled. "Of course. Sollel always had zealous devotees even before. She always shines brightly like the sun and people were normally enamored by her."

Cira nodded vigorously before she launched herself at Queen Gatria and hugged her. "Queen Gatria!" Cira was back to crying again. "Though I love Queen Sollel more than anyone, you're amazing too! Thank you for making the sacred forest for us. Thank you for accepting the whole Elven's fealty."

Gatria was about to pat Cira's back when she noticed something that made her frown. "Ciradyl...? What happened to your essence? It's so weak and depleted."

"Oh, that...?" Cira let go of Queen Gatria and dried her tears as she went back to sit on the bed. "I just used it too much. It'll come back eventually."

"What have you been doing?" Gatria was worried because she knew how dangerous it was for an Elf to run out of essence. A long-term depleted essence meant growing old fast and dying a horrible death.

"Just analyzing the moonrite stone," then Cira explained to Queen Gatria what she had been up to.

"Oh, yes." Gatria nodded. "Sollel did tell me about it. So, you succeeded?"

Cira grinned and nodded. "It's a stone or a gem called Black Sunre. I don't know what kind of stone it is though, but at least we know, right?"

"Black Sunre..." Gatria frowned. "I haven't heard that stone before and I'm the overseer of Azitera." Gatria's frown deepened even more. "Come to think of it, even I haven't heard of moonrite stone before. It just appeared out of nowhere and I just learned about it when the humans used it against us." Gatria sighed. "No matter. We will find it."

Then, Gatria poured some of her essence into Cira, making Cira's eyes bulged in astonishment at how lucky she was! "There. It's not a blessing per se, but it's close to that. I replenished your depleted essence and also strengthen your healing abilities. You earned it."

Cira was crying again and Sollel and Gatria just chuckled at Cira. Then Sollel asked Gatria something that had been bothering her.

"How's your essence, Gatria? Have you fully recovered?"

Gatria nodded. "In the middle of our escaped, Gabin, Warlord Hakkeran's trusted aide intercepted us and gave me a vial full of nature's essence from healers." Unlike the three queens, Gatria's blessing to humans were healing and agricultural skills and abilities. "The vial's content only recovered half of my strength, but it was not too hard for me to recover fully. My essence is everywhere in Azitera."

It was relief to Sollel who had a hard time recovering. Unlike Gatria, she couldn't draw the essence from volcanoes. It'll explode if she did. So, firestone was her only option. Good thing her warlord was so smart and very crafty when it comes to planning. She was able to recover her full strength.

"Are you done?" Gatria asked Cira who was now drying her tears. "The celebration will not start without us, you know."

Cira immediately sprung out of the bed. "Yes, I am! Let's celebrate!"

Gatria shook her head as she looked at Cira. "Wearing that?"

Cira was still wearing her usual dress. Not fancy and just Cira's normal clothes for the day.

Cira looked down at her dress. "Am I not allowed?"

Gatria sighed and gracefully waved her hand at Cira. In a heartbeat, Cira's whole body was covered in emerald mist, flowers and vines. It was too sudden that it stunned Cira, but when the flowers, vines and mist formed into a beautiful emerald green dress with corset on the front and silk chiffon sleeves, Cira had become even more stunned.

"There," Gatria smiled in satisfaction as she dressed herself too, using her essence— a stunning off the shoulder white-green dress with flowers and vines as part of the design, from the chest down to the skirt.

Cira was stunned at how beautiful her dress was, but her jaw just hanged open when she saw what Queen Gatria was wearing. She looked like a Goddess of Nature. Cira wanted to compliment the queen, but then she saw Queen Sollel in her fiery blood red halter dress, its skirt flares out just below her hips, creating a semi-full shape bell and her highness looked stunning in it.

"Amazing..." Cira couldn't help being awed. "You can actually make stunning and beautiful dresses out of your essence?"

Gatria nodded. "It's just a matter of materializing our essence into the shape and design we wanted." As she spoke, a crown with emerald stones materialized on her head, complimenting her long and wavy brown hair that reaches her hips. "And it's durable. Dresses made by our own essence are like armors. Destroying it would take an army."

Cira's lips parted in awe as she watched a crown with firestone materialized on Queen Sollel's head, flattering her bright red hair and eyes.

"Come on," Gatria was already walking to the door, "they're all waiting for us."

Cira and Sollel looked at each other before they followed Queen Gatria to where the celebration was being held.

♕♕♕

DIFFERENT RACES were gathered in the grand hall of Hakkeran's castle. Every race had their own table and representatives from their royal families, but those tables were just for formalities, really. Everyone was free to move around to other tables to talk to anyone they wanted.

