Crow and the Mouse: Chapter 4 – Through Freezing Flames and Past Crim

Chapter 4 – Through Freezing Flames and Past Crimes

The weather in the Anathema regions changes from being bearable to being insufferable thanks to the fading of the Flame of Cognizance and the sins of men. In one moment, it may be scorching hot and the next it could be bone chillingly cold. Harkan and Mouse have run out of food and with no wild beasts to hunt and cook, they scavenge a destroyed settlement. While scavenging, Harkan is unsure whether or not this settlement destroyed itself or was destroyed by outsiders.

“I can never tell with these cultists,” Harkan says to himself while looking for food.

Harkan looks outside and watches as Mouse cleans her mouse plush and fixes the holes in it. He keeps wondering to himself what’s wrong with her and what he can do to fix it. He then looks through another storehouse and manages to find enough food and water for one person. Knowing what to do with it, he gives it to Mouse who unthankfully takes it despite her hunger and thirst.

“We’re almost at the border of one of the kingdoms of Genus,” Harkan tells Mouse, “You’re almost to your new home.”

Mouse grunts in response.

“Aren’t you excited? You’ll finally be away from this wasteland.”

Harkan’s stomach grumbles as he waits for Mouse’s response as she silently thinks.

“…What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What will you do after?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find something out there. Maybe I could be a guard at your orphanage or a caretaker. Genus does owe me favors for helping their kingdom.”

“Mmm.”

“What are you thinking about? Is there something that you need?”

The ground suddenly rumbles until black flames start bursting from the ground and because these black flames are corrupt, it starts to snow and the surrounding area becomes dark. Pillars of ice are erected and parts of the land freeze as nature violently reacts to the fading of the Divine Flame. Their steed dies in the chaos as Harkan and Mouse are forced to run through the fire and the ice on foot. Thanks to the already odd landscape of the Anathema region, they can use the elongated trees and twisted land to take temporary cover before moving to the next safe spot. On the flip side, the beasts have become more erratic. They tear each other apart while also turning on their own kind.

Harkan and Mouse get caught up in this violence as Harkan must fight the beasts off by himself. Mouse’s bait doesn’t even drive them away nor do the carnivores eat their prey. Instead, the herbivores eat the meat of their slain and carnivores vicariously tear at corpses. The beasts even tear their own bodies apart as they struggle uselessly to vent their aggressiveness. Walls of black flame then spew from the ground like volcanos and leave pools of black magma to freeze and burn the ground that cut off Harkan and Mouse’s escape.

Harkan then hides Mouse in a nearby cave, and says to her, “Stay here while I clear us a path.”

Mouse only looks at him in silence as she wishes she was more useful and knew what to say to help him.

With his two handed mace, Harkan smashes heads and crushes whatever beasts come his way. Seeing that he’s a major threat, the other beasts converge on him and start damaging his armor bit by bit until it finally cracks. Though he is bruised, bleeding, hungry, and tired, Harkan continues fighting.

“I can’t let her down. I’m not going to let someone who I’m protecting die again. Not again,” Harkan says to himself.

Mouse calls to Harkan as she runs to him after picking up a blade-like tooth from one of the beasts. She cuts the legs and throats of the beasts who aren’t paying attention to her as she tries to be helpful.

“Mouse!” Harkan calls out as his fatherly strength to protect her is redoubled.

Before they manage to reach each other, they kill every beast around them without even realizing it. It is only when they reach each other do they see the carnage around them. Harkan doesn’t have the energy to scold Mouse for putting herself in danger and just embraces her. They don’t have long to rest as the ground begins to shake again as black flames spew from the ground around them to separate the two. A group of masked soldiers clothed in black robes and armor come after the two and bring them to their knees.

“We figured we’d find you two out here when our people didn’t come back to us,” one of the soldiers say, “But now it’s time to end this. Your corpses will make good trophies in our castle.”

One of the assassins stabs Harkan straight through the chest.

“Harkan!” Mouse screams as she struggles to get free.

“Why do you care about him so much? My friends should’ve told you that he was the one who killed your parents and destroyed your kingdom,” one of the assassins say.

Mouse struggles to speak until she finally says, “That’s true. When I first met him, I thought he was the same monster that killed my parents, but I didn’t know that monster was a man who was dealing with his own problems.”

“You weren’t too far off from your view of him. He is a monster.”

“No, he’s not! He’s a nice man who risks his life to help me. Right, Harkan? Please, don’t die…”

“I’m afraid your protector isn’t going to rise from the dead. He’s a crow after all. Not a phoenix.”

Though he should be dead, Harkan is still alive and conscious as he struggles to hold onto his life.

“Please, God, give me the strength to protect Mouse. I know I haven’t confessed in a while, and I know I may not deserve to live, but she does. Let me save her life and then You can do whatever You want with me,” Harkan silently prays.

Nothing seems to happen at first as Harkan’s lifeless body falls to the ground.

