Sous turned the page to the diary, confused. All the other pages were blank. "What the?" She said, skipping ahead in the book.
"I think thats when she was placed in the portal, she was probably tricked," Clarence said.
Sous did a double take looking at him, seeing that he looked the same, nothing aged about him. It made her think of Shadow.
"You don't look like you aged at all," she said getting up from the chair and closing the book.
"Vampires are immortal," he said.
"I thought only patriarchs were," Sous said.
"What did you learn?"
"The witch in Grim aided Apex; the Alphas wanted power. Thats all they ever want. Even under a good leader, that's what they want," Sous exclaimed.
"So what does that tell you?" Clarence asked.
"I think...I think Apex should come to an end," Sous answered. "Even if I become Alpha, the Alphas could override me or my successor." She shook her head, surprised that this seemed to be the answer.
Sous was given word of a safe house in Groken where Tany was. She was informed many of the ghettos were being liberated and now it was time to get back into action.
Those Sousland flags didn't seem so bad now. Canas was never unified. Different districts had their own rules and regulations, nothing like Nadia which had a single official language, education, system, bill of rights, justice system.
Sous spread her wings and took flight toward the west.
What had been lush hills and forests turned into desolate plains and blackened fields. The stench of decay scented in the air, burnt rubber, rotting flesh, and the metallic tang of old blood.
Below her, the remnants of a battlefield lay scattered: rusted armor, splintered spears, the occasional gleam of a discarded blade catching the afternoon sun.
Weapons such as guns, swords, lingering magae was seen from above.
The wind carried the scent of charred wood and sulfur, pressing against Sous' wings as she banked lower, skimming just above the wreckage. Her shadow flickered across the broken terrain like a fleeting ghost, there one moment, gone the next as she passed over the hollowed-out husks of war machines.
The Groken tree came into light, the green magae lifting up from the roots to the branches.
The wind brushed against Sous' wings as she descended, her talons scraping against the brittle bark of the Groken tree. The scent of damp earth mingled with something sharper, burnt herbs, perhaps, or the lingering musk of old spells gone stale.
The tree pulsed faintly, its veins glowing an eerie jade where the bark had split. The safe house loomed, half-buried in the tree's massive roots like a hidden cyst. It was a structure of warped wood and rusted metal, windows boarded up with planks that had long since grayed with age.
She landed on the outside but was soon let in. She walked past the soldiers of various species and went to the communicator.
"Sous to Dimona," Sous called out.
"In," ahe heard back.
"I plan to unite Canas under one government and entity. I will need assistance and move forward with adjusting the plans," Sous said.
"Over," she heard back.
Sous folded her wings tight against her back and stepped deeper into the safe house. The air inside felt thick, heavy with the smell of unwashed bodies, boiled root vegetables, and the faint copper trace of blood that never quite washed out of the floorboards.
Lanterns hung from roots overhead, their light wavering across faces she had not seen in months. A one-eyed orc nodded at her. Two centaur sisters whispered when she passed. A human boy, no older than twelve, stared openly at the scars that crossed her wings like pale lightning.
Tany waited beside the communicator, arms folded, eyebrow twitching with impatience. When she saw Sous, her eyebrows lifted and she offered the smallest tilt of her head.
"You are late," Tany said.
"I stopped to read the battlefield," Sous answered. "There is nothing left worth saving down there."
Tany grunted, then turned to the map spread across a crate. Red lines slashed across districts that had once belonged to ghettos. Blue circles marked places already free. Black crosses covered the rest.
Sous studied the map. The Sousland banners had begun appearing again in the east, small at first, then larger, stitched by hands that remembered the old stories. People wanted something to follow that was not Apex, not the endless cycle of Alphas tearing one another apart for scraps of power.
Outside, wind rattled the boards nailed over the windows. Somewhere deeper in the tree, a child began to cry and was quickly hushed.
"You know what this means," Tany said at last. "The moment you declare it, there is no turning back. Every clan that fears losing its name will come for your head."
Sous reached out and rested a hand on the wolfkin's shoulder. "I wont be getting rid of the clans. I will be uniting them."
Tany looked at the hand, then at Sous, and for once she did not pull away.
The communicator crackled again. Dimona's voice returned, calm and cold as winter steel. "Sous. The council is listening. We shall form a plan with the Queen and Prince as well as commanders."
Sous leaned close to the speaker. Every soldier in the room turned toward her. She felt their eyes like brands.
"I offer Canas a future that is unified in onr system," she said, loud enough for all to hear. Sous straightened. The weight of the words settled on her shoulders like armor. She looked at Tany.
"Tell the others," she said. "Tell them the age of Apex ends tonight."
Sous spread her wings once more. The safe house door creaked open ahead of her, letting in a blade of cold night air. Beyond the roots of the Groken tree, the first stars appeared, sharp and bright above a land ready to be reborn or burned to ash.
She stepped into the darkness, ready to choose which it would be.