Well this is a surprise!

I was not planning to update any of my fanfics lately since I wanted to focus on other stuff like school, writing outside of FanFiction and my gaming channel. You're probably aware that I'm competing in a Minecraft recreation of Raven. And yeah, some things happened in the show that . . . kinda destroyed my self confidence a bit.

And then I got messaged by Hanso. That's right, I got a PM from THE HANSO complimenting this story and encouraging me to keep writing!

I don't think I've had this big a freak out since "I love you too much to lose you." I am very passionate about my writing and then to have my favourite Raven warrior of all time read this and praise me about it . . . well in the last words of Hanso herself: "It's just so amazing and I'm just so happy." I just can't believe it, I cried tears of joy at the response and it's such a confidence boost.

Anyway that's enough about me. ON WITH THE STORY! This is for you, Hanso, I certainly hope you enjoy ;)

Chapter 4

A New Quest Begins

The air was silent apart from the rustling sound coming from Hanso's satchel as she continued to pack up her things, trying to ignore the concerned, slightly emotional warriors behind her. She spluttered, and swallowed as hard as she could but that large lump in the back of her throat was not going away.

Why did her eyes feel so watery?

She wiped them quickly and braved a glance behind her. Most of the warriors were just sitting motionless around the fireplace, none of them speaking a word to each other, though Kesem was sobbing silently in Kelpa's arms with Mygar stroking her back. Seeing her friend so upset . . . Hanso flicked back around and tried to concentrating on what she needed.

Sticks and wood to start a fire . . . check. Cloth for bandages . . . yeah they were in there. And she needed a slingshot just in case Nevar's demons attacked her on her journey. Surely a few stones could do as much damage as those large rocks they had used to fight a whole army of demons . . . though only Danil had actually been successful with them. Everyone else kinda had to be rescued by Raven.

He was standing over her now, arms folded, watching as she kept her focus on packing her satchel. Hanso could sense his eyes over her, gazing on with disapproval and tried not to look up. Um, what did she need . . .? Food, definitely. Uhh . . . Apples. She turned around to face the pile that had been there when she had first arrived back to warrior camp. They looked so fresh so welcoming . . .

Hanso quickly grabbed a handful of them and stuffed them in her satchel, the lump in her throat growing a little. Funny, how she had been in camp for less than half a day and now she had to leave her comrades again.

The satchel wouldn't close now. The bag seemed to be overflowing with cloth and stones and apples and sticks . . . Hanso felt her throat tighten again as she yanked on the lid trying to force it shut. Why wouldn't it just shut?

Danil noticed this and bent down to help. "Here, let me give you a hand."

"Thanks." Hanso straightened up and allowed Danil to try and shut the satchel for her. He managed to do so successfully, tying it extra tight so none of the contents would spill.

"There ya go."

"Thank," Hanso murmured again, taking hold of it and putting it over her shoulder. As she stood up, she felt the weight of her drag her down and stumbled a little, frowning slightly. This shouldn't be that heavy, the stuff she was carrying was only light. It was almost as if she was carrying a different sort of weight altogether . . .

"You know you don't have to go alone," said Danil.

Hanso raised her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"I'll come with you," he said, stepping forwards.

She froze slightly. She had a feeling that at least one of her comrades was going to say that and yet she still wasn't prepared to deny their offer.

"Danil, I . . ." Hanso pulled a face. How was she going to say this kindly to him?

"Look I know you wanna take on the Blasted Mountain and stuff but this is serious." Danil bent his head, lowering his eyebrows. "You may not come out of this alive, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know but . . ." Hanso sighed again, trying not to let her face crumble. "It's just . . . Someone has to retrieve that Staff of Power. And . . ." She sighed again, rubbing her forehead in guilt. "I just want to prove myself . . . If I lead you all in and don't make it . . ."

She sensed Danil's face drop and glanced down at her feet, clutching onto her satchel. "It's sort of a sacrifice, for all you guys."

