They always came when I least expected them.
Flashes.
Brief flashes of that place.
I bit my teeth and tried to keep my trembling down as not to wake Yna.
I tried contacting Kenos, but he wouldn't respond.
I had access to his memories at this point, but there was no way I was going back there.
I needed time.
Time to gather the strength required to see whatever the fuck caused Kenos to have such a twisted mind.
I bit my teeth while desperately hoping for sleep because even though sleep didn't make the screams go away, at least I'd be mostly unconscious.
.
..
A week had passed since our encounter with Joha and his men and Coh was far more silent than usual.
Yna, her student Han and I stood on the northern wall and awaited any hints of change or danger.
I squeezed my small hands as I ran through every possible situation that I could think of.
If the Blood Ravens killed Yna, there was the chance that they'd leave Coh alone.
If Yna managed to defeat them, by some miracle, the Grandmaster would make an appearance and that would surely end in the total destruction of Coh.
If…
I had no answers.
The only thing we could do is resist as we awaited the inevitable, whatever that ended up being.
Fortunately or unfortunately for us, I was the host of darkness and although my offensive capabilities were almost non existent, I could conjure up all sorts of defensive tactics.
I wanted to trap the Blood Ravens and Yna in a Dark Hurricane, like before. This would undoubtedly attract attention, but what choice did I have?
Yna must have seen me sifting through my thoughts because she walked behind me and gently wrapped me in her arms.
Did it stop me from overthinking? No.
Did it feel good? Yes.
Farin and the others were in the throne room.
They'd been living there for quite some time since I knew they wouldn't be safe once Golden Knight started clashing.
Wait a minute!
The same could be said for me!
I looked at my arms and saw that they were covered in Dark Marks.
I kept forgetting to visit the Foph and ask for their healers.
My heart began beating much faster as I envisioned the many ways I could die.
One way would be if I used too much darkness and my body turned into a dark effigy. A crystallized remnant of the goat that once was.
Another would be if the Blood Ravens slaughtered everyone in Coh.
My breaths quickly grew frantic and I found myself holding Yna's hand.
I looked up to find that eyes were… flashing?
She looked at me with a new expression.
One that I didn't recognize.
An awkward smile then appeared on her face as her eyes twitched.
"What's wrong?" She asked, but I didn't really wanna deal with her weirdness and so I returned my gaze to the treeline north of Coh.
"Ah." Yna sounded.
"They're here."
I nodded before facing Han, who, although visibly anxious, stood by our side.
"Remember, you owe me nothing. None of you. If Yna and I don't make it back, wait until the coast is clear and go back home." I said.
Han opened his mouth and it seemed as though he wanted to say something, but he bit his teeth, bowed and jumped off of the wall and made his way to the waterfall.
I returned my attention to the treeline.
My eyes widened slightly and my heart fell as I saw seven Golden Knights only adoring their armour were beautiful silky red fringes.
They all also wielded large golden lances that looked like if someone stuck Yna's sword onto a golden staff.
Yna grabbed me and a certain sword before jumping out of Coh.
We then cautiously approach the incoming legion.
I noticed that none of them had horses.
Had they walked all they way here?
Yna stopped about twenty meters away from the knights, who also stopped.
One of them walked up and removed his intricate golden helmet, revealing the face of a man with pure white hair and golden eyes.
He had a sturdy white moustache which complement his strong features and heavy brow.
Yna gently placed me down and blankly stared at the man I assumed was the captain of the Blood Ravens.
"My goodness. Those idiots weren't lying." The knight said.
I gasped upon noticing that he had a rather saddened expression.
"Yna… you have no idea how long I waited for the day when we could one day speak." He said, but Yna simply crossed her arms.
"You guys are here to kill her right?" I asked.
The Captain looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, strange little goat boy. But to kill Red Death… I could never do that." He said before dropping his helmet and plopping onto the dry grass.
"So… can we have a chat?" The Captain asked.
Yna looked at me, but all I could do was shrug.
Yna walked towards the captain and sat in front of him as he gawked at her.
The two then stared each other for a while and I could tell that even Yna didn't know how to respond to the captain.
"What do you want to talk about, Nel?"
"For you to remember my name…" Nel said with wide eyes.
"What happened to you after the Dragon King burnt most Rendaya?" He asked.
"I hid. His flames were quite far from here, but I didn't wanna take any chances."
"Is that so? Well, you'll be surprised to hear that the battle didn't end well for the King and his son. Oh, speaking of which, he's awake." Nel said.
"Yeah, we know."
"Yeah." Nel said before silence filled the air.
"You know, not too many people can say they almost single handily caused the extinction of a species. That, among many other reasons, is why I admire you, Red Death."
I looked at Yna and saw that her eyes had dulled and her head was lowered.
"What's this? Is that shame? No. There should be nothing but pride in your heart. I loved your work so much that I requested that out legion's name be changed to the Red Ravens, but the high priests denied my request." Nel said with a disgruntled face.
