Nulifer along with all the members of her squad came in search of Altan. Altan who shined so bright that it guided them to reach him. As they kept getting closer the light started to get dimmer and dimmer.

  It felt like Altan’s strength was wearing away. His magical aura was getting weaker. Nulifer and her squad rushed down the slopes of rocky and snowy mountains.

  “Lord Altan! Is that you? Finally we found you.” - Nulifer screamed with joy.

  All of the squad members released a sigh of relief. But, now the light which was burning to its brightest is now completely gone.

  Altan was sitting with his back resting on a rock with Elio sleeping peacefully on his lap, his light was gone. His allies were not able to feel his energy anymore. Altan was not moving and had no expressions, one of his hands completely gone while the other covered Elio’s eyes in order to protect them from his glare.

  Nulifer came closer to Altan and had a dreadful look in her eyes. Altan, once beautiful and elegant, had one side of his face burned off with half of his body missing.

  “Take the boy and tend his wounds.”- Nulifer ordered her men to take care of Elio.

  “Lord!...Lord Altan!...wake up, we are here. Sire, wake up”- Nulifer started calling out for Altan. She started shaking him in order to wake him up. But, Altan was still and showed no signs of waking up.

  “Men come help me, look Lord Altan is not waking up.”- Nulifer called out for her men with tears starting to drip from her eyes. Her face and nose flushed with redness, and an expression of desperation filled her eyes.

  The soldiers stood there with their helmets in their hands with watery eyes. All of them sobbing and crying out as they understood. They were not able to look directly in Nulifer’s eyes as everyone was devastated by the fact that Altan was dead.

  “What are you waiting for, fools? Wake him up..”- With this Nulifer started crying out loud, tears dripping on cold snow as she screamed, and groaned with pain.

  “Don’t go…Lord Altan! Come back, no one will give you any more documents to study.” - Nulifer kept on repeating and crying for her general. Her squad members came to console her as she was losing control.

  The soldiers devastated fell down on their knees, the unexpected happened. Nulifer kept on weeping. The man who saved Nulifer from the monster, back at the mountains, came to pick her up and console her.

  “Joshua help me, I can’t lose him”- Nulifer with vulnerability in her eyes pleaded the man.

  “Get up on your feet captain, you have a squad to manage. What do you think Lord Altan would have done at this moment? Get up Nulifer your squad awaits your command.” - Joshua with resolve in his heart and water in his eyes picked Nulifer up.

  Something struck Nulifer’s mind and she remembered some words from Altan. “Duty first child, come on we have big dreams, they require big sacrifices.”

  Nulifer wiped away her tears which kept on dripping. “Come on boys, don’t you want to give our general a proper see off?” - Nulifer ordered her men with a shaking voice to arrange wood and fire.

  A bed of wood was arranged and Altan was carefully placed on it, soldiers started covering his face with wood. Nulifer took a last look at Altan's face.

  He was smiling.

  The arrangement was done, Joshua held the fire in his hands and went up to Nulifer to give her the honour.

  “You do it Joshua.” Nulifer refused the offer, her resolve showing in her eyes. Joshua understood and went close to the bed of wood where Altan lay smiling.

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  “Woosh” flame raised as Joshua lit up the wood. Soldiers tried a lot to portray their manliness by not crying, but tears kept on falling from their eyes.

  “May you find peace, and lots and lots of food in your afterlife, especially chicken noodles. Have fun out there, we will miss you. Don’t forget about me, about us. We all love you.”- Nulifer said with teary eyes.

  “We love you Lord Altan. Our general.” All of the soldiers shouted in sync as the flames kept on getting stronger and stronger.

  Elio woke up, still very weak, tired and sleepy. He was unable to recognize the place around him. All he could hear was everyone shouting how much they love Altan. Elio saw a flame burning and released a sigh of relief as it ensured that Altan won the fierce battle.

  Oblivious of the situation, the boy snuggled, smiled and went for another nap. The fire continued to burn with taking Altan’s soul

  “They say that when a true Ravi dies, his or her soul dissolves into energy that flows within us.” Nulifer said to Joshua who was sitting beside her with his chin down.

