The Fifth Soul (Red Book #1)
Prologue
PROLOGUE
T here is a folktale story that the world used to exist in peaceful harmony. Humans ruled the Earth, witches lived in secret, demons stayed in the underworld, and angels never left heaven. It is a foolish, hopeful thought if one believes it. After all, it doesn’t tell the story of our past. For an audience like us, surviving in a world one misstep away from war, imagining a world unlike ours is a dream.
Witches existed in secret because they were hunted until almost extinction. Then, something happened that changed the trajectory of history. No one knows who or why; we know what we can see. In the City of Sin, the gate to the underworld is open and unguarded. Demons and many other dark, unholy creatures flooded the earth, bringing destruction and death in their wake. To this day, no one knows how to close the gate, so we had to learn to live with it.
In a world divided by four ruling classes, one would think power was balanced between them. We aren’t all equals. We never were. Without angels, demons would terrorize humans. In the absence of demons, humans would hunt witches. The open door is pivotal for the existence of our reality. Each reign has a city of their own.
Fierno, as so many call the City of Sin, is a no-man's-land located between Puerto Quinn, a realm ruled by magic, and Paz, a realm ruled by humans. Crossing border lines isn’t forbidden, but unless you’re human, you cannot reside in Paz, and unless you possess magic, you cannot stay in Puerto Quinn. Luzes, an island off the shore of Paz, is for angels and God’s chosen. It’s the only piece of land the holy ones have called their own on Earth, and cannot be visited.
Fierno is special to some and feared by others. It’s the one place on Earth where all species may coexist—magic, human, angel, and demon alike. Rejects and outcasts’ very own refuge. Never peacefully, but what can we expect from natural-born enemies?
Hundreds of years after the gates were opened, we are fully functioning amongst one another. Or so we wish to think.