The big mistake

Two hours had passed since the battle between the humans and the undead—or better to say, between Talon and Ben, the two old friends. And now, the humans had no strength left to continue.

Ben’s army was almost completely wiped out. Elara had made a mistake and wasted all her power. Now, she was too drained to help.
Only a tired Ben and an endless army of undead led by Talon were left...

That’s right—Ben had lost. And now, he had to face the consequences.
He looked at his defeated army, then turned his eyes to Talon.

“Talon! If there’s even a tiny bit of our old friendship still left in you, let the others live! I’ll come with you. Just don’t take anyone else from my army!”

Talon gave the order to his undead to capture Ben, then turned away.

“I can’t do what you’re asking. I have someone else’s expectations to meet too.”

As the undead moved to grab Ben, he used the last of his energy to suddenly appear in front of Talon like lightning and slashed one of his eyes with a sword.

Talon screamed in pain and, in rage, shouted at his undead:

“Take him! And capture as many humans as you can to offer to our Master!”

He quickly distanced himself from Ben and returned to the shelter.
The undead captured almost all the remaining humans except those near Elara.
They still saw her as one of their own and wouldn’t approach her.

In this way, more than 80% of Ben’s forces were taken, though the base itself and the civilians inside remained unharmed.

Elara slowly opened her eyes and saw a few people in front of her.
She was in the infirmary. She had never been here before.

Looking around, she asked them:

“What happened? Where am I?”

As her mind cleared, she suddenly sat up.

“The battle! What happened?? Did we defeat the undead army?!”

The people in front of her looked down silently.
Elara, confused, asked again:

“Don’t act like that! Answer me, I don’t like these kinds of jokes!”

Still, no one spoke.
Elara grew angry, got out of bed, and stormed out of the room.

The entire infirmary was filled with wounded and broken soldiers.
Many were bleeding heavily. Some didn’t even have a place to lie down.

Among the injured, she saw someone she recognized—the same person she fought during her first arrival at Ben’s base. He was severely wounded, had no bed, and was close to death.

Elara stood frozen, angry. She wanted to go alone and face the Dark Lord herself.
But in the middle of her steps, Lux’s voice echoed in her mind:

“You can’t win like this.”

Elara kept walking, but Lux continued, louder:

“Listen to me! You already lost once because of this rush!”

Elara stopped, and Lux went on:

“You can’t charge in blindly out of anger! If you want to defeat him, you need to focus. Even if you reach the Dark Lord’s shelter now, without a proper plan, you can’t win.”

Elara stood under the rain, crying, her hair messy:

“So you’re telling me to wait while everyone who was captured turns into undead and attacks us?!”

Lux didn’t answer. But Elara continued:

“You want me to just sit back and do nothing?! What kind of guide are you? Even if I die, as the Queen, I’ve already done my duty to bring balance to this world!”

“Elara—no, Queen—you are meant to become the ruler of this world. The one who brings light to everything. The one who defeats the evil beings that poison this land.”

He paused a moment and added:

“You were chosen as Queen, but you’re not there yet. You still don’t have the strength to defeat the Dark Lord. Even if you are the true Queen, he has more experience. He would crush you in a direct battle.”

Elara sat on the ground.
Lux’s voice softened:

“You’ve made great progress since the moment your growth began. But you still need to master the Dark Eye. After that, you'll be able to reach the Eye of Light—and when that happens, you’ll destroy the Dark Lord in the blink of an eye.
So instead of mourning the past, focus on building your power.”

There was a pause. Elara wiped her tears.

Lux continued:

“Besides, with Ben gone, you need to take responsibility. The undead could attack again at any moment. Be ready. Don’t let more of your people be taken.”

Elara stayed quiet for a moment, then stood up, walked back into the infirmary, and stood at the entrance. She spoke to Lux:

“You’re right. I was letting emotions take over. I’m sure if Ben were in your place, he’d say the same things.”

“Now I can’t even call you a foolish girl.”

“I’m not a fool, you filthy creature.”

Suddenly, Elara sneezed.

“This is the worst time to catch a cold!”

Talon and his army reached the

shelter. Upon arrival, he ordered the humans to be turned into undead. He took Ben and brought him along...

On the way, Ben asked:

“How can you prefer living in such a filthy, dark place over the beautiful base we had?”

“I didn’t prefer it. It’s just what had to be done.”

Ben chuckled quietly.

“Interesting. So, where are we going? You can at least tell me that, right?”

“To the Master. I’m sure he’ll be very happy to see you.”

After walking a bit longer, they reached the Master’s chamber.

Talon bowed and pushed Ben to the floor.

It was a large, dark room with a faint light shining at its center. A massive chair sat in the shadows, someone seated on it.
Around ten undead stood guard.

The Dark Lord spoke calmly:

“Very good, Talon! I see you've proven your loyalty by bringing me your best old comrade!”

He chuckled softly and stood, walking toward Ben...

“But now it’s time for phase two of your loyalty test, my dear Talon.”

He signaled to the undead to take both Talon and Ben away. As They both were screaming tge dark lord walked to his throne:

“Now that I’ve captured two of the strongest leaders in this region, nothing can stop me!”

He remembered something Talon had told him about Elara:

“That girl had an eye like yours. She turned my entire army to ash in an instant! I don’t even know how I survived. But she’s dangerous.”

The Dark Lord frowned.