Bearing The Crown: Chronicle of The Crown

The night burned as the sky was permeated with thick smoke. Shrill screams rang out, breaking the silence of the night. "Run Kasidy! Run with the child!" A man yelled as he ran towards a woman clutching a bundle in her arms. "Thurian!" The woman screamed at the sight of a man coming out from the woods, wearing nothing but clothes covering his nether regions. Behind him hung a curtain of thick black smoke. The ringing of metal clashing can be heard in the distance, shouts and screams can be heard matching the crackling of a blaze behind them. The man who recently emerged from the woods, his face written in a mix of disarray, his whole demeanor changed, far from that of a person who was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth. With his long strides, he closed the distance with Kasidy. The moment he reached her, they began to run, with the connection between them, he managed to brief her with what was happening. Just this morning, Kasidy was enjoying an afternoon stroll, with a newborn in her arms, she hummed as the child was lulled to sleep. The child, hair as black as coal, his eyes seemingly reflecting a clear day in spring, like the lake mirroring the sky’s hues. Having the features of his mother, soft yet sharp. He giggled as the woman gently touched his nose. Who would have thought that with this blissful, quiet morning, when the night shrouded their land, deep within the dark's embrace, lulled to sleep, barely any guard patrolling, who would have known that such tragedy would befall them "The northern fortress was breached; unknown enemies have entered our domain. You must take the child with you and run," he all said in one go after which, the cracking and rearranging of bones was heard thereafter. An auburn wolf stood, towering in front of the woman earlier Even larger than that of a stallion, its ears perked before throwing back its head, releasing a shrill howl penetrating through the air and reverberating through the wood. For some time, the chaos seemed to have paused before continuing. "All warriors at bay, escort Kasidy to the domain's border. She must, at all costs, cross that boundary," he ordered through a series of connecting mind links, receiving howls in response as more than twenty beasts jumped out from the woods, completely circling Kasidy. All looked not less than the man who gave the order. A brown beast moved forward before lowering his head in greeting. "Luna Kasandra, I am Hemfried, it would be an honor, dying for you as well as the young prince," After saying so, went behind a tree before the cracking of bones were heard. He came out clothed before he ordered the few beasts behind the treeline. It was evident that those behind the treeline still have not develop the capability to open their mindlinks, hence orders would have to be given out. After his orders were given, the beasts behind the treeline retreated towards the chaos, ready to ensue another round of whatever battle they were fighting in the compound center. He turned towards where his team was surrounding Kasidy before running; impressively, he managed to turn and shift mid-air, landing in his beast form. For someone to shift as fast as Hemfried did, it implied that he had been training and was always shifting. Only those who shift know that the pain or bones twisting and rearranging, the beast constantly vying for control, will always be present but others push themselves to the limits allowing their body to adjust as well as tolerate the pain. The most difficult part in shifting was reigning in the beast, it is either you become one with the beast or you become beast, no bodily control. Some tried to overpower the beast in terms of their spirituality, however the beast always became uncontrollable after. It would be like poking at a resting bear, the more you try to make it submit to you, the more you anger the beast. The beasts are not theirs to own, they have a mind of their own, they sometimes choose their hosts, or they are born with them. Lucky are those born with them as the beast within them grows, some are their Goddess’ gift to warriors, sometimes, others forcefully take the beast of others. "Go now Kasidy. I would be right behind you," A pang of pain coursed through his body. Both he and his beast ached, seeing as their mate would be away from them, even with the longing to be by their side, they both knew that both she and the prince must leave their borders to escape the inescapable tragedy awaiting to befall them. After giving a one last look at the woman seated on his trusted aide’s back, her back to him, he remembered when they were both still young, attending functions arm in arm, and as young as he is, Thurian was forced to the position of an alpha, leading their pack as they fought