The Weight of a Life
In an instant, the veil of ice that hung so firmly overhead cracked and shattered into a stunning cascade of frigid mist. Raven's eyes were full of the scenes from a thousand days gone by and he trembled. Though he was staring straight at Rena, it was soon clear that he was looking at someone else entirely. Still wary and on her guard, Rena held her stance as he took a single step forward.
"I don't deserve to speak to you..." He hung his head, unable to face the gaze of his memory. "I've drowned myself in blood and stolen far more than I could ever repay. I've tried to stop it, but every time I'm the one who gives the order to continue. Please..." He picked up his sword and held the handle out toward Rena. "If you still have any pity left, I need you to put an end to this..."
Glancing from Raven's face to his sword, Rena paused. Her experience suggested that this could be a trap, or more likely that this man's instability made any offer of resignation dubious at best. That alone was enough to make her hesitate, but it was something else entirely that kept her from even considering his request. As he spoke of the people had killed and the suffering he had caused, his face was marred by a sincere agony. Of course, remorseful tyrants and murderers were nothing foreign to Rena; she had seen several monstrous killers in the past who sincerely regretted their actions and yet willfully continued them until they were themselves either killed or captured. Given her experience, her choice should have been simple; to prevent the suffering of thousands, she should take Raven's blade and end his life. Still, something gave her pause, something that she couldn't quite put into words yet and something that made her willing to take the unprecedented risk of letting Raven live. Keeping her distance, she spoke in a careful, measured tone.
"If you regret what you've done, you can always stop."
As he voice rang through Raven's ears, he looked up and studied her face and his desperation waned. "You should not have had to see that...Who are you?"
"My name's Rena, but I'm a bit more interested in who you thought I was just now." She tried to meet his eyes but he turned away, returning his sword to its sheath and staring off into the distance.
"Someone I knew once." He turned back toward her. "Why are you on this ship?"
She grinned defiantly. "Well, if you told me your name like a proper gentleman, then I'd have no trouble telling you why I'm here"
Raven's voice caught in his throat and he recoiled slightly as though he were about to issue an apology. "Raven. I'm the captain of this ship, and we don't deal kindly with stowaways."
"I can tell." Rena smiled and held up her shackled hands before giving him an answer. "About a month ago, someone stole a giant El crystal from a forest in the north, and now the people who live there are struggling to survive. If we don't return the El before spring, most of them will die."
Raven considered her story for a moment and then realized that the stolen El he received from Wally was the same El that Rena was searching for. "...They should be grateful to have a life to struggle for. I've already killed hundreds on my own in the time since they lost their El."
"But you don't seem to enjoy it." Rena's eyes were stern as she searched his words. "If you hate causing so much pain, then why won't you stop?" Her gaze drifted to his left arm and its cold steel claws. "Does it have something to do with the machine on your left arm?"
Raven looked down at his mechanical hand and his eyes burned with contempt. "This just keeps me in line. It makes sure I don't run from battle and that I don't seek a coward's death."
Rena's voice rose to a desperate plea. "But if that thing's controlling you-"
"It isn't." His eyes darkened and he scowled bitterly. "Aside from the shocks, this arm does nothing to force my hand. It shows me my own memories and reminds me of my own spite. No matter how many times I regret what I've done, the moment I see her laying there, lifeless... at that moment, I always choose revenge." He turned from her and put his hands down on his desk. "...None of this is your concern. If you want your El back, you'll have to kill me to get it."
"Are you sure that's the only way? Are you really going to keep doing this if you hate it so much?" Rena spoke gently, her voice an unwanted comfort to Raven's ears. Curling up his fingers into a tight fist, he pushed himself off of his desk and headed toward the door.
"If you don't plan to fight back or escape, then stay in here until we can find a place to throw you overboard."
"Oh, wait, I do plan to fight back and escape though." She smiled brightly at him. "So you'll need to keep a close eye on me, okay?"
"...Fine." Raven avoided her eyes as he pulled back the heavy steel door to the hallway. "Come with me. You'll stay on the bridge until we land."
