Raven

Prologue

Raven stood on his toes and peered out from the crack in the wall to see the sun rising from the red-tainted mountains of Azgeda. He proudly remembered his mother telling him that the ice nation's rocky mountains symbolized the long sword Azgeda warriors used when they won their countless battles.
His clan. He wished he could run in the dew-covered grass in his backyard like those fearless soldiers. It seemed like forever since he had last been allowed to go out. The crispy morning air and the singing of birds seemed to let out an inviting hand.

"You know you can't go out Raven."

It was his twin sister, Forest. They were both four years old. She was sitting at the table of their room drawing with her favorite brush kit.

He huffed. "It's so unfair how you're allowed to go out whenever you please but I'm always stuck inside."

She looked up so he could see her green abyss eyes. She had wild curly hair running down her back. Mother had given up trying to tame her hair and had managed to braid only parts of it. "You can't help being too sick."

He sighed at his sister's words. His parents had always forbade him to leave the house most of the time and had always to be supervised. They always claimed that he was too weak or sick to join to play outside. But I feel fine. Why are they always making a fuss over me?

Then a great idea popped into his head. "Hey, Forest."

His sister must have seen the mischief in his eyes because she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Since mother has gone to the market and father went to check the shed, they won't be back for about half an hour. What do you say you teach me how to play ball?"

Raven felt like he was being lifted up into the air at the thought of running with his sister yet again.

Forest hesitated. "But-"

"Common I promise to play for only a few minutes." he clasped his hand pleadingly.

"If I do.." Forest gave him a cunning smile. "You need to clean our room for a week!"

Raven rolled his eyes. But he didn't mind cleaning the room. His side of the room wasn't as dirty as hers so there wouldn't be a lot to do. He sniggered as he looked over to Forest's messy bed. "Fine." he muttered.

He and his sister exchanged excited looks and dashed out of their house. While his sister had gone to retrieve the ball, he stood at the corner of the backyard, closing his eyes and breathing in the sharp tang of the dawn air.

"Hey think fast!"

He looked down in time to see a ball hurtling across the ground. He reached and grabbed it between his hands.

Forest groaned."That's not how you do it. I told you last time you can't touch the ball with your hands."

Raven felt his face grow hot. "I forgot." he snapped. Trying to focus, he kicked the ball towards his sister. To his dismay, the ball rolled sideways in the wrong direction instead of moving forward.

A sudden rush of anger shot through him. If it wasn't for his parents keeping him inside, he would be far better than this. Seeing him angry, Forest came over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Nobody is great from the start." she reminded him. "try doing it like this."

After demonstrating a bit for him, he was able to toss it back and forth with her. He placed the ball on the ground in front of him and kicked hard.

"Hey, I've never seen anyone learn this fast!" Forest smiled. 

He laughed back. "I bet I'll be better than you soon."