♡Raven's Castle♡ discussion

I've been a bit lazy on this story, but it's still chugging!

~ TW: Bullying (mostly in the past), sexual content (undetailed), trauma (including flashbacks, avoidance, and anxiety), amnesia (including flashbacks), abduction, violence, death (not of a loved one), mentions of depression (in the past)

Y'all probably won't see many of these

(Uuuh I think that's all of them, this is darker than I thought it was 😅)

~ Tropes and genres: Seafaring, MM, high fantasy, romance, strangers -> friends -> lovers

(Why are there so few tropes compared to TWs 🥲)

🌊 Terms 🌊

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁: The western part of Maria Divina. It's divided from the East by an invisible line down the center of the world. There's a lot of hostility directed to magia-wielders here, as they're seen as freaks of nature and incredibly dangerous. Most are forced into exile to the East. The West includes the Lupos Kingdom, the Kingdom of Tigris and the Leo Kingdom (who share a border) half of the Oceanus Archipelago, and the Great Barrier Sea.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭: The eastern part of Maria Divina. Magia-wielders often seek refuge here, though the consensus towards them still isn't good. Instead of being treated with outward spite, they're treated like vengeful deities, to be flattered and feared. The East includes the Kingdom of Serpentis, half of the Oceanus Archipelago, Turbinis Island, and the Great Indigo Sea.

𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚-𝐰𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Certain people born with the ability to wield one of four elements: Fire, water, wind, or lightning. They create the element from their skin, but using it takes concentration. As well as the prodding of the wielder, magia is sensitive to the wielder's emotions, especially extreme ones like fear and euphoria. If control slips and the magia comes out fiercely in reaction, it will typically act on instinct, and the wielder's eyes will glow a certain color. This is very dangerous. Wielders also have flecks of gold liquid in their blood, like spots of shining oil.

𝐖𝐲𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬: Creatures native to every island, deserts to tundras. They look like small dragons, with horns, scales, snake-like eyes, and feathers. While sometimes mischievous, they typically aren't harmful, and are even popular as pets.

𝐒𝐞𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Dangerous monsters in the water that people rarely survive encountering. They are large enough to sink ships, and extremely territorial. Frills line their heads, with whiskers on their cheeks and gills lower down. Their jaws unhinge, full of sharp teeth, and they have black eyes that cover with white cartilage when attacking. Their scales are typically blue, with yellow markings like eyes on their sides. While very aggressive, they group in pods and have set territories, so it's easy to avoid them.

𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬: Corrupted humans. Antlers sprout from their heads, their eyes turn red, their mouths fill with fangs, and scales and feathers speckle them. They live in a state of forever-starvation, hunger pangs only chased away temporarily by drinking human blood. These beings are the closest there is to immortal, because although they can be killed, they don't die naturally. They wield magia whether or not they were wielders as humans, and their blood is now purely golden ichor. It's said the last of them died a long time ago...

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠: The act of turning a person into a demon. Like most things about demons, though, the actual method has been lost to time.

𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

Masculine/neutral/feminine

King/Majest/Queen
Prince/Princep/Princess
Lord/Magister/Lady

🐚 Characters 🐚

𝗡𝗲𝗳𝗮: One of the main characters. He has bright orange hair in a small ponytail, yellow-green downturned eyes, and is light-skinned. His clothes are deceptively simple; just a white tunic and white pants with yellow around the cuffs. He's sweet and kind, though shy and has quite a low self-esteem. No one would think he's a runaway Luposian prince, who's decided to make the fated journey of most magia-wielders after accidentally revealing his fire to the kingdom. He may also be running from someone at the same time...

𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀: The other main character. His hair is dark brown with mint streaks, and his skin is a bit of a lighter color. He has brown eyes with a red ring around each pupil. He wears a white tunic with a purple vest that has black cross-hatching on it, and a long skirt of the same pattern. He pairs white braies with it if he's feeling more masculine, which is most of the time. He's sassy and bolder to Nefa's sweet and shy, a tease who definitely has his fair share of flirty thoughts. He used to be a dancer and is from somewhere in the East. A disease is ravaging his body though, and he's searching for a cure. If only he could remember how he contracted it...

𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘀: Nefa's best friend, a side character. She has shoulder length curly red hair and dark blue eyes, as well as vitiligo. Fierce and cheerful with a snaggle tooth, she would walk through a literal tsunami for Nefa, and is meeting with him periodically on his journey to the East. Don't address her with her 'Lady' title or she'll scowl at you and bop your nose.

𝗔𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘂𝘀: Nefa's mother, the queen of Lupos, a side character. She has light skin, emerald green eyes, and long brown hair. She's dealing with political side of having a magia-wielder as a son, though she never shamed Nefa for it. She's a kind and just ruler. Though she knew her son couldn't tell the kingdom, she tried to support him in any way she could.

