Threads of the Soul

Chapter 459 - 459: The Kindness left Behind

Hovering in the air, suspended by the power of his cloak, Corvus looked at the severed arm in his grasp with disappointment. Blood still spurted from the section where it had been brutally torn from the socket, but it wasn't him that had torn it.He had simply grabbed the arm with his threads and it tore itself off when the Captain teleported. It seems that their makeshift and clearly inferior teleporters didn't take well to interference. That was useful to know, although if Astra had managed to tell that to him before the Captain disappeared, then he would have gone for the head.

Then again, burning his soul until it is ready to shatter and tearing off his arm... It was a familiar sight, even if he was now seeing it from the other side of the equation. The fact that he also went by a raven themed named did not escape his notice either.

It was a strange type of poetic irony, or perhaps it was fate. It was possible that one of the mysteries of the universe that, much like evolution loved to make crabs, that fire breathing ravens would always sear souls and tear off arms. Perhaps, it was just one of those consistencies that would always happen, no matter what time or place they found themselves.

Then again, maybe it was just a weird coincidence.

Although if he was going to do this punishment to someone, it would have been more poetic to give it to Sirius. He was the man who made him, or made Seth, end up like that. To give him the same punishment would have been the perfect ironic revenge.

But back then he had been so... naively kind. Clinging to the vestiges of society, still believing that he couldn't be a good man if he took a life. He had let Sirius go under the assumption that leaving someone to die a violent death was somehow more morally justified than killing them himself.

It was a foolish thought, but one he had used to comfort his conscience. One that also didn't matter, as in the end he still killed Sirius after he turned into one of the Lightbringers abominations. But there were still times, now and then, that Corvus thought back to the man he used to be, both in a literal and a spiritual way.

He reminisced about the kindness he used to have and the sanctity he had held for all life, and wondered how much of that man was still left inside. How much of that kindness and care. Like a frog in slowly boiling water, would he even notice when it all went away? Who was he to say that it hadn't already?

Shrugging to himself, Corvus sent the puppets, both the reinforcements and the strawmen, out to create a secure perimeter. He drifted down from the sky, gently touching down just outside of the corn field. He had no way of knowing which corn was the explosive kind, and he didn't exactly feel like being blown up.

At the same time, the Wyvern rider slipped off of Omelette's back, landing gracefully, and strolled over to Corvus, who scoffed at his other selves swagger. Did he really walk like that?

Seth was still dressed in casual clothes, with his T-shirt bearing a design of a certain Honey Badger that 'takes what it wants'. After Honey's overwhelming victories in the arena, people had been eager to make merchandise out of her likeness. A discovery that the badger took exceptionally well, as she did with anything that sufficiently stroked her ego.

However she did find issue with the stuffed toys that someone had made. Apparently their goofy expressions and soft bodies didn't do her invincible majesty justice. When Seth left, she had still been arguing with the creator over creating them out of stone instead.

"We still need to talk about it." Seth said bluntly as he approached Corvus, causing the latter to roll his eyes.

"I know, Okay?" Corvus said with a deep sigh, "You've said it in my head three times already. In fact, I'm blaming you distracting me for the Captain getting away. But now isn't the time to talk. When we can be alone, then we can talk."

As the two nearly identical men talked between each other in hushed, irritated tones, they started to garner some attention from their onlookers. The gathered leaders muttered to each other, exchanging whispers of, "They look the same, don't they?" and "Do you think they are related? They have to be, right?"

The theory of a cloning type mutation was quickly brought up by someone, but even more quickly shot down as they pointed to Seth's injuries. Anyone with a brain would be able to figure out that, if you could clone yourself, why would you ever settle for an injured clone?

Just kill it and make a new one.

Not to mention, as others pointed out, that it had nothing to do with the abilities Corvus possessed. None of them knew the injured ones mutation, but Corvus was well known as a necromancer of sorts.

Xander staggered to his feet, snatching a gun from one of the slack jawed idiots and immediately turned it back into liquid iron that flowed into his palm. With his blood iron resupplied, his brain fog quickly faded.

With revitalised eyes and legs that could actually hold his weight, Xander staggered over to the two 'twins' with an amused smirk on his face, as if he hadn't just been face down in the dirt moments ago.

"Well, I'll be. I still can't believe you're a real person. Twins, I wasn't expecting that one. You know for quite a while we were sure that you were just an empty suit underneath the hood.

Just a scapegoat, or scape raven, while the real you hid in the shadows. We had a few different candidates of who the 'real' you might be. But I guess all that goes out of the window now, huh?"

He clapped his hands on the 'twins' shoulders and let out a soft laugh, while the men in question shared a quick look. He glance between them, taking in their individual appearances. He had to say, other than the injuries, their resemblance was uncanny. They might have gotten away with switching places when they were younger.

But even if they completely hid their face and injuries, looking at them now, he could still see the differences. The way they stood and held themselves, the slight differences in walks. Yes, it was completely obvious to him which was which, and that they were two completely different people.