Accidental Reaver

Chapter 216 - 215: Taking the Skies

Pain tingled deep under my feathers, running from my beak to my talons. My eyes hurt to see featherless Luke recovering from the flock's attempt to eat him. Our connection wavered. A weariness came. I groomed myself, the blood from before cleaned away, and white bandages clung to my form. Hopping along the edge of the white cloth nest, I got ready for a bird's eye view. This nest was empty of any others recovering, except for us.

Some haughty no feathers urged me to rest, fussing about my recovery and to stay still. Glorious feathered ones like me needed no rest, just naps. It was the no feathers that needed rest. This gentle hatchery with healing people, soft light, soothing voices, and kinder long legs became my temporary roost. Luke recovered here, wings missing as always, but I let him be my roost member anyway. Many came and went, the scents gradually shifted, and the bed changed a few times. One, named Lilly, fed me nice treats and took me out the nest to see the world. I would fly, the ground outside began to invite others back, and the sun and sky became welcoming. Lulu came to play, and guided me around as some did, a duty of a talon friend.

Everything started to heal, inside and out. Workers began to rebuild the city and clean up the mess outside the nest. Many seemed sad, others celebrated, and waited in anticipation. Air drifted through me, clean and unaffected by the monsters. They came to break apart the Tower and its buildings around it, as I overheard the smooth feathers around me say.

Luke needed my eyes and flight to defend the stone nest. He couldn't soar, so I soared in his stead. There, we sortied against rival birds, and other featherless giants, or their minions. The giant ones had been the worst, oozing a glinting power that clashed with my shadows, rot, and cut against my beak. A blizzard bloomed from him, and I vanished to the shadows at his side. We were outnumbered from the start, and all but alone. When he ordered me to save the others without wings, I wanted to protest. He always did this, even if for just a few wingspans. A dangerous separation, but I saw the black haired girl. This one seemed special to my roost member, so against my will, I helped. Returning as fast as my wings would let me, the first giant fell between us, and changed Xera, but it caused us trouble. Somehow, I needed to understand the odd metal.

What came next hurt more than others no beak Luke and I paired against in the past. Since the fish in the pond, it was the first creatures that preferred to eat us. Did I taste good? Better than fruit? I hoped not. The thought ruffled me. My feathers must remain. Flying without them is impossible and unnatural.

In that long battle, I lost feathers, cracked a wing, and bruised my beak, but never yielded to the giants. Tricks, shadows, claws, and caws, I used them all to keep some of the giants away from my Reaver. The one with talon nails curled back on its head gave me the most trouble, nearly tearing me from the sky. Darkwood went against the shadow and rot, and I barely held on.

The ones like Luke, they whispered around him in worry. A tall lady in thick armor stayed by his bed. Guarding him as fiercely as I did. I gave her a click of approval. This was a good minion to have. More visited as the sun rose and fell. Lulu's master. A moon-born woman that touched Luke, speaking of debts, I cawed at her to give my roost member space.

Later, the sound lady that saved the two of us from being dinner that day visited. My flock grew without my choosing, and yet…not all were unwelcome. But I was cautious! These lacking birds started to preen around Luke, but they needed my approval. The respectful ones, coming with proper tribute to me, got to stay.

Our bond connection deepened after coming to this new world. Luke and I lived, fought, and stood against too many nest breakers to count. During that time, another feather shade came out of my roost member, hungry and sad. Sometimes, he mentions an egg dad. Does that make him my egg dad too?

My thoughts sharpened from the days of the cold underground nest. Details I willfully ignored pressed onto my winged self. The special trainings worked, and my talons gained power, my mind quicker, and flaps faster. Through crystals, I gained an ability linked back to nest member Luke, a brown rot, that gave me many options. Without it, my distractions and dives would've failed. Dropping my wings down, I settled to perch atop the cloth nest to see outside but stay close enough to roost member Luke, checking on him through our link.

Coming close, Lulu landed beside me, and we took in the nest rebuilding. Many of the vicious people crowded around a giant rectangular stone, beside the tallest branch, the one that pierced high into the sky with a silver and black color. Here, I cawed to Lulu, asking what she did when her wingless one, Iona, fell into trouble.

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My feathers still bristled at the recent dangers. Three times. Within a few sunrises, Luke had nearly died. Three times, I had nearly lost my last roost member. Each time, I swore never again.

And each time…I failed.

I could soar higher than ever. The shadows clung firmly. My feathers introduced new ways to use them. But what we faced outpaced me. What was I doing wrong? How could I be a better companion and soar in winged perfection, but Luke comes closer to breaking? Another shade seeped into our connection, too many wanted in on the roost. Xera and Wayfinder, as I heard Luke call them, were to be trusted. My prideful instincts rattled at me with all the others, to be cautious of them.

