The Other Side/Rise Of The Crow

"Is everyone packed? I swear, if any of you leave something important, it'll be on you and we won't be able to do anything about it!" Kira says as all of us pack our bags for the trip.

"You must really like the sound of your voice. I swear I hear you talk almost as much as Mari!" Jack says as he covers his ears.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Mari asks as she brushes her hair.

"You heard me, you talk too much! Your lucky that Sachi is so nice that she puts up with that crap!" Jack says as he ties his bag tightly.

"You're lucky you still even attend the Academy considering how bad your grades are!" Mari retorts.

"HEY! HEY! Keep it down, it's still really early in the morning. We aren't the only ones in this tavern you know?" Layla yells as Mari and Jack look startled.

"Ugh, sometimes I wish this world had coffee." Sachi says, as she calmly drinks a cup of tea at the table.

"Man, a good cup of coffee would be amazing right now. There we go! That should be everything on my end!" I say as I tie my bag tightly.

"Perfect, let's head outside of the capital! Master Elyon paid good money for this trip, it would be rude to be late!" Kira says as we all leave the hideout.

We're now all outside of the capital and the carriage is already here waiting for us. At the front of the carriage, there is what looks to be a young Windian Couple petting their three-headed horses.

"Good morrow! I'm Kira Jane of Umbra, here is the seal of approval from Master Elyon!" Kira says as she hands the couple a stamped piece of paper.

"Perfect, Tano! Be sure there aren't any issues with the carriage, these five are special customers!" The Windian girl commands.

"I know Lena! You just worry about feeding the horses!" Tano says as he starts inspecting the carriage.

"So, you four are the Chosen Children eh? I've always wanted to meet a half-blood!" Lena says as she looks at all of us with admiration.

"Trust me, we're nothing special!" I say, trying to be humble.

"No need to downplay yourself, you are special. Otherwise, why would Adora choose you?" Lena says as she smiles.

"How long would you say this trip will take? It'll probably take three days right?" Kira asks as she stretches her arms out.

"Actually, my husband and I know a couple of shortcuts that'll get us to Tario in two days!" Lena says confidently.

"Really? Are you sure that's a good idea? You know about the goblin attacks right?" Kira asks, her voice full of concern.

"No worries, my husband and I have been doing this for years! We'll be okay!" Lena says, with a warm smile on her face.

"Very well, I'll trust your judgment." Kira says.

"Honey! Everything is ready to go!" Tano says as he opens up the back of the carriage for us.

"Alright kiddos load up all of your stuff, we're leaving!" Kira commands.

We all put our bags in the back and I take a last good look at the capital. This is my first time leaving my new home, but I haven't gotten so attached to this place that I could feel sentimental. I finally get to see more of what this land has to offer!

"Welp, we're off Layla!" Kira says as she pats Layla on the head.

"Right. Be careful guys, you better make it back here in one piece! I won't forgive you if you don't!" Layla says, her eyes full of worry.

"Don't worry Layla, when we get back we'll go shopping again! We'll cook the best feast ever!" Mari says as she hugs Layla.

"We'll get right back to training when we all get back." Sachi says, as she and Mari fist bump.

"You got it! Crow, try to remember everything I've taught you so far, this is your first job so keep yourself focused." Layla says, her voice full of encouragement.

"Got it! The same goes for you!" I say, as we both nod at each other.

"Aren't you forgetting about me?" Jack asks.

"No, I didn't. Jack, try not to be an idiot! This is a real job and you'll mess things up for everyone else if you do!" Layla says.

"WHAT! That's what you have to say?" Jack asks, his voice full of anger.

"Yep, see ya guys later!" Layla says, as she casually walks away from us waving.

"That little… " Jack says angrily.

"Come on, enough bickering! Get in the damn carriage." Kira commands as we all get into the carriage.

For the next 5 hours, we all try to catch up on some rest since we had to wake up super early. I awaken and I notice that Mari and Sachi are playing rock, paper, scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Mari says as she pulls out a rock and Sachi pulls out paper.

"I win, again." Sachi says as she grins slightly.

"Ugh, those reflexes of yours are annoying!" Mari says really loudly as she wakes up Jack.

"Keep it down! Some people are trying to get some rest here!" Jack says as he yawns really loudly.

"Oh bohoo! You keep the rest of us up with your loud snoring every night! You really think you have room to complain?" Mari asks.

"Yeah, I do. We have a job to do when this ride is over and I want to be as well-rested as possible!" Jack replies as he leans his back on the wood.

"Hahaha! Wow, you guys are incredible!" I say as I couldn't help laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jack asks.

"Nah, I'm sorry! I wasn't laughing at you guys, I'm just laughing because of how thankful I am to be in this world." I say as I start thinking about my past.

"Really? This world is actually way harder to live in than our original and you're grateful to be in this one?" Jack asks.

"Well, yeah. It definitely beats just being alone all the time. I'd rather be here living the life I want than to be back in our original world having no direction. Have any of you thought about what you want to do once we beat all of the Colossi?" I ask.

"I haven't really thought about it. Up until now, I just wanted my brother to go farther than I ever could. You know, college, a salary job, and hopefully he'd get a family on day. Now, I have no clue what's even going to happen to him… " Jack says, as he looks really sad.

"I see, what about you two?" I ask as I look over at Mari and Sachi.

