Away from the battlefield, the human Commander and his men arrived at King Charles Kingdom [SilverCrest] around midnight.
The Commander sent his men to the medical bay, dismounted his horse, tied the horse outside the castle and approached the castle's doors.
"Command Igor, what brings you here at this time of night?"
"Wake the King. The elves attacked our Kingdom and will likely take it over."
"You're kidding?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?! Let me meet the King, now!" Igor shouted.
The guards opened the castle door and one of the guards rushed to the King's quarters.
The two guards standing outside received the message and woke King Charles.
"So they've finally made a move. Interesting. Why now, of all times?" the King thought.
The King calmly made his way to a small meeting room, where the other guard directed Igor.
"Apologies, your Majesty. Our Kingdom will fall by morning. The elves launched an unexpected strike from underground, around 4 am yesterday. Fortunately, we minimized the initial damage and the hollow wall on the west side worked wonders. We slayed over 1,000 elves with ease. We also managed to take out over half their forces. I'd say around 8000 elves died in battle."
"What brings you here, rather than accompanying your men on the battlefield?"
"A war is not lost in one battle. Even if the battle is lost, information must be shared and if no one got out alive, we couldn't make plans for a quick counterattack," Igor stated.
"My guards tell me 500 men marched with you. Do you see them as capable in a battle for a Kingdom?"
"These are my best men. I see no reason to lose them in a losing battle. Instead, we regroup, send notice to the Emperor and squash them."
"You've much to learn, Igor. Perhaps if you and the 500 men stayed, and you gave a scout your horse to send the message here, the battle may have ended in our favor."
"Apologies, your majesty. I put the Empire before my individual Kingdom."
"Which is exactly why you will be leading an army of 20,000 back in two days time."
"As you wish, your majesty."
The King walked back to his chamber, wrote a letter and handed it to a raven.
"Take this to the empire, my friend," the King stated.
"Everything ok, what has my husband awake at this hour?" the Queen asked.
"Commander Igor's Kingdom will fall by morning. It's no worry, he will lead an army double the size back in two days time."
Giving a kiss on the Queen's forehead, the King said, "I love you, rest up."
<><><><>
With the elves' keen eyesight, they made quick work of the remaining humans, using the dark and fog to their advantage.
Sora found Blaze, closed his eyes, and kneeled, next to his fallen comrade, crying again.
"Thank you my friend. For protecting me and being such a good horse. Rest in peace with the god of Nature. I'm sure Eden will look after your kind soul." Sora said as he closed the horse's eyes.
Stefania teared up, Mina gave her brother a hug and offered to help carry him to bury him.
The two of them carried the horse outside of the castle, Stefania used her magic to create a grave and tombstone.
Sora stood up, and Stefania hugged him, looking him deep in the eyes.
"Without you and your sister and your noble horses, we may not have won this battle."
"We couldn't have done it without all the elven contributions, including the thousands of elven lives lost."
"Don't beat yourself up brother, we did everything we could. We planned, prepared and improvised. We are going to have to use the barrier of Justice Themis gave us because the humans escaped."
"Let's escort all the remaining elves to the underground network. We should also close up the underground area to the North, around five miles North. They certainly reported we attacked from underground," Stefania said.
The three of them walked, cloaks full of crimson stains, yet not a single blood mark or stain blemished their pristine, gifted armor.
They gathered the remaining elves, beaten and bruised. They asked if any of them wanted to say anything to the fallen elves, and a younger elf stepped forward, with a somber face.
"Thank you to all of the fallen warriors who allowed us to reclaim the land and Kingdom I once called home. May your souls rest with Eden," the young elf spoke.
"HOO-RAH, HOO-RAH, HOO-HOO!"
Everyone chanted the elven battle cry, including Mina and Sora.
Sora then spoke.
"I apologize for the number of elves we lost today, but I bring great news. When my sister and I met Themis, she left us with gifts to balance the war. One gift, known as the barrier of justice, will protect MeadowSong for three months when placed. An invisible barrier will surround the Kingdom, including underground, and any enemy who steps through it will disintegrate to ash!"
"HOO-RAH, HOO-RAH, HOO-HOO. FOR THE FANG FAMILY!"
