Balder

The Lumen Sages were an ancient order, and it was said that they’d first been established when the Lightweaver had lain claim to the Sunbeam Ruins. They had traditionally been led by Light-wrought dragons, Pearlcatchers and Imperials. But now their Elder was dying, and his successor would be a different race of dragon. A Gaoler, one of that ancient breed created by the Icewarden.

His name was Balder. He had been trained for this position early on, and he was also very much aware of the unease surrounding his ascension. He could relate. He was uneasy too. But whatever his and others’ feelings on the matter, the Lightweaver’s mark was upon him. He had been blessed by her, more so than even the Elder had been.

Although the Elder was steadily fading, he still had much wisdom to impart. Lesser priests bustled around him, whispering prayers to the Lightweaver and anointing his fur with aromatic oils. When the priests had finished, they moved to the sides of the room; one by one their voices fell silent and only the Elder’s words remained—

“Come forth, Balder, and hear my final command.”

The Gaoler stepped forward, and the other priests had to glance away—for Balder’s eyes were literally radiant, shooting out beams of clear golden light. This brilliance was regarded as a sign of the Lightweaver’s favor, bestowed only upon her most beloved children.

Balder bent low to hear the Elder better. The old Imperial chuckled, “Still there, my boy?”

“Yes, Father.” The title was honorary—many Sages called the Elder “Father”—but Balder felt it more deeply than most. The Imperial had been beside him for most of his life, for his eyes had marked him, from birth, for greatness in service to the Lightweaver. The Elder had guided his first steps, taught him nearly everything he knew....

“I am pleased with you, my son. Despite others’ misgivings, I am sure you will lead our order to greater glories.” The old Imperial smiled warmly. His eyes, however, were dark with worry—he still had to deliver his final command.

“Such illustrious leadership is not merely given, however. It must be earned.” The Elder sighed. “I will confer the authority and the title upon you, but to receive the blessing of all the Lumen Sages, you must surmount the challenges that arise before you.”

Balder nodded somberly. In the past, Elders had cleared many challenges: They had constructed glorious edifices, created artifacts of great power, or wrought equally stupendous spells and enchantments. The Sages’ history had not always been peaceful, however, and there had been Elders who had earned their comrades’ respect by defeating terrible foes instead.

This was the path Balder had to choose later on. Some time after he had become the new leader of the Sages, after the previous Elder had passed on, a monster arose to terrorize the Sunbeam Ruins. A colossal dragon, mightier than even the strongest Imperial, seemingly impervious to magic...and with many flailing wings and heads set with mad, staring eyes. Eleven Imperials, fused together into a grotesque, undead abomination. An Emperor.

~ ~ ~
Two days after the Emperor arose, the Lightweaver commanded Balder to ready the Sages for battle. She had also decreed that they would not fight the beast alone. Balder had initially been relieved—until he’d heard who their allies would be.

The Umbra Witches. They were as to Shadow as the Lumen Sages were to Light, holy warriors and sorcerers chosen by the Shadowbinder herself. The two orders did not really get along, but perhaps that was to be expected, given the perpetual conflict between Light and Shadow.

“Think they’ll show?” The question came from Alraune, a high-ranking Sage. She was a gentle, bright-winged Imperial whose sweetness belied some truly terrifying fighting skills—known as “the Golden Wonder”, she was perhaps the Sages’ greatest fighter, surpassed only by Balder himself.

She was also one of Balder’s closest friends. The Gaoler couldn’t help grimacing. “They surely will, if only to prove they can match our might. I’m not looking forward to meeting Bellatrix again. She can be quite waspish sometimes.”

Bellatrix was the leader of the Umbra Witches. She was a Gaoler like Balder, but as fiery as he was tranquil. Balder didn’t doubt that she and her cohorts were similarly apprehensive about the upcoming battle, however: “We have that in common, at least.”

“This was a pity,” Alraune sighed as she picked up the account detailing how the Emperor had arisen. Her eyes darkened with sorrow as she read it again.

They had been mages, all eleven of them. They’d been eagerly anticipating Brightshine Jubilee and experimenting with magic, new spells and artifacts they could show off during the festival. Something had gone wrong....There had been a tremendous explosion; all of them had been instantly killed. The spell had contaminated the area so that it’d been unsafe to approach, and for days the Imperials’ bodies had lain in the burned-out ruins of their scriptorium.

