Rανєη Rιѕє COMPLETE 5/12/17

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Good luck, @gang
*gulps*

They'll need a lot of luck...

[frankie (dup)]

I have some good news
I'm postponing Allegiance (not on this site) and PHENOMENA to finish this. After I finish it, I'll pick a date to start posting chapters for the sequel, and pre-write a couple. While I'm working on those chapters, I'll also work on the other stuff so you can keep yourselves occupied with PHENOMENA while I work on the first few chapters of the sequel.

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The stench that had made Aiden’s stomach flip-flop only worsened as he made his way through the thick fog. It was a smell like rotten eggs that had been left on the porch for three days in the most humid weather possible, eggs that had been cooked on sweaty socks instead of a frying pan.

His hand flew to his nose and mouth, but the stench only worsened- his hand must have gotten splattered in droplets.

He gagged involuntarily and immediately he felt his stomach groan.

Aiden looked ahead with watery eyes to see the edge of the smoky wall and picked up speed, the edge of the pass becoming little more than fuzzy colours.

He vaulted himself out of the smog and promptly keeled over and vomited.

As his vision cleared, he saw Curtis kneeling beside him and holding out a bottle of water and paper towel from their bags.

He took it gratefully, cleaned his face and downed the entire bottle, standing up on shaky legs.

Dulcie smiled dimly.
“Here we go.”


Aiden was startled to see a cave sitting before them. It seemed to have just… popped into existence. That was unsettling to say the very least.

Maybe cave wasn't quite the right word. It looked like the descent down had been crushed like a can, but the top was left untouched and as smooth as a turtle shell.

Stranger still, the area around the long descent down was gouged out, leaving a pit nearly five feet wide in its wake, and if the cave was some eldritch abomination dragging itself out of the ground to swallow everything whole.

Except the figurative beast’s mouth was closed by a massive wooden door, and an analogue clock half the size of the door hung on the wall, which certainly threw Aiden off- after all, who would expect to see a massive clock in a place so untouched by mankind.

Aiden blinked furiously to make sure his vision wasn’t playing tricks on him- maybe the mist was some sort of toxin that was making him hallucinate?

But no. A full minute and the clock was still there. Aiden wondered briefly if the clock worked- after all, the screen was dark, the only hint of life being the dull grey numbers.

Curtis was the first to break out of his confusion and tried the door.
It was locked.
And now the clock was ticking down from five minutes.


Curtis’ hand faltered and his mouth dropped open at the sight of the suddenly functioning clock.

Dulcie was at his side in seconds and pulling him away from the ticking clock.
“Let’s go, idiots!”

Aiden was moving before he even realised what was happening, flying across the ground towards and through the mist in long strides.

He ignored the smell and his tossing stomach and broke through the edge.

Nitika and the rest of the horses were still there, grazing comfortably. They looked up when the group crashed through before simply going back to eating.

The group sat for five minutes, probably longer- none of them were willing to possibly be caught up in what the timer was counting towards.

They glanced at each other worriedly, hoping that they hadn’t decimated the mission by trying to open the door.

“I can’t wait any longer, let’s go back through.”
Pollux didn’t even wait for a response before he charged through the mist.

Aiden, Curtis, and Dulcie rose to their feet, slowly and carefully, as if one wrong move would make the ground explode beneath their feet.
Maybe it would.
Aiden groaned when he made it through the wall of smog, and put his hands on his knees, doubling over and retching.

After a few seconds of leaning over, Aiden managed to regain his balance and turn worriedly to face the cave.

The door was open.

Aiden laughed humorlessly and just stared at the cave in shock.

“Was this the first test?” Pollux asked, voice breathless.
“I hope it was,” Dulcie grumbled. “And not just a deterrent.”

Aiden sighed and walked up to the cave, comically shaking his fist at the cave.
“Damn you!”

The ground vanished beneath his feet.


Apparently, caves tended to throw hissy fits and push you down if you insulted them.

Aiden pictured falling down the entire descent, at which point his short life would be tragically cut short. The rest of the group sobbing over the cave and hoping he had a quick death, having to go back and tell The Ravens that a cave had eaten their friend.

What was below him?
Aiden shifted and found that he was lying on the floor of the cave, and aside from being slightly sore from his rough landing, he was unharmed.

