"Mother, may I sleep with you?"
His mother woke up from her slumber while wincing her eyes. After taking notice of his face and his relations as her son.
"Of course you can, come, sleep on this"
Her feathers puff up to resemble the softness of the wings. her wings were truly a sight to behold, every feather was of pure white and with vast size to emphasize their greatness.
As he laid in the amount of feathers, the mother spoke of a lullaby, a song for those in need.
"Child be free"
"released into the sky, watch and hear their cry"
"You watched it over and over, but still it won't go by"
"You wish that it was over, that each day churn"
"But all that was left was just a burn"
"If one continues their path, they would truly love another~"
Nephil, a humanoid being who're sentient and are mostly categorized by their feather wings. They live in the most high altitude areas of the world and stories of old foretelling that they were once living amidst the clouds. Nephil were notorious as the ruler of the sky and the messenger to bring the oracle of their gods to the people. They were truly esteemed and respected by all races under the sky.
"Look, Papa!"
The child points at the moving swan caring for her offspring.
"Haha, that is magnificent my son, why don't I go collect some fruits for you to eat while you rest? Go play with the other kids outside"
The kid stayed reluctant asking.
"Okay Papa, but whatever happened to Mommy?"
He looked down with a deep expression, he had know idea what to tell him.
"Your mother....is in a meeting with the Council for the week, just wait and she'll be back, I promise"
The father looked back at the child, who barely sprouted his first stub to form his wing.
He couldn't stay much longer, but watched from afar, as the child descend the slope to the nearby river.
Leaving with a sincere expression and one with intentions unknown.
"Did you hear? A village like any got ransacked near us!"
"No way, who would be evil enough to do that."
"They are definitely evil! I heard that all of the others were taken away!"
"Who'd be so evil?"
"Humans! They've taken them!"
"Humans? What are those?"
"Humans are people like us! Just that they don't have wings. I don't know how they live without them!"
"What? That sounds fake! Who'd be a Niphel like us and not have wings?"
"Pft, them of course"
The conversation goes on in the Nursery by the much older children.
The son walked in and avoided the group due to his young age, walking to the play area for which the children would play.
He took a look around in search of someone or something.
There, a child in one of the pens was caught within his eyes as he shifted his head around.
he headed slowly towards the child, playing with some of the blocks present on the floor.
"Come on brother, let's go!"
"Go weir?"
The child was his younger brother, they only receive names once they reach the age of 13, so they were just unnamed.
His brother was barely starting in education of their alphabet and was able to speak.
"We need to find mother!"
"Okay!"
He didn't deny it, he'd openly accepted in finding the one who always cared for him and took care of his mess.
They walked out of the nursery without any of the children caring as they were still talking on about events down on the ground.
"But did you hear? My father who is a merchant came across a problem when a city didn't want to trade with them anymore...so they went to the neighbors and traded there, causing quite a scare for him."
"Why didn't they accept? They won't go far if they try to seclude themselves!" one of them pouted.
"Well, I don't know anything down there...but I heard that a God was out there telling them to kill us!"
"How scary, stop telling me this brother!" Yelled one of the young daughters of family members going missing.
The two children in the distance walked further and further away, down the peak of the mountain in which the Council is stead.
But nothing was there, it was barren.
Nothing remained but the fallen and scraped bodies of Nephils. Their wings were fully ripped off of their body and thus killing them. Their wings are one of the most important organs within their system.
"What is this, I'm scared brother"
His clutch on his hand made him able to gain his state of mind and walked away with much despair.
"Let's go over here...mother must be there..."
He swore he saw some female bodies among the corpses, but didn't want to check.
But at that moment, he was struck in the back of his head. he was struck hard enough for a streak of blood to appear.
The Child blacks out, with his final view of a hidden man, with a group of other armored guards slowly seeping into the peak.
All he could do there was to watch, as he remembered the Lullaby sung by her mother.
"Child be free"
"released into the sky, watch, and hear their cry"
"You watched it over and over, but still it won't go by"
"You wish that it was over, that each day churn"
"But all that was left was just a burn"
"If one continues their path, they would truly love another~"