Chapter 154 - The Calm After The Storm Part 1
* Clean Bandit - Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) *
"You seem more tired than usual, Ava" the young man said, white radiance still shining brightly all around him.
Ava was short for Avavia, which was the name of Raven\'s mother, and consequently, the will of one of her blessings.
"Uhm, aren\'t we all, Aether ?" Ava nodded, after making herself visible. Holding her hand was a kid with an expressionless face that kept rather quiet.
The woman had long bright azure hair and matching eyes that shone with passion and calmness, yet fatigue still managed to make its way through.
The kid, on the other hand, had dark silver hair that seemed to have a special glow to it, while his eyes kept changing colours every so often.
Sighing, the man nodded. "True… Some third party is trying to mess with the balance in this planet for some reason, and not in any subtle manner." He said.
"Do you mean the person that gave your friend\'s power to that girl?" Ava asked, concern visible in her eyes.
"Uhm," Aether nodded while showing a screen of a young lady that was talking to Lizzy. "This was a scene that took place a couple of weeks back.
"This old lady was talking to the girl, and during that short period, she managed to pass her the power of Entropy, a fragment of the Primordial Dragon of Darkness.
"However, the lady seemed to lose her memories and die just a few days after.
"The real culprit is still out there and I have no way of knowing who it is at the moment." Aether said with a sigh.
Even though he was in control of the power of light, as a fragment of the Primordial Dragon of Light, he was unable to help one of his friends, due to his circumstances.
\'After all, I am tasked with watching over the most important person in the universe…\' he thought to himself with a smile while looking at the kid with dark silver hair.
His eyes were bright crimson for just a moment, before taking a hint of reptilian yellow.
"So you mean that without the interference of that old lady and whoever was controlling her, my daughter\'s friend would have still been alive?" Ava asked, feeling her rage rising.
"More or less…" he said with a shrug. "There\'s nothing we can do now though, I have already asked another fragment holder to clean up the mess." He said while creating a screen that showed Ian floating in the air, silver aura radiating out of his essence.
"That kid is the holder of one of the fragments of the Primordial Dragon of Time.
"The specific fragment is called Amias, and even though he can control time flow if needed, he can only control it in respect to objects, not living beings," he said quietly.
"So he can\'t revive the baby, or the girl? And what about the thousands that died during that?" Ava asked, more in regret and sadness than anything.
"Unfortunately, there\'s nothing we can do about it," Aether shook his head slightly. "However, if it makes you feel any better, apparently the girl, Maya, is not a lost cause yet."
"What do you mean?" Ava asked.
"Well, you see, Amias told me that the girl\'s lifespan countdown had never reached zero, meaning that she has most likely attained the power of immortality sometime before meeting your daughter, and now she\'s used that power to reincarnate herself."
"Is that even possible?" Ava widened her eyes in surprise.
"Why not?" He shrugged. "However, the downside is that we don\'t know where she is right now-"
"That\'s ok," she interrupted. "The news of her still being alive should be enough to cheer Amy up!" She said, almost too excited that her daughter will be just a little bit happier.
"But," Aether said, "she might have also lost her memory…"
"Oh…" hearing that, her hope was suddenly shattered. \'But, she sure would not forget who Amy or rather Raven is, right?\'
***
Opening her eyes, Raven found herself blinded by a silver light that was being emitted by someone up in the sky.
Looking up, she saw a kid floating in the air, his hair and clothes fluttering under the pressure of his aura.
All around her she could see the ground fixing itself and the buildings coming back together.
Within seconds, the entirety of Torinto city was back to its earlier fresh look.
However, what caught her attention was that the bodies in the ground didn\'t heal up. No, they were all dead after all.
Remembering the previous events, rage boiled in her soul as she stood up, looking around for the girl that had destroyed her life.
Moments later, she was able to find her naked body on the street just next to her.
Raven gritted her teeth in anger and confusion. Although she should be able to kill her easily now, she didn\'t know if that was the right choice or not.