Rena bounced over toward him, stopping abruptly as she approached. "Oh, um... Could you give me a second? Alone? For private lady-things?" She glanced aside shyly and Raven hesitated, clearly unsure of what 'lady-things' entailed. Scowling more severely than ever, he stepped into the hall and pushed the door shut behind him, muttering as he left.
"You have two minutes. Hurry it up."
As soon as he was gone, Rena rushed to the corner and peered into the vent.
"We've got to change out plans." Rena whispered into the wall. "...Hey, are you two still in there?"
On the other side, Aisha and Elsword were in fact listening, and they were vaguely mortified.
"What are you doing? You could've had him tied up and thrown in the closet by now!" Elsword whispered sharply through the humming air of the service corridor. Looking at him softly, Rena shook her head.
"No, there's something else to him... I don't know if we can help him, but I think he can at least help us get the El back."
"But he's crazy!" Aisha pressed her forehead against the vent, trying to force her apprehension through to Rena. "He just went from violent to delusional and suicidal in the same five minutes. We can't trust him."
"You might be right, but I can't leave here without at least trying to get him to stop this." Rena gave Aisha a calm, gentle stare that wore down her defenses.
"Alright... I guess it's worth the risk if it works..." Aisha pouted silently, unwilling to let Rena go off into another dangerous situation alone. "What was your plan?"
Rena nodded seriously. "We're going to kidnap him. If we can get him away from his crew and away from this ship for a while, he might decide to stop all of this. If not, we can use him as a hostage then to get the El back."
"What!? There's no way that'll work." Elsword glared through slatted wall and Rena looked back at him, her eyes pleading and confident. Grumbling, he crossed his arms and turned aside. "...Fine, what do you need us to do?"
"There should be some kind of life raft or something that the crew use to escape if the ship starts to go down. We need to get ahold of that and then bail out as soon as we see an island or a city below us."
"Rena... are you really sure about this?" Aisha's worries had shifted from and anxious unease to a quiet concern. "You don't need to stop him... You don't need to go do this on your own. We just need to get the El back."
"But I won't be doing it alone. You two will be there, right?" She smiled warmly and Aisha finally surrendered. "I've got to go. When you find the life boats, wait for me on the upper deck just below the bridge. I'll be out there as soon as I can." She rose to her feet and hurried off toward the hallway, glancing over her shoulder and smiling as she went. As soon as she was gone, Elsword turned back to Aisha and glowered.
"Why'd you let her go through with it?"
"I don't remember you shouting 'No!' at the end there either." She grimaced and they both turned back toward the now empty captain's cabin. "...It's just really hard to say no to her when she looks at you that way. Ah!" Aisha huffed and grumbled to herself. "Stupid..."
"Let's just go..." Elsword furrowed his brow as he started back down the corridor. "We need to be there when she pulls this off, so we've gotta hurry."
Still upset and fuming at no one in particular, Aisha followed him through the maze of pipes and shadows, hoping that the knots twisting around in her stomach were the result of having eaten only three times in the past two days and not a premonition of catastrophe.
"Captain on the bridge!" As Raven stepped out of the hallway, his soldiers stood at attention and waited for him to take his post. When Rena hopped through the door behind him, however, she caught the eyes of the entire room. Acknowledging their surprise, Raven took his place at the to the right of the helm and signaled for his subordinates to return to their duties. Glancing sidelong at Rena who had taken a place precariously close to the engine controls, he issued a stern order.
"Watch her closely. She's too dangerous to leave unguarded." He turned to his right and stared down at the old soldier who had captured her. "Wells. Get over here."
Wells sauntered over to the helm and stood at attention. "Yes, boss?"
"What possessed you to lock a stowaway in my cabin?"
"I-" He hesitated beneath Raven's oppressive gaze. "I thought that she might be someone you knew..."
"You were mistaken." Raven turned away, dismissing Wells and his concerns. "The person you are thinking of has been dead for three years. Watch the prisoner closely and don't make this mistake again."
