Page 71 of Celestia, Year Four

"Thanks for being our light. "

I never imagined we'd reach this moment in our lives. Starting out as strangers to reuniting with loved ones and bonding to the point we could trust each other with our lives.

I could feel this final fight would be a hard one, but I knew in my heart that Mother Nature had bigger plans and wouldn't let us down.

It was time to face the final mountain blocking us from peace: The High Council.

LEAVE IT TO ME

~CELESTIA~

"CELESTIA!!!"

It's funny how I never understood the phrase"It happened so fast."

I'd read it in stories or watched it in movies and TV shows, but it never dawned to me how 'fast' things could change.

And fail.

Our goal to have one final week to plan and prepare for the big battle to reclaim the peace that was lost long ago, turned into one day of preparation thanks to a leak. One we had stopped before it screwed everything up.

Who could have possibly snuck out before their spell of secrecy was placed on them, you may ask?

A familiar bully who must not have learned his lesson at Aslan.

Oh right, he didn't remember.

Vincent had almost fucked up our plans, trying to take the glory of being the biggest snitch in the history of Aslan by attempting to speak to the High Council by himself.

You think he'd let anyone else join him in taking full credit when he could claim all the glory?

Faelia had received a last-minute vision, seeing everything occur and the ultimate damage it would cause if we delayed even a day longer. Everything went right into gear, with Faelia and her men ambushing the Fae with the regenerating potions.

That was now a crucial part because the three lines of defense we’d expected was down to one because many of the shifters who'd offered to help didn’t have time to arrive. A good chunk of them lived far away and would take a full day to reach the planned battle site.

It would be too late by then.

Thankfully, our armor was all set and, before we knew it, the battle had begun.

The High Council was nothing like I'd imagined. I assumed they were kind looking individuals like Othello or Esme, both of them who gave off the impression that they wanted to spread positive change across our lands and bring peace.

The men who had arrived to claim the rainbow crown held a dark aura, one so full of personal greed and power hunger that even I couldn't purify.

They were as tainted as a group of Forsaken, and as we began to fight them, I realized an army of Forsaken would have been the better choice.

The person that was showing the most resistance and was currently the one being held back by our combined attacks and barrier techniques was Martz himself.

Even when Faelia's potion was beginning to have an effect, he fought the hardest.

We'd gotten Martz to his knees, the only task now was to wait for my mom and dads to do the final combined spell to render Martz completely useless, but that was when everything went horribly wrong, starting with the sudden wave of darkness that was intended to swallow all of us.

But I wouldn't dare allow my men to be taken captiveby darkness as fearsome as his.

Before the blast hit me, I had enough time to create a barrier around the two of us, leaving all seven of my men out of it.

I knew that I could summon Odion if I really needed him, but I was scared that even he wouldn't be able to handle this.

It’s a decision made somewhere deep within my mind, and I'd take the scolding from my men after. Well… if I survive.

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