(An excerpt from the novel, The Raven's Call, written by J. Flessa circa. April 2021)
Standing at the center of an overgrown clearing Nix came to consciousness. The changeling child looked down at her hands, pale and unscarred in the moonlight. A sapphire butterfly made of frost landed on her finger. Crystalline, it glimmered as it took to the air.
The forest shook around her.
A winter wind whistled through swaying summer redwoods. Autumn leaves dappled the forest floor of springtime wildflowers. The seasons melded together around Nix as she spun in a slow circle taking in the wilds before her.
A ginormous form shifted beyond the trees, and luminescent birds shot up, carving shadows in the sky. The underbrush rustled, and Nix whipped around. A set of catlike creatures with the faces of owls tumbled into the clearing. Springing to their feet, they ran circles around Nix.
She turned with them, the mossy ground sinking under her bare feet. Her giggles cut off at the cracking of a branch. A larger owl-cat, white and black feathers sleek and shining, prowled out of the trees. Nix reached out to the creature, taller than her, not an ounce of fear pumping through her veins.
The creature greeted her by bowing it’s head, and bumping their foreheads together. Nix trailed her hands through feathers and fur alike.
The forest shook again, and the same ginormous form shifted in the distance. The owl-cat chirped at it’s kittens, and they darted away. Looking up to the shifting trees, Nix spotted the head of a serpentine megafauna with dark antlers breaking the canopy. Entirely made of vines and trees, the forest dragon exhaled mist into the sky.
Nix marveled as stars began to blink into existence. Constellations danced across the velvet expanse. Coacervat. Vita. Misericordia. Vastador. Custos. Tempestas. Heredis. Cadere.
One by one they began to waver, dropping from the sky like snow fallen to earth. Nix held her arms out, waiting. The stars glittered in her eyes, watching. They landed at her feet like meteors. A dark star shot towards her, the light almost too bright to register.
Nix caught it, celestial energy given shape. She hugged it close, pressing it’s warmth to her chest. Nix closed her eyes, and like swallowing fire, exhaled.
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