"Yes, sir!" Unsettled, Wells marched over to Rena's side and curled his lips in, giving his best intimidating, stoic glare. In response, Rena smiled and waved cheerfully at him and he scoffed.
From the far side of the bridge, a young mercenary studied his instruments and stood to turned to issue his report. "Boss, Altera's about twenty clicks off now, elevation at thirteen hundred."
"Good. Take us up to twenty-seven fifty and hold this speed." Raven shifted his eyes to the side and rested them on Rena for a moment before returning to the horizon ahead. "Get the crew in position in the cargo bay. I want to drop the El and be out of there within ten minutes."
"Yes, Sir!"
Heeding the helm's instruction, the Black Crow floated up through the sky. As the sea shrank below, clouds billowed over the bridge and bathed the deck in a thick blanket of mist. Once they emerged from the fields of rolling fog, the setting sun cast its bursting palette across the horizon, leaving the air awash in a brilliant scarlet shroud. Far in the distance, the shy peak of a mountaintop peered out of the crimson clouds. Stealing a glance to the deck below, Rena saw that Elsword and Aisha were in position and waiting for her. If there was a mountain up ahead, it had to be resting on land of some sort and this could be their best chance and only chance to escape. Breathing in deeply, Rena checked her surroundings. Three soldiers at the helm shifting levers and handling the ship's wheel. Two at the far side of the bridge monitoring instruments and checking the ship's heading. Aside from that, there was only the soldier standing guard behind her and Raven at the bridge. Staring at Raven's reflection in the thick glass windows at the front of the bridge, Rena turned her feet and prepared to meet harsh resistance.
As the Black Crow leveled off and sailed on toward the sunset, Rena swept her heel back and brought her leg down hard against the back of officer Wells, dropping him to his knees and then to the floor. Before anyone else could turn to register her assault, she dashed for the helm and pulled hard on the ship's wheel, spinning it rapidly and causing the entire ship to roll hard to its port side.
"Keep your posts!" Raven shouted angrily as his soldiers turned to address the commotion. Drawing his sword, he rushed toward Rena and swung rapidly, the edge of his blade landing in the bridge windows just above Rena's shoulder. Pulling back and closing his claw into a heavy fist, he threw a strong punch and Rena ducked to the ground. With Rena clear of his strike, Raven continued on and punched right through the glass, sending hundreds of jagged, sparkling shards tumbling toward the deck below. Jumping up to her feet, Rena caught Raven's claw with the chains between her shackles, wrapping it tightly and pulling him along as she leapt from the bridge and hurled him through the air. She rolled as she landed, springing to her feet while Raven lay on his back nearby, dazed from the sudden fall.
"Rena!" From the side of the deck, Elsword rushed forward and threw Rena's bow toward her. Jumping into the air, she snatched it with both hands and ran along the railing to where Elsword and Aisha waited.
"Thanks." She smiled fondly at them.
"Here, give me your hands." Aisha raised her wand and held it over Rena's shackles. Soon, sparks flickered into the air and a bright red beam spiraled around the iron links that bound Rena's hands together and cut them smoothly.
Shaking the broken shackles from her hands, Rena glanced over her shoulder at the still prone Raven. "Did you find the life boats?"
Aisha shook her head. "There aren't any. They only have these things..." She held out a bundle of heavy backpacks filled with tightly folded silk and cord.
"Ah, parachutes." Rena smiled awkwardly. "I... haven't heard of anyone who's made one that worked so far. I suppose if that's all we've got-"
"Watch out!" Elsword leapt in front of Rena and hurled a fireball across the deck, knocking back a pair of mercenaries that had climbed up from the lower decks. Within a single second, there were another dozen soldiers pouring out on the deck from the starboard side, circling around and readying their swords and rifles. As the ship finally leveled off again, Raven coughed and pushed himself up to his feet. With a face full of rage and spite, he raised his sword toward Rena, Aisha, and Elsword and shouted over the roaring wind.
"Kill them, now!"
