Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Hours had passed since Aran had fallen, and finally, the heroes were coming back to their senses. The first to arrive were Amedith and Arche, both of whom had fallen only after serving their purpose in the fight. Injured still and being healed by Liliyana, the two kept to the ocean while the rest had already made it to Lantherem Bay.

"Where's Raven?" However, not everyone had gathered on land and noticing that, Mel started calling out for the only man she couldn't find anywhere. "Where is he?! Has anyone seen him?!"

Frantically looking around at the numerous faces surrounding her, she was met with disappointment again and again. Nobody had seen him ever since he was shot out of Aran's chest, leading many to fear the worst…n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

When in reality, he was brought before his mother and the mother of all dark fairies. Looking over the battered body of her son, Umbra stretched her hand but before she could touch him, the chains binding her rattled and pulled her arm away. Unbothered, she grew another hand with silver veins coursing through its skin from her neck and stretched it towards Raven. Discover stories at empire

"You called and I answered, now it's my turn to draw my reward…" Tapping just a nail on his chest, she split a grain-sized part of his soul and closed her fist around that glowing speck of warm light. Pulling away from him, she brought it closer to her eyes to get a better look, and to her surprise, she saw something only the goddess knew. "Nightsilver's soul?"

Lifting her gaze as she brushed the soul against her many coursing veins, she melted it into her body so the speck may join the many souls of her children. Carrying with her countless of her children along with parts of their souls as safe keep for her to remember them by, the mother of dark fairies could feel the presence of not one by two souls merging inside.

"What cruel game did she play with you, my son?" She tried to touch him once more but was stopped by a burning chain whipping her in the throat before pulling her and her extra arm back. Grunting in pain, she wished to scream in anger and although the giggling from the other fairies angered her even more, she simply brushed her son back to the real world and returned to slumber.

When came to his senses on the other end, his body was still half-fae and half-human. Floating right on the surface of the water thanks to the red madam's clothes, Raven's fae side slowly melted away leaving just him feeling tired and defeated after the battle. Coughing up some blood–not his but the dragon's, he attempted to conjure wings but felt a sharp pain in his chest that halted his efforts.

Slowly bringing his hand to his chest while coughing, he knew something was missing from inside his heart but he wasn't sure exactly what it could be. Even so, gathering courage and some strength, he picked himself up with a pair of wings and began flying towards the fallen lighthouse.

While making his way there, he was instantly spotted by the worried group–and none of them wasted a second in trying to get to him on the other side of the island. As for the warrior of the party, his lover and the queen of spiders, they remained on the beach feeling much better and watching over the corpse of the half-dragon as it melted into the ocean.

"Fucking hell…all that for one man?" Sitting at the sandy beach, Amedith laid down on his back and let Liliyana continue to heal him.

"I lost one of my eyes and legs too, hopefully, they'll grow back soon," raising an eyebrow at Arche's statement, the two looked at her colossal frame that somehow appeared much smaller than usual. "Still spilling poison into the sea after his death, that guy really was an all-round asshole."

"Choux said he's a soul warrior who absorbs people's souls and abilities," shifting her gaze from the queen to the king, Liliyana took a deep breath and sighed before continuing. "I'm sure plenty of those souls are overjoyed now that he's gone."

"Count me in as one of those," Amedith panted, his chest still feeling tight from having blocked the blow head-on.

Bringing her attention back to him, Liliyana decided to focus on his heart since most of the trauma seemed concentrated around that region. While doing so, she noticed the necklace Linkle had given him just barely hanging out of his clothes. Reaching for it she decided to put it away and undress the rest of Amedith's top for better healing, but the moment she pulled on the necklace a snapping sound came from the crystal nail.

Curious as to what happened, she reached into Amedith's clothes and pulled the broken necklace out.

"It's broken?" She muttered, her brows squinted at the sight of the life necklace being shattered in two.

"What's broken?" Lifting his head slightly, Amedith took a glance at it as well.

Seeing the necklace snapped in two, he wasn't sure at first why, but after a minute of shared silence, a haunting realization came to the trio's mind. Exchange glances with each other, Amedith and his lover anxiously gulped their emotions–or at least they tried until Liliyana threw her hands around him and pulled Amedith into a tight hug.

"G-god…I'm so fucking glad you had this!" Tearing up as she pushed her face against his, Liliyana sniffled and cried uncontrollably, all the while, Amedith was still frozen in shock at the fact that he had in fact, died and came back to life.

Watching it from the sidelines, knowing full well what had happened, Arche couldn't help but wonder how different things could've ended up for her as well had Amedith not blocked that blow with his life. Having only a faint recollection of the event through a muffled and dreamy gaze, the only thing she remembered was a flash of light with the shadow of the blade coming down on her, and in between her and the sword was the dainty-looking warrior who lost his life.

'If that was but a man, what horrors, what monsters await us on this journey forward?'

That thought terrified even a true monster like her.