The heat of the fires warms my entire cold body – the only soothing sensation in the entire mess. It rages out of control, not sparing a single building as far as the eye can see. Water pours off the blazing houses – snowmelt to join the rivers flowing through the streets. My castle is no exception, with its great pillars engulfed in tongues of fire. A balcony I used to frequent collapses under its own weight and crashes to the ground.

If the fire is an effect of the disaster, the black specks would be the cause. Except closer up, they could no longer be called black specks. They are humans, or possibly even Angels. It is hard to call them humans, for they have pairs of magnificent wings like the Angels. At the same time, Angels have beautiful feathery wings of white. While these wings are indeed still feathery, they are the darkest black.

They circle around above. A woman runs down the street, screaming for her life. This is enough for one of these Black Wings to spot her. It dives after her, knocking her to the ground. Like a savage animal, it claws at her in an attempt to take her life.

She holds her hands out, releasing a massive burst of water magic at the Black Wing. The water surrounds its body and freezes, rendering it nothing more than a statue. The woman pants to try and recover her energy, but it’s only momentary relief. The ice dissipates around the Black Wing, seemingly being absorbed into the body.

The woman screams as the Black Wing comes back to life. Her scream is short lived when it holds its own hand out, and shards of black ice fly out of it, piercing the woman’s body like knives through a slab of meat. She involuntarily shudders before falling still.

I try to find a survivor, but that woman seemingly is the only person around with a hint of life. Nobody can be inside the infernos of the houses. My only hope is they are somewhere else in the kingdom not subject to this disaster. Yet even all the way on the eastern side, I can see buildings burning next to the Lural mountains.

Muriel pants beside me from her run. “This is awful. To think the fairy tales are true…”

“What fairy tales?”

She holds her bow at the ready. “We don’t have time to explain. But do not use magic for any reason, all right? Keep calm and they might not see us. They’re pretty high up.”

“What do you mean ‘do not use magic’? You said my magic might prove useful one day. Is this not the type of situation you referred to?”

She grips her bow. “No. Do not use magic for any reason, or you will die.”

I understand in that moment I am no longer leading Muriel along; I am following her. She has the power of knowledge over me, and my best chance of survival is to go along with her commands.

“What do we do?” I ask.

“For now, we’ll need to find our parents. Your mom is the most important, since she’ll know what to do.” She chokes on her words, doing her best to stay stoic. “My parents are mere sentimental value.”

We creep through the river of a street, staying as close to the houses as we dare. A collapsing roof reminds us to keep at least some distance from their black blazes.

Corpses litter the streets in every direction. Some of the luckier ones simply lie dead. The unluckier ones have gaping wounds with crimson blood washing away from the snowmelt river. It does not take long to realize another difference. The “luckier” ones all wear simple peasant’s garb, the style of a Level Zero. The more brutally murdered ones are in tunics and gowns. The better the clothes, the higher their level, and then more brutal their body.

The castle looms ahead.

“Look! Lights!” Muriel points at the castle’s base.

Fire cracks much like in the rest of the city. Yet this fire is a brilliant yellow and orange, not the black and grey rippling through the kingdom. It has to be magic. From its sheer brilliance, I know who is its caster.

Muriel and I break into a run. As I suspect, my mother is the source of magic. Hundreds, if not thousands of Black Wings circle around her, diving in for the kill. She beats them back with fireballs, but they serve very little purpose. Other than the physical impact pushing them back a tiny bit, most of the magic seems to get absorbed into their bodies. It all seems so futile from a woman who only yesterday incinerated twenty Level Fours through powerful shadow magic with only a word.

“Mother!” I shout.

She places her hand on her heart. “Thank the Angels you are all right.”

I run up to join her. I might not be able to provide much in the way of support, but perhaps I can hold them off enough to escape.

Sheer horror spreads through her face. “No! Do not come near me!” She stops with the fireballs and instead fires off a constant stream of fire which creates a type of physical barrier between use and the Black Wings.

I say, “So even you can get scared. Come on, we have to escape while we have a chance.”

The strain from the sustained fire assault shows in her body as her arms and legs shake under the pressure. “I did not mean them to stay away. I meant you. I am going to die, and I do not want your spirit to have to pass through the Gate of Heaven with me.”

I grip on her free hand. “I will not leave you. I can heal you while you fight, and we can escape.”

“Escape? Escape where? The gate is sealed, there is no pass through the mountains, and the forest—the forest might actually work.”

Cracks form in her flame barrier. The Black Wings will break through at any moment.

She grips my free hand even tighter. “Do not try and join me beyond the Gate of Heaven. You have a long life to live still. Pass through the forest and find the elves on the other side.”

