Chapter 1

Whoo, finally done!

Molento woke up. Through half-closed eyes, he surveyed his surroundings. What he saw confused him. The ground sloped up all around him. The slopes formed a circle above him. Ringing the circle were trees. Past the trees was the blue sky.

Molento pushed himself up with his hands. Immediately, searing pain bloomed in his left shoulder and his head throbbed. His vision dimmed and he collapsed.

He came to once more. Being careful of his left arm, he pushed himself up with his right. His vision swam, but he was able to tell that he was in a shallow crater. He pulled himself up over the lip of the crater, wincing as his shoulder hit the edge. He crawled a little ways to the base of a tree and leaned against it.

His left shoulder still seared with pain. Looking down, he saw the last three inches of an arrow protruding from his shoulder. Minor burns and scorched fur surrounded it. He could feel the barb of the arrow imbedded deep into his joint. He knew there was only one way to get it out. Grabbing the protruding shaft, he pulled.

“Yeaaaargh,” Molento yelled, and blacked out again.

Sounds faded in and out, making no sense.

“What…here…”

“Crater… happened…”

“Blood!...arrow…”

“…kitty!... hurt”

“…take…us…”

Molento blacked out once more.

When Molento came to once more, what his senses told him made no sense. He was lying in what felt like a pile of blankets, and his shoulder was bandaged up. He opened his eyes and what he saw confused him even more. He was in what appeared to be a bedroom, but the scale was large. He was lying on the bed. As he examined the room, he noticed a mirror hanging on the opposite wall. And sitting on the bed, staring back at him was an ordinary housecat. For a moment, Molento was confused, but then realization dawned on him. He was the cat.

“I’m a cat. Nothing weird there… wait, why isn’t that weird. Why does that not surprise me?” Molento thought for a second. “What am I,” Molento asked aloud, realizing that he could not remember anything but his name.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” he panted, “Think. Name: Molento Alamortis. Check. Language: Well, I’m obviously talking, but I have no clue what language I’m speaking. Not surprised I’m a cat: means I remember something, even if it is only subconsciously.”

Molento heard something on the other side of the bedroom door, something like footsteps. The door opened and a girl walked in. She was slender and appeared to be about 15 or 16. She had bleach blond hair that swept down to the base of her shoulder blades. She had a bright, cheerful face with pronounced cheekbones framing eyes as black as obsidian that swept slightly upward.

“Kitty! You’re awake,” she exclaimed, noticing Molento. She walked over to the bed and picked Molento up. Better play this safe, it might work out in my favor to pretend to be an ordinary housecat.

The girl cradled Molento in her arms, careful of his injured shoulder and she sat down on the bed.

“Eliena! Could you come here,” a man’s voice yelled from elsewhere in the house.

“Come on kitty,” the girl sighed, walking to the door. She opened it, and they stepped out into a hallway that ran the length of the house. The hallway ran to the wall at the right, and the stairs to the left. Besides the door to Eliena’s room, one door led off the hallway. Eliena closed her door and hurried over to the stairs. She jumped the stairs two at a time, emerging into a large room that took up most of the ground floor of the house. It contained a table and chairs in one corner and in the other, a kitchen area with a door to the only other room, a pantry.

Standing by the front door, which was situated in the middle of the front wall, was a man, in his mid thirties, that looked enough like Eliena to be her father, but drastically different. Although their builds were the same and their faces bore a resemblance to each other’s, almost nothing was the same. The man had short, black hair that stuck up everywhere, looking windblown. His eyes were blue, and they didn’t angle at all. His face was similar to Eliena’s, but his cheekbones were less pronounced, and a large scar marred his face, just below his eye, as though someone or something had nearly taken out his eye.

“Daddy,” Eliena exclaimed, “look who woke up.” She lifted Molento up slightly to show her father.

“Mhmm, that’s nice,” her father said distractedly, “could you go into town and get John, the plow broke.”

“Okay daddy.”

Eliena walked over to the door and her father opened it for her. She stepped out into the sunshine, and Molento nearly gasped. Surrounding them was a small farm, half plowed, the plow sitting in the field with a house nearby. Around that were large dark trees. And beyond that were mountains. The mountains in front of them were tall, and steadily got taller. When Eliena turned around to wave at her father, Molento noticed that the mountains behind the house were shorter than the ones in front, and no additional mountains could be seen past them.