for their lands. Being a young leader does not have its great perks exactly. Sometimes his propositions are not heard during regional council meetings but her presence alone relieved all those burdens. He shut his eyes, already beginning to sting, and ran towards the chaos. Thurian's image turned into a blur as Kasidy rode on Hemfried's back. Her eyes stung as she faced forward, tears trickling down her cheeks. Speed as fast as lightning, Hemfried and his team fought enemies from all sides and angles that caught up to them and managed to pass through Thurian and the other’s defenses. Their team was composed of six members, all hand-picked and trained beyond their limits. All of them were born with their beast except for him. He was 10 when he was handpicked and was chosen by the goddess through a dream. However, given his age, the elders thought that he would not be able to successfully integrate with the beast. The Seers even believed that he only had a slim chance of survival if the beast did not approve of him. Yet he still made it through, even the Seers are riddled with questions why, yet the beast was the one to answer “The soul of Gunnar is in him”. It was later then found out that one of his ancestors was from the line of Bold and Brave Warriors from the North. One member of their team can defeat five enemies at once while on the move, Kasidy knew they were highly skilled, but this was beyond her expectations. Each was juggling enemies like it was just a circus bottle. Every move was efficient and precise. Deadly. Meant to incapacitate, kill, or inflict severe injury without exhausting too much energy. One even managed to behead coming from his left by biting the neck of one in his front. Not far from them, an explosion was heard, she didn't dare look back, for the sight that would greet her, would only be the tattered remains of her home. It seemed like something clicked in all of them, even increasing their speed at an even inhumane speed. Hemfried and his elites didn't stop, no one went down without killing at least ten of their foes. As one of the members was fighting three enemies at the same time, he was terribly injured when he was caught off guard by a beam of light. Hemfried, noticing the light, turned to find where it had come from only for him to see his teammate with a gashing hole where his heart was supposed to be. s**t, he thought. "Hjalmar!" He shouted through their shared mindlink towards a youth with auburn hair fighting enemies at the rear. He received a snarl as he was busy keeping the enemies at the rear from reaching Kasidy in the middle of their formation. "Not now, Hem! I am quite busy here!" He said as his spear pierced through the chest on a cloaked figure in front of him before continuing to brandish his spear elegantly decapitating the head of the incoming enemy on his left. Among them, he would rather fight in his human form as he was more comfortable having free bodily control to use his precious spear. "Hjalmar get Alsen!” Hemfried ordered, pertaining to the now lifeless body of their teammate. They refuse to have one of them be devoured by rouge beasts. “Get Kasidy from him, I will take the rear and the right flank!" Hjalmar merely looked at Hemfried before finishing the last enemy he was fighting and nodded. He dashed towards Hemfried before catching Kasidy in his arms. He no longer tried to shift as he takes the longest time to shift out of the six. He took Kasidy and began running towards the border. His perks compared to his teammates was that he was the fastest runner amongst them, even with the extra weight in his arms, he ran like he was carrying air. Kasidy was surprised at this. Hemfried immediately gave orders to cover the opened right flank from Alsen and the rear. A faint light can be pulsating in the distance. The border. All of them thought. The border is not only a boundary, it also serves as their last defense as behind that border is free land. The beam that was pulsating was one of the mage’s works. It was designed as a last resort. It serves to keep enemies out, but at times like this, when enemies manage to breach a section, it can be turned into a cage. If it can keep enemies out, it can keep enemies in. Seeing as the border is still quite in the distance, Hemfried pushed his team to their limits just to reach that beacon. Kasidy looked and the beacon was already visible from where they were. A couple more yards. She turned to Hjalmar carrying her before she whispered something that made his eyes go wide in shock. Without hesitation, Hjalmar nodded in agreement before he looked at that beacon not far from them. Five hundred meters from the border, "What a cute little prince." A woman, clad in black, holding what seemed to be a light, said in a sickeningly sweet voice. She toyed with