《Not your average Bird》 Prologue I slowly blinked the sleep out of my eyes and took in my surroundings. White... An endless white plane that seemed to stretch on forever. "Hello."A raspy voice whispered inside my head. "Wha¡ª Who''s there!?" "Relax, I''m not going to hurt you. In fact, I''m about to give you a present."This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "A present? What kind of present?" "I''m going to make the pain go away... Would you like that?" The thought of the painful needles sticking in my arms made me shiver. "Yes, please make it go away!" Before my eyes, six silhouettes appeared. Each one looked like a different animal my mother read to me about from the book with big words. "Pick one." "Will it really make the pain go away?" "Yes, it most definitely will." "Okay..." I stared at the six silhouettes. "I want that one!"I said loudly as I pointed to one of the silhouettes. Chapter 1 My eyes opened as I sucked in a lungful of amniotic fluid. I immediately tried to cough it out, but the odd thing on the front of my face made it difficult. That, combined with the constant influx of new fluid into my lungs caused fear and panic to set in. I tried to scream for help... But nothing came out. I tried to move my arms... But they didn''t move like I thought they would. For starters, I didn''t seem to have an elbow, hands, or any fingers. I could move my shoulders fairly easily, though only in a few directions. I could move my toes... Of which, I apparently had four; three facing forward and one poking out from where my heel should be. That''s when the memories clicked. "Oh... I almost forgot. I''m a bird, now." I wanted to slap myself for forgetting the deal with the voice, but as I currently lacked hands, I decided to give myself a pass. "So... Am I like, in an egg?" My head bumped against something soft, but with a solid surface beneath it. "Seems that way." The lack of oxygen was starting to get to me. I could feel my lungs tensing under the pressure, and my head was beginning to hurt. Could birds even get headaches? ... Yes, I decided they¡ª or, at least I could. I took a page out of an old documentary I watched while I was in the hospital and used the semi-hard thing on the front of my face to peck at the soft membrane separating me from the hard outer shell of the egg. ".......!" I briefly registered the sound of a muffled voice coming from outside the egg... But I had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment... Like breathing. Which, as I''ve been told repeatedly, is a rather important item on a growing kid''s to-do list. Pulling my head back until it bumped against the opposite side of the egg, I swung it forward with all the strength I could muster. I heard the outer shell crack through the liquid. I swung my head again and another, though much louder, crack was my reward. I pulled my head back a third time and broke through with a triumphant cough of glee! Well, I say triumphant... But it was more along the lines of weak and pitiful. "Aww~" A warm, feminine voice cooed from above me. "Looks like he tuckered himself out." "As well he should be!" A much more masculine voice replied. "The lazy boy is two days behind his siblings!" "Oh, hush dear!" The feminine voice scolded. "I told you he''d come out on his own time, and he did." "Aye..." The masculine voice sighed. "That ya did. Still, what took him so long? I was beginning ta think the egg was a dud." "You should have more faith in your chicklings, Tahir. You''ll live longer that way." "Okay... I''m kinda scared of the lady." I slowly reopened my eyes and looked at what I presumed to be ''mom'' and ''dad''... And I honestly had no idea which was which. One of the two was a fairly large bird, maybe two feet tall? With pitch-black feathers, long, strong-looking legs, deep black eyes, and a single feather standing proud on top of their head. The other bird was much smaller and much¡ª much more colorful. It was half the size of the first and had bright green feathers that enveloped its tiny body like a plush robe, short, stick-like legs, and dark-red eyes that seemed to stare menacingly at me. Until the bigger bird gave it a thwack with its wing. "Enough with the glaring, ya brightly-colored buffoon! Can''t you see he''s frightened!?" The feminine voice said from... The large bird''s beak.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Bah!" The little bird scoffed. "If he''s scared of a little ''glaring''," The bird emphasized sarcastically. "Then we might as well throw him from the nest now." "I''ll throw you from the nest, first." Mom said casually. "Oh yeah, and how''d ya plan to do that? I can fly, ye flightless heifer." Suddenly, and without warning, mom struck out with one of her legs and slammed the bottom of her foot into dad''s chest. Though she was careful to avoid sticking one of her sharp talons into the much smaller bird, I could tell it hurt him... It also knocked his tiny butt over the edge of the nest and presumably into a freefall towards the ground. "Then fly!"She yelled over the side of the nest. "Now, sweetie. Let''s get you cleaned up and dried, shall we? You look absolutely pitiful all wet like that." She cooed at me. "O¡ª" I coughed up some fluid. "Okay." I stood up on pitifully weak legs and flopped out of the nest. "Aww~ Poor thing... Hungry?" She asked as she leaned over me. "I guess so." "As I suspected!" She said cheerfully. She tilted her head back and made a wretched gaging sound. "Oh... Oh no..." "On second thought," I began. "Maybe I''m not so hungry, after all." "Nonsense." Another wretched gagging sound. "All growing chicks must eat." "No, really, I''m fine." I protested while trying to stand up. Failing that, I started using my damp, weak, and extremely small wings to push myself across the nest... Though to all the world it probably looked like I was having a stroke, I swear I was doing it on purpose. Until I felt a foot on my back. "You''ll eat or I''ll force it down your throat, young man." She cooed at me. I tucked my beak into my chest and hid it as best I could. "No!" I felt her foot prodding at my side. I quickly tried to tuck my wings into my side, but they just wouldn''t listen to me! It was like trying to throw a baseball after laying on your arm for twelve hours. She managed to get one of her toes underneath my stomach, then she pushed me over with a huff. "There''s always one." She placed her foot on my stomach and leaned over me. "Open." I kept my beak shut. "O¡ªPen~" She cooed. I refused. Quick as a flash, she lightly stamped on my stomach. My beak opened with a gasp of air leaving my lungs, and she vomited right. inside. my mouth. I gagged, I coughed, I sputtered, I cursed this nameless bird in every language I''d ever known. "Has it popped yet?" She asked in a curious tone. "Popped?" I kept my beak closed in case she had any more ''food'' for me. And that... Is when things got really weird.
Congratulations! You have earned your first evolution point!
"I''ve earned a what now?"
Name Rage
Current diet Fruits, nuts, seeds
Current evolution style Flightless Avian
Current senses Basic Avian
Current movement style Flightless Avian
Evolution Points 1/1
Possible Evolution Options
Weak¡ª> Mild wings¡ª 15 points
Weak¡ª> Mild Legs¡ª 10 points
Normal Vision¡ª> Hunter''s vision¡ª 12 points
Blunt Talons¡ª> Basic Talons¡ª 5 points
Change diet: Basic¡ª> Carnivore¡ª 15 points
Change diet: Basic¡ª> Omnivore¡ª 25 points
Size Change Tiny¡ª> Small¡ª 20 points
Size change Tiny¡ª> Diminutive¡ª 10 points
"Ah! There it is!" Mom exclaimed as she seemed to stare at the thing floating in front of my face. "You can see it?" "Sure can." She agreed. "Now, are you going to just lay there all day or are you going to come meet your siblings?" "Honestly, I rather just¡ª" "Eat again?" "No!" I yelled. "I mean... No, thanks. I''m full." "You sure?" "Definitely." "Okay, well, let me know if you change your mind." She replied. She gave a little hop and landed on the branch holding up the nest. "Well?" She asked after a moment. "Coming." I sighed as I slowly climbed to my feet while using the edge of the nest to keep my balance. Once I was standing to my complete and imposing height of... About five inches. I stumbled after my mother. And promptly fell flat on my beak. "Remind me... Why did I pick the bird, again?" "Going for a bit of a laydown, are you?" "No..." I fought my way to my feet. "I thought I saw something shiny" I sarcastically replied as I toddled over to her. I could already tell that this was going to take some getting used to. Chapter 2 I hated to admit it... But I was proud of myself for only falling on my face two more times as I toddled after her. I mean, sure, my beak hurt after falling on it four times. But so what? Falling down onlyfive times as a newborn chick wasn''t a bad thing... Right? I grunted as I faceplanted once again, and I heard my mom sigh from ahead of me. "Goodness, I didn''t realize we were sitting on such a bevy of shiny things." She said offhandedly. I climbed to my feet and directed a tired glare at her. "I can''t help it! I keep being thrown off balance by something!" She tilted her head to one side as she regarded me. "It''s the way you''re walking." .... "Come again?" "You''re trying to walk as I do. But since your stubby little legs can''t handle the weight of your body, you fall over. If you want to walk without falling over, then try shuffling your feet as you walk." I peered down at my little legs, then up to her long, strong legs. "It couldn''t hurt."I decided as I started to slowly shuffle my feet towards her. One step. Two steps. "So far, so good." Three steps. Four step¡ª "And I''m on the ground again." I felt strong toes wrap around my body and lift me back onto my feet. "What am I doing wrong!?" "Nothing... Except watching where you were going." She pointed with one of her talons to a knot on the branch. "You tripped over that." "Oh..." I was sure that if my face wasn''t covered in feathers, that I''d be blushing up a storm right now. "That''s embarrassing." "Don''t worry," She said gently as she brushed her body against mine. "I''ve already seen you fall down nine times. One more won''t change my opinion of my sweet wittle Rage~" She cooed. I felt my feathers twitch as my annoyance spiked. Then the fact that my feathers responded to my emotions freaked me out for a second... Which caused my feathers to react again. "Okay, calm down... It''s okay... I''m... I''m not going to freak out about my feathers... Nope... I''m definitelynot freaking out!" I felt something brush against my side. "It''s okay. I know it can be a little surprising the first few times, but it gets easier." She cooed. "What does?" "Your feathers reacting to your emotions. Everyone goes through it... Most of us don''t look like we''re standing in our own, personal hurricane... But it does happen to everybody." She spoke with clear amusement in her words.