He looked up and immediately felt the world tilt.
The light of the outside world seemed so far away, yet the three people screaming his name sounded like they were little more than five feet above him.

He smiled.
“Not so loud!”

He heard Dulcie’s shriek of surprise, then Curtis’ trembling voice.
“Aiden? How’d you survive that fall?”

“It’s not that far!”

He could practically hear the disbelief in Pollux’s voice.
“What do you mean, not that far? That’s got to be a thirty-foot fall!”

“I don’t understand it either, I guess… you know what, come down!”

Aiden backed up, and Pollux dropped to the floor.
Even in the relatively dim lighting of the hole, he could see Pollux’s mouth fall open.
“Woah, no way.”

Dulcie came rushing down next, landing nimbly before falling flat on her face.

She stumbled a little and rubbed her face, looking up.
“Wow. Freaky.”

The young teenagers watched Curtis comically climb down the wall, which would’ve been a feat had the ground not been five feet from the pit’s opening.

He squinted.
“The mezr?”

He was talking to nobody but himself and seemed to realise what he’d just said because he started to explain.
“The mezr. Illusionary magic, making something look like something it's not. We have to be careful down here if we don’t want to run into any walls or… other things.”

Aiden nodded grimly and turned to go down an entrance.
He walked into a wall.

“Ow.”
Curtis groaned.
“What did I just say?!”
Aiden ignored his comment.
“Walls hurt.”

Curtis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Yes, walls don’t much like idiots.”


Aiden continued on, touching entrances before trying to go through them. As the cavern went on, the number of illusions shrunk until everything was real.

But, of course, the minute Aiden let his guard down, he walked into a wall.

He grumbles and kicked the wall, checking every single entrance this time.

Eventually, the group was met with another door, much smaller and lacking a clock.

It was, to Aiden’s relief, unlocked.

They stepped into the second room and as Aiden’s eyes adjusted to the sudden light from several torches hanging from the ceiling, he could easily see several pillars. The walls were decorated with images of kings.

Aiden furrowed his brows and glanced around, confused.
Suddenly, the door closed with a loud bang, and water started to drop from the ceiling, increasing in could with each second.

The room was filling with water.


Dulcie grabbed her brother’s shoulders and started shaking him.
“Pollux! You’re the smart guy! What do we do!?”

Her twin looked startled at being shaken so vigorously, and only sputtered out a quiet “I don’t know!”

Curtis started to run the end of the room, but slipped in a slowly growing puddle and fell to the floor.

He rose to his feet and braced himself against a pillar.

Pollux slowly pushed his sister off him and started to walk across the slowly filling room.
“Kings,” he muttered.
“Maybe there’s some kind of clue?”

Pollux studied the paintings.
“King Paola, King Cahyo, King…”
He faltered.
“Wait for a second!”
Curtis raised an eyebrow.

“King Scott! A long time ago, all members of the royal family, including the previous King of Chodel, were killed! There was a huge search for distant family members all over the city! Eventually, a man named Scott stepped up and claimed to be the cousin of the previous King. Except he wasn’t.”

The water was up to their knees now, but Aiden realized what it meant.
“A fake King…”
“A fake pillar!” Dulcie finished.

Aiden was going to say wall, but pillar made more sense.

Pollux nodded excitedly and pushed over the pillar closest to the painting.

The ceiling exploded.

Wrong pillar!

Pollux fell back as water rushed from the ceiling. It was far over Aiden’s head and his lungs, nose, and eyes were all screaming.

He swam forward as fast as he could and kicked over the pillar on the other side of the painting.

A slab on the other side slid open and the water started to rush through, taking Aiden and everyone else with it.

Water filled Aiden’s lungs and made everything into a blur of colour and shape, no discernible lines in sight. When his hands flailed, he smacked walls.

The dark area at the end of the water-filled tunnel opened into bright light and Aiden slipped out.

Water dropped into a grate beneath him, and Aiden shakily rose to his feet, rubbing his elbows as the others tumbled out of the tunnel.

Pollux shuddered and slumped against the wall, rubbing his arms.

Dulcie cracked her knuckles.
“Alright, what deadly puzzle now?”

Aiden turned to face two signs in the centre of the room. One was higher than the other, and both were lazily tacked onto the same pole.

The group, still shaking, cautiously moved across the room to read the signs.the upper sign was simple.

