Deep in the Greymaw Domain lay the ruins of the Raven. Once a mighty structure and show of power now a crumbling mess lost to time and vegetation. Tall spires that stood at the four corners of the castle were now half their height or less, the walls nonexistent.

Large stone doors were held up by vines with a large opening broken at the bottom. Leading inside was a well worn path free of rubble and vines that led to what was once a grand throne room. On a raised platform stood the foundation of a large throne, much larger than any man could use with carvings running along the sides but were unrecognizable. The path led around to a gaping hole about ten feet wide behind the throne. The hole was unnatural in construction with rocks piled around the brim and a gentle slope leading deep underground. A stream of water flowed alongside the sloped path. Deeper down, leaving the sounds of nature above,  all that could be heard was the sound of gently running water. With a flash of light the quiet cave erupted with cries of pain and terror followed by the clanking of armor.

A group of tattered humans huddled against one of the damp walls. The stronger ones were shackled, while the others had become lame or too disease stricken. Three armored beasts stood over the group. Towering at a height of eight feet, with snouts and tails similar to crocodiles, humans were left to cower in fear. In the center of the cavern two smaller beasts of similar features but smaller stood opposite of each other around a large carved symbol in the stone floor. Strange markings bordered the outer ledge. Unlike the guards these smaller beasts wore nothing, exposing their scaly bodies, slightly forward hunches and tribal markings that ran from around their snouts to the end of their thick tails. 

One of the humans was pulled forward from its spot to be placed inside the symbol. The lesser beasts began to chant in a low rumbling voice. The sounds escaping their lips came across as subtle hisses and growls that caused a reaction in the carving. Beginning to glow bright white, the symbol rose slightly from the ground. Dark shadows crept from beneath the panicked human. Slowly, the shadows engulfed the silently screaming human until there was nothing left. 

Gasps of horror and screams echoed through the caves once more. The guards growled with one of them cracking a whip across the floor. A few of the crippled whimpered since they were unable to move away from the danger. “Another!” hissed the tribal beasts in union. 

The guardsman wielding a large broadsword acknowledged the two with a nod as it reached into the group. The humans pulled away, shoving one of the crippled forward. “Please! Don’t do this! I have a family!” The small female cried out. She was one of the older ones of the group, the bone of her right leg stuck out through the tattered dress that engulfed her tiny figure. She struggled to escape the large clawed hand, but she could not as it wrapped halfway around her body, pinning one of her arms while the other scratched at the tough scales with futility. 

She was tossed into the circle just like the last one, with the guard standing a safe distance away from the engravings. Like before, the small beasts began their incannation. The symbols glowed and rose as before but unlike before the woman began to glow as well, brighter and brighter until it was too painful to look at her. Her body rose to hover just above the ground before the light erupted and her body burst into flames. 

Screams echoed against the stone walls before the guard to the right cracked his whip once more silencing most of the humans. From the far wall the cries of a woman still rang, almost deafening, enhanced by the stone walls. 

“Quiet!” The armored beast on the right demanded with another crack of the whip. Its tall stature stood as an intimidating force with its heavy armor draped over its bulking figure. 

The young woman, barely hitting the age of twenty, now lay writhing in pain on the floors of the nearly forgotten ruins of the Raven. The two men shackled to either side of her stood as far back as they could, arms outstretched. Her clothes torn and stained showed how little care she was given. Her face was well worn with worry and struggle, making her seem much older than she was. She clenched her large stomach and screamed out in pain again. In an attempt to quiet herself she bit her tongue. The screams were muffled as she was now nearly choking on her own blood. The man, much older but in better shape, beside her looked at the guard nervously, wanting to help but not daring enough to move. 

The beast’s lip curled at the man, showing the several rows of jagged and broken teeth. “Quiet the female!” It demanded.

The man hastily ripped apart his already torn sleeve. He wadded the cloth in a way for the woman to bite on to muffle her pain. As the blood soaked into the once white material she screamed again. The guard, now angered, sized up to the man. “I said to make it quiet!” It snapped its clawed fingers to the guard with the broadsword, hissing in a foreign tongue.The man looked wildly back to the woman with a horrified look on his face. The woman willed for him to run but knew there was no hope even if he wasn't chained to her. She screamed again, dropping the rag onto the dusty ground. A heavy hand struck the woman aside her face. “Silent incolent female!” Long gashes were left behind from the beast’s claws. “Wait your turn.” It snarled. She watched as the man was pulled away from her. The long broadsword swung once above the soldier's head before he brought it down heavily to break the chain that connected the two for the man to be thrown into the circle like the others. 

In a panic he tried to crawl away, being stopped by an unseen force just inches away from safe ground. He was fighting against the unmoving force like a wild animal caught in a snare, there was no hope, just the instinctual struggle. 

He froze in place, locking eyes with the woman that he failed to subdue. Her face was stained with tears and blood. She clenched her jaw in hope of quieting herself through another spout of pain. The guard pulled the whip from its belt. The woman screamed as the whip met the exposed skin of her stomach. The contractions slowed. She began to panic more now. Pushing with the last of her energy the woman bit her arm through the pain. She looked back to the man to find him still frozen. There was no life in his eyes now. 

The two tribal lizards approached the man. One held out a long, clawed finger and ran the tip across the man’s cheek. His skin slowly began to fall apart, leaving an open crevasse that showed the hollowed out insides. 

Utterly horrified the woman bit harder on her arm until a chunk of flesh separated from the bone. The next contraction came with curses to the lizard-like entities. Now all of the lizards were glaring at her with their dark narrowed eyes. The large guard with the broad sword swung it above his head in a swift motion bringing it down on the chain holding the woman to the younger man on her other side. Now with more movement the woman wrapped her arms around the no longer moving bulge that was her stomach. Her arm was bleeding heavily from where she had bit a chunk of flesh off while various other liquids pooled around her legs. 

