Dark Crow Rising

"Can I get down now?" I ask the God of Law as we seemingly come to an end in our journey. Finding ground quickly, I put some distance between us as his lovely sister catches up. However, neither seemed to be able to take their eyes off the lonely building we came here to inspect. Looking it over myself, I furrow my brow as I notice how damaged and abandoned it clearly is.

"Enorcoustice, do you see anything?" Motrtha asks as she moves around to the right side of the building. She vanishes briefly and when she comes back, it is only to present a distraught shake of her head.

"I will look into the forests nearby, you two search the building." he answers as he marches off into the cold and dark embrace of the dark woods.

What he is hoping to find among twigs and leaves I can hardly fathom. This church, however, should prove far easier to search as things are more likely to stick out. Easily pushing open one of the heavy doors that has clearly seen better days, it crashes to the ground. Blinking my wide eyes away, I look back to the broken hinge.

"Well, as long as it is not a broken brick or a crushed piece of wood..." I remark quietly as I look over this absurd mess. Torn-up books and ripped-apart cushions, row-filling chairs snapped in two or merely moved about awkwardly.

A muffled noise comes from behind.

Turning towards Motrtha, I am greeted with a strange black barrier rimmed with a deep, crimson ebb. Gulping audibly, I watch as the beautiful goddess desperately slams against the barrier to try and get it to budge. Heading back to her, I break through without issue after trying to ram my way out. She breathes a sigh of relief as I blink her way.

"It's Her... This is Her power, I'm sorry Nin, but, I need you to be brave for me." she says to me as she tests how I am able to pass this barrier without issue.

"Ok." I nod as I straighten my back out. Hopping back into the confines of the church before she gets a chance to open her mouth again, I start to look. Rubbing one arm as a cold breeze shivers me full of worry.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here, a shitty, shitty, ever-so stinky piece of shit target!" a maniacal voice goes as familiar bangs bark out. I dive for cover and flinch as I do so, with five, poke-like sensations bothering me on the way down. Scrawling up to the lengthy chair I find myself behind, bright lights go off next to me. Wood and stone shower me aggressively.

"Undwote better stay away..." I curse to myself as more bangs ring out. A hole suddenly appears on my left and rushing footsteps come accompanied with sadistic laughter. What do I do, should I charge back? Try and throw this chair!?

A silver rectangle slides to my hand, its glowing top meeting my gaze.

"AHHHHH! BUGGER!?" I scream as I throw myself out into the open as a bang of light lingers in my eyes like bubbling shampoo. More pokes are felt as I tumble about and I collapse on some of the stone, going right through its crumbling structure.

A small barrel goes against my head, it clicks.

"Ah, shit, now!? Stupid guns, this is why swords are better!" a blurry craze dressed in black and white robes declares as his small tube erupts into a glowing sword. He swings it right for me as curses and swears fill my head. The 'sword' rolls away as the man's disbelief is vocalised.

Feeling the lack of weight from the man, I gently push him away, only to send him flying. Skillfully, the man reorients himself with a growl and a swift, mechanical click accompanies him. More pokes come and I cover my face as that furry midget appears in my head of all the times. I blink as the man becomes increasingly frustrated by his failed attempts to hurt me.

"Oh, right... I'm bulletproof." I go as I rub my forehead. I still have all the strength I had when I was alive, it's still in me. That same strength that lifted a tower of oak and iron!

Wiping the last of the blurs and splotches of colour from my vision, I adopt a crude posture. Smirking, I snicker to myself as the bullets continue to feel like simple pokes and prods. The man's expression hardens and he snaps into a stiff form as he holsters the gun. He sneers as I wiggle my fingers his way.

"A castle, ey? Well, alright, got more than enough battering rams for you! Piece of shit!" he goes as he starts to throw whatever he can at me. Covering my face, a lot of it thuds away or shatters on my overalls. Steadily, I move closer to him until I can nearly grab the annoyance. He slashes me to no effect and runs off into the dark from whence he came.

I groan as I pat myself down in an effort to clear off the glass shards and splinters of wood. Following the man with my gaze, I notice that he goes into a tunnel. All thanks to his glowstick. I scratch my short-haired head as I think about that word he kept using.

Shit, what an odd word.

"Wonder what it means." I ponder in the open as I start to throw things about to clear a path to the far end of the church. However, as I get into the mysteriously vanishing darkness, I find no tunnel or escape route. The backend of this building collapsed some time ago by the looks of it and there's only this shrine thing. A statue of a winged man with his face blown off on top of it.

Pacing about, I find a loose stone and mess with it as I try to figure something out. A click resounds, spooking a shake into me and unlocking some kind of mechanism. I smile with starry eyes as the masonic engineering comes to life. The statue slides back and a dark staircase is revealed.

"I want to do it again!" I childishly giggle as I start to gently stomp the loose slab. Nothing comes of it, though, leaving me thoroughly deflated of enjoyment.

