The captain turned to his men and shouted, "Earth mages, step forward!"
Several earth mages did so, confusion marring their expressions.
I grabbed Casper's and Jasper's hands, giving them a squeeze before stepping away. "Aimon, could you come with us?"
"Sure, bug. What's your plan?"
I motioned for Aimon and the rest of the earth mages from the imperial guard to step forward with me. "We need to fix this, and with all of our powers combined, we can rebuild. Will you try?"
Each of the guards nodded their heads in agreement, but most of them looked skeptical that we could do it.
For an ordinary earth mage, thiswouldbe impossible due to the level of magic power it took. Most mages weren't capable of it, but with Aimon and me and our connection to Hexarium, I knew we could.
I lifted my hands, palms facing downward. The ground trembled in response to our combined power as the other mages did the same.
"Robust earth that holds so hard, I call upon your element to bring me stability and guard," we chanted, and our words vibrated through the earth.
With a surge of energy, the mages and I sent our power through the ground, and it responded.
From the earth, solid stone morphed and shifted whereas other homes were rebuilt with conjured wood.
Our voices resonated with insync power, and the structures that were remnants of their homes took shape once again. Walls materialized, roofs reconstructed, and shattered windows reformed as the magic weaved its way through the ruined area of the capital, breathing life back into it.
Sadly, I was not capable of breathing life into the mages that were lost within the homes during the attack. Their vessels remained in the structures where they had died, and there was nothing I could do about that--it was a brutal reality of monster attacks.
I could sense the mages in the guard running low. A couple of them passed out due to how low their magical exhaustion levels were, but Aimon and I pushed forward.
We conjured vines up some of the walls and entwined new growth and flowers that bloomed. The vibrant colors brought a sense of victory after the volatile battle.
Aimon and I both stumbled, and the guards still standing fell to the ground, barely able to keep themselves up.
Aimon's fingers threaded through mine, and he squeezed my hand. "Smart thinking."
I turned toward the survivors and the rest of the imperial guard. "Let this be a symbol of our resilience and unity together. Wewillrise above any adversity. No matter what happens with the Revivium Empire. The Lethium Empire is our ally, and we will stick together and fight against anything that calls themselves anew world order."
The survivors and the imperial guard members erupted into applause, their earlier suspicions seemingly vanished.
"Thank you." Empress Lovington moved forward and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug. I let go of Aimon to hug her back. "Thank you for doing this for our people."
"I'm sorry we couldn't stop lives from being lost," I murmured back to her.
"Go and rest," Emperor Lovington stated, noticing the way I swayed when Empress Lovington stepped back.
Silas was the one to move his arm around my waist and keep me steady. "We will head back to our room and try to get some rest before we must leave in the morning."
"Thank you again." The emperor and empress nodded their heads respectfully.
Jasper's darkness shrouded us as he shadow-jumped us back to our room.
I wasted no time shrugging my robe off before throwing myself into the bed. Exhaustion settled deep in my bones. "I am so tired."
Jasper plopped down on the bed next to me and started to rub my back. "You have a bleeding heart, goddess."
"Only had one a few times... Okay, maybe more than a few..." I muttered sleepily.
"I meant metaphorically, not literally," Jasper chuckled, moving closer to me.
"I don't like the fact that your heart has been bleeding that much," Bastian admitted, running a hand down his face.
