//------------------------------// // What’s Going On? // Story: A Raven’s Greatest Flight // by Chemtest //------------------------------// All of us had fun last night, saving the extra money from our new Knight and from the raid for a rainy day. Open has blended in with us seamlessly, and we had a wonderful night of celebration with our new friend. But, we still had to get to sleep, no matter the fun, we still had businesses to run. And so I wake up in my bed again. I look around to see everyone moving around, preparing for the day. Open seems to have taken place as a head chef, and breakfast is being served to everyone. Then, I see Ink with a bad expression on his face yet again, I sigh, “Let me guess. War?” He nods, “Ponies on Dwarves.” I shake my head, “What is our King doing?!” My head shoots up, “Wait, we don’t have a King. We don’t have a Queen either...” Ink looks at me in interest, “What are you getting at, Hopeful?” My eyes widen as realization floods in, “Open, who is our current leader?” She finishes up her cooking, and walks over to me, “Why, it’s... it’s...” Her eyes are filled with the same realization as mine, and her face grows concerned, “What... wait...” Ink looks between us two, “What am I not getting?” I look over at him, “We have no leader.” He tilts his head, “Yes we do, it’s... oh shit.” I nod as he gets the same expression as us, “Yeah, exactly.” Open recovers from the shock first, “But then who’s...” Ink says the rest, “Declaring these wars?” I nod, “Exactly.” I glance out the window to see a guard patrolling, “Who do these guards serve, if we have no leader?” The guard looks directly at me, and teleports right in front of me, “Clever, Raven, very clever.” The guard stares unblinking into the void of my eyes. I stare back, “What are you?” They laugh madly, “Oh, we should have seen this coming! Even with all the powers of Madness, you are still clever!” Sheogorath, Madness, Dadra, Deal, Blueblood. Those thoughts mean nothing to me, even if they look more like memories, “What are you, guard? Who do you fight for if we have no leader?” They shake their head, “That’s for Madness to know, and Raven to find out. You want my advice. Trust what you’ll find, and the path shall be opened. Madness might not have invisioned this twist in the challenge, but it is welcome none the less.” I still stare back, “What will I find?” They laugh, “Oh, now that would be cheating, wouldn’t it. Cheating is welcomed, but I’d rather not help you and find myself on the Hill of Suicides. I think it’s time I move along. Have fun, Death.” Death, Scythe, Element, Crusaders. I shake my head as they teleport away. Open walks up to me, “His voice carried no lie or deceit, we can trust him. Let’s see what we’re supposed to find, Hopeful, and maybe crack what’s going on here.” One of my Knights rush up, carrying a piece of paper, “I found something interesting on an Orc corpse!” I float it over to myself, “Thank you.” Ink walks over, “What does it say?” I read it out, “A mystery rolls through your head. To find out what has been read. Whisper into the ear of Kings like us. Say out loud ‘I am from Tel’la de Rus’. When they hear this, they whisper on their Breath. A story of Raven, he who is Death. Of his current fate. Of your friend that made him full of hate. When the tale is heard. Your vision of the past will no longer be blurred. You will receive your final awnser. Know that you are a- and it cuts off there.” Ink shrugs, “Well, I have no ideas.” Open thinks for a bit, “Maybe this is telling us how to solve the wars?” I look back at it, “It says kings like us, and I’m definitely the one who was supposed to read it. Am I a King?” Ink holds up his hooves, “Wonder on that matter later, I wanna point out what Open just said. What if she was right? I mean, if we manage to end the wars, we might be able to become Kings ourselves. Maybe that’s what this is all about, a way to determine the next king by seeing if someone could stop the wars.” I nod, “That’s good and all, but I don’t think traveling to other kingdoms is a good idea. The winter is only getting worse and worse, and pulling a wagon through that is hard.” Open looks around, “Well, we have plenty of ponies that would follow us anywhere. I think just pulling a cart through the snow is right up their alley. Beside, if we do this, we could help all of them. We have to trust it like the guard said.” The other Knights all gather to listen as she speaks. One steps forward, “I would gladly travel with you, Hopeful. If we are to save the world from war, then we will save the world from war!” Another steps forwards as well, “You’ve brought us all a life, Hopeful, I am ready to start repaying that.” I hold out my hooves, “Really, you don’t have to come!” One of the brawn of the group step up. The strong, but not very eloquent part, “We show we stornk. But stronkth come from peace, not war. Others violent, kill, no mercy, they the normalcy, them weak. We make peace, no death violence, show mercy and friendship. We stronker cuz we no want war, only peace.” I hear a new voice from above us, “Said with the same grammar of an Orc in kindergarten, like all said by you Knights, but true nonetheless. You’ve been good business to the Deceivers, and we would be happy to watch you. Don’t count on the guards when you travel the road, we all know they are useless. But we can watch you, protect you. We need your business anyway.” The Deceiver disappears as soon as he says that, leaving me with a crowd of eager Knights. I look at all of them as they all gaze upon me with hope and readiness. I give in, “Get the wagon ready, then. If you’re all serious about doing this, then we start as soon as possible.” They all rush off, preparing to go. And I’m left with my thoughts. Who is Raven? It seems like his name follows me, and that I should know him. I’ve never met anyone named Raven before. I mean, my mark has Raven skulls on it. Could it be that... no, I’m Hopeful Sight, not Raven. That’s too ridiculous. I think.