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. And my feathers reacted...again. She stood beside me and cooed a little wordless song until I was calm enough to get my feathers under control. "Thank you." "Aww, it''s alright wittle Rage. I''m your momma. It''s what I do~" She began walking again. As I followed along behind her, I was careful to watch my step as I wondered at our surroundings. So far we''d gone through the trunks of three trees, switched branches some twenty times, and walked for what felt like an hour... And yet the branches and the surrounding trees never seemed to come to an end. Wherever we were, the sky I could see through the treetops was completely and utterly clear of clouds and the mist I was so used to seeing out of my hospital window. But even with the beautiful sky above us, the forest surrounding us seemed... Lonely, somehow. It was as silent as a graveyard... Or a battlefield the morning after a horrible massacre. "Where is everyone?" I asked her. "Hmm? Oh, only nesting mothers come to this part of the forest. We used to allow the fathers to come visit their eggs... But a few bad apples proved to us that it was a bad idea to leave them unsupervised in this area. They can still come, but they must be supervised by the mother or a guard." "And... What''s to stop the guard from letting the dads come in, anyway?" "Because... Only nesting mothers are chosen to be guards." "Oh... Are you a guard?" "I was," She agreed. "Until you hatched. Now another mother will take my place." "But... if all the guards are moms... How do they watch their eggs?" "The nesting area is over a natural heating vent, so the eggs usually stay warm on their own. Which means we are left with a decent amount of time to patrol the perimeter. Two or three rounds around the area, then return to our nest while another mother takes our place." ... "She''s speaking like a soldier." I listened intently as she pointed out things I hadn''t noticed before. A nesting mother swooping low to the ground far beneath us. A second one gliding through the sky high above us. A third one flying in wide, sweeping circles as she patrolled the nesting area itself. And a fourth one following at a safe distance behind us. "Why''s she following us?" "She''s probably my replacement. It''s customary for a replacement to see their predecessor out of the nesting grounds before returning to her post." "Oh..." She hopped over a pair of thin, interlocking branches that crossed over the branch we''d been following, then helped me climb over them. We walked while following the branches for probably another ten minutes before I saw another bird besides mom... And it was dad. "Hello, Tahir," Mom said as we drew closer to him. He was waiting on a branch beside a massive tree trunk with a scowl on his face... How I knew it was a scowl, I had no idea. But it certainlyfelt like he was scowling at us. "Is that... a door in the trunk of that tree?" "Tawny," He said curtly. "You certainly took your sweet time, didn''t you?" "We took the scenic route. Didn''t we, Rage?" "I guess so?" "Did we take the scenic route?"I wondered. "See?" He chortled at the two of us, then hopped off his branch to land in beside mom. "The chicklings are anxious to meet their new brother." "Of course they are." Mom laughed back. She lifted one of her long legs and pressed what appeared to be a square block of wood on the front of the ''door''. The block sunk into the door briefly before popping back out with an audible *click*. Then mom used that same foot to push the door open to reveal... A house. The inside looked like something out of a cartoon. Pictures of various colorful birds smattered the walls, a large rug, which appeared to have been woven out of various branches and leaves, covered the floor, and a gaggle of chicklings raced back and forth across the little room, chirping and laughing all the while. "That''s... Not exactly what I was expecting?" "Surprised?" Mom asked as she ushered me into the room. I nodded dumbly in response. "Don''t worry... Most re-lifers find it a bit odd at the beginning." She calmly explained. I froze in place. "Re... Lifers?" "Yes," She said patiently. "People who have been reincarnated. You are one, aren''t you?" I slowly turned my head to look at her... She looked completely calm, almost serene, even. "You don''t have to worry, wittle Rage. About fifteen percent of the forest kingdoms population are re-lifers, so you''re not alone in this." ... "Really?" I asked trepidatiously. "She''s right." My dad interjected. "I work with three of them. Never thought I''d have one as a chickling, though." He finished offhandedly. "And... You''re not mad?" Mom brushed against me as she stepped into the room. "Whatever you were in a past life doesn''t matter anymore, wittle Rage. You''remy chickling now." "Mommy!" The chicklings cheered in unison as they laid eyes on her. I looked at dad with what could''ve been tears welling up in my eyes. "What''re you looking at, chickling?" He demanded. "Get in so I can shut the door. You''re letting the cool air out." .... "Way to ruin the mood, dad."I sighed. Chapter 3 I goggled at the energy the chicklings around me seemed to possess. Ever since we walked through the door forty-five minutes ago, I don''t think they''ve stopped to take a breath once. It was a far cry from the children I''d seen in the hospital... Actually, aside from the other children in the village, I don''t think I''ve ever seen kids with this much energy. "Is it because they''re birds?" "Hey, you wouldn''t happen to be from a place called New... New Work, would you?" Dad asked curiously a few seconds after slurping a comically large worm into his mouth. "Don''t talk with your beak full, Tahir." Mom said tiredly "Bleh~" Was dad''s ''mature'' response. "You mean New York?" I said, emphasizing the ''Y'' in York. "That''s what I said! So? Were you?" "No, sorry. I know of New York, but I''ve never actually been there." "Damn, I was hoping to finally be able to call Boris on his lies. Metal contraptions you can ride around in. Bah! Whoever heard of such fantasy." ... "Those are real. And they''re called cars." "Oh, is that so~" Dad said sarcastically. "Well, that''s not what Boris called them. So either you''re lying, or he is." "What''d he call them?" "Some complicated word. Started with a B, I think... Benta, Benti¡ª" "Bently? "Yes! That''s it!" He agreed while stamping his foot on the floor. "I think that''s supposed to be a very expensive type of car. I''ve never seen one though, so I could be wrong." "Oooh, I''ve got you now, Boris. Just you wait!" Dad said menacingly... Which, given his appearance as a fluffy green bird... Made me really uncomfortable. Mom thwacked him with her wing and motioned to me. "Stop scaring Rage!" "I''m not!" He protested. "So stop hitting me, you overgrown chicken!" Mom gasped. "Chicken!? I''m not a chicken!" "Bleh~ Chicken woman, Chicken woman!" I was moderately surprised that he remembered to back away as he was taunting her. "I think my dad''s a bit of an idiot..." Of course, with the chicklings being the human equivalent of toddlers, they immediately jumped onto the bandwagon. " Chicken woman, Chicken woman~" They cheered in unison. I, very calmly, decided to retreat to a safe distance from the dangerous looking talons currently digging into the floor. Then the outburst came and my dad very courageously... Got out of her way and darted out of the nearby window. "Come back here, Tahir!! I''ll show you who''s a chicken!" "Is being called a chicken a bad thing?" I asked after giving her and my siblings a few minutes to calm down. "Not exactly." She snorted. "According to Dirk¡ª" At the tilt of my head, she explained a little further. "That''s one of the re-lifers your dad works with." "Ah." "A chicken is supposed to be a magical bird from his homeworld." ... "Magical?" "That''s his words, not mine." She sighed. "He said it managed to taste like almost everything... Or everything tasted like it, I can''t remember. Either way, he said the only way it could do that was through magic, so it must''ve been a magical bird." ... "Alright." I said, lacking any other response to such a statement. "Have you ever eaten chicken?" I nodded. "What did it taste like?" At the thought of the bland hospital ''chicken'' patties I was given, I shivered. "Not great." "Maybe you got the non-magical kind, then?" ... "It''s possible." I said, again being unable to come up with anything to say. That''s when the tree we were in started to shake violently, and everything went mad. The chicklings started peeping at the top of their lungs, Dad burst through the window with what appeared to be a large acorn cap on his head and his little talons at the ready, and mom... Mom was just glaring at dad. "What. Did. You. Do?" She asked semi-calmly.