the light in her hand as she watched the bloodshed happening among Hemfried's team against the enemy. The corners of her mouth turn, a sickeningly sweet smirk plastered on her face, relishing at the sight of chaos and bloodshed. "Too bad he's not gonna make it." As her word left her mouth, she lifted her left arm, opened her psalm to reveal what looks like a glowing black flame, dancing on her hands and fingertips, she pointed the light she's holding towards Kasidy and Hemfried's approaching the border, letting out a dark glow, shrouding everything in a dark veil, sucking out the life it embraces. Kasidy, noticing the abnormality in the air, looked in horror as she knew she was hopeless against that dark veil engulfing everything like a hungry beast. She merely hugged the child, as if waiting for everything to just finish them off. Just as she was about to cast a protective barrier around them, another emerald beam of light met with the dark veil. The moment those two powers met, everything within in that vicity felt the mana coursing through the air, one thick and making one out of breath, creating waves after waves of shock, deafening the ears. Shocked but she does not have the time to process what happened, she looked behind them seeing more enemies pouring in from all sides and coming out of treelines. "Hemfried! Full speed towards the border now!" She ordered, her voice laced with worry and despair. Seeing Hemfried's group approaching, the woman who stood atop the border levitated, her eyes shot towards where the other magic came from before another smile crept up her face, "I guess he will live... Well, not for long either." Her figure vanished, as if not there in the first place. "Kasidy!" Hemfried suddenly called out the moment Kas fell off Hjalmar. "Captain! The curse, it's spreading.” Even with the emerald beam countering the dark veil, it still did not spare the ones touched by it first, there were still remnants of the dark veil in the surroundings. Kasidy, despite being well-versed in Thaumaturgy, did not know what type of arcane magic the veil was, she just knows that the mage either used an unrecorded magic and was on par with her. That dark veiled magic managed to creep up onto Kasidy’s legs, as if ordered, it carefully slithered on her legs even after being countered. "Captain, they're here." Hjalmar’s voice was ominous and brooding. Silence followed as low guttural growls can be heard coming from the woods. "More Rouges?" "Kasidy, can you still run?" She could not believe that days after giving birth, they were bombarded by an onslaught of attacks from all sides. She managed to drag her weakened body outside of their home before she was met with a member, telling her to go to the field under the orders of Thurian. "The curse already reached my legs. I can no longer run," she said as looked at them, black veins creeping to her thighs already. With the guards encircling them, Kasandra took out something from her pocket before putting on the child. The moment it touched the young prince's skin, green light danced around their group, whimpers could then be heard from within the woods. "You will live, child. Hemfried, take him to the nearest pack.” With her last words, her body began levitating off the ground. Hjaalmar watched as he clutched the child. Kasidy’s body began to emit a white, yellow toned glow, her eyes moved back into her head, her eyes closed before they opened, her eyes had blood poured as if tears. Her head turned towards Hjalmar’s running figure. The more she levitated, the air around her felt heaving, gales started to form around her, mouth moving while the wind started dancing erratically around her. The gales grew harsher, her chanting faster and it all seemed to stop and all of a sudden, she turned into a holy streak, eyes having blood flowing from them, her body levitating from the ground. This is what she was chanting while Hjalmar was focused on getting them as close to the border as possible. “Tiem, kas ir iesprostoti manās nelokāmajās ķēdēs, viņi ar visu savu spēku var tiekties pēc brīvības, bet tikai caur debesu dievišķo žēlastību viņi atradīs atbrīvošanu likteņa un ēnas saistīti, viņu kliedzieni atbalsosies tukšumā, nedzirdēti un neatbildēti, līdz pašas zvaigznes izbalēs tumsā.” The land shook, the skies roared, harsh gales covered the entire place, screams of agony rang out like haunting songs, bodies mangled and severed by the gales. And just like that, with the sacrifice of one, millions were spared. With the sacrifice of one, the enemies' fangs and intentions were laid bare. The world shuddered at the immense cost, yet found a cold solace in the salvation wrought by a single soul's grim resolve. The echoes of this dark sacrifice will haunt the ages, a chilling testament to the power of selfless valor.