The races present that night was the allies of the Yther's Queens, though some aren't, they were not hostile and just wanted to live in peace and to be left alone by humans who had been hunting them for their skin and other body parts that were valuable to human society.

All these races had already been investigated and checked by Hakkeran. There was no traitor in their midst, but if they had one, Solaris was always ready to burn them to crisp.

The grand hall was noisy as different races started to arrive one after another. Everyone was talking to one another, regardless of their race, sharing their struggles and opinions. Some extending help to those who wants it and some were offering safety to those who needed it.

Mixed together with these different races was a table for humans. Mostly from the Village of Ignis and the human representative of the town of Adral. They were friendly to the others, but some races present were still wary of them.

And beside the humans was the table of important guests — Gabriella, Zassia, Grath, Xeke, Treven, Zassia's Grandfather and Naya.

While the host of this celebration, Warlord Hakkeran— who shocked everybody when he introduced himself as Hakkeran with Hakken's face— was just standing in the corner and overseeing the whole place while glancing at the door from time to time, waiting for his queen to arrive.

At last, after two goblets of liquor, Hakkeran finally heard Gabin's voice. He was the herald for this celebration.

"The representative of the Elven Kingdom has arrived." Gabin raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "Let's welcome Princess Ciradyl Raenisa Valqirelle, the Crown Princess of the Elven Kingdom."

Cira wanted to correct Gabin, but Gabin just smiled when she signaled him to correct his mistake— that she had been kicked out and she was not a princess anymore.

But Cira didn't get a chance to correct Gabin because her mind just went blank when she saw Xeke walking towards her in his full regalia and when he stopped in front of her, he offered his hand at her and smiled.

"Will you give me the honor of escorting you to your table, my lady?"

Cira wanted to pound her chest when her heart skipped a beat. "Can I say no?"

"Don't you want me to?"

Cira glared at Xeke. "Thief!"

Xeke smiled. "Adorable."

Cira leered at Xeke, but she still accepted his hand. "Make sure I won't fall. My dress is long."

"I'll just catch you if you fell," Xeke replied smoothly before he added. "You're beautiful, by the way."

"Of course." Cira had an overflowing confidence when it comes to herself. "You fell for me after all."

Xeke couldn't help smiling at his adorable little elf before he kissed the back of her hand as she took the seat on the important guest's table.

Cira glared at Xeke, but truthfully, she didn't mind at all. She just didn't want Xeke to think that she was an easy elf to conquer.

Then Gabin's voice was heard once again.

"The Krahika of the temple of Nati. The fourth blessed Queen of Yther. The Mistress of Nature and the overseer of Azitera. Her Majesty, Queen Gatria Valen Balsatra!"

Treven immediately got up and with a dashing smile, he went to welcome Queen Gatria and escorted her towards the throne which was made for the four queens.

Murmurs of reverence and admiration could be heard in the hall as Queen Gatria walked with Treven and sat on the throne with her crest on it.

"Thank you, Treven."

Treven shrugged, dashing as always. "Anytime for my queen."

Gatria subtly rolled her eyes. "I would bet that you'll forget all about me if that half-demon warlord showed himself here."

Treven chuckled. "You bet I will."

Gatria shook her head and looked at the door when Gabin introduced another queen.

"The Krahika of the temple of Ignis. The first blessed Queen of Yther. The Mistress of Flame and the Queen of destruction. Her Majesty, Queen Sollel Vatra Sarragny!"

Whispers of veneration and fear filled the hall as soon as Sollel stepped inside. It was not a surprise to Gatria who knew Sollel very well. Sollel was always feared by many because of her destructive strength. Only a handful of people knew that the Queen of Destruction had a kind and soft soul.

And Gatria was glad that Sollel had found a partner in crime, a friend, a protector and a lover in Warlord Hakkeran Adral.

Gatria couldn't contain the smile on her lips as she watched Warlord Hakkeran escorting Sollel to her throne, beside her. But before Sollel could reach her chair, she spotted the Dwarven King and she just ran towards King Ruther with Hakkeran in tow.

"You stubborn mule!" Without hesitation as always, she hugged King Ruther as if he was a family member, but it still made Hakkeran grimaced. "I'm glad you're still alive, Ruther. I thought you were already dead."

King Ruther was ecstatic to see his queen, but he couldn't help sighing. "I'm happy that you're back, Your Majesty, but I'm also feeling a little apprehensive that you're back."

Sollel glared at King Ruther. "What do you mean apprehensive? Do you want me to throw you into a volcano's mouth again?"

