Rogue Adventures - A Tale from Neverbeen Universe

4

The tangy taste of blood in his mouth and the stench of strong forbidden magic in his nose awoke Raphael with a yelp as he fell off the cot and landed on the ground. Instantly he was wide awake, yet the horror of his nightmare wouldn't let him go so easily. Raphael's stomach clenched as a sequence from his dream flitted thorugh his thoughts. For a good while he stared at the ceiling of their tent and just breathed heavily until it sunk in he had only been dreaming.

He sighed; his heart felt still cramped with the darkness he had witnessed. Raphael knew it would happen sooner or later. All of his nightmares were prophetic dreams, and they inevitably became true whatever he tried to prevent them.

But this dream, this peculiar dream was especially unsettling, and a grim determination crawled into Raphael's heart. Whatever the cost, he would make sure to succeed and influence the outcome for the first time in his life. This was utterly unacceptable and something had to be done. The frustration and despair were still coursing through his veins, the rush of adrenaline pumping through his system. He needed some time to calm his breath and focus on reality.

On the cot Gene was still sleeping soundly, and Raphael didn't want to wake his lover. Nor did he plan to worry the human about his nightmare. The outcome was too horrible, the situation too dire and the future too grim to be told.

In the quiet of their tent Raphael pondered his options while Gene slept on peacefully, and he reached the conclusion that he would not stand by idly. He would set heaven and hell in motion to do what needed be done. And whereas Gene was still dwelling in dreamland, Raphael relived his dream in his mind and mulled over the future facts so he didn't miss any detail important to his fight against fate.

Once again his enemy was his own clan chief and father, Lord Rhagkal Raven. The last encounter with him had almost resulted in Gene's death and had forced Raphael on the hunt for the Timechrystal. This time there were five even mightier artifacts involved, and Raphael wanted to prevent Lord Rhagkal from attaining them. From his nightmare Raphael had gleaned that these five artifacts contained a forbidden destructive power so formidable, it might destroy whole Neverbeen Universe if unleashed and combined.

To think Lord Rhagkal might wield even one of these powerful artifacts and control its terrible force to wreck havoc! No, Raphael couldn't allow that to happen. But how to make a prophetic nightmare come undone? He figured, he needed to attain these artifacts himself before Lord Rhagkal could grasp them; secure them before someone else could use them.

His dream had told him enough about the artifacts, and from somewhere he recalled things about them — their names, the power they contained, their appearance and their whereabouts.

These artifacts were runed and gilded gems made by the Lord of Time himself, to be exact, each more formidable than the other and about as big as a fist: the cubic Ruby Shard of Celia, the pyramid-shaped Emerald Shard of Erebos, the prism Sapphire Shard of Fiducia, the cylindric Amethyst Shard of Gislin and the orbicular Obsidian Shard of Kaye. And all of them were scattered about in Neverbeen Universe so their powers might never be unleashed.

Raphael thought he had heard stories about these artifacts when he was young, and he remembered he had been on an adventure about nine-hundred years ago retrieving the Emerald Shard of Erebos for his clan chief. Back in the day he had felt its vile power, the darkness it fed on and he had instinctively understood its dangers. He had been glad and relieved when he had been able to get rid of it and lock it away in his clan chief's vault at his main fortress. Briefly Raphael wondered if it was still there. He had never witnessed his father use it.

Then again for the past eight-hundred years he had been living on Earth traveling and building the trade empire of Raven Corp together with his twin sister Reka. Time sure flew by then as these decades and centuries were the most peaceful times in his long life. And, ultimately, Earth was the place where he had met Gene. And Gene had become the most precious person in his life; so much so that he wouldn't want to live in a universe where Gene didn't exist anymore.

Which was why Raphael needed to be faster than his clan chief and to attain the five mighty artifacts before anyone else could grasp them. And even if there was something like fate and determinism, he would try everything within and beyond his power to change the things he foresaw in his nightmares. Especially when he was about to face a future without the one thing he held most dear. No, he didn't want this outcome at all. With grim determination he sat and listened to the darkness within him hum in approval to his choice.

Silently he crawled out of the tent and set about making breakfast for Gene with the food he last gathered so his lover would be sated before Raphael proposed a most dangerous adventure to the good-natured human. He knew, Gene would follow him anywhere anytime, and even though Raphael liked this Pandemonium of darkness, Gene would certainly be glad to leave this place behind and venture to different ones.

While the Daemon tossed eggs in a pan and added some herbs and spices, his dream still wouldn't let him go. His dark thoughts drifted off until Gene scrambled out of the tent, lured by the delicious smells of breakfast. "Good morning," Gene smiled lazily and yawned, "or is it evening? I can never tell with this ever present darkness."

Pulled out of his thoughts Raphael leaned over to kiss his lover. "Good morning, sleepyhead," he murmured against his lips, "breakfast is almost ready. And I have a suggestion which you might appreciate much."