I frown as I let some seriousness back into my unlife, do I wait for the other two or go back to them? The barrier seems to be gone, going by the lack of black and red beyond the shattered glass. Yet, no one is coming down the main aisle my way. I am still on my own in this ruin.

Muttering on the jog back, I pop back into the open and find Motrtha idly resting on a bench by the road.

"The barrier is gone?" I open up with as she worriedly taps the side of her leg.

She shakes her head, "No... It only activates in my presence, or, rather, the presence of the divine."

"Hmmm..." I go as I look down at my recently altered overalls.

"I'm worried to think that She is hiding something in this church."

"There's a tunnel at the far end, a staircase going all the way down." I explain with demonstrative actions. The goddess slowly, but sharply rises before grabbing me.

"I need you to go down those stairs, Nin. Please." she begs and I nod slowly.

"Much as this lunatic couldn't hurt me, what if something in this place can?" I ask as I glance back at the church.

"Use your strength, Nin! Your body is the same as it was when you died, all your magic is still with you. But, here, in this land of different laws, you are deceptively stronger here!" she tells me and I nod along as I think about simply stomping and punching my way to the treasure or whatever.

"Motrtha... I don't know what I need to look for. This is your family's area of expertise..." I say as I glance towards the distant battle that has set the city ablaze. Giants are clashing and magic is exploding with destructive grandeur.

The goddess pauses and thinks on it, a finger lingers near her lips and it straightens as an idea comes, "Chains, see if you can find them or a little toy piece!"

"A what? A toy piece?" I question, baffled by why this is something I should be looking for. She does not answer and starts to push me back towards the church. The barrier surges to life and flings her away just as she pushes me to the ground within it.

Rubbing my head as I get back to my feet, I look back at Motrtha as she silently begs me to go on.

"Alright, beautiful goddess wants me to look for chains and a game piece. Or, either or." I repeat somewhat as I jog back to the hopefully still-open tunnel. When I discover its resealment, however, I am undeterred and I smirk deviously at my fist. Rearing it back, I drop it down as if I am slamming it on a desk and I shatter the staircase roof. Slipping back as more than anticipated falls into the dark depths, I look to my trusty boots.

One step at a time, I kick the debris further down and out of my way until I can merely walk the rest. I blink and suddenly torches light my way, raising a brow at this, I shrug my shoulders at the strange gift. I won't complain about being able to reliably see now, however, I am a little worried. What if they all suddenly blow out?

Looking back up the staircase, my concerns are realised as some grow dimmer as I distance myself. Snapping a magic torch off, just in case, I keep on walking somewhat calmly until I begin to notice the great rends in the stone. Dangerous claws have passed through here, scarring the place for a good few hundred years at best. Freezing up, I swallow a heavy mouthful as I, unfortunately, do not hallucinate the noises coming from the dark.

It sounds like the hive, I want to go back up...

"No... No... No! Keep going, Nin, you beat them all once. You can beat them again." I tell myself as echoing, feminine screams lash out at me from the aggressive wind. Tightly gripping the thankfully present handrail, I keep my torch ahead of me at a slanted angle. If anything wants a piece of me, I'll snuff the torch out in them!

A path opens up on my right as the torch's light reveals its edges. Turning to face it, I step through the square opening and gag at the foul air. Vomit threatens to spill into my mouth and I find myself glad I have somewhat of a resistance to the bloody now. The chamber this entrance leads to is thoroughly blood-soaked.

Voices echo around me and images of unfamiliar people and places flash on the bloodied panels. My new best friend, Worry, accompanies me as I properly enter the foul room. The scent of copper and iron continues to crumple my nose and I gag slightly. A red glow is caught in the corner of my eye.

Looking down at it properly, I bend down and reach for the strange red tube. No, game piece, this is the game piece I was told to look out for. A weird, crenellated thing that reminds me of an old tower. My thumb goes along the golden lines decorating it and I place a hand on the far end of the chamber.

"AH!" I go, frantically waving my hand as the game piece burns a fresh mark on my skin. The dropped piece rolls like it should before it flies, zipping away on a string of same coloured light. The red string dissolves when I try to touch it and voices enter my ears. Not ones I know, though, I do not know them at all.

I sniff the air as smoke fills my nostrils and I blink as I realise everything has changed. Dark, smog-filled skies and an ash-painted arena surrounded by strange towers and floating screens. One of which shows a red-haired woman with pale skin and blue eyes. She's in some kind of white dress and she is full of heart-wrenching worry.

"I'm going to be honest, Kyrvern, I wasn't sure you'd come to help, but... Thank you, Sair will appreciate it, so will I. Now, let's go beat this chicken up!" a brown-haired boy wearing two shirts says. One unbuttoned and clearly a uniform, the other a plain ol' red tee.

I stare at the young man's scaly, reptilian arm and blink.

"Who in Motrtha's good name and looks are you?" I go with a slight crack in my voice as I notice how I am dressed somewhat similarly to him.