Mottled Shadows

Chaper I

In this diverse world, teeming with mysterious entities, the creatures have categorized themselves into distinct groups.

The more advanced group would be the magicians, individuals who harness magic through various practices, techniques, and innate powers. Among the well-recognized members of this group are the wizards and witches.
The other group is known as the Volants, beings capable of flight and levitation. They are able to conduct magic within their essence. In this group, the more civilized members would be the pixies and fairies, while others, such as harpies, Pegasus, and the elusive phoenix, maintain a wilder nature. The Volants are not as knowledgeable as the magicians and are more traditional in their practices and methods. Lastly, the third group is referred to critters, they are wildlife which comprises of small creatures and they play a vital role as a food source for the other groups as they are incapable of speech, magic or strength.

This classification system helps navigate and understand the rich diversity within the world of mystical entities in order for them to survive and live harmoniously. Therefore, the groups lived in separated lands with the sea as a barrier, creating their own habitats to thrive in and adapt to. The Magicians and Volants were more civilised, they were able to create a society within themselves quickly and efficiently live through with teamwork. Whereas, the critters just thrive in their own habitat and natural environment. As the magicians are more knowledgeable, they were able to efficiently do things, advance and develop unlike the Volants who adopted traditional farming techniques by using hand work and crafting using delicate handwork. Soon enough, both groups mixed as a small group of magicians managed to cross the seas on the magic paths they created to link land together.

The magicians came from an island and they initially travelled with the innocent intents of trading and sharing their knowledge of magic to us. The pixies and fairies graciously spared their land, hard earned resources and manpower for their work as they offer medicine they created. The magicians, with the assistance of the pixies and fairies, were able to reach new heights with their magical creations and achieve new things we never imagined possible, together, the groups created a more efficient and comfortable space for conjoint living. And with the productivity, communication between the groups from all over the world became possible as they are able to now communicate through a device operated by magic dust from the Pixies.

As the blossoming society had achieved remarkable advancements in entertainment, communication, and consumerism, the magicians found themselves craving even more. They began to adopt a superiority complex towards the Volants, believing that their wisdom had brought unprecedented prosperity to them. However, the Volants were aware that this prosperity was inextricably linked to their own tireless labor. The magicians wanted the complete cooperation from every Volant, with the desire to control over their territories and even proposing that the Volants relocate to magician-held lands to bolster productivity. However, most Volants staunchly refused as they were satisfied with the current status quo and did not wish to sway from the conventional approach in living. Moreover, they feared that the natural and spiritual resources that their environment provided would be misused.

Thus, tensions arose and the avaricious wizards and witches relentlessly sought supremacy by encroaching upon the lands of small critters, siphoning the life force from them, and ruthlessly exploiting their essence to forge treasures and spells of gold, diamonds, and silver capable of creating dangerous products. My homeland was not spared from their insatiable greed; my family, friends, and home were all pilfered and obliterated.

My people valiantly resisted their invasion, while I, transfixed by the abominable devils' heinous actions unfolding through the window, remained motionless. As I stood beside my untouched supper, the aroma of my biscuits lingering in the air, my little cup of milk dancing about, my gaze locked onto my mother. A shimmering blue tear escaped her eye moments before she was brutally slaughtered before me, her head severed. The vivid scene plays on an endless loop in my mind, every detail etched with painful clarity—the diamond-encrusted hilt of the sword, the ruby-red blood staining the blade, and, most hauntingly, the sinister symbol of the devils emblazoned on the hilt, a stark representation of the insatiable greed and terror they brought to our sacred land.

I recall feeling bewildered and stunned by the sudden ambush, immobilized as I watched the horrifying tableau unfold. In that moment, it was as if I had detached from my own body, my mind ensnared in the cataclysm unfolding before my eyes.

The frenzied crowd of once-ferocious villagers quickly succumbed to the onslaught, their lifeless bodies strewn across the ground, the earth soaked in the crimson tide of my people's blood and entrails. The grotesque aftermath bore witness to floating limbs and organs, once the hands that had built my home, embraced me, and cared for me. My father's hand, once tender and loving, lay severed among the grisly remains, a stark testament to the inhumanity of the devils.

There was no mercy, no hesitation in the artificial eyes of these invaders as they mercilessly struck down our pleading younglings. Humanity seemed a distant memory as they hacked my people apart, treating them as naught but vegetables.

Each person from my land met a gruesome end, hung from the very houses they had painstakingly constructed. Left to rot, like they were a reminder of the carnage that had unfolded and to warn the other villages to not resist. I stayed hidden in my room the entire time until the next day, when a group of magician cleaners and vehicles arrived, tearing down everything and incinerating the remains of the fallen and they found me, pale and shaking.

And as I cowered in my room, with no resistance, they seized me, a pixie like me, and dumped me into the large room on wheels along with the cattle. They then transported me to their city, along with the stolen jewels, crops, and cattle. Like a lamb to the slaughter.

Chapter I of Mottled Shadows to be continued...