Hooting, Lulu came close, then put a wing over my form. Soft healing came from her, a trick I never had, but she did. In her wisdom as the older bird, she explained that trouble always came for the wingless like Iona and Luke. That they chose a dangerous flightpath. All I could do was fly beside them, keep to my training, to support, and when the occasion arises, guide the featherless.

The setting sun turned a faded orange, relief washed through this stone nest, Sylen. In the south, I spotted the weaker beakless come back, some with their young. Many stayed, while others left toward the horizon. People flocked to Luke, many I recognized, just as many I did not. Lulu stayed, keeping watch with me. We birds of a feather, stayed together. While our flight as talon friends dipped, now Lulu understood what I felt. There, in the bond, Luke's glassy eyes stared back, beginning to recover the softness hidden by outer ice. That brought joy, followed by guilt and worry.

What if the next flock of monsters succeeded, and no other featherless like Luke came to stop them? I pecked at the words that floated all around me, something that happened ever since coming to this world nest. The bond strengthened, the rot crept further. Essence welled up in my eyes. If Luke hungered for places I couldn't soar, then I knew what I needed. To discard the feathery pride. To dive from the sky into the shadow and rot that greeted me. Expand my wingspan. I valued Lulu's approach.

But I could not agree with it. The bond told me. It whispered the inner desires Luke held as himself, and as the Reaver. They mixed further, clinging tighter to his soul than my nails did to my talons. Fly beside? Luke ran too fast and looked to his side less. To stay as roost member, I needed to pull ahead. I rattled to the sky, startling Lulu.

What use was there in being a companion if all I did was delay those who harmed him? Ever since I chose the path of intellect from the bond, the simplistic joy became harder to find. We survived, not from our teamwork, but the mercy of another. I needed to aim ahead, to prevent being left behind. Luke loved me, I felt it.

Warm wings buffeted, going under my soft wings. I wanted to be worthy of the affection. Our positions switched since the cave. I guarded him then; he guarded me now. Shadow dropped from my wings, summoning specs of brown rot. Vorpal Touch, as the floating words named it. I connected to them, allowing them to sink in the sun and crush the winds. Lulu curiously kept her oversized eyes on the shadows. Diving into the connection, I remembered how Luke used the ice that was part of him. He evolved himself from it. I was many flights away from that. The step before, controlling the shadow as it left or after, that felt within a hop or two.

A spike ripped out the liquefying shadows, then fizzled out. Lulu brought out elusive wind, and we flew in the skies. Quickly, we bounced attempts off each other, illusions spiraled, and shadows multiplied. We circled up high, remaining with a reasonable dive, to keep my worry for my roost member at bay. Hundreds, then thousands of attempts later, we landed again on the top of the white cloth place keeping Luke. The barrier between me and the dark element thinned. I pecked at it, yet no hole would appear.

Tilting my head, I nipped at the shadows, demanding they listen. Parts of it spread, breaking off before returning. I flapped back in confusion. This trick had never done that before. Lulu became excited, telling me to keep going. Trusting my talon friend, I tried again. The shadow under me curved and stretched. My obviously superior bird brain handled this new change quickly.

I cawed in delight, Lulu and I made a game to play. She folded into false shapes, hiding in illusions, and I slipped through shadows to find her. We darted, dove, vanished, appeared, and danced in flight until the light died out. Our avian tricks sharpened; our play also practice, skills evolved, talon and wing made to sing. When night draped over the nest, the shadow ripened, and manipulation of them eased. I perched on a tower nearby. Lulu and I saw the masses crowd the building. From above, I imagined how to face the giants that feasted on us like ripe fruit or cherished nuts.

Their endless regeneration and mountainous weight bore down on my wings. Some were so large even my crow's sky seemed small, and soaring past them impossible. Others flew as well—a scaled bird breathing fire that flickered with life, and a stone-winged thing gliding and wielding a whip. Could I show them the true way of the feathered glory? To soar above them as my shadow dragged them to rot?

Lulu confided that her Iona also narrowly avoided death. Her master recovered quickly, but fear hid in her hoots and screes. We made a talon pact, to figure out this element we used and fly beyond the chains keeping our masters managed. The skies belonged to us, the blessed birds, and we were to show our masters the way to claim them—together.

A jolt jittered throughout me, a soft groan rippled beneath the white cloth. My wings beat, a rattle spilled from my beak. I swooped to the bedside, crashing against Luke in joy. He was awake! Glorious feathers, he was awake.

My heart calmed as I felt him run a finger through my feathers. He worried me too often, my wingless family. But now—now things would be okay again. He woke up. We survived those monsters that swarmed us as a flock. Us two against the thousands. Our bond strengthened once more for it.

That was what mattered most to me. No nest felt right without him.