~The Parliament, December 30th, 1423
The cold air persisted as Sentry walked across the snowy grounds, following after his master. Over the past year, the Raven has trained Sentry in basic training that tested him physically and mentally, all so taxing that he felt nearing death's door a few times. From adapting his body to various poisons both natural and manmade, to fighting wildlife on his own, such as wolves and bears, or climbing to the top of the Parliament day after day.
He has developed a lot since their first meeting, even right now he is still recovering, far from being anywhere near healthy. But this was going to be very important for his growth in the future.
"Lady Raven, where are we going?"
The Raven did not answer, instead, she only continued to walk. Glancing up at the night sky every now and again, seeing the clouds that covered the light of the moon.
Sentry pouted lightly. His cheeks were nipped at by the cold air that surrounded them. They walked through the frosted leaves until she stopped in a brush part of the forest. Still thick with trees, but thin enough for snow to fall through with ease.
The wind blew through her blackened cloak as she turned to look at him.
Her eyes were piercing to behold. Like she always knew what Sentry was thinking or going to say with only a glance. Sentry gazed back at her, shuddering under her gaze.
She draws something from her cloak. It was a dagger. Two to be in fact.
"I've taught you many things young Ashwood. I admit, you have lasted longer than I expected, and I have high expectations. But now, I think it's time you fought a real monster."
Sentry seemed confused by her wording. He watched as she tossed one of the daggers to him. He caught it by the blade as it cut his hand lightly. Drawing a bit of blood as it dropped into the clean white snow.
The Raven spun the dagger she kept in her hand like a trained thief would.
He stares at the blade as he sees the one in his hand that she had just tossed him. The blade was steel. The hilt and handle were black, bound in small leather straps. A symbol of the triple moon in the center of the guard.
"Master, this dagger?"
"One from a witch I killed. It's fine, it is not cursed. I wanted to try something new. If you can cut me once with this blade, I'll let you know a secret or two."
She takes a stance, spinning the dagger before gripping it tightly. Signaling for Sentry to prepare himself and take his stance. Though the entire fight worried him, why with daggers? He wondered in his head.
"Why with daggers?"
"Because. I want you to have to get in close. You won't always be an arrow shot away. Or even at the length of a sword. Sometimes, you have to get in close to make sure they draw their last hellish breath."
She spoke with a smile. Sentry could barely make it out from under the hood of her cloak, but the smile was there. He takes his stance as he only wonders what she intends to tell him if he succeeds.
"What kind of secret is it?"
She looks up at him, her eyes glowing with a supernatural glow.
"The type only monsters share."
She dashes in quickly, and the sound of metal against metal rings out as Sentry manages to block her dagger strike.
"Good defense on the opening. But, what will you try now?"
Sentry tries to push her back, but she only leans further, forcing him to a knee. Sentry looks up at her with light fear and surprise at her strength. His heart was pounding as he was hoping she wasn't intent on killing. It sure seemed that way.
"Come now, Sentry. Don't tell me all the time I put into you was wasted effort."
Sentry grits his teeth, stealing his nerves for the moment as he grabs onto her wrist, allowing him to free his dagger hand, allowing him to go low for a strike to her stomach with the blade. But she quickly grabs his wrist, burying her fist into his stomach.
Sentry gasps as he falls to his knees, dropping the blade.
"Oh please. A vampire would hit you harder. Especially a werewolf. Come on, where's that boy who wanted to be a Raven?"
Sentry gasped, trying to catch his breath as he struggled to his feet. Grabbing the blade with shaking knees, he manages to stand. His stance is off, but he finds himself enough to lunge at her.
The Raven decided to play defensively as Sentry pressed the attack the best he could. He slashed at her, but his strikes only hit the air.
She backs up, lights on her feet as Sentry persists in strikes. She moves back, weaving between trees. Sentry chases and slashes at her, locking off of a tree to leap into the air, bringing the blade down on her, but she moves behind a tree.
Sentry follows, going around the tree with the dagger ready, but he notices that she is gone.
Not a trace of her was in the area. Sentry could only smell the scent of lavender and ashes in the air. His ears twitched as he heard light footsteps in the snow. He turns to see her leaning against a tree twirling the dagger in her hand.
