Chadwick Rye

In the depths of her study, Ravenna Nightwhisper sat before an enchanted mirror, its obsidian surface rippling like dark water. Around her, candles crafted from midnight-blue wax cast strange shadows that seemed to dance with purpose. Her fingers, adorned with rings of bone and silver, traced patterns in the air as she considered the day’s contemplation.

*At my age…*

The mirror’s surface shifted, revealing images of her parents in their thirty-third year. Her mother, Lilith Nightwhisper, stood in this very tower, though it looked different then. The stones were newer, less steeped in decades of magical residue. No familiar spirits drifted through the corridors, and the library held perhaps a third of its current collection of forbidden tomes.

*Mother was already making a name for herself in the Consortium of Spectral Studies. I remember the stories – how she pioneered the art of speaking with the long-dead, not just the recently departed. The breakthrough came when she realized that echoes of ancient voices lingered in old stones, in fragments of pottery, in the very dust of forgotten tombs.*

The mirror’s surface swirled again, showing her father, Marcus, in his laboratory. Unlike the careful, controlled environment Ravenna maintained, his workspace was organized chaos. Bottles of various essences crowded every surface, their contents glowing with otherworldly light. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, their shadows forming intricate patterns that seemed to move when viewed from the corner of one’s eye.

*Father was different. While Mother spoke with the dead, he sought to understand the very nature of life and death themselves. His research into the thin places – where the veil between worlds grows permeable – earned him both acclaim and suspicion from the magical community.*

Ravenna watched as the mirror showed her parents working together, their magical energies intertwining in a dance of shadow and light. Their collaboration would eventually lead to the creation of the Twilight Codex, a grimoire whose contents still caused debate in magical circles.

*And here I sit, at the same age, pursuing my own path through the mysteries. While they sought to bridge the gap between life and death, I seek to understand the spaces in between – the moments of transformation, the thresholds of change.*

She glanced at her current project, laid out on a table of polished ebony. A collection of crystals, each containing a captured moment of transformation – a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, a seed sprouting in dark earth, a phoenix’s first spark of rebirth. Through them, she hoped to understand the true nature of change, of becoming.

*Mother would appreciate the precision of my work, I think. The careful documentation, the methodical approach to understanding these liminal spaces. Father would love the creativity, the willingness to look beyond established magical theory.*

Standing, Ravenna moved to the window of her tower. Below, the city sprawled like a sleeping beast, its lights twinkling like earthbound stars. Her familiar, a raven named Midnight, landed on her shoulder with a soft rustle of wings.

*They laid the foundation, but each generation must build its own towers, must find its own ways to push back the boundaries of knowledge. Whether speaking to the dead or studying the nature of transformation, we all seek to understand the great mysteries.*

The mirror behind her gave one final ripple, showing an image of her parents as they were now – respected elders in the magical community, their hair touched with silver, their eyes still bright with the spark of discovery. Then the surface stilled, becoming simply a reflection once more.

Ravenna smiled, a gesture barely visible in the gathering dusk. She had her own mysteries to unravel, her own name to make. But sometimes, in the quiet moments between experiments, it was good to remember those who had walked these paths before, who had lit the first candles in the darkness of unknowing.

*Now, about that temporal stasis experiment I’ve been meaning to try…*

If you like this little story please consider subscribing to my blog so that you don’t miss any new ones. Also you can check out other stories that I have written and are currently writing like Forbidden Bond, a tale about a human falling in love with a Half goblin while being hunted down by fallen angels and evil nobles. Or you can check out Chronicles of the Giantess and follow Valorie the Giantess as she adventures across the land of Calladan. Please feel free to leave me a comment. I would love to know what you think about any of the stories.