The Raven's Nightmare

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Raven walked into the cottage after skinning the rabbit and wrapping the meat in cloth. Salem looked up with a smile at her daughter before lighting the fireplace so she can start making breakfast, "Caught anything good, Starlight?"

    Tensing at the question, Raven forced herself to relax and smile back at her mother "Yeah! A rabbit; maybe we can have some rabbit stew for breakfast?"

    "That sounds like a good idea! I'll go cut up some vegetables while you start taking apart the meat from the bones."

    Nodding her head in compliance, the young mage looked around the cottage "Where's Papa?"

    Salem spoke over the chopping of carrots, "He went hunting for bigger prey for us to last over the month since he plans to go on another trip soon."

    "Oh? When does he plan to do that?"

     The mother paused to gaze at her daughter, "After he teaches you hand to hand combat."

    With widen eyes, Raven questioned "I thought you guys hated violence?"

    Putting her knife down and placing her hands on her hip, the healer tilted her head while smirking in amusement "Doesn't mean we don't like violence doesn't mean we don't know how to fight, Raven. Since we are mages, it is necessary to learn combat skills in order to protect ourselves from any threat. But we only fight in self defense, do I make myself clear?"

    "Yes, Mama."

    "Good."

    ☀︎︎DREAM'S POV☀︎︎

    I ran as if my life depended on it.

     When I followed Raven to make sure that she got home safely, I didn't expect to witness something like that!

    That poor rabbit...

    She was mutilating it with so much RAGE and murderous INTENT...

    I always felt off about her, but I didn't think she would have such violent tendencies.

    With my cape flapping behind me while I was panting for breath, I finally made it to the Tree of Feelings. Nightmare was in his usual spot on the branch reading a book. Skidding to a stop right below him I yelled out, "𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿!"

    He snapped his widened gaze to meet mine while asking, "Dream? What's wrong? Why were you running?", as he jumped off his spot to face me.

    "𝗜-𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻! 𝗦𝗵𝗲-"

    "What about me?"

    I spun on my heel to see Raven a few feet in front of us. Instinctively, I activated my magic as I summoned a wall of bones between her and us, warning "𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆! 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿!"

    Nightmare's eye sockets widened in shock as he growled out, "What the Hell, Dream?!"

     I gulped nervously as I looked at my confused, and slightly upset brother "𝗜- 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝗵-𝗵𝗲𝗿! 𝗦-𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗶𝘁! 𝗦𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀!" I feel horrible telling my brother that his only friend was killing innocent animals but I'm doing this to protect him! If she could do this to defenseless SOULS then she can kill anyone without batting an eye!

    There was a moment of tense silence until Raven let out a scoff as she crossed her arms and glared at me, "Fist off, that rabbit was breakfast for my family! My Papa is a hunter known to sell furs and meat in this town so it's only natural for him to teach me how to check traps. Second off," she pointed a finger accusingly at me, "you followed me when I told you not too!"

    "You followed her?"

    I flinched at my brothers tone as I turned to look at him in disbelief. There's no way that he's brushing this off!

    "𝗕𝘂𝘁, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿-!"

    Grabbing me by the collar of my shirt he let out an animalistic snarl, "Did you follow Raven when she asked you not to?!"

    What the heck? Why is he acting like this?!

    With confusion and fear coursing through my bones, I nodded my head and whimpered "𝗬-𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱! 𝗕𝘂𝘁, 𝗜 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲! 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀..."

    The grip on my shirt loosened as I was placed, gently, back on my feet. My brother let out a frustrated sigh while pinching the space between his eyes, "I can vouch for Raven when it comes to killing the rabbit. Her family lives off the forest and relies on it for a living. You probably misread her INTENTIONS since you've never really experienced someone kill another SOUL."

    I stared at my yellow boots in deep thought; is that what really happened? True, I've never witnessed anyone kill another being before but... I don't think feeling RAGE should have been involved. I turned so I locked my yellow eye lights to Raven's minty blue orbs as I continued to stare while deciding what to do. Until I sighed in defeat as I released my magic and the wall of bones disappeared while giving an apologetic smile to the frightened girl.

    "𝗜'𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻! 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱..."

    She hesitated a bit as she shuffled her feet, "I... forgive you. But, doesn't mean that I will forget that you practically called me dangerous and I will... consider your offer on friendship."

    Well, at least she forgives me but I still don't believe her. I'm going to have to keep an eye socket on her since there are a lot of things that I don't know about her. But on the account of my brother, I'll let it slide for now.

    ❣︎AUTHOR'S POV❣︎

    There was a moment of awkward silence until Nightmare spoke up, "Since we got everything cleared up, what did you want to do, Raven?"

    The said girl gave a bright smile as she took a book from a brown pouch from around her waist, "I was thinking we could relax against the tree and we could read this together. It's a book that Mama used to read for me when I was younger and still my favorite; Dream could join if he wants too."

    The Guardian of Positivity looked at the girl in shock before smiling in excitement, "𝗢𝗵, 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼! 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿?"

    Nightmare wanted to say no but held his metaphorical tongue as he forced a smile, "Sure, I don't mind. It's been a while since we spent time whith each other." With that said, the tree got comfortable against the tree; with the two Guardians at their respected places and the young mage between them as she started to read out loud, "Once upon a time..."