"Revenge."

Aurelia spoke with a sharp, prepared look on her face.

Her gaze then hardened—

She looked at the burn marks, the blood, the broken roofs, and then she turned back to Kael and—

"Pure, unbridled revenge.

One that ends with blood."

She spoke, this time her voice was even heavier, and Lavinia...

"That’s... vain."

She spoke, her expression shifting into discomfort.

Revenge sounded good, she knew that as well—actually, she knew that better than anyone—but...

Revenge itself came with... multiple responsibilities, not to mention the reward is usually never as good as people think it is.

Most revenge was indeed... vain.

And Aurelia agreed.

"Yes.

It is."

The Sky Serpent General nodded, not denying it one bit.

"And that is why it works."

She answered.

"Because revenge gives people something they can feel in their bones."

She looked toward the Stonefang warriors gathered around their wounded with clenched fists.

"Stonefangs understand revenge,"

She spoke with a solemn look, like she understood these people better than the two.

"It’s part of their blood.

These people aren’t thinking about the deaths and future implications their actions would bring. They only have one thought in their minds right now—

Their people hurt.

And unless those who hurt their people are hurt in return,

Their hearts will never be at ease."

Kael and Lavinia stared at the Stonefang warriors and their hardened faces, and while they were trying to understand them—

Aurelia turned towards the Velmourn soldiers who were having a discussion amongst themselves.

"And Velmourns are no different."

She spoke.

"They pretend they are above it.

But they are not."

The General then turned back to Kael again and her gaze sharpened.

"Remember,

Fear creates uncertainty.

Uncertainty creates fracture.

Fracture creates... death."

Her voice then grew colder.

"But revenge?

As vain as it is,

Revenge creates one thing quickly."

"What?"

Kael swallowed.

"Unity."

Aurelia answered without blinking.

Lavinia frowned at those words, her confusion was clear. She couldn’t make a connection between revenge and unity.

Aurelia looked at her and began explaining—

"When a leader takes revenge for his people, his people—no matter how divided—feel one thing at their very core.

He stands with us.

That is what you need.

Stonefangs or Velmourns does not matter.

Their relationship, their generational hatred does not matter either.

What matters is that when they think about this in the future, they do not remember the deaths, the destruction, and the panic—

They remember what their leader did in return.

How their leader stood up for them, how their leader lost his mind and returned with blood.

That bloodied image—

That is what you must imprint on their minds.

That is how you make them follow you."

Aurelia took a slight pause, letting Kael absorb her words, then—

"Hit back.

Hard.

Loud.

Public.

And bloodied."

"And then what? If we take revenge, nothing would stop them from doing the same."

Lavinia countered.

It was a weak counter, something Lavinia wouldn’t have normally said, but... it was clear that even her head was a mess after seeing the sight today.

Aurelia, on the other hand, was used to much worse sights.

"Nothing’s stopping them from doing it even now."

She answered.

"This is war, Lavinia.

Attacks like these are a common sight.

They may—no, they will attack again, regardless of what you do.

But the next time they do attack—

They should be afraid.

They should remember that cowering sight, that destruction, that answer you gave, and they should fear it.

Next time they attack, they should look over their shoulders, they should doubt their own leaders, their own actions.

Next time they attack—

It shouldn’t be instantaneous. It should come after multiple sleepless nights and uneasiness."

The General spoke, her voice now becoming even heavier.

Kael’s breathing deepened.

Aurelia looked at him and stepped closer.

"The enemy’s goal was to make your people doubt you.

So your answer must be something that makes them believe you again.

Do not let this go."

Kael’s gaze flicked across the quarter.

He saw Stonefang children wrapped in blankets, shaking.

He saw a Velmourn soldier standing with an empty look on his face; no one knew what he was thinking.

He saw Vandra kneeling in the snow, blood covering her entire hand. In front of her was a Stonefang child she was staring at, a child she couldn’t save.

His throat tightened.

The people... they were devastated, both Stonefangs and Velmourns.

He then also remembered the ants.

The tiny bodies.

The twenty that didn’t wake up.

He remembered Imperia’s tears and...

As if that was a wake-up call—

Something... dirty inside him woke up.

Something... that he had been suppressing his entire life but had been losing control over ever since he came to this world.

The red in his eyes changed, and he looked back at Aurelia—

"Do you have a plan?"

He asked directly in a rough voice.

And Aurelia—

"I do not."

She shook her head immediately.

It was so quick that for a moment, both Kael and Lavinia were taken aback. For a woman who had been telling them how important revenge is for the last ten minutes, she seemed... oddly unprepared.

Aurelia understood their expressions and—

"I do not understand the Stormcaller territory well enough to come up with a concrete plan. I do not understand the Stormcallers other than the basic information I had beforehand. I do not understand the cloaked beings who are with them. I have nothing.

What I do know, however—

Is that your attack shouldn’t come with weeks of planning. It shouldn’t come after a council meeting. It shouldn’t even be tomorrow.

You strike while the blood is still warm.

So the enemy understands what this means."

"Without planning...?"

Lavinia blinked.

She did not like that one bit.

Aurelia looked at her, knowing exactly what she was feeling and—

"I have seen him fight.

I have seen what capabilities he has.

I refuse to believe that someone who can take down my entire unit alone wouldn’t have the means to move against a mere tribe that has been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries."

Aurelia then looked at Kael and—

"Do not disappoint me."

She spoke directly.

Then, she turned around, as if her work here was done.

"This isn’t just an isolated tribe. They are not alone, you know that."

But Lavinia raised her voice, calling her back.

Aurelia paused, then looked back at Lavinia and—

"And you have me."

She spoke.

"If I cannot be compared with some people who like to play pretend, then I do not think I belong here."

The General then once again looked at Kael and—

"Those cloaked beings are nothing. Even my soldiers couldn’t stand against you; they wouldn’t be any different."

Then, after a slight pause, Aurelia said something else—something she had been noticing for a long time—

"You cannot be prepared for every single battle, keep that in mind.

There will be battles you hadn’t predicted, battles you wouldn’t have the time to plan for, and if you avoid those battles fearing something unpredictable that might happen—

You will never win many wars.

So while you can wait here, plan for weeks, or even months, then execute a perfect attack when the distrust and doubt in your people are already sown,

Or you go now and show the enemy what it is they are dealing with."

Then, Aurelia paused, accessed her Sanctuary again, took out a crystal, and threw it towards Kael.

Kael caught the crystal and recognized it immediately.

It was a recording crystal.

"Whatever you do, whenever you do it,

Record it so your people can see.

Make them understand that no matter what, you are still standing together with them."

The woman then turned around and started walking, making it clear she had no intention of staying here any longer.

"And like Drakthar’s Princess said, make sure you make arrangements so that attacks like these can be prevented in the future. I do not want my people to be woken up early morning for something we clearly had no hand in.

We helped today out of goodwill, but it better not become an everyday occurrence."

The woman spoke without looking back, then went to her soldiers, gathering them around without looking at Kael or Lavinia again.

The couple stared at her; they had complicated thoughts in their heads. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Should they listen to her advice?

They wondered in their heads.

Revenge was good, but it would push the inevitable war closer—

A war they were absolutely not prepared to fight yet.

But then—

’You should do what she said, Father.’

Kael heard a voice.

A voice he hadn’t heard in a while.

’Igni...?’

Kael blinked.

Ever since he was hurt in the battle against the Sky Soldiers, Igni rarely spoke, mostly because he spent all his energy resting and healing.

’Are you saying... you want to attack?’

Kael asked with a careful look on his face, and Igni...

The Dragon had a simple answer—

’Imperia cried.’

And that changed everything.