"It was a dark and stormy night...." Nope, too cliché.

"The blaring horns woke me up to a start...." very cliché.

"Twas the night before Christmas when...." Sigh, book writing is very hard. The birds chirping outside despite the snow on my window still didn't make it any better.

"Ravenna Hera, get your butt outside, right now." I heard a voice from outside.

I'm Ravenna Hera, but you can call me Raven. I'm currently 7 years old and let me not bore you with the other details. You must be wondering why I was trying to write a story. Well, the other day my big brother, Aidan Hera, age 10, told me that I can't write a good story because I am only 7. I was trying to prove him wrong and show him that I can write.

Maybe not as well as him, but writing anyhow. Problem is, all I've written is cliché and now, he is bellowing for me to go outside. This is seriously annoying. Stomping, I left my room in our winter manor and headed outside.

I don't know why, but my room was always placed closest to the door whenever we came here. Makes me feel isolated though I love the silence. I passed through the halls lined with pictures of the previous family heads.

I was shocked when I saw grandpa, Viscount Edmund of Melberie's picture up. He was my maternal grandfather so; his picture shouldn't grace the halls of the former family heads. Strange.

Stepping outside through the massive doors, I was greeted by the shining sun and sparkly leaves that made me feel better about myself. The small puddles that had formed from the snow melting made me smile. A new season was coming up. That was good. I hated winters. Looking around our courtyard, I felt things were very off today. Usually, a servant or the soldiers would be here. The servant to clean the soldiers to train.

This morning had very strange occurrences. Going further ahead, I turned to look at the somewhat pristine manor, felt nothing really. I had no too good or too bad memories, so I couldn't get attached to it. After all, it was just our winter manor. Too much had happened here, some of which I would rather forget. Pushing away all negativity, I slowly looked around for Aidan. From the courtyard, I turned left and headed to the back, hoping to find Aidan.

Like I had suspected, he was at the back yard. He was leaning on a huge barrel with a grass stalk in between in his lips with his head bowed, making some of his hair fall to the front. He looked handsome yes, but like a rogue. Hearing the soft scrunch of the snow under my feet, Aidan looked up and got off the barrel.

Though he likes to act roguish, Aidan was every bit gentlemanly when needed to be. He stood there with the sun to his back, creating a halo around him, further illuminating his features. At just 10, my dear brother already had the looks of a heart stopper. His slightly chiseled chin showed a promising future while his slightly thin lips made him look a god at a young age. His hair that was in a swoosh made him look a player. Hopefully, he wouldn't be one. Though I wouldn't be surprised. He was the fourth child, I was the fifth and last. we had three older siblings, a girl and two boys of which both were flirty. Sigh, maybe he gets his behavior from the two. After all he spent more time with them when I wasn't around.

"Dear sir Aidan, it's best for you to act more gentlemanly given your age." I quipped as I strutted towards him. Did I mention I am 7? Well, I am 7, just too grown up for my age. Somethings, we can't control. I've always felt, different and I tend to act on that. I don't whine and cry, pout and throw tantrums. It's too childish.

Also, I called him Sir Aidan as we are nobles of direct birth in Kingdom Asther on a planet called Herothin.

"Youngest sister, come, let's go explore." says Aidan while striking a pose, looking every bit strange. Forget all I said about him being a gentleman. I had wanted to turn him down but, why not? Peeking left and right, I took off my shoes and tied my dress at its hem. Holding up my extremely dark hair in a pony, which is very strange as the rest of my family were either brunettes or blondes, I looked to him with sparkly eyes.

"Race you there." I said with a smirk, dashing off before he could comprehend what I was saying. A cackle resonated in the wind as we dashed off. Aidan liked to cackle, made me feel like he is a witch at times. Him being a boy and older than me, he quickly arrived at the forest before me.

"Haha, I win. Loser, loser" he taunted, childishly.

Panting, I responded.

"You big bully, you're older than me so obviously you would win. Especially with those long legs!"

He just looked to me and burst into laugh that had me joining as well. Aidan's magic, I would say. He had this vibrant way of making you just feel life.

Our laughter faded away when we saw bunnies scurrying away. With matching smirks, we ran off to the forest, ready for another day of fun.

This was one of my favorite moments. Causing mischief, scaring the woodland creatures and picking flowers. Yup, that's how we spent our mornings before breakfast. But today felt different, like something was going to happen. And I didn't know if it was going to be good or bad.

As we roamed the forest on a familiar path, a new path caught my attention. It seemed to have been made from constant dragging of something. Strange, very strange indeed.

"Hey, pea brain. There's something I want to show you." Aidan said all of a sudden. As I wasn't facing him, I stood and swerved around only to be welcomed by a snow ball.

