I just now decided to post the prologue. It's short. Here it is!
Prologue
He was born in the forest, from a shifting of wind and leaves. An indistinct but solid form, he was made with a detailed knowledge of his environment, a knowledge that grew every day he spent in existence. His name came to him from a whispering among the trees. He knew his place in the world and how to stay alive. He did not possess much self-awareness, only a sense of self-preservation.
Ahaziel did not feel guilt over the people he lured and pushed into the river. He inhaled their souls because doing so was his role in nature.
"You have begun to take on a human aspect," Merko told him one day. Merko was from the water, a being who pulled his victims into the ocean. He enjoyed the drowning in way that went beyond survival. A salty haze clung to him wherever he went. "That means you are taking plenty of souls. Soon you will look fully human, as I do. That will make you all the more dangerous."
"I do not take particular pleasure from stealing lives," Ahaziel said.
"One day you will. It is inevitable." Merko smiled fondly and pointed at a group of humans fishing off rocks. "Do you not adore them? Do you not thrill at how fragile they are, how unwittingly they put themselves at our mercy?"
"I do not find interest in their vulnerability. Have you ever considered they may seek us out one day? If we anger them, they may try to kill us."
Merko laughed, delighting in his role as mentor. "They can try, Ahaziel, but humans cannot kill us. Nor can we kill each other. We are here, sure as the earth and sky. We may look human, but we do not have a place among them, nor they with us."
"It seems unfortunate."
"Do not fool yourself into thinking humans matter. They will die and be reborn, but you and I and others like us will live and live. We will never leave. We will never change."
As Ahaziel watched the fishing humans with curious detachment, he thought that was the saddest thing he had ever heard.
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