Black Stained Winter: Chapter 14 - "Prelude to Black Part 2"

Gerogom is raising one of his eyebrows and frowning when he sees Ren inside his laboratory. He points at Ren and faces Ignis, “What’s he doing here?”

“Does it really matter?” Ren asks.

“Not really. I’m just not expecting that at all. Then again,” Gerogom turns to all of his guests, “what are all of you doing here? I don’t remember asking anyone to come today.”

“You have something on the black mist?” Ren goes straight to the point.

“What? Black mist? Sure I have something on it. What do you think I’ve been doing here?”

“Oh hey, everyone’s here,” Rick comes in. It seems that whatever stuff he was attending is now finished.

“Another one? What are you doing here?” Gerogom waves his hand toward Rick.

“Hm? Don’t you already found something about the black mist?” Rick asks as he walk towards the group of Gerogom’s guests. He’s welcomed cheerfully by Tama.

“Another question about black mist,” Gerogoms rolls his eyes, “How do you know I’ve found something about it?”

“A bird chirps to us,” Ren remarks.

“A bird?” Gerogom frowns for a second before he realizes something, “ Ah, that bird you mention doesn’t chirp; he caws.” Gerogom turns and walks away from his guests and towards one of the myriad panels in the room. “If that annoying crow told you to come here, I guess I have to show it to you then.” He presses some button on the panel and a big screen on one side light up. It shows the black mist floating freely inside some kind of canister.

“Is that the same mist you saw?” Ren asks Aqua.

“Well,” Aqua tilts her head slightly to the side, “It is black…”

“What you see here is the Black Mist you all already seen. This has a weird property to create an unstable connection to other realms randomly when there’s enough amount of it clumped together. The ‘way’ it created can be closed at any moment without notice.

“What intrigue me is its other property,” Gerogom presses something on the panel. Several pictures appear on the screen. The demons Rick and Ren fought are pictured on the screen. Other than those demons, there’s also photo of the assassin who was rampaging with the black mist seeping out of him.

Black Stained Winter: Chapter 13 - "Prelude to Black Part 1"

“Is this really his place?” Ignis asks to the pink haired girl standing behind him.

Tama nods and wags her tail, “Yup! There’s no mistake. He has a quite distinct scent for a human after all.”

Ignis and Tama standing inside a simple apartment building. In front of them is a dark brown door with number ‘17’ sticks on it. Ignis extends his hand and knocks the door twice.

Not long after knocking, the door slowly open. The one who opens the door is a young looking woman with a long black hair with purple parts at the ends of her hair. She’s wearing a simple white t-shirt with ‘Girls Power’ written on it and a pair of light blue pants. Her left arm is bandaged and supported with a simple clothes hanging from her right shoulder.

“Yes? Can I help you?” She asks with a clear and collected voice. Ignis freezes for a while, not expecting to be welcomed by a beauty like this.

“Ah… Yes, is this… Umm…” Ignis frowns. His eyes move from one side to the other, trying hard to remember something.

“Ren,” Tama taps Ignis’s back.

“Yes! Is this Ren’s place?” With Tama’s help, Ignis finally remember the name of the man he’s looking for.

“Yes, this is Ren’s resident. Can I help you with something?” Once again the young woman talks with a calm voice.

“Well,” Ignis puts his hands to the pocket on the jacket he’s wearing, “Can we see-”

“Mr. Dandy!! Are you there?” Tama suddenly shout towards the room. The young woman at the door frowns at Tama as she shouts.

“Um, sorry about that,” Ignis quickly apologize as he realized the young woman is slightly annoyed by Tama.

“No problem,” the young woman sigh, “Ren is in the bathroom. You’re his friend?” Her eyes are now staring at yellow canine ears attached to Tama’s head.

“Ah, more like acquaintances,” as Ignis answers, her eyes are back focusing at Ignis.

“I see,” she turns her attention to Tama, “A fox spirit, I presume?”

“Yes, yes! You know a fox spirit?” Tama’s face looks delighted and her ears and tails moving around playfully.

“I do,” the young woman shows a slight smile, “So, you must be Tama.”

“I am!” Tama’s ears and tails move even faster.

“And,” she turns her head to Ignis, “Since you’re with Tama, then you must be Rick.”

“Um, no. Rick’s not coming. I’m Ignis.”

The young woman’s eyes widen slightly and her mouth opens a little for a while which quickly covered with her hand, “Ah, I’m sorry. I thought....”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ignis chuckles.

The young woman exhales, “Well, Tama, Ignis, I’m Aqua del Brigginest. Nice to meet you two.”

“Nice to meet you too!” Tama smiles wide.

“Likewise,” Ignis nods and smiles a bit.

“Please, come in. You should wait inside,” Aqua pushes the door open and move aside to create way for the two guests.

Announcement: Merry Christmas And Happy New Year 2016!! Oh, and 1 year Anniversary!

Welp, I know it's late but, like they always said, better late than never. So, as the writer of this not-quite-popular-nor-well-known webnovel I want to say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016

Sorry for several weeks with almost no update. I was away for holiday and didn't have the time or decent facility to write (type) with comfort thus I don't have any chapter to publish. But, relax. Chapter 13 has been finished and ready to be published just after this announcement. After this, I planned for the next chapter follow the regular weekly schedule and published, as usual, every Friday.

You know, time sure flies. Without realizing it, it's been more than a year since the first chapter of Wings Of The Ravens! It's been a long journey. We had a big delay, about 5-6 month, in the middle of 2015, but after that done, the next chapters were flowing out regularly each week which is great!

The story is just started to begin, it's not even near to the big event I've planned for it. The number of characters also still far from the planned total characters. I really hope that I could bring out the story faster than this so we can quickly see the array of powerful and different characters showing up here and there and more interesting event happening.

The next chapter, chapter 13 - "Prelude to Black", just as its name suggest will be the beginning of big stuff. Some new characters will come, some new revelations, and new questions. Of course there will be actions too.

Please keep reading and support 'Wings of The Ravens' for another year and beyond! I hope you all enjoying it!