Wynd Academy
Small Victories

The elevator finally stopped about a mile down, the doors opened to reveal a grand domed Temple, with an altar in the direct centre.

"Over there" Atlas shouted, the team finally reached the altar and placed the Crystal... mere moments after doing so, they began to sense a change in the air.

Above the ground, the sea of light rapidly receded from the city, revealing what remained of Terrana. What had once been a city just as advanced as Ishtall was now just a desert of white dust. Moments after the sea of light had vanished, a huge downpour of rain fell from the skies. After a few minutes, Atlas, Logan, Yana and Hannah walked outside, Logan looked up at the sky, and felt the cold rain on his face.

"Good job" Atlas smiled "Let's get back to Ishtall, see if our help is required."

In a Grand Palace of Light, built with huge white marble pillars and grand statues all holding up the heavy roof, sat Lumina, on her great throne. She was observing Una Academy, with a disappointed look on her face.

"Amanda, you failed me..." She sighed, switching the view to the Imperial Throne Room in Aranei, Amanda was cradling her son, Rory, who was passed out in front of the throne. He looked badly hurt and was missing an eye. Lumina smashed her hand against the arm of her throne, shattering it into pieces.

That night, at Wynd Academy, the whole school was celebrating the victory over the Empire, having regained control of the city below, Pyre was also in attendance, even Wynd finally left his office and joined the celebrations in the Grand Hall.

Outside, Roisin was sat on the edge of the airpad, looking down at the city lights below, Dex approached her and sat down beside her, he put his arm around her.

"How are you holding up?" Dex asked.

"Sore, but better" Roisin smiled, she rested her head on Dex's shoulder "You?"

"I still can't believe all this time I've been friends with the Imperial Princess" Dex chuckled nervously.

"Not only that, but you confronted her, back in the woods before Rivenlake" Roisin laughed.

"I wonder... can I still be friends with her? I mean, by all rights I should hate her for who she is, but I don't" Dex pondered, looking down at the ships in the harbour.

"I guess only time will tell really, I think now we finally have room to breathe, we won this time" Roisin smiled.

"He's still out there though" Dex looked down "and he wants our heads..."

"We'll be ready" said Ashe as she and Ariel approached from behind, taking a seat next to Dex, Ariel placed a small kiss on Ashe's cheek, then looked at Dex.

"Dexter... I" She began, then sighed, she tried again "Dexter, I'm so sorry for what I let my family put you through all these years ago, I should have broken away sooner, but I guess they'd broken me... not that that is an excuse" She looked down.

"Look, you stood up to him, for Roisin, that means everything to me, you stood up too him despite the fact that it means severing the ties to your past forever, that's bravery, I think... I still want you to be my friend" Dex smiled, Ariel smiled back.

"Aww look at you lot" Atlas laughed, approaching with Hannah, Logan and Yana "Mind if we take a seat?" he laughed.

"Feel free, Uncle!" Roisin cheered, they all took a seat beside Roisin.

"Quite the day..." Logan said as he laid down, with is feet dangling off the edge of the airpad.

"Lumina will be want to get back at us in time, but for now we celebrate" Atlas took a deep breath and looked up at the starry sky.

"Um, who is Lumina?" Roisin shrugged, Atlas looked over dumbfounded.

"Wait... you guys didn't even know about Lumina?" he said with a stunned expression across his face.

"No?" Ashe said, worriedly.

"She's... the one behind what happened in Terrana" Ariel explained "I met her once, shortly before my mother sent me here, she's pretty scary, she's far more powerful than Rory."

Roisin sighed and looked down "Well that dampens the mood a little."

Atlas laughed as he stood up, he walked over to Roisin and put his arms around her "Don't worry about any of that, she's going to be licking her wounds for a good while yet, you just gotta use this time to better your craft... and, you know... to enjoy yourself again, it'd been a while since you kids have been able to do that" Atlas smiled as he stood back up. Roisin looked back at her Uncle and smiled.

"I'll try" She said, looking back at the city below, Dex squeezed her hand, and she put her head back onto his shoulder.

In the Imperial Hospital, Rory was laid in a bed in a coma, he had a huge scar on his arm from his own sword, his throat was badly bruised, which would permanently damage his voice, he wore an eyepatch over his missing eye, in times past, he could have simply gotten a Crystech implant, but Crystech had abandoned their Aranei HQ a few nights ago, taking all their technology and research with them.

Amanda was sat by his bed, holding his hand, in her other hand, she was looking at a dossier that Imperial Intelligence had given her, it had files on Roisin, Ashe, Dexter, Logan and Atlas, not that she needed a file on Atlas, given the two had been childhood friends, turned enemies. Amanda sighed, and put the dossier on a table beside the bed, she sat back and closed her eyes.

The door to the hospital room opened, Amanda opened her eyes.

"Lumina" Amanda said plainly.

"I warned you of the consequences of failing me, and, for failing me, you will indeed pay, your precious Empire will be dust, and unlike Terrana and Ishtall, no one is going to care if it falls" Lumina stated, she looked at Rory, and smiled, before walking out of the room.

Amanda shot up "Wait" She shouted as she opened the hospital door, the corridor outside was empty, aside from the two Crownguards. Amanda fell to her knees, her world was soon to crumble before her, and she was powerless to prevent it.