Forty six

" Sophia." She heard Malika call from behind her.

" It is time." Malika stated leaving without another word.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror and bit her bottom lip to hold back tears.

She then took in a deep breath not even bothering to put on a fake smile.

Today was the day of the war, the age long battle between magicians, elementists and shapeshifters was going to end today. But she wasn't sure if she was going to be the one to end it.

Every single soldier was present at the Lodge, a grand hotel like building near Orion valley. Markus Griffin, A vampire owned the building and he allowed them to stay there free of charge.

*Flashback.*

" You can repay me by ending this war."

" Why?, Why are you doing this? This isn't your battle."

" It's not. My wife belonged to your fraction."

" She was a-"

" Shapeshifter, a part shapeshifter. She was killed by a magician."

" You want revenge."

" No, I want justice. There's a huge difference."

* Flashback over.*

She stared at her reflection once again and drew in a shaky breath. If someone had told her last year that she would be leading an army, a supernatural army to war, she would have called 911 immediately. She had grown so much in the past 11 months and few weeks. She found out about her origin, she had learnt how to speak up, she had become stronger, physically and emotionally.

She opened the door of her suite and stepped out. The royal mantle trudged behind her with each step she took. She had tried to talk the Elders out of it but they wouldn't budge.

*Flashback.*

" The mantle must be worn before the battle, it signifies your authority as the leader of this fraction." Elder Yvonne explained.

" And the sceptre?, Why does the cloak thingy have to be purple?, I am not of royal descent."

" The sceptre also represents the the same thing. And while truly you may not be from a royal blood line, your position makes you classified as royalty. You are the queen of our fraction."

* Flashback over.*

If there's one thing Iris had come to realise, it's that Supernaturals were dramatic and extravagant. The purple velvet mantle trailed 7 feet behind her and the sceptre, from its weight appears to be made of pure gold.

The guardians bowed as she passed by them, each one dressed in their official uniform. Rose made eye contact with her and gave her a small nod before bowing.

" This is it." She muttered as she threw the door of the assembly hall open. The room was filled to the brim with thousands of soldiers. She licked her lips as she climbed the stage to address them.

She passed the sceptre to Rose who gingerly took it from her. The entire room fell silent the instant she opened her mouth her mouth to speak.

" I am not going to start off this speech by greeting. If I do, I'd just be pretending that everything's normal…but it's not. I didn't prepare anything because I don't know what to say. I don't know how to motivate soldiers that prepared to fight a battle that some of them may not survive." She paused, and then continued.

" I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I'm tired of living in fear. I'm tired of constantly training for a war that was brought about by a feud I knew nothing of. I just want to live like a normal teenager, as normal as a supernatural can get."

There were chrouses of agreement in the hall.

" But I won't lie to you, I am scared. I'm absolutely terrified because I could possibly die. But I won't let my fear control me, instead I'll let it motivate me. I want you to be courageous, for courage is not the absence of fear. It is mastering fear. I am going to master my fears because I don't the people that come after me to live in fear."

Her voice rose with every word she spoke.

" Today I fight for justice, today…I fight for freedom."

The soldiers began echoing a chant that soon filled the hall. Malika and Elder Moira stepped forward and unclasped the mantle from her shoulders. She knelt as Elder Yvonne and Elder Nimah swirled some war paint on her face. She stood up and her eyes began to glow as the chants grew louder.

The crowd parted as she made her way out of the hall with the guardians in tow.

Malika watched as their army lined up outside the building. Thousands of soldiers stood proudly with determined looks on their faces.

" Sophia."

" Yes Malika?"

The Elders gathered around Iris and held their hands. They muttered a few words and as they spoke, Iris felt waves upon waves of power enter her.

" W-w-what-"

" We passed our powers to you."

" B-b-but-"

" Don't worry about us Sophia, go and win this."

Iris look forward and saw the magician army. They were no doubt more prepared for the war than she and her army would ever be. Rose passed her the flag and she held on tightly to it. She watched as the general of the magician army plant the flag firmly in the ground. The instant she planted their flag, the war began.

She charged forward with only one person on her mind. She killed anyone who stood in her way. A Saevus ran towards her but she side stepped just in time.

" Impediendum motum!"

She paralyzed him before sinking an arrow into his heart.

" Ecreptias!" A magician yelled behind her but she ducked right on time. She grabbed the female magician roughly and twisted her arm till she heard a satisfying pop.

" Somnus." She whispered in her ear before tossing her body to the ground.

A rather brave Metus approached her and tried messing with her head. She just rolled her eyes before snapping his neck.

She heard a scream and turned to see Irene pinned by a Saevus. She threw daggers at him giving Irene enough time to finish him.

A puppy jumped on her and licked her face. It took all her willpower to tear the animal in half. She felt slightly better when the carcass morphed into a magician.