“The elves?”

“I do not have time to explain. Show them the emerald on your neck – it has more power than you know. They shall know what to do.”

The fire breaks. My mother squeezes my hand. “I’m out of magic for the day. Run.”

Letting go of her and running is the hardest thing I have ever done. The Black Wings are too focused on my mother to notice me. They descend on her is a flurry of wings and darkness, tearing her limb from limb. Her screams only last a few seconds, so I know she did not suffer for long. I try and fight back the tears for a woman mere hours ago I had planned to poison to death.

The Black Wings release a torrent of black fire around the massacre. They corrupt any magic they touch. It is in that moment I realize the city is on fire because of my mother’s attempts to defend it.

Muriel grabs my hand as soon as she can. “What did she say?”

“She said something about going through the forest and finding the elves.” The forest looms in the distance.

“Is that fairy tale true as well?” she asks.

Even I have heard of a fairy tale of wise and cheery elves beyond the forest. My mother used to read me stories of weary adventurers passing through the forest, split from their hunting parties, and finding a vast city of elves in a city by a massive body of water.

“It is a fool’s hope. My mother knew her time had come, and was praying beyond hope for my safety. No, I will not listen to her. We have to make it to the Gate of Heaven.”

Muriel’s eyes widen. “You can’t be serious. The entire kingdom couldn’t push that thing open, much less the two of us!”

“The Angels will save us. They know what is going on and will open it. They wish to see their children survive this curse I wrought on us all.” A Black Wing shrieks above, creating that same horrid sound we heard earlier when the castle had been in one piece. A wall crumbles from the castle, kicking up a white cloud of dust below.

Muriel can only march forward. “A fool’s hope or another fool’s hope. The forest or the gate. Both are going to be the deaths of us. But you should honor your mother. Go to the forest like she wanted. I’ll follow you to the depths of it and we can starve to death together instead of getting murdered by these things. At least there we have a hope there might be another side, elves or not.”

“No. We are not going to die. We are going to find your parents, and then push on past the gate.”

She lowers her guard. “My parents? There is no way they survived this mess.” Even I can see her eyes glimmer. If she is not crying now, then she will not show her emotions, no matter what the situation.

“There is still a hope for them. If my mom is, or well, was alive, so could they. If you wish to head for the forest, so be it. I am going to press on.”

Muriel sloshes her boots through the snowmelt river. “You’re such a thickheaded idiot.” Despite her words, she does not turn to leave the kingdom on her own. We pass through the streets and try to take the narrowest passages we can find. They may be more at danger from houses collapsing, but they are mostly hidden from view from the Black Wings soaring above. Every so often one would let out that horrible wailing sound, forcing us to cover our ears momentarily.

Muriel crawls between the rubble like a cat, somehow knowing all the right places to twist and bend. She follows her nose and pushes through to the back end of the streets.

Her old house, as expected, is in ruins. Corpses lie around it – the remnants of her five brothers, her mother, and her father. She loses all control and dashes into the open with them. She collapses to her knees, grabbing her father’s wrist. Tears pour out of her eyes, and for a moment, she is a baker’s daughter again – not a retainer for the princess.

I kneel down beside her, checking over my shoulder for any sign of a Black Wing. We should be safe for a time. “I’m sorry,” is all I can say.

She keeps her head down. “I know I should be blaming you. Your arrogance attracted them, if the fairy tales are true. But somehow, I can’t find it in me. Does that make me a bad person?”

I take a hold of her hand, and along with it, her father’s corpse’s wrist. “Wait a second.”

“What?”

“He’s not dead yet. He’s still warm.”

Muriel doesn’t react. “It is only a matter of time.”

I pull out my staff. “You forget. I am a Level Five, specializing in healing magic and light. I can bring him back.”

“Don’t even think about it. These Black Wings are attracted to magic!”

I wave her off. “It will only take a moment.” Before she can get another word in, I call upon my inner reserves and redirect them into the man. It is only a matter of second before his pulse intensifies, and he breathes ever so slightly.

“Eve, stop,” warns Muriel.

I am not going to listen to her. She is the one who told me every life is precious, so why would I keep her father as an exception.

The man groans a bit, still unconscious. I can save him. I can salvage at least something out of this situation.

“Stop! Stop right now!” she shouts.

I am so close. Only a little bit more and he shall be on his feet, joining us. Maybe I could do something for her family as well, although they seem to be much worse off than her father.

A bowstring clangs, and something collapses to the ground beside me. This is enough to break my attention. Not even two feet away is one of those Black Wings with an arrow through its heart. Seeing one so up close and personal sends shivers up my spine. It is not creepy in the slightest. No, it is not a monster. It is a human, like Muriel and me, with a pair of black wings out of its back.

