Emiliana Cornelius

Prologue

The mountains never looked as beautiful as it were as the spring season breathed new life into its slopes. Birds chirping from the evergreen trees, the warm air pure and wild, the rushing flow of water down the slopes, the serenading grasslands and the creatures as they awakened from their long winter slumber. The wind washed across the landscape, making the trees dance and leaves scatter.
But the mountains weren't alone today, visitors lurked around its scapes. Little children skipped across, their heartwarming laughters echoing across the plains. Accompanied by women and men, some in pairs and others walked alone constantly surveying the mountains, their amber eyes scorching the slopes with such intensity. They all stood out in their bright red clothes; some of the women wearing veils over their head, highlighting their pale faces and sharp features. Right in the middle surrounded by four men walked a lady, cradling a small bun to her chest. This bun had large blue eyes with gold flecks and with a smile that could warm the coldest of hearts.
The troupe made their way down the mountain from a hike up its peak, which bore conditions fit no human. But they weren't human either. They were something more. The lady smiled at her little bun and covering its face with little kisses. The wind blew across, blowing leaves, swaying the tall grasses, carrying silence with it; and something more.
Just as light filled the mountain planes, darkness had come. The mountain troupe had company. Black capes moving as quick as the eye could blink swarmed the planes. The women in red rushed to grab the children and flee while the men took the other direction towards the intruders. Laughter which had filled the slopes turned to gut wrenching screams. The intruders tore through in lightening speed striking down men, women and children. Snarls filled the air as the battle thickened. While the women and children left scampered for safety the intruders were held down by men in red capes, matching their speed and agility.
But the focus of the intruders centered on the lady and child fiercely guarded by a dozen men putting themselves in between the intruders and the woman and child. Cradling her baby right in her arms, she turned and fled, like a blur through the trees. On her heels some of the intruders followed. As tears dripped down her face she ran, her world in her hands; too important to let go. But luck was not on her side today as she approached a cliff end and had to stop, for the way down though safe for her to jump but much too risky for her child, and a risk she couldn't afford to take. Turning back she wasn't alone as half a dozen men stood, in black capes highlighting their blood red eyes filled with hunger for blood and death. With one last look at her child and a kiss to its head, and muttering a few words, cradled her baby to her chest and a last look at the sky fell back, over the cliff into the darkness below.