━━ ( 旋風 ; ☁️ ) ━━

𝕴T HAD BEEN a few days since cassian's arrival. it had been more since eris stark's. or pendragon. however you know may her by.

who is eris, you ask?

to some, she was simply a mischievous, feisty village teen and daughter of the most renowned knight heritage; a dear to no one but few.

to others, she was a fallen friend, lost to the chaos of this world in flames and death of glory, almost no one but a helpless girl. her chances at life and pursuit in ambition were lost to incident.

to the rest, she was either no one or someone. when she was someone, she was someone horrifying. as a harbinger of chaos, she was rightfully a true horror to be next to under masks of deceit and magic. she was a champion in chains. a shell of her real self.

bleak and bloodthirsty.

"you're getting weak," cassian scoffed. they were back in the coveted caverns, tombs of champions, sparring. an armored eris had fallen to the ground, a cut lip and messy hair. both were awaiting orders as war planned to rage outside, a war between the king of gold and the queen of monsters.

a good hit got to cassian's cheek by one of eris' chains. "you're just old," eris muttered. although unphased by the pain, cassian still expressed annoyance to the girl. "besides, we're only sparring. we haven't had a mission yet. we're waiting for the lady pale."

"your sparring must challenge me then," said the man. he never bled. eris scoffed at how noble this man seemed to act. "as weary as i am, i don't feel a damn thing, harbinger."

how knightly of him. it irritated her. ( from the gossip the order would pass around, eris supposed this man's father was a human knight. pitiful. eris recalled her mother being the only one never to be disposed of in battle, irreplaceable compared to every other man in armor. )

in reality, this challenge was a distraction for cassian — not a truth of battle. he awaited his escape. he wanted a distraction from the dread and fear he felt of this attempt. but he wanted to go home. eris would never escape, though. no home, no family, no love. the only life she had was here, a champion, an inducer of fright and discord. the harbinger of chaos was loyal to the pale lady, nevermore soft with the world surrounding her.

she then put the infliction of cuts and bruises to great practice.

eris stark's memories of her past and enemies were abundant. there was a younger girl in the village from the revered catthay — a place in the east. dark haired, fair skinned, starry-eyed, with an affinity towards the color red, 'noodles,' and legends of draconic beasts as friends. her name was evangeline. evangeline was a killer. the little girl was the one that caused eris' demise, both at the hands of evangeline's father; altan zhang of the roundtable.

with the same blood comes the same punishment. eris forever sought vengeance in her silence, and morgana was one to provide the harbinger with resources.

"little star," eris would call out to evangeline, "what msichief and chaos shall we ensue today?"

in younger days, eris always knew that a healthy dose of chaos wouldn't hurt. chaos was inevitable; she loved such social studies. besides, what's the fun in playing fair? where's the fun in being safe? nowhere, no fun. this is what she taught evangeline.

before, evangeline was a dear little girl. a little sister, perhaps? a little angel of good news and occasional artifice. but after the fires erupted, she was anything but angelic. such fire was never holy.

"victor!" the young evangeline pointed out that day. a snarky looking blond with a wooden toy soldier in hand. "he stole the doll father tommerman gave me on my birthday!"

eris groaned. "victor? again? what's he trying to do this time?" most of the young men in evenere were simple; they were either courteous or not. oftentimes, they'd torment whoever they assumed as weak or 'annoying' — this included evangeline. eris knew well that she wasn't weak ( she was mildly 'annoying' in some circumstances, but she was young and excited so you couldn't really blame her ). the girl had beaten said boys up before, knocked out a few teeth and gave bruises.

"he wants to impress one of the older girls. one of your friends... i think her name is corvina roth! she just moved here. the one with really long red hair, with the quill and the book and the-"

"yes," the eldest chuckled, "the snappy one you idolize. she's quite charming, i'd say. we have similar views."

"she looks like a human fenghuang," evangeline gushed. eris had heard of this before, evangeline was referring to a phoenix. quite an honor for a simple redhead in the village who enjoyed mathematics and being alone. "mā says corvina doesn't really like boys. or romance, either. like you! and mā says it's okay. victor keeps bothering her, though, it's terrible!"

