A thick, dangerous silence filled the chapel. The large group of priests were nearly motionless, several of the younger looking ones shuffled their feet in anticipation. The two children were still confused, looking between Corvus and the man that seemed to be in charge.

Corvus blinked at them, waiting for them to say something. Eventually, he sighed, tired of the tense silence.

“You’re awfully quiet for a group of priests. Thought you’d be preaching.” Corvus raised an eyebrow, eyeing the leader curiously.

“Ah…Well…Excuse me, what?” The leader stammered through a few dumbfounded thoughts, dropping his hands from their defensive stance in utter confusion as to why he wasn’t being attacked.

“All the priests I’ve ever met have been pretty loud. You the outcasts?” Corvus shrugged.

“Sir, we should keep moving.” A tall woman stepped out from behind the large man, her close cropped, dark red hair contrasting her pale, freckled skin and deep blue eyes.

“Find what we came for.” Another woman appeared behind the first, shorter and stockier, with flowing brown hair and dark, scarred skin.

Corvus tilted his head at the pair, slightly confused. The red haired one seemed to only be carrying a shield, while the shorter one only carried a lance. The young women were a strange pair to say the least. They began to take a step forward, but were halted by the leader’s raised hand.

“Wait.” He turned back, his gaze measured and neutral. Corvus sighed inwardly, he was tired of speeches and negotiations at this point. “My name is Sky Paladine, High Bishop of the Holy Holsa Church. And you are?”

“Corvus.” He crossed his arms, not flinching in the slightest.

Sky waited, expecting a slightly longer name, but sighed when it became clear that he wasn’t getting any more.

“Allow me to be blunt, Corvus. We came here to take your leader as our captive and end the violence between the church and your…community.” He spoke slowly, desperately trying to avoid provoking a reaction. The two children looked at each other, shrugging, not quite understanding what was happening.

“Fine by me.” Corvus shrugged, sitting on a nearby stone bench.

A felia fluttered down, landing on Sky’s cheek, bringing extra light to his baffled face.

“It…Hold on, how long have you been here?” He shook the feline bug off his face, trying to find something on Corvus’ face.

“Including the time I spent asleep, about a week.” Corvus leaned down on his hand, scanning the rest of the robed group.

“A week? You’re a trainee then?” Sky’s face softened slightly. “Are you alone here?”

“If you think I’m alone, then why did you come here looking for someone?” Corvus rose an eyebrow.

The two women were visibly irritated, moving forward, their mismatched weapons raised. Sky shot them a commanding stare, quelling their rage somewhat, before turning back to Corvus, who was examining a glittering felia on his finger.

“Are you the only trainee here?” Sky’s calming tone hadn’t wavered even slightly.

“No.” Corvus let the creature flutter back into the top of the chapel, looking back at Sky, mildly bored. He glanced over at Gilgamesh, who was in the exact same position as himself, except he seemed to be dreaming about riding horses, judging by how he was rocking in his sleep.

“Are they your friends?” Sky prodded further, careful not to strike any nerves.

Corvus had to think that one over a few times. He hadn’t known any of them for very long, a matter of days at most, hell, he didn’t even know most of their full names. They were friendly enough to him, though Jack had a bad habit of misdirected anger and sling-stabbing, and Johanna seemed to genuinely want to connect to him properly. He decided to go with the subtle echoes in his void of a heart.

“Yes.” Corvus stood back up, eyeing Sky, trying to find out where he was going with this.

“Then would you like to come with us? Find new lives in respected places and never have to watch your backs again?” Sky offered a hand of kinship, much to the horror of nearly everyone with him, judging by their terrified, angered, or even disgusted expressions.

Corvus shrugged.

“I can’t speak for them, so I won’t answer that.”

“Of course. But what of you?”

“Sorry. I’ve got my own business here, for now at least.” Corvus glanced down to Gilgamesh.

Sky nodded, retracting his hand.

“I see. If ever that should change, I will vouch for you, Corvus. In exchange, I need a favour.” Sky smiled confidently, apparently satisfied with those answers.

“You want to find Gregory?” Corvus raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, if possible.” The group behind Sky were becoming slightly restless, shuffling their feet and nervously eyeing the two curious children.

“Can’t help you I’m afraid.” Corvus shrugged.

“I told you we can’t trust them, sir.” The red-headed woman said, raising her shield angrily, followed swiftly by half the group.

