Dinu was playing with her friend Vinet in the center of the village.
As she charged at her friend, she felt a drag coming from her back, as
though the world was trying to hold her back, trying to stop her from
catching Vinet. After her friend swooped away, laughing at Dinu's
inability to catch her, Dinu struggled to catch her breath.
"Dinu, you have to tuck your wings in more. You're trying to
hide them from the wind, not show them off."
Vinet explained.
Dinu had a particularly unusual set of wings that glowed even in
the
dark of night, revealing the beautiful and intricate patterns on them. In
the light, the wings attached to the small child's back only glowed
slightly, giving off a presence to her that made the village agree that
she would make an attractive woman when she got older. Vinet herself had
a set of wings of the darkest crimson at the very tip of them that
gradually changed to a beautiful orange and eventually the brightest
yellow with reflective golden feathers sprinkled across them.
Dinu glared at her friend and huffed.
"You're one to talk."
"I am. At least when I show off, it's in front of people who will
notice."
Vinet fluttered her wings out and swept them forward, further frustrating
her
friend. Dinu swore that,
"I will wipe that smirk off your face.".
"Can't tell you catch me,"
her friend chattered back at her, indifferent to her
idle threats. But before she could finish speaking, the child of light
lunged at her, only for Vinet to dart away again with that smug look on
her face. However, both sides of the exchange stopped what they were
doing
upon seeing Dinu's brother Icar bounding towards them.
"The dead came back."
shouted Icar. A phrase no less exciting to
them than it was to him. When someone went missing, it was most likely
that
a predator had gotten to them, so instead of sending a search party to
their
death for a corpse, the missing individual in question was just
considered
dead. It was rare for someone to make it back to the village. Vinet spoke
up.
"Are you sure?"
Icar explained.
"The man is called Frac, and apparently, he lived here like 15
years ago."
Vinet's smile faltered for a second before she remembered that
this would be the first new face she'd get to see in ages. Icar, clearly
eager to get the show on the road, grabs Dinu's hand to tug her along,
sputtering out.
"Come on, let's go meet him."
Icar started to drag Dinu across the
village, Vinet beside him. The trio ran together like this until just
before theyreached the second to last house in the village, where Vinet slowed to a
stop.
"Why did you stop?"
Dinu spoke to her friend, being the first to
see from her spot, lagging behind.
"It's not really safe to go further."
As her friend spoke, the fear in
her eyes made Dinu hesitant. Icar paused for a moment before
responding.
"They are still within the village.".
"That does not mean it's safe. There's a reason if the people who
live out here leave their houses, it's to move towards the center of the
village."
the frightened child stated back.
"Some of the town council are there discussing the
situation with the humans who brought him back.".
"You mean you already went out to the edge of town with no regard
for your safety!"
Vinet yelled.
"It's safe. Otherwise, our people would not be there."
Icar shot
back. Vinet fired again with
"The reason people are out here is because the other option is
to bring the grounded closer to our safe space."
"Ya, so safe! We STILL lose those we love in the center!".
"You are the LAST person who should be leading anybody anywhere
because you never learned to fear ANYTHING!"
Vinet lashed back with her
viper tongue. Icar ended the argument with,
"I know fear better than you do!"
. Before he started to walk away.
As her hot-headed brother trudged on, Dinu turned to her friend. The
loud-mouth girl who was just in a yelling match with her older brother
just had seven quiet words for Dinu.
"It's not safe to go with him."
Dinu looked at her friend for a
second before responding.
"He's never let me down."
She then began to try and catch up with
her anti-center brother. When she caught up with him, he muttered.
"What good does fear do you if it stops you from acting."
The way
he said that made Dinu wonder if he was talking to her or still trying to
have an argument with Vinet. Dinu wondered to herself why it needed to
even be such a fight. If Vinet didn't want to go, she didn't have to. It
wouldn't stop Icar either way. As they approached their destination,
Dinu did see some townspeople talking to a group of wingless people in
front of a wooden cart. Dinu thought about the fairy tales where an avial
who was so wicked that the gods picked him up and cut the wings off his
back.