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "Why do you immediately assume it was me!?" "Because, dear," "Uh oh." "They don''t call you bad luck Tahir for nothing." ... "A not incorrect statement." He allowed. "But I swear, I didn''t do it." An incredibly loud knocking sound echoed throughout the small room. "Hey! I was told there was a pick-up here!" "Oh! That''s Daisy!" Mom exclaimed. She walked over to the door and pressed the button with one of her feet, then pushed the door open and leaned her head out. "We''ll be out in just a minute, Daisy!" "Tawny? How ya been, girl!?" "Just fine, Daisy. The last egg finally hatched!" "Really!? Congrats! Can I see him?" "Sure, he''s coming out with the rest of the chicklings." "Aww, aren''t chicklings just the best?" "They are!" I tuned out the rest of their conversation as I turned to dad. "What''s with the hat?" "This," he dipped his head and allowed the hat to fall to the floor. "Is a standard issue, class one helmet! Only given to the bravest and most daring flyers of the first squadron!" "It''s an acorn cap he found laying on the ground outside!" Mom called from somewhere outside the tree."They don''t give helmets to the first squadron, so don''t let him fool you!" "Stop eavesdropping on my conversations, ya bat!" "Do you always insult her like that?" "Nah," He responded quietly. "Only when she''s feeling down. A pissed off Tawny ismuch better than a sad Tawny, believe me." "Bat!? Come out here and say that to my face, you half-pint!" "Why''s she sad?" Dad refused to take his eyes off the door, but he did give me a sideways glance for a second. "Not all of your siblings survived this time. And truth be told, we didn''t think you were going to make it either." ... "Oh... Sorry." "Don''t be. It''s not your oranyone else''s fault. These things just happen sometimes." "Maybe he''s not as immature as I thought?" "What''s taking so long, Half-Pint!? Let''s go!" "And that''s my cue. Time to round up the chicklings and get a move on." "Do you need any help, or..." I trailed off at the glare he was giving me. "I don''t care how old you were before, Rage. But here, you''re still a chick. Act like it." "I don''t know what that means, though..." "It means, leave the bird stuff to the birds and you go wait with your mother." "Okay?" I hesitantly agreed. I walked out the still open door and froze in place as I laid eyes on ''daisy''. "Who... In the world... Namedthat...Daisy!?" Big would have been an understatement. Large wouldn''t have done it justice. And calling her massive probably would have gotten me eaten... So I just settled for Daisy. "Um... Hi?" The massive brown bird with a golden crown of feathers circling its neck and head turned its attention from my mom to me and leanedway down to look me in the eye. "Are you rage?"The massive bird asked with a twist of its head. "Y¡ªYes?" .... "Oh my god! You are just the cutest thing~"The colossal bird cooed. She huffed out a breath of air that ruffled my feathers and cooed again. "I could just eat you up~" Cue intense feather reaction in three... two... one... Yep, there it is. My feathers puffed out as much as they could, which only caused her to coo again. "Stop scaring my chick, Daisy!" Mom protested. "But he''s so cute!" "Daisy... Stop... Or I''m telling mom." "Mom?" "Why would you bring her into this!?" "Because she''s the only one that can handle you, that''s why! Now, apologize to your nephew." "Nephew!?" "Alright,"She huffed."I''m sorry, little Rage. I didn''t mean to frighten you." "It¡ªIt''s alright. I''m¡ª I''m not scared." ... "Clearly." "Why Daisy, since when were you the designated pick-up officer?" "You''re flying back on your own, Tahir. Tawny''s already told me how you''ve been acting lately." "What!? But it''ll take mehours to fly back!" "You should have thought about that before you started being a jerk to my big sister." "Big... Sister!?? Which part of her is thebig sister!?" "Aww, don''t be that way, Daisy." "You''ll fly or I''ll squash you." .... "It is a nice day for a flight, isn''t it?" "Alright, enough with the comedy routine, you two. Help me load the chicks into the carrier so we can get moving." I''m not sure if it was the threat of being squished, or if it was his desire to get moving that prompted my dad to usher all of the chicklings into a large, twine-woven basket that was sitting next to Daisy''s left tree¡ª I mean leg. "Come on, Rage. You too." Mom prodded. I quickly followed after my siblings and walked through the small opening at the base of the basket. "Birds and Chicklings, this is your carrier speaking. Please keep all wings, legs, and tail feathers inside the basket at all times as I will not be held responsible for feathers lost or stolen during the ride." "Stolen?" "You''ve been talking to Carol again, haven''t you?" "Yeah,"Daisy laughed."She taught me that the other day." At my questioning look, mom explained. "Carol is another re-lifer. She was something called a ''flight-attendant'' in her past life." "Oh..." I had no idea what that was, but it sounded important. Daisy stretched out hermassive wings and flapped once, the dirt around the basket was pushed back. She flapped twice, and everyone in the basket had to dig our talons into the basket to keep from being blown over. And then... We were off. Daisy held the large basket with one insanely oversized foot and quickly broke through the treetops. Her massive wings continued to beat until we were high above the trees, then she held them out and allowed herself to glide on the wind. "Where are we going!?" I yelled over the wind. "Home!" She yelled back. "Home!? I thought the tree was home!?" "No! Only guards of the nesting area can live inside that forest! Since I''ve been replaced, we''ve gotta go back to our nest!" She looked out of the basket''s opening and motioned with her head. "See!? That''s where we were!" I looked out the opening... "Oh!" Was all I could think to say. The ''forest'' if that''s what you wanted to call it. Wasdefinitely the most defensible place I''d ever seen... Ya know... Since it was inside an opening at the top of a freakingmountain! "The nesting area is inside a long-dormant volcano!" She explained. "Only birds can reach the apex, so naturally, our ancestors chose it as our nesting grounds!" "Isn''t that dangerous!?" "Well, we''ve got someone looking into that! There are talks about moving the nesting grounds to somewhere closer to the central nest in case the volcano ever becomes active again, but we''re waiting on our expert''s findings before we do anything!" "You have experts?!" "Of course!" She laughed as she clutched the other chicklings closer to her breast while we rode through some particularly rough shaking. "Sorry!"Daisy yelled over the wind. "Anyway, yeah, we do! You re-lifers bring some interesting stuff over when you come!" As I lacked anything to say to that, I shrugged my wings. We flew for another thirty or so minutes before Daisy called out,"Birds and Chicklings, this is your carr¡ª" "Get on with it, please!" "Sorry! The nest is in sight!" I hurried over to the opening along with the rest of the chicklings and marveled at what I saw. Trees so tall I doubted you could see the top from the ground, with trunks so wide I don''t think you could walk around one of them in twenty minutes... And there were literallythousands of them. "Welcome home, everyone. Welcome home." Daisy announced. "Home, huh?" Chapter 4 I dug my talons into the floor of the basket as Daisy twisted her oversized body through the gap between two trees. I was incredibly surprised at the grace with which she glided through the cramped forest, and wondered if I would one day be able to do the same. "The landing platform is just ahead. Hold on to your tail feathers!" I wasn''t really sure how to hold onto my tail feathers, so I dug my talons deeper into the basket and sat down. Daisy, with one mighty flap of her massive wings, propelled us high into the air... Then brought her wings into her side, causing us to freefall for a moment before landing roughly on what I hoped to be the ground. My siblings peeped and hollered in fear or excitement, I couldn''t tell, and mom set about calming them down so we could exit the basket. Daisy landed with a loud *crash* behind the basket and strutted around to see us. "Enjoy the ride?" Since my siblings were still huddled around mom and were refusing to quiet down, I spoke up. "Yeah, it was fun! You''re a great flier." "D''aww~ Stop it~ You''re gonna make me blush!" "Yes, please stop it. You''re going to give her an even bigger head." Mom grumbled as she ushered my slightly calmer siblings past me, and out the opening. I quickly... Er... Semi-quickly toddled after them. As I stepped out of the basket, I stopped to stare at the circular white platform we were standing on. It was large, that''s for sure. Able to easily accommodate both Daisy and the basket''s unusual sizes, while giving passengers enough room to walk around freely. Somehow, the birds had managed to paint a large red circle near the center of the platform, presumably to give Daisy a place to set her basket. I stared at the paint for several seconds and tried, and failed, to think of a way birds could have held a paintbrush... "Have a good day!" Daisy yelled. Her voice brought me back to the real world, and I looked around for mom. She was waiting at the edge of the platform with my siblings and watching me with a curious tilt to her head. "Bye, aunt Daisy!" I called back as I toddled over to them. "Bye, little Rage!" I picked up my pace and caught up with my siblings and mother a few seconds later. "Mom, I''m hungry." One of my siblings, a colorful chick almost three or four inches taller than I was, complained. "Ooo, me too, me too!" Another one excitedly yelled. The rest of my siblings followed along with the first two and began pestering Mom for food. One by one she lifted us off the platform and set us on a large, sturdy looking branch. Unlike the other branches I''d seen, this one had crudely carved rails on each side. This was probably to keep people... Birds? From falling as they walked. Though I did wonder why the birds even bothered... And then I remembered how high up we were. "You okay, Rage?" Mom asked over the cacophony of my sibling''s peeps.