A Raven's Choice (Book 2)

Chapter 21: The War

Raven's Point Of View:

A month of training went by. The Bunard King taught us how to handle multiple enemies. The Racheon Commanders trained us in swordsmanship, while the Outlander Commanders trained us in knowing the enemies' weaknesses. The Grosen Clan Commanders taught us all how to create formations. The Fryer Clan King Gray and Queen Ama taught us how to move quickly in battle. The Uten Clan taught us how to be defensive. As far as the Avan Clan went, Julia trained us in simple medicine, while Exavior and Frazior informed us on the power of being silent in battle. I didn't know Julia was originally an Avan before joining the Darnargs and then the Bunards. Princess Silvia of the Darnargs taught us all about evading attacks in battle. The Jadern Clan was traveling toward us, therefore, we couldn't gain any knowledge from them. Meanwhile, aside from Valor's group, the Linen Clan refused to participate. Lastly, my parents and aunt taught us how to breathe. I didn't feel we were ready, but we didn't have a choice. The Grosen Clan's army took the front lines, with their Commander leading them. Behind them, was the Fryer Clan's army, with King Gray, Queen Ama, and Commander V leading them. Third in line, was Princess Silvia and Troy, representing the only ones from the Darnarg Clan to defy them. Fourth in line, was the Outlander Clan and Racheon Clan armies with their Commanders. They were the most compatible together. Fifth in line, was the Uten Commander and his small army. Sixth in line, were the Raven's, my group, and Valor's group. Lastly, Oanin took the rear with his Craven army, along with King Barchur and his Bunard army.

Raven's Point Of View:

We held our formation until the blue moon was raised high above our heads, indicating that the war was on. John's army arrived shortly after this. He lead the charge with Dekari next to him. Her eyes were bloodshot black, indicating that she no longer had a soul. I heard Agrigial whisper into my ear, "Dekari will attack first with her marked ones." I nodded as I looked behind those two to see a large army led by King Barchur. His hungry eyes darted back and forth. I looked to my right, to Rater, in worry. He smiled faintly at me. "Don't worry Raven, we can handle this." I breathed in and out, trying to regulate my breathing. As long as Racon and the children were out of this battle, I didn't need to hold back. I heard my mother's words ringing out to our army, "Remember the formation!" The battle started, with the Grosen and Fryer Clan taking the brunt of their army. We were holding our own until the marked ones decided to tear into us. Among them, I saw Unar, one of the Raven Soldiers. Oanin quickly moved from behind the lines toward the front, using his staff to blow him back into their army. "You worry about the animals and the other army!" Oanin would die if he handled the marked ones alone. I looked toward Rater. He secretly instructed the Craven army to back him up. Carter, Fredrick, Trish, Sara, and Ova backed him up as well. It was now my group in the back of the line. I turned to Agrigial. "Alright. How do we go about winning this war?" Agrigial smiled and patted my head. "Stay alive."

Raven's Point Of View:

Oanin's eyes were bloodshot red. He was oozing blood from his sides. The Fryer Clan lost half of their army and the Grosen Clan was almost diminished completely. Keeping with Magpie's plan, the Grosen Clan hung back as Princess Silvia and Troy took the front. Silvia roared loudly as she transformed into her purple dragon form and flew upwards, with Troy upon her back. Dekari saw her intensions and it looked like she had a grudge. The Outlanders and Racheons took her place at the front of the line with the Fryers. Commander Emerald was back to back with Commander Aaron. Both of them were slashing like madmen. Dekari yelled at King Barchur, who was about to throw himself into her. Suddenly, King Gorgon barreled into King Barchur, causing them to roll down away from the battlefield. I could hear Gorgon desperately throwing out his ice spells , while Barchur just used his flames to dissipate them. If we didn't act, people would start dying. Rater nodded toward me. "We have to go out of formation." Agrigial looked toward me. "Barchur is next. We must deal with the army first. King Gorgon can handle it." As she said this, the Bunard army ran toward Gorgon's location to help. Magpie saw this and decided to take action. "FOR OUR FALLEN!" Magpie yelled before chanting a spell, "Gewässer!" Her entire body became that of water itself. I knew my mother married into our clan, but only now, did I know she was an Avan. This made Julia, Magpie, Exavior, Frazior, and the one from Shiron's group the only Avans in the world. Shaking myself out of shock, I turned to my father. Robin equally retaliated. He raised his hands. "Wasserfall!" A large amount of water continuously rained down upon the enemies. The water created mud, causing their armies to slip and fall. We had somewhat of an advantage now. I looked up to see the Fryer King, Gray, maneuvering toward the front lines with his wife, Queen Ama. The flyers were all lined up together. King Gray rode upon his bird, Queen Ama upon her lizard, Sara upon her phoenix, and Princess Silvia as herself. Rater and I used our spells mostly defensively, holding the backline. Rater would shoot his fire, and I would back him up with my water. My cross necklace hit upon my chest, reminding me of being restricted. I slowly took my necklace off and placed it into my pocket. I felt the world turn black in that moment.

