I fidgeted impatiently, wishing Master Belmos's speech was over already. Normally, I'd hang on every word, being sure to pay attention, but today was not a normal day. Today was the day I'd finally own Rayven's Keep, a place of majesty and beauty created centuries before by my ancestors. It had been the first personal, magi-created Keep in existence, and I could hardly wait to see the actual Keep itself. I'd seen the land, of course, and was already smitten. The fact that I was going to own the Keep before I was fifteen was bound to send my friends into fits of envy-the normal age a magi would own their own Keep was eighteen. Of course, I wasn't exactly a normal magi.
I was descended from Rayven, one of the most powerful magi in existence. She'd been one of the few magi who could master all the elemental magic, and then some. The only reason she wasn't in any of the history books was because of what she'd done with that power.
As it happens, Rayven had built her Keep near a portal to the world of humans. She'd done an amazing job with it-the Keep was in a bowl shape, with tall walls boxing in the deep valley. The only way to get in was through one of the four paths carved into the walls, and those were easy enough to guard with all their twists and turns. Then there was the fact of what she had done with all the land. To the south was the Crystal Lake, a salty expanse for the larger water creatures, with an island in the middle for the creatures who enjoyed tropical temperatures. To the north were the Icelands, an expanse of snow and rock with a deep lake in the center, deep enough not to freeze, with a half-circle of mountains around it. The east held the Desert Plains, a plain of sand and heat with a volcano in the middle of the land. Surrounding the Desert Plains were the Silver Mountains, tall mountains with a vague, silver-grey coloration. The west held the Red Cloak Forest and the Golden Plains. The forest was split between creatures of the Silva Forest and creatures of the Jungle of Raza. The Golden Plains surrounded the Forest.
The center of the Keep's lands held the Keep itself, a sprawling monster of a building, set smack in the center of a beautiful garden.
I looked down at my desk, realizing I'd scrawled a picture of the Keep. I sighed. Today was not the best day for me to listen to a boring lecture. Glancing at the top left of the sketch, I'd drawn a picture of Rayven-short like me, but with long, wavy black hair full of bounce, a voluptuous, body full of curves, pale skin, pouty lips, and large, sparkling green eyes. For a split second I wondered why she'd thrown away the life of wonder she'd created for herself, then remembered the tale that my mother had written down, the tale of Rayven's life, before she and my father had vanished and left me.
The tale of Rayven is that she had found true love, the purest sort, with a common villager named Keven. From the tales, he was handsome-tall and broad shouldered, with blond hair and bright blue eyes. Right when life seemed perfect was the time when the worst luck struck, and the mistake that cost Rayven her life.
Back then, humans had a magic-caster like a magi, called a wizard. It was his duty to exile murders and criminals, to be sure they never returned. On accident, it seemed one wizard fell through his own portal, that led to Rayven's Keep. Seeing this bountiful land, he leapt back through the portal and relayed the news to his king. Almost immediately, the king of the humans raised an army and led them through, to wreak havoc on Rayven's land. They slaughtered workers and creatures alike, including the love of Rayven's life. By that time, they'd had a daughter, and it nearly tore Rayven in two when she saw Keven die. It threw her into a frenzy not to be able to protect him and their infant daughter at the same time.
She brought everyone into the Keep in hopes of protecting them, but the humans forced their way through doors and windows. Deep in Rayven's own quarters, she left her most powerful creatures to protect her daughter, Kestrel, and went to fight the humans herself. When the king saw her, his lust was too much for his own good. He wanted her like he wanted nothing else.
He never saw it coming. Rayven used the most powerful spell in her arsenal to hurl the army back through the portal, simultaneously killing most of them, and seal the portal itself. The sheer power of the spell caused Rayven's heart to stop.
So beware, my daughter, the power of true love. It can kill those of us related to Rayven.
-Kia
I'd pulled the note out of the pocket of my pants, reading it as I often did. The edges were weathered soft and yellow from years of my holding it, and I ran my fingers gently over the elegant writing of my mother. I only vaguely recalled the sound of her voice, her laugh, the scent of her as she held me. I couldn't recall my father at all. I had only one picture of us as a family-myself as a toddler, centered between my parents as they held my hands. I looked so much like my mother-short, with a curvy body, long golden brown hair and light blue eyes that seemed to change colors.
I could also catch glimpses of my father in myself-pouty lips and a symmetrical face, a straight nose with a small spattering of freckles across the nose and cheekbones. My vision blurred as I remembered the picture-why couldn't they have just waited a few more days with me instead of going off on that fateful trip to the Callisto Islands? Their ship had been dashed to pieces on the rocks, and it seemed unlikely that anyone, even a water magi like my father, could have survived the horrible crash.
I felt a tear leak down my cheek, and stared ahead at Master Belmos without hearing his lesson. I felt someone's hand delicately wipe the tear from my face, then trail down my shoulder to hold my hand, squeezing it tightly. I glanced over at my neighbor, Matthew, who'd been my best friend since we were five. He looked like my father, which was probably why I'd bonded so quickly with him. The tan skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes that reminded me so much of my father were now filled with concern. "Are you okay?" he mouthed. I nodded, even as I felt another tear slide free.
The bell rang just then, and I shoved the note and drawing into my bag, swung it onto my shoulder, and walked calmly out of the classroom. I felt an arm slip around my shoulder, and looked up at Matt's face. The worry was still there, as well as sympathy-he'd lost his mother on the same crash. The tears welled up again, and I couldn't control them this time. They spilled over, and I stared sullenly at the ground. I hated crying when people could see.
Matt pulled me into an alcove, holding me close in a hug, and I buried my face into his chest as my shoulders shook. He held me quietly until I stopped sobbing my eyes out, then held me at arm's length and looked down at me. "Today's supposed to be a happy day, you hear?" He shook me gently. I nodded, then smiled a little. "Hey Matt, I finally look up at you." He smiled back, then walked with me to my room. "Want me to help you pack?"
"Yeah," I called as I strode into my bathroom to grab a tissue and wipe my eyes. "Can you get the others as well?" He nodded and hurried out to get the rest of my 'pack', as I called them. The people I loved most in the world, the ones that supported me no matter what. I was a bit sad to be leaving them, but I knew they'd be the lovely pests they were and visit me every day.
With a chirp, my two stream Talvars, Sintara and Abdullah, landed on my shoulders. They were the only two of my creatures left in the Keep-all the others, except my Black Ice Dragon, Casey, who I'd be riding on to the Keep, had already gone ahead. I dragged a backpack out from under my bed, and grabbed my favorite blanket, one made from Southern Alasre Alpaca wool, dyed a light sky blue with a big black ice dragon stretching it's wings in the center. I grabbed the picture of myself with my parents from my nightstand, carefully wrapped it in the blanket, and stuffed it into the backpack.
"Neeeeeera!" I glanced at my doorway as my friend Teralia came bursting through, and grabbed me in a huge hug, lifting me clear off the ground. I made an odd, crushed-lungs-noise, then said, "I know Teralia, I'll miss you too." She set me down, her long white hair all a mess, and a tear running down her face. "Oh no. Don't you dare cry. You know you can visit me!"
She nodded, more tears streaming down her face, as another close friend, Halisa, strode into the room, her long auburn hair streaming behind her like a curtain as she tackled me. I struggled free in a disgruntled way. "Remember how I used to be tallest?" I asked, glancing up at them. "Anyways, let's get to packing." They nodded, and tore open my dresser drawers, throwing clothes haphazardly into the backpack. I sighed and shook my head at their craziness, then tossed in my two pillows. Oh how glad I was that my backpack had unlimited storage space.