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Blake had never been more physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted in her life.  All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for days, possibly weeks, on end.  Maybe if she slept long enough, the war would pass her by.  Maybe when she woke up, no one would need her anymore.

As nice as that sounded, she couldn’t do it.  The Resistance counted on her, and the Resistance was the only thing holding The Badlands together.  For as rotten as the once-peaceful settlements had become, this was still her home.  She would never turn her back on it or any of the people living here.

If they wanted any hope of surviving this war, they needed to protect themselves from the assaults on all sides.  To do that, they needed people willing to fight with them.

“The ones who wanted to leave already left,” Sun informed her while she paced the small cabin being used as a temporary command station.  “Only a handful though, and the most violent dudes.  They’ll probably throw themselves at the armies until they’re gone.”

“And the rest?”

When Sun didn’t immediately respond, Blake stopped and looked at him.

“We’re with you, Blake.  You know that,” he replied with a small smile.

The words were a relief, albeit a small one.  In the turmoil following Adam’s death, she wasn’t sure what to expect of the Resistance.  Would they still fight?  Would they give up and go home?  Would they accept her as a leader or spurn her for what she did?

“We’ll make it through this,” she said more to herself than anyone else.  “We’ll fight when the battles get too close and focus on shoring up defenses in the meantime.”

“So just...wait for the war to end?”

Blake flinched when her thoughts flashed to Adam’s solution: build a strong enough army and pick a side.  But the price of building that army was too high, and neither of the kingdoms would stoop so low.

“For now,” she concluded.  “Coming up with a bigger solution will take time.  Right now, we just need to protect what we have left.”

They didn’t have much left, and hanging onto it grew more challenging as the days passed.  Eventually, they might be forced to consider different strategies.  For now...this was the best they could do.

“Maybe we should, like…”

When Blake broke out of her thoughts and looked at Sun, he clammed up.

“What?” she prodded.

“Maybe we should...go to Vale?”

She shook her head at the idea, but he kept explaining.

“Maybe if we talk to the queens -”

“Why would they talk to us?” Blake interrupted.  “They think we’re a nuisance.  They won’t speak to us.  They probably wouldn’t even let us through the door.”

“But they have to be tired, too...”

“Why would they be tired?” she asked with a dry laugh.  “How exhausting could it be to sit on a throne while everyone does your dirty work?”

Sun remained quiet for a long time after that response.  His thoughtful expression made her feel guilty for dismissing his idea so quickly, but he had to understand.  They all did.  If Vale or Atlas cared about the Badlands, why would they march their armies right through?  Why would they set up camp on either side, converting homes into battlegrounds and residents into refugees?

Sun understood, which was why he dropped the idea rather than argue for her to seriously consider it.  “I wonder why they haven’t joined the fight...” he mused instead.  “With their sparks, they could probably end this in days.”

“Doing that puts their lives at risk,” Blake pointed out before returning to the map spread across what had once been someone’s kitchen table.  “Every soldier would be out for them.  Someone might succeed, and Vale would lose a queen.  That’s probably worse than losing the war outright.”

“Guess that makes sense...” Sun mumbled from his perch on the edge of the table, swinging his feet while Blake jotted notes in the map’s margins.  “Plus, then the Mad King might be out there fighting too.  That’d cancel out their spark advantage...they might as well stay safe.”

“Behind their walls, where no one can hurt them.”

“Right.”

The same question had occurred to Blake before - why didn’t the rulers fight alongside their armies?  Why didn’t they put their own lives on the line for something they believed in?  Why let the war drag on for years when it could end in a quick, exceptionally violent blast?

As much as she would love to march into Vale and demand answers to those questions and more, life didn’t work that way.  Even if she could pass as a citizen of Vale, even if she made it through the gates, even if she somehow made it to the palace, why would the queens speak to someone like her?  She wasn’t royalty.  She wasn’t rich, powerful, or influential.  She was just a girl from the Badlands who wanted to make life better for the people she once called neighbors.

The Queens of Vale had no interest in speaking to her.  They, just like the King of Atlas, didn’t care about the Badlands or the people living here.  They only cared about building their empires and expanding their power.  This was all a game to them.  A game of life and death played at the expense of everyone but themselves.

