The Raven - Born Out The Earth

Goodbye Raven

Eliana Tessa Castellanos

All we could do as we sat inside the wall created by the rich earth was to listen to the world outside. Growls. Howls. Cries of pain. A war was breaking.

And here we stood. All helpless. Defeated.

There was nothing we could have done or we could do as this vile toxin still sits in our veins, making us weak, powerless. A Lycan without its Lycan. A gift without its source.

All we could do was wait. Patiently.

Somebody out there fought for us. Protected us. These walls not only shielded us from the war raging outside but it also shielded our vision. We don't know what's going on outside. But all we know is our little beast is all by herself with these monstrous traitor Lycans. There were way too many of them for her to win. One Lycan amongst thousands.

I prayed for her safety. Silently. I begged the goddess up there to protect her. My sister. She was the one sister that I never got to have. But now that I finally found her, please goddess, have mercy. Please.

Long torturous hours passed by in anticipation when suddenly the wall melted down only to be rippled back up a few feet away from us. The sky now starting to turn into its own blue, sun begging to show the world of the horror that stretched over the land. Our land.

The ray of sun somehow escaped the still dark sky to shine upon the earth where it glistened with dark red pool of blood. Bodies after bodies stretched the land outside but none of their heads to their bodies. The land had faced a massacre.

The once beautiful kingdom had turned into a land of dead. Not a single one of them lived to tell the stories of horror that shook the land. Not one.

When I was finally able to turn away from the horror, I saw her. There she stood. In front of us. Like the goddess of war. The goddess of death herself. Soaked. Drenched on blood. Their blood. Her blood.

I watched her. We all did as she mercilessly snapped his head and tore it apart. Even without the effect of the herb, there was nothing we could do to aid her. Not anymore.

Then her words played on the back of my mind. She was indeed a scary beast. One scary little beast. Even in her human form she stood victorious.

George was one of our own. A most trusted Lycan of the palace. But he had betrayed us. He had betrayed his own blood. He now sat on the podium on his knees, facing away from us to look at his mate who was hanged off the ground, her body wrapped in vines. I know he loved his mate. Afterall, she was his true mate.

When Raven eventually turned around to face us was when I truly saw her. Blood painted her face. Her body was as if she was drowned in it. Her flesh cut deep. Her once smooth skin now opened up to show her ghastly wound. Some parts barely hanged to her body. Her once beautiful gown, torn and ripped. Shredded.

This was the prize of the war that she won alone.

Before anyone could move, he got her. No. The time slowed as we all rushed to her. I watched George clamped his mouth on Raven's neck. No. Fire danced along his hand on her shoulder that travelled to her throat. No.

Fear climbed back to my body as we struggled to get him off her. Was it too late? Please. No.

When we were finally able to get him off, the deed was done. He had teared half the flesh from her neck. She slowly fell down.

No. No. No.

Without a moment's hesitation, the king ripped his head off and left his body to lay next to his mates who too lied in a puddle of her own blood.

Raven now laid on her beloved's arms. Lucas. He cried for his love. His only true love. There was pain. So much pain.

She won't make it. My heart sank.

The wound was too deep. Her neck barely supported the rest of her body, I could see the broken bones that was just held together by some flesh. Barely attached. The damage was beyond repair. There was no way she was going to make it.

Aya who knelt beside her, cried for her sister as Elias too knelt behind her, holding her tight. He too shed the tears as he cried silently. The king and the queen alike grieved their daughter that they just reunited with.

I looked up as the sun hit the land once again. Announcing the end of the wrath filled night but a beginning of our new nightmare. The whole kingdom now knelt before us. Their head bowed to the ground. They too grieved the loss of their princess. Their warrior. Their saviour. They cried. They howled. They thanked her for her sacrifice.

Then I looked back down at her as she slowly closed those emerald eyes, a small smile on her face. She left happily. She left too early.

I brought my hand to my cheeks as I felt a drop of water. I felt my face covered in tears. It was a strange feeling for me. I never cried. I never felt this broken. Lucas gently shifted her body to the floor to straighten her posture, so her head and her body was levelled as he held onto her hands and cried.

Then I looked back out the shattered window as my heart clenched. Ah, so, this is what it feels like to lose someone you truly care about. The sky that had begun to get lighter, darkened once again. Loud thunderous lightning showed itself to celebrate her bravery as the sky sheds its tears.

It cried. It roared. It screamed. For our loss. For his loss. Lucas.

"What is happening?" I hear him shout which makes me look back down at them. I see vines growing from the ground underneath us and around us. It stretched across the hall, its floor, walls, ceiling, everything. The entire hall was now decorated with vines that held white buds.

The vines wrapped itself around her body. Raven. The earth beneath her sinks and she sinks along with it.

"No, no, no." Lucas' voice is desperate as he tries to claw out the ground. But it was no use. It was too late.

The earth swallowed her body and, in its place, grew more vines with white buds. The earth took her daughter back to where she belonged. The daughter that she once let go, she welcomed her back.

The white buds now bloomed fully, encasing the hall with its scent. The scent of wildflowers. Of Raven. Reminding us that she once lived.

Like she always said. Raven did belong to the woods. She was born of the earth and now she was one with it.

The cries now echoed the entire palace. The sky alike. Raven was no more.

I'll wait for your soul to be born again. Thank you for all you did. And I'm so sorry.

Goodbye Raven.

My little beast.

My sister.