#Sora Byvrirth

[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 4

                                                   ~~~IV~~~

Over the next three days, Rhamina’s wounds slowly began to close as she dwelled in the mirror with Aaravos.

“I should probably get to Xadia,” Rhamina said once she entered the dining area of where ever she was, wearing a white blouse with a long blue skirt and black, heeled combat boots provided to her by Aaravos, “They should be reaching the border soon.”

“I wouldn’t suggest leaving just yet,” Aaravos said as he looked up from his book at the table to she the ravenette braiding her hair over her left shoulder, “Your injuries aren’t completely healed yet.”

“And technically they never will,” Rhamina retorted as she sat across from the elf, “Plus I’m able to walk without any pain anymore, that’s enough for me.”

“Fine,” the male sighed as he closed his book, “You’re packing first.”

“That’ll literally take ten minutes,” the ravenette chuckled, “I didn’t have much with me to begin with.”

The male gave her his usual mischievous smirk before walking down the hall.

“What did you do?” she asked following to the room she had been using.

In her stay, she was not allowed to re-enter the study where the mirror led and Rhamina did not question it nor was she concerned with this fact.

Upon entering she saw three new outfits laid out on her bed along with a book, a her war fan, a bluish-purple cloak with a hood, and two new pairs of hair sticks.

“What is this?” she asked snapping feeling the fabric of one of the tops.

“I told you that you would need to pack,” reasoned the male as he handed her a bag.

“You didn’t need to do this, I would’ve been fine,” the ravenette sighed as she began to fold the clothes and place them in the bag.

“If you’re always as reckless as I’ve seen you then this is a necessity,” the male chuckled as the female shot him a glare.

“So how do you plan on getting to Xadia?” the male asked as Rhamina strapped the bag across her body before putting the cloak over herself.

“Through the water,” she said with a smile, “I’m going to the closest water source to the border on the Eastern side.”

“I’m sure you know that probably isn’t the safest option, especially if they aren’t there yet.”

“That’s what makes it fun!” the ravenette chirped as she went to the bathroom and proceeded to fill the tub with water.

Once it was filled almost to the brim she stuck both her hands into the water and closed her eyes.

She felt her aura fill the water and search for another exit point in Xadia.

“Stirips fo retaw, wolla em efas egassap otni eht txen drlow,” she chanted as her pendant began to glow and her hair began to float.

As she removed her hands from the water, it too glowed before displaying steam and what seemed to be a cave.

“A hot spring?” Aaravos questioned as he saw the surroundings.

“Yes, it’s on the border between Xadia and the human territories so it would make sense,” the ravenette chirped, “the border is littered with volcanic activity.”

“Thank you so much for what you’ve done for me, Aaravos,” she said turning back to the male and bringing him closer in an embrace, “I’ll be sure to find a way to get you out of here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will,” he chuckled with a knowing glint in his eyes as he pulled away, “Now go.”

The ravenette smiled at him before stepping through the portal she had opened.

On the other side she had stepped onto some hard rock and was in a cave.

Looking back at the pool of steaming water the portal was indeed closed and she made her way towards the light of the tunnel only to find a large dragon.

“Hello, there,” she chirped with a smile as the large reptile looked down at her.

The next morning cheers came from the group of seven as they successfully made it across the border.

“Oh, no,” Rayla stated as the silhouette of a dragon loomed over the group, “It’s him. Sol Regem.”

The group immediately readied their weapons until a smaller silhouette appeared right in front of the dragon.

“There you guys are!” a familiar voice chirped as she threw back her hood, “Took you long enough!”

“Mina!” Chloe exclaimed as she immediately tried to dash up the rocks to reach the ravenette.

“Guess who’s not dead?!” the ravenette sung as she watched all the excited expressions of the group.

“Mina, what the fuck happened to you?” Sam asked looking at all the bandages that littered the teen’s form, visible due to her outfit.

It consisted of a halter crop top that was purple and faded into a royal blue with gold trip at the neckline, straps, and bottom. She also wore dark blue shorts that ended mid thigh and black, heeled, combat boots. To protect herself from the sun she wore the cloak she had over everything.

She chose the outfit to accommodate for the heat but it did expose all the injuries that she had gotten four days prior.

“Well, I got Runaan back to Xadia,” the female shrugged as she tried to walk back into the cave with Chloe wrapped around her, “But in the process I may or may not have caused absolute chaos in the castle.”

“When did this happen?” Kerstin asked as the group followed the ravenette, “Those look bad.”

“Four days ago?” she replied as the dragon followed in as well, “Trust me, it was much worse back then.”

“You got Runaan out?” Rayla asked walking towards the girl with relief in her eyes.

When Rhamina nodded the white-haired female flung her arms around the older girl.

“Thank you so much!” she exclaimed as the ravenette let out a hiss.

“Sorry,” Rhamina said with a slight chuckle as she pulled away, “I might be able to walk but I’m still in pain everywhere.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the fifteen-year-old said.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know.”

“Hey so it’s great that you’re okay, Rhamina, but what is happening?” Callum asked as he gestured up to the dragon.

“Oh, yeah, well since I got here yesterday Sol Regem was the first thing I encountered and I explained our situation to him,” Rhamina said glancing up at the older dragon, “It took awhile to convince him but he says we’re welcome as long as we leave as soon as we’re done.”

“Oh, thank you so much,” the male bowed to the dragon who nodded.

“On the topic of explaining things,” Rhamina said turning to her sisters, “I think it’s best if you undo the spell for now.”

“What are you-” “Mina, are you sure?” Sam asked as she looked between Callum and Rayla.

“The other creatures in Xadia will find out either way and we trust them don’t we?” Rhamina asked, “So it’s better to just do it.”

“Okay,” Tijarah shrugged as she stepped away from the group.

“Finally!” Kerstin exclaimed as she began to shed off her metal armor, “Fuck this human body! It looks great but it’s so fragile!”

“I guess,” Sam said doing the same thing and spacing herself out.

Chloe hooted as she followed the lead of the other females.

The others watched as a different colored light enveloped each of the girls and they could feel a large change in auras.

When Kerstin’s red light died down, she now had large red and gold dragon wings sprouting from her back as well as matching horns and a long, scaly tail.

When Sam’s light green glow died down, she now lad a pair of large white horns on her head as well as various green markings across her body, including her face. Another notable change was her loss of pinkies.

When Tijarah’s dark green light died down, she had a pair of black cat ears on her head and a black cat tail was now swishing behind her.

When Chloe’s maroon light died down, she had a pair of brown, feathered wings on her back and she was happily flapping them.

“What in the heck?” Callum asked with wide eyes as he looked to Rayla who bore the same expressions as him.

“Yes!” Kerstin roared as flames lightly streamed from her mouth, “I’m back bitches!”

“Kerstin, can you calm the fuck down?” Tijarah asked.

“That isn’t my name in this form, bitch!” Kerstin cackled earning a face palm from Rhamina, “I am the great dragon Sora Byvrirth!”

“Wait, if you’re Sora Byvirth” Rayla said looking at Sam whose appearance barely changed, “then you must be…”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded looking at her hands, “Well, at least no one can make fun of my tiny pinkies now.”

“Then you’re Rozen Byvrirth!” the Moonshadow elf, “A high elf!”

“Yeah, I am,” Sam replied, “Respect your elders, bitch.”

“Wait… so the both of those names sound familiar,” Callum said trying to remember where he had heard the names over his shock that the girls he had known for over four years were not what he thought they were.

“You have,” Rhamina smirked with a small chuckle, “They are both part of the Chaos Trio, two of the last three remaining ancients.”

“Wait, if they’re magical creatures then what are you?” the prince asked turning to the ravenette who only shrugged.

“Not as exciting as them,” she said as she pat Chloe’s head, “I’m actually just a human. Unfortunately.”

“Yeah,” laughed Sam and Kerstin which earned suspicious looks from the Callum and Rayla.

“No, really I’m just plain old human who somehow ended up befriending those idiots,” Rhamina said raising both of her hands up.

“Wait, Mina, where did you get your clothes then if you were caught by the guards?” Chloe asked with narrowed eyes, “You didn’t own them before.”

“I got them from a friend,” she explained, “That’s also how I was able to even escape the dungeons.”

“Who was this friend, Mina?” Tijarah asked earning a cough from the ravenette who kept her upper arms hidden under the cloak.

“Well- oof!” she was interrupted by a blue mass of scales flying straight into her back causing her to fall forward, “Fudge nuggets that hurt!”

She then looked up to meet the force that knocked her over only to squeal in happiness.

“Hi, Little One!” she chirped upon seeing the puppy-like expression of Zym who chirped back in happiness.

“I fucking told you,” Tijarah scoffed upon seeing the dragon and human play around.

“Everyone could have guessed,” Kerstin replied, “So what’s the plan now?”

“W-well we should continued to return the dragon prince to his mother,” Rayla uttered still in shock at the so called criminals in front of her.

“How are you guys on supplies, exactly?” Rhamina asked as she cradled the baby dragon in her right arm.

“What do you mean?” Tijarah asked.

“So, you don’t have food or water?” Rhamina asked with an irritated look on her face, “Or any of the basic necessities for survival?”

“Mina, I’m sorry!” hooted Chloe as she clung onto the ravenette’s left arm.

“We’ve been getting by just fine,” Tijarah shrugged as her ears flicked.

“Mhm?” Rhamina asked with a raised brow before turning to Callum and Rayla, “How have you all been getting by?”

“We’ve come across a few villages and we stayed at the Moon Nexus for a few days,” the male replied.

“Y’all were lucky,” the ravenette scoffed in a scolding manner, “We’re in Xadia now, it’s going to be hard for Callum and I to blend in.”

“How hard could it be if we were able to fool everyone in the castle for four years?” Tijarah asked.

“That’s different,” Rhamina retorted, “Humans are easy to imitate because they’re stupid.”

“Hey!” Callum exclaimed in offense only to be met with agreement from everyone but him.

“Yeah.” “Honestly, though.” “She’s not wrong.” “Hoot!”

“I agree with that statement,” Rayla added, “I do a great human impression!”

“My point exactly,” Rhamina sighed, “If we ever have the need to stop at a village then I’ll guard Callum just outside of it while you guys get shit done.”

“I don’t really need guarding anymore,” Callum explained as he drew a rune before calling, “Aspiro.”

As a column of wind blew past the ravenette her face lit up in joy and she hobbled as quickly as she could over to the young male with her injuries and an owl clinging to her.

“You understand the Sky Arcanum!” she exclaimed nuzzling his hair since both of her arms her occupied, “I’m so proud of you!”

“Well, I was hoping we could visit my village,” Rayla suggested quietly, “It’s on the safer way to the Dragon Queen’s Domain and we can stock up on supplies there.”

“That sounds good to me,” Sam said as the other girls agreed.

While the group began to exit the cave Rhamina held Rayla back and when it was just them and Sol Regem, asker, “You wanted to stop by your village to see Runaan, right?”

“Well, yes, and I’m a bit homesick,” the elf chuckled.

“I’m jealous,” Rhamina sighed with a smile, “You have such a good relationship with your family.”

“Well he isn’t-” “He might as well be,” Rhamina said, “The way you two are I can see it. He’s really proud of you, you know.”

“What about you?” Rayla asked as they exited the cave to see the group just messing around with Chloe and Kerstin seeing who can fly higher, “What about your family?”

“I don’t really like my family much and they don’t like me either,” she started just watching as Kerstin gracefully ascended and Chloe made desperate flaps, “I was born as a twin, my older sister was the one they wanted since birth. Ever since I remember she would get all the praise and I would get slandered even if I did things the same way she did or even better.”

“So I took interests in different things than her inwardly hoping that it would stop them from comparing me to her but it didn’t stop them,” Rhamina continued as Chloe eventually fell from her flying height of about ten feet in the air, “So eventually I decided to just run away with these retards and ended up on the streets for a while. Then King Harrow found me at the edge of the forests while the others were in town probably stealing food or getting chased by the guards for fun. He offered us a place to stay and offered us work. He treated us with respect and affection that I personally couldn’t get at home. He became my father and a good one at that. He was fair and only wanted the best for everyone even if he made the wrong decisions sometimes. He recognized and lamented his mistakes though. That’s why he stayed that night instead of running.”

Rayla bit her lip in guilt before asking, “What about your sister?”

“Oh, well she cared for me very much,” Rhamina chuckled, “She saw how unjust my parents were and tried to help but it didn’t work. She didn’t approve of me hanging out with the sisters I have now, before I ran away and when I did she fully loathed them. Thought they corrupted me or something but I haven’t heard from them in a while and I’d like to keep it that way. My parents can have the perfect child they wanted without the mistake and I get to live adventurously and free with my actual family.”

“That’s what you get for challenging me!” Kerstin cackled as her wings beat at the air.

“Yes, yes, we get it. You’re the Chaos Queen, now we better get going!” Rhamina chuckled as she brought the hood back up to protect herself from the sun.

After about an hour Rhamina looked towards the human male.

“We should get you a cloak as well,” she commented, “It would be easier to hide the fact you’re human that way.”

“Mina, I’m tired!” whined Kerstin as she dragged behind the group with Sam.

“What happened to the almighty Dragon of Rage?” Rhamina chuckled as she paused to let the two catch up.

“Shut the fuck up we were traveling all night!” Sam added as the two leaned onto each other, “We have a right to be tired!”

“Well, we could stop for a while,” the ravenette sighed looking to see that they were already out of the volcanic terrain and in a forest, “I don’t want you guys passing out.”

The group then began to set up spots in a small clearing and soon enough all of the group except for Rhamina was passed out.

About four hours later they were woken by Rhamina’s loud laughter and multiple foxes either yelling or running over them.

“You sang that fucking song again didn’t you?!” Tijarah exclaimed after seeing her sister happily swamped by tens of foxes.

She was still playing with the multiple canines as the group watched her, now wide awake.

“You can’t blame me!” Rhamina gushed as she picked one up, “Look how floof!”

“It’s been so long since I’ve played with foxes,” she continued as she nuzzled the fox who barked happily, “I couldn’t do this at the castle since they’d either be killed for being pests or chased off.”

“How do you get along so well with them?” Rayla asked as a few retreated back into the trees upon being approached by her.

“Don’t ask,” Callum replied as the ravenette crouched down and continued to play, “She’s always been good with canines.”

Even the tiny blue dragon took part in playing with with multiple canines before they began their travels once again.

About ten days into their journey they were nearing the Moonshadow Village and had gotten Callum a cloak in one of the towns along the way.

Everything was going fine until Sam accidentally bumped into Chloe, causing her to fall and toss a bag of supplies they had gotten.

Rhamina immediately lept to catch them but landed wrong and rolled ending up face down, supported by her right arm.

The supplies were safe however the same could not be said about the ravenette.

“Rhamina, are you okay?” Callum asked as the ravenette turned to sit as she applied pressure to her right ankle.

“My ankle says no,” she hissed as she handed the bag to the male before reaching into her own only to pull it back out.

The group began to gather and Rayla asked, “Can you walk?”

“Yeah,” Rhamina replied standing only to pick up her right foot as she stood mostly supported on her left side, “I’m fine.”

“Hoot!” Chloe exclaimed as she went over to the ravenette’s left side to hold her hand, “Mina, no you’re not!”

“Do you think you can make it to the river?” Rayla asked looking around, “We can’t stop here, it’s too open. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” the ravenette chirped as she began to limp forward, “I should be fine after resting for a bit. I’m sure it’s just from the impact, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

As everyone could see her blatant lie Rayla led the group to the river.

Surprisingly, Rhamina was still one of the fastest in the group and seemed to not be hindered by her limp. Instead she seemed to go faster in order to make up for her injury.

“Mina, you’re crippled slow the fuck down!” Kerstin called as she emerged from the trees to see her sitting by the river as well as Callum with Chloe standing next to her.

The ravenette removed her right boot carefully to see her ankle was swollen and she could move it with some difficulty but it was mostly painful.

“Fuck,” she hissed as she pulled a wrap from her bag and wrapped it tight before leaning her head back on the tree she was sitting against.

“That doesn’t look good,” Rayla whispered before thinking for a few minutes.

She then bit her lip as the girls were talking to Rhamina before saying, “There’s a healer in my village. She doesn’t really care much for this war and might be willing to help if we explain.”

“Hun, that’s a good idea to try but I don’t think Mina should be walking,” Kerstin said earning a middle finger from the ravenette.

“I’m fine!”

“You’re crippled so shut the fuck up,” Sam said as the ravenette pouted before pulling her hood back over her face.

“Then we can bring her to Rhamina,” Rayla said, “She just needs to stay here and some of us can go to my village.”

“Who’s going to stay then?”

“I will,” Callum said, “Don’t think it would be smart for me to walk into a village where everyone probably wants me, you know dead.”

Rayla glared but kept her mouth shut, knowing it was probably true.

“Owl, stay too, hoot!” Chloe said as she sat down and leaned onto the ravenette.

“Okay, we should be back in less than an hour,” Rayla said as the other girls began to walk back into the trees, “Chloe, Callum, be sure to keep her off her feet and keep Zym with you guys as well.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” both fourteen-year-olds answered as the ravenette huffed.

“I do not need a babysitter!” she exclaimed as she pulled out a book from her bag.

“What are you reading, Mina?” Chloe asked.

“Howl’s Moving Castle,” she replied, “It’s an old book but I love it. The main male character is an asshole though?”

“Where did you get it?”

“Friend?”

“Is this friend the same one who got you out of the dungeon?” Callum asked earning a suspicious hoot and a glare from the ravenette.

“You don’t need to interrogate me about my escape,” Rhamina said, “All you need to know is that I got out and I found you so yeah.”

“Mina, I’m bored?”

“Do you want to hear a story?” Rhamina asked as she closed her book.

“Yah!” the tiny female excitedly exclaimed.

“In the end, I’m destined to become sea foam. In the pain and agony forever doomed to roam, but the love inside of me always stays true, so I sing on of how I love you,” Rhamina started singing earning the attention of both younger teens, “On one fateful day, he had come my way, granting me a wish as long as I would pay. Oh, but don’t you see? Somebody like me doesn’t deserve to have this opportunity. That girl moved with beauty and grace. Still a fate like hers is something I can’t bear to face. Could it be, though, I could make things right?. If I can protect those I love then I guess I will fight.”

“Though I struggle I know my wish wasn’t wrong. I’ll fight on as long as I know you can play your song. ‘Cause that smiling face of yours I can’t forget. So I do really have no regrets,” the ravenette continued as the water in the river next to them began to float and create visuals of a female wielding two swords, “This isn’t the way things were supposed to be, oh no please why is this happening to me?! Why you’d think he’d love you? God, you’re such a fool! The life of a magical girl is really cruel. So I was deceived, guess I wear a chain, I’ve no soul but I won’t let my wish be in vain. Carry on and simply block out all of the pain.”

“I don’t feel anything anymore!”

“Play for me, play for me, the sun will never rise. Play for me, play for me, I’m meeting my demise,” the figure then began to slowly become more erratic as it fought more and more monster like figures, “Everyday I’m alive is too much to bear. How I can I go on fighting knowing he doesn’t care? At the mirror, I look straight into my eyes. That girl’s someone I don’t recognize. In the end, I’m destined to become sea foam. In the pain and agony forever doomed to roam. Somebody reach out to me when all is through. All I want is to see heaven’s blue.”

“Mina!” Chloe called with a frown.

“I didn’t say the story was happy, did I?” Rhamin asked as she opened her book again.

“That was really sad,” Callum commented.

“The story was about a girl wanting power to be noticed by the boy she fell in love with,” she explained not looking up from her book, “When she did get power, she had given up her humanity and lost her courage to pursue the boy, choosing to suffer heartbreak before giving up her feelings completely. It is sad.”

About forty minutes later Rhamina’s eyes snapped up from her book to the trees across from her and nudged Chloe.

