Chapter 6: We Will Rise Again

After making sure the Kraton army had completely left. Laura brought Exos and the rest of the soldiers to the surface. Then the civilians also went back to the city. Laura used her magic to create a heavy rain to put out the fires in the cities. Eva carried Elastor and Julia back to Gloria city. Belle also carried Grim and Lamalia back to Newlaphaine city. The people looked at the desolate city left after the brutal battle. All the houses were gone, the castle was collapsed, the city of more than centuries was completely lost. The corpses of brave soldiers were everywhere. Now wives had lost their husbands, children had lost their fathers, fathers had lost their sons. There was nothing left to rebuild. They only had to take the soldiers's bodies to bury, if they couldn't bury them, they would burn them. Many people died whose bodies were unrecognizable. The sea was dyed red with blood, fish died from poisoned water, and the fishy smell of corpses wafted up. Thousands of corpses piled up like hills. After a night of mourning for those who had bravely sacrificed their lives, those left behind tried to gather what they could find in the city. They had to set up small tents in the ruined city that night to spend the night. After taking Elastor and Julia to rest, the heartbroken Eva walked around the burned streets. Eva walked slowly as if to witness the aftermath of the war she had brought, partly her fault in it for the destruction of the Highland Continent. Then Eva stopped at a familiar place, which probably wasn't there either. Eva said sadly:

"The Dream Workshop, I'm sorry."

The Dream Workshop had partially burned down, the second floor had not yet collapsed but could not be rebuilt. Eva swept the ashes and picked up the The Dream Workshop sign that Zed had carved. Her heart was heavy when she saw that this place she called her second home was gone. Eva took the sign and went to the residential area to rest. In the Sandx kingdom, Laura brought up the chest containing the sacred scrolls of the Shamans, she gave it to the ten living Shamans to keep and protect them. Then Laura went to the graves of Zed and Edengaz, the vineyard around the glass pyramid had burned down. Laura tried to find the Returner sword among the broken glass, but she couldn't find anything. Laura thought in confusion:

"Strange, where is it?"

Thinking that the sword had been stolen, Laura returned to the camp to heal Exos and the wounded. In Newlaphaine and the Lanxter kingdom, Belle let Grim and Belle rest and then joined the other surviving witches to find the last spellbooks. Now all wizards were dead and only Belle was the last High Wizard. After bringing up the remaining three chests of spell books, they realized that each chest was still not full. This made spellbooks even more scarce as many basic spells and powerful spells that were difficult to learn were lost. The Elves watched as their forest and nature burned down and the final giant banyan trees fell down as the end of Nature on the Continent. Nova Waterfall had lost its sacred water because its true source of power was from the "Eyes of Horux". The Dark Elves watched as the kingdom they had worked so hard to build was gone, and it was as dark as their dark ages. Summing up after the Great Battle of Highland, we had lost ninety thousand men and ten thousand left but most of them were wounded. The infantry lost forty thousand men, the gunners and archers lost twenty thousand men, the cavalry lost all twenty thousand men and all five thousand Dragoons warriors perished. All cannons, ballistas, catapults and zeppelins were destroyed. The total damage done to cities, including irrecoverable sacred heritage and temples, was a hundred times greater than The First War and The Centennial Battle of Newlaphaine and Lanxter combined. The Highland Continent couldn't heal again even if it wanted to. That night, Eva sat silently by the campfire. Now she didn't want to eat or do anything. Sansa walked up to Eva and said:

"Sis Eva, have you seen Alata anywhere?"

Eva just remained silent sadly and shook her head, she thought Alata was dead. Sansa burst into tears at Eva's answer. Suddenly a man stood up and said angrily:

"Look what you've done? Our house, our kingdom has been destroyed. You said we could defend them for a few days, but after a few hours we were defeated. ."