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Yep, I''m fine. Totally fine. Why do you ask?" She tilted her head to one side and I could feel the amusement in her gaze. "Your feathers tell a different story." "They''re liars." She chirped out a laugh and shook her head. "Alright, Rage. We''ll leave it." "Mom, food!!" They whined. "Yes, yes. Let''s get back to the nest first, then I''ll feed you to your little hearts are content." I stood away from the group of whining chicklings as we all toddled after mom. We followed the branch for several minutes, all the while Mom and the chicklings were tweeting a lyricless song I didn''t recognize. It was... Oddly pleasant to listen to. Then we passed through an opening in the tree connected to the branch and my mind wanted to shut down... "It''s... It''s a city!?" What appeared for all the world to be a decent sized city was carved into the walls of the hollowed out tree! Stores, stalls with stallkeepers yelling about their merchandise, and various other small buildings were carved out of the tree. The entire area looked cramped when compared to a human city, as everything inside the tree seemed to be bunched up into a chaotic mess, but it seemed to work for the various birds I saw walking around. "Come along, Rage! You can gawk later!" "Okay!" I hurridly toddled up to them and followed along as she led us through the large crowd of birds. "I got fresh worms over here! Fresh worms! Caught em myself just this morning!" "Hello, ma''am! Would you like to try some of our new Roseberry perfume? Guaranteed to drive your man wild!" "Fish here, get ya fish here!" I tried my best to keep up with mom and the others as I gawked at the sight... So it was to no one''s surprise but my own that I ran into someone. "Oof!" I grunted as I bounced off the large furry thing I''d run into. "Sorry." "Hmm?" The tall furry thing asked as it turned around and looked at me. "Is... Is that a ferret?... Why is a ferret in the bird''s nest!?" With dark brown fur covering most of its body, except for two white spots around its eyes that made it look like it was wearing glasses of some kind. The thing standing in front of me was clearly the same creature as the one I''d seen from time to time in the hospital. "God... I''m really small!" "Oh! Sorry about that little birdy." The tall ferret said hurriedly. "I get distracted easily." It explained in an accent I was having trouble placing. "It''s my fault. I should''ve been watching where I was going." "True enough!" It replied happily as it set me on my feet. "Now, what''s a little birdy like you doing out here by yourself?" "I''m not," I began quickly. "I was following after my mom and siblings when..." "You got distracted?" It said knowingly. "Yes." "Oh, well, in that case." I squawked as the ferret lifted me into the air by gripping just under my wings. Doing so attracted a lot of attention from the nearby birds, and I could hear them begin to whisper. "What''s your name, little birdy?" "Rage! Now, put me down!" "Rage, got it! " It raised me high above its head and yelled. "Is anyone missing a chickling!? Goes by the name of Rage!?" Its voice pushed through the noise and the city got so quiet, so quickly, you''d think it was all in your head. "Rage!?" I heard my mother yell. "Welp... I''m in trouble." "Rage!?" She yelled again. I turned my head and saw her barreling through the onlookers like a soldier on a mission. Those that didn''t immediately get out of her way, were shoved to the side as she and my siblings passed through. "Yep, definitely in trouble." However, before mom could start in on me. The ferret said, "Why miss Tawny, is that you?" "Dr. Lynes!?" Mom chirped as she apparently recognized the ferret. "The one and only." He said happily. "I take it this one is yours?" "Yes, my youngest." "Really!?" He held me out at arms length and inspected me from head to talon. "Why, yes, he does bear a striking resemblance to Tahir... Mores the pity." He finished with a sigh as he set me on my feet. Much to the disappointment of the surrounding birds, apparently, as a collective sigh escaped them and they went back to their business and left our group alone to talk. "How long have you been back in town, Doctor?" "A day or so." "Well, would you like to stop by for dinner? I''m sure we could set a place for you." "I''d love too!" He said happily. "Mind if I bring Sonny along?" "Of course not! The more the merrier!" "Great, I''ll see you then. Bye, Rage. Try to stick closer to your mom, okay?" "Oh, don''t worry... He will." My mom said with a dangerous tone in her otherwise musical voice. I wasn''t sure if I could sweat... But I''m pretty sure I should be sweating. Chapter 5 Mom bustled around the little two-room building she¡ª Er... We called home. She''d pick up a crude wooden bowl with a metal carrying wire with her beak, walk over to an odd pipe that ran through the ceiling, and pull the lever beside it with one of her feet. Various small fruits, nuts, and a scant few pieces of dried meat would fall through the pipe and into the bowl, then she would set the now filled bowl on the table. According to her, our home, like most others in the area, were outfitted with this delivery system to make preparing meals easier on the birds. Like the rest of the buildings carved into the group of twelve trees referred to as ''The Nest''. Our little home was situated near the rear of the Nest in tree number five, and was the nineteenth building on our row. From the outside, it looked like an upside down ice cream cone. Mom said that was because the upper area is meant to be a prep-room for dad, but they''d turned it into a room for us. "Sorry, Rage." Mom apologized after bumping into me. "It''s alright, mom. Can I help?" "No, dear. Why don''t you go play with your siblings?" A loud chirping sound followed her words. I looked at the ceiling of the small room and quickly shook my head. "I''d rather stay down here with you." "Nonsense." She scoffed. "They''re your siblings! Go play with them for a while." "No, really... I''d much rather hang out down here." "Rage... Go play." ... "Okay." I agreed. I walked over to the little steps that ran around the edge of the room and began hopping up them. Now that I''d gotten a bit more comfortable with how my new body moved, I was able to jump up each stair with only a few seconds break between them. And a minute or so later, I was in the slightly smaller loft of our home. My siblings were in the process of running back and forth across the room. Obviously playing some form of tag. I avoided them all and went to the semi-large window that faced out over the city. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, so the residents of tree five were beginning to head home for the day. A group of birds wearing some kind of dark sash around their shoulders began to release some kind of bugs into crude glass cages atop wooden polls that were scattered around the tree. A few seconds later, I realized the reason. The bugs began to slowly flash with a bright red light. Every five seconds or so, the bugs would flash and the tree would be filled with a soothing red light. "Whatcha doin?" A girlish voice asked. I rotated my head a bit so I could see over my shoulder and saw one of my siblings standing behind me. It was the second one to start pestering mom today, and of the seven of us, this was the only chickling born with dark feathers.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I think her name was... Kali? She''d apparently figured out what I was watching, because they stared out the window with the same intensity I imagined I had on my face before they interrupted me. "Hey, come look at this!" The girlish chickling called to the others. "What is it?" "What?" "But we''re just getting to the good part!" The girlish chickling seemed to roll her eyes at the last response. "Rage found something pretty!" "Pretty? I don''t care about pretty!" A voice I recognized, responded. It was the voice of my largest sibling... Grios... Grion, something like that. "I should at leasttry to remember their names."I berated myself. "You wouldn''t!" Kali replied. "What''s that supposed to mean?" Gri-something demanded. I twisted my head to get a better look at the rest of my siblings. They were alternating between looking at Kali and Gri, but wasn''t stepping forward to voice their own opinion... "Or to break it up."I noticed. Sighing, I stood up and stepped around Kali with a murmured apology. Then I came face to chest with Gri... "He really is big." "What?" He demanded. "Nothing. I''m just heading downstairs." "Why?" ... "Because I want to?" I didn''t know what else he wanted me to say? Was he trying to pick a fight with me? Prove his dominance? He stepped to the side and waved me by. I cautiously stepped around him and headed for the stairs. I looked back over my shoulder several times to see if he would try something. To see if it was a trick to get me to let down my guard... But nothing happened. He started arguing with Kali almost as soon as I''d passed him, and he didn''t bother looking at me as I descended the stairs. "I was probably being over-paranoid."I realized as I hopped off the final stair without incident. But of course, I was just being paranoid. Three lifetimes of living in a dog-eat-dog world had taught me to never trust another human. To never let my guard down or turn my back to them, or they''d used the opportunity to stick a blade in it. But these weren''t humans, were they? Sure, they may be as smart as most humans I''ve met. So far they''d been decent, understanding, and kind pe¡ª birds. They aren''tpeople. They''re birds... And that''s not a bad thing. "Rage? What''s wrong?" Mom asked. She was sitting at the one piece of furniture the house seemed to possess, which was a rather small wooden table in the center of the room. The walls were decorated with various pictures of mom, dad, Daisy''s monstrous self, and four older looking birds. "Guess that''s grandma and grandpa bird."I realized. "Nothing''s wrong. I just wanted to see if Dr. Lynes was here yet." "No, not yet." A sudden knock at the door caught both of our attentions. "I stand corrected. That''s probably them now." She stood up and walked to the door. After peaking through the small glass window at the top of the door, she opened it with a cheerful, "Dr. Lynes! So nice to see you!" "Same here, Tawny. You remember Sonny?" "Of course! Hello, Sonny." "Hello." A meek, but clearly masculine voice replied. Mom ushered Dr. Lynes and a miniature version of him into the room. Then she yelled, "Chicklings! Dinner time!" Their squawks of excitement were immediately followed by what felt like a stampede as six chicklings descended the stairs in a mad dash for food. They quickly crowded the table as they pushed and shoved each other for a place with a bowl. Ignoring the mayhem completely, I walked over to the two ferrets and introduced myself. "Hi, I''m Rage." "Yes, I remember." Dr. Lynes laughed. "Say hello, Sonny." "Hello." The quiet ferret replied. "Wanna go see something cool?" I asked Sonny. He looked up at his... dad? For permission, then nodded his head. The two of us began climbing the stairs as I told him about the nice view from the upstairs room. ... I didn''t know it then, but Sonny and I would become best friends not long after this meeting... And we''d be forced to watch each other''s back in more than one life or death situation sooner than either of our parents would like. But, for now, we were just two kids looking at the pretty