"Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth turned in fright, her eyes locking with James', one of the men of the village. He had only just turned twenty, and was a relatively young man. His eyes were wide with fear, easily recognizing one of the taboo magics that the children were taught to fear from childhood.
"J-James? Please, wait. It isn't what you think it is-" Elizabeth reached out, hoping to reason with the young man, but James simply turned around and sped away, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Dark Magic! Taboo magic! Someone, help!" He ran and yelled, waving his arms.
The effect was immediate. Doors of houses slammed open and people came out with weapons of all types. The fear of unorthodox magic was buried deep in the hearts of all these people.
"Where?! Where is the dark magic?!" The villagers stormed out of their houses and demanded. Someone grabbed hold of James and held him firmly in place.
"Th-there! It's Elizabeth and her son! Her son is the one!" James stuttered.
Some people paused in shock. How could they not know of the sweet woman who had been widowed just a few months earlier. And it shocked them to hear that the little, innocent Raven was the one who used Dark Magic. Many of them found it hard to believe.
But some others simply marched right over to the house. Because of the way the village was arranged, the houses were in direct view of each other. The people could immediately spot Elizabeth and Raven, both frozen in place in front of their home.
"Hand us the boy, Elizabeth!" A middle aged man with a large belly and thick limbs said, holding a sword.
"No! Please! Have mercy on us. We'll leave! We won't bring any trouble to the village!" Elizabeth pleaded, tears running down her face.
"Hand us the boy, Elizabeth. We will burn him before the Inquisition from the Empire finds out and sends an army to burn down the village and kill us all." The man shook his head, his tone firm.
Seeing Elizabeth continue to refuse him while holding onto Raven tighter, the man reached out and grabbed hold of Raven's arm to pull him away.
"NO!" Elizabeth's voice rang out, causing the ears of the people around to ring.
The man stumbled back, pushed away by a physical force conjured by Elizabeth's voice. He looked at her with a fearful gaze.
"A-a Banshee! She's a witch! Burn her and the boy!" The man regained his earlier courage and stood up. He looked at Elizabeth and Raven like a wolf would look at helpless prey. He showed no pity or remorse at what he was about to do.
"GET BACK! LEAVE US ALONE!" Elizabeth pushed Raven to the side and screamed, generating powerful soundwaves with her voice that pushed all the people back. The man who led them was left writhing on the floor, grasping his ears that were now bleeding.
Elizabeth was about to stop her screech so she could pick Raven up and run away when a sudden flash of light caught her eye. She paused as a pitchfork flew through the air and impaled her through her throat, throwing her down to the ground. The tips of the pitchfork stabbed into the wooden wall of the house behind her, keeping her body upright.
Raven stood frozen as blood splattered over the side of his face. His eyes were wide as he looked at his mother, unable to speak.
"Guurg..." Elizabeth opened her mouth but the only thing that came out was sputters of blood. Her hand rose up weakly and cupped his face while tears ran down her own face. She almost seemed to be pleading with him to forgive her for failing in her one duty.
"M-mother..." Raven choked on his voice, grasping Elizabeth's hand just as it lost strength and fell. Her eyes turned vacant as the life left her body. He could clearly feel it leave.
"Mom!" Raven fell forward and crawled to his mother's side. He had seen things die before. An old cat, birds, insects. But never a human. Not to mention his mother.
Crack!
Something that lied deep within Raven broke at that moment and his eyes went blank. His body stopped moving and the villagers stepped close.
"No! What have you done?!" In the back, the voice of the old lady, Rahab, rang out as she struggled to push through the people and rush to Raven's side. She had been behind when the announcement came and she was only just getting there, only to find Elizabeth's body and people surrounding the body and little Raven.
"Get back, woman! We shall not allow Dark Magic to thrive in our village!" Someone pushed Rahab back and she fell down. Coincidentally, as she fell, she hit the back of her head on a stone. Her expression froze and her body turned limp, but no one took notice, all their eyes fixed on the target of their animosity, Raven.
However, in the little boy's mind's eye, he saw all this happen and his despair only grew. Alongside that despair, a deep, burning rage bloomed. It fed off the agony and despair that Raven fell, turning into something dark that festered and spread.
'Why? Why did Mother have to die? What did we ever do wrong to these people?' Raven asked himself, looking down at his hands that were stained with his mother's blood.
'Give in to the anger...'
Deep within Raven, hidden by the flames that burned in his heart, a dark voice whispered.
'Let the rage consume you...'
'They called you a monster...'
'Look what they did! You have lost everything! You have nothing left to live for!'
'THEY CALLED YOU A MONSTER! PROVE THEM RIGHT!!!'
As the unknown voice fueled on Raven's rage, James, the one who had spotted Raven first, walked over, sword in hand. He raised the sword, ready to plunge it into Raven's back.
"WHY?!!!"
BOOM!
Along with Raven's pain filled scream, a powerful shockwave that was made of black, ash-like energy exploded from his body, washing over everything in the village and sending people stumbling back.
"Ugh... This bastard!" James growled as he got back to his feet. He moved to pick up the sword but was met with confusion when he couldn't. That confusion soon turned to shock, and then to fear as he saw his fingers disintegrate into black dust.
"No! No, no no!" People began to scream out when they saw their bodies turn into black ash, carried away by the wind.