Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 507: Finding Rhythm

Nightsilver, Raven could for the first time feel his soul burning inside of him. It had no consciousness of its own, no life, no thought–nothing at all, and yet somehow it drove his hatred towards Arche which in turn made him snap her neck. But now, once everything had settled and the queen had calmed as well, he walked into the balcony of his room and leaning against the ledge cast his gaze up that tall mountain range.

’I need to get Monty to check that place and find more information on the heroes and the royals before we can go there…’ Planning his next moves, he wanted to emphasize caution and that brought him to the next question swirling around in his head. Turning his head to the balcony next to his, he saw a deep red light bleeding out the window. ’Mercedes, I need to find out more about her. Her intentions and why she’s helping beyond the monetary reasons.’

Someone had to keep an eye on her, but if Monty was gone uphill then who could it be? At first, he thought it could be him, but given the fae nature of the warlock’s pact, Raven knew he couldn’t risk it as his presence would easily be sensed by another fairy’s presence.

’If not Monty then…’ Thinking some more about his allies in Athenia, the thought of Robin and Tia slipped inside his head. The blessed of the goddess who could command animals, what better volunteer can there be? Especially when the window was the perfect place for a lark to sit on. ’Tweety, was it? The bird Robin has…She can work wonders if we can convince the crossdresser to come along with us for a while.’

Not entirely sure if he can convince the ex-royalty, Raven held back on that thought for until he was already in Athenia and had convinced Monty to go along with his deal. In the meantime, he simply looked out the balcony and admired the light of the moon glistening off the canal and illuminating the city with sparse use of lamps.

Much quieter than Athenia, the city slept much earlier and woke up early as well. However, it still possessed that welcoming feeling that wrapped anyone who walked through the city in a warm and comforting hug. That is what he’d deduced so far, but much like Athenia, Raven couldn’t discount that the corrupt lurks in the dark.

As if to illustrate that exact point, his eyes tracked someone pacing inside a dark alley. Clad in a tall coat and shivering from the cold as he walked, the demi-human man was lying in obvious wait for someone. Had it not been for the mage’s dark vision, the man would’ve gone unnoticed, and even though he wasn’t, there was no real reason for Raven to meddle in whatever he was doing.

After a while of watching the man, he noticed yet another demi-human with white furry ears walk up to the man and shake hands with him. Growing curious, Raven leaned forward with his eyes glued to the two, and as they began walking in the other direction, he almost left off the inn to follow right behind them. But before he could, he heard the door to the balcony behind him creep open.

Turning around, he saw Moxy dressed in a gown with sleep heavily reflected in her gaze. Yawning she joined him at the ledge and after simply glancing around, the fox-girl looked at him and asked.

”You should rest, what if you lose consciousness again?” Worried that he might fall off the ledge if that were to happen, Moxy reached for Raven’s hand and gripped it firmly. ”I heard it’s been happening to you for a while, losing consciousness and all, why don’t you just put a pause to this whole journey thing for a while?”

”A pause?” Looking at her as well, Raven thought about her question for a few seconds before replying with a light chuckle. ”The demon lord’s army, his generals, none of them are taking a pause, and who knows how much more powerful they’ll get if I decide to take things easy?”

Squeezing his hand even harder, Moxy pursed her lips before letting out a tired sigh.

”Everyone needs rest, you know? I’m sure even the last hero, Nightsilver–even he must’ve taken breaks before taking down the demon lord with him,” her words, although laced with the best intentions, grew concern from Raven some more.

empire

Even still, he could feel his soul burning from the inside and that part of Nightsilver was keeping him anxious and simply wouldn’t let him rest. It was almost as if the events of recent days had hypercharged that corruptive soul of another person inside of him, and like the body fighting a pathogen, his soul was fighting that of Nightsilver’s.

”I don’t see the world burning right now, if anything it’s been pretty calm even in the ocean…” Moxy’s words had some truth to them, but relying on luck and waiting for tragedy to strike before doing anything? Raven couldn’t do that, the thought alone reminded him of Lilith–the young girl whose life could’ve been saved from the parasite had she and they been more proactive in healing her ailment.

”I know what you mean, Moxy but the world isn’t just what you see,” placing his hand on top of hers, Raven moved it off of him. ”The people who are suffering and praying for a savior, I don’t think most of them can wait a day or two more until I’m all ready and rested.”

Taking a step away from the fox-girl, Raven reached into his shirt to take out the teleportation necklace. Grabbing it tight within his fingers, he looked at Moxy with a smile and said.

”I’ll be back soon, need more heroes to help me with this because believe me, I can’t do it alone especially not without someone like you worrying about me,” not worrying for himself, Raven knew that he needed someone to define his limits for him, and being an outsider to battles, there was no better person to do it that the dreamy-eyed fox-girl in front of him.

”If I didn’t love you so much, I would’ve punched you for leaving me every time I want you to stay…” Replied the fox, smiling back with a chuckle of her own.

With a shared nod between the two, Raven was off to Athenia to get the rest of the required crew.