A young Emerie Livingstone stood beside Delano Livingstone, her husband and fellow member of the werewolf army reconnaissance unit, as they gazed towards the vampire city. Her warm walnut brown eyes darted about, trying to find a weak spot in the enemy's defences.

Emerie and Delano had been together their whole lives, inseparable from the moment they met as tiny toddlers right up to adulthood. Wherever Emerie went, Delano followed. And when Delano decided to join the army, Emerie naturally followed. They made an excellent team, something the higher ups in the army noticed immediately. It wasn't long before Delano was made leader of the reconnaissance unit with Emerie as his second in command.

When the army's battle plans were revealed, Emerie and Delano's unit were placed at the forefront. The werewolf army's path took them from their territory to unclaimed lands and then to the borderlands of vampire territory, where an army of thousands awaited them. The area had minimal strips of cloud cover, which was why most of the garrison permanently stationed there consisted of some of the toughest and strongest humans of their kind.

Even then, they stood no chance against the werewolves. The vampire garrisons had been destroyed by the initial sunlight-in-a-ball witch attack, which meant that the current fight was entirely one-sided. In the end, what was left of the human army fled in fear, abandoning their posts after barely ten minutes of combat.

After that minor skirmish, the werewolf army ploughed through the heavily fortified borders of the vampire territories, predicting to find numerous traps laid out by the enemy. Needless to say, the vampires did not disappoint since every inch of land was covered with traps that were either conventional or created using Talent. The werewolf advance had been slowed to a crawl to eradicate or bypass all dangers.

Once overcoming the borderlands, the overall mood had uplifted as the werewolves made an easy beeline for Hjem, with only the wall of fire as their last obstacle. Or so they thought. Anticipation had turned swiftly to vexation when the flames had subsided to near nothing, but a dense forest reaching up to the castle walls was revealed in place of flatlands.

To say the werewolf leaders were furious was an understatement. To make matters worse, the witch army had been hit by a sneak fire attack, suffering numerous casualties from the ambush. Their expected arrival time was delayed by at least another day. The fifteen witches present with the wolf army were currently manipulating the cloud cover over the wall of fire. They would be hard-pressed to offer any help in getting rid of the forest. The wolves were forced to wait for the arrival of other witches to advance, but the clan heads were unwilling to sit by and do nothing.

"The clan heads want half our unit to enter the forest," Delano told his wife.

"Too risky," Emerie answered dismissively, not one to beat around the bush when voicing her thoughts.

He sighed, running a hand through his short grey hair. "I am afraid they did not ask our opinions on the matter. I leave in one hour."

"Delano, you know it is a trap."

"What would you have me do, wife? We cannot go against orders."

"Then you cannot leave without me," she replied in a non-negotiable tone. Delano opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind when Emerie gazed coolly at him, daring him to try and face the consequences. He clamped his mouth shut and wisely nodded, earning a small but indulgent smile of approval from his wife.

*****

"Rose, enough. We have to go," Mathias ordered the young royal as she continued manipulating the vegetation around them.

"Just a little more, Your Highness," she replied in a tired whisper as she attempted to thicken the nearby underbrush.

"No, stop. This is an order." Mathias picked up the exhausted vampire in his arms, glanced around for a moment, and then quickly travelled by portal to the city's wall walk. "Stay here," he ordered before returning to the forest.

"Rixa!" The prince began calling her name, mindful to keep his eyes out for the conventional booby traps the speedy youngster had been tasked with placing around the forest. Time was running out. Mathias was sure the wall of flames had dwindled into almost nothing by now. He inwardly groused, 'I told her to be back within the hour. It is well past that by now. Where is she?'

The air smelled strongly of freshly dug earth as Mathias trudged along, calling out to Rixa at intervals. As he wandered up a slippery slope, he caught the sound of rustling undergrowth followed by the padding of paws. The vampire was caught off guard, not expecting the enemy to have infiltrated so deeply into the forest and so quickly. At once, he began to run, but it was already too late. The howling of wolves from every direction told him he was encircled. From close by, a grey werewolf burst forth from some bushes, followed seconds later by several others, quickly circling the prince tightly.

