The Call of Crows

Chapter 34: Ready to Die

Sila sat in one tree near the island's highest point and seethed.

She sat in a cradle between a branch and the trunk, an arrow knocked in her recurve bow as she watched the ironclad lazily make its way around the north end of the island.

It wasn't like she intended to shoot, but...gods, did she want to.

Sila was an odd child. She had clear memories since she was a mere infant. She remembered the time inside her mother's womb. She remembered coming into the world covered in blood, screaming at the icy touch of air on her skin and searing light of the sun in her eyes.

She remembered everything. She could never forget a face. Especially not those of her parents and brother.

But the face most prominent in her mind was that of Gongsun Guanyu. He was responsible for the murder and rape of her clan seven years ago. It was the prince's first conquest. Something to celebrate for the Nikan. They celebrated by playing games that involved slaughtering the men in indescribable ways. They celebrated by taking the clan's young women and selling into slavery the ones they didn't keep for themselves.

Her parents were killed in the fighting, so at least the Nikan spared them that fate.

But in their wake, they left her fool of a brother. Orhan was so obsessed with preservation. Conserve the clan's population, conserve resources, conserve their sovereignty, conserve tradition. He was so determined to live independently of the Great Khan. But either his horde would take their lands or the Nikan would finish them if he didn't adapt with these changing times.

All he cared about was peace and order. Well, there could be neither so long as Guanyu was free to roam.

Sila didn't regret leaving. But it had been so long. When would she finally get her vengeance? How much longer did she have to wait?

Even though the power of all her ancestors flowed through her veins, she was powerless on this island.

"There you are."

Sila yelped and nearly fell out of the tree as Taya appeared next to her.

"H-How the hell did you get here?"

"Carefully." Taya said, "I have a question for you: After you kill Guanyu, what are you gonna do?"

"Go back to my clan." Sila replied.

"Go back to your clan and...?"

"And what?" Sila frowned.

"Good, so you've got nothing going on." she grinned. "How would you like to come help me stop the apocalypse?"

Sila blinked, "The what?"

"Alright, so everything regarding your powers and the Nikan murdering everyone and the supernatural creatures you'll probably see at some point culminates into this thing called the Armageddon Event. I'll explain more later, but my group and I want to stop Armageddon from killing us humans. Does helping us out with that sound like an interesting opportunity?"

Sila sighed, "I'm still...processing the whole Armageddon thing?"

Taya explained the Armageddon event to Sila in more elaborate speech, including how the Plague worked, Shedim Mastery, the appearance of supernatural creatures and what little she knew of the Circle of Ancients.

The more Sila heard, the more she wanted nothing to do with this apocalypse.

"Yeah, I don't think I want to be involved with that in the slightest." She responded when Taya asked her to join them again.