PROLOGUE

A boy of 5 years, with constantly roving gray eyes revealing an awareness and intelligence he should not have possessed at his young age, walked purposefully through a dense section of forest, where slivers of light barely slipped through the canopy of leaves overhead. Here, the kindhearted boy knew, was where his mother’s favorite flower could be found. He had snuck away early this spring morning in hopes of surprising her with one of the rare flowers at breakfast. And, just as his eyes fell upon the goal of his early morning traipse through the woods, a black fog engulfed him in its darkness. At the same moment, he heard a familiar voice call his name, “Lawk!...Laaawk! Lawk Revlo! Where have you gone off to?!”

Lawk began to call out a reply, “Over he-“, but he was cut off by a rough, leathery hand that quickly covered his mouth. Hearing the broken reply, the boy’s mother called out in alarm, waking the rest of the family as she dashed into the dense woods, weaving between trees and taking more than a few scratches from low hanging branches in search of her son. As she approached, she recognized immediately what the black fog meant, and her surprise rapidly turned to fear and then anger. The desperate and infuriated mother leapt forward into the obscurity, hoping she was not too late, but the trap was too well laid. She could not have prevented what lay in store for her within.

Her death came swiftly, and the boy immediately knew what he had lost, what had just been stolen from him. And yet, he did not react as a typical five-year-old might. There were no tears. Instead, a calm swept over him in a way he could not yet understand. Lawk’s eyes were suddenly cutting through the fog of darkness, as if it were not even there. First, the innocent boy saw blood, too much blood. And, as his eyes slowly traced its path, they eventually came to rest upon his mother, who lay motionless. He should have been terrified, he knew, but he could not escape the tight grip of calm that had engulfed him. So, the stoic boy surveyed his surroundings, not yet registering that he should not be able to see through the black haze.

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When finally his eyes locked upon those of his mother’s murderer, Lawk became confused. He could not fathom why, but he could have sworn he saw fear. Why would such a powerful attacker fear him, little five-year-old him, immobilized within the fierce leathery grasp of one of his captors. Then, suddenly, he was dropped back to the ground, and as the attackers retreated, so did the black fog and the boy’s sense of calm. The instantly emotional child attempted to run home, but he was disoriented and rapidly becoming overwhelmed by the events of the past moments. After unknowingly running in the wrong direction for what seemed like a long while, the poor boy collapsed unconscious, utterly drained, physically and emotionally.

***

The solidly built man wept for his fallen love and lost son, the light of the funeral pyre dancing solemnly within his somber gray eyes. After viewing the carnage of his wife’s remains, he had been broken, for he had glimpsed the fleeing black fog and knew what would surely happen to his son. The broken man and the rest of his family had immediately given chase and managed to come upon the tracks of the vicious killers. But, when they had finally caught up with them, no sign of Lawk remained. Aware of this particular foe’s grotesque practices, the man had known then and there what the killers must have done to his boy. He knew there would be no remains left to burn. The determined, enraged widower had then dispatched the murderers with such ease and efficiency that they would never have known their lives were at an end if it were not for the intentionally agonizing finishing blows.

The fierce, gray-eyed man had thought his family had completely and utterly defeated this particular foe 20,000 years earlier, during the Downfall War, but clearly, they still had work to do. And, the Revlo’s would not rest until it was done, until their family members and all those before them were avenged and the threat was no more…