'I cannot let them see me open a portal,' Mathias realised while panting. He crouched low before leaping with all his strength to grab the closest branch of the tall tree right above. Just as his fingers closed tightly around the rough tree bark, a searing pain enveloped his right ankle. The horrifying cracking sound of bones breaking was followed by the prince's yell of pain. Clenching his teeth, Mathias aimed with his free hand and hurled half a dozen balls of fire at the grey werewolf dangling from his foot. It yelped in agony, releasing the bite on his foot and falling to the ground with its fur fully ablaze. One of the nearby wolves gave a tormented howl and ran towards the trashing wolf.

Without wasting any time, Mathias scaled the tree, his broken right ankle hanging limply. Once he was high enough and away from prying eyes, the prince opened a portal to a different part of the forest floor before hobbling to the nearest tree and leaning against it.

He yelled furiously, "Rixa, where in all the worlds are you?!" A shadowy blur darted out from out of nowhere and landed in front of him. "Goodness Your Highness, what happened to your foot? Did you accidentally step on one of my traps?"

Too angry to answer, Mathias grabbed the vampire and shoved her back through a portal to the castle wall walk before opening another to the command centre warehouse near the portal. It was almost empty, everyone having deployed to their various stations, but luckily for the prince, Maxim was there.

The pale-haired vampire rushed over to the hobbling prince, "Goodness Matthias, what happened? Did you step on a trap by accident?"

Matthias let out a groan in incensed anger, "Just shut up and fix my foot."

Maxim helped set and bandage his foot before aiding him to the large vampire portal. Mathias hobbled over to an empty wooden chair and sat down with a huff, the pain in his broken foot throbbing continuously. Looking around, the prince felt comforted that only a few thousand civilians remained, eager to cross to the other side. One of the scouts rushed in to report that a large number of vampires were holed up at a town hall at the halfway point to Hjem. Mathias immediately opened a portal there, saving about a thousand grateful vampires.

The young prince shifted in his seat, trying to alleviate the discomfort from his right foot and wishing Emilia was by his side to heal the injury. Just as he was about to start analysing how best to dismantle the portal came crashing sounds from beyond the walls.

"Report!" Maxim shouted to a scout, who scurried off to find out what was happening. He was back in mere minutes with terrible news. Three hundred witches were beyond the city's walls, the rest staying behind to care for their injured. The witches had already built walkways over the low-lying flames and were now demolishing the forest.

All was not going to plan. Mathias had hoped the surprise attack he and Helena had unleashed on the witch army would give them the time needed to evacuate the city. It had drained Helena of all her powers for the day, but Mathias was sure it was worth it. He assumed she would have enough time to recover before the witches arrived. He was wrong.

The forest had kept the wolves at bay, but the witches were dismantling it far faster than the time it had taken Rose to grow it. Mathias realised he had two choices. Use his powers to attack the invading armies or focus on shutting down the homeworld portal. One was a transient solution, only meant to hold off the enemy for some time, while the other was the endgame. The biggest issue was he was clueless about how long it would take him to close the portal leading to Tilrigen or how much energy was required since he had not had the chance to test it out. He did know that opening large portals depleted his energy reservoir faster than water leaking out a smashed barrel. What was certain was he could not do both.

Reluctantly the prince said to Maxim, "Sound the retreat. We cannot hold the city any longer."

Barely had the words left his lips when a crashing noise was heard against the city walls. The remaining civilians began to panic, and chaos descended around the portal as vampires rushed forward, no longer keeping to the line.

Soldiers initially stationed at the wall began pouring into the portal vicinity, dressed in full armour with the House of Havar crest, a shield with a two-headed bird emblazoned on the front. Bringing up the rear, the Duke of Havar arrived on his steed. "Battle positions. Protect the portal at all costs," Brennus ordered his men. At once, soldiers began spreading out in a semicircle around the portal. Brennus caught sight of Mathias and bowed slightly, the prince nodding in turn.

