The war is over. The dark lord has been defeated, but my warriors had to continue fighting mini battles from pockets of rebels who still insisted on fighting the rule of the king. They were no match for our warriors. The king and all of us were tired of needless bloodshed. We remained at the makeshift war tent for a couple of days, coordinating with all the other regions and bringing order. After the third day, we start teleporting warriors back to their region or home group.
Queen LaDonna went back to her coven to get all the magics back on track and deal with the remaining dark witches. The decision to allow them to live was a tough one, but it was argued that the fact that they survived a hit from a light weapon showed they were not purely evil. While we didn’t expect them to walk completely in light magic, Queen LaDonna reminded us it is still necessary to have balance in the world. We need some darkness to balance the light. Even if we killed them off, there is nothing to stop other witches or magics from turning dark. As long as there is light, there will also be darkness. In the end, we all agreed with her wisdom and left it up to her to deal with them.
The king made Torrance an ambassador to negotiate and speak for the rebel shifters. Torrance traveled with the king throughout the kingdom, letting the rebels know his grandfather lied to many of them. Councilman Avery never intended to share any power with anyone. Torrance also told the other shifter about how the dark lord was manipulating and controlling many of them. Even after hearing things from Torrance directly, there were still some shifters who wanted to fight for power. They were quickly dealt with. The king reminded them that although he does not abuse his title; he is the king of all shifters, as the moon goddess ordained from the beginning. He has allowed each shifter group to be autonomous under their own leadership and historically, that leader has sworn allegiance to the king, just as the alphas of packs do. As of now, we will go back to the old way of doing things with Torrance being the one the shifters will deal with directly.
It took us about a month to get everything back to normal. Most warriors, alphas, and other pack leaders got back to their home packs within a week to start rebuilding and giving their injured time to heal. Because we could teleport the injured out of the battle immediately, we had a minimal loss of lives on our side. I wish I could say that there were no lives lost, but death is the cost of war. Those warriors lost were given a proper hero burial. The king and protector team attended every burial and made sure the families will be well cared for.
During the rebuilding period, the king focused on strengthening relationships and rebuilding the supernatural council. Councilman Avery was not the only traitor on the council. There were three in total, and they were all eliminated. Torrance took his grandfather’s seat on the council. Trusted elders in the shifter community filled the other two. The other shifter and the king highly respected them. Julian also became more involved with the rebuilding efforts. He felt it was time the vampires became more visible and transparent with the supernatural community. There have been too many misconceptions within the supernatural community. It is our goal now to build, educate and restore. Surprisingly, the spiritual and political leaders in the human world also reached out to me, as it became known that I am their defender against all dark threats. Although our worlds will remain separate and unknown to the general public, we are also trying to forge a good working relationship. There will be a shifter representative in human government, well, an official one. There are already shifter politicians who have not revealed their identity, and we agreed to keep that secret, even from this new committee.
Jarvis, Julian, Torrance, and I traveled with the king a lot. We wanted to show the supernatural community that they were just as important as the shifters were. They saw we were united in our efforts. Some were more accepting than others after the word spread that I had been blessed with the power of light, besides being the chosen protector. There was a small group that wanted to either kill me or kidnap me. That quickly backfired. Anytime someone approached me with ill intentions, my dagger would light up and a beam of light would hit them. Their thoughts would be revealed, and Jarvis would kill them on the spot. Let’s just say that it did not take long for the word to get out and people stopped trying to get close to me in that way. I’m sure there are still out there plotting, but if they get within a certain radius of me, they get exposed and dealt with.
I have been in contact with the angel Gabriel a few times since the war. He and I have developed a friendship. He is like an older brother to me. Jarvis was jealous at first until he realized angels respect the mate bond and value love and commitment above everything else. Gabriel started training me to call forth and use weapons of light. He was impressed with what I was able to accomplish on my own without training. Now I am a fully trained warrior of light. Tamaska even received an awesome armor made of light that appears when we shift. According to Gabriel and councilman Bari, this is the first time in history that light and moon powers have blended this seamlessly. They both said it was because my heart has remained pure. Both the Creator and moon goddess have seen my heart and know that despite all the pain I went through, I never allowed the pain to make me bitter and allowed any dark feeling such as hate to invade my heart. When given the opportunity, I still wanted the best for those who hurt me or plotted against me. The final thing was when I was willing to sacrifice myself to save the world. Only one person before me was ever willing wholeheartedly to die for the world and everyone in it. There is still so much more for me to learn. Gabriel said he will be there to guide me when needed. He is always just a spiritual call away. Gabriel also let us know that although we will have a period of peace, there is another evil rising that will be more sinister than the dark lord. It may not happen in the next generation, but it is coming. Gabriel said that since the dagger of destiny chose to share its power with me, it will be my job to train the next bearer of the dagger when the time comes and train them. If the dagger chooses them, they will also be blessed with the power of light. We don’t know if that person will also be the Protector. All we know at this point is that the person will be a descendent of an original and possibly within my bloodline. We believe they will be a direct descendant of Jarvis and me since we both come from strong pure-blooded families and we are both descendants of original moon warriors. I am the first warrior who is both, moon and light, blessed, but I am hoping I will not be the last.
For Jarvis and me, we have a new normal. We are learning to balance our lives as alpha and luna with our responsibility to the supernatural community. Fortunately, there have been no major uprisings requiring the protector or the warrior of light. Our pack is excited that our pack is second only to the royal pack. They have accepted me completely for who I am. I love that when I am home in our pack; I am just Luna Seleste. I train with the warriors as always and play with the children. I work alongside Jarvis in our pack businesses and occasionally hang at Jazzy reciting my poetry.