The city of Quaria overlooked the floodplains of the Sorrow River. Distant storm clouds darkened the yellowish pea-green sky, but the afternoon sun cast a golden reflection off the snake-like river. The ancient city, made from smooth adobe buildings in tiers, was remarkably quiet. A storm was coming, the market was empty, and the only people in the streets wore heavy straw cloaks.

Felix walked with his chest puffed out and his head held high. His slick black uniform seemed to absorb light. The crest of the Red Dragon shone like the sun on his breast. What few people wandered the streets deferred to him. Some bowed. None waved to him or acted with familiarity, even though he knew they recognized him.

The threshold to his father's cottage was hidden behind fine brownish-red drapes. Darkness resided within. Felix walked into the familiar abode and made his way to the kitchen. Unexpectedly, his mother was not there, in spite of the smell of cooking meat. He stalked his old bedroom, and even ventured to the room where his parents slept. Every room was empty.

"Hello Felix." It was his father, Albrecht. The older man stood in the threshold of the doorway to the cellar.

"Hello father," Felix replied. "Where is mother?"

"Below," his father said.

Felix shoved past his father into the doorway to the cellar stairs. Barrels of ale had been pushed to one side, blocking access to the racks of glass jars which Mother always used to pickle vegetables. The center of the cellar had been cleared out, and there on the cobblestone floor there was a symbol, a bit like the skull of some horned beast, painted on the floor in blood. Felix heard the door to the cellar click closed behind him. His mother stood near the far wall, holding an open black book with both of her hands. Her red eyes seemed to glow in the light of countless candles, and her curly red hair was hidden under a black hood.

"What is the meaning of this?" Felix asked.

"You have sworn your oaths," his mother replied. Her voice was tinged with condescension, like a mother scolding a child. "Your father has forbidden you. He bade you stay in the city with me. You defied him, yes, but all is not lost. I can save you."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Speak plainly," Felix snapped. "What is this blood on the floor? Who does it belong to?"

"Your father killed a man. The body is gone now. A sacrifice is required to summon her." She closed her eyes and began praying. When she began to speak her voice was uncertain, filled with grief. "Ashe! Queen of Perfect Darkness, I summon you! I offer you my son's soul!"

Felix scratched his head. Has she succumbed to madness? He wondered.

Shadows began to form in the center of the bloody mess on the cellar floor, reaching upward like disturbed sand at the bottom of a pond. The shadows began to coalesce into an enormous figure. The roof of the cellar was at least twelve feet above, but the feminine figure that formed in the center of the cellar was at least eight feet tall. She wore the cracked skull of a great horned beast on her head, and it covered one eye and one cheek. She wore a white dress, her hair was straight and raven-dark, her skin was the color of snow, and her single visible eye was brilliant red and it seemed to glow with its own inner light.

In that lone eye Felix could see suffering, darkness, pain, hope, faith, forgiveness, light, ashes, and war. The whole of the human heart was there in her gaze.

Suddenly Felix felt an overwhelming fear. His mother wanted to sacrifice his soul, and whatever name she had invoked, this thing had responded. His fear paralyzed him.

"You cannot offer me your son," the huge woman said. Her voice was tinged with annoyance, and while she did not sound elderly, there was a certain age to her tone, to her inflections.

"I beg you!" his mother replied. "Great one! Please save him from his oath! We were going to teach him to worship you. He ran off to chase this foolish dream of flying."

"Obviously, you idiot," the huge creature replied. "His soul has been claimed by Titania." With that final word, the huge woman dissolved into pure shadows, and then she was gone from the cellar. The shadows that she cast on the walls of the cellar lingered for a moment, before they became lighter and lighter and then finally they were gone as well.

Felix glared at his mother. "I have know idea what you were really trying to do just now," he said, "but that thing you summoned bothers me. This is not how I expected our reunion to go." He pointed to the blood on the floor. "I am going to go fetch the constabulary to investigate this murder. They will take father away."

"They will not investigate," his mother said. Tears were streaming down her face, mixing with her dark cosmetics and leaving long black streaks as they fell. "Your father was the one who selected them all. They are all like us. They worship our god."

Felix turned to leave.

"Ashe," his mother sobbed. "Ashe, what have we done to displease you? Why have you forsaken my family?"