Draven Zane finished a part of his task of coming to the forest surrounding the kingdom Veland. Draven used to feel remorse after hurting people. But now, he felt nothing. He chose the path of vengeance and feelings weren't going to stand in his way.
He couldn't care less about the bodies on the ground. He just turned back to get what he wanted. What he wanted was in the carriage. The horses were still neighing frantically yet they could not break the chains that shackled them to the carriage.
One would expect ethereals, jewelry, or something that could change a man's life to be inside the carriage. What was inside when Draven opened the door was a young girl with her hands and legs tied and a thick dirty cloth in her mouth to prevent her from making a sound.
Despite the bruises, mud, and blood on her face, Draven could tell the dark-haired girl might be the same age as him or a couple of years younger. Last month Draven turned twenty-five. Birthdays were a big thing in Etheria. Draven used to have a blast with his family on his birthdays. Now every time he thought about birthdays, he could see the blood of his family.
"What are you looking at? Take the girl and get the chud out of here"
An otherworldly demonic voice sounded in Draven's head,
Ignoring the voice in his head, Draven dragged the girl towards him by her legs. The girl was unconscious hence she did not move a muscle.
With the girl in his arms, he closed his eyes. He felt the wings. All of a sudden, his jacket was torn as the two feathery wings came out of his back ripping his back muscles.
"ARGH!" he growled in pain. Compared to the pain in his heart, the pain of his back getting ripped open by the wings seemed puny.
"Red?"
When he spread opened the wings, he noticed the wings were crimson red, not as white as the Pigeon's.
With a flap of his newly gained red wings, he took off from the ground like a bullet out of a gun. The force of the flap startled the horses once again. They neighed as loud as they could. But soon, the forest became silent again.
Draven was soaring through the puffy clouds. Flying wasn't new to him as he used to have flight ability until the UFH took all his superpowers away and sent him to the void.
He was flying for hours and his wings finally started to ache.
"I told you we absorb someone else with better abilities"
The voice inside his head belonged to Margoth, one of the Elden gods, at least he was claiming him to be one. As far as Draven was concerned, Margoth was a parasite that occasionally gave him advantages and constantly nagged him about going on a killing spree.
"In case you haven't caught up with reality, we are not in the void anymore. We are in Etheria where a run of the mill thief could kill us in a heartbeat" Draven said out loud,
A black smoke emerged from within Draven and took the shape of a snake with two curved horns on its head.
"In case you haven't caught up, we killed a clown and three maggots whom you called threats" Margoth hissed,
"It took two months of preparation and a whole lot of luck on our side. As you said, the pigeon was a clown but the other heroes are not"
"You were a so-called hero and look where it brought you" Margoth snickered. Whenever Draven took a break from killing and absorbing souls, Margoth would get so grumpy and be a bitch.
"And you were an Elden god. Now sticking to me and sucking souls like a parasite"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" Margoth's shout sounded as loud as thunderclaps. The next moment, his wings disappeared as she started to fall down.
"Damn it!" Draven shouted,
"Apologize!" Margoth shouted back,
"This is not the time for your temper tantrum Margoth!" while free falling, he yelled at Margoth. Since Draven had a lot of practice free falling from the sky, he kept the girl in his arms without dropping her. From this height, if he let her go, she would be a human omelet by the time she hit the ground.
"If I die, you die"
Margoth and Draven looked down to see the stone query getting bigger and bigger.
"Sorry" Draven yelled as his wings appeared again. He shot out into the air again creating a powerful wave of blast on the ground.
Draven flew for another fifteen minutes before he saw the entrance to his hideout. His current hideout was located in the forest of Kingdom Veland.
He found this hideout when he was fighting Mercian, an Enhanced human born with super intelligence and a knack for experimenting with creatures such as bats, rats, and other rodents. With the help of his intelligence, he turned himself into a hybrid of a bat and rat and the UFH called him 'The Brat'.
The waterfall in the middle of the lush green forest could mesmerize anyone with its beauty but Draven. He lost his ability to enjoy nature's beauty a long time ago. The only emotion he showed was the thirst for revenge.
As he got closer to the waterfall, he flapped his wings and soared through the waterfall. The gust of water splashed across the girl's face and brought her back from her unconscious state.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. The cave wasn't as fancy as some heroes have. Although the cave was very spacious, Draven kept only a few things. There was a round oak table in the center which was illuminated by the light coming through the crack in the cave's ceiling. Beside the table was a board with several drawings attached to it.
In the corner was a bed, a campfire to make meals, and a broken family portrait near the bed. Draven put the girl on his bed, went to the round table, and placed the bows and arrows he looted from the triplets.
He leaned on the table looking at the board containing his targets.
"What are you saying? Can we go absorb their souls? Otherwise, your soul is starting to look real juicy" Margoth's smokey figure appeared in front of him,
"I still don't understand why we need this girl" Margoth looked at the girl, licking his lips.
"That girl is going to find us souls, powerful souls," Draven coldly said.
He then stared at the five question marks on the board in front of him,
"Anyone who stands in my way this time, dies"