“Let’s increase our scouting on both sides.”  She pointed at the map as a semblance of a plan solidified in her mind.  “If we have the manpower, double the number of scouts and have them keep a careful eye on where the forces are.  Then we’ll split the fighters into smaller groups stationed equal distances apart - they’ll be our first response if a battle spills too close.”

“What if they need more fighters?”

“Ideally, they won’t.”  Noticing Sun’s confusion, Blake shook her head and pointed at the group numbers she’d written near each settlement.  “Their purpose isn’t to defeat Vale or Atlas.  Use their knowledge of the settlement’s layout to funnel soldiers out of the city.  Protect as much as possible, but focus on moving the battles into the fields.”

“Defend rather than attack?”

“Exactly.”  When Sun didn’t immediately respond, Blake glanced his way and spotted a smile pulling at his lips.  “What?”

“Nothing.”  Sun shook his head, then smiled and ran a hand through his hair.  “It’s just...you’re the leader we needed all along.”

Blake had no idea how to respond to the compliment, but any opportunity to do so disappeared when someone knocked on the door and let themselves inside.

“Blake,” the man said while hurrying over to her.  “Our scouts just caught wind of something - the King of Atlas is dead, and the new Queen is on her way to Vale.”

“What??” Sun asked while Blake stared.  The words were so unexpected that they hardly made sense.  The Mad King - dead?  A new queen...traveling to Vale?

“How do you know?” she finally asked.

“One of our forward scouts, hidden in the Atlas wilderness.  Spotted a caravan leaving the city not long ago - they should reach the Badlands any day now.”

“What route are they taking?” she asked, looking at the map used for tracking troops, supply lines, and any other useful information they had.

“The old main road.”

Stepping forward, the messenger used his forefinger to trace the path running along the far side of the Badlands.  It cut through what used to be a thriving settlement but was now nothing more than burned-out husks of homes and farm buildings.

“What’s the Queen going to Vale for?” Sun asked while Blake studied the map, picturing every bit of the Badlands along that route.

“We don’t know.  All we know is that there’s a caravan, and the Queen is with it.”

“Maybe she’s going to negotiate?” Sun suggested before turning to Blake.  “Maybe she wants to end the war?”

“Why would she do that?”

“I dunno...last thing I’d want to inherit is someone else’s fight.”

“Her father was the Mad King, Sun,” Blake reminded him before shaking her head.  “Why would she ever negotiate a truce?”

Sun shrugged, but he had a point.  Blake wouldn’t want to inherit someone else’s fight either, but the new queen had grown up under the Mad King’s watch.  Chances were, she believed in the war just as much as her father.  More alarmingly, what if she was even more vindictive than him?  What if she re-avowed Atlas to the war, and the battles increased in ferocity?  What if they just traded one evil for another?

There was no way of knowing.  And, having no insight into who this new queen was, Blake couldn’t assume that the Badlands were in better shape.  The Queen of Atlas was an enemy, just like her father.

And she would be passing right through the Badlands.

“What’re you thinking?” Sun asked, breaking into Blake’s thoughts.

“Nothing.”

It was a lie.  Her mind stuck on the map, where the route from Atlas led across the Badlands before inching up to Vale.  That path led through the old settlement, which was hemmed in by woods on one side.  The Queen would be heavily guarded, but the trees offered cover.  Someone could easily sneak up unannounced.  Getting close enough to strike would be a greater challenge, but…

What was she thinking?  Despite the rumors, she wasn’t an assassin.

But which would she rather be...an assassin or a murderer?

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, she refocused on the messenger awaiting his next orders.

“Track the caravan as best you can without being spotted.  If they change course, let me know immediately.  Otherwise, make sure they pass without stopping.”

“You got it.”

After a quick nod, the man flew out of the cabin to complete his task.  Left in silence, Blake leaned against the table and shared a look with Sun.

“I...can’t believe the King’s dead.”

“I know, right?” Sun said, sitting beside her.  “I thought he was, like, invincible.  Wonder how it happened.”