Immediately, a hail of bullets rained down from across the deck, shattering as they slammed into the side of a shimmering magic blade that hung in the air in front of Elsword. As the blade glistened and vanished, a wave of arrows and fire swept out toward the soldiers, scorching their hands and knocking away their weapons.
"Get to the guns and shoot them down if you have to!" Raven shouted and stormed across the deck, leaping through the air and drawing his sword through the air in a wide arc. Elsword braced himself and still slid back upon impact, struggling with both hands against Raven's blade. As Raven stared down at Elsword with ice in his eyes, Aisha dashed over to flank him and hurled an orb of crackling dark magic through the air. Still keeping Elsword pinned down with one hand, Raven pivoted in place and raised his left arm, firing a bright burst of energy that cut through Aisha's attack. Before he could begin his counterattack, Rena released a flurry of arrows into the air and Raven retreated to the middle of the deck as his soldiers finished turning the ship's guns inward. In concert, the ten guns on the bow fired just as Elsword and Rena dove to the ground while Aisha teleported to the far side of the deck, narrowly avoiding the heavy shells as they ripped through the air and sailed over the edge of the ship and into the distance. Twirling her wand sharply, Aisha swung down at the nearest battery and a massive, jagged black stone crashed through the air and fell onto the deck, crushing the huge cannon into a mangled heap of steel and smoke. On the starboard side, Elsword shielded Rena and himself as they ran through the chaos of gun smoke and the thunder of artillery, parting ways as Elsword rushed toward the nearest battery and Rena headed to confront Raven.
Cannons sounded and metal screeched as the ship's guns continued their barrage of the deck, trailing just behind Aisha and Elsword as they dashed and dove across the field, wrecking every battery they could get close to. In the midst of the deafening bellows of artillery fire, Rena confronted Raven, his sword drawn and his eyes cold. He lunged and thrust his blade toward he but he only managed cut the ribbon from her hair as she slid to the ground, kicking his feet out from under him and rolling to the side. Quickly, she drew her hand back across her bow and fired a dozen arrows through the air. Undaunted, Raven lay still and stable as Rena's arrows grazed his arms and legs, scarring the dense steel floor. As soon as he barrage had passed, Raven rolled up to his feet and raised his left arm. Rumbling and hissing, the glowing core of his left hand fired a burst of ash and flame straight at Rena. Diving to the side, she plucked her bowstring and sent the fireballs flying off course with a gust of wind, taking aim and unleashing another half dozen arrows as the errant flames scattered into the sky. Raven stood his ground and Rena's arrows once again slid past his chest and shoulders, leaving only light cuts and a faint trail of blood.
"Even after all I've done, you still plan to fight half-heartedly? Even when I'm trying to kill you and your comrades?" Raven glared fiercely, his eyes unmoving. Defiant, Rena took to her feet and readied her bow for another volley.
"I can't kill you until I'm absolutely certain..."
"Certain of what? How many men do I need to kill so that you'll be certain of my crimes?"
"No!" Rena pulled her bow to the side and fired a shot at an approaching mercenary, knocking them to their knees. Without pause, she turned back to Raven and stepped toward him. "Even if you can't erase what you've done, you can overshadow it with something better! If you've killed for the past three years then save people for the next twenty! No one has to die today!"
Raven cast his gaze aside, his resolve wavering. It lasted for only a moment, but in that moment, he was prepared to surrender. In the next, he was prepared for war.
"If you won't fight me seriously then I'll show no mercy." Raven charged, swinging his claw arm out and slashing with his sword, leaving no room for escape. Drawing rapidly, Rena fired at Raven's sword, knocking his blade away and leaving her room to dodge. All around them, splinters of steel and clouds of smoke erupted across the deck as they matched one another in a violent dance of singing steel and howling gusts. Still running frantically across the field, Aisha and Elsword were constantly just a hair's breadth away from a vicious explosion or a hail of lead, dodging and shielding one another as they destroyed one battery after another. Another pack of soldiers started to storm the deck with weapons drawn and Elsword dashed over to them, driving his sword into the ground and summoning a fence of glistening, golden blades that barred their path and knocked them back. Realizing that the guns were avoiding the ship itself, Aisha hurried over to the center deck and stood directly beneath the bridge, covering the field in a deluge of fireballs and bursts of dark energy. It was almost too late when she finally saw the biggest gun on board, the giant fifteen inch cannon mounted on the bow, turn toward the bridge and prepare to fire. The moment after Aisha leapt aside and rolled out onto the deck, the cannon fired and a roaring wave of heat and light flooded the air as the bridge burst into flames.
