Frankenstein's Clinic.

[The Harrowed]

Raven bowed his head a bit, eyes shut. "... Alright. I'll... I'll try." The Harrowed leaned against one of the tents. "That's all anyone can ask."

The memory shot forward suddenly, brief flashes of interaction between the Harrowed and the two young magi going by at high speed. It stopped in the middle of a battle.

The Harrowed, Aria, and Raven were right in the middle of the fighting. The Harrowed stood in front of the two, using a longsword to deflect blows from the mercenaries as best he could. Above their heads, a slight distortion in the air revealed a layer of altered gravity that sent any arrows heading for them back into the enemy lines, albeit not with enough force to seriously hurt anyone. The Harrowed already had several cuts on his body, and both Raven and Aria were sporting a few. "Where are the damn reinforcements? We're getting overrun!" True enough, the opposing soldiers were already starting to surround them.

Then one came up behind Aria, swinging a large axe to try to cleave her skull. Raven saw the attack coming and stretched one arm towards them. "Aria!"[/color] His hand seemed to snap shut involuntarily, and the soldier was suddenly crushed as if by a giant hand.

The memory shot forward again to the aftermath of the battle. The Harrowed was picking his way through the battlefield until he came upon Raven. The young avian seemed to be staring at the corpse, but hee seemed to be a bit of a 'thousand-yard stare' in his expression.

Derek stared. The look on Raven's face struck a familiar, unpleasant chord.[/i]

[Arin]

Aria walked over to Raven, placing her hands on his shoulders "Raven? Raven! Come to your senses and look at me, will you?!" She shook him a little, trying to break the avian out of his trance so he could look at her.

Tabby looked over and saw Derek's unnerved behavior "...That was your reaction too, wasn't it...the first time you killed someone?"

[The Harrowed]

Raven just fell to his knees when Aria touched him. "I... I killed him... I crushed him like a bug..." He began shaking, and his breath started coming in small bursts.

The Harrowed slowly approached the boy. Shit. This is the first time he killed someone, isn't it? I can't believe I forgot that, especially since he's been doing nothing but shielding us so far.

When Aria grabbed Raven again the avian started, spinning to look at her. After a moment he grabbed onto her and just started crying into her shoulder, his wings and shoulders visibly shaking with each sob.

Derek turned to Tabby. "... Not exactly..." He turned back to the memory.

[Arin]

Aria held Raven tightly, caressing his back softly "It's alright Raven, just breathe..." She waited until the avian had calmed down somewhat enough to not cry before turning his head to face her and plant a deep kiss on his lips. After about a minute, she pulled away, hugging him tightly again "You saved my life Raven...If You didn't kill him, I wouldn't be here right now..."

Tabby watched Derek curiously, clearly that was a memory he didn't want to bring to the surface "...Okay...I won't make you talk about it then..."

[The Harrowed]

The Harrowed watched the pair for a minute, then walked over to them and put a hand on Aria's shoulder. "Give him some time, Aria. He's in shock right now." He backed up a couple steps. "We need to head back to camp and pack up. We've been ordered to fall back to a more defensible position."

Derek continued to watch the memor, but his mind was drifting elsewhere. He absentmindedly rubbed his left wrist, feeling the raised, smooth flesh that ran across it. He tensed for a moment as a phantom pain crossed his throat, then closed his eyes and shook his head. He had other things to focus on.

[Arin]

Aria nodded and tried to help Raven to his feet "Let's go Raven, we have to go..."

Tabby noticed Derek favoring his neck and seemed a bit concerned, but put it aside since he did as well. She kept watching the memory, wondering how much longer it would take for these memories to show the pair what they needed to see. "Something wrong?"

[The Harrowed]

The memory shot forward again, stopping with Raven and the Harrowed sitting at a table. It looked to be the middle of lunch, and Raven was just stirring at the bowl of firecake in front of him. "Kid? What's eating at you?" Raven looked up suddenly at the Harrowed's words. "It... It's nothing." "Bullshit. You've been avoiding both me and Aria for weeks now. What's going on, Raven?"

There was silence for a minute. "... How do you deal with it?" "Kid?" "How can you kill those people and not be bothered by it? I mean, every time I close my eyes I see myself killing him again. And every time I sleep I see myself crushing armies like- like-" Raven's voice quit and he just stared down at the food, trembling.

The Harrowed stared for a minute, then sighed. "I won't lie to you Raven. You're not the only one who's had to deal with those sorts of dreams. Hell, I have nights like those myself. But it gets easier. Not a whole lot, but enough for you to cope." He reached over and placed a hand on Raven's shoulder. "You're not some sort of monster for killing that man Raven. If you hadn't he probably would've killed Aria. Don't beat yourself up over saving her." Raven looked up to the Harrowed and gave a small smile. "Thanks."

The memory shot forward again. The Harrowed was sitting in his tent sharpening his sword when he heard Raven shouting in the distance. "For the last time Aria, I'm not going to do it! Killing people in battle is one thing, but I'm not going to wipe out a fleet just because you asked me to!" "Gods... Might as well see what's got Raven all worked up." The Harrowed set his sword aside and headed for the air, following the noise from the shouting match.

Derek shook his head. "Nothing, just some bad memories that look dredged up."

[Arin]

I don't think Aria would've asked him to do something that drastic, but I'll roll with it)

Aria was glaring at Raven with slight agitation, hands on her hips with a disappointed frown on her face "But why not?! You have the power to end this war!" She waved her hand towards the sea, her hand shaped in a pointing gesture to emphasize her next statement "The cruorem are sailing to this island with their entire fleet, and you can't bring yourself to do so much as sink some if not all of their ships for the others to deal with the survivors?! If they reach our shores, many innocent lives will be lost!"