"Good. You used your sense of smell to find me. As well as your hearing. You may not know this but you have very good senses compared to the average person. You're... different. So don't disappoint or I'll leave you back at the rank of dove."
After a year together, Sentry thought would she do that? But after what he's been through with her, it wasn't out of her area of expertise to just leave him.
This brings him to reality as he rushes at her again. This time with a bit more caution. He was sure she didn't just move from tree to tree on foot. Something was off here. He readies himself as he moves in once again, slashing at her once more. She catches his wrist and twists him around as the back of her hand meets his face.
Sentry is thrown to the floor as blood drips down his nose like a steady stream. The Raven looks down at him as he stands back up to his feet. He was resilient, she had to give him that.
"You are keen on striking, but you fail to anticipate what I do next. If I grab your wrist again and send you to the floor a third time, I'll leave you out here to find your way back."
Sentry's ears perked as he wiped the blood from his face. Taking his stance with the blade again, this time his stance seemed more defensive, as if wanting her to attack first. The two stood apart. Eyeing the other like two predators ready to swoop in and pluck the other's eyes out.
It felt like hours as the snow fell, their breath visible in the air. The silent winds of winter combed through their clothes and hair lightly as they stared. But the Raven finally made a move first. She went low, rushing at him before he could even process her movements. He narrowly evaded her strike as he leapt over her strike, going for a kick to her face, but she blocked it with her forearm.
He notices her drop the dagger from the hand she was blocking with into her other hand, the moment his opposite foot touched the ground, she swung at him. Sentry quickly lowered his body to duck the strike, he plants his hands into the snow and lifts his foot to kick her in the chest.
She manages to catch it with her other hand, but Sentry quickly raises his other leg as he quickly kicks her across the face, forcing her to let go of his leg. He flips back onto his feet as he notices her look. Here eyes give off a green glow as her head turns back to meet his gaze.
Sentry did kick her very hard, as hard as he could. Seeing her glare and a small trickle of blood drop from her lips only made him realize how much effort she was going to put into this fight.
She cracks her neck before rushing him down. She slashes at Sentry with great speed with her blade as Sentry is barely able to keep up, forced to be on the defensive. She swings her body around, round house kicking him as he guards, but her strength pushed through his guard as he is kicked into a tree. His back slamming hard against the bark.
The wind is knocked out of his lungs as he struggles to stand. His vision blurs as it struggles to focus on the Raven, who lowers her hand to the snow, swiping it p into the air in a flurry, but the flurry didn't disperse like normal, instead he dropped to the floor as he narrowly evaded something he could not believe. Turning his head to the tree he was against to see small icicles stabbed into the bark.
"I've held back on you because I wanted to avoid killing you. But the monsters you fight will not hold back. I am one of those monsters. I think it's time you learned why the others in the Parliament are truly afraid of me."
She holds her hands up as a green ball of fire ignites in her hands. She aims it out towards Sentry as he runs behind a tree, taking cover from the wave of fire that she produced. His heart was beating faster now, realizing that his master was not human. He had many thoughts swirling in his mind as to what the idea was here. Was she really trying to kill him? Or was this truly just training.
She had taught him that no monster can truly be trusted, but how could he trust that when those words came from a witch.
He peaks out once the flames had stopped to see if she was there, he looks only to find her missing. But his ears perked as he quickly turned to see her in front of him, he tries to evade her, but she pins him by his neck against the tree, lifting him up with on hand as the other held a small flam of green up, lighting up in a way that matched her eyes.
"You know what I am now. Are you afraid of me now?"
Sentry only gasps as he is unable to speak.
"I can guess what you are thinking. Can she be trusted? Did my supposed master bring me out here to tell me this grand revelation only to kill me? I am telling you this because this is what we are. As Ravens, this is what we were born to do. Using the darkness in our hearts to serve the light."
She grabs Sentry from the tree, throwing him across the snow field as he drops the dagger. She looks up to see the light of the moon peaking through the clouds.
"You are the only one who can understand this."
He struggles to stand as she looms over him.
"N-no. Why? This isn't right. You're a monster. Why would you work with the Parliament to hunt your own kind?"
She scoffs at his words.
"Just because I was born in the dark does not mean I have to serve the dark as well."
She kicks Sentry across the face as his head is slammed back into the snow.
