POV 1: USHUAIA, SOUTHERN COMMAND HUB

The Southern Command Hub in Ushuaia was alive with tension. The narrow corridors echoed with the constant shuffle of boots, clipped voices giving orders, and the low hum of communication equipment that never slept. Outside, the harbor brimmed with steel-gray warships, their silhouettes cutting through the Antarctic wind like vigilant guardians of a fragile frontier.

Reina Morales moved with purpose through the operations center. Her presence was steady—anchoring amidst the storms of uncertainty. A tactical officer by designation, she had become far more than that. After the fall of Antarctica, Ushuaia had evolved into the last bastion of Earth’s coordination in the south. Everyone knew it: if Ushuaia fell, the southern hemisphere would be defenseless.

On the giant holographic table at the center of the room, crimson runes flickered on one side—the elves’ presence detected by satellite sweeps and recon drones—and blue markers stood opposite, representing naval formations of the coalition.

But one name weighed on the minds of every commander more than the shifting lines of battle:

Prince Dyug von Forestia.

Captured by a  on the spot daring joint operation, he had been transferred to a fortified underground facility under Indian custody near the Andaman and Nicobar Command. His body, protected by faint but fading layers of lunar magic, was still in an unnatural coma. Yet for both Earth and the Elven Empire, his existence had changed the stakes.

Reina’s gaze hardened as Admiral Salgado, commander of the Southern Defense Fleet, turned toward her.

“Morales, what’s the latest word from Andaman? Any updates on our… guest?”

She straightened, her tone clipped but calm. “Sir, Indian intelligence reports Prince Dyug remains stable. Vital signs normal, but he has not regained consciousness. However—”

She pressed a control, projecting faint magical readings onto the table. They rippled like ghostly waves. “There are fluctuations in the residual lunar energy shielding him. Our analysts say this is not a natural decline—it’s reacting. Almost as if the magic knows he’s far from Forestia.”

A silence followed, one heavy enough to cut through the drone of machinery. Some officers shifted uncomfortably. Others leaned closer to the table.

“Meaning?” Salgado’s tone carried the weight of steel.

Reina took a breath. “Meaning the Elves may be able to sense him. His presence. His location. We can’t confirm range, but if their priestesses link to Luna, they’ll know he’s alive.”

Murmurs filled the chamber. Earth’s commanders had wagered on secrecy—but secrecy against an empire woven with divine magic was fragile at best.

POV 2: FORESTIA, THE SILVER MOON PALACE

Far away, beneath the argent glow of Luna, Queen Elara stood at the balcony of her high chamber, the weight of empire pressing against her shoulders. The marble spires of the Silver Moon Palace pierced the sky like frozen beams of light, but her gaze was not on the beauty of her capital—it was on the threads of divine energy woven into the night.

The High Priestess knelt behind her, trembling. “Your Majesty… we feel it. The pulse. Prince Dyug lives.”

A murmur rippled across the assembly of priestesses gathered in the moonlit hall. None dared speak louder than a whisper in Elara’s presence, but the revelation sent their hearts pounding.

The Queen’s silver eyes narrowed, her voice soft yet edged like glass. “Alive… and in enemy hands.”

The hall seemed to darken with her words.

Mary, the Sun Knight, now commander of the Royal Knights Corps, her projection from Earth stood rigidly at the foot of the dais. Her sharp eyes burned with controlled fury. She had prayed Dyug’s death was swift, sparing him the indignity of capture. But fate was crueler but somewhat kind as she wanted to she him alive too.

“My Queen,” Mary spoke, her voice steady though her fists trembled at her side, “then there is no time to delay. We must reclaim him. Every moment he remains in their hands, they will seek to pry into his divine shield, to defile his memory.”

Elara raised a pale hand, silencing her. “Do not presume to instruct me, Knight. You think I do not understand the danger? If Dyug is alive, he is both our shame and our leverage. Earth will not kill him—they will study him. They will test him. And in doing so… they will reveal themselves.”

The Queen turned back toward Luna’s glow, her silver hair trailing like a cascade of moonlight. “No. We will not rush. The humans believe themselves clever for capturing a royal. Let them. For every attempt they make to breach his shield, they grow dependent on their science… while we prepare to strike where they are weakest.”

Mary bowed her head, but inside her chest a storm raged. She would obey, but the thought of Dyug lying in a foreign cage gnawed at her soul.

POV 3: USHUAIA, SOUTHERN COMMAND HUB

Back on Earth, Reina Morales leaned over the holographic table as updates streamed in from across the southern seas. Recon satellites tracked elven constructs moving north from the Antarctic interior. Vast floating spires of ice and stone had begun pushing toward the Drake Passage, like siege towers gliding across the ocean.

“They’re preparing to challenge our blockade,” Admiral Salgado muttered.

A colonel beside him swore under his breath. “If those things get close enough, they’ll serve as mobile fortresses. Our ships won’t have the firepower to match their shielding.”

Reina’s sharp eyes flicked between the projections. “We’ll have to strike before they’re fully deployed. Buy time. Otherwise, they’ll use them as springboards toward South America.”

The admiral’s gaze lingered on her, weighing not just her tactical recommendation but the steadiness with which she carried it. For weeks now, rumors had circulated—whispers that someone inside Earth’s command had betrayed them to the elves. But Reina Morales, the woman who had organized evacuations from McMurdo, who had stood her ground during the first chaos in Ushuaia, was no traitor.

He nodded. “Prepare a plan, Morales. You’ll lead the operational coordination. If those constructs cross the line, we’ll strike with everything we’ve got.”

POV 4: THE DIVIDE

But even as Ushuaia prepared its defense, across the Antarctic ice fields Mary drilled her Royal Knights. The cold bit into flesh, but fire and light magic countered it in bursts. Dozens of commoner Sun Knights and Lunar Priestesses trained with fanatical resolve, awaiting the day they would march north under her command.

Her heart was divided. Every sword stroke she delivered in training felt like a promise to Dyug—that she would free him, that she would carve a path through human steel and fire to reach him. But every order she gave was bound in chains of obedience to Elara.

The elves knew Dyug was alive. The humans knew he was unstable. And across the seas, the shadow of two fronts grew darker: one in the frozen wastes, the other in the secret chambers where a prince slept.

FINAL POV: CLOSING SCENE

That night in Ushuaia, Reina Morales stood alone on the balcony of the Southern Command Hub, looking over the restless sea. The horizon shimmered faintly with auroras, their colors twisting in eerie beauty. She thought of Dyug, the elven prince entombed far away, and wondered if Earth’s leaders truly grasped what it meant to hold him.

Far across the ocean, Mary gazed at that same aurora from her encampment, her hand resting on her sword. She whispered his name into the wind.

And above them both, the moon shone—silent, impartial, watching as two worlds prepared for the collision neither could avoid.