The Raven's Curse

Prologue

Everyone has a dark side. All the villains. The bad guys. The criminals. The killers. Even the good people, locked away in the deepest parts of their hearts where they wish would be forgotten and forever sealed. The thing is, it would never be sealed. It is slowly crawling out of our hearts. Slithering unnoticed through our veins like a slippery snake. It is where the light shines the brightest lies the darkest shadows.

Thousands of years ago, during the celtic times, the people worshipped the phantom queen. Goddess of warriors and shape shifters, Morrigan. But she was fairly known as the Goddess of Life, Death and Rebirth. The phantom queen indeed was a beauty. Her face pale as the moon. Hair dark as the night sky. Eyes mysterious as the lonely stars.

Morrigan learnt magic from the Father of Magic himself, the Great Emrys. Or as we know him, Merlin. She turned out to be a remarkable sorceress. And a ghastly one too.

The goddess fell for her teacher. She began to study various types of magic just to be noticed and admire. Even the dark ones. But our Merlin seemed to ignore her feelings. Taking the apprenticeship seriously. Morrigan was devastated. One day, she dissapeared. 

Strange deaths happened since then. Fathers and men died mysteriously. They were found cold on their deathbeds the next morning. Their eyes were without a soul to lit them up and were blacker than your deepest thoughts. People began to fear this black sorcery that plagues the land. They were not safe whether in or out of their homes. The danger lies unknown. But Merlin knows.

On the night of Yule, where winter chills the nightmares of every people, the moon illuminated every dark hopes. Surrounded by the mysterious huge stones that stood mightily among the empty green fields, stood Morrigan. Eye to eye with her platonic lover, Merlin. Before midnight, the moon witness the blood of the sorceress nourished the land. Her heart stabbed by him. And what lies within hurted more than the visible wounds. She was left to die. And he left her there.

It so happens after that, a shepherd passed by. He heard the wheezes of a woman. The wheezes of Morrigan. He approached her and was sorry for her. He chanted prayers in hope to heal the goddess. But Merlin's magic was just too strong. The shepherd still chanted his prayers. Morrigan's icy hand grabbed his neck. Struggling to perform her last task with wide dying eyes.

"For you are with me to the end, I shall bestow a blessing. You shall be granted a long line of generation that must serve me with the loyalty you had shown tonight. A virgin will be chosen as the holy priestess and she shall be my vessel when the time has come to summon me! And she is marked with a raven behind her neck." Her voice cracked and the shepherd gasp for he felt a searing pain at the back of his neck.

"Three deaths are to repent the sins they've done to me. First, the death of the mother that marks Life. For she gave life and shall die during the months of life before Beltane ends. Second, the death of the father that marks Death. For he deserves to die in assisting mother to make life and shall die during the months of death before Samhain ends. And thus secures immortality. Third, the death of the lover. For he is responsible for the new life he gave. For he betrays my heart. Therefore he shall die in the months of rebirth in order for me to resurrect on Yule before the night ends."

Morrigan's hand dropped. Her eyes were white with mist. The last breath given away as the moon witnessed her soul leaving. 

The shepherd was taken aback. But he was determined to fullfil his task. The blessing he received made him feel special. He shall no longer be a lowly shepherd. His family shall be important people on earth. They shall be worshippers to the phantom queen. His blessing though, in reality is a nightmare that shall put his generations chained onto this curse.