Defekt

Prologue

Upon a broken lineage, there first was the Berserker, a warrior from the icy Northlands across the seas. They say he left footsteps in the earth like a giant, each thud of his boots caused booms like thunder. They say he strode over mountains, roared like the stormy seas he sailed, and struck terror into every heart on every shore his shadow-ship touched. Many forgotten generations passed, and little Frerik Winterbane crossed that sea, settled with the fickle and finicky Anna Clawscar in the not-so-far off land of Marinia, and gave life to their only son - Kleng Karle. Kleng followed his father’s footsteps and joined Marinia’s reknowned military, the Marinia Royale. Frerik, however, had served in their army. Kleng became a navy man, and like his blood might suggest, he became a skilled captain. Kleng was wed to the beautiful Nadine Freiengel, and she bore him five children. Of the five was Sekka, who followed her father’s path in the Marinia Royale Navy, serving with honor even as the government went black and the nation was subjected to the tyranny of the Royale Deux monarchy, headed by the despot Keiser Shoa and his wicked wife, Keiserinne Henna. When Sekka left her esteemed position in service of Marinia’s Navy, she was reduced to hardly more than a serf only to be ridiculed further for mothering  a bastard child. This was the little lynxmaid Moonlitsilver Winterbane, who was said to be the spitting image in and out of the late Kleng Karle. 

     And so it was the birthright of any descendant of the Berserker to inherit a burning spirit, and it burned so strongly in this unassuming lynxmaid the flames threatened to consume her. Yet there she was, dreaming, talking to herself in the dead of night and unable to fix an awful habit of biting off more than she could ever hope to chew in flurries of quixotic ambition.  

   It was black and the air smelled of death and sickness. 

Somewhere, some fires were lit.