Rανєη Rιѕє COMPLETE 5/12/17

[frankie (dup)]

Wondering about what?

[Ranger of the North]

Wondering about what?

Curtis in general XD

[frankie (dup)]

-removed link-
Guide to Raven Rise.
Just going to stuff my worldbuilding in here, lol.
Check it out if you feel like it.

(Rolls away to work on Chapter Fifteen)

note: I'm removing all links to my wattpad works because some of the newer content isn't suitable for cs.

[frankie (dup)]

I just realised something...

There are four chapters left in Raven Rise

PREPARE YOURSELVES

[Ranger of the North]

OH NO / OH YAY

YOU'RE SO CLOSE CONGRATS THAT'S SO EXCITING BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'M SO CONFLICTED

[frankie (dup)]

OH NO / OH YAY

YOU'RE SO CLOSE CONGRATS THAT'S SO EXCITING BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'M SO CONFLICTED

There are two sequels coming! :'D

[Ranger of the North]

OH NO / OH YAY

YOU'RE SO CLOSE CONGRATS THAT'S SO EXCITING BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'M SO CONFLICTED

There are two sequels coming! :'D

Oh, cool! I knew that XD

[frankie (dup)]

Chapter Fifteen in nearly finished! It might wind up being the longest chapter yet.

[frankie (dup)]

Aiden barely got any sleep and woke up early the next morning, nearly unheard of for the teen.
Dulcie was awake next.
“Aiden?”
She rubbed her eyes.
“Are you really awake first?”

Aiden blushed.
“No need to sound so surprised.”

Dulcie laughed and rose to her feet.
“So, how much longer are our provisions going to last?”

Aiden shrugged and opened their bag. The group had been using the food as sparingly as possible, eating only when necessary. Aiden felt a little guilty at eating the most often, but the others weren't bothered and reassured him that new people always needed to get used to the low amount of meals.

“I'm not sure,” he confessed. “I never know when any of us are going to be eating next, so it's not like I can give you a time.”
Dulcie nodded.
“Fair point.”

She stretched and looked down at the sleeping bodies of her friend and brother.
“We should get moving as soon as possible. We don't know if the Catago are on our tails, or if they're sending someone to retrieve the gem, or whatever thing they've concocted up now.”


Aiden gulped and crammed his blankets into his duffel bag.
“You think they are?”
Dulcie nodded solemnly and sighed.
“There's a reason the Catago have been ruling for twelve years.”
“Because they kill anyone who gets in their way?”

Aiden wasn't sure where the bitter sarcasm came from, or how much he liked the words that came spilling out of his mouth like a wry waterfall.

Dulcie sighed.
“The Catago aren't all brute force, Aiden. Brute force doesn't get people anywhere- or at least not anywhere important. You gotta be smart, you've got to be cunning, you've got to be resourceful.”

When Pollux didn't wake up no matter how much she nudged his side, she knelt down to his ear and shouted.
“Wake up dunderhead! Let's go!”

Pollux bolted awake and his hand struck Dulcie's face. She toppled back in surprise, directly into Curtis.

He screamed at the sudden weight slamming into him and bolted up, letting Dulcie crash to the forest floor.
He stumbled as he stood up, but quickly righted himself and turned beet red.

“Alright, that’s enough. We should get going.”

Curtis turned and climbed onto his horse.
“Aiden, could you grab our stuff? We should really be going off.”

Dulcie laughed.
“Hey, it’s okay. A little hard not to panic when a ruthless fourteen-year-old dive bombs you.”

The blond teen turned to face her and made a very sarcastic face.
“Why did you dive bomb me?”
“Pollux slapped her,” Aiden laughed lightly at the sheer hilarity of the situation.
“Why did you slap your sister?”
“She screamed in my ear!”
“I didn't scream. I believe what I said was ‘wake up dunderhead! Let's go!”

Curtis rolled his eyes.
“Okay, whatever. Shake hands or something.”

The twins turned to each other, and appeared to be having a staring contest.
“Aiden! Is our stuff together?”

You can very well see it's not. I know you're trying to embarrass me, I’m not daft.
He didn't respond, just turned away to hide the sudden colouring in his cheeks.
As he moved on, Aiden spotted the twins shaking hands after Curtis joined their staring contest. (He won, but he had the advantage.)

As he stuffed the rest of the supplies into a bag, he heard someone crash to the ground and Dulcie's laughter.

It was followed shortly by an exasperated sigh from Curtis.
Aiden laughed.

Curtis helped Pollux off the ground and didn’t force them to make up again. Aiden hoped that one of these days he’d see the difference between sibling banter and arguments.

The blond teen straightened himself.
“We’re not far from our destination.”

The three younger travelers looked at each other in wide-eyed shock.

