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#ROAChapter1Start)
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CHAPTER ONE: FRACTURED))
And for the final query of the day, I'd like to answer a letter sent to me recently. If you keep up on these monthly Journals, you will remember sweet little Faerya, the Barn Owl Hatchling who sent us that wonderful drawing last Winter. Little Faerya is feeling down lately. You all know the state of the world we live in, so I'm sure I don't have to mention why. For her sake, I will let your imaginations do the work, and suffice it to say she is no longer happy. Well Faerya, I'm here to tell you that you must stop that at once. No matter how dark the night, no matter how loud the storm or how cold the wind, you must always press on. There will be a light for your dark days. There will be comfort from the rain and thunder. There will always be a hollow to wait out the cold. Little Faerya, no matter what happens in life, you will always survive if you hold on to the one thing that can never be stolen: Hope. Don't lose hope little hatchling. The rains are slowing, and the sun is rising. Long live the Queen.Kale let out a long sigh, leaning back on his perch to examine the scroll splayed out on his desk. He smiled with satisfaction, placing his quill back beside his inkwell and sliding them both into a small a nook where the carved desk connected with the wall of his hollow. The Peregrine Falcon blew gently on the parchment for a moment, drying the ink with shining eyes. When he was confident, he carefully rolled the scroll into a loose form and placed in on the other side of the desk in pile of a dozen more. As he looked away from the desk for the first time in hours, he became aware of how bleary eyed he really was.
Kale gave a light shake of his head, turning to gaze out of the nearby window.
Nearly dawn. Another night spent in my scrolls! I'll have to sleep later, but first...
Kale yawned lightly, rubbing a blue-cream colored wing over his eyes. He hopped from his perch down to the wooden floor, and made his way over to the wall opposite the window. There, delicately placed on the wall at his eye-level, was a slab of glass different from the window that instead reflected rather than show what was behind it. He had seen a few set-ups like this in ancient Human dwellings, and Kale had guessed it's purpose correctly. As he gazed into the mirror, the bird was appalled at his own appearance. Ink stains, un-preened head feathers, and bits of parchment still clung to his chest. He frowned, and promptly moved over to his basin of water to get to work on himself.
When he was finished and satisfied, he smiled into the mirror once again before turning to examine the rest of his hollow. Kale sighed as he looked at the mess of the place. Both bookshelves nearly empty, the books strewn about his nest from where he fell asleep reading. His desk was full of unfinished stacks of paper, waiting to be converted to books. The bird went to those first, tucking a stack of papers labeled 'Battle Tomes' under his desk next to a smaller stack, 'Storm and Stone'.
He moved about the hollow, tidying where he could and hiding what he needed to. Books were placed back on the shelves, behind them were placed unmarked papers and letters. Under his nest was a hole where he scooted a pair of books underneath, both hollow and secretly containing small pieces of Raven technology. Inside one was what Kale believed to be another power source for the Soul Key, and another book held the Raven's Rift Tracking Disk, which he had finally assembled a week before. It had been nearly a moon since he last saw the Queen and her wolf friends, and this was the special day he was waiting for. According to his calculations, anytime now the Rifts would re-open, and the disk would spring to life and show him the real-time location of them. but today wasn't just special because of that, oh no... today was...
Kale blew swiftly on the lit candle, closing his eyes as he did. When it was out, he smiled and opened his eyes again. On the small table before him was a small biscuit-like piece of food made from berries and bits of fresh-kill. He had made it himself the night before.
"Happy Hatchday, Kale..." He whispered to himself, a shine in his eyes as he delicately moved the candle aside, and gulped down the small treat in a few bites. When he was done, he looked about the empty hollow one last time, admiring the cleanliness. The sun shone out the several windows, and he realized he had spent the whole morning cleaning.
No more work today. I'm going hunting, then I'll settle down with the next book in the Ice-Falcon saga, and finally find out if Jazan can rescue her mate before the SnowHearts take over all of Glacia!
Kale grinned, letting out an excited tapping of his talons on the wood floor before he fluttered to the metal door at the entrance. It had the appearance of wood, but was actually made of pure silver. Kale believed in never being too safe. Just as he set a talon on the hook to open the door of his hollow, he froze.
From somewhere high up, a wingbeat sounded. Then another. Too large to be bird or Phoenix, and just the right sound to be-
Agathar! He found me!
Kale backed from the doorway, feathers bristling as his head snapped to the window. In a flash, he was there, and pulled the moss covering over it. He quickly moved to another window and did the same, spilling ink over his desk as he did. He moved to the third window when the sunlight streaming into the hollow via that window was blocked out entirely. All that it showed now was a set of rippling black scales. Kale cursed under his breath, and dove out of sight. He hid on the other side of his table, his back to the open window.
There was a thunderous boom a second later as Agathar fully landed, and Kale began to try and slow his breathing down. He listened in dead quiet as several smaller noises sounded from outside, Shades, most likely. He didn't have to guess very long until he heard them speaking.
"We know you're in there, Falcon!"
"Come out and play!"
"We won't bite..."
A much louder voice chimed in, and Kale shivered at the sound of the Dragon.
"Move aside, and wait by the treeline until I call you." Agathar growled in a low voice, the ground thundering as he stepped closer to the hollow.
Kale listened to the direction on the giant footsteps, his eyes darting around the room and his mind spinning while he formulated a plan.