Below this sign is your demise,
Be careful, certainly, but be more wise

Aiden had to disagree with the lower sign being their demise. It was a very simple riddle;
I'm tall when I'm young, I'm short when I'm old.

Curtis snorted. “Candle.”

For the second time in a row, the ceiling exploded.

Spikes flew out of the ceiling, out of the walls, zipping around the room like wild animals.

Pollux fumbled with his holster, ducking and dodging, before pulling out the gun and shooting at as many spikes as possible.

Aiden studied the sign again as Pollux’s accurate shots missed half their targets.

What if…
“The upper sign!”
Aiden grinned.
“It was the upper sign the whole time! We weren’t supposed to answer the riddle!”

The spikes stopped flying around and exploded into what looked like glass shards, and dissipated once they hit the ground.

The door opened.

Aiden grinned behind him at his dumbfounded friends, and Curtis patted his back.
“I think all of us will be indebted to each other by the time this is over. I know I am to you- one of those spikes nearly skewered me!”

Aiden smiled a little uncomfortably and headed for the door.

Instead of another room, Aiden found himself standing in a clearing where the mist hung thick.

He slapped a hand over his mouth and nose and turned around, relieved to see everyone else standing behind him.

There was an ear-piercing shriek and Aiden whipped around to see two eyes staring back at him. Fire thrived in those eyes, and Aiden felt his stomach sink.

The beast had arrived.

It shrieked again and came forward, fast as lightning. It had four horns, each thin and deadly like they could kill you on a whim.

The stinking mist that had plagued Aiden was pouring from its mouth and nose, and if its breath was enough to cause vomiting, Aiden didn’t want to know what else the thing could do.

Its head almost seemed to bubble like cauldrons in fairy tales, but as the creature's tail entered the scene- a shadowy mass with a mind of its own that dropped with deep crimson, Aiden knew this was no fairy tale.

This was real, and it was a nightmare.

The creature’s entire body seemed to be composed of shadows, and Aiden trembled as it came closer on four powerful legs.

Its face was close- too close to Aiden, and he shuddered as the creature smelled the air in front of him.

The beast repeated the action with the others before grumbling and dropping to the ground, scratching behind its bat-like ears like an overgrown dog.

“Why did you have to interrupt my nap?”
Aiden blinked. The creature's voice sounded like it belonged to an exceptionally screechy teenager.

It was an annoying voice.

“...What.”
Pollux voiced what they were all thinking.

damnit, we came all this way and run into another teenager with the screechiest voice. If I survive this, I’ll have nightmares about that voice.

“Are the lot of you deaf? I was sleeping. It was a nice dream. I killed some kids who woke me up from my nap.”

Aiden shuddered.
Dulcie suddenly hiccuped into her hand before bursting into hysterical laughter.

“What, not scary enough?”

Dulcie stopped laughing.

“I guess that’s fair.”

“So…”
Aiden gulped.
“We have three guesses on why adults aren’t allowed here or you’ll eat us?”

“Eat you? Ewww, no! Humans. Gross.”

The look on the creature’s face implied a personal experience that Aiden was not the most interested in hearing.

“Let’s play twenty questions. I like that game, but I don’t have all that many people to play with, you see. You ask me a yes or no question, and I’ll answer it to the best of my ability.”

Aiden wondered if that was very much, but he didn’t make the comment, thinking that pissing off the monster would result in him lacking a head.

Curtis started.
“Do you hate adults?”

He turned red at how stupid the question sounded.
The creature smiled.
“No.”

Aiden blinked in surprise.
Pollux looked up and then frowned.
“Are there other demons?”
“Yes. Ask me my name, please. No one’s asked that before. It won’t count to your questions, I swear.”

“Okay…”
Aiden shrugged.
“What’s your name?”
“Habex. Glad you asked.”

Dulcie sighed. “Stop stalling. Are some demons higher than each other?”

“Yes. Some live in trees.”

Curtis rolled his eyes.
“Do some demons have higher ranks?”
“Yes! You’re getting close with these questions.”

“Do the higher ranks decide things for the lower ranks.”
“Yep.”
“Are you low rank or high rank?”
“Yes or no only.”
“Are you high rank?”
“No.”

Aiden ran through the list of clues in his head.
Habex isn’t doing it because he hates humans. There are other demons. Some have higher ranks than others. Habex is a low rank.