Eva looked at him, she saw that he was a soldier and had lost a leg. Eva got up and replied:

"I've tried too, you know. I know I've sacrificed too many lives in vain. I also know because of me our army was defeated. I don't know what to do to rebuild everything here."

The soldier angrily replied:

"You've brought us to the end, we've literally lost everything, there's nothing left to rebuild. Why do you become queen when nothing can be changed and leads death to us?"

At this point many people stood up and blamed Eva for this failure, they said all the worst words for her. Eva slowly backed away from the angry crowd, those words shaking her mind and her ideals of peace even more. Eva then just remained silent and left as she had been exiled from her kingdom. Eva was now like her old uncle Vanshing but instead of him being exiled for corruption, she was exiled because she failed to protect the kingdom as a disgraced queen. Eva returned to The Dream Workshop, she sat crying in the corner like an old weak Eva. Until the next day, everyone woke up, although still very weak. Elastor and Julia were both able to walk, but Eva was nowhere to be seen. They go around to find her. The more they went, the more they realized how terrible the destruction to the city was. Elastor and Julia held hands for a bit of hope while looking around at the ruined city. Julia said sadly:

"So this is the price we pay when we lose? No more life can come back here."

Elastor caught a cloud of ashes still rising from the burned houses and said:

"I regret not being able to become more powerful. If at that time I could..."

When they later found Eva sleeping in The Dream Workshop, they could only sit next to her and stay silent because they didn't know what to say. Later, Eva also woke up, she just stayed silent and sat against the wall with them and didn't say anything more. Belle and the witches planted dynamite on the covered cave entrance and detonated it to save the giant white butterflies. But even though Belle tried to talk to them, the last giant white butterflies flew up into the sky towards the sun. The last mythical creatures of the Highland Continent had left. Later, the rest of the members were also present, Lamalia, Belle and Grim. When Grim appeared with his left arm gone, Eva, Elastor and Julia were all surprised and more depressed. Grim grumbled:

"That bastard..."

Eva said:

"Well, we've all lost our war. We've let our people down. And our power... no more of our power."

Eva was changed to Julia's rose power, Elastor was changed to Belle's power lily and light, Lamalia was changed to Elastor's thunder and darkness power, Julia was changed to Eva's sunlight power and Belle was changed to Lamalia's stone power. Belle said:

"Rhohan's power is so invincible. I've never felt a power so great, maybe even Zed and The End Serpent are nothing to him."

Julia replied with curiosity:

"Belle, how is Master Emanda?"

Belle just stayed silent and shook her head. Julia and Eva also learned about Emanda's death so they cried sadly. Lamalia said worriedly when she didn't see Alata:

"Hey, where's Alata?"

Elastor replied sadly:

"No body was found, but he probably wouldn't have been able to fight a Grand General."

Lamalia said:

"Then I should apologize too, the Returner sword has been stolen. The last relic of Zed is lost." Suddenly Laura rushed over and said:

'Crusadia team, you're here!'

Eva, Elastor and Julia stood up, and Eva said in confusion:

"Wizard Laura, what's wrong?"

Laura replied in concern:

"It's Exos, he's dying."

Hearing his master dying, Grim immediately said:

"Exos? How is he? Tell me where he is now."

Laura used teleportation to bring them to Exos' tent in the Newlaphaine kingdom. His tent was placed on a small green lawn. Laura pointed her hand at the tent and said:

"He's in there."

Grim immediately ran inside with everyone behind. Exos after the battle was so badly burned by The Demigod's black flames that half of his body was crippled and he hardly survived. Grim saw Exos lying on the bed trying to breathe to talk, he immediately knelt beside his bed and said with concern:

"Hey old man, what's wrong with you? Tell me!"

Exos replied weakly:

"Grim? Is everyone here too?"

Crusadia team entered the tent and Eva said:

"We're all here Exos."

Exos replied:

"Okay then, I don't want to die without seeing you one last time."

