The city was burning. Despite everything, the rat creatures had finally reached the capital, and it was burning. "They're coming! We must run!" voices and screams ran out in the night as the people panicked, the war was supposed to be far away in the valley, but now it had reached their home.
"What about the courtyard?" a voice asked, it sounded like her father, but Thorn was too sleepy, and hot.
"They've gone to join them on the walls." that voice was softer, her mother was always the calm one.
"FILL EVERY VESSEL WITH WATER!" that one startled her as a man ran past shouting orders to try and hold everything together, but even at such a young age, Thorn could tell it was for naught.
A messenger ran into the room and bowed before the king, "The village is lost." He said before joining back out, there were still more monsters to kill. "The gate cannot hold much longer, we must leave." Queen Lunaria told her husband as he sighed and nodded, he wished to stay and fight with his people.
"Only take what you can carry." the captain of the guard told them before another soldier ran in "They've burst through the gate and are heading to the courtyard!" "Hurry, take the child."
The city was chaotic, rat creatures fought with soldiers and regular people alike while burning everything they could. They had almost made it to the city wall but the cost had been dear, of the guards that had left with them, only their captain remained, and their nursemaid Briar.
"We have killed many of them, but there is still fighting in the streets, you must leave the city your majesty." the captain said as he guided them through a burning alleyway, "We won't make it, the rat creatures are closing in." "I can take them to my sister." Briar chose that moment to speak.
"That won't be easy, can you make it?" the captain asked and Briar nodded, "Then go, take the secret tunnel, I will lead these monsters away." more rat creatures had caught their scent and were starting to chase, "Follow Briar, she will lead you to Rose and the Red dragon!" and with that, he threw himself into the fray.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The journey had been arduous, and fought with danger, but they had finally arrived. "Mother!" Lunaria cried as she embraced her, "Where is my granddaughter?" Rose demanded after making sure her daughter bore no injuries. "She is here, let us hurry to Deren Gard."
The stars watched impassively as they hurried onward, after a few hours they finally stopped to rest if only briefly right outside of deren gard.
Standing Rose gestured to them, "Quickly! Bring the child, we are almost there." They got up and moved towards her but the king froze, and listened. "There are sounds in the pass behind us." he said solemnly as the others stopped to listen as well.
"We are betrayed!" "How could this be?!"
"You must turn back." Rose quickly said "I will go on with the girl." "Hurry then." Lunaria said as she handed Thorn to her grandmother "He is waiting."
She wasted little time, both Rose and the little Thorn quickly ran to the entrance of Deren Gard, before Rose stopped her. "Stay here little one." she told her softly before going and speaking to the darkness ahead. "I have come, and I have the girl." Rose said, and eyes appeared from the darkness. "You're just in time, something is about to go horribly wrong." the voice said, but Rose paid it no mind as she ran back to Thorn then deposited her right in front of it.
"You must go into Deren Gard. You will be safe until I return." she said before giving Thorn a hug, then took off "Do not follow me." she told her as she raced back to her only child, and hoped she wouldn't be too late.
Seeing the only adult left in her life leave, Thorn tried to follow but a large red tail emerged from the darkness and gently held her back. The Red dragon turned and went down the rocky hill as Thorn followed him, then reached the bottom and stood right before the entrance to a cave, but before they could enter a screech pierced the night. SKREEAA "Get in the cave, now."
The Rat Creatures reached the foot of the ridge.
King Arlin took the lead, sword flashing like lightning on steel. Queen Lunaria chanted old spells, her voice calm and clear, warding off the first wave. For a moment, they held — two sovereigns of a fallen kingdom fighting as if hope still meant something. Far away, Rose had taken Thorn beyond the frozen cliffs — toward the sleeping place of the Red Dragon. "Thorn is gone," Lunaria whispered, voice cracking. "Thank the gods."
"Thank no one yet," Arlin growled, raising his blade again. "They're not done with us." And they weren't. From the tree line below, Kingdok emerged — a monstrous silhouette in the fog, crowned in antlers, dragging spiked bone along the snow. The Rat Creatures hissed behind him, hundreds strong. Briar fought too… but distantly. Then — she stopped. "You need to run, now!" Arlin called to her. She didn't move. Briar stepped forward… and raised her hand.
The Rat Creatures stopped.
"You," Arlin whispered, as blood drained from his face. "You led them here." "I tried to save the world you let die," Briar spat, her voice cracking under weight she had borne alone. "The dragons abandoned us. The gods went silent. But the Locust speaks." "You speak for filth," Lunaria said.
Briar's hands shimmered with locust-light — a curse turned spell, bound in madness. But before she could cast, Arlin tackled her — they crashed into the snow and stone, scrambling across the shrine ruins. A struggle, close and cruel. Briar reached for her blade — but Arlin grabbed a rusted farming sickle, half-buried in a drift. With a desperate yell, he swung upward — and cleaved through her gut, the sickle biting through flesh and bone.
Briar gasped — and then screamed, cut clean in half at the waist. Blood pooled in the snow. Her top half twitched, clutching at her cloak. Her lower half lay still. The red magic in her hands flickered — and died. "You could have been more than this," Arlin muttered. "So could you..." Briar whispered, her breath rattling out as she stared at the mountain sky.
There was no time to grieve. Kingdok thundered up the ridge, swinging his jagged club — a femur wrapped in rusted chains. Arlin turned to block him, but Kingdok struck first — crushing Arlin's ribs, sending him sprawling. Lunaria screamed. She cast light and flame, striking Kingdok across the eye. He reeled — but only for a moment. And then he lunged.
Lunaria stood her ground. But Kingdok caught her in his maw. His jaws clamped around her side — crushing bone, tearing flesh. He flung her like a broken doll across the stones. She landed in a heap of red. Still alive. Barely. She dragged herself through the snow, toward Arlin's fallen body, and collapsed beside him. She didn't weep. She couldn't. Her voice was too broken. But her lips moved.
"No more gods. No more dragons. No more lies. If anything hears me anything cruel, old, or forgotten... take me in full. But protect her. Protect my child. Please..." The stars didn't blink. But something heard. Something ancient and terrible beyond dreams.
With a roar like a coming storm, Rose charged over the ridge with her sword drawn, the Red Dragon's mark still glowing faint on her wrist. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" She struck Kingdok across the snout, a clean, brutal blow. He howled and recoiled, retreating back toward the forest, snarling and snapping. But it was too late. Arlin was dead. And Queen Lunaria lay in a pool of blood, eyes dim, her body broken but her spirit... whispering. Rose collapsed to her knees beside her, just in time to hear her last breath. And far beyond the veil of this world, the Scarlet King opened one eye.
He had heard.
Nothing moved. The snow had buried the carnage in silence. Blood was frozen black beneath sheets of white. Briar's body — or what was left of it — was covered in drifts. Arlin's shattered crown lay somewhere beneath the rocks. And Queen Lunaria… what little remained of her had been gently wrapped in her own royal cloak before Rose fled. There was no song. No mourning procession. No memory, except for the wind.
Until the sky screamed.
A single, blinding crack tore through the air like thunder. Above the mountaintop, the sky split open — not like a storm, but like glass fracturing from inside. Light poured out — red and gold and dark and deep — not sunlight, but power. A tear between realms. And from within that wound in the world… he fell.