“Reyven!” I heard them calling. I dreaded the calling. It was a calling to the heavy chains that bound my hands and feet. I scrambled up the slope. Nacie, the red head who was like a mother looked at me.

“Where have you been?” She whispered.

“Watching one of the children, a little boy. He was found this morning with a bad fever.”

“Reyven. He’s been looking for you.” As she spoke the words, cold rage washed through me. “He has summoned you again.” She bent her head.

“I await the day the Goddesses reclaim us. That will be the day he dies.” As I left her, I could feel her eyes watching me. I walked around the many pits of crying and suffering that surrounded the cold iron castle. Slave after slave scrambled to get out of my way, leaving a visible trail of envious onlookers. They would never understand. Their eyes said so.

They would never understand why the most beautiful slave born of all of them, and one valued over anything by their captor, would not accept freedom.

Yes I could become the ruler of all the conquered cities and lands, but there was something that would become apparent if that happened. That I was more than a simple slave. I knew not what that other inside me was, only that I could feel her cold rage every time He touched me. He had gone through the cities of each elemental boundary, gleaning what he could of them. When he was done, he unleashed his power and called forth all the demons of the hells of whatever beliefs there were. Many wondered where I was able to learn that, but ignored the fact that I was kept a mere three paces from the bed that the inhuman thing slept in.

I walked through the huge double doors leading into the courtyard. Skulls of unknown beasts lay scattered around bloody landscape. A passing demon curled his lips back into a snarl, but then quickly dropped to one knee until I rounded the corner into the hall. Enemy or no, they would not insult the favorite of their lord. They awaited the day when I lost their lord’s favor and they could tear me apart before breaking my spirit. That day would come when the Goddesses tore him apart. I would be there when they did.

I walked up the stair that led to the heart of this once safe Haven. Astareal was no longer that place. It was the place of death and cold despair, where radiated a shadow of nightmares to the remaining free Laterrians. Suddenly a shadow broke into my path. I looked up. A giant gnome with his deadly battleaxe shifting hands, looked down at me from his hooded face. He gave a threatening snarl. I snarled back. He tensed without understanding how a slave had the guts to defy him, who was feared by all others. His kind had been sent into the deserts where tough foot soldiers were needed to defeat the desert dwellers of Earth who had the advantage of being able to change the landscape.

I reached another set of double doors. However, these ones opened into a small circular room. On the opposite side was a gigantic chair. I could imagine it once being draped in midnight blues and whites. Next to it was a smaller chair for the consort of the Queen. It would have been in royal gold and yellow. For the two lights in the sky which passed over all the elements. Now they were both arrayed in blood, memories, and cobwebs. In front of them, however, was a coal black chair. Skulls, spikes, bones, and shadows covered this one. What was sitting in this chair was darker than anything the rest of this now forbidding city could offer.

He stood up, all darkness instantly drawing to him. “Reyven.”

No. Not again.

“Be mine.”

“Never.”

His shadowy form was decked in a black, hooded, robe. Even I had never seen what lay beneath the hood. But I had seen the demon red eyes that glowed eerily within it. He gave a chuckle that grated the soul like rough sand. “You will eventually kneel before me to receive Crown of Darkness.”

“I will kneel before the Goddesses and no other.”

His scream was heard by all that had gathered at the door. His demon eyes flared dangerously. “Why do I allow you to torment me? I should have you seeded and force you to be my Queen.”

I stood tall and proud, exactly the way he didn’t want me to stand. “Because you know, I will fight you. A child of yours will only be killed.” I gave him a malicious grin. “I would make sure of it if I had to rip open my own belly to kill it.”

“Get out or I will take that promise of a reward from you for the last time you obeyed me.”

I left him with my silver laugh ringing in his ears. I glided down the halls of the palace in Astareal. Returning to my own work pit in the heart of the field, I looked up into my tree. All the pits were placed next to one. The One delighted in seeing them fail as the workers shoveled pit after pit out from under them.

