'I should have known better,' Jhinto thought to himself bitterly. He was foolish to think that Harbinger would just 'not care'. He must have come out to see how the old male was doing - and has eyes on him as he shifted to take flight.
For an old soul, Jhinto was fast as a falcon. He had flown many times in his youth, and found it relaxing and fun.
He also knew that he could hide in the sanctity of the sun and blind the guards that were shooting at him as fast as they could with the weapons they had confiscated out of the forbidden vault.
The decision to climb towards the sun was one that saved the old wizard's life, as a cry of pain could be heard from the foolish idiot who looked through a scope as they tracked the bird into the blinding light of the ball of gas in the sky.
"You incompetent idiots! Use the big ones!" Harbinger bellowed with rage as he pointed to what looked to be a hollow metal tube ( we would know it as a rocket launcher).
"I'm not sure how to use it, sir!"
"Figure it out quickly, he's getting away. If he tells any other Kingdom what is going on here, we are all going to be dinner for the Ferals!" Harbinger barked in rage.
No one knew what he meant, but no one was brave (or dumb) enough to ask, either. Instead, they did what they could to set off the massive weapon, and in their haste, set it off as it pointed towards one of the fountains.
The damage was immediate and intense. No one expected the blow-back, heat, or sound in the aftermath. Those who were close to the explosion had been thrown aside like cheap meat on a grill, (and their burns didn't help the simile, either).
Some had been hit by debris, and one grey and black wolf in particular had been hit so hard, that it had knocked him back with the rubble and pinned his lower half to the ground with such force, that it looked like he had sunk into the earth.
He was thankfully killed on impact, otherwise his death would have been drawn out. He must have done something right in his life to be blessed such a quick end.
"Unbelievable! Are you all entirely incompetent? Give me that!" Harbinger spat and jerked a gun from a nearby soldier's hand as they stood dumbstruck.
The old, mad General fired towards the sky frantically in hopes he would hit the falcon trying to flee his control.
Bullets didn't fly that far, however - and they would eventually have to come down in an arch. Somewhere in the crater were some silver bullets that some unlucky soul may find someday.
**************
Jhinto flew as fast as his heart would allow him to - which felt like nothing since he was in a rush.
Why was everything so fucking slow when one was in a rush!?
His wings at least allowed him to glide through the trees, but at this point his heart was pounding so hard that breathing felt like it wasn't on the option list. It ached to keep his wings straight as he strained his body to dive further into the trees to search for the river he so desperately needed to get to.
He listened for rushing water and just aimed towards that direction. The pouch across his body was growing heavier the longer he went, and he felt as though it would snap him in half if he didn't land soon.
Jhinto wasn't one to give up, though - and his love for Metas was stronger than the pain he had to endure. The Goddesses had stressed how important that bag of supplies were for a positive outcome to this terrible era.
'You must keep going. Metas is counting on you, and that boy deserves at least one parental figure to care...' the mage said to himself as motivation. Death wasn't scary, but letting both his Goddesses and the true Alpha King down and disappointing them sure as hell was.
He could hear the water getting closer, and even though he was descending, he still was able to dodge a tree branch here and there when he needed to. As much as the wolf in falcon's clothing wanted to try to fly higher, his just couldn't will it. It was hard to just keep his wings outstretched, and he knew that once his wings went back down, they couldn't be brought back up.
The weight was staggering. He tried so hard not to think about it, but it seemed as though the thought itself made him sink lower. He felt like his wings were going to snap off, and he just couldn't bare it anymore.
Jhinto was so very, very close to the river - he could hear the rush of the water hitting the rocks. As much as he wanted to get there, it wasn't going to happen. His body was only able to take so much strain, and he was past even the brink of that.
The male was very lucky he was so close to the ground, because his body took a lesser blow as his feathers faded and his fur returned. He blacked out as both pain, and fatigue overtook him with an unfair team-up.
At least it was over.