“Hoot?”

“Someone’s there,” Rhamina whispered, “It isn’t someone we know either.”

“Hoot-” Zip! Thud!

In the trunk of the tree the two had just been an arrow struck.

Callum immediately stood up at the sight of the arrow and backed up to where the two females were.

“Hoot!” Chloe exclaimed in alarm from the ground where Rhamina pushed her.

The ravenette stood up to hop slightly on her left leg from the spot where she rolled onto.

“We mean no harm!” the ravenette exclaimed as she held out her hands in front of her palms up, struggling to stay standing.

“Rhamina, sit down,” Callum hissed quietly as she stood in front of the two females.

“Who are you?” a deep male voice asked as a male Moonshadow elf stepped out from the trees holding a bow.

“We’re just travellers,” Callum replied as Chloe tried to block the elf’s view of the baby storm dragon.

“Two humans and a shifter?” the male asked glaring at them before turning to the winged female, “What were you thinking, bringing them here without killing them immediately?”

“I-uh, um- Mina!”

“Listen we mean no harm! We are here to-!” Rhamina tried to repeat only to get the bow aimed at her.

“You do not belong here!” the male exclaimed, “And now for your justice.”

As the ravenette closed her eyes and prepared for the pain of the arrow it never came.

“Zaos, lower your weapon!” a familiar male voice called as multiple pairs of footsteps followed.

The ravenette opened her eyes to see Runaan followed by Rayla, Tijarah, Sam and Kerstin at the edge of the trees.

“Runaan, but-” “They are here to deliver the Dragon Prince home,” Runaan explained as Chloe stepped to the side to reveal the scared, puppy-like creature, “And one of them is already injured.”

The male reluctantly put away his bow causing the ravenette to lower her arms and hide them back in her cloak.

“It’s good to see you found your way back to your village, Runaan,” Rhamina chuckled as she limped forward to greet the male.

“Thanks to you but what happened after the portal closed?” the male asked his eyes shifting to worry.

“Don’t worry I was fine!” she chirped eyeing her companions, “I got out before the guards could catch me.”

Before Kerstin could call out her lie the was whacked on the head by a tree branch as Runaan sighed.

“That’s good, so what happened?” he asked gesturing at her legs.

“I did a thing and rolled my ankle,” she explained with a smile, “It’s not that bad though.”

“Mina, that’s a lie!” Chloe said with hoot.

“Stop fucking exposing me,” she whispered harshly earning a chuckle from the male.

“Can you walk?”

“I can limp,” the female stated, “I can limp faster than most of these nuts can walk.”

“That will not help your ankle heal any faster,” he sighed going to her right side, “Do not put any pressure on it.”

“But I’m fine though- Hello?!” the female asked in slight alarm as Runaan picked her up with arms around her shoulders and around her knees.

“I can tell that you aren’t going to cooperate,” he stated as the ravenette huffed and looked to her sisters with widened eyes.

Most only laughed while Chloe followed with slight anger at a stranger touching the ravenette.

“Hoot!” she called as she flew over and landed right in front of him to glare.

He raised a brow before asking, “Would you rather have your stubborn friend make her ankle worse?”

The brunette shrunk back slightly before muttering, “Fine! But owl be watching.”

And she did. She walked next to the pair as the group was led back to the Moonshadow Village.

“I can walk just fine!”

~~~Fin. Chapter 4~~~

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Songs used: “The Little Mermaid” - Oktavia

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/364510163589310352/

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[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 5

                                                    ~~~V~~~

When the group reached the village Rhamina immediately pulled up her hood but could still feel the stares on her when the baby dragon decided to lay down on her as she was being carried.

“Mina, this is for your benefit,” Tijarah laughed as the ravenette continued to mutter profanities under her breath as she was carried.

In response the female only pulled her hood down further as an attempt to hide herself from the world.

“Benefit my ass,” she muttered causing the male holding her to sigh, “I’m fucking fine.”

“Are you absolutely sure you’re human and not a fox?” Runaan asked ignoring the whispers of the elves around him, “Because you’re acting like an animal with the way you insist you’re fine even though you’re obviously not.”

“Well, she certainly doesn’t act like a normal human,” Rayla commented with a slight chuckle at the sulking teen.

“No shit she doesn’t act normal,” Sam said with a laugh as she ignored the gasps from around her, “She’s been living with us for all her life!”

“Eat my dick, Sam,” the ravenette snapped from her burrito as they approached the home of the healer.

“Now, there is no need for that,” Runaan scolded lightly as Rayla opened the door for him.

Upon entering the home the girls and Callum were told to wait outside as the healer gestured Runaan to set the ravenette down on one of the beds.

“Hoot Hoot, Mina!” Chloe called as she tried to fly over the assistants only to be pulled back by Tijarah.

“Calm down and let the woman do her thing in peace,” Tijarah said holding the female down by her shoulders.

“Why does the untrustworthy man get to go in?!”

“Chloe, shut the fuck up,” Sam interjected as she sat down in front of the building.

“But, Father Sam!”

Rhamina sat on the bed with the cloak covering everything but her leg which the healer was looking at.

“You’ve sprained it pretty badly,” she said once the wrap was gone and she could see the specific places which were swollen, “I have a salve that’ll help the healing process but you better stay off the foot.”

“Okay,” the ravenette muttered with her hood down.

“I mean it,” the woman said as she stood after removing the ankle from her lap, “I’ve heard from Runaan and Rayla of how stubborn you are.”

As the woman went deeper into her house Rhamina looked up to the one-horned elf and said, “It looks like your arm has gotten better, that’s good.”

“Yes, it has but I’m surprised you still have yours considering you’ve had the binding for over a week,” Runaan stated remorsefully, “May I see it?”

“Wait, shit you’re right!” Rhamina gasped moving the cloak over her left shoulder to reveal her perfectly fine arm, “This hasn’t gotten any tighter at all! I completely forgot it was even there!”

“What?” he asked rising from his seat before taking her arm gently and inspecting it, “How is this possible?”

“Was it the spell you used?” he asked while looking at the confused expression on the female’s face.

“No, that spell only transfers injuries or magical effects,” Rhamina explained poking her arm which felt no different at all, “It doesn’t alter or cancel the effects of a spell.”

“See?!” she exclaimed trying to rip off the piece of fabric, “I still can’t take it off but it doesn’t get tighter! What changed the conditions?”

“Alright- What in the world?!” the healer exclaimed upon seeing the band around the ravenette’s arm before looking to Runaan, “Runaan?!”

“I told you before that the human took the binding from me, didn’t I, Beldroth?” Runaan asked as the woman immediately took hold of the ravenette’s left forearm where the binding was wound.

“Yes but that was almost two weeks ago and- oh my goodness you’re the girl who brought Runaan back,” the woman said gazing into the confused eyes of the seventeen-year-old.

“Um, yeah?”

The woman let out an excited squeal as she looked back and forth between the two with a smile before she began to treat and re-wrap the ravenette’s ankle.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” the healer asked as she saw Rhamina put her boots back on.

“I’m gonna go back to my sisters and the kids I’m looking after?” she asked slowly standing under the glare of the woman.

“If you’re moving then you better be limping straight back to a chair or bed to rest!”

“...No?” the ravenette smiled as she began to limp towards the door only to be scooped up by the male, “No, not again! Please put me down! I’m fine!”

“I’ll make sure she won’t strain her injury any further,” Runaan said as the ravenette groaned dramatically.

“So where are you taking me?” Rhamina asked with her eyes crossed.

“I understand it would be boring to just stay indoors so for now you can watch us train,” Runaan said as he walked out the door for Rhamina to see her friends were gone.

She said nothing as she was carried to the obvious training area sighing in relief to see Kerstin, Sam, Tijarah, and Chloe sparring instead of probably setting things on fire.

Runaan set Rhamina down gently on the ground where she huffed in annoyance that she would most likely not be allowed to participate.

“Even Callum gets to train?!” Rhamina whined as she saw the human male holding a sword next to Rayla, “This isn’t fair!”

“Mina, you’re fucking injured suck it up,” Kerstin exclaimed as she tried to attack Tijarah who dodged with a shriek, “Stay in one spot you whore!”

“Kerstin, there are kids here!”  Rhamina scolded upon looking literally ten feet to her right where young elves were being trained by Runaan and a few others.

“Oh!” Kerstin exclaimed stopping for a moment, “I said ‘fudging’!”

“Also, I won’t get a break in a fight just because I’m injured you know,” the ravenette commented as she began to draw in the dirt.

“Mina,” Chloe said with sadness, “We don’t live like that anymore- oof!”

She was interrupted by Sam knocking her with the back of her katana.

“Don’t get distracted, Chloe,” Sam stated as she backed up into a defensive position.

“But, Father Sam!”

“Mina’s right. We’re doing something risky and if someone’s trying to kill you they won’t stop and give you a time out if you’re injured,” Sam said as the female got up before turning to her sister, “Even if she’s being an emo bitch right now!”

“There are children here!”

“Then you better hide them from Kerstin,” Tijarah snickered earning a string of curses from the dragon.

“Kerstin, I swear to god if you burn anything down!”

At around three in the afternoon the groups got a break and the girls gathered with Rhamina who was still sitting in her spot on the ground.

As they talked Rhamina turned her head upon hearing small footsteps and looked to see a small, elven child looking at her.

“Hi,” she smiled with a small wave to the nervous looking little boy.

“A-are you the one who saved Runaan?” he asked.

“Um, yes?” the ravenette said, “But I didn’t really-” “Thank you so much!”

The ravenette blinked as the boy launched himself at her, too stunned to react.

“I knew not all humans were evil!” he yelled as various other of the elves looked at the display warily.

“No,” she said slowly wrapping her arms around the child, “No one is really evil you know? They just make bad decisions.”

Rhamina could feel the boy’s arms waver as negative whispers began to buzz from the other elves around them.

Runaan made his way over to the group from the other trainers upon hearing a commotion and his eyes widened at what he saw.

“En dašebu nobe šundu tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei, en dašebu nobe šundu

tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei,” Rhamina began to sing in order to block out the harsh whispers and a light began to glow from her pendant.

In the moment the female appeared to be surrounded by a soft purple glow as she continued to sing.

Zym got closer and chirped along as the female continued her song.

“En dašebu nobe šundu tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei en dašebu nobe šundu, tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei,” as the pair pulled away Rhamina took the boy’s hands with a smile as small figures of ice began to freeze in front of them before animating and move around.

Kerstin and Sam’s eyes widened as they watched the ravenette even risk to do such a thing in front of people and then looked to the boy whose face was full of wonder.

“En dašebu nobe šundu tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei, en dašebu nobe šundu tje̞ šutwu kewenu swa lei,” once the ravenette finished her song the ice melted and the water fell to the ground around them.

“You should probably get back to training now,” she chuckled as she ruffled the boy’s hair, “You don’t want to disappoint your teachers right?”

“Yeah!” the boy cheered as he ran back to the group of kids.

“Mina!” Kerstin whispered as she and Sam got closer to the ravenette, “Why did you do that?!”

“That kid was being ridiculed for his belief and probably bullied,” Rhamina whispered back, “Like hell I’m letting him feel like he’s alone.”

“Rhamina, you have a lovely voice,” Runaan said as he walked over, “Better than any minstrel that I’ve heard.”

“Shut your face,” she scoffed, “I sound like crap.”

“No, you don’t you fucking bitch,” Sam said shoving the ravenette slightly.

“If you can use magic by singing then why don’t you use it to heal yourself like you did for me?” the male elf asked remembering his two nights in the dungeons of Katolis.

“Oh, well I can’t,” the teen shrugged, “It’s one of the conditions of the spell. I can heal everything but myself with it.”

“That’s stupid,” Tijarah scoffed, “It’s useless unless you’re fighting in a group.”

“Think about it though,” Rhamina replied, “If someone with bad intentions knew about it and could just keep healing themselves then they would basically be immortal.”

“It’s still an interesting concept that you use your singing to use magic though,” Rayla commented as she remembered their journey to the village and the nights where the ravenette would be lulling everyone to sleep.

“Yeah, I got the idea to cast spells with music from sirens actually,” Rhamina chuckled as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, “The stories I heard of creatures enchanting sailors with their voices intrigued me so I experimented and came up with something similar.”

“You know that’s pretty scary how you can do that without even encountering one of them,” Callum commented, “Impressive but scary.”

“You have no fucking idea, Callum,” Sam said, “Imagine coming back home to see your fucking sister standing on wind that she summoned by singing. We just left her alone for the day and as soon as we get back she’s all like ‘I have ascended, Fuckers!’”

“Hey, I cackled but I did not say that!”

“Mina, can you fly too?” Chloe asked from her left side.

“If I wanted to yes,” the ravenette responded as she pet the owl’s head, “It wouldn’t be that efficient though and it uses up a lot of energy.”

“Hey, Rhamina, you and Runaan should spar when you heal!” Ralya suggested with eyes sparkling.

“I don’t- No!” the ravenette sputtered, “I’m all for beating someone up but I would get my ass handed to me! Plus we have to take Zym home as soon as possible!”

The girls and Callum suddenly burst out laughing earning strange looks from Rhamina, Rayla, and Runaan.

“With all due respect,” Calluma started still laughing in between words, “I’m pretty sure Rhamina could beat Runaan pretty quickly.”

“Oh?” Runaan asked with a slight smirk as the ravenette began to panic slightly.

“Callum, Hun, we’re friends please stop talking,” Rhamina sung with a nervous giggle, “We all know I suck at fighting.”

“Yeah, because you don’t fight you fucking murder,” Tijarah said, “If you fought him seriously he wouldn’t have his head.”

“No!”

“Rhamina, you literally vaulted Soren into a second story window because he took one of your cookies,” Callum stated.

“Who can’t throw him?!” the teen tried to reason.

“Mina, Soren was wearing full armor, hoot!” Chloe commented.

“So?”

“His chest plate alone is like twenty pounds,” Sam said.

It was silent for a few moments before Rhamina launched herself at the brunette with her hands around the younger female’s throat.

“Mina, you’re ankle!” Chloe hooted frantically flying about a foot above her.

“Oh, yes, Daddy!” Sam coughed earning a disgusted look from the ravenette.

Immediately, Rhamina stood and placed all of her weight on her left leg as she said, “I fucking hate you.”

“I love you too, Mina, now sit the fuck down,” Sam said.

“Rhamina, sit down,” Runaan sighed as he placed a hand on the female’s shoulder.

“No, I don’t want to,” Rhamina said with her arms crossed, “I’m fine.”

“Then walk normally,” the elf challenged only to be met with a defiant look from the human girl.

“Bet.”

“Mina, no!” Chloe called as she and the other girls forced her to sit down.

The rest of the day passed with the group from Katolis training with the elves while Rhamina sat with Zym, simply observing.

By request of the healer Rhamina and one other of the girls were to be basically taken care of by Runaan during their stay.

“Are you kidding me?!” Rhamina exclaimed as she limped behind Runaan while holding Chloe’s hand, “I don’t need a babysitter!... But thank you for letting me stay.”

“It’s the least I could do for you,” Runaan said as he opened the door and stood to the side to let the girls in, “You’ve done so much for me in those two nights.”

“Hoot?” Chloe asked as she looked up at the ravenette before glaring at the male.

“You don’t need to do anything for me,” Rhamina stated as she once again followed Runaan around the small home, “Trust me I really don’t deserve it.”

“You really are strange aren’t you?” he asked before stopping in front of a door, “You both can use this room and mine is right next to it.”

“Thank you so much,” the ravenette chirped before bowing slightly and limping into the room with Chloe, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

“How do you know him, Mina?” Chloe asked as soon as the door was closed.

“He’s the elf I freed from the dungeons,” she replied as she sat on the bed and began to take off her boots.

“So he’s the reason who were so injured?!”

“Chloe, hush!” Rhamina whispered praying the male did not hear that, “He doesn’t need to know about it.”

“Why is he acting so familiar with you anyway?” Chloe huffed, “He only knew you for two days.”

“Um…”

“Mina?”

“No…”

“What do you mean no?!”

“You don’t need to know how we know each other…”

“B-but, Mina!”

“Night, Chloe, love you.”

“Fine,” Chloe huffed from her side of the bed before whispering, “Owl, will find out, hoot!”

The next morning Runaan woke up to the familiar sight of his room, and despite the fact the sun was blocked took that as his cue to get ready.

Once he was dressed and his hair was tied back in a ponytail he quietly made his way down to the guest room.

He knocked softly on the door before opening it to see only Chloe still snuggled in the blankets.

With a raised brow he went around his home without seeing the ravenette anywhere before he went back to the guest room.

Walking over to the female who had changed positions, Runaan gently shook her taking care to avoid getting smacked with her wings.

“Chloe, where is Rhamina?” he asked softly.

“Mina? I don’t know,” she muttered while sitting up and feeling around the bed only to feel nothing.

“Hoot?! Where did she go?!” Chloe asked suddenly awake, “She probably went to walk around, that idiot!”

Immediately the pair walked out of the house to search for the ravenette which didn’t take long considering that the female was sitting on the roof with her eyes closed.

“Mina!” Chloe called causing Rhamina to slowly open her eyes.

“Morning, Chloe! Morning, Runaan!” she chirped with a bright smile, “It’s so nice this morning!”

The sky was covered in dark clouds as it threatened to rain and it was quite windy with the smell of rain riding on it.

“Rhamina, how did you even get up there?” Runaan asked mainly concerned about the female’s injury.

“Magic,” she replied, “I propelled myself up with wind. It was the perfect day to to it!”

She proved her claim by standing and letting herself fall off the building causing panic in the two on the ground only for it to shift to shock as wind gathered under her to carry her safely to them.

“Mina, oh my god!” Chloe exclaimed as she clung onto the ravenette’s arm, “No!”

“Rhamina,” sighed Runaan as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I told you I would be too much for you handle,” Rhamina sung as she lifted her right foot off of the ground.

“I suggest you sit back down before Beldroth sees you,” he spoke with a smirk.

“You see her don’t you?”

Runaan nodded as he could see the older elf’s expression chance into pure rage.

“Fuck! Chloe help me hobble back into the house!”

“Young Lady, what do you think you’re doing?!” the healer screamed as she rushed up to the teenager.

“I wanted some air,” Rhamia replied with a nervous smile as she avoided looking into her eyes.

“Young Lady, unless you want to have problems with your ankle for the rest of your life then sit down!”

Rhamina’s expression when she heard the healer’s words.

��Rest of my life… That’s right, I’m seventeen now so this cycle will be ending soon,’ she thought while biting her lip, ‘How am I supposed to explain this to Tijarah and Chloe?’

“Rhamina, are you alright?” Runaan asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I’m fine just got a bit distracted,” she chuckled as her stomach growled, “I hunger…”

At around noon the groups were continuing their training until the sharp sound of a flute entered the ravenette’s ears.

Her head snapped up at the noise and by the second note her expression changed to that of utter horror before she turned to the groups.

“Chloe, Tijarah, Kerstin, cover your ears!” she called but it was already too late.

She along with the other three immediately fell to the ground in pain.

“Fuck, Mina!” Kerstin growled steam coming from her nostrils and mouth, wings twitching and tail flailing.

“I know!” Rhamina called as her pendant began to glow black and hazy while red chains solidified around her form.

Tijarah began to struggle as well as her eyes began to glow bright yellow and her canines became sharper.

“Mina!” Chloe called as feathers began to sprout from her arms.

“What’s happening?!” Rayla asked as she and others tried to get closer.

“Don’t get near them!” Sam called with a slight growl as she looked in the direction of Katolis, “Someone found where we hid that bitch.”

After about two minutes Chloe had fully turned into a dwarf owl, Tijarah had transformed into a black panther, and Kerstin stood tall as a red and black dragon; however, Rhamina was left screaming in pain on the ground as the chains began to constrict tighter.

“Rhamina!” called Callum as he turned to the elf in green markings, “What do we do?”

“I don’t fucking know!” she replied as she brushed her hair back, “You touch those chains and you get burned so we can only wait until that fucking song stops and hope she survived it.”

The next two minutes were painful for everyone to watch.

Rayla, Runaan, Sam and Callum could only watch as the female writhed in pain and as tears streamed down her face. They could see the chains digging into her skin and Sam was sure she heard a snap from something breaking. At some point Rhamina started to cough up blood and struggle to breathe but they couldn’t do anything.

The three shifters couldn’t turn back until the song was over so they did what they would normally do in a situation like this.

Chloe was just flying in circles above the ravenette as she hooted frantically.

Tijarah’s tail was flicking back and forth as she sat next to Kerstin who could only look down at her sister.

Finally, the song was over and the chains disappeared but the female was still shaking and curled up.

“D-don’t touch me!” she shrieked as she felt the presence of Runaan behind her.

Doing his best to ignore the cries of the ravenette, Runaan gently picked her up and rushed her over to the healer again.

A few hours later Beldroth came out of the room the female was in and looked to the group, including the shifters who had changed back to their half forms.

“That girl is lucky to have survived,” she started, “I’m surprised she stayed conscious through all of it.”

“And how is she now?” Sam asked, “Can we see her?”

“Well-” “Come hither!” a quiet voice called from behind the curtain.

Ignoring the healer the four other girls pushed past the curtain to see their comrade sitting up; however, she didn’t look good at all.

There were already bruises forming from where the chains dug into her and her skin was a bit pale.

She looked up at them with sad eyes and said, “We need to talk about this now.”

“Mina, are you sure?” Kerstin asked looking to everyone but Sam and the ravenette.

“If this continues then it’ll be their problem as well,” Rhamina replied, “They might as well know right now and stay informed.”

“Mina, we can trust Chloe and Tijarah but we don’t really know the others as long as them,” Sam said earning suspicious looks from the others.

“What do you guys mean?” Tijarah asked, “What’s going on?”

“If that nutcase manages to wake her up then we’ll need more than just us to stop her you know,” the ravenette argued, mustering a glare despite her tired state, “And it’ll be harder to keep this a secret once she’s awake.”

“Who are you guys talking about?!” Callum asked.

Before Sam or Kerstin could say anything Rhamina replied, “Marianna Verum Salvator Ibadora, or you might know her better as Marianna the Monster Carver.”

“What?” the group gasped collectively as Kerstin’s and Sam’s eyes widened at the fact she revealed it.

“That’s impossible!” Callum exclaimed, “She was one of the princesses from before the human kingdom split up! She died almost 1,000 years ago!”

“She didn’t die,” Kerstin stated as she crossed her arms.

“She was sealed away in what now exists as Katolis,” Sam added only earning more astonished looks from the group.

“And how would you know that?” Rayla asked still in shock.

“Of course we would know about it, we were there after all,” Rhamina chuckled softly, “I was the one who sealed her away after all.”

“You couldn’t have been there,” Runaan stated, “You’re a human. They can’t live that long.”

“You’re right but let’s not forget about the third member of the Chaos Trio and how she threw away her humanity for the truth of this world,” the ravenette sighed looking up with the golden flecks in her brown irises seemingly glowing with mischief, “A greedy little fox who transcended death.”

“No way,” Callum whispered looking down at the maid who he’d known for five years, “You’re…”

“Yes, the second princess of the original human kingdom who abandoned it to be with her true sisters,” Rhamina stated, “My real name is Kitsami Verum Princeps Ibadora.”

“A thousand years ago I was basically immortal with the power I discovered but I gave that up and was forced to live in a human body in order to seal away my twin who had come too close to discovering a power which would have destroyed all of Xadia,” she continued, “My soul and beast is bound by unbreakable chains which you saw earlier.”

“The song that triggered Kerstin’s, Tijarah’s, and Chloe’s beast forms to come forward and tried to call out Mina’s beast as well,” Sam explained, “But those chains were holding it back and forcing it to stay in her human body.”

“I still can’t believe this,” Callum said turning to Rhamina, “If this really did happen then how are you still alive?”

“As I quickly relearned how fragile the human body was, I learned that once this heart stopped beating then it would basically be reverted to that of my ten-year-old self and I would just age from there until I died again,” the ravenette shrugged, “And that cycle would continue and has been continuing for the past millennium.”

“Don’t forget to mention that each time, your body can’t last a year after you turn seventeen again,” Kerstin scoffed earning worried looks from the others.

“Returning back to the topic of the song, it is called the Song of Beasts and like Sam explained it draws out the beasts that are hiding under a disguise of magic,” Rhamina said changing the topic to get focus off of her, “I hid it along with other spells where I sealed away Marianna and since it was played I can only guess someone is trying to wake her up in order to get help in winning the war for the humans.”

“So, we have to stop them!” Rayla exclaimed.

“That will not be necessary,” Sam said, “The only one who can release her is Mina.”

“Yes, but the human mages could find a way to break that seal,” Rhamina hissed, “I mean they found a way to twist the magic I brought back for them. Or if the need arises I need my full power again then I’ll be forced to undo the seal.”

It was silent after that before Runaan said, “Thank you for telling us this. Now we know what we could be possibly going up against but for now let’s all get some rest and let this sink in.”

Back in Katolis the people were panicking as many of the citizens had suddenly turned into strange creatures of dangerous animals.

“I wasn’t able to awaken the Queen but I was able to expose all of the shifters hiding among us,” Viren chuckled as she looked at the masses of creatures being brought to the dungeons.

In the absence of the ravenette he had become acquainted with the being in the mirror and had it brought back up to his study.

“I must thank you for revealing the location of the True Queen, Aaravos,” he chuckled with a purple caterpillar sitting on his ear.

“Marianna is not the True Queen, only her protector,” the Startouch elf corrected, “You must remember the awakening Marianna is only to draw Kitsami back to her rightful throne.”

“Ah, yes, where is Kitsami anyway?”

“Hiding,” the elf replied with a slight smirk on his face as back in Xadia Rhamina felt a slight warmth come from the binding around her left arm.

