“Sorry, I died.” Forsythe’s voice came through Raven’s party chat, almost knocking Raven over with the deadpan comment.

“What?” Raven started turned without any sort of dignity and ran. She had just been pressuring Fanciful, or at least, swinging her massive sword with confident strokes when Forsythe’s voice came through. Raven couldn’t believe it. Forsythe had died? Khiafin had actually killed Forsythe?

“I can’t believe it,” Forsythe sounded like he was in a state of denial, too. “Don’t let him grab you.”

“In like a hug?” Raven was trying to imagine what he meant. There weren’t a lot of situations where she could imagine anyone grabbing her, to begin with. Dangerous thoughts began to appear in her mind. Forbidden dangerous thoughts. “Did you… did you two hug or something? Was it racy?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. How is it going?”

“Stop talking! Oh, sweet Francis!” Fanciful had already caught up to her.

“Amelia’s dad?” Forsythe sounded confused.

“Him too!” Raven rolled forward, scrambling on her hands and knees as the crazy lady behind her kept smashing the ground to smithereens. Raven had been worried that their battle would have people trying to butt in from either side, but everyone around them was giving them a wide berth. Between Raven’s obvious good looks and Fanciful’s disregard for anything that didn’t include smashing, everybody seemed to have quietly agreed to leave the two women alone.

“Wait, you really died?” Raven felt a grin helplessly start to spread across her face. “That’s, surprisingly good at the moment. So, I'll totally be the hero!”

“...I hate you.”

“Hahaha! I’m sorry! I’ll try to finish up soon. You’re at what Cathedral?” Well, she would try to finish up quick.

A few strands of hair on the side of her head fluttered off into the breeze before dissolving as one particularly close jab had almost hit her square in the nose before she moved. Raven felt bad for Forsythe, but even though she was doing really well with dodging Fanciful while talking to him she needed to shift her focus. Fanciful really wasn’t someone she could continue to belittle. Her health was starting to show the effects of close shaves and risky escapes, sitting at a spotty looking 75%.

Still, the fact that Forsythe died was starting to give her a shaky sort of confidence and an unstable grin. Her face was probably starting to look like Amelia’s. Raven frowned for a moment, trying to get rid of the weird smile on her face. Smiling like that was surely how you got wrinkles, and even though Raven was like 89 years old or something she didn’t plan on having wrinkles til she was at least 124.

“Stop running!” Fanciful was laughing as she yelled, a sort of manic excitement practically making her look like she was going to have some sort of fit at any second. Raven shuddered and kept running, deciding that for the moment she’d just turn her back on Fanciful and completely focus on speed. As much as she had just moments before disparaged Fanciful’s confidence in her level and her items, Raven seriously doubted that when it came to terms of flat out running speed and stamina, Fanciful had any meaningful advantage.

“Maybe I got things to do? Okay? I can’t help it if I left my otter out! He’s really needy! He needs water!” Raven called out over her shoulder. A quick calculating look revealed that Fanciful actually was a hair slower than Raven in a full sprint. She took too much time changing directions to follow. A small smile started to creep onto her face again as she fled, a cold glint entering her eyes.

Raven turned her head forward and started to lay out a route to keep circling around the arena. She would have to be careful not to run into any in progress fights if she wanted to keep her lead. Or did she? Maybe she should rope some of these lazy people fighting in the arena into her battle with Fanciful? She wasn’t a good guy anyway. They were the Empire right? The Empire was almost always basically evil and could do whatever they wanted and get away with it.

Raven started to like being part of the Empire.

Raven started humming under her breath as she opened up a bit of distance between herself and the crazy stick lady. She could probably start singing while she ran. Something catchy that would get the people around her all psyched up. Something that would get them to what, step in and help her? Nah. That was too easy. Ah! Something to get everyone else around her to start taking potshots at Fanciful, yeah, that was the way.

Raven opened her mouth and then shut it immediately, her eyes going wide in comical concern. She was about to run headfirst into Khiafin!

Crap! That was fine if he had his back to her or something. She wouldn’t mind giving him a swat! He definitely was watching her with that knowing grin though! As she closed in she raised her sword and started to run away, keeping a wary eye on him. Knowing him he would just get out of her way until she was done with Fanciful and then try to kill her in some sort of weird one-on-one situa--

Khiafin shimmered for a moment and then appeared in front of her, the distance between them a few meters and closing with alarming speed. He made no threatening gestures but the implicit threat of his very existence flared up, far outmatching the danger she felt from Fanciful.

Eyes wide, Raven immediately stopped, turned, and leaped backward with her sword above her head. Fanciful’s eyes widened for a second at the weird reversal, caught almost offguard from the way Raven had immediately shifted from running away to offense.

The clang of the sword impacting against the middle of the staff sounded stiff and unnatural, the force carrying over to the surroundings and disrupting some of the fights going on nearby. Several people started to hurriedly move their fights further away from Raven and Fanciful. Everyone else seemed to be aware of the danger that Khiafin represented as well because the healthy distance they had already been giving them began to increase.

