April 3, 20xx
War. Anarchy. Rebellion. Destruction And as of now, no salvation.
It’s been ten long months since everything happened. The desertion of my clan, the deaths of most of the people I was close to, the betrayal of most of my remaining… “friends”… heh- The Vulfax Valley Incident.
The V-V-I. Many recognize it as the re-ignition of an ancient struggle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness, of Good and Evil; though that’s such a Black and White way of looking at it. It’s all Gray, and there’s more to it than just that, like the Vampire Epidemic that followed.
Maybe I should wind the clock back a bit. I won’t go over everything in the past in great detail because I’m sure it’ll come up again but… basically there were two clans that could use magic, one worshiping the Light and the other Darkness. Lightonians and Dharkanians. Neither was inherently good or evil, just as a vampire isn’t born evil and a Priest isn’t necessarily good.
I don’t know how it happened or why it happened but those two clans eventually went to war with one another, and that war lasted much of the span of one hundred and sixty thousand years. And then at some point their war managed to reach other Realms, including Earth. Earth at that time was actually ruled over by vampires, who of course chose the worshipers of Darkness over people who worshiped light… given that sunlight and vampires don’t mix.
Ultimately the Dharkanians lost the war along with other so-called Negative races like vampires, Drachen, Undead, and so forth. Millions if not billions had died in this war, and so to insure that nothing like it ever happened again, the Lightonians and their allies established a system known as the Aether Confederacy.
It was basically their version of Earth’s United Nations; though all political and with no centralized military… which I think is how the UN works but I don’t know. Basically they wanted to safe-proof as many realms as they could so that the remaining Dharkanians and other enemies would never rise to power again.
Using mercenary guilds as a supplement for an actual military, their assembly could basically give orders and for pay- those mercenaries did the job; but it stopped at that. Still there were some primary forces to the Confederacy and even prison facilities- like the Earth Prison known as Nospheross.
But outside of making those facilities and keeping a couple governments informed over the years, Earth was left to face its own struggles for twenty thousand years. Nothing else mattered because Earth wasn’t officially with them, they left us to fend for ourselves, left us to our own destruction and devices. So long as their problems were taken care of, that’s all that mattered to them!!
Bit them in the ass though because in those Realms they ignored, even Earth, some of the remaining Dharkanians with their allies in toe, plotted for centuries on how to strike back! With my home world it came to a head with a major Prison Break at Nospheross, and the Vulfax Valley Incident. It all led to sociopaths taking advantage of the lesser races in an attempt to recruit them for war.
My clan was one such group affected. Drachen may not have been as hated as vampires or other Undead; but they were still disregarded enough that the Dharkanians were able to take hold of them. It almost worked too… but that’s where I come in I guess.
Through sheer dumb luck I threw a wrench into their plans and exposed everything, all because the man I called my father, Azala, made a miscalculation. I was adopted into the clan thanks to a deal he made with a Lightonian. At the time he wasn’t affiliated with the Dharkanians; but as a Drachen Clan, Vulfax was always under threat of being wiped out.
The Lightonian, Holly Bell, offered him a deal: raise me, and Vulfax will be left alone. Granted years later when he allied with the Dharkanians, it led to him believing me to be a spy… probably because I befriended Holly who was working as a librarian in the town over.
Holly never really said how I was to be raised either, and because I was a girl- not blood, not a warrior, I was treated like crap. Even a slave at times. Still- I… had my friends by the time I was twelve. Some didn’t mind me being a girl, or a pacifist, or a book nerd. Some even liked me because I was able to blend in with the humans and procure supplies that made our clan’s way of life way easier.
Still it didn’t save me. I was weak!! If not for my idealistic views, perhaps my friends could have… could have- no! My existence is what did it to them, if I hadn’t been there, if they didn’t believe me to be a spy- if they hadn’t tried to kill me I-… no, sorry sorry huff.
Ten months ago… I had finally had enough of being treated like a damn donkey, seeing my friends trashed for my weakness. When Elen ended her life to escape, I knew then that I had to give up my idealism and get stronger! But that only encouraged them-
With the help of my friend Vulper, a strong Drachen within Vulfax, and my friend Alto who was outside of the clan… I learned how to fight. I learned how to protect THEM. And then, I learned that my fath- that Azala, was trying to kill me, And then I learned about the Lightonians and became involved.
Holly and Alto, two of my best friends outside of the clan. Both with the Lightonians, both against Vulfax. And it was around that time that I learned the truth, why I came to Vulfax. At first I was angry, I wanted to yell and scream and just attack Holly for putting me there.
Then I saw the bigger picture as I learned of this ancient struggle. They filled me in on everything and even taught me to wield Light Energy, the magic of the Lightonians, so that I could fight.
From there I found out that the Canadian Government and the Lightonians on Earth at the time were planning to bombard the valley that I called home. Azala was a major part of the Dharkanians and their plans, and turns out a couple other clans were also in on it.
Like the saying goes, can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
For whatever reason I opted to return to Vulfax to expose Azala by myself in a bid to protect my people. Sure they were total assholes to me but they were still my people, and I still had friends there. I guess he was prepared for that as a few Dharkanian allies were there- including my… my friend Alto.