" Corathian." She mumbled. They like taking the form of innocent things.

She sent a blast of fire towards a group of magicians, roasting them alive. She tried as much as possible not to cringe at the perfect sear she had left on their flesh.

She kept on walking but then suddenly paused which was a dangerous thing to do on a battlefield. Pride swelled in her chest as she watched her soldiers fight. They were certainly not going down without a fight. She watched Seb cast spell upon spell rendering a huge number of magicians motionless. Rose was on a rampage in her animal form killing dozens of magicians as she advanced. She noticed the team work between Tiara and Logan and grinned. The two worked together effortlessly.

She was knocked down by a gust of wind but she quickly got up. The magician that had knocked her down sported a cocky grin on his face which caused her to chuckle.

" I was expecting someone rather than a measly teenager. A female as a leader, how embarrassing."

' Sexist bastard.' She thought.

She stomped her right foot on the ground sending a torrent of spikes towards him but he jumped up right on time. She used his moment of distraction to her advantage and shifted into a tiger before tearing him apart with her claws.

" Iris!" She heard someone yell. She turned to see Cole on the ground, wounded. She ran over to him before shifting to her human form.

" Cole." She cried cradling his head. She stared into his eyes as she applied pressure to his wound. His usual crystal eyes appeared darker than usual, it looked grey.

It wasn't until he attacked that she realised it wasn't Cole.

" Metus." She muttered as the magician went at her abdomen. She cried out in pain as she felt the sword tear through her suit till it tore through the skin of her stomach. She stumbled back before glaring.

" Oops!" The female Metus giggled.

Blinded by rage, she blood bended.

She felt oddly satisfied by the surprise that crossed the Metus' features. She began controlling the Metus like a puppet enjoying every moment of it.

' Stop.' The voice in head warned and she did.

She picked up the limp Metus and threw her to the real Cole who gladly took her and finished her off.

She stumbled slightly as she made her way forward.

' Blood bending drains you.' The voice whispered.

By the time she had gotten to the last line of the magician defence, her suit had already been drenched with blood.

" Finally." She heard a deep voice say.

She looked up and saw him, the leader of the magicians, Kosher Aspen.

" Aspen." She breathed.

" Elysian." He replied mockingly.

" I finally get to meet the high and mighty Iris Gonzalez."

" I would say it's nice to meet you but then I'd be lying."

He chuckled.

" It's over Kosher, surrender."

" But where's the fun in that. I have waited for this day for years Elysian, I'm not just going to surrender. If you're able to beat me. I'll surrender."

" Fine."

" Exhauriebat!"

She dropped to the floor and rolled right before the spell hit her. She jumped back up firing arrows which he skilfully dodged.

She sent a gust of wind in hopes of knocking him down but he channeled it towards her instead.

" Air is my element!" He exclaimed.

He punched her in the abdomen, right where the Metus had cut her, on the wound that was slowly healing. She let out a howl of pain and he laughed.

" Are you ready to give up?"

" Over my dead body."

" Seems like it would be very soon then."

She sent a bolt of electricity to him causing him to growl. They fought for what felt like hours but it was obvious that Kosher was more powerful.

He began throwing rocks at her. She moved swiftly as she tried to avoid them but failed as the rocks hit her shoulders knocking her down. She tried to push herself up but her arms buckled and gave way.

" You are weak."

" You've killed enough, you've had your revenge! Why won't you stop?!"

" I'll stop when I have wiped out every single shapeshifter and elementist there is."

" Don't they mean anything to you?, Your soldiers are dying!"

" They don't mean anything to you either! If they did you wouldn't be covered in their blood."

Kosher stooped over her and brushed her hair back chuckling. As Iris stared into his eyes, she saw nothing but pure madness.

Kosher noticed the necklace hidden inside the material of her suit and yanked it off, damaging the thin chain. He accidentally tapped the pendant and an image of Iris and a male locking lips was displayed.

" Boy toy or boyfriend?"

She snarled in response.

" Definitely boyfriend. He'll be the first person I'll kill, after you that is. He threw the pendant and said,

" Ecreptias."

The pendant exploded in mid air.

" No!" Iris exclaimed weakly.

As she laid on the floor weak and tired, a part of her wanted to give in, to surrender. But she looked around and saw her soldiers fighting. She watched as Ara charmed magicians turning them against each other. She was Carmen, despite losing his arm, cast spells. They were also tired, but didn't give up. They kept fighting.

' Let me go. Set me free.'

She closed her eyes,

And she let go.

***

Kaixo!

It took me 3 days to write this. I knew how I wanted the chapter to begin and I knew how I wanted it to end. But everything in between was blurry.

But I finally finished the chapter.

If you were Iris, what would you do to Kosher?

Stay safe 😷.

Bye!!