Victory at any cost is a dangerous creed. For we often underestimate quite how severely winning can affect us.

  -Excerpt from ‘Power and Influence: How to Run a Nation’ by Sea-Emperor Vadaris Neptuna

  Rose began walking back across the ocean towards what remained of Fairwater Bay. As she did, she felt the vibrations of the colossal whale as it began its journey back to the depths from whence it came.

  At that moment she felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled to face Prince Everyn. “Yes?” she asked curtly, not in the mood for distractions.

  “That… beast. Do you perhaps have any control over it?” he asked, tapping a finger against his thigh.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, it may or may not have swallowed quite a few of my soldiers and their war-doori…” he said, trailing off towards the end.

  Rose wasn’t sure why the crown prince of a nation was so meek but she had to hide her embarrassment behind a cough. I totally forgot those soldiers were fighting on the ships, she admonished herself.

  “I see,” she replied. “Give me a moment.”

  Rose crouched down low until her hand was placed against the waves and closed her eyes. Communicating with marine life was quite interesting.

  Something she’d never even considered until receiving the blessing from Sylack and yet now that she had it, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. All it took was a thought and her intent was passed on.

  An annoyed rumble shook the water and she found herself doing something she couldn’t have imagined herself doing in a million years: convincing a hungry whale to give up its snacks.

  Eventually it relented after much persuasion and a promise of offering it ‘an even tastier and tinglier snack’ in the future. What it meant by its food being tingly? She had no clue, but hopefully she would figure it out when the time came.

  What happened next made her giggle, though she was sure the men and women involved found it far less hilarious. She did hear an audible sigh of relief from the prince as a cascade of slimy soldiers and terrified bovines was spat out of the sea by a geyser dozens of metres high.

  Said Prince then rushed off to gather his subordinates and ensure they were okay as Rose continued making her way back to the beach. It didn’t take her long.

  As she stepped onto the sand, she felt a tangible loss of confidence; a lack of security that came from deep inside. Mostly from no longer being at sea, but partly due to not knowing the fate of anyone from her home.

  Walking into the village proper, she saw the charred ruins of houses and burnt corpses littering the streets. In some places the destruction was so severe that only ash remained.

  She preferred those areas. She didn’t have to confront the reality of what had happened to her village when she was passing them by.

  Eventually she arrived at the one place she didn’t want to be. Her house. Or at least, the pile of burning rubble that was once her house.

  Rose stood still for a moment before clenching her fist and walking forwards. Stepping over still burning debris she began to search.

  It took her a few minutes to make it through everything, having to coat her hands in arcane energy to resist the immense heat of the wreckage as she combed through it all. However, she was immensely glad she’d found the courage to do so.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  There were no bodies inside.

  Now it was possible that her parents had been struck with a blast so severe they were reduced to ash instantly, but she would have no way of finding that out until she encountered any survivors. For now Rose had a spark of hope that they were alive, as she had not seen their dead bodies.

  Skill up!

  Arcane Attunement 17 > 18

  She dismissed the whorl as soon as it appeared. Gaining skill levels by searching for her parents’ corpses left a sour taste in her mouth, even if it had been a novel application of her arcane energy.

  In fact, there were quite a few whorls which had appeared in the final moments of the battle between her and Commodore Foulter but she’d chosen to ignore them for now. When her mind was in a calmer place she would go through them.

  Now that she’d searched through her old home and confirmed that her parents might be alive, Rose was stumped. There were too many places that survivors could have fled to and she had no solid leads.

  This led to her wandering through the village until she found herself somewhere familiar—the pier. Somehow, the ramshackle wooden construction had survived the blitz, along with most of the little fishing boats tied to it.

  As she looked at the small vessels, gently bobbing up and down in the waves, Rose smiled. Her journey had begun here, a few months back.

  Compared with the entirety of her life it was only a short period of time, but so much had happened since that fateful night she stole a boat and set sail. So, so much.

  For a moment she wanted to scream and cry, letting out all her rage and sorrow, but she suppressed her emotions. In the end she simply muttered a single word to the wind. “Why?”

  The only response was the sound of a wave splashing against the rickety pier and the squawk of a seagull returning to the village now the chaos was gone.

  She sat on the end of the pier, her legs dangling over the edge with her toes just dipping into the water. The sense of serenity and belonging returned and she simply gazed out towards the horizon.

  Rose remained that way for almost thirty minutes until she heard the creaking of planks, indicating that someone was walking down the pier behind her. She turned her head and saw the prince approaching, his massive doori waiting on the beach.

  She didn’t say anything, instead waiting for him to speak. Clearly he had something to say to her, while she had little she wanted to talk with him about.

  Not that she didn’t like the man, he’d fought valiantly alongside her to defend the Emerlan Isle and avenge her village. They just had little in common beyond that shared battle.

  “I thought you might wish to know that we might have discovered the trail of the survivors,” he said, making her perk up. “One of the war-doori scented a trail and I’m fairly confident it’s them. Would you like to join us to bring them back?”

  Rose nodded and stood up, wincing a little as she lifted her toes out of the water. “Thank you for telling me,” she replied. “Lead the way.”

  Prince Everyn led her back through the village and this time she didn’t find it as difficult to pass by the destruction. He observed her as they walked, a strange expression on his face.

  He seemed as though he wanted to say something, opening and closing his mouth a few times, but held back. Eventually they reached the edge of the village, passing by her house and walking towards the base of the hills where the rest of the soldiers were gathered along with their massive mounts—none of which were as big as the prince’s.

  However, before they joined the group he grabbed her arm and she glared at him. “What are you doing?” she hissed, pulling away from his grasp.

  He flinched, slowly closing his fist. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he apologised. “I just have to ask how you can possibly be so… put together. I mean you fought admirably, but you’re just a child. It’s… not normal,” he said, immediately wincing as he spoke the final words.

  But it was too late to take them back. Luckily for him Rose wasn’t insulted. In fact she could understand the sentiment behind his confusion. Most fifteen year olds would be a quivering wreck after seeing their home ravaged and burned, with the majority of the people they grew up with dead or missing.

  Admittedly, she was feeling something close to that inside and it took almost all her willpower to stay focused on the task at hand. She was just better at hiding it than most people.

  “I’ve experienced a lot these past few months. I suppose it gives me a somewhat unique perspective. I am devastated, furious, and broken. I just can’t let that break me until I at least discover the fate of my parents,” she answered truthfully.

  Turning away, a tear rolled down her cheek but she wiped it away before anyone noticed. Everyn didn’t say anything else as they joined his soldiers.

  One of the group updated him and they began following one of the doori as it led them into the hills. Rose could only cling to that faint spark of hope as the dreaded moment approached.