Chapter One

I was bored. There wasn't much in my life these days besides my mothers, our house, and on rare occasions, the candle shop owned by falcon criminals that my mother often visited. I tried to understand the circumstances that limited my movement, that restricted the freedom to move through the markets of Wyvern's Court. I accepted it, but I didn't enjoy it. My mothers were trying to brighten my world. But between the three of us we knew that it was a pitiful attempt. I was never meant to live, but yet my peregrine mother dare disobey her Empress, the White Lady, in order to bring me here. I knew I should be blessed that I did not end up like most in my position, but then again my mother Hai was here and she was worst of the two of us. A tendril of magic seeped from my fingers, dragging the butterfly to me, holding it in my hands for a long while before I let it go. It hover up a few inches before another tendrils drew it back down. I smiled, I could not help it. The only thing I had to amuse me were the butterflies or Ecl, my mothers did not know of the latter. Ecl was not a place to be taken lightly, it was dangerous. Ecl was nothingness, pure and simple. It was Mehay where life began and will be there when life ended. Falcons drew their magic from this dark place, it gave them power, but also rest. If a falcon's magic proved too much or if this world became too painful, then a falcon could simply give themselves to Ecl, it would provide them rest and peace. My mother is a prominent example that pains me even now to see. My mother was born to la'Darien'jaes'oisna'ona'saniet and a cobra prince, Anjay. In truth, she was not supposed to exist and her magic was a clear example then. The cobra blood burned her body and mind, it was a long progress Lillian tells me (I shall call my mothers by their first names to avoid confusion), but it finally had to end. Her magic struck her while she was dancing above the White City. She fell, her wings were broken, her body was broken, the pain drove her to Ecl where she stayed until she was finally retrieved. I knew Lillian had a point when she said that mix-blood falcons had difficulties controlling their magic and I'll admit that I have experiences some of what she has said. I felt small surges in my magic, though none have yet burned my skin. Perhaps it is because I view Ecl as a friend, somebody I can lean on, but yet I do not want to full be bonded too. Ecl has many lovers, some are children my age. How they ended up in the void I do not wish to know, each falcon who walks in Ecl is there for personal reasons, it is selfish and immoral for one to try wondering what drove them into Mehay. I let the butterfly flutter away and this time did not try calling it back. No matter how much chasing the butterflies amused me, it quickly was boring. I needed something to do, something different. My pale blue eyes peer around the living room. It is simple, barely filled with only a few pieces of furniture. We falcons tend to prefer less useless items. Lillian speaks of the rooms on Ahnmik, where there were designs sketched into the walls that changed color. On the island there was magic...on here...there was stillness. I get up and slip outside. The sun blinds me slightly and feels hot on my skin. I shiver then moved into the shade of the trees. On Ahnmik I would be considered 'falcon fair', pale milk-colored skin and my hair is a pale white-dusky blonde. My eyes are the color of pale blue opals. If not for my blood, then I would had been valued in the White City, but my mix-blood will always set me apart. It was a blessing to shift form. I hated my human form. I may be the perfect example of a falcon, but it was my blood that damned me. But in my falcon form...I felt no sense of shame. I may hate my blood, but I could never hate the form that let me fly swiftly through the sky. The sky was my dais and I could dance as much I pleased with nobody to watch and judge. There was one question I often had as I flew over the forest of Wyvern's Court. I saw them. A wolf and the other looked to be half snake and half wolf. From the way they acted I could tell that they were friends and my magic revealed to me their names. Veli Frektane and Bianca Frektane Obsidian. I watched them often, wanting to get to know these two outcasts, but I could never reveal myself to them. I sometimes wish it could be all so simple.

Before I wander to Ecl, I make sure I am alone. I do not want to do when one of my mothers may come in, they may become scare and try to pull me out when I am not ready. So I always waited for them to be gone before I dare dive into the void. Lillian was often gone, she was part of Cjarsa's Mercy and was tied to them, the Empress may had spared my life, but my mother belonged to her and I rarely saw her except from the times when she could leave to check in on her mate and child. Hai chose not to leave. Although her blood had changed when she saved Salem, she still considered herself a quemak. Before they fled, my parents had helped fix her wings, but she still chose not to fly. It seem that she was content with the ground life she had been forced when her magic destroyed her wings. She was not here now. I knew where she was at. Either riding or at the candle shop. Both would take up most of her time so that I could spend a few moments exploring the illusions of Ecl. I sat in my room, on the made bed by the window. I did not pull the curtain close even though the bright light drifting through the window hurt my eyes and made my focus difficult to control. I closed my eyes, stilled my body. And dove.