This was supposedly how the first human was made. This was why
it was considered so important not to damage your wings because without
your wings, you are just one of them. The humans had a striking
resemblance to those they stood facing. Almost like, to the story'scredit, you just cut off their wings. There were other differences, like
how the humans wore metal and carried around heavy looking bags compared
to the avial who exclusively wore light cotton clothing. Guess when you
were already grounded, there was less reason to worry about weighing
yourself down. The humans also seemed less panicked compared to their
winged
counterparts, who were constantly looking all around like something was
going to come out of the forest and get them. The look on their faces
made her nervous, but she was not about to change her mind about trusting
Icar. The tenacious duo approached the nearest avial, a thirty-ish man
with
a deep gash on his left arm and a set of wings of bright red with the
lowest
feathers a section of powder blue and a green v of feathers all the way
through each of them. Upon noticing their existence, he jumped, scaring
the avial beside him, who then startled the other one beside him in a
chain
reaction. Dinu recognized the green v avial as Zeko, who taught Icar how
to
insulate their home. Zeko spoke,
"What are you two doing here."
The bright child answered,
"me and Icar wanted to meet Frac."
Zeko looked at the greeting
party before voicing his mind.
"You two always seem to do your own thing, which is fair, but I
don't understand why you would want to be this close to the edge of the
village."
Throughout the conversation, he kept glancing into the woods,
looking for something. Icar looked irritated, a face that Dinu did not
miss. Zeko spoke again.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
Apparently, Zeko observed
Icar's frustration as well. Dinu voiced out an explanation.
"It's not you. He just had a fight with Vinet about whether or
not it's safe to come out here."
"OH, so that's why he looked at me like I got mud all over his
bed again."
Zeko said jokingly. Dinu then asked
"wait, what happened?"
"We were patching up the roof at your place before a storm hit,
and I dropped the bowl used to patch up the holes. Since the wood plank
was pulled out to reapply the sealant between the two, there was nothing
stopping the bowl from falling straight through and straight onto his
bed. He was so angry at me."
it was at this point that the human behind
him spoke.
"Are they your children?"
Zeko turned to the human, responding,
"huh?"
The human asked again,
"Are they, your children?"
"No"
the human waited for more for a second before he realizedthat was the end of the response. Looking disappointed, he tried to probe
further by asking,
"how do you know each other?"
Zeko responded,
"That does not matter."
The human's brow furrowed. Zeko turned
back to the two and warned,
"you probably shouldn't be out here."
The frustration of Icar
turned to anger as he spoke. Icar responded,
"we came to see Frac."
The human decided to speak up.
"You should really respect your elders. He just wants to make
sure you're safe, and he most likely knows better than you do."
Icar was now infuriated. He spoke again,
"neither of you have the right to tell me
what to do."
Zeko sympathetically apologized,
"sorry, I didn't mean to push the issue, and I'm not trying
to tell you what to do. You are entitled to make your own decisions."
Those words almost deflated Icar as he felt Zeko had always tried
to help when he needed a hand. He didn't deserve the bitterness he had
from the fight with Vinet. The human then questioned Zeko
"why did you apologize?"
Zeko spoke again,
"I already voiced my concerns. Anything
after that was just revisiting a fight he had before they got here."
Dinu now had something to say,
"it wouldn't hurt if he actually stayed calm
for a change"
Icar responded to that,
"hay, she started that fight"
Dinu spoke.
"Ya, but you have been fighting with everyone you've
encountered today. So, I'm guessing she is not the one who started
ruffling your feathers."
Zeko, thinking he's clever, said,
"no, if she ruffled his feathers, he wouldn't be this grumpy."
Icar, trying to deflect the situation, stated,
"no one's ruffling anything around here."
Dinu wearing a devilish
smile, responded.
"maybe that's the issue.
Perhaps we should find someone for you."
Icar with pink cheeks stammered,
"You two stay out of my love life."