lights. Chapter 6 "Hey! Watch it, brat!" The voice of a shopkeeper yelled. "Sorry, we''re in a hurry!" I yelled back. "Come on, Rage! We''ll cut through the back alleys!" Sonny called over his shoulder. "Yeah!" Sonny dove onto his stomach and slid through a narrow opening in between two stalls, while I leaped between them. I landed roughly and stumbled into the alley wall. "Are you okay?" Sonny asked. "I''m fine. Let''s go." Pushing off the wall. I started to run as fast as I could. My talons clicked off the rough wooden floor and echoed off the walls as I ran. Meanwhile, Sonny was as quiet as the grave. His smooth, padded feet muffled the impact as he ran on all fours. It was somewhat surprising how fast he could run, considering how long his body was. In areas filled with obstacles, sharp turns, and narrow corridors. Sonny had long since proved himself to be king... But this was my territory. An uninterrupted straight away. I dipped my head down and poured on even more speed as I raced past Sonny. I tucked my wings in just before leaping between two more stalls, and sliding to a stop in the center of a busy walkway. I quickly scanned my surrounding for the shortcut I knew to be there. Ever since mom started letting me walk around town on my own seven months ago, I''d begun making a mental map of the place. And now? I knew this place like the back of my wing. "Sonny! This way!" "Yep!" He huffed as he slid out from underneath the stall and wormed his way through the crowd. "Hey!" "What''s the rush, little man?" "Ahh!" "Sorry, lady!" I apologized for causing the woman to drop her back. I felt bad and thought about helping her, but if we were late, we were dead. "Alley on your left!" "Yep!" He bounced on top of a low railing, then used it to clear the much taller fence behind it. I bounced off the same rail he did, then crashed into the top of the fence. I slammed into the ground on the other side and had to be helped up by Sonny. "Still good?" He asked. "Yeah, I''m good." "Just not at climbing." He joked. "Yeah yeah yeah. Laugh at me later." He shook his head in a show of amusement, but stopped laughing. The two of us raced through back alleys, wound ourselves through several more busy streets, even climbed a small building just to avoid a crowded street. And it was all for this. Nest. Military. Academy or NE.M.A for short. NE.M.A was a mandatory curriculum that every citizen of the nest must attend for six months. And today was a most exciting day... Because today, was the day Sonny, my siblings, and I finished our mandatory Bootcamp. From the moment we finish the program, we are considered adults in the eyes of the nest and can apply for jobs. After today, Mom was going back into the military, Dad was going back to the first squadron, and my siblings and I would separate for the first time since I met them... Good thing, too. The room I''d shared with them for the last year was incredibly cramped.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Sonny and I passed through the opening on the easternmost side of the tree, hopped over a few branches that crisscrossed our path, before coming to a stop on a large wooden square. The square itself was between twenty and thirty feet wide and forty or so feet long. On that square, nine by nine rows of fresh cadets stood in attention. Birds of every shape and size and, like Sonny, a few other species could be found scattered amongst them. Ferrets, Moles, Bats, Lizards, and a Rabbit or two could be seen amongst the crowd. And they all awaited the arrival of the Forest King. "You''re late." Kali whispered as Sonny and I came up next to her. "Sorry. Sonny overslept." Sonny smacked the back of my head and glared at me. "Who''s the one that kept me out all night?" "Hey, you could have stayed home." "Yes, but you said¡ª" "Will the two of you shut up." Kali hissed. "You''re making a scene." I glared at Sonny, he glared at me... And we both wisely kept our beaks shut. A short wait later a group of birds, Dr. Lynes, and a massive owl walked to stand in front of the cadets. The birds were our instructors for the last six months. Raati, a sleek gray bird that bared a striking resemblance to a pigeon, was our history teacher. Shan, a puffed up, chicken-looking bird was our athletics teacher. And Chris, a re-lifer from the U.K that looked eerily similar to a flamingo, was our maths teacher. The Owl was Lord Deeku, the Forest King of the south. He was an aging bird in his twenties with ruffled black feathers, bone-white face, and eyes the color of the abyss. And Dr. Lynes was... Well, Dr. Lynes. I wasn''t sure why he was here since he''d had very little to do with our schooling. But... Maybe it had something to do with his work? He was the ''expert'' mom mentioned way back when, after all. Apparently, Dr. Lynes was a re-lifer from Australia, and his real name was Hugo Lynes. He claimed to have something called a ''Ph.D.'' in archeology and geology. I just called him Dr. Lynes since ''Doctor of Archeology and Geology Hugo Lynes'' was a beak-full. "Hello... cadets." Lord Deeku''s words came out so slowly you''d think they''d stop to ask for directions... "How... are... you... doing today?" "Great, Lord Deeku!" We said in unison. "Excellent... That is all." He stepped back and closed his eyes. "Thank you, Lord Deeku," Chris said as he stepped forward. "Now, cadets. I¡ª" "Zzzz" Chris stopped speaking at the thunderous snore. "I¡ª" "ZZZZzzzz" "Oh, for the love of¡ª Lord Deeku, would you kindly Shut up!!?" "Hmm? Oh...My... apologies... Pink one." "It''s fine, my Lord. I''m just trying to do my job, yes?" "Yes... Your job... Who... are... you... again?" .... "Anyway, I had a whole speech prepared. One that would motivate you all to do your best, strive for glory, triumph over hardship, and all that jazz... But realistically, most of you will be dead before the next class graduates in six months. And that''s if you stay within the Nest... For those of you joining the military, or the delivery services. You''re more likely to be dead within the next month, if not sooner. However, those of you that make it through that first month has a better chance of living to this fossil''s age, "He pointed to Lord Deeku. "Than the rest of us." "You''ll certainly face hardship wherever you go... You''ll face danger and death at every corner... But if you can make it to the end of your service, then you''ll come back a hero to the Nest. A Hero to the birds the world over... Good luck, cadets. You''re going to need it." "Now, I believe the good Doctor has something he''d like to say?." "Yes, thank you." Dr. Lynes agreed. He stepped forward and looked around at the gathered cadets. "I don''t want to ask this of any of you... But I need volunteers. My research shows," He took a breath." That within the next four to five years, the volcano beneath the nesting grounds could become active again." I saw the bird around me tense at that. Some managed to keep their feathers to a minimal twitching, while others looked like a pillow without the case... I was one of those ''others''. "We don''t have the resources to send out more than a few groups without seriously crippling or forces here at home... Which is why I must ask you." "Will you volunteer to become a part of the new scout squadron? I''m not going to lie to you. You''ll be sent far and wide to find a suitable place for a new place the denizens of our fair forest to call home, and It''ll be far more dangerous than anything you''ll encounter around here... But you''ll be helping out the entire forest by doing this." "So? Any takers?" "Is he kidding?" I wondered. High chance of death, dismemberment, and any other horror the mind could imagine. Coupled with the fact that we may never return home again? Only someone suicidal or a complete Idiot would volunteer for such a thing... So, naturally, I raised my wing. "I volunteer!" I yelled. "Rage!?" Sonny and Kali yelped simultaneously. "What?" I whispered. "I''m not about to let an entire forest full of creatures die when I could have done something to stop it." They stared hard at me for only a moment... Then Sonny raised his paw in the air. "I volunteer too!" He declared. Chapter 7 Shortly after the graduation was over, Dad took the rest of my siblings out to eat at one of the nearby cafes while mom pulled me aside. Kali stayed back as well, though I wasn''t sure why. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Mom asked. I knew she was watching for any doubt in my feathers, but... I didn''t have any. I never could sit by and watch as people were hurt when I could have done something. The Spartans said it made me weak. The Knight said it made me a fool. The Commandant said it made me a worthless soldier. "I''m sure." I replied. She sighed. "Okay, you''re an adult now, so I won''t stop you. And it''s not like I''m not proud of you for doing this... It''s just..." She trailed off. "You want me to come back?" "Of course. You''re my wittle Rage, after all. Mamma''s little bird." "Hey, what does that make me, broken seeds!?" Kali demanded. "Of course not, Kali. You''re Mamma''s smart girl." Mom soothed. "The most intelligent of your siblings." I noticed Kali was preening under the attention and had started puffing out her chest. "But you chose to become a nest administrator. Rage is going off to risk his life for the good of the entire forest. I don''t think the two can be compared, do you?" Kali deflated at that and hung her head. "I guess not..." "Hey," Mom used her wing to lift Kali''s head. "I''m proud of you too. Never forget that." ... "I won''t. Thanks, mom." "Yeah, thanks, mom." I echoed. She pulled us into her chest with her wings and snuggled against us. Kali and I looked at each other under mom''s wings, and I felt her wing brush against my side. "Yeah... I know." I thought in response to her touch. I''d finally found my happy place. The one place in the world I''d die to protect... That little house inside tree number five. I''ll survive even if it kills me. I''ll come back to that little house even if I have to crawl back. And I''m not going to let some stupid volcano or anything else take it from me. That''s a promise. Mom released us and stepped back. "Did you save up your EPs like I told you to?" Mom asked. "Yes." Kali and I replied in unison. "Good, let''s see it then." "Alright." "Kay." "Open Evolution Menu." I intoned inside my mind.
