ROI Chapter 4 The Crow Shrouded In Darkness

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His steps echoed in the darkness as he walked in the shadows of an alley. This quietness was something he revelled in, the outside noise in the main roads too jarring for his taste. The ends of his black trenchcoat swished with every step he took, kicking up a faint wind that pushed some of the dust away.

Dust, this was yet another peculiarity in this place. This was the first time he had arrived in this city and found dust on the pavers. Usually, all this would be covered in ice, but since there were visitors, not used to the cold, fire elementium was being blasted from all buildings, with fire elementiun users, turning it into heat with their mere thoughts. It was an ingenious plan that even he admired.

Caw!

The bond taking refuge on his shoulder called out. It was a black crow, darker than night itself, with its entire eyeholes covered with black, no whites to be seen. It was a companion he had chanced upon in his many travels to the beast domain in the northeastern part of Illusia a few years back.

His jaw clenched as he thought about why he was here. It was all because of Ana that light witch! The grinding of his teeth echoed within this quiet place, just like the fall of his steps. She was an insufferable woman who only cared about attaining revenge. There had been no need for him appear in this place, but since she had riled up the boss...the man hadn't appeared to be perturbed by his oversight though. Ryan Whiterose getting angry at him and the rest was rare, just like coming across a piece of land without these weed like rose vines growing everywhere in Illusia. Even now, he had just stepped upon one.

"..." A sigh came out of his lips, the sound distorting as it made its way through the dark crowbeak mask covering his face. There was no other choice, he had to appear or else that woman would keep complaining to the boss until he had no choice but to act.

As he moved among the shadows, he noticed another odd thing, there was no one in this alley. This was strange as he knew that in every city of Illusia, these corners usually had those people, the street rats, the unsavory types, prowling within, waiting to strike some dark deal, or commit crimes. Beggars hadn't existed in this city for a long time, as five years ago, elementium corrosion alone made it certain that no one would want to stay out for more than an hour even in a protective suit.

"It is strange indeed." He mumbled, activating his elementium sight. This place was close to the Star Group branch. This peculiarity was concerning as the citylords might be behind it.

"Investigate the alleys a kilometer around the Star Group branch." He ordered through the mask. It was high-tech, capable of communication.

As his black eyes became even darker, like black holes, they widened at something strange, fire elementium particles. They were a bit more concentrated, more vibrant.

'Which piece of trash is daring to act near my territory?' His mood soured as he sped up. He had to catch the imbeciles, they had to be taught a lesson. The only way elementium could appear this riled up, was if there was a fight.

His anger appeared to resonate with the shadows, dark elementium gathering around him, only to be absorbed by something covered by mask in his forehead.

As he sped up, the stench of charred flesh assaulted his nostrils...he knew it too well as he had experienced hundreds of battles ever since the dark gem had been set in the middle of the skull on his forehead.

The darkness elementium permeated the ground at his mere thoughts, corroding the pavement and muffling his steps. The trot breaking into a full on dash as he navigated the maze like alley.

Badump!

A powerful jolt ran through his heart the moment he turned a corner, the smell of charred meat thick, now added with the pervasiveness of molten steel, baked brick and molten glass. Though, that wasn't the cause of his heart skipping a beat. The smells didn't even take up any thought in his brain, instead, an image had taken over.

A woman stood, her back to him, but for some reason, his heart skipped a beat at her posture and presence. Red sparks floated around her form, lighting up the burns on her skin, the charred left arm, the clenched right fist. She looked ready to fall, but he could feel something powerful holding her up, something coming from within herself.

Half her red curls were singed but he recognized her nonetheless since an intelligence report had been sent to him last night. She had followed the boss into his room.

Admiration sprouted in his heart, with another unknown emotion upon gazing upon that straight back that didn't show any cowardice or weakness as she stood facing off against her opponent. An imagining of her front was birthed in his mind, those blazing pupils fueling themselves on her will alone.

"She is beautiful." 'Wha-?' He shocked himself with those words coming out of his lips, causing him to take a step back unconsciously, his heart rate speeding up.

'Anyway, this is a chance for me to alleviate the boss' dissapointment.' He thought, regaining his wits and moving his gaze away from her(a large amount of effort required), assessing the scene.

Three bodies were lying on the ground with one at her feet. Almost every body was scorched entirely, too many charred holes having been added. It was a sign of how brutal the battle had been, fighting people who wouldn't go down without a fatal attack.

They were the death sworn, the idiots who had been brainwashed. Fighting them was a pain if you didn't possess an aspect as every attack had to be fatal or they would just rise up like machines. The red army uniforms had already given away which faction they had originated from.

'Redrose city!' He cursed in his mind. These maniacs weren't the people everyone wanted to meet outside, but he had to act as it was too close to the branch.