Dinu, aiming to still mess with her
brother, burst out,
"you don't need to love them, just let off some steam."
Icar's face
turned red as Zeko started laughing. He wheezed out.
"I've seen Parumultum wondering around with everyone else from his
class.
Maybe, if he strokes her feathers, she can stroke his."That line of
Zeko's killed Icar. Now the same shade of red as Zeko's wings, her poor
brother was trying to hide himself within his own.
Icar had a set of nearly solid black wings, with the only exceptions
being that of several silver feathers scattered across the surface of the
wings. His wings, while not ugly in themselves, were not considered
desirable compared to all the beautiful, flamboyant, and fancy colors out
there. Considered bland by their community, this was the one thing that
Dinu couldn't disagree more with. Her brother's wings have always
reminded her of a starry night sky, and even though there were plenty of
wings far more colorful than Icar's, in a way, his stood out even more
because while there were numerous people with beautiful patterns or solid
colors, Icar's were the only black ones in town. They fit him because
while they don't immediately jump out as the best, they stand out with no
intent of following the norm.
The human still trying to be part of the conversation chimed in.
"You guys have beautiful wings."
Icar, pulling himself deeper into his
wings, responded.
"Dude, we are way too young for you."
The nameless
human was taken aback. He was not expecting to be attacked as a child
predator from that admittedly shallow compliment. Zeko spoke up next.
"You stay away from them. I spoke to Frac. I know what your kind
does
with "beautiful" wings."
Dinu looked at the human. She had never seen Zeko
so openly hostile. If he earned this hate, he's not someone she should
hang around
with. She had to ask,
"what do they do with them?"
Zeko answered,
"the people with beautiful patterns on their wings they killed, so
they could cut them off without damaging them. The humans would then go
on
to sell the wings."
Dinu went pale as she looked at her older brother, who a
moment ago tucked himself behind his wings, was now trying to hide them
behind him. It looked like Vinet might have been right. Zeko then went
on,
"those that were considered to not have wings
worth selling they would chain up, and force them to work."
Icar slowly
started to inch forward to his sister. The human finally spoke up,
clearly, upset by Zeko's words,
"my friends and I were the ones who saved him. We risked our lives.
The least you could do is give us a fair shot"
Zeko was having none of it.
"OH, so you can imprison the whole town and cut off our wings,
too."
Dinu had her doubts as well. Who would just put their lives on the
line as the human claimed. It didn't make sense. It meant that you were
likely to die without even accomplishing your goal. The outsider stated,"we just came to make sure Frac arrived home safely. We will be
taking
our leave soon."
Zeko argued,
"and that just so happens to let you know where exactly our village
is?
Ya, you're not welcome here, and neither is Frac it's his fault we can no
longer rest easy."
Icar spoke to his sister with the wings of light.
"You should head back to Vinet"
Dinu was taken aback,
"What about you?"
Icar explained,
"I have set out to talk to Frac." Dinu looked offended
"so have I"
Icar apologized
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this. That may have been a
mistake. It's not safe."
Dinu was not going to let her brother go off.
She would rather not be here anymore, but icar wasn't just going to send
her away. If he didn't feel comfortable with her being here, why did he
think it was a good idea to stay by himself? She had some more words on
her mind,
"you got mad at Vinet telling you to turn back because, "it's
not safe." Why should I have any other response? You are not our parents"
krrrAak! Their argument was cut short. Three of the humans pulled
long blades from their sides, and the other grabbed a tree limb smoothed
down with both ends pulled slightly closer together by a singular piece
of string. It was a wonder that the string didn't snap. The avials looked
around, scanning the tree line. Dinu wondered for a second if the rest of
the humans arrived, and she was about to die from them. Before realizing
that, they were looking at the trees, too.
A hiss escaped the forest, and every avial turned white. There was a
brief pause where the only sound anyone could hear was their own hearts.
