Fallen Ashwing's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Fallen Ashwing knelt beside the wounded traveler in the dirt. Blood darkened the stranger's coat. The stranger's breathing came shallow and quick. Fallen had been walking the roads of Ulmwood for weeks, asking anyone who would listen if they had seen another like them fall from the sky. No one had. Until now. The stranger's eyes opened when Fallen pressed cloth against the wound. "I saw them," the stranger whispered. "Two angels. Falling like stars." Fallen's hands went still. The stranger coughed, winced. "I know where one landed." Fallen pulled the stranger up carefully and half-carried them to a small cabin tucked beneath old trees. Inside, they laid the stranger on a cot near the hearth. They built a fire. Boiled water. Cleaned and wrapped the wound with strips torn from their own shirt. The stranger watched through half-closed eyes. "Help me first," they said. "Then I'll tell you where." Fallen nodded and kept working. For the first time since the fall, they had a direction. They would do whatever it took.