"let's steal the doll back, then, little star. and let's warn corvina — victor isn't the only boy chasing after her. even with her overprotective brother around, they won't stop," eris sighed. she loathed romance, it all felt so disconcerting. "such the stubbornness of most men, evangeline. makes me gag."

"then let's end this courting!" evangeline exclaimed, jumping. "vengeance will be ours."

"definitely," eris snickered.

at times it terribly fascinated the harbinger how unexpected this seemed, how unexpected that her killer was just this stupid little girl. altan zhang's attempt at murder came at a price, and such price had fire spread rapidly.

it also fascinated her later on that evangeline had cassian's blood. intriguing. helpful, even, for his blood was connected to hers, and through this, eris had chances for revenge. she had an opening.

匚卂丂丂丨卂几 waited for the harbinger as she pinned him down, a twisted arm and bleeding head. they were at the bottom beams of the bridge, cars rushing over their heads, and eris had held the shield of arcane in hand for way too long.

"you're so predictable," she grinned. traitor, she kept calling him. traitor, coward, pretender. even after all these years, he was the same thing.

cassian spat, raspy under pressure. oh, he was seething. "you're so arrogant."

with his free hand, he grabbed her wrist, forcing one of her bracelets off. it disguised the shield, the ingrained linework a golden brown. the harbinger hissed as the injury got to her.

"think of this survival as mercy. you're weak, harbinger, blinded by the pale lady," cassian said, stifling a mad laugh. "if you can't defeat me, then i suppose you've grown even softer. should i even call you morgana's harbinger?"

eris' eyes were wide, first of shock and then of fury. just as she was about to continue, though, voices were heard through the cracks of the concrete wall, from trollmarket. a sign to leave. so cassian left without a trace.

the harbinger of chaos was never the most darling of opponents. cassian had forgotten how deeply set she was in her views and vengeance. traitor, she called him. traitor, coward, pretender — a consistent tone of such. although the harbinger was rotten to the core after centuries of hellbound magic and murders, her vengeance and wrath never ceased. her flame never dimmed. she was the same as before, static in development. the former champion recalled paying her a visit in the early nineteen-hundreds during the great war. all she wanted to do was murder him as blood was being shed all round the world. charming.

that night, she teased of daiyu and used his given name. even the memory of it had him livid. the harbinger was outrageous.

red could have bled through wounds all over cassian's body after that fight, along with his face, not that he knew where at the moment. everything felt sore, stiffened. he kept himself hooded for the remainder of his path back to the bookstore, being as inconspicuous as he could be. the bracelet was in his pocket, and he could sense an old aura at hand as he looped it through his fingers.

arriving at the door, an unrecognizable teenager greeted him at the entrance. a short asian girl with green eyes and a neon blue flannel that was sizes too big for her. she wore a thick chartreuse headband with her hair brushed down, along with a creature resting atop her head. wide-eyed and seemingly innocent, cassian paid no mind. until she talked, anyway.

"oh, you're bleeding," she said, maybe a bit too loud, as if it weren't obvious at all. at least no customers were in shop at the moment. "that's cool. you're lina's brother, aren't you?"

"sprout, by merlin, be polite — he doesn't even know you," lina's boyfriend called from the store cashier. he walked over to cassian as he sat in the back of the store, storage and restricted books, in hopes of finding some bandages. lina would be here at times, studying away in peace. "cassian, do you... do you need first aid? you're limping."

"i'll be fine, douxie," said cassian, though he couldn't help but be wary of the teenager's eyes being fixated on him from behind his seat. "i just need to rest. i can mend myself if necessary. i'll tell you about it later?"

"well, let me know if you need anything. lina's fixing shelves upstairs."

"of course."

hesitantly, douxie went off to continue his work. cassian couldn't blame him, though, as cassian had just walked in, weakened and bleeding. it was merely common courtesy for douxie to offer aid. the zhang heaved a sigh, still weary. it had only been a little while ever since he arrived to arcadia and found lina, found stellan. he was already back in the business of dirty misery. although retaining a sort of cover, eris was still hot on cassian's trail. she wasn't one to give up so easily.

leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees as he toyed with the disguised shield in hand, examining the bracelet. lina had told him how eris had operatives hidden in the local history museum, housing ancient artifacts and weaponry whenever they could. she found this out through a friend of hers. cassian had seen her once; the friend was... ghastly? to say the least. but she was well-versed in decorum, it was nice, he guessed.

