The Years After

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth." One of the men, the one who was the strongest after David said as he bowed his head in front of Elizabeth. The woman was frozen with shock and disbelief, her jaw slack and her eyes vacant.

The nine men that had traveled with David had returned only moments ago. They had dropped their sacks of meat in the village square before making a beeline straight to the home of the newly widowed woman.

"Elizabeth, calm down." The middle aged woman, Rahab, that had helped Elizabeth deliver her son, Raven, came close and grabbed hold of Elizabeth just before the woman fainted. She had expected it, and with the help of the man that had broken the news to Elizabeth, they took her to her room and laid her down on the bed.

To the side, the cute sounds of baby Raven reached their ears, but now was not the time to coddle a baby. They needed to help Elizabeth get a hold of herself.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth blearily opened her eyes, gazing up at the ceiling listlessly. She could not believe that David was gone, just like that.

"What... how did it happen?" She asked the man to the side, whose name was John.

"We ran into a dragon. It was only a young juvenile dragon, but even that was beyond our power. David stayed back to fight it while we escaped. I'm sorry." John bowed his head again with remorse.

"..." Elizabeth simply stared ahead blankly, not responding.

"I think you should go and see to your own wounds. I will take care of her." Rahab patted John's shoulder and the man nodded before seeing himself out of the house.

Rahab turned to Elizabeth and held her hands tightly. "Get yourself together, Liz! David would not have wanted you to turn into a hopeless husk if anything ever happened to him!" She said.

"...You're right..." Elizabeth eventually mumbled. "I have much more to live for. Our son..." Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Yes, Raven. Raven needs a strong mother. You are his only hope left in this world." Rabah's eyes lit up as she saw that Elizabeth was starting to get a hold of herself. "You have every right to grieve, but do not give up on life. There is much more to live for." Rahab leaned down and embraced Elizabeth in a hug.

.

.

Time waited for no one, whether happy or sad. Not even a grieving widow like Elizabeth could make time wait for her. Years passed and Raven grew under the loving care of his mother. With the death of David, the family of two mostly kept to themselves. The people of the village could not fault them for it.

However, what no one knew was that Elizabeth used her husband's death as a way to make sure that Raven kept away from most villagers. With David gone, she could no longer rely on his strength as a fall back option in case the secret got out, so she was being even more cautious.

This led to Raven being a bright but reclusive child. He had little to no social interaction, save for Rahab, his mother's close friend.

On this cold, autumn evening, Raven sat in front of the small house that he had grown up in. His eighth birthday was just around the corner. A few more days and he could celebrate with the nice old lady.

Elizabeth watched as her son sat quietly through the kitchen window. She had a small smile on her face as she watched him. She turned back to watch over what she was cooking, leaving Raven to his devices.

As Raven sat in silence outside the house, the flutter of wings caught his attention. He looked up to find a black feathered bird looking up at him from a tree at the side of the house. He looked up at it curiously and it looked back down at him, staring with its eerie black beady eyes.

"A raven..." Raven's eyes lit up. He had spent time with his mother, pointing out and identifying birds. There was no way he would miss a bird that shared the same name as himself.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew by and ruffled his head of white hair. He had never cut it since he was born and it now reached down to his shoulders but his mother had packed it up into a ponytail for him. It made his blue eyes stand out in contrast to his dark skin and white hair. It was a truly unique mix and one that the villagers were still enamored by.

The bird tilted its head and a strange power emanated from it. That power resonated with Raven and his eyes turned to a pitch black color. The whites and blues wholly consumed by the black. His body froze and his eyelids began to blink rapidly.

A flurry of images passed through his mind as his gaze remained locked with the bird's. His breath seized when he saw horrific images. Images of strange, humanoid beings in agony. Images of ancient runes and pentagrams inscribed on these bodies. All sorts of terrible things appeared in his mind causing him to scream in pain and draw the attention of his mother.

"Raven?!" Elizabeth threw herself from the window when she saw what Raven was doing. She ran forward and embraced his form, tearing his gaze away from the bird. The moment she did so, the body of the raven immediately crumbled into black dust, carried away by the wind.

"Raven! Snap out of it!" She shook his fervently. As the bird crumbled away, the hold it had on his mind also vanished, allowing him to snap out of the daze. His eyes returned to normal.

"M-mother?! What's wrong?!" He asked, shaken by her sudden appearance beside him and her feverish behavior.

"What have I always told you?! Be careful-"

"Elizabeth?" She did not finish with her statement when a low call of her name shook her to her core.