A Vision of Crows

Chapter 20 - A Crow in the View (End of Part 1)

It had been a year since his arrival in Farthrin, but Deniz Avci was still struggling to find any sort of work. He had found that so far inside of the country, in a rather small town, there was little use for his skill in Lanje, which he had hoped would have helped due to his lack of fluency in Farthrish. As a result, he was rejected from most jobs.

He did, however, manage to find a place to stay. Temporarily at least, with an older Babbanyan man who worked in a steel factory an hour away. The man offered him a room for a relatively low price, and after giving it some though, he had agreed.

The man assured him that it would not take too long to get accustomed to the place, and if he continued learning Farthrish, he would easily find a job in less than a year.

Not that he was sure if had a year to wait.

In his memories, he recalled his mother lying on her deathbed, right before the curse had taken her.

"Deniz, my child," she had crooned, her sweet voice speaking in her native tongue, "Do not weep for me, it is only natural for us humans to die. No, my son, you must lift your head up high like a man.

"Heh, you really look so much like your father. If he were still here, he would be so proud of you."

Her aging face crinkled as she smiled. From beneath her blanket, she pulled out a watch, the very watch that he would carry everywhere he went. With all of the strength that remained in her weak body, his mother managed to sit up and place it into his hands.

She looked up at him, a distinctly proud look in her eyes. With a stern tone, she gave him her final order as his mother, "Take this watch, and go towards the Eastern Walls. Do not stop moving until you find someone who can open this watch. Then, I want you to go beyond the Walls. If you do that, you'll be spared from this curse."

"Go beyond the Walls?" he exclaimed, "But there's nothing beyond the Walls! If you go that far, you'll fall off the planet!"

His mother shook her head, "No, those are just lies. Beyond the Walls, beyond the oceans, there is more, so much more. I don't know what it is, but there you must go. Now go, lest I die before you!"

But Deniz had been in denial of his mother's words, and so he had refused to abandon his mother in her final moments. When she had breathed her last, he had closed her eyes and buttoned up her shirt, hiding the curse mark that had completely covered her torso and consumed her, as it did to her own mother, her mother's father, and her ancestors before them.

He sat on his bed, reminiscing until his landlord had called him for breakfast, during which he suggested him to go find a job or a wife. Deciding not to trouble the man any further, Deniz had dressed and left, a briefcase in his hand.

After another 3 rejections, Deniz felt exhausted. He considered calling Margaret to see if she would want to meet with him, but figured that she was probably busy at the moment. Either way, he needed a break, and so he decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Upon taking the first bite of a sandwich, he felt that someone was staring at him. He looked behind him, and indeed, a small boy was staring at him. The boy looked awfully familiar, but he wasn't quite sure. The boy had golden blue hair and large, pale eyes the color of cream

The boy began to giggle, having been caught. He got up from his chair and ran to the side of a woman covered head to toe in black and white. The boy looked at him once more, and that was when it struck him: Didn't he look an awful lot like Cia Laverna?

But their eye colors were completely different, so he brushed it off. Just as he took another bite, he found the boy right in front of him, staring at him intensely. He couldn't have been older than 10, but something was off about his face.

"What's your name?" asked the boy in perfect Lanje.

"It's... Deniz, just Deniz."

The pale eyed boy grinned, as if he was pulling some trick on an unsuspecting family member, "Heehee, I'm Daniel, and over there is my mum."

At that moment, the woman turned around, and at her mere presence, Deniz felt his whole body freeze.

Long hair the color of pure gold, a beautiful face like the flowers that bloomed in the spring, and apathetic eyes, black like the darkest of nights. He had only seen this woman once before, after his mother's death.

She had been like the grim reaper, taking his mother's corpse in her hands, and making it disappear in a flutter of black feathers. She had looked at him and smiled, a smile so cruel and breathtaking, one that without words clearly said 'You're next.'

She stepped forward, placing her hand on the boy's shoulder as he melted into a flurry of feathers. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" she crooned, her aura like an inescapable void.

She was the one he was looking for. Alveira Aventi, the Mistress of Crows.

**Author's note**: Hi there! I'm so thankful for you reading up to this point, it's really appreciated! I'll be taking a bit of a hiatus to work on part 2, but I'll post the chapters as soon as I have them ready.