Yna took a deep breath before looking into Nel's eyes, which hadn't glowed at all since he arrived.
"So what now? I'm sure you didn't come all the way here just to talk."
"Ah, but that's the thing. I did. Old man Ranak said I should quickly kill you and return home, but that'd be boring and I love- respect you, so putting you down is off the table!" Nel said before his face stiffened.
"That being said, this is a once in a lifetime moment. So, after we finish our chat, we will battle and I will spare you. Then I'll go back and say that you escaped somehow." He said.
"I- thank you." Yna said before trying to bow, but-
"No! Red Death bows to no one!" Nel snapped.
He quickly composed himself before raising his index finger.
"I also want to give you a warning: the Golden Prince has awoken and by the will of Summus, he will rebuild Lanceberg. Those are the High Priestess's words. He plans on harvesting resources from Rendaya to make Lanceberg the great kingdom it was before the war. This puts you directly in his path and knowing you, you'll probably kill anyone who approaches this…" Nel glanced at Coh.
"Home that you've made for yourself."
"What do you suggest we do?" I asked.
"Prepare. Fight until the bitter end. Hopefully we meet again on the battlefield and the only death I will accept will be the one you give me, Red Death." Nel said before bowing.
"Anyway, enough of the gloom and doom. What even is this place? Also, what happened to all the Darkness in the Dark Expanse?"
"This place is my sanctuary, Coh and it was I who absorbed all of the darkness."
"Oh? Impressive. Umm… could you show me around a little after captain Yna and I spar?" Nel asked, but I frowned at this.
"Don't worry- err…"
"Katsíki."
"Yes. Anything I see or learn will not be shared with anyone. I swear." Nel said while placing his hand above his heart.
"F- Fine. Although I feel as though you weren't giving us much of a choice." I said, but Nel shook his head.
"No. If captain Yna tells me to leave, I'll leave. Well, not until after we've sparred. That will happen whether you like it or not." He said.
I looked at Yna and saw that her eyes were still dull.
"Well?" I asked.
"Fine." Yna said.
"Good. Now, I'll have to ask that you step back, little Katsíki. I can see that you mean something to the captain and I would not like to accidentally hurt you."
I nodded before slowly backing away as both Yna and Nel stood.
"Men!" Nel barked and two of his men walked towards him.
They then grabbed his arms before detaching the plates of armour around them. This revealed that Ne was wearing a dark grey skin tight bodysuit.
His men carefully placed the pieces down before taking his lance and removing his chest plate. This revealed even more of Nel's body.
Not only was he as tall Yna, he was several times more muscular.
He then hopped out of his golden leggings and his men hurriedly returned to formation with his gear.
Yna offered me the Black Blade, which floated towards me.
"Haha! I'm so fucking excited!" Nel said with a genuinely excited expression.
"Language, sir."
One of Nel's men said prompting the entire legion to burst out into chuckles.
"I will rip off all of your heads. Now, stop trying to embarrass me in front of the captain." Nel said with a smirk.
He then raised his fists and assumed a battle ready stance.
Yna did the same and almost immediately after, a bright flash bathed everything in sight.
My vision returned to me and I saw that Nel standing in front of Yna.
His hands were firmly wrapped around hers.
He then loudly chuckled before head-butting her forehead, causing her to jerk backwards, but he didn't let go.
Instead, as Yna fell to her knees, Nel kicked her in the face, sending a few of her teeth flying out of mouth.
A surge of pure terror and hatred welled up within me, but before I could even blink, a bright flash bathed the land again and maybe due to my anger, I saw exactly what was happening.
It looked like Yna was moving to fast, she released a burst of light.
She jerked herself free from Nel's grasp before punching him several times in the chest, causing several bits of it to collapse inward.
Nel spat out some blood before smacking Yna in the face with the back of his hand.
His eyes then began glowing and the surrounding area was filled with an intense heat.
He grabbed Yna's hair as she fell to side, but just as he raised his fist to punch her, Yna punch his left knee, forcing the entire joint backwards.
"Ah!" Nel cried as the air got incredibly hotter.
He still had a hold of Yna's hair and so he punched her in the face before smacking her face into the ground.
"HAAAA!" Nel roared as his hair burnt brightly.
Gigantic flares of light came from his body as he knelt over Yna's unmoving body.
He then raised his hands over more, but before he could move, a flash of light temporarily blinded me.
My vision returned to me and I saw two Blood Ravens holding both of Nel's arms.
The red fringes on their armours were instantly burnt off by Nel's intense light.
"Haha! That's enough, old man." One of the knights said before dislocating his right arm.
"Yeah! That was epic just to see." The other said before doing the same thing Nel's other arm.
Nel then fell to the side as his hair slowly stopped glowing.
The flares slowly died down, but even though the air around Nel was boiling, I ran to Yna and turned her over to find that her face had been beaten so that that chunks of her flesh loosely hung from her head.