~~~Fin. Chapter 5~~~

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Songs Used: “Ballad of the Goddess” - Adriana Figueroa

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/436497388883255799/

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[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 8

                                                  ~~~VIII~~~

As the red dragon flew over Xadia Runaan made sure the shadows didn’t get too close.

It was a tense ride as the dragon flew as fast as she could and the ravenette’s condition was only getting worse as she had to keep using her magic to keep the attention of the shadows.

“Mina, you need to stop,” Tijarah gently scolded as the girl coughed again.

Her hair looked ratty as she had been stressing for the two hours of their flight, she had turned quite a few shades paler, and her eyes were so clouded that they could have been classified as grey.

Before she could protest the ravenette looked down to see the saddened eyes of the baby dragon then up to the many worried glances of her friends before letting out a weak huff.

Three hours later the dragon landed in the clearing of the tree with the shadows circling above them.

“You need to keep them close but don’t let those things into the clearing,” Rhamina commanded weakly as Choe and Tijarah helped her off of Kerstin, “Them same goes for all of you. No matter what happens you do not come back into the clearing.”

“Rhamina, you’re too weak to even stand on your own,” Runaan said with a glare as he jumped of Kerstin.

“If you’re worried about me dying, it’s going to happen either way,” she said with a weak glare of her own before a shriek came from above them, “There’s no time anyway now go.”

With shaky hands Rhamina passed the bat to Chloe and ushered Zym to follow Tijarah.

“Come on, Hun, it won’t be safe for you here.”

The dragon refused to move from it’s spot next to her ankles before Tijarah picked him up and the girls warily let her go to stand on her own.

Rhamina watched as the group dispersed into the trees or into the sky followed by one of the shadows.

Turning to the tree she limped her way over almost tripping over herself a few times.

Kneeling before it she removed her hood from her face and took a deep breath.

She could feel the magic of the tree calling to her as she let her aura expose itself as her eyes closed.

Upon feeling the magic one of the shadows turned to the tree only to be smacked away by Kerstin’s tail.

“Not on my watch, Bitch!” she exclaimed.

After feeling a connection with the tree the ravenette opened her eyes and began her spell.

“Shadow cold and dark. Make the final plea…”

The long locks of raven hair began to float around her as the air became thick and tense.

“Take the sands of time. And set the spirit free”

The tree began to develop cracks in it as she continued her incantation.

“Wither and decay. End this destiny…”

The cracks began to glow purple as it filled with energy.

“Break these earthly chains. And set the spirit free…”

As the ravenette looked down to her arms her veins began to glow the same shade of purple as the tree’s trunk began to split open at the cracks and reach for her.

“The spirit free…”

Everyone snapped their heads back towards the clearing once the moment they could no longer feel any trace of the ravenette.

“What the hell just happened?!” Kerstin asked as she pushed back one of the shadows.

“We need to go check, hoot!” Chloe exclaimed immediately running towards where they left the ravenette.

“Chloe!” Tijarah yelled as she remembered the directions she was given.

“Fuck!” she exclaimed, her worry overpowering her want to not mess anything up.

They weren’t the only ones because about five minutes later everyone of the group had appeared at the clearing looking for the female but all they saw was the tree.

It was balled up and only seemed to close tighter as a few got an idea of what happened.

“Did the tree just fucking eat Mina?” Sam asked as she watched a purple light pulse from the cracks that were still in the wood.

“Sam, Kerstin, how exactly did she meet the Fates?” Runaan asked still in shock.

“We don’t know,” Kerstin answered ignoring the distant shrieks of the shadows, “She never told us. Why?”

“She told me that this tree was a gateway to meet the Fates,” he explained looking at the tree.

“So do you think this was how?” Tijarah asked still slightly shocked, horrified, and disgusted.

“Most likely.”

“It worked!” Viren laughed as he looked into a crystal ball at his study, “She actually went to break the seal!”

“Indeed; however, there is no telling how long that could take,” the elf in the mirror commented.

“What do you mean?”

“With that spell she needs to reabsorb all of her previous powers while abandoning her human body and manifesting her other form,” Aaravos explained through the caterpillar on the human’s ear, “It was quite vast you know. Those kinds of  things take time.”

“You didn’t tell me of this,” Viren said with irritation.

“You never asked,” the elf smirked, “And if you want your plan to work then you will have to be patient.”

“Well, no matter the wait, our weapon will be revived.”

Rhamina felt as if she was floating until it felt as if she was falling.

Her eyes snapped open once she felt her ass hit the ground.

“Mother fucker!” she growled as she stood in the familiar desolate wasteland.

“You seem to be doing well,” a smooth female voice chuckled.

“Not the time Mer’as,” Rhamina huffed as she stood up and dusted off the white dress she was in before looking up at the female with olive skin, black hair styled into a bob and ram horns on her head.

“You seem grumpier than when we last saw each other,” a smooth, deep voice commented causing Rhamina to turn and flip off the male who had olive skin; long, straight, black hair; and curved goat horns on his head.

“Eat my fucking dick, Ruzamad!”

Both beings looked quite similar to each other due to the fact they were siblings.

The Fates who looked over this world.

They both wore black clothes with black leather straps and matching dark, metal collars.

The ravenette only rolled her eyes before setting off in a certain direction.

“Where are you going?” the female asked from her left as her brother fell in step from the right.

“What do you think?” she hissed, “I’m getting my body and powers back.”

The siblings gasped as their eyes widened.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Love?-” “Don’t call me that!” Rhamina snapped as the siblings were silenced by her glare, “You aren’t here to question me, you’re just here to test  those who try to find the truth and I’ve already passed.”

She continued walking in between the fates but quickly noticed the surroundings were different than when she was here last time.

“What is this?” she asked looking around only to see the siblings panicking, “Why is this part different?”

“What do you mean?” Mer’as asked.

“Nothing’s changed since you left,” Ruzamad finished only earning a glare from Rhamina.

‘Liars,’ she thought as her eyes soaked in the different sights and sounds as she kept walking in a straight line.

‘No way…’ she thought keeping a straight face as a realization came to mind, ‘Are these the truths of other worlds?’

“We’re here,” chirped Mer’as as the trio stopped in front of an oversized, black chest.

Rhamina did not hesitate to step forward as the chest as well as her pendant began to glow purple before the chest suddenly flung open and purple wisps began to surround the female.

She could feel herself changing as her feet left the ground. Her hair grew down to her knees and a pair of black fox ears materialized a top her head accompanied by nine, large, black fox tails tipped in purple.

Her attire changed to an elegant, black and purple kimono with slits running up both sides of them to allow for easier movement in combat.

“I’ll be asking you more questions later,” she snarled at the Fates before waving her hand.

In front of her a white door with golden flourishes appeared in front of her and she placed a hand on it before continuing, “But right now I have bigger problems to deal with.”

As the door closed behind the ravenette Ruzamad sighed and said, “Now their both awake and she has the full truth.”

“The others will most definitely not be happy with us,” Mer’as sighed as she looked up at the twinkling sky above her.

Viren could only watch with a large smile as a golden glow began to surround the female trapped in ice.

It grew even more as the ice began to crack causing the golden light to seep through.

“Yes...”

“Yes.”

“Yes!” he cheered as the ice completely shattered causing the female to fall to the ground.

She groaned as her eyes fluttered open and found themselves on the mage.

“What happened?”

The group was beginning to tire.

It had been about an hour since the female had been engulfed into the tree and they had been battling ever since.

“Fuck! How long is this going to take?!” Tijarah asked as she threw back a shadow for about the hundredth time.

“We shouldn’t have let her do this!” Sam exclaimed mostly in worry for her sibling’s wellbeing.

Suddenly a large surge of magic came from the tree they were protecting and it’s trunk straightened out before the branches uncurled revealing healthy plum colored leaves.

However, once it was fully opened a familiar form was there radiating with pure magic as her raven locks floated behind her.

“Mina!” cheered the girls tiredly.

“I’m sorry I took so long guys,” she said as she floated to meet the group on the ground as the shadows seemed to watch, “You can sit back now. It’s my turn.”

“Rhamina, we’ve literally tried everything!” Callum panted as the ravenette laid him down gently.

“I know that’s why I’m here now,” she spoke quietly before turning to the shadows and glaring.

“I don’t know what you’re planning but you got what you want!” she announced looking directly at each individual form, “I’m fully awake and so is Marianna. Just know that you will repent for provoking me!”

As soon as she was finished speaking she stepped forward and her tails whipped around striking each shadow once before it’s form dissipated leaving behind a magenta wisp.

She held out her hand before flicking her wrist towards herself and the wisps floated closer to her.

“Sknaht rof eht leam!” she chirped before consuming each one.

She then turned to the group who basically sat in shock while Sam and Kerstin were filled with excitement to have their sister back at full strength.

“You really are something aren’t you?” Runaan smiled, still trying to catch his breath.

“Yep, and that something ain’t good,” she chuckled before going to her bag and collecting a large flask as a soft glow covered her form leaving her in her previous clothes save for the cloak, “You all take a breather and I’ll be back with water.”

As soon as she got back Rhamina passed around the flask and sang the song of healing again to take care of the groups injuries as the bat flew back to hook onto the front of her shirt.

“So does this mean Marianna is awake again?” Sam asked causing the ravenette’s ear to twitch.

“Yes.”

“Oh, my god we are so fucked,” Kerstin laughed as she threw her head back, “Peace here didn’t work, Viren’s on our ass, and Marianna’s awake.”

“Arrrrrrrrrr,” Sam nervously chuckled, “The Chaos Trio strikes again.”

“So what do we do now?” Callum asked as the past few events came to sink into their heads.

“Since the Queen of Dragons won’t want peace then maybe we can convince the humans,” Rhamina suggested with her back to the group, “We can take it up with the other four kingdoms and work to get Viren out of control of Katolis; which, reminds me. Shouldn’t Ezran be ruling right now?”

“That’s right, it’s been weeks he should be king by now and he wouldn’t order an attack like that,” Rayla said in realization.

“Do you think Viren was just kicked out and working from somewhere else?” the prince asked.

“No, that couldn’t have been him on his own,” Rhamina replied without skipping a beat.

“Yeah, it was way too strong for him on his own,” Tijarah added.

“Too strong for a single human,” Rhamina said, “Even with ‘Dark Magic’.”

“Well there’s at least one good thing that comes out of Marianna being awake,” she sighed rubbing her temples.

“What possible good thing could there be about that bitch being awake?” Sam scoffed.

“She was on board with Dark Magic but hates it being used so if Viren uses it all the time she’ll get pissed off and hopefully kill him for us.”

Back in the room of ancient treasures Viren lowered himself to one knee and bowed his head as he said, “Welcome back, Princess Marianna.”

“Who are you?” the ravenette asked as she stood holding her head before her eyes widened, “Where is the Queen?!”

“Your Highness, please calm down and let me explain our situation,” Viren said as he looked up at the armor-clad female.

As he explained what happened in the past thousand years, Viren led the female knight down the halls of the castle earning strange looks from the staff.

“Isn’t that Rhamina?” one whispered.

“Didn’t she go missing?”

“Her hair is so short now!”

“Where did she get the armor?”

“When did she get that serious?”

Once the pair had entered the mage’s study the ruby-eyed teen asked, “You say there were two princes in this kingdom? Where are they?”

“I’m afraid to say that they are deceased.”

“I’m not fond of liars, Mage,” she growled narrowing her eyes at the male, “Just now some of the maids were talking of how Prince Ezran was being locked up in his room and considering the fact his father is dead, he is next in line for the empty throne.”

“W-well, as he is now he is not fit to rule,” Viren tried to explain, “He is too young and I am acting as his regent.”

“Take me to him.”

“W-what?”

“A kingdom without a ruler is just asking to be overthrown,” the ravenette said standing up, “Let me meet the boy and I shall decide if he is fit to rule or not.”

“B-but-” “I may not have been the one to take the throne but I am still the oldest member of the royal family,” Marianna said sternly, “If anyone should judge what it takes to rule it would be Kitsami but she isn’t here at the moment so I will have to do.”

“With all due respect, Your Highness, Kitsami abandoned the humans.”

“She did not abandon us!” snapped the teen,eyes glowing red as a surge of energy blasted through the room causing the ground to shake slightly, “Those elves and dragons took her from us! All she wanted was to be cared for and no one gave it to her. Even I didn’t realize it until it was too late… But I will be getting her back. She is the one who woke me up after all so I know she’s alive.”

“Now,” the knight said calming down as every object that was floating dropped to the ground, “Take me to the Prince.”

“I-I… Of course,” Viren said gaining his composure in front of the powerful being, “This way, Your Highness.”

Ezran looked up from his bed as three knocks came from the door.

“Prince Ezran, there is someone who is here to see you,” the voice of Viren said from behind the door before it creaked open.

“Rhamina?” he asked seeing the teen’s face only to be confused at her attire, hair length, and eye color.

“Why is everyone asking if I’m ‘Rhamina’?” the ravenette asked turning to the mage before sighing, “Nevermind, answer that later.”

“Hello, Prince Ezran, I am Princess Marianna Verum Salvator Ibadora, and I would like to speak with you for a bit.”

“If the human side is willing to have peace then maybe Xadia will as well,” Rhamina said, “After all morals and crap. If they’re willing to stay true to their honor then they won’t attack a side that shows no aggression.”

“That is true,” Runaan said, “But how are you going to get the humans to agree?”

“I don’t have to get everyone, just the rulers at least. If anyone gets in the way I can take care of them individually.”

With that statement everyone looked at the ravenette with sceptical looks.

“What? I’m not going to kill them!” she whined, “Shock them maybe but that’s as far as it will go. The only problem we’ll have is getting Katolis on board especially if Marianna is there. She has a way with words to get people to follow her.”

“Mina, you would say similar shit in order to convince people of things,” Kerstin said, “And most of the time it wasn’t true.”

