Ashes of the lost: prologue.

I clenched my fist as I watched the ash settle. Thousands of pieces drifted down onto my head and the ground, creating a thick layer. The smell of death hung in the air, second only to the smell of charred wood. A cloud of smoke drifted lazily into the sky, marking the spot of the funeral pyre. The village was gone. Not a single soul remained, after the devastation. My friends, my family. My people. Gone. I slowly opened my fist, gazing at the necklace, with it's silver chain glinting in the firelight. The pendant hung down, the embossed wolf heads, and between them, a tree. I held it tight, thinking of what it stood for. What I now stood for. The flames from the pyre rose, sending sparks into the night. I could see faces in it, people I knew and cherished. One face in particular. Her long, auburn hair was burnt and blackened, her face mostly unscathed. I watched as the flames consumed her, as I let the tears come. I fell to my knees, sobbing. I had loved her, and now I had failed her. She had said she would wait. She had waited alright, right up until the end. She had died waiting, and where was I? Off galavanting, playing with powers I had never asked for. I didn't want these. They weren't gifts. They were a curse. But she had always told me I had been given them for a purpose, and that someday, that purpose would be clear. I dried my eyes and stood. I would stand for her. My ghost floated near my shoulder, waiting. "Get me my Sparrow, Teresa." I said, turning away from the fire. "Are you sure you don't want to stay and..." Teresa began. "No. There is nothing left here." I cut her off. She sighed and summoned my Sparrow. I hopped on and left the scene of the disaster, following the dirt road down the mountain. I would find the ones responsible for this, and I would make them pay. I tore down the mountain, as the stars slowly turned above my head. I almost envied them. Up there, in the silence, above all the pain and suffering we endured down here. I drove on, while the stars danced above me, in the endless black.