𝗟𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀: Nefa's older sister, a side character. She looks very much like Nefa, with light skin, short orange hair, and hazel eyes. Strong and determined, she loves her younger brother deeply. Though she respects his wish to leave the kingdom, she misses him a lot. They used to spend a lot of time in the library together.

𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀: Nefa's younger brother, a side character. He's light with greyish-blue eyes and short navy hair. Him and Nefa are particularly close, as they both like to garden and they spent time a lot of time together learning to sign and lip-read for Fortis. He's quiet and intellectual, and very much misses Nefa.

𝗨𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮: Has milky skin and greyish eyes, with dark purple longish hair. He used to be engaged to Flos and a close friend of Nefa. The key word is 'used', and maybe he wasn't as good a friend as he appeared...

𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

(These don't mean something canonically, but they're little nods to myself and are actual latin)

Nefastus Angelus = Wicked Angel
Ignis-Mico Daemonium = Fire-flash Demon
Flos = Flower (I don't have a last name for her)
Aureus Angelus = Golden Angel
Lepos Angelus = Graceful Angel
Fortis Angelus = Strong Angel
Larvata-Umbra = Masked-shadow (No last name for him either)

🔥 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭 ⚡

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆, 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈...

Nefa always tried to be a good prince. A prince the people of Lupos would like. A prince worthy of their love. But one fateful day changed that, after he accidentally revealed his greatest secret to Lupos: he possessed fire magia, one of four elemental powers, something feared and frightful in the West. Scorned, Nefa set his sails to the East, a refuge for magia-wielders, making the fated journey so many others had endured before him. But then a figure in the water turned what was to be a simple trip on its head.

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈...

The moment Ignis awoke in a inn bed, tended to by a kind young man, he knew something was missing. His memories. Yes, he knew his name, where he'd come from, most of his life. He remembered he'd left to find a cure for the strange disease wracking his body. Except for how he gotten that sickness in the first place. Of course, he'd planned on thanking his savior and continuing on... until he learned that man had magia. Just like he wielded his own lightning.

𝑻𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕...

After striking up a deal to help Ignis find his cure while Nefa heads to his final destination, the two find themselves connecting easily. Both magia-wielders. Both feared for different reasons. But with complicated pasts, entangled emotions, and current threats, how could their story end in but one way: torn apart?

Chapter 1 (part one)

It was early morning, a time of stillness and serenity, where nothing terrible or frightening could happen. The ship rocked gently on the calm waves of the Great Barrier Sea and the sun just barely peeked through the portholes, shining its light into the cabin yet to be lit with lanterns. Somewhere in the distance, a seagull gave a sharp cry.

Nefa buried his head into his soft woolen covers, not wanting to leave their warmth and face the chilly spray of the ocean. Did the sails even need adjusting anyway? The Great Barrier Sea was so massive there was hardly anything to run into, so maybe he could just lay there and dream the day away? Dream about a world where he could fly, possibly...a world where he wouldn't get sunburned out on the deck and end up with even more freckles...a world where his reality was different...

He could also dream about a world where he didn't adjust the sails and he ran aground sharp outcroppings, left at the mercy of people he couldn't afford to let see him.

With a sigh of defeat, he slid the red blanket off, blinking his yellow-green eyes open and rubbing the weariness from them. Halfheartedly brushing his fingers through his orange hair, with the passing thankfulness it fell straight-ish instead of fully curly, he got up from his bed and wriggled his snow-colored nightclothes off. He changed them out for a pair of loose white braies and airy
half-sleeved white tunic that had been tossed on the floor.

'I hope it doesn't look too much like something a prince would wear.' It wasn't pure white; it had dandelion yellow bands of color on the cuffs of the shirt and braies, along with an occasional stain. Paired with the yellow ribbon he tied his medium length hair back with, as well as his simple amber teardrop earrings, he hoped the whole outfit made him look like any normal sailor.

When Nefa was finally dressed, he creaked open his cabin door and went onto the deck. He took a breath of the thick air, stretching his arms and looking towards the sunrise. It cast a slightly dim light over the water all around him, and since he was sailing toward it, he was still heading the right direction. He peered out into the vast distance, not seeing any land so far but knowing he was getting closer, as he was hearing the calls of more and more seabirds nearby.

Just to make sure, he quickly grabbed a map of Maria Divina from his room and headed to the front of the ship, sitting down to study it even though he'd already memorized it so well he would be able to draw it blind. To the east, there was the large island that was the Kingdom of Serpentis, and to the south of it sat the smaller, half-abandoned Turbinis Island. In the north-west, the medium-sized islet shared between the Kingdom of Tigris and the Leo Kingdom floated, and in the direct west there was the Lupos Kingdom. In the very middle of the world, stretching all the way from the north to the south, there existed a line of isles ranging in size from small to very small to extremely small. The Oceanus Archipelago. And finally, an invisible line cut through the archipelago in a wavy fashion, marking the border between the west and the east. It divided the one grand ocean into the western Great Barrier Sea and the eastern Great Indigo Sea.