“Yeah,” Rhamina shrugged, “We both had the impeccable gift of bullshitery; which, brings up another problem. We had almost the exact same strengths and thought processes so the moment she suspects I’m up to something she’ll probably be able to come up with a counter.”

“Yeah but, Mina, you have a lot of things over her,” Sam said as the trio of thousand-year-old females smirked.

“Exactly, you’ve been here constantly learning new things and strategies while she’s been stuck in ice for the past thousand years,” Kerstin added.

“Mainly the fact I’ve got physically got nothing to lose so I have no problem just rushing in and decking someone in the face,” Rhamina chirped causing the everyone to erupt into laughter, “No, I will but I’ll be careful. I swear.”

“So which kingdom would we try to convince first?” Chloe asked from her spot.

“I would say Duren,” Rhamina said, “Queen Amaya is much more reasonable than most of the adult rulers and the others won’t take much convincing unless Viren tries to bash her reputation and risk war amongst human kingdoms.”

“Wait, Rhamina- no, Kitsami, I guess,” Callum said a little confused as to what he should call his elder.

“Either one is fine,” she chirped as her tails wagged slightly, “But yes?”

“Did you ever step down from the throne?”

“I mean I flew off on a dragon while flinging the crown into a crowd.”

“Did you formally give it up though?” he asked with widened eyes.

“No, I didn’t, why?”

“If you took back the throne in Katolis then could you convince the other kings and queens?”

“What?!” exclaimed the ravenette in surprise, “Callum, what are you saying?!”

“Mina, he’s right you know?” Tijarah commented, “You still have power over the humans by technicality.”

“Ibadora doesn’t exist anymore,” she huffed as her ears twitched in irritation, “And, Callum, what about Ezran? Don’t you want him to be king?”

“I don’t want to take anything away from him but he’s too young,” Callum spoke sadly, “He deserves to live a bit.”

“You’re right about that,” Rhamina sighed as she looked up to the afternoon sky, “Being the ruler of a kingdom is taxing on the mind and body.”

“All the paperwork, making sure the kingdom is safe before yourself, assassination attempts, people constantly trying to manipulate or kiss up to you for power, holding comments to keep your reputation, never knowing if people are your real friends or using to to get power, keeping secrets, and a whole shit tone more,” the ravenette continued, “It sucks ass.”

“Well, at least you never got the brunt of it,” Kerstin shrugged only for the ravenette to shake her head.

“I actually think it’s worse as a child who is next in line,” Rhamina spoke, eyes narrowing as she remembered her own childhood, “When you’re young you’re naive and people try to take advantage of that. They try to teach you that their own way is right and influence you so that when you’re older you do anything they want. Those born into ruling families are pawns right from the start. We’re only tools for political power to anyone who gets to us first.”

“Is it really like that?” Rayla asked turning to Callum who was looking down the entire time as the ravenette was talking.

“Now that I think about it, yeah, it was,” he sighed, “I remember a lot of the time when Mom or Dad was away important people were always trying to talk to me and Ezran to convince us about their ideas.”

“Your father was a good father and king,” Rhamina smiled, “very rare to find now a days, he realized them trying to manipulate you both and did his best to keep them separate from you. You should have seen the frustration on their faces.”

“Based on the way you act, I’m guessing you helped with that?” Runaan asked with a smirk as the female’s ears perked up and she began to stutter.

“Nope! I did- nope- not really- well, only a little!”

“Mina! some of those politicians almost shit themselves. Hoot!” Chloe chirped with a bright smile.

“Why do you think Dad always kept you near the boys when people like that were over?” Tijarah chuckled, “You always glared them down anytime they got remotely close.”

“You were just like a mother fox protecting her kits!” Kerstin laughed as the ravenette’s face began to turn red and her tails stiffened in embarrassment.

“Well what else was I supposed to do?!” she exclaimed using her tails to cover her body like a shell, “Let them corrupt the precious children?!”

“Awe, Mina, you floof!” gushed Sam as she reached out to glomp the female.

“No, I’m not fuck off!”

Soon Chloe and Kerstin added onto the pile with the ravenette reaching out for help from the rest of the group only to be met with laughter.

“Why?! I trusted- Ahh!”

Everyone stopped to look down in surprise at the ravenette who let out the high pitched yelp.

Rhamina immediately stopped her movement and covered her mouth as she turned to glare at the females on top of her.

“Who the fuck grabbed one of my tails?!” she asked as her face became even more red.

“Mina!~” sang Kerstin and Sam with smirks on their faces as the ravenette struggled to get out from under them.

Poof!

As the smoke dissipated a little black fox with nine tails and a bat clinging to her back stood growling and baring her teeth at the females as the dragon and elf approached her.

Backing up the fox ran to Runaan before skillfully climbing up to his shoulders using her tails to keep her there as she hissed and batted at her partners.

“Awe, that’s cute!” Rayla cooed only earning a glare from the black fox.

“I’m not cute!” she barked, “I’m an all powerful fox! I will eat you!”

This only earned more laughter from the group and irritation from the fox.

“Now, let’s calm down shall we?” Runaan asked reaching up to scratch under the fox’s chin causing her to release her hold on him and flop down to his lap.

She then began nuzzling into him before looking up and asking, “More pets?”

“Mina!” Chloe exclaimed not happy at the female’s contact with a male despite him helping them quite a bit.

Runaan brought his hand to keep petting the fox who let out happy trills at the attention.

After about ten more minutes the group made their way to the nearest village to get some rest.

At this point Rhamina was now in her humanoid form as the group walked into a barn a couple let them stay in.

“Hey do you guys want to hear a story?” The ravenette asked with a large smile as her tails wagged.

“Yes!” Chloe chirped as the bat squeaked in agreement.

“Yay, this one is about me,” she smirked, “And something I did like a hundred years ago I think?”

“As we were out a-hunting, one morning in the spring. Both hounds and horses, running well, made the hills and the valleys ring,” Rhamina sung as she looked up at the moon from the open door, “But to our great misfortune, no fox there could be found. Our huntsmen cursed and swore but still no fox moved over the ground.”

“Mina, no. No more foxes.”

“And up spoke our master huntsman, the master of the chase. ‘If only the Devil himself come by, we'd run him such a race!’” the ravenette smirked as she continued her theme, “And up there sprung like lightning a fox from out of his hole. His fur was the colour of a starless night, and his eyes like burning coals.”

Her smirk only grew bigger as she could hear fox calls in the distance.

“And they chased him over the valley, and they chased him over the fields; They chased him down to the river bank, but never would he yield,” Rhamina sung over the desperate cries of Sam and Kerstin, “And he's jumped into the water, and he's swum to the other side. And he's laughed so loud that the green woods shook. Then he's turned to the huntsmen and he's cried:”

“‘Ride on, my gallant huntsmen! When must I come again? For you should never want for a fox to chase all over the glen. And when your need is greatest, just call upon my name And I will come, and you shall have the best of sport and game!’”

Soon the group could see the glowing eyes of tens of foxes as the ravenette continued her call.

“And the men looked up in wonder and the hounds run back to hide. For the fox, it changed to the Devil himself where he stood on the other side,” she sang with a large smile and all nine tails wagging at the sight of her brethren, “And the men, the hounds, the horses went flying back to town. And hard on their heels come a little black fox, laughing as he ran.”

“‘Ride on, my gallant huntsmen! When must I come again? For you should never want for a fox to chase all over the glen. And when your need is greatest, just call upon my name. And I will come, and you shall have the best of sport and game! Ride on, my gallant huntsmen! When must I come again? For you should never want for a fox to chase all over the glen.’”

As soon as the female stopped singing the foxes were running around and playing in the empty barn.  

“Mina!” cried all the girls as the foxes ran on and over them while Rhamina was on her knees reaching out to play with them.

Soon enough all the foxes began to trill and sing to which Rhamina did the same.

A large smile was on her face and all of her tails were wagging happily while the bat fluttered around the barn playing as well.

“Come on aren’t they all adorable?” the ravenette gushed holding one up who was visibly smiling.

Rayla laughed as she played around with the canines as well.

“They are quite cute,” she chuckled as one jumped up onto her shoulders.

After about half an hour the foxes left and went back out the barn while the group began to set up their beds.

“So how exactly are we going to make it past the border?” Kerstin asked as they grouped up, “Mom, is back at the border now and things are getting quite literally heated with her and the Sunfire elves.”

“Well if this is going to be fair then we might as well make a big entrance right?” Sam asked, “We are the Chaos Trio after all.”

“Chaos Trio plus five,” Kerstin corrected.

As the others were talking Rhamina curled her ninetails around her to act as a blanket for the night.

‘The Chaos Trio has been revived and so have you, so you will decide how our war will end… With peace? Or will you deny the truth again?’

~~~Fin. Chapter 8~~~

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Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/558939003739231659/

Songs Used: “Hurt Incantation” - Tangled the Series (My Cover); “Black Fox” - Heather Dale

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[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 6

                                                    ~~~VI~~~

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Warnings: Slight gore, mentions of suicide

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I ran as fast as I could to the forest of dead trees, trying to race the rapidly rising sun over the horizon.

I heard church bells in the distance and as I saw a flock of white doves flying above me I shrieked, “No! You will not!”

I let out a small yelp as my foot got caught on something and I looked down to see a rotting vine reaching for me.

“Eat dick!” I exclaimed while running faster up the dead hill.

I could see the first rays of dawn coming from behind me as I was about halfway up.

“No! This will not happen!”

By the time I reached the top I was panting and out of breath.

All I could do was fall to my knees and smile as tears fell down my cheeks.

“I did all of this for nothing!”

“I was too late again!”

I slammed both of my fists against the ground as a let out a pained cry.

The sound of fluttering feathers surrounded me as the flock of pure white doves landed around me.

The sun shone down brightly on the dead tree in front of me illuminating the horrifying sight.

On each branch hung each of my friends with ropes around their necks. Their eyes were gone and streaks of blood trailed from their empty sockets.

All this as I felt the heat of the sun on my back.

Slam!

“Susej gnikcuf Tsirhc!” Rhamina exclaimed as she rubbed the shoulder she just hit the floor with.

It was the third morning since the reveal of her identity and the day she was officially healthy.

Well, physically anyway.

“Can these dreams like fuck off please?” she growled as she pulled herself from the ground and looked out the window to see it was around noon, “Who the fuck let me sleep in this late?!”

She quickly got dressed in a deep blue crop top and black shorts that ended mid thigh with her black combat boots on.

It was already mentioned that she had lied about what happened to her after she got Runaan out but nothing was said about the topic so she felt as if it was safe to expose some of the scars she had from it even though it would be hidden by her cloak unless she took it off.

When she exited the house the ravenette immediately went to the training grounds to find her friends there.

“Mina!” a familiar voice called as a dwarf owl loudly flew over to her shoulder to immediately cuddle into the ravenette’s neck.

“Mina, do you want to fight someone?” Kerstin called from where she was sitting.

“Hell yeah!” she replied instantly, “I’ve been sitting on my ass doing nothing for four days!”

“You can’t back out of this,” Sam said walking over.

“Why the fuck-” “You’re fighting Runaan,” Tijarah interjected as the ravenette immediately glared.

“Okay, fuck you.”

“I thought you wanted to fight someone, Mina?” Sam asked with a chuckled as the male began to walk over.

“Yeah, but-” “But what?” Runaan asked as we walked over with Rayla, “Whatever your worries are, I assure you it will be fine.”

“No, it’s just that I don’t have any reason to fight you,” the ravenette said, “You’ve literally been so nice. I don’t want to fight you.”

At this statement the three girls sitting down smirked and Kerstin said, “You’re going against him, Captain’s orders.”

“You did not just pull that shit on me,” Rhamina gasped with offense written all over her face, “You know what after I’m done all of you are next.”

“Owl, off,” Rhamina said only for the bird to cuddle closer to her neck, “Chloe, I swear.”

With the ravenette’s glare the owl fluttered off and sat on top of Kerstin’s head.

“So are we doing this with weapons or without?” Rhamina asked as she unclasped the front of of her cloak before tossing it to her friends.

Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight of the multiple marks littering the teen’s skin.

This was the first time since they stepped foot in Xadia where Rhamina had taken off her cloak.

No one had realized how badly she was hurt in Katolis until now.

“Rhamina,” the male whispered only for the teen to scoff.

“Can y’all stop gawking and let’s get this started?” Rhamina scoffed as she crossed her arms.

“Wait, Mina, you never said it was this bad,” Kerstin said looking at the large scar that was on her back and continued under her top.

“What do you think Viren does to so called traitors?” the ravenette replied with her eyes narrowed and a cold air around her, “The faster we get Zym to his home the faster we get back to the castle and get Viren away from controlling Katolis.”

“So,” she continued, “Weapons or no weapons?”

“How about we start off with just no weapons,” Runaan suggested as he set his bow to the side.

“Bare hands it is then,” Rhamina said as she put her hair up using a pair of black hair sticks.

As Runaan got into a fighting stance Rhamina stood in a relaxed manner about fifteen feet from him.

“That mother fucker,” Tijarah scoffed as both pairs waited for someone to call start, “She this isn’t going to be fun to watch at all.”

“What do you mean?” Rayla asked watching as one of the kids yelled start.

“She isn’t gonna try,” Sam commented as Runaan ran up to the girl and aimed a punch at her stomach.

The ravenette gasped and staggered back a bit but stayed standing.

The match went on for a few more minutes with Runaan attacking and Rhamina doing nothing until she ended up on the ground with Runaan straddling her.

He was going easy on the ravenette, not having previously seen her fight and not wanting to actually hurt her.

Even still this position caused the dwarf owl to hoot frantically in anger.

“Fuck you, Hoot!”

“Mina!” Kerstin exclaimed finally through with her sister’s bullshit, “What the fuck are you doing?!”

“What?” she smirked not noticing the position she was in, “You said I had to go against him. You said nothing about me trying.”

Sam and Kerstin shared a look before Sam asked, “Hey, Mina, remember that one time when we were at a tavern and you down like 5 barrels of bourbon?”

The teen’s heart began to race and her face immediately flushed before she replied, “Y-yeah, why?”

“If you don’t get your ass up then everyone is going to find out what you’re like when you get totally shit-faced,” Kerstin finished with a smirk.

The ravenette bucked her hips up to throw the male off balance and flipped them so she was sitting on top of him while pinning his wrists down.

“Okay!” she exclaimed with a bright red face, some strands of her raven hair falling out of place, “I’m trying now!”

She then swung up her right leg and used the momentum to turn to stand up before making her way to let the male stand up.

“Here we go,” Sam smirked, “She’s somewhat serious now.”

“How can you tell?” Rayla asked as Chloe the owl was perched on top of her head still slightly seething at Runaan.

“Look at her feet,” Sam pointed out, “It let’s her move easier.”

She stood with her left foot back and turned out to a forty-five degree angle as her right foot was about eleven inches in front of it also turned out to a forty-five degree angle. Her arms were to her sides with the elbows bent slightly and hands relaxed.

Runaan ran at the female again but right before he could swing a fist at her, Rhamina twirled to her left out of the way and as soon as she stopped she twirled back to the right holding out her right hand to hit Runaan in the back. Hard.

As the male fell to the ground Rhamina backed up and returned to her initial position, only this time she placed all her weight on the back foot and pointed her left toes.

“Yes, Mina!” Kerstin exclaimed, “Beat him down with your feminine elegance!”

Rhamina only shook her head as she repeated this process of dodging the male until he stood across from her panting.

“Are you alright, Runaan?” she asked as the male straightened out.

“I’m fine but are you actually going to come attack me?” he asked.

“I don’t plan on it,” she said, “When I ‘fight’ people I usually just aim to throw them into a blind rage to where they’ll attack blindly and tire themselves out but you’re too level headed for that.”

Runaan returned to his wide stance and ran at the female again only for her side step out of the way of his fist while grabbing his right arm in two places. While this happened she pivoted to have her back against the males chest and used his own forward momentum to throw him over her shoulder.

He hit the ground hard.

“I think that’s enough for now,” he coughed as the four girls were cheering on the side.

“Good match!” Rhamina chirped moving to help him up, “Is your back okay?”

“I’m fine,” Runaan said as he took the girl’s hand to pull himself up, “You’re quick on your feet.”

“Not as fast as Tijarah when she wants food,” the ravenette scoffed.

“But are you alright?” he asked, “You didn’t even move to defend yourself in the first part of that.”

“I’m used to it,” she shrugged, “Like I said my main goal in a fight is to conserve as much energy as possible while tiring out my opponent. So if I can take a few hits it’s fine.”

“That’s a reckless strategy,” the elf bluntly commented, “Just how many times have you used it?”

“Since I started fighting,” Rhamina stated, “I’ve used it when I was being trained in a castle and when I wreaked havoc when the Chaos Trio was at our peak. By the time most of my opponents finally realized what I was doing, I had already won.”

“If it’s life or death then it pays to play dirty,” she continued, “But that’s just how I function. If you play by a set of rules and win then good for you.”

“So staying here was fun and all but we need to get moving and bring Zym home,” Tijarah said, “Especially if that fuck nut, Viren, knows where Marianna is.”

“Now that I think of it, if the Song of Beasts reached here then it’s sound probably reached throughout all of the human kingdoms,” Rhamina stated before biting her lip.

“Shit! Then that means everyone was exposed!” Kerstin exclaimed while standing.

“Yeah, I just hope they weren’t fucking executed,” the ravenette muttered, “We need to move at the latest tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘everyone’?” Callum asked, “There are more shifters in Katolis?”

“No duh,” Sam said as she stood as well, “At least one fourth of Katolis’ population is shifters and now that they’ve been exposed….. Oof.”

“We better start packing then,” Rhamina said as she took her cloak and walked back to Runaan’s home with the owl now on her shoulder.

That night the entire village had a small gathering in the plaza where they all ate and played games.

“Mina, come on drink a bit!” Kerstin cheered already red in the face and giggling on her third mug of alcohol.

“Yeah, you’re going to be on foot for a long while,” one of the elves next to her insisted, “Loosen up a bit.”

“No, it’s fine I don’t really drink,” she chuckled with a small smile.

“Don’t drink my ass!” Sam called out her face just as red as the dragon next to her, “You would literally down barrels of straight bourbon!”

“Shut up!” the ravenette barked, “That was five hundred years ago when we didn’t have responsibilities!”

“If you’re not going to drink then at least sing us a song like you did in the taverns,” Kerstin urged.

“Yeah, Mina, sing! Hoot, hoot!” Chloe cheered.

“I don’t want to,” she said.

“Come on, Rhamina,” Callum said, “The last time you sang at a party was like six months ago.”

“Yeah!”

“Come on, Mina.”

“Sing!”

“Fine!” she exclaimed with her face red from all the attention as she shrugged off her cloak and stepped onto the raised platform amongst all the people before turning to her cheering friends, “I will kill you.”

“If I share this with you never speak a word. They would never understand if they ever heard. Gemini, Capricorn, rising in the east. Dancing through the witchwood we began to sing…”

Heads began to turn to the stage as the ravenette began her song, the fire from the torches glowing brighter.

“In between dark and light in the underworld. Wrapped around your finger like a string of pearls. Smiling face, empty hand, 7 golden rings. Dancing through the starlight we began to sing���”

The ravenette’s locks flowed majestically through the wind as they seemed to dance on their own accord.

“Ahh, ahh, still I hear the whisper… ‘Cartouche’...”

People began to clap along as music began to ring throughout the air, magic flowing with every lyric sung.

“Caramel colored leaves spiral in the air. Diving right into the ground 'round the winding stair. Stories carved out of wood, jester and the king. Dancing through the moonlight, we began to sing. Ahh, still I hear the whisper… ‘Cartouche’...”

Laughs and cheers began to echo along as a visible aura swirled around the teen.

Her eyes began to glow and her movements became even more enchanting.

“Memories, black and white, hide behind the glass. In the mirrors and the smoke, it’s all fading fast. Written word, turn the card winter into spring. Dancing through the witchwood we began to sing…”

Runaan looked up at the female on stage as she worked her magic. It was if her form was changed and she looked almost like a goddess as the elements danced with her on the stage.  

“Ahh, Ahh, still I hear the whisper… ‘Cartouche’...”

Applause erupted from everyone as she hopped down.

“Another one!” Chloe called as she flew over in her owl form and sat on the ravenette’s head.

“I only agreed to one song, Owl.”

“B-but Mina!”

“Yeah, Mina!” Kerstin cheered as Rhamina took her seat again.

“What kind of magic was that?” one of the elves asked, “That was amazing!”

“Not really,” she chuckled taking a sip of her juice.

“That was a stunning performance, Rhamina,” Runaan commented as he took a seat next to the ravenette, “You have a way with magic don’t you?”

“You know she made up those kinds of spells to win in fights right?” Tijarah asked, “Fucking, Land Siren.”

“Shut your face it works!” Rhamina barked back as Runaan chuckled.

When the party was over Rhamina and Runaan walked back to his home laughed as they conversed.

Chloe the owl was passed out and snuggled closely into the female’s neck as they walked back.

“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done,” Rhamina then spoke, “You honestly didn’t have to do anything for us.”

“Nor did you have to save my life twice,” the male retorted, “We’re even now.”

“I didn’t ask to be repaid.”

“And my morals told me that I had to,” he spoke as they both halted at his door.

She looked up into his teal irises finding no lies but also something else she could not recognize.

Ignoring what she couldn’t decipher, Rhamina reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and whispered, “Thank you for everything. Thank you.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist feeling content.

During their embrace Rhamina felt her face heat up and she could feel her heart start to pound. It was at this moment she knew, she fucked up.

“Goodnight, Runaan,” she whispered before they parted and she rushed into her borrowed room.

She gently set the owl in a nest made of one of the blankets before throwing her cloak to the side and cupping her heated cheeks.

“This is not okay,” she whispered to herself, “Love is something I can never have so stop wanting it!... I’m going to be restarting in a few months anyway… I need to stop…”

The next morning the group was about ready to head off but before they could leave Rayla caught a familiar sight.

“Runaan? What are you doing?” she asked the male who was dressed in his gear with his bow on his back.

“I’m coming with you seeing as how many of you are quite reckless,” he spoke as Zym popped his head out from Rhamina’s satchel and from under her cloak, “Just to make sure none of you do anything stupid.”

“Runaan, we’ll be fine,” Rayla tried to reason.

“I think it’s fine,” Rhamina stated while scratching the scaled chin, “Having more beings that know the terrain and such.”

“Mina, we come from Xadia,” Kerstin spoke gesturing at herself and Sam.

“How long has it been since you’ve actually been back here?”

“Touche.”

About a week into their walk Kerstin groaned, “Mina, I’m tired!”

“What do you want me to do carry you?” Rhamina asked as she gestured to the owl snuggled into her neck, the black cat resting on top of her head and the dragon in her cloak, “I am not the carrier of animals dammit!”

“Mina, what’s in your cloak?” Sam asked.

“Zym.”

“No, the other side,” Rayla said pointing at something moving against the right side of the fabric.

The ravenette looked to find a small brown bat clutched to the fabric and her jaw dropped.

“When the fuck?” she muttered in confusion.

“Why don’t we take a break for now?” Runaan suggested as Sam and Kerstin made fun of the ravenette.

They were in a darkened forest with mostly dark or dead trees surrounding them about halfway to their destination.

“Fuck, this place is a s creepy as it was before we left,” Sam commented earning agreements from Kerstin and Tijarah.

“I don’t understand how this happens,” Rhamina said as she sat against a tree, being aware of all the animals on her.

“Hoot, Mina, that’s another flying animal that isn’t me,” Chloe stated as she made her way onto the ravenette’s lap, “Imma nom it.”

“No, Chloe, you are not eating the bat,” Rhamina scolded as she scooped up the palm sized bird and placed it back onto her shoulder.

“You seem to attract a lot of creatures,” chuckled Rayla as the ravenette tucked her knees into the cloak as well.

“I wish I could attract a fucking guy,” she muttered as the blue dragon laid across her lap, “I’m one thousand and seventeen years old and I’ve never been in one relationship.”

“What’s wrong about that?” Rayla asked in confusion.

The ravenette sighed as she looked up to each of her friends, remembering how happy each had looked with significant others they’ve had in the past and could feel her chest grow tight.

“Nevermind, it’s hard to explain,” Rhamina said before taking out a bag of granola clusters and almonds.

“Hey, Mina, what the rest of my sandwich?” Kerstin asked holding up her half eaten food.

“It has nuts in it doesn’t it?” she asked causing the dragon to separate the two pieces of bread.

“Yeah,” Kerstin replied, “Do you still want it?”

“Hell, yes,” Rhamina replied reaching out as the owl lifted her head up in alarm, “I crave death.”

With her last statement the elves turned to her in concern as the owl flew over to peck at her outstretched hand.

“Chloe, stop it! I’m going to technically die with in the next few months so it doesn’t matter!”

“Mina, no!”

“But-” “Rhamina,” Runaan called sternly causing the female to gulp.

‘Shit, I forgot that people aren’t really used to my death jokes,’ she thought with a nervous smile.

“It’s true though,” she stated with a light chuckle, “I’m going to die before this body turns eighteen.”

“And you’re okay with that?” he asked with a slight edge to his voice, “With just playing around with your own life because you know you’ll come back?”

“After death number thirty, yes actually,” she replied, “I stopped caring about my own life. Doesn’t mean I don’t care about the lives of others though.”

“Life is precious, Rhamina,” Runaan stated with his eyes narrowing, “Not everyone gets to restart, so treat it as such.”

“Runaan, are you suggesting that I enjoy dying just because I can come back?” the teen asked as Rayla, Chloe, Kerstin, and Sam looked between the two, “That I enjoy having my head held underwater as my lungs burn until I eventually black out? That I enjoy having my head cut off? Or being lynched? Burned at the stake? Having my body filled with bolts from a crossbow? Being flung off a cliff?”

“Are you suggesting that I enjoy waking up after each time I fucking die knowing I’m just going to repeat that shit again?” she asked while setting the dragon and owl to the side with shaking hands, “Because I don’t Runaan! It’s painful as fuck! When you die everything feels like it’s set on fire!”

“Then may I ask why you rush towards it every chance you get?” he snapped not yet raising his voice but feeling irritation flood his system from a weeks worth of comments on death.

“Maybe it’s because I’m genuinely hoping one of these times I won’t wake up again,” she muttered as her shoulders relaxed and the edge left her tone, “One of the things I learned throughout my existence is that the fates never favored me. They love to cause me pain and each time I wake up is a reminder of that. They granted a soul who only wanted rest, eternal suffering.”

“Mina-” “It’s getting late,” the ravenette commented looking up at the sky to see the sunlight fading, “We’re staying here tonight.”

It was mostly silent as the group set up camp.

The girls plus Callum sent looks to each other until the ravenette went down to the river to wash up and the male went to keep watch first.

“He fucked up,” Sam whispered bringing her hands to her temples.

“Runaan, didn’t know,” Rayla whispered as they gathered into a tight circle, “We’re taught to respect life as much as possible.”

“I know but I don’t know how he’s going to fix this,” Tijarah commented, “They’re both pissed.”

“Dammit, Sam, our ship!” Kerstin cried quietly, “It’s sinking!”

About three hours later Rhamina simply laid on the ground next to the others not being able to sleep at all.

Her eyes were still closed though as she heard Runaan switch out with Chloe for keeping watch.

As soon as she was sure Runaan was asleep she opened her eyes and sat up to turn towards where the unsuspecting female was sitting.

The ravenette then sung a simple lullaby filled with her magic, watching as the brunette slowly drifted off once again.

She then quietly stood with the cloak still wrapped around her and made her way into the familiar maze of trees.

Once she was gone, Runaan rose from his spot and looked into the direction the female walked off in.

About five minutes of walking the ravenette felt movement in her cloak and lifted the right side to see the bat’s wide eyes.

“Hi there, Sweetie,” she greeted quietly, “You’re finally up, are you?”

It let out a squeak before flying forward and back to cling onto the front of the female’s shirt on her chest.

“I’m not your mother, Silly,” she chuckled while continuing forward before lifting her hand up over the small mammal to guard it, “Plus you’re probably not going to like where we’re going.”

The elf was careful to make almost no noise as he followed the hooded female deeper into the woods. He, himself had never spent much time in this particular forest and never had the need to nor the want to.

He followed the girl through the many twists and turns she took until they came upon a clearing with a particularly withered tree in the center.

The whole area radiated with an ominous aura that practically sang ‘death’ and ‘despair’.

“Here we are again,” the ravenette said walking closer to the tree as the young bat looked around curiously.

“The Hanging Tree,” she spoke while touching the trunk, “Where I discovered the truth of this world and where I gave up everything only for the rest of humanity to twist it.”

“Boy, was I naive,” she smiled bitterly before kneeling down and removing her hood.

“Human child, depraved and vile. In your smile the terror of a killer. When you stand before the mirror. Do you still hold your head high?” Rhamina sang, her form immediately shrouded in a purple aura, “Carved their sentence with a knife. Stole the gift that they called life. So now you'll stand and answer for yourself. Prepare for a living hell”

Runaan could feel all the grief and loss as the ravenette sang.

“You chose to have loved and lost. Knowing well that they'd never get to see each other again. Can you hear their memories calling from within?” her raven locks floated behind her as they seemed to dance on their own, “Was it really worth the cost? Was it you who deserved to be the one alive in the end? Can you feel the darkness crawling with your sins?”

A wolf howled in the distance as the clouds parted to reveal a crescent moon.

“The time has come. Nowhere to run,” Rhamina could only continue her song as all of the things she did wrong in her existence played in her mind, “Answer now for your sins.”

The forest seemed to sing with her as the wind picked up and as it became louder in general.

“Murderous child full of greed,” she sang as leaves and small debris began to fly around her, “Was this really what you dreamed?”

Snap! “Who’s there?” Rhamina asked as she turned to where she heard the noise.

Runaan sighed before exiting from his hiding spot to stand in the moonlight.

“What is this place?” he asked walking closer to the ravenette who still kneeled in front of the tree.

“This is where I gave up my humanity.”

