Valkyrie

The Gathering: Part Three

Whoever said that a city ever slept was sorely mistaken. Cities never sleep. By daylight the streets were filled with ordinary folk going about their lives, basking in whatever comforts they could afford. Then came nightfall; when the animals came out to play. There were only two kinds, the ones who wanted to have fun, and the others whose fun came at the cost of others.

Raven found both equally intolerable.

"I-I swear! I didn't do anything!" the man yelled, his features a ghostly white as he found himself suspended from the air like a puppet with only one string left.

Bewildered faces watched in silence as the young woman twisted her hand, the black aura that shrouded it intensified twice over. As a result, the floating party-goer found himself unceremoniously falling to the ground with a dull thud, the only thing more bruised than his body being his pride.

"I don't have to be a telepath to see what you were about to do. I suggest you call it quits and sleep off the drink before you get yourself into real trouble" she said sharply. From under the shadow of her hood, her gaze grew fearsome, prompting the accused to practically leap out of his skin and high-tail it across the street.

The cloaked individual turned to see a rather shaken woman beside her, dressed for a good time but currently looking like she had just seen a ghost. It wasn't clear whether it was because she had nearly been manhandled or because she had just seen someone float.

"You okay?"

She nodded wordlessly.

"Stay with your friends and stay alert"

Another frantic nod.

Effortlessly, she took to the skies, leaving the rest of the party animals to their night of dancing and awkward flirting. As she became doused in moonlight it became clear her skin was ashen, and while her deep blue cloak hung to her body like shadow, her amethyst eyes and hair could not be unseen. With minimal effort, Raven managed to finally escape the noise of the nightlife below by soaring above the highest of Jump City's buildings, allowing her to view the concrete jungle below in its entirety.

"Peace at last. Now, to focus on-"

"Who is this?!"

The voice tore through her like a lightning bolt, shattering her psyche with its brashness and nearly sent her plummeting out of the sky from shock alone. If there was one thing she hated above all else, it was having her concentration broken. Unfortunately for her, the voice in question seemed especially verbose.

"Could you please refrain from yelling," she growled.

"Iroh, what's going on here? Why can I hear another voice inside my head?!" the voice persisted, much to Raven's annoyance. "Am I picking up some kind of spiritual radio frequency here? Because nobody warned me about this!"

"You're dreadfully misinformed" Raven sighed as she landed on the closest rooftop. Reaching up, she removed her hood, letting the cool night air wash over her. "What you're experiencing is a telepathic connection, though truth be told, I've never experienced it on such a transcendent level before," she mused.

"...Iroh! The weird voice is talking again!"

Raven gritted her teeth.

"I hope we haven't caught you at an inopportune moment" Iroh's voice glided through her ears, calm as ever.

"It's fine, time isn't exactly a luxury for any of us anymore" Raven responded, peering out over the landscape again. "I'm looking for a temporal needle in the world's biggest haystack, this won't be easy, but if these shards possess as much power as you say, then I should be-"