His pointed shoes, bright red, rang against the cobblestones. With every step, the multicolored diamonds of his costume caught the light. All around him, the fields rippled under the caress of the wind.

  Leaning against a cart, a man watched the strange silhouette pass. Farther on, among the vine rows, a young boy was pruning the vines. The child looked up and, with a startled gasp, dropped his pruning shears.

  “I’m looking for a place to quench my thirst,” Thana said.

  The boy unhooked his canteen from his belt and handed it to him.

  “Is your master here?” Thana asked.

  The child nodded and pointed toward the manor.

  “Call him.”

  He darted off, weaving between the rows of vines. Thana plucked a grape and brought it to his lips. The moment it burst, sweet juice flooded his palate.

  The shadows of the vines stretched across the earth, distorted by the dying light. At last, silhouettes emerged. Three hulking figures draped in dark coats flanked an old man.

  “You were looking for me?” the man called.

  “I’m looking for a friend, an incandescent woman,” Thana replied.

  “You’re wasting my time, stranger.”

  The ground trembled, and a door burst from the earth. Its twin panels swung open.

  “I must find her,” he insisted.

  The old man stepped through the threshold. Behind him, the three riders followed, and at once, the door slammed shut.

  Shadows from the tree trunks crept across the ground, and little by little, shapes began to emerge. Torsos twisted into being, legs burst forth, hands brushed the air before dissolving. Elbows bent the wrong way, shoulders rolled at impossible angles.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Then faces took shape. Twisted, gaping mouths. Furrowed brows, wide, staring eyes. Their skin looked ready to tear apart.

  A crack appeared across Thana’s skull. His skin split into strips, releasing a torrent of flesh and bone. His eye sockets collapsed inward. Then his head exploded.

  The sky darkened and the earth trembled. The fragments of Thana slid back toward one another. His face reassembled itself, and not a single scar remained.

  *****

  The river’s water did not reflect the stars; it devoured them. Every glimmer that touched its surface was snuffed out.

  A sound rose, barely more than a breath. A note, suspended among the trees. Then came the syllables.

  “Beneath the breath of stars, the night falls asleep and whispers to silent hearts.”

  The black water pulsed, stirred by a shiver. Upon its surface, a woman glided, her feet brushing the ink-dark flow. Her black hair rippled, lifted, and coiled into spirals.

  Mother, may I help you?” Thana asked.

  “I did not grant you permission to intervene,” she said.

  Thana’s chest rose; an invisible weight pinned his shoulders, slowing each beat of his heart.

  “A human dares defy his fate, and I should remain indifferent?”

  A rumble rose from the depths of the earth. Beneath his feet, a fissure split open.

  “Fates are not so easily broken,” Nyx whispered.

  Her hair stretched beyond the river, sliding across the land. Wherever it passed, colors withered and light died. Trees bent. Rocks crumbled, swallowed by a creeping darkness. Even the moon’s glow was extinguished.

  “I have no intention of breaking anything,” he murmured.

  “Good. We have no business meddling in the affairs of mortals,” she said.

  Nyx’s silhouette dissolved into the darkness. Thana clenched his jaw and lifted his gaze to the sky. Where the moon had shone only moments before, there was nothing left but emptiness.

  *****

  The capital rose before Thana, perched atop a rocky massif. The villages and rolling hills he had crossed only days earlier belonged to another world.

  When he reached the gates, two massive wooden doors reinforced with iron barred his way. Three guards left their posts and stepped forward to block him.

  “Halt! State your identity and your reason for being here,” one of them barked.

  “Mardeh. I’ve come to see a friend,” he said.

  “Mardeh? That’s it? That’s not a name,” the second guard sneered.

  “Take off your coat,” he ordered. “And be more specific about your business.”

  Thana undid the buttons of his jacket and let it slide from his shoulders. The fabric fell away, revealing a blade at his belt.

  “Where did you get that blade?”

  “So then, stranger? Speak, or you won’t go any farther.”

  “You humans are so fascinating. Always convinced you’re indispensable, and yet so fragile.”

  “Fragile?”

  The guards’ skulls exploded, spraying a burst of blood. Shards of bone and flesh tore through the air, and their bodies collapsed onto the cobblestones.

  He picked up his coat and draped it back over his shoulders. Beneath his steps, the blood-soaked stones gleamed. Beyond the walls, the cries of merchants rose into the air.