The impact from the sword allowed Raven to bounce backward. She took the opportunity to skip back a few steps further and then circle, trying to put both Fanciful in Khiafin in front of her.

Vexing.

Khiafin once again moved the short distance behind her, just standing there in a really weird and creepy way. Raven frowned briefly, turning to try and keep them both in her line of sight. “What’s this about Khiafin!? Just because you’re a little bit good, and no doubt tricked Forsythe, you’re going to double-team me?”

“Khiafin, you stay out of this!” Fanciful muttered. Despite her apparent disregard for Raven’s power, there was something about Khiafin that the stick lady seemed to not like.

“I am staying out of it!” Khiafin held up his empty hands in a display of shocked innocence. “Look! No weapons!”

“Like anyone thinks that means anything,” Raven quipped warily.

“Yeah, just go away!” Fanciful stomped her foot, surprising a look of astonishment on Raven’s face. How idiotic was this weirdo? If Khiafin was on Raven’s side she would already be convincing him to step in and tag team Fanciful. Like bad guys did!

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I’m not going to interfere. But it’s a bit boring to watch Raven play you like a fiddle. You know Raven is just going to outrun you every time you have the advantage right? Even a moron would know she’s faster than you. You need to think about cutting her off or use any bit of brainpower.” Khiafin scratched his chin, looking reluctant. “I’ll just get in her way. If she just so happens to get near me? Well...”

Raven frowned at the weird smile that was starting to widen onto his face. It made her unhappy that he was right. She was totally just going to outrun Fanciful every time she started to lose a little.

“Raven wouldn’t do that!” Fanciful grunted. “She’s not as deceptive as you. She’s going to fight me straight up!”

Raven’s mouth dropped open, showing her honest opinion of the situation. She was dumbfounded that Fanciful was praising her trustworthiness in one breath and demeaning her every action in another. What the crap? There was also the tiniest bit of guilt because Fanciful was wrong. Raven would totally trick her the second she got the chance. Bonus points if she managed to involve the crowd, you know? Triple super-duper bonus points if Fanciful got pasted by someone else who just randomly showed up to save the day.

Crowd participation!

Raven ignored the two idiots for a moment and looked the audience over, looking for someone to rope into this fight.

She began scowling as she realized that there wasn’t anyone around that she could pull into this. At least, no one she knew. Except for Cosmo over there. Raven sorta knew him. Cosmo was a guy that was in Shadow Fall but was pretty low key. He was a bard, like her. Though, unlike her, he was pretty crappy when it came to actual combat. Raven took a moment to try and wave to him but he was busy running from some girl that had a head full of red hair. Ah, the hair wasn’t red, it was on fire. A fox girl with flaming hair was chasing him down with murder in her eyes.

What the hell did you do Cosmo?

Raven frowned at the fox girl as she chased Cosmo. It was pretty metal actually. Maybe Raven would try to become a fox girl.

“...you lost her. Just attack her, she’ll come back.” Khiafin suggested.

He and Fanciful had finally agreed that he would just keep her nearby and stop interfering in their fight. Then they had returned their attention to Raven to find her spaced out, watching some guy being chased by a fox girl with flaming hair. There was a vacant look on her face that was kind of eerie.

“I don’t need your instructions!” Fanciful snorted. She rushed forward anyway, putting the end of the staff in the ground as she ran and pole-vaulted high into the air.

The shadow falling over her caused Raven to look up from her distraction. Her eyes widened when she saw that Fanciful was crashing down toward her with the subtlety of a kangaroo trying to go through a shut glass door. Kangaroo? Maybe Raven had spent a bit too much time in Australia.

Raven stepped to the side of the falling blow and started her own swing, stepping in like she was a batter waiting for a ball. Fanciful was slightly offguard without her feet on the ground and swung her staff to intercept the blow. There was a brief pause as she blocked the blow before Raven swung her hips into it. Fanciful shot like a cannonball toward the wall, making a human shaped indention before grimacing and sliding down to the ground.

“Hah!” Raven grinned.

Wait. Wall. Indention!

Raven turned eagerly toward a side of the arena that she’d already forgotten about because of reasons. She started to lope over there and was pleased to note that Khiafin didn’t try to block her. The hole in the wall was sort of by Fanciful so maybe he thought she was heading over there.

She wasn’t.

Raven ran excitedly over to a crumbled portion of wall and looked up. It looked like a heavy object had already been forcibly thrown through the air and landed without stopping; part of the wall was crushed, and seats were strewn all over in a straight line of carnage. At the end of the line of carnage was a familiar red shape. A half person shape.

“[Examine].” Raven called out as she jumped up.

A quick look behind her showed her that Khiafin was a few meters behind her, but hadn’t continued to chase her. There was an amused look on his face now. Like he was getting ready to laugh.