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The large soldier grabbed the woman by her long matted hair, pulling her nearly three feet off the ground. Only one of her arms responded when she reached for the lizard’s large hand to try and pull her hair out from its grip. 

She was pulled forward just like the others before her. Trailing behind her was a streak of blood mixed with white goo. The guard threw the woman down with a loud thud and a soft groan of pain as a response for she had no more energy to cry out. Her working arm reached out to her bottom half as a small bloody mound worked its way to her feet. With the last of her energy the woman pulled the mess into her arms. 

“Hurry before it dies!” One of the tribal beasts hissed to the other.

    Wearily she smiled and began to wipe away the blood from her son's eye. “Forgive me my son…" A gentle loving whisper escaped her lips. "I could not give you life…" 

All the noise and commotion melted away. All that existed was a mother and her child. "I must thank you…" Her face had gone pale, there was no strength to her voice but power in her words. 

"I must thank you son for never giving me the gift of your voice. My child… I will meet you soon on the other side.” 

    The symbol began to glow once again. As the last sliver of warmth faded from her body the woman braced herself for the ending pain, closing her eyes and holding her son close to her chest.

    No pain came. Only silence. 

The woman opened her eyes halfway to hazily see the room. Time seemed to have frozen as the air started to swirl with bright blinding light and dark consuming shadows. The beasts were frozen in their places, staring helplessly at the scene before them. One by one the shadows passed through their bodies. Neither beast nor human was safe from the touch. With each pass of darkness a light escaped their bodies, the shadows gathering with the light essence before retreating to the body of the lifeless child. 

    The once clouded green eyes of the child began to brighten, shining almost, before he blinked… before he began to cry. 

With tears still falling and blood still pooling; a laugh escaped the lips of the woman. A soft laugh… muffled by blood and tears. Muffled by sorrow, despair, horror. A laugh that did not belong, echoing eerily through the unnatural silence. A laugh that stole the light from her body to be given to her son. 

    The woman's head and arms slowly lowered to the ground. The energy surrounding her acted as a cushion for her lifeless body to safely embrace the cold hard stone. Still in her arms the child weep, not knowing the horrors that befell this cave. He cried for he was new to this world. He cried for a mother who could no longer answer.

    Beside the child the Shadows of Life-Taking began to manifest itself into the form of a large menacing wolf with eyes glowing red and teeth bore white. Across the Light of Life-Giving formed into a sleek majestic white wolf nearly half the size with soft blue eyes. 

They circled the child. Inspecting the scene of this ritual, the death of so many souls. 

    The child’s screams faded as the wolves approached. As they touched one another their forms began to mingle and shift in form. In their place stood a humanoid of swirling dark and light. The right arm, black as night, reached forward and pulled the mother’s limp arms from the infant as the left arm, bright and glowing, grabbed the child. 

Held in a blanket of light the form cradled the crying child in an almost loving manner. It looked to the exit of this cavern with no features to its face as it began to walk forward. No footsteps echoed, nothing came from the cavern, it was only the subtle rush of water that flowed through the tunnels.

Minutes… hours passed before the light of the sun began to fill in the darkness from the underground. The infant’s breathing grew softer as the form continued forward now leaving the broken, overgrown remains of the ancient castle. Breaking through the treeline the figure slowed as the infant became still once more. It stopped to lay the child on the soft grass of this open field. The infant stared blankly at the sky with dull eyes. 

Slowly the shadows separated from the light as they split into their two canine forms. The two wolves circled the boy, their forms melting away and retreating back into the still resting body of the child to give life to his chest once more. 

A gentle breeze blew through the trees carrying the sweet smell of a forest in bloom. With the breeze came a middle aged man dressed in loose peasant clothes with a tattered brown cloak that bellowed behind him. Despite his poor appearance a well decorated sword with a well detailed raven's head on the hilt was buckled to his side. Following behind was a large bear of man. Dressed in a simple brown tunic and leather trousers with long scruffy brown hair coming to rest on his shoulders, his arms and hands were thickly covered in hair almost to the point of being mistaken for sleeves. A mighty beard that hid half his facial features only leaving his black eyes visible along with three long scars across the right side of his face that could have only come from a monstrous beast. “Do you think it really worked this time?” The giant’s deep harsh voice pierced through the quiet air. 

The man closed the distance, crouching to touch the child. Shadows began to pool forth from the infant, reaching hungerly for the man’s fingers. The hand retreated to the satchel at his side, pulling out a simple chained necklace that held a small round amulet which he quickly tossed onto the infant before the shadows could wrap around his hands. The amulet forced the shadows to recede back into the child. “It seems to have. The outcome is not as I had initially predicted. Are you prepared to take a child, Ocytos?” The man called over his shoulder. 

The giant approached now. “I was expecting something more… capable. At least one that could speak.”

The man caressed the baby’s forehead, smoothing out the soft fuzz against its head. “Are you refusing an order cursed one?” 

Towering well over the man the giant only scowled at his snide remark. “Of course not Sir. I will take the child to a safe place.”

“Good I will provide you with some of the beginning necessities before you return to the Human Realm. Remember what is at stake if anything happens to this vessel, be thorough with your work and make sure there is always someone watching.”

    “I know what I vowed Sir, it being a child does not change that.” Ocytos bent down to take the child, his hand nearly as large as its whole body. Genderly he lifted the blanketed child and cradled him in one hand. Bowing slowly to the man, the lumbering body of the giant disappeared into the forest the same way the pair had appeared. 

    Still crouching the man ran his fingers through his long brown hair watching for a moment as his new prize slowly left his field of vision. “What a twisted sense of humor you have Raven.” He chuckled to himself. “I’m quite curious what you have planned.”