The New World

Cassandra left the ship as Mia and several soldiers entered from the bottom, wiping the blood from her face and trying to get it off her clothes. After a few minutes some Legion members were escorted out. Some enraged, some terrified. Most merely compliant. She sat by with Roxanne, neither saying a word. Merely letting the morning sun warm them.

"You think Mia's gonna be fair to the Legion kids?" Cassandra asked, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

"Hope so." Roxanne sighed. "Think we should help with that? I interview them and try to get them back to their families, you make sure they're stable and step in when they aren't, and Julian can work on healing them if they're sick."

"Honestly doesn't sound too bad. Something to do, at least" Cassandra sighed as she fell back, almost hitting a man's shoes. She sprang upwards in a panic, grabbing her weapon and pointing it at the mysterious figure. Who turned out to be Marcus.

He was there in the castle. Not moving, not reacting to anything. And that continued on the rooftop. Remaining nonchalant with his hands to his back, even with a spear pointed in his face.

"What do you want?" She asked, taking a step to ensure Roxanne wasn't in his line of sight. For whatever he could do.

"Well, I just wanted to congratulate you on your victory." Marcus said calmly, laying a finger at the spear and slowly moving it away from him. "After all, it's not every day I can witness Aspacia's daughter fight for what she believes in."

Cassandra's eyes widened at the revelation. She turned back to Roxanne, who looked just as stunned.

"You know my mom?" She asked.

"We came with the same purpose." He said calmly. "But if you want me to elaborate, I'm afraid we'll have to be alone."

Without saying anything, Roxanne went back into the castle through the window. Marcus sat down, and Cassandra sat opposite, laying her spear between the two of them.

"So." Marcus began. "What do you know about Aspacia?"

"I know she's my mom."

"And that's it?" He asked.

"We didn't get a lot of time to catch up." Cassandra replied. "But anyway, how do you know her?"

"Like I said, we had the same purpose. We were sent from a higher plane to guide this world when humanity emerged."

"So are we aliens?"

"We're more like gods."

Cassandra stared blankly at him. His demeanour didn't shift.

"I should clarify Aspacia and I are gods. It's a process you have to undergo, so a child of a god is mortal in all but status."

"Okay, so if you had to guide us, why did you team up with Chelic?"

"Well, guidance can be anything. Some just choose to align with interesting people. I thought his idea of taking the world back from those who doomed it was interesting, and possibly noble. But he went mad from power, tale as old as time. It's a bad trend amongst mortals who ally with us. And Aspacia tried sending you to save the world. And it seems she succeeded."

"Okay, succeeded?" Cassandra asked. "So what, you just pit mortals against each other for fun? To give something to report to your god bosses?"

"This world you inhabit is just one of millions. Possibly billions. Possibly more than that. And when humanity is established, gods from different alignments have to come and guide the world. These gods clash until one is left. Some fight themselves, and some get mortals to fight on their behalf."

"So when does it end?" Cassandra asked.

"When a god either dies or gives up." Marcus shrugged. "And I gave up. So congratulations on the new world."

He stood up, and for the first time a smile crept onto his face.

"I'm in for it now."

He stood at the castle roof, waving to Cassandra one last time before jumping off. And when Cassandra looked down, he was already gone.

Luminita was allowed back in her castle after a few hours. She would obviously be helped later on, but everyone else had their own issues to address. She looked around her destroyed castle. She walked past the crude graffiti and walked around the smashed chandeliers. She walked upstairs to her fathers room, which had it's doorway covered in tape. But nobody was around to stop her walking in, so she did that.

In front of her was two bloodied corpses. One was apparently Chelic himself, but his faced was bloodied and maimed to the point she couldn't tell. And on top of him was Xander. The man who caused her so much pain, dead in front of her. Looked painful too, with the snapped neck and bloodstained head. And yet, she couldn't help but shed a few tears for him.

She left the castle and took one more look at it.

She didn't want the castle.

She didn't want the title.

She didn't want any of this.

This was something she was forced into over the course of a few days. She wanted to persue medicine, for god's sake! She was nineteen years old, had almost no life experience, and suddenly she was being put in charge of one of the grands alongside people at least twice her age?! Nothing about it made sense!

She grabbed her phone from her pocket, breathing heavily as she brought up Mia's number. She looked at it for a couple seconds. Anger was building up. Anger that Mia didn't deserve. She stopped for a second, and finally called the number.

"Luminita?" Mia asked. She sounded concerned from the get go, which was probably the most reasonable tone to have.

"Look, Mia…I'm done."

"Excuse me?"

"Ruling Sangaria. I…I won't be able to do it. Once the crisis is over, I'm turning the place into something more democratic, like Inariu or Fightston."

"Right now?! You don't want to guide the people to-"

"No, actually!" Luminita yelled. She regained her composure.

"I want to go back to medicine." She said calmly. "It's what I've wanted since my mother died, and once I have a successor is chosen, I'm going back."

"I see." Mia whispered. "But have you-"

"I'm not changing my mind. Goodbye, Mia."

Luminita took one more look at the castle. What she'd even do with it, she had no idea. She went back for what could be the final time, calling Willow to see if she was still around to talk.