1 Prologue

Dmitrei beat his wings hard as he surveyed the devastation beneath him, as if by rising in the air he could somehow get far enough away to not see what he was witnessing. When he had made his daily journey to fly over his favorite village, he never expected this. Burned fields, the smell of singed crops, houses, and lives in the air. He let out a cry as his wings carried him higher over his beloved town. Not that he had ever been a part of it. Not that he had ever been one of them as a human. It had been his hope for humanity. There were people he knew there, people he had healed, sneaking in while in human form. People who had shown him kindness. People whose crops he had watered while hiding behind clouds in the bright-blue sky.

Now there was nothing. Desolation. Pain. Sorrow.

He landed with a thud and surveyed the blackened landscape. Moldering skeletons of burned-down shacks, charred shapes on the burned ground. Tears bit his eyes as he took human form to make his way around the village, checking for survivors. He already knew--there were none.

Part of his ability as a gargoyle was hearing people in pain, hearing thoughts more acutely so he knew where to heal them. Where they needed him. At this point, he was probably the only gargoyle who cared about humans. Then again, he was also one of the few gargoyles who had met humans that changed everything for him.

Now, he realized looking over the devastated landscape, they were gone.

He could scent the strangers that had done this. The worst part was they were from a village not far from there. One where factions often had problems with the villagers here. But bloodshed? Fire? The other gargoyles had tried to tell him it was pointless to intervene, but they never heard what he did. They never knew what he knew. Humans could be good at times. The problem was, he realized bitterly, the bad humans would ruin it for everyone, so any interference was pointless.

Inside him, he felt his heart harden. What had once been a fluid energy ready to heal and soothe now felt icy and cold. He let out a long breath and saw ice needle form in the air before him. He grinned and listened to the wind, gauging its direction. He let his wings grow and felt himself transition back into the giant gargoyle he was. Sparkling, glistening wings touched by ice. A massive, yet graceful body and bright, amber-gold eyes. Nothing like his human eyes. He floated upward, beating the air around him, not caring who saw as he went higher, higher, trying to make out those who had done this. Were they back at the village?

The ground was still warm. It was at least a day's journey back to where they had come from. There was nothing he could do for Anna or anyone else he had cared about. But there was something he could do to make himself feel better. He soared through the clouds until he made out the band of robbers walking the road back to their village. Slightly singed, still carrying torches and weapons.

Then he heard the most hideous thing of all. Laughter. They were celebrating. They had ended the lives of the few humans Dmitrei cared about, wasting years of study, years of interference, and they were laughing.

He dove toward them, freezing the ice in his chest, ready to release killing breath.