A Court of Feather and Bone

Chapter 1

The sun rose from behind the peaks of the snow capped mountains, the rays illuminating the sparkling snow with each pass. Awaking the city of Tempus below. I stood on the cliff wide eyed, breathing in the first seconds of daylight. The breeze brushing against my bare hands breaking my skin out in a whirlwind of chills. I eyed the gentle slopes of snow on each mountain now glistening from the suns' gentle rays. I shuffled up to the edge of the cliff and widened my arms before allowing myself to slowly fall off the cliff in a slow descent. I fell for a few minutes like a fallen bird before snapping out my wings and gliding the rest of the way downward into the outstretched arms of a city I grew up in. I turned my head to peek at my large wings, while I was five foot seven, my wings towered over me at a large six feet, they were heavy from the amount of feathers that coated my wings and a small portion of my back. The soft dove gray melting into a deep gray at the tips, the inside of my wings a stark white with small patches of black. A Harpy Eagle is what they called me, a symbol of freedom and strength. I beg to differ. Yet that was what I was created after. My ears matched my wings, they started at where human ears would be placed and ended near the top of my head in points that matched the color of my wings. Similar to cat ears. My copper hair flowing around them as if my ears were rocks in a pool of coppery blood. I glided down as slow as possible, trying to delay my training for as long as possible.

I was only twenty years of age in my long immortal life, while I was fully grown for what I would be for the rest of eternity, my powers were still beginning to show themselves. While we are not supposed to train until the summer season, I was forced to after in a fit of anger summoned a large wildcat in the middle of our kitchen to attack my mother. She screamed, and after killing the beast dragged me to the nearest barrack to get me lessons. When the summer rolled around the rest of Tempus would send their of age children to the barracks where we would go through extensive matchmaking and testing to find out what powers laid beneath our skin. From there we would be placed into groups of eleven or twelve others and this would be our new flock. In any battle, war, or even a simple patrol, this is who we would be with for life.

I landed gently onto the ground as soft as a cat and strolled over to a small house on the edge of the street, my family's house spewing small puffs of smoke as the morning's hunt was roasting on the fire. We were not poor, but we were not as well off as others. Harpy eagles in our customs depending on the bloodline become the rulers over the land, Thesia. My family was not so lucky when it came to who we were, and have no ties into the royal line. Meaning we are the last in line for the throne. My sister sat at the table, a stuffed doll in hand, she was the youngest in the family, her eyes a beautiful blue like my mother's, they reminded me of the aquamarine stones you can find off the shores of Elvlossea, the Ethereal Sea. I picked her up, she was still small only making it up to my hip, her wings already a few inches taller than her, even though she allowed them to drag, as it was hard to keep them up at such a young age. I propped her on my hip as I sauntered my way over to my mother, who was slowly flipping over the salmon and trout brought home from the market. "Asteria, I thought you would be home sooner, you have training within the hour" my mother frowned, her darker hair and gleaming eyes roved over me, I wore basic clothes, my gray leather leggings, and a soft white cotton tunic, as well as mid calf high combat boots, prizing comfort over practicality. She frowned at my shirt but nodded toward my leggings and choice of footwear. I nuzzled my sister which made her smile.

My father and brother had yet to return home from the night patrol. My brother was the eldest and unlike my mother, sister, and I, he took after my father. A crow. Crows are extremely magical beings, their wings jet black and their eyes normally glow. My brother gained my father's powers and started the early training mere days after his first powers deigned to show themselves. He opened a void after throwing a tantrum over a broken toy. Since then my father trained my brother until he was ready to go to Curu, the land of the crows. It sat near the Forgotten sea on a high cliff overlooking it. The storms there were brutal and were used to amplify the magic, the woods surrounding the mountain carrying varying degrees of creatures biting at the bit to attack, it was a place where the final trainings for warriors took place, and the Murder of crows nested together.