Rise of the Nightbloods

CHAPTER 1 - RAVEN

Every time I close my eyes, she dies.

Wreathed in the golden light of the setting sun, her full stature is breathtaking. Beneath her, a crate teeters dangerously on cracked cobblestone. Her toes scrape for purchase. A coarse rope grates against her neck as she stands tall, staring defiantly forward. With her she carries purpose. No; commands it, daring anyone to challenge her calm resignation, even as the terror in her luminous brown eyes gives her away.

Her radiant golden hair falls in unruly curls around her face as she meets the glower of a wiry man. Dressed in a prim gray suit, adorned with several medals, he must be a general. I have no love for the soldiers of the king's army, and this woman; her loathing is enough to rival my own.

The crate shifts. Her fear overwhelms my senses. The rope snaps tight.

I gasp, clawing at my throat. Adrenaline courses through me. I pitch forwards into the brown grass, forcing myself to take deep breaths. My fingers dig into rich earth, trying to ground myself. It wasn't real, it wasn't me. I'm alive.

But gods, it always feels so real. And every time it's the same. I know it's a message from the divine. It must be; I haven't had a vision so strong, so clear, since my Awakening at thirteen. The more I try to ignore it, the more it pounds at my skull. Who is that woman? Why her? What do the gods expect me to do about her death?

Bracing myself with my staff, I stagger to my feet. Breathing comes easy, though my head throbs. I groan. Why are the gods so insistent? Even though the connection between the divine and the mortal are faint, they can still be relentless when they want to be.

I just wish they would give me direction towards a cause with real meaning. Magic is dying. I can feel it in my bones as deeply as the woman's death haunting my every waking hour. Energy saps from every corner of the known world. With every passing moon, the familiar warmth of the power that runs through my blood, that gives life to the earth and fervor to the wind, grows fainter. Every breath is like I'm suffocating. Like Oncarii itself is disappearing.

I jam the bladed end of my staff into the ground. It hums in protest, the smooth dark wood warm beneath my fingers. Runes of sight to clear the mind and open the eyes dance across the staff, emboldening my power.

"Please," I murmur, closing my eyes and placing my hands on the rounded top. "Guide me."

Channeling my spirit into the staff, I take a few centering breaths. With practiced composure, I step back into my Sight, begging for it to guide me. All I see is the woman, her skin ashen, her eyes wide and void of life. My eyes flutter open.

With practiced ease, I swing my staff up and tuck it into the scabbard strung across my back.

I mutter, "Completely unhelpful." Casting a fiery gaze to the sky, I throw my arms up. "This is all you can give me? A sacred mission I don't understand?"

"Raven?" My brother's familiar voice calls out behind me, pulling my attention away from the gods who remain silent and impassive. "Screaming to the wind again?"

I try to soften my gaze when I look upon him. It's not him who deserves the end of my wrath. "Just pleading with the gods, Tezin."

Tezin runs a hand through his wild black locks, the only thing similar between us. His pale brown eyes already glinting with a knowing look, he asks, "That vision again?"

I give him a curt nod. "I came out here hoping for some clarity, but it's still the same woman. No direction, nothing to indicate what they want me to do. I just watch her die over and over again."

Tezin pulls me into a hug, firm and yet comforting beyond anything in the material world. Never once have his warm embraces failed to dry my tears and ease my anxieties. It reminds me of the vague memories I have of my papa's gentle embraces. Before the Dividers wrapped him in chains and dragged him into the sea. Even though I was so young, the memory of that has never faded from my mind. It sits there, a painful stain, a reminder of what I am fighting for; to protect Ghzen, my village from suffering the same thing ever again. And to avenge my papa's death.