AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You may think of yourselves as strong, but you have been proven weaker than us. It is time for you to surrender now,” I said.
“Never. If you are as strong as you say you are, then you will have no trouble killing us,” he said. The other lions bared their necks. I pursed my lips and drew my sword. I strode towards them and one by one I slashed their throats. Their bodies dropped to the ground, limp and lifeless, while their eyes were glassy and stared into eternity.
I wiped my blade on the grass and then sheathed it again. I looked up at Kara, who had a strange look on her face.
“Your enemy has been vanquished,” I said. She did not smile. In fact, she did not say much of anything. In truth, I was troubled as well, which was not a feeling that I was accustomed to. The matter was done though. I had repaid my debt to Kara and now the world walker could be free to do whatever she wanted, although I had one more thing to ask her before she left this place.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kara
I turned away from the slain bodies, not wishing to gaze upon them any longer. All around me was death. This world was filled with it. As I turned, I saw Volkan staggering forward, holding his side. To see him was gratifying to me. I was glad that he was well. I rushed to him and examined his wound. He assured me that he was going to be fine. Then Axanar came up to us. He looked regal and stately. Killing those Night Fangs in cold blood had been just another duty of the Alpha, another burden for him to carry, and I was beginning to realize now how much went into being the Alpha. He had named me worthy of becoming the Alpha of Orestes, but I was not sure I could carry that burden.
“I hope you are feeling better now that it is done,” Axanar said, his tone heavy.
“I’m not really sure how I feel,” I said. For a moment there, my anger had flared as brightly as a star going supernova, but now that it had faded, I was left feeling listless, as though I had no direction in my life at all.
“Before we leave, I hoped that you might take me to the edge of the human world. I would like to see what they have accomplished here, and what has kept the lions at bay,” he said.
I nodded, feeling as though it wasn’t too much to ask. Volkan asked to come with us. Axanar ordered his men to patrol the area and make sure that no Night Fangs had escaped, while we ran away.
*
We reached a ridge that looked out over the human world, to the nearby city. It gleamed and glittered with light and life. In a way, it looked as though a thousand stars had fallen to the world and this city had been built around them. In the dark, it was still possible to see the towering skyscrapers rising up into the sky, each one of them like the Tower of Orestes. Both Axanar and Volkan exhaled in disbelief, completely awed by the sight of this city.
“And there are more like this?” Axanar asked.
“Many more, dotted all over the world. It’s why I think you should have second thoughts about conquering this place. You have no idea what kind of technology they have. The humans here definitely like holding onto the things they’ve built. It’s never easy to take anything from them,” I said.
“Then it’s no wonder why the lions who came here could not make any headway. They must have arrived when the humans already had settlements established and could not proliferate quickly enough to gain superiority in their numbers,” Volkan said.
“The Night Fangs tried,” Axanar said softly.
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning towards him. His gaze was still locked upon the city.
“What he said… it is the same thing that I thought. This drive to fight, to conquer. I thought it was the only way to keep us strong. I did not realize it would make us end up like them. All they wanted was to fight. All they valued was strength, but I see now that it is not the only way to make progress in the world. When I heard that your pride had not fought to establish a base in the city, I thought they were weak. Instead, now I see why they learned how to adapt. They established a way of life that would see them thrive, rather than sinking into a war as is our natural way. They lived alongside the humans without ever becoming a part of their world, while the Night Fangs just wanted to destroy, even fighting their own people. It would not surprise me if the initial division happened generations ago, with some lions wishing to fight and others wishing to try something new. If I had not seen this, if it wasn’t for you, then I might have fallen into the same trap myself. I might have led my warriors into wars they could not win, and for what? For glory? There are different types of glory.”
“I have never heard you speak like this,” Volkan said.
Axanar nodded slowly. “I am forced to think about what is best for the pride moving forward. Using Kara’s power to walk through worlds purely to conquer… all it leaves behind is a path of destruction and death. It makes us hollow, and we deserve better than that.”
It was a profound and mature thing to say, and I was glad that he had come to this realization.
“So, what are you going to do now Kara? Is this where you are going to stay once you have shown us back to Orestes?” Volkan asked.
My throat tightened. I thought that being back in this world would fill me with a sense of happiness, of belonging, of fulfilment, but it had done none of these things. It only reminded me of sorrow.
“The only link I had to this world was my parents, and they are dead. I… I think deep down I always knew that they were, but until I saw it for myself, I could delude myself into believing that they were still alive. The pride is gone. I am the only one left, what good is it for me to live here? I have nothing. I am nobody. This world can offer me nothing and anything good I have done in this life, I have done in Orestes.” This realization hit me strongly. It was true though. Before I found Orestes, I had been a shadow of myself, never reaching my full potential. It was awful that the entire pride had to die in order for me to learn this, but I didn’t want to waste those lessons now.
“I want to do something great with my life. I want to be better than this. This world is hollow and empty, I want to bring something more to it. I am tired of feeling bleak inside. I wish to know something more,” I said.
“You can,” Volkan said, smiling softly at me. I returned the gesture, and I was glad of his company, of both their company really.
“We should go back. I think I have seen enough of this world now,” Axanar said.
We turned our backs on the city and returned to the village of the Night Fangs, which had been cleared of all enemies. A great pyre had been lit for the dead, and would burn out by itself. The mood we shared was a dark one as we trudged back to the doorway. I was filled with thoughts about what awaited me next. Up until this point, I believed that there was something waiting for me here, but there wasn’t. Now what? There had to be something more than this… there just had to.
Chapter Thirty