Aiden snapped his fingers.
“I have a guess!”
“Shoot.”
“Was the disallowing of adults decided by the higher-ranked demons!”
“Yep!”

Habex grinned- not creepily, he simply grinned.
“The higher-ups have a habit of making things difficult. Now… what kind of treasure are you looking for? A cloak that will turn you into a human flamethrower? All the gold in my trove? A sword whose edge is determined by your passion? A potion that makes you invisible?”

Habex stopped talking for a second.
“I mean, it might be poison… Probably don’t pick any liquids, I can never tell poison from a potion.”

Aiden rolled his eyes.
“We’re looking for a stone. It lets the user control fire. We're trying to get it before some other guys get it. No idea what they’d do with it, but the outcome…”

Habex blinked wildly and looked up.
“I think… I think you’re too late.”

Previous Chapter: Fifteen
Next Chapter: Seventeen

[frankie (dup)]

So hey world building dump.

Cities are far enough away from each other to be distinctive, but close enough to travel to another one is a few hours. There are no countries or continents in this world, it's just one big continent with one ocean.

There's a full mini story for Habex because he's great. He'll be coming back because even though he doesn't tell anyone, the @gang are his favourite whelps.

So, basically, Chodel had a v tyrannical ruler, and Habex was a rebel TM. He ditched his demon friends. Someone found Habex and was just kind of like, hey demon, you're a demon. eat our terrible ruler for us? And Habex was interested as to what human tasted like, so he ate their king.

He didn't like the taste of human and joked that Chodel should shower him with gifts for eating such a vile thing.
wait no guys I wasn't serious

So he travelled the universe to give people favours, and get more treasures for his trove. Eventually, demon friends found out about it and gave him guidelines. Now Habex is not a happy camper.

[frankie (dup)]

Aiden spluttered for a solid five seconds before he spoke.
“What!? What do you mean, we’re too late!?”

Habex growled.
“You’re too late. Some other people came to me and said that they had to get the gem before some very bad people got to it.”
“Liars,” Curtis muttered, balling his hands into tight fists.

Habex grumbled and fell to the ground, stirring up dirt that Aiden didn’t realize was there.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Habex sighed.

“Maybe we could get back before the Catago arrived?” Aiden ventured, biting his lip.
Habex shook his head vigorously as if the movement would reset what had already happened.

“Habex, don’t freak out. What’s done is done, we just have to figure this out.”
Trust Pollux to comfort a demon.

Habex looked up. If the beast had any, he certainly would’ve raised an eyebrow.
“Of course what’s done is done! What else would it be?”

The demon sighed and sat up.
“You won’t be able to get there before them. I teleported them, I’m not sure how close to wherever you lot are they were sent.”

Dulcie coughed.
“Couldn’t you just… you know, teleport us?”
“No…”

Habex sighed, more foul mist pouring out of his mouth and nose.
“It’s against the rules.”

Suddenly, Habex perked up like a deer in headlights.
“You know what?!”

“No, not really.”
“The higher-ups have never had to follow any rules in their lives! Why should they be able to tell others too, if they don’t know what it’s like?”

He grinned devilishly.
“Now go. Make me a proud demon. I’ll send your horses with you, don’t worry. I’ll even try to send them somewhere safe.”

Aiden was about to ask how Habex knew about their horses but decided against it. They had to get back as fast as-

His thoughts cut off.
It was like sleep, the way everything faded away. Except, at the same time, it wasn’t.
It was so much worse.

Everything faded into nothing with no prior warning, and Aiden wondered if this was how blind people ‘saw,’ for lack of a better word
Except for someone who had seen something their entire life, seeing nothing was a kind of frozen terror that Aiden had scarcely experienced before.

Finally, it was over. The world returned to normal and nothing went back to being something.
Aiden stumbled pitifully over the long grass and just about fell on his face.

He stood upright, not bothering or caring to be embarrassed.
No one dared voice it, but each member of the group thought the exact same thing.
Please, don’t let us be too late.

He smelt smoke.

They all knew what that meant.
Aiden broke into a furious run. It was as if the smoke had invaded his mind and forced him to think only if it. Only of the fire, and how they’d failed. Only of his friends burning.

He hated those thoughts, but still, they played in his head, a looping video with a worse ending each time.

