The Sun's Awakening

Chapter One

The darkness did not live... It thrived.

It clung to Eledorah like the damp soil of a plant that needed water.

Four months passed by without word from the one who declared her to be his mate. The most recent month that skirted by ushered in a change of season that made the morning breeze tolerable. Ele still clung her darkening wings around her frame to block the crisp air. Every morning, crimson feathers molted onto the forest floor and mixed with the fallen leaves, a piece of her forever to remain in the wilderness.

Even the queen only visited twice to bring an abundance of supplies to get the broken girl through the colder months. That left Ele alone: with her thoughts, with her memories... but she was not truly alone when dwelling on those things.

'We're still here.' The ricocheting voices chimed in her head.

They always reminded her of their presence. It became so common to hear them that she confused them with her own conscience. When she faced any decision, whether it was to get out of bed that day or what to eat for dinner, they guided her and she hardly recognized the difference now. Was the choice hers or theirs?

One choice stuck out that afternoon... The choice to run. To fly. To escape.

Whether it be the prison these voices constructed or the prison that Kaanan told her to remain in; she needed out of both.

Turning off the pot of boiling water for her afternoon tea was an afterthought. She just got the door properly shut when she ruffled her wings out of their tucked position behind her back. It felt like stretching after an eternity of rest. The warning not to leave this cabin until her mate came to retrieve her was muted by the first flap of her wings.

She used the momentum of the second flap to push off the ground and trust that the wings would allow her access to the skies. They never failed her before and she was happy to find that hadn't changed.

The wind picked off where their months of slumber was apparent. They didn't carry her as gracefully... Something she would need to work on. And they troubled to carry her weight for long. Not long after taking to the skies, the muscles between her shoulder blades ached and even the act of gliding taxed her strength.

It felt freeing, if only for a little while, to be among the clouds. She eased down to earth slowly, not wanting to give up the feeling just yet. A trail beneath her widened from being commonly traveled on and opened the trees to provide a decent landing strip.

If her flight was the least bit graceful... The landing was even more so.

She prayed no one saw and then remembered the chorus of observers in her head.

'Very nice, our graceful angel.' She practically heard their sarcastic praise as if the words were spoken by someone directly behind her.

Wisely, Ele never encouraged them. She never responded or showed interest in their taunts.

Until they picked up on something through her senses that she wished she had the foresight to ignore...

'Smell that? All that blood, all that torn flesh?'

She inhaled deeply, allowing them to take over her body only to confirm their statement. Their hold on her strengthened with each passing day. At first, it was the improvement of her sight. Then her hearing. And more recently, scents have been hitting her nostrils that were once foreign to her. Faenixes didn't have these prominent abilities.

Vampires and other creatures did... And apparently, so did the demons inhabiting her.

When she turned, a vibrant scenery painted across the landscape of the wide trail. One of strewn corpses; mangled bodies of faenix warriors strung about the branches of trees and tossed over bushes like an exhibit for the next spectator to admire. An art piece made to ward off and warn. The bodies were unrecognizable, even as those of man, the only thing giving away their species being their vibrant wings.