There’d been signs that something was wrong. Response teams, peering through the magical haze, heard whispers and groans from the bodies, even saw them twitching. Claws raked spasmodically at the ground. Eyes opened and shut.

“They’re still alive....We have to get through to them! They need immediate attention—”

But three days later, the Imperials arose on their own, twisting grotesquely around each other like tremendous, engorged vines. As the other dragons fled, the monster shouldered the wreckage aside, trampling anything unlucky enough to get caught in its path. It gorged itself on creatures that were too slow to flee, including its own kind. And it grew enormous, threatening to blot out the sun with its many wings.

The dragons named it Jubileus, and in that cycle, Brightshine Jubilee was forgotten. There was only the Emperor ravaging the land and destroying everything within its reach. The Sages were now preparing to fight, and the Witches were as well, or so Balder hoped. This would be the challenge that would define him as an Elder: the battle against the Emperor, and whether they vanquished it or not.

~ ~ ~
It wasn’t just the Emperor that struck fear into both the Sages and the Witches. There was also the prophecy—

“The intersection of Light and Shadow shall bring calamity to Sornieth.”

At the border of Light and Shadow, the Lumen Sages and Umbra Witches had amassed as agreed, forming into ranks to face Jubileus. They all knew the prophecy well. It was an old one, said to have been passed down from the gods themselves. Balder looked at Bellatrix, but despite her bleak expression, he knew she and her Witches would not turn away. After all, wasn’t their being here due to the words of the gods themselves? Prophecy or none, they had a duty to their deities...and to their people.

The Emperor bore down on them with terrible inevitability. It rose against the sky, as vast as a mountain range, and with its score of wings it drowned the warriors in darkness. They were unafraid, though. They bared their teeth and claws, and they roared back their own challenge.

In the years to come, Balder would remember the battle largely as a blur, with occasional moments of terrifying clarity. He saw comrades snatched up by the Emperor, their bodies broken in its jaws. Worse still were those who survived a little longer, struggling and screaming....

He saw weapons shatter against the Emperor’s hide, saw spells wash over it; yet still it kept coming. Was it impervious? Could nothing defeat it?

He did remember the triumphant shout, however—the one that heralded the end. From the other side of the Emperor: “We’ve wounded it! We’ve drawn blood!” Balder didn’t know if they were a Sage or a Witch, because the next instant, the Emperor bludgeoned them to death with its many tails. But the shout had been taken up by others, and it spread through the Witches’ and Sages’ ranks like a wildfire.

By then, they had been battling for days, and Jubileus was now frighteningly close to the border—and all the lands that lay beyond. The news that it could be wounded—and therefore defeated—gave the divine warriors the strength they needed to redouble their attacks.

But as Jubileus felt the first stirrings of pain, its ire was sparked. Its eyes had previously been dead and clouded; now they came alight with dreadful rage. And it struck back at the warriors with more fervor, felling them in scores.

“It’s decimating us! We have to do something!” Bellatrix’s fear hit Balder like a hammer. The Shadow Gaoler’s mane was wild, her fur thickly matted with blood. Balder was in much the same state, and unable to answer. What else could they do but fight?

“JUBILEUS!”

A cry from the sky—and Alraune darted down, jetting straight for Jubileus’ heads. The Emperor turned to follow her, its jaws snapping—and as it did, light bloomed in its chest, multicolored magic traveling up its main neck....

“Alraune! NO!” Even as Balder screamed that, he knew she was doomed.

Magic erupted from Jubileus’ maws, scorching the very air. And Alraune—

The Golden Wonder was completely destroyed. One instant she was swooping down, attempting to draw Jubileus’ attention away from her comrades; the next she was gone. The Lumen Sages screamed as they beheld the loss of their second-greatest warrior. None screamed louder than Balder, who had lost his greatest friend.

Tired...He was so tired; they’d lost so much already. He sank down in grief. Far better to lie down, let the Emperor have its reign. Drown the world in darkness beneath its many wings. Drown the world...in darkness...

“Get up, Balder.”

Balder blinked wearily. A great shadow was standing over him...and then he realized it was Bellatrix. Not stooped over in pain as she had been earlier, but reinvigorated. Renewed. Healed.

As was he.

