I woke up.

The smell of blood taints the air, fouling the atmosphere with a putrid stench. The sky is hazy as red-tinted smoke rises from numerous craters that litter the ground.

“Father! Jessica!” I shout, looking around. A scene of total devastation.

Bodies strewn everywhere, all bearing the United Forest emblem. I fly around, looking for signs of my father. All I see are burnt out bodies. Then I see a shadow passing over me.

“Please! Help!”

The shadow comes closer and I breathe a sigh of relief until I see two claws extend.

I instinctively fly out of the way and go to the forest. I look back.

“Where did the owlet go? We cannot let her escape!”

“She’s only a child. I don’t think she’ll get far.” says a deep voice. “Messenger, inform Lord Toto that the mission is a success. The Northern Owls are wiped out.”

He kicks a body aside.”

“And a few others.”

“Yes, Commander Lucidious. Lord Toto brings news. This entire area is to be wiped. As we speak, the unworthy are being rounded up into camps and killed. The plan is working.”

I’ve heard enough. I flew away remembering my fathers words. To Arbonoc.

I flew past hordes of owls running for the East (The food there is great! And so are the chances of not being executed) and patrols roam the skies at night.

Within a day, the North and West fell to the South.

I lived off the Forest, eating berries and hunting my own rats. Occasionally, I passed people who told me what was going on. I remembered what my father told me about the Forest.

Many times there were close calls to being detected by patrols. So, I traveled during the day. I traveled alone.

And the South will rue the day they heard the name Amelia.

I continued walking and flying and eating off the wild, and then one day, I saw an Eagle fly by. They were huge, and were the largest I’ve ever seen. Suddenly it dived towards me, only to be taken down by a huge owl with a frog on his back.

Thinking that it was a Southern Owl, I flew away as fast as I could. With a thump, it lands behind me.

I see a beautiful owl land, shake his hair out of his face.

“Someone’s here.” the frog says behind him. “Let's get out of here.”

“Agreed.”

I decided to follow the duo.

-----

“WAKE UP!” whispers a loud voice into my ear.

“Should I get more cold water?” asks a voice.

“Well, seeing as we are giving her a drench and a half, sure go ahead.” replied a sarcastic voice.

“Yeah Linton.” I say quietly.

“She’s awake!” Ipzitch said.

I look around. We are inside the fortress but it seems around us are dead Southern Soldiers.

“Yeah, you missed out on all the fun.” Lucinda says.

“Are you ok?” asks Duey.

“Yes.”

“According to this map,” Lucinda says scrutinising it, “We are on the path to the Mountain View of the North.”

“There’s nothing left there.” I say. “Everything there is dead.”

“There are reports that the Western population has grown rebellious. Maybe we should strike there next?” Linton suggests.

“I know a place we can hide.” Duey says. “Follow me.”

He takes to the sky and flies away and we follow him, trusting his judgement. Within a few minutes, I realise where we are growing.

Porto Corsa. A western town notorious for its rebelliousness and its underground gang violence. We arrive there at a scene of chaos.

Death lurks in the street. Owls and birds are falling left and right.

“In here.” he says, ushering us into a bunker. As my eyes adjust, we see it’s packed to the brim with blades and gear.

At our questioning looks, he replies, “This was my parents home. The Gimli tribe.”

The Gimli tribe. No wonder his parents were wiped out. In the 100 year war, the Gimli tribe was the only gang willing to stand up to the south and directly help the war effort. For these actions, they earned trust in the criminal underworld and commanded respect everywhere they went.

As if reading my thoughts, Ipzitch said, “No gang would have done this. None of them have eagles.” indicating a skeleton in the corner of the room.”

Then, we hear a giant screech from outside. Peeing outside the window, we see a giant army assembling.

“Join the Southern Forces in their conquest of Arbonoc and the Eastern states!”

As they marched, the rhythmic clank of metal claws against the ground caught our ears. Hundreds of owls, with masks and metal claws and armour clank against each other, each with the dreaded symbol stamped onto their wings.

“Pay attention. We’ve recently received word that Amelia and Ipzitch’s team may be in the area.”

Turning to us, Ipzitch says, “A siege of Arbonoc with the forces they have here, won’t be easy for us to handle.”

Then, we see wolves come out of the darkness.

“Alright, you take the commander.” says a familiar white wolf.

