Chapter has been revised and improved, due to unacceptable errors.

Prologue

Flash-Forward

The greatest and worst thing about life is this. A normal day could easily turn into a great day, or the worst day of your entire life. You don't know when the fates will decide to make you miserable, you don't know how they will, it just happens. What can you do? Nothing....except hope that your life is insignificant enough for them just to overlook it and choose some other poor creature to torment. Is this a cruel and selfish way of thinking? Yes. Do I care? Not really. That's life. I always believe if you lived your life well enough you would be just fine. Have I had a normal life? No. It is quite unique in fact. It still is...but I was stripped away from everyone I love in the process, forced to adapt to a new life, a new age, learn knew things, and disregard almost everything I already believed in. Yes some fates are crueler then death and this in my opinion was one of them, but I guess in the end...for what I lost, much was returned by slightly different means. One thing you realize though....pain and loss is dealt with much easier when you have someone to bare it with. I lost everything except one. I was just lucky enough to know that one thing was the most important in my short existence......

I could taste the blood dripping from my brow, sweat seeping in, stinging the wounds. Never had an appetite for it, but I could understand why some beasts devoured mortals.
A delicate hand touched my shoulder causing me to winced for this was torn and bloody as well and my tunic looked like it was attacked by a few rabid dogs, which wasn't far from the truth.

"Are you alright?" Asked Sophia, her emerald green eyes glowing in the moonlight.

My sword faded away, no longer needed as I replied, "Why is it that a thousand years after the great war, there are still time distortions and dimensional ripples, sending these "things" to us?" I pointed to a decapitated body of a beast who looked like a cross between a bear and a shark. several human like arms attached to it, but with claws bigger and wider then a child's arm...just don't ask what happened to its head....

Sophia smiled gently as her bow faded away. Bows were the required arm of Apollo's watchers, but he was fond of me and allowed me to keep a sword instead....as long as it was made with nothing but the strongest and finest Celestial Bronze....I hate bronze...its too bright...but who's complaining?

"It is our duty as watchers, Aerial. You know that better then anyone." As she says this, she placed her hand over my shoulder and in one instant there is a small green flash, the next the wound is gone, no trace of it, except for the blood that had escaped, which Sophia took care of by wiping off with her sleeve.

I turned to her "Your far to nice to me."

She tilted her head in an innocent way, "Why?"

"Because as the best healer of the Watchers, you need to make sure your fit enough to heal us. It does us no good if you die in the process."

She giggled raising her arms a bit then dropping them, motioning to the various cuts, bruises, and other wounds that littered her body. She was in worse shape then I was.

"I don't think I'll have to worry about that. I know no matter what, you'll always find a way to keep me safe." She sighed and closed her eyes and turned and looked up at the sky. Not everyday you would get a statement like that. She never said anything like that out of love, or in an attempt to comfort people. She just spoke in a true and honest way. She really did believe I could protect her from anythingn. I suppose this is one of the many reasons why I love her.

"Well" I sighed, "let's head home." I turned and looked at the slain beast, stretching my hand in its direction and watched as it spontaneously burst into fire, quickly becoming consumed and turning to ash, dust to the wind.

We turned to the edge of the cliff, which we had used to corner the monster, trapping him like a rat. Fortunately we have no such limitations. In a flash of fire, blood red wings appeared on our backs, wingspans spreading four times farther then an eagle's. This was another great thing about being a Watcher. The gift of flight. Something mortals could only dream of having.

"Race you back!" Sophia cried, tightening her wings and diving off the cliff, spreading them and lifting off into the air climbing until she was high enough to level out. I did the same, gaining speed until I caught up with her, eventually overtaking her.

"No fair! Your wings are longer then mine!", she complained

I laughed and looked back at her, "I guess you'll have to try harder won't you?" I retorted.

And try she did, the lead switching back and forth as we flew toward the palace of the sun, both of us pushing each other harder and harder. Both always challenging the other to be stronger. I guess that was the bond we shared, and nothing could break it.

The palace had come into view, but several leagues away. Made of pure gold, the palace was a sight. From even here you could see the massive pillers holding up the the upper levels of the palace while the whole thing just sat there, in midair. Both of us pushed to our limits climbing higher and higher with each beat of our wings, hitting speeds faster then sound. Sophia was especially determined to win, considering the count was tied seventy to seventy.

The wind tore at our tattered cloths, threatening to rip them off. It didn't matter much to me, but I was a little worried about Sophia's reaction if her's were taken.

So busy we were racing, we failed to notice the unnatural disturbance in the air. By the time we did...it was far to late.

It all happened so fast. The air shifted suddenly and blurred making it hard to see, twisting images. The shift was so massive it made the palace look like it had imploded on itself. Then it hit me and I knew, my mind realizing far faster then my body, that we had been caught in a time distortion.A flash of bright white light blew in our faces, followed by a sound that almost shattered my ear drums, the sound of Sophia screaming. Then finally....darkness.

I woke up falling, falling far faster then I should have been. I was spinning wildly in the air, my wings were caught by the wind, flailing and uncontrollable. The world was turning. I could see the ground then the sky then the ground again. Before I hit the ground I was able to pull myself into something that looked like a dive trying to level out my fall. I was able to shift my path to a slanted angle. That's not to say I didn't hit the ground.....or that it didn't hurt. I flew through the tops of a few trees, taking off many branches, getting more and more bruises with each hitb but thankfully I didn't collide with any of the trunks. I flew out of the trees and raised my arms before hitting the ground, protec ting my face. I hit the ground and started bouncing, spinning uncontrollably. I must have gone several hundred yards before slowing down and finally stopping, landing on my back.

"So-Sophia" I groaned quietly, picking myself up and kneeling on one leg, holding my head, dizzy from the spinning. It cleared after a few seconds and I looked up and around the area. It was an odd site. It was a huge clearing littered with buildings, some familiar, and some....who's building style I would have called into question.

The next thing I saw, didn't help my mood ether. Sophia was on the ground, several yards away. A circle of people had gathered around her, but turned and looked at me. Obviously they were as shocked as me. But the only thing I saw was the young man in the middle of the circle, he had black hair and sea green eyes, he was kneeling next to Sophia, holding a sword up by it's hilt. Maybe I should have assessed the situation, found out who these people were and what had happened...but in that moment all I saw was Sophia's battered body on the ground and a stranger next to her with a bloodied sword. I felt my blood boil, hatred and rage consumed my mind. I knew that I should have calmed down, I knew there was more to this. But, can you really blame me for losing it?