Destiny

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Chronicles/Legends of the Raven and I'm not making any money from this fic. The characters Kaya and Liren – and any other character you don't recognise from the books – belong to me

Summary: We all make our own choices – but when those affect destiny in a great way, who else will be affected?

Warning(s): Spoilers for all books up to Elfsorrow; AU for all books following Elfsorrow; strong violence; possibly some mild swearing; mentions/descriptions of torture (mild); some creative license with magic (mana) and the demons; original characters

Author's Note: This story will be written mainly from the POV of two original characters – just so you're warned. I hope you enjoy this story anyway, though!

Come to me.

She blinked, staring around at the forest she was in. She heard the voice with her mind rather than her ears, which somehow seemed to make the order even more compelling to follow. As she took a step forward, though, the trees around her began to age visibly. The whole forest was decaying before her eyes and she felt powerless to do anything about it.

A flame leaped up before her eyes and she jerked backwards – but could still feel the heat on her skin. When the fire died away, it left behind a black bird – a raven. She reached out to it, but before her fingers could touch its feathers, it disappeared, leaving her fingertips stained with blood.

Before she could wipe it away, her stomach clenched with pain and she doubled over, feeling the tears flow unbidden.

Come to me.

"I can't!" she screamed at the sky, as everything around her died.

Kaya jerked upright with enough force to hit her head on the wall behind her. She winced and slumped back against the wall, rubbing her face with one hand. "Ow… I really need to stop falling asleep against the wall."

"You were screaming in your sleep." Liren – sitting on a chair in the room – stroked the cat in her lap absently. "Bad dream?"

"You could say that." Carefully, Kaya unfolded her long legs and straightened up, just about managing to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling. She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. "I refuse to believe that this is the only room they had available!" She'd been shaken by the dream and preferred not to talk about it.

Liren eyed her friend thoughtfully, her long fingers never ceasing their stroking. "Don't think you can get out of this that easily. I heard you – whatever you were dreaming made you scream as though you were dying."

"Not me… the whole world. All of Balia." Kaya laced her fingers behind her back and narrowed her eyes at the cat. "I don't like your Familiar."

"It doesn't think much of you, either." The cat jumped down and Liren stretched, before standing up. "Don't change the subject. What do you mean; Balia was destroyed in your dream?" She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't think you were much of a one for prophetic dreams."

"It wasn't a prophetic dream!" Kaya tried not to let her mind dwell on the sense of the loss she had felt in her dream – but it wasn't easy; and she had to surreptitiously wipe at her eyes.

Liren stepped closer to Kaya and placed a hand on her arm, looking into her eyes. "Talk," she ordered.

Kaya glanced to the side, unwilling to meet her friend's eyes. "I was in a forest," she answered finally. "Someone was calling to me. When I tried to follow, the forest started decaying around me. I saw fire and then a raven in front of me – which disappeared as I tried to touch it, leaving blood behind. And while I was being called, everything around me died…" She closed her eyes, feeling helpless, unable to put her feelings about the dream into words.

"A raven?" Liren flinched and turned away. "Symbolic of… The Raven?"

I hope not. Kaya turned back to Liren and grasped her upper arms. "Look… This doesn't mean anything. I'm sure The Raven is fine." She tried to smile, but was uncomfortably aware of how poor of an attempt it was. "Why don't we go down into the inn and have a drink? Let's be honest; it's not that bad – even looking at the room we have…" She glanced around at the walls stained with something she didn't even want to talk about. The two beds were dirty and crawling with small creatures. Even thinking of sleeping there made Kaya's skin crawl.

The cat padded over to Liren and jumped into the woman's arms, giving Kaya a baleful stare. It closed its eyes as Liren lightly petted its head, though.

Kaya raked her fingers through her hair and sighed. "Actually, forget the drinks – at least for now. What I need right now is a warm bath and a change of clothes."

"I know the feeling." Liren seemed to have forgotten her momentary sadness. "The bathtub in the other room isn't the best – but it's all we have." The cat climbed up onto her shoulder and Liren flicked some dust off her sleeve. "I think I may follow your example. Let me know when you're finished in there." She stepped away from Kaya, her expression becoming closed off.

Kaya hesitated, wanting to try and talk to Liren about what was going through her mind. However, she knew from past experience that, once her friend got into these moods, talking to her became impossible. All Kaya could do was wait and hope that Liren wouldn't take off again.

Kaya headed into the other room, wrinkling her nose at the smell that hit her full force. Are these rooms ever washed between users? There was cold water in the huge tub in the centre of the room, but a simple uttered spell and use of mana had the water warmed enough to make it almost pleasant.