~~~Fin. Chapter 6~~~

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Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/532128512197872406/

Songs Used: “Cartouche” - Blackmore’s Night; “Megalovania” - Adriana Figueroa cover

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[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 2

                                                    ~~~II~~~

The following morning a funeral was held for the king despite it being against the traditions of the kingdom.

“Viren, this is ridiculous,” a member of the high council said as they led the procession, “We are to mourn for seven days before holding a funeral for a king.”

“I understand, Opeli; however, these are times of war, the kingdom needs to move on and plan for the future,” the male retorted.

“Viren, even so it’s too soon! He was just taken from us a few hours ago, look!” the female gestured towards the raven haired maid who walked behind them.

She wore a black dress that with full sleeves under a black cloak with the hood flipped up. Despite that it could be seen that her hair was let down by the few locks that escaped the hood.

Feeling eyes on her, the female’s head tilted up to reveal her eyes dull and face bearing no emotion despite the tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

“The people need more time!” the woman spat as they approached the graveyard.

Ignoring her, the mage had the body of the king placed on the pedestal and stepped forward to make a speech.

“Today we woke to a devastating truth, our king has been taken from us. Slain by the forces of Xadia, vile Moonshadow elves,” the male started earning gasps from the crowd and a weak glare from the ravenette from under her cloak, “To me he was more than a king. In his final hours he called me his brother.”

“Wait,” Opeli said with a glare, “Where are the princes? They need to be here.”

“The princes are dead.”

This statement caused pure rage to fill the ravenette.

“We must move forward with strength!”

With every word Viren spoke more of Rhamina’s aura leaked from her body not hiding her emotions at all, unlike her face which remained devoid of expression, not that anyone could see it.

The aura could be felt in the dungeons, in Viren’s study, and in the forests by five females. Four of which knew exactly where it came from.

“Light the pyre,” Viren ordered turning to the other members of the High Council.

“No,” Opeli replied, extinguishing her torch.

The rest followed suite and one by one the flames went out.

“Claudia,” the mage sighed as he turned to his daughter who chanted her spell, eyes glowing purple, as flames lit the large torches before lighting the body of King Harrow.

“When a ruler of Katolis dies, we mourn for seven days,” began Viren as he turned back to the crowd, “but today we are at war. Today, we must mourn sevenfold for tonight there will be a coronation.”

As soon as the funeral was over Rhamina retreated back to her room with the cloak still over her as she sat on her bed with her knees hugged to her chest just thinking.

Just thinking, until she thought, ‘My sisters, the Princes, they need to know.’

Without putting her shoes back on, the cloaked female made her way outside of the castle to a small pond where she kneeled in front of the water and removed the hood from her face.

She closed her eyes and hovered her hands above the water while letting her energy flow from her hands into the water, praying her sisters were near water.

“Srevir taht egdirb su rehtegot, egdirb em dna ym sretsis,” she chanted as a glow came from the water before dying down.

When the light had disappeared the ravenette looked down to not see her reflection but the faces of Sam, Kerstin, Tijarah, and Chloe.

“Mina, what happened?” Kerstin asked, “Where are you?”

“Why are you wearing all black, Mina, it looks like you were at a funer- oh,” Chloe said watching the saddened expression on the ravenette’s face.

“Dad, is dead,” she whispered, “the funeral was held this morning by Lord Viren but where are the boys tell me they’re with you!”

“Callum and Ezran are fine they’re just asleep,” Sam said as the seventeen-year-old sighed in relief, “Why?”

“Lord Viren, lied then. He said the boys were dead as well,” Rhamina explained, “Anyways just continue to keep them safe.”

“When are you going to catch up with us?” Kerstin asked, “We’re already on our way to Xadia.”

“At this point I don’t know if I’ll be going with you guys,” she sighed brushing her hair behind her ear.

“What do you mean, Mina? I know you actually respect, Dad’s orders and-” “His orders were to stay with the boys and keep them safe,” Rhamina explained cutting off Sam, “And I’m following the second half. Lord Viren is planning something that will make this war worse and I plan on somehow messing it up. Plus if I’m here I can keep you all updated on what’s happening.”

“Mina, the Callum told us what happened with you guys and Claudia,” Sam said, “She’s going to get suspicious.”

“I can protect you all better from here, trust me,” the ravenette tried.

“...You’re planning on saving someone aren’t you?” Kerstin deduced remembering how her sister works, “Fine but you better be alive when we get back.”

“Don’t worry I will be,” Rhamina chuckled before looking at the sun, “I better head back before they start to wonder where I am. I’ll be sure to check in with you guys everyday.”

“Mina, wait what do we tell them?”

“Who?”

“The princes.”

“Oh,” Rhamina said looking down at her hands, “I’ll leave that up to you but for now I have to go. I love you guys.”

“I love you too, Mina.” “I love you, Mina-chan.” “I hoot you!” “Love you, Mina.”

Somehow getting back into her room without being noticed, Rhamina just sat on her bed for a few minutes before getting out a pen and a journal before writing some things down.

About twenty minutes passed before she could hear a conversation from outside her room.

“What? I don’t want to get near that monster!”

“None of us do but someone has to give the elf its food. Orders from Lord Viren.”

Rhamina interupted the conversation by opening her door startling the two bickering maids.

“Miss Rhamina-” “I’ll do it.” “Huh?” “I’ll take the food down to the elf,” the ravenette explained the hood still covering her face.

“Are you sure, I mean he is the one who killed King Harrow,” the older woman said, “will you be alright?”

“I’ll be fine, I need closure and what’s a better way than facing his killer,” the teen said looking down at her hands, “Plus it’s not like we’ll talk much, I’m just delivering food.”

Without another word the female still donned in all black made her way to the kitchen to pick up the meal before making her way to the dungeons.

“Can you give us some privacy?” Rhamina asked the guards standing by the cell that held the king’s killer.

They gave her strange looks before nodding Rhamina patting one on the shoulder as he unlocked the cell door before walking down the hall.

Opening the cell door, the female saw the terrible condition of the elf.

‘Poor thing,’ she thought entering and closing the door behind her, setting the tray of food down momentarily so she could light the torch, ‘He was already beat up from the fight, did they have to make it worse?’

With light in the small room she looked back at the male to see his eyes still closed as he ignored her.

“I’m sorry all this happened to you,” the ravenette spoke quietly as she approached the male.

The male snapped his head up at the new voice and glared, stopping the girl in her tracks.

“Tell your master, I will say nothing,” he hissed glaring at her with turquoise orbs.

“I’m not here to interrogate you,” Rhamina spoke once again, “I’m just here to give you your food.”

She then kneeled in front of the elf as she took out a ring of keys from a pocket hidden in the skirt of her dress before unlocking the chains that held the male’s wrists up.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a glare as the female stood back up and moved towards the tray she left by the door.

“I’m sure it would be difficult to eat like that,” she said placing the tray in front of him before removing her hood, “and no I was not supposed to do that, so I suggest you eat quickly before the guards come back.”

“You!” he gasped as the girl sat against the wall with her face revealed, “You’re the girl from last night.”

“Yes?”

“Who are you?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“I’m Rhamina Miyu, a maid of this castle,” she said not looking at him, “employed by King Harrow.”

“You know that’s not what I asked,” the male hissed still not moving towards the female.

“Then be more specific please and please just eat,” the ravenette said glancing at him as she brought her knees to her chest, “It’s bad enough with your injuries, I don’t want you malnourished as well.”

“That was the language of the ancients,” he explained, “How does a human like you even know of it?”

The ravenette sighed before turning her head to the male, “Eat first and I will answer your questions, otherwise I will stay silent.”

Slowly, the male reached towards the food on the tray and brought it to his mouth, his eyes not leaving the form of the female who had closed her eyes and leaned back on the wall.

“Mezame sa sou uta o, hito wa kokoro de kurikaesu,” the female began to sing softly as her pendant began to glow a soft purple, “Hikari kie ta sora ni, ai tomosu yo ni.”

“Inori sasage te mo, hito wa ayamachi kurikaseu,” she continued as the glow began to radiate and eventually reach the male who felt a comforting aura surround him, “Da kara yurushiaeru, nan do mo umare te yume o mi te.”

“Owari naki tabi no naka de, dare mo mina sagashi teru,” Slowly the wounds on the male’s body began to heal as the female continued her song and the glow of the pendant became more prominent, “kono inochi no imi o.”

The glow died down the elf was free from all his wounds except for his missing horn and only looked up at the female in shock.

“Why did you-” “I’m not answering until you finish your food.”

The male narrowed his eyes once again but did as told and after he finished asked, “Who are you?”

“I already answered that question-!”

Rhamina was cut off as she was tackled to the floor by the male with her wrists pinned to either side of her head.

“Stop playing dumb!” he hissed hovering just above the female who’s heart was starting to beat faster.

‘Shit!’ she thought, ‘Hot guy in my face! No, kill me now please!’

“And that necklace where the hell did you get it?” continued the male, “The one who gave it to me was a black fox.”

“Mhm, yeah very interesting,” the female yelped as her face began to heat up, “can you get off of me please?”

He looked down as his eyes met brown irises speckled with flecks of gold that sparkled as they caught the light of the single torch in the room and realization hit him.

“You’re that fox aren’t you?” he asked calming down and loosening his grip but at this point the female didn’t move.

She was too flustered for the closeness and the fact she had been caught.

Her head flicked up when she heard the distant sound of armor and she said, “They’re coming, please get off and get back. I’m sorry but I don’t know what I can do for you right now.”

The male agreed while keeping his now interested eyes on the female as she locked the chains around his wrists with a pained expression.