It smashed its way into the opening. A creature with scales across its
body, save for its long, thick neck and the lower part of its legs. Its
neck, a slimy eal-like texture, while its legs were four stout limbs
covered by muddy fur. The claws on its feet looked as if they were
melting. The face is a set of big forward facing eyes locked onto the
group and two slits atop a gigantic jaw with teeth like edged hooks. The
massive black beast began charging right where Dinu didn't want it to go,
AT HER.
She ran into the forest, hoping that it would slow the large beast
down compared to her smaller frame. But every branch tried to slap
against her. Trying to catch her and hold her there like an offering to
the demon. The ground, an uneven collection of deep mud, razor rocks, and
tangling roots. She could hear the monster behind her hissing as it
crushed through everything in its path. Dinu could feel its hot breath
like acid on her wings and back. She tried to throw the beast off her
trail by taking a sharp left, then a moment later, changing her direction
again. The wrathful creature seemed to be locked onto her.
As she started to feel the pull from her wings, she thought, "I
can't let the world hold me back, I can't let that thing get me." She
pulled her wings as close as she could to her back. It proceeded to gain on her regardless. Until a fallen branch got overlooked. When she tripped
on the vile thing, she collided with the ground, scraping her leg on it.
She began to cry as death approached.
Trying desperately to get to her feet, she felt she was already too
late. Something grabbed her, pulling her to her feet. Icar yelled at her
to
"keep going".
What was he doing here? Why would he risk his life
entering the forest? She never even noticed him approaching. He dragged
her along, seemingly heading for something. His path was visible before
him alone. But the creature was closer than ever. Dinu felt like his
decision
to come out here just got them both killed. As they passed a tree, Dinu
detected a glint from the forest. Two seconds later, Icar stopped in his
tracks. Dinu was about to break down in tears.
When, from the tree, a familiar human stepped into the path of
destruction and cut deeply into its neck. The wounded monster hissed,
reared up, and slapped the man, sending him flying as his blade fell to
the ground. The human with the bent branch stepped out from another tree.
He grabbed a sharpened stick from the bag on his back, placed the end of
it in the middle of the string, leaning the other end on the branch,
pulled back, and let go. The stick moved forward faster than any animal
has ever run. It slammed itself into the predator's head. He repeated the
process several times with similar results as the first, while the first
human got up. Another human slammed her blade into the leg of the being
before narrowly avoiding the claws of the thing. At this, the creature
stumbled back stepping on the fallen blade as a KRAKE was heard
the creature then hissed before retreating into the woods.
Dinu had no words. She wasn't even sure she was really there at all.
Maybe this was just a dream. That would be more believable than the fact
that she was still alive right now. A feeling she was not familiar with
in her left leg brought her back to reality. Whatever that feeling is, it
is not pleasant. She looked at her leg to see a scrape from the bottom of
her knee to the middle of her calf. The young girl became distraught. She
should have taken Vinet's words more seriously. But because she didn't,
she risked getting killed and having her wings cut off, She got chased
through the forest, and she injured her leg.
The female of the three humans wiped her blade clean of blood as she
asked her now bruised friend if
"you alright?"
Winded from his impromptu flight lesson, he managed
to cough out
"just peaches and cream."
She looked at the young woman having a panic attack
"hay it's just a scratch, you will live"
"I'll live? I'm stuck in pain."
The female
warrior rolled her eyes saying
"Pain is temporary. You are fine."
Dinu accused,
"you have no idea what you're talking about."
With exasperation
in her voice, she responded,
"It's not like it's my fucking job or anything. Let's get you home."
Dinu felt that was a good idea. She looked at her brother. She could
see each bead of sweat reflecting light, His pale skin now once again a
shade of red, and a mouth curled up at the corners, panting heavily. The
bright child thought that it was probably just as stressful for him. But
she was still trying to figure out something,
"why did you come save me?"
Icar hesitated for a moment, almost asking himself the same thing,
"I want to be better than them"
Dinu was now confused. How did
that decision make him better?
The winged beings began to walk with the saviors back to town. Icar
didn't waste any time before asking,
"could you guys teach me how to do that?"