Eliena set off down the path leading away from the house. Once it hit the trees, the path ran into a road. Eliena took a left, and continued her way down the read, which had a natural roof of branches from the trees lining either side. She walked down the road, her breath slightly misting in the crisp midmorning mountain air.

After about five minutes of walking, they arrived at a small village. The buildings only numbered about thirty. They were arranged in a rough grid, creating roads and alleyways between each building. They were all made of wood, cut from the forest to make room for the village. High above, almost a thousand feet above, on a neighboring mountain, sat the ruins of an old castle.

Eliena threaded her way thought the village, obviously going somewhere she knew well. She soon reached the door of a building that appeared to be a house. She kicked the door lightly, as if knocking, because she still held Molento.

After a few moments, the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a man about the same age as Eliena’s father, with short, curly blond hair. He was tall and powerfully built, with thick arms and legs, and his neck looked like an ox’s.

“Ah, David’s daughter,” he said in a deep rumble, “what brings you here?”

“Daddy needs your help,” Eliena explained, “the plow broke again.”

“That thing breaks every year, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, Daddy says it’s a piece of junk.”

John stepped out and closed the door. “Let’s go then,” he said as he did so. They made their way back through the village. As they neared the edge of the village, John noticed Molento in Eliena’s arms.

“Oh, hello,” John said, leaning down, “who is this?”

“This is Kitty,” Eliena said, “My dad and I found him in the woods after that castle collapsed, near a crater. We took him home and patched him up. His left foreleg was injured.”

Molento turned and stared at John. “He seems almost intelligent,” John said, staring back.

“All cats are smart.”

“Wait; hold up, you named him Kitty?”

“Yeah… so?”

“No reason, no reason.”

John straightened up, a small smile on his lips. They continued down the main road, and eventually reached the farm. There they split up, John going over to David, and Eliena heading back inside with Molento.

Just before they reached the door, however, David hurried over. “Eliena,” he said, slightly out of breath, “There is something I need to tell you, now that it is your 16^th birthday.”

They headed inside, and sat down at the table, on which rested a long, thin package wrapped in brown paper.

“What do you want to tell me,” Eliena asked, curious.

“It’s about your mother,” David explained, gazing at the package as if it brought back memories. “And you,” he finished, after a long pause.

“What about us?”

“Your mother wasn’t from around here. Neither of us was, really, but her more so than me. She was a great warrior, wandering the land. At the time, I was with a group of… people, and we ran into her. She didn’t want to fight us, but the leaders of our group were scared and suspicious of her. They told us to attack, and we did.”

“Against a ‘great warrior’?”

“We didn’t know how good she was at that time, and most of us were good fighters ourselves, and we had the advantage of numbers.

“The fight was over, though, almost as soon as it started. Your mother incapacitated everyone without killing anyone. She took out everyone but me, and she would have taken me out, but I had hesitated. I didn’t believe that it was right to attack what I had thought was a harmless civilian woman. She turned to me then, after she had defeated everyone else, and asked me why we had attacked her. I told her about our leaders being frightened and suspicious of her, and that they had ordered us to attack. I also explained why I hadn’t attacked, and also that if anyone found out that I hadn’t attacked, I would be shunned from our group.

“She told me then that she could get us both out of there and to safety, if I so wished. I accepted, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the others found out. I would have to run anyway, so why not go with her?

“When I told her that I accepted, she took us away from there as fast as an eagle. You see, your mother was an Avin.”

“A…An Avin? But that means that I’m-“

“Half Avin, yes.”

“But how, I don’t have any wings. If I was half Avin, wouldn’t I have wings?”

“Not yet.”

“Not yet? What does that mean?”

“Most people don’t know this, but Avins don’t have wings before they turn 16. At that age, almost always on their 16^th birthday, their wings grow. It is a very fast and, as I have heard it, very painful process.”

Eliena looked worried about this, but David didn’t notice, because he was looking at the package again. He stood up and lifted it off the table.

“This,” he told Eliena, “is your birthday present.”

He held it out to Eliena, and she took it. She took off the wrapping paper, curious as to what it was. Slowly, she uncovered a long, black varnished, wooden pole. As she finished uncovering it, Eliena’s eyes grew wide. At the end of the pole was a spearhead, black as the night, sharp as a razor.

“This was your mother’s,” David explained, “she left it in my care before she disappeared. She told me to give it to you on your 16^th birthday. It is enchanted to never break, except under the most extreme circumstances. This was the weapon that she used to defeat the group of… people I was with when I met her.” David gave a small chuckle. “I always told her it suited her,” he told Eliena, “because it matched her eyes, just as it does yours, which are just as black.”

