Here's the updated prologue. Thoughts?
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The pale moon crept behind a cloud, its whitewashed gleam barely falling onto the trees and rolling hills of the countryside. A pearly dove sat in one of the nearby oaks, her eyes gleaming softly in the night** cool shine. Under the cover of darkness, she warbled her sweet melody up to the star-filled, dark blue sky, which was marred only by the obscuring cloud. The dove paused her song to preen one unruly feather that had shifted from the desired position, but she was interrupted as a small cry rent the night air, shattering the peace. ******* her head to one side, the dove crooned a small note of curiosity. When silence descended upon the land again, she dismissed the disturbance and fluffed her feathers. She then lifted her orange beak and prepared to fill the world with her pleasant melody once more.
But the silence was betrayed, and it fled as a disturbing, sickening cry echoed over the hills. The dove tucked her head under her wing and trembled, her wings shaking.
A shadow was cast through the trees, and it was quickly followed by its owner. A man, his hands outstretched and a panicked expression stamped on his face, fairly flew from the woods. He brushed away a lock of blond hair that masked his vision and pumped his legs harder. His booted feet stumbled over long, gnarly roots that stretched out in tricky arrangements, seemingly trying to trip him.
In his hand he clasped a mirror which fit comfortably in his palm. It seemed to glow with a surreal light as it swung with the cadence of his legs and arms. ‘I must…go…faster…’ the thought had barely registered in his mind when his body reacted and, regardless of the fiery pain that coursed through his veins and legs, he began to move at almost double his previous speed.
Sweat ran down from his face, tracking long lines that dropped onto his brown shirt. He reached into a pocket on his pants and withdrew a small canister.
05-May-2010 04:57:27