Hey, it's Izzy! I'm back from my awesome trip to New York and now I'm in New Zealand for an international competition. RIP me.
And so we reach the grand finale of this story!
Yep, you read that right! This is the final chapter before the epilogue of this 10 chapter story!
But...maybe...you haven't heard the last of us. This story was some old thing we wrote a while ago, but having just graduated, I do have some time on my hands - although I'm still busy af, I just don't have to balance school with music - it's all just music now. So I'd like to do some writing when I'm free at night, and Ducky will pop in to help me out too. So if I can bring myself to undertake such a task, I may write an Elsword high school story, which is very cliche...EXCEPT it will have an exploration of real issues and more mature themes. Idk! Maybe lemme know what you guys think?
Anyway, thanks for reading all the way up to this point and we hope this has been an enjoyable story for you :)
- Izzy
Chapter 9
Raven raced through the silent streets of Velder, the darkness of the night closing in on his solitary figure. His footsteps pounded on the crumbling pavement, reverberating off the walls and scorched pathways that constituted what was once a thriving city of trade and crafts. All that remained now was a haunting, blackened shell of a past that should have reminded the man of his wrongdoing but instead further compelled him to unleash his wrath. Each stride became more filled with purpose, creating a trail leading directly towards where the nobility of Velder lay sound asleep.
Raven passed the disintegrating foundations of the training barracks he had spent the majority of his life living in and the shattered windows of Seris' beloved flower shop, suppressing any sense of sentimentality before it could change his mind. Nothing was going to stop him.
After all, it was Alex who had taken all this away in the first place.
The winding uphill path lined by neatly-trimmed topiaries informed the man of how close he was to his target and so the steep climb did nothing to deter him. It did, however, make him realise that the secluded nature of the suburb where the aristocrats lived would have been why they were barely touched when he had first lashed out in a blind fit of rage. Before long, a row of imposing buildings came into view; they were whiter, neater, and grander than all the other residences in the city by far. Long flags extended down from the sides of their high roofs, emblazoned with their respective family crests in a seemingly deliberate display of their superiority. Unlike the wooden structures belonging to the rest of Velder, their walls were made of hand-carved marble, and the arrogant air of Augustan distinction the buildings portrayed was enough to drive that bitter feeling of resentment even further into Raven's stomach.
As he reached the towering stone gates of Alex's estate, the man noticed two guards with pikes blocking the entrance. They immediately pointed their long weapons at him when they registered his appearance and metal arm.
"Where's Alex?"
"Stand down."
"If you knew any better you'd be the one doing that," Raven snarled, "Now where is he?"
"We wouldn't share that information with Velder's most-wanted criminal," the taller guard
growled, "Stand down or we'll use force."
Raven noticed that the other man's knees were shaking. "I destroyed Velder. You two share the same fate if you don't tell me where that bastard is right now.."
"H-He's not h-"
"We have reinforcements. This is your last chance to surrender."
Raven's left arm whirred threateningly.
"Monster," the guard spat.
If anyone were watching from the distance, they would have seen a sudden, blinding light explode from a corner of Velder. Immediately the front of the property was blown into tiny fragments, marble shrapnel flying in all directions. Raven violently launched flames and missiles at everything in his path, his own body crying in pain as each blast of white-hot flame blitzed through his arm and towards the nobles' residences. It was unstoppable, taking control of his mind completely and feasting on his frustration until his own soul turned as dark as the moonless sky.
Bloodcurdling screams rang through the air as people woke to find themselves on fire, or that the person across the corridor had been completely vaporized along with everything nearby. Rushing in all directions, they tripped over scorched bodies and fallen debris, only to run into another attack in what had become an inescapable furnace, enclosed by a dome of pure energy much like the replication of a miniature nuclear bomb he had dropped that day when his training session went horribly wrong. Several victims collapsed out of exhaustion and suffocation from the smoke, but most lay dead, their bodies warped and deformed until they were hardly recognisable.
His comrades all lay dead, their bodies sprawled across the blood-soaked ground. Alex's weapon was red with their blood.
A voice of salvation called through the mayhem.
"The reinforcements have arrived!"
