Author's Note

Love is a complex feeling, it can crush you more than any blow, but at the same time give you greater strength than you could ever believe.

XV

I immediately, and quietly back away from the main entrance of the castle ruins. Looking over to my daughter, I motion to stay low and quiet. She gives a very slow nod, and follows me away into the front courtyard.

"An ancient Ursine has taken residence in the front of the castle. The smart thing to do would be to find someplace else to stay until heat season is over." I tell Aurora.

"And what are the other ways?" She asks in a near whispering voice.

"Well there's the fun way, the hard way, the complicated way, and the terrifying way." I respond just as quietly.

"The fun way?" She asks with a tilt of her head to the left. I chuckle before saying, "Running in, startling it, and leading it on a mad chase through the castle." She looks at me with an unimpressed stare.

"No. The complicated way?" She asks. I grin before saying, "We construct an overly large, and complex catapult in the courtyard. Once that is done we lure the Ursine out into the trap to be flung into the Everfree's depths."

"No that would take too long. Let's do it the hard way." Aurora tells me as she bares her small fangs. I give a savage grin, and hit my armor medallion. I flare my magic, and hear the Ursine growl from inside the ruins.

The old forest guardian comes lumbering out of the front entrance, sees us, and drops into a battle stance before roaring at us. Aurora gives off a howl before we charge the large bear. The Ursine sees this, and begins its own charge. As we drew closer together, I start charging a silent sapping spell that would drain the Ursine of its strength over time. Right before we collide, I duck just to the left, and slam my right fist into the bear's head, discharging the spell at the same time.

Aurora dodged to the right before darting forward to bite the Ursine's neck, and I hear the bear cry out in pain, and smell the scent of burning flesh. Both Aurora and I jump back away from the Ursine before it can hit either of us, and I open my wing to take to the air.

As I leap into the air, the Ursine takes a swipe at my daughter, getting her to dodge back again. I quickly cast a silent kinetic amplifier spell on my gauntlets, and dive down at the bear, ready to give a solid punch to the back.

Just before I swing my fist forward to hit, the Ursine turns faster than I expected, and swipes me out of the air. I tumble, and roll for a few meters before getting back to my feet, before looking to see Aurora getting hard pressed by the guardian bear, and I flap my wings as I charge back into the fray.

Skimming the ground with my feet, I reel back my fists for a double punch, and slam them forward into the Ursine's left side. Due to the kinetic spell, the ursine is sent tumbling away from my hits, and gives a yelp from the hit.

Aurora takes this opportunity to pounce on it, and starts tearing at its throat. The stench of burning flesh get stronger as my daughter rips and tears, but ultimately gets thrown off with a swat from the ursine's paws. She gives a yelp from hitting the ground, and something in me begins to slip.

As Aurora stays down from her hit, I feel the darkness within swell in rage. I give a booming battle cry, and rush forth. The ursine turns to me, and seems to jump a bit. I ignore the dangerous stupidity of my tactics, and slam into its face with my full bodyweight, and start throwing wild punches that throw the ursine's head around like a speed bag. Each hit is met with the loud crack of metal on flesh and bone as my hits increase in speed and power. Soon enough a meaty crack is heard in the courtyard as I break the ursine's jaw. I back away from it, and keep my eyes on it as I walk over to my daughter.

"Aurora, are you okay?" I ask her. She whimpers a bit before saying in a strained voice, "That hurt a lot. I'm not sure I can walk at the moment." She tells me in a defeated tone. I sigh and kneel next to her, while glancing up to the ursine every now and then to keep and eye on it. It appears more interested in its injury at the moment.

"Where does it hurt the worst?" I ask in a caring voice. She whimpers and noses her rear left leg. I sigh, and stand up.

"Stay here until I'm done taking care of the big bear." I tell her. She whimpers some more before resting her head on the ground.

I turn back to the ursine, and start ramping up my magic power. It sees this and starts trying to look intimidating, but it can only do so much with a broken jaw. I flare my magic in anger at the ursine, and start charging at it. It greets my charge with one of its own.

As we neared one another time seems to slow, each breathe felt like an eternity. Something I was familiar with. I focus my magic into my gauntlets, causing the kinetic spell to flare with a vicious intent.

The Ursine growls and glows with wild magics. Stones and all sizes, from as big as my head, to the smallest pebbles, gathered to it and formed a crude stone armor. I growl as we are only a couple meters apart, and bring my right fist back as the ursine raises unto its rear legs.

Time slows even more as my fist begins its journey forward, and the ursine's paws begin to fall towards me. A blink of the eye, and we clash. My fist connects with the left paw as my left arm blocks the right.

The stone armor on its left paw it blown apart, and we separate for but a moment before we resume the melee.

I block my left side, and counter with a right hook to the ursine's ribs causing the stone to fall apart. The ursine responds with a swipe from its right claw, and knocks me back a few feet from the force. My armor feels dented over my chest, but I shrug it off and look back to my foe.

