The Death Bridge

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"Raven!"

Raven turned around to find the voice calling her name. Everything around her was pitch black. "Raven" the voice called again. "Who's there?" Raven asked. Silence. "What's going on?" Raven thought to herself. She tried to look around but everything was black. "Raven," the voice said suddenly right behind her. Raven whirled around, startled. There was nothing behind her. She heard the voice snicker in the dark. "Who are you? Show yourself!" she bawled into the black void. "Oh Raven, you know who we are", a different voice said. Raven felt cold. "How would I know you?" Raven asked the disembodied voice. Her thoughts were running wild in her mind. Her instincts urged her to get away from this darkness and the voices but something kept her from giving in to her instincts. The voices seemed vaguely familiar.

Both of the disembodied voices snickered. Raven felt her throat go dry. She felt helpless against the void. "Oh, don't play dumb, Raven," the first voice said, with a hint of aggravation. Raven decided to remain silent. After what seemed like hours the first voice spoke again. "Nothing to say? Hmm?" Raven kept quiet, wondering what these things wanted with her, whatever they are. "You don't know us?" the second voice asked. A faint light appeared behind her. She turned around and froze."You don't know your own parents?"

Raven felt the blood leave her face at the sight of her mother and father. Their clothes were torn and Raven could see the wounds that the Shadow beast had inflicted on her father's body. Their skin looked pale and broken. They both stared directly at her. Her father looked livid, and strange acrimony was written all over her mother's face. Raven felt the air turn frigid and the cold burned her skin and seeped through her entire body. Fear engulfed her, choking her slowly. Her parents moved closer and closer. Their whole demeanour screamed hostility. They slowly closed in on her. Raven felt the dread rise in her throat. This wasn't her parents. "You're not them!", she screamed in her mind. Their hands reached for her throat. Fear got the better of her and Raven let out a blood-chilling scream just as her parent's hands got a grip on her throat.

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Raven jerked her head forward with a yelp. Panting she looked around. The doe that was peacefully drinking water by the stream was now beside her, sniffing and snorting. She sensed that something was wrong with Raven and came over when Raven started mumbling and whimpering in her sleep. When she saw Raven was awake and looking at her, she snorted questioningly. Looking at Mili with hazed eyes, Raven said "It was just a nightmare. I'm okay now girl". Mili pressed her soft wet nose against Raven's hand, trying to comfort her. Raven responded absent-mindedly to Mili's actions. She was still in shock. Her nightmare stirred the old feelings of guilt. "I just ran away…I should've turned back…" she thought regretfully.

She slowly got up and went back to her tree. Seeing that the sun was low and the sky turning a deeper shade of orange, she quickly went into her shack and grabbed her basket. She went back into the forest to forage for food. Her thoughts were a mess as she foraged a bush of Fireberries. She absent-mindedly filled her basket and returned to her tree. Placing the basket down, she collected wood from the stack beside her shack.

She started to build a small fire. She stacked the pieces of wood on top of each other and added some dried grass for kindling. Then she pulled a small red stone from her pocket. She had found the stone one day whilst cleaning up after yet another fight in the Inner Ring. She placed it on top of the grass. After a few minutes, smoke started to rise around the stone and then flames emerged from the stone and set the grass alight. She looked at the flames as they danced merrily on the small pile of wood as if their dance captured her. But her eyes didn't focus on the flames. Instead, their dance was all but a blur to her. Her eyes looked lifeless. She tried to fight the feelings of guilt, anger and sorrow that was threatening to consume her heart. She knew she was losing the battle. She felt mentally exhausted.

Deciding to distract herself she remembered that she hadn't yet opened the bag she found in the Inner Ring. She went over to where she had tossed it at earlier. She picked it up and went back to her small fire. She opened the bag and reached inside. She found a small pouch. Taking it out and opening it, she found that it was full of gold coins. " Ah, more money for my treasury...at this rate, I'd be as rich as a king!", she thought with a small smile on her face. She placed the pouch aside and reached inside the bag again. This time she found a loaf of bread, neatly wrapped in an enchanted cloth, and a long crystal. "Ugh, another one of these long crystals.", she thought. She already had a few of them stashed away in her shack. "I wish I knew what they're used for. Then I wouldn't have to horde them".

She placed the crystal near the pouch of coins and held the loaf of bread near her nose. She took a deep breath through her nose and sighed. "Now this is certainly worth all my troubles! I haven't had bread in ages!" She carefully removed the enchanted cloth and held the bread close to her nose again. Inhaling the delicious smell of the bread, she decided to ration it carefully. After checking that the bag was empty, she placed everything back and closed the bag.

She sat back against the tree and looked up at the dark sky. The stars that glittered in the distance mirrored in her eyes. Raven felt weary, but she didn't dare fall asleep, she was too afraid of having another nightmare. She'd rather not sleep at all than having another lurid nightmare. She just sat there, restless, awaiting the dawn of the next day...