Name Rage
Current diet Fruits, nuts, seeds
Current evolution style Flightless Avian
Current senses Basic Avian
Current movement style Flightless Avian
Evolution Points 45/55
Possible Evolution Options
Weak¡ª> Mild wings¡ª 15 points
Mild¡ª> Major Legs¡ª 20 points
Normal Vision¡ª> Hunter''s vision¡ª 12 points
Blunt Talons¡ª> Basic Talons¡ª 5 points
Change diet: Basic¡ª> Carnivore¡ª 15 pointsSupport the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Change diet: Basic¡ª> Omnivore¡ª 25 points
Size Change Tiny¡ª> Small¡ª 20 points
Size change Tiny¡ª> Diminutive¡ª 10 points
I didn''t know how she did it, and dad admitted that he certainly couldn''t do it. But she inspected our evolution menus. She started with Kali, alternating between nodding or shaking her head as she read... And the moment she swapped and started looking at mine, I knew I was about to get scolded. You see, to get EPs you needed to steal them from something else, and eating is our primary source of EP, as it allows us to absorb every spare EP our meal hadn''t spent. However, as we were children and our main source of food was berries and nuts. It supposedly required you to eat three to fourtimes as much to earn a single EP. I wasn''t sure if that was true or not, but that''s what I was told. The leg upgrade I''d taken hadn''t outwardly changed how they looked, as it only made them slightly stronger. But it still cost a whopping ten EPs to purchase. And spending ten points on something without mom''s approval was a big no-no. Lord knows Gri couldn''t walk right for a week after he''d spent twenty points to increase his size. But, she surprised me. She nodded her head and said nothing. "Rage, buy the ''Omnivore'' upgrade, the wing upgrade, and the Talon upgrade. That should give you a decent base to work with. Kali, you stay with your current diet and buy either two wing upgrades or two leg upgrades." I did as she said without protest. They were what I was looking to purchase, anyway.
Name Rage
Current diet Omnivore
Current evolution style Explorer Avian
Current senses Basic Avian
Current movement style Explorer Avian
Evolution Points 0/55
Possible Evolution Options
Mild¡ª>Major wings¡ª 30 points
Mild¡ª> Major Legs¡ª 20 points
Normal Vision¡ª> Hunter''s vision¡ª 12 points
Basic Talons¡ª> Sharp Talons¡ª 10 points
Size Change Tiny¡ª> Small¡ª 20 points
Size change Tiny¡ª> Diminutive¡ª 10 points
Basic perception¡ª> +10% Perception speed¡ª 30 points
Basic Strength¡ª> +10% strength increase¡ª 20 points
Basic Speed¡ª> +10% Speed increase¡ª 20 points
I read over my new E-chart several times before I willed it to close. I knew the changes wouldn''t take effect until after I fell asleep, so I didn''t bother looking for them. Truthfully, even though I''ve probably opened my E-chart a few hundred times over the last year. I was still unsure of justhow it worked. And I wasn''t the only one. Neither mom nor dad could tell me how it worked, only that it did. And Dr. Lynes... Well, the less said about his explanation the better. As a man of science, he didn''t like anything he couldn''t explain... And these ''magical'' charts? They drove him into a fit of rage so intense, I was surprised his fur didn''t turn green. Lord help anyone around him when he first saw the thing... "I take it you''re having the same conversation as we did?" Dr. Lynes asked as he, Sonny, and a strangely spastic bird walked up to us. The bird was tall, about three times the size of mom and half again as wide. It had sparse brown feathers on its head that got thicker as it went down, large brown eyes, and... Seemingly no wings, from what I could see. Though it walked upright and with grace, I noticed that it would twitch every time it glanced down. "Weird bird." "Dr. Lynes! Yes, I imagine so." My mother replied. "And commissioner Pierce, how nice to see you again." "Madam." The odd bird said curtly. "Commissioner George and I are assigning the teams to a leader. Can I assume that the two of you wish to stay together?" Sonny and I looked at each other, then nodded to him. "I thought as much." "Captain Rogar needs two cadets." George muttered. Now that he''d spoken a bit more, I noticed that he spoke in a similar accent to Dr. Lynes. "That madbird!?" Dr. Lynes yelped. I wasn''t sure who this ''Captain Rogar'' was, but just his name caused mom to tense up... And I''ve seen her smackDaisy around. Whoever this Rogar is... He couldn''t be more intimidating than Daisy, right? "He''s one of the best we have." "Only because he''s crazier than a squirrel that''s just had its last nut stolen." "Be that as it may... "George sighed. "He''s one of the few captains to volunteer. You can''t afford to be picky." ... "You have a point. The only other volunteers were Captain Shalor and Commander Towlis. And of the three, Rogaris the best." "There''s only going to be three teams?" Mom interjected. "Will that be enough?" "It will have to be." George replied. " The Eastern King has called for reinforcement to protect his flank and the Northern King is busy fighting the undead that have appeared in his forest. Were it not for the Western King vowing to send out teams of his own, we would be on our own in this." He finished while glancing down... And then he shivered fiercely and quickly looked back up. "There will be thirty soldiers to a team, so that''s ninety birds altogether. A decent size, all things considered." Dr. Lynes summarized. "Certainly more than we expected." George agreed. "So... Is it settled," I asked. "We''re part of Captain Rogar''s team?" "Looks that way." Dy. Lynes sighed. "His team is supposed to gather on the platform outside of tree seven, in eight days time. Don''t be late." "Good day." George said curtly. As he and Dr. Lynes walked away, Sonny and I looked at each other. "We''re in." "Yep." I agreed. "With that settled," Mom interjected. "I want to see both of you in the morning for your training." ... "Training?" We asked simultaneously. "Of course. Someone has to teach you to use your new wings, and I''m sure Sonny has something he needs to work on too. We''ve got a week to get you boys in shape... Better not waste it!" She called over her shoulder as she and Kali walked away. ... "You don''t think she''ll be too hard on us, do you?" Sonny asked trepidatiously. ... "Sonny?" "Yeah?" "It''s my mom." ... "Yeah, I was afraid you''d say that." He sighed. Chapter 8 "So..." Mom''s words trailed off as she watched our reactions. "How''re you feeling~" "Sore." I mumbled. My wings felt like they''d been broken, reset, then broken again. My stomach was cramping so much I felt like I was about to vomit. And my talons/toes felt like someone had taken a hammer to them. So yeah, I felt like crap. But at least I could form a coherent thought. Sonny just grumbled every time someone tried talking to him. "Good!" Mom said with a bob of her head. "That means the evolutions have taken effect and we can begin." "Can''t we do this tomorrow? I''m in alot of pain..." Sonny groaned his agreement. "No." She shot back immediately. "Please~ Something''s obviously wrong with me, I mean, my legs didn''t hurt this much when I evolved them." "That''s because your legs were used to stress. They''ve been carrying you around since the moment you first hatched. But your wings, digestive system, and nails? They aren''t used to such stress. Hence the pain." I couldn''t refute her point, so I grumbled my agreement. "Glad you agree! Now, Sonny, you''ll be coming with me." Sonny groaned slightly louder. Neither of us knew if that was an agreement or a protest, so mom took it as an agreement and started dragging him away. "What about me!?" I called after her. "You''re with me." Replied dad as he landed beside me. "Oh, okay," I said cautiously. I knew dad could be serious when he wanted to be, so that wasn''t the issue... I just wasn''t sure what he could teach me that mom couldn''t. "So what''re we doing?" I asked, my excitement starting to build. "Flight school." ... Somewhere, deep inside the recesses of my mind, my excitement crashed into a mountain. "What?" "You''ve got a week to learn to use those wings of yours. And I''m going to ensure you can." ... "What?" Dad huffed and thwacked me with his wing. "Focus, Rage. You volunteered for this, remember?" I slowly nodded my head. Idid volunteer for the expedition... But flying? That was an entirely new concept for me. Sure, send me into a fight with nothing but a knife and I could do some damage. Tell me to adventure through enemy territory and I''ll do it without a second thought... "Uh... Dad?" I said as I looked at the groundfar below the branch.