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."