The Spark

Prologue

As the moon appeared behind a cloud, momentarily, a silhouette broke through the glow of stars.

It is gone in a flash, but it is noticeable. That flash certified the silhouette's impending doom.

In a second, the crow launched off of the ledge.

The silhouette flashed in and out of the path of stars. One glimpse behind it revealed the monstrous crow on its tail. The silhouette's breath stabbed in and out of it's lungs desperately. Through a shaft of moonlight, it is shown to be a sparrow, its sleek feathers carrying a glossy sheen. The sparrow glanced back once more to see how far away the crow was.

A fatal mistake.

An invisible shadow slammed into the sparrow, sending it cartwheeling out of its path of flight. A sticky wetness blossoms from the sparrow's wing, staining its feathers a wine red in the dim light of the stars. The sparrow let loose a muffled caw, blocked by the tiny, fragile figure cradled in the sparrow's beak. The crow catches the sparrow in its talons, keeping both the sparrow and the dainty parcel aloft.

Below the three, there is only a black void.

I am thousands of miles above ground, the sparrow thought. One slip of the crow's talons and I'm gone for. Not to mention the hatchling...

The crow emitted a darkly amused croak. "Feeling afraid of heights, Sparrow?" he rasped. "I tell you what. Hand over the hatchling and I'll let you try to fly away. I won't even shred your other wing. No promises that you'll make it through the rest of the Bluesky alive, though." the crow let out another cackling croak at his own joke.

"I will never willingly give the Crow the Spark, you wretched creature." Though his heart was beating wildly, the Sparrow's voice was clear and strong. Most likely his last words.

The crow cocked his head, and the sparrow could see the glint on his pitch black eyes, so dark they were iridescent, in the moonlight. Instead of responding, the crow dropped the sparrow and the parcel in his beak.

Shrilling, the sparrow flapped his wings desperately, feeling pain and wind rip through his shredded left wing. It was no use, he plummeted like a stone through the night. The sparrow closed his eyes, oddly calm when he came to the conclusion that there was no hope of survival for him. Was there hope for the hatchling, though? Frantically, the sparrow racked his mind for any idea of how to save the fragile bird in his beak.

Without warning, a force plowed into the sparrow. The bird screeched as this time his right wing was torn open, a deep cut straight down the middle. He was done for. He was done for.

"And that is a little example of what I can do to you, Sparrow," the Crow hissed, his beak clacking. "Wasn't that fun? Now, hand over the Spark. I don't want to have to pry it from your dead body."

The sparrow shook his head wildly, and as a cloud wisped away to reveal the moon again, the crow's eyes gleamed with mirthless glee. "I guess we'll have to do this the fun way."

Before the sparrow could react, the crow tossed him onto his other talon like he weighed nothing, and slit the sparrow's throat with a honed claw. Wrenching the blood-covered hatchling from the sparrow's beak, the crow let go of the sparrow and took off into the night. The sparrow gurgled on his own blood before everything went black.

He was minutes before he hit the ground.