I can tell its getting tired, and my sapping spell is forcing it to be cautious. Throwing an arcane bolt as a distraction, I bring my left fist forward into its right shoulder, and blow the stone pauldron off.

The ursine backs away a few meters, and is panting hard. I can tell that it is spent due to my sapping spell. I myself am breathing a little hard as well from the exertion of the Kinetic spells slowly draining my magic over time.

As I get ready for round two, I am bowled over as the ursine had charged me faster than I thought possible. My helmet is knocked from my head as I am slammed into the ground. The ursine rears up on its rear paws to slam down again, but I don't give it the chance.

I quickly grabbed its rear legs, and slid myself out from under it by going between it's legs. As the bear came back down, it kicked with it rear legs, and caught me as I was standing up. My face slammed into one of the few stone tiles that remained in the courtyard.

My vision blurred and my head swam in a sea of pain. My left eye was seeing nothing but red, and my right couldn't get a clear view of what was happening. My ears were ringing from the hit to the head.

As I struggled to get back to my senses I feel a flare of heat from in front of me, almost as if a fire had been started right in front of me. I sluggishly pulled myself into a sitting position, and brought a hand to my head, and woozily sat there waiting for my senses to clear.

I felt the wind of something charging past me, and slowly turned to see a bright white light slam into what I assume is the ursine before everything goes dark, and I faintly feel myself hit the ground again.

*****

"Osiris." I hear my mommy say from the throne. I look up to her with a smile.

"Yes mommy?" I ask. She extends a wing to me, silently telling me to come close. I happily slide up next to her.

"I want to you to know my child, that no matter where you go, or what you've done or become, you will always be my strong handsome prince. I love you oh so much my child." She says with a pretty smile. I giggle and boop her nose with one of my fingers. She wiggles her nose and giggles as well.

"I know mommy. You tell me every night." I tell her with a big grin. She giggles again.

"That's because its true no matter what happens." Mommy says as she wraps me in her wing as a hug as she nuzzles my face.

Before anything else can be said, a magic bolt hits my mommy on the other side of her face, and she falls to the throne unconscious. I scream in fear, and guards rush in to see what has happened, only to be hit with magic bolts as well.

I start shaking mommy to try and wake her up. She doesn't open her eyes. I'm crying in fear and confusion as I hear hoofsteps from behind the throne, and see a day guard with a smile that scared me even more.

"There you are you little brat." He said as he pushes my mommy off her throne and onto the ground in front of it. He reaches for me, and I run over to mommy to try to wake her up again.

"MOMMY WAKE UP!" I shout to try and get her to protect me, but she stays asleep. The day guard chuckles evilly and says, "She won't wake up for a few hours. I made sure of that."

"Why!? Why are you being so mean?!" I ask the day guard. He spits at my mommy before saying, "That dark whorse doesn't belong on the throne. Only the True Goddess should rule over us." He is now right in front of me, and picks me up by the collar of my clothes, and I struggle as he throws me onto the ground.

I scream in pain as my left arm hangs limp before blacking out.

I can see again, and the guard is gone. In his place is a pile of red mush that smelled horrible. My arm doesn't hurt anymore, so I run over to mommy, and snuggle up next to her as I start crying again, calling for her.

After a while my mommy groans, and sees me with my red puffy eyes, and quickly gets into a sitting position.

"What happened Osiris!?" She asks in a panic. I point over to the pile of red mush that had the iconic day guard armor pieces in it.

"He hurt you, and me, but I don't know how he got like that." I tell her while whimpering. She grabs me and hugs me close to her chest, wrapping both wings around me, and cooing sweet nothings into my ear.

Once I was calm again I look up to mommy.

"Do you know what happened mommy?" I ask her. She shakes her head up and down.

"Yes. You are much stronger than I first thought my sweet nightshade. Much stronger than even you know."

*****

I jolt awake to the sound of my daughter yelping in pain. My rage boils over, and my vision tints red as I give a battle cry in the royal voice charging the ursine with murderous intent. It turns just in time to catch my gauntleted fist to it's face, and roars in pain. I continue with a left hook, then a right, followed by another left as my magic flares from my rage.

I throw another right hook before grasping above my head at the air. My magic reacts to my rage creating an ethereal scythe, and I bring the blade down on the ursine's head with a meaty schlink, ending its life in a final rage filled shout.

Letting go of the scythe causes it to fade away from existence, and I start making my way over to my daughter with sluggish steps. Stopping next to her I fall to my knees, and look her over for any wounds.

I see a single bite on her mid back from where the ursine chomped down and more than likely threw her, and her rear left leg is cracked. I gently pick her up, and cradle her in my arms before standing, and heading towards the portcullis.

"I can't heal you Aurora, but I know someone who can." I say as I start on my journey deeper into the Everfree. My destination: Ashvataarl, the city of the Elven people.