A sharp pang of regret and sorrow stabbed his chest as he lightly tapped a finger on the Lupos Kingdom, his sails headed away from it, through the archipelago, and to the Kingdom of Serpentis. He tried to shake it away, telling himself that Serpentis would be a better home for him, but it was being more stubborn than usual. After all, today would be his last official day in Lupos, after stopping at one of it's little rural isles. After that, he would be out of its territory. Away from his life-long home.

He stuffed the map in his pocket and clambered up to the helm of the ship, trying to find something to distract himself from the sudden melancholy that flooded his chest. It was an emotion he'd become all-too-familiar with recently.

Like he'd thought, the sails needed no re-adjusting, and he didn't really have to steer the ship right now, since it was small and only had room enough for a hold, a cabin, the outer decks, and the fish-fin shaped sail. What could he do, then? Study the map more? No, that was a bad idea. He didn't want to remember his grand castle or the vast rolling hills or the beautiful sea glass beach that he'd loved so much, think about all his mixed emotions this early in the day. Maybe he could go light the lanterns? Yes, that was something to do. He would go light the lanterns.

Knowing it was only a short term cure, but also not really caring right now just as long as it was something, he went a little further to the back of the boat and shoved open the trap door to the hold. Climbing down the ladder, he was greeted with pitch black and the alarmed squeak of a mouse that had snuck aboard at his last stop, before catching sight of his target lantern. He went over to light it, held his finger up, but...he was hesitant to draw upon his magic, to actually see the flames that lived inside him. Some piece of him didn't want to acknowledge them and pretend they weren't a part of him, just another one of the wild fantasies he'd made up, but it was too late for that. It was far too late for that.

“It's completely natural.” Nefa whispered to himself, trying to make his heart actually believe what his mouth was saying. “You were just...born into the wrong place, that's all. That's why you're going to the east.”. To prove to himself he wasn't broken, he focused on the prickle of heat he felt dwelling between his ribs, encouraging it to follow his warm blood to his finger. Sure enough, sparks gathered hotly in the tip. With a final nudge of concentration, a little lick of fire appeared on the end of his pointer finger, burning bright and orange and forbidden.

He opened the tiny glass door of the lamp and lit the candle wick inside it, careful to not burn his entire wooden ship down, the faint light making the stowaway mouse visible just as it ducked behind his basket of food. Concerned, he stepped over and investigated to make sure it hadn't chewed a hole in the wicker. It hadn't, thankfully, but his supplies were dangerously low. So were his water stores. Hopefully the port would be far enough away from the mainland he wouldn't be recognized immediately.

Chapter 1 (part two)

He sighed, snuffing his flame with a clasp of his fist and watching as smoke curled out from it. Nefa then climbed out, too tired from staying awake at night sea-sick to try catching a mouse. The sun had fully risen and clouds had started to cover the sky, white puffs slowly drifting in the sea wind. A gull flew over and landed on the railing, turning its black eyes onto him and bobbing its head as if in acknowledgment.

“You don't have much to worry about, do you?” he said to it, leaning onto the intricate railing and resting his cheek in his palm. “Just eating, drinking, and stealing fish from your friends.”

The seagull tilted its head and hobbled closer, spreading its white wings slightly as if to say 'I'm listening.'

“But what do I know about being a seagull? Maybe there's actually a lot to worry about.” He breathed deeply, turning his gaze down to the blue, blue water beneath him, hearing the downcast tone in his own voice. “Sometimes I wish I was a bird like you. Sure looks like there's less to be anxious about than being a human. Especially a magic-user born into Lupos.”

The bird blinked at him, almost like it understood what he was saying, but then broke that theory by squawking loudly and taking off to join the others flying in the horizon.

Disappointed in his companion, Nefa sunk down onto the deck with his limbs splayed out like a starfish, staring upwards into the sapphire-dipped sky and watching the fluffy moonstones drift by lazily. Was he really so lonely as to be talking to a sea bird? He shouldn't be. He may have run away from the castle, but he and his family were still communicating through scrolls his best friend delivered. And hopefully, no one would suspect her of still being in touch with the runaway Prince Nefastus, second-born to the beloved queen of Lupos. Them being able to talk would probably end once he had crossed the border into the east, though.

Icy fingers crawled down his spine , despite the sun shining down on him. What were they all doing right now? His mother was probably holding a court meeting of some kind, maybe to check on the citizens, perhaps just to hear what the guards had seen around. His sister was most likely in the library being taught by a teacher, or maybe their mother herself, on how to rule a kingdom, as was the tradition for when the heir turned twenty. His brother was definitely in the royal garden, picking exotic flowers and cooling his feet in one of the beautiful fountains. Who knew what in the two seas Nefa's life-long friend was doing.