"Your Grace, they have already cut a path through the forest and have reached the walls," the prince overheard one of the soldiers tell Brennus.

'Time. There is no time,' Mathias realised, having seriously underestimated the witches. He made a final decision. The safety of Tilrigen was the top priority. "Maxim, I leave the rest to you and Lannetta. I must begin now!"

Without waiting for the blond man's reply, Mathias immediately began to gather all his energy before focusing it on the portion of the portal weave that looked like a noose. Then, using his powers like an invisible hand, he reached out to pinch at the single vine that looked like a hangman's noose, the part of the weave that prevented inanimate objects from moving through the portal. He knew, without knowing how, that if the noose was removed, the weaves of light would fall apart.

Grabbing one end, he pulled at it, trying his best to untwirl the string. But, to his shock and horror, Mathias felt the string of light latch onto his inner reservoir of energy, sucking on it like a hungry leech. The more he untwirled the string of light, the more energy was drained from him. Mathias was beginning to doubt the feasibility of his plan and quickly changed his mind, deciding that trying to close the portal was a far riskier option than using his powers to attack the enemy, but when he tried to release his hold of the string, the vine refused to let go!

Try as he might, he was stuck, the vine-like string of light clutching on with an unbreakable, vice-like grip. Now, there was no turning back, no other option but to continue trying to close the portal. Mathias began panicking as he realised, 'If I do not hurry, the portal will drain me dry of my energy reservoir as well as my life force. Damn it, I wish I had the time to test altering my own portals beforehand.' The prince resorted to brute force, yanking furiously at the single vine-like string of light. He was so engrossed in the weave that he failed to notice what was happening to the portal itself.

Screams and gasps of horror erupted from the remaining vampires who had yet to cross the portal as it first shrank to the size of a child's height before ballooning to double its original size. After that, it changed continuously in diameter before beginning to wobble and lose its circular shape.

"What afflicts the portal?!" A portal helper yelled out loud in shock as a handful of soldiers looked on, mouths agape.

"Can we still pass?" A frightened vampire asked, his voice cracking in fear, to which another replied hoarsely, "We have no choice but to try. The enemy will leave no vampire alive!" Hearing those words, several vampires took the plunge and ran headlong into the centre of the distorted portal, disappearing in its blue-white glow, but most held back, paralysed in fear and hesitance.

Standing nearby with her hands on her hips, Lannetta took a breather from coordinating the troops long enough to notice the scared vampires.

"Are you awaiting death like sheep to be culled?! Go through the portal now!" Lannetta screamed at the huddled vampires while swinging her sword threateningly. The crowd were spurred into action, hurrying forward once more.

At the city's edge, the crashing sounds had now turned to loud thuds as the enemy began focusing their attacks at the entrance to the city. Each hit directed reverberations through metal and stone, sending bowmen stumbling to their knees as they struggled to take aim from above.

"Incoming!" Several soldiers screamed warnings to their peers as huge boulders flew through the air, headed directly for the tops of the wall. The impact sent debris flying in all directions, but the wall withstood damage, at first.

The witches, however, were not ones to give up easily, launching never-ending waves of projectiles at the city's defences until, with an ear-splitting crash, the gatehouse and part of the wall structure gave way from the onslaught. Within seconds, stone and metal were turned to rubble, and in its wake, dust clouds rose high into the sky, like an omen of death. As frenzied cries of delight rang loud and clear beyond its shattered hull, the city of Hjem awaited its doom.

*****

Lannetta, Maxim and Duke Brennus stood guarding an unresponsive Mathias, who stared unblinking at the portal, even as more werewolves advanced towards them. Lannetta and Maxim had their swords drawn and were covered in splatters of the blood of their enemies, working together in perfect harmony to bring down physically superior opponents. Duke Brennus continued to use his telekinetic powers to repel his opponents, but he was already exhausted, the deeply etched frown lines on his face making him look exceptionally haggard.

A moment of respite between the waves of enemy attacks allowed the trio to take a desperately needed breather. Lanetta leaned on her sword, elongated fangs adding to her furious look, while Brennus swayed on his feet, barely keeping upright.

