Slaves of War [English Version]

prologue

"In Veliya they say that if you see a flock of black ravens, death will pass you by.
If they are white as snow, he will soon knock on your door.

If you see a black wolf, do not hesitate to shoot it, because it will tear you to pieces. But if he is white, put down your weapons. For he is a Kresnik, a good magician who will protect you from the dark creatures. And if he is four-eyed, as the companion of the supreme god, his eyes behold death and foretell it for thee.

Kresnik, the Supreme, is the son of the God Father and he laid his protective hand over us humans. But he did not rule alone. He fell in love with the most beautiful girl and made her his wife. It is said that her hair was like a forsythia, her skin like the dawn, and her eyes shining like the dew. In our country, she has many names, just as some gods were called differently by the ancient peoples, although they are the same. Among us, she is called Vesina.

So, the sun fell in love with spring.

But one day the serpent kidnapped his beloved. With her abduction the warmth disappeared from our world - it was eternal winter. Kresnik descended into the underworld and killed the snake queen, bringing back Vesina, the spring, and Veliya's happiness with it.

For us, he also fought against his enemy, the father of the dark magicians. But Kresnik's home is far away in a distant land, behind dark forests, and high on a mountain his glass castle sits enthroned and he has to travel through the sky in his golden chariot so that the sun shines for us. That is why he let a drop of his blood fall to the earth. He created the kresniki, his sons and daughters, as his earthen representatives - they are born like us, yet with the fire of Kresnik in their veins. Not quite man, not quite god. They should protect us from all evil.

So they said before the Wild Hunt; before the kresniki betrayed humanity and the gods."

✥

The icy wind rushed in Zarya's ears, stroking her cheeks like precisely honed blades. Pain pulsed throughout her body, and around her lay the silence of death, which sooner or later would also come for her. She didn't need mystical signs to know that.
The cold of winter was enough.
The numbness of her body interspersed with a burning sensation.
The red discoloration of the snow beneath her, mixing with the black of gunpowder and ash.
The stench of smoke and decay that stung her nose and settled bitterly on her tongue.

One would have thought that at such a moment, something more meaningful would occur to her. How strange that it was, of all things, the old legend that had been told to her in childhood.

Zarya thought she heard the familiar voice whispering to her as the warmth of a crackling fire flooded her fingertips. A smile lifted her cracked lips, though she knew it was only the storm whispering nothing more than that she should not be here. And the disappearance of the cold was merely the first harbinger of freezing to death.

For the second time in her life, she was only a wingbeat away from the gates of vyraj, and once again she was accompanied by Morozko, whose icy breath now enveloped her. Yaromir would have taken pleasure in the irony that the spirit of winter, of all things, from whom her name derived, would bring about her end.

For according to the legends, he saved only those who deserved it. On her, however, the blood of her friends clung not only as a sign of a cruel war but as a testament to her guilt. A repetition of the ancient betrayal of the kresniki to humanity.

The clouds gathering in the sky blended into a blur of leaden gray. Vaguely visible against it silhouettes circled over the field in search of something edible that could be her in a short time.

Ravens.

They were black.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

did i start this story with the potential death of my heroine - yes, i did, and i don't regret it ... yet :'D

so here we are with this little prologue of "Slaves of War", starting nearly fairytale-like which is something totally new to me, so i hope i pulled it off at least a bit.
it starts with a piece of lore and worldbuilding already. this part of it is still very close to the original myth and folklore. in this world, i tried to connect two traditions -- that of Kresnik as a god and that of Kresniki (plural of "Kresnik") as magicians -- and tie them together in a new way. even if this is the basis of the Velian world, there will be much more deities, supernatural beings, and lore represented in this story.

don't hesitate to tell me what you think about the prologue in the comments!