“Yes sir.”

“Everyone else is with me.”

They sneak up behind a building, and it is then, I realise who it is.

“Hey that's Snow!” Ethan remarks. “You know the wolf who betrayed us.”

“But why is she attacking them?” I am confused.

She pounces up, and takes down the commander, out of reach of his army who are taking flight.

Holding her paw against his neck, she whispers, “You have one chance to tell me where Ipzitch and Amelia are or I will take off your neck.”

“I… I only received orders that she might be in this city today… I… ” but the rest of his words are cut off by his neck being cut off.

“Find her.” she says to her followers.

“Barricade the door, quickly.” Ipzitch tells us.

Acting quickly, we block the door up with blades and cupboards and books.

Using our bodies to hold the door shut, Ethan remarks, “I knew getting fat would help one day.”

The wolves come closer.

“Hang on Snow, I’m smelling something here.”

Snow comes over.

“Jackpot.”

A large thump bang and echoes throughout the bunker, shifting dust from the ceiling and the light flickers. We push ourselves against the door, and prepare for the worst and the door bursts open.

Snow looks around for a bit and she sets her eyes on me.

“Long time no see. Quickly, get out of here. They are coming back.”

“And why would we trust you?”

“They promised me that my two friends wouldn’t be killed. Also, pondered what Amelia said.”

“About choosing the right side?”

“And let's face it. I can’t change the past, but I can help change the future. Follow Ben, he’ll take you to a cave.”

A wolf comes in, picks up the injured Duey and runs away, and we follow him in the air, while Ethan hops behind him.

I look for a place to land, and I see a cave with Ethan and Linton signaling us to land.

“Stay here. There is a large unit of owls approaching. Snow and I will handle it.”

A Southern Owl flies down to check the cave, but I instinctively react and grab him and smash him into the wall, where his skull is crushed by Ipzitch.

“Lucinda?” I ask, realising she has disappeared.

“I’m right here.” says a voice next to me.

“Where?” says Linton, snortling, “I can’t hear you.”

“See you, fool.” Ethan says, rolling his eyes.

“It seems, when you sense danger Lucinda, you turn invisible automatically.”

But my attention is diverted by an unusually quiet Duey.

“Do you think I could have done anything? To save my brothers?”

“No, you were spared.”

I wait for him.

“Should we have buried them somewhere better. Near home?”

At these words, I shed a tear. But thinking of something I turn back.

“They were buried near the spirit forest.”

“You’ve been to the spirit forest?” says a voice. “I thought you were here to liberate not going on holiday.”

Looking towards the Misty Mountains.

“Arbonoc is under siege. A massive siege. Traitors have risen up out of the woodwork like maggots. We’re under a civil war, and we are alone.”

I look up to Snow.

“Why did you switch sides?”

“These.” she said and she hands her a picture.

“Prisoners?” I ask.

“No. Worse. See those chimneys?” She points to the picture. “Ashes of those the South deem impure.”

I see the line of owls going into the room with the chimneys. None come out.

“Hundreds and thousands of dead owls. All North Owls.”

“It seems the South is harvesting Aggressium orbs for their forces. At this point, we have knowledge of the five major types of orbs they use..”

“One, self-detonation. At the cost of the user’s life, the user creates a massive explosion around them. This is the orb used against most armies.”

“The other 4 are nicknames speed, spike, power and death. Not much is known.”

“Wait, wait, wait, the Southern Owls are blowing themselves up?”

“No. They force prisoners to take the orb and use it in the midst of enemy armies.”

---

“So why did you change to our side?”

Snow looks outside.

“In wars there isn’t really a good side and a bad side. Judging which side is good and bad is really based upon your own side of the war. In the South, you are the glorious soldier, born to purify the Forest. The other side? From the North, you are fighting legions of unjust crusaders.”

She turns to me.

“However, if you put on specific morals, you will find a good side and a bad side. In this war, both sides are evil. Your side however, is obviously the morally just side. After I escaped, they killed my parents and my entire family.”

She laughs.

“Really, that liberated me. By removing the one thing I cared for, they essentially gave me no reason to stay behind.”

She leaks a tear.

“I’m sorry. They said if I followed their orders, I would be safe and so would my family. I had my regrets, I thought they would live up to their name and not harm them but they did. I thought wrong.”