3AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone! This is the first story I have ever written. Please excuse me if it's not very good but I would appreciate some constructive criticism and reviews. Thank you, I hope that you all enjoy it!
Chapter I: The Encounter
It was the night of the full moon and the mysterious entity glowed eerily in the dark sky, while its beams pierced through the canopies of a dense forest. On nights like this, creatures from the darkest corners of the earth came out of hiding and predators would be thirsty for blood. Some foolish human beings would consider this night to be romantic and beautiful if they did not know the dangers that the full moon unleashed. However for other beings, this night was a hectic slot of time where they would go into action to carry out their occupations.
This was true for someone, or perhaps something like Darien Night. The cold wind felt rejuvenating against his skin as his massive and midnight-black feathered wings propelled him forward. His piercing, keen, electric blue eyes scanned the forest floor, searching for any goblins, trolls, or other creatures that escaped the supernatural realm to terrorize unsuspecting humans. Darien belongs to the Cutator Noctis, the Guardians of the Night. They were an elite organization that protected the balance between the natural and supernatural worlds. For example, they made sure that the citizens of otherworldly realms who dwelled on earth were following the laws of both societies. The Cutator Noctis also hunted down and annihilated criminals and monsters from preternatural domains that killed and disturbed human beings and fellow mystical creatures. However above all, perhaps their most important task was to keep the knowledge of their existence away from the irrational minds of the human race. The humans' violent and impudent natures would cause them to hunt down multiple species of mystical creatures, which would have detrimental effects on the supernatural world.
For the most part, Darien's shift was uneventful, except for when he had to kill an ogre that was trying to destroy the protective walls of a small village. When Darien is on patrol, he is always perceptive and attentive. Yet, for some reason, he was having difficulty concentrating tonight. He was able to survive the fight against the ogre without a scratch, but if he was not as skilled or as experienced in combat as he was, he surely would have been crushed. Damien let out a low growl as he thought about the fight. He felt frustrated with himself for being so uncharacteristic of himself. He hated being caught off guard and he absolutely loathed feeling inadequate. He was a feared and respected Guardian, he was not supposed to be making mistakes that an amateur would like losing focus. No matter how hard he tried to set his mind on his task to find escaped monsters, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something monumental was about to happen tonight. His heart began to race and his breath quickened, his head was pounding as blood began to rush to it, and his body began to feel restless. He felt like he was supposed to go somewhere important, do something important, or perhaps even see someone important. However the only person he had to see tonight was Malachi, the leader of the Cutator Noctis, but he was not anyone Darien held special regards for. He shook his head and went back to scouring the forest.
After a few moments of silence passed, he heard terrified screams break out underneath him. He pinpointed the direction of the noise and swooped down towards it, clandestinely landing on a low tree branch. He observed as a group of four figures, who were obscured by shadows cornered a young human couple against large trees. The humans seemed to have snuck out into the forest together to observe the full moon. Darien rolled his eyes and internally scoffed at their antics, 'fools' he thought. Upon closer inspection, Darien realized that the figures were night terrors instead of regular mischievous creatures and his eyes widened at the epiphany. He immediately began his transformation, his large wings expanded further, giving him a threatening appearance and his fingers turned into dagger-like talons, such as those of a raven. The night terrors are not monsters obscured by shadows, but they are shadows themselves. They have shapeless bodies with no eyes, and gigantic mouths that overtake more than half their bodies, that are filled with several rows of razor-sharp teeth. Night terrors are the most fearful entities in the supernatural realm because they are the manifestations of souls who carried too much evil to truly die. Though their physical bodies are cut off from life, their disturbed souls are manifested into beast-like shadows because of their interminable hate. The underworld is able to contain them until the night of the full moon because it was the only time that they would have a remote chance of escaping their prisons in the underworld. This is because on the full moon, the minds of humans and preternatural beings are weakened considerably. Night terrors are not dreaded just because they eat and mangle flesh, but they have the ability to infiltrate the minds of living beings. Once they enter someone's mind, they can do anything such as causing excessive trauma, nightmares, and phobias to create insanity. They could even implant corruption and malignant thoughts in one's brain. That is why night terrors are to be avoided at all costs, unless you hunted them.
Just as one of the monsters was about to strike the humans, Darien slashed it with his elongated talons. It let out an ear-splitting cry as it went down, disintegrating into ashes the moment it made contact with the earth. The other night terrors turned their attention away from the humans and roared menacingly at the intruder. Darien noticed that the young couple was paralyzed with fear and looking at him with hope and anxiety in their eyes. Then the remaining night terrors came rushing at him all at once, he immediately began to defend himself and attacked them. He destroyed two of them with ease but suddenly realized that one of them was gone. Darien cursed in his mind until he felt an intense pain in his left shoulder; the beast slammed its teeth into his shoulder blade, creating a deep wound. Darien immediately plunged his talons into its shadowy body and punched the teeth that were latching onto him. The creature let out a shrill of pain and fell into ashes like the rest of its brethren.
