Chapter I

Pilot chapter.

The room devoid of any color, except the red that glazed the floor of course. It offered no kind of warmth or comforting whatsoever. The uncertain flicker of the tube lights had become an unlikely lullaby in the otherwise desolate space. The shouting did quite ruin this perfect psychotic silence.

  

When the screaming and clawing subsided Tristan let go of the pillow, pushed the idle head off his lap and got up towards the door.

“Not bad kid” rasped the slender figure in the corner “I was the one to drag him from the split” Tristan mumbled as he unlocked the door ”You didn’t do a thing”.

He wandered away from the slaughterhouse into a calmer space. He couldn’t believe that this is what he’d become, just a few years ago he was voted most likely to die before twenty by his training group.

The ‘slaughterhouse’ was a lonely victorian-era structure set on the lowest hill in the valley of the serpents to conceal its location. In a way it was the headquarters of the ring of wraiths.

Seating himself on the moor by the marsh, once a lake teeming with dragons Tristan felt the cold soil between his fingers and the chirp of birds on his headphones made him feel like he could have a brief escape, a moment to make sense of the chaos. He stared into the woods as he waited for Pyry to arrive and present her demands. 

This was all their fault, their stupidity. More specifically, his ancestors. They wandered around giving away eons of knowledge in the pursuit of peace. Peace between two worlds that never should have met is unachievable. The war with the humans is inevitable and they are not ready in the least. Spirits are low and grain is rare. And worst of all - The Evaluation Of Clans was not far away.

“Still searching?” teased a voice emanating from the woods “she’s not dead” Tristan’s fingers immediately found it’s way to his daggers. 

“What do you want Pyry?”, “My demands are simple, once you cross the split, get me a human; I would prefer a live one” inching closer.

A dagger landed about a millimeter away from the figure “come any closer and you’ll see how accurately I can throw”. Apparently she didn’t get the message. She paused just before she emerged from the shadows.

The air was so thick, it could be cut with his remaining dagger. Pyry’s presence, stood unfazed by the warning dagger. Her demeanor was as if she found the entire situation amusing. She stepped into the dim light revealing a slender frame that did not belong to her.

“Oh, it’s just you” Tristan instantly relaxed and found his way back to his patch of grass. Delphi laughed heartily “You should have seen your face. But in all seriousness I need a favor, I need a human”

"Why would I get you a human?" he said "What's in it for me?"

Delphi's lips curled into a sly smile. “You see, I have my reasons, and you have your debts. Consider it a debt repaid."

Tristan scowled at the reminder, remembering how their paths crossed during the Ascension. Delphi had a knack for showing up at the most inconvenient times, like a shadow waiting to claim its due.

She took a step closer, the red glow from her spirit casting eerie shadows on the ground. "Don't be foolish, the split is a treacherous place, and you might find that you need allies more than you think."

Tristan hesitated, weighing the risks and the potential gains. The split was a dangerous boundary, and Delphi's request added another layer of complexity to an already intense situation. But in this uncertain world, allies were precious commodities.

“Look, you’re gone… just accept it” I sighed finding my way back to the patch of grass. Dusk finally made an entrance and the Sun shone through the clouds for the last time today. “If you accept that I’m gone you have to accept that she’s gone too” forcing me to hold on the shard of hope I had.

“Polly was taught by you, do you not have faith in your teachings?”

“I did have faith, well… look where that got me” she replied holding up her translucent hands. “My being may be gone, but my spirit was too powerful to go and proof of that is that you’re talking to me right now. Until that power runs out I’ll exist in a matter of speaking.” Typical ravenheart guff.

“Is there anything at all that I can do to repay your debt except that? Money, favor of the king? Anything?”

“None of that is worth as much as my life.”

As he contemplated what he was about to do, they fell into a perfect silence. Not an awkward one, a peaceful one where they could understand what each of them were going to say without having to speak. 

As Tristan thought about his journey tomorrow, he dipped into a dreamless comatose-like sleep.