Yellow Jacket

Designation: Omens of Passing
Classification: Skyborne Carrion-Adjacent Songbirds
Region: Scattered across the Wilds, seen rarely near settlements

Overview

Mourning Larks are among the most hauntingly beautiful creatures on Hemera.
Their feathers shimmer with soft silver iridescence, their voices are clear and crystalline, and their song is so pure that many call it the sound of glass tears.

Yet no one welcomes their presence.

For Mourning Larks are said to sing only for the dying.
Their song is silent until the moment life ebbs nearby.
Then, they sing.

It is never loud.
Just a single, delicate note…
…like a thread of light unspooling through the air.

Appearance

Size: Slightly smaller than a sparrow, but more slender

Feathers: Mirror-pale, edged with midnight black

Eyes: Liquid onyx, glassy and depthless

Wings: Long and translucent near the tips, refracting sunlight like shards of water

They are breathtaking to behold, even as the heart clenches at the sight.

Behavior

Mourning Larks travel alone.
They are never seen in flocks, and never land where the living are gathered.

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They circle silently over battlefields hours before the dying begin.

They appear at the edges of hospice windows, unmoving, waiting.

They stand on grave markers long before anyone has carved a name.

When death comes, not violence, not fear, just the ending of breath, they begin to sing.

Their song is soft and piercing, crystalline and impossibly still, carrying for kilometers in utter silence.

Afterward, they vanish.
No one has ever seen a Mourning Lark feed, or nest, or mate.
They simply arrive… and then they are gone.

Reputation and Belief

In most cultures across Hemera, Mourning Larks are feared and revered in equal measure.

To see one is to know death walks near.

Soldiers freeze when they spot their silver wings.

Villagers draw blinds if one lands upon their roof, whispering prayers for anyone they love.

Superstitions include:

The Rule of the Last Light: If you see a Mourning Lark at dusk, someone you know will not see dawn.

The Pact of Silence: To speak during their song is said to draw their gaze.

Feather Taboos: Touching a dropped Mourning Lark feather is believed to mark you for an early grave.

Even the Green Zone refuses to cage them.
Captured Mourning Larks go silent, stop eating, and die within hours.

Use as Death Alarms

Remote Legion medics quietly rely on Mourning Larks as natural death alarms:

Their song has been recorded as a near-perfect predictor of terminal decline.

Bio-monitors often pick up a Mourning Lark's cry seconds before the subject flatlines.

Even the most hardened soldiers pause when the song begins.
It means one of them is already leaving.

Status

Though rare and difficult to study, Mourning Larks are considered living omens, a natural phenomenon that embodies Hemera's refusal to soften its truths.

They are feared for what they signify,
adored for what they are,
and above all, believed.

To see one perched in the cold silver dawn is to know:
Something beautiful has already chosen to mourn.