Rανєη Rιѕє COMPLETE 5/12/17

[frankie (dup)]

STRIDER!!!!

...oh, wait, wrong book....

Aha what book is that? I'm going to assume the monsters are similar?

[Ranger of the North]

STRIDER!!!!

...oh, wait, wrong book....

Aha what book is that? I'm going to assume the monsters are similar?

Lord of the Rings! When Frodo's grabbed by the Watcher outside Khazad-dûm/Moria, come to think of it c:

[frankie (dup)]

STRIDER!!!!

...oh, wait, wrong book....

Aha what book is that? I'm going to assume the monsters are similar?

Lord of the Rings! When Frodo's grabbed by the Watcher outside Khazad-dûm/Moria, come to think of it c:

Ooh, I see. It's been a while since I read LOTR

[Ranger of the North]

Hehehe XP

[frankie (dup)]

A:N
Happy 15000 words! It's actually 15323 words long now.
This chapter isn't vaguely creepy at all. It's a complete breather chapter.
*Blatant lies*
It is short, though. 778 words

The group was wary as they found and mounted their horses, who had run off during the commotion.
They continued, moving slowly and staring suspiciously at… everything.

Eventually, they made it out of the Hungry (For Blood) Borderlands and travelled along a field for a while before deciding to rest for a while.

Dulcie offered to stay awake and keep watch, and just as Aiden was about to drift off, he heard the sharp whistle that signified something was wrong.

Everyone jumped to their feet and were greeted by an elderly woman holding a lantern.
“What are children doing out this late?”
Her eyes twinkled.
“Did you steal those horses?”
“No! Of course not!”

Pollux looked aghast at the thought of stealing, despite the fact that he was committing high treason just by breathing.

“Still,” the woman shook her lantern.
“Children should be at home in their beds at this time. Are you running away?”
“No.”
“Hmm. Strange. If you're not running away, then what, may I ask, are you doing out here so late at night?”

Curtis was the first to rise to his feet.
“Official business,” he said, voice low and threatening.
“Ah. I See. Well, I do allow children to stay at my house for a while. My house is just down the hill. Come if you please.”

Everyone sat for a few minutes and watched the woman go down the hill, and looked at each other.
If the woman was who she said she was, they'd have a place to stay, and a nice meal.
And if she happened to be a terrible person? Well, there was a reason they had weapons.

---

They headed down to the woman's cottage and were greeted by a young girl at the door. She had hazel eyes, pale skin, and wavy black hair.
She was wearing a simple, purple, knitted sweater and black pants.
“Hello!” She said, her voice high and clipped.
“My name is Bernarda! Who are you?”

“Aiden.”
“Pollux.”
“Dulcie.”
“Curtis.”

Bernarda’s eyes lit up.
“Hey! I like those names!”
Everyone chuckled, and Bernarda waved goodbye to the four as they headed inside.

---

Once they entered, the woman quietly started taking things out of the pantry.
“What do you like?”
Everyone shrugged,
“All I ask is that you don’t poison us,” Curtis said, carefully watching the woman cook.

She laughed.
“I would never.”

That didn't seem to satisfy Curtis. He watched the woman with careful blue eyes, not taking his eyes off her for even a moment.

She set the food in front of them all. Aiden didn't recognize it, it was too extravagant, but a quick glance at Curtis revealed that he was eating, and appeared to be enjoying it.

Everyone took this as the queue to begin eating.
It was good, tangy and tart. There was some element of sweetness to it, though.

The woman headed to the living room.
“One of my servants will be bringing you some drinks. Enjoy!”

The servant wasn't human. They appeared to be made of wood. They were slightly hunched over, and they had long, slender arms that ended in crooked hands and eight, long fingers. And their glassy eyes were oh, so, familiar.

---

Aiden teetered and just about fell out of his seat, but he managed to grasp onto the seat’s edge, staring into the servant’s white eyes, his breath rattling in his chest.

The servant turned its head to one side, inch by inch, blinking slowly in confusion.

Hearing the commotion caused by the familiar monster’s appearance, the woman came into the room.
“Is something wrong?” She asked.
“Your-” Pollux’s voice was breathless and heaving as he stared ahead.
“One of your servants attacked us!”

Aiden watched the woman go from concerned to furious.
“Which if you is The Other One?!” She snarled.
Everyone was taken aback by her question.
“Huh?”
“I built that servant to kill The Other One! Which of you did it try to kill?!”

No one answered, just mouthed like beached koi fish.
With no warning, the woman lunged, her hands curling knot the fabric of Aiden's shirt.

He could feel her breathing on his face, short and ragged.
“YOU?!” She hollered, horrifyingly sudden.
“You don't know what you're messing with! This is not your war! Go home, children! This is not a child's war!”

Before the woman could get another word out, Pollux’s knife stuck out of her ribcage.

When her body fell to the floor, so did Pollux’s knife.
Aiden trembled and pushed the body away with his foot.
Curtis was bracing himself against the wall and tears speckled in Dulcie's suddenly vulnerable green eyes.

Outside, the girl fell apart.

A:N: I hope the last sentence was clear. if it's not, feel free to ask.

Figured I'd share a few things.
The longest chapter is Chapter Three at 1676 words long. This is the shortest chapter.

I think Raven Rise is currently a Novelette. It'll become a Novella at 17 500 words, and a novel at 40 000, if it reaches that.

Previous Chapter: Twelve
Next Chapter: Fourteen

[Ranger of the North]

0_0

Last sentence = she crumbled physically but her consciousness survived, or..? c:

[frankie (dup)]

0_0

Last sentence = she crumbled physically but her consciousness survived, or..? c:

Basically, she was a servant/golem thing too. She was never alive, and all of the woman's creations 'died' when she did.

