Feathers -eng ver-

Prologue

Rarely seen and considered as the descendants of the Goddess of Life and Health, angels had been respected and acclaimed as spiritual guides for centuries. They had been portrayed as sensitive creatures with gentle spirits and were believed to be the bringers of happiness.

In the smallest and most remote villages, they were believed to be able to heal every disease, which had made them, as the generations passed -especially after the view of them had been reversed due to an accident- the most hunted and prized targets by slavers.

After hundreds of years of privilege, angels had found themselves -in just a couple of generations- hiding because of hunting and abuse aimed at their minority. Shared by their harmonious facial features and light-colored eyes and hair, they had had to learn to hide and to camouflage themselves. The individuals who were considered the most beautiful were the most hunted, the ones who suffered the worst evil, the ones who were sold at the most expensive price. Very soon, they had become one of the rarest and most valuable commodities within the First Kingdom market.

Their peculiarity was what made them extremely rare: their semen was passed in every blood link, but it was passive for at least four or five consecutive generations. Therefore, before a "gifted" was born in the family, people had already forgotten about the one that came before -especially because of the secrecy that was reserved for that kind of information.

This peculiarity also defined why -very often- children born with wings failed to make it to adulthood: parents, not expecting their diversity, often abandoned or even killed their own children, fearful of attracting the wrath of the Gods or some misfortune or curse on their family.

Moreover, all angels possessed a skill that made them almost untraceable: they had the ability to hide their wings and make them disappear, thus appearing only as normal human beings. Because of this, it had come to be believed that anyone with characteristics such as blue eyes or blond hair was part of the species that was as hunted as it was hated.

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Born into an unstable economic situation, Noya was the youngest of three siblings. His parents could barely earn the minimum to support themselves and their three children, and situations in which there was a shortage of food on the table were not too rare.

Tiny and with delicate features, the eight-year-old boy could claim ash-blond hair to adorn, along with blue-gray eyes, his rosy, childlike face. Despite the difficult situation into which he had been born, he was happy and carefree: he didn't understand why his mother always covered his hair and face, and he honestly didn't even care.

It was fine like that.

He lived in the outskirts of The Two Cities, the capital of their province -the Middle Valley. The advantage of living in an alley was that he could observe city life, but without being seen. He used to enjoy -often with his older brothers- exploring the area in which he lived. He used to memorize the alleys and streets and the kind of people who frequented them, hiding from the eyes of those who seemed to be looking for trouble and, above all, from those of the soldiers.

He used to observe and study with curiosity the workshops, the marketplace, and what adults called "Moon Houses". Although he was repeatedly told not to go near them, these had always attracted his curiosity because they were places from which came sweet and feminine scents, music, and light and warmth at night.

He did notice: only men frequented those strange dwellings, and only after the sun had gone down. From time to time, he saw young girls coming out of them, in couples, going shopping. They seemed to be the ones who lived in those spacious and welcoming houses, he used to tell himself when he secretly observed them. Rarely, he would also see some boys a little older than his siblings coming out -around fifteen or seventeen years old perhaps.