His steps swiftly took him to her side, foregoing his stealth. A jolt ran through his heart for the second time when those blazing eyes turned to him, before she leapt away as if he was an enemy. He felt the urge to curse himself for just appearing in her personal space. He should have signalled.

"Sorry, I...am here to help." He said, his voice coming out softer than he had intended.

"Crow, of the four worlds. I wonder where that newcomer, Ryan Whiterose found the guts to designate you dogs as worlds, hmmm...?" A tauting voice grated upon his ears, causing him to snap towards the man. He was furious, a chance to talk to her lost, because of some idiot.

The man was ten meters away, military uniformed, just that the crimson jacket simply hang upon those wide shoulders of his, sleeves waving in the air, hands tucked into the pockets of those deplorable red pants. He had a handsome face which was now holding a smug grin, those crimson eyes smiling at him.

"The Flaming General, what are you doing near our tuff?" He asked, trying not to lose his cool.

"Of course its for her, such a dumb question. Tsk! tsk!"

"You work for Ryan Whiterose?" Her voice caused another spike in his heartbeat. He had been intentionally avoiding looking at her, but now he couldn't as she had asked a question.

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"Yes..." His jaw clenched at the thought that she had already been taken by the boss.

"Those...eyes, they are beautiful."

She mumbled, words that fell onto his ears like hammers even though they had been spoken softly. He searched for any signs that she was playing with him from the signs on her burnt face, but her eyes contained a sincerity, lethal to him.

Caww!

His companion took this time to crow, waking him from the stupor. 'I have to keep away from her.' He thought as the embers floating around her enhanced her valiance. Half that beautiful face, the left side had been charred, the skin blackened, but the intact right half still had the signs of her beauty.

"My name's Adrianne. What's yours?" She asked. He thought he caught some amusement in her gaze. Those injuries were serious and she had to be in immense pain, but for some reason, she wasn't screaming her head off. 'Why...is she calm?'

Curiosity killed the cat, humans had to be safe from death, right!? He wondered as those red eyes were still looking right at him, giving him a feeling as if she could see right through him.

"You must be in pain, right?" The question had almost burned a hole in his mind, now having left the tip of his tongue.

"Its painful. I am mustering all my willpower to keep myself together, besides, a stranger dressed in darkness, all covered up, a crow on his shoulder...appearing out of knowhere, now that is helping to keep me from screaming, at least for now." She spoke such words without a grimace. Her interest also didn't seem to be faked.

"Hey! You two? Are you lovers or something?" The Flaming general spoke. He appeared to be impatient.

"The laser witch is nearby, I have already contacted her. You really wouldn't want to battle at a disadvantage, would you?" He asked, a grin lighting up his face, too bad the mask hid it. Her words had caused him to feel as if he had just tasted those sweet rose shaped ice creams he had loved as a child.

It further widened upon seeing the frown on the man's face.

"With your aspect, you could probably take me on, but that woman, it would be hard just getting close to her without losing a piece of flesh." He continued. The tales of Ana's prowess were many and served to intimidate.

"Hmpf! I don't fear you both, but do remember to tell that upstart that this isn't over!" The man snorted, turning around to vanish into the shadows, not even retrieving the corpses of his underlings.

The sound of a body falling by his side, attracted his attention after the man left. Her willpower having finally given out from the fact that she had been saved, Adrianne had collapsed.

With a pounding heart, he appeared by her side instantly, crouching low. After feeling a weak pulse, a river of relief washed through his body. 'This woman is poison to me.' He lamented even as his gaze failed to tear itself away from her face. She had fainted, the embers vanishing, leaving the place dark except for the glow of heated brick and small fires.

Carefully, as if picking up a piece of valuable porcelain, he picked her up, cradling her like a princess, making sure to make her as comfortable as possible. Lines appeared on her forehead when her burnt flesh made contact with his hands, causing him to place her down once again, taking off the long black trench coat, which he proceeded to wrap around her body.

As he walked away with her resting within his arms, he wondered whether he was ever going to be able to get her out of her mind.

-----

Rocks gathered around a brown spherical brown thing the size of a fist, limbs and a torso forming. The now humanoid rock being took steps further into the tunnel. The tunnel was dark, but the probe had come with its own light. What was surprising was that even when the light actively fell onto the rock amalgam, it didn't show any hostility towards the probe which had been built in the shape of a spider. Ana had concluded that they probably didn't view it as a threat.

Ryan, now wrapped in a white bathrobe, was leaning back onto the sofa with a video hologram floating a few feet away from his face. A mug of something brown, steam rising from it, was resting within his hands.

"A core of some sort...it looks like I will have to take a trip to the starship after the summit." He mumbled, raising his hand to take a sip from the cup.

(Ana is asking for permission)

The video proved so intriguing that he only managed to be extricated a few hours later by the sound of the AI announcing Ana's arrival.