The smoke grew thicker and Aiden coughed loudly.
He didn’t care, he couldn’t care. He had to find the source.

“Rico!”
His voice was hoarse. Whether it was from the tears running down his face or true smoke, he didn’t know.

“Aiden!”
It wasn’t Rico.

Aiden didn’t even have the time to feel disappointed when Regina raced in front of him.

Her platinum blonde hair was dotted with ash, and it was burned so it hardly went past her chin. The still-smoking edges looked like they could kill a man. He could’ve sworn he saw water fall in droplets at several points.

“Follow me. We’re all going to the armoury.”

Wait… all?

Upon seeing Aiden’s perplexed stare, Regina gestured directly behind him.

Aiden turned behind him to see his friends, equally upset and surprising coughs, but their faces were still laced with concern.

“You shouldn’t be here!”
Aiden wasn’t sure where the words came from, or why he’d said them, but they were out of his mouth and mingling with the smoke, creating a new sort of danger.

Regina smirked.
“Been reading too many books? Come with us to the armoury, leema, and stop being so dramatic.”

Aiden wasn’t sure what leema meant, but he was pretty sure it meant nothing nice coming out of the mouth of Regina Antonelli.

He and the rest of his friends followed behind Regina, solemn and ready to fight for their cause and their lives.

They entered the armoury, a small room littered with empty shelves so close together that Aiden doubted he could swing his arms without smacking a shelf.

Aiden let his eyes wander across the room, and he smiled when his eyes fell on a particularly spectacular piece of armour.

The helmet had a flat top, and two circles for the eyes. A narrow line connected the holes, reminding Aiden of glasses. The line dipped down and exposed the front of the mouth, which Aiden could only assume was to stop the helmet from getting stuffy and to make it easier for comrades to hear their friend. On top of the helmet we’re two horns, pointed forward like a charging bull.

The shoulders were round and positively huge. Spikes covered them from front to back.

The arms looked like they’d fit perfectly with the shoulder plates. From the wrist to the elbow, they were several spikes, curved not unlike claws.

The chest plate was boring. Just a massive piece of armour that looked like a turtleneck. Aiden’s eyes flickered right over it to the legs.

They were boring too. Just looked like metal pants. However, the bottom looked like thick leather, which was more than a little confusing to Aiden. Even stranger, arrows provided from the leather.

Aiden didn’t care. He reached one shaking hand out to touch the armour, hoping that it was as sturdy as it looked.

He didn’t get to find out because Regina slapped his hand away.
“Unbelievable. You are not wearing that. If you, Dulcie, and Pollux stood shoulder to shoulder in that thing, there’s still be room.”

Aiden was pretty sure she was exaggerating, and just about fell over when Regina thrust something into his hands.

He looked down to see a blade. It wasn’t even that big, but it felt surprisingly heavy for such a small blade, but at the same time, very light.

“Go on, we can’t stall any longer. Lit it up.”

Aiden hefted it awkwardly.
“Ugh, no, not like that! Were you even there for the sword fighting lesson?”
Aiden blushed.
“Uh… I’ve been busy for the past while.”
“Right. Hmm. Maybe just… uh… well, you’re pretty light on your feet so this or a knife will work just fine. For now, don’t try to engage in any combat, and if you must, put the sword into your sheath-”
She cut herself off and passed Aiden a sheath.
“If you absolutely have to fight, put the sword away and use your blaster. Remember- the blade isn’t the only useful part of the sword. They might not seem like much, but if you pummel someone over the head with a two, three-pound sword, they might just go down if you hit hard enough. Most of the Catago will ignore you, anyway. A fourteen-year-old isn’t much of a threat when you’re surrounded by people who know where veins are.”

Aiden nodded and gulped as Regina adjusted his grip.
“Now, go! Don’t die.”

Aiden didn’t need to be told twice.


A knife was at his throat the minute he left the armoury. Someone must’ve seen them go and followed them.

Fast as lightning, Aiden ducked and swung the sword up, slamming it into the other person’s hand.

He heard something crack and the knife clattered out of their hand.

Pollux came rushing up behind Aiden to grab the knife and throw it into the wall, embedding it deep.
The Catago soldier with the likely broken hand stumbled forward towards the knife, but Dulcie swept a long kick at his knees.

It was over in less than a minute- Curtis had the soldier pinned.