“Harkan!” Mouse screams again before being slapped by an assassin.

As the assassin is about to cut Mouse’s throat, the ground begins to shake before an eruption of black flame comes out from the ground where Harkan is. It appears that he’s long gone as if he wasn’t before since the assassins near it are killed by the flames, but strangely enough, Harkan stands up and walks out of the black flames clothed by them as his armor and cape are all made of flames and the two ends of his mace are lit up with black flames.

“He’s still a man and using the black flame. We’re more proficient in using it, so let’s finish him off!” an assassin says as they converge on Harkan.

Using his new power, Harkan uses his mace to defeat the assassins while his black flame takes care of his blind spots as if it had a mind of its own. The assassins are quickly defeated as their cold flames melt when they come into contact with his. Harkan’s flames have the additional effect of bringing life to the wasteland around him and calming the effects that the black flames have caused as light is being brought back to this land. Mouse runs to Harkan to embrace him despite his appearance and much to his surprise.

“I’m sorry for what I did to you, princess,” Harkan confesses.

“It’s okay. I forgive you,” Mouse says as they both begin to cry.

Their embrace is cut short as another group of armored people with weapons on horses approach them; however, these people are not hostile.

“Who are you?” Harkan asks.

“My lord, we are your faithful servants. We’ve been searching for you so you could take your rightful place on the throne. We knew that following your assassins would lead us to you,” one of them says.

“I’m no longer king, and I wasn’t a good one at that. Why do you need me?”

“The kingdom is turning against itself with one side who are for God and the Divine Flame and another side who is against it. My lord, you were greater than the previous rulers and the current ones we have. Though you made mistakes, you’re still the one who the people stand behind. Please, return to us.”

“I’ll consider it after we bring this girl to an orphanage.”

Harkan’s loyal followers take him and Mouse to an orphanage in the kingdom of Genus. When they arrive there, Harkan speaks to the head priest of the orphanage and they accept Mouse at the orphanage, but they don’t allow him to guard it.

The priest explains that, “The Divine Flame fades and man’s sense of good and evil is fading along with it. I sense the Flame within you. We need leaders like you inspiring people to follow God so that the Flame can continue to burn.”

“Fine, but can Mouse stay with me? What’s stopping me from adopting her myself?”

“Danger follows you wherever you go, and you just left the cursed Anathema region. Do you really want to endanger her life?”

“We encountered each other thanks to Divine Providence and we survived together. How are we not meant to live together to replace the people that we’ve lost? I’ll be her father and she’ll be my daughter.”

“Do you think that you can hear God’s voice than I, a mystic? This was your penance and not a way to fill the gap left by the loss of your family.”

“But…”

“I know how you feel, but this is how it must be. You may be able to adopt her later in the future if she isn’t adopted by then.”

“Fine. At least let me say goodbye to her for now.”

“Of course.”

Harkan goes to Mouse and tells her what has to happen.

“But…but…”

“I know, princess, but this is for the better.” Mouse hugs Harkan and he hugs her back. “We’ll see each other again. I promise.”

“You better be telling the truth! I’ll miss you!”

“I’ll be missing you too.”

The two then part ways. Harkan leads a resistance against the leaders of his kingdom and retakes it. He then fixes the mistakes that his usurpers implemented while he was gone. With his leadership and the aid that he gives to the Pillars of Cognizance allows the Divine Flame to burn brighter as faith in God and sin is lessened thanks to the virtue of Harkan and his kingdom. Months pass and the Divine Flame still appears to be on the verge of fading thanks to man’s weakness to sin. To keep the Flame going, Harkan is about to have a meeting with the other kingdoms that are allied with the Pillars of Cognizance until he is stopped by a special visitor.

It takes him a minute to realize who it is because of her dress and clean look, but when he remembers, he says, “Mouse?”

“Harkan…”

The two embrace each other and catch up on what they’ve been up to.

“So, you’re a princess again?”

“Yes, and I’m married to the prince of the kingdom that adopted me.”

“So, when you’re grown up, you’ll be the queen then? Are you here to get some training in that role?”

“Yes. I’m working together with my family so I can be ready when I eventually become a queen but let me tell you. Working in the world of politics almost makes me missing surviving in the Anathema regions.”

“I almost feel the same way. I get more headaches here and there’s no use for my armor either than the look and the odd fight here and there. Anyways, it’s great to see you again, and see? I fulfilled my promise to you.”

“You did, but can you promise me something new?”

“Name it.”

“Promise me that we’ll make the world a better place. Together.”

“I promise you that, and we’ll start fulfilling that promise with this meeting. Are you ready?”

“Ready.”

Harkan’s and Mouse’s kingdoms become the pillars holding up the Pillars of Cognizance and their allies as they make the world a better place through their virtue, faith, and efforts as they establish rules and traditions that keep the Flame going strong for generations.

 

The End