The Raven's Story

The Tall Spires of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame were being dusted, almost magically, with soft coverings of beautiful white snow. The vivid and grotesque atmosphere the features of the gargoyles created, was muted by the odd adjustment to the scene and as one of the old Cathedral bells tolled nine times and sent echoes throughout the dim light of dusk, a dark silhouette appeared in the sky.

The average, snowbound pace of a seemingly middle-aged woman, who was walking alone through the grounds, quickened upon noticing the large bird that was drifting effortlessly into her vicinity. Chills had rushed down her spine, however not those you would expect to get from the chilled air... No. Dark, secret and mysterious things had put her hairs on edge and sent her pulse racing as The Raven perched acutely upon a tattered railing.

The magnificent bird stood balanced using its large wingspan to adjust to the forthcoming wind. After several seconds of re-adjustment he began to preen the feathers on the inside of his right wing.

The Raven was hard at work on his plumage, ruffling wispy yet elegant feathers into an orderly fashion. The distant sound of a squeak reverberated around his eardrum but to no effect, for you see The Raven was a proud, dedicated and highly focused character. It wasn't until the squirrel pushed itself off him that his head shot up in disgust and he retorted in a dark but calm and yet handsomely charming voice;

'Touch me again, glorified rat, and ill remove you of your left eye. As for your untimely demeanor, i must say i am most displeased. Its not fitting to leave engagements to the last moment, wouldn't you agree?.' He chimed in annoyance as if his time could have been better spent elsewhere.

In all honesty, The Raven was generally not too fond of any company, let alone company that required him too sit out in the chilling snow in the fading light. He usually spent his time aflight, hunting or thinking, or perched eagle-eyed in the belfry of the Notre Dame Cathedral, reading or evaluating the marvelous views of Paris. Yes, he liked to be alone.

'So what was so important you couldn't get here on time?' He continued gruffly.

The Raven looked up as the newcomer entered the scene. It was a sight he didn't want to see, this dark wizards entrance meant The Ravens duties had caught up with him and there was nothing he enjoyed about being forced to be sociable. He despised Alberto, as he did all his past associates. It was nothing personal, even the strong-willed bird had to admit, but this fact was probably one of the reasons they had all been lost to the miserable grasp of mortality, for you see The Raven was cruel, cold and had an intelligent yet deceivingly manipulative mind.

'Raven, Crow there is a big difference, my friend' he said in a hearty tone but with loathsome thoughts as he began to unveil his plumage. He jumped from the railing not even looking back for the squirrel for they both knew the laws of the Anthomorphic Council, and they were laws to be abided by to ensure the security of thier secrecy.

The Raven was aloft for no more than three seconds before, and with a violent flapping of the wings, he came to rest atop Albertos left shoulder. It took him a moment and he had to pace over to the right shoulder and back again before he settled in the spot he considered gave him the best view.

The police officer entered the scene much too fast for The Ravens liking but before he could caw his interjections the man was out cold.

'Do you always have to do the blood thing? it makes my feathers stand on end and for heavens sake take me inside please, this cold is doing nothing for my asthma' The large bird joked with a definite underlying message.

Alberto looked back with satisfaction and a smug smile as the policeman walked away, his blue colors blending in with the pristine white snow on the air, blurring out of sight. He then heard a squeaky voice echo on the vicinity "Raven, Crow there is a big difference, my friend". Alberto released a loud terrified scream, comparable with the archetypical little girl scream. The sight was quite embarrassing, Alberto did not expect the Raven's response at that time. The black raven gently landed on his shoulder.

"Do you always have to do the blood thing? it makes my feathers stand on end and for heavens sake take me inside please, this cold is doing nothing for my asthma" his airborne companion chirped. Alberto chuckled at his companion's humorous remarks. There was something about the crow's grumpy demeanor that revealed a very cynical world view, Alberto found this to be rather amusing. The gates of the cathedral lied closed, the gloomy looking old ornate orange gates shut tight. "I guess the last service was at six 'Crow'. You'll have to make due with the cold it seems." Alberto commented to his Raven, suppressing a mischivous smile at misnaming him. The surroundings resonated with the damped footsteps of the many visitors of the cathedral. "We are a little too late it seems, any ideas on how to enter the building?"

Alberto's eyes scanned the cathedral "Getting inside won't be easy-" he was interrupted by a light weight suddenly resting on his head. Alberto seemed puzzled "Huh?" his tone now somewhat melodic, this did not last long however, as soon a terrified scream cut whatever grace he had managed to muster. "Oh! It's a squirrel." He looked to the squirrel "You scared me, little creature." He did not yet know that the Squirrel was in fact someone's familiar, let alone that it could talk. The brown furry cute little animal was lifted by Alberto's sleeve covered hands. He moved the Squirrel to just in front of his face. And asked his companion with a slightly concerned tone "Uhm... they don't bite, do they, Raven?"

Edited.