Danil just stood there, shoulders dropped, eyes also avoiding contact. "Yeah, I guess so."

Hanso felt her eyes water again and wiped them again. "Y- You understand that, right?"

"Yeah I do." As snappy as his tone was, it still cracked on him nonetheless.

Again, the air was filled with that deathly silence. The sun was still descending, its bright rays hiding behind the mountain peak that lay ahead, darkening the sky a dull bright orange color.

Hanso let out one final sigh. "I should probably get going . . . Nevar isn't gonna wait for that Staff of Power."

"Kay." Danil nodded at this, turning his shoulder slightly on her. "Good luck then."

Hanso bit her lip and gulped slightly as she backed away slowly, glancing between her comrades.

"Bye guys."

No one responded. None of them even made eye contact with her, nor did they make any sort of movement to wish her luck. She could feel some of them flicking glances at her but no longer than a few seconds. The only sound coming from at least one of them, was the snuffling coming from Kesem as she tried to control her tears. Even she couldn't bear to say goodbye to her best friend. It was like she was already gone . . .

Biting her lip harder, Hanso reluctantly turned her back and walked a few steps before her eyes fell on Versad. He was still sitting by the tree, glancing at his feet. He didn't look amused now. In fact he looked rather guilty.

"Hey."

Versad looked up, surprised to see her talking to him. "Oh . . . hi."

"I . . ." Again, Hanso couldn't help but turn away from him. "I just wanted to say, I appreciate you for being concerned about me."

Versad just pulled a face. "I think everyone is to be honest. You're taking a big risk, you know that?"

"Yeah I know," Hanso murmured quietly, and she managed to look at him once more, trying to forget about the journey that lay ahead. "Take care of yourself, will ya?"

"Right back at you."

Hanso exhaled a little as if to laugh but her face didn't smile nor show any sign of happiness. Instead it remained somewhat nervous as she turned to face the long forestry path ahead, overshadowed by that large mountain peak.

This was it.

Hanso took a deep breath and began to march through the woods, across the path. Her satchel bumped against her legs, dropping down on her shoulder which was already beginning to ache with the weight. Scrunching up her eyes, she took hold of the strap and raised it slightly to ease the pain.

This was going to be a long journey.

Already the sky was beginning to feel darker as she found the many trees hovering over her blocking out the remaining light from the sun and just making the path darker and darker. Flicking a glance behind her, she could no longer see her comrades or any sign of warrior camp- the trees were beginning to interfere.

Hanso cleared her throat and gazed up at the mountain, trying to keep her eyes fixed on it while also trying not to bump into the trunks around her. There were so many of them . . . it felt like there were more on the way to her destination than there were back to warrior camp.

Okay, the satchel was really beginning to hurt her shoulder now. Hanso scrunched up her face and, still walking, raised it and took a moment to change it around, placing it onto her other shoulder. That felt a little better.

On with the quest.

Saying that in her head almost seemed to cheer her up a little. The blackness suddenly reminded her of Raven and Hanso couldn't help but smile a little as she thought back to the times when she and her fellow warriors followed in Raven's footsteps, eager to see their next challenge. That was back when the quest was exciting and the challenges were good sport . . .

SNAP!

Hanso stiffened, eyes widened. What was that?

She flickered around her, but all she could see was just trees everywhere and the trees were leading into darkness and infinity . . .

Now a rustling sound.

The leaves above her were beginning to shake, some of them slipping from their branches and fluttering to the ground like raindrops among the crispy ones that Hanso was already standing on. Without a moment's hesitation, she heaved her satchel off her shoulders and knelt down to open it and search frantically for her slingshot. It was stuck right at the bottom, underneath the heavy cloth and large apples.

The rustling sounds in the trees seemed to be getting close, louder and louder and Hanso tried not to panic as she forced her hand down past her cloth and finally fished out her slingshot and a stone. Standing up, she fumbled to get it in and saw a shadow flash over her in the trees.

"Who is that?"

