Chapter 505: A close death  

A hole had been made through the large tent from when Ray was attempting to escape from the white? stone attacks. It had managed to hit for a few seconds. His skin was red raw and started to flake off, eventually as the skin fell off his normal colour had returned.

'The white light stopped.' Ray thought. The pain from the attack was far worse than he imagined. It was no wonder that the attack had managed to kill the fake dragon from before. While the white stone helped them greatly, it was a reminder that it could also be used against Ray.

Once he had recovered, he decided to head back into the tent. When he entered he noticed that the other Redwing leaders were standing around something in the centre, as Ray walked in they made way for him with their head held down in shame.

That's when Ray saw Kyle's dead body on the floor. He stood there staring at it for a while not saying a word. They imagined that this was quite tough on him. Kyle had been one of the original black sashes with him, just like Gary and Monk.

And now out of the original black sash members, he was the last one that had not succumbed to the shadow.

"I'm sorry Ray, but I had no choice." Harry started to explain. He was the only one speaking but seeing how Ray was acting he had to say something, he felt like he needed to explain himself. "I saw Kyle before with the dragon bones on his own and he had a strange look, but I knew it would be hard to out him. So I decided to try and make everyone think I was cursed.

"I was never planning to kill him, but Ray you would have-"

Ray raised his hand, he could tell by the shakiness in Harry's voice his words were genuine. The two of them in the past were good friends, everyone was and they had been through so much together.

The others were even wondering how Sylvia would deal with the bad news.

Calling Noir, Ray picked up Kyle's body and placed it on her, he then ordered her to run back to Avrion. He would be the one to inform Sylvia, but he thought it would be best for Kyle to be buried at Avrion, not in some random forest.

Ray didn't say anything, but they wondered what to do as they couldn't just stay there in the tent doing nothing. So Martha had taken temporary charge, as even Harry still seemed a little out of it.

She had decided that it was best to give Ray space and as the others went to check up on the rest of the knights, while Lenny continued to keep a keen eye on Harry. Even though he had said Kyle was under the influence of the shadow and he was not, Lenny didn't believe that fully.

After all, there were still some strange things that Harry had done from time to time, and the skin colour change was unusual and needed to be explained somehow.

With Ray being left to his own thoughts, he sat on the ground and started to meditate, feeling the Ki around his body. He hadn't done this in a long time, it was something he used to do often when Von had taught him the principals of Ki a long time ago.

Why can't I stop the shadow from doing as it wishes?' Ray thought. 'It continues to infect those close to me, even though I am right by their side.'

Thinking about his faults and what he could do to stop this from happening in the future, he realised that he was relying far too much on his dragon eyes. Somehow, the shadow more than once had been able to avoid it's detection. He had confidence in his powers and in the end this was his ultimate downfall.

"Can I come in?" Martha asked.

Ray nodded and stopped meditating, wondering what Martha was coming in to say.

"Ray I just want to tell you, I've been down this rabbit hole just as you have. You can't blame yourself for what's going on." Martha said. "And just a friendly reminder to you, there are still two people out there that we need to bring back. I still haven't given up on that."

Without letting Ray reply, she had left the room.

It was a short and sweet message, and it made him realise that he was thinking about things too much. In his head somewhere along the way, he had decided that both of those people were already gone, but there weren't. There was a chance for him to fix his past mistakes.

Standing up, Ray left the tent and in a booming voice yelled,

"Everyone please gather and pack up your things." Ray shouted as everyone wondered what was going on, but they decided to do as he said. They were wondering if they would be returning to the fortress where they came.

After all, they had seen the enemy and they had outnumbered them. It would make sense after what had happened for them to return.

When everyone was packed up Ray started to move forward in the direction of where Monk and the others had gone.

"Come on, we're heading to that fortress. The duel is void. They must have known that Monk was infected by the shadow. There was no honour in that duel and we will make them pay for what they have done." Ray said. "If you have a problem with what I am planning to do, then it's best you leave now."

However, not a single one of them had a complaint and instead smiled. The small Redwing army was off as they played catchup with Monk's group.

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