“Why are you all so afraid? What are you guys so afraid of?”
Helena remained ensnared in silence as Raven bombarded her with probing questions.
“Sealing the rifts may not guarantee a path home. But you must realize it will fortify you, render you powerful enough to confront the terrors lurking in the sea’s depths.”
Raven paused, contemplating, before fixing her gaze upon Helena.
“Are you not even already formidable enough to face such horrors? All you require is a team of equal might.”
She took a step closer, meeting Helena with an expression of disarming honesty.
“For now, I am merely a Master. Maybe, I lack the strength to match your prowess, but I am confident of my potential. Once this journey concludes, I will become a Sage.”
Helena studied Raven. The Feral Sage had maintained a tense, grave demeanor until this moment.
Now…she simply chuckled and shook her head in bemusement.
“Foolish worm. Enough of your prattle. Give me my shield.” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Raven’s intense stare bored into Helena’s.
Silence stretched between them for a few heartbeats.
Then Raven stated once more, “I will become a Sage…”
Helena raised her head to the young woman before her, a hint of laughter lacing her tone.
“No, worm. Unless your journey demands three years of relentless monster slaying, you’ll never become a Sage.”
Raven’s gaze intensified in the silence.
Then, after some moments passed, she spoke again, “Shall we wager, then?”
Helena arched an eyebrow as Raven continued.
“My team and I will be Sages upon our return. By then, will you join us to seal the rifts…”
Helena’s grin widened, her eyes glinting with a wild spark.
“Very well, worm. I accept your challenge. If you have not become a Sage by the time you return, you’ll merely fall prey to Afkon and perish. Even as a Sage, I doubt whether it would be feasible to slay Afkon. I cannot defeat him myself.”
Raven frowned.
“That may be true for you…I bested him as a mere Drifter.”
Helena’s skeptical gaze lingered on Raven’s confident features.
She then let out a weary sigh, shaking her head.
“Whatever, worm. Whatever.”
She shot Raven a glare, stomping the weapon upon the ground.
“But you will return my shield!”
Raven’s frown deepened.
She positioned herself, hands poised to summon her twin blades once more.
Helena regarded her with a puzzled expression.
“Have you taken leave of your senses? You stole from me! And you stubbornly refuse to return it. You’d even resort to combat rather than surrender what you stole?”
Raven nodded resolutely.
“It is important to me.”
Helena’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I’m uncertain how to process you saying that a shield you stole from me is important to you. What makes it so important?”
Raven raised two fingers.
“There are two reasons.”
“I’m listening…”
Raven elucidated:
“One. It can make me fly, and I will be needing that a lot on the journey ahead.”
Helena’s frown persisted as she mulled this over, then queried:
“And two?”
Raven glanced away, a hint of embarrassment tingeing her features.
“R…a…ven,” her voice was scarcely audible.
“Speak up, before I lose it.”
Raven met Helena’s gaze, proclaiming with conviction:
“It’s my namesake…”
“Huh?” Helena stared, dumbstruck. “You claim what, now?”
“Ravenheart…my name is Raven…”
“Huh?…” Helena fell silent for a few seconds, utterly nonplused by this development.
“So…what of it?”
“I need to possess it.”
“Merely because it bears your name?”
Raven shook her head adamantly.
“Not solely for that reason…I intend to investigate this item’s source. I wish to uncover its origins.”
“Why? Why should you care? It’s naught but a weapon? An object like any other. That it echoes your name is mere happenstance. Why obsess over it?”
Raven frowned, dropping her gaze briefly. Then she looked squarely at Helena and retorted:
“I cannot give you my reasons. But I believe they may guide me to someone I lost long ago.”
Helena facepalmed, exhaling a protracted sigh.
“At this juncture, little worm, simply do as you will. Arguing with you is making me feel like my head may soon tear apart.”
In that moment…
Crash!
A man in white armor erupted through Helena’s cottage, tumbling into the soil.
“What?!”
Helena whipped her head around instantly. Even Raven frowned slightly.
For one, she was quite certain that was not Northern.
“Damn it, I tried to handle this smoothly…” Northern muttered as he marched deliberately from the wooden dwelling.
Immediately, Helena’s gaze fell upon the four-eyed abomination, her entire body quaking with visceral dread.
Her eyes flew wide.
“What in the Stelia’s hell is that…?”
Raven frowned.
“My teammate…I apologize…”
Then she let a small smile grace her lips as she observed Northern advancing on the man in white armor.
Helena looked down at the man desperately scrambling from the approaching abomination, her brow furrowing.
‘Isn’t that Reno? What business does he have here?’
Helena turned to Raven, “Wait, what did you utter just now…member of your team?”
Raven, her eyes alight as she watched Northern, turned and nodded vigorously at Helena.
Pride radiated from every facet of her expression.
Meanwhile, Northern’s tail snaked forth, coiling around the fleeing man’s leg and hoisting him aloft.
Northern seized his leg, smashing him brutally into the ground with a thunderous tremor shaking the area.
He then fixed his gaze on the stunned, silent Raven and Helena. Especially Helena.
The plate of his helmet swiftly retracted into his collar, leaving the devilish horn crowning his head.
Any who glimpsed him could only perceive a demonic spawn.
“I’m sorry, I sought to conclude this cleanly, but this one was stronger than I thought and put up more resistance, necessitating greater force than intended.”
Helena’s stare remained transfixed on Northern’s full, grotesque visage for a long moment.
Then she looked to the man he had subjugated.
“What are you doing? That’s one of Afkon’s generals, Reno the Invisible Warrior.”
Northern canted his head slightly. “Afkon, Afkon, ah yes…that one…” He gestured toward Raven as he remembered.
She, meanwhile, observed with an intense, scrutinizing glare.
Helena’s voice resounded:
“Yes, him…what business have you with Reno? How is he even visible?”
Northern shrugged nonchalantly.
“I suspect I may have dispelled his invisibility. Oh, and he was attempting to steal your belongings.”