Dinu and her fighting
buddy looked taken aback. The archer asked,
"what do you want us to teach you?"
"I want to know how to do what you guys did to that beast"
was Icar's words. The three escorts looked at each other before one said,
"I don't think your parents would approve."
Dinu informed them,
"you don't have to worry about that."
The leg cutting swordsman
asked,
"do you know the risks that entails"
Icar stated,
"I don't want to be trapped by fear. "
The ranged soldier asked,
"what is your name?"
"It's Icar, and my sister is Dinu"
Dinu couldn't believe what
interaction was taking place before her eyes. Just a moment ago, they
found
out the danger they represented, and now her brother was asking them to
stay
around and teach him their ways. The feminine human responded in kind,
"I'm Elise".
Pointed at the other knife-swinger and said,
"That's Alex, and the other one is Mace."
Icar looked at Elise
with hope, his eyes marbles that made puppies jealous. Alex's words
dragged their claws across Icar's flesh,
"sorry, but we don't have the time to teach you nor the gear.
Besides,
we're not welcome here"
Dinu watched as her brother, often times full
of hot air, deflated.
The five walked in silence for a short time. Before, a small
creature jumped out at Icar. The startled avial took several steps back
before recognizing that it was a bird. Alex noticed before muttering,
"the child wants to become a swordsman and gets frightened of his
shadow."
Mace glared at him as Dinu had a bone to pick.
"You lay off him. He has done nothing to you."
Alex now got
defensive,
"like I did nothing to your friend."
Dinu laid into him again,
"so you're going to take your anger out on a child."
Alex
retorted that,
"a child shouldn't be playing with weapons to begin with."
Dinu viciously attacked him like a piranha, trying to take as many bites
out as possible.
"The only ones that have a right to tell him that, are our parents,
which, WOOPS are gone!"
Alex trying to claim the high ground due to age,
responded
"well someone has to be watching over you"
Dinu sustained
"not in this town if you die, no one is going to watch over your
family when you are gone."
Alex tried to justify himself, but when he
spoke, it was like a raccoon made off with his tongue. Alex sat there
in silence for a moment as the other two pondered the implications.
Dinu looked at Icar he wasn't paying any attention. He was staring
at the bird that attacked him. The bird was puffed up to be as big as
possible and would fake charge the son of the night before taking a
couple of steps back. Almost daring her brother to come get some. Mace
called to Icar
"fascinated by the bird?"
Icar responded
"It's a mom"
Dinu wondered how he could tell for a moment
before noticing a small clutch of eggs behind the bird. She watched
as her brother began to puff up and expand his wings, mimicking the
tiny mother. She watched as he finally flattened out his wings before
asking.
"Do you miss mom?"
she was too young to have a memory of her
mother.
"No"
Icar's response was short and harsh. He began walking again,
making sure to go around the nest. Dinu followed, and soon the rest of
the
party. As she walked, she couldn't keep her mind off the pain in her left
leg. The feathery female hated the fact that this was a thing now. As
they
continued walking, she could hear the three humans whispering behind her,
chatting among themselves, but she couldn't pick up enough words to know
what they were talking about. Dinu tried to focus on her surroundings to
keep her mind occupied. The trees covered in moss on one side, like
someone
painted half and told their sibling anything not painted is yours for
each
tree. The moss looked soft and fuzzy, which made Dinu wonder if it would
make a good mattress to sleep on. The tree's branches reached up to the sky, grabbing at the light. The roots scattered everywhere across the
ground,
the mud dripping off a couple of them that raised themselves too high. As
she
looked further out, the forest itself got darker, like the safety of the
group magically produced light. Dinu continued to look at her
surroundings
until she realized that she didn't know where Icar was. She began looking
for the reflective feathers in his wings. She could see the deep browns
of the
trees and the rich greens of the plants and a couple of reds, blues,
yellows,
and oranges of flowers, mushrooms, and other plants. But she was failing
to
spot him. She asked the group if
"do you guys know where Icar went?"