“Get up, Balder!” she roared again, as around them Sages and Witches erupted into bittersweet cheering. “She was casting a healing spell....The magic blasted it over every one of us. Your Golden Wonder has bought us more time.” Her violet eyes sparked with determination. “Let us honor her sacrifice. Let us end this battle now.”

Balder couldn’t have agreed more. He stood, and again he roared—a rallying cry this time, echoed by Bellatrix and answered by Sage and Witch alike.

They defeated Jubileus that day, stopping the Emperor just shy of the border. It was torn apart where it fell, the individual pieces taken away and destroyed, that it would not rise again.

As news of Jubileus’ death spread throughout Sornieth, dragons rejoiced, singing praises to the warriors. The Sages and Witches, however, were grim and weary. A great victory had indeed been won that day—but soon enough, they would find out how much they’d lost.

~ ~ ~
The Sages’ enclave was so much quieter than it’d been before. So many dragons had perished....High in the Solarium, Balder bowed in grief before his deity. The goddess had thanked him for his service, yet the words felt hollow. Nothing, it seemed, could feel the void left by his dead comrades. He closed his eyes, and again he saw them: dragons flailing in the Emperor’s jaws or trampled beneath its feet; and Alraune vanishing in that fatal blast of light, her golden radiance torn away by the breeze.

“A new beginning, Balder. A new beginning.”

That was the Lightweaver’s promise to him. Balder raised his head, and right before his eyes, the goddess plucked raw light from the air and forged it into a divine relic. A shining orb, which she named the Right Eye of the World. And to wield it...

A Pearlcatcher hatchling. Her scales were dusky gray, her wings shining gold. The Lightweaver embedded the Right Eye within her, that it might answer to her alone. She held out the child, and Balder reached out, cradling the hatchling in his great paws.

“Her name is Himiko, and she will be the Lumen Sages’ greatest warrior.” There was pride in the deity’s words, but also a trace of sadness. As she looked down at her daughter, she added quietly, “No one will ever replace the family you’ve lost, Balder. They are to never be forgotten. It is my hope that you will take all you have learned from your time with them and use it to raise this child—that she, too, will become a great protector of the Light Flight.”

Balder’s heart was full. It wasn’t the same kind of affection he’d held for Alraune and all his other slain friends, but it was just as noble and pure. He was wise enough to know that it’d be impossible to shield this child from all the dangers of the world—but he could at least guide her so that she would be able to better defend herself....

“I will do as you ask, goddess. I will make you proud.”

“You always do, my son,” she declared. And she vanished, leaving Balder with his new charge—and the future that lay ahead.

~ ~ ~
The Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages had earned each other’s respect in the battle, and after Jubileus’ defeat, the two orders forged an alliance. Witches and Sages traveled traveled freely between the coven or the enclave, sharing the knowledge of their own order or learning from their counterparts.

Balder remained largely in the Sages’ enclave, however, where he focused on training Himiko. As the years passed, she grew into a powerful fighter, outstripping even the most brilliant dragons Balder had ever known. The bond between them also deepened over the years, till they were father and daughter in all but blood.

This was not to say their relationship was always pleasant, for Himiko could be incredibly sharp-tongued. Balder, however, always bore her words with serenity, and he soon learned to manage his fiery daughter. Shouting and threats never worked; flattery was always laughed off. Instead, he appealed to Himiko’s competitive side.

“Stefan destroyed four of those in one strike, you know,” he commented mildly one day—they were in the training room, and Himiko had just wrecked some scrapmetal trackers. It had taken her some time, though, and one of them had nearly gotten a hit in.

“Really, Father? Baiting me with my brother Sage’s progress? That’s really quite underhanded of you,” Himiko sighed theatrically. Still, she had destroyed all four of them—blindfolded, at that. Balder decided to give her a pass. As he and Himiko left the training room, he inquired, “You were distracted. Is something troubling you?”

“Distracted? No, Father, it’s just...” Himiko sighed, waved a hand at the walls, where enchanted panels showed the feats of past Sages. Balder smiled faintly at a scene showing Alraune demolishing a trio of stone borers. It would always hurt to remember the departed...but it didn’t hurt so much now.

“It’s just the same thing every day.” Himiko’s voice pulled him back to reality. “Just wrecking machines, when I already know every trick they’ve got. Why not bring in warriors from abroad? Engineers with truly ballistic gadgetry, or sorcerers so underhanded, you’ll never guess what they might do.”

