"Kirana! Wake up!"
The world lurched back into focus with the howl of explosions and the metallic tang of scorched earth. Kirana lay sprawled on the blood-soaked ground, her head pounding beneath the cracked remains of her helmet. The village of Arbora had become a nightmare of fire and steel.
Someone shook her hard. "Kirana! Please, wake up!"
Lyra's terrified face hovered over her, streaked with sweat and blood. Her voice trembled. "We can't lose you, not now..."
Kirana forced air into her lungs and pushed herself up, pain screaming through her body. As her vision cleared, the battlefield sharpened: flames devouring homes, bodies strewn like broken branches, the sky choked with smoke.
"Raka..." she whispered, fear clawing at her chest.
Lyra hesitated, eyes dropping.
Kirana dragged herself across the rubble, searching desperately. And then she found him.
Raka lay motionless, a deep wound carved across his chest. His eyes, once bright with wisdom, stared blankly at the sky.
"No..." Kirana's voice cracked.
She collapsed beside him, clutching his cold body. "Wake up. You promised me. You said you'd stay." Her voice broke, dissolving into a raw, piercing scream. "RAKA!"
Grief twisted into something sharper.
She lifted her face toward the Edenan forces advancing through the smoke. Rage ignited inside her like a second heartbeat.
"Lyra... help me up."
"Kirana, you're hurt—"
"Help me up!"
Lyra obeyed. Kirana grabbed her bow, fingers trembling, blood dripping down her arm. She glared at the distant soldiers—and at the armored figure leading them.
Valarion.
Her jaw tightened. "It's not over. Not while I'm still breathing."
The ground shuddered as another explosion tore through the village. Smoke blotted out the sun, turning the world into a grey, dying twilight. Kirana staggered forward, every step agony.
"Kirana, stop!" Lyra begged. "You'll die out here! You need to fall back!"
"Fall back? To what?" Kirana snapped. "Everything we fought for is burning!"
Lyra grabbed her shoulders. "Look around you! We can't win like this!"
From atop a shattered structure, Valarion's cruel laughter cut through the battlefield.
"Earthborn scum! Look at your pathetic leader! Did you truly believe you could stand against us? This is the price of defiance!"
Kirana glared at him, hatred blazing, but her legs buckled. She collapsed to her knees.
Lyra dropped beside her. "If you die, it's over. Please, Kirana... we need you alive."
Kirana lifted her gaze and saw the children hiding among debris—pale, trembling, waiting for death.
Her resolve cracked.
She closed her eyes. "Valarion!"
His head snapped toward her, amusement glinting in his eyes.
"At last," he said. "Speak, little warrior."
Kirana swallowed, her voice shaking. "End this. End the slaughter. I surrender... just let them live. Take the village. Take my life if you want. But spare them."
"Kirana, no!" Lyra cried.
Valarion approached, each step slow and deliberate. "You surrender? The mighty Kirana, on her knees? Touching."
"Stop the attack," she whispered. "Please..."
Valarion smirked. "Very well. I accept your surrender. This world is ours now."
He turned away, raising his hand.
And smiled.
"Kill them all."
Kirana's eyes flew open in horror. "No... no!"
The screams rose behind Valarion's army as the Edenan soldiers resumed their slaughter. Lyra grabbed Kirana desperately.
"We have to run! Now!"
"My mother... the children... I can't leave them!" Kirana choked.
But the massacre unfolded before her eyes. Edenan soldiers cut down villagers without hesitation. Blood splashed the ground. The air filled with terror.
Kirana's scream tore from her throat as she saw her mother fall, shielding a child.
"Mother! MOTHER!" Her voice shattered.
Lyra pulled her back with every ounce of strength she had. "If we stay, we die! Kirana, please! We can't help them now!"
Kirana stared at Valarion, hatred searing through her broken body. She wanted to run to him. To end him.
But her body refused.
Lyra clung to her, sobbing. "You taught us to survive. So survive. We will return. We will rise. But if you die now, everything ends here."
Kirana trembled, her spirit splintering. "I... I can't do this..."
"You can," Lyra whispered. "Live. So we can fight back."
Dragged into the burning shadows of Arbora, Kirana looked back one final time. The village she had sworn to protect collapsed in flame and screams.
Far away, Valarion watched the devastation with a satisfied smile, the self-proclaimed conqueror of Earth.