Grim said with panic:

"Exos, you have to live, you said you want a peaceful life so you have to live for me. I can't let you die. Belle, Laura, please save him."

Laura replied sadly:

"I've also tried, but this black flame can't be extinguished but only slowly kills the burned person."

Belle just shook her head sadly and said:

"Sorry Grim, but I can't use the element of light anymore. Most of us have swapped elements."

Elastor summoned a small lily and said in frustration to him:

"Sorry Grim, I can't use magic anymore."

Grim burst into tears, he had never felt so hopeless to see his master dying. Grim took Exos's hand and said sadly:

"Exos, please stay a little longer. We will find an antidote for you."

Exos replied calmly:

"It's okay Grim, I just need to see you idiot here and worry about me and I'll understand you're getting emotional again instead of the usual tough guy."

Grim said in anger:

"How can you still roast me in this situaiton?"

Eva told Exos:

"Exos, I'm sorry but we failed despite our best efforts. We let you down."

Exos replied:

"There's still hope."

Everyone was surprised, Elastor said:

"What do you say Exos? There is no hope left."

Exos replied:

"You must find the kingdom of the Celestials, the angels of the God Horux. Only they can defeat the Kraton Empire."

Lamalia said:

"But how can we find them. There are no maps or directions or anyone knows of their existence. Maybe the Celestial race is just a legend."

Exos replied:

"So when the "Eyes of Horux" was dug up, did you still think it was just a myth? The Celestials were real and they were somewhere in the place called "Paradise." I was the general of Kraton Empire, I know they need to find enough pieces to get there and now they have all of them."

Everyone looked at each other with confusion and Belle said with concern:

"Are you saying we have to go to the Kraton Empire to find out where Paradise is?"

Exos nodded. The group couldn't help but be surprised by that reckless mission. Then Exos said to Laura:

"Laura, come near me. I want to see you one last time."

Grim passed a little for Laura to kneel beside Exos. Laura touched Exos' forehead gently and said:

"I'm here Exos."

Exos replied:

"Looks like I should give you an apology. I promised you that when the war is over, you and I will have a peaceful life together, living and farming on a wheat farm, under the warm sun and cool wind, that's how peaceful it is. ."

Laura smiled gently and said:

"Then I will accept your apology. I will always love you Exos, in this life or the next."

Laura kissed Exos gently on the lips. Exos said:

"I knew you loved me the first time we met. You'll be sad when I die, but I hope you'll always remember me."

Laura replied:

"I promise you Exos."

Exos slowly created one last small moon magic circle in the palm of his hand. Exos gave away each Crusadia team member the little stars were his power for them. Mini The Sins was summoned and lay on his chest, it curled up to lie like it was sleeping. Exos rubbed the fur of The Sins, he said:

"I'm sorry to have used you like you as a weapon instead of as an actual Elemental Spirit. But you've done well up until this point."

The Sins gently replied:

"I've always been proud to be your weapon, I've always wanted to be the Moon Light Knight again and you helped me fulfill that wish."

Exos nodded, everyone burst into tears of sadness at Exos. Exos smiled gently even though he had always kept a cold face. Exos closed his eyes and passed away to the sadness of everyone around him. Grim cried out in anger and grief at Exos's death. That afternoon was a small funeral for Exos. Grim took out an ancient Dark Elf talisman and threw it over his coffin. Then Elastor and Grim buried Exos's coffin and Laura placed a headstone engraved with:

"What he always wanted was a peaceful life,

And it's sad that he only had it when he died,

Rest in peace as a son of the Highland Continent,

Exos Warth."

Crusadia team and Laura stood solemnly around Exos's grave. Elastor whispered to Eva:

"We have lost more than a thousand soldiers. Alata, High Wizard Emanda and now Exos. The strongest pillars have died. What else can we do?"

Eva looked at the Gloria family sun crest necklace, she understood what Exos's dream of a peaceful life was. Eva understood that she couldn't be weak now, that she had to rise again. Eva replied:

"We rise again."