Yet it does not behave as a human. For behind it are hundreds more of its kind, charging at us in sheer bloodlust. I give Muriel’s father one last glance. He fades fast when my magic dissipates, soon returning to the precipice of death.

Muriel grabs my wrist. “It’s too late for the forest now, so let’s hope your ‘Angels’ really do open this gate.”

We flee through the city with the Black Wings in close pursuit. They are so much faster than us. Their wings push them forward two steps for every one we take. It’s not going to be long until they catch up.

My mother stopped them with a magical barrier, even if it had been temporary. Light and shadow magic – the only two non-offensive magics – both have much stronger protective barriers available than the offensive types. So perhaps I can buy us a little time.

I release Muriel’s hand.

“What are you doing?”

I ignore her and hold up my staff. Light glistens off the quartered circle, flashing through the air. A wall of solid light forms in front of the Black Wings. They crash into it, and I can sense it failing from even the first crash. Yet I am able to thicken it, creating a barrier which would have matched the Gate of Heaven itself in terms of sheer physical strength.

Yet this magic draws even more unwanted eyes. While maybe a hundred Black Wings had been following us, an even larger swarm in the distance changes direction, charging at us like a wolf smelling meat.

Muriel grabs my hand again. “Nice trick, but we have to go.”

We race on to the Gate proper. The ruins of my ascension stage lie to our right – consumed by the black corrupted flames of my mother.

I had never been so close to the Gate before where I could actually touch its interlocking chains. The Angels have insisted on a special divine barrier around it. The guards never allowed anyone closer that three hundred feet, unless they were royalty. We never went much closer than that in the first place, and certainly never close enough to touch it.

I shout inside. “Please! Angels! This is Evelyn, Queen of Northern Aldridge. I am begging you to open the gate!”

The gate remains shut – its iron chains standing a stark reminder of our futility.

“Angels, please!” I beg.

“They cannot hear you. There are no ‘Angels’ on the other side,” says Muriel.

“This isn’t the time for your blasphemy. Angels! I need you!”

She notches an arrow on her bowstring and fires it through the gate. It lands harmlessly in the ground, and nothing else happens. “If there were ‘Angels’ on the other side, they’d be rushing out, feeling threatened right now. I’m not talking about their existence. They simply aren’t on the other side standing guard. Nobody can open the gate for us.”

A loud thundering sounds crashes through the sky. I spin in hopes of a miracle. But the thunder is no miracle. It is the sound of my barrier finally shattering under the strain on the Black Wings.

The swarm blots out any light filtering through the snow-laden clouds, and devours any light in its path.

I hold out my staff to make another barrier, but Muriel only place her hand on my shoulder. “It’s too late. There’s no escape. The Gate is closed to us, as is the forest. Don’t put it off any longer. I’m not afraid to die, and neither should you. If what you believe is true, we’ll be passing through this gate as spirits in a few minutes in any case.”

It seems so surreal how an entire kingdom, or for that case, the entirety of humanity can crumble in a matter of hours. I am no longer a queen. I cannot rule, as I am the only one left.

The Black Wings shriek as loud as ever, only a few flaps of their wings away from us. The will be on top of us, and that will be the end of it.

I hold Muriel’s hands. “If this is the end of it, can we end it together?”

She holds my hands even tighter. “You know, I was thinking the same thing.”

We lean together and let our lips embrace each other. I wrap my arms around her, and she around me, sharing in one last moment together. Even the wails of the Black Wings do nothing to pull us apart. I cannot see them, and I doubt she can either, as our eyes are closed in this last moment of passion.

The flapping wings blow my hair all over the place. The light filtering through my eyelids darkens. Something grabs my arms and digs its sharp claws in deep enough to draw blood. From the way Evelyn squeezes my hand a little harder, I can only assume the same is happening to her. But we do not break our embrace for even a moment. The Black Wings are not worth it. They will strike us down in seconds, and we shall escape our bodies to be together for eternity in Aldridge.

My chest feels warm. Or maybe not my chest so much as the pendant lying on it. Bright green light floods through my eyelids. The light only intensifies, soon forcing me to squeeze my eyes tighter in an attempt to reduce the pain.

The Black Wings shriek louder than before. The pain on my arm subsides with their wailing. Something crumbles overhead and crashes around here. Metal snaps, and winds howl. Yet as soon as it starts, it stops. Darkness returns almost as strong as from before the light. Yet there are no more wings flapping, and no more wails. There is only silence as Muriel and I kiss each other in the uncertain world.