Soul of the Crow: An Epic Dark Fantasy (Reapers of Veltuur Book 1)

the toxins from their body and they would be healthy once more; if they suffered a broken bone, he could reset it; if they were blinded, he could restore their sight.
“But the Guardians could not do the impossible. They could not bring back the dead, and even the most powerful among them could not stop a life-threatening wound that had already taken its hold on a mortal’s life. There were limits, even to their power. But it was Tamzal who discovered that one of the limits they believed they had was wrong.
“During the War of Divinity—” the war that is said to have been the last time anyone saw the Divine Altúyur or a Guardian— “As Tamzal followed the soldiers into battle, ready to be at their side should the need for a healer arise, one of the soldiers lost their arm in combat. It was a clean cut, the blade going straight through bone before the soldier could retaliate, but it bled like a raging river.
“Fortunately, with Tamzal ready at his side, the soldier would not bleed out in the field of corpses. He would live. But as Tamzal made quick work of the soldier’s arm, he discovered a way to not only stop the bleeding and mend the skin, but to regrow the limb entirely.”
The book falls heavy into my lap, and I stare across the room at the cold stone walls.
I know it’s foolish, but I’m filled with so much hope that I’m practically overflowing. If one Guardian could conjure an entire arm, I wonder if they could heal other injuries too. Maybe even the malformities that people like Gem are born with. I don’t know much about Guardian power, but healing a slice in a lip seems a far easier task than growing an entire arm.
My eyes refuse the slow pace that’s required to read every single word, and instead I start flipping through the pages toward the end of the Guardian section. I have to know how the war ended; I have to know if any of the Guardians survived.
Gem protests my mumbled, quickened reading, but I ignore her. This is too important; it could change everything. It could save her life.
Reaching the last page of the chapter on the War of Divinity, I slow, reading only to myself for fear of what horrors I might reveal to my younger sister.
At dusk of the final day of the War of Divinity, a darkness crept over the land. Not even the moon could protect those from its shadow. When the sun rose the next day, the battle complete, the Divine Altúyur were gone, all that remained were a few fallen feathers. And the Guardians that they had created were nowhere to be found and never seen again.
Slowly, I shake my head. This can’t be how it ended. Or at least, it can’t be as final as it sounds. No one actually saw the Divine Altúyur leave, but more importantly for my benefit, no one actually saw the Guardians leave either. Maybe they’re still somewhere. Maybe they just left the battle because…well, I don’t know why, but surely, I’ve heard of miracles occurring in different kingdoms since then. Miraculous recoveries, close encounters with death that wind up having happy endings. Maybe none of those are unexplained miracles, but instead acts of the Guardians.
I look up from the book to meet Gem’s shimmering black eyes. They are the eyes of our father, only where his are ominous voids, Gem’s twinkle like galaxies, like they were made of the stars themselves.
I see her life in an instant, the one our father wants to rob her of. In one blink, I watch, clear as day, as her gleeful wonder matures into inquisitive curiosity. I see her embarking on a deep study of astronomy and philosophy, becoming one of the first noblewomen to do so. She’s taking dancing lessons in a pink satin gown bulging with ruffles. I can see her becoming a proper lady of the court, even falling in love.
But mostly, for the first time in her entire life, I see her smiling, uninhibited by a break in her lip, the cleft gone.
It’s just a daydream, a false imagining of one of infinite possibilities, but it’s so vibrant and beautiful that I can’t shake it. I don’t want to shake it. Gem deserves that life. And if there is a Guardian out there, then she out of anyone deserves their help.
With the story already fading in my mind, I tear the final page about the war from the book, then I tear out the one about Tamzal as well.
“Where’s your bag?” I ask Gem.
Her mouth is still stuck open, gaping at me defiling one of the few possessions she owns. As the tears start forming in her eyes, I remember that little Gem has had no need for a bag and therefore does not have one and so I’m waiting on a response that will never come.
“Never mind,” I say, placing the book on her bed and shoving the pieces of paper into my pouch. I take her hand into mine and pull her toward the door. “We’re going on an adventure.”

A Soul Beckons


Sinisa
The smoke dissolving around us clashes with the golden, shimmering palace walls. It’s like a smudge of tree sap, tainting the once pristine room and preventing it from ever being fully clean again. It looks better this way, in my opinion. Nothing looks good too clean. Too clean is a lie.
My footsteps echo as I meander the open-air room, my eyes scanning out the archway openings, past the tall columns, and out into the bustle of people in the plaza outside.
This is the first time I’ve ever been inside Halaud Palace. A different Reaper usually handles the royal requests here, but I think Veltuur gave me this contract today because it knew how special today is to me, and it wanted to make sure my final collection was special too.
Inching through