King Ruther shuddered at the memory. "No. I'm fine. I'm very happy to see you again."

Sollel grinned, then she finally pulled Hakkeran to her side and introduced Hakkeran to King Ruther. "Ruther, I know you already know him, but still, I'm introducing him to you. This is my warlord, Hakkeran 'Hakken' Adral. He's my future husband and King." Then she showed the ring Hakkeran gave her.

King Ruther was not surprised. "I kept wondering before why you were so adamant on freeing Queen Sollel, even threatening other races, now I understand. Congratulations on your engagement and thank you for leading us on defeating the empire and freeing our Queen. With you as Her Majesty's King, we won't worry because she's in good hands."

Hakkeran accepted the gratitude and praised. "I will protect her with all my might and love her with all I got."

King Ruther nodded and chuckled. "I don't even doubt you." He shook his head a little. "I've seen how you freed and protected Queen Sollel. I'm grateful. I know it may not be much, but if you need anything, the Dwarven Kingdom is at your disposal."

"Actually, I do need your people," Hakkeran immediately answered. "We are planning to free the other queens, that means we have to leave Adral. The city of Faberion's destruction didn't mean we already destroyed the empire. They still have a lot of armies in different cities under the empire's banner and if they banded together against our little town while we're away, a lot of the town's people will die. So I implore you to stay here, build a curtain wall around the whole town for everyone's protection. I will also talk to King Tirac to enchant the curtain walls that you will build for strong defense. I already spoke to the Harpies as well and they accepted my request to stay here in the meantime to watch and guard the air for us against wind sorcerers or any other flying creatures sent by our enemies to spy on us."

Sollel just watched as her warlord planned with King Ruther. She couldn't be prouder that Hakkeran was hers. What he was saying were the things she wanted to say and she was glad that her warlord was a smart man.

"This may be called the town of Adral now, but this was the Kingdom of Yther and Yther's Queens home once we freed them all." Hakkeran added, not knowing that everyone was intently listening to his and King Ruther's conversation since Queen Sollel introduced him as her future king. "We couldn't help them before, but now it's different. The humans will surely band together against us so we have to band together as well to win this war. This was not just the Yther's Queens' war. This was also every race's war so we all have to work together to reach our common goal and that is to win back Azitera and live in peace again. No running. No hiding. No slavery. Just living in our own pace in our own home."

Everyone inside the hall nodded and Sollel smiled proudly before she spoke to everyone.

"You heard my warlord. If you want peace, prepare for war."

Sollel was as formidable and fearless as ever in everyone's eyes, as if she was the personification of fear and strength, and that made Gatria smile.

"People always fear her," Gatria commented while watching Sollel, "but at the same, they were dazzled by her strength and fearlessness."

Treven who heard it, smiled. "You sounded like a proud mother."

Gatria chuckled and said, "I am." Then she gave all her attention to Sollel and Warlord Hakkeran who were now addressing everyone in the grand hall. Sharing their plans, telling everyone Cira's discovery since everyone present already knows about the moonrite stone, then afterwards dividing the work that had to be done.

Instead of celebration, it had become a conference. And nobody minded because their main focused was to live in peace and it'll only happen if they defeated the overbearing humans and their armies and sorcerers.

After hours of deliberation and planning, the celebration finally commenced and everyone had a smile on their faces. Knowing the plan and seeing how the Yther's Queens were back, they have high hopes that someday, they could get back to living peacefully like before.

That's all they ever wanted and they will give their all to make that happen.

And as the night deepened, the celebration was in full swing. Drinking, eating, laughter and music. It was a happy occasion — a happy gathering that was ruined by a single news from Gabin.

"The Kingdom of Treterra's general and his armies and sorcerers are outside Adral, together with the empire's remaining soldiers. They are asking for Warlord Hakkeran to surrender himself and accept die punishment for his betrayal."

Everyone immediately readied their weapons, ready to fight to the death, but Queen Sollel stopped them.

"Stay here, all of you." Sollel said as a lava-like liquid swirled in her eyes. "We have a plan and it will be difficult to accomplish if you all died in battle. Follow the plan and do your parts well. Leave the soldiers to us. They are ours to slaughter."

Feeling the air in the grand hall sizzle, everyone nodded and listened.

Then Queen Gatria stood up from her throne and walked towards the Mistress of Flame. "Sollel, you can have the empire's soldiers, leave the Kingdom of Treterra to me."

Sollel nodded and turned to Hakkeran when he wrapped a cloak around her frame.

