The life of a Raven Sister consisted of glittering gowns, lavish parties, royal acquaintances, and inescapable death.
The lavish life of a Sister was not all that it seemed. The extravagance was a cover-up, a way to make people forget about the har...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A radiant light flitted in, revealing the white and gold ballroom. Scattered about were men and women dressed in the finest of clothes and wearing the cheapest of smiles. Every single eye was on us, or, more accurately, Tazanna. They held their drinks casually and excitedly whispered amongst themselves. They were waiting, waiting to be amused. They watched her like a little child watched a circus animal, anxiously waiting for it to do a trick.
The king placed a hand on the small of Tazanna's bare back and pushed her forward. I noticed her somewhat stiffen at his touch and I had to shove my anger down. She didn't need much of a shove, however, as she willingly walked up to the front and center.
"This story begins a very long time ago," Tazanna began, dragging out her words carefully and slowly, "back when Lexque was becoming a relatively powerful country. It was at the peak of its time, with a powerful army, many allies, a lack of enemies, an abundance of food, and peace between the people and their government. Life for the Lexques was perfect and seemed to only be getting better."
Tazanna stopped for a moment, taking in a shaky breath.
"But then, the country of Aveeria interfered. Aveeria was the most powerful country in the world. Its armies were unstoppable, its people brutal, its rulers cruel, heartless, cunning, and sociopathic."
As she took another break, I could hear what she was dying to say. Just like ours. But saying such a thing out loud, with all of the people watching and listening intensely would cause her a harsh punishment.
Each one of us had unique punishments for when we did something wrong. They were what kept us in line and from going chaotic. We all had things we were afraid of more than death itself, things that could break us within seconds, things that made our blood run cold. And they used those terrible things against us. I didn't know any of my Sisters' tipping points, and they didn't know mine. We weren't allowed to tell. We weren't allowed to fix each other. We were best preferred unfixed.
"They did not like how powerful our country had gotten. They were afraid that one day, we would be able to take over them like they had taken over so many others. So, by a letter written in blood, it's king commanded that our king step down, and allow the country to fall apart. If he did not do so, he promised that our rivers would flow with blood, our crops would fall to ash, and our streets would be littered with the mangled up remains of our people. Our ruler laughed at this, believing that Lexque was the more powerful country of the two. He believed that our country could easily fight off, and destroy, Aveeria if necessary. So that same night when he received the letter, he sent one himself stating that he would not back down and let Lexque fall right after it had just begun to rise to the top.
Two weeks after he had sent the letter, a dark day awoken from an even darker night.
It was the morning after the night we know as the Bloodbath. As the sun illuminated our country's capital, the light revealed the ghastly secrets that the night held. The roads and streets were painted in a deep red, yet there were no bodies to be found. The usually bustling city was empty and dead silent. It was clear from all the blood that there had been an attack, yet without any civilians, there was no way to tell if anyone had survived.
