Chapter 40

Ratchet

Raven walked down the golden path and climbed the gate of doom to find himself facing a man with no face.

“I know you, don't I? You worked for Queen Ruby in the past. Dexter, how did you survive? Didn’t Ratchet kill you?”

“The darkness has many faces, many names.”

Suddenly, Raven was circled by a group of eight.

“I get it. You are the nine people who Richard put his magic into.”

“Yes, we are the ninth gate. We are the followers of the darkness.”

“So, who are you all?” Raven asked.

One by one, they pulled back their hoods. Raven yelled,

“No! This can't be!”

Raven saw eight people, some he knew very well.

“You said nine people, yet I only count eight.”

“Roku is one of us.” Raven saw…

Dexter – The assassin who worked for Queen Ruby.

Ruby – The fake queen of Egypt.

Roku – An ancestor of Raven.

Saeb – Identity unknown.

Lucy – Identity unknown.

Ratchet – Talking teddy bear, once a seer until the power nearly killed him, friend to Raven.

Ren – King of Wintersberg, ancestor of Raven.

Trinity – Identity unknown.

Nora – Seeress of the future, husband to Raven.

Raven yelled,

“No! This can't be true. Nora, I thought that you loved me. Ren and Ratchet, why? What did I ever do to you?”

“The past isn't corrected. We became this because of you. The future can be many things, Raven. Go back, save time, stop this future from being real.”

Raven didn’t know three of them.

“Saeb, who are you, and what did I do to you?”

There was no answer. Trinity and Lucy remained quiet as well.

“Fine, be like that.”

Raven pulled out his sword and the nine of them began to battle. Raven only had ten minutes until the castle would blow.

Raven trusted in Ratchet to do his job, so Raven had secretly given Ratchet the TNT. Once Ratchet had the TNT he snuck off from the others and planted the TNT in the towers to bring the castle down. The castle was going to blow to stop Richard and hopefully the Circle of Nine as well. Ratchet had finished planting the dynamite and he watched as Richard arrived at the front gates. Ratchet ducked to the floor so that Richard wouldn’t see him.

Suddenly, the court gates opened, and Richard walked out.

“Well, Raven, it’s good to see you, yet you never seem to die.”

While Raven and Richard were talking, Ratchet snuck out and placed the TNT on the right side of the castle. Ratchet turned off the control towers, blowing up the platform too. Ratchet rushed to Rainy, “Listen, take Raven to the clock tower. Change the past, save me from being dominated by the evil.”

Ratchet vanished into the darkness of the night.

Raven and Richard had started fighting when the left side of the castle started to fall down. Richard and his followers all disappeared except for Ratchet.

“Raven, you need to run. Meet Rainy at the clock tower, I’m still on your side.”

Raven jumped down from the sky castle and was freefalling to the beach. The freedom fighters were on the beach, and they saw everything that had happened. Raven and Rainy were falling, watching all the castle blow up completely. Ratchet stabbed himself with his dagger.

“I hope you feel that, you moron! To think you actually thought that I was on your side, Richard, you idiot.”

Richard felt it and screamed as the face of an eagle evaporated from him and through the clouds. Raven screamed as he fell to the floor,

“Don’t you feel that? Ratchet just died. Richard feels weaker, he feels angry… like he just lost a piece of himself.” Rainy yelled,

“Maybe he’s weak… maybe he’s dying.”

“He’s told me about his soul. Richard split his magic into nine people.”

“Let me guess, Roku is one of them.”

“Yes, and so were Ratchet and Nora.”

“Wow, dude, that’s big. I’m sorry to hear about that. But the gateway is open now, so let’s get out of here and back into our own time.”

“Rainy, we can't! Richard is waiting for us on the other side.”

Suddenly, there was a loud voice, “Not just Richard, but me, Trinity.”

“Wow. You’re cute,” Rainy said.

Trinity had purple and scarlet hair, a golden torso, and blue jeans.

“You don't know me, but let me take us into your past.”

Trinity jumped onto Raven and sunk her teeth into his neck. Raven screamed as he tried to throw her off him. He yelled,

“What the hell are you?”

Trinity purred,

“I’m not a vampire, you know. Some might say I’m a cat.”

Raven didn't like the sound of that, so he and Rainy rushed into the portal. It was there they heard an evil laugh; it was the voice.

“Well done, Raven. You have definitely screwed things up. I’m the goodness but I’m mischievous, I’m the light but Richard is the darkness. To stop him you must save me.” Raven yelled,

“Enough of this!”

Raven threw a mysterious-looking amulet onto the center of the clock tower.

“Raven, what have you done?” Rainy gasped.

“We need to go back to the past. In fact, we need to go to 1352 to stop the execution of my ancestor.”

“I thought your ancestor was burned in 19th century?”

“Wrong ancestor, Rainy.”

“Raven, what does saving the past have to do with saving the future?”

“If I go back far enough, I can change the past. I can stop my ancestors from being evil. Rainy, I’m going to destroy Richard’s magic once and for all.”

Rainy was confused but he was there to help his friend.

“If we do this right, we can stop everything bad that has happened.”

Raven had done it. The time on the clock was reversing! The clock went dang! dang! Suddenly, the clock stopped and Raven and Rainy arrived in 1352.

Just as Raven was about to leave the clock tower, an assassin jumped out of the clock.

“Dexter? What are you doing here?”

“My master wants you, it’s time for you to die.”

Raven and Dexter began to fight with their swords. Equally matched, they fought clang for clang.

“Dexter, how many times are we going to go through this? I told you to back off.”

Raven activated the clock, leaving Dexter trapped in the Ice Age. Raven and Rainy were safe for the moment, but Dexter worked for Richard which meant that they weren't safe in 1352.

“Rainy, hold on!” Raven yelled.

He activated the clock for a third time, reversing everything that had happened in the last two weeks. Raven stopped the clock at the right time. He was finally in 1352 with Rainy.

“Raven, in this realm we have a lot to do. I mean, if Richard still has eight pieces of his soul, shouldn't we devise a plan on taking him down?”

“We are here to find the root of Richard's power. If we find something that can help us, then this is worth the risk.”

Raven and Rainy walked out of the clock tower, only to see Raven’s ancestor being burned at the stake.

“Rainy, be careful not to change in this realm, magic will get us both killed here.”

Raven entered the clock, and it took him to one week earlier in 1352.

“Hey, Raven, isn't that your ancestor being dragged away?”

“Yes, it is!”

Raven looked up and saw a man yelling,

“People of my kingdom, you know the rules about magic. Fifty years ago, we drove magic out of Ransom Town but now the magic is returning. We need to burn this witch and her allies.”

“Rainy, I know what we need to do to save her. We need to break into the castle just like last time and break her out.”

“I thought you said magic would get us killed in this realm?”

“It will, which is why I have a plan to get inside the castle. But first let’s go grab a bite.”

“Raven, what are we going to do about Trinity? She bit you and yet you’re fine.”

“She wasn’t a vampire, Rainy. They don’t exist. I’m hungry and tired, let’s just both be thankful that we are alive and well.”

Raven and Rainy entered the dodgy bar filled with bad-looking people.

“Rainy, stay close. This place looks like a tougher crowd than we are used to.”

Rainy walked toward the back of the bar and sat down on his hard, lumpy chair.

“Raven, you and I are family, and I want you to know that I won't go evil on you.”

“Thanks, Rainy. Come, let’s get something to eat, then we will check out the town.”