The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 1: Life Begins Anew

It was an unusually warm autumn day in the Nightingale Mountains. The forests covering the mountain range looked as if they were on fire; the sunlight hit the slowly moving leaves whose hues stretched from bright golden yellows to racy blood reds. Sometimes the light breeze would loosen a couple of leaves that took to the sky like embers.

Suddenly, a high pitched wail yanked Raven out of the unconscious state she had sunken into. Disoriented, she tried to open her eyes so she could find the source of the screaming. Her eyes refused her command at first, but after some struggling a blurry world of light filled her eyes, and Raven realized to her surprise that she herself was the perpetrator.

'What is going on?'

She tried to stop screaming but her body responded sluggishly.

"There, there. Everything is alright." A gentle soft voice cooed in her ear.

Blinking, Raven forced herself to calm down, slowly gaining control over her body and voice. The wails came to an end and the blurry world became clearer and clearer. Looking at her surroundings and her own tiny hands Raven could only come to one conclusion: she had been reborn, and if the architecture of the room was anything to go by, it was not in a place remotely close to the where - and perhaps even when - she came from!

She was currently lying in the arms of a young woman that looked down on her with tender, loving eyes. A shudder ran through the small body of the former Raven Night - never had she been looked at with eyes like those. . . . The woman was obviously very tired and her long light violet hair clung tightly to her face, but despite this she had a slight warm glow about her. To Raven the woman seemed like a star lighting up a dark night sky.

Without looking away from her newborn baby, the lady spoke: "I'iwi, let Lord Maleo know that he has sired a lovely little daughter."

'What language is this? I can understand what they are saying, but I don't recognize it at all. . . .'

"Yes, Lady Besra." Light steps scurried out of the room.

"Hello, little one." With a pearly white hand, the woman lightly poked at Raven's bead-sized nose. "Welcome to Trinity. I am your mother, Besra." A bright smile spread across her face, and Raven couldn't help but stretch out a fumbling hand towards the woman.

"maoa . . . ," a small sound rolled out of Raven's mouth, followed by a baffled look on her infant face. 'Ah, I can't speak yet - my vocal cords haven't develop completely, I guess.' The baffled look was quickly replaced by that of serendipity; 'this mother of mine seems very kind. . . .' For Raven, the love she felt from this 'Lady Besra' was something she had never experienced before and she already cherished it deeply.

Just as Raven's tiny hand was about to reach her mother's cheek, she could her the door opening and, in the same instant, a huge figure loomed over the bed in which Lady Besra and little Raven were resting. Raven froze and stared at the figure. It was a powerfully built man, at most thirty years old, whose black hair was arranged in a thick braid swaying behind him. He wore fine silken garments in different shades of green, intricate copper patterns were woven over his chest and arms.

"Maleo! Don't shadow walk in front of the child, you will scare her!" reprimanded Besra.

"Haha, how could a child of mine possibly be scared so easily!" bellowed the man named Maleo, but noticing the glare Besra gave him he immediately quieted down, a guilty look on his face.

But Raven hadn't been scared, she had been dumbfounded. How could a man possibly move so quickly? Sure, she had been focused on her mother and no doubt her senses as a baby were not what they had been as an adult, but the man had appeared out of nowhere. . . .