The sun beat down on my back, as sweat dripped down my brow. My arms and legs ached as my sword sliced through the human soldier before me. The roar of battle echoed around me as I led the right flank into battle.

I preferred to be on the battlefield. I was not one to watch from afar while others fought for me. This is where I belonged, this is where I thrived. Human blood soaked my blade as I continued to press forward.

On the ridge above us, stood a human man with a large golden crown on his brow. He looked ridiculous. Like a child. How foolish was he to believe that his human soldiers were any match for the might of the fae army?

A woman, far too beautiful to be human, came to stand beside him. Her crimson hair was the same color as her elaborate dress. The human who called himself king said something to her and she bowed to him.

My eyes grew wide as the woman lifted her hands to the sky and they began to glow. The magic forming in her palms pulsed through the air.

“No,” I whispered in horror.

The earth cracked and moaned beneath us.

“Fall back!” My voice roared. I heard the order repeated across the battlefield. Magical shields covered our retreat. The humans did not pursue us.

I looked towards the left flank. There he was. The male with beautiful black wings and amber eyes. My heartfelt as if we’re going to explode.

Someone was screaming. It was me. I was screaming. My heart felt as if it were going to burst and shrivel at the same time. The male’s beautiful eyes grew wide as he understood. His wings unfurled as the earth split open below them and the entire left flank collapsed.

I could barely breathe as I watched those leathery wings lift him from the ground, into the safety of the air above. Half our army was gone, swallowed up by the ground.

A gut-wrenching scream forced its way through my lips as a human soldier flung himself onto the male, my mate. The human’s sword pierced through my mate’s leathery wing, sending them both toppling down, into the gaping pit below them. I surged forward, desperate to get to him, to reach him, to save him. I was quickly cut off by the human soldiers who were now quickly advancing on our remaining forces.

In a matter of moments, we had gone from completely overwhelming the human forces, to loosing.

Arrows were raining down on our magical shields. Each strike of the iron arrowheads weakened the shields.

“Selene!” I looked back to a male with black hair and glowing blue eyes, riding towards me on his horse. Reinforcements had come. Hope blossomed in my chest as I watched the warriors on horseback ride towards us. There was a crackle above us as the magical shields failed. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound would come out. Arrows rained down on our reinforcements. The male at the front raised a small shield, but that too failed. Six arrows pierced through him, knocking him from his horse.

“Father!” I tried to scream, the words caught in my throat. Hot tears ran down my face.

My chest pounded as I sat up in bed. My heart hurt like someone had reached into my chest and was squeezing it. I wiped the tears from my face.

It was not a nightmare. It was a memory. A memory of how I lost everyone I loved. Even now the details were beginning to slip away. I refused to forget. I clung to it as if my life depended on it. Replaying each horrible detail over and over in my mind. Silently, I curled onto my side and whept. Mourning all those I had lost in my previous life.