Looking at her now closed eyes and innocent face, in comparison to what she was before, she didn\'t know if she was even the same person.
\'We can wait till she\'s awake and see what happens…\' Kayla muttered, not sure of why she said that.
Clenching her fists, Raven nodded while leaving the unconscious girl as is, and going to check on her family.
In the distance, she saw Maria who was running towards her. Flickering near her, she hugged her tightly.
"Are you alright?" Maria instantly asked while inspecting her body. "Did you get hurt?"
Shaking her head, Raven smiled, even though she was feeling worse than ever before now that she was more aware that Maya had left her.
"I\'m ok, physically, I think," she said with a sigh.
Noticing the dark tattoo on her upper chest between her collar bones, Maria frowned. "What is this? It\'s not some sort of a weird curse right?" She asked since he still had a small fear towards strange tattoos, after what Tu had done in the past.
Looking at her chest, she sighed and told Maria what happened.
Moments later, the group joined, and this time Camilla and Kuru were with them.
Even though she was always sarcastic, Camilla seemed to be in distress after she had heard the previous events.
Kuru jumped from her hands and onto Raven\'s, trying to make sure she was ok.
"I should not have left them," Camilla bit her lip as tears ran down her eyes. "Only if I have stayed with them, then maybe, just maybe…"
Looking down as her tears got watery, Raven didn\'t try to comfort her. She was right and Raven thought so.
If Camilla had stayed with them and went to have fun with them instead of going on her own mission with Kuru, then maybe they would have lasted just a little bit longer for her to arrive.
But at the same time, Raven herself wasn\'t with them…
"Ugh," Moaning in pain while holding her head was the girl that caused it all.
Looking at her, Raven\'s expression went ice cold as killing intent leaked out of her body.
However, the moment her eyes met the girl\'s, the latter looked quite embarrassed and covered her important parts while looking down.
Raven wasn\'t aware that the girl had lost her memories. However, that didn\'t last long.
Suddenly, as if lightning had struck her and she remembered everything, she widened her eyes as tears ran down her eyes.
"No way…" she muttered, remembering what her dark version had done.
Even after she had tried calming her down, she was attacked and almost killed by her own self.
"I wish she had killed me instead of leaving me with this much blood on my hands…" she muttered, tears running down her eyes still.
Unable to withstand such guilt, she fainted again.
Raven that was watching her didn\'t know how to react. No one in the group knew what had just happened in that girl\'s mind.
But since Camilla, unlike the rest, didn\'t know who she was and thought she was just a girl that got wounded during the fight, she rushed near her, held her in her arms and covered her with the jacket she had on.
No one said a word as they were still confused.
Not too long after, the EDA started rushing into the scene. Just as they did, the silver radiance got dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared.
Descending from the sky with his ever unchanging expression, Ian approached the group and stared at Raven.
The latter stared back as she didn\'t know what else to do. "Listen, I\'m not in a mood for games, do you need anything?" She asked.
"I\'m thankful and all for restoring the city, but honestly I couldn\'t care less." She continued while sighing. Looking around, she noted that the man in the white suit had disappeared.
\'I have seen this kid standing near that dude in the white suit but unlike him, he didn\'t interfere…\' she muttered in her mind. \'But… he watched as she did what she did…\' she grit her teeth.
"My name is Ian," Ian introduced himself. "I\'d like to follow you around to check if you\'re the archon, is that possible?" He asked politely.
"No," She answered definitely even though she didn\'t know what nonsense he was talking about.
Hearing that, Ian didn\'t seem to react at all. But after a moment or two, he turned towards Camilla who had the unconscious girl in her arms and walked towards her.
"I only want to stay near the girl," he said to avoid any troubles since he felt Raven\'s aura almost assaulting him. "I have no intentions of fighting." He\'s simply said.
"But at the same time, you didn\'t protect anyone," she grit her teeth. "Didn\'t you just watch Maya die?" She asked, feeling her rage accumulating.
"Maya, the girl with the wings? She is not dead…" Ian answered while looking at Raven who widened her eyes in surprise.