My chest tightens as I bend a knee, bowing over his grave. I keep one hand to the stone, letting it flood me with sickly cold. I expected fear—I’m standing over two corpses. Instead there is only grief.
I’m sorry races through my head, a hundred times, a thousand times. Memories of him flash just as quickly, from when he was a young boy to the last time I saw him, and sentenced him to die. I should have found another way. I curse myself, and not for the first time this morning. I could have kept him alive somehow. There was a chance. Even in Archeon, during the siege. Something could have been done. There must have been a way—and I just couldn’t find it.
Some days, Mare tells me to move past it. Not to forget, but to accept what has been done. Some days, she bleeds with me, retreating to blame herself as I do the same. And some days, I can only blame him, blame Elara, blame my father. I was just a boy too. What was I supposed to do?
The wind turns icy, a sudden gust howling through my jacket. I tighten against the cold, letting heat flood my chest.
Maybe I should have burned him. Given his body to flame, and let the rest of him go where it willed, carried on the wind.
But like always, I could not let him go. Even now, I cannot let Maven go.
I never will.
My face is already wet when the rain comes.
While the Nortan Civil War officially ended with the abdication of King Tiberias VII, dissolving the Kingdom of Norta as it was known, the cessation of hostilities did not occur until several years after. The conflict that followed was known as the Dancing War, as each side stepped when the other did, matching move for move in a stilted, halting fashion.
Only through the efforts of Montfort and the Scarlet Guard did the fledgling Nortan States manage to hold off invasion attempts from both the Lakelands and Piedmont. It was outwardly a defensive war, with the Nortan States maintaining their borders. However, the Scarlet Guard and General Diana Farley in particular were often accused of infiltration and interference within sovereign nations, attempting to encourage Red and newblood uprisings against Silver governments. The War of Red Thunder two decades later would bring those efforts to fruition.
Diplomatic maneuvers were also integral to maintaining a shaky peace in the eastern nations. The once Queen of the Rift, Evangeline Samos, was ultimately able to intervene on behalf of Montfort and the Nortan States. She treated with Queen Cenra and her successor, Queen Tiora, several times over the course of the Dancing War. Together with the former King of Norta, Tiberias Calore, she was also able to negotiate peace among the former Silver houses still chafing under reconstruction. Premier Leonide Radis, a Montfortan Silver who was elected to the office after Premier Dane Davidson, was a stalwart ally to the Silvers of Norta who gave up their titles.
By the time of Red Thunder, the Nortan States were largely settled, and therefore escaped much of the turmoil that gripped the Lakelands, Piedmont, and the territories of several Prairie warlords. Most notable in Red Thunder was obviously the Storm of the Citadel, an electricon mission to destroy the Lakelands’ largest military installation. In an assault led by Mare Barrow and Tyton Jesper, the fortress was torn apart by lightning.
The Nortan States were not without their own troubles before and during Red Thunder. There were several Silver-led efforts to return a Calore to the throne of Norta, largely in support of Tiberias Calore’s two children as they grew up. Both Shade Calore and Coriane Calore broadcasted their own abdication, renunciation of rights, and citizen pledges to Montfort several times, hoping to quell any conflicts of succession to the former Nortan kingdom. Ironically, Tiberias Calore was a general in Red Thunder, as was Mare Barrow, and both defeated the forces that were hoping to elevate their children to the old Calore throne. At present, the States are governed by a mixed council of elected representatives and military officials. Unlike Montfort, the Nortan States also utilize blood speakers—one individual elected from each of the three blood groups to represent their own. They are currently Jemma Harner of Delphie, Cameron Cole of Harbor Bay, and Julian Jacos of Archeon, representing Reds, newbloods, and Silvers, respectively.
Research into Silver and newblood abilities continues to this day in facilities across the continent, with Montfort leading the charge. The current premier, Nortan-born Kilorn Warren, prioritizes education, and thereby history and science. The Montfort efforts of discovery are the best funded among the organized nations. Most integral have been human subjects, specifically second-generation newbloods who have volunteered for blood testing. Clara Farley-Barrow is a name well known to scientists, as she is a half-newblood, half-Red observed nearly since birth. Her ability to teleport presented in her teens, which is considered a common age of discovery for newbloods.
Many breakthroughs have been made in the past decade. It is now a largely accepted belief that radiation from the Calamities caused many humans to mutate, with most dying off. Those who survived developed abilities over the course of generations and became the Silvers we know today. Scientists are also circling the general hypothesis of competitive evolution. They now believe that Reds were constantly evolving alongside Silvers, and the presence of Silver abilities forced some Reds to adapt abilities of their own for survival.
At present, the Nortan States, the Union of the Lakes, and the Piedmont Federation stand in alliance with the Free Republic of Montfort. All have democratic governments with equality of blood at their cores, unlike the Silver-led nations of Tiraxes and Ciron and many fiefdoms of Prairie. Some detractors accuse Montfort of empire building, as it appears to hold sway over the other governments. The balance of power has certainly shifted, and the remaining Silver nations strive to maintain peace with the Equal Alliance. Some are making strides toward their own transformations. Tiraxes, for example, is introducing equality laws and representation for its Red citizens, while the Warlady of Fourskulls in Prairie recently married a Red.
Who can say where the paths lead, or how the scales may balance in another decade? I suppose I can, but that is my curse. To watch, to see, until the ending of all things. We destroy. We rebuild. We destroy again. It is the constant of our kind. We are all a god’s chosen, and we are all a god’s cursed.
—JON