“You shall have to prove you can surmount our same old challenges before you move on to other ones.” Balder’s face grew somber. “Remember that you carry the Right Eye of the World. You must be able to master it before you can go into actual battles. If I bring in trainers from outside before you have mastered the Eye, it is they, not you, who will be at risk. Don’t endanger others just because you’re eager to test yourself.”

The gravity of his words struck Himiko, and she was silent, visibly considering them. When she spoke again, her voice was sincerely contrite: “Yes, Father. I will heed your advice.”

Balder smiled again. “You have been working hard. Go take that break, daughter. You need it.”

The Pearlcatcher gently patted his cheek. She bustled towards one of the nearby gardens. Balder glimpsed two other dragons there: Stefan, a Lumen Sage, an Imperial with sun-bright scales. The Nocturne next to him was nearly invisible; Balder recognized her as Charlotte, an Umbra Witch.

Perhaps the Umbra Witches might consent to send some trainers over. He knew Charlotte and Stefan had been studying together as well; perhaps he could ask Stephen to mediate for him. “He has a good relationship with the Witches; he could be our ambassador to them,” Balder thought. And he walked away, his mind filled with dreams for the future, all of them hopeful and bright....

~ ~ ~
Over the succeeding years, Himiko continued training. Balder did bring in dragons to spar with her, and her progress increased spectacularly. She quickly earned the respect of her fellow Sages and foreign dragons—including the mysterious Umbra Witches.

“The Witches.” Balder’s expression darkened. While there was no need for a new ambassador yet, he was beginning to have his doubts about Stefan. The young Imperial had been neglecting some of his duties recently.

Balder mentioned this to Himiko, but she didn’t seem as concerned as he was. Not that he was sure she should be. “Perhaps I’m overreacting. I ought to speak with Stefan, see if there’s anything troubling him.”

But in the past, Stefan had readily approached Balder whenever he’d been troubled about something. This furtiveness was out of character for him. “There must be a reason he hasn’t come to me, and if I approach him first, I might worry him further. Perhaps I ought to ask his friends to check on him instead.”

In short order, Balder had spoken with some of Stefan’s fellows. The young sages had also noticed the Imperial’s distant behavior, and they were happy to check on their friend. Balder at last felt at ease; if Stefan was in trouble, then at least now he would be able to help.

And then, as the younger dragons walked away, their idle chatter reached him—

“We haven’t seen him much either, have we? He’s always hanging around that Charlotte...”

Just a casual observation, but it hit Balder like a thunderbolt. He stood alone in the corridor, his mind racing.

An Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage...together? But it had been explicitly forbidden by their goddesses! The alliance had been twofold, and strictly so: that the two orders would defend each other and their lands in times of crisis, and that they would share knowledge with each other. That was all—no political exchanges, no commerce, and certainly no families. The deities’ will on that had been absolute—for even though the two orders were now allies, the intersection of Light and Shadow could still not come to pass.

~ ~ ~
Balder contacted Bellatrix with his concerns. Her response was not sympathetic. She glared at him through the Solarium panels and declared that if his suspicions were true, Charlotte should immediately be handed over to her.

“But your ilk won’t be blameless either, Balder,” she snarled. “If this is true, then it happened because you lacked vigilance and the Sages’ training was flawed. You will be held accountable as well.”

He had hoped she would be more understanding. Her insinuation that such a scandal could happen because of his shortcomings angered him more than he would’ve liked to admit. And now it seemed that his worst fears would come to pass....

Some nights after that, Stefan and Charlotte were discovered together. The enclave guards, alerted by him, had been more vigilant than usual. They had caught the pair heading out for a midnight flight...and a search of Stephen’s quarters had uncovered the nest they’d shared.

That night, in the Solarium, Balder witnessed the banishment of Stefan and Charlotte. They wept when their leaders rebuked them; Bellatrix was beside herself with fury. Balder remembered the accusations she’d also hurled at him before, and looking at her now, any sympathy he might’ve felt for her burned slowly into hatred.

And worst of all, the goddesses themselves presided over the banishment. They appeared in the crystal panels, and the quiet disappointment in their words was more terrible than anything Balder and Bellatrix could have said. They spoke only once, delivering their judgment—

“The alliance shall be dissolved. Let the Lumen Sage Stefan be excommunicated, stripped of all his power and banished into the wilds. And let the Umbra Witch Charlotte be eternally imprisoned, for she has been found wanting, and our trust in her is no more.”