“Can you give us an outline of where we’re headed?”
“We’re cutting through Chodel, and heading through the Sickly Wood. The map drops off there, and Rico wrote that’s where the thing we’re looking for is.”

Pollux swallowed.
“What if we fail to get the stone? What if…” His green eyes stared off into the distance.
“What if we drop off the map, too?”

Curtis grabbed his horse’s reins so tightly as he climbed on that his knuckles turned to the white of freshly fallen snow.
He turned to face the horizon, their destination, their salvation, their destruction.
“We won't. I refuse.”

Pollux eyes were lost.
“Not everything goes the way it should.”

Pollux seemed to rattle even himself with the solemn remark, and he shook his head wildly, slowly growing ginger hair spraying out from his head in an amusing circle.

“Sorry. We should go.”
Aiden climbed onto Nitika and started the journey again. He fell back and stared at the back of Pollux's head, hoping that his friend would sense his presence behind him and go back.

He watched Pollux fold in on himself, his eyes quietly glancing back at Aiden.

Eventually, he sighed and have in, turning around so he was beside Aiden.

“What's eating at you?” Aiden asked, voice laced with concern.
Pollux wasn't usually solemn. A realist, maybe, and quiet, but never as pessimistic and frightened as he'd been at camp.

He felt Pollux's eyes search him, as if the other boy was trying to see what he was implying, and if he was truthful.

Something in Aiden's eyes seemed to satisfy, because he visibly relaxed.
“Chodel was… my… I mean, our old home.”
Something about the way Pollux said old home made Aiden's stomach twist.
“Did something happen to Chodel?”

Pollux shook his head.
“No.”
“Why's it your old home?”
Pollux averted his gaze.
“Because we don't live there anymore.”

“That's not all, Pollux, I know it isn't. What's wrong? I'm just being concerned.”

Pollux put his head on his horse’s neck.
“Please just stay out of it.”

Heat flared up on Aiden's cheeks. He'd dug too deep, and now he was stuck.

Aiden stopped pressing and turned away, but that didn't stop Pollux from riding off to talk with Curtis about the journey.

Aiden buried his face into Nitika's neck much as Pollux had done.
Why can't things be simple?


The group approached Chodel, and Aiden found himself staring up at tall, regal buildings. The marble structures looked more like works of art than homes, but a glance into the windows revealed people going about their lives like someone would in any other place. He was a little confused at first, considering that the buildings seemed to have dips and curves in them that would make living uncomfortable at best, but his confusion was cleared when he brushed his hand along a wall and found that the dips and curves were n optical illusion.

The city was surrounded by mountains that Aiden hadn't seen until they were pointed out. The weather was just perfect- the balance between warm and cool was just one of many things that made Aiden appreciate why the city was so loved.

His eyes caught people bringing in carts of coal, gold, and other valuables from what he could assume were mines inside and under the mountains in the distance. Their hair glistened with water from what were likely showers to wash off dust. Aiden had seen miners before, but they all looked depressed and tired. These people looked… happy.

When Aiden looked around, he could see numerous places to satisfy his hunger, all from different cultures and backgrounds, and all different sorts of people running them.

He looked at Curtis, who seemed to be just as entranced by the city’s beauty as Aiden.

But the more beauty Aiden saw, the more confused he became. He knew that, if given the choice between Chodel and the rebellion, he'd pick the rebellion in a heartbeat.
But if he had lived in Chodel instead of Vecuria when he was first presented with the choice, what would he have done?

After all, who'd want to leave such a beautiful city? More so, what made the twins leave?

Curtis smiled as the group made their way through the city of art, licking his lips hungrily as they passed by restaurants- especially ones that served food from Italon.

Aiden looked up hopefully, but Curtis shook his head and continued through the city.

As the group came closer to the Sickly Wood, Aiden noticed Dulcie and Pollux becoming more and more on edge, hiding their faces from view as they walked along.

Aiden caught sight of a cottage.
It was T shaped and pale blue- it had clearly been a vibrant blue before the colour had faded, and Aiden could see granite decorations of deer, bears, and other woodland animals.

Windows dotted the hous- two on each side. They were tall half-circles that let in lots of light. The two points of the T shaped house had wooden panels hanging off them, which might have been nice a long time ago, before the wood had begun rotting and collapsing.

Aside from the ugly panels, the house was quite pretty. The roof was a deep red and V shaped, dipping down instead of up.

Dulcie and Pollux cast pained glances at each other.
“I knew there were going to be new owners… but they painted over the handprints.”

Aiden knew that Pollux thought Aiden couldn’t hear, but he’d come closer to his friend as they rode along. He felt his stomach twist.

“That’s a really ugly blue.”
Dulcie’s voice cut through Pollux’s sadness, and he chuckled.
“Horrid.”

