"This is just a mall." Everette stared at the entrance to a humongous building covered in windows that seemed to have been mostly shattered.
Lynda just shrugged in response, "We need somewhere to keep the countless guests in, y'know." Everette wanted to argue but couldn't find fault in their logic.
They walked into the building before hearing something call out from behind, "Hey, is that you, Lynda?!" They all turned around in sync to find a man running towards them. The man approached them casually with a crowd behind him.
He wore some kind of feather cloak that draped over a fur armour he had under it. However, this caught Ada's eyes as she scrutinised his gear and made a little mental note to find someone to make her some armour.
"Oh hey! Did you just come back with some survivors?"
The man nodded and glanced over at them before teasing Lynda that she had only found four people on her outing.
"Oh, shush! These guys are the envoys of hundreds of people."
"I see... Well then, we should hurry to the centre of the mall."
With that, he began leading everyone towards the centre. Lynda ran up before asking:
"Hm? Can't they just explore or rest up a bit? Why the rush?"
The man raised an eyebrow, "Have you not heard? Raven is back! And with some troubling news as well."
"Is that so? Do you know what it is about?"
The man shook his head, "I have no idea. He just returned and told all the guests to be at the mall's centre."
***
After a bit of walking, they arrived to find a crowd numbering thousands cramped together at the centre and staring at an elevated wooden platform with a wall behind it. The group walked around the back before watching Lynda and her companions go to meet up with her fellow recruiters.
Everette snuck a glance at Ada to see her yawning before sneaking glances at the others. He looked towards Patrick and saw that he was shaking his cigarette box with a frustrated expression.
Jack was scratching his ear, a habit Everette discovered Jack to have when he was deep in thought. Amelia was trying to get a get view of the platform by standing on her tippy-toes before ultimately stumbling back into Jack - breaking him out of his stupor.
Alice seemed to be trembling due to being around so many people. It seemed that while she tended to be quite hospitable, she was quite unsocial.
Step! Step! Step!
Loud yet steady footsteps rang out into the mall. The creaking of the wooden platform grabbed everyone's attention and caused them to stare towards it.
The fluttering of a cape covered in feathers seemed to give off a sort of hazy effect that caused it to leave a faint afterimage. This caused some people to become dizzy while staring at it.
The owner of the cloak turned around towards the crowd. It was a man about 6ft5 in height with white hair that seemed to dangle a little bit on his forehead, as was a goatee.
Three parallel jagged scars stretched from his forehead to his chin, which left an intimidating first impression of the man in the crowd.
"Good morning, everyone; I am Crow, the leader of this settlement and faction. I apologise for disturbing your rest and for just being able to arrive yesterday, but I must make an urgent announcement."
The man, now identified as Crow, apologised before continuing with his announcement.
"I would like anyone with brown hair and eyes.... was that right, Raven?" He looked to the side to find a familiar 5ft11 man draped in a cloak similar to his, wearing a mask that only covered his mouth.
Raven gave a quiet nod before focusing his stare across the crowd. It seemed like he was looking for something.
Crow nodded before turning back to the crowd, "Could anyone with these features step out of the crowd and line up in an orderly line?"
As he was saying this, Everette, who was at the back of the crowd with his group, began to sweat profusely. He couldn't help but grind his teeth against the nail of his thumb with a grim expression.
'He remembered my features!' This thought that Raven could remember him back then couldn't help but cause his hands to tremble. He still remembers how Raven knocked out the beetle with a single swing, as did that mysterious bird of his.
He shot a look towards Raven, which went unnoticed. He looked towards Ada for instructions and noticed her displaying a serious expression. He saw her eyes dart around the mall to try and find a solution before sighing.
She looked to the side at him and grabbed his shoulder before pushing him down to his knees so he could hide behind the crowd.
Raven had his gaze lingering on Crow, who was helping those coming out of the crowd fall into a single-file line. From the corner of his eye, he saw a person quickly falling down with the help of somebody's arm.
His eyes drifted towards their general direction before narrowing. He made his way towards Crow and quietly informed this piece of information. Crow raised a brow at this before quietly whispering back:
"Are you sure they had brown hair?" Although he trusted his attendant, he didn't want to falsely accuse anyone in the crowd of something they didn't do.
Raven nodded in response; he gave off an aura that exclaims: "I'm sure". Crow raised his head towards the crowd before giving out a warning.
"Anyone who does not listen to my demands will be escorted and kicked out! Now, please come forward!"
After seeing that no more people were coming out from the crowd, Raven's eyes flashed with irritation before walking towards the crowd; he knew what he saw and decided to find out the person hiding himself.
The crowd parted to either side of him before revealing a group of six. 'Three females and two males. ' He assumed they were together, considering they were close to one another, and made a mental note.
He brushed the hair dangling in front of his eyes before focusing intently on the guy kneeling on the ground. 'Brown hair... Brown eyes...' Raven scanned Everette's features and concluded that he was the suspected person.
His blood-red eyes locked onto Everette's.
["You have discovered another Attendant."]
Raven's eyes widened in shock before dashing towards Everette in a fluid motion. His heart couldn't help but pump rapidly at discovering yet another attendant.
Ada and the rest noticed his sudden movements and tried to intercept his movements.
Ada, who was the closest to intercept, decided it was easier to grab Everette by the scruff of his neck and pull him away. Raven barely missed his target before engaging in a clash with Patrick.
CLANG! Hiss...
The scorching red-hot axe head of a halberd met the blade of a sword cane head-on. Patrick's ears focused on the hissing sound and noticed the heat from the halberd was affecting his sword...!