It was painful to see the two lovers separated, to hear them weeping for what they had lost. The Umbra Witches left the enclave soon after that. They gathered up their belongings and took wing into the darkness. None of them dared look at Balder as they passed him in the great hall, and though he managed to maintain his regal composure, his own spirit was sore. The Sages had lost a great ally that night, and this scandal would permanently stain their reputation.

Once the last Witch had vanished into the night, Balder forced himself to review the situation. The Witches had bound Charlotte in chains and carried her away. They would deal with her in their coven. The Sages had to deal with Stefan now.

Stefan had been placed in a sorcerously secured cell. It seemed unnecessary, however, for when Balder came to see him, he was listless and miserable. The judgment against himself and his lover had utterly broken him.

Balder asked quietly, “What happened?” His voice was very gentle, and his grim facade had left him. He now looked as disappointed as he felt.

Stefan took a long time replying. When he did, he whispered, “I don’t know. It was just...We were studying together...and eventually all of that stopped being important....”

“You have a duty to your order, Stefan. And so does she. We were given leave to learn from each other and defend each other, and that was all. Our goddesses have strictly forbidden such relationships; you have known that all along.”

Stefan nodded miserably. Balder pressed him, “Why didn’t you distance yourself, then?”

“It was...enough just to be with her. I wanted to be with her.” He closed his golden eyes. “When we were together, nothing else mattered.”

He spoke with the utmost sincerity, and yet...Balder couldn’t understand it. He’d known Stefan since the latter was a hatchling, and this was really unlike him....Wasn’t it?

“Has she...practiced magic on you, Stefan?”

“No, Elder! Nothing like that at all!” Suddenly the Imperial was on his feet, indignant at the implication that his beloved had poisoned his mind. Balder backed down, murmuring, “So you say.” But looking at Stefan now, he knew it was useless.

There was nothing more he could say. And so days later, Balder and other high-ranking Sages brought Stefan out into the wilderness, far from the enclave. There they banished him, stripping him of his blessed robes and leaving him unclothed and empty-handed. The mood was decidedly somber when they returned home, and Balder sighed heavily. Stefan was on his own now, and the Sages would have nothing more to do with him—nor the Witches. Their duty was to their Flight from now on.

~ ~ ~
Balder didn’t hear from the Umbra Witches again, and he couldn’t shake the suspicion that they might have plotted Stefan’s downfall, perhaps even spied on the Sages....Even if the alliance had been divinely enforced, who wasn’t to say that they’d been following orders from their goddess—who was, after all, the slyest of them all?

He kept his musings to himself, but other Sages had had the same thoughts. And that was how the rumors started.

“She was probably trying to weasel her way into some place of power. You know how the Elder was grooming Stefan to be the next ambassador to their order. She must’ve thought he was an easy mark.”

“No, Stefan would never do that! It was sorcery—she doubtless used vile spells to sway his allegiance!”

Initially, these paranoid suppositions irked Balder. He angrily berated any Sages he caught spreading these rumors, telling them, “We are the Lumen Sages, not rumormongers! We do not spread such baseless accusations—our duty is to truth and Light!”

Thus cowed, the Sages fell silent. And perhaps the matter would’ve ended there, if travelers to the enclave hadn’t brought stories from the west....

“They say it was Stefan who corrupted Charlotte.”

“What?!” Balder leaped upright, his eyes blazing. Himiko told him, “That merchant, she said she’d heard some stories.” The young Pearlcatcher only seemed baffled, not suspicious. Balder, however, was beside himself with rage.

Now that he’d been alerted, it seemed the rumors were everywhere: The Witches, equally bitter about the broken alliance, had begun spreading lies of their own. About how Stefan hadn’t been as virtuous as he’d appeared, how he’d seduced Charlotte in an attempt to learn the coven’s secrets...

This time, when the Sages retorted with their own accusations, Balder found himself staying silent. Why should he rein his Sages in? Bellatrix hadn’t done anything to curb her Witches’ words, had she?

And so the rumors grew and grew...and the fighting began. Traveling Witches and Sages, encountering each other abroad, inevitably got into quarrels. Then they began trading blows. Soon the warriors were actively seeking each other out, launching ambushes and assassinations...