“Who knows…”

“Atlas is screwed now though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Think about it!”  When he waved his hands as if that was all she needed to know, she shook her head.  “They just lost their leader,” he explained.  “Their biggest war...monger.  Even if the new queen’s super savvy, there’s gonna be a transition period.  Government in disarray, people not sure who to listen to - that sort of thing.”

“Confusion,” Blake summarized, and he nodded.

Confusion presented opportunities, but she imagined Atlas suffered from more than just confusion at the moment.  The Mad King couldn’t have died without leaving a substantial amount of power up for grabs.  But who was grabbing it, and what were their objectives?

Hoof steps racing down the street jarred her from those questions, and her heart jumped when Sun flew to the window.  When he peeked outside and sighed, she relaxed.

“Just some random riders.  They’re booking it though…”

Her heart still slowing down, Blake went over to the door and stepped outside.  Just down the street, two men on horseback flew away from her, their horses kicking up clouds of dust in their wake.  They didn’t seem to have any intentions other than leaving as fast as possible, but that didn’t negate the strong, negative reaction she just suffered.

The sound of hooves made her think of the raiders who had been causing havoc in the settlements lately.  They took what they wanted, did what they wanted, and grew more brazen as repercussions never materialized.

“This would be so much easier if we weren’t turning on each other...” she sighed while turning away.  If they didn’t have the raiders to contend with, their position would be modestly better.  Instead, their enemies seemed endless and determined to erase the Badlands from existence.

“Hey, it’s not so bad,” Sun said, gently nudging her elbow.

“How so?”

“Maybe the raiders are weeding out the bad eggs.  Now we know who’s just waiting for the chance to go full-fledged bad guy.”

“Maybe,” she agreed with a half-hearted smile, but she didn’t dive too much into that thought at the moment.  Doing so would make her question humanity even more, and she had too many questions as it was.

Her uncertainty regarding her own moral compass only made matters worse.  She used to believe in herself and her decisions just as much as she believed that all people possessed the capacity to be good.  Now, the need for survival made everything...murky.

Looking around the quiet streets, with hardly a soul to be found, she struggled to contain her surging grief.  People still lived here, hundreds in this settlement alone, but that wasn’t obvious from the lack of life.  An elderly woman crossed the street up ahead, keeping her head low and her steps quick, but even she cast a wary glance Blake’s way before disappearing into the neighborhoods.

They used to look out for one another.  Meeting a stranger was an opportunity to make a new friend, not a fear-inducing interaction.  If someone’s fields had a bad year, their neighbors helped out through the winter.  If an acquaintance lost a relative, everyone banded together to send condolences.  But now…the sense of community had vanished.

“Blake?” Sun asked, only for both of them to freeze when an explosion shook the ground.

“What was that?”

Before he answered, she spun around and saw a giant cloud of dirt and debris billowing into the air.

“But…”  Mind spinning, she struggled to comprehend what she was seeing.  “Didn’t the frontlines move away?”

“I thought so -”

Before Sun finished that sentence, another explosion shattered the stillness of the street.  This time, a tower of flames shot skyward, then came the cries for help.

Without hesitation, Blake sprinted toward the destruction.  Sun was right beside her, and they raced through several abandoned business areas before pinpointing the blast’s location.

“Shit, Blake.  That’s the old church.”

Sun didn’t need to tell her; she was already well acquainted with the building that had just been reduced to a pile of burning rubble.  Flames had already leapt to the nearby rooftops and were spreading quickly, threatening to raze the entire neighborhood to the ground.  Suddenly, people were everywhere, clutching their children and spouses while fleeing from their hiding places.  Blake’s eyes flashed across the panicked scene in front of her, desperately trying to come up with a plan.

“Sun,” she said after watching the flames jump across another rooftop.  “Can you put out the fires?”

“I can try -”

“Focus on the houses,” she directed him before taking off for the church.  If anyone was trapped inside, she had to get them out.

The closer she drew to the building, the louder the fire became.  But something else lingered in the cracks and roar of the flames, something she recognized but couldn’t place.  Rather than dwell on the feeling, she jumped over a fallen support beam and used her spark to drag a mound of earth over the nearby blaze.

