The sun shined.
The birds chirped.
And David fulfilled his dream of flying, or falling, depending on how you looked at it.
The first few moments, an absolute panic took over his mind. The wind blinded him, the fear of dying filled his soul. He closed his eyes, not knowing what to do, hoping that someone would save him.
One second. Two. Three. Then, came the realization.
'This is familiar'
The moment a bit of treaded ground revealed itself, David was woken up from his panic and fear. The wind on his body, the feeling of being weightless, the shifting of weight changing how the wind felt. He'd done this thousands of times.
He'd never tried skydiving, but his riding buddy did insist it reminded him of riding motorcycles. As he plummeted in the void, he thought about it for a bit.
'This is not a bad way to go anyway'
Squinting his eyes, he opened them just a bit.
As he focused on what he could see, the wind assaulted his vision, but he endured, only to be met by a welcome surprise. A strange feeling permeated his eyes, as if new eyelids had grown from the sides of his eyes. A thin veil covered his vision.
After some hesitation, he opened his eyes fully, realizing in glee that the wind could do him no harm. It felt very strange, as if his eyelids were closed and opened at the same time. He could see through the veil with ease, barely noticing its presence, if not for the protection it provided.
He focused on what was happening in front of him, the giant tree had barely gotten closer, the branches had seemed uniform in the beginning, but perhaps it was an illusion. They must have widened closer to the ground, only seeming uniform from the top.
A smile found itself on his face, as he calmed down, he realized that at this very moment, he was living in his dream. Everything paled, disappeared, withered away.
Only he was left. David felt...
'Free'
Alas, a branch was coming up, breaking his peace, he didn't feel like ending his joy and life so fast, so he shifted his arms and weight a bit, veering away from it by a good distance. As he did, his back became exposed and he felt the wind on his wings.
It felt natural, for the first time they felt like they belonged. He always seemed to consider them separate, always a welcome, but unnecessary addition, now he couldn't imagine himself without them.
Focusing on the feeling, he commanded them to extend, it felt easier compared to doing it at home. His feathers parted, his two joints extended. It was almost like putting his motorcycle in first gear. He felt in control.
Moving his wings slightly, changing the angle, his fall turned into a slight glide, a more elegant fall if you will. He felt like he slowed down, even a bit of hope invaded his mind. Perhaps, he could be saved.
David focused of what was in front of him. He could probably glide down to one of the branches, slow himself down enough to grab onto something, but the branches were too far, he could barely see any details.
Soon though, his situation improved, like the eyelids, his eyes didn't seem so simple after all, in his mind he could see a small circle, like a scope on a rifle.
The strange thing was that, it didn't really impact his normal vision, he could somehow process both the images of his normal vision and the zoomed in version, it was effortless and natural.
One branch, or to be specific, the house at the tip of it attracted his attention. The branch grew around the house, while protruding into many smaller branches wrapping themselves around the abode.
He was sure the smaller branches would injure him at worst, not kill him, they would certainly slow him down, perhaps he could grab onto one, if not, the tenants could hear his brush against their home, perhaps they would save him.
His wings got to work, veering him closer and closer. Immediately his path turned into an imaginary tunnel, he rode the wind like a motorcycle, turning his straight fall to a circular glide. David felt like he actually had a chance.
Then a thought entered his mind.
'Maybe I can slow myself by flapping my wings'
Thoughts turned to sloppy action, the moment he tried, he completely lost control of them, going into a frenzied spin. The panic returned, this didn't feel like riding a motorcycle, it felt like crashing on one. No matter how much he tried, he could not stop spinning wildly, his wings did not help, shifting his weight did not help, in a mere moment he had doomed himself.
Desperately trying to save himself, he discovered another peculiarity. He did not have control over his fall, but his vision was fine. Nothing was a blur, despite spinning in many directions uncontrollably, he had a perfect understanding of which side was down, his position in space and what was around him. He could see the approaching branch, the house on top of it, the other houses and the...
'who's that?'
Right behind him a man with lazy eyes and large brown wings was flying with him. He seemed unconcerned with the whole thing, carefully following David's fall.
David inhaled as hard as he could, trying to muster one of the very few words he was practicing.
"KaaarELrrrr!" David called for help, though seemingly missing for the important parts of the word, help.
The stranger chuckled.
"Oh, are you done? I thought you were having fun"
The stranger, flapped his wings once with force, closing them behind him, which caused him to speed up, he grabbed onto David's shoulder, opened his wings and immediately, the frenzied fall halted. They were now stationary, while the man slowly flapped his wings.