Eliena stared at the spear in her hands, unable to believe that her mother was an Avin, and a great warrior.

“Now,” David said with a tone of finality, “I need to get back out there and make sure John doesn’t mess up fixing the plow, like he does every year.” He hurried over to the door and opened it. “Happy birthday, Eliena,” he said as he closed the door.

Eliena got up as if in a trance. She slowly glided over to the stairs and started up them, a disbelieving look on her face, as if this was all a dream and she would wake up soon to a normal world, in which she was fully human. She pushed the door to her room open and walked in, then shut it again. She set Molento down on the bed and walked over to the mirror on the wall, staring at her own reflection as if she were scared of it.

Watching her, Molento felt the sudden, strong urge to speak to her. And so, even though he knew it was probably not a good idea, he did. “Look at it this way,” he said, and she jumped, “You only have a few hours to dread it, then it will happen, and you will have wings.”

Eliena jumped at the sound of his voice, and dropped the spear. “Who said that,” she asked, turning around.

“I did,” Molento replied, raising a paw.

“You did,” Eliena asked, astonished, “But-but you’re a cat!”

“I’m not really a cat,” Molento responded, “I lost my memory, and I don’t remember much, but I do know that I’m not a cat. I think I have shape shifting powers, and that they might be partly controlled by a survival reflex. I can just barely remember waking up in a crater and crawling out, and I was definitely not a cat. I had an arrow in my shoulder, and I pulled it out. Then, nothing.”

As Molento spoke, Eliena slowly relaxed, and started to look concerned.

“That must be when we found you.”

“Yeah, that must be.

“Anyway, back to what I was saying, knowing for only a few hours is better than knowing for years.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m not really sure, but I think that I’m an Avin, at least partially.”

“Well, full Avins don’t have magic, except for a few rare innate abilities. And if you can shape shift without your memories, that must be innate, and only Nekons have that innate ability. If you really are part Avin, you must be a cross of Avin and Nekon, but that’s not possible, they hate each other.”

“You seem to know a lot about magic.”

“Well… yes. It has always been a dream of mine to be a mage, but I guess that’s not possible, since I’m an Avin.”

“You’re only half Avin. Do humans have magic?”

“Yes, most do, but they aren’t as powerful as a Nekon.”

“Then it may still be possible, keep up hope!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” Eliena said, cheering up slightly.

Out of the corner of his eye, through the window, Molento noticed John leaving and David continuing to plow. At that moment, a loud crack rang through the silence, like many bones breaking at once, accompanied by the sound of ripping cloth. A moment later, Eliena’s scream cut through the air. Outside, David stopped plowing and ran to the house, but John didn’t react. He must be out of hearing range, Molento thought, lucky timing, no one was around that didn’t know about Eliena being half Avin.

“Listen to me,” Molento said, talking quickly because he knew it would take David less than a minute to get there, “do not reveal that I’m anything but a common housecat to anybody, even your father, do you hear me? Nod yes if you do.”

Eliena gave a small nod just as David opened the door to her room, panting. He rushed over and knelt beside Eliena. “Are you okay,” he asked, resting a hand on Eliena’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Eliena groaned, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

David stood up and examined Eliena’s wings, which were only about a foot long and covered in a thin layer of blood. “Amazing,” he breathed, “that was so fast it must be magic driven. Come on, let’s get you downstairs and cleaned up.”

They stood up, and David started to guide Eliena to the door, but she stopped and scooped up Molento before she went. As they went through the door, even though her wings were small, Eliena banged the tip of one on the door frame.

“That’s going to get annoying,” she muttered, and Molento gave her a look that said: You have no idea.

David continued to guide Eliena, not noticing the almost silent exchange. They went downstairs, and David sat Eliena down in one of the chairs at the table.

“Odd,” David said, “I wonder why they’re so sm-“

CRACK! Eliena’s wings grew another foot reach, but this time she didn’t scream.

“Oh,” David said in a small voice, “I guess they’re not done growing. I’ll go get something to wipe off the blood.”

As David went over and rummaged around in the small kitchen area, Molento whispered to Eliena. “Get ready,” he warned, “Those were just small ones, nothing compared to the third and final growth. That one will hurt.”

