The Raven Flame [The Crown Saga III] (First Draft)

Dream Walker

I'd come to love the night.

It was the only time I could allow myself to forget the chaotic ruins my life had become.

The night was when I could remember what had once been — a time long before the Crown Trials when I'd still been a First-blood.

I was playing with Koa behind our old house, our tiny legs unable to keep up with the pace our minds wanted to set for us.

We were laughing, our clothes muddy and stained from climbing trees as if we'd had the arms and hands of a Yuus — a furry creature with four long arms and an appetite for sweets.

The only thing we felt like we missed at that moment was the sweets.

I lost my grip on a branch as we jumped from one tree to the other, falling toward the soft ground without as much as a scream.

Drops of crimson blood stained the grass beneath me from an open wound in my sore palm.

"Koa?" I called, expecting my best friend to come to my rescue like he always did. Worry tickled my spine when he was nowhere to be found.

"Koa?" I called again. Still no answer.

"Are you hurt, Child?"

I looked behind me as the first tear trailed down my reddened cheeks.

The woman was wearing a form-fitted, black dress decorated with stones and patterns from a different time. Dark, wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders like a violent waterfall, but I couldn't see her face.

The hood she wore was too dark.

"You're bleeding," she said, stepping closer to gently touch my bloodstained skin. "Does it hurt?"

I nodded reluctantly.

Mom had always warned me to stay wary of strangers. Yet, somehow, this lady didn't feel like a stranger.

"You're very brave, Child, but I think we should find your parents now, don't you?"

I nodded again as the lady helped me to my feet. She didn't rush me forward or force me somewhere I didn't want to go. Instead, she stepped in front of me and walked the path to my house that I would've otherwise walked on my own.

My eyes widened when I saw her back.

On her long cloak was an embroidery of wings — the symbol of air.

I stopped walking and looked down at my injured hand again.

My blood was no longer red but the intense color of the sky.

Panic fluttered inside my ribcage like the wings of a delirious bird. I held my breath and looked to see if the lady had noticed, but she was no longer there.

My house wasn't there either.

"We're going to be late, Willow."

A smoke-like shadow of my mom passed me like an icy wind. She wasn't as tall as I remembered her from back then.

Then she looked back at me, revealing lines on her face that only years of passing time could've caused.

I looked down at myself and realized I'd grown into the woman I'd been a year ago.

When I raised my head again, I found myself standing in front of the grand estate of the Iridis Mansion.

Dread crawled up my spine, and my chest grew tighter around my heart.

Mom was running directly toward the entrance we'd used every morning together since I'd started working with her.

She grabbed the handle, and a shock of fear struck me like lightning. Something terrible was going to happen if she opened that door.