Upon hearing his name, Icar turned
around, revealing his pale skin thirty-five feet away. Dinu huffed at him
to
"stay within the group."
She didn't like how he wandered off like they
weren't within their enemies' backyard. Dinu also didn't like how if he
stepped
a few feet away, he would just disappear. Not found of how the journey
out felt
longer than the journey inside, the winged child asked
"shouldn't home be around here?"
she heard one of the humans say
"you ran for ten minutes."
Ten minutes that felt to her like two, as well
as an eternity. Dinu noticed that in addition to the tracks left by Icar,
there
were also several tracks in the opposite direction. They were literally
retracing
their steps back. When the five got back to the village, they found that
the rest
had moved location, probably closer to the center of the village, except
for
a single human. He was talking to someone inside the cart the humans
brought with them. A wooden base covered by a canvas over the top and
four wooden wheels. Pulled by a singular horse. When they walked past the
horse, a sudden movement by it caused Mace and Dinu to take a step back
as he called the horse a
"bastard"
under his breath.
"Hay, David, how did things go on your end?"
Elise asked. David
looked relieved to see his friends return. The unknown fourth member
responded,
"things went great on my end. From the fact that both the
birds returned, I assume things went well."
Dinu glared at the newest
human, insulted. David looked back at the small child,
"Don't look at me like that."
Dinu responded,
"don't call me a bird, you boneless ape."
The human being unfamiliar with the antics of the provocative siblings
was
startled by her boldness.
He offered,
"Hahaha ha, how about this? I won't call you a bird again,
and in return, you leave me alone."
Dinu gave the counteroffer,
"I will avoid calling you an ape as long as you don't call me
a bird. Any other insults will be determined if you disrespect me again."
"Deal"
with negotiations over, Elise informed David
"Alex no longer has a useable sword, where did the others go"
"The bir-"
"AyA"
"Our feathery friends went inside a house a little closer to the
center until the danger passes"
Dinu looked at Icar and said
"we should probably follow suit"
Icar stared back at his sister for
a second before responding
"you can go back, but I don't want all that effort to go to waste."
Dinu couldn't believe him. After all that, he wasn't willing to cut his
losses before he actually lost his life. She started to stomp away
towards
the town center, pausing briefly to ask David which house they decided to
hold up in. it was not long before she passed the place where Vinet and
her
stubborn brother had their argument, and a few steps beyond that point a
common house that her friends took refuge in. The house itself was
relatively
small, with thin boards nailed on to a light frame and the cracks between
them
sealed with a muddy mixture. The door itself didn't do the dilapidated
house any
favors, as it was crudely shaped and almost seemed to be shoved in place,
only
connected by a couple of flimsy hinges. Dinu knocked on the windowless
house. She
waited for a moment before hearing Zeko on the other side.
"Who is out there"
"it's Dinu please let me in."
after hearing that, her
friend Vinet burst through the house door, puffy eyes and tears rolling
down her
face. Dinu was quickly chauffeured inside the house by her friend. The
door
slammed behind her as Vinet collected up all of Dinu in a deep embrace.
Dinu felt
her best friend's arms wrap around her body, as her glowing wings were
pressed
closer to her body by Vinet's warm and beautiful wings. The child of the
sun felt safe at that moment, protected from the evils that just transpired. The two stayed there for a moment before Zeko broke dinu out
of her trance.
"Is Icar alright?"
Dinu immediately felt guilty. Here she
was, but she failed to explain anything that was going on.
"ya he is alright. He decided to stay behind with the humans
to talk to Frac"
Vinet's face flushed with color,
"So he continues to ignore the danger right in front of him?
He could have gotten you killed."
As the angry avial went off, Zeko let
out a sigh of relief.
"That's good to hear."
Dinu continued to speak,
"Icar and the three humans who came after me survived, with only
one human being any worse for wear."
Zeko smiled for
a second before letting his face drop. Vinet continued to hug Dinu as
Zeko spoke,
"We were scared that we would lose you and Icar."