"It's enchanted." Said Hakkeran. "Same with the one I gave you that could absorb the moonrite stone's effect. I'm sure they're all carrying one. But as you know, it can only absorb so much, so call me when it starts to deteriorate. King Tirac mass produced it for the Yther's Queens."

"Thank you, Tirac." Gatria smiled at the Druid King, who only bowed his head respectfully at Queen Sollel and Queen Gatria.

Now both wearing the enchanted cloak, Queen Sollel and Queen Gatria left the grand hall together with Warlord Hakkeran, Gabin, Warlord Treven, Warlord Xeke, Princess Cira, Flame sorceress Zassia, Demi-human Grath and Zassia's Grandfather and the wind sorcerer, Zio.

When they stepped outside the castle, Sollel immediately summoned her flame wings and flew to the sky.

While Hakkeran called his gryphon, Nessus, to give everyone who had no means to fly a ride which was Zassia, Grath, Gabin and himself.

Meanwhile, Treven called his Wyvern, Vago, to fly him and Gatria to the town's entrance.

Former General Zio was a wind sorcerer, it was easy for him to navigate the air and use the wind to his advantage.

Simultaneously, Xeke used his daggers to teleport himself while Cira was running in the air with Xeke's dagger as her support.

In less than a minute, Sollel landed on top of the town of Adral's stone gate with her flame wings still burning behind her back, making the soldiers who saw murmured and stepped back in fear.

And on Sollel's right, Warlord Hakkeran stood beside her together with Zassia, Grath and Gabin.

Meanwhile, on Sollel's left, Queen Gatria jumped down from the flying wyvern and landed with ease and grace on top of the stone gate, beside Sollel and with her essence, a sword appeared in her hand, while she watched the generals, soldiers and sorcerers in front of them with cold and merciless eyes.

All the enemies were carrying a moonrite stone, but thanks to the enchanted cloak made by King Tirac, it didn't affect Queen Sollel and Queen Gatria too much.

Immediately after Queen Gatria landed on top of the stone gate, Wind sorcerer and former Treterra General, Zio, followed by Xeke and Cira, landed beside the overseer of Azitera while Treven remained on his Wyvern that was hovering the stone gate of Adral.

The army and sorcerers outside didn't know if they would be cheering or shudder in fear seeing that only a handful from the town of Adral will fight them.

The came here with a premise that they wanted Warlord Hakkeran to surrender, but it was just a pretext. They wanted revenge. They wanted war. They wanted the death of these monsters who ruined the Infernal Empire!

And as the two sides faced off, General Kar of the Kingdom of Treterra's voice was heard.

"Warlord Hakkeran Adral! Surrender before we besieged your little town and crushed it with our military might!"

Hakkeran chuckled at that before he ordered Solaris to changed to its true form — his flaming sword. "Come on, General Kar. Don't be like that. Can't you just leave? We're kind of busy celebrating."

General Kar answered Hakkeran by drawing his war hammer and raising it to the sky. "Fight for the Kingdom of Treterra! Fight for the Empire! Fight for humans!"

As if on cue, soldiers run towards the stone gate and sorcerers ready their most powerful attacks, but before they could reach the town's stone gate, Warlord Treven on his Wyvern made his move.

Crushing his crystal balls with his hand, he throws its shards in the air, shining as if they were stars in the sky before the shards fell and created a solid transparent shield almost covering half of Adral, especially the front.

"My apologies," said Treven who had a dashing smile for his enemies. "I can't let you pass that easily."

The soldiers only stopped for a moment before they continued their advance while the flame, wind and water sorcerers finally released their most powerful attacks, aimed at the town. Destruction of Adral and death of its citizens were their aim. They were sure of their success. They might not be able to fight the fabled Queens of Yther, but they could destroy the former Kingdom of Yther again. Just for spite.

"As if I would let you destroy my home again." Sollel muttered under her breath before she flew to the sky and intercept the attacks with her blood of flame.

With Nessus, Hakkeran followed Sollel to defend Adral from aerial attacks.

As Sollel's blood of flame burned brightly in the sky and Hakkeran's Solaris flared fiercely as if showing its might, as they defended Adral from the air, Gatria jumped down from the stone gate and walked calmly and gracefully towards the advancing soldiers. And everyone standing on top of the stone gate followed the queen.

With the Mistress of Flame and Warlord Hakkeran in the air, Warlord Treven shielding the front and Queen Gatria and the others on the land, the battle finally started.

And the horrific battle that will be known as the Slaughter of Traitors began with Queen Gatria executing the soldiers of the Kingdom of Treterra.



THE END

CECELIB | C.C.