Right when he thought that he completed his task, he heard whimpering and snapped his head to the direction of the noise. It was emitted by the young couple that witnessed the event. They were trembling in each other's arms and looked at him with fear. Darien cursed at himself again for being so careless tonight and approached them intimidatingly. "Look at me," his deep, husky voice ordered. They silently complied and once they looked into his static-blue eyes, they were paralyzed. Darien began to channel his energy into compelling them, "Forget everything that both of you saw tonight," and the young couple's eyes began to grow heavy and closed. He broke the spell and watched as their limp bodies slumped onto the forest floor. 'That should do it,' he thought and began to walk away until his left shoulder was stabbed by an intense pain. He looked at his deltoids and saw that blood was running profusely from his injury, he knew that he had to shift into his forma animalis, his animal form. His wound could be completely healed within a couple of hours but he needed shelter in order to be protected from goblins or trolls that would try to fight him in his weakened state.
Darien blocked out the pain and concentrated his energy to the very core of his being. His body began to tremble and his bones began to crack and bend in disturbing angles. Instantaneously, he was in his animal form as a raven. One of his wings could not fly properly and was extremely hurt, but he pushed that detail aside and propelled himself into the moonlit sky. As he flew, his sharp eyes searched for a safe hiding place until he spotted a small glimmer of light about 15 miles away. It was coming from the outskirts of a small town that was near the edge of the forest. Darien wanted to grimace when he thought about being near humans but nevertheless, he needed a place to recuperate. So he steered himself to fly towards the small light. He thought about this night and his eyes grew dark. Not only was he uncharacteristically distracted, he encountered a group of four night terrors. Usually, he would only encounter one or two of them that were lucky enough to escape from the underworld. He should be reporting this immediately to Malachi, but he needed to be alive if he wanted to share any information at all. 'Ten more miles' he thought determinedly.
Darien almost regretted not bringing a partner with him during this shift, Malachi suggested the idea but he scoffed and rejected it immediately. It's not his fault that he enjoyed being independent. Many people considered him to be cold and stoic but he only kept a select few close to him because quite frankly, he didn't care for many others despite what others thought, and he intended to keep it that way. This led him to think about a subject that he detested, love. Darien wanted to scowl at this ridiculous notion. He was a revered and notorious Guardian in his realm. He was infamous for his ruthlessness when he dealt with law breakers and escapees, because he killed them without hesitation or mercy. He always fulfilled his responsibilities with impeccable precision and pride. He was powerful and earned the respect and fear of his people, he had everything he could possibly want and he didn't need a female to hold him back and weaken him. If he was not in his animal form, he would have rolled his eyes at the idea. He was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed that the light was beginning to grow larger and brighter. 'Five more miles,' Darien marked. His perceptive eyes saw that his beacon was a burning candle near a window. Oddly, the closer he got towards the light, the more his adrenaline and restlessness grew. He wondered why he felt so drawn towards it and his curious nature pushed him to find the answer. With this thought in mind, he willed himself to fly faster towards his destination.
Angelique Dearheart, a young nineteen year old girl was very tired after a strenuous day at her job. She worked at the orphanage that she lived in since she was only seven years old. Some would pity her or expect her to be a miserable wretch, but Angelique learned to be strong through her hardships as an orphan. She would not allow her to feel sorry for herself because she believed that circumstances in her life happened in order to help her grow. Of course she only realized this after years of being teased by other children for not having any parents. She slowly trekked up the stairs of the orphanage to her bedroom. Once she arrived at her destination, she took time to examine her living quarter, it was small but she didn't mind it. There was a lit candle on the window sill, a twin sized bed on the adjacent corner of the window, a closet on the opposite wall of her bed, and a small mirror next to the closet. She closed her door and walked over to the mirror. As she scrutinized her reflection, she noticed that her long chestnut colored hair was messy and tangled from chasing after energetic children all day. She was also quite short and had a light olive colored skin tone. However, Angelique thought that her most prominent features were her large, honey-colored doe eyes, which she inherited from her mother.
Angelique bit her lips at the memory of her mother. Her mother died when she was only seven years old, due to a fatal illness that inopportunely took her life. Her father used to tell her that he loved her eyes because they reminded him of her mother. She couldn't help but let a few tears escape from her eyes for both her parents. Her father died when she was five during a terrible fire. She remembered that her mother mourned for days after his death. She quickly rubbed her eyes of her tears and cursed at herself for being so weak. 'It was so long ago, I have to be strong and not cry for them; they wouldn't want me to do that,' Angelique reminded herself.