<><><><>
After finally getting the rest of the elves underground, and after doing a headcount, they had lost just under half of their 15,000 forces, with approximately 6,500 elves perished.
Jax recovered in the medical bay from his injuries, which were healed easily, and the two of them sat in Xavier, Stefania, Sora and Mina's room.
"I believe this is yours. I will have to train you in water magic," Jax said with a polite bow, handing Sora his blue longblade back.
"Thanks," was all Sora could say.
"Sora, why don't we take a walk?" Stefania offered.
"A walk sounds nice."
Stefania grabbed two torches and walked over to Eva.
"Can you light these please?"
"With pleasure," Eva said as she used magic to light the torches.
Stefania handed one to Sora and to Sora's surprise, Stefania created a path outside, inside the walls, and then closed it as they got outside.
"I lost my first horse when I was 15. I had her since she was a pony. We basically grew up together. She died giving birth to Belladeon, the horse I now ride and not a day goes by I don't remember Bella," Stefania said, with tears forming in her eyes.
Sora grabbed her hand and thanked her for telling him.
"What are the torches for?" Sora asked.
"We have to burn all the bodies or risk infection. Luckily Jax uses water magic and can cleanse the Earth of all the blood, and Xavier and I can rebuild the Kingdom's walls."
"I think we're going to need more wood," Sora said as he watched Stefania cast "woods of nature," and piles of wood, like one would see at a campfire, popped up in various places.
"Ding! You have learned a new Elven spell, 'Woods of Nature. Quest Rewards for battle as follows: 1000 experience for winning the battle, but 6,500 experience lost for each elven life lost. You are still level 5. 850/1000 experience.
New Quest: Win the iminate counter-attack. 1500 experience for winning the battle. All elven lives lost will subtract from your total experience gained."
Sora repeated the spell, 'woods of nature,' and Stefania smiled, "Chronos did leave you with some nice gifts."
"Yes, he did. As did the god of nature, as I am here with you."
"Shall we?"
Sora and Stefania proceeded to light each of the campfire sites, and they stood, with Stefania's head on Sora's shoulder and his arm around her, in silence.
When the fire finally diminished, Stefania whispered spells, ensuring Sora couldn't hear to, and the broken pieces of the Kingdom were restored. Aside from the blood, the Kingdom looked brand new.
"I'll teach you the spells later, you deserve rest."
"Thank you for everything. You've been amazing, as has every elf who accepted my sister and I since we arrived."
Stefania gave Sora another hug, and Sora decided to go for it.
He kissed the Princess, and rather than the pushback he expected, her warm lips met his for a good ten seconds before she pulled away.
"Let's get back to the others. Not bad for a first kiss, was it?"
"If that's the only kiss I get in all of my lives, I'll be one happy soul."
Stefania quickly gave him another kiss, "I'm sure you and I will experience many firsts together, Sora Hart."
"I hope so, Stefania Fang."
<><><><>
The two walked down, hand in hand, and Jax and Eva teased them.
"Looks like we have a new pair of lovebirds here!"
"And my brother has never even kissed a girl! He's 23 and hasn't kissed a girl!" Mina joined the teasing.
Xavier, not reading the room, "My parents approved of him courting my sister, that is why he wears that amulet."
"Read the room Xavier, we were just giving those two a hard time. You need to learn to relax." Jax said.
"What's the amulet Stefania wears?" Eva asked.
"A gift from the god of Eden. It illuminates when someone is lying or if danger is near." Stefania explained.
"That's an awesome gift, where'd you get it from?"
"From us," Mina said proudly.
Stefania turned and gave Sora a quick kiss.
"Hey, keep the PDA to yourselves, lovebirds!" Mina teased.
"Jax, MeadowSong is ready to be cleansed and repopulated. I'll let Sora and Mina fill you in on the details."
They all said goodnight, Jax and Eva headed to their room. Mina and Xavier quickly fell asleep.
Sora laid in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Stefania came over, laid next to him, gave him a kiss on the forehead and laid her head on his chest.
"You need rest. We all do and I can't sleep with you tossing and turning like that," Stefania said.
"I'm so sorry," but Sora was cut off by a kiss.
"Don't be sorry. Sleep."
The two fell fast asleep, knowing tomorrow would be a heavy day.