“Actually, I don’t know where he is.” Corvus shot a blunt statement right at her, catching her slightly off guard. “I’ve already broken a few of his fingers, why would I protect the rest of them?” He raised a challenging eyebrow to her.

She had nothing to say, her face flaring with anger and embarrassment. The woman next to her gripped her spear tighter, staring daggers at Corvus, to no avail.

A sound quietly echoed through the chapel, too quiet for anyone normal to hear. Corvus turned his gaze to the long corridor that lead to the quarters. He recognised the sounds, the sounds of chipper laughter and the comfortable conversation of friendship. Johanna had got back quicker than he expected.

Sky opened his mouth to say something to Corvus, but stopped himself when he heard them too, instantly putting his guard back up. The group followed suit, grasping their weapons in a tight, nervous formation.

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“Don’t get so jumpy, it’s my friends.” Corvus sighed at the group.

“Why should we believe you?” The spear-wielding woman spat.

“Wait.” Sky raised his hand again, dropping his guard and taking a step forward.

The two children heard the voices too, smiling to each other and running to either side of the corridor to surprise them. The tension in the room ramped up again, sending countless beads of sweat tumbling off the priest’s foreheads.

“That’s disgusting.” Gilgamesh recoiled from the nervous priests, storming over to another bench and angrily relaxing once more.

Aria and Henrith were the first two to appear from the corridor, chattering happily amongst themselves. The two children yelled ‘BOO’ at them same time, making them both jump out of their skins, then split their sides laughing at the prank.

“My God, Celeste, you’re evil.” Henrith playfully ruffled the girl’s hair.

“I assume this was your doing, oh great Sir Finn.” Aria bowed to the boy, giving him an encouraging smile the whole time.

The two children giggled to each other and ran to a stone chair, laughingly shoving at each other to sit on it. Henrith and Aria scanned the dark room, their gazes meeting Corvus. Henrith beamed a smile at him, striding towards him and clapping him on the shoulder. Aria was slightly more hesitant, walking up to Corvus and offering a slightly awkward smile.

Damian, May and Lanya walked in shortly after, talking loudly and cheerfully. Damian and May were poking fun at each other. May pretended to walk in high heels, while Damian wildly swung his arms around himself, acting like a drunken blacksmith. They both lost themselves in laughter, while Lanya chuckled, quietly reading between them.

They caught sight of Corvus, stopping their conversation immediately, blankly staring at him with a loss for words. Corvus shrugged to them, indicating as best he could that there was no bad blood on his end. Damian seemed to breathe all the stress out of his body, returning an honest smile to him.

Jack appeared behind them, uncharacteristically quiet and reserved. He kept his eyes and mind occupied by constantly staring at the patch of featureless rock in front of him, while his hands were stuffed into his pockets. His face was a mask of shame and self-chastisement.

He didn’t see Damian in front of him, walking into his back and jumping back in surprise. He blinked several times before registering that he was looking directly at Corvus, who had his usual empty stare pointed right back.

“Corvus…I…uh…Hi.” Jack stammered, trying his best to not overly embarrass himself any further. His voice was deep with apology and quiet disappointment in himself.

“Evening.” Corvus nodded slightly.

“I, uh…I’m sorry for, you know, before.” Jack looked at the group, speaking quietly.

“No worries.” Corvus shrugged at the heartfelt apology, indicating that it was no big deal. Jack’s face lifted, and a tiny tear escaped the side of his eye. Lanya gingerly reached out her hand and patted his shoulder encouragingly. He dried his eyes and nodded quietly, unable to keep the smile from his face.

Johanna walked in just behind them, her ruby eyes sparkling in the dark green chapel. She glanced at Corvus, giving him a heartfelt smile. She caught something out of the corner of her eye, turning her gaze to the large group of priests.

“People here.” The words were rushed, surprised and slightly scared as they escaped Johanna’s mouth.

The rest of Corvus’ friends looked at her in confusion, then to the priests, and took up a similar level of guardedness. The priests were extremely on edge, barely containing themselves from charging and running the new targets through.

“Told you.” Corvus shrugged at Sky, who was doing his best to contain the escalating tension of the situation.

Sky nodded, returning his face to his neutral, negotiating tone.

“Hello there. My name is—” He began speaking, but stopped immediately when the sound of scraping stone creeped through the chapel.

The door to the blacksmiths swiftly began to open, drawing all the eyes in the room.

Daeden stepped out, holding Corvus’ cutlasses in his arms and humming a small tune to himself. He laid the blades down on a stone bench, wiping the sooty sweat from his forehead and smiling at his good work. He glanced up and saw the group of priests, his joyful expression falling.

