Raven Knights

Inside the tavern from town beneath the moonlight, Reonne was drinking alone, fidgeting at his cup as he emptied it in one go. He raises the cup to Bartender and called out loud,

"ANOTHER! Please."

"No more for you, smartass. You're drunk. pay up."

"Oh… ah, in a tab, please."

"As if I let you put another fast one on me. How many times you've

"Reonne, I knew you were here."

"What Bear, my moods damped can't you see? Spare me your sermons, will you?"

"Let me guess, another woman dumped you."

"…"

"That's why I told you to stop White Knighting. Stop assuming from the start that they felt the same way to you. Mind you, this almost happens every time. And I mean, every time right still from this moment! What did the girl do now?"

"Well… I'm told that she really… REALLY. Wanted this shiny thing. A necklace of sort, thirty-two carat sparkling diamond it says! BUT, she ain't got money. Me too. The Price, PREPOSTEROUS! Determined to steal she is! Oh no, girls must not do dirty to good people! So, easy! I volunteered, carry the weight of sin!"

Bear sighs.

"Night came. Here I am! Determined! People, few to none. I snuck with finesse! BREAKING! That weak glass. Too easy. But it was TOO easy. I smell trap. And lo! I was right! Militia surrounds store in a blink! Like, they're waiting. How'd they got pass my senses! I don't know! That shiny thing, is at my arms! DAMN! NO ESCAPE! But then, I heard her, HER! My, BELOVED! Shouting, THIEF! THIEF! FUCK BEAR! She says I'm stealing her shop! HER SHOP! WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"Hey!" Bear nugged Reonne, "Calm down boy!"

"*sniff* I…" Reonne continues, "I don't know Bear! she… she threw me inside bars! she played my heart like a DAMN FIDDLE! What is life when pussy denies you?"

Ignoring the last sentence, Bear said, "Good thing It's easy to bail you out. The store's selling counterfeit products and you're…ehem..." Bear clears his throat.

"I'm what? I'm fated to be the world's lonely man!?"

"No, it's just that every girl you got is always too good for you. No doubt that will not make things easier, but always bear and good things will come."

Reonne chuckles, "Always Bear! Haha!" then he went back to his moody feelings,

"You know, Bear. You're, like, a real dad to me. Of course, I strive to be a good man. like you! I Totes wanted to become best warrior! Show that, fake dad moms took home, no real LOVE! Remember Bear! When me challenge you on meadows?"

"Yes, with your meager knife." Bear replied, "You were but a lost child. You told me that you don't want to go home. I was against it and left you from your place. Still, you followed me as you continued harassing me with your flimsy strikes. I do not condone killing a child. But because of that, I had no choice but to claim you under my damn wing."

"Bear…"

"But then again, maybe I'm just selfish and want a companion all along. I'm not a role model or anything. I'm just a mercenary who do dirty work of others."

"…"

"Huh, I said too much. Maybe I'm getting drunk with the scent of alcohol around me."

"Wow Bear, I'd no idea…so COOL you are! I got so long to go, almost just 16!"

"!" Bear's eyes went open wide.

"Hey!" Barked the Bartender, "You're just 15!?"

"No Boss," said Bear, " It's about how many he defeated one on one in combat."

Then Bear stood up and puts a pouch of coins out from his pocket.

"Will this suffice for his tab?"

The Bartender opens it and counts it, "…pretty much."

"Good it's settled, then

"Now let's go," Bear dragged away Reonne, "before they knew you're a minor!"

"L-Lead the waaaaay dad!"

***

Beneath this lonely courtyard, Fridu Ursul, who is known better as Bear, lays bloodied to the ground. Ishnaia and Alister glares intently at Hrefna with alertness behind their eyes. Reonne grits his teeth with the sudden loss he experiences. It just hit him as to why he felt Bear was like saying goodbye to him. It started when they were taking these two in this town. Did he do this? Is this his fault?

"What a bummer," Hrefna tilts her head with clear disappointment on her face, "He was really good at his job. Why'd he had to do that!"

Then she shifted her gaze at Reonne and berates angrily,

"Hey boy, this is your fault! What you fed that man's head?"

"…" Reonne kept his silence.

Hrefna took then a deep breath, and her expression went from irritation to nonchalance in a matter of an instant, and says in an impassive tone, "Sorry, I got too carried away." Then she proceeds to snap her fingers. In response, the ravens on the fields envelops some king of swirling dark mists with its blackened feathers strew all over the fields, then it grew in to different heights, the heights of an average persons. After the mist was gone, they've had turned into people, with armor same as the one who rounds the whole town. the knights of Erons. Each of them unsheathed their weapons in a synchronized manner and directed it towards Ishnaia, Alister, and Reonne.

"Now what?" Ishnaia grew more aggravated as she glared intensely at their new companions.

Alister removes the cloth over his mouth that which was muffling him for hours, and speaks in a first time in hours,

"This… So, it is true!"

"Oh hello there, captive prince!" Ishnaia japes while her eyes still on the warriors of Hrefna. "It's been a long time!"

"This is not the time! But I guess that's what you are!"

"So what are these birdmen?"

"Rumors had it that all knights were really not under Erons, but by their one mysterious benefactor."

"W-wait, are you saying that-?"

"Hrefna… is the True Head of the House Erons."

"That's a stretch, sir prince charming." says Hrefna, "I am no more but a humble advisor to the house-"

"!"

*clang*

Hrefna quickly parries the sword thrown haphazardly unto her. Using her claws half stretched than earlier. She glares madly at Reonne, as she knew he is the one who threw that inconvenience.

"Pitiful scum. I thought earlier that I should hold you captive for a while, but…. That thing you did was too much under the table. My knights! Feel free to kill him." She points at Reonne, "However you see fit!"

