Shade

All Shade could remember was his mother telling him a story. It was a story of monsters and shadows and stars made of ash. And there was an ocean. A beautiful, blue ocean the color of his eyes. She told him that the empress of the ocean had fallen in love with the stars but when she had reached up into the sky she was struck with pain and lightning that creased her bones and scarred her hide. Shade was just another descendant of the empress that had been carved by the stars.
Shade had loved that story. It was sad and beautiful and full of magic. He hoped that, someday, he would live up to the fairy tale his mother had told him. And with his eyes on the stars he'd fallen in love, just as the empress had. He was destined for adventure.