Chapter One: "THE FEATHER OF AN AEREIS"

Zela yawned as she stared down at the desert below her, just awakening. Weirdly, she loved the heat and blistering sun beating down on her back even with her fluffy black fur, and weirder yet, she loved swimming as an Aereis, usually not possible considering their water-absorbent fur.

Little did she know, a golden Athulyth watched her closely. As Zela was molting for the third time, letting her adult feathers come in, she was dropping feathers like crazy. The Athulyth, his name being Cara, picked up the feather and took out a book titled “Visteria’s Prophecies.” He searched through it, finding the last one, known as “Slayers of the Dark”. He compared the feather to the drawing, and carefully studied every single thread and barb, the fading and even the length of the stem and each hook. It was exactly like the book said.

Cara then carefully tucked the feather into his wing and disappeared into the shadows.

Zela padded over to Kochi’s home and knocked on the door. She heard a hissing noise as the door opened a slit and she saw one frustrated eye. “Yes? Who is it?!” Kochi rudely demanded. “It’s Zela again, and yes I need to “actually” talk for “important” reasons.”

“Ah. Come in, I suppose.” Zela set down her paws gently and tucked her wings in, wilfing down her fur. Wilfing is a common mechanism seen in birds and other fliers like Aereis, where they suck in their fur, appearing smaller, out of fear or, in this case, as to not break any of the tiny Astrothi’s things.

Kochi grabbed Zela a coconut cup of hot Stora flower tea and sat down by her small rock fireplace. Zela took a sip of the flavorful liquid and began to speak. “So, Kochi, you know how the Flower Cove is supposed to be a safe less-hot-then-normal place?” Kochi nodded. “Well, I saw the weirdest thing. I felt cold eyes staring into my back, and then I saw a flicker of golden light that dispersed into the shadows. And the strangest thing about it was, that it was carrying on of my feathers.”

Kochi put front set of arms to her face and made a very serious expression. She then crept over to her stone book self, and grabbed a large textbook she could barely hold, dropping it with a thump onto the table. She searched through the ancient, yellowed parchment pages and shook her head in confusion. She then looked at Zela and spoke. “Zela, did you manage to see what this …thing looked like?” Zela though back and nodded.

“I vaguely remember to illusion of some sort of wing, possibly feathered, and also a stone-looking tail? The appearance of a sort of moss was on its body, and it had sharp, golden claws. Its face had like a reef-like plant look, with strange hollow, black and cold eyes.”

Kochi looked at her in fear, her normally feisty attitude gone. Her antennae went down, and her wings shook. She tucked her tail in, and shakily spoke, “I-in the Book of Creatures, it says there is a c-certain s-subspecies of Tyto geo, which roughly means rock barn owl, or Athulyth. They are known by some as the Golden Barbarians. T-they come from a high line of Mother Athulyth, and like blood and death. They believe they should be pampered and then entertained by arena fights. Long ago, in the time of rich, flourishing Sonaria, they rampaged the land, destroying any area of society they could find, leaving all but a scorching, bloody burning mess of flaming bodies.

“Legend says they all died out it the Boreal Warden’s Blizzard-rage, and they’ve never been spotted since that.” Zela looked at her in awe and started realizing what this meant. She was horrified but what they had just read. She now knew that she was being stalked and possibly hunted by the Golden Barbarians.

Next Chapter: Chapter Two: "THE GLOWING BEAUTY OF GHIBLI"

Previous Chapter: Prolouge