[Ranger of the North]

0_0

Last sentence = she crumbled physically but her consciousness survived, or..? c:

Basically, she was a servant/golem thing too. She was never alive, and all of the woman's creations 'died' when she did.

Ohhhh, I see! Sp00py

[frankie (dup)]

A.N: I wanted to deconstruct the prophecy dynamic

The group rode away from the cottage, away from the fake girl’s crumpled body.

It was eerily silent. Aiden could hear every laboured, shuddering breath from his friends. He could hear the quiet sounds of hooves on grass and dirt, then noises from the crickets and frogs that lived nearby.

He could hear every faint whisper of noise, and if he were to listen hard enough, he could hear his own racing heart.

That had certainly… been something.
Aiden saw Dulcie turn her head and wipe away the tears that had started to spill down her cheeks.

Curtis was silent and his face was steel. The only indication that he was just as scared as any of them was his hands- ghostly white as they clutched the reins.

Pollux was somewhere in between Curtis’ reaction and Dulcie's- it was odd, really. Aiden could rarely read the quiet teen, and most of what he knew about him came from Dulcie.

Not knowing what to think about the whole situation, and feeling a little guilty about not even trying to make friends with Pollux, he rose closer.

Without even looking beside him, Pollux's face darkened.
“I don't really want to talk right now.”

Aiden sighed and let Pollux go. They could talk later.
Curtis suggested they stop, and everyone sighed in relief.

Aiden was surprised at how much he'd grown to like Curtis. He wasn't the impulsive person he'd met in that room- had it really been less than a month ago?

Curtis had become more than an ally- he was a friend.

Aiden slipped off Nitika and collected his blankets and pillow.

He wished he could've said he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Everything was bothering him, and there was a deep, churning feeling in his gut.

He rolled over to find Curtis’ blue eyes staring back at him.
“You're awake?” He whispered.
“No. I'm fast asleep,” Curtis said, rolling his eyes.

Aiden sighed and propped himself up. He'd always dreamed of going camping and sleeping beneath the stars, and now that he was finally doing just that, he despised it.

Funny how that is, he thought, smiling bitterly.

“So, what's bugging you, Aiden?”
“Take a wild guess.”
“That was a pretty stupid question, I guess.”

There was a pause. A long, painfully awkward pause. If all of the awkward silences Aiden had experienced were present for this silence, they die of embarrassment for their fellow awkward silence.

Finally, Aiden spoke. Awkwardly.
“You're different now.”
He regretted it as soon as the words were out of his mouth. A touchy-feely conversation was coming and Aiden wasn't ready for a touchy-feely conversation.

Curtis snorted.
“Not really. You just didn't care enough to get to know me.”

Aiden cringed. The touchy-feely conversation wasn't going well.

“I'm sorry,” Aiden muttered, burying half his face in his pillow.

Curtis shrugged.
“It's fine. I'd probably do the same if someone said something like that to me.”
Aiden’s eyes flicked to the stars above them.
“You weren't exactly wrong.”

Aiden's voice was bitter, and the words were about as easy to say as trying to swallow an entire rock.

Curtis was quiet for nearly a minute, opened g and closing his mouth in wide-eyed shock before speaking.
“I'm sorry for your loss.”
“It's alright. I never knew them.”
“I think that's worse, in a way.”

Aiden nodded and screwed his bottom lip.
“Anyway, I'm glad we're friends now.”
“Yeah. Even Dulcie seems to like me, and she used to hate me.”
“Dulcie didn't hate you.”

Curtis snorted.
“She punched me and called me a dumbass.”

Aiden was silent.
“You kind of deserved it.”
It was meant to be a joke. It didn't sound like one.

Curtis laughed darkly.
“I'm sure I did. Thing is, though, what do you think would've happened had you made an insensitive comment, and Dulcie punched and swore at you?”

When Aiden didn't answer, Curtis answered his own question.
“Rico would've given her hell for that. Because you're the prophecy kid, and everyone knows you don't punch the prophecy kids. Has it ever really occurred to you that Dulcie is just as impulsive as I am? But she gets off scot-free. Because everyone loves spit-fire Dulcie, but no one likes hot-headed Curtis.”

He spoke of the prophecy with a great deal of disdain- as if prophecy kid was the worst insult known to man.

“What makes you hate this prophecy-what's it so much?”
“I just don’t get it. Why are you letting your destiny be dictated by some old geezers who say that this piece of million year old parchment means whatever? Everyone is just all- oh yeah, the old geezers are old geezers, and old geezers are always right. Anyway, wouldn’t it sort of… be really bad to be in some mystical prophecy or whatever? People are looking up to you and thinking you’re some answer or whatnot and guess what?”
“What?”
“They don’t do a thing for the world. They think that the prophecy kid is going to take care of it for them. And guess what? Maybe they’re not going to. Maybe the prophecy kid just doesn’t care. Maybe the prophecy kid has no idea what they’re doing. Or maybe, you know, the prophecy kid is just a kid. And they’re not ready for people to shove the world into their face and tell them to fix it.”

With that, Curtis rolled over.
“Night, Aiden.”
His voice was hoarse.

Eventually, Aiden could hear him snoring, and he was left alone with his thoughts.
He didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts.

A.N So this happened. It was going to be a breather with a wham line, but I've moved the wham line to the next chapter.
Whoops, wrong face.

Also the short conversation I was planning became a 600 word monster.

Previous Chapter: Thirteen
Next Chapter: Fifteen

[Ranger of the North]

That was.... odd? Intriguing? I'm not sure, but Curtis has me wondering