As Raven blasted the final building into smithereens, he felt a cluster of arrows plant themselves into his back. With a roar, he turned around to face the small army that was gathering just outside the gates. Clusters of soldiers merged together, representing the area they came from with their uniforms and distinctive weapons - there were the Knights of Feita with their olive green tunics and halberds, closely followed by…
The Ruben Patrol Team.
Through the tongues of fire billowing around him and the unfamiliar mass of foreign troops his glare met a pair of eyes that belonged to none other than Lowe. At first, they widened with confusion but it didn't take long for a look of understanding to pass over the man's face. A second volley of arrows embedded themselves into Raven's exposed side and in a fit of rage, he fired a series of explosive spikes that decimated the archers who had dared to shoot at him. When he turned back, the captain's face was lost in the sea of soldiers. Bodies flew through the air, either hit by Raven's turbulent throws, or pierced by the Nasod spears that followed closely behind. The militants formed a wall of focused expressions, pushing the corpses of their comrades aside in never ending lines, determined to take the rogue beast down. In the chaos, it was difficult for anyone to see more than a few feet in front of themselves for the air thick with fire and debris. Raven's own vision was clouded with the intensity of his rage and uncontrollable power.
A group of Red Knights from Hamel circled him, the sharpened tips of their swords closing in.
As he emerged from the Black Crow barracks, a group of soldiers surrounded him. Raven let his sword drop the ground with a clang and lifted his head, only to come face-to-face with his closest friend, Alex.
He swiped the weapons out of their hands effortlessly and crushed them in his fist.
They were blown outwards by the sheer energy of his strikes, hurled with such force that the soldiers' armour crumpled as soon as their bodies slammed into the ground. Still, the commanders were determined, and even more lines of troops were ordered to charge towards the centre of the destruction. Moving further from the nobles' district, the night became darker and darker, no longer lit by burning buildings. He ran onwards, batting attackers away as if they were flies, each death being nothing but an inconvenience. Raven no longer saw their faces as they approached, only blank pawns moving in one after the other; they seemed small, insignificant, only deterring him from finally having what he needed and craved so hungrily.
Though they came upon him with different weapons, ranging from swords of all kinds to long spears to barbed arrows, each burned in his flames or were crushed by the unrelenting Nasod claw. The limb itself was growing into a being, muscles and tendons contorting over the mechanical weapon to form a human-like arm, except with leathery black skin and veins of liquid fire.
His footsteps became more staggered and irregular as the ground transitioned from smooth walkways to the cobblestone roads that wound their way towards the Southern Gate of Velder.
The army had thinned out here, but the few that remained immediately rushed to pull down the huge, wooden portcullis that blocked entrance to the top of the wall that served as one of the highest vantage points in the city.
And then he saw a man standing behind the closing door, silver braid intact and tied immaculately by a scarlet ribbon. There was a familiar, infuriating smirk on his face.
Alex.
"You were born to live a life in the dirt. Know your place." Alex smiled smugly before slamming the heavy, oak doors behind him.
The next of his never-ceasing attacks were frenzied and hysterical as he hounded his way towards where the man whose existence had been tormenting him for so long stood watching the destruction. With each of his strides, the soldiers began to move faster, enclosing him on all sides. Raven ripped through the crowd, forming a trail of carnage along his path, though more reinforcements quickly swarmed in. As the edge of the door drew closer to the ground, Alex began to slowly disappear from view.
"No!" Raw anger exploded from him as his prize slowly slipped from his grasp yet once again.
He slipped away before Raven could say another word, before he could beg for his so-called brother to come back, before he could ask what he had done to deserve such a fate.
The inferno grew and grew, higher and thicker, spiralling high into the night sky as if Raven himself had all the unrestricted power of the sun. He pummeled his fist into the dense wood, splinters exploding from the shattered doorway. All confidence had left Alex and he turned to run at the sight of the whirlwind of fury approaching him.
"Alex!" Raven yelled, as the fires came to a sudden stop, plunging them back into the darkness of night.
Having reached the end of the wall and a thirty-metre drop, the other man skidded to a halt.
"What do you want Raven? What is there for you left to take?!" Alex hollered wildly, his hands covered in blisters from the sheer heat.
