**There will be some mild-ish violence, blood, gore, and such in this chapter so be mindful if you continue.**
Roman was falling behind her, "Daliah wait!" He exclaimed as he tried his best to keep up. Without warning Daliah stopped and turned around to face the shore, then just as quickly as she stopped, she disappeared with a Lightening fast, burst of speed; Roman's mouth fell open in shock. "Rr...Rom..an!" He was snapped out of it when he heard her yell out his name and he immediately ran towards the shore.
*Calian's POV* As Calian was slowly assessing the scene along the edge of the port, he occassionally turn to look over to Thalia who was desperately trying to keep her dinner down. The waves, softly crashing against the shore near him. *sigh* "It's okay to give in you know? We were all new once," He stated casually as he walked forward, looking towards the damp ground. The sun was finally coming fully over the horizon and the full casualties of the port came to light. There were many bodies of people young and old scattered on the port and dangling down from the pier as they desperately tried to escape. *cough cough* Thalia ran towards the treeline and vomited. Calian shook his head lightly, 'Poor girl..I knew she would be too green for one of Revna's hunches..*sigh* I was just hoping I was wrong this time,' he thought to himself before crouching down to retrieve something he noticed sticking out from the sand. As he got closer he realized it was a mangled, cuff bracelet with part of a crest barely visible; poking through the sand.
"Hmm..this kind of looks..familiar.." As he went to stand *GAH* he clutched the left side of his head and groaned in pain. 'What the heck!' He thought to himself after the pain subsided. He stood back up and dusted himself off, and pocketed the mangled piece of bracelet. He then made his way over to Thalia who was splashing water on her reddened face. 'Geez that was embarrassing..I hope I don't get kicked out for this..' She thought as she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "Hey" she was startled when she looked over and realized how close he had gotten. 'I-I didn't even hear-' "Hey Thalia, are you listening? Death isn't easy for anyone. The only reason we can manage is because, we have all personally witnessed worse. Be mindful, it will only get worse once we all meet back up at the the entrance. This is only the start of this mission, and if you don't feel like you can stomach the scenes, Revna will take no issue with you staying back. She understands, you just have to tell her yourself, got it?" She nodded then stood up from her crouched position and sighed deeply, "I wasn't expecting this-this much..DEATH. From the details we were given about the mission, I thought we could handle something a little more difficult and since we are running low on money, I figured it would be worth it for us.." she trailed off.
Calian stood quietly as she explained. "Before *shudder* ..before coming here; with Roman, we just took any small job from the mission board at the inn and elsewhere around town, nothing violent at all. I know he would sometimes take his own jobs so we could have more money, but..I don't know I just-" *POP! CREAK!* There was suddenly a loud popping sound followed by a low but loud creaking, and without hesitation Calian ran over to Thalia, grabbed her, and jumped as far as he could out of the way, just narrowly avoiding a large tree that was falling towards them. "What the f-" He put his hand up to keep her from talking. "Hush..I don't sense anyone here with us, but whoever did this, knew there would be people coming to this area." He release her and walked over to the part of the tree trunk that was still rooted in the ground. "Stay here," she nodded as Calian jogged over towards the tree, then jumped ontop of it, '..they must have used some sort of explosive to get a burn like this.' Once he reached the end of the trunk, he hopped off and inspected the charred bark. He ran his fingers along it, pausing every few seconds. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes; focusing on the tree.
Thalia watch from the bank, as Calian carefully walked around. 'They all seem so..calm about this whole thing.. I can't even fathom how that's possible..or really I guess-I guess I can never understand how much they have had to go through to get here..' She thought as she grabbed either side of her sweater as she hugged herself. 'I mean, I can see that Revna has the scar on her face, I know I saw more on her hands and the bit of her neck that was exposed..and Calian, he has the big scar across the bridge of his nose, and I saw a deep one on the part of his exposed chest..I know that must have caused-' *Creak...* Thalia was pulled from her thoughts as she heard a low creaking sound coming from somewhere near her location. She looked over to Calian, who had made his way further in the trees; seemingly unaware of the noise she just heard. As she was thinking whether she should go tell him or wait like he said, she felt a tingle run down her back which was all the warning she needed, as she quickly ran towards him, she felt like someone was watching from a close distance. "Calian wait! Don't go that way!" She exclaimed as she ran as fast as she could on the damp sand, then the plush grass further away from the shore.
*Later* "This is where we were supposed to meet right?" Roman asked Thalia who had her arms wrapped around herself; she nodded shakily, "C-Calian s-said he would be right-right behind me..." Roman looked around and finally saw Calian and Dahliah coming towards then. Dahliah had a scrape on her knee and a larger scrape on her forearm and Calian had soot on his shirt. "Oh no, D-Dahliah, what happened?" Thalia asked as she walked over to her. "Have either of you seen Revna?" Calian asked in a stern tone, which startled the other two, "No, we haven't." *Rustle* There was a rustling sound coming from the trees behind them. Roman stood in an attack ready stance, but Dahliah put her hand up in a dismissive manner. 'It's just Revna's eyes,' she signed which resulted in a snicker from Calian as they looked at Roman and Thalia's confused faces. Dahliah smile then whistled a short 3 times and as she did, there was another rustling sound followed by a large raven coming through the trees and passing by the others.
