Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Nightsilver, why that name? Was it a given name or a title? None truly knew besides the man himself. He kept that secret close and tight as his sleeves, for he was a man of great power and great potential but as it came time for his blooming, he knew he couldn't reach the perfection he'd imagined himself to be. To be a hero is to sacrifice, something his soulbearer has to learn, bitterly.

"Ahhh! FUCK!" Right as it was time to offboard the ship, a fierce headache struck Raven like a pick. Grabbing his head and leaning against the basement wall, he allowed the pain to pass before looking around at the empty room. Thankfully, no one else saw him hurt, sparing him a lot of explanation about what he'd seen and heard at Athenia's prison.

'This again? Fucking hell, ever since that dream this thing just won't let me be…'

Shaking his head he tried to brush the topic out of his head, but with the entirety of Nightsilver's ordeal and feeling the pain in the chest out of nowhere being a closed secret, he just couldn't get the thought out of his head. Discover hidden tales at empire

Even so, forcing through the pain, Raven joined the rest of the crew upstairs. Meeting up with everyone, he led the group off of the ship and set foot on the prosperous island. Unlike Elanavia with its illusionary mushroom houses, Aranuvia was set in stone and had beautiful marble houses.

A hint of blue and white was coated across the island both in its overall architecture and the paths leading everywhere. As for the people that had gathered along with the soldiers at bay, they either seemed too sheltered or weathered in battle since they'd been birthed.

"Where is…" Looking to Choux, the soldier leading the charge tried to make sense of the situation but simply couldn't. He knew something had gone wrong, but if one of their king's chosen warriors was accompanying these guests, then how could he shrug them off? "F-follow me, I'll take you to the castle."

Turning around to his underlings, the leader of the pack aggressively motioned for them to get out of the way. Once they'd subsided he began leading the group to the king's decorated castle. Even as he led them forward, the man just couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to drastically change for the islanders once these guests got to meet the council members. However, not dwelling on the idea, he kept his eyes focused on the front and kept walking without a word.

Glancing around at the stone-masoned city, from houses to paths, and even ivory street lamps, Raven was beyond surprised by the beauty held by these islanders. So far his perception of islands had been far from likeable and yet walking along the enchanting path, he felt like moving the rest of the island here instead of Lantherem.

'Athenia's already taking root at that island though, I doubt I can convince her after that angel turned herself to stone especially.'

Deducing that the return of fertility and the curing of the poison spread by Aran's body was that same angel's doing, Raven wasn't sure if the shift could be and even if it could be if it was worth the effort when these islanders could simply show the rest how to build a similar society.

"Better for them to learn how to build and maintain these things anyways," Linkle chimed in from the side as if reading Raven's mind directly. Turning to the witch, who was thinking in the same vein, Raven still couldn't shake his anger since Moxy, Reina and Maria were still following right behind them.

Perhaps noticing the anger and the cause of it, Linkle rolled her eyes at the mage as if to say,

'Come on, let it go already!'.

With a defeated sigh, Raven turned to the front, his mind still consumed by Linkle's unfettered arrogance over her putting her interest over the lives of others. Thinking back on the fact, he was even reminded just how stingy and exploitative she was while working in her shop and providing mere goods and services to the people. Going so far as to pocketing the majority of the keeper's core and experimenting on him with the mana-fused eye that she'd made.

'I guess this trip did mess up my perception of her.'

That thought made him further question if he had a twisted image of the others in his head as well. Mono for instance was already back in her kingdom but fighting alongside her made him feel more at ease with the Iron Queen even though she was losing her humanity.

'And it feels like I've grown distant from Reina, and somehow even Moxy, Amelia and Ophelia just because of the distance.'

His mind plagued with such thoughts, Raven never realized that the party was already at Aran's castle and that the soldiers were leading them further in through the garden lined with blue rose bushes on both sides. Eventually, however, as the main gates of the massive stone castle were pushed open, he was brought back to his senses and lifted his head to look to the front.

A grand castle laden with sapphire tiles and a deep blue carpet that ran down the steps was the first image of the place reflected in his gaze. Walking in behind the soldiers, a chiming chandelier loomed overhead. Its clear crystals with sapphire stoned at the ends, enticed the witch the most as it reminded her of her true skin.

"The first right door from the stairs," brought to their senses–all of them, the party were shown the path but they had to make the tread themselves. After all, the soldiers had sensed that something was wrong since their king never returned but these guests did, thus whatever talk they would have with the council, these men wanted no part of it.

Instead, rushing out of the castle as soon as Raven and his companions took a few steps up the staircase, those men were ready to abandon ship just as their late king had advised them to as cowards. As for the guests? The council will decide their fate, or perhaps it will be the guests who take the reigns? Either way, the dragoness and the goddess were both curious as to how things were about to be played.