Author's Note: Sorry I had to give you this like three hours late, but here's the preview of the next book, the Prologue. All you Phoenix fans will enjoy this chapter. Sorry, but everyone has changed, even Phoenix. War will do that to you. please, enjoy. I'll go write the first chapter of this sequel ASAP, and I'll see everyone again in August-ish!!

Preview of AOTFF: Assassin of the Four-Flames

Prologue: The Second War

There was nothing fresh or inviting about the morning that poured over the valley. It clung like the stench of rot, overpowering every other scent, and the dew congealed in an oily film over the plastic tarps, the metal bars, a slime over all the mechanics of war.

"Sir?"

There was no answer to his query, but the man hadn’t honestly expected one. He coughed, grip tightening on his weapon, a crossbow with energy arrows. Though he had known the man in front of him longer than anyone else out here, had been the recipient of most of his rare smiles, his good favor, it was still hard to interrupt him, and calling attention to himself still brought fear.

"Commander...sir...?"

"Don’t call me that, Ryo. We know each other too well for titles."

"All right." The man moved up beside the man who would always be "Commander" in his mind and heart, the title as inseparable from the man as the Amethyst Staff in his hand.

"They’re ready for you. Everything is set, we just need your order."

The blond man sighed raggedly, running a hand absently through his hair and over his face, over his phoenix tattoo. Ryo liked the movement, it was one of the only things that reminded him that his commander was human.

"Do we know how this is going to work out? I didn’t attend..."

"...the meeting? I know, remember, I was there."

His half-sarcastic tone earned him a smile from his commander. On the morning of this battle, it was a welcome good omen.

"The lancers are going to cut around and attack the left flank. We think they should be able to pass through with minimal casualties. There are more of them than even I thought we had. The infantry will follow with an assault on the west edge, hopefully driving some of the Midnights out into the open. Our archers and snipers on the ridge will be waiting."

"Do they know if any of our prisoners are still alive?"

"We’ve had Soldiers flanking them for fifteen miles, but they haven’t been able to see anything."

Light blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"We hit them with everything we’ve got, then. This is our last chance before they push us right back into the Underworld, and we can’t afford that. Stop them now... we have to crush them all. They can’t reach the Mainland University. That’s my order."

Ryo swallowed hard, wincing at the ferocity, the absolute power that voice contained, as if just by saying it, the Commander could make it be.

He can. After his last year here, I believe... he can do anything...

"Yes sir."

Ryo saluted, and quickly walked away, leaving his Commander alone, staring out at the future, at a battle to come, as unstoppable as any natural disaster.

Go hard…or go home.

It had been that tasteless, he knew, the last statement he could remember from that time, the book that should have closed, the time that he should have been allowed to leave behind.

He had been optimistic then, obscenely so, to even think of saying those kinds of words, to think that anything would ever change for him.

As if I would ever have anything to live for...

His men. He lived for his men, for an ever-diminishing number of loyal soldiers, for a group who hadn’t set foot on friendly soil in nine months, who looked to him to show them the way home.

They think they trust me... because I’ve seen hell, and I came back. But they don’t know... that I never left. I never really left.

“Phoenix.”

He whimpered, slamming the flat of his hand into his head, squeezing his eyes together tightly. He could control it now, it didn’t drop him like it had in the past, a lifetime ago. He could even fight through it, if he had to, fight an entire battle while the duty bestowed upon him tried to tear him apart.

“Her Guardian Phoenix.”

He could claw past that too, make a thousand command decisions, lead another army before he collapsing back into his bed in the Yolea University, shivering at the sharp knives being pushed through his thoughts. The fact that it was pure, raw Power, the very source of everything he thought they were fighting for, didn’t seem to matter now.

Go away. I don’t need this now.

“Phoenix. He’s coming. He’s coming here.”

The blond knew that. He had known ever since the first battle that befell Tule that it would happen, but there was nothing he could do about it. There was no way to change anything, all he could do was fight, as hard as he could, the things set up directly in front of him. It didn’t stop the pain, it didn’t change the way his stomach crawled at the terror in his brother’s voice.

“Phoenix. Please. He’ll destroy everything. Please. Help me. Kill him now. Kill him now. Don’t let him return. He’ll destroy everything.”

There’s nothing... nothing... I can do.

“Phoenix?!”

He didn’t know whether that painful cry was real or memory, whether it was really him, or the voice of the Maias, speaking to him in the way that would affect him, hurt him the most. It still ached in a very personal way. It still sounded like Flame, pleading, begging with him for his life.

"Commander Phoenix, sir? We’re ready."

Phoenix turned, and picked up the Amethyst Staff, feeling his hand and arm muscles ache in terrible recognition, as if he had never put it down.

One whistle, smooth and quiet, brought his horse to his side, and he jumped into the saddle with an ease bred of familiarity.

Commander Phoenix Aaeul, the highest-rank Sacred Soldier from Yolea at the A-Rank, looked into the first rays of the morning sun, and led his troops to battle against the western wing of the Midnights’ army. It was the beginning of the second year, in what had been quietly, unceremoniously dubbed the Second Civil War of Greangrana.

Long red hair, overhead... beautiful tan eyes, staring down at him... a perfect profile nose, crinkling above a smile he had never seen...how could it hurt so much to miss something he had never had?

Never...never again...never me...

That hand...battle-worn yet still delicate fingers cupping the side of his face, gently holding him close, wanting that feeling to be needed again, to be wanted...

Never happened...never happened... you stupid deluded FOOL!!

Warmth, and safety, protection... Her arms wrapped so carefully around him... and he felt cherished...loved...

NO!!

He quivered as the illusion shattered, and all around him the Maias screamed in Flame’s voice, tearing through him, ripping him down to the core. Through it all, he felt something...someone...

“Stefanie?!”

All the secret, inner places in his heart, sown with salt and abandoned so long ago, stirred, caressed by a cool, gentle breeze.

“Stef…?”

“SIR!”

Phoenix woke instantly, a knife already in his hand, held against the back of his wrist for a quick thrust up, into the jugular of the man standing over him. He held the strike, recognizing the voice as sleep fell away from him like a blanket.

A blanket... when was the last time I saw one of those..?

"Sir...we’ve spotted some of the enemy along the north cliff. It looks like they’re trying to ambush the left flank. There could be more along the east."

Phoenix looked up. It was still the middle of the night.

One thousand and fifty men left... out of a regiment twice that size... An earlier skirmish that did nothing but left them thirsting for blood... Men who haven’t seen home in eight months, who have been pushed back at every attempt to reach it.

Phoenix bit back a snarl.

"We move out now... tell everyone..."

"Sir..." Ryo murmured, still waiting for orders.

"Get every extra lancer we have out there with a light, far enough away to avoid the Illusionists and snipers. Use the big strobes...pull them off the machinery if you have to... we can’t use it anyway, it just keeps holding us back."

"Azania’s going to kill you, if you lose her another tank." Ryo grinned wickedly.

"She’ll have a hard time doing it, when I’ve reached down her throat and turned her inside out..." Phoenix murmured. "Go tell every platoon to get ready. The Midnights will attack at dawn, thinking we are unprepared."

The blond commander smiled like a demon.

"If he wants a massacre, why should we make him wait for it?"