Eliena’s face showed a brief moment of panic. Then, as David came back carrying a large cloth and a basin of water, Eliena’s wings finished growing. With a cracking sound ten times louder than the other two, Eliena’s wings grew to ten feet long each. Eliena’s eyes widened to large, almost perfect circles, and she screamed so loudly and shrilly that the glass in all of the downstairs windows cracked. David stumbled back in surprise and tripped, breaking the basin of water on the floor. Water pooled around the table, and Molento clung onto Eliena so as not to fall into it, because she had relaxed her grip and would have dropped him otherwise.

David picked himself up, dripping wet. “Wow,” he breathed, staring at Eliena’s wings, which were covered completely in a layer of blood that hid the true color of her feathers. Even with the blood, they were obviously a light color.

David hurried back to the kitchen area and grabbed another basin, this on empty. Hurrying to the door, he told Eliena, “Just wait here,” and disappeared outside.

“Could you put me on the table,” Molento said, “or at least hold on to me tighter, I don’t like water in this form.”

Eliena lifted Molento and set him on the table. He sat down and looked at Eliena.

“In this form,” Eliena asked, “not in any other forms?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that, at this moment, I don’t want to get wet.”

David reappeared at the door, the basin filled with water. He walked over and set the basin on the table and picked up the washcloth, which was soaked from the water on the floor. He began to wipe the blood off of Eliena’s wings. While he worked, neither David nor Eliena spoke, both caught up in their thoughts.

Half an hour later, Eliena’s wings were completely clean, and gleamed with a shimmering white color. Molento took a closer look and realized that some of the feathers were silver or grey, creating the shimmering effect as they moved slightly.

Finished, David tossed the washcloth into the basin, splashing water on the table. Molento dodged it and screeched like a cat really would. David, meanwhile, sat back and stared at Eliena’s wings.

“Amazing,” he said, “same color as your mother’s. Wait here,” he said suddenly, jumping up and running for the stairs.

Eliena barely heard him. She was staring at her wings, dumbfounded.

“So,” Molento asked casually, as if this were normal, “How does it feel?”

Eliena took a moment to register what Molento had said. “It feels weird,” she finally responded, “like a new body part, obviously, but also like I’m rejecting them and accepting them at the same time.”

“You’ll get used to them,” Molento assured, “in time you won’t be able to imagine life without them.”

Above them, a door closed and David reappeared at the top of the stairs. He descended quickly and hurried over to Eliena. In his hand was a small parcel wrapped in the same paper that Eliena’s spear had been.

“I almost forgot about this,” David said, “this used to belong to your mother as well, and it is also now yours.”

He placed the package in Eliena’s hands. Hesitantly, as if fearing it might attack, she opened it. Inside laid a necklace with a pendant. The pendant was made of a shiny white metal and shaped like an angel, wings spread. On the angel’s chest was an engraving of an ankh. I know that symbol, how do I know that symbol, Molento wondered.

“Your mother always told me that this was special, and that it is a family heirloom,” David explained.

Eliena was silent for a long time, just staring at the necklace. “Tell me,” she finally said, “tell me about the Avins.”

David sighed and sat down. “Not much is known by humans about the Avins. They obviously share many traits with humans, but they are obviously very different from humans. For one thing, they have wings, and that is where most people’s understanding of them ends. But, there are more differences, more subtle ones. They have much sharper eyesight than humans, and are much stronger. They also live for centuries.”

“What about their society,” Eliena asked in a small voice.

“That, I don’t know,” David responded, “the mountains separate the humans from the Avins and Nekons, for the most part, although they claim the territory up to the end of the foothills as theirs.

“What I do know is that the Avins are ruled by a king, and he has a son, both are named Aleris, Aleris Viand VII. Rumors about a grandson have started circulating in the last few years, but nothing is confirmed.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Old acquaintances keep me informed about the outside world.”

“Do you know about the Nekons?”

“Not much, just that they are locked in war with the Avins, and they too are ruled by a king, and his daughter.”

“What are their names?”

“Veinz and Nyanta.”

“Thanks,” Eliena said, putting on her necklace, “I’m going to go to my room now.”

“Okay, I know this is a lot to digest, I’ll go back outside and continue to plow,” David said, standing up.

He went outside, and Eliena started to get up, but stopped when she heard David yelling.

“Stupid piece of junk,” he shouted, then reappeared at the door. “I’m going to get John,” he explained, “I’ll be back soon.”

David closed the door and Eliena stood up, picking up Molento as she did so.

“Why didn’t he send you again,” Molento asked.

“I think he wants to have a few ‘choice words’ with him before he gets here,” Eliena responded with a smile, heading upstairs.