Raiders - Chapter 1

Chapter One
Everything was quiet, aside from the occasional snore or grunt from one of the other students, who were fast asleep, that is except for one. Rayn Pratt was having a nightmare. It wasn't unusual for her to have nightmares; in fact, it was more unusual for her not to have one. She was training to be a Raider, and the nightmares came with the territory. It was considered a Raiders' final test, some could handle the nightmares, while others could not.
Rayn's body was jerking around, and beads of sweat had formed on her body. The blankets that had once been on her bed, laid scattered around her floor. Whispered words escaped her lips, but were never audible enough to understand. Minutes went by, suddenly she sat up, her heart was racing and her breath came in gasps. More sweat had composed and she was now drenched in it. Running her hands through her long black hair, un-sticking it from her neck and brow. Rayn sat there for awhile until her breathing had steadied, and then she got up and exited her room. Watching the numbers as she passed door after door she finally stopped at the only unmarked one in the hallway.
Going inside Rayn looked at herself in the bathroom's mirror. Her skin had turned an eerie pale replacing the normal lustrous golden tone she was famously known for. Her hair was plastered to her skin from the drying sweat. It had lost its shine and bounce and now lay damp and dull. Even her eyes seemed to lose their color, turning into a pale white instead of the electric blue that had stared back at her for fifteen years.
Sighing she pulled her hair into a ponytail, turned the water on and mindlessly filled her hands with water to splash her face. Grabbing a towel she patted her face try, noticing slightly that she had regained some of her color. Rayn stood there looking at herself in the mirror, until she heard scratching. It took her a moment to realize her hands were trembling and were causing her fingernails to scrape along the counter. Looking down, she relived the memories of blood, soaking the very hands she stared at. Shaking her head, she washed her hands and re-wet her face.
Going back to her room, she remade her bed and tried to get a few more hours of sleep. But instead of sleeping, her mind drifted back to her dream;
“Stop crying! I said stop crying, Rayn, you're a Pratt, and Pratt's never cry!” I could tell it was my father, he had said it to me many times during my training. I wiped away the silent tears that were creeping down my face, “Dad, I don't want to -”
I felt a hard slap come across my cheek almost knocking me off my feet, “You listen to me. This is what you were born for, so never say you don't ever want to, do you understand me!” I could never understand why dad always got so livid when I wanted to stop, it seemed silly to me to get so mad over something so foolish. Dad grabbed my chin and made me look at him, “Now, I want you to look.” I nodded slightly and turned my head to the figure on the ground. It had been covered with a tarp; the smell of blood rose from it and burned my nose. My father went and pulled the tarp off, like a magician would with a tablecloth. There laid a disfigured Fallen. He was still alive, but just barely. Blood was seeping out of his body and was pooling around him. Dad looked at me, and pulled out a knife, as he handed it to me he said, 'Finish him.” I started shaking my head, “Finish him! Damnit Rayn! When I say to do something, I mean do it! You're not going to behave like this when you go off to the Academy. No Pratt is going to seem disrespectful, do you understand? Now I said, finish him!” I took the knife with shaking hands, Dad started whispering in my ear, “Finish him . . . Finish him . . . Come on Rayn, you can do it.” I took one last quivering breath, and sunk the knife into the Fallen's heart. It started gagging, and then it was no more. The Fallen had been reduced to nothing, and the knife lay on the floor. Dad started laughing, “That's my girl.”