cassian found himself proud of lina, even if he'd never admit it out loud to her. he couldn't admit it. she didn't know her brother anymore, she didn't even know he existed. and yet, he couldn't just not be proud. lina had grown, changed. cassian supposed she'd done wonderfully. a great witch, excelling in her art. although very different, they had centuries-long lives to empathize over. but lina was still cold with her brother. he couldn't really hate her for that, he almost killed her the night he came by over rivalry and hot chocolate. and yes, she still was a bit of a brat. it definitely ran in the family. at least it had range from annoying siblings to absolute murderers.

after finding a first aid kit, cassian looked at that 'sprout' girl, who was browsing for books on the other side of the room. the shop was relatively empty at the moment, as students were still at school, so he found himself confused on why she was here. then again, she could be skipping. it normal these days.

the sprout looked like daiyu at first glance, especially from the back. a small girl with long, raven hair, with flowers in hand. rather than simple stems, though, the sprout had a pot of wisteria buds, which she set atop the shelf as she found her book. with a soft flick of the wrist, the wisteria bloomed into a vibrant assortment of branches and flowers. a young magician, cassian almost awed. she even reminded him of nari, the movements being similar to the eternal forest's shrine maidens. he knew more were around, but not this young. this town must've been full of upcoming wizardry.

"your name is cassian, right?" the young girl piped up, soon walking over to the storage room. "you're lina's mysterious older brother. spooky."

"and?" cassian raised an eyebrow.

"well," she sat down by him, holding out a fist for him to bump, "i'm raven. i'm her sinister little sister, so i suppose i'm yours too."

"like your hair?"

"like the bird. it's a nickname. but i do plants. i'm a pretty impressive botanist."

the zhang wasn't exactly impressed. "did lina adopt you? and who exactly are you?"

"hm, someone else did, i just ended up here. a family friend. and i'm a half-kodama plant witch that lives next door, you may have met my guardians," she shrugged. "i like your skepticism, mr. zhang. you're hard to read."

"lina always did like flowers." almost begrudgingly, he finally bumped her fist. "it's cassian."

"first-name basis, huh?" raven grinned. she was like a toned down version of a younger daiyu, in a way. high energy in a more placid manner. "rad."

"just courtesy," cassian shrugged in reply, leaning back in his chair. he crossed his arms. "i don't care much for the name, anyway. so why'd you approach me?"

"well, you're beat up, and i'm curious. also, you looked lonely." pointing to the side of her nose, she whispered, "there's an exposed cut right there... no, no, to the right."

cassian awkwardly took a cotton pad and pressed it where it bled. "um, thanks. but you're coming off a bit outrageous there, tweety."

"wow. you're definitely lina's older brother. same attitude."

"attitude... because i'm too honest or because i'm cynical?"

"both, but i was referring to the part where you call me 'tweety;' i didn't know it ran in the family until now."

"it was the only thing that came to mind. sorry."

"it's fine. but lina calls me the worst nicknames, though! tweety, sapling, little log — just because i'm short and immobile half the time. what's she called you?"

"rat."

after brief silence, cassian held back a snicker ( the fact that he even managed a natural smile shocked him ). raven didn't even try to in return, seeing his hidden smile. they both couldn't help it. he could see that the sprout enjoyed the smiles of others — it made sense. a sunny, sharp disposition was what she had. a initiator of friendliness. perceptive, even. although similar to her, she still was different from daiyu.

"and does she treat you with a loving heart and easy rules? i did." cassian recalled being the one to get daiyu out of trouble at times, hiding the fact that she may have beaten up some of the village boys by the age of four. like brother, like sister.

"no, she's real strict and hates when i make a little mischief. i'm the youngest, so i pester her. it's fun."

"that's something we can agree on," said cassian, a bit loudly as he spotted lina at the doorway. he smirked. "hello, lina. i found the shield, just as you asked."

lina's deadpan only had raven's laugh intensify. although well put together when it came to her current outfit, her face presented her absolute exhaustion.

"you both truly exasperate me," said the fire witch. "cassian, come. we need to talk."