Darth's Point Of View:

I was in the middle of the formation. Zachar ultimately had Dieris convince all the nullifying caster's to help us. They were in front of us now, shielding all of us from the power of spells. With the flyers in the front, the nullifiers in the middle, and Oanin's group holding the marked ones, all we needed to worry about was the army and the animals within it. King Barchur wouldn't be held back very long, so we didn't have much time. I spent the whole month honing my skills in defensive arts. Broncho spent his honing his offensive arts. Brother and sister, fighting side by side. I never believed that I would see the day. My thoughts were interrupted as I was knocked back by an unknown force. I looked up and saw Nexon before me. He was fully controlled by John, and raging all around the battlefield. Nexon was in his cheetah form and beside him was Willow, in her tiger form. Their condition was not magic, so the nullifying casters could not stop them. I looked to Broncho as they each circled us. I didn't know them personally, but I had a hard time hurting our allies. The rest of the animals were making their way behind me, toward Raven. As much as I loved Raven, I had to pay attention or I would die. Broncho moved to my back again once I stood up from the impact. "Darth, cover me with support. I will handle the offensive tactics." I sighed. "Covered by my little brother? How embarrassing." He smirked and waited until they attacked. Nexon moved left, aiming his claws toward me. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing until my ancient magic allowed me to turn invisible with my thoughts. Nexon could not target me, so he missed and fell to the ground angry. He got back up and ran toward Broncho, as Willow attacked. Broncho sheathed his large axe from his back and blocked her claws.

Darth's Point Of View:

I moved quickly, unsheathing my shield from my robe side. I threw the shield, as it rounded around Broncho and hit Willow in the head. She hissed and swatted at her face. My shield landed on the ground in front of her and I quickly picked it up and repositioned myself to avoid attacks. Broncho, with Willow distracted, pivoted and met Nexon. Nexon was much faster than Willow. He clawed viciously in Broncho's direction, with Broncho working hard to block each attack with his axe. Willow recovered, shaking her head, and pivoting to get a good footing. She ran toward Broncho's back and planned on biting him. I quickly ran to cover him. I reached his back and held my shield in front of me. Willow crunched down on my shield. Startled, she jumped back as my invisibility wore off. Even when I trained, it was still on a time limit. She roared at me, clearly not amused with me blocking her bite. I placed my broken shield into my robe pocket and pulled my small blade. Broncho stayed close to my back as he continuously blocked Nexon. "You can get offensive now. I'll take Willow." Broncho smiled, clearly eager to shed blood on the battlefield. "Sounds great." Instead of blocking Nexon's next swipe, he swung his axe upwards and cut his paw off. Nexon hissed in pain and held his bleeding arm with his one paw. Everyone was screaming around us, but in this moment, it was Broncho and I that I concentrated on. Willow looked at Nexon and saw his injury. She roared into the night sky, as more of the experiments came our way. I assumed Nexon was seen as a liability at this point. For, without his paw, the cheetah couldn't run.

Oanin's Point Of View:

Without Cynthia's mark, I was far more weaker than normal. Carter took to protecting me, pulling the most swings at my side. Fredrick covered my back, using his cards to produce elemental blasts. I had no choice. I pulled my black staff tightly to my side. "Spukball!" A great large shadow enveloped the entire army, allies and enemies alike, darkening the area. Fredrick turned to me. "What are you planning?" Carter knew instantly what it was, my last resort. He held up his sword and stuck it inside the ground. The shadow from the sword raised up. "Schattenschergen." Minions of shadow rose from the sword's shadow. The minions started to fight for me, absorbing their bodies completely. Fredrick raised his eyebrow, as the back army went to the front to help fight my minions. "This will take care of the pawns. Now, we focus on the cursed marked ones." We all saw the Marked Ones finally getting in front of their army to meet us. Unar stood on the far right, seemingly fighting John more than the others. Brady stood in the middle, completely under control. To the far left, stood Star. I was in utter shock. If a nullifying caster was marked and under John's control, my spells would be null and void. I had to figure out a way to take his power away and control them myself. Star laughed, still under John's control, but able to speak. "Your little ploy won't work with me." The voice she used was deeper than her normal voice, indicating John was messing with us.