“Please forgive me,” she whispered into his ear as she placed the keys back into her pocket, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Runaan,” he said earning a confused look from the female, “You asked for my name that day.”

As the female collected the tray the cell door was slammed open by Viren.

“Rhamina,” he greeted, “What are you doing here?”

“I just finished giving him his meal.”

“I’m surprised you volunteered to come down here,” the male said with a raised brow before looking to the glare of the elf.

“If I was going to get over it I needed to confront it,” the ravenette answered not turning to face the Lord.

“I see, you are free to go.”

Rhamina sent one more worried gaze towards the elf as she exited the cell and ascended the stairs.

Meanwhile, the four other human girls along with the princes and the female elf named Rayla were on their way to the Banther Lodge to get a cube Callum thought would be useful.

“Don’t worry it’s spring there won’t be any humans there,” the prince confidently stated, “It’s a winter lodge and it’s spring right now.”

“Callum, you’re going to jinx us,” Tijarah stated from her spot with the other four girls.

When the group arrived they looked around and Callum smirked.

“I told you,” he chirped as the others only sighed.

“Where is the cube so I can get it?” Rayla asked causing the boy to draw the room on a page from his art book before handing it to her.

“It’s in the game room.”

“Alright, I’ll be back in a bit,” the elf said pulling her hood over her head before moving towards the lodge.

After about ten minutes Chloe flicked her head to the treeline and Sam asked, “Are your Mina senses tingling?”

“No, but I sense danger for us,” Chloe said as a familiar figure came out from the trees followed by her troops.

“Oh, shit it’s Mom,” Kerstin said recognizing the armored female as she approached closer.

“What?” Callum asked turning to the treeline.

“Auntie Amaya!” both princes exclaimed once they saw the general of Katolis.

“I’m glad you all are safe,” Commander Gren translated as Amaya began signing things, “And you girls, isn’t Rhamina supposed to be with you?”

“Um, Mina got sick and wasn’t well enough to travel with us but she contacted us this morning and said she’ll be coming once she’s well enough,” Kerstin said thinking of a cover in literally two seconds.

“Has she been taking her vitamins?”

“Yeah, she just got caught in the rain,” Sam added as she leaned onto Kerstin, “You know how she is.”

“Poor girl and that immune system of hers, well we better get inside,” Gren translated as the female walked towards the door.

“Um, that door is locked,” Callum said, “So you can wait here for a few minutes, however long it takes to find a key-”

Before the male could finish his rambling the male Kicked down both doors with cheers from the four girls about her being a badass.

“I don’t believe in locks.”

After looking around Gren translated, “Someone’s here.”

At this point the group was pretty much panicking as Callum started acting really suspicious until Ezran stepped forward and said, “I skipped breakfast?”

The general gave a disappointed look as Gren translated, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

As the mother like figure walked to the kitchen three of the four girls glared at him as Tijarah whispered, “Next time let one of us do the talking.”

The next few hours went as bad as one could possibly think.

Rayla was discovered and captured; in order to escape Callum had unknowingly offended Rayla.

As the three were going down the river on a boat the four girls found another boat and followed them.

“What are you doing?!” Gren translated.

“It’s our job to stay with and protect the princes!” Sam yelled up.

“It was Dad’s last task for us and we’re going to keep with it!” Kerstin added as they followed down the river for them.

“You found it?” Callum asked as the elf tossed him a cube with runes for the six primal source of magic.

“It’s a toy,” Rayla sighed, “Probably from a children’s game. I hope it was worth it, risking everyone’s lives.”

“Guys, if Mom is going back to the castle won’t Mina be in a complicated situation?” Kerstin asked suddenly remembering their sister back home.

“Don’t worry about her,” Tijarah said as she laid at the bottom of their boat, “She can play it off being the devil she is.”

“And you’re one to talk,” Sam scoffed in reply flicking water at the female who screeched in response.

“At least I’m not thirsting for a creeps dick!”

“Lord Viren can call on me anytime,” Sam replied starting to act really inappropriate.

“Sam cut that out, Ezran is literally in the other boat!” Rhamina’s voice said as all the girls went to the edge of the boat to see the face of their sister in the water.

“Mina, what’s up?” Kerstin asked.

“Nothing, I just had a feeling Sam was being a reverse pedo, again,” Rhamina said, “I have to go though, so bye.”

Back in the castle Rhamina sighed as she looked back to the basin of water then back to her reflection in the mirror.

She was wearing one of her better looking dresses due to Viren’s unjust coordination.

“I really hope he burns,” she muttered as she put her hair into a low bun with two hair sticks, “But I have to keep up an act for now until I can get Runaan out and myself out safely.”

Rhamina stood in the crowd by the gates looking up at the balcony as the male stepped forward.

‘Oh how I wish to burn you to the ground,’ she thought as she felt a snarl build in her throat.

“People of Katolis, King Harrow’s death has wounded us deeply, but the loss of his sons is a greater injustice,” he spoke once again bringing rage to the female who fought to keep her aura restrained, “By taking the heirs to the throne, our enemies sought to leave us without a leader.”

“It would disgrace Harrow's memory to allow the kingdom he loved to be lost in darkness,” he continued as the female caught feeling of two familiar people, “Though it is a heavy burden, I will humbly take up the battle in Harrow's name. I will become Lord Protector of the realm.”

Rhamina could feel herself smirk as the sound of horses echoed throughout the filled courtyard and Gren exclaimed, “Stop! Stop the coronation! The princes are alive!”

“Mom!” the ravenette exclaimed as she looked up to the female general and her helper.

In a few minutes she, Viren, Rhamina, and Gren were all gathered in the throne room as Amaya began to chew out Viren for being shady.

“Then why don’t you take the throne?” Viren suggested, “I will support you one hundred percent!”

“The throne stays empty until the princes are found,” Gren translated causing Viren to leave with a huff.

Rhamina watched as the door closed before launching herself at the woman who was the only one to not be knocked over so far.

“I missed you, Mom!” she chirped as she looked up into the woman’s dark brown eyes.

“I missed you too but you knew about the princes being alive right? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Mom, my final orders from King Harrow were to keep Callum and Ezran safe,” Rhamina explained, “I can’t do that without a head now can I?”

The woman sighed before wrapping her arms around the seventeen-year-old tightly.

“Thank God you’re smart.”

At around midnight the ravenette made her way back down to the kitchen to grab a few slices of meat and bread before going back to the dungeons to be faced with the guards again.

“Miss Rhamina- what are you-” the male was cut off by his vision going black as his body slumped to the ground.

“I’d say sorry but it’s not like you’d remember this happened anyway,” the ravenette spoke as her pendant stopped glowing.

Quickly finding the ring of keys, Rhamina hastily unlocked the cell door and was met with open turquoise irises.

“Why are you still awake?” she asked as she walked over and unshackled his wrists.

“I should be asking you that question,” he replied as she stretched while the ravenette looked him over.

“No new injuries that’s good, did he ask what happened to your wounds?” Rhamina asked as she sat in front of the male.

“No, that man just seemed adamant on asking me repeated questions,” Runaan replied while watching the girl pull out a small parcel from her pockets.

“Here, it’s better than what you had earlier,” she said unwrapping it to reveal fresh bread and meat.

“Are you actually a human?” the male asked picking up the food.

“Of course I am, why do you ask?” Rhamina questioned as she played with the ends of her long hair.

“That aura from this morning and just a few hours ago,” he started in between bites, “That was yours. Humans cannot generate such strong auras. Along with the fact that when I first met you, you were a fox.”

“Who says it was mine?”

His raised a brow and the ravenette sighed, “Yeah, it was mine.”

“As for the fox thing though, magic does a lot,” the female shrugged who earned a small glare from the male.

“Must you keep lying?”

“If it avoids confrontation then yes,” Rhamina chuckled, “I suck at confrontation. Please forgive me.”

“I will if you answer me this,” Runaan said as he set down a piece of bread he was working on, “Why did you save me then and why do you continue to do so now?”

“There was no reason to, especially now,” he continued, “I am your enemy and I killed your king.”

“Okay, first off you aren’t my enemy,” Rhamina said, “You’re just another living being who is doing as their told. You haven’t done anything to me and I don’t think you will.”

“Second, I saved you because, well…” the ravenette sighed, “I don’t know. Back then I was just focused on surviving because I lived on the streets, well that’s what I kept trying to tell myself but I always found myself doing shit like that even if it could cost my life. It didn’t matter because back then I thought I was worth nothing so I had nothing to lose. Even now that the stakes are higher and I know I should just stay in my own business… I just don’t want this war anymore and the violence between the races. Personally though I think I got attached to you.”

She looked up at him as she continued, “It’s one of my many flaws, I get attached way too easily… I’m just… fuck me… I’m just fucking weak.”

“Even if I know I can’t do anything I still try and I’m disappointed by the results even if I knew it would happen,” she muttered, “Fuck, just kill me.”

“That’s not a flaw,” the male said watching the female start to spiral, “It’s a good trait to care for others the way you do. It’s a trait I wish the rest of your race had. Had it been that way then maybe this could have been different.”

“I like you,” she chuckled looking up to the male with a large smile, “I don’t care if you don’t see me the same way but you’re my friend now and there’s no escape.”

“I don’t think I would mind that,” he smiled back.

“Are you sure?” she asked with a raised brow, “I’m a handful and I’m really annoying.”

“I’m sure I’ve had worse,” the male chuckled as his mind went to a certain female elf in his team if assassins.

“... Bet,” the ravenette smirked, “I am able to drive off the forces of hell with how annoying I am.”

“So, who is this ‘worse’ you speak of?” Rhamina asked after a few moments of silence.

“Rayla, she’s the youngest elf on my team,” Runaan began with a small smile, “She’s like a daughter to me.”

“She was the elf that was with the boys, right?” the teen asked somehow remembering the female’s name amongst the chaos of the previous night.

“Yes, she’s very skilled. Perhaps more than any of us; however she hesitates,” explained Runaan as the ravenette nodded.

“I’m guessing that she’s still pretty innocent then,” she concluded, “Must be nice to actually value life like that. I’m jealous.”

“What do you mean?”

“As of now I could either kill with no meaning or have emotions override and I couldn’t bare the thought of taking a life,” the teen explained looking down at her hands, “I’m the ultimate hypocrite, I want this war and violence to end but at the same time if I was put under certain circumstances I would enjoy taking part in it.”

“Have you ever taken a life, Rhamina?”

The ravenette shook her head before speaking, “No, but I’ve come close and I don’t know how I feel about it.”

“Then you still have that innocence in you as well,” the male spoke earning a chuckle from the teen.

“I wish,” she replied looking longingly into nothing, “I’m only innocent in one aspect. My mind is broken and it will never be repaired. It broke quite a long time ago.”

“What is Xadia like?” she immediately asked again wanting the attention diverted from herself, “I’ve heard stories from the people here but I’m sure they are one hundred percent wrong.”

Still curious as to what the female meant, Runaan begrudgingly went on to describe the lands of Xadia that humans could no longer visit peacefully.

He described the beautiful forests, mountains, and lakes.

He described how magic was almost everywhere one could look and how his home village was.

“That must be so nice,” she sighed as she laid on the floor while looking up at the male, “I mean here isn’t that bad, there are some good people, some bad people that’s how it is. There’s a balance and people will try to disrupt it but it will always equal out.”

“Can I suggest something weird?” Rhamina asked as she sat up and turned to face the male.

“Go ahead.”

“The concept of Good and Evil doesn’t exist.”

“What?”

“I mean if you think about it those who are classified as villains do what they do for a cause they think is just in their moral system and actually see the hero as their villain,” she explained, “And vice versa. The concept of Good and Evil actually depends on all perspective. So if someone were to see both sides as they were there would be no Good and Evil only two people making changes based on their ideals.”

“However, there is no true way to completely understand this concept,” Rhamina sighed, “Because prejudice will always get in the way, even if one thinks they are completely unbiased they will always have an opinion that will sway them one way or another.”

As they continued to converse the sun began to rise and the ravenette sadly had to lock him back up before giving him a quick hug.