Every death reported to Balder stoked his hatred for the Witches—as did every small triumph against them. When the conflict escalated into a full-blown war, he did not denounce it. Instead, he agreed that the Umbra Witches were an insidious menace meant to be wiped from the world. Gone were the memories of the days they’d battled Jubileus side by side, the goodwill and the knowledge they’d shared with one another.

The other dragons of Sornieth watched as the Witches and Sages fought each other viciously, heedless of the damage caused to those caught in the crossfire. Lairs were destroyed, bystanders slain, and families forced to flee. The intersection of Light and Shadow had indeed brought calamity to Sornieth—and Balder of the Lumen Sages, blind with hatred for his former allies, was too far gone to see that.

~ ~ ~
“Perhaps I’ve made a mistake,” Balder thought, many years later. “Perhaps I was too angry...or perhaps,” and he closed his brilliant eyes, “I never was the leader the Lumen Sages needed.”

The war had dragged on for a full century. The two orders had been evenly matched at first, but soon the Umbra Witches had gained the upper hand—and they had destroyed the Lumen enclave. The Sages had been scattered across Sornieth, and Balder had led his daughter and a ragged band into Dragonhome, where they took refuge with an allied clan.

They couldn’t stay long, however. They could never stay long. And Balder was tired, so tired....With failure upon failure pressing upon his shoulders, he focused on his one true success: his daughter. Himiko was keeping watch by the window; even in their darkest hour, she was being the protector he’d trained her to be.

Balder smiled wistfully as he remembered brighter days. Even when Himiko had been a hatchling, she had aspired to greatness. He’d seen it in the moment she’d first picked up a sword...

“No. Before that, there was...something else...” A great voice, speaking softly to him. Light shining across a golden room. The Solarium—but that was gone now, destroyed by the Umbra Witches...

Balder growled, and Himiko hurried to his side. She looked worried. Seeing her face calmed him down, and he tried tracing that thought again. ”What was I remembering? Have to recall—”

And he did: the Right Eye of the World. And the Lightweaver.

Suddenly, Balder was filled with fear. His head felt so cloudy....Was it just fatigue? He struggled to remember his goddess. She had held out Himiko, the vessel of the Right Eye, entrusting the child to him. And he had answered her, “I shall make you proud, goddess.”

The question was: Had he? Balder, looking at the pitiful remnants of his order, was suddenly filled with the chilling certainty that he had not. They had forgotten...nay, neglected their duties to the Light Flight—and for what, their own prejudices?

”So much hatred. That wasn’t reasonable of me. It wasn’t normal. Something’s wrong. This isn’t...”

“Father?” Himiko was asking him what was wrong. And again, those elusive, enlightening thoughts began to slip away....

He held onto the one that mattered to him most: “Himiko...You bear the Right Eye of the World. Don’t let them get it. Don’t forget—”

“Father, what are you talking about?” Himiko looked frightened now. And those thoughts retreated again....

“Don’t for...Don’t get...Don’t let them get you, Himiko.” Balder patted her arm with a quivering forepaw. “Don’t let...them get...”

He fell asleep, and the next day, when he woke up, he urged his Sages to remain vigilant against the vile Witches, to find another hideout. Last night’s confusion was forgotten, and his true, bright memories slipped away again.

~ ~ ~
Not long after that, Balder met his downfall. He and his Sages were headed to a new hideout when they were attacked by Umbra Witches. They were pursued for days and finally cornered, and the exhausted Sages were slaughtered one by one until only Balder and Himiko remained. Though they fought fiercely to save themselves, they knew defeat was inevitable.

Tired...He was so tired....He was bleeding from many other wounds, and as he sank down, he was dimly aware of his daughter screaming in horror. But he couldn’t see her; she was eclipsed by the great shadow standing over him....

“Bellatrix,” he whispered as he beheld his counterpart. His old ally. “My friend...”

The Shadow Gaoler’s face contorted in rage. She leaped forward, and her claws, bloody with the lives of slain Lumen Sages, were the last thing Balder saw.

He sank into darkness. After the chaos of battle, this nothingness felt deep and sweet. There was no war, no death....Yes, he would rest here—for a while.

And then the Lightweaver spoke deep inside his soul: “You have weathered many challenges, my son.”

She seemed very sad, and in despair he said, “I’ve disappointed you, haven’t I?”

“Never, Balder.” The fierceness of her conviction astounded him. “The forces arrayed against you are mightier than you could ever guess. You did what you could, but you must rest now. You will be needed again...in time...”