Elastor was a bit surprised by Eva's answer. Lamalia whispered to Eva:

"I understand what you're saying, when?"

Eva replied:

"We need to consult first."

They sent their final farewells to Exos and left sadly. Laura planted wheat plants around Exos's grave as if his wish for peace had been fulfilled. Then she left with sadness because her love was no longer with her again. The Crusadia team then returned to The Dream Workshop to discuss whether to embark on a journey to Paradise. Grim was arguing with Elastor, he said angrily:

"I said we should go now, Exos said we can defeat the Kraton Empire if we ask the Celestials for help."

Elastor was equally angry at Grim's temper, he said:

"We can't even freaking know where the empire is? That what's there, how big the kingdom is, how many soldiers are actually there. It's like taking your life into a tiger's den."

Grim immediately argued:

"Oh, are you scared? Where's the brave and reckless Elastor of the past, or did he just lose to that guy and was too scared to go there?"

Elastor grabbed Grim's collar and pulled him over and said:

"I know you want to go to avenge Exos. But look at your left arm, how do you fight with only one arm?"

Grim replied:

"My right hand is still here, I can still fight strong with just one hand."

Belle and Julia rushed to stop them before a scuffle broke out. Belle and Julia pushed them away and Belle said:

"You two, calm down, we shouldn't be arguing now. We've all heard Exos say, we can still ask the Celestials for help."

Elastor replied angrily:

"What the hell? Are you serious Belle, do you agree with that idiot's opinion? Argh, I know my little brothers and sisters will soon have feelings for each other."

Belle shouted angrily:

"We're not related by blood, so we can love each other."

Julia also added:

"I think Grim is right, Elastor."

Elastor slapped his face and replied wearily:

"You too, Julia?"

Grim stuck out his tongue as if to tease Elastor. Eva and Lamalia sat relaxed watching Elastor and Grim quarrel. Lamia said:

"Will you speak up?"

Eva replied:

"Yeah, it's time. Tell them to shut up, Lamalia."

Eva and Lamalia stood up, Lamalia took a deep breath and shouted:

"Shut up, you two idiots!!!"

Elastor and Grim immediately shut up and knelt before Lamalia like she was their big sister. Lamia said:

"Then Eva, you say it."

Eva replied:

"Thank you Eva. Now listen everyone, the majority of us have decided so we will go to the Kraton Empire."

Elastor said:

"Really Eva? But look at us, we failed miserably against the Grand Generals, even though we trained for a year to be as strong as Urizen. Then our elements were swapped too. "

Eva replied:

"I know our difficult situation right now, the people have to return to a ruined kingdom, a lot of people have died, we are still not used to the new strength. But if there is a chance to change and make things better, I will immediately take that opportunity and it is now."

Elastor said:

"Okay, then try to convince me to go."

Eva replied:

"No need, if you don't want to go then I don't need to convince you."

Grim said:

"Since you're the most reckless and craziest here, aren't you angry when he defeats you?"

Grim remembered about Bahamat, he said:

"I'm not afraid of him, I just don't know what our plans are there. Listen, I'm not against going but we just want to but how can we go.

We need plans, vehicles and locations, we don't have them all. And how do we confront them when the power is not yet usable?"

Eva replied:

"We don't need elemental power when we get there, if we don't face the Grand Generals again we can easily defeat the normal soldiers."

Elastor summoned Volt greatsword, he tried swinging his sword and said:

"Yeah, I can still cut some guys."

Belle said:

"But we need a zeppelin to get there, if we use a boat it will take time to cross the sea."

Suddenly Laura came out and said:

"As for that, we have it."

Laura led the Crusadia team to where the dwarves were rummaging through the destroyed zeppelin. King Avator and a few men pulled out an intact enemy zeppelin with only minor damage to the armor and burned airbag. Avator said:

"Look at this big guy! It's perfect and the most technologically advanced I've ever seen. Only minor damage on the outside but totally fixable now."