After a few moments' hesitation, Kaya removed her clothes. There was no other place to put them than the floor, so she just let them drop, vowing to get them washed as soon as she got the chance. Then, she slid into the water, closing her eyes as she felt her tired body relax. She rolled her shoulders, trying to relieve the tense muscles, and slipped into sleep without even realising.

Help me.

Kaya felt her hands grasped firmly, though she couldn't see anyone. She peered doubtfully in front of her. "How do I know it's not a trick?"

There was no reply, but she didn't expect there to be one. Hearing hoof beats behind her, though, she turned… and leaped out of the way as she saw a group of men – and one woman – on horseback.

One of the men clenched his fist, a desperately angry look on his face. "We should have stayed!" he ground out. "We should have taken revenge for Ilkar's death! Hell, we shouldn't even have left his body there!"

Ilkar's dead? Kaya scanned the group, but couldn't see any sign of the elf. She felt her heart sink and tears stained her face. For some reason, she felt like her whole world was crashing down around her.

"We've talked about this, Hirad." The warrior with the shaved head spoke firmly, but not without compassion. "Ilkar gave his life to allow us to escape. We can't let his sacrifice be in vain. We must repair the statue."

Statue? What statue?

Kaya couldn't hear anything else. The grief at learning of Ilkar's death was strong and she slumped, closing her eyes, remembering the few brief moments they'd spent together; so long ago, it seemed…

Ilkar… why?

Kaya lifted her head and her eyes met the woman's. She felt a chill course through her as Erienne lifted a hand and pointed right at her. "Look! Do you see her? She looks like a ghost…"

However, the scene abruptly fell away and Kaya found herself in a workshop. A man was there, looking into a swirling mass of demons. "It's time," he said quietly. "Time to use everything I've studied. Now I can finally get her back. I can bring my wife back… from the dead."

Necromancy?!

Suddenly, one of the demons lurched at Kaya. With a terrified scream, she backed away, raising her hands to ward it off…

"Kaya? Kaya!"

Kaya sat up in the tub, her eyes flying open. She shivered, realising that the enchanted water had cooled considerably, and looked up at Liren. "Oh… it looks like I fell asleep…" she said sheepishly. The images from her dreams were vivid inside her mind and still disturbed her. But it was like Liren said – she'd never been one for prophetic dreams.

"You were screaming in your sleep." Liren looked really pale. The cat on her shoulder regarded Kaya out of disconcerting amber eyes.

Kaya got out of the tub and took the cloth from Liren to dry herself with. "Ilkar's dead." She was too disturbed by the dream to even attempt to soften the blow – but a glance at Liren revealed that she should have thought about it.

Liren's eyes were wide, the expression on her face stricken. For a few moments, she seemed to be unable to find any words. "Was it my fault?" When Liren finally spoke, her voice was so quiet that Kaya could hardly hear her. "Did I… did Ilkar die… because of me?" She refused to meet Kaya's eyes; and the cat made a soft, sad sound.

Kaya felt her heart sink. I thought we'd got past this… "It wasn't your fault, Liren," she whispered fiercely. "None of it was…" For a moment, her eyes met the cat's. This, at least, they were in agreement on.

"Don't try and make me feel better." Although tears shimmered in Liren's eyes, her voice remained steady. "You don't know what I said, just to make the pain stop…"

Kaya stood there uncertainly, not sure what to say. Liren had refused to talk about her time in imprisonment – but Kaya could well imagine it. She herself still bore the scar just below her throat from where the corrupted mage had attempted to impale her.

"Never mind." Liren turned back to Kaya, the stricken look leaving her face. "This is probably connected to that other dream you had. Did you see anything else?"

"I saw… necromancy being put into practice," Kaya admitted quietly. "A mage was using demons to bring someone back from the dead." She glanced at Liren's cat and couldn't help shuddering. She and Liren might be best friends, but that didn't mean she had to like the other's Familiar.

"Necromancy?" Liren flinched and recoiled sharply. "Why would you dream about that? What does the dream expect? That you'll be able to bring someone back from the dead…?" Then, she blinked and her eyes widened. "Oh…"

"We don't know if the dreams are even true," Kaya pointed out. "They could just be ordinary nightmares." Of course, they'd been a lot more detailed than an ordinary nightmare – but she really didn't want the dreams to be true. Getting involved with necromancy is a good way to get us both thrown out of our colleges and banned from practising magic, she thought. I can't just start on the forbidden arts without further proof. "One of the members of the Raven saw me," she added out loud. "She said that I looked like a ghost."

Liren released her breath in a sigh. "Looks like it's time for us to move on, then."