Before she could utter a word, before she could give an innocent smile, she was surrounded by women screaming, "Spawn of the Dark! It is a Dark Angel trying to deceive us with her youth!" then men came, farmers with long since rusted weapons, vowing to protect their families. Before Uriel could give the slightest protest, she was tied with thick rope to a stake and seconds away from being burnt to ash. Apephi, fortunately for Uriel, was hunting nearby, and heard the commotion, heard the cries of "Shadow spawn!" and "Angel of the Dark!" He ran to the village, his heart in his throat. When he reached the village the stake was already lit and Uriel, his five-year-old Uriel, was screaming ardently in a soul shattering mix of fear and pain. Following his heart he threw himself at the flames, heedless of the fire that seared his flesh. He untied Uriel before he fell to the ground, a burning heap. Uriel launched herself into the air and flew with a haste borne from terror, the smell of burning flesh blistering her lungs. Only later, sitting alone in a forest, did she realize Apephi was gone forever, taken by Drazhad, she was all alone. Desolate, Uriel took to the liberating sky and flew. She flew over hill, mountain, river and valley; she flew till her wings would not hold her in the air, and landed with ever-persistent reluctance, in Byranth. Tired to the point of exhaustion, Uriel collapsed in the square, and for the first time in near a week, she slept, the dreamless sleep of the weary. So it was in this way that Uriel learnt of the fear, the hatred that her wings alone could strike into people's hearts. Her trust perished along with her childhood innocence, both burned along with Apephi, the fire leaving wounds in her heart and mind that would never heal. A girl with maturity in mind that belies her age, Uriel searches now for trustworthy, accommodating folk, people free of the superstition that had almost killed her, and that had killed Apephi. Above all, she seeks the acceptance of a family, the first thing ever taken from her. |
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