That was when the Battle of Vulfax Valley began. With the help of my friends, we turned the clan against Azala, and for a time we were winning, until he turned into a dragon and totally wrecked the mountain side. Holly and her comrades later backed us up and after a struggle, we brought Azala down. With his fall the Dharkanians retreated, his Vampiric ally known as Arkaza fled, and all other members of the opposition stood down in surrender.
For a brief period of time there was the prospect of peace; though I knew that even with Azala defeated and the Dharkanians fleeing from Earth, it was only the beginning of something more. And with that realization I joined the Holly and the Lightonians.
.
.
.
Ten months…
In those ten months, a number of things had happened. I saw first hand what this Aether Confederacy was about, and anyone who knows how shady politics can be should know right off the bat what it was like. I saw first hand what several of this new worlds and realms were all about, some cool and some not so cool.
I learned a little more about the Dharkanians and this Arkaza vampire. And I learned that basically, Holly and the Lightonians were full of shit.
My trust in them had already been fragile. I- I never could get over the fact that Holly gave me to Vulfax to use me. Or the fact that there were many like me put into such situations as part of some military project. Or the fact that… they just- didn’t care about anything that wasn’t part of their mission.
I think it wasn’t more than two months in when I left Holly’s side. It was scary at first, I had absolutely no idea of the world I was about to be dropped into- but some of the new friends I made in those two months quickly helped me. I was even able to join a sort of Bounty Hunter Guild.
It was an incredible time to meet new people who believed in doing good, ‘course some did it for the profit but that aside, it was nice. Then, it came to my attention how bad it all really was getting. It all began with the start of the Vampirism Outbreak.
The Land of Vilmonta began to track a number of disappearances, dozens at a time, across dozens of different towns and cities. Perhaps something seen as normal to some. The not normal part was later finding dump sites full of dismembered corpses- or the reports of vampire attacks.
Come a few weeks after the disappearances and suddenly the dead were running amok attacking people in broad daylight. People continued to disappear, vampire sightings continued, and eventually armed micro-armies of zombies commanded by those Vampiric began to attack population centers. They were able to get a handle on things; but despite asking the Confederacy for aid, none was ever given. It was dismissed as a one off incident, perfectly controlled. Until it wasn’t.
Month by month a few more countries began to have the same problems: starting with the disappearances and then full on armed zombie army attacks. After the seventh country came under threat was about the time the Confederacy finally began to offer advisement to these lands, and by the eleventh they began to take it serious enough… to just, talk, about it.
Meanwhile the Lightonians were busy accusing the Dharkanians and trying to probe for a declaration of war; which the Aether Assembly completely ignored. Some chose to acknowledge it as solely Arkaza’s work after reports of him and some of his followers were made, along with a tip-off by someone actually affiliated with the Dharkanians. But it didn’t matter.
All in all though, the problem has more or less been ignored by the Lightonians and the Confederacy. The Dharkanians did finally pop back up to help some of the civilizations out with an alliance of their own; but it hasn’t gone far. Few governments have joined them officially; meanwhile the Lightonians only care about accusing the Dharkanians of being involved with the outbreaks. Of course they denied the involvement, which at this point may be true since they have taken losses to the Vampiric Forces.
Ten months…
It was ten months ago that I made the choice to join the Lightonians and fight against those who had wronged Vulfax. I felt it was my duty to make sure no one else had to suffer as we had. But I had come to quickly realize through their inability to do anything except play politics and rely on said politics, this was the wrong choice.
I couldn’t help anyone, and whenever I did attempt to help, it was like pulling on shackles chained to an unmoving concrete wall. Revolting. Then after joining the bounty guild… yeah, I could help more; but I still can’t help but wonder if it was the right decision in the long run. I’ve turned my back on comrades and left them behind. I’m trying to help others but with the limitations of being a small third party I- I just wonder, is it enough?
No- there’s no point in debating that.
I’ve chosen this path. And like the many choices I’ve made before whether right or wrong, I have to bare the consequences that may follow. I’ve lost family, friends, my home, my place……….. all I have now? All I have is my purpose, and my purpose is to protect those who can not protect themselves, to protect so no one has to go through that hell ever again!!
For the lives of those who have fallen before, I can not fail now!
For the lives of those still at risk, I can not fail now!!
For myself, I can not….
Thank you for following the FIRST volume of Ravenbytez. I promise that in the future much more will follow. I began this wanting to give some “filler” leading up to the launch of the actual series and, well, here we are. And with that said, I am here to announce that starting June 4th, the OFFICIAL launch of the Ravenlight Series begins!!
Follow Elise and friends as she goes from badass bounty hunter working for a new faction, to charging in and helping the young Princess Adalaine save her kingdom from the forces of the night. Along the way she will face assassins dressed as terrifying Slashers, absurdly strong monsters that can bench press the singing fat lady, politics and corruption, and herself as she experiences a life she never had while partaking in this mission. The series will feature chapter art, possible OSTs, and other experimental things that I come up with on the fly.
Coming to Tapas, Penana, World Anvil, and more?
See you then~
