Valeria.

My hands were placed on the cold glass, a fog surrounding my fingers, trying to reach out to the planet as it came into view. My breath fogged the mirror as I breathed out deeply, blurring my sight until it faded away with the next intake.

The planet hadn't changed a bit in the last 6 months I'd been away, as if it had halted in time and waited. Holding in its breath until it was whole again, until its queen had returned. As we ventured closer, I could feel it pulling at some invisible string that was bound between us. It seemed as if it called me back to life with every mile closer.

I closed my eyes to feel every single thing that followed. A shiver made its way down my spine, a tingling feeling then following at the tops of my fingers, like an itch that was awakening. Something ancient and powerful that finally came from its slumber. The flames within me spurted to life even against the effects of the drugs as if something was pulling at it and dragging it from the pits.

A draft wove over my skin as the warmth returned, welcoming me home. Smiling, I placed my forehead against the glass and breathed in deeply. It was as if I could already smell the nature laced with its exotic scents, feel the wind on my skin.

"I missed you." I whispered under my breath. Even though I wasn't even trying to, flames awakened at my fingertips, waving as if in greeting of the home they had missed. It was only then that I truly realised how much I'd missed the planet I called home. When footsteps sounded behind me I quickly doused them and straightened my back.

"The kingdom of the Vanir." Maul pondered as he halted next to me, his yellow eyes gliding over the green mountains and hills of the planet. He didn't see the warmth of the planet, the strength of the people, the life it held. All he saw was opportunity and power like all the other siths before him. He then glanced to his side, towards me, and examined me closely. "Welcome home, your majesty."

A deep-rooted anger rose within me at his tone. The flames seemed to pound against the fortress I had built around it, desperate to burn the one who'd dare to insult me and the kingdom.

He was infiltrating my planet, desecrating it with his every breath, with every moment he sought its power for his own good. A defensiveness awakened that I hadn't ever experienced before.

It was pure instinct, a primal need to defend my home against every foreign invader. After all, history had told me that sith existing on my planet never amounted to anything good. My eyes narrowed and I quickly diverted my gaze back to the nearing planet before I'd wrap my fingers around his neck and burn him.

"Borovia." I hissed through gritted teeth as we ventured not towards Eagle's Fall, my home, but towards the black castle laying amidst enormous mountains and cliffs. Its towering ruins contrasted against the nature surrounding it, the root-covered buildings reaching up to the clouds. Most of the ruins had collapsed after the fight between Arthas and me, but if I was right we wouldn't be entering the castle.

We would be entering the catacombs beneath. "It's where we'll find it." I concluded and clenched my jaw tightly. Without truly wanting to, my eyes darted to the courtyard of the castle as it came into view. To the place where I knew would lie an old, dried puddle of blood. The place where my adoptive father had died, killed by Arthas himself.

I didn't know how that made me feel. The past few months Arthas had been there in the darkest of times, but I still couldn't deny the fact that he'd been my mortal enemy before. That he'd killed countless innocent life's just so he could get the throne of Valeria. He hadn't even shown a bit of remorse.

Maul's gaze ventured towards me and even in the corner of my eyes I could see the pure satisfaction that appeared in his. "Commander Saxon." He called to his second without tearing his stare away.

Not able to bear his scrutinizing gaze much longer, I turned to return his glare. "Prepare my ship." Maul drawled as our gazes connected, his lip pulling up into a lop-sided smirk.

Right when the commander had turned away, the sith raised his hand to stop him in his tracks. "One more thing, -" Finally Maul diverted his eyes, making me let out a deep breath. What followed however, had me flinching. "- bring me another dose of deathshot."

"What?! No, -" Instantly several hands wrapped around my wrists and upper arms from behind, keeping me from jumping on top of Maul. He only stepped back, chuckling as he watched me struggle, as he saw the sparks now emitting from the tips of my fingers. I pulled against those restraints, snarling furiously, thrashing against their hold. "Are you insane?! We are going to Borovia! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into!"

He ignored me as those eyes narrowed and the yellow flared. "Make it three. The queen is feeling a bit hot headed."

~

"What do you mean bound her to you and Arthas?" Anakin asked incredulously as he followed his former master's hastened footsteps.

The base was thrown into turmoil as everyone was getting ready to depart. Already Obi Wan had informed the jedi council, but it seemed that not one of them could leave their battlefronts and get to Valeria on time, no one but himself. Even Anakin and the clone troopers had been called to a battlefield on Adrena as the Separatists were closing in at that exact moment.

Obi Wan would be left to his own devices.

"I thought she broke that bond when she died!" The younger jedi continued as he glanced towards the other's worried expression.