He couldn’t be much older than Curtis, and he looked more scared than anything.

Aiden glanced over to see sympathy cross Pollux’s face.
“He’s fighting willingly!” Aiden snapped.

Pollux shrugged.
“Maybe not. The Catago will occasionally pluck promising people from their homes or people who cause trouble.”

Aiden turned back around to face the pinned soldier.
The soldier’s bottom lip trembled as he clutched his hand, and Pollux reached forward, his hand extended so that the soldier would have to sit up to grasp it.

They smiled and grabbed Pollux’s hand.

The soldier stumbled to his feet, saluted in a way that made it obvious he hadn’t been serving for long, and raced down into the armoury.

There was a bit of commotion, but soon enough, Aiden heard quiet conversation from below, and he relaxed.

Carefully, watching the battle play out before him, Aiden, tucked the sword back into its sheath.

Instead, he pulled out the gun and, hands shaking, switched the settings he’d only changed once before.

Stun
Explosions (Small)
Bullets

Usually, Aiden’s was set to the smaller explosions. He had set it to bullets while fighting the wooden… whatever it was.

He switched it to bullets.

Aiden hefted the gun and raced into the battlefield. No armour had its advantages- you looked less important, so people might pass over you, you were lighter, faster, and could move easier than armoured opponents.

Still, the hair on the back of Aiden’s neck stood up and he felt the presence of someone behind him.
He whirled around and stopped halfway.

The person behind him couldn’t be any more than twelve, and they were so tiny and shaky they could barely hold their knife.

Aiden snatched it out of their fingers and the boy recoiled.
“Run. Run as far as you can.”
The boy trembled.
“I’m not- I’m not fa-fast enough. I’m not fast enough to get away.”
Aiden paused in thought and then gripped the younger boy’s arm and sped away.

“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe,” Aiden promised.

He threw open the door to the armoury and nudged the kid down.
“Thank- Thank you!”

Aiden nodded and turned to go away.
Fast as lightning, he slammed into the wall and started to go down, but before he reached the base, someone grabbed his arm that held the gun and yanked it up, forcing the metal object out of his hand.

It fell to the ground with a dull thud and another hand pressed against Aiden’s neck.
As his vision cleared, Aiden saw a large, muscular man holding him above the ground.

“Please, let me go! I’m not very ‘portant.”
Aiden realized that the man wasn’t strangling him- he was more than muscle, he had the control and knowledge to avoid killing someone.

“The way you hold yourself would suggest otherwise.”

Aiden continued knocking at the man but still managed to look confused.
“You walk like you’re expecting something, you’re expecting to be something, like you’re waiting. Like you’re ‘portant.”

His voice rose on the last word, mimicking Aiden in an annoyingly accurate way.

Aiden’s eyes glanced downward and his heart leaped into his throat as if escaping would save him.

The man had the gem.
At least, he assumed it was. He didn’t think there could be many stones that glowed orange, yellow, red, and smoked.

“You’re the other...the other guy who can… oh my god…”
“What, use this?”

The man gestured towards the stone in his pocket.
“Yeah, yeah that.”

Aiden’s voice was trembling horribly, and his mind cursed with the fury of one thousand sailors.

“Did someone tell you that only two people could use it?”
Aiden shook his head the best he could. Or maybe someone did- the way his mind raced, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“N-no. I just figured, cau-cause they sent me instead of better people.”

“Well, you were wrong. Half wrong, but wrong is wrong. The wielder or whatever can let other people use it. For how long, we’re not sure. Whatever.”

Aiden watched in horror as the man pulled the stone from his pocket and held it up to the sun. Aiden winced at the refracted light, and continued kicking, each kick more vigorous than the last.

The man’s hand was on fire, and the stone was gone.

Aiden continued struggling, trying to dodge the stone as it neared his throat.

“Stop moving,” the man grumbled.
“You want this to be over quickly, don’t you?”

Aiden whimpered, but the stone was so close… he couldn’t dodge forever.

Suddenly, the man dropped him.

Aiden winced and clenched his teeth as his head bounced off the wall and onto the dirt.

He heard the sounds of a scuffle behind him, and through teary eyes, looked up, hoping, pleading, that the shouting from the other person in the scuffle was not who he thought it was.

But luck was not on his side.

“Debt… my debt is paid.”
Curtis collapsed.

