Raven

Chapter 19

Raven's POV

It's Saturday afternoon. I also told Miss Harley about what happened to school yesterday. She decided to let me relax now and accompany her outside. The weather was great as if it was spring, even though it’s in the middle of August, approaching autumn.

We're in a little book café named Alice's Wonderland. Miss Alice, the owner of the shop, stood silently at the corner. She looked happy seeing the kids enjoying. Every Saturday it was always packed with kids, the usual scene residents and regular customers often see, since they hosted a weekly storytelling for the children around the neighborhood. Adults were also invited but the majority of the audiences were kids. Not to mention free foods were given during the storytelling.

She told us that managing this book cafe wasn’t on her plans. She had a stable job at a corporate. Her salary was enough for her to have a good life. She had a condo at the most luxurious residence at the city.

For her, she didn’t have time to manage such small shop. Even though it was named after her, she just let her parents handle everything related to the business. But since she’s the only child, the shop was left to her when her parents died.

She thought of selling the shop, but because of a certain girl, she decided to continue the legacy her parents left.

And that girl was the girl who was currently swarmed with kids. Miss Harley was also a regular here, and she had many fans.

“Today, just like I promised, I will tell you the story of the strongest Cryptid.” Miss Harlequin started. She was sitting in a chair at the middle of the shop, surrounded with kids. She was wearing a wig once again, but this time, she didn't conceal her real eye color.

The kids were excited so they immediately settled down. I, too, was excited. This was my first time attending a storytelling session on public places. I saw Miss Harley glanced at Miss Alice. She gave a small wave, signaling her to start the storytelling.

Miss Harley nodded and began.

“You see, it happened thousands of years ago. A never-ending war between the humans and mythical creatures has been going on, ravaging the Earth and extinguishing its creations. As time goes on, no one remembers it anymore. It wasn’t even stated on historical books and such. And yet, it is a tale I will never ever forget.

?

Long ago, when civilization just only began, people tend to do a lot of mistakes. After all, we are all sinful creatures by nature. Every sin that we do, every crime that we made intentionally, turns us into a sinner with a black soul. This lead into the creation of a persona, who soon became humanity's worst nightmare.

Her name was Rori.

-

R-Rori? Is it the same Rori that I knew? The Rori that always visits me in my dreams?

-

She was once the ethereal realm's greatest being. An epitome of beauty, brain, kindness, and power. However, she has a flaw: impulsiveness. No one wants to anger her for she was also known as The Executioner.

When the Heavenly Empress got mad at her impulsiveness, she was given an indefinite moratorium on doing her job as a reaper of souls.

She was temporarily banished from the heavens and fell down to the mortal realm. However, somebody sabotaged her banishment, changing her destination.

She was sent into a subterranean gallery of a dormant volcano. Knowing too late that the volcano was full of imprisoning array, set up years ago for that day. The dormant volcano was once the home of a high priestess adept in black magic.

Rori was trapped there for many years, unable to come back to the heavens. The ethereal realm labeled her as an excommunicado when she didn't return back on the day her suspension was dissolved.

She was infuriated for being betrayed by her own kind. Her anger made the dormant volcano active. The tribals living around the volcano where scared witless and decided to offer sacrifices for the volcano.

Her deep seated anger for the one who betrayed her couldn't be dispelled. Combined with the tribal's unnecessary sacrifices and blinded with anger, Rori became corrupted as she was constantly fed with negativity and souls of murdered people. The more she ate the more she became insatiable for their dark souls. She could smell them.

Rori controlled her self. She knew her irrational thinking would lead to nothing. She studied the place and discovered something. On the array she's in, there exist a dimensional space. She broke the space and obtained the contents of it. There were books, stones, weapons, and many more.

She took the books and studied everything, until she finally mastered the ways of array formation and dissolution.

She finally broke the array that restrained her, and made a dive towards the villages around the volcano.

Rori wrecked havoc in the mortal realm, alerting the ethereal beings. They decided to exterminate her existence once and for all.

