Aethelos Pain and Blood

The day of the invasion dawned without birds. · The forces of Solaris and the government entered Aldiana like a tide. Screams. Auras. Houses burning. Eliana’s “little corner” turned into a battlefield within minutes. · “Protect the children!” someone shouted in the distance. · Lysander ran through the smoke with a small child held against his chest. Glinn. His son, already walking, crying, gripping his clothes with tiny fingers. · Violeta saw the opening. · The arm Lysander was missing made every movement slower. Every portal harder. She did not hesitate. · “Ultimate Storm!” · The lightning came down precise. Lysander turned his body on instinct, protecting Glinn. The blow struck him in the back. His body shuddered. He fell to his knees, still pushing his son away. · “Run… Glinn…” · Violeta stood still a second longer than she should have. Then she looked away. · “Order completed.” · On the other side, a messenger reached Brock. · “Orders from the crown. The nursery. No seeds of the movement can remain.” · Brock clenched his fists. For an instant, he saw in his memory Nayb’s face asking him to be an uncle. Then he raised his hand. · “I’m sorry. · Meteor Blast!” · The sky split. The sphere of stone and aura fell on the building of the babies. The sound that followed was not only destruction — it was something none of them would ever be able to forget. · Nayb found Eliana in the center of the village. The belly was no longer there. In her arms, wrapped in cloth, a newborn was crying. · She was pale. Sweating. Her breathing short. · “Eliana…?” · “He was born, Nayb.” Her smile was fragile. “He was born a few hours ago. I wasn’t going to let our son come into the world anywhere else.” · He approached, light trembling in his hands without him meaning to. · “You have to get out of here. Now.” · “No. · If I run, all of this stops meaning anything.” · The fight between the two was inevitable — and cruel in its restraint. Nayb attacked to disarm, to push, to force her back. Eliana answered to keep him away from the government lines, to buy seconds. · “Stop!” he shouted. “I don’t want to hurt you!” · “Then stop fighting for the side that’s killing us!” · It was in that instant that Lito appeared. · The government soldier advanced from the side, blade already moving. Nayb saw him too late. · “ELIANA!” · The blow went through her. · Eliana’s eyes widened, surprised. Her body gave way. Nayb caught her before she fell and, with her, the bundle she was still holding against her chest. · The baby cried louder. · Lito wiped the blade without expression. · “Order of the crown. No exceptions.” · Nayb knelt on the dirt ground. Eliana, with her last strength, placed her hand on his face. · “The name… · If you’re going to remember anything… remember me.” · Her eyes went out. · Nayb looked at his son. Small. Red from crying so hard. Alive. · His voice came out hoarse, broken, but firm: · “Eli. · Your name is Eli.” · Something inside Nayb Cari came apart. · The light aura rose in an absurd way — so dense, so violent, that warriors on both sides stepped back without thinking. The ground cracked. The air turned white. · “You…” His voice no longer sounded only human. “You kill children. You kill women. You kill the future. And you still call this honor?” · Lito took a step back. Other soldiers did too. · Nayb raised both hands. · “Big Light Explosion!” · The blast tore through the battlefield. Government men were thrown back. Auras went out. Nayb’s scream mixed with the light until it was no longer possible to tell where one ended and the other began. · When the glow faded, Aldiana was burning. · In Nayb’s arms, Eli kept crying. · And for the first time since he had entered Solaris, Nayb Cari was no one’s soldier. · He was only a father. · In the middle of a graveyard.