Maxim's eyes were glued to Lannetta, the words he had meant to say to her for the past five years floating on the tip of his tongue. His gaze was one of desperation, the type a man facing death has when he wishes to confess his feelings to the one he loves, and yet the moment passes, a new wave of enemies approaches, and he never utters a word.

Tired as he was, Duke Brennus continued to use his powers to fight even as he kept track of the prince, the portal and the remaining vampires rushing through it to the other side. Suddenly, an all too familiar flash of silver ash had the vampire doing a double-take, eyes widening in horror before he was mindlessly rushing forwards.

Screams and shouts filled the air over Hjem. The entire city was a war zone, with mini battles on every street.

The vampire royals continued to be a menace to the enemy, setting up traps and ambushes for the advancing adversaries. Duke Henry managed to kill half the witches' regiment, freezing the blood in their veins, before he became the focal point of the wrath of every surviving witch and was severely injured in the retaliatory attack. He was last seen being carried by Helena towards the portal.

With the duke gone, Rose took up the mantle, impaling any witch within her sight with sharpened tree roots hidden underground. Svein and Elimar worked together seamlessly, Svein singling out unsuspecting werewolves to throw towards Elimar, whose touch turned them to stone statues. Rixa carried out her speedy-sneak attacks, constantly flitting out of shadowy corners to stab at the enemy before vanishing into the dark once more.

Back at the portal, Mathias gasped in pain. The prince's mind was cut off from the rest of the world as if trapped in a translucent membranous bubble. Vaguely, he knew that a battle was in full swing around him, but the portal's pull was strong and too much for him to ignore, encompassing his fullest attention. His energy reservoir was depleted, the string now beginning its pull on his limited life force, the torturous pain of which felt like the tip of a knife slowly slicing through the skin of his chest, past muscle, making its way slowly towards his heart.

Mathias fought it to the bone. With one last pull, he yanked the string of light away from the rest of the weave. At once, the ring of light around the portal exploded into tiny particles that shimmered like shards of glass before dispersing into nothingness, sending a wave of energy in all directions and throwing vampires, wolves and witches alike to the ground. Mathias was thrown off his chair before landing several feet away, on his back and in a patch of grass.

He had done it. He had closed the portal linking Hjem and Riogven but at the cost of his life.

Directly after the portal's collapse, an eerie silence fell across the entire city. From point to point, supernatural beings were either killed in action or knocked unconscious from the energy blast. The few that remained conscious were too shell-shocked at the disappearance of the portal to make a sound.

Mathias struggled to draw breath. He could tell these few shallow breaths were the prelude to his last, but he was not upset or afraid. No, there was nothing to fear because Emi had the crystal. She would wait for him, and everything would turn out one way or another. He just needed to find her once he was reborn. Would his memories trickle in slowly as he grew up, he pondered, or would he know from birth? He hoped it was the latter.

The young vampire lay quietly, awaiting death with an air of acceptance few in his position would have had. He had no energy left to move, but from the corner of his eye, he could see the space where the portal once stood.

Embedded in the ground nearby was the banner of the House of Havar, still flapping in the wind. Mathias' tired blue eyes swept the ground, searching for known faces among the fallen, until they found two familiar bodies sprawled lifelessly in a pool of blood, arms wrapped around each other in an eternal embrace. A sorrowful moan escaped the young prince's lips as he stared in disbelief and heartbreak.

'Sorry, I am so sorry,' the prince cried silently, unable to look away.

As his vision began to darken, footsteps approached from the direction of his feet, out of his line of sight, until a pair of muddied, bare feet stood directly by his head. Mathias dragged his eyes upward to meet those of the newcomer. It was a naked woman, one he had never seen before, and she was staring down at him with open hatred and contempt. 'A wolf,' he assumed. Mathias looked into her walnut brown eyes, overflowing with fury, and smiled.

'I won,' his smile arrogantly conveyed to the enraged woman even as Mathias drew his last breath.