With its pilots gone, the ship creaked and groaned but it did not stop. Instead, the bow pitched forward slightly and the Black Crow headed straight for the small mountaintop island in the vast sea of clouds. The mercenaries who had manned the grand cannon fled their post in horror, joining their comrades below deck as they fought desperately against the fire raging on the bridge. Now that the field was clear of any other distractions, Elsword and Aisha rushed to join Rena in her attempt to capture Raven. Sliding forward, Elsword delivered a strong swing to Raven's back, forcing him to turn and block while Rena kicked his legs out from under him. As he stumbled to his knees, Aisha grabbed Raven and forced a surge of lightning into his left arm. Shaking, Raven tumbled to the ground and Elsword quickly laid a foot down across his back while Rena did the same across his leg, ensuring that he couldn't get up. A moment later, however, Raven let out an enraged growl and pushed himself up, throwing Elsword and Rena off and interrupting Aisha's binding spell. The brutal conflict continued unabated as the ship gradually fell forward, its bow now angled down as it barreled toward the island below. Standing together, Rena, Aisha, and Elsword panted and wiped the sweat from their faces as they faced down Raven. Battered, bleeding, and looking far more exhausted than anyone else on board, Raven was pushing his opponents to their limit even if he was taking damage in the process. As the ship lurched forward and dove toward the clouds, Elsword made his move.
Opening with a powerful thrust, Elsword charged ahead and matched Raven's every blow, using the greater size and weight of his sword to block and deflect Raven's blade. Every time Elsword was open and vulnerable to an attack from the side, Rena fired a stream of arrows into Raven's left arm, knocking it aside and keeping him from finishing any kind of attack. While their relentless assault continued and Raven gave up ground, Aisha completed her binding sigil and drove her Wand into Raven's side, ensnaring him in a twisting mass of glowing chains. Struggling to free himself, he began to snap each chain in turn, ripping their links apart and wrenching his arms free. Just as he escaped the sigil, Elsword slipped around behind him and Rena raced around to his side. The two of them each delivered a swift kick, one to the stomach and one to the back, emptying Raven's lungs and causing him to double over. While he straightened himself and spun around to attack, Aisha leapt behind him and bashed him across the head with her wand, following with a punch that crackled and exploded in a burst of dark magic. Staggering, stumbling, and gasping for breath, Raven gripped his sword and forced himself to stand.
As they passed through the clouds, the ship's engine suddenly gave out. The Black Crow plummeted, its deck now forming a wide angle with the horizon and its crew scrambling to the stern. Across the ship, the order to evacuate rang out even as the captain battled to the end of his strength. With the clouds now above, Aisha could clearly see their destination: An island, centered around a spiraling mountain and covered in lush greenery. There was something distinctly odd about it, though. This island's shore was not met by the ocean but by the wind and the entire mass of land floated hundreds of feet over the water. When she looked back to where Raven had collapsed, he was gone. Climbing across the railing and leaning up against the remains of a ten inch cannon, Raven leveled his left hand at Aisha and shot out a monstrous blast of flame that ripped through the thick steel deck as it hurtled toward its target. Jumping back, Aisha slid along the railing and grabbed onto the remnants of a mangled battery ten yards away, landing safely next to Rena and out of the fire's path. Aching and tired beyond words, Aisha emptied her last skin of water and glanced over the railing.
