The Midnight Rebellion

Prologue 0.2: Months earlier

Amora shook her cobalt blue wings to get the drops of rain out. She'd been out in the garden of their large estate cutting flowers for a vase when the rain had begun. It hadn't surprised her. Things rarely surprised her. Some days she struggled with her gift, other days she ignored it. 

Her husband, however, valued her gift. Sometimes she thought her battle hungry Husband only loved her for her gift. She was an oracle. With her visions, she was able to foretell certain events of the future. They were never set in stone and she could barely control her visions, but it helped her husband in times of trouble. Hector was not only best friend of King Deimos and his right hand, but also the great general that led his legions. Before strategizing on how to win a war, he would ask Amora about her visions. 

Nonetheless, future is a feeble thing. It changes quickly if just one detail prior to an event is changed. Nothing is ever set in stone. Things can be changed for the better. 

Or the worse.

King Deimos of Umbria and her husband Hector have used her gift to do terrible things. She was ashamed of the part she'd played in certain battles. How the rebells and their families had been slaughtered due to her knowing where they had hidden and what stream they had gotten their drinking water from. 

She used to love Hector blindly. Did it all for love. She would have done anything for him, to be honest. Now she knew better. She'd played with fire and gotten her naive little fingers burned. 

Nowadays, she tried to stay away from court as much as possible. She gently held a hand over her belly. She had the perfect excuse to stay away from that court of viscous snakes. A pregnant Nephilim Female was to be protected at all costs. They might be gifted with special powers and a longer lifespan than humans, but children were a rare gift for them. Some females never even got the chance in their thousand years to bear a child. So now that Amora was pregnant, Hector was content to keep her locked away from the court her at his estate. He thought she missed the court. Amora smirked. She'd learned a thing or two in the scheming court. Had learned how to sway certain things to her favor. Just like being locked away from that court. 

Gently, she placed the flowers in the vase and sat down. "Mary, would you please make me a cup of your wonderful herb tea?", she asked to the figure bent over cleaning one of the various fireplaces of the grand house. The woman mumbled a short "Of course, my lady" and rushed out to get a cup of the freshly brewed tea.

Mary was a human woman from another kingdom that had fallen under the conquest of King Deimos and Hector. Hector had brought home a few new slaves that day. Humans did not have an easy life on the continent of Davos. They didn't have the strength, long lifespan or wings that Nephilim had. So they often lived in little villages together avoiding the Nephilim and working as farmers or craft makers. Some worked in the houses of the more wealthy Nephilim or were held as slaves. They were also allowed to fight alongside the Nephilim in battle as soldiers and got a good wage, but only the more fearless humans dared to take on the training and fighting as a soldier. Too many wars always broke out between the different Nephilim Kingdoms. Too many petty disputes to be settled on the battlefield. 

There were often revolts against the Nephilim, but they always got crushed rather quickly. Even faster, when she helped her husband with her visions.

Amora sighed and brushed a stray hair out of her face as she looked out of the window. The guilt had been eating at her soul every minute of every day since she had that vision and told Hector about it. She hated herself for doing it. For being the reason the large group of rebells in the Kingdom of Umbria had been found and poisoned through their water supply. They had been right to fight against Deimos' reign. He was a cruel and harsh ruler. The humans lived in dire poverty and were preyed upon by Nephilim for their entertainment. Nephilim were never punished for acting out or wronging a human. Deimos held little games where he let humans fight against each other to the death or tortured them for fun. He was a terrible ruler. In her home Kingdom of Evergreen, their ruling family had been just with the humans. Not particularly nice, but at least humans had had some rights.