Chapter 1: Prologue
The night was thick with fog, swallowing the forest in a ghostly embrace. Dewitt Adkins ran through the shadows, his breath ragged, his heartbeat a frantic drum against his ribs. He held his son, his cursed, broken son, tight in his arms, the boy's tiny frame both a burden and his only reason to keep running.
Behind them, the hunters were coming. The same people who killed his precious wife.
Torches flickered in the distance, voices snarling like beasts in the dark. They wanted his son. They wanted to erase the last heir of the Adkins family.
"Na na na... I'll fly away..." The little boy sang as the cold night wind touched his skin.
"Shh, Osvaldo," Dewitt whispered, clamping a trembling hand over the boy's mouth. But the child bit his fingers hard.
"Ahh!" Dewitt hissed, pulling his hand back. Blood dripped from his fingers.
Osvaldo giggled, clapping his small hands together as though they were playing a game. His laughter echoed through the silent night like a haunting melody.
Dewitt's stomach twisted.
The boy was already lost.