The Raven's POV-Chapter 38: I f*cked up

Rowayne thought that the figure wouldn’t be able to reach him if he had the higher ground.

"You really don’t think that will save you do you?"

The figure’s arm changed, making grotesque sounds

Crunch.

Sound of bone crushing could be heard loud and clear even from afar

Crunch. Crunch. Squench!.

The arm transformed into a mantis scythe, the figure then proceeded to mutilate his own tentacles, chopping them one by one

After cutting off all its tentacles that were caught by the hands, it retracted other tentacles in it body

It arm reverted from the scythe to an human arm, or elf arm, or a vampire’s. It was pale white and smooth, it was hard to tell the difference with three species having similar body structure.

"What makes you think I can not hurt you if you go up?."

Its voice echoed across the realm, the tremors were slowly becoming more and more apparent making the figure annoyed.

It did not know what was causing the tremor, so he would rather end this farce before anything happen

With that thought in mind. He looked up, his eyes met Rowayne’s

"look carefully, this is how you use the authority"

His tattered cloak flowed with the wind, his face once visible, was obscured in the hood of his robe. Only his glowing eyes could be seen, six in number.

Then something poked out of his cloak, it was wings, a pair of wings grew from its back, they were feathery, dyed in the color of darkness, then two more pairs grew, then three more pairs.

The figure now had 12 jet black wings, they were massive, comically so for the small figure , the pairs flapped alternatively, lifting the figure from the ground.

The figure shot up, faster and faster, breaking the speed barrier. It stopped mid flight, and stared down at Rowayne

Rowayne immediately placed his hands on the giant palm he was standing on, more and more hands emerged from the ground

Headed for the largest hand; the one on which Rowayne was standing on, forming a dome like enclosure.

"You think that is enough?."

The figure repeated.

all of the figure’s wings folded, two at a time and then unfolded.

This repeated motion caused feathers to detach from the wings, the wings that lost the feathers regenerated them instantly.

Meanwhile the detached feathers floated in the sky

The figure point at Rowayne.

"Go"

All the floating feathers spun, their pointy tip toward the location the figure pointed at– at Rowayne.

And they downwards, towards Rowayne at explosive speed

The Feathers hit like railguns, eradicating chunks of their target.

The figure kept producing more and more feathers for bombardment and the bombardment continued.

At first the hands endured, but slowly they lost ground, many arms were severed at wrists and fell to ground, or on top of other hands.

A single feather managed to squeeze through the gaps of the enclosure, hitting Rowayne on the shoulder.

It exploded because of the sheer momentum it carried, taking Rowayne’s shoulder with it.

"Are you really this weak?"

Figure’s tone betrayed hint of confusion, while Rowayne was clutching his shoulders– whatever was left of it

The wound bled profusely.If bleeding did not stop, Rowayne would die from blood loss.

"This can’t be!?, you shouldn’t be here, not this early."

The voice sounded... worried?.

Figure shot towards Rowayne, any hand that interfered was cut down.

The figure reached Rowayne, landed on the palm Rowayne was standing on.

Its wings retracted back into its body.

It stepped forward slowly.

Lifted Rowayne’s chin by one finger, its 6 eyes met 2 of Rowayne’s.

And they glowed, as if indicating a connection.

"Show me!"

They stood in the motion for minutes, before the figure let go of Rowayne’s chin.

A wave of its hand healed Rowayne back to health, his injuries disappearing as if never existed in the first place.

It clutched its head in frustration.

"An oversight, a minor oversight!"

"Is this how I lose, over a single variable?, 15 YEARS, I SPENT 15 YEARS RUNNING AND YOU ARE TELLING ME THIS IS HOW WE DIE? PATHETIC SO FUCKING PATHETIC!"

it screamed, clawing its own face in despair.

"It was perfect, it was supposed to be perfect, no. It HAD to be perfect"

"Is this supposed to be my fate?, am I simply meant to be a vessel?."

Its voice grew meeker and weary...

"Everything I did, In the end... was for nothing."

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

He then broke out of his stupor and looked at Rowayne

"You-"

Rowayne braced himself, the Figure did not appear to be in its right mind, he expected physical abuse. Only to get

"I am sorry"

An apology...?.

"If I had been more thorough you would have lived longer. I thought I would be better than ’him’, but it seems we are no different. Figures I am but ’his’ imitation after all, ’his’ avatar. It was foolish to believe I could win, that I could prove that I am different from countless other avatars.

"In the end I am the same, I created you, just to plunge you into this unknown word, with only lies I guided you, and then left you and here we are."

"How am I any different from ’him’?"

Rowayne did not know what the figure was referring to, who was ’him?’ What’s an avatar?

And created? Did he not simply lose his memory? Was that all there was to it?.

So he simply asked,

"umm... what are you talking about"

"hm.. Right... how can I ask for forgiveness from someone who doesn’t even know my sins. What right do I have?"

"you can start by telling me..?"

"Will you forgive me?"

"That is for me to decide isn’t it?", Rowayne replied calmly

"Tell me your story, I assume you owe me that much"

The figure looked at Rowayne, blinked.

The extra eyes were gone, hood went down, revealing a face that looked identical to Rowayne.