The Raven and the Wraith Book 2 (Completed!)

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 50

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 50

"What's a Star Point? How could you never have been to one? I thought you Travelled anywhere and everywhere?" I asked Riva.

I saw quirked eyebrows all around the room. The others, beside Shanna, thought I was talking to a regular house cat. I sighed, resigning myself to constant suspicion while with Riva. I had a strong sense that she was going to keep up the charade the entire time she was with me.

"It's a junction between a multitude of interconnected realms. I've never been to one because my Path has never taken me to one. But you, I think your Path will be quite unique." She told me.

"Star Points are like a gathering spot where many interwoven Lines of the great Web cross. Like the routes that tie realms together, all come here first, before branching out to their destinations. The farmland you see around this house is all there is within this Star Point."
Dale explained, eying Riva dubiously.

She still had kept her telepathic voice to my mind alone.

I distractedly picked up a chunk of cheese and bread and took a bite, trying to get my mind around everything. This still felt like a dream.

"Star Points don't truly exist, not within your concept of reality. So everything here will continue to feel like a dream, until you've been here for a few days."

Riva's telepathic voice interrupted my wayward thoughts, startling me yet again. I wondered how long it would take before I stopped twitching like a dying pig every time she chose to speak to me.

I could see Dale, and the others, all watching me. They all knew this Star Point concept was surely going to boggle my mind.

"So what happens here, when you reach the edge of your farmlands?"

Dale gestured wide with his hands. "You look into the empty space between everything."

I considered my next question carefully. My curiosity was peaked, I was fascinated by this idea, but there were more pressing things to learn about.

"Why am I here?"

Conner put down his fork, his expression both hard, and searching.

"Your Path leads to a Pivot. A place in time, a decision you made, that dramatically changed how your life would go from there. So in order to go back to that place, that Pivot point, you must first come to a Star Point, as this is the place where all Paths branch to and from."

When I said nothing, he looked over at Shanna and her family, then back at me. I could see the dread deep in him, though he fought to hide it.

"When you first walked in here, I saw how they reacted to you. I saw how you reacted to them. What is the connection? Why were they so scared of you?"

"They look like a group that I...I killed. In my realm they were nothing more than broken shells of their true selves. They tried to attack me, to pull me down. And I killed them."

Shanna shivered, her face a sickly shade, her jaw clenched. She clearly knew something more about what I explained.

"Tell it all. Why did they attack you?" Her voice was little more than a whisper, yet it still seethed darkly.

Everyone looked at me, waiting. Even Riva stopped pacing, instead sitting still at Conners feet, searing me by the depthless, green fire of her emerald eyes. I felt like what I said next would either be accepted, or judged fiercely and swiftly by all in the room. It didn't make sense in any way, but I trusted my instincts here.

"I had given up. I went into their lair to die." I heard my own voice as if from a great way off, a strangers voice, admitting a strange thing. A shameful thing.

The room was so silent I could hear the footsteps of a mouse in a nearby wall. Riva walked towards me, her shadow flickering about, fitful, dark, and lashing with raw power. I turned my head, unable to meet her eyes.

"And now? Do you still wish to die?" Her telepathic voice was soft, but still laced with feral steel.

"No! I don't want to die!" I yelled. I could feel my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands. I could feel my heartbeat all the way down my legs. I could feel the old fangs of frustration biting deep once again.

"What do you live for?"

"I live for me! I live because I'm not a victim, I'm no puppet, I'm free!"

That was apparently the right answer, as I felt the tension in the room drain away. As Riva suddenly resumed her normal, albeit unusually beautiful, house cat appearance.

"Ok, shall we all relax and enjoy dinner together? I think the business has been all figured out." Rose said.

Dale nodded. "Yes. This house is a home. Rose, Conner, and I have always enjoyed hearing stories from our visitors, as you can imagine they're from all over."

Shanna agreed, and said she would go first, with an overview of their realm and why they were Traveling. I listened as I ate, waiting. I knew her story would come back around to me, somehow.

Then she explained how some of her race could foresee major, potential events. And she explained that they foresaw their crown city, the capital of their entire world, destroyed by a Vampyre. She explained that she was one of those with that ability, that she had seen this Vampyre.

He was a black-haired, green-eyed 16 year old Vampyre. One who carried two throwing knives, and had a small, lightning bolt-shaped scar on his left cheek.

The room fell silent as everyone looked at me.