Prologue

It is a dark, cloudy night. The moon is obscured by the clouds. Gusts of wind blow the trees back and forth. The air smells like rain. A single candle shines out of a window in an old castle. The candle illuminates a table inside the room with the window. On the table sits a piece of parchment. The nib of a quill scratches on the parchment, creating a letter. The owner of the quill sits just outside of the candle’s light. It is Molento, sometimes called the Archangel of Death, leader of the Army of Peace, a faction of Avins and Nekons fighting to end the war between their races. The letter is to his mother, princess of the Nekons. Another letter, already written, lies on the table in an envelope, ready for the morning when a secret messenger will take it to Molento’s father. Molento’s parents have to stay apart because his father is High Prince of the Avins. Molento’s parentage is kept secret from all but a select few that can be trusted to keep the secret until their graves. Both Princess Nyanta and High Prince Aleris are primed to take over the ruling of their races. The only problem is that their parents are still young enough to rule for a great many years, for both the Avins and Nekons live for centuries.

Hence, the Army of Peace. Although many Avins and Nekons hate the other, some from both sides feel that the war is evil and wish it to end. Divided, each individual thought they were the only one to think such things, for no one dared to stand up and announce that the war was wrong. No one until a small band of Avins and Nekons, then only numbering 5 made a stand. Behind this group was Molento, pulling his ties into the government of both races to spin the group as harmless, something that would blow over.

Now, a year later, the Army of Peace is several hundred strong. Despite their name, they don’t fight unless they have to.

Molento finishes his letter, puts it in an envelope and puts down his quill. The quill is made from his own feather, one of the ones that occasionally fall out of his wings, his pitch black wings that he inherited from his father. Avins. The humans sometimes call them angels. They resemble humans in height and build, but they have several features that distinguish them. Most have golden eyes. All have wings and better vision than humans.

Molento sights and rubs his face with the palms of his hands. He looks out the window at the clouds and the waving trees.

“Such a nice night,” Molento muses, “good weather for a flight.” He crosses the room and stands at the window. A cloud shifts and the moon shines down, illuminating Molento’s face. It is cat-like, with a short snout and vertical slits for pupils. He has cat’s ears. He is covered in short; tiger patterned fur and has jet black hair. All this he inherited from his mother, along with claw like fingernails and catlike feet. In other words, Nekon traits. Human in stature, but distinctly catlike, Nekons are feared by humans because of their appearance, but the few humans that have met a Nekon and talked to him or her know that they are friendly and mainly loyal to their friends. They are the only race to possess innate shape shifters. They also possess the largest amount of non innate shape shifters, and they often take the form of various cats, both large and small.

Molento opens the window and cold air hits his face. He climbs out the window onto a small ledge outside. He sniffs at the air, smelling rain with his sensitive cat nose. He jumps out into empty space and falls for a few heartbeats, then opens his wings. With a twenty foot wingspan, no one would mistake him for a bird, and if he ever flew in the day, no one would ever mistake him for an Avin. For this reason, he only flies during the night and stays concealed in his room during the day. Molento swoops and soars for a few minutes before turning back to look at the Army’s home. It is a large castle, found abandoned, high in the mountains. The only road up had long since been destroyed, so the only way a Nekon can get in is to be carried by an Avin and flown up. For this reason, the castle is the perfect place for the Army, because it is in Nekon territory, and no Avin could get close without significant trouble and planning.

Molento flies some more, not knowing that he’s being watched. A Nekon scout party watches from the trees down the mountain. They believe him to be an Avin. They know him to be in the Army of Peace, which they have been searching for. They raise their bows. They take aim. And release. Twenty magic arrows fly through the air, one straight at Molento, the other nineteen at the castle. Molento hears the arrow flying towards him, but is too slow to completely dodge it, and is hit in the shoulder instead of the heart. The magical backlash from the arrow causes a small explosion. Molento drops out of the air, and as he falls, the last thing that he sees is the castle being reduced to rubble as the arrows hit key structural points and explode…

Author's Note

Font weirdness fix'd

Reviews

[Ace D Portgas]

Alright I really loved this, this was a great start to the story but I'm kind of wondring if maybe you should end the chapter on either him being scouted by the Nekon's or end it when they shoot the arrows...I think it would leave a lot more expense for the next chapter, like make the readers want to know if he gets hit and what happens to the castle instead of throwing it in at the last few sentences so you can have a whole chapter to focus on him and his reactions

Other than that I really liked how you brought the story in...We got a description of races, appearances, and some important figures in the story...And you did it at a nice pace, I like the backstory on the Army of Peace

As for grammar problems I didn't notice any

And I'm not sure if you noticed but the font changes lol

Overall I really liked it and looking forward to reading the next chapter