Shadow Slave: Bloodborne

A few months had passed, since Ragna had been recruited to Valor by Saint Madoc personally. Those few months had been very peaceful. Ragna had joined a wipe out that, which cleared all the monsters around Bastion. Because of the large team, he had never truly gotten into a dangerous situation, but things were about to change. Valor was about to send forces to Antarctica, after all.

In those few months he had naturally also spent a few days visiting his parents, and also seeing Rain again, who had visited Effie on a random day. It was kinda weird seeing her like that again, but their friendship quickly bloomed up once again.

Ragna had thought about it a lot, but he was sure, that he did indeed want to go to Antarctica too, especially because he hadn't gotten much stronger in Bastion. And that he had also told Madoc, who had helped him a lot in those few months. Why a Saint like him helped him so much, Ragna didn't know.

A few days before the troops would've been send out to Antarctica, Saint Madoc had requested Ragna's presence in the same chamber that Madoc had recruited him.

When he stepped inside, Ragna was hit by people he had admired from afar, but never spoken to directly.

The first was Tyris, the leader of the White Feather clan, a saint just like Madoc. She was a tall and strikingly beautiful woman, who had long and pale, blonde hair, that cascaded down her back. She had a certain aura around, calm yes strong, which made her feel inhuman.

The second person was one Ragna had seen a lot around Bastion. The princess of Valor, Morgan. Even though she was "only" an Ascended, her high status of being the daughter of Anvil, was undeniable. Morgan had black wavy hair and alabaster skin, with eyes as sharp as the deadliest sword. Her very presence demanded respect alone- like all eyes were supposed to be on her.

And at last there was Nephis of the Immortal Flame clan- or rather the Valor clan now. Ragna had of course heard of her through the media, but also through stories Effie had told her. And just be the description alone, it was unmistakable, that was Nephis. Her beauty was undeniable, being Tall and having a cool aura around her. Her silver hair and ivory skin and sharp grey eyes made her seem like a mythical creature.

Now, being surrounded by so many strong people, made Ragna feel nervous.

Madoc, seeing Ragna enter, smiled gently and gestured for him to sit down.

"Ah, Ragna. You're finally here, come on sit down."

As Ragna sat down, he felt the weight of the room settle down onto him, since everyones eyes were locked onto his form. Those weren't just powerful Awakened, they were legends of the modern age, people many looked up to.

He himself had looked up to one of them too, Nephis. One or two years back, Nephis had become a big hope for humanity. Her adventures in the Forgotten Shore, the horror of her being the only one who didn't escape, the people's hope in her still surviving and putting candles at the entrance of the Awakened Academy and the movie that had come out about the Forgotten Shore. Ragna had participated in the last two, having watched the movie and having put a few candles in front of the school gates.

Morgan was the one who looked at him with the most interest, or maybe confusion, since Tyris and Nephis didn't really show any emotions.

"Madoc, what is a kid doing here ? I thought we were about to discuss the last things we need to about Antarctica."

Madoc chuckled slightly, leaning back on his chair, as his eyes went towards Morgan.

"Patience, Morgan. Ragna may only be an Awakened right now, but trust me, he has a lot of potential. That's why I called him here. I want him to act as a special unit in Antarctica."

Ragna wanted to say something, anything, but he did not know how to speak in a room full of monsters like those.

Saint Tyris broke the silence, her beautiful, yet calm voice invading their ears.

"Saint Madoc, I trust your judgement, but if you want this young boy to work as a special unit, I would like to know why you trust him so much and what your goal with him is."

Madoc nodded, before his expression transformed into one of more seriousness.

"I understand your concern, Tyris. Giving someone who's only Awakened such a role isn't logical, after all. I believe that Ragna can become very strong with the right challenge, and Antarctica is just what he needs. Of course he won't be as efficient as someone like Soul Reaper Jet, so I want to put him in your care, Morgan. He needs to earn experience in a horrendous place like Antarctica."

Morgan sprang up with confusion.

"Wait what ? With all due respect, you can't expect me to babysit some kid, just because you see potential in him."

Ragna blinked, also feeling confused at his treatment.

'I'm not a child who needs a parent to take care of me!', he wanted to yell, but their combined Aura making it hard for him to not bow his head.

"But that's exactly why I've brought him here. You don't really need to take care of him. He'll just join your unit and will take on a little bit of harder objectives compared to the other awakened. End of discussion."

Nephis just observed their conversation, seemingly not interested in him or the situation in general.

Ragna felt a weird mix of emotions- pride and frustration. It felt nice, that Saint Madoc was putting so much faith into him, but he also didn't think that Ragna could do it without getting babysat.

Morgan laid her eyes on Ragna, before sighing and rubbing her templates.

"Fine, I'll take you with me, but only because Madoc insists. I won't go out of my way to save you if things get dangerous, understood ?"

"Of course, Miss Morgan. I didn't expect you to save me anyways. I won't come into your way."

Morgan's serious glare rested on Ragna for a while longer, trying to analyze and understand the young Awakened.

"Good", Morgan said plainly, her tone sharp and colder than the winds he was about to feel in Antarctica.

Sain Madoc then cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone again.

"Alright, Ragna. That was everything. We four will discuss a little bit more, you can leave."

Ragna said goodbye to everyone, before leaving that room full of monsters.

***

On the day of the departure, Ragna found himself standing on the shore of the city, surrounded by thousands of soldiers and dozens of huge ships, which were provided by House of Night.

'I hope I don't meet Caspian here. He wouldn't go to Antarctica, would he ?"

The cool air comming from the ocean hit his face, as he looked towards the beautiful horizon. There wouldn't be any comming back if he went now.

He then heard a whistle, guiding him to recognize that it was the turn of the group he was in right now to walk into a ship- and so he did.

Hundreds of awakened, and some Ascended got boarded into the ship, taking around thirty minutes till everything was organized. And then, the ship drove off into the endless ocean, on it's way to Antarctica.

Ragna stood on the Main Deck, looking at the beautiful ocean in front of him. He had heard that there would be Night are Creatures in the water, and that they surely would meet some here and there.

House of Night made it their job to take care of them, but Ragna would rather be safe than sorry.

And so, time slowly passed. He had no friends nor any person he really knew on this ship, so it was pretty boring, especially because most people on the shop were considerably older than him.

But since he could just go to sleep and fight a few monsters here and there in Bastion, it was fine.

And two weeks later, he had finally started to see the cold Antarctica in the distance. As they approached, Ragna instantly felt the differences and horrors that would await him.

The sheer coldness was on a whole different level, but what really stood out was the call the Nightmare Gates emitted, which were underwater. They called for him, told him to fall unconscious near them, wanting to pull him into a Nightmare.

But Ragna's resolve wouldn't let him- he wasn't allowed to give in into the call, and die in the end.