As I looked at it, I noticed a few twigs sticking out of a clef near the top branches. I stepped forward and jumped back when my bare foot hit something soft. On the ground lay a beautiful bird. It’s black glossy feathers reflected the light of the sun, as did its glazed black eyes.

“It’s a raven.” Nacie came up from behind me. “One of the laprens saw it. I guess it was too lively for him.” She watched me gently preen the feathers. “Come. It is time to return to your work.”

“Wait.” I scooped out a narrow trench in the ground. Folding the wings tight to its body, I pushed the dirt tightly around it.

That night the dream came again. A woman. The black hair and white complection equal to mine. A crown of silver glittered in the moon light. She raised her silver diamond crested scepter into the air of the night. Then all went into chaos. The sun rose to her left as the moon rose to her right. The stars swirled into seven shining orbs. Then she cried out silently to the universe, “Heed thy good omens! They will lead thee to thy destiny!” then she faded into the dark of my slumber.

Dawn was a good time for the slaves. It was a time when we were not plagued by the evil visions that were created in our sleep. The twigs that had been peeking out from the tree branch still pestered me.

“Reyven?” the deep voice said from behind me.

I caught my breath. He was slightly taller then myself. Hair like that of the raven’s. But it was the eyes that held me in a trance. They were golden like the statues in His halls. “Yes?”

“I was sent here to be your guardian.” I noticed that no one else seemed to see him. His tight black pants and black tunic certainly stood out. “Only you will see me.”

I glared at him. “Does the One now think to test me for a fool? Does he believe that he will trick me into his bed?”

A mixture of shock and pity played across his face. “I was not sent by evil.”

Nacie came running up before I could answer. “Dear child, what nonsense do you speak? Shush now. Evil will breed off your madness. Come. Lay your self down. The demons will not bother one so favored.” I had heard her beg me to take Him behind the caring words.

I said nothing as she hurried me into the nest I had carved between two of my tree’s huge roots for a bed.

I looked back to find the stranger had disappeared. I lay down for a moment until I was sure that Nacie had gone back to her own pit. Looking above me into the baring branches, I pressed my hand to the rough bark. I found my first handhold and climbed upward.

“Nacie!” I called quietly. She shifted her gaze to me and then to the demon guard. “Come!”.

Having received it as an order, she lay down her pick and scurried over, careful to act fearful. “What is it?”

I opened my hands.

“Where did you get that!” Now she was fearful.

“Raven.” I replied pointing to the tree.

She gasped. “What do you plan to do with it?”

“Our Master owes me for the last time I obeyed him.”

She turned her head in knowing shame.

I stood and began the long trek to the heart of Astareal. There were some curious. Many angered that I was able to walk free without whiplash or teeth and claws close behind.

The demons in the halls bowed as before but one did not. “You have not been summoned.”

“I care not whether I have been or haven’t. If you are so against me than would you care to join me when he angers?”

He looked at me in disgust. “I know not why he allows a slave near him. And at that one who is a fool. One day you will die. When that happens, I will be there.” It was a no minor act of defiance, but I merely shrugged and kept walking down the hall.

I knocked on the door. “Who is it?” he roared from inside.

I could feel the warmth from the egg in my palm as I silently waited for him to open the door. It was thrown open revealing his shrouded figure. He took a step back.

“What are you doing here? I’m sure your well aware that you risk your life coming here.”

“Yes I am. I came here to collect my reward.”

“What is in your hand?”

I opened them. “My reward.”

“You ask for something that will certainly die?”

“It will not die.”

He laughed. “Fine you are granted that as your reward.”

He began to turn. “One more thing Lord.”

“What.” He asked suspiciously.

“Tell your minions to stay away from me and mine.” I walked away then not knowing - or caring - what his reaction had been.

As I walked through the last set of double doors, the man with golden eyes appeared at my side. “Persistent aren’t you?” I whispered.