Burning Rose (A Cinder Fall Story)

Chapter 13

I flew for a little while until I saw a small patch of land.

That must be the island of Patch, I thought.

I flew closer until I was hovering near a pretty well built log home. It was two stories, and had a red sheet metal roof. The house brought back blurry images from my past... but nothing more. I had no I idea where this was as far as I knew.

As I flew closer, I heard a female's voice.

Gods... I hope Qrow is doing okay...

That voice... I knew that voice. I was quick and quiet, determined to get a closer look inside.

I was close enough to see through one of the kitchen windows. I saw a blonde-haired man kissing a dark-haired woman before mumbling something to her. She rested her head on his chest for a few minutes before going out of the room.

It was then I heard the side door of the house open. I quickly turned to see the woman who was inside the house. She gazed around a bit, but never in my direction. In the darkness, I heard her speak.

"I know you don't want me too, but I'm going after you, brother. Whether you like it or not."

It was then I realized the voice I heard in my head was hers. But how could that be? I have no connection to this woman... do I?

I caught a glimpse of her shining eyes in the moonlight. They were red. And in an instant, she transformed into a bird and flew away.

Some pieces of my memory were coming to surface. I didn't know how I was connected to that woman, or that man. But I knew their names

...Raven Branwen. And Taiyang Xiao long.

I shook myself out of the trance and decided to fly off in case someone spotted me. I flew around the kingdom, trying to get as close to coordinates as quickly as possible.

And once I did, I saw something not quite right.

The entire place was up into flames. I saw a young man, possibly around Emerald's age, fighting and kicking an older man in front of the place that burned.

Then the younger man pulled out a blade, and jabbed the man in his gut before slicing his throat. The older man collapsed onto the ground and the flames only grew.

I saw the younger man start to run off, his legs moving in an odd way, but I flew closer, and used to wind magic to quell the flames.

I landed slowly on my feet in front of him. His grey hair was a mess. And his dark eyes held hatred and anger. He looked behind him and saw that the flames were gone. Then he turned to me.

"How... how'd you do that?" he asked.

I shook my head and smiled.
"My name is Cinder Fall. I'm looking for a man named Marcus Black."

The man just spit some blood onto the ground and pointed to the older man's body.

"There he is," he told me.

"You killed him?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. We really got into it last night. Told me I needed to get my life on track and start training at one of those huntsmen schools... I refused and I wake the next morning with all my stuff outside. We got into an argument that lasted for hours. Until I couldn't take it anymore. I set the place on fire. And killed him. No one can tell me how to live. It came with a price, though. My damn legs are messed up. They were broken during our fight earlier. I don't think I can walk on them anymore."

"Not to worry. I have an associate who can help with that. I'll take you with me. And we can come to... an agreement. But first, I'll need your name," I said, smiling.