This is like a fairy tale, except no fairies and no magic. This is by far one of my favorite fanfics! Hope you all can enjoy it too like I did!
Niol
"Aloon?"
Silence.
"Daddy?"
Still nothing.
"...M-Mommy?"
And-drumroll-, nothing still.
Raven entered her small cottage fearfully. Raven lived with her mother, father and twin brother Aloon in this very cottage. She had long waist-length black hair and amethyst eyes. Her skin was pale, almost gray. She was petite, about 5 feet 3 inches tall. She was usually dressed in black and dark green. She wore a long-sleeved black shirt whom she usually wore with the sleeves rolled up, black pants, black shoes, green headband and a large greeen square piece of cloth that she folded diagonally and knotted around her waist sideways. Her face was not always full of emotion.
Now, she entered her house cautiously, fearing the worst.
When she finally found them, she bit her lip until she drew blood from the effort not to scream.
Her parents and brother were in a matted pile on the floor, blood around them, all of their eyes staring, horrified, at nothing in particular. Raven rushed forward and felt them, any of them, for a pulse, just a faint pulse!
But she found none.
Raven stood up, her clothes damp with her family's blood, before it hit her.
Her family was dead.
The closest people to her, the only people she talked freely to, were gone.
No longer would she ever feel as comfortable as she did with her family around her.
Though she didn't realize it, now she did; even if you hate your family, they will always and forever be the closest people to you in your life.
Raven fell, unaware, into the pool of her family's blood and began to cry. She cried for the first time in years. She cried out all her pain, all her heartache, all her guilt, all her unspoken emotion.
Finally, she stood up. 'I should give them a propper burial,' she thought. She dragged the bodies out the door and put them together. She thought for awhile. Then, her eyes lit up. She took her mother's stone knife and, after much digging and sweating, she dug three graves-one for her mother in her mother's favorite flower garden, one for her father next to his favorite tree and the last one for her brother beside the picket fence he had built himself.
She stood there for sometime. 'I can not live here anymore. It's too painful.' she thought, and suddenly she came up with the exotic idea of running away. She went inside to pack but stopped abruptly as she remembered something very important. 'Where will I sleep? What shall I use for a shelter over my head?' she thought, but she would worry about that later, for it was still early summer. So, she resumed her packing.
She packed many more changes of her usual outfit, a picture of her with her twin brother and parents, her mother's stone knife and her father's sword with a matching sword hilt. She put the gleaming silver sword around her slim waist. 'Maybe I'll use it someday...'Taking a strong leather bag, she put everything else inside, taking care to remember to put the knife in with the point pointing down. As she walked out the door, she hesitated and also brought her brother's favorite book, The Archer. Aloon always wanted to be an archer, though daddy had never had anytime to make a bow or arrows.
Raven walked out the door and, nearing the edge of the forest, she turned back to the cottage where her life and adventure started. She suddenly saw something move. She blinked and rubbed her amethyst eyes. There, floating above her mother's grave, was her mother's ghost. Raven's eyes widened and she turned around, running blindly. She stumbled over many roots but kept going. After what seemed like hours, Raven tripped over another root and fell but didn't bother to pick herself up.
She just lay there, stunned.
Finally, she abruptly burried her head into the ground and began to cry once again.
What she didn't notice was a little female baby falcon, watching her with great curiosity through innocent crimson eyes. It had ivory talons with black tips. The feathers on its back, head and neck were black. Its wings were gray and dark blue and its beak was a bright yellow. It went over to Raven fearlessly, for it had never seen a human before, and pecked at her hair gently.
Raven, startled, looked up.
The falcon just stood there, its head cocked to one side, its red eyes staring back at Raven's amethyst ones. Raven got up and slowly reached for the falcon before her.
The falcon made no attempt to move.
Raven picked the tiny hunter up, stroking its feathers, looking around for a sign of its parents. No other bird seemed to be swooping at Raven menacingly. So, Raven held the tiny bird freely, knowing she wouldn't be scolded by the falcon's parents. "Are you a girl?" she asked the tiny bird before remembering it couldn't talk, but the bird nodded otherwise. Raven laughed. "Oh well, I shall keep you anyways. I will name you Storm," Raven had picked a name off the top of her head.
Stom blinked her red eyes and bobbed her head again.
Now, this is what Raven didn't know;
There are two neighboring kingdoms, Aphobia and Acedrica. Raven was born and raised in the cottage I mentioned earlier 3 kilometers away from the border between the two kingdoms in Acedrica. When she found Storm, she had crossed the border and is now in Aphobia, where Prince Richard-or Robin, as he likes to be called-and his parents, King Orlon and Queen Alphia rule. Robin will come into the story sooner or later, probably in the next chapter...oh yes, definitely in the next chapter.