山丨ㄒ卄 卄乇尺 乃尺ㄖㄒ卄乇尺 finally out of sight, lina could finally breathe without pollutant. cassian and lina were supposed to share reports of the shield, eris, and the artifact's lore, but it turned into more of a bitter bickering session. cassian could easily keep up with her fire, she hated it. the fact that raven was able to get through him with sudden smiles surprised her. cassian never smiled without malice, she thought. until fifteen minutes ago.

for a second back then, she wanted to smile with them, but the feeling faded quickly as she went back to earth. she muttered curses of torture upon the forgotten zhang as ris came upstairs, having a break from her tailoring job. the catalyst helped shelf the books, yet lina continued her ranting. ris finally had enough.

she knew lina was angry. but this anger seemed a bit too surface-level for her liking.

"stop it with the death threats, lina. he's your brother."

"but he tried to kill me the first time we met!" lina groaned. she hated the man to the core after that.

ris let out a small hmph, saying, "thinking or knowing you've been forgotten by your loved ones has display a few quirks. take me, for one, querida."

lina felt a bit of a shot to the chest by the catalyst's words. ris was precise, she was always one to open the fire witch's eyes. lina remembered how ris described how she felt when trapped by the spirit of the sands back in camelot, trapped under morgana's control with her wrists practically chained and her mind a vortex of anxieties and fears. in one of her journals she described this, and she knew how lina may or may not have accidentally picked it up and reading it to herself, not knowing it was ris' until after.

in that scape of mind where she was chained, ris waited for ages. and even if she hated growing tired of waiting, she did so anyway with reluctance. the poppet did so because she felt as if everyone had given up on her, as if everyone forgot about her. that sinking feeling... lina remembered wanting to cry when she heard of that.

"cassian is the same. and these thoughts and traumas can give us certain tendencies," said the catalyst. her voice was soft and always easy when around lina, never making an attempt to be condescending. "he may be violent. i may be tearful. we are both perturbed, i sense the same in him. cassian is complex."

the fire witch sighed, leaning over the table. she was a bit speechless, as always with this specter. "you're... you're right. why are you so good at this?"

"you always ask that," ris giggled. "and you know the answer. all i ask of you is to try to understand cassian. he isn't only an ally, and you two are quite alike."

"because we're related?"

"because your origins and fates are what can lead you to bond. and that too. also, you're both just really angry."

"thanks."

it had always been like this; fire and water, earth and sky. one would be stubborn and drastic, while the other would be perceptive and starry-eyed.

lina was always there as calming candlelight whenever ris would be put down by stress and the emotional turmoil of her magic, along with being her shield. ris was always there as lore behind star figures whenever lina would only see small fragments of a bigger picture, opening her eyes, along with being her sword.

they both held each other up and brought each other back down to earth when needed, all in a true fashion. lina found those kinds of friends to be rare. she was eternally grateful to have stumbled upon the odd girl at the castle library.

"you're... welcome?" the catalyst smiled, confused. too adorable, lina would think. whenever she had that smile, which was often with close friends, everyone around them would literally swoon. "but we're not finished yet. there are more serious matters. i sensed a disturbance, i know you did too. that look in your eye."

from sweet to solemn, lina nodded. "eris. cassian told me about how he found her under the bridge into town, where she was after the shield of arcane. cassian stole it back just now."

"how do you suppose she found it in the first place? was it not in her arsenal beforehand?"

"the traces were recent. i found evidence leading to the local museum mars' father works at, but we can't be sure of eris' supplier."

"i see. we just have to be safe, for now. but don't leave anyone or anything behind," ris said. "we can't risk anyone getting hurt."

lina replied. "what of mars? raven? they're in league with the trollhunter, eris' new nemesis."

"i... i don't know. i know they're more than capable..."

"...but you still worry greatly." the fire witch nodded, knowingly. "those little wizards will do wonderfully, i bet. they're strong. the harbinger hasn't tasted the power in modern tech and true earthly chaos. and those girls are wild, it's amazing."

"i know, i know, but you know me, querida. you know i can't help it."

"but of course, mother belle," lina winked. "what would we ever do without you?"

"well, you would've died at the hands of many, many people that once roamed this plane in years that have passed. and you would've failed that one exam merlin placed upon you when studying light fixtures."

"oh. i... love you too?"