Ravenna Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Ravenna Nightshade wanted a throne she could not find. Her mother had told her the truth on her deathbed: the elven court that raised Ravenna's bloodline had been cast out of the light-kingdoms, driven into shadow, and hidden so well the world forgot it. That court was hers to claim. But a claim needs a place, and Ravenna had none. So she went looking for the ruin her mother swore held the answer. The ruined outpost squatted in the dark like a broken crown. Black stone. Obsidian carvings gone green with age. Ravenna folded her wings tight and stepped through the cracked gate. Runes glowed faint purple along the walls, spelling names she almost knew. Inside, the halls had fallen in on themselves. She climbed over rubble, boots scraping. Her mother had spoken of relics here, pieces of an old device that showed the past. Ravenna needed one thing from that device. She needed it to show her the road to the lost court. She searched for hours. She pried at loose stones. She dug through drifts of dust and shattered tile. Her fingers bled. Then, beneath a fallen beam, her hand struck wood. A locked box. Weathered, banded in metal, carved with runes and a single glowing sigil. She dragged it free and worked the lock with her dagger. The clasp snapped. Inside lay a shard of dark crystal, warm against her palm. The moment she touched it, the shard woke. Light poured from it, and a window opened in the air. Ravenna saw the court as it once stood. Silver towers. A throne of shadow. Elves with wings like her own, bowing to a crowned queen. Her breath caught. This was her blood. This was her right. Then the vision turned. She saw the court cast down, its people fleeing through a black forest, and a gate closing behind them. She strained to see where the gate led. But the image broke apart. The shard dimmed. The window folded shut. Ravenna stared at the dead crystal. It had shown her the court. It had not shown her the way. Lettering on the box's lid caught the runelight. She read it twice. The box was marked as one of three. Three pieces meant to reunite the relic. One shard alone gave only a glimpse. The full road to the hidden court needed all three. She closed her fist around the shard. She had come for an answer and found only a start. Two more pieces waited somewhere in the dark, and without them the vision would stay broken. Ravenna pressed the box's lid shut and stood. She knew now that the court was real. She knew her claim was true. She did not yet know where the other shards lay hidden. But she would not stop until she held all three.