“Anyone here?”  Peering through the wall of flickering orange and billowing black, she saw no motion.  No movement.  “If you’re in here, call out!” she shouted before pressing further, covering her nose and mouth with one arm as the acrid smoke burned her throat.  The heat grew unbearable with every step, and perspiration broke out along her brow as she searched for signs of life and snuffed out what flames she could.

Based on the wooden pews splintered in every direction, the blast originated in the center of the building.  If anyone had been in there at the time...they wouldn’t have survived.

“Anyone here?” she tried one more time before straining her ears for a response.  Instead, she heard the sound she couldn’t place before.  It was closer and louder now, and she suddenly recognized the new threat headed their way.

“Sun!”

Sprinting back to the street, she spotted Sun on one of the roofs and waved her arms for his attention.  The house fires had been put out, but that was the least of their problems.  In a breeze, he returned to her side.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“Get everyone off the streets -”

That was all the instruction she got out before movement drew her attention down the street in front of the church.  Then she saw them - Atlesian Knights, instantly recognizable by their stark-white hair and silver armor.  The group numbered maybe twenty soldiers, but that was more than enough to destroy this block if provoked.

“We need to get out of here.”

When Sun grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away, she shrugged him off and pointed at a broken wall midway between them and the Knights.  Two young boys had ducked behind the wall for cover and now clutched their knees to their chests while Atlesian troops advanced on them.

“Crap…” Sun breathed out as Blake slipped into the shadows and moved closer.  She couldn’t get very close without the Knights spotting her, but she made it to an alley near them and caught their attention.

“This way,” she whispered, hastily motioning them to her.  Even from this distance, she saw the fear in their eyes as they shook their heads.  They knew that they would be seen if they left their hiding spot, but they would also be discovered if they remained where they were.

“Come on,” she tried again with a more urgent wave, but they refused to budge.  They were directly in the path of the soldiers, and how the Knights would react was anyone’s guess.  If it was Vale’s Elites, the boys might have a better chance of survival...but Knights were notoriously vicious, just like their former king.

“Blake,” Sun whispered, but she again shrugged her arm free of his grasp.

“Get everyone else off the street.”

“Blake -”

“Sun, now.”

He wanted to argue, but there was no time.  Instead, he took off like a breath of wind, leaving Blake hidden in the shadows with two kids to save.  She wouldn’t leave them to the mercy of however the Atlesians felt today.  She wouldn’t let more precious lives go to waste.

All she needed was a distraction.  Fortunately, she knew just the one.

Calling upon her spark, she summoned the earth to do her bidding, and a boulder billowed out of the dirt at her feet.  The mound of rock grew and grew as she solidified that which was once nothing, pressing it into form and hardening it like steel.  Once her projectile was set, she poked her head around the corner, picked a spot on the street behind the Knights, and threw the rock with all her might.

It landed in the middle of the street with a thud, and the troops spun around.  Seizing that brief opening, she sprinted over to the wall and slid to her knees beside the trapped youngsters.  The Knights didn’t spot her, but now she had to get these kids to safety without being seen - a near impossibility.

“You need to come with me,” she whispered, earning terrified headshakes in return.  “You need to come with me,” she repeated.  Even over the pounding of her heart, she heard footsteps and voices - the Knights would be on top of them at any second.  “I’ll shield you,” she assured the kids.  “I can shield you, but you need to run when I tell you.”

More headshakes.  They were too terrified to move, but they had to.  Otherwise, her choices were to leave them to die, or stay here and die with them.

“Please,” she begged.  “You can do this.  On the count of three, ok?”  Sensing some give in their fear, she prepared to dash to safety.  The Knights were only a few steps away - they had to leave now.

“I’ll be right with you.  Ready?”

They weren’t ready.  How could children ever be ready for something like this?  But they looked like they might run, so Blake leaned forward.  They didn’t have more time - they had to get out of there.

“One...two...three!”

The boys sprang forward from their hiding spot right as Blake pulled an entire wall of earth from the ground in front of the Knights.  With their vision temporarily blocked, she sprinted after the two kids in front of her.

“Resistance!” someone shouted.

Something cold and sharp cut across her ear the next second.  Flinching at the pain, she doubled her pace and hardened her skin to protect herself from the barrage of icicles shooting after her.  They still hurt when they hit her, but they couldn’t puncture her rock-like armor.