"Try me!" replied Reonne as he unsheathes the other sword in his hip, "I'll never forgive you what you did to Bear!"

Then he roars rushing forward to the raven knights, his weapon prepared to strike, then as he slahes downward for a blow-

"HOLD!" Ishnaia blocks the blow with swiftness using the sword of Bear.

"!"

"?"

Hrefna gestures the knights to lay off and let her gaze wander at the owner of that voice, Ishnaia. Ishnaia's companions also directed their eyes unto her.

"What are you doing!? Get out of my way girl!"

"I said hold dimwit! Shit, why men always tend to be like this!?"

"Let go!"

"Tch!" Ishnaia's eyes grew mad then, "Fine!" she slides her sword as if tracing Reonne's weapon and evade it with a pirouette. The ease and quickness of how Ishnaia wield it surprises Reonne, that the force of his strength made him lost his balance with a fall from his sword. Then, with a flash, Ishnaia deals a shattering blow at the middle of Reonne's Sword, splitting the blade with a sheer blunt force.

"Wha…"

Then at a quick pace, Ishnaia releases her hold to the sword and punched Reonne to the face, knocking him out and down in an instant.

Having to bear witness this scene, Hrefna took three rounds of applause and spoke with slight amusement,

"Skillful. You're no ordinary I can see that. What brings you doing that girl?"

"Of course," Ishnaia answers without turning, "I calm him down."

"And why?"

"Simple," then Ishnaia turn towards Hrefna, "I ask that you detain us bird woman!"

"Hoh…"

"Huh?" Alister was stunned. What now exactly is Ishnaia planning? He wonders in perplexed emotion.

Hrefna chuckled "I don't see what is the connection between you striking him down and me detaining you."

"I don't think you'll let the prince go." Ishnaia replies, "Besides, I just don't want any shitty casualties. That's all there is to this. Don't you think the same?"

"My! Being considerate are you! It's as if my life is at danger as yours!" Hrefna glares at her intensely, "How dare you having the guts to make a deal with me!"

"So… you refuse?"

"What do you think?"

Ishnaia sighs animatedly, then says "Alright, wait then." and walks towards Alister.

"Lady Ishnaia?" Alister says in confusion. Then he becomes more surprised as Ishnaia embraces him. Unsure what to do, he embraces her back.

And thus, Ishnaia murmurs to his ear, "Don't worry, this won't sting." Slowly, she wiggles her hand behind Alister's neck.

"What are you-"

In a sudden movement, Ishnaia presses two points at his neck; which is his carotid arteries. In swift moment, Alister became unconscious like a puppet whose strings are cut. Ishnaia laid him down carefully and whilst doing the act, Hrefna speaks at her,

"You put the boy down into their slumber. For what end?"

Ishnaia stood up and faces off against Hrefna, glaring at her,

"Because I had my reasons."

"Care to tell me what?"

"Why should I? Besides, are you sure you aren't gonna change your mind?" she pointed behind her with her thumb, "They're for keeps."

"Such drivel, do I have to repeat myself? you talk like a runt who doesn't know its place."

"Now that's fucking rude, not that I could care less when YOU'RE--!!"

It was abrupt and swift. She threw a knife towards Hrefna, a knife she took from Alister. Hrefna parries with her claws with steady precision. Ishnaia did not wait for any opportunity for her to act. She attacks her with Bear's two-handed sword, targeting her helm in mind. Hrefna jumped back, crushing the fountain with enough force and cracks the sword in the process. She grits her teeth with eyes wide open as she saw the strength Ishnaia had. As she met Ishnaia's eyes, she saw only bloodlust she'd never seen before. She knew then, this is no ordinary hume warrior. How does she quickly move with calculated precision? She could not smell any magick enhancement existing in her. It was altogether something different. To be able to catch up with her without any magecraft, it was bewildering and infuriating. But Ishnaia did not give her chance to think further as she found her thought instinctive defense being backed at the corner as Ishnaia drives the pointy end of Reonne's broken blade through her chest.

"EEEEYAAAAAH!"

Hrefna attempts to drive her claws through Ishnaia body, yet it was evaded with ease with a move of her body, only giving the enemy so much a scratch. Then a second attempt done, this time aiming at her neck, yet she found her strength weakened as Ishnaia deepens the blade sticking at her, then, her body was thrown with inhuman force, crashing at the wall, punching through it.

Ishnaia landed with slight bleeding at her side. But she sensed that this is not yet the time to rest, as the swarm of Raven Knights surrounds her and charges towards her with clear intentions of eliminating her.

"No rest for the wicked huh?" she said amusingly, then she heard a voice from her head. It appears as if it is from memory, but is it really? It mutters something… something…

She found herself muttering the same words inciting at the back of her mind, some sort of a chant or prayer parting from her lips. Then, a shining light came from her fingertips, slowly forming into a sword made of light, abstractly ornamented. The Raven Knights could only so much as to yell as they swing their sword towards Ishnaia…

…But before they knew what was happening, they're bodies were cut, dissected into pieces. Dark particles came from the light as blood spilled from their bodies was absorbed within the supernatural blade. Slaughter after slaughter, the Raven Knights bleeds in decimation at them with inhuman speed. The horrific scenery made them come to a realization; that they stood no chance. They will all die if this continues.

"Fall Back!" Said by one of them.

"Fall Back!" Said by another, "Mother decrees!"

One by one, they turned into ravens and flew off like a swarm towards the sky, leaving bodies after bodies of their companions, dismembered and bloodied.

Coming to her senses, Ishnaia was painted with blood more than ever. There's no hiding it this time. Her sight is getting blurry. Then she heard some kind of explosive from somewhere far away from here. What was that? Where is that? She hadn't had time to think this through furthermore for her consciousness slips away to oblivion.