MY HAND SLIPPED

Previous Chapter: Sixteen
Next Chapter: Eighteen

[frankie (dup)]

This was meant to be in Chapter Seventeen, but I didn't want to go too overboard. It was still an interesting scene, so I hope you'll enjoy it!

"Why are there arrows sticking out of the legs?"
Aiden's voice trembled slightly as a million different scenarios raced through his head, none of them good.
"Ask yourself this, Aiden," Regina started.
"Would you dare attack someone who could survive that many arrows to the legs?"

Aiden thought about it for a second.
"I mean, I wouldn't take on anyone."
"Mmm. Okay. Well, some people wore armour like this. There are no tips of the arrows, no actual leather, just more metal. Convincing, ain't it?"

Aiden nodded.
"You've gotta sell it, though. You can't just act like everything's perfect, that'll give you away."
"So... limp a little?"

Regina sighed.
"If you limped, you'd be an easy target."

Aiden recoiled.
"I would never attack a limping man! That's not fair."

Regina glowered.
"This isn't some game, Aiden! there are no rules for war, it's chaos, it's bloody, people seem to die in new ways every day! Sometimes, dishonourable things are the only things that'll save your life!"

Her lips straightened into a thin line.
"Attitudes like that... they're not safe to have during a war. Trust me."

He didn't ask what she meant.

[Ranger of the North]

That's just sad... And deep. ;p

[frankie (dup)]

For one horrifying moment, Aiden thought that Curtis was dead, but the teen’s chest was rising and falling, even as his breath rattled in his chest and blood trickled from a deep cut on his chin.

No, no, no, oh god no.
Aiden blinked wildly and fretfully as Curtis slowly raised his arm (burned, so badly burned) and feebly pointed to the left, then to the right.

Aiden followed his finger to the left and saw the stone, humming quietly and shuddering with great velocity. They was a strange pang in his palm, like running your socks over carpet.

His eyes darted over to the right, to the man Curtis had been fighting only seconds before. To Aiden’s grotesque dismay, he wasn’t dead, and was currently shoving himself up.

Aiden swallowed and darted over to the stone, leaning down and grabbing it without slowing.
He skidded with the sheer speed of his sprint, and whirled around before kicking out behind him as if skating across the dirt and raced over to the man, who’d just gotten up.


“Huh. Nice going. You’ve actually managed to pick it up. Anyway, your friend… he got me pretty bad.”
Aiden only noticed then that scarlet blood was steadily flowing from a deep gash on his shoulder.


It’s over, Curtis. Did you hear him?
“But you should know…”
Aiden looked up.
“I have my own fair share of friends.”

Aiden’s heart tightened- so close, but so far at the same time. He tightened his grip on the gem and prepared to bolt for Rico or Regina or Pollux or Dulcie or anybody to help him.

But the man’s friends were on top of him in a flash, and Aiden’s heart sunk as one of them pulled a long knife from his belt.

Aiden swallowed and lurched, back, left, right, left, right, zigzag.
“Stop panicking, Tex, he can’t hurt you with that thing.”

Watch me, assholes.


Aiden continued his zigzag pattern away from the Catago soldiers, holding the stone and focusing, clutching the stone so hard he felt pinpricks of pain stab into his palms.

His heart pounded in his chest, and his blood roared in his ears, a lion telling him to fight, to survive.

His eyes flitted to Curtis. Still alive, thankfully. He couldn’t bear to think about… the other option.

I’m alive because you saved me.
I’m alive because Ada saved me.
I’m here because Rico sent me that letter.
Pollux shot that monster.
Dulcie alerted everyone when I left that time.
I’m doing this for you. For all of you.

The stone disappeared in his hand, replaced by a flame, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Alright, here we go.

He had no idea how to do this, but for whatever reason, he threw his arms out, and fire flew from both of them, creating an arc in front of him.

He skidded to the side and threw the fire, skimming one of the men’s faces before it jumped back to his palm, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Try again.
Aiden swallowed back his fear and rushed forwards, holding his hand out as if he was running to high five someone.

He jumped back and away from the long knife swept at his stomach, then punched forward, once, twice, three times.

He repeated the action, forward, back, punch, punch, punch, forward, back, punch, punch, punch, forward, back, punch, punch, punch.
Aiden spotted one of the men’s lips tighten into a thin line, and he threw the long knife down and raced off into the distance. The man wasn’t a coward, he was just moving onto an easier target.