The image flashed to later that year when dad ran into my room waking me with his yelling, “Rayn! Get up, they're coming, you have to hide! Now!” Dad had made me practice for this since I started training. I never figured out who they were, but I always figured they were scary enough to have my dad always looking over his shoulder. Getting out of bed I ran into the living room, climbed into the chest, dad shut the lid and then piled things on top of it, so the chest looked almost invisible. There was a slight crack in between the lid and the side paneling, allowing me to see out. Dad was standing in the middle of the room, watching the door. Minutes went by; I thought maybe it was another false alarm, until the door suddenly broke down. In the doorway stood four men, they walked in and almost seemed to smile at dad. The man that seemed the most frightening of them all spoke first, “Nice to see you again Lucas.” I couldn't quiet understand why they'd called dad, that wasn't his name, or was it? But before I could put any more thought into it, dad spoke, “If only that where true, Jeddah.” Jeddah smiled a cold unnerving smile, “We're only here to take back what we deserve. Now where's your daughter.” My dad who was never really into playing games curtly replied, “She's not here.” Jeddah, was quick with his tongue, because he did not stumble on his next words, but happened to relay them as though he were reciting a book, “I do not know where you have hidden her, but I shall swear that by your death, I will find her, and she will pay for your insolence.” Jeddah drew his sword, and as he stared admiring at it, his fellow men, pushed my father to his knees. The last I saw of Jeddah was his reflection. He had a nose to big, an uneven mouth, and a scar that ran diagonally through his right eye, ending at his jaw bone.

Rayn's alarm clock went off, sitting back up, she turned it off. Sighing, she hadn't gotten the sleep she had hoped for, but she was use to it now, nightmares constantly haunted her. Ever since that night, she's had the occasional nightmare, but since she started training at the Academy, they've increased.
Rayn got out of bed and headed back to the bathroom. There were a few people there, when they saw who had just walked in they all nodded good morning. She rolled her eyes in response, since when is it ever a good morning at the Academy? Climbing into a shower she washed herself and went back to her room. Changing into a pair of loose black pants and a red tank top, she tugged on her shoes and pulled her hair back, then she left her room and headed down to the training room.
It was far too early for the Tyro to be allowed to train, the Vang would be in Raven Hall getting their early morning breakfast before classes started. Though there were a few Equi that had rose early enough to catch the lasting effects of the moons gleam. Rayn ignored the Equi who had stopped sparring and were now staring at her. She almost laughed to herself as she caught glimpses of their faces as she walked around the training room. Not many Equi were exceptional enough to be in the presents of a Vang, especially in the training room. Rayn had learned that during the first few years of her schooling. Thinking back she almost wanted to slap herself, to imagine she had once looked like that, so admiring, so insecure, so unknowing even after training with her father. She had thought she would be so far behind the other students because her father had been killed before he could finished her training. Rayn realized though, that she knew more than most wanted her to.
Rayn continued walking to the far end of the room. There stood massive windows that covered the full length of the wall. Staring out of them, Rayn saw a vast landscape filled with a forest off to her left and a mountainous region to her right, and in the middle stood the Calantro Lake complete with Zalanre Waterfall and the two rivers, Kalerin flowed to the left into the forest and Sinloo flowed right into the mountains. No one had quiet been able to solve how the rivers flowed in two different directions, there were stories, but none of them were proven to be true, just story tales parents would tell their children.
Turning away from the scene, Rayn sat down and started to meditate. No sooner had she started, when she was interrupted by one of the Equi, “Do you want us to leave?” he whispered so quietly Rayn had to strain her ears to hear what he was saying. Even though he had said it so quietly, she was still annoyed with him arousing her from her meditation. Opening her right eye slowly, she looked up glaring at the four Equi that were standing in front of her. Under her one eyed glare, the Equi started getting nervous and had started to walk backwards.
Angrily Rayn closed her eye and answered, “You need the practice, so stay if you must, but if you desire to live past the next few hours, I wouldn't suggest you bother me again.”
They all nodded fast, but didn't start sparring again, until Rayn had completely tapped into her meditative state. Rayn hated to meditate, it made her feel vulnerable, to think that she was so wrapped up in her own mind during her meditation, that anyone could get away with anything on the outside.
She had never understood the concept of meditation. It was required to do before and after every mission, but why? Was it suppose to help clear your thoughts about the mission that lay ahead? And then, to help erase the images from your memory after the mission was over? Or was it all just a big mind game? Did those people believe that if it wasn't part of your conscience that it didn't matter? That meditation would just make everything go away?
Rayn knew the hard way that no matter how much or how hard you meditated the images always stayed with you.