Excerpt: Storm and Consequence

The city of Darlan was alive with activity that night, with natives bustling to and fro in the panic. Normally, at this time of night, things would not have been nearly so hectic. People were in the streets in a flurry of wings, tails, horns, and claws and it as hard to tell which way was up in all of the confusion. One person stood quiet, watching the flame-licked windows of what had once been city hall, as people rushed around her in a mad dash to get away from the blazing inferno.

How had it been that such a short time ago, this had been a peaceful city? Two years ago, incidents like these were few and far between, if they occurred at all. Now the populace was terrified, jumping to conclusions, blaming the bad luck on the increased number of “dark” souls being born into each of the six bright races. For a long time, they had lived a peaceful existence, and the dark souls had barely been a thought in anyone's mind. The celestial cats, solar hawks, rain wolves, earth badgers, wind , and inferno geckos were protectors and guardians of the other races existing in Nocturna, and with so much going on...

Xanthe's eyes narrowed. She had one violet-tipped white wing wrapped carefully around her closest friend, who was trembling under the scrutiny of those that passed. Lorna had done nothing to deserve these angry, terrified glances and quiet, muttered insults. The dark fire gecko could not help how she was born. She was a secretary, working to avoid anyone even finding out her secret. She'd even gone as far as to begin to wear a headband to hide the inverted ebony flame on her forehead.

Not that it mattered much now, Xanthe considered bitterly. Those fearmongering terror-seekers would hound her forever about this, especially now that her place of employment was burning to the ground in eerie dark blue flame right before their eyes. Her free wing spread, then folded again, tail lashing as she tried desperately to find reason in the chaos. Nothing came to her.