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It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A loud booming noise echoed throughout the hallways.

“Wait a minute, that’s not how the story goes.”

After the booming sound was heard a second time, Van put down his book. He had been trying all night to finish this story, but it seemed like it was not meant to be. With a sigh, he got out of his chair and exited the small room he was occupying. After walking down a flight of stairs, he exited the gate house and approached a door set in the giant gates that marked the entrance into the Tower.

 “Who is it,” he yelled, doing his best to make his voice heard over the rain.  There was no answer. After yelling a second time, and again not getting any response, he opened the door, but not before grabbing one of the knives strapped to his lower leg. But when he peered out into the dark, he saw nothing save the darkness surrounding the city.

As he stepped outside beyond the door and surveyed the surrounding area, his foot brushed up against something. Looking down, Van saw a baby wrapped in a dark green cloth asleep on the ground. The child was seemingly unaffected by the stormy weather. Not even the impact of Van’s foot against the baby’s side could wake him up.

“Oh great, not another one,” Van muttered to himself. Unfortunately, abandoned children were not a rarity in this place. It seemed that every few weeks another child was found at the entrance to the Tower, often left with nothing but the clothes on its back.

This child was no different. The blanket it was wrapped in seemed a little nicer than the typical material orphans were left in, but aside from that it was just another child left to the care of the Tower. Van picked up the baby and brushed its golden hair from its face. A quick check resulted in the conclusion that the newest inhabitant of the Tower was a boy.

“It’s too bad, really,” Van commented to the sleeping child as he closed the door. “You weren’t even left with a name.” He looked back into the darkness one more time before the closing the door completely. Resetting the lock, Van set off to see if anyone was in the nursery.

Outside the walls, the rain continued to pour down. But Van was incorrect when he assumed there was nothing out there. If he had looked closer, perhaps he would have seen a large set of eyes glowing dimly in the dark. The eyes watched as Van entered the Tower. Once the doors closed, the eyes blinked, and then a large woosh of air was heard, followed by the sound of large wings flapping.