----------------

Keristrazly (Red Dragon) - The Dragon, King of the Half

[Neutral]

Status: [Healthy]

---------------

Raven slowed down as she got closer. The closer she got to Keristrazly the more she realized that he wasn’t unconscious, as she had assumed. Instead, he was sitting in the place where he’d finally come to a stop after being knocked clear out of the VIP box. His arms were crossed and his eyes were narrowed as he watched the fights going on down below. The vertical slitted pupils that were trained on the fights below moved toward her.

“Keristrazly, Elysium is totally under attack from traitors and turncoats! We have to take back the stadium!” Raven was grinning evilly. Visions of coercing him into letting her ride around on his back were already beginning to run wildly through her imagination. She was trying so hard not to begin chortling. She would leave the cackling for when she was on his back and directing fire blasts.

“Elysium… is suffering from an internal struggle. This is true. In an event such as this, it will be the people’s will that determines the outcome.” Keristrazly said slowly.

“What?” Raven’s shoulders drooped. This was absolutely outside of her expectations.

“You want me to fight against those people down there, right?” Keristrazly pointed toward Khiafin and Fanciful and a handful of other names. “...because you have done many things for the Half and the kingdom?”

“...yeah?” Raven was starting to feel a creeping sort of trepidation. This was sounding more and more like a dialogue check, and she didn’t do complex dialogue checks. That was an Aidan, Amelia, and Elisha thing.

“So have they.” Keristrazly slowly stood up. “If the leaders of the kingdoms and races take sides, who do you want them to side with? You Transients can kill yourselves all day long and suffer little for it. What if our people die? Hmm? Do you think they will be so fortunate?”

Raven grimaced. Crap. He was right. Involving Residents was a really bad idea. “Okay. What about Amelia?”

Keristrazly blinked rapidly. “Who?”

Raven laughed awkwardly, wondering if this was one of those weird joke moments. “You know, Amelia, your friend, the Empress? Saved the Half? Could do with a haircut most times?”

Keristrazly got a weird look on his face, like she was telling him something that he only partially understood. “Yes, the Empress is… away… isn’t she?” He shook his head. “It’s fine. It's fine? Hmmm."

Keristrazly went silent, brow furrowed as if he were trying really hard to remember something.

Fine? Raven stared blankly at him. It was definitely not fine.

Wait.

Raven held up a hand to forestall and further dialogue and switched to party chat. A certain nervousness and anxiety was starting to creep into her mind as she tried to remember. It was… kind of important?

“Forsythe, question..?”

“I can’t leave the Cathedral right now. There are a bunch of Rebel people out there waiting for people resurrecting to come out. It’s a safe zone inside but only for a few yards around the place," Forsythe finished with a sigh. "They also won't let me cook in here."

“That’s… awful, but not my question.”

“What?”

“Did anyone declare a state of emergency?” Raven asked, wincing.

“What?” The question came sharper, asking for context. She could tell that she had his full attention now.

“I mean, when Amelia got kidnapped everyone got that quest right? But did you see any weirdo so-and-so declares a state of emergency notifications?”

The silence was all the answer she needed.

“We need to get ahold of Aidan,” Forsythe said solemnly. “I just tried Amelia and Aidan. Amelia is still out of range or something and Aidan told me he was too busy fighting members of Khiafin’s gang. He said he just killed Tenebrim, so I guess that’s good.”

“Yeah… Maybe, just log out for now?” Raven suggested. “See if you can get ahold of Amelia if she logs out?”

“That’s smart. Are you really Raven?”

“Raven is really worried. I’m not the one who is supposed to be asking the smart questions!”

“It is a little worrisome.” Forsythe agreed.

"He killed Tenebrim?" Raven asked. That guy was mega mondo creepy and she felt pretty good about this information.

"I told him Tenebrim was weak and he shouldn't be proud of himself."

"You're a good guy."

They both sat in companionable silence for a moment.

“Gotta go Fours, I’m talking to Keristrazly and he doesn’t know who Amelia is, also Khiafin and Fanciful are starting to walk up the bleachers and I bet it’s not to settle this with a nice peaceful rock papers scissors game.”

“Did you ask?”

“I will! Goodbye.”

“Be exceptional!”

“Always.”

Raven turned her back on the dragon who definitely wasn’t going to help her at all and turned her attention toward the guy who had just murdered the strongest swordsman she knew and the woman with the big stick who seemed pretty weirdly fixated on her death.

“So,” Raven lifted her sword and shouldered it, adopting her best charming smile. “There is a lot going on today, what say we best of five some rock paper scissors to decide this?”

Khiafin began laughing, doubling over despite an obvious attempt to stop snickering.

Even Fanciful started to smile for a minute, her eyes bugging out in shock at the suggestion.

“Yes?” Raven looked hopefully between them.

Fanciful cast an unconcerned look behind Raven toward the dragon who didn’t seem to care about what was going on and then returned her gaze to Raven. Her smile began to widen and the murderous look in her eyes started to increase in intensity.

“No then?” Raven grimaced. "You both suck so hard."