The Queen of the Light Elves gazed out across the wasteland. They had won the war, but at great cost. So many had perished; the near immortal elves, the masters of beasts, the noble dragons and their riders, and the children of the sea were all cut down before their time. The losses weighed heavily upon her soul.

Her eyes shone with tears. The once green fields were now desecrated with black magic and slick with the blood of the fallen. Her nostrils clogged with the scent of death and smoke from the smouldering bodies. Her ears still rang with the echoes of talons that clashed in the sky as fire met ice.

She turned to the golden-eyed king of the Elementals. "It is time."

Summoning lightning from the brooding sky, he held aloft the Light of Elysium and directed their combined might upon the dark mountains. An endless wall of obsidian rose up between the jagged peaks and turned transparent as it disappeared into the firmament.

She poured her magic and as much of her life force as she could afford into the barrier, which would protect Elysium from their enemy in Tartarus.

Life had lost its lustre and her eyes sought out the heavens, where the call of her ancestors was strong. Yet she could not leave this realm while her daughter, Princess Celestia, was still so tender of age.

The Elemental King caught her as she collapsed to the ground. "Will it hold?" he asked, his brows knotted.

She nodded. "Elysium will be safe for hundreds of solars. But there will come a day when our descendants will need to stand against the darkness once more."

..........