The fall of the Shining Isle (!MAJOR SPOILER!) Also major crying warning.

The last of the story. (There is one before this that I recommend reading first as it gives this one some more context. Once it is out, I will put a link to it in the comments.) P.S. You may cry reading this.

Artham awoke in the middle of the night after the ball. He heard shouts outside his bedroom door. He leapt up and got dressed. He ran out the door and saw a group of soldiers running by.

"What is going on?!" He called after them. "We are being invaded!" One yelled over his shoulder. And with those words, all the joy, all the peace, all the beauty of the kingdom began to crumble and crackle into ash. Artham felt his stomach turn to ice and he ran as fast as he could to Esben's bed chamber. He banged on the door and Nia opened it with the children around her. "Esben's in the treasury Artham." She said, her voice slightly strained but still calm and queenly.

"Thank you, Nia, stay here and stay safe." He said, racing off down the halls. He flew down the stairs to the treasury. He threw open the doors and saw his brother frantically looking through some books and scrolls. "What is going on? Why are you down here?" Artham said, his voice straining with concern.

"Artham they've come! We have to hurry I fear we don't have much time." Artham was catapulted back to the day a year ago when he and Esben had been sitting here speaking of the darkness growing in the Killridge mountains.

"Who has come?" "The things from the Killridge mountains! Horrible beasts that look like lizards and have venomous fangs. Artham, there are millions of them." "We have to do something! What is the plan?" Esben's head fell against his chest, and he looked up with bright tears running down his face.

"It's too late Arth." He whispered. "While the ball was happening, they were already in the towns, ransacking and setting fire to everything." Esben explained, trying not to sob. Artham felt dizzy, and nearly numb.

"The people Esben? The people!" He grabbed his brother's shoulders and shook him. Esben turned away.

"Only a handful escaped." He choked out. Artham's hands dropped from his brother's shoulders. He felt faint and he ran his hands through his thick dark hair. He had no words, nothing he could say or do to fix this. And then wave after wave of crippling guilt washed over him. He should have been watching, he never should have let his guard down. He should have been there and saved the people but now? Now it was too late. What was done was done and now more than anything he wished he could turn back time and have done more. But time cannot be taken back, and actions can rarely be undone. "Artham, they are breaching the gates. Please, get the children out with Nia and her father and his wife. You have to save them!"

"I'm the Throne Warden Esben! I cannot leave you! I- I can't!"

"Please Artham, you have to save them!" Every single bit of him told him he had to stay here with his brother years and years of training and natural instinct to protect him flowed through him. But he saw the desperation in his brother's eyes for his family to be safe. He was torn in two, and his eyes flicked back and forth trying to decide what had to be done. He felt tears running down his face and tried to be strong for his younger brother's sake. He slowly backed away.

"Go Arth! Please!" His brother begged quietly. He slipped a bundle of packages into Artham's hands then pushed his brother towards the steps. Artham ran, he ran with every drop of strength he had. His mind screaming at him for leaving his brother and one word echoing in his mind. Protect them. Protect them. SAVE THEM! He burst into the bedchamber and grabbed Janner up in his arm. Nia's grandfather Podo took Kalmar and merely nodded. Nia scooped up Leehli and Podo's wife had a small bundle of things over her back. "Follow me, quickly." Then they fled, they ran through the halls of the brilliant castle. Artham ached deep inside with all the memories that flooded him, all the feelings and senses and beauty of them crumbling before his eyes. Tears streamed down his face and Janner buried his own little face into his uncle's chest as he too, sobbed in fear and hurt. A huge BANG Shook the castle to its very foundations. Artham shielded Nia and Janner from the ruble raining down from the ceiling. They escaped out the back, running towards the river that flowed through this once mighty kingdom. Artham looked back and nearly stopped right then as he saw the horror that this night had brought. Flames licked the star's above, and everything seemed to be crying out in agony from the pain of the people. The castle was crumbling, and Artham felt himself die a little inside as he saw his entire life fall before him. He handed Janner to Podo and the bundle to Nia. "Get them to the boats docked in the river, I- I can't leave him." Podo opened his mouth to say something, but Artham was already running back to the castle. Some reserve of strength still left in him started to build and he seemed to fly over the ground, barely touching it while he raced to save his King, his brother, the person he had sworn to keep safe. He came alive in a new way, as the grief and ache turned into a burning fire. If you could have seen the Throne Warden that night you would have thought the Maker himself was carrying him across the fields urging him onwards, breathing into him. He came upon a legion of the Fanged creatures, and he plowed through them, picking up one of their weapons. He flew across the drawbridge into the flames. Then he heard a scream to his right and turned to see Arundel being pinned to the ground. He stopped for a second too long, unsure of what to do torn again between his duty and his love. Then he felt a spear come to his back and a rough hand shove him over. He leaped up again to see hundreds of Fangs. He saw his brother being dragged out of the castle, limp and unconscious. He saw Arundel being beaten and whipped, put into shackles, he saw a legion running the way he had come, towards the family he loved, towards his nephews and nieces. He knew the power of one man could do nothing against this, even if that one man was the Throne Warden. He looked around him, flames and crackles engulfed him. Pain and ache turned to numbness as he sobbed. "I tried, I'm so sorry. I tried." He whispered to no one. The fangs ghoulish laughter poured from behind him. He wanted to fight them, but the pain he felt overwhelmed him, and he fell to his knees, screaming with anger into the night. Then a blow came from behind and all was dark. The last thought he had; the last image was the castle Rysen burning to the ground. His mind flashed with images of Anniera, of beauty and love and then of it all crumbling. The pain he felt could not be described and he welcomed the deep peace of unconsciousness. The fangs smiled and Gnag grinned from a ship in the harbor, rejoicing in the fall of the Shining Isle, and with it, the end of hope in the kingdom. Except for three children, sailing away on a small ship towards the small township of Glipwood. Guided by the Maker's hand. A groan split through Aerwier, the Shining Isle was no more.