Splash!!

Crunch! Crunch!

"Did you just sneak attack me?!" I questioned, fuming. He really knew how to get on my nerves. Still processing everything, he sent a snowball against my cheek, making it go numb.

"What's with you and my face? This is my pride." I bellowed. Yes, I am vain. My face is very precious.

"Precisely why I will keep on attacking it." he said as he hurled another at me. I dodged it this time, narrowly.

"Come on, don't be a spoil sport." he taunted, while molding the snow. Even though it was warming up, the forest was still very cold keeping the snow intact and easy to make snowballs. I really didn't want to be taunted by Aidan but snow throwing wasn't my forte per say. I had a very weak throwing arm, so throwing snowballs wasn't on my list. Besides, my gut kept telling me not to throw one as it would lead to trouble.

Maybe if I had been more keen, I would have avoided what happened next.

Aidan kept throwing snowballs my way, infuriating me. Why won't he leave me alone?!

Having hard enough, I picked some snow and molded it. Maybe if I had looked down, I would have noticed the abnormality. But I didn't, so I missed the anomaly.

h Aidan had been looking off at the side, distracted. Taking the chance, I hurled a snowball his way and ducked for cover. This move had unknowingly thrown me away from trouble.

A growl from the side and Aidan's yell as the snowball made impact awoke me. I had hidden behind a tree to use to my advantage so I peeked to understand what was going on. A wall of what seemed like black fur greeted me. It was so massive that I couldn't spot where Aidan was. I felt my feet turn cold and blood flow in reverse when I had another growl come from the wall.

It was a deep guttural sound, one that seemed to have scared the little critters away. I was worried for my safety but mostly Aidan's. He was already in the tiger's den and I had to get him out. I thought hard of what to do and I was conflicted. Apart of me wanted to leave him there to die while the other part wanted to save him badly.

I slapped myself, hard.

"You can't think that way, Raven. He is your brother." I thought I really couldn't leave him for dead. Instantly, I got an idea.

Most of the workers at the manor knew of me and Aidan's habits but I wasn't sure they would be close by so I didn't know if I could get help from them. I decided for the next best thing, the guards.

They always patrolled the forest as anything could attack us at any moment so I was counting on them being around to help us. Sucking in a lot of air, I let out the loudest scream I ever made. The wall of black slowly turned and came closer to me. I was face to face with a huge wolf like creature. Wolf like because no normal wolf would reach that height.

It brought its muzzle closer to me and knocked me over, looking down on me. Heh, if there's one thing I hate, it's being looked down on.

"Is that all you got you meanie?" I asked.

It was stupid, truly it was but to die trying than not try at all. The wolf seemly shocked at my boldness, froze before letting out a snarl. I heard Aidan whimper from behind it and I was sure he was safe, at least for now.

Getting to my little feet, I ran, as fast as I could, to try and buy Aidan time. Funny how me the little one is expending everything to save the older one. I felt dark thoughts plague my mind, distracting me and making me lose my footing. Tumbling, I fell to the ground and rolled for a while, stopping only when I hit a tree stump. Hugging myself, I wished that I was back in my room. The scrapping of soft material against hard one made me realize that I had reached a warmer side of the forest. I stood up, or did what was like standing, and faced my fate. Standing at the top of the slope I had rolled down on, the wolf seemed to laugh at my predicament. I really hate that wolf.

My thoughts got more berserk, like winds howling on the oceans, signifying the oncoming storm. I had always got these thoughts but my grandmother taught me how to control them. Calming my breathing, I closed my eyes as the image of the approaching wolf turned dark.

I tugged at the thought of saving my brother, using its energy to fuel me. Something in me seemed to have clicked in place when I thought of the blood the wolf would shed. I let it flow through me and I opened my eyes. The wolf was at me, it swiped at my left, at blasted it from the right. With the combined momentum, it made a hole in the wolf before it slumped to the ground.

Sounds of hooves and footsteps brought a smile to my face. Help was here. Closing my eyes, my mind wandered off to my happy place and I let my body slump to the ground, completely ignoring the dull ache in my arm. A voice sounded in my head, telling me things I didn't know of.

"Your powers are dangerous. Keep them hidden. Do not reveal them to anyone or else you'll be hunted for them. Seek out the boy with a dragon mark. He will protect you until you can protect yourself."

The strange voice filled my mind as I blacked out from the blood loss.

"What do you mean?" I asked weakly.

"You are a rare being."

I fired the question back to the being I couldn't see, "Rare? What are you talking about?"

But soon, I felt my eyesight was fading slowly.... and slowly....

"You are the..."

Those were the only words I could hear before I lost my consciousness as a speck of warmth went through me, knocking me out with peaceful sleep.