Slowing her pace to keep the two boys always in front of her, she used a rolling wave of rock to shield them from ice flying everywhere.  Not much further and they could duck into one of the alleys and disappear.  But one of them tripped over his feet with only a few paces to go, tumbling to the dirt while the troops pursued.  Hurrying to his side, she picked him up and motioned to the alley.

“That way!” she urged, pushing him in that direction.  “Keep running!”

If the Knights weren’t so close, she would have followed.  But she had to buy them time to make it into the alley, so she steeled herself and prepared to stand her ground.

Turning toward the Knights descending upon her, she slowly raised her hands in defeat.  When they didn’t so much as blink at the clear surrender, she clenched her fists and frowned.  Apparently, their orders were to kill Resistance fighters on sight.  But they didn’t even know she was with the Resistance; they just assumed so.

Before the first line of soldiers reached her, the street reached up and grabbed them by the legs.  Clenching her jaw, she used her spark to throw them to the ground, sending them tumbling into the nearest building.  The second line jumped over their fallen comrades before lifting their hands and sending a barrage of icicles her way.  Again, she created a temporary shield to protect herself, absorbing the ice and crushing each piece into nothing before molding back into the ground.

So the Knights dropped their hands, drew their swords, and rushed straight at her.

She caught the first sword in her rock-hard grasp before swinging a reinforced fist into the man’s armor.  The chestplate dented with a loud crunch as he tumbled backward, only to be replaced by another sword hurtling toward her head.  The wielder of that weapon yelped when a gust of wind tore it from his hand and tossed it out of reach.  Capitalizing on his lack of defense, Blake leveled a fist into his chest before kicking him away.

“Let’s get out of here!”

Sun briefly appeared by her side before barreling into two more soldiers, who fell backward but quickly rolled to their feet, frost billowing from their lips.  With Sun’s element of surprise lost, the Knights regrouped and switched tactics.  Their forward progress stopped, but the backlines skirted to the edge of the street and looped around Sun and Blake.  Being outnumbered five-to-one, they had no choice but to watch the Atlesians re-position.  And, in no time, they were surrounded.

“This isn’t good...” Sun mumbled as the air grew dangerously cold.

Rather than attack, the Knights watched and waited.  Several seconds passed before Blake realized what they were waiting for, as she tried to move only to nearly trip over her feet.  The sensation of cold finally registered in her mind, and the frost quickly climbed up her ankles before touching her knees.

It wouldn’t be long before they turned her into a statue, but she couldn’t run without shattering her legs into pieces.  They were stuck, and their only option was certain death: try to kill every Atlesian before being killed themselves.

“Sun -”

A strong gust of wind cut off her sentence, and the Knights stiffened as they searched for the source.  The strong, acrid smell of smoke reached her nose next, and Blake looked up to find flames racing horizontally across the sky.  The Knights exchanged glances, and then the building beside them exploded.

She covered her head as blocks of wood pelted into her but barely had time to look up before a soldier in black armor plunged a sword through the Knight in front of her.  Blood sprayed across the ground when he ripped out the blade and rushed at the next closest Atlesian.

“Elites!”

Suddenly, the Knights cared much less about Blake and Sun and much more about protecting themselves from the black-armored soldiers streaming from every direction.  The street, the alleys, the rooftops and houses...

In the process of surrounding Sun and Blake, the Knights had gotten themselves surrounded in turn.

“Run.”

Grabbing Sun’s arm, Blake spun him around and frantically searched for a way out.  The last place they wanted to be was in the thick of an impromptu skirmish - they had to get out of there before the Elites and Atlesians killed anyone not wearing the right colored armor.  But soldiers were everywhere, clogging the streets, blocking every exit.  Any direction she chose led them into the fray.

Spotting two black-armored Elites engaged in battle with a single Knight, she spurred her feet into motion.  If she was fast enough, she could make it past them while they were distracted.

“Leave me,” she told Sun, releasing his arm so he could use his spark to get out.

“Hell no -”

“Sun, go.”

She didn’t know whether or not he listened.  Instead, she focused on sprinting toward the narrow gap between her and freedom.  The Elites were exchanging blows with the Knight, who refused to go down without a fight.  Shards of ice flew everywhere as gusts of wind whipped up dirt from the street, forcing Blake to cover her eyes while leaping over a fallen soldier.