"I was hoping that I would grind my butt off as an E-Sports player and hopefully retire. Before I died, I was raking in over six figures a month, but now none of that matters. It's hard for me to even think what I want to do here when I don't know much about this land yet." Sachi says as she's clearly thinking hard about her future.

"The hardest thing for me to grapple with so far is just how long our lives have been extended. Think about it, and the average human's life span is 75 years and maybe more if you're lucky. But now we're going to live for thousands of years? It's not the easiest thing to swallow for me. What am I going to do with all of this time and will all of it even matter at the bitter end?" Mari says, her voice full of pain.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to kill the vibe or anything! I was just genuinely curious!" I say, as Kira wakes up.

"I wouldn't despair too much about your futures yet. The best thing for all of you to do is to enjoy life day by day. Life in the present like tomorrow doesn't even matter, that's at least how I've lived." Kira says.

"What was your childhood like Kira?" Sachi asks.

"Ah, you kids don't wanna know about a boring story like mine! I'll give you this though, I used to be married!" Kira says as she smiles lightly.

"WHAT?!" We all say in unison.

"You heard me, I was married for 5 years." Kira says, nonchalantly.

"What happened?"Jack asks.

"Hmm, we both just parted ways. He wanted stability, I wanted freedom. It was hard for me for sure but it was the best way for both of us to live more fulfilling lives." Kira says as she spins her dagger.

"Wow, I can't believe some guy actually managed to wrangle you down for 5 years." Mari says.

"Sheesh, do I seem that wild to you kids?" Kira asks.

"Yep." I say.

"No doubt," Sachi replies.

"Ditto that." Jack says.

"Yeah, you don't seem like the type that would ever settle down!" Mari says.

"Okay, okay! Enough about me, all of you should try to get more–" Kira says.

"AHHH! Goblins!" Lena yells from the front of the carriage.

"Uh oh! Kids get a move on!" Kira says as she bolts out of the back of the carriage.

We all run out to the front and noticed that Lena has an arrow in her stomach and Tano is in front of her holding a sword. There's a pack of at least 50 goblins and they're all laughing and taunting us.

"Lena stay back! Just let me handle this!" Tano says as I can tell he's afraid.

"Stand back boy! Alright kiddos, let's take them out!" Kira says as Taqa starts emanating from her body.

"Oh yeah! Time to let loose!" Jack says as he holds his axe tightly.

"Roger that! Scavian Art: Shadow Step!" I say as I run next to Kira preparing to attack the goblins.

"Windian Art: Collatoral Arrows!" Sachi says as she shoots a bunch of arrows that take down five of the goblins.

"Mardian Art: Neko Summon!" Mari says, as she summons her beast and it starts ripping through five of the goblins.

"My turn! Bracadier Art: Boomer Rang Throw!" Jack says as he hits at least 10 of the goblins.

"Alright, Crow! Just like we practiced!" Kira commands.

"Right!" I reply.

"Scavian Art: Spin Blade Dash!" We say in unison, as we both attack all the goblins like a speeding saw blade cutting the rest of them down with ease.

"Lena!" Tano says as he falls on the ground holding her up.

"Ugh, they got me good my love… " Lena says, as her stomach starts bleeding.

"No, don't die on me! I need you! Please tell me one of you can help! I don't know any healing spells!" Tano says as tears start running down his cheek.

"Mari! Hurry it up!" Kira says.

"Of course! Let me see her!" Mari says as you can see the desperation in Lena's eyes.

"Please, don't let me die… I don't want to leave him by himself." Lena says as she starts coughing up blood.

"Shhh. Stop talking, I'll make sure you'll be okay. Just bear with me okay?" Mari says, her voice like that of an angel.

"Okay… " Lena replies, as she manages to smile.

"Good. Jack, you're the strongest one here! I need you to pull this arrow out, but we have to time it right, okay?" Mari says as she looks really serious.

"R-Right!" Jack says as he walks carefully over and gently holds Lena up with Mari.

"Okay, at the count of three pull the arrow out! You ready?" Mari asks.

"Yeah! Let's do it." Jack says, as grasps the arrow with his left hand.

"3, 2, 1, PULL!" Mari says as Jack yanks the arrow out.

"I got it out!" Jack says as he throws the arrow to the side.

"Mardian Art: Life Blood Healing!" Mari says as a soft blue light starts shining on Lena's wound.

The wound starts closing up and the blood starts to disappear. Tano rushes over and puts his ear on Lena's heart.

"Lena! Your still alive my love! Thank Adora for her children!" Tano says as he hugs her bawling his eyes out.

"Whew, that was a close one! I was afraid she wasn't going to make it." Kira says as she lets out a huge sigh of relief.

"That would've been a horrible way to start out our trip." Sachi says as she puts her bow back over her shoulder.

"Ugh, that took… A lot outta me." Mari says as she falls towards the ground of exhaustion.

"Mari! Are you okay?" I say as I grab her before she shits the ground.

"She'll be okay, she just needs some rest. This trip has proved to be more dangerous than I originally thought, hey boy!" Kira says as she taps Tano's shoulders.

"Yes Ma'am?" Tano asks, starts wiping his tears away.

"I'll drive the carriage for the time being, that way I can spot any enemies that try to ambush us. You stay in the back with your wife! Jack, Crow, Sachi! All of you are to stay back with them and protect them as if your life depends on it! Until Mari wakes up, we'll be down on manpower, but we should be able to pull it off." Kira says.

"Understood!" We all say in unison.