"She did, Anakin, but this is different." Obi Wan explained impatiently and darted through the clones clouding the hallway. "This is the Firehearts' curse, one that is not based on life alone. It is influenced by emotions, by relationships, it's..." He scoffed before he could reveal too much. "It's volatile and dangerous, but it's the only thing keeping her with us."

Anakin seemed to ponder on that for a while as they made their way towards the ship. "Then why would she want to remove it? Surely she knows the risks?"

"I'm not sure she realizes it's one and the same thing, Anakin." Obi Wan halted in his tracks as the ramp to their ship lowered before them. He directed his gaze to his former apprentice, eyes widened and worried. "I'm afraid she doesn't realize it didn't only bind her to me, but to Arthas too. It's the reason she keeps having these nightmares, keeps seeing him whenever our bond falters."

Obi Wan lifted his gaze to the sky as he let out a deep breath. Every second he'd spent pushing her away, he had only been drawing her towards the very man she'd wanted to escape. Had strengthened the bond between them without realizing it. "At first I thought he was feeding off her, but it turns out he was doing the exact opposite. He was keeping her alive when I had abandoned her." He sighed, defeated, as he put his hands on his hips.

Arthas had been keeping her alive while he had been killing her. Maybe even now the bond between the jedi and her wasn't enough to hold her, maybe it had never been enough. Anakin's expression dropped as he saw the same happening on his friend's face.

"She'll try to sever the connection between her and Arthas." Kenobi stated after a few moments of pondering and again dared to meet his friend's eyes. "And after, I'm not sure what's left to hold her will suffice."

Anakin straightened up as he let it all sink in. "It will." He stated, surer than ever, as he laid his hand on the master's shoulder. "We have to trust her."

The certainty in his eyes had Obi Wan halting in his thoughts. He seemed to break from his trance and instead looked at his friend, the boy he had raised for the past few years, and just looked. A proud smile slowly appeared on his features as Obi Wan returned the gesture, laying his hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Please, don't do anything stupid until I get back."

Anakin scoffed. "I'm not the one that was impaled by a twig."

Much to his own surprise, Obi Wan laughed out loud, the sound echoing over the landing platform. "That is..." He chuckled after, grin staying. "Fair."

Anakin couldn't help his broad smile either as he patted the master's hand and slowly stepped out of his grasp. "We'll be fine, master. All you'll have to worry about is saving your girlfriend."

The smile soon turned into a scowl and his eyes into a glare. Even then, Obi Wan restrained himself from protesting, knowing it would only further raise his suspicion. He sighed deeply and turned towards his ship, climbing up the ladder on the side and sitting down in the lone seat.

"May the force be with you, master!" Anakin yelled right before the glass roof had descended over Obi Wan.

The older man glanced down at the now smaller figure of his former apprentice, not able to help the smile that replaced the scowl. He scoffed to himself as he pushed the buttons to wake up the ship, the engine roaring to life underneath him. "May the force be with you, my friend." He whispered under his breath.

~

"A dead end." Commander Saxon, one of Maul's mandalorian soldiers, sneered as we arrived at a rubble filled end of a narrow mountain pass right underneath the towering ruins of Borovia. Night had fallen, leaving us in complete darkness that was only interrupted by the flashlights equipped on the mandalorian's armour and the red of Maul's lightsaber.

My eyes glided over the rocks that now rested before what I thought had been the entrance, my nails digging into the palms of my hands as my nerves grew stronger. It was no secret that Arthas's castle was one of the most dangerous places on Valeria, and I had come without any trace of power in my veins and the company of a very murderous and cunning sith lord.

The buzzing sound of a lightsaber suddenly sounded right next to my ear, making me flinch away from the heat with a low growl. "Oh please, Maul." I scowled and glared at him over my shoulder as the red light burned into my eyes. My hands strained in their bounds, thick metal cuffs now binding my wrists together. My limbs were feeling like led now that he'd tripled the dosage of the deathshot. "I know sith aren't famous for their patience, but at least try to summon even an ounce."

Maul's glare only deepened in response as he inched the saber closer to my exposed neck. "I don't like to be kept waiting, your majesty." He growled lowly. The sound seemed to echo through the mountain pass, making a shiver run up my spine. Not because I was afraid of him, but of what he could awaken underneath the mountain.

"You're waiting only on yourself, Maul." I nudged my head in the direction of the rubble before us. The blast I'd created when I'd burrowed Arthas beneath his own home must've caused the avalanche. "The entrance is underneath. I would've molten the rubble for you had you not, well... Drugged me." The sentence ended in another low snarl.

