Souls of Dust and Shadows

prologue

Across the continent, the night was a quiet one. Before the Holy Blood Plague, this would be a normal night, but now...it seemed like a bad omen. Tonight, absent were the anguished screams of the dying, the sounds of grave diggers chatting and digging, the mourning sobs of the bereaved. You could even hear the froglets chirping away.

It's uncanny, thought Lance. He stood outside the gates of the castle, holding a polished iron spear taller than himself. He wore minimal armor: mostly leather, with a few shiny plates of iron covering his vital organs. It was almost more painful to hear the silence than it was to listen to pain-filled screams.

"Lance," Nyx whispered. "Lance, do you hear that?" The other guard held their spear loosely, slouching. Lance respected Nyx and knew the power and strength they had, but their presentation was less than admirable. Lance frowned.

"I don't hear anything but the lack of sound," Lance said, "and you." Nyx made a face at him, then pointed toward a copse of trees not too far from the gates.

"It's a child," Nyx said. Lance sighed inwardly. That was another thing about them, he thought. They were too soft.

"We've been over this before, Nyx. We can't just abandon post for a child -"

"It's an infant!" Nyx protested. "And I don't -"

"Nyx, it doesn't matter the age of the child. It's just a child, and even if there is no threat - which I am wary to believe, given the silence - the punishment of abandoning our posts isn't worth saving a child who will be thrown right back out!" Lance snapped. He felt guilty for snapping, but he was on edge, and Nyx always got under his skin with their stubbornness.

"Listen to me, Lancelot," Nyx retorted. Lance winced at the usage of his full name. "That child - just look and listen. Use your observation skills for the gods' sake!"

Though he rolled his eyes, Lance still looked closer. The baby was but a smear of white against the silhouettes of the trees, but -

"Are those wings?" Lance blurted incredulously. No humanoid creature would dare show its face with wings so evident. Then again, it was just an infant.

"Yes, and Lance, look at its coloring! Not a creature on this continent has skin like that." Nyx motioned animatedly, though how they did that in the stiff armor guards were forced to wear, Lance couldn't fathom.

"You know I can't see that well," Lance said grumpily. "It's probably a demon or something - all the more reason to leave it be."

"I've offered you a solution to your poor eyesight," Nyx sighed. "Men." They rolled their eyes. After a moment, they spoke again. "Look at the wings again."

"For the gods' sake, Nyx!" Lance exclaimed, exasperated. Despite his tone, he complied. "Those are feathered wings," he commented. "Those are...uncommon in large animals..." Nyx nodded, and Lance just knew they wore a smug smirk. "Surely there's an explanation -"

"Lance, believe me. Any explanation I have for it isn't plausible. And you know my girlfriend studies beastkeeping - and that other than her, I know the most about creatures in maybe even the whole kingdom. I think -"

"Here we go," Lance said, rolling his eyes.

"I think," Nyx continued, "that it's a good idea to look into this."