She suddenly felt impelled to look at the one thing her parents gave her before they died; her inheritance. She walked over to her bed and lifted up her mattress to pull out a skinny medium-sized box. She sat on her bed and delicately opened it. She pulled out a golden oval-shaped locket with intricate designs on the cover. She ran her thumb over it and marveled at the craftsmanship of the object. Then, she gently opened the locket to reveal a stunning oval-cut and vibrant emerald. Angelique's mother made her promise to never tell anyone about it and to always protect it, before she entrusted it to her.
*Marie Dearheart was ghastly pale and she was clearly suffering from pain. Hot sweat matted pieces of hair to her face and her body tremored as violent coughs racked her body.
'Mommy?' Angelique questioned with wide eyes.
'My angel, come closer to me.' Marie hoarsely beckoned and her daughter obeyed.
'I must give you something but you have to make me a promise before I do, okay darling?' Marie whispered to her daughter. The child did nothing but nod her head. Marie continued speaking, 'you cannot tell anyone or show anyone what I give you because it's very important to me and only we're supposed to know about it. Can you keep this secret for me angel?' she asked.
'Of course mommy,' the child stated, nodding her head profusely.
Marie smiled and presented Angelique with a beautiful locket. The young girl gasped at the extravagant object. 'Angel, inside this locket, is an emerald. An emerald stands for faith and hope. I want you to always have faith and hope no matter what happens. I love you so much and I trust you to keep our secret.' Marie gave one last weak smile towards her daughter and slowly closed her eyes.*
Angelique sighed at the last memory of her mother. She kept her wish to this day and never told a soul about her most prized possession. She carefully placed the gorgeous locket back into its box and placed it in its hiding place under the mattress. She quickly changed into a sleeveless white night gown that ended right above her knees.
She was about to blow out the candle on the window until an object suddenly slammed against it. She let out a small shriek of fright at the sudden impact and jumped back from her window. She stood still for a minute, too afraid to check what was outside. 'Come on Angelique, you'll never be able to sleep if you suspect that something is outside,' she encouraged herself. With a drop of bravery, she began to slowly walk towards the small glassed aperture. She squinted her eyes to see if there was anything threatening outside. When she could not detect anything, she cautiously opened the glass doors. She heard wings beating and immediately a raven perched itself on the sill. Angelique stood there stunned because she had never been so close to a bird before, nevertheless a bird such as a raven.
She began to observe it and noticed that one of its wings was bleeding. She gasped and kneeled, trying to coax the raven to come to her so that she could fix it. However it cawed profusely at her whenever she got too close to it. She stopped using her method after a while, seeing that it was to no avail. She stood awkwardly before the raven and noticed that it was observing her. Strangely, it seemed to be too knowledgeable, too aware of its situation. Its shocking electric blue eyes unnerved her for some reason; they reminded her of human eyes. Angelique shook her head and scolded herself for being so silly; surely a raven couldn't have the consciousness of a human being. Out of desperation, she tried the only thing she could think of. She kneeled again and looked at the bird straight in its eyes; it cocked its head to the side, as if analyzing what her intentions were. Without breaking eye contact she firmly said to the bird, "I'm not trying to hurt you, please let me help you fix your wings."
Angelique felt so stupid for talking to a bird but she would feel terrible if she had to abandon it to make it fend for itself. Angelique and the raven stared at each other for what seemed like years until she began to inch closer towards it. It didn't move away from her and she smiled at her success. She gently stood up and went to her closet, rummaging through it to find the supplies she would need to heal the raven. She retrieved a clean rag, a thin strip of gauze, and a piece of medical tape. Once again, she cautiously approached the raven but hesitated before she attempted to grab it, since she did not want to frighten it. The raven seemed to notice this and hobbled towards her, as if giving her permission to touch it. Angelique delicately began to clean the blood off of its wounded wing. It would flinch from pain but it never tried to fly away from her. After she was finished cleaning its injury, she wrapped the strip of gauze around its wing and secured it with a piece of medical tape. After she attended to it, the raven seemed to scrutinize her every move with its disconcerting eyes. She tried to ignore it as she went back to her closet to retrieve a fairly large basket. She saved the basket from last year's Easter Egg Hunt for the children, without knowing how handy it could be. Angelique lined the basket with more clean rags and set it beside the raven. It did not move, but instead it continued to observe her. Angelique shook off her paranoia and climbed into her bed. She felt herself drifting into sleep and the last thing she saw was the raven's electric blue eyes before unconsciousness overtook her.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The first chapter of this story is complete! I hope you guys liked it. Please leave reviews and thank you for taking time to read this.