A castle of wings and vengeance

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"Come on Raven, you got this!" Taunted my friend Aria. I was holding my bow and arrow, aiming it at the practice target. I pulled the string of my bow back and let it go. I felt the end of the arrow whizz past my face making a small swish noise. I watched the arrow fly towards the target and make direct contact with the chest. Right where the heart would be on a live person.

"Still doubt me." I scoffed as I turned around to see Aria gawking at me. "Can you wipe the stupid look off your face." I deadpanned. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Teach me your ways!" Aria suddenly said as she gave me puppy dog eyes. This was a normal question she often asked when she watched me train. And I always gave the same answer.

"Practice, and put your all into it. Not just starting and giving up halfway through because your tired." I said.

"Why must you target me." Aria whined, it's not my fault training is boring and tiring.

I sighed and took a moment to think. I thought of an idea and set my bow down before walking over and grabbing one of the training bows. I didn't trust Aria with something that had been gifted to me by my uncle when I turned 20.

At the moment I am currently a 28 year old mage. And I'm the last of my kind. For the past 18 years I had been training with my uncle to become an assassin. Ever since I found out that the royal family had killed my parents I've had a very deep hatred for them. They killed my parents for being different. They killed them because they were afraid.

I grabbed the training bow and arrow and walked back over to Aria. "Take this and point it at the target." I instructed.

I watched Aria follow my instructions. "Now, before you shot. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and think of someone or something that angers you. Then open your eyes and imagine the target looking exactly like that person or thing you hate. Then fire the arrow." I said before taking a step back to give her some room.

I watched Aria close her eyes and take a deep breath. She went silent for a moment before opening her eyes and looking directly at the target. She fired off the arrow with a small whizz noise. It hit the target directly underneath where my arrow had landed.

"See, not that hard." I said, a sly smirk evident on my face. Aria just stared at the arrow in awe.

"I did it, I actually hit the target!" She squealed in delight.

As hard as I tried to hide my smile it eventually broke through. Aria had joined my uncles training around the same time I had, and we became fast friends. I considered her a sister in a lot of ways. We did pretty much everything together. And every so often we even went out on missions together.

Ever since I turned 15 and ended up inheriting my mothers beautiful black wings, which had small white spots littered all around making it look like a night sky full of stars, I had quickly advanced up in the ranks. I was now one of the top three assassins who have trained under my uncle. My wings made it near impossible to spot me in the dark if I'm up in the air. And I was quick and quiet on my feet. So it made my missions easy.

There have been a few missions that have been fairly difficult, but since my uncle had taught me self defense I had quickly taken control of the situations and finished the job.

"See, I told you that you could do it if you tried hard enough." I said, for once a genuine smile on my face.

"Yeah, yeah. No need to rub it in." Aria said with mock sarcasm.

I pretended to act offended. "After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me." I said dramatically.

"Raven could you come see me in my office for a moment, there's a mission for you!" I heard my uncle call from outside his office.

"Coming uncle!" I responded before quickly running to his office. I slowed to a walk a short distance from the door and walked inside.

Once inside I noticed he had pulled a folder out and was sitting back down in his office chair. I walked over to his desk and took a seat across from him as he slid the folder my way.

"Now remember, you always have the option to say no if you feel like like this mission will be to overwhelming for you." My uncle started. He paused for a moment before a wicked smile graced his lips. "But I don't think your going to turn down this offer."

I took a hold of the folder and slid it the rest of the way to me. I opened it and started scanning over the information.

"The persons willing to pay a lot of money for me to make this a quick and easy kill." I mumbled while reading over everything. "Let's see who my target is this time."

"I looked down at where the name and information about my target would be at. Upon seeing the name I froze. I was silent for a moment as I reread the name a couple times to make sure it was correct.

"My target is Alexander, heir to the Celestia empire." I breathed out as an insane look overtook my face. I looked up at my uncle just enough so that he could see the unhinged look in my eyes.

"I'll take your reaction as a yes i presume." My uncle say with a laugh.

"You don't have to tell me twice." I replied back. "I can finally start my goal of removing the filth that murdered my parents."

"Glad to see you so enthusiastic about this." My uncle said.

"When do I start." I said bluntly, I wanted to start as fast as I possibly could. I had been waiting for this moment since I had starting training under my uncle.

"You start in two days time, that way you have time to prepare everything you will need. My uncle informed me.

"I'll start getting ready now." I said getting up and walking to the door. Before I turned the handle to open the door I turned around and gave my uncle a grateful look.

"Thank you for taking care of me all these year, both you and my aunt mean the world to me. I promise I won't let you down." I said thankfully.

I watched as my uncle walked over and engulfed me in a hug. "No matter what I'll always be proud of you. Even if you were to fail this mission I'd still be proud, because it means you gave it your all. And there will always a chance to do better, a chance to improve. And I've watched you take each and everyone of those chances and given it your all. You've improved so much over these past 18 years. And when you inherited your mothers wings, it felt like a piece of her was still with us. I couldn't be more prouder to be able to call you my niece." He said as a few tears rolled down his face.

I returned my uncle's embrace and bathed in the warmth. "I'm probably the luckiest girl in the world to be able to call you my uncle. I love you so much." I said retreating from the hug and looking at my uncle with a warm smile.

"I love you to my sweet girl, now go get ready. You've got a big day coming up." He said.

"Can't wait." I laughed as I walked out the door and ran down the field back to where Aria was.