Spin, spin and spin.
Until there was nothing but blood mist left.
The Eagle Demon Capital had become a boody hell.
—
"Mie, we need to make a run for it."
"We can't. It's too dangerous… the ghouls will kill us before we make it out…"
"Grr… if only this hadn't happened. It would be just another day… damn it…"
"We're trapped…"
In a damp cellar beneath an estate, two children with wings on their backs, broken chains around their ankles, spoke in hushed whispers.
Thick bloody miasma had risen like a storm in the capital following the destruction brought upon it by the Heavenly Death.
The dead had begun to rise again as ghouls, seeking the living to rend their flesh and take out their anguish upon.
A veritable hell-scape.
Food had begun to run out in the cellar where they were trapped, it had been months now since the fall.
"What about the explosions?" Nye Mie asked shiveringly, the miasma a freezing stasis chamber, if not for their feathers, death would have asked them home.
Her sister, Nye Nie, shook her head as she wrapped her wings around her younger sister, "We can't worry about those anymore. We need to escape, today."
"But… everything! The ghouls, explosions, screams… I-, I'm scared, Nie… I don't want to die-!" A choked cry escaped her throat, and the banging came.
Ghouls outside had heard it, and were trying to break in.
Sitting in absolute silence, the sister's listened in terror as soon the noises stopped, and in it's place, there came a furious barrage of explosions and pressure that threatened to turn them into a paste.
Nye Mie cried silently, whilst Nye Nie made up her resolve.
Standing up her sister by the hand, she kneeled to stand at eye level, "Listen to me, Mie, we are going to make it, but not like this… we need to leave."
Mie continued to cry, and Nie shook her, her voice terribly serious scaring her little sister, "Do you understand, Mie!?"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The ghouls heard her shout, and began slamming even more fiercely against the cellars doors.
The wood began to splinter.
"There is no more hiding." Raising her voice, Nie made a choice, "They've found us, we need to move."
It was forceful, and she knew it.
But her sister would not listen unless she was frightened into moving along, this cellar had become too much of a safety net and if she wanted her to come along quickly, it needed to be broken.
She no longer lowered her voice, "Follow me!"
Rushing through to the back of the cellar with Nye Mie's terrified form keeping close behind as best as her little legs could, they hide in the darkest corner.
Boom!
When the cellar door broke open and splinters shot everywhere, the Miasmic Ghouls rushed through, filling the farside of the cellar, searching for something.
Searching for them.
Nie nudged her sister, and the two made a break for the door once the ghouls were all spread out inside the cellar.
Creeping behind them, they got up the steps.
"Ow ow ow ow!" Mie let out a screech of pain, the splinters had cut open her flesh.
At once, every ghoul within the cellar turned around, and without hesitation Nie picked up Mie and made a break.
Sprinting out into the courtyard of the manor, her mind launched into a tirade of memories in this place, how they were born here and then thrown away.
But there was no time for reminiscence.
Her mind agile, she quickly deduced the best place to leave from, the courtyard quickly filling with ghouls due to her sisters previous cry.
Time was of the essence.
Running through a hole in the walls of the estate, she reached the main street and peaked out from the alleyway.
Ghouls were quickly approaching from where they'd come from.
Glancing down towards the gate, there were thousands of Ghouls.
Upwards towards the royal palace, there was nothing that dared to step past a certain threshold.
Without a second thought, she made her choice.
She ran towards the palace.
Tens of ships flew through the sky battling ferociously for control over the fallen capital with the Heavenly Death's Dread Fleet.
The Heavenly Death's Dread Fleet was being pushed back steadily, yet this did not make Nie happy.
Between her people and the Heavenly Death, there was no difference.
They were both cruel, and would not accept them, she was certain of it.
Casting aside those thoughts, she continued to run.
As the Dread Fleet was pushed back, the ghouls began to advance as well, moving forward fast as though whatever was stopping them was getting weaker.
Nie glanced back, and her spine chilled, almost tripping.
The ghouls rushing up the main street looked like a flood, not a single bit of space was left.
And it was in that moment she realized.
"We are the last living in the city…" Her brain froze, "They're all after us."
"What?" Mie's eyes widened, and a steady stream of clumsy, snotted tears fell from her eyes, "I don't want to die-, I-, I-!"
Her voice was no longer restricted.
She wailed.
And wailed.
Nie's eyes too began to tear up.
The gates were flooded by Ghouls, and the streets were completely packed and the palace surrounded.
They had no other place but to go upwards.
Her heart shriveled, and her feet slowed.
Her eyes lost the small glimmer of hope, "Run."
Nie let her sister down, and turned back to the flood of ghouls, "What?"
"Run now. Mie." Nie raised her arms, and her wings spread to cover the street.
Beautiful, white wings of the Eagle Race.
Her eyes brimmed with tears she would not allow to fall, "Listen to me for once and run, damn it!"
Her wings flexed and a weak wing barrier rose upon the street.
Mie's little figure trembled uncontrollably.
She held on tightly to the little figurine now visible in her hands, a little carved eagle demon with a sword in her hand, the savior of their race in the long past, an idol and a childs toy now.
Mie's wings began to unfurl, and a beautiful sound began to resound.
Using them to move faster along the ground, she fell many times, but her deseprate struggle was not in vain.
Her sister battling fiercely to stand her ground was not useless.
Mie arrived at the entrance of the Royal Palace of the Eagle Demons.
Her eyes widened, the roof had been blown off, and little pieces would fall from time to time, threatening to take the lives of suspecting.
Yet, the messy hall, cracked and broken pillars nor even destroyed roof were what truly caught her attention.
It was the creature sitting upon the throne.
An unfeeling gaze was levelled upon the crooked crown in it's hands.
She knew it instantly.
This was the Heavenly Death.
The one who started this entire calamity.
Her lungs filled with air, and her wings spread outwards revealing an ethereal white light, "Idiot!!!"
"Hm?" It's eyes turned upwards from the crooked crown, a slight smile on its face, "Why?"
It's piercing red eyes spoke volumes of what it truly was.
Tenki Shi.
The Heavenly Death.
Evil.
In her eyes, the little figurine that she'd been clutching onto, hidden away in her clothing began to splinter as he continued to watch her calmly, awaiting a response.
The liquid courage from the blood loss, the light headedness and the desperation as the walls closed in upon them from land and sky, made her take action.
Taking out the little idol from her clothing, she clutched it for strength as she cried out, "Take responsibility!"
His eyes narrowed sadistically, "For?"