"I'd like my life back, but that's too late so I'll take yours in exchange," snarled Raven
"And what will you even get out of it? Take a look around Raven, you have taken more lives in your worthless quest for revenge than I ever have. You are responsible for this destruction. You are no human, Raven, so kill me if you want! Killing me is easy for a monster."
He had spent countless hours waiting for the revenge that was now in his grasp, yet Alex still had that cocky smile on his face.
Fragments of the wall split and fell off as Raven knocked him to the ground. Blood flew out of Alex's mouth as each punch landed, the whites of his teeth stained red in a bloody smirk. Emerging from his throat was a deformed cackle which quickly turned into coughs and gurgles as Raven struck even harder, completely relentless even when there was little of the other man left to attack. With a final roar, he gripped the man's neck and twisted it until there was an audible snap, then threw the limp body off the wall.
Each part of his body suddenly felt like it was slowly dragging him down, and as the exhaustion overwhelmed him he drooped over, his forehead resting against the cold, stone ground.
"Raven!"
He lifted his head slightly, vaguely seeing a female figure run towards him.
"Raven…"
He couldn't recognise the distinctive pointed, elven ears or the distraught voice calling to him.
With one hand on his knee, he pushed himself up from the ground and started to move across the bridge to where she was approaching from the other side. The distance between the pair became smaller as their footsteps became faster and more frequent. Rena's eyes were wide with concern for him, seeing the gaping wounds bleeding through his clothes and arrows lodged into his back.
"Oh Raven, look at you." She sharply inhaled as she got a closer look of the bloody lesions covering his exhausted body.
Rena lifted a hand, intending on pulling back his destroyed clothing to see the extent of his injuries. Suddenly, she found herself in a choke hold, having been yanked by her exposed wrist. He growled, baring his teeth as if ready to rip out her throat..
"Raven, what are you doing?"
An animalistic snarl.
His grip tightened even further, pressing into her neck until angry red marks began to form under her skin. Rena was locked in the man's hold, yet rather than struggle to escape, she saw the opportunity to wordlessly call for the real him to come back. But his eyes were filled with betrayal and pain - there was no glint of recognition despite how desperately she searched to find it. They stared back at her, both intensely focused and distant, as if his rage and ambition had overtaken him to the point where the Raven she knew no longer controlled his own actions, not to mention his mind.
A sword was unsheathed silently behind him.
The smallest glimmer shining off of the metal was enough for Rena to spot it from behind the offender's back, but still she was unarmed and unable to escape from his firm hold. Pointing it directly towards Raven's heart, the soldier raised his weapon without making a sound, ready to strike. With each attempt to break free he only clenched tighter, there was not even time to desperately warn him of the attack.
"No!"
Rena twisted herself around, pushing him to where she had stood. The large sword pierced through her torso, its square blade escaping through the other side. Shocked, the young boy of a soldier let go, causing her to stumble forward and crash into Raven's chest.
A pair of crimson eyes gazed down at them. Realising what he had done to the kind elf he had met in Lowe's camp, the red-haired soldier fled, sprinting as quickly as his shaking legs would allow. Rena lifted her head slightly to gaze at Raven for the last time, and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. With what was left of her breath, she whispered to him.
"I love you."
As she uttered those final words, the man's anger seemed to evaporate. He gently rolled her body down so that she lay on her back draped across his forearms, and her emerald eyes, still sparkling despite being so close to death, looked up towards his. They blinked slower and slower as she sighed, the weight of her body feeling as if it were sinking into the ground. With a gentle exhale, they finally came to rest, and all of her lay still.
Her limp, lifeless body lay sprawled on the ground.
"Rena…"
A trail of small footprints led off into the distance, but the young knight was long gone. As he followed them with his eyes, still holding tightly onto the elf, he could see the sun peeking over the horizon and its warm light slowly spreading over what was left of Velder. Raven's knees buckled, leaving him hunched protectively over Rena's limp body. The final traces of darkness left the cloudless sky and gradually began to illuminate her tranquil expression and the long green strands of hair tangled between the metal talons of his claw.
:'( RIP Rena you will not be forgotten.
As the next chapter will be our final chapter, we will reply to the rest of the reviews there as a thank you to those who have reviewed! Your feedback is really appreciated 3
See you in a few days!