“What the—” His surprised voice was cut short by a dagger in his throat. Blood spewed from the wound, his terrified hands grasping at the short dagger. He tripped over the other benches, tumbling over and coughing up more dark liquid and quivering on the ground.

Sky’s face turned from shock to betrayed anger. He turned around, his fiery gaze boring into the group, trying to find the culprit. The red-haired woman gave him a nod, a self-assured smile on her face, and a dagger missing from her belt. Sky had to viably restrain himself from attacking his own subordinate out of rage.

The two children took several moments to comprehend what just happened, but when they did, they screamed, cowering into the stunned arms May and Lanya. Henrith, Aria and Damian braced themselves, ready to defend the group. Jack was frozen in place, barely able to move or react to what just happened. Johanna stood out beside Corvus, raising her fists in defiance.

The priests tightened their formation, the women beside sky raised their weapons together, a righteous grin spreading across their faces. Sky raised both of his hands, trying to stop this before it became an all-out war, but to little effect.

Corvus glanced between the two groups, weighing the odds.

There were eight unarmed, unarmoured people in his group going against the priest’s fully prepared thirty. They only had their summons, Corvus’ various knives and his cutlasses, the dagger that killed Daeden, and Raven, who would need reloading after the next shot. The two children were scared and afraid, and would be seriously hurt or killed if they weren’t shielded.

The priests were all older, better armed, better trained and more than likely had powerful magic as well. The only advantage that Corvus and his group had was the traps and defences that peppered the corridors of Desperius, the only problem being that Corvus had no idea where they were set or how badly they would endanger the children and his arm cast. And from the terrified undertones in each of his friend’s eyes, they didn’t know either.

Corvus turned back to the priests and sighed. They probably weren’t all going to make it out of this alive.

The scraping of a stone door echoed loudly through the chapel, far quicker and more forcefully than before. The red-headed woman reacted instantly, drawing another small blade and flinging it with pinpoint accuracy at the source of the sound.

The blade stopped in the waiting, sooty hand of powerful, and very angry blacksmith.

Cleo’s emerald eyes were steeped in rage after seeing the body of her apprentice and her close friend. She flicked the knife, catching it in her left hand and throwing it with a powerful, black skull surrounding it.

The skull whizzed at incredible speed, impacting the red-haired woman’s shield, and it would have knocked her to the ground if she wasn’t surrounded by people. The dark aura dispersed, and the knife was solidly embedded in the steel of the shield, just above the woman’s arm, much to her shock and terror.

Cleo flexed her right arm, conjuring the shadows around her and sending them flying down the corridor that lead to the quarters. She scanned the priests, accurately assessing each of their strengths with a single glance. Her gaze settled on Sky, and her eyes widened slightly in recognition.

“It’s you.” She noted, tilting her head slightly.

Sky squinted slightly, before also noticing who he was facing.

“And you.” Sky said, slightly taken aback.

Cleo took several steps forward, so she was slightly in front of Corvus, guarding the whole group. She glanced at Corvus, who made a small nod, as instructed, earning him a humourless chuckle from her.

Her gaze bore holes into the hearts of all the priests, but seemed to soften slightly when she looked at Sky. She raised her right hand towards the corridor, the tattoos on her exposed skin writhing faster and more violently. Sky raised his fists in preparation, his claws glinting in the green light of the felias.

In an instant, shadows enveloped Cleo, writhing around her and depositing various items onto her person. Shortly afterwards, the darkness vanished, and what was left behind even made Corvus’ empty heart thump slightly faster than usual.

Her spear, deftly grasped in her fingers, twirled to her side. Her blacksmithing apron was discarded on the floor, instead replaced by black, glinting armour that flowed over her as if it was made only for her, which it more than likely was. She had a small armoury’s worth of weapons on her belt, ranging from small throwing knives to short-swords strapped to her legs.

Her two concealed short-spears were hidden behind her shoulder blades, ready to spring out and begin killing at any moment.

The scariest thing of all, however, was her face. She had soft, black ink running across her cheeks, breaking up her outline and hiding her further in the shadows. Her green eyes were wells of pure, cold fury, standing out from the rest of her, ensuring that the last thing her foes would see, is their own nightmare.

What stood before the small group of nervous priests was not a single foe, but a force of nature. Not a simple combatant, but the most terrifying fighter in all of Desperius. What they faced was not a fight, but an execution at the hands and the bite of The Dark Cobra.