More Than Meets The Eyes

Prologue

A cold breeze brought the snow; caressing her face, melting upon contact. The feeling resurfaced unwanted memories from her past, ones she'd preferred kept buried in the recesses of her mind. Tightening the scarf, her most prized possession, she thought about the years before her savior showed up and granted her a new chance at life.

Her name was Raven, dark haired, fair skinned blind girl; the black sheep of the family. Not many knew of her existence. Many thought she had died young from the accident that horribly damaged her eyes and left the area around them burned and disfigured. Her father, ashamed and disgusted by her looks, kept her away and hidden in her room; no visitors allowed.

That never stopped her brother Edward from sneaking in and spending time with her. Although they had an eight year age gap, he treated her like the sister she was, not some hidden thing, the family disgrace. He often stopped by with treats, things he thought she would like, and entrance her with stories of places he went or things he learned. Everyday he yearned to put smile on her face, to see how happy she was even for a little bit. Her smile made enduring the harsh treatment by their father for disobeying his orders worth it.

She remembered the day when Edward did not show up like usual. She had slowly and cautiously made her way to the window. Unhooking the latch, the window slowly opened on squeaky hinges. The cold breeze tickled her cheeks pink. She was told not to open the window. "You could fall and get hurt." He had said. It would be fine if she was careful, she thought. Her eyes tingled and felt itchy. She gently untangled the bandages from around her eyes, letting it drop onto the stone floor at her feet. Her hair was long over due for a cut. The wind pushed it from her face and what she saw, she couldn't even describe for she had no words and had no idea what she was seeing for the first time. She could barely remember what colors were when she was young but at that very moment, colors were all she saw. They flowed like they were moving, almost as if they were alive. The colors shifted and reshaped. She remembered what Edward had told her. "All living things have magic. Each are unique and different. Even things like a rock, which isn't alive, has magic. Everything can be differentiated by magic if you took the time to see without really seeing"

"What do I look like?"she had asked. And he had replied,"a beautiful deep purple swirled with a golden yellow and a dark black. Your magic is my favorite to look at Raven."
Even though she has no idea what those colors looked like, it made her happy to hear that.
Now she truly understood what he had meant. She knew what darkness was. Behind her, back in her room was darkness; a never ending abyss. She could feel it creeping on her from behind, threatening to swallow her and drag her back to the nothingness that left her feeling more alone and empty than when Edward left.

The darkness frightened her. She carefully made her way onto the giant branch of the tree that neighbors her room. Now that she could see she can make her escape to go see Edward this time. He'll be so surprised to see her. It was a long slow process but she made it down with only a few cuts and scrapes. The feeling of disobeying father's orders sent a new feeling to surge through her. She liked it, she realized. She had the same feeling climbing the tree and when she thought about seeing Edward all by herself. It was a long slow process because the tree was so tall. She couldn't believe how high her room was and how many times Edward climbed had climbed it to come see her.

She scolded herself for not wearing shoes as her feet touched the snow covered ground and she squeaked in surprise at the sudden coldness surrounding her feet. She quickly hopped from one foot to the other and made a dash for it across the small open courtyard that led to the main house. Her feet were a bright pink red and stung from being so cold. Cautiously, she tiptoed inside, making sure to stay as hidden as possible until she found Edward.

The warmth of the main house stopped her from shivering after a while. She had no idea where she was going or how she was going to find her brother. Miraculously she bumped into him when she found herself on the second floor. She smiles up at him. She watched as his face went from surprise to complete horror. "What are you doing out from your room Raven?" He whispered to her, looking back and forth around them and ushering her down the hall.

"I came to see you brother! I can see too. It's no longer darkness Edward" she said happily, hoping he too would be happy, but instead he looked upset and scared.

"Raven you shouldn't have never left your room" he said.

"But..."

"Never! Do you hear me? Your in danger now. They know where to find you!" He said just as a loud ground shaking explosion knocked them to the ground. Her ears made ringing noises and she couldn't focus. Edward had shielded her body, she held onto him tight, afraid of what was happening around them.

"We need to leave now!" He yelled and carried her away and in the opposite direction of the danger. She didn't remember much afterwards as the darkness consumed her, making her unconscious for an unknown period of time.

When she came to, her eyes were covered by bandages again. Feeling her surrounds, she immediately knew she was in a bed, alone.

"Edward?" She called out quietly, afraid of who was there or wasn't there. Her head ache badly, even worse than when she had stubbed her toe on the bed post. The deafening quietness and the surrounding colorless atmosphere had her curling her toes and pulling the blanket up to her chin and hugging her knees.

Her hair gathered around her waist and pooled on the bed in a tangled knotted mess. What felt like hours but was probably minutes went by before she sensed Edward entering the room. She wanted to tear off the bandages and look at him. But he got angry when she left her room when she wasn't supposed to, and removing the bandages was also something she wasn't supposed to do except for when they needed changing by the servant. She didn't want her brother leaving her alone again and left them on.

He said nothing to her as he took a brush and freed her hair from the knotted mess it had become. "I'm sorry I can't make your hair all pretty Raven but I promise that when I learn, you'll have the most prettiest hair in all the land." He told her.

"Really?" She couldn't help herself but giggle.

"You don't believe me?" He asks playfully teasing her

"No, I believe you Edward. You always keep your promises." She said to him grinning. The next couple of weeks he taught her everything he could even though she was at a huge disadvantage. Not only was she blind and her face disfigured, but she was also a girl. Being a girl was dangerous these times around, especially if you weren't married, orphaned, and or sold into slavery. The fact that she was blind was even worse. She had a lesser change of survival on her own if they were ever separated. Women didn't have strong attributes with magic as did men. And Edward soon found that Raven could not only use magic but she could manipulate it in a way he had never seen. They never stayed in one place too long, who ever was chasing them weren't always far behind especially when it came to Raven using magic or removing her bandages.

They were on the run for years. And those years were tiring for them both. She felt guilty for having Edward take care of her instead of living his own life, he was a young man and his face had the lines of worry already. She felt confident enough to be on her own and so one day she decided to leave, she left him note in a way only she could, using magic to carve out her thoughts on the table. She could not risk hugging him for fear of waking him up and having him stop her. She turned her back on the only family she had left and wandered away, allowing the darkness of the night swallow her into the shadows as she made her way around the sleeping town. She had provisions , a map, and the knowledge to survive and use magic. She kept her face hidden with the bandages until she had come across as magical mask of some sorts. She had charmed it to hide her presence and used it in place of the bandages. The ivory mask with carved vines on it. A cloak for extra protection. No one would notice her walk by. Edward wouldn't be able to find her. The people who are looking for her have a lesser chance of finding her. It was time to move on to the next city; she quietly walked the dirt path road sticking to the shadows and barely using magic to detect danger in her surroundings. She was going to fight her own battles...