Shadow Angel: Volume 1

The Raven's Choice

"Buddy. Buddy."

The Raven groaned before he opened his eyes to see a blurry silhouette hovering over his face. He blinked his eyes twice before finally, his vision was clear enough to register the person looking down at him. His breath hitched and his golden eyes became wide when he saw a familiar human smiling at him. The Raven would never forget his tied-back brown hair and blueish-gray eyes; the face of his best friend, Cody.

"Hey, buddy!" Cody said before putting his arm on his friend's back and helping him into a sitting position.

Once he was sitting down, the Raven looked up to find himself in a white world. There were no fine details of his current whereabouts; no furniture, plants, buildings, or people. Everything he found was nothing but solid white. As soon as he was done looking around, the Raven turned back to Cody, who was still smiling at him.

"I see that you did it," Cody said. "You ate my body just as I asked."

The Raven just remained silent as he stared at his friend, maintaining his bug-eyed face. Then all of a sudden, water was flowing out of his eyes again and his bottom lip began to quiver. It wasn't long until Cody noticed before hiccups were emitted from the Eldritch-turned-human.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Cody asked, frowning and tilting his head to the right.

In response, the Raven swiftly grabbed his human friend and pulled him into a hug. Then, he pressed his face against his shoulder and began sobbing, tears wetting Cody's coat.

"C-C-Co-d-dy..." the Raven stuttered as the former was taken aback.

"Buddy?" Cody replied.

"I-I'm s-s-s-sor-r-ry..." the Raven said as more tears fell out of his eyes. "I d-d-didn't w-want t-t-t-to-o d-d-o i-it."

"Huh?"

"I d-d-di-didn't w-w-wa-ant t-to e-e-eat y-you. I o-on-l-ly w-w-wan-ted us t-t-to b-b-be-e t-t-ogether-er f-f-f-or-e-ev-ver..."

Though his mouth was gaping at the Raven trying to talk to him, Cody sighed and grinned again. He gently pushed himself out of his friend's embrace and placed his hands on both his shoulders. When he did that, the Raven looked down at his lap as he sobbed.

"Hey, look at me," Cody said as the Raven obeyed. "We'll always be together, buddy. I will be right here in your heart." He pointed to the Raven's chest.

The Eldritch-turned-human fell silent as a reply.

"I know it's gonna be hard for you without me, but I don't want you to be sad now that I'm gone." Cody wiped the Raven's tears away with his thumbs. "I want you to know that I enjoyed our time together and I love you so much."

The Raven slightly jolted at that word: love.

"I want you to do something for me: go ahead and travel around the world. Find new places, meet new people, make new memories, and live no matter what."

The Raven continued staring at Cody, not knowing how to react to the latter's request. But then, a voice of a child shouted, "Cody, come play with us!" Cody turned around and chuckled at the sight of a smiling Mrs. Finch standing with the ten orphans, each of them smiling and waving.

"Cody, you coming or what?" Jake called.

"Coming!" Cody called back. Then, he turned back to the Raven and said, "I have to go now. Take care of yourself from now on, okay? Goodbye, buddy."

With that, the Raven watched as Cody stood up and walked away to join Mrs. Finch and the orphans. Once he reached them, they all began walking as a group, leaving the Eldritch-turned-human alone in the white void. The Raven looked down and with a sigh, he flopped to the ground and began to sob once again as the silence became deafening for him. He didn't know why, but he heard a loud ringing sound around him and he covered his ears to block it out. But suddenly, the ringing stopped and his eyes snapped open.