The Ravens head moved in an almost a twitchy manner, eyeing the building up and down before voicing,

'You humans are useless, cant do anything yourselves' He said in his charming yet demeaning voice, and with that he rested his bodyweight backwards before thrusting forwards and taking flight once more. He knew the building like the back of his wing, for one of the many belfry's was where he resided.

Up and up he flew circling the stone walls of the ancient monument before coming to land on the sill of an open window. He hopped off of one leg and was inside. 'Warmth!' was all he could think before he carefully glided down onto a pew. He knew the Keys were rested on a hook in the caretakers room, which thanks to human incompetence the Raven thought was wide open... he grabbed the keyring with his beak and flew back out of the Cathedral.

Watching as Alberto almost shrieked at the squirrel the Raven landed on a nearby fence, as not to be disturbed by flailing and instead focused on rebalancing his body.

'Yes, but if it does, i can show you a great method of breaking their necks, where you hear every ligiment-popping detail.' he replied with a calm face, which only exaggerated his seriousness.

'Can you get these keys please? Cough! Cough!' He asked with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

'Yes, but if it does, i can show you a great method of breaking their necks, where you hear every ligament-popping detail.' the sadistic voice of Alberto's companion chirped in. Alberto frowned "Ugh, I don't think it was necessary to have such a gritty thing described in such vivid detail..." His black Raven continued, doing no effort to conceal the sarcastic tone in his voice 'Can you get these keys please? Cough! Cough!' Alberto merrily snapped the keys from the Raven.

"Thanks Crow! I knew I could count on you!" He joyfully advanced towards the cathedral with a joyful jumpy gait. The small squirrel now being cuddled in between his crossed his arms. "Oh, and crow, what do squirrels eat?" He pondered as the brown gates of the cathedral's back door screeched open, the tourists visible intrigued at the scene. The policemen... not quite "Hey! Runt, what do you think you are doing? And how did you get those keys." was the way they chose to voice their mind, in fact. Alberto stretched the hood so it would cover his red eyes, the fabric silently hissed as it slid over to conceal his deep blue hair. "Papa is expecting me inside." He pulled the cutest voice he could conjure. Having the appearance of a little boy did have its advantages.

A gust of cold wind soared the area, the police officer shuddered from the cold and brought his gloved hands to his mouth, exhaling on them. Vapor emerged from his mouth as it tried to warm his hands "Well alright son, tell your daddy to be more careful with who he gives those keys to in the future." The Officer chanted in a rather relaxed tune.

Alberto's footsteps echoed through the empty cathedral, producing meaty flapping sounds as he trotted about. "You can come out now, buddies." He whispered to the two familiars hidden in his very long sleeves, sleeves that quite literally reached the ground. He did not know that the squirrel was no other than Lord Millipede... the terrible? The narrator mused about the origins of the peculiar title, before continuing. Alberto, still wearing his hood, commanded his Raven familiar "See if you can find where the concealed room is supposed to be." He shifted his eyes around "Being Elizabeth, the meeting place ought to be rather difficult to find."

Millipede had just walked into a dark corner, breathing hard, involuntarily sneezing and with his tiny body vibrating to the rhythm of his beating heart. Without warning a big blue hand grabbed him. As he was pulled downwards, he had that weird feeling in his tummy that you get on a swing and in very fast elevators. He extended his paws instinctively as he felt like now his time had come. Am I dead yet?

Opening his eyes he saw the most scary face a squirrel could imagine. Of course he had seen Mactíre and Elizabeth, but he was used to them and other wizards did never come this close. This nose, those eyes, these teeth, everything was so.... enormous - which lead to the squirrel passing out completely. It started to dream about its wizard: Elizabeth had told him: 'Go and welcome our guests', then he had disobeyed her orders out of curiosity and met the Raven in secrecy. He had messed it up! Oh, Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. I did not mean to spy, I just wanted to welcome him, but I was too shy. No, not shy, this will make look weak! All this bad conscience really weakens me. Why do I even have a conscience? Humans have that, at least some...Will I become human one day? She promised, yes she said that being human was the greatest thing in the world, now I'm already quite old, I would be around 50, that's not too bad...

Everyone would see right through him, him being a disloyal brat or rat for that matter, they would smell his bad conscience a mile away! Oh trouble, of sorrow, how to survive this guilt? A miniature tear crept out of Millipedes eye. All he had wanted, was to be was to be of service, but - yet again - he felt as useless as a rotting walnut. Oh, get over it his alter-ego yelled at him, You have to be strong if you want us to survive! We are going to growl! Oh yeah! A loud 'Chreetch' escaped from his snout and he awoke from it instantly, looking up.

They haven't made to her door yet! There still is time! Millipede jumped out of the robe, aped up a column, its voice still being a little hoarse 'Welcome!', rushing down again 'Welcome! Most admired, most worshiped, most adored master-friend of my mistress! I welcome you!!!' Then he did that thing, where he moved his head like an Indian dancer, only much more abruptly, waiting for a reaction and ready to be gone in a second.

