YEAR OF THE FLEDGLING

the legend OF THE DARK ONES When one small dwarf planet among the stars was young, its creator captured the worst abominations to mutate and prowl her world, and she buried them deep under the Cold Sea, just north of the mainland, in the hopes of keeping her people safe. But the creatures fought back for their freedom. They pushed up against the roof of their prison, heaving at the earth above them until they formed a new island in the middle of the fathomless waters, and then they kept pushing until they shoved a mountain right up into the center of that island. Decades passed, and curious voyagers discovered this patch of ground created by the dreadful beings under their feet, only to settle there and make it a home for themselves. But every so often, a dark one would emerge, finding its way to the surface and cutting such an atrocious swash of death and destruction across the land that the people set up a system of warriors to protect them all from their evil foes. And they called their champions the Eradicators. As years passed, battles grew more frequent between monster and man, until a prophet foretold the end, saying, “The only chance the people of the island have to exterminate the dark ones, once and for all, will come in the year of the great fledgling.” Except no one, not even the prophet, quite knew what that meant. Presently, hope for the fledgling’s arrival wanes dimmer by the day as the Eradicators’ numbers dwindle ever lower from laying down their lives to keep humankind safe. And many citizens doubt this mysterious foretold year will ever come at all. * * * Meanwhile, on the northernmost edge of the isle in the small village of Starcast…