Her feet hardly touched the ground before the Knight lost his battle, and the Elites’ attention snapped to her.  Their expressions said that they labeled her as a threat, but she didn’t slow down, not even as they passed their blades back and forth between their hands and the wind picked up around them.

Twenty feet away, she lifted a series of stepping stones out of the ground, which she ran up without breaking stride.  They tracked her progress above their heads, blades poised to shoot toward her, but Atlas came to her aid with a sudden blast of frozen air that nearly knocked her off of her feet.  Upon making it to the ground on the other side, she glanced over her shoulder but kept running.

Vale was handily winning.  They outnumbered the Atlesians, and their combat abilities far outmatched the Knights.  Silver-armored bodies littered the ground while black prevailed.

The Knights were falling back, retreating to their main army some distance away, but Vale pursued.  The Elites didn’t accept the victory.  Instead, they chased the Knights right out of the settlement, following the Atlesians toward reinforcements.

“Blake.”  When Sun grabbed her arm, she jumped and instinctively jerked her arm away before finally stopping.  “Are you ok?” he asked, searching for injuries beyond her bleeding ear.

“I’m fine.”

As the sounds of battle moved further away, her senses gradually returned and she regained a handle on her surroundings.  The street looked like a warzone now, with bodies and destruction strewn everywhere.  Thick plumes of smoke rose from the church.  A woman wailed in the distance, grieving over something Blake couldn't see but could vividly imagine.

“What the hell are those?” Sun asked, motioning to one of the black-armored troops laying in the middle of the road.

“Elites.”

“Don’t look like any Elites I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know, Sun,” she said, exasperation slipping into her tone.  “Maybe they got new armor.  We have bigger issues to worry about, like who blew up the -”

Suddenly remembering that there were two blasts - two explosions - she spun around searching for more smoke in the air.  She spotted the billowing column several blocks away in what she remembered as a heavily residential area.  She hoped that she was wrong - she really, really hoped that she was wrong - but as she raced through the streets, her tired feet leading her on autopilot, her heart steadily sank.  Then she rounded a corner, saw the scene in front of her, and felt her heart drop.

Blood was everywhere.  Whimpers and cries of pain filled the air.  A woman knelt on the ground nearby, weeping over a man still partially buried beneath a building.  Several people walked around the street or amidst the rubble, freely bleeding but too shell-shocked to notice.  Those who escaped uninjured, or at least with their wits still about them, were trying to help those with injuries.

“Blake...what do we do?”

She wasn’t a doctor.  She wasn’t a medic.  She wasn’t trained for this in any way.  But when Sun turned to her for guidance, she took a deep breath and did her best.

“Go back to base,” she told him in as calm and as steady of a voice as she could muster.  “Find as many medical supplies and helpers as you can and bring them here.  We’ll save whoever we can.”

Without waiting for his agreement, she rushed over to the nearest injured person and knelt by his side.  A thin piece of wood had impaled his leg.  Based on the overwhelming panic in his eyes, the sight of something stuck through his body was worse than the heavy stream of blood seeping through.

“Hey,” she said, taking care not to touch him and accidentally cause more pain.  “It’s ok.  It’s not that bad.”

“But m-my leg -”

“I know.  But help is on the way, ok?  Take deep breaths and don’t move too much.”

She took several slow, deep breaths as an example, and nodded when he began following her lead.

“Good.  Keep doing that, and I’ll be back.”

The next person she came across had sustained a myriad of small cuts and scrapes, but some stitches and a few bandages would fix them up quickly.  The person after that was already gone - a quick death, as the explosion had torn them apart.  The person after that quickly followed, despite her best efforts to stem the bleeding from their stomach.

“Help!”  Her attention snapped to the source of the voice - a young man waving at anyone who would listen.  “Someone help!  There’s a kid trapped in here!”

When he pointed at what had once been a house, which was now a large pile of blocks, Blake raced over.

“Where?”

“Right through there.”

The young man pointed at a small opening in the rubble, so Blake dropped to her knees and ducked to look into the building.  Finding a small boy trapped in a tiny pocket of space, she met his eyes and forced a quick smile.