She pulled back the stone in her slingshot and aimed it at any form of movement, or at least where she had seen the shadow. Whatever it was, it was definitely a moving target that was after her. Hanso bent down a little and swiveled her eyes around her surroundings. Hopefully her aim would be as true as it was back when she had to trigger those mines in Target Run . . .

A glimpse of white in the trees suddenly caught her attention and Hanso immediately fired. But this attacker seemed agile and dodged her shot with ease, moving very swiftly through the trees indeed. Though they seemed to have stopped now, examining her on the ground and Hanso suddenly recognized the cloud symbol on their chest.

"Danil!" Of course he would follow her! She should have known he wasn't gonna stay behind just like that!

The person, or warrior didn't respond just stayed perfectly still on the branch they were on. Hanso, slightly upset frowned and stormed over to the tree to get a response.

"Danil, I told you not to-"

"I'm not Danil." It was a female voice.

"Oh." Hanso, lowered her slingshot, not sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved. The female warrior bent her knees and with one graceful leap, jumped down onto the leaves to join her, allowing Hanso to get a good look at her. She was about the same height as her, wearing the same cloud outfit as Danil and Mygar and had light ash brown hair tied into two shoulder length plaits.

"Sorry," Hanso murmured, blushing a little. She really thought that that was Danil who had followed her and it had given her such a fright . . .

"Nah it's okay," the girl replied pleasantly. "I'd freak out too if I thought someone was after me," she added with a giggle.

"Yeah," Hanso agreed, nodding slightly, eyeing the cloud symbol on her chest and deciding to change the topic. "Were you on the quest?"

"Yeah I was," the girl smiled. "I'm Ardhu. Do you know Danil?"

"I was in the final with him. Why were you in his week?"

"Yeah I was. And Lenat, you know him?"

"Yeah I do." Hanso smiled a little and looked back up at the trees. She couldn't help but admire how swiftly this Ardhu warrior had moved back there, she had the climbing skills and agility of a monkey. "You were really good up in those trees. Did Danil and Lenat beat you at the Last Stand?"

"No, I got knocked out first."

Hanso's eyes widened and turned back to Ardhu, her jaw dropped in shock. "What?!"

"Yup." Ardhu tightened her lips but remained smiley. "I did well, won some rings . . . I actually beat Lenat in Spider's Web!" She giggled a little again before sighing. "But I kinda got a bit unlucky in the team challenges and that knocked me down a few lives."

"Whoa." Hanso was too shocked to realize that she was gaping at the cloud warrior. And to think that she had bad luck on that last day! "I- I'm really sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. I've done well on the quest, and I'm working on my strengths and stuff," Ardhu replied. "I've enjoyed the quest."

"Right." Hanso felt herself blushing a little bit more and she glanced down at her feet. Here was this girl who had possibly the worst luck in the whole entire quest and yet she was so happy with her accomplishments . . .

Oh yeah. She had her own quest to continue.

"I-" She looked back at Ardhu who still had that smile on her face and sighed, not wanting to upset her with what was happening at camp. She turned to close her satchel and pick it back up.

"I have to go."

"Okay, bye." As Hanso put her satchel back round her shoulder and began to head off, Ardhu turned to the tree she had been on and began to climb back up. Watching Hanso disappear into the blackness of the woods, she let out a shout.

"Tell Danil and them I said hi!"

Again, Hanso paused. She wanted to return and tell her fellows about this amazing warrior. But she had a job to do. And chances were, she might not live to tell her comrades anything . . .

Her satchel felt heavy again but Hanso took another deep breath and looked back up at the Blasted Mountain. It seemed so far away and yet she felt so close . . . Lifting up her satchel slightly, she began to march once again and muttered under her breath:

"I'll see you soon."

Aaaaaaand there you go! Lol, this is probably the longer chapter of this story!

Again, I'm just so amazed that I have the main character herself reading this story so that really motivates me to give it extra attention and feel like something special.

I really hope you enjoyed this, to all my fans and especially to Hanso. Next chapter will be coming soon.

See ya! ;D