  “I am not able to understand this, if his energy was depleting why did Lord Altan start shining that bright. He should have conserved his energy, this makes no sense.” - Nulifer kept on saying with a confused look.

  “Because a star shines brightest before it dies.”- Joshua replied.

  Joshua got up and began helping his squad mates, they made arrangements. They had a very long journey back home. They prepared to set up camp for tonight and start advancing towards the east as the new moon strikes the sky.

  White Town vanished from existence, nothing remains. All the vegetation, people, buildings, everything vanished. Only rubles and memories remained. This town experienced the greatest beatles between two of the strongest living creatures ever walked on this planet.

  Night passed away, the next night they started advancing towards the east. The path to home was not easy, it was very tough, filled with all kinds of danger and struggles. They put Elio on a horse who was still sleeping due to fatigue.

  They moved towards the Grande mountains and crossed it. White Town was now out of sight. Squad members with strong will and heavy hearts marched forward leaving the White Town behind for good. Their general everywhere in the air give energy to the world.

  Elio finally woke up, the sudden change in the environment around him scared the shit out of him. He noticed that he was on a horse and all the soldiers were marching beside him. “Is this a dream? Am I dreaming again that I am an army general?” Elio thought as a soldier saw him and said “So, you are finally awake. Well good for you, we will reach the great seas in a couple of hours.”

  All of sudden Elio grabbed everyone’s attention as he was the last person who saw Altan alive. There were questions from everywhere, all of them wanted to know about what happened to their general.

  “Did you watch the fight? Where were you? Did you see the orb of night?”

  “Enough! Save the questions for the long journey on the seas.” Nulifer ordered her men, as all of them went quiet.

  Joshua was staring at Elio, his stare was so cold and fierce that Elio quickly took his eyes away from him.

  After a couple of hours they reached one of the great seas of the world, where a huge ship was waiting for them, guarded by many of the men of their squad.

  “Captain is back! Everyone on their feet.” The men at the ship greeted the squad as all of them stood in front of them. Everyone got into the ship to go back from where they came from.

  “Raise the anchor, set the sail, we are moving. We should reach Sol City before the full moon is here.” Nulifer ordered her men to start sailing.

  “But ma’am what about the general?” - a soldier enquired. This made the whole crew go silent. “Yes, ma'am, where is the general?” Considering the situation Elio also got curious and he noticed that Altan was not present there? Is he getting kidnapped? No, the soldiers were asking questions about Altan. They may be Altan’s crew mates.

  Nulifer looked down in silence, her eyes started to get watery again.

  “Our general, he is no more. He fought with a night of orb and won. But, his injury was so vital that he passed away.”- Joshua said with a cold look on his face.

  Elio, shocked, fell on his butt and exclaimed with great despair- “What? This can’t be happening, but he was so strong how could he just die. No way Lord Altan is dead.” Elio held his head as he was not able to believe his ears. He kept on thinking why all the bad stuff in the world is happening to him.

  “Yes, he is dead, and he died protecting you. He died saving your ugly ass. So, you better be something special, and with the amount of magic potential in your body I don’t think you are; I don’t think you will be able to learn a simple spell.” Joshua shouted with rage looking towards Elio.

  “What our general died to save him, but why? Damn you boy I already hate you.”- A soldier shouted.

  “Throw him out of the boat, throw him out of the boat.”- people started shouting. Joshua’s scowling at Elio got even more fearsome. Elio got scared and didn’t know what his fault was. He did nothing wrong but still his parents and siblings are dead, the person who saved him is gone and now people hated him and wanted him dead. “What on earth is happening to me?”

  Joshua unsheathed his sword in order to cut Elio’s head. “Die you brat, you don’t deserve to live.” - Joshua said while he advanced towards Elio. Elio was scared and got cornered, his back was against the ship’s wooden wall with death standing in front of him.

  “Joshua stop!” - Nulfier shouted, but Joshua already made his decision and he kept on moving forward. “Joshua stop!...Joshua halt I say!”- Nulfier kept on screaming.

  Nulifer’s voice was not reaching Joshua’s ears, as his heart kept on pumping blood. He could hear his heart beating loud in his ears. Joshua kept on advancing, gripping his sword tighter and with blood in his eyes.

  “Thwack!”