“Hey,” she said as gently as possible.  “We’re going to get you out of here, ok?”

When he hesitantly nodded, she realized his arm was lodged between two large pieces of wall.  It probably hurt like hell, but he wasn’t crying.  He just sat there in shock.

“I need you to get him,” she told the young man beside her, who looked at the house before stepping away.

“Hey,” she said before he ran.  “I can hold it, but I need you to get him so I can focus, ok?”

He didn’t want to do it - he didn’t want to risk his life for a stranger - but he took a deep breath and nodded.  With his acceptance, Blake tried to figure out where to lift the building so that it didn’t collapse.  Once she had a good idea, she started a bubble of earth around the trapped child before moving upward.  The wood groaned as it raised off the ground but didn’t fall, letting her enlarge the bubble until it formed a tunnel leading through the wreckage.

“Ok,” she told the young man, who gingerly crawled into the dirt passageway.  While he did so, she kept her full attention on her connection to the earthen tunnel.  If she lost focus even for just a second, the tunnel could collapse and the building would crush them.

Her spark strained from the continuous effort, but the little boy crawled out of the ruins.  The young man was close behind and, as soon as they were clear, she slowly lowered everything to the ground.

“Thank you,” she told her reluctant helper, who merely nodded before hurrying away.  The little boy, meanwhile, sat on the ground and clutched his arm to his chest.  It looked broken, possibly in multiple places, but they would need a doctor to set it properly.

“Blake.”  Sun gently grabbed her elbow and turned her away from the little boy.  “I found help.”

He motioned to several Resistance fighters moving around the street passing out medical supplies and trying to help those in greatest need.

“Ok.”  She almost wiped her face before noticing the blood covering her hands.  “Ok,” she repeated while wiping her hands on her pants instead.  With more members of the Resistance here, they could help the people who still needed medical attention.  Then they could...they could...she wasn’t sure what they could do next, other than try to recover from yet more pain.

“Oh no…” Sun suddenly whispered, the distraught look in his eyes saying that she didn’t want to know.  But she had to know, so she turned around and felt true despondency seep through her veins.

A thick cloud of black, billowing smoke covered the horizon.  With every passing second, it unfurled faster, racing higher, as if the fire creating it couldn’t consume buildings fast enough.

It was too far away.  By the time she got there, it would be too late.  She couldn’t be everywhere at once.  She couldn’t help everyone at once.  She could only stand and watch another village burn to the ground.

Surrounded by the death and destruction of just another day, she no longer held hope that the war would ever end.  The Mad King was dead - so what?  Vale still seemed bent upon beating their enemies into the ground, and why wouldn’t they?  After a long, tedious battle, why not strike while the iron was hot?  Why not send every last soldier to the front and wipe Atlas out while they reeled from the loss of their king?

Why not continue killing innocent men, women, and children to gain more power?

Every day that this war dragged on, lives were lost.  But the Badlands couldn’t afford for the conflict to last much longer.  They had lost almost everything already - they didn’t have much left.

Atlas needed to fall...and fast.  They needed to crumble and disappear under a soft breeze.  If they did, Vale could march through The Badlands all the way to Atlas’ gates.  The troops would no longer be here - the war would no longer be here either.

If one person determined the fate of the war...if one person determined the fate of countless lives…

Blake had a community to protect.  She wished there was another way.  She wished for another option.  But, in the end, she knew what her decision had to be.

“I’ll be gone for a few days,” she told Sun, unable to meet his gaze while watching the cloud of smoke grow.  “Please don’t ask where I’m going.  Just take care of things while I’m away.”

He looked at her but didn’t ask questions, and she felt guilty for not telling him what she planned to do.  Realistically, this was a one-way journey.  If she succeeded, she wouldn't make it out alive.  But she had to do something.  If there was a chance, no matter how small, that the fighting would end, she had to take it.  She had to stop this.

Comments

Dragon-sama

Great chapter!! Sets the stage for what seems to be a Blake vs Weiss encounter. Really intrigued on how that goes down and how they settle things.

Ben Lockwood

Dang, I guess we will see just how good Blake really is. Tough decisions all around.