I stood on the black ice. A scene that served as the gate to Ecl. Beneath my feet I could see shadowy demons scratching at the ice, wanting to be freed of the prison they were forced into. I ignored them and still myself as I felt the ice slowly creak, then it cracked and vanished under me... I stood amongst the black dunes. The castle my mother once inhabited looming before me, illuminating faintly by the moon. I crossed the draw bridge and entered the dark palace and felt a trickle of warmth. This place once belonged to my mother and she used to stand on the turret or dance on the dark arches that resembled the Triple Arches of the island. But I was the Queen now. This illusion belonged to me, kept safe by Ecl whenever I wanted to come play. I discovered it on accident, but now I am glad I did. I know this place well now, in my dreams I return here and sometimes I do what my mother did. I stand on the utmost turret and arch my back to dance. It is the turret where I see something that has me puzzled. A figure stands on the still dunes. She is not one of the shm'Ecl for her body glows, the area around her feels...not real for some odd reason. Hai once told me how Nicias had retrieved her from Ecl, her words had told me how those of royal blood tended to radiate in the darkness of Ecl. But this girl...I did not understand. She had some features that spoke of falcon blood, but yet her body held traces of other. She was a mongrel, but not just of two different people, but three. A royal falcon's blood ran through her veins, it was obvious as she stood there, a brilliant beacon in the cool stillness of Mehay. Her golden gaze turned towards the castle and locked with my cool gaze. We were far from each other, but yet we were connected. The how I did not know, but yet it was clear that the girl had a purpose that would most likely affect me. She blinked once and was gone, the dunes were bare as before. I was startled and could not stay any longer, I calmed my body and returned to the present. But I could not forget the girl, and I never would. I only wish I knew what she was going to do to me. But Ecl never will reveal that secret to me...not without asking a price that I may not be able to pay. So for now I could only wait.

Prologue

My first memory was murder. Of the death of my parents at the hands of the Heir's Mercy. I was too young to know better then, but the vision was burned into my mind and as I grew up, I understood and it scared me. I remember waking up during the night, screaming, pleading to the invisible Araceli to spare my parents, that it was not their fault. But alas...my pleas never changed a thing. My nightmares were soothed only by one of my mothers, most of the time it was the one who was like me, a quemak who had been born of a falcon and cobra union. She never knew what I had went through, but yet I felt she could guess from her own bitter experiences. I was nine when I started to explore Ecl. I went there willingly and explored the illusions of the void. It awed me with what could be found there and slowly my nightmares ceased. Ecl was not my lover, but my friend...no, she was another mother. A mother who truly went deeper to soothe my pain. Almost instantly after my parents' execution I was taken from Ahnmik. One of the Empress's mercy Lillian smuggled me, with the help of the falcon Darien, off the island and brought me to Wyvern's Court. There I was adopted by the unique pair bond of Lily and Hai and raised. We are not criminals...or at least Hai is not. Lillian is excused of her crime by the Empress, had she still been in Araceli's service...I cannot begin to imagine what would had happened to us. My own concerns are my magic. Quemaks tend to have difficulties controlling their magic, my mother was a true example of that as her magic once struck her while dancing, making her fall. Her wings broke and her magic overwhelmed her and drove her to Ecl. I was scared of my mix blood, scared that one day my mother's experience may happen to me. I could not begin to imagine that. To not have the sky, to have my beautiful wings crumpled and useless. But most of all...I did not want to go to Ecl that way, driven to her darkness just because of pain. Ever since I was old enough I have taken to the void, exploring her darkness and illusions. I have came back always and without neither of my mothers knowing. But lately...lately I been noticing that when I draw away from Ecl, that I am slightly reluctant to leave. I am always able to leave, but sometimes...there are times when I don't want to come back to this world. Neither of my mothers are aware, though sometimes I sense that she knows. One of Ecl's former lovers could sense when Ecl might be playing in this world. Lately my dreams have been confused. I had seen somebody in Ecl, another girl...that girl. Her blood is just as tainted, if not more, as my own. She is the child of the wyvern Oliza and the royal falcon Nicias, the later was my mother's former lover. For some reason she walks Ecl and...I sense something about her. But the what I cannot say.

She'ka'hena.

We are not.

O'she'ka'hena-a'she'ka'hena

We never were; we never shall be. We return to the void we never left, for Mehay is the center of all, and is the center of nothing.