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Hmm? He asked as he stepped next to me. "Can''t we do this... You know...Insidethe tree first? At least until I get the hang of it?" "Hmm... You know, that''s not a bad idea." "Rea¡ªlllY!?" I screamed. He''d thwacked me with his wing and knocked me off the branch!! "Better open those wings and fly, Rage!" I vaguely heard him yell as panic set in. I opened one wing, the rapid descent caused my wing to buckle under the pressure and sent me spinning to my death. I desperately tried to open the other wing to stabilize myself, but every attempt just caused me to spin faster. "No no no no no no noNO!!!"I screamed internally as the ground rushed up to meet me. "Oof."I grunted as something grabbed one of my legs as it raced past me, then spun until we slowed down enough that the impact wouldn''t kill me... I still yelped in pain as I hit the ground and slid to a stop on my side. "Do you know what you did wrong?" I vaguely heard my father ask. My heart pounded in my chest as the panic attack started. I felt my lungs constrict as they failed to properly empty themselves of air. Black spots danced in front of my eyes. "Hey," I felt something brush against the back of my head. "It''s okay. You''re okay." My chest heaved. "Calm down, you''re safe." I blew out a ragged breath. "Y¡ªYou pushed me." I said once I''d managed to get my breath back. "Yes." He agreed. "Why?" "Because, Rage. You volunteered for a mission that could very well result in your death. You did this without asking for permission from either your mother or me. I doubt you even thought it through... But you did. And now, if I don''t want to lose my son, I have to make sure you understand something." ... "What?" This isn''t your homeworld, Rage," He said directly into my ear. "Torian is a bird eat bird world. There will be creatures outside of the nest that won''t care if you''re a re-lifer or not. They won''t care that you''re a child. No, they''lleat you, Rage. They''ll eat you for those points you carry, or they''ll kill you for the fun of it and leave your body for the maggots." "And you panicked. That''ll get you killed out there." He finished as he thwacked my head. "Get up, we''re going again." I stood up on shaky legs and took a deep, semi-calming breath. I didn''t bother trying to convince him that I''d thought it through, because truthfully, I hadn''t. I reacted like I always did when placed in that kind of situation. I leaped when I should have looked. "Dad''s right. If I want to make it back alive, I''ve gotta stop rushing into things... "I sighed."It''s already gotten me killed three times... Let''s try not to make it four." I followed after dad as he led me through the bushes surrounding the base of a tree. We found an old tree that could have been one of the larger tree''s branches. It was leaning at a steep, right angle, and looked like it could fall over at any moment. And, were it not for the much larger tree it was leaning against, it probably would have. "Climb up there," He motioned with his wing to one of the lower branches. " And jump off." ... "You''re serious?" "Would you prefer we go up top and try it from up there?" "No!... I mean, no. I''ll do it." "Mmm." He grunted. He walked a fair distance away from the tree and began watching me. "If you can glide past me, then we''ll go home for the day." "Really!?" "Yes." He agreed. "But, that''s if you can glide past me." "Okay!" I jumped a few feet to the first small branch I could find, then used my new talons to dig into the bark and slowly muscled my way to the branch he''d pointed to. Once there, I shook my wings out a took a breath... I leaped... And promptly fell out of the sky and crashed into the dirt. "Again." I winced at a flash of pain the raced through my leg as I stood up. But climbed to the branch anyway... I leaped... And fell again. "Again." "My leg..." I groaned. "Is it broken?" He asked. "No... No, I don''t think so. I think I just landed on it wrong." "Then you''re good to go again." "But what if I injure one of my wings? I won''t be able to join the expedition, then!" "If you hurt one of your wings. I''ll pump you with enough points to buy a repair evolution, then we''ll try again... Or you just won''t join the expedition." "But I''ve given them my word!" ... He stared at me. The coldness in his eyes sent chills down my spine. "Then you''d best get it right. Now, do itagain." Chapter 9 I rolled with the impact and slid past dad. I looked up at him hopefully... But he shook his head and motioned to the tree. "Again." "But I made it past you!" "Yes, by rolling. I said you had toglide. Do it again." I grumbled under my breath, but did as he said. For two days we''d been out here, and for two days I''ve been falling more often than not. It was honestly getting depressing. I mean, what kind of bird can''t fly?... Oh, right,me. I''m that kind of bird. I shook my wings out, an action I repeated every time I made an attempt, then leaped... I desperately flapped my wings in a vain attempt to stay in the air... But I hit the ground all the same. I''d flown maybe ten or so feet from where I''d started. Dad was twice that distance away. "Again." "Yeah yeah." Hour after hour I climbed the tree and tried to fly. Alas, it seemed it wasn''t in the cards for me... Maybe I should just accept it and stay home? Finally, as I was laying on my back with my wings spread wide. My dad looking on with pity clear in his eyes... He sighed. "This isn''t working." "Really? I thought it was working fine." "Apparently not," He continued without noticing the tone in my voice. "What did your other body look like?" ... "That''s an odd question." "Humor me." "Well... I wasn''t covered in feathers, for one. I had arms and hands instead of wings, and... Oh, I was bigger." "How much bigger?" "Not sure," I admitted. " Smaller than Commissioner Pierce, certainly. But... Larger than Dr. Lynes." "Interesting... Okay, let''s try this. You say you had hands and arms, right? Like a primate?" "You mean a monkey? Yeah, I guess so." "Good, Good! I can work with that. Okay, monkey monkey monkey... Got it!" He pushed me onto my feet, then ushered me into the tree. "Okay, have you ever had to swim?"If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ... Flashbacks of the first time I was ''taught'' to swim flowed through my mind and I gulped. "Unfortunately." "Good! Then pretend you''re using your arms to slap the water." ... "What?" He thwacked my head. "Okaaay, yesh." I ''slapped'' at the air in front of me. "Again." I did it again. "Again." "Again." "Keep going until I say stop." I started ''slapping'' at the air in front of me. Faster and faster, he urged me on. "My chest hurts..." I complained after a few minutes. "Good. Keep slapping." I continued to ''slap'' until my chest ached so much I thought I would die. "Stop." I immediately stopped. "Now, glide." "But¡ª" "Glide or I push you." I leaped off the branch... And flew... I flew right into a tree on the other side of the tiny clearing, but I flew! I fought my way out of the bushes at the bottom of the tree and cheered. "I did it!" "You certainly did." He chuckled. "Now, we just have to teach you to turn." ... "We''re doing that now, aren''t we?" "Of course. You''re on a roll, son. No reason to quit now." ... "What happened to ''going home''?" I grumbled. "That was before you wasted a day. I have six days to get you into shape, and by the Father, I willnot allow you to embarrass this family." "Father?" I asked. "Hmm?" "No, you said, ''by the Father''. Who''s father?" "Just a figure of speech, son." "But¡ª" "No, we have work to do. You can ask questionsafter you prove to me you can fly." ... "Alright," I sighed. Thirty-six... That''s how many times I hit something before I was able to land safely. Trees, bushes, branches, an unfortunate snail. Those were the casualties of my day of training... But I did it! I finally flew! "Don''t celebrate yet." His words were like a bucket of ice to my enthusiasm. "One out of thirty-six isn''t great odds when it''s a life or death situation. And flying isalways a life or death situation. Slamming into a tree inside of the nest is all fine and dandy, but do it outside and you''re something''s lunch." "Yeah," I sighed. "I know." "No, you don''t. And that''s the way I''d like to keep it... But you''re going to find exactly what I meanwhen you leave." He placed his head against mine and ruffled my feathers... He opened his mouth to say something... then huffed and stepped away. "Let''s get back to work." ... "Okay." By nightfall, I was able to land safely forty out of a hundred times... Considering I tried it severalhundred times, that was an obvious improvement over the first time. But dad didn''t let me celebrate, no, he said celebration was for birds that could fly ten times out of ten. Anything less, and only your enemies would celebrate. After the sun disappeared between the trees, Dad once again carried me back to the platform and the two of us walked home. He didn''t say anything,in fact, he hadn''t said much of anything since he''d stopped himself earlier. So, I decided to get the ball rolling. "Who''s ''the father''?" ... "One of the old gods." "You worship a god? I didn''t know that." "Most birds don''t. It''s not exactly something I advertise." "Why not? Is he an evil god?" I didn''tthink dad would worship an evil god... But, if he did, I''m sure there''s a good reason for it... Right? "No, not evil... Well, not really." "Then why?" He sighed. "Let''s just say... It''s a family tradition, and leave it at that." "But... But I''m your son." ... "I know. And I promise to tell you when you''re older." ... "Are you actually promising, or are you just saying that so I''ll stop asking?" Dad glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and said, "Yes." ... "That doesn''t answer my question." He didn''t look at me as he increased his walking speed. "Dad?" No response. "Get back here and answer me!" "Bleh!" He stuck his tongue out at me, then leaped into the air and flew off. I wasn''t worried about getting lost since I''d been down this particular road hundreds of times... But him leaving still annoyed me. "I''ll make you answer me, dad! I know where you live!" Chapter 10 Sonny and I were just two of the thirty volunteers standing on the platform outside tree seven. The sun was just beginning to rise above the treetops and provide light to the nest when the appointed meeting between captain and recruit was supposed to take place... Except, no Captain could be found. We waited... And waited... And waited some more. Three hours after our appointed meeting time, and ''captain'' Rogar was still nowhere to be found. A few Birds had broken off from the group to ask after him, while others had taken to napping in the warm sunlight. Sonny and I were not part of either group. No, we stood off to the side and chatted amongst ourselves while we waited. "Think he forgot about us?" Sonny asked anxiously. "No... Though it''s certainly possible." We nodded at a group of other students that passed by us. "What''ll we do then?" "Dunno." I admitted. I''d never encountered a situation where a captain forgot about his entire squad... The Spartans would have the idiot''s head for such a mistake. Sonny''s eyes suddenly widened. He glanced around the platform with spastic jerks of his head in one direction, then another. "What''s wrong?" I asked. "What if it''s a trick?" Sonny whispered. "If what''s a trick?" "This," He motioned to the area around us. "What if the captain''s been here the entire time, we just haven''t seen him." ... "That''s a little paranoid, don''t you think?" I''d known Sonny had anxiety issues for a while, now. But maybe the stress was finally getting to him? We had been through a lot, lately... And he refused to talk about what mom did to him. Honestly... I was fine with that. I had a feeling it was better for both of us if I didn''t bring it up, and just let him repress it... I felt something incredibly light land on my head. So light, in fact, that I was about to ignore it entirely because I''d thought it a leaf, or a bug... Until Sonny''s body spasmed and he was suddenly backpedaling. I jerked my head back and down to dislodge whatever it was, then spread my wings wide. "Not a bad reaction speed." I heard a deep, masculine voice mumbled from behind me. I spun around to face them... But no one was there. "Your spacial awareness is crap, but I can fix that." The voice said from behind me, again.