They were taken aback and followed the path of the raven, and couldn't believe their eyes when they saw Revna, seemingly appear out of thin air, just in time for the raven to land on her arm. She clicked her tongue at the bird and scruffed its neck feathers. "What did you find?" She asked, as she removed her hood and re-adjusted the raven to perch on her shoulder. "We found some traps left by them in the wooden area near the shore. They used some sort of explosive; I'm not sure if it was timed or if it was triggered by something specific. Thalia saved my foot from being blasted actually. When I looked closer, there were traps along the floor; hidden away by leaves. I'll show you the rest." Revna nodded and Calian walked forward, ran his hand down the birds head and neck then placed his hand on her shoulder.
Roman and Thalia looked on curiously, as they remained linked by touch and silently looked at eachother. 'Wow, I didn't realize the height difference until not. Not only is he in shape, but he is also pretty tall; taller than Roman amyways,' Thalia thought to herself. As she was about to ask a question, they broke apart the link and Dahliah walked over. 'We were investigating and I found a weird indention in the land. The air felt different and when I got over to the edge of the cliff something attacked me. It grabbed my leg and I ended up falling down the cliff a bit until Roman saved me. I think someone might have used a residual spirit as a trap.' She signed to Revna, then just like Calian before, Dahliah stroked the birds head and put her hand on Revna's shoulder.
"Do you know what they're doing Thali?" She shook her head and whispered back, "I don't know but whatever it is, don't you think they look super cool but also like a love tria-" "I am going to stop you right there. There are things you can wonder about, but keep to yourself. Have respect for those who are around you," Revna interrupted. "I-I I'm s-" She put her hand up to stop Thalia from continuing. Shortly after Daliah removed her hand and walked to stand near Calian. "Come," Thalia shuddered slightly and walked cautiously to Revna as she commanded. The raven who was perched on her shoulder arched it's neck and drew its wings back, making it appear larger. "Frode needs your hand." Thalia looked over to Revna confused. "F-frode?? Like road but with an F??" Revna was not amused and continued to stand there. "Frr-ode!" Thalia was taken aback after the raven spoke its own name. "It means wise, now-give Frode your hand." She did as she was told and reached her hand out towards Frode who nudged his head under her hand, "now touch my shoulder then close your eyes." She did as she was told and gasped just moments after touching Revna's shoulder.
*In Thalia's mind* Different pictures and flashes of Thalia's memory were swirling around her head. "Thalia..focus on the shore.." she heard an echoing of Revna's voice then she focused her thought to earlier events. She saw images, like short video clips, flashing by in her mind. She saw when her and Calian has just gotten to the shore, she saw the blood dripping off the person's arm into the water, she saw the blood of children covering the pier, the internal organs of others. "Hey, focus..What caused you to alert Calian?.." She stopped as she tried to remember what she saw and heard. Calian ran into the trees and she once again felt the fear then heard something that startled her. She looked back and saw what resembled a fading silhouette of a person. 'I-I don't remember seeing that before..' She thought to herself. As she tried to move forward towards the shape, she felt her body pulling her to the direction of Calian. She heard herself yell out for him, then remembered the loud *BANG* she heard just after. Her heart rate and her feet sped up, trying to push her to Calian faster.
Everything around her looked like a colorless blur. 'What is this..?' As she was racing towards Calian, she heard a secondary *POP* as she went towards the original sound. "What was that sound Thalia?" She was startled and made herself stop in her place. "It-it came from..that direction.." she mumbled out loud. When she looked in that direction she couldn't see anything, then a quick flash of light temporarily blinded her. 'Ugh, the sun must have come out from behind and I didn't notice...' When she looked up she remembered that the sun still had yet to reach that high in the sky. "Did you feel any pain after the light?" Thalia was confused, "N-no I.." As she answered no, she remembered that she felt like an ant or other small bug, bit her on the shoulder. "Go to Calian.." She nodded and did as Revna commanded. She began yelling out and running full speed towards Calian, inadvertently knocking him to the ground just as a sharp branch whipped towards his head. They both remained still on the ground and Thalia blinked and was startled that she was standing in front of Revna and Frode. "Wh-" *urk* before Thalia could utter a word she felt the urge to vomit and ran as ran to the side as fast as she could.