"Rena... if we're..." Aisha panted and sweat dripped from her bangs. "If we're going to do this, we've gotta do it now." Rena peered over the bow and confirmed the urgency of their condition. At the rate they were going, the Black Crow would crash into the floating island below in a few minutes. Judging by the violent tremors that tormented the ship's hull, she worried they might not even make it that far. From their scant cover, Rena nodded to Elsword and motioned to him silently just as the ship rumbled and faltered, entering a near vertical dive. If they had any time to spare before, it was now lost. Shifting her feet and fighting her fatigue, Rena drew back her bow and loosed an endless stream of arrows across the sky, overwhelming Raven with a river of needle-thin bolts. Raising his left arm to shield himself, he drove his sword into the deck and held himself steady as the battlements he stood on threatened to give way. While he was fighting his way through the storm of burning arrows, Elsword climbed the railing behind him and leapt through the air, putting all his strength into a single swing and hitting Raven squarely in the back with the flat of his blade. The force threw Raven across the deck to the heap of broken artillery where Aisha stood waiting. Righting himself in the air, Raven pulled his claw back to strike as he landed but Aisha met his strike with a wail of fire and shadows. As he recoiled from Aisha's spell, she drove her wand into the ruined cannon at her feet and a shining sigil burned into the steel beside her, overtaking Raven with a curtain of shimmering chains. Immediately she rained bursts of dark energy down on him, snapping his bindings with every blow until Aisha finally formed a huge, bristling orb of dark magic and tossed it into the air, smacking it into Raven with her wand and sending him flying toward the bow. As he fell, Rena took her place at the front of the ship, now its lowest point as it continued its rapid descent. Firing rapidly, Rena kept him aloft with the force of her arrows, piling bolts into his left arm and grazing his shoulders and side. Once he finally began to fall again, she leapt to the side and swung her leg out swiftly, catching him in the chest and slamming him against the deck. With a great, desperate gasp, Raven finally closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Only moments separated the Black Crow from its inevitable end as Rena scooped Raven up and pushed herself off of the deck. Soon, Aisha and Elsword joined her and the four of them fluttered through the air, joining hands as they fell and opening their parachutes together. As Rena and Aisha pulled the cords on their packs, however, nothing happened. Their hearts caught in their throats as they gathered around Elsword, clinging tightly as they waited for him to release his chute. With all the extra weight suddenly pressing against him from all sides, Elsword fumbled and squirmed uncomfortably, finally reaching the draw string to his parachute and pulling it firmly. Within seconds, a grand silk canopy unfurled above them, catching the wind and slowing their descent. Weary of unforeseen excitement, they all breathed deeply and looked on as the Black Crow raced toward the nearby mountainside. The bow cracked upon impact and the back half of the ship crumbled away, toppling down the mountain and careening off onto the plains below.
Still hundreds of feet above the floating island, Elsword put up a futile effort to shift himself into a more tolerable position. With Aisha hanging from his back and Rena pressing Raven and herself into his side, he was uncomfortable in more ways than one. Grimacing, he stared up at the retreating sky.
"How'd you both mess it up? It was so easy, you just pull the string."
"It's not our fault that you gave us busted parachutes!" Aisha poked her head over his shoulder and argued into his ear. Rena joined her, nodding and trying to speak as gently as she could while gasping for breath.
"She's right, these things are horribly unreliable. A lot of people have died trying to make them work."
Elsword scoffed. "It's just a big sheet on some strings. How could you mess that up?"
A coarse, unsettling sound disturbed the gentle breeze. Slowly, Elsword looked up to see a small tear spreading through the middle of his parachute.
"Everyone, hold on to me!" Rena wove her hand through Raven's belt as Elsword and Aisha latched onto her. In an instant, the parachute ripped in half and they all dropped through the sky. The horizon spun haphazardly as they plunged toward the wreckage of the Black Crow. The distance closed in the space of a heartbeat. With no time to wonder if it would work or not, Rena reached for her bowstring and pulled it back so far that her arm trembled and her fingers began to bleed. Just as the earth was about to swallow them whole, she released.