End of All Hope - part 1

* Nightwish - End Of All Hope *

***

"You know," Camilla said between munches, "with the way we're talking right now, and the two kids sleeping over there, I wouldn't be so surprised if someone thought we were a married couple with two kids."

"Uhm," Maria nodded, "I don't know how to feel about that to be honest, being married to someone I've never met before isn't kinda my thing, and let's not forget that you're not my type".

"Oho~ Not your type? You do realise that almost everyone that sees me falls for me?" Camilla replied as she swayed her hair left and right as if to prove her point, "also, I've practically known you for a day, since we've met yesterday."

"Meh. I'm not into girls. Plus, I lived with Raven as a boy. And not almost, but every girl did fall for him. Funnily enough, I've seen some guys even check him out every now and then" She said with a shrug. "And, I was unconscious so it doesn't count".

At that, Camilla looked down in disappointment.

'It's a matter of fact that the kid is extraordinary beautiful, even as a boy, he was so adorable, maybe a little bit too much...?' She thought to herself. 'Maybe it's because she's not human? If I had to guess, I'd say she's a kid that's been experimented on. Well, that or that she's a hybrid between a robot and a soul weaver, whatever that actually is, since she's transformed Maria into one. And if this is anything like vampirism, then she'd have to be one to be able to turn others".

"Hey come on now, don't feel down about that, I'll get her to crack her charm a notch or two down."

"Hey I'm not! And what do you mean, can she do that?"

"Nah"

"PFFTT then why even- *Sigh" Camilla sighed in surrender as she squeezed the bridge of her nose, "Listen, I was thinking about something-"

"Aha, go on"

"Would you please let me finish my sentence first?"

"Sure"

"What do you know about Soul Weavers?"

"Um... nothing, why?"

"Well, the girl did turn you into one, you should at least be curious, you know."

"A soul weaver huh?" Maria said with her hand on her chin, "Nah, I'm pretty sure she'll let me know everything I need to, the moment she wakes up anyway"

"Girl, you be trusting her blindly huh?!" Camilla said in a weird accent.

"Of course I do!" she replied instantly.

"..." Camilla just stared at her, "Ok let me explain-"

Maria raised her hand, as if to signal for her to shut up.

"Eighyea?" Maya woke up and threw a questioning sleepy mumble before looking back at the shaking girl in her embrace.

Raven's body was shaking like crazy. Her high fever has gotten way worse before anyone had a chance to realize it.

At this point, even Maya's body was covered in sweat, and not only because she was hugging Raven, but because of the heat she emitted.

"Help please!" She said weakly, prompting Maria and Camilla to jump closer to them.

Putting a hand over the shaking Raven's forehead, Maria was surprised by how hot it was.

"It's at least 43 degrees Celsius, a normal person would be dead at 45, if kept for an extended period of time"

""What do we do?"" both Maya and Camilla said at once, almost panicking.

"I'm a doctor, don't worry," she said, trying to calm the girls down, it was always the first step in any medical procedure.

"Camilla, give me whatever water you have on you, and then take one of the drones outside and look for some more, bring me as much as you can!"

"Roger!" She said as she started to run for the exit of the cave.

"Maya, please keep doing what you're doing. I'll remove the clothes covering you, alright?"

"Uhm," she nodded as she embraced Raven even harder.

'The rate at which her temperature is going up is way worse than expected, how did I miss checking up on her?' Maria scolded herself as she uncovered both girls. There's no way she'd forgive herself if anything happens to Raven.

But although she was quite concerned, she kept her personal emotions in check.

She's learnt during her medical carrier that mixing feelings with professionalism can be disastrous, especially when someone's life is on the line.

Taking a piece of dry cloth, she started drying up the sweat on both of their small bodies.

'If kept, sweat will release the heat from their bodies which is good, but at this point, it would do more damage to her organs' Maria analysed in her mind. 'a sudden decrease in temperature can prevent certain enzymes from functioning properly as they loose their optimal environment, just as much as a sudden increase would do'.

*Huff* *Huff*

Now that the cave was quiet, they could hear the shallow breathing of the little girl.

Maya felt her heart sink down deeper and deeper with every passing second.

'Please, please stay well! Raven! Don't leave me!' She was so scared of the thought of losing Raven.

She's done way too many good things for her that Maya despised herself for being fine and well while she was suffering. She felt as if she's betraying her.

------------------

*Draven's POV*

Opening his eyes and looking up the now familiar crimson sky, Draven took a deep breath as he jumped up and started to run.

Reaching the edge of the crystal garden that he'd previously thought it to be a forest, he saw a huge gate leading towards the huge dark castle in front of him.

Although the gate was about four meters high, filled with gems and weird runes, it was apparent that it's seen better days as multiple cracks appeared on its surface, distorting the runes and decreasing their effectiveness.

On the ground, five human looking soldiers were laying in a puddle of their own blood.

Two had their heads cut clean. One was missing his bottom half, and his entrails were laying flat on the once green grass. The last two had their bodies turned into rotten flesh that almost resembled an eaten apple, it was as if their souls had been sucked dry.

Guarding the gate and standing on top of the bodies, were two dark scaly figures in some heavy armour. One had a long spear that could almost cut air itself, while the other had a scary looking compound bow.

Draven guessed they both were of the same race, considering their similar features.

As he appeared from behind one of the trees, the guards were alarmed of his arrival, and quickly aimed their weapons at him, while mumbling some weird sounding noise.

Summoning his dark armour along with two great swords, Draven let his destructive aura flare violently.

The guards stiffened from the dense killing intent assaulting their souls.

His jet black armour was now covered with crimson runes that inspired fear into the guardians' hearts, as they could swear they were peering into their deepest nightmares.

The swords, on the other hand, were pulsing with ominous red as if reacting to their master's killing intent.

Along with how some darker shades of red liquid could be seen swirling inside of them, the swords gave off the feeling of being hungry, almost starving, for souls and blood. They almost looked alive.

BOOOMM!!

Flashing right between the two, he cut them in an instant, making even their armours and weapons turn into dust while they just vanished into the two great swords.

Rather than running, Draven jumped really fast, almost as if doing super long jumps, and traveled with speed akin to that of sound.

BOOOOM!! BOOOOM!! BOOOM!!

With every jump, the ground would let go of its structure, leaving small fissures behind.

Moving through the castle hallways he saw multiple scaly figures, some had the same armour and others wore something different.

Needless to say, he evaporated all of them.

But even then, the swords kept pulsing stronger every time, seemingly wanting more blood, more souls.

Reaching what looked like the main hall of the castle, he could see about a thousand warriors, not accounting for the dead.

Along with the draconic like race, he could see some shadow like ghosts floating around, and many other different figures.

The only thing they had in common other than being nonhuman, and the green crest they had embedded into different parts of their armour or clothes, was the fact that they all attacked the human soldiers in dark armours.

While the soldiers were quite strong, the numbers just didn't add up. Each human was fighting about two scaly monsters with another ghost bombarding their defence from up top.

Seeing the humans in a pinch made his heart falter, he knew he didn't have the luxury of time, yet he couldn't stand the massacre happening right under his nose.

Focusing really hard, he spread his aura all over the huge room, while trying to avoid those who he deemed as allies, mostly the human soldiers.

The sudden chill in the air alerted everyone to his presence.

A thousand pair of eyes or glowing gems stared at him.

Most watched him with what looked like pure hatred and contempt, while the humans' faces brightened instantly when they saw him. Their faces were filled with hopes for life and salvation.

""YOUNG PRINCE!!"" They called out at once.