Laura told Eva:

"Queen Eva, I know you're going to the Kraton Empire, this will take you there."

Eva replied:

"Thank you Laura and King Avator, I appreciate everyone's kindness."

Elastor said confidently:

"Then let's get ready to start a new journey."

Suddenly Grim, Belle and Lamalia immediately slapped Elastor on the back of the head at the same time and shouted angrily:

"Shut up, you were the first protester, why are you so excited now?"

That evening the dwarves were still working hard to repair the last zeppelin. Crusadia team sat by the fire to talk to each other. Eva said:

"Rhohan said Emperor Everest is preparing for something called the Rebirth of the World. You know what it is? Even Urizen in the diary doesn't know what it is."

Belle replied as if she had suddenly remembered something:

"Wait, wait, I remember that. It was written in the Legend of Horux. It is said that once the "Soul of Horux" is found, anyone who dares to step into the blue light and absorb his power will inherit all of his power. That person with the power of the Creator God would choose to destroy the Old World in order to create a New World through "the Rebirth of the World". Or become the next to rule the universe and continue creating the Old World."

Grim said with confusion:

"Woah, that sounds horrible, no wonder that chicken emperor wants that."

Eva continued:

"So he thinks the Old World is dead and filled with sin, and he wants to create a New World."

Julia replied:

"This world isn't what he thought it was, it's still a beautiful place, he's just too negative to be fascist."

Eva said:

"And we'll prove him wrong. Tomorrow is our new journey, are you ready?"

Everyone nodded and was too ready. The Mini Elemental Spirits appeared, they were also elementally transformed. The Star said excitedly:

"Hello new world, The Star is coming!!!"

The Predator grumbled:

"Shut up, no one cares if you're present. But death will come to my enemies."

The Lily said dejectedly:

"Oh, never let them talk."

The Helper cheerfully said:

"Now, let's always be together like the most loyal warriors."

The Rhino said slowly:

"Be careful when using elements together, it's hard to use because it's new, but it's very useful once you know how to use it."

The Riser calmly said:

"For the Highland Continent."

Everyone laughed at the cheerfulness of their elemental spirits. Grim slowly took Belle's hand, Belle was startled but she squeezed his hand too. And Elastor sat opposite, he frowned at the two of them. The next morning before dawn, the Crusadia team boarded the zeppelin to prepare to depart, they brought some food and water and just needed them to go. Elastor and Grim, after bringing the food bags to the zeppelin and Elastor said:

"Let's go."

The people of the four kingdoms went out to say goodbye to the Crusadia team, although they lost, they still respected the heroes who fought for them. The members hurriedly said goodbye to their people and boarded the zeppelin, Eva stood on the ship and said:

"Listen, people of the Continent, we apologize for our defeat in the battle against the Kraton Empire. But this time we will start a new journey to find a new power to defeat the empire forever. I promise when we return, we will rebuild the Highland Continent with you. We promised and will return victorious. We are not asking for everyone's forgiveness but for your final trust in us. For the Highland Continent."

The villagers clapped and waved to the Crusadia team. Many of the citizens who once hated and doubted their leadership had become less skeptical and actually believed in them. Laura and King Avator stayed to help the people, who bowed respectfully to them. Laura said aloud:

"Queen Eva, follow the direction of the enemy battleship's oil flow and see which direction the smoke of their zeppelins fly, that will be the key to the Kraton Empire."

Eva nodded in understanding. Elastor started the steam engine and said:

"Let's go."

Lamalia activated the zeppelin and it flew into the sky and towards the vast ocean. Dawn rose and illuminated the zeppelin as it was the last hope for the world. Sunlight shined on Crusadia team members. Eva stood on top of the ship looking at the ocean, with her energetic eyes and brave heart, she said:

"We will rise again, one last journey to end it all."

The journey to Celestial began.