Chapter of Crow: Episode 2-2
Dec 21, 2022
Staying here, I will be controlled by Kenji forever. Leaving here? I can be free. But I would have no bloodstone; I'd die in a day.
But what's so wrong with dying? Like air, water, fire, and the earth, life and death make our world complete.
Am I afraid of death? No. Not at all. For someone who witnessed endless faces scream, cry, and die under my blade's order, my death was long overdue.
KENJI
「Are you going, or should I make you?」
Kenji’s frozen voice throws you back to the cabin.
YOU
「Okay, okay. I’m going! Mister love and peace.」
Kenji gives no reaction to your irony, keeps sharpening a sword while you depart.
You put on a coat, trudge through the snowy forest, and arrive at the Nova, the town leading to your destination: the Castle.
You pass by townspeople living their regular lives—shopping, selling, talking, laughing—like they won’t melt if they don’t take their bloodstone every day. A desperate way to live, but the people of Naer are used to it.
Passing the market and bakeries, you reach the entrance of the Castle bridge. The steel bridge extends over the Castle’s moat, filled with crystal clear, blue water. Fish of all kinds swim in the moat, and the Castle reflects clearly off the water’s shining surface.
You approach the crystal-shielded bloodstone station. A knight sits there, armored and stern.
KNIGHT
「Number?」
YOU
「744.」
Thanks to the Queen, every citizen gets to claim one pill made from Bloodstone each day. To this day, you have never seen anyone melt. This is how much the Queen takes care of her people.
KNIGHT
「Show your face clearly.」
You sigh impatiently, but raise your face towards the knight. The Knight nods and takes out two pills: for you and Kenji.
KNIGHT
「Can’t believe the Queen is about to start a war just to keep you rude bustards alive.」
YOU
「Are the rumors true?」
KNIGHT
「What rumors?」
You grin, biting your lip.
YOU
「Hmmm, I don’t know…shortages of Bloodstone, the Queen going to war with our neighbors?」
You reach to take the pills, but the Knight closes her fist.
KNIGHT
「I don’t waste the Queen’s time with rumors. But I do know facts. Fact: townsfolk are disappearing. Fact: their pills are going missing.」
The Knight leaned forward.
KNIGHT
「Fact: you take an extra pill for that man hiding in the forest. Fact: that MAN, the ex-commander of Naer, knows much more about bloodstone than us.」
She squints her eyes.
KNIGHT
「Fact: nobody has seen him for years. Fact: evil hide and prepare in the shadow. I know these facts. Now tell me, what fact do you know about this situation?」
YOU
「How would I know? I’m just here every day to get my pills. Would I be here, every day with your arrogant ass, if I was stealing townsfolk and bloodstone?」
She snorted.
KNIGHT
「Whatever he’s up to, as long as he respects the deal and never steps in Nova. Otherwise, may the red flame burn him into ashes this time.」
The knight opens her fist. You forcibly take the pills, wink at the Knight, and sashay away.
The truth? You know. You know so much. Too much. But you will never say. No, never think.
Must not think...must not think...
Screw it, I'm not walking home.
You decide to walk back through the forest but now alongside the river bank, away from Kenji’s cabin. A walk of freedom.
Walk through the snowy forest, you feel refreshed, by the smell of pine, the chirps of birds the flutter of butterfly wings. The butterflies catch your eye. They remind you of a dream. A vague dream, but you feel an indescribable attraction to them. They’re beautiful, yes, but they also feel like… Destiny?
You fly with them. Followed their guidance and…
…!!!
Your heart skips a beat when you find a badly injured girl lying on the ground. Two arrows pierce her back, with dried blood upon the snow leaving behind a crimson shape of a…butterfly wing?
The girl holds a cat in her arms tightly, regardless of her unconsciousness. She must have been trying her best to save the cat from something. The cat notices you before the girl does.
They're in danger. Who's chasing them?
Who's being chased? The girl? The cat?
No, before that, she's dying...!
I should...
[ Try to heal her wounds. ]
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