A little girl in a light beige dress walked unhurriedly through the eerie night-time forest that instilled terror in people. She moved with absolute silence; even the youngest blades of grass didn't bend beneath her tiny feet.
Reygyana wasn't sure if she was pleased or not. On one hand, the meeting she had planned took place. Her plan, despite an annoying delay because she had an astonishingly hard time finding the right person, was still fulfilled. On the other hand, she had expected so much more from that encounter.
One of Sundbad's priests in Tries, who devoutly believed that the Way paved by the Righteous Elevation sect was the most correct of all the Ways, adjusted the Gate's settings. The aim was that the winner of the Alchemists' tournament wouldn't reach his intended destination but would instead end his Way in a place Rey chose. However, something went awry, and it took her a long time to finally find the one who calls himself Raven.
Her wish came true. She met the one who had piqued her interest and whom the recently performed Ritual of the Way's Changeability marked as a new piece on the sect's Game board. Yet, this man turned out to be remarkably ordinary. Intelligent, yes, but not wise. Brave, sure, but not reckless. Undeniably talented, yet so weak.
"He even calls himself Raven," Rey voiced aloud and chuckled softly.
This particularly amused the little girl walking through the forest. It genuinely made her laugh.
"He is regarded as the wisest of birds, yet he's so naive. He wanted to save me. Me?!" Another burst of childish laughter echoed through the night woods. "It's so amusing."
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However, this naive young man did endear himself to Reygyana. She was even slightly glad she didn't have to kill him, as one of the interpretations of the Ritual suggested. Had he been what people call "an insensible scoundrel," Raven's life would have ended that night. Not that Rey cared whether a person was a scoundrel or a saint. It mattered little to her personally, but the Ritual suggested such an outcome quite clearly. Yet, the young crow thought she was in trouble and wanted to help. With that impulse, unbeknownst to him, he preserved his life that day, albeit slightly disappointing the girl wandering the forest with his naivety - the girl cursed by Ishid. Just a tiny bit disappointed.
"And he has a beautiful dagger," this detail especially endeared Raven to the girl. "But he truly is clueless!"
The girl continued to walk through the Wicked Woods, talking to herself, just as she had said earlier, simply taking a walk. As for the fact that this walk originally had a purpose, of course, she conveniently omitted it. Unlike the one who called himself Raven, she was not naive.
The soft sound of a branch breaking somewhere in the distance, imperceptible to the average human ear, caught the girl's attention. Peering into the forest's darkness, Rey frowned. This encounter wasn't part of her plan.
Silently gliding through the Wicked Woods, a Hidden Forest's Guard squad advanced. They weren't heading towards the fire the girl had left but were pursuing someone else entirely. Nevertheless, their quarry constantly zigzagged and could turn at any moment, leading the Sidhe warriors straight to Raven's campsite.
After a moment's thought, the girl nodded decisively to herself. She then removed an elegant bow from her hair and, with a habitual motion, wrapped its fabric around her wrist.
Perhaps she wouldn't mind meeting that little crow again. Later, once he had gained at least a bit of wisdom...
A swift lightning bolt cut through the night's darkness. Six bodies, clad in graceful and fatally beautiful armor, scorched, fell onto the grass, never to rise again.
And the little girl in a beige dress, humming a popular children's song from Pentapolis, calmly continued on, moving away from the approaching dawn.