Prologue

Branches Of Sunshire

Chapter 0

Prologue

The sun is associated with a warm beacon of light and the creator of life. Yet it was in the sunshine that Nikolai Sabatini lay dying.

He had fallen from the cliffside above, his body broken against the jagged rocks, resting in a field of sunflowers, their golden heads facing the sun like some cruel twist of irony. He stared up at the sky — his cerulean eyes reflecting its deep blue. His tailored grey suit was torn against the bare earth as blood and sweat seeped through his dark hair.

A shadow fell over him, cutting through the sun’s glare. Soft bare feet traced the dirt towards him. A woman draped in a white hood with sun markings loomed over him. She carried a long golden staff topped with a golden sun, and a warm smile graced her lips.

Nikolai: “A-are you an angel?”

He stammered, his heart hammering in his chest.

Woman in white: “An angel?”

She echoed in a soft, melodic voice.

Nikolai: “Am I dead?”

He choked, short of breath.

Woman in white: “Not at all, you're a living being!”

She tilted her head with curiosity.

Woman in white: “Why would you ask such a thing?”

Nikolai: “I don't know if you noticed, but I'm dying…”

He panted, struggling to lift his head to gesture down to his broken body.

Woman in white: “Oh, no need to worry about that!”

She replied gently, waving her hand.

Woman in white: “I can take your pain away.”

She raised her staff toward the sun, casting a beam of light. With her other hand, she clutched a golden stone necklace. Below her neck, across her chest, was a large marking of a sun symbol with eight points surrounding a circle, with a dot at its centre. Stepping closer, she gently placed a warm palm over his shattered leg.

Nikolai’s eyes widened as beams of white light reflected through the crystal and down onto him, and through her palm as his wound began to close up. The excruciating pain in his body dissolved, and his bones fused back together with a radiating warmth. His skin pulled tightly over his wounds as if they were never there. As soon as his strength returned, he sat upright, mouth ajar with awe.

Nikolai: “...W-What did you do to me?! Who are you? …What are you?!”

He patted himself down and backed up against the sunflowers.

Woman in white: “Oh, my stars! My apologies! Allow me to introduce myself!”

She said with a slight giggle, placing her hand to her mouth.

She slid her hood back, letting the silk fabric drop to her shoulders, revealing her full face. Her eyes were the first thing he noticed; they looked like golden pools of sunlight framed by natural cat-like wingtips. Her long, feathered, soft strands of platinum hair fell around her olive-tan skin.

Eleanora: “I am Eleanora — The Sole-Wielder of light.”

She beamed in the sun.