Thread: Grimoire of Myths

Raven Witch And now on your faces I see the recognition of the great legacy from which we come. Rest well in the knowledge that we live in blessed times, removed from the trials of our ancestors. But listen now to another tale of trials long passed... It was in the age before the coming of the Great Darkness, when the people had nearly raised themselves back to heights that drew the eye of others. But they stood in readiness to defend what was theirs this time. To their North, South, and West their people stood in readiness and prepared for all that might come. But to their east, lay a land of Darkness, and nothing dwelt within. Or so they were to believe. From this land emerged the form of the great blight upon the land. The carrion bird, the Raven. Such numbers they possessed, their passage blotted the very sun from the sky. Never before had such a bird been seen, and they fell upon the land in a great storm. Laying neither beak nor claw upon the flesh of the people, these creatures scoured the lands of the crops in the fields. With despair, the people did cry out for some reason, some knowledge of why they were to be so afflicted. And so unto them came the heart of the Ravens. The dark witch who commanded them, and claimed their allegiance. Unto the people, she imparted knowledge of her servants. Not simple birds, they were teh bound souls of the fallen, given form, and protection from their song. They had come to revenge themselves on the people who had scoured them from the earth. But the people were not to accept such a fate onto themselves. In droves did the ravens die, but once their blood had been shed, so to did they shed the blood of the people. Though they did fall in droves for each of the people they might fell through persistence and malice, they existed without number. The people were once more in danger of losing all they had, so they called to the Great Powers for help. And the Powers did answer. A champion did rise, and not only the ravens, but the people quailed before them, for they came in fire and wrath, not unlike their departed guardian spirit. The Raven Witch saw what had been sent for her, and fell away from the coming of the Champion. Many of her ravens were scoured away, she fled back to the darkness, but let behind a blight of her ravens to continue to keep the people from true peace, and to blight their battlefields, and defile the dead before the spirits could be sung home. Not destroyed, but merely driven away, the Raven Witch does not end her story there, but that is a tale for another time... Raven Stalker Ah, but I see now in your eyes that you are not satisfied with the last tale. You wish to know of the fate of the Raven Witch. That is a tale in itself, and a tale that needs speak of a new figure that rose in the time after her flight into darkness... The people had rallied in the wake of the coming of their Champion. Shining in light and fire, he stood strong against adversity. With the departure of the Raven Witch, he went North, where the border was pressed by foreign invaders. A new watch was being formed then, one to look over the lands of darkness, lest the Raven Witch return. But in the dark places of the lands, some remnant of her chosen ravens did gather. They had indeed been the souls of the fallen, given flesh and form, but not all of them had come seeking vengeance. Some had been brought against their will, bound to the power of the Raven Witch, against whom they had no defence in their current form. The risen Champion could not venture into the Dark lands, or perhaps he merely would not. Two score of these ravens gathered, and did what none knew they could. They gave up their flesh, their forms, their very identity as souls, to form a new creature. The one who walked from this merger, this gift, was dark of hair and eye, and could speak with the beasts of the land. Power of the ravens was his to command, and thusly a counter to the Raven Witch was born. But this new form was mortal, and could not be counted on to last until the Witch did return. The battle must taken to the Witch, and that meant entering into the Dark lands, fighting her at her most powerful, in the places that she had come from. The Raven Stalker knew not if the Witch would even be vulnerable to mortal weapons within the Darkness. Ad that meant that only one thing could be counted upon. Only one place within the lands had never fallen to invasion or strife. A lone mountain near the heart of the realm. It was this mountain that the guardian spirit did first speak to the people, and grant them a gift. It was here that they were granted the First Fire. And within a sacred temple, deep in the mountain, did this fire still burn, alight with power beyond that of mortals. A few acolytes did keep watch on the flames, and ensure it burned forever more. It was to this temple that the Raven Stalker did go. Save the acolytes, none dwelt near the mountain, for the place was too sacred, too powerful for the mortal flesh to sustain contact and proximity. The Raven Stalker entered into the temple, and confronting the leader of the acolytes, explaining his purpose and quest. Upon him was granted a lantern, lit from the First Fire, and burning with light and power. It would guide him through the darkness, and give him what was needed to defeat the Raven Witch. The Raven Stalker knew that bearing this light, this power, was not safe for him. He was made of being crafted in darkness, and the light of the Fire seared him as well as it would the Raven Witch. Shuttering the lantern as much as he dared, and moving with all haste, he began to stalk his prey. There is nought known of what the lands within the Darkness showed him, for it was not until many years later that we did learn of the Raven Stalker and his doomed, noble quest to rid us all of the Raven Witch. We do know that he did find her within the Dark lands, and call her to battle. Both of them binding ravens to their service, they tore at one another, but she had the mastery. As his ravens turned against him, the Stalker opened his lantern, the light pushing back the darkness in ways none had foreseen, bringing light to a land that had known none since the dawn of the world. Reeling from the light, the Raven Witch surrendered her guard, and the Raven Stalker broke the lantern upon her, engulfing her in the First Fire. Though her shriek rang loud enough to carry too all corners of the world, the Raven Stalker knew that he was finished in his task. The Witch cursed him as she burned, swore that she would have her revenge, and that she would see the lands covered in the very darkness itself. Unable to bear the light of the fire any longer, the Stalker fled, heading for the borders of the Dark lands. We know not what fate beset him. But the Raven Stalker was not seen in our lands again. We know from the watchers of the Dark that a cloud of ravens did emerge, and fall to the earth, as though prostrate in grief and mourning at the passage of their Queen. The Raven Stalker did save us from the Witch, and we yet sing his song, that we may always remember that heroism is not always found in the light and fire. Heroism shall come from the heart, and honour beyond reproach.