He felt her presence receding. Frantically he called out, “You could have helped us....Why didn’t you help us?!”

But there was no more response from the goddess. And so Balder sank deeper into sleep. His wounds healed, his weariness drained away....

And when the Lightweaver spoke again, it was a command he couldn’t ignore: “Awaken.”

~ ~ ~
In the Sectonian Empire, the ground split, destroying several buildings. Dragons, forewarned of this, watched from a safe distance, for this was no calamity or harbinger of death. It was, as the Lightweaver had promised long ago—

”A new beginning, Balder. A new beginning.”

Two enormous shapes burst from the ground. Gaolers, both of them, old wounds still visible under their dirt-streaked fur. They lay in the sunlight, disoriented and weak.

And when their eyes focused on each other, they attacked.

Balder and Bellatrix leaped for each other’s throats. Each was fully intent on tearing the other apart, and the dragons watched in terror, thinking that this would be so. But then blinding golden light fell over them. A voice rang out of the heavens—

“ENOUGH!”

It was powerful enough to cow the Gaolers, and they retreated, blinking in stupefaction. The golden warrior descended, gliding towards Balder.

He stared, trying to recognize whom he was seeing: ”Lightweaver? Alraune?”

And then the light faded, revealing a dusty-gray Pearlcatcher in flowing golden robes. She stared up at him with brilliant eyes and stroked his face with a gentle paw. “Father,” she whispered, her voice overflowing with love—and Balder’s rage left him as he recognized his daughter.

“Himiko...You live! What...What’s happened to us?” Balder was only now just noticing the buildings towering around them, the dragons watching from beyond. “Where are we?! And why...” He growled, deep in his throat, when he noticed Bellatrix again. The Shadow Gaoler returned his glare with disdain, but didn’t move.

“We have been called upon by our goddess.”

“To finish our war?” Despite his anger, Balder wasn’t happy with that idea. So much fighting, so much anger and pain...It was exhausting, almost fatally so. He couldn’t go back to that, even with his daughter at his side....He wouldn’t.

“Not against Bellatrix, Father. The Umbra Witches are no longer our enemies. There is so much we have to explain....”

“It would appear so,” Balder murmured. It was all coming back to him: the war, the confusion, the Lightweaver’s words... “Go on, my child. I am listening.”

~ ~ ~
Much had happened since the Lightweaver had laid Balder to rest. The Lumen Sages had been exterminated, save for Himiko, who had been imprisoned in the Witches’ coven. The Witches’ victory had been hollow, for shortly after, the rest of dragonkind had launched an assault against them. The Lumen-Umbra War, which had claimed the lives of dragons from other Flights, had deeply angered the other gods. The Witches had evidently grown too powerful and dangerous to trust, and so the other gods had decided to exterminate them as well.

“All the Witches...They’re gone, then?”

Bellatrix took some time to answer. It was some weeks after she and Balder had reawakened, and while they weren’t friends again, they seemed to be getting there. The Empire’s Council of Crowns had been reluctant to let them stay, given the bitter history between them, but they had eventually been granted asylum, on the condition that they work out their differences and refrain from bringing up old conflicts. Empress Mirage had been very firm on that score: if they couldn’t get along, then they could get out.

“I would like to hope not. After all, your daughter...Perhaps my goddess interceded for one of my other children, as the Lightweaver did for yours.”

Balder nodded respectfully. He and Bellatrix looked down from the high balcony, marveling at the Sectonian Empire: the spires rising to the heavens, the shields shimmering on the horizon...The Gaolers had been given a chance to rise anew, but Balder was still uneasy.

“What happened to us?” he growled. “We have not always gotten along, but I never thought we would be so quick to condemn each other. Were we perhaps...?”

Bellatrix shook her head roughly. “It is not important. Perhaps we’ll never truly know. We have made mistakes; it is best we do not forget them, lest we commit them again. But we should not dwell on them either—our duty is to the future now.”

It would hurt to remember those mistakes. All the shame, all the deaths...But this time, they would remember for all the right reasons. Not to use those errors as ammunition, as justification to destroy—but as something to rise from so they could build a better tomorrow. A gentler one, a peaceful one.

“Yes,” Balder agreed. And he echoed the Lightweaver’s words: ”A new beginning.”

~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
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