The smell of wet bark was floating through Ravencross... Some stories came to an end, while some were barely just starting.
Maryam and Methuselah were talking on a bench after they finished their gambling session.
Methuselah rubbed his beard.
"So, what are you going to do now? Will you participate in the pilgrimage? Or will you say... next year, again?"
Maryam chuckled softly.
"Maybe, who knows? After all, if someone would know... it should be you."
Methuselah started chuckling while rubbing his belly.
"Yes, yes... I have a feeling you will."
Maryam nodded slowly.
"I have postponed it for a good while now..."
Maryam got up, and she began to look in the direction of the church.
"I will be going now. See you when I come back."
Methuselah nodded.
"Have fun out there."
Maryam walked away in silence.
The bells inside the covered church began to toll. Maryam passed by a little boy with snot running from his nose. She smiled, and she waved at him.
The boy spoke softly, "Sancho... You are back."
A crowd formed in front of the church, and a man started talking.
In another part of Ravencross, the guards were trying to find out what happened to the neighbour of the famous author.
"Everyone, let the Covered Church guide you again for another safe pilgrimage."
The covered church sprouted its wings; it flapped them a few times. People were almost knocked to the ground. The little boy next to Maryam was fascinated by the sight. "A giant."
Maryam left the boy alone, and she began to wander through the different groups of people, making small talk and nodding when someone waved to her. But a single group caught her attention.
"Oh my, I didn't think you two would be here."
Elyon and Vigil turned around. The glass freak was the first to speak.
"Maryam?"
Maryam nodded slowly.
"That's me."
Elyon adjusted his glasses.
"Weren't you supposed to be gambling?"
Maryam's eyebrows shot up in confusion, which made Vigil poke him with his elbow. "She is a nun, you idiot."
"Right."
Maryam chuckled softly. "Even a nun has some different activities in her spare time. So, are you two joining? The pilgrimage."
Elyon looked back, and he pointed to someone behind him.
"Three, actually, and yeah, we are joining the pilgrimage."
Maryam took a few steps to her right so she could see who Elyon was pointing to. A woman covered by a hood.
"Yes, I am joining in as well," the woman spoke.
Maryam scoffed. "Oh, come on, you don't need to hide yourself. I am sure you are beautiful."
Maryam walked over to the covered woman, and she gently pulled her hood off.
"Oh my... I didn't think you would be here... Eve."
Eve bit her lip as she tried to pull her hood back up.
Elyon looked confused at both of them. "You know her?"
Maryam turned around to look at Elyon. "No, I just saw her wanted posters. She is quite an expensive girl."
Eve pulled back; she wanted to leave the woman's grasp. But something held her in place.
"I—" But before Eve could speak...
"Caw caw."
A wild crow flew with such speed that Eve didn't see the crow... no, she only felt Maryam's body slump against her.
Maryam's forehead opened; am almost hole was visible through it. The beak of the now dead crow was slightly twitching in Maryam brain. Blood from the hole began to drip down on Maryam's face. While the rest of the blood was on Eve's face.
Maryam was dead, and one of Vigil's crows killed her. A crow which was controlled by Vigi—
Elyon rubbed his eyes; his left iris turned to display the number "12."
He had forgotten to multiply his own mind again.
The world turned back to normal.
"I won't cause any commotion," Eve responded, and Maryam nodded silently.
A loud, blood-curdling scream was heard from the main group.
Eve, Maryam, and Elyon turned their heads to locate the scream. When they did, they saw a man with mad eyes that were covered by a mask, which was made of fake plain wood. The man behind it started screaming...
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS, YOU KILLED THAT WHICH IS HOLY. THAT WHICH PROTECTED US FROM THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND HIS HELL COUNTERPART. YOU KILLED NATURE, AND NOW YOU WILL FACE THE WRATH OF NATU—" But before he could finish, a dagger cut across his neck; someone had just killed the man. Everyone in the main group looked with pale faces at the soon-to-be dying man.
When their viewing experience was over, their sights turned up to the man who killed the other man.
"Vigil?" asked Elyon, more to himself.
Vigil was too far away to hear Elyon whispering to himself. Yet Vigil knew...
Wordlessly, Vigil bent down to open the jacket of the insane man. When he did, everyone felt relieved... or rather scared of what could've happened.
"This man whom I killed..."
Vigil grabbed a handful of red tubes, which he presented to the crowd.
"This man... intended to blow himself up, which would've killed us all."
The crowd remained silent until a random person started to cheer. Then another and another, until the whole main group was cheering for Vigil.
Maryam stared in amazement; on one hand, Vigil had just killed someone. Yet he saved so many people.
Eve didn't really want to think, since the chants reminded her of the Colosseum, so she just rubbed the pommel of Nightfall awkwardly.
Yet Elyon was the only one who looked at Vigil with fright.
How did Vigil know what was going to happen? How did he leave the group so easily without anyone seeing him? Did Vigil plan this... did he do this to gain the favour of the crowd? Even if he did that... why? He was already appreciated here.
Who is Vigil?
Vigil stared back at him... and only him.
Across the whole plaza, Vigil and Elyon were staring at each other while the people chanted praises.
After a while, the guards came; they took everyone's testimonies. This prompted the pilgrimage to be postponed by two hours. And Vigil was left scot-free.
After giving her testimony, Maryam walked over to a frightened woman. They began to talk; the woman's name was Stacy. She was a rather short woman with a scar that ran across her neck up until it ended under her left eye. Stacy's hair was dyed black since her original hair color was blond, and her eyes were blue.
"Yo... Got room for another one?"
Both Maryam and Stacy turned their heads. They saw a man who was clean-shaven exept his mustache. A hat that covered little of hair. His brown eyes were covered by the smoke that was coming from his cigarette.
Stacy paled a bit because the man in front of her, reminded her of someone, especially his face.
Maryam smiled. "Sure, what's your name, young man?"
"Since when was I young? What a world we live in... My name is Anton."
After helping the little boy from getting beaten up, Anton went back to his home; he wrote his memoir and the letter for George in haste. He then went to shave his beard. Because of the terrorist intervention, Anton had time to get to the plaza.
The bells of the covered church started tolling once again.
Everyone had their groups of three or more.
And so, it was time for the pilgrimage to finally commence.
With that, the covered church began to flap its giant wings many times over, until the church was flying above the people.