Raven Ashfury; the darkness approaches

15

Traveling to Emberwind on foot could take days, Varitan had told Raven as they continued their way. Their plan was to find a bypassing trader and ask if they could travel along to Emberwind. Luckily, they found one early in the journey.

'Sir! Sir, are you perhaps going to Emberwind?', Varitan asked as he ran next to the cart.

'Yeah, why do you care?', the man spat.

'Could we travel along?', Varitan asked. 'We don't have any way to travel there. We really need to be on time for the school year of Leanonns.'

'Then you should've left a few days earlier; I will not pay for your entrance!'

'We understand! We will pay for our own entrance. I'm just asking if we could travel along.'

The man complained about why people can't take care of themselves, but let them get on the cart, if they could get on it as it was moving.

Varitan was silent. He had pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, and was staring at the ground as the wheels of the cart made prints in the sand. Raven had Blaise on her lap, making sure the demon could stay warm with her hands around him as she heated up her hands with her magic. It was silent between the two; Varitan didn't speak and Raven didn't know how to begin.

Raven wondered how it would be on Leanonns. The only thing she knew is that Leanonns is a school for vampires, elves, werewolves and witches. This is what made the school popular and special. She wondered how their lessons would connect with each other. It was obvious that vampires and werewolves didn't possess any magic in their veins, and the elves magic was very different compared to the magic of the witches. Maybe they only had lessons together that were practical? Lessons for astrology maybe, or did vampires not need that?

'Varitan? How do the lessons of everyone tie together?', she asked after pondering for a while more. Varitan didn't answer directly.

'I don't know actually.', he said. 'They changed a lot after I graduated. That was, in fact, over a hundred years ago. When I was at school there were no elves there yet. Only a few werewolves and vampires, who their pack and clan trusted to go there.'

'A hundred years ago?', Raven repeated. 'How old are you?'

'Three-hundred-twenty-one.', Raven's eyes widened. 'Immortal.', Varitan said with a smile, but that smile quickly faded. 'The lessons are depending on how many lights you got. I got potions, spell defense, weapon training and herbal study. But Loona got herbal study, spell defense, potions, astronomy, study of sickness, responsiveness tests, responsibility tests and even social practicing.'

'Loona had a lot more then you.', Raven noticed.

'That was because she had more lights.', Varitan said. 'And because she needed more things to master for her profession. She was never good at astronomy.', he added with a chuckle. 'Professor Islefall wasn't happy.',

'She was the one who send me my acceptance letter.', Raven said as she remembered the name.

'She does that to all new coming students.', Varitan told her. 'She is... just don't get on her bad side.', Varitan gave her a warning look, to which she snickered. But the mention of Loona brough Raven on another topic she wanted to talk about with Varitan.

'Varitan?'

'Hm?'

'Why isn't Loona with us?', Varitan's expression fell. He let his legs go so they hung from the cart and stared in front of him.

'She figured that... ehm- that we would take too much attention if we traveled with three. And she told me that you had a better chance of survival with me then with her... so she left to find somewhere to hide.', Varitan sighed deeply. 'I couldn't convince her whatsoever.',