The Raven flew overhead in the moonlit sky, back to the confines set by the laws of familiarity, however his disappearence from his masters side would not go unnoted, and he knew there would be consequences to pay.

The Raven looked somewhat broader, less rugged and alot more bullish than he did when he departed, only he knew why, and when he swept in through a high window and perched on the high beams inside the cathedral he creeched to let his master know of his return.

News had reached his ears of the meeting set to be held by Weston the Owl. He'd never much liked the owl, but he never much liked anyone.

The Raven was prepared to attend but of course, he had his own agendas.

The wind whispered as his not so faithful raven departed. Alberto was not exactly amused, he complained to the squirrel in a loud tone "Woah! He blatantly ignored me!" He looked down to look at the small brown furry creature... it was unconscious. "You would think squirrels would not mind the blue skin." He chuckled "I hope it's still alive." Unable to suppress his laughter, he began to giggle openly.

Five minutes went by... ten... twenty... half an hour. During all this time, Alberto just stared blankly at the unconscious squirrel, his creepy red eyes strangely amused. His face lit by happiness- who know why? With a sudden jerking movement Lord Millipede sprung back to life. Alberto spoke to him, trying to sound friendly- as friendly as a blue face with red eyes can seem though. "Glad to see you are still alive little guy."

"'Welcome!', rushing down again 'Welcome! Most admired, most worshiped, most adored master-friend of my mistress! I welcome you!!!" . Did the squirrel just- speak? Alberto stood motionless, his wide eyes peeled, trying to piece together what he had just witnessed.

"Woah! You talk?" He jumped back slightly, his long sleeves covering his mouth in a defensive pose.

Alberto sighed, and moped about the entrance of the room, the Lord did not seem to care much about him. Quite the commotion seemed to be happening inside, it seemed. There was his associate... was she throwing a temper fit on the floor? Must have something to do with the wolf inside probably- wait, a wolf? in there?

"Elizabeth? Are you alright? Did that wolf bite you?" He could not tell for sure, but he felt the wolf send a killer glance his way, he raised his knee and moved his arm in front of him in a defensive gesture.

"Fugee!" He was certain fate had finally found him. Having closed his eyes, he finally peeked the left one open. "Huh?" the wolf was not there anymore. He looked backwards, the terror was making his way to the entrance.

"I just hope he did not eat the squirrel-" He felt a powerful pull echo within himself, magic, of a powerful kind as well.

A demon had appeared.

'Miss Ballister, I am very disappointed.' he snarled, 'You have not fulfilled your duty this year, neither has your associate De Iturpide. This laziness will not be tolerated! You have until New Years Eve to complete the ratio of Evil from the last three years or your powers will be ripped from you and given to someone more capable of completing their tasks. As I am a very friendly citizen and much more interpersonal than my superior, I give you a hint. The Lord of Dreams will be your rescue. Find him!' The last words sounded like a bellowed threat that left the sensation of nails on a chalkboard in one's ear'

Alberto clenched his teeth at the unpleasant chalkboard sensation "Using an intimidation spell was he? Not the confident kind was he?" He eyed his associate Elizabeth, ready to mock the menacing demon

"Heh, that sort of thing would've rolled just fine with anybody except a wizard." His hands were shaking under his long sleeves.

"I mean- sure- whatever... yeah." He coughed to dissimulate his shaky scared tone. "I mean- he did not need to use that spell on us. Heh, I am so powerful, I did not even feel it. But you look like you might, it's ok to be scared." he tried to make his bluff sound as convincing as possible.

Backing to a dark corner, hopefully the shadows would conceal his trembling body. He wanted to impress his associate, task that was becoming increasingly difficult.

Elizabeth was still gazing at the bowl, 10 seconds had passed and The Lord got really frightened. The wolf had to eat or it would bite the blue wizard! There was a spell somewhere, Millipede accelerated and went like a lightening up the dusty bookshelves. He grabbed the big one the that was lying on the top, grabbed the book cover with his teeth, lifted it open to the the place where he had left a neon book marker.

'Oh Zip Zap,' he said in a ceremonial tone, 'protector of the squirrels, may your mercy be with me. Give that beast something to soothe his rage.' He added all sorts of mysterious signs he made in the air with his eyes closed until a book fell from it's shelves transforming in flight into a oversized, tasty slice of raw meat. It flopped right in front of Mactíre. 'I clearly now need a nut.' Millipede sighed, moping the sweat from his brow. 'A macadamia would be nice!'

Elizabeth came back to her senses and he heard her ask him: 'Who is this Lord of Dreams?' He did not answer right away, he felt a little too dizzy to think. The book was so nice, so tree-like, warm where the pages. It would be alright to doze off for a second, wouldn't it... rolled into a little squirrel spell, no one would mind....right? thinking this, the terrible Lord was already fast asleep.