"Kale. That is your name? I know you can hear me... we've been watching you all night. We know you're still inside. You and I.... we need to speak." Agathar began, slowly circling the hollow, sniffing at the covered windows.
Kale watched the shadows move on the other side of the windows, keeping track of the Dragon while he slowly began to move. Deathly quiet, the small falcon edged his head over the table to see the only uncovered window empty. Knowing he had only a moment, he delicately stepped over to it, and pulled the moss down over it. When he knew he was safe from being seen, he began watching the shadows as he moved again.
Agathar whisked his tail over the side of the hollow, leaning his massive head down to try and gaze inside. "Don't drag this out... I could burn you out of there..."
Kale froze in place. He could. He should have by now, but he hasn't... which means...
Putting on his brave face, Kale stood up straight, having worked out the first thing he needed to. "Oh, beg your pardon... is that you out there my King? I'm afraid I've just woken up..."
Agathar's eyes shimmered with humor as he moved again, spying the now covered third window. He decided to play along. "Is that right? My apologies, I hadn't realized, I would have been quieter... Will you come out now? I have something very important to discuss with you..."
Kale quietly stepped over to his bookshelf, sliding one of them out. This one too, was hollow on the inside. Without a sound, he pulled a small golden square from it. This Raven device was covered in glyphs and shimmered with a dull yellow light. Kale moved over to his desk and placed it just out of view. "Important enough for the King himself to visit me? I'm honored, truly! You'll have to excuse me for a moment, I'm not at all fit to be in your company! Perhaps a moment to prepare?"
Agathar pulled his head away from the hollow, and looked back at the treeline to the cluster of hawks waiting. Without speaking he motioned with his tail towards the door. "Oh, of course. Take all the time you need to get ready, but I will say, it won't make a difference. Eventually you'll simply have to come out, regardless of how you look."
"I agree." Kale called out, pushing his nest aside quietly and removing the Tracking Disk. He stepped over to a small leather satchel that leaned against the doorway. Just as he placed the Disk inside he heard the approaching birds. He moved slowly to the desk, and began placing several scrolls and bundles of parchment into his satchel, taking care not to touch the small gold square he placed earlier.
"I'll be ready in a moment, there's really no need to have your friends help me with the door. In fact, if I were them I wouldn't touch it at all..." Kale packed the last of his essentials, and left the rest hidden as best as he could.
Agathar turned to watch his Shades come to the doorway, and narrowed his eyes in scrutiny as they stepped up to the hollow door. Just as he was about to open his jaws and warn them, the first bird touched the door hook and immediately let out a scream. The black hawk scrambled backwards, clutching his talon in agony. The others stepped several feet from the door.
Hearing this, Kale wrapped the satchel over himself, tucking the string that held it firmly under his left wing to keep his limbs free. It wasn't heavy, he noted thankfully, and his plan was coming together. "Ooh... that sounded painful. I did warn them!"
The falcon stepped back over to the mirror and slowly worked on pulling it off the wall.
Agathar growled in frustration and pushed the birds aside with his tail. "You are out of time, Falcon! I will set your home ablaze if you do not come out!"
Kale finished setting the mirror down at his desk, placing it towards the window, the small gold square just behind it. He carefully touched a talon to one of the glyphs on the side of the gold square, and watched as the lights began to pulse. He left the desk and moved to the opposite window, quietly reaching around the moss covering and undoing the latch. He backed away to stand again at the center of the hollow.
"Okay Agathar! I'm coming out! I'm walking out of the front door!" Kale couldn't help but let out a small smile as he watched the shadow move.
Agathar looked to the doorway, stepping a few feet over to be ready, when he 'realized' Kale's trap. The Dragon looked at the door for a moment, and grinned himself. "Alright... go on and come out the door then, I promise you won't be harmed."
The Dragon looked to his Shades and motioned for them to get back, expecting the door to spring open with a trap. 'Knowing better', he instead moved his head to the window closest to the door. Kale would come flying out after whatever trap on the door had sprung. This falcon wasn't as smart as he thought...
Just as Agathar's gaze met the window, the moss fell away. However, instead of a falcon escaping, the Dragon was met with a blinding ray on sunlight, causing him to roar and flinch backwards. A moment later, like a snake, he struck his head forward and snapped at the sunlight, his jaws crushing the mirror with terrifying might.
At the same time, on the other side of the Hollow, Kale burst out of the third window, taking off with mad speed towards the open sky. In this same instant, the pulsing gold square on his desk began to vibrate.
Agathar blinked the spots from his eyes, spitting out pieces of glass as he swung his head around the hollow. He heard the sound of something humming, and looked down at the desk in time to see the golden square begin to glow. His eyes shot open wide, and he pulled his head out of the hollow just as the glowing square violently exploded, engulfing the entire meadow in gold fire and knocking Agathar on his back.
The Shade birds had been incinerated with the hollow, and the dazed Agathar struggled to roll over and stand as Kale climbed higher into the clouds, out of sight. Kale heard the Dragon's roar in the distance. He was furious, and unbeknownst to the falcon, impressed.
Kale flew as fast as he had ever flown, rocketing through the air and diving back towards the ground for cover. As he made his escape, he felt the satchel across his back buzz ever so slightly.
The Rifts! They're here! We can get the reunion underway! Well... Happy Hatchday after all!
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Oh gosh...
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Just mark it in big bold letters at the bottom of your post, and tag it with "ROAChapterEnd" I want to do that so we can jump back to certain points if we want to re-read something)