-

"Nova, is there a book in the library about the story Miss Harley is narrating?" I asked Nova. The story only made me want to discover who Roi really is and had the urge to read it personally if it has a physical copy.

I saw Nova pause from drinking her milkshake. "I think none? Every story Z has told to the kids where made by her. But you can try to ask Miss Gryca or Hype. Aside from Z, they knew all of the books inside the library."

I could only look at Miss Harley and continued listening to the story.

-

Time flies, there was a couple who lived in a small farm near the river. Although they had no child, they were contented with everything they had. The people in the village admired the two for their kindness and generosity so they were loved by everyone.

One day, while the two were heading home from the market, the woman heard a little child crying from the creek. At first, the woman was afraid, but when she discovered that it was a newborn baby, she was shocked. ‘How could someone leave a baby near the creek?’ she thought. Her husband was surprised, too. They immediately brought home the baby and took care of it.

The couple was enchanted by the baby. Her white wavy hair was like silk threads and her red-violet eyes gave off a dominating aura. They just thought she's an albino.

As the child grew, strange things kept happening around her, worrying the couple. Until they discovered that she wasn’t a normal kid, that she was special. And so, the couple kept the child's ability a secret from the crowd for two years. However, they couldn’t keep this secret hidden forever.

The villagers were starting to worry when dead bodies were found in the forest. Though the dead bodies were of people who committed crimes, they’re still worried. What if the murderer gets bored and started killing innocent ones?

Until they traced this strange phenomena back to the couple. They concluded that ever since that child came, weird things started happening in their village. So they all decided to get rid of her. The villagers marched to the mountains in the middle of the night. With torches and pitchforks on their hands.

The villagers trashed the house and tried to get the kid. The couple blocked them and did their best to protect the child. However, the couple was outnumbered so they were the ones who suffered instead of her.

The little girl witnessed everything silently. She looked at the couple and smiled at them with assurance. She showed herself to everyone and with a dark expression she whispered, “Die.”

Everything happened so fast. The village chief was baffled upon the sight he just witnessed. Houses were burning, people were screaming, and children’s cry echoed throughout the night. ‘This shouldn’t be happening’ he thought. His gaze immediately landed on the little child, who was showered with the blood of his comrades, standing despite of the chaotic crowd.

Her two eyes glowed like two pools of blood, eyeing him intensely. “Y-Y-You monster! It's your entire fault!” he screamed. The little child giggled and walked to him slowly. The village chief trembled upon seeing her walk up to him. Fear registered on his face, thinking of what might happen to him once the little child gets to where he is.

The child was so bent on burning him. She was about to do it when suddenly, a blinding light flashed up in the sky. Rori was all too familiar with it and without thinking twice; she immediately escaped, leaving the village chief still trembling in fear.

Yes, it was Rori. Because of her entrapment in the volcano, she learned many spells and the ways of a magic user. Despite having the ability to travel through time and space, they always knew her location, whenever she executed mass geno°cide.

She ran away, far from the burning village. Far from those who found out her location. She cursed the village chief in her heart. If it wasn’t for him meddling her affairs, she won’t be discovered. Rori doesn’t want to get caught by them. ‘It’s better to be reborn again and again than to be captured by them’ she thought.

Her eagerness to escape didn’t stop her from running, to the point that she didn’t even noticed the cliff up ahead. The next thing she knew, she was already falling down. She immediately casted a spell and a blinding, red magic circle engulfed her. Before she was swallowed completely by the red light, she saw a silhouette of 3 people watching her from above the cliff. And in their back were huge pair of wings.

Rori fainted. Using that kind of spell took a toll on her. She was physically and mentally drained. When she gained back her consciousness, the first thing she saw was the vast sky full of stars and the shining full moon. She slowly stood up and held on to a tree. ‘I wonder where and when am I?’ she thought. She looked at her dress and sighed. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if someone would mistook me for a ghost’

Rori walked and walked until she reached a lake. There she saw a cabin with a couple who were sitting on a hammock. And before she knew it, she fainted once again and collapsed on the ground."