A Raven's Pride.

Prologue

The night was still young.

In the darkness of the Empire State, a shadow lurked in the blackness. Four shadows in reality; their inky-black feathers unabled anyone from distinguishing their shapes, but it was obvious that there was one single female among them. The mysterious beings watched the city far below them, trying to spot anything interesting to do. However, a sound caught their attention; the bird-like reptiles turned around just in time to spot a single crow land on one of the metal handholds of the building.

"What took you so long?" one of the jet black creatures spoke up

The crow flew towards some boxes, hiding from the sight of the creatures, and a gray light emanatted from behind. After a few seconds, another of the creatures walked up to his companions from behind the boxes.

"Sorry, I had some trouble with a peregrine falcon," it replied apologetically with a strong, masculine, "any sign of him yet?"

"Fortunately, no," another male voice- this one a Little more high-pitched- stated jokingly just to receive angry glares from the others.

"Don't joke about this, this is serious!" the only female of the group hissed, "if we don't find him soon, we can kiss this planet bye-bye!"

The largest of the creatures wrapped a wing around the female.

"Calm down, sister," he soothed, "He can't be far, we'll find him,"

"Say that to Hozum," the high-pitched voice spoke again sarcastically.

"Silence!" the firt creature hissed at the time he bristled his feathers, "remember, we have to keep a low profile. Let's go to search for him one more time, perhaps he's hiding somewhere,"

The other four creatures let out various caws in agreement and the creatures jumped from the highest building in Mantatttan, diving down a bit before opening their jet-black feathered wings and hovering above the city.