The door to the cottage flew open to reveal a man with a cigarette held precariously between his fingers as a woman shouted from behind him.
“Outside, Walter! Outside!”

The man smiled and shut the door, then leant against the wall.

He just about choked on the cigarette and its smoke when he spotted the group, and the item fell to the ground.
“Pollux?!”

The man came closer, and the door flew open to reveal a woman who was about the same age. She came running after the man- who Aiden could only assume was named Walter.

“Dulcet!”
The man’s voice pierced the air like a spear that slammed into Aiden’s gut.

The man had thinning ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles.
There are plenty of redheads in the world. He might be mistaking them for some other kids who just happen to have the same names. Hopefully…

The man came closer, and Aiden could easily make out his face now.
The spear twisted.

The woman picked up speed and passed the man. She skidded forwards and practically plucked Pollux off his horse.

He hissed like a cat, and it would’ve been funny in nearly any other situation.
But not this one.

The man was next. Dulcie got off her horse as Pollux struggled out of the woman’s grip.

The man opened his arms wide, and Dulcie came forward.
She socked him in the mouth.

He staggered back, cupping his face.
“I know I made some mistakes,” the man grumbled. “But is that any way to greet your father?”

So he was their father.

“Some mistakes?!” Pollux hollered, pushing the woman behind him.
“SOME MISTAKES?!” Pollux’s voice increased in volume and became more hoarse with each breath.

“I mean,” Pollux laughed humorlessly. “I know you didn’t want kids, much less twins, but you were hardly there! You don’t even know that your precious, sweet, Dulcet, has been loudmouthed, vulgar, Dulcie since we were eight!”

Aiden let his wide eyes flicker to Dulcie, who was smiling proudly through her clear fury. He didn’t know if it was from Pollux’s description of her or pride in her brother’s fury, but she was smiling either way.

“Dulcie, then,” the woman said. “Either way, we’ll welcome you home with open arms. We’ll be better parents this time.”

“No!”
Pollux threw his arm out as if he was going to lash out.
“For ten years, you didn’t give a rat’s ass about Dulcie and I, and now you show up, after faking your deaths because raising children was too hard, and sending a letter to some underground rebellion to take us in if something happened to you? I guess you thought that was a suitable environment for raising children?”

Aiden could hardly believe his ears. At least the twin’s parents had the decency to look ashamed.
“And guess what?”
Pollux’s voice was spilling over with rage.
“It was a million times better than your care, which consisted of cook and call it a day. I’ll stay with my actual family, thank you very much, Minta and Walter Percell.”

Pollux screwed his lip and turned away.
Dulcie sighed and climbed back onto her horse.
“And good riddance.”

They left.


Aiden didn’t press anymore, just stared ahead and let the silence speak for itself.


Pollux groaned and settled his face into his horse’s neck.
“I hate everything.”
Aide inched closer to Pollux.
“You want to know what it was like,” Pollux said, voice steady and matter-of-fact.

Aiden opened his mouth to object, but quickly shut it.
He eventually mustered the strength to speak.

“If it’s alright with you, I mean.”

Pollux nodded and took a deep breath.
“Dulcie and I were accidents. Our parents didn’t want children. Their care for us was really just stopping us from starving. They always loved Dulcie, because she was a pretty girl and I was just average. They bought Dulcie new and nice clothes, I got clothes from my cousins. When we turned eight and Dulcie became a bit more rebellious, they wrote a letter to The Ravens through some distant relative in case anything happened to them. When we turned ten, they died and it took a year for The Ravens to realize that we were alone.”

The story was told simply, but it still made aside want to drag the twins off their horses and hug them.
That can wait.

Aiden looked ahead to see an ominous forest.
The Sickly Wood.

He knew immediately how the first had gotten his name. Everything smelt of death and sickness. He could see very few animals, but a flash would occasionally catch his eye.

The fog that hung around the forest thickened until Eros of precipitation splashed Aiden’s face.

The fog warped as they went and turned into something completely different. It wasn’t fog or smoke , but something entirely different. Some sort of in between and ye completely different at the same time.
Eventually, it cleared up only gotten to run into a thick wall of the stuff.
Curtis took a deep breath.
“Dismount.”

Trembling, Aiden got off the horse. The stench was so terrible that Aiden wondered how long it’d be until he vomited.

“Are you ready?” Curtis asked.
Each of them nodded, shaking.

The moved forward at the same time, hands searching for each other.

And the wall swallowed them whole.

A:N Finally finished this! I hope I tackled child neglect right.
Chodel will pop up in the sequel, and I’ll explore it bit more. We’re fast approaching the end!

Previous Chapter: Fourteen
Nexr Chapter: Sixteen

[Ranger of the North]

Good luck, @gang
*gulps*