“I’ll see you in a few hours then.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

~~~Fin. Chapter 2~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warnings: None

Songs used: “Song of Healing” - Lost Song

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/153966880982052569/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 7

                                                    ~~~VII~~~

As the ravenette moved back to sit Runaan sat beside her trying his best to ignore the disturbing aura emitting directly from the tree.

“You don’t have to be here if it makes you uncomfortable,” Rhamina said looking up at the dead wood, “I understand. I used to be unnerved by it too.”

“Rhamina,” he started after swallowing, “I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. I had no right to cross a line in which I knew nothing of.”

“I forgive you, but you didn’t need to apologize,” she said leaning her head on his shoulder, “You didn’t know my circumstances and honestly don’t know much about me. You didn’t know so you aren’t at fault.”

It was silent for a few moments until the ravenette opened her mouth once again.

“This place was a major place for me, you know?” she started as she brought her hand to touch the tree once again, “Whenever my parents would bag on me for being a disappointment compared to my sister I would end up here. It always had such a scary atmosphere but it made sure no one would bother me.”

“This is actually where I met Kerstin and Sam for the first time,” she chuckled with a small smile, “Kerstin almost burned me and this tree while she was drunk in her dragon form. Sam was riding on her back.”

Runaan stayed silent and only watched as the ravenette continued to reminisce.

“This place became our hideout and we would meet up often so I could escape the judgement of my parents. We would get into so much mischief in order to get my mind off things. Who knew it would end up being a gate to the truth?”

“Hm?”

“In some of the books I used to read in the castle, there was another world ruled by the fates that housed the truth to this world,” she explained, “When I was sixteen I found out the gate was in this tree and as seeing it as a chance to actually make my parents proud, I opened it and tried to find the truth.”

“I knew so many people before me had died trying to find it and my chances of obtaining it were so slim but I didn’t care. When I first entered I was met with the two fates guarding the truth. They said, ‘You may do your best to find the truth but know if you aren’t worthy you shall not return. But also know, should you find the truth you shall pay a price.’ I didn’t care honestly. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I was too stubborn to back out.”

She then let out a sad chuckle as she stretched her back before continuing, “The whole search was fucking twisted. I understood why no one before me came out. I was met with such horrifying images that would break a sane person’s mind but I wasn’t that. I was already broken when I went in so there was nothing that could really affect me in there.”

“Then I reached the truth,” she said petting the bat that still clung to her chest, “I can’t explain it to you. No one else would be able to understand, because I was the only one to find it. Then the fates appeared to me once again with sickeningly sweet smiles and said, ‘Congratulations Kitsami, Queen of Foxes, your greed has led you to the truth.’ They then guided me to a glowing door. When I stepped out the first thing I saw was a human body lying at the base of the tree. My body. Dead. I rushed to the nearest water source and saw that I hadn’t changed much physically save for the fox characteristics I adapted but I got what I wanted. I got power and knowledge.”

The wind howled slightly and Rhamina unclasped her cloak before draping part over the male as she got closer.

“I immediately learned how to alter my form to look as my human form and I tried to show the current royal mage what we could do but he twisted it. He turned what I gave up everything for into the abomination called ‘Dark Magic’. He presented it to my parents in my name and they were ecstatic. Finally something to prove to the elves and dragons that we humans were powerful. But I, along with the rest of the magical creatures were horrified. Them at all the death that occured in order for that ‘magic’ to work and I at my own stupidity for thinking they would be able to understand the balance and beauty of what I had discovered. They wanted to name me the next queen immediately after the banishment of humans was put into place. Once they realized their mistake of using ‘Dark magic’ as a threat. They wanted to use me as a scapegoat and place all the blame onto me. They wanted me to clean up a mess they ordered, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do shit. On my coronation day I revealed my full beast and ran away with who you know as Kerstin and Sam as the Chaos Trio.”

The ravenette then moved to play with a lock of the male’s white hair once she finished.

“It wasn’t all your fault, Rhamina,” the male started as while the female kept her eyes on the silk in her hands, “You didn’t know things would escalate.”

“I was given so many warnings, Runaan, I could have stopped.”

“Did you believe that what you were doing was the right thing?”

“Yes, at the time, but if-” “You didn’t know. You weren’t being ignorant, you genuinely didn’t know what would happen,” he said cutting her off, “Things were out of your hands.”

“I could’ve kept quiet,” she whispered, “At least then, dark magic wouldn’t have been created.”

“I think I can see what troubles you now,” Runaan stated looking down at her.

Interested, Rhamina looked up to meet his eyes and nodded for him to continue.

“You want the forgiveness of the world you believe you wronged but what you need is the forgiveness of yourself.”

“That’s something I’m never going to get,” she spat with a bitter smile, “But I’m so close to at least ending this war and that’s something.”

The pair stayed like this for the next hour until they switched positions to where they were lying down with Rhamina wrapped around Runaan’s left arm.

“You can go back, you know?” she yawned, “I’m just going to stay here for the night.”

“You and I both know it’s dangerous for you to be here alone,” he said before moving to stroke her raven locks, “Just try your best to get some sleep.”

“Mhm,” she hummed, “Goodnight, Runaan.”

“Goodnight, Rhamina.”

The sound of pages turning and muffled chirps gently caused the ravenette to open her eyes only to see she was no longer before the Hanging Tree.

She wore a black nightgown and was in a bed with silk sheets.

When she looked around she saw she was back in her room in the mirror dimension and the sound of paper came from Aaravos who sat by her bed reading a book.

“Aaravos?” she asked looking to see the galaxy spotted elf.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” he greeted with a small smirk at the female’s confusion.

“Wait- wha- how do you know that?” the female groggily asked as she took the sheets off of herself.

“I’ve been watching you since you left,” he answered and before she could ask how, “Haven’t you wondered why that bind hasn’t tightened any?”

“What did you do?” she asked once again looking at the silver ribbon bound around her left bicep.

“I simply altered its conditions when you transferred it.”

“But how?” she questioned brushing hair out of her face, “I didn’t even notice it.”

“I don’t know how you didn’t but I’m sure you were more focused on that man you were saving,” he spoke, eyes narrowing once Runaan was brought up.

“Could you honestly blame me though?” the ravenette replied as she brought her legs over to sit at the edge of the bed, “I was being chased by the royal guards and panicking.”

“So, how have your adventures been so far?”

“They’ve been quite a bit of trouble if I’m being honest,” Rhamina sighed with a smile, “I now have to babysit six children instead of four.”

“Oh, are they that troublesome?” the elf smirked.

“When combined, tired, and complaining, yes,” she chuckled, “They get bored so easily when we’re walking.”

“So, I’ve seen.”

“That owl-” “Chloe.” “Yes, her… Does she have any physical disabilities?”

“No, she’s completely healthy,” Rhamina replied.

“Then why does she-” “Suck at flying? I have no clue,” she chuckled already knowing what he would ask as she had the same question for a few weeks when they first met.

The conversation lasted for a while until the ravenette let out another yawn.

“Well, it looks like our time together is up for now,” Aaravos sighed before pushing the teen to lie down, “Until we meet again.”

“Bye, Aaravos,” she muttered as her eyes fluttered shut.

“Yes, the ship isn’t dead!” Kerstin whisper shouted to Sam as the rest of the group came upon the two sleeping forms.

“How the hell did they manage to sleep here?” Rayla asked looking warily at the dead trees and at the aura of demise.

“It wasn’t like this a thousand years ago,” Sam explained before pointing up to the tree in the center of the clearing, “This was a huge plum tree but it’s dead now.”

The girls snapped their heads to where Rhamina and Runaan were sleeping as Tijarah let out a yelp of pain.

“Can you not fuck with me when I’m trying to sleep?” the ravenette asked as she sat up to zip up the boot that Tijarah messed with causing the cloak to fall down.

Runaan groaned before sitting up and moving his hair out of his face.

“Morning, Runaan,” Rayla giggled as the male slowly realized everyone was surrounding them, “Did you have a fun night?”

“Nothing happened, Rayla,” the male sighed as Rhamina brushed out her hair before placing the bat back into the cloak she clasped back around her neck.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure even if you tried to start something Mina wouldn’t understand,” Kerstin added as the ravenette stood up.

“Fuck off!” Rhamina exclaimed as Chloe-owl flew up to her spot on the female’s shoulder.

“Ah, sweet, innocent, floof, Mina,” Sam sighed clinging to the girl’s left arm as Kerstin mirrored on the right.

“Both of you suck my dick!”

Rhamina then yelped and tried to squirm away as the females began to poke at her sides.

“Get away from me!”

Runaan shook his head at the antics of the females before standing and stretching to get the sleep out of his system.

The group then stayed in that spot for about an hour more before they started their walk once more.

“Viren, I must ask why you have summoned us here,” the King of Neolandia asked, “Where is King Ezran?”

“He is taking care of duties in the countryside at the moment; however, he requested that this discovery be shared immediately,” the Royal Mage explained as he led the four other rulers

“What is this discovery exactly, Lord Viren?” Queen Fareeda of Evenere asked with a small glare, “We already have troubles in our own kingdoms with the appearances of all those beasts.”

“Well, Queen Anya, we have discovered something that could potentially win the war for us humans,” Viren explained with a smirk as he opened a pair of large stone doors with magic.

The four rulers gasped at the sight of old relics from the ancient kingdom, Ibadora.

However, their attention was drawn to what lied in the center of the room.

It was a large crystalline structure of clear ice with a human suspended inside.

It was a female with tanned skin and short black hair with her eyes closed.

She wore silver armor trimmed with gold decorations and a white cape but it was the royal crest of Ibadora over her heart.

“I-is that-” “It is Marianna the Monster Carver,” Viren smirked, “The legendary princess who almost wiped out the elves and dragons completely.”

“But that was only a legend!” King Florian exclaimed.

“Obviously not,” Viren explained gesturing towards the ice, “Otherwise she would not be here. Already the Song of Beasts found here has exposed the impostors in our kingdoms, just imagine what we could do once this warrior was free.”

“You were the one that played the song that forced that transformation?” the young Queen Anya of Duren asked with a small frown.

“Yes-” “How cruel,” she continued cutting off the male’s proud smile, “All they tried to do was live in peace among us and now look where they are.”

“Queen Anya, you must understand that they meant to infiltrate our kingdoms and tear us apart from the inside out,” Viren stated with no expression on his face.

“As the one who has met with every single shifter in her kingdom before they were brought to the dungeons I beg to differ,” she replied with narrowed eyes, “Each one of them had families and were brought before me in tears for what would happen to them. Lord Viren, they have proven their loyalty. If they wished to destroy my kingdom then they would have done so long ago.”

“I will not approve or go along with this plan at all,” she spat, “Now excuse me, I have to see what I can do to help my people. All, of them.”

As the queen turned her back the magician’s face turned red in anger as he turned to the others.

“Lord Viren, I must agree with Anya on part that all of the shifters did nothing to harm us; however, this plan of yours seems interesting,” King Ahling stated as he turned his back, “Do keep me updated.”

With that the last two rulers turned and left as well leaving Viren seething in his spot.

A week later the group of eight were about a day from the dwelling place of the Queen of Dragons.

They were just walking until the ravenette lost her balance and fell, luckily she avoided squishing the bat which clung to her cloak and the owl had clung to her shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Runaan asked as he helped the girl up.

“Yeah, I’m fine just got a bit dizzy,” she answered while blinking rapidly, “I’m fine though.”

Kerstin shot a look at Sam before going up to the ravenette and grasping her upper arms before getting in her face.

“We’re stopping here for now,” the brunette stated.

“Kerstin, we have to keep going-” “No, we’re stopping right now,” Kerstin snapped seriously as the ravenette let out a huff before going to sit under a tree.

Before the others, including Chloe, could sit down Sam and Kerstin brought them out of earshot from Rhamina.

“What’s going on?” Tijarah asked the suspicious acting females.

“Her body’s dying,” Sam stated softly.

“What?” Callum asked, “What do you mean?”

“Whenever she turns seventeen we can’t predict when exactly her body will die because it can be anywhere from her birthday up until the day before she turns eighteen,” Kerstin explained, “But we have learned the signs of when she does start to die. She’ll be more sloppy in her movements, her eyes start to get foggy, and she’ll basically start to get weaker as time goes on.”

“And she just showed two of those just now,” Sam said peaking at the female who was just petting Zym.

“How long does she have left then?” Rayla asked.

“Two weeks?” Kerstin asked as Sam shrugged, “It honestly depends but for now we shouldn’t push her.”

When the group came back they did their best to pretend that nothing had happened but Rhamina could tell there was a shift in atmosphere.

After an hour of rest the group began their journey again but were now walking at a more casual pace.

“Guys, what the fuck?” Rhamina snapped, “We’re literally almost there. Come on.”

“Mina, for a thousand year old you have too much energy,” Tijarah said.

“Says you,” retorted the ravenette as she ushered everyone to up the pace.

The next day they came upon the entrance to the Dragon Queen’s lair with little to no problem.

“Strange,” Runaan said as they walked passed dragons who simply looked at them, “There should be more guards here.”

“You think?” Rhamina asked as she stayed in the center of the group, holding Zym, with Callum next to her.

“Who goes there?” a disembodied female voice asked as they approached the large white dragon in the lair.

“Your Highness, we come bearing amazing news,” Runaan stated as he kneeled causing the others to do the same.

“And what news would this be, Runaan?”

“Your son, the Dragon Prince is alive and now home.”

Runaan then moved out of the way and Rhamina set the dragon on the ground in the vision of his mother who let out an audible gasp.

The ravenette ushered the child forward as both he and the mother walked to meet each other.

The Queen lowered her head to examine the dragon before gasping, “It is.”

“And I see you have brought back another one of my kin as well,” she continued looking at the brunette with dragon wings and a tail, “For that I thank you.”

“However,” her eyes narrowed at the forms of Callum and Rhamina, “You have also brought these vermin into my lands, what was the purpose for that.”

“Your Highness, with all due respect, Rhamina and I came from Katolis to bring back the Dragon Prince in hopes we could end this war,” Callum stated as he stood up.

“And who exactly would you be to do so?” she asked.

“I am Prince Callum of Katolis,” he answered earning a laugh from the dragon.

“End this war you say? Your people are the ones who started this and we are trying to keep ourselves safe,” she growled causing the group to stand and get into defensive positions, “Any human is an enemy but as recognition for your bravery I will do you the honor of ending your life quickly.”

Before anyone else could say anything Rhamina stepped forward and asked, “You’re going to kill someone who had nothing to do with the cause of this war and has even gone out of his way to make amends?”

“Watch your mouth, Human!” the dragon glowered, “He said himself that he was a prince of the humans. The son of the one who killed my husband and kidnaped my son in the first place.”

“So you just want to kill him for something he didn’t do?” Rhamina asked with a glare, ignoring the worry from behind her.

“It doesn’t matter, all humans are the same.”

“If you want to place the blame on anyone then place it one me,” the ravenette stated, “But you cannot harm him who has done nothing but exist and even try to make peace.”

“What nonsense are you speaking, Human?” the Dragon Queen asked as Zym looked between the two worriedly.

“I have a name you know,” the ravenette snapped, “I know you’ve heard it. I am Kitsami Verum Princeps Ibadora!”

“You. You’re the one who created dark magic!” “That’s not what-” “Silence!”

“Okay,” Rhamina muttered with the ignorance of the queen before her.

“Why have you returned here?!”

“As I was saying, if you are to blame anyone for what happened then take it out on me but leave Callum out of this,” she stated as the group behind her stood to watch in shock at what was happening, “Remember I was the one who tempted Sora and Rozen as well.”

“Mina, what the fuck are you saying?!”

With a bitter smile the queen let out a laugh before saying, “Fine then; however, your punishment will be far worse than death.”

With the roar of the dragon queen, Rhamina was separated from her group and everyone was taken to what seemed to be an arena.

The ravenette stood in the center while the group was in the stands with hundreds of other dragons.

“You who has casted this dark veil upon the world, today you will pay for your crimes!” the queen roared as the other dragons roared in agreement.

“What the fuck is happening?” Tijarah asked as she looked around her.

“This wasn’t how this was supposed to go,” Callum whispered in horror as the ground began to shake.

“Now, Demon, face the souls who have been lost thanks to your greed!”

Across from the female the ground split open and a collection of bones rose before configuring themselves into a large dragon.

As it let out a roar Rayla turned to Runaan and said, “There has to be something we can do to stop this.”

“No,” Kerstin said, “Rhamina, can win this.”

However, as time went by the only thing that was happening in the arena was Rhamina getting thrown around by the bones.

With each drop of blood spilled on the ground the roars grew louder from the crowd as the Dragon Queen sat smirking from her spot, Zym whimpering at the sight.

With every hit the ravenette took she could remember the battlefields, the civilians, the fallen soldiers from Xadia, the fallen soldiers from the human kingdoms.

She could feel their hatred and grief with every time she was struck down after just getting up.

Crack!

The female coughed as she hit the ground, blood spilling from her lips as tears spilled from her eyes.

‘This really is my fault, isn’t it?’ she asked herself as her shaking form struggled to get to her knees before keeling over in the pain from her, everywhere, ‘I can only say one thing to them at this point.’

As she stood again the bone dragon prepared to attack once more.

The stands went silent as the female whipped her head back and opened her mouth.

“My children I am humble, for tonight I understand, Your royal blood was never meant to decorate this sand. You've suffered great injustice, so have thousands before you. I offer an apology, and one long overdue,” she sang as the dragon skidded to a stop in front of her, “I am sorry, My Friends, I am sorry. Hear my song, I know I sing the truth. Although we were bred to fight. I reach for kindness in your heart tonight, and if you can forgive.”

“And if you can forgive, love can truly live,” the queen narrowed her eyes as the female continued with the bone dragon watching her, “And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live.”

The dragons watched on in curiosity as the female continued her apology to the dead.

“My Friends, I am frightened, but I'll use my final breath, to tell you that I'm sorry, let us end this dance of death. A thousand years of agony, that tore your heart with sand. Here and now with my amends, this senseless killing ends,” the ravenette limped forward as she sang filling each word with what she felt, “I am sorry, My Friends, I am sorry. Hear my song, I know I sing the truth. Although we were bred to fight I reach for kindness in your heart tonight, and if you can forgive.”

“And if you can forgive, love can truly live. And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live,” she continued, reaching out to the dragon as it bowed its head and reached for her, “And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive. Love, love will truly live.”

The bones began to glow under her touch before dissipating into a golden glow.

Left in the ravenette’s hand was a purple hyacinth.

A cry left her mouth as she fell to her knees.

‘Why?’ she thought as her vision began to tunnel, ‘I don’t deserve this.’

‘I’ve been so cruel! So greedy!’

Runaan, Sam, Kerstin, Tijarah, Chloe, and Rayla were already making their way down into the arena as the female’s torso dropped to the ground.

‘I don’t deserve this!’

As the girls and Runaan reached her, Rhamina hacked up more blood and could begin to feel pain everywhere as the adrenaline wore off.

‘How could anyone forgive me?’

“Mina!” called Kerstin as her hands hovered over the female not knowing what to do without hurting her further, “Sam!”

“I don’t fucking know any healing spells!”

“Mina, Mina, hey, you need to stay awake okay?” Tijarah asked noticing the female’s eyes fluttering closed.

“What do we do?!” Chloe asked in her humanoid form for once.

“Stand aside, Children,” a light blue dragon voiced in a soft voice.

“Hivni, what do you think you’re doing?” the Dragon Queen growled as she approached the edge of the stands.

“Regius, she’s proven that she feels guilt for what she has done and the ones who have been wronged the most have forgiven her,” the blue dragon voiced as she looked up at the queen, “I believe it’s time you do as well.”

At that statement Zym rushed forward and jumped from the edge and flapped his wings before gliding down to the group.

“Son!” she called, “Come back here!”

The larger blue dragon lifted her wings and they began to glow white as the cuts on the ravenette’s body began to disappear.

The other dragons watched from their spots, only observing what was happening.

Zym chirped before copying the female, his wings glowing white as well while the odd angles some of her bones were at straightened out.

Those in the stands began to contemplate their own roots of aggression before looking up to their queen who still had hate written all over her face.

Slowly color returned to her form and she was able to breathe properly, releasing the tight grip she had on the flowers in her hand.

“That’s it young one,” Hivni spoke gently, “You’re safe now. You’re alright.”

As the teen’s hands twitched the glow disappeared from the dragons’ wings and the group rushed forward to her.

Sam and Kerstin kneeled on either side of her and rested her head on their laps before Kerstin gently tapped her face to wake her up.

“Come on, Mina,” she whispered.

“How is she?” Runaan asked as he kneeled down as well.

Slowly the female’s eyes fluttered open; however, they were now extremely dull and foggy.

Everyone’s faces contorted into that of worry before Sam asked, “Mina, can you move okay?”

She nodded bringing her arm up to shield her eyes from the sun.

“Can you talk?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, you fuckers,” she rasped.

With the worry of the ravenette’s extremely weakened state Kerstin looked up in horror.

“This is happening too fast. It’s never happened so close to each other.”

Before anyone could ask anything else an ear piercing shriek echoed throughout the arena and they looked up to see five shadows riding on shadowy horses.

“It’s dark magic!” Callum exclaimed from the stands, recognizing them as the same types of magic that Claudia had used the night of the assassination.

“How did it reach this far?” the Queen asked with a growl before they scattered into the stands and began to attack.

Some dragons began to fly away while others tried to fight off the smoke.

As one approached Callum he drew a familiar rune and called, “Aspiro!”

However, the wind did not blow the smoke away as he previously had before.

Before the smoke could strike him he moved only to accidentally fall over the edge and into the arena.

Before he hit the ground Sam rushed over to jump and catch him.

As the group discussed what the hell was happening the ravenette shakily found her feet and opened her mouth to let haunting notes fill the air as the shadows cast their eyes on her.

“Kerstin, fly us to the tree,” Rhamina commanded as the shadows momentarily froze.

“What?” the brunette asked.

“There’s no time, just do it!” she barked as the shadows began to descend towards them.

Following the ravenette’s order Kerstin shifted completely into her large dragon form and let everyone board onto her as the shadows pursued them.

“Mina why are we going back to the tree?” Sam asked.

“Why didn’t Aspiro work?” Callum asked looking back at them.

“They’re different,” Rayla commented, “They’re stronger than before.”

“Those are beings made of pure hatred,” Rhamina explained, “Spells laced with emotion are always strong and can almost never be broken.”

“So how are we going to get rid of them?” Callum asked.

“I’m going to get my full powers back.”

~~~Fin. Chapter 7~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Songs Used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttR5s-pwrcQ

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/361343570082666536/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio

                                                    ~~~0~~~

Originally there were six primal sources of magic in the world; the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Sky, and the Ocean.

The humans, elves, and dragons lived in harmony with each other; however, this changed when a human mage discovered a seventh source of magic, Dark Magic.

Dark Magic did not draw from any of the primal sources; instead, it draws upon the power within the magical creatures themselves. The ease of this so called “magic” caused humans to hunt and poach magical creatures for power.

Horrified by their practice, the elves and dragons divided the continent and drove all the humans to the west.

During this time of war and devastation a trio of individuals, one from each race, came together to bring chaos, only caring for themselves.

A Dragon of fiery rage known as Sora Byvrirth, a High Elf known as Rozen Nylraevni, and a human who gave up her humanity named Kitsami Verum Princeps Ibadora.

These three would show up periodically during times of war and bring havoc of both sides.

Shouts echoed throughout the empty town square as a group of about ten armored figures followed two hooded females who were running along rooftops.

“Og no daeha!” the first exclaimed to her companion as they reached the gates, some raven locks freeing themselves from the hood.

“Era uoy erus?” the other female replied earning a chuckled from the other.

“I t’nevah dah yna nuf lla tghin,” she scoffed, “Og!”

The brunette nodded as she reached up to a winged female who grabbed her before flying off towards the breach.

“Kitsami!” called a female wearing full gold armor which obscured her face, “Why are you doing this?! We need you the kingdom needs you! The people need their queen! I need my sister!”

“Marianna,” chuckled the ravenette as she put her hood down to reveal a tanned female with long raven locks which reached down to her knees and brown irises with golden flecks sparkling in the flames of the torches nearby, “We are no longer sisters, I am no longer the queen of this stupid race, and I am no longer a human. My only family are the two sisters of mine which have flown off before you.”

“Kit-” “Aspiro!” the knight was cut off by wind pushing her and the rest of the guards back.

In the gust of wind the knight’s helmet was blown off to reveal and almost identical face to the ravenette who had casted the spell.

The only difference being her black hair was cut short, similar to a male’s hair cut, and her irises were bright red but still holding the golden flecks scattered about them.