"What did you do to my cousin?" Roman asked in a threatening tone as he walked forward towards Revna with his hand open and ready to grab her throat. Calian and Dahliah immediately moved to stop him but Revna put her hand up as his hand made contact with her throat, squeezing down ever so slightly. "Be careful of your next move," she warned. The tone of her voice notified the others that she would handle this and they relaxed themselves. The rage just increased in Roman's eyes and the same instant that he tightened his hand around her throat, he was frozen in place, his eyes opened wide. 'Wh-what is this? It f-feels so c-cold..and so-so..heavy..am I about to..die..?' He thought to himself. "What you're feeling now is not even a quarter of my full aura. You may be angry, but that is no excuse to do something as foolish as attempting to physically harm someone in your guild, let alone the leader of this mission." Revna's voice was low and was seeping out as a growel between clench teeth.
As the seconds went by, Roman realeased her throat and was brought down to his knees, Thalia was lying on the ground with her hands covering her ears, and Calian and Thalia were doing their best to remain unfazed; they both had small beads of sweat pooling on their face. Then, just as easily as she exposed her aura, she returned back to her normal state, dissipating the intense cold and thick air around them, allowing everyone to recover from her show of ability. "Don't test me. That was your one and only strike Roman Alec Willett." Roman was still on his knees, almost gasping for breath, but when he heard that name, 'H-how does she know that-how can she know my birth name?! I haven't used it since I was a child,' he stopped moving entirely. "Calian, Dahliah, follow me. You two, stay." Revna demanded and all they could do was weakly nod.
"Well now that it's over, shall we start??" Revna nodded to Calian who removed a small dagger from his belt. He made a small slice on his finger and Revna reached out her hand so he could do the same. She then dripped her blood into the pier along with Calian's. "Come forth," she summoned and within moments, a shadowy figured appeared from the pier. "You ready?" Calian nodded and the shadowy figured walked over to him, them merged with his own body. *cough cough* He shook his head to clear his mind and get acquainted to the feeling. "Show me what happened.." As her voice trailed off, Calian began to walk towards the end of the pier, then he stopped. He was facing the opposite end of the port, then he slowly turned to "look" behind him. His eyes remained closed, he opened his mouth like he was speaking then turned back to the front. After putting his arms down he reached behind his back as if un-sheathing pair of weapons. Revna stood aside watching intently as Calian once again turned and faced the now desolate pier. He lowered his stance then, as quickly as Dahliah blinked, he had the non existent weapons in either of his hands and he his attack. His movements were swift and his feet were light on the ground. As he reached his arm up to swing, Revna noticed the bodies lining up in the same pattern of his attack. He brought his arm down and below his reach lie a lifeless body of a shop owner.
He moved swiftly from left to right, with every swing, there was another beaten and bloodied body. Calians movements never stopped, he never hesitated, even as he came across a group of young children and a small dog. The dog seemed to be the first to bear the brunt of the attack and the children followed shortly after; everyone of them having a gaping head wound, causing their blood to pool around their young bodies. Calian had moved about halfway through the pier and Revna noticed that there were many bodies that were trapped by the rubble of the small shops and stalls. Just as she was wondering what happened, Calian looked to have thrown the weapons down and he then leapt into the air with both of his hands locked together in fists, swung his arms backwards, and used tremendous force to hit the shops which caused them to collapse. As Revna stood watching, she clenched her jaw and was becoming more noticably angry. As Calian moved forward to the last collection of rubble and bodies he paused and turned behind him, almost as if he was talking with someone. After pausing, he bent down and pulled another weapon out of the area near his boot and quickly launched himself towards the others, doing fast slashing motions. After he stopped slashing he looked down at his feet, where an elderly couple, a teen, and another young child lie in a large pool of blood. They were seemingly the last to suffer from his attacks, but their deaths were potentially the slowest. They had some marks on their hands, necks, and face, that were visible.
After standing there catching his breath, Calian moved the weapons to his face and rubbed the weapon along his face, with an eerie smile. He looked at all the carnage and destruction he caused and seemed pleased. He lifted his arms into the air once more, then simultaneously pulled them towards his body and crouched to the floor. *GASP- COUGH COUGH* Calian opened his eyes and clutched his chest as he tried to catch his breath. "Did *pant pant* did you get what you *cough* needed?" "Yes, thank you for allowing me to utilize your abilities," Revna said in a cold tone. "Did you manage to identify anything about the murderer?" Calian nodded, "Aside from the fact there were 2 of them, I think I can identify at least one of them. *pant pant* I saw the murderers hair flutter across my eyes and when I turned towards my back, I saw who was waiting with a horrified look on his face; it was Norin." *Cough cough* Revna sighed deeply and walked over to help Calian. "Looks like we need to go back sooner than expected. Gather anything useful and we will leave soon." He nodded and walked over to Dahliah. 'What a messed up time..why are you showing your face here already Fian?' She thought to herself as she looked to the sky and shook her head. "What a day.."