"Ahhh, a bird of prey, always a welcome sight. My name is Aegis by the way"
David was now both confused and relieved. He was curious of what the man meant, but also happy not to die. He didn't really feel anger towards the stranger, he clearly allowed him to fall longer than needed, giving him time to experiment, something he very much appreciated. Never being in danger, yet still panicking, did feel a bit embarrassing though.
Aegis, put a little bit more force into his flaps and soon enough they were flying up. David observed with curiosity, hoping to learn. Aegis went into a glide, seemingly riding the wind, flapping his wings only when necessary. He was graceful, efficient. There did not seem to be a lot of hard work involved.
Their travel back to his house was far longer than the fall, but it only made David happier. It gave him time to learn. He even tried to emulate Aegis, but the man asked him to stop as it was challenging enough to fly with him in his arms.
An hour later, David could see his mother waiting at the door. His improved vision allowed him to study her face in detail. She seemed distressed, but seeing David and Aegis approach, she switched to excitement, unable to restrain her expectations. As Aegis approached, he threw David at her and she caught him expertly, embracing him in a hug.
Behind her David could see his father, standing like a statue, expressionless. He walked up to Sae, and put his hand on her shoulder, inching her to move away from the door. Sae quickly realized what was happening and moved aside.
Aegis slowly landed inside the house, closing his wings and bowing slightly. Soon enough, they all sat at the dining table, Sae still holding David in her arms as he gazed at Rikard and Aegis.
After a bit of silence, Rikard was the first to speak.
"Thank you Aegis, it is reassuring to know the sparrows protect us with such diligence."
David glanced at Aegis again, studying his wings closely. He had to admit, the detail missed him entirely, the wings Aegis possessed were very much sparrow-like.
Aegis bowed slightly, then he took a rolled up paper from a bag hanging on his side. He opened it up carefully. Inside the parchment was a feather, which was the same color as his own and a small vile with black liquid.
Carefully he opened it up, dipped the feather in and started writing. After a little bit of writing, he looked up and asked.
"What is his age?"
Sae excitedly leaned forward.
"Five summers and three moons."
Aegis seemed a bit surprised, but he quickly got back to his task, noting down several more details. When done, he looked up at Rikard and spoke.
"Your child seems to be a bird of prey, but I imagine this is something you already guessed with his wings."
Rikard and Sae both nodded.
"I have both good and bad news. Which one would you like first"
David tilted his head, he was already confused about what was going on, the mention of bad news was the last thing he needed. He looked up at his worried parents, then looked at Aegis.
"Krrroood"
The three adults looked down at him. Aegis was first to break the silence.
"Clever child, very well then. The good news is that your son has very good control of his wings, at least for his age, and his instincts for flying are exceptional as well, we have a flying prodigy on our hands."
Sae immediately brightened up, but soon landed back in reality, when Aegis's face turned somber.
"The bad news is that he has the eyes as well"
Sae gasped, her face full of fear, her eyes started watering. David looked up at her, even more confused.
'My eyes have been pretty cool so far, what's the big deal. That was like...the best part'
Then he looked at Rikard, who seemed unbroken by the news.
"I expected as much, I even prepared, the child is destined for the path of a warrior, it was so, since the day he was born."
There was a hint of pride in Rikard's words. He had for years deluded himself, when it came to his child's path, blaming fits of pain as a test from the gods. Sae was not so convinced, or at least she didn't want to accept it.
As for David, it was not tough to figure out what was going on, his father's words provided a fairly significant clue. It was clear so far, that everyone was born different emulating certain birds, to various degrees. In such a scenario, roles must have been attached to certain individuals based on their potential from birth.
A path of a warrior. Frankly, it sounded exciting, but the terror in Sae's eyes made him wary of it. His thoughts were interrupted by Aegis.
"He embarked on his first flight, of his own volition, like many heroes before him. He will be named after the hero Demetrios."
Atreus stood up, put his fist on his heart and proclaimed loudly, with a sonorous voice that seemed to echo.
"Henceforth I welcome Demetrios the Falcon, son of Rikard as a warrior of clan Icarus, may the gods guide his blade"
The stalwart Rikard and the crying Sae stood up. They repeated the actions of Aegis and spoke with the same sonorous voice.
"We welcome our son, Demetrios! like the heroes before him, as a warrior of clan Icarus!"
As soon as they were done, Sae collapsed on her knees, putting the confused David down, crying as if she had lost her son to eternal sleep.
David gaped at her agony, looking at Rikard, he thought about what just happened and uttered his first clear word since coming to this new world.
"Demetrios"