The last thing she saw was her twin disappearing in a puff of smoke leaving a black fox who turned tail and out the gates of the Kingdom of Ibadora.

~~~Fin. Prologue~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warnings: none

Songs used: none

Picture: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/436497388883245646

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[mama-m1na]

Journey of the Chaos Trio: Chapter 1

                                                    ~~~I~~~

A lone scout trudged through the mud as he went on his patrol everything was normal until he heard a twig snap.

“Halt!” he called aiming his crossbow in the direction the noise came from, “Who goes there?! In the name of King Harrow, reveal yourselves!”

With a flash of lightning the human male could see several shadows and knew he was outnumbered.

Being smart he ran but not before one decided to follow him.

He was easily disarmed once the figure had caught up.

“Please!” he pleaded looking up at the hooded figure who stood over him.

Before his life could be taken they locked eyes for a moment and in that moment his attacker hesitated allowing him to escape with his life and news to be brought back with him.

It was an early morning in the Kingdom of Katolis as a seventeen-year-old female rose from her bed in the maid’s chambers.

She brushed out her long raven hair which reached just past her lower back and washed her face to reveal clear tan skin as well as bright brown irises with flecks of gold scattered about.

With a yawn she took out a necklace from under her pillow and put it around her neck. It was a purple pendant with white moons on it and hung from a leather cord.

After braiding her hair she slipped into a white dress and a black surcoat with a corset design on the torso part.

“Morning, Mina! Hoot!” a younger female chirped, donned in apprentice knight clothing as she ran up to the maid who was starting her chores.

“Morning, Chloe,” the ravenette greeted back as she pat the girl’s head with her left hand, her right holding some books which she was delivering to Lord Viren.

“Mina, can you help me today?” the fourteen-year-old asked.

“I can’t I’m assisting Lord Viren and Lady Claudia today,” the female replied gesturing to the numerous books she held, “Plus you’re training with Sir Soren and Prince Callum today, aren’t you?”

“That’s why we need your help,” the brunette said as the fourteen-year-old prince was tossed in their direction.

“Hi, Rhamina, Chloe,” he greeted with a groan as the shorter female helped him to his feet.

“Sir Soren!” the ravenette called earning the attention of the blonde teen, “You’re supposed to be teaching him the skills of combat, not show off by throwing him around.”

“I’m doing my best here, Rhamina!” the blonde replied, “Little step prince here just doesn’t have any skill.”

Rhamina shook her head in disappointment at the treatment of the royal and walked towards the dejected boy.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness, you’ll get the hang of it,” the ravenette sighed as she gave the boy a pat on the shoulder before going off to complete her chore.

Upon entering the room where Lord Viren spent most of his time, Rhamina was immediately hit with the scent of sage and sandalwood.

“Lord Viren, the books you requested,” the ravenette said as she set them on a table across from where he stared at a floor length mirror.

“Ah, thank you, Rhamina,” he said not looking back at the female.

“Is there something wrong, Lord Viren?”

“This mirror was found in the Lair of the Dragon King,” he explained moving aside to reveal the glass, “Right next to his bed. This has to be of some importance.”

The female frowned at seeing the bright colored aura around it which other humans couldn’t see.

“You never know, Lord Viren,” the maid commented, “It could just be a piece of decor, dragons do have an attraction to shiny treasures.”

Before the male could speak a knock came at the door before a female knight with short brown hair appeared and said, “Lord Viren, King Harrow wishes to have a word with you.”

“Yes, thank you Lady Samantha,” the male said before turning to the ravenette, “Rhamina, wait here for Claudia.”

“Of course, Lord Viren,” the ravenette answered bowing her head slightly.

As the male walked out of the room the brunette looked towards her sister and fisted pumped while mouthing, ‘Fuck yeah!’

In response the ravenette shook her head while flipping off the knight earning a wink before she too left the room, leaving Rhamina alone in Lord Viren’s study in the reflection of the mirror.

Curiosity conquering her anxiety, Rhamina stepped forward and place both of her palms on the glass before closing her eyes.

She felt her own aura flooding it and moving past the glass searching for something, anything to give reason for it’s strange being.

She stopped when she felt something wrap around her waist and snapped her eyes open before backing away from the mirror.

“I fucking hate mirrors,” she muttered as she tried to shake off the feeling before covering the mirror back up.

About twenty minutes later both Prince Callum and Prince Ezran were called into a meeting with the king, their father accompanied by their personal maid, Tijarah.

“Ah, boys,” the King greeted, “You’ll be going on a trip to the Banther Lodge!”

“But it’s spring,” Callum retorted, “The Banther Lodge is the winter lodge.”

“Yeah,” added the younger Prince Ezran, “all the fun things there have to do with snow.”

“Well, I’m sure you can do the same things with… dirt,” the King chirped, “Try building a dirt man!”

The dark skinned maid only scoffed and tried to hide her laughter at the King’s slightly cringey behavior as the meeting continued.

“Why is he sending us to the Banther Lodge?” Ezran asked with his glow toad companion in his arms, “Something’s wrong.”

“Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong,” Callum smiled, “We’ll be fine.”

“But-” “If you’re that worried about it I’ll ask my sisters,” Tijarah spoke, “I’m sure one of them knows about it. Now get packing squirts.”

Afterwards, Lord Viren gathered his children into his study where the ravenette sat reading one of the tomes.

“Rhamina, come forth, this matter concerns you as well,” the mage stated causing the teen to put her book down and walk closer.

“It appears we have some visitors from Xadia,” he started with a frown, “Unwanted visitors.”

“What are they, minstrels or something?” Soren joked.

“Assassins,” clarified his sister, Claudia.

“I know,” the male shot back, “Who do you think I am? An idiot?”

“Do you want that question answered?” the ravenette scoffed high fiving Claudia.

“They’ve set up a secret camp somewhere near the base of the cliffs,” Viren continued ignoring their comments, “Soren, you will lead an attack.”

“Right,” Soren replied, “Their ‘secret camp’ how am I supposed to find them?”

“These assassins are Moonshadow Elves. They draw power from the moon.” he explained while picking up a small, white chest with the crest of the moon on it, “Inside this box is and Archangel Lunaris… a giant moon moth. It will be drawn to their energy. Follow it, and you will find them.”

“And what if it doesn’t work?” the blonde asked taking the chest from his father.

“Rhamina will accompany you,” Viren said as the teen’s eyes widened, “She is known for sensing auras. If the moths fails you, she will not.”

“What happens if he can’t find them at all?” Claudia asked.

“Then we may be on the brink of changing times.”

“Are you saying they’ll kill the king-” “Shh!” Viren hushed as he looked out the open window to see the princes in the courtyard before closing it, “Discretion, Boy! Do you want to cause a panic?!”

“I’m sorry-” “Just get out there and find them. Before sundown!” Viren said cutting off the male once again.

“So, if these are really Moonshadow elves, then once the full moon rises tonight,” Claudia started.

“They’ll be unstoppable,” finished her father.

“Well, I’m going to find a way to stop them,” Claudia said with determination.

Once Soren had assembled a team they met right before the gates with their horses.

“Wow, Mina gets to come on a mission!” a female with dark brown hair and black armor squealed.

“Yes, Kerstin, but I’m going to have a lot to catch up on with chores when I get back,” sighed the ravenette as she sat on her horse side saddle to make her her dress wouldn’t need to be pulled up.

“Don’t worry about it,” her sibling smiled, “Just get Tijarah to handle it.”

“Bitch, both you and I know she doesn’t even do her own chores,” chuckled the ravenette just as Callum stumbled in with ceremonial armor.

“Callum, get your ass back here!” Sam exclaimed as she watched him struggle to get to the group.

“Wait!” Callum called to Soren, “I’m coming with you.”

Rhamina sighed as all Soren did was tease the prince.

“I don’t care,” Callum stated as he attempted to mount one of the horses, “I know what’s going on and I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not,” Sam said as she pulled him back by the collar, “You are packing your shit.”

“But even Rhamina gets to go!”

Snap!

The fourteen-year-old male blinked as a millimeter away from his face were blades connected to an open, black war fan held by the ravenette.

“I can handle myself, Your Highness, and if you want to keep your father safe I think it’s best to stay here where he is,” Rhamina stated folding her fan and setting it in her lap, “You can keep a better eye on him that way.”

The prince could only watch dejectedly as the two lines of horses made their way out the gates as the brunette kept a grip on him.

In Callum’s bedroom the young Prince Ezran took a bite of a jelly tart he had taken from the baker as he looked for his pet, Bait.

Seeing a glow from under a pile of clothes he saw a glow and lifted it while saying, “Oh, Bait, you’re terrible at hide and seek.”

Just then Callum stormed in, still frustrated from what happened outside.

In his rage he upset his younger brother who locked himself in his room. Callum only looked at the door with guilt filled eyes as he continued to pack for their trip.

Meanwhile in the forest Soren began to follow the moon moth with his team covering good amounts of ground in a day.

They followed it to a clearing with a tree in the center surrounded with bushes where the moth had perched.

“Egnarts t’nsi ti?” Kerstin whispered as they dismounted.

“Haey, ti t’nsi larutan ta lla,” Rhamina replied in the same hushed tone.

“Nothing!” Soren scoffed as the moth fluttered around him before he turned to the ravenette, “Rhamina, do you sense anything?”

The ravenette closed her eyes and let her aura radiate and sweep the area. She definitely felt other presences and even turned her head towards them knowingly but opened her eyes and shook her head.

“I don’t feel anything at all,” she spoke, “It’s just us, the trees, and the moth.”

“Then we’re going to have to wait for the elves to come to us,” Soren spoke as he gestured for his team to get back on the horses.

As the others began to move back towards the castle Rhamina turned her head back once more and gave a sad smile before following.

When the team returned Rhamina, Kerstin, Tijarah, Chloe, and Sam were all called up to have an audience with the king.

“King Harrow,” two of the girls greeted before bowing.

The other three greeted, “Hi, Dad,” as they bowed.

“Girls, girls, you don’t need to do that,” he chuckled before letting out a sigh.

“I’m sure you are all aware of the situation we are in.”

“Yes, Sir,” the girls answered together.

“Then here are my last orders for you five,” he said turning to face them, “You are to stay with my sons and keep them safe.”

“Yes, King Harrow,” the girls replied going down onto one knee.

“I’m glad you five haven’t really changed in all these years,” the male sighed with a smile, “Your personalities have really brightened up this castle.”

“King Harrow, with all due respect please stop,” Rhamina said not looking up at the one who found the five girls on the streets five years ago, “If you continue then I’m sure I’ll start sobbing.”

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled with a sad smile.

Before he could continue the girls immediately tackled the king in a large hug.

The Crown Guard merely sighed at the group’s antics.

“I love you, Dad,” the ravenette said with a sniffle trying to keep her tears from falling.

“Mina, cut that shit out,” Kerstin said obviously crying as well.

“Hoot!” Chloe looked up at the male with tears streaming down her face as well.

“Girls, come on it’s okay,” the male said patting their heads.

“I am never okay!”

“Rhamina, I’m sorry!”

“Hoot! Mama Mina!”

“I am the epitome of depression!”

“Mina, calm the fuck down.”

“I hope you are rained on by Kerstin’s diarrhea.”

“Why would you wish that upon anyone?!”

“Stop making jokes about my shit!”

At this point in time the only sounds that could be heard outside of the meeting room were the wails of despair from five females and the frantic sounds of their king trying to get them to stop crying.

Ah, yes just another day in the castle of Katolis.

As the girls exited the meeting room Rhamina’s head snapped up in alarm.

“Mina, what’s wrong?” Chloe asked seeing the female react this way when someone was in danger.

“Go get packed. Ezran found something,” the ravenette said before bolting down a hall.

“What about your stuff?” Tijarah asked.

“I’ll take care of it later!” she called back before disappearing around a corner.

About half an hour later Callum was wandering the castle halls searching for his brother when he felt a presence trying to sneak up on him.

“You know you can’t sneak up on me Ez-” he was cut off by the sight of a hooded figure who wielded two blades, “You- you’re one of those with the pointy-.”

“Oh, you don’t like my ears?” the figure asked revealing themselves to be female.

“Uh, n- no. I mean yeah. Yes, I do, I guess. I mean- I meant the pointy swords.”

Before the figure could say anything Callum pulled a nearby tapestry over them and ran.

Using their blades, the figure shredded the large fabric over them and began to chase down the prince.

Upon making it into Viren’s study Callum called, “Claudia! Soren! Rhamina! Anyone!”

He was about to run out of the room but the figure was already in the doorway blocking his exit.

“You don’t have to die,” the assassin spoke, “There are only two targets tonight.”

“Wait, two? What do you mean?” Callum asked as he slowly stood up.

“I’m here for the King,” she explained, “and I’m also here for his son, Prince Ezran.”

“You can’t,” Callum uttered in disbelief, “That’s not fair. Why would you hurt someone who’s done nothing wrong?”

“Humans cut down the King of Dragons and destroyed his only egg, the Dragon Prince,” the female continued, “Justice will not be denied.”

“I see,” Callum sighed, “Well, then you’ve found me. I am Prince Ezran.”

“I have to do this,” the female said getting closer with her blades, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to but I have to.”

“Why? You know this is wrong.”

“An assassin doesn’t decide right and wrong, only life and death.”

“That’s clever but come on, really? How does this solve anything?”

“This is justice. Humans attacked us unprovoked.”

“So it’s okay for you to do the same thing?”

“Well no. This is different because we’re attacking you provoked.”

“Then it’s a cycle. You hurt me, someone else will get revenge on the elves. It won’t end.”

“Psst, Callum!” a younger voice whispered.

“Shh, go away,” the brunet hushed still looking at the female.

“I found something,” the voice continued.

“Callum, listen to your brother,” a female voice hissed.

“Are you talking to that painting?” the assassin asked with suspicion lacing her voice.

“Uh, why would I do that? Cause it’s not a good time!” Callum replied emphasizing his last phrase.

“You mean because you’re with a girl?” Ezran asked as the painting swung open to reveal the young prince standing next to Rhamina, “Uh, jelly tart?”

“Guys get out of here!”

“Callum, what’s going on?” the raven haired maid asked standing in front of Ezran protectively.

“Callum? I thought you were Prince Ezran,” the female elf said glaring at the fourteen-year-old, “You lied to me.”

“Callum, get in the painting,” Rhamina whispered as she stood aside for Ezran who was holding his glow toad.

“Have you met Bait?” he asked holding up the yellow creature, “Say hello to my little friend.”

With the last phrase Bait let out a strong glow, blinding the female allowing the three humans to escape through a tunnel behind the painting.

When they reached the end of a corridor the young prince began pressing a series of rocks on the wall in a specific combination.

“Ezran, Hun, she’s getting closer,” Rhamina said as she spread out her aura to find the elf getting closer to them.

“Done,” chirped the boy as a spiral staircase was revealed.

The ravenette ushered the boys down before she followed them down.

“Are you sure she won’t be able to follow us?” Callum asked as the staircase retracted once all three were in the room.

“No way,” Ezran said with confidence, “It took me a month to figure out that combination.”

Right after he said that the staircase opened up again revealing the female elf.

“But how did you-” “I just pressed all the stones with jelly handprints.”

“What is this place?” the elf asked looking around at the various ingredients for dark magic stored in the room, “Runann is right.”

At the name Rhamina tensed as the elf continued, “There’s nothing in humans worth saving. Humans destroyed the egg of the Dragon Prince. There must be justice.”

“You’ll have to go through me,” the maid said standing in front of the two males defensively as she snapped open her fan.

“Wait, you need to see something,” Ezran said stepping out from behind the ravenette.

“I’m not falling for that flashing frog trick again.” “He’s a glow toad.”

“But there’s no trick this time,” Ezran continued, “Please look.”

Rhamina stepped to the side to reveal something under a curtain and nodded at the young prince before looking up at the elf.

“Fine,” the female said putting her swords to the side as the ravenette closed her fan, “You uncover it. Slowly.”

The prince did as told revealing a glowing, blue egg with flecks of gold scattered about.

“It feels like there’s something alive,” Ezran explained as Callum and the elf stood in shock.

“It can’t be,” Callum gasped as Ezran picked it up.

“The egg,” commented the elf, “It wasn’t destroyed.”

As the group began discussing the egg they were interrupted by another voice.

“The egg wasn’t destroyed,” the elf said again, “But how?”

“Because my father saved it,” a female said as she descended the stairs.

“Lady Claudia?” “Callum, Ezran, Rhamina, get behind me I can protect you from the elf,” the emerald eyed mage said, primal stone in hand.

“Your father didn’t save it,” the elf spoke, “He stole it.”

“That’s a lie!”

“Then, Claudia, why is it here?” Callum asked.

“My father took it to protect us Callum, so the elves and dragons couldn’t use it against us!”

“What are you talking about?” the elf asked, “How can we use it?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Claudia snapped, “You know it’s a powerful weapon.”

“Weapon? It’s an egg!”

“Ezran, don’t be afraid,” the female said, “walk towards me and if she moves an inch.”

The primal stone fizzled as small bolts of energy sparked.

“It’s not a thing! It has a mother and it needs to go back to her,” the elf growled.

“You’re right,” Ezran spoke looking up at the female elf, “It wants its mother.”

As Ezran led the female elf down a corridor Callum interrupted Claudia’s spell and chained her to a wall leaving the ravenette to make her choice.

“Rhamina, help me!” the mage spoke as the ravenette entered the corridor and turned around.

“Claudia, I’m sorry but if this ends this stupid war then I’ll support it!” the seventeen-year-old said as she brought up her fists bringing up a wall of earth to block most of the doorway as her pendant began to glow.

As the group followed Ezran two smoke wolves began to chase them.

‘That smart ass!’ Rhamina hissed in her head as the female elf stayed behind to fight them.

When the other three hit a dead end the elf returned saying, “I can’t hit them, they’re just smoke.”

Callum then looked down at the primal stone he took from Claudia and remembered something.

“Guys I think I have something but I don’t know if it’ll work,” Callum said.

“Just do it!”

As Callum began drawing a rune in the air, Rhamina smirked and said, “I’ll help out,” before drawing the same rune as her necklace began to glow purple.

“Aspiro!” the pair said together as two columns of wind blew away the smoke wolves.

“You did it!” cheered the elf before turning to the male, “You never said you were mages.”

“A mage?” Callum asked.

“Someone who does magic, Callum,” Rhamina explained with a chuckle before turning to the elf, “What’s your name by the way?”

“Rayla, and you,” the elf said turning to the female who’s necklace just stopped its glow, “How did you get that necklace?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s the exact same one as Runaan’s and he said it was given to him by-” “We should get the egg to the roof,” Rhamina said cutting off the female, “If we show it to the assassins then maybe they’ll stop the mission.”

“That’s a good idea,” the elf said glancing warily at the ravenette.

“Yeah, I’ll try to inform the king of the news and you two stay together alright?” Rhamina said glancing at the two boys, “You’ll be safe with her and find my sisters they’ll understand what’s happenin and protect you.”

“And how do you know that?” Callum asked, “She just tried to kill me ten minutes ago.”

The ravenette looked back to the elf with a smile and replied, “She has a kind soul. You’d be an idiot not to trust her.”

With that the female bolted down the stone hallways and allowed her aura to spread as far as it could to reach her sisters plus Chloe.

‘Guys,’ she thought, her connection allowing the other girls to hear her, ‘We have a problem.’

‘What is it?’ Tijarah’s voice replied, ‘Isn’t it dangerous to talk to us like this?’

‘The egg lives and the princes have it,’ the ravenette continued as she made her way out of the tunnels to end up at one of the far gates, ‘You need to find them and stay with them at all times. Use your powers if you need to. Getting figured out is the least of our problems right now.’

‘On it,’ Sam said as she let her aura spread as well, ‘What about you?’

‘I’m going to tell King Harrow.’

Before anyone else could speak Rhamina cut off her aura and turned to one of the darkened corners of the outside.

“Who’s there?” she asked glaring at where she felt someone before attempting to bolt off to the tower with one goal in her mind.

Under the moonlight the two princes and elf made it to the gates of the castle.

“Guys, wait the fuck up!” a familiar female voice called to them.

“Kerstin, Sam, Chloe, Tijarah!” Callum said, “We can explain.”

“We know already,” Sam said, “Mina told us.”

“And it is by orders of the king we are to follow you wherever you go and protect you both,” Chloe said.

“Then where is the other one?” Rayla asked.

“Mina, is informing the king of what happened,” Tijarah replied, “But she can catch up to us easily we just need to keep going.”

In the King’s tower Rhamina stood before King Harrow, explaining what had been found.

“Please, King Harrow, all this bloodshed can be avoided,” the ravenette pleaded, “we can do something!”

“Yes, you, your sisters and my sons,” the king sighed, “My time is up, Rhamina. You’re a smart and kind hearted girl. I appreciate you but this cannot be avoided.”

“King Harrow-” “Rhamina, once they come through that door you are not to interfere, do you understand?” the king said sternly as tears began to fall once again from the ravenette’s eyes while the sounds of battle started right outside the door.

“It’ll be alright, you know what you have to do,” the male said embracing the teenager as her sobs grew louder, “You’ll be alright, you have your sisters with you.”

‘This isn’t fair,’ she thought burying her face in the clothes of her father figure, ‘Life continues to do this to us.’

Suddenly the door was broken down and the two pulled away with tears still falling down the female’s face.

“Your target is me,” Harrow spoke to the barely visible silhouette, “The girl has nothing to do with this.”

“I am aware,” a male voice spoke as she rushed forward, blades drawn.

Throughout the fight Rhamina slammed the doors shut and charmed them to keep anyone else from getting in to keep the fight fair for both parties as well as distract herself from what would happen.

As the fight dragged on the ravenette kept her eyes wrenched shut and hands over her ears to keep herself away from the violence she hated.

When the sounds of fighting stopped she turned around to see the lifeless body of the king on the ground and the elf on the balcony firing a black and red arrow into the sky.

Shakily she made her way to the body of the king and grabbed one of his hands while praying, “Yam ruoy luos tser ni ecaep dna dluohs ouy esoohc ot yats, hctaw revo su.”

Upon hearing what the human said the elf turned from his spot, panting and injuries everywhere, with wide eyes.

“You, how do you-” he cut himself off as he saw the pendant that hung from a leather cord around the female’s neck, sparkle in the moonlight that reached into the room.

It was the same one that rested over his heart.

“You-”

He was cut off by the door finally opening to reveal other knights who immediately made their way to the elf.

As a knight raised his sword Claudia stepped forward and said, “Wait, we may have use for this one.”

Rhamina raised her eyes up to meet the turquoise eyes of the elf across the room and she whispered two words.

“M’i yrros.”

~~~Fin. Chapter 1~~~

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Warnings: None

Songs used: None

Pic: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155303887174296270/

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