This is the first part of many for my writings concerning the Raven Lord, as presented in Heroes of the Storm. I just LOVE that voice~ ( http://tinyurl.com/RavenLordsVoice )

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The great stone tower of the Raven Lord stood ominously, nestled amongst the hills, jutting out of the pervading fog like an imposing monolith. Wreathed around the entire structure were thick swaths of withered ivy, obscuring any entrance from view. A young woman stood apprehensively looking up, barely able to see the top through the shroud of mist. She was clothed in a simple brown dress and plain leather shoes, hinting at a drab lifestyle. She clutched a burlap sack to her chest, nearly cowering behind it. She quietly reassured herself, plucking up her courage.
Before her was a wooden post with an old, tarnished bell hanging from the top. The rope attached to the inside drooped down miserably, looking as though it hadn’t be touched in years. Shifting her bag so that it hang over her shoulder and puffing up her chest with confidence, she rang the bell sharply three times. The ringing of the thick metal bell echoed off of the stones of the courtyard, the walls, and the tower itself, but nothing seemed to stir, not even the wind. She stood, waiting, looking from the bell to the top of the tower, expecting something to happen.
“Tell me… You seek to learn my secrets?” The voice was low and smooth, but chilling right to the core as its tone seemed to carry a subtle energy all its own. The woman startled and twirled around to face the speaker. A man clad in a billowing mantled cloak, adorned in dark, iridescent feathers stood unmoving barely an arm’s distance away. A heavy hood obscured a good portion of his face, but she could still see his smile. One hand rested on a staff topped with a detailed carving of a bird, presumably a raven made out of some darkly colored material she couldn’t identify.
“N-no secrets,” she stuttered out, her nerves getting the better of her. “Just general knowledge.” How had she not heard him coming? Where did he come from? The mysterious man seemed only to look at her for a moment, as if sizing her up.
“Very well.” The smile spread a little wider. “If you are to serve the Raven Lord, you will require a few… adjustments.” He chuckled out a laugh that somehow reverberated off the stones, despite the fact that it didn’t seem very loud in its own right.
“A-adjustments?” She took a half step backwards, but stopped herself, internally demanding that she brave up.
“Well of course. I demand a certain…uniformity in my subjects.” Procuring a cloak from the recesses of his own, he twirled it around her shoulder and quickly snapped the latch shut. She squeaked in fright, flinching as he encompassed her. She chanced to open her eyes and saw the lavishly feathered cloak around her shoulders.
“O-oh. You mean like an actual uniform, heh.” She smiled in a relieved, but still nervous fashion at him.
“No,” he stated dryly before snapping his fingers, causing the cloak to contract tightly around her body, squeezing the breath from her lungs. She collapsed feebly to the floor, gasping for air, gripping at the cobblestone with one hand, and her chest with the other.
The fringes of the cloak splayed out across the floor to either side, covering her like a blanket. Her desperate cries became hoarse, croaking caws. The feathers rippled with a life of their own as the cloak drew tighter still, crushing and reshaping her body into something smaller and lither. She crumpled over in a pathetic mass, curling up from the agony. Kicking legs quickly become scaled and clawed while the rest of her proportions became more avian.
The burning sensation subside enough for her to vaguely realize that she could feel each individual feather adorning the cloak. The pressure of the cloak lessened, but she still struggled for breath. It felt like her skin had stretched to cover her nostrils as the rest of her face pushed forward. Something large and hard pushed its way out from between her lips. Giving a sickening crack as her beak snapped open for the first time. Shakily, she struggled to stand, only to find that her legs didn’t work the way she remembered. Even her arms felt foreign as she flopped around in a panic.
“Enough! Stand.” The command was punctuated with a sharp tap of his staff tip in the flagstones. Her eyes snapped open, black and empty, as her body seemed to move of its own volition. All at once, her bones seemed to snap into place as she stood, steady and silent before of her Lord. “Good…”
She blinked a few times, having to crane her neck considerably to look up at him. Her body still tingled all over, alight with new sensations and her head reeled.
“Speak.” Another tap of the staff and she felt her throat crack as a loud caw escaped her beak. Her throat felt fresh afterwards, as though she had just coughed to clear it. “Swear your allegiance.” He thrust the top of the staff towards her, but she felt no immediate compulsion to obey this command. She realized that she was being given a choice this time.
“I-I swear?” She stared up at the now looming figure with the impressive staff, intimidated, but also thrilled. While terrifying and overwhelming, he was clearly powerful and now he was asking to work together. Allegiance would be easy enough. A wide, eerie grin stretched across his hooded face as he lowered the staff.
“Hmhmhmhmhmhahahahahhh… Good. You will serve me well. Very well.” She looked away mostly out of discomfort, and turned her attention to her ebony feather-covered body. Spreading her wings as wide as they go, she bowed with a flourish.
“Of course. At your service.” She sounded more certain than she felt. His smile became slightly more natural as he gave a soft, dark chuckle.
“You take well to the uniform, my apprentice.” His tone betrayed his amusement.
“Why thank you… M-master?” Who knew it would be so easy to start an apprenticeship under the incredibly powerful Raven Lord?
“I expect to see you in my tower by midnight. Your first test will be getting inside.” Without another word, he turned, cloak billowing into a large pair of black and purple wings as he took effortlessly to the sky in the form of a massive raven. His cawing laughter echoed through the empty courtyard long after he faded into the fog. Who knew it would be so easy to acquire such an eager servant?