"You may see me as cruel, but this is how Ravens are taught to harness the darkness in our hearts. We cannot ignore that darkness. I wouldn't have taken you on as a student otherwise."
Sentry raises his head up from the snow, lightly sniffling as blood runs down his nose.
"I'm not a monster."
He says to her through his teeth. It was silent, but enough for her to hear him.
"Yes you are. Why do you think you're able to do what you do? Your ears are pointed, you have sharper teeth than most. You have amazing senses and can even see in the dark. The Ashwood sisters painted it off as you being seen as a blessing. But you're a monster just like me. So don't fight this anymore. Let. It. Out."
She brings her foot down on his chest as she keeps him pinned. The light of the moon cascading over the two, revealing it's fullness to the two as Sentry struggled to break free from her.
"I saw it when I tested you. You left claw marks in the chair. Regular humans can't do that. You and I both know that."
He struggles and gasps for air, gripping her leg, trying to force her off of him. He grits his teeth as his eyes glow fierce. His teeth sharpening lightly as he struggles to get her off, seeing it was herd for him to breath, feeling the weight of everything literally and metaphorically weighing down on him.
"You are the embodiment of darkness. That is why the others are scared of you. They fear you, because you are unnatural. You're a stain to what God intended. Even Roxanne knows it to be true."
Her words carve into him as he struggles, his claws digging into her calf as he tries to force her off.
"She only saved you from that forest out of pity. You know how many people said that you were better off dead. How many people whispered about killing you off. They don't understand you, they don't care for you and you know it's true. You need to wake up. You're all alone. No one will love you, how could they love you?"
She removes her foot from his chest, leaning down to his level to whisper these words.
"You're a monster."
His eyes widen as he catches his breath. He sits up lightly as tears lightly spill down his face. The Raven kneeling beside him as she just observes his reaction. She let's out a sigh but is surprised to feel a pain entering her side. Feeling Sentry's fist jab her in the side, making her wince as he lunges at her.
"I am not a monster! I refuse to accept that! God made me in his image! I am not some demon hell spawn! You're a witch! A lying witch who should have been burned at the stake! I hate you! I HATE YOU!!!"
Sentry shouts at her as his breathing turned into sobs. Tears ran down his face as he fell to his knees. The Raven held her side in pain as she shifted to meet him as he fell to his knees. She embraced him. Something she had never done for anyone. She hugs him close, but Sentry, still angry punches her in the side again and again, but she refused to let go as she just winced from the pain.
He eventually calmed down as he continued to sob into her shoulder. The Raven held him close as she caressed his hair. Lulling him into a state of calm as he finally hugs her back softly.
"Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee... You've heard those words before."
Sentry is quiet for a bit, but nods. She pulls away as she lightly caresses his cheek. Wiping the blood from his nose and the tears from his eyes.
"You are a monster that dwells in the dark, but even darkness can be used to serve the light."
Sentry leaned into her touch as he held her hand against his face.
"We are cursed. Why would he use us for anything? Why would he ever use us to serve the light?" Sentry says softly.
"Because darkness knows darkness best. We guard their souls by staining ours. God sees what we do, what we are, and does not turn away. He made us too, Sentry. He made shadows to guard the candle flame.... Wolves protecting lambs. That's our place. That's our grace."
She says softly before hugging Sentry again. The two share this tender moment until she falls back into the snow. Sentry's eyes widen as he looks down at her.
"Raven!?!"
"Downside to being a monster, you hit hard. Hard enough that I felt my ribs crack, maybe even break."
Sentry rushes to her side, helping her stand as he holds up as much of her weight as he can.
"Hold on, I can help. I am so sorry for this. I was just so angry I... I guess I just hate that what you said was true... everyone at the Parliament hates me."
She lingered on that, not wanting to send him down the dark road she was sent on. She remembers when her master, the former Raven had done this to her. But it was the only way you could accept the darkness that you are. You had been in the light long enough.
"Sentry, you aren't alone in this. We may be cursed. But, we have one another."
Sentry looks up at her with a small smile. He wipes his eyes as he helps her walk to the Parliament.
"That reminds me. Raven is a title, so if I can know. What is your real name?" Sentry asked.
The Raven let out a labored sigh as she looked down at him softly.
"Morrigan. My name is Morrigan."