One other fighter bolted- Tex, probably?

He was left with only a tall, auburn haired woman with tanned skin and brown eyes. She was clearly a better fighter than the other two men, judging by the fact that she wasn’t fleeing and seemed to be fearless.

Aiden tightened his grip on the fire, and swept over and over again, fire springing from his finger tips and palms.
He sped up, moving in random patterns along the field, right, left, right, right, left, back, forward, left, left.

A loud horn sounded out over the battlefield, rattling Aiden to his core.

The woman sighed, as if this fight had been nothing but a boring game.
“See you.”

Her voice was monotone and quiet, and it chilled Aiden to the bone. Two words that froze his blood and left dread gnawing at his stomach.
But there was no time to think about horns or fleeing Catago or strange woman with haunting goodbyes.
He had bigger things to worry about.

Aiden darted over to Curtis, who lay almost completely still on the ground.
He knelt down by the teen and felt his stomach twist.
No, no, no.

“Help!”
Aiden’s voice was scratchy from the smoke. He had no time to worry about that.
“Someone! Please!”

Tears tracked down his ash smeared cheeks.
Why is this happening? What have I done, what have any of us done? What did Curtis do?

Aiden wasn’t sure how he wound up sitting by Curtis in the infirmary, but he wasn’t leaving any time soon.

Dulcie had muttered something about never getting to know him and raced off, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes.
Pollux had seemed awfully torn up and had hardly spent two minutes in the room before leaving as a sobbing mess.

It’s not as if he’s dead. Have some faith.

“Why?”
The word slipped out of Aiden’s mouth before he could even try to stop it. He hated how young he sounded.

He cleared his throat.
“Why?!”

He didn’t think Curtis was awake to hear his never ending stream of questions, but apparently he was, because as Aiden ran his hands down his face, a pale hand reached up and feebly grasped his wrist, stopping him from scratching his skin.

“You’re my friend, and-“
He coughed.
“Everyone knows you don’t let friends die.”
“Then what does that make me? You’re my friend too!”

Aiden struck the surface beneath him so hard his knuckles rang with the force. He’d forgotten his was sitting on a chair. Oh well. It was nothing.

Curtis smiled.
“You’re more important than me.”

Aiden buried his face into his knees.
“No… no. I’m not anything important anymore. I realize that now.”

“Not what I meant. I don’t care what mark you leave on the world, you’re younger than me. You needed someone to keep you safe on the journey. Another friend.”

He paused.
“Did I do a good job?”

Aiden felt his breath catch in his throat.
“Yes. Yes you did great.”
“That’s good.”

He died smiling.

Aiden bolted to his feet.
No, this isn’t happening! We can bring him back… right?!

But they couldn’t.
Aiden watched Rico shut Curtis’ eyes. It was much harder than he’d thought it was going to be.

It was tradition in Italon for bodies to be cremated, and Aiden couldn’t bear to watch.

He instead stared at his arms, spotting burns from the fire he’d wielded not so long before.

They’d scar.
He didn’t care.

Eventually, Aiden couldn’t stop himself and he looked up at the cremation.

The fires were brilliant, but they would ever burn bright enough to replace what they’d all lost.

Previous Chapter: Seventeen
Next BOOK:

IT’S DONE.
The sequel is coming soon, but I need your input on when you’d like chapters to start posting. The ideas I have in mind are:
Post the second I finish Chapter One
Post as a Christmas gift
Post the first minute of 2018
Post sometime in Janurary
Post Feb 14th
Or (And this one would probably be really hard to choose) Post a chapter a day... after I finish it.

[frankie (dup)]

Code: Select all

[b]Who's your favourite character and why?:[/b]

[b]How do you interpret some of the characters?:[/b]

[b]Do you have any headcanons or theories?:[/b]

[b]If Raven Rise was a movie, who would you cast?[/b]

[b]Do you have a favourite scene or chapter?:[/b]

[b]Are there any songs you associate with scenes, characters, or the story in general?[/b]

[b]Anything else?[/b]

Feel free to ask me questions as well!

[Ranger of the North]

Congratulations, man! I'll read through it once more and answer the questions as soon as I possibly can, but it might take me a little while, as schoolwork's getting a lot more intense