Tabby patted Derek's shoulder, reassuring him "You don't need to talk about it until you're ready, I won't force you to, Derek." She then flinched at Aria's sudden outburst of anger, unnerved by how seriously she was being towards killing so many humans "Yikes, she's really not kidding about killing all of those people. Was she like this when you met her?"

[The Harrowed]

Raven spun on Aria. "And how many will die if I destroy that fleet? How many prisoners? How many people who don't share the Cruorem's hatred? Dammit Aria, not everyone on those ships is an enemy!" The Harrowed blinked, surprised at Raven's outburst. Damn. I've never seen Raven get worked up like this.

Raven turned away for a moment, rubbing his eyes. "Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do? This isn't like the battles we've been in Aria. This isn't a horde of murderous bastards trying to kill us all. There are cooks, sailors, prisoners, people the Cruorem pressed into service who don't even want to be here! And you're asking me to massacre them! Don't you get it Aria, you're asking me to commit mass murder!"

He stared at her for a few seconds, breathing heavily. "Maybe you don't care who dies in this war, but I'm not going to steep my hands in innocents' blood. Not for you. Not for the generals. Not for the gods-damned monarchies! You want those people killed? Do it yourself. I'm not your pet superweapon, Aria. No matter how much you want me to be." Raven then turned around and walked away from Aria.

Derek continued watching the screen. "No... no she wasn't..."

[Arin]

Aria's eyes started to water, she knew the stakes, but she also knew what happened if they weren't stopped "You don't think I know that?! I don't want them killed any more than you do! But if they aren't stopped, there are going to be a lot more deaths than if you did go through with this..." She watched as Raven walked on, anger shown in her tear-filled eyes "So you're just gonna walk away like a coward? Fine! But don't expect it to benefit you much if they win, they'll just hunt these lands until there's none of us left, including you!" Raven was now far from earshot at this point "...Raven..."

Tabby looked at the memories almost sympathetically, this was really opening her eyes "......Wow......I never knew we could have been wiped out like that...It's kind of scary, y'know?"

[The Harrowed]

Raven spun after Aria had called him a coward. "Better a coward than a murderer!"[/color] He then turned back and , with one flap of his wings, shot into the air and headed away from the camp. The Harrowed approached Aria and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Give him some time, Aria. Everyone hits their limit sometime, and I think we just found Raven's."

Derek didn't respond, not knowing what to say.

The memory shot forward again. The Harrowed and Aria stood watching a caravan of supplies enter a fortified camp. There was no sign of Raven. The Harrowed took most notice of the hangers-on, mostly refugees, that accompanied the caravan.[/i] Ever since that fleet landed, things have just been getting worse. And only half the group made it to land. The only blessing we have is that the other half were destroyed before they could land. "You never told me why you didn't participate in the attack. I know your talents aren't really meant for the battlefield like" Raven's "other mage's are, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have helped."

[Arin]

"...My greatest talents are in the materialization and relocation of objects...I doubt I could do much with that aside from being an emergency escape plan..." Aria was silent for the longest time after that, her mind registering what the harrowed had to say, but she couldn't really think of the true reason why she couldn't bring herself to help them fight. Sure her skills were best in creating and relocating things, but that doesn't mean she couldn't have done more...So why didn't she?

Tabby looked at Derek, then looked back to the screen, clearly he didn't want to talk much about it.

[The Harrowed]

The Harrowed went to say something to Aria, but was interrupted by the sound of lots of leathery wings beating together. He spun to face the empty parade grounds in time to see hundreds of large, dragonlike humanoids land in the field. "What the hell?" He rushed to the grounds.

It was only once he got close that the size of the figures became apparant. They towered over everyone, the Harrowed's head only reaching halfway up one of their chests. They were all heavily muscled, covered in greenish brown scales, armored, and wielded a variety of melee weapons and polearms. "Well, this is a surprise... Hail, dragonkith! What brings you here?"

One of the figures, slightly larger than the others, stepped out in front of the Harrowed. It spoke with a deep, rich voice. "We have come to lend our aid in fighting off the invaders. Every available member of our race has come to fight."

The Harrowed frowned. "Wait a minute, there's only, what, seven hundred, maybe a thousand of you here? Where are the rest? I know your kind train every able-bodied member of your species in how to fight. Where are they?"

The dragonkith leader looked the Harrowed in the eyes with a solemn look. "Every available member of our race is here."

The Harrowed blinked for a moment. Then it hit him. "Oh... Oh gods..."

Derek blinked in surprise at the figures before the Harrowed. "Whoa."

[Arin]

Aria stared wide-eyed as the leader of the dragonkith claimed that everyone here was all that is left, covering her mouth softly "I...I knew the dragonkith race were greatly reduced from the first invasion...But to find out that there are only this many left?"

Tabby was just as awestruck, jaw slacked slightly "Wooooow! I thought they were just a fairy tale old timers told their grandkids...This is crazy!"

[The Harrowed]

The Harrowed paced briefly in front of the dragonkith leader, rubbing his temples. He then looked back to the leader. "How did this happen? I mean, your kind are one of the strongest races here! How were you... well..."

The dragonkith raised one hand to silence the Harrowed. "The Cruorem attacked our breeding grounds. Hundreds of nests and thousands of eggs were destroyed, and many of our females died trying to protect their nests. In the end, the Cruorem's magi burned the place to cinders." The Harrowed blinked. "Wait, the Cruorem have magi?" "Yes. Strange, white-robed men bearing golden staves like shepherd's crooks, who heal their wounded and burn their foes to ash with light. They are not to be underestimated."

The Harrowed walked away, one hand over his face. "Great. One of our biggest advantages no longer applies. I do not like how this bodes for the war."

Derek turned to Tabby. "Wait, you've heard of these things?"