The Four Omens

Chapter 1- The Hellion child

(9 years later)

The year of the silver ram, 29AE

"Once again, the youngling is late. What does she do out in the ashen lands? There is nothing out there but soot and death." Medoris spoke gruffly, sifting through a book of spells. Murmurs surrounded him, and he found it troubling that he couldn't decipher whether it was coming from his own troubled mind or the books and scrolls that laid nestled within their respected shelves. Suddenly, the doors to the arcane room opened, and entering was a young Angelu, or a messenger.

"Your grace." he greeted, mild and meek like a dove. "We've not encountered the beast-child anywhere. But her tracks had led our guards towards the borders. She seem to be-"

"Enough with your beating around the bush, angelu. The girl had gone passed the canyon of sorrow, has she?" he asked in an eerily calm manner.

"Y-Yes.. your grace." replied the angelu, shaking in his leather boots.

A sigh left Medoris' pale lips as he stood, his long, black and purple robe hissed beneath him as he motioned towards the messenger. "Let us not say a word to our lord, understood? Lest we all suffer his unspeakable wrath and he has been quite...unquenched of his blood thirst as of late." Medoris said, once again in a calm demeanor. "Go and gather a group of trackers, tell them to scour the canyon for the hellion child. She must learn to stay in Omnia, there is nothing out there for her."

The angelu nodded and without wasting another second, he went to the barracks to gather their best trackers to find the child.

Medoris heaved a burdened sigh, turning back to his books and scrolls, continuing his studies in the dark arts.

***

The dust and soot flew behind her, the smell of sulphur was strong in the air. But that did not hinder the hellion child from exploring every inch of Omnia. She had been to many places, only to see that beyond the ashen lands were blackened oceans riddled with dead fish and beyond that still, wee grey horizons. But the voice inside her pushed her southward and there, she discovered territory that she direly wanted to go far beyond. She had discovered a canyon, on the other side in the far distance looked like mountains and hills. It looked green, she had never seen green hills before. And the sky, from smokey grey bleeding into blue. It looked.. bright and inviting. So, having returned to the large crack in the earth many times, the harpy child searched endlessly for a way to cross to the other side. However, the other side seemed so far away and the only way to reach it was to traverse the large canyon.. or fly.

She could not fly, nor was she brave enough to traverse such a large canyon on her own. Her dull colored, copper eyes searched the area, longing to be on the other side. It felt like something was tugging at her, pulling her to the land of greens and blues. Curiosity ate away at her mind as she scrunched up her little button nose. She smelled them, the foul odor of whipping boys and whelps. She turned around, after her little pointed ears caught the sound of hooves beating against the ashen earth. A sigh left her lips and her shoulders hung in a limp manner as she watched Omnian trackers riding monstrous ox-like creatures close the wide gap between them.

"Savine." the lead tracker spoke with a stern tone, "Know you not how weary we are of tracking you throughout the ash lands? We beseech you, stay within the walls of the city." he said, causing Savine to groan as he looked away, his blackened eyes stared off towards the horizons.

"You are but a youngling yet, still blinded by childish thoughts and desires to- where did she go?" he asked, surprised to see she had disappeared once again.

"For a child of only nine, she is quite fast." one of the trackers said, looking over towards his leader, who reached out and smacked him upside the head.