Maul scoffed in response and shut off his lightsaber, eyes darting to the path he needed to clear. "No need, doctor." I could feel a draft on my cheeks as he stepped by me and bared my teeth when he nudged me to the side. "I can take care of this myself."

With one swift movement of his arm the rubble before us lifted from the ground. Hundreds of pounds of rocks floated before us, twisting in the unseen grasp he had on them. I couldn't help the slight tremor that went through me after, remembering how powerful in the force he actually was while I couldn't even reach an ember within me. All I had as a weapon now was my mind, and the knowledge I had of this place.

With another wave of his hand the rubble flew to the side, revealing a massive thick stone door. Even after the explosions it had remained entirely intact. Engraved in the stone I saw the symbol I'd been looking for. "Fenrir." I whispered as my eyes took in the lines of his massive form watching over the entrance, seemingly protecting it from any trespassers.

"My cuffs, if you please." I snapped from the trance and turned towards Maul, holding my arms up expectantly and lifted a single eyebrow when he didn't make a move. "Do you want to enter or not?"

"I'll be watching you, doctor." He glared into my eyes before activating his lightsaber, cutting through the steel with ease.

"I have no doubt." A mocking smile quickly played around my lips. "Thank you." I drawled after the cuffs fell to the ground with a loud thunk.

As I turned back I loosened the tight muscles in my arms, eyeing the entrance up and down. We'd tried to open it before, first with care and then when nothing seemed to work with Valeria's strongest explosions and guns but nothing had seemed to work. The gate had been sealed shut and we had had no idea where the key was.

I let out a deep breath as I walked towards the towering gate and placed my hand against the cold surface. Goosebumps arose on my skin quickly after as a shiver ran through me. Even drugged, I could feel the power now exploring, coming from the gate and flowing through me as the eyes of Fenrir lit up with a strange power. All I could do was hope that it wouldn't try to kill me. Even though I wasn't the key it was looking for, it didn't do anything after.

I should've known it wouldn't work. It wasn't looking for a Fireheart, it was looking for its own descendant. "Arthas." Whispering so softly the men behind me couldn't hear, I called out to him with closed eyes. I searched in the darkness for even a single trace of him that I could summon, maybe even a flicker of his presence but the drugs were making it hard to concentrate.

"Come on, you old man." I growled underneath my breath as I heard the men shuffling impatiently behind me and their guns twisting in their grips. I could even feel Maul's searing glare pointed right between my shoulder blades. "I can't do you any favours when I'm dead."

Even after that, it remained silent for a couple moments. Fear started to blossom in my stomach, knowing that if I couldn't get that gate open, Maul wouldn't be merciful. He'd kill me purely out of spite and then dangle my corpse in front of Obi Wan. "You asshole, be useful for once in your life, -" I growled as that dread only expanded. My feet shuffled over the ground as my breathing and pulse quickened maddingly.

"Now, now little dragon." The chuckle in my head had the breath stocking in my throat. He rose from deep within the sea of drugs within me, a plume of ink in the otherwise clear water that expanded exponentially. "That's no way to talk for a queen." His deep voice whispered inside my head.

I scoffed and leaned my forehead against the gate, fighting the urge to smile. "Just open this gate, please." I mumbled under my breath.

Arthas's presence grew clearer with each passing moment until it felt like he was standing behind me, his towering figure all but enveloping me. His arms glided over mine like shadows, his fingers enclosing the ones placed against the stone but when I looked at the skin I saw no hint of darkness there.

"Only because you asked nicely." He sounded amused, adoring even, and was quickly followed by a satisfying click of whatever mechanism worked there. I looked up, seeing the eyes of the wolf flaring with a dark power that made them turn red, before the gate shuffled open slowly with a deep rumble that shook the very ground we were standing on.

I stepped back as the doors slid over the ground, revealing a hallway stretching out into darkness. A cold draft came from the cave and wove through my hair, smelling of death and decay. "Have fun, little dragon." He whispered in my ear before his presence slipped right out of my grasp. As it left, it felt as if it had darted towards the entrance, disappearing into the darkness of the tombs.

"Great." The mumble fell of my lips as I straightened up, eyeing the ominous halls as Maul walked up towards me. I glanced aside, knowing that he was probably the least dangerous creature I'd encounter down there.

But he would become one if he'd find the Aether before I did. Somehow, I had to find a way to keep it out of his grasp and fulfil my own needs at the same time. This will proof difficult.

A deep breath escaped my lips before I lifted my hands in the direction of the gate and smiled broadly. "After you."

Kind of a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoined in nonetheless!

Needless to say, the end is coming my dears. The second book is almost done.

Prepare yourselves.