"So, she comes with guests...my attire isn't appropriate..." He wryly smiled at the white bathrobe covering his body. Ana was the only person who could enter without so much as a notification, it only happened in circumstances such as this one.

"Let them in." He said, the couch proving too comfortable for him to get out of. A shuffling of steps and the rustle of cloth attracted his attention, two-no, three figures appearing within the room, though the third appeared to be in someone's arms.

"I would have welcomed you with a hot beverage but it seems something urgent has crept up." He stood up, the frown on Ana's face heralding the storm she appeared to be about to unleash. Her glare directed towards Chiro was filled with dissatisfaction...and it probably was related to the figure wrapped in his trenchcoat. It was surprising that the man even took it off, as he couldn't remember a time he didn't have it on him, unless they met in the middle of a spying job.

His mask was still covering his face and that crow still resting at one of his shoulders. His black pupils were gazing at the figure in his arms softly, entirely ignoring Ana's death stares.

'I never knew he could have such eyes.' Ryan's curiosity was piqued. Since the figure wrapped in the coat wasn't facing his side, he still didn't know who it was.

"It looks like those death sworn of Muliro were busy in our territory..." Ana started, knowing that Chiro was the one who had to continue the story.

"We need to first get her into a medical capsule." Chiro's voice revealed his worry.

"She isn't our responsibility!" Ana spat back and it appeared this hadn't been the first time she had said the words as he could catch the irritation in her gaze.

"Okay, calm down. First, who is she? Second, why does she need a medical capsule and third, I don't have the slightest clue to what it is that happened!" Ryan had no choice but to stop whatever words had been about to come out of Chiro's mouth. His eyes contained a rage he had only seen one time.

'What is up with him?' Ryan wondered, his gaze unintentionally wandering to the trenchcoat. Subconsciously, his elementium sight activated, causing him to see the red specks swirling around the figure...fire elementium.

"She was attacked by her clan and apparently, its because she spent the night with you." Chiro gave the short version, his anger faintly directed towards him.

'A night with me...Adrianne!?' Ryan moved like the wind, appearing in front of Chiro so fast that even he didn't know how he got there, but that was the last thing on his mind as he finally caught sight of the face, a face he couldn't have forgotten so fast even with half of it burned. Heart pounding within his chest, he hesitantly brought an arm down, moving in for a caress only for the face to shift away, denying him that. It wasn't that she had moved, instead Chiro had acted, taking steps back.

"The slightest touch brings pain." He said, a bunch of mixed emotions in those pupils which defiantly gazed into his own.

A fire lit in his chest at that gaze containing blame and challenge, but he doused it hurriedly. She needed medical attention.

'He has fallen for her.' As they moved into another room with Ana in the lead, Ryan's heart sunk at that realisation. He didn't even know what to feel or...(sigh)...

A few minutes later, a white horizontally placed cylinder resting in the middle of a white room, transparent enough for Ryan to grimace at the burns that had once been her skin. His touch had been caressing it just mere hours ago, yet now, it was wounded and oozing pus. He didn't want to shift his gaze from her body as it floated within the pale green liquid, but had to. He still had a story to hear.

"Leader, I hope you remember why I joined in the first place. If she proves a distraction I might have to eliminate her." Ana's cold voice echoed in the room, Ryan almost letting go of his emotions, the elementium he had recovered vibrating eagerly within the silver gem in the center of his forehead.

But it also seemed that his reaction might have been slower than someone else's, as the room dimmed.

"Ana, I dare you to say that once again." Chiro's voice colder than before entered his ears. This time he appeared truly enraged.

"Chiro, have you forgotten? Could it be that because you have fallen for her, everything else...like the pain you went through before can be put aside?"

"Ana, Chiro, pipe down. We shouldn't wake her. Let's take this outside." Ryan said, leading the way. This was the first time something like this had happened. If he didn't solve it well, the organisation he cared much for might splinter.

"So, are you saying that Muliro found out and decided to eliminate her in order not to tarnish his reputation?" Ryan asked a few minutes later after listening the full story with some speculation added within. His hand caressed, more like dragged across his face as he started to regret his hasty actions the previous night.

Even without looking directly at the man, he knew Chiro was glaring at him. Ana on the other hand had a cold unreadable expression plastered on her face.

Ryan knew that he should have felt anger at Muliro, but that was the last thing on his mind as the guilt was more prominent. He shouldn't have laid a hand on her. He should have waited for a more opportune moment. He should have seen this coming. He should have been more careful...all kinds of thoughts in the same vein as these manifested in his mind, threatening to despair him.

"Leader, we should seek revenge." Chiro said at this time.

"Chiro, what are you even saying? We are already in open hostilities with that crazy woman, are you really suggesting that we add another citylord? We are understaffed as it is, do you want to be ganged upon by multiple powerful aspected elementium users?" Ana shouted, losing it completely. Ryan almost jumped from his seat at her outburst.