He felt a pressure in the very back of his throat as longing filled his core, longing to see their faces and hear their voices. If only he'd been better at staying hidden... if only he hadn't made such a scene...

Nefa let his arm flop back down, melancholy even worse than before, many kinds of 'if only's marching through his mind with the the subtlety of drummers at parades. He didn't want to think about this right now, about what the future held for him, what the past had done to him, and what he'd lost in the process. He didn't want to peer too deep into his feelings. He wanted to keep them buried and numb deep inside him so he wouldn't have to think about them again.

He drug himself up with a grunt, about to go back inside and snuggle under his fluffy blanket again for comfort, maybe try to fill his head with dreams, like finding an underwater city or a race of people with wings. That is, until he caught sight of something bobbing up and down in the distance. For a second, he wrote it off as a log or something that had drifted out from a city, but when he peered closer...and really squinted at it...

Struck with a sudden realization that made fright slither up his abdomen like a sneaking snake, he ran up onto the helm and gripped the wheel hard, spinning it to the right to head toward the object. With that done, he raced over to the mast, tripped once but got back up, and gave it full sails. And finally, he went back to the railing and leaned over dangerously too far, the spray of salt and sea in his face. The boat floated smoothly through the timid southern waves of the Great Barrier Sea, bringing the item into view better and better, only confirming his fears when he could actually see it clearly. The object wasn't an object at all, but a person clinging onto a splintered piece of driftwood, limp as the water carried them away slowly but surely.

“Hey!” Nefa yelled at the stranger, heart beating fast in his chest. “Hey! You! Can you hear me?”

The person was unresponsive, not a muscle twitching as the ship got beside them and he sped back up to the mast to make sure he didn't sail right past them. Chewing his lip with panicked nerves, he slipped down into the hold, searching around for a rope ladder he used to make inspections of the sides. He threw aside a couple of buckets and bags of various tools, searching knapsacks while wishing he was more organized. He eventually found it coiled up on the floor in a corner, worn but still sturdy. With it in hand, he ran back out and hoped the drifting person was still there, tossing it over the side and hearing the splash of it breaking the surface of the ocean. The person hadn't floated any further away, thankfully, and he carefully started to descend and make his way down before that could change. He clenched the rope in a white-knuckled grip, not wanting to fall off into the sea but also daring to get to the last rung to save the drifter.

Tentatively grasped their arm, he started to tug them over until they were under him, gritting his teeth as he tried to pull them up onto his back. They were light, but he was trying to fumble a way to lift them one-handed and wasn't too spectacularly strong to begin with. Despite the straining protest of his muscles, he managed to swing the stranger's arms around his neck and hook their legs around his middle to relieve a bit of their weight. He pressed himself to conjure up just a little more strength to start climbing back up, rung after rung, one foot at a time, groaning quietly with every movement he made...

He collapsed onto the deck with the stranger on top of him, panting with exertion , but too wracked with anxiety to focus on it. The drifter could be hurt badly, or sickly to the point of exhaustion, or maybe... he didn't even want to think about that possibility. He slipped them off his back as gently as he could, stomach taking the sharp turn from roiling with nervousness to dropping with relief when he saw the slight movement of their chest.

He very nearly just flopped down with elation, but resisted and started giving them a visual check. They were slim with a small frame and gentle features, they looked to be male, as well as around seventeen-ish, so near Nefa's own age. They were a little dark in color, a warm chocolate brown. A mass of wild, mahogany brown hair with streaks of mint green clung to their head, tangled into a mess and crusted with salt. The streaks and skin probably meant they from the east. They wore a long-sleeved white tunic and a sleeveless vest of dark purple decorated with black criss-cross patterns. White leggings peeked out from under their knee-length skirt of the same violet color and cross-hatching. Their feet were clothed in simple dark blue sandals, hand-made rather than fancy.

Nefa made a quick log of the small scrapes and rips in the stranger's clothes, none actively bleeding but all with the chance of becoming infected, then reached over to push their messy bangs from their forehead. A rock of dread formed in his gut as he felt the heat radiating from them, no doubt a fever, and a bad one at that.

He started to get up with racing thoughts of needing to get this strange boy safe, dry, and cooled down, because even he could see they weren't going to make it very long without help. But just as he did, he felt a slight tug on his arm, making him look back with a start to see the stranger sitting up, eyes hardly open, cloudy, feverish, and unfocused.

He just barely had time to register the voice that came out of the boy, a raspy, ghostly “Help me..!” that floated from their lips, immediately carried away by the wind. Nefa knelt back down in hopes of getting them to say something else, but instead they collapsed into his arms, fully unconscious.