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I feinted to one side, then quickly spun to the other... Still nothing. "Obvious combat training, but... Still unrefined. A re-lifer, perhaps?" Voices began to echo all around me... Then the screams started. It started out slow with one person yelping in surprise, then another on the other side of the platform cried out. Then another... And another... Until an avalanche of noise descended upon the platform. Birds young and old cried out in alarm. Shouts of "Who said that!?" seemed to ping-pong back and forth across the platform. And during all of this commotion, not once did my own, personal critic stop pointing out my flaws. "Body is... weak, but young. Definite room for improvement." It mumbled. ... "Captain Rogar?" I heard Sonny say out loud. "Oh?" My personal critic said in response. "Interesting." And then the voice was gone. I spun in the direction I''d heard Sonny''s voice... And saw him staring down a bird even smaller than I was. The bird had dark green feathers on his body and wings, while his head was almost entirely black except for a white spot on the tip of its long, slender beak. The bird''s wings were moving at speeds much faster than my eyes could follow, making them appear as a constant blur. "Ferret, male, Sonny Lynes? Yes, most likely identity. Pleasure to meet you." The bird disappeared in a blur of movement, then reappeared behind Sonny as if he''d always been there. "Interesting. Never seen a Ferret''s E-Chart before. Are all Ferret''s like this?" "Um..." "Sorry, not talking to you." The bird disappeared again and reappeared next to Sonny''s ear. From the way Sonny jerked away from the bird, it wasn''t hard to figure out why. Sonny''s ears were very sensitive, after all. The bird began mumbling to himself, even as he left Sonny alone and flew to the front of the group. I hurried over to Sonny. "Are you okay?" "Yeah," he said while pawing at his ear. "But he blew in my ear!" he finished with a hiss. "Apologies," Sonny and I both jumped away from the voice... But when we looked for the little bird, he was floating at the front of the group. "Hello, everyone." The bird said as it floated in the air. "As some of you have surmised, I am Captain Rogar Solaris. Previously of the Galactic Peace Corps. A pleasure." He finished with a bob of his head. "Any questions?" "Yeah! Why were you late!" A large green bird yelled from the front... of the... crowd? "Gri?" I stared at the large bird. Sure enough, it was my older brother. His sleek, green feathers seemed to shine majestically in the sunlight, and he stood a clear head above even the tallest of the other volunteers. He''d obviously gone through a few evolutions of his own, as noted by the large wings he kept at his side, the sharp-edged beak, and the fact that he was even larger than the last time I saw him. "Standing like that, he kinda reminds me of one of those comic book heroes I read about in the hospital... But wait, why is he here!?" "Business. Next question." C.R replied curtly. "That''s not an answe¡ª" Gri went silent and collapsed. His body shook for a moment, then went still... "Next question." The bird said, not having moved or even acknowledging one of his recruits collapsing to the ground. "Gri!?" I yelled. I fought my way through the stunned crowd and checked on him... His eyes were open and he was breathing steadily... But seemed to be unable to move. I sighed. "Not dead, only immobilize. Next question." "What''d you do to him?" "Magic. Next question." "You can use magic!?" Someone yelled. "That''s what I said. Weren''t you listening? No, don''t answer that. Answer is obvious. Next question." "What are you?" I heard Sonny ask. ... "An excellent question... Next question." It went on like that for several minutes. Some birds asked why he wouldn''t answer Sonny''s question, but after getting nothing but silence ten questions in a row, they moved on to other questions. "When are we leaving?" "We leave for the training course tomorrow morning." "How long will we be gone?" "Unsure." "Will we die?" "Most likely." "Why''d you volunteer if you think we''re going to die?" ... "Personal business." was his succinct response. He looked up at the sky, then looked at all of us. "Be here at Zero-five-hundred. Dismissed." ... "He... Did he just vanish?" Someone whispered a little too loudly. Chapter 11 Mom and dad stood in front of me with their heads held high. Mom looked like she wanted to cry, but dad was watching me with pride in his eyes. They truly are proud of me... I was dumbfounded. Honestly, I was. Never in all my lives had anyone ever been proud of me. "I''ll see you soon." I said. "Of course," My father snorted. "Be careful out there." "Yeah yeah, enough with the sappy stuff already. I''ll watch out for the squirt." Gri said confidently. Our parents looked at each other, then nodded their heads. "Look out for him, Rage. You know how Gridar can get." "Hey!I''m the older brother! I should be looking after him!" Gri protested. "Somehow, I don''t think they''d trust you to watch over a pot of boiling water, Gri." Kali said offhandedly. She was one of only two siblings that bothered to come see us off. The other being our only other sister, Shali. Our brothers opted to send their regards with mom and dad, while they began their new jobs inside the relative safety of the nest. "Hey, I''m¡ª" "We''ll look out for each other." I agreed to stop any further protests from Gri. "You do that." Kali snorted. "Kali, you''re being rude." Shali scolded. Kali and Shali were polar opposites of each other in terms of personality, even though they looked almost identical. In fact, the only way to truly tell them apart as long as they weren''t speaking, was to look at their eyes. Kali''s eyes were black while Shali''s eyes are golden-brown. "Just you wait, mean-chick. I''ll come back a hero and you''ll eat those words." Gri said as he stared down Kali. ... "Okay, I''ll tell you what. You come back a hero and I''ll never make fun of you, or your stupid face again." She replied. "Puh-lease, mean-chick. You can''t go ten minutes without insulting someone." "Actually, I think the only she actively tries to insult is you..." I sighed out loud. I stepped up to Shali and wrapped my wings around her first, then Kali, then mom and dad. After stepping back to allow Gri to do the same, I bobbed my head. "Wish us luck."Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "You don''t need luck, Rage," Dad said. ... "Well, I''d appreciate some, all the same." "Good luck, Rage, Gridar." Mom said after thwacking dad with her wing. "Thanks, Ma." Gri replied with a puffed out chest. He tossed one more glare at Kali, then marched over to the other cadets. "Thank you..." I bobbed my head. "Rage," Dad called. "If you ever find yourself in serious trouble and you don''t know what to do... Call out for *Father, okay?" ... I nodded my head. I heard the thwack of my mom''s wing on dad''s head as I walked away. "Why''d you tell him that? What do you think calling out for you is going to do, huh?"I heard her whisper. I couldn''t hear the rest of the conversation since I''d gotten too far away, but even so, I learned something... Mom didn''t know Dad was religious? Why didn''t he tell her? "Hello, cadets." A deep voice called. I snapped out of my thoughts and began looking around. At some point, I''d found Sonny and was standing next to him in our travel formation. The cadets were lined five abreast and six deep, with Sony and I at the back of the third and fourth lines, respectively. The few non-flying members of our group were standing on mats woven from vines, sticks, and leaves. The basic idea was the three non-flying members would be carried on a rotating basis, and at each stop, a new team would take over. Of course, I''d volunteered to carry Sonny on the first shift... but my offer was declined. Something about him not wanting to crash and die in the first five minutes of the mission. And to my surprise, Gri wasn''t one of the flyers. Guess he''d spent all his points on size upgrades... "Everyone ready?" C.R asked from the front of the group. Truthfully, it wasn''t easy to see his small form from the back of the line, but his voice somehow came through loud and clear. "Yes!" we replied in unison, as we''d been trained to do. "Excellent. Move out." The carrier teams grabbed the wooden handles on the sides of the mats with their beaks, then began running forward. Upon reaching the end of platform eight, they leaped off the edge and began flapping their wings furiously as they took to the skies. I looked back at my family one last time, Mom was staring after us with a tired look in her eyes, dad was watching us intently with no discernable emotion on his face, and the girls were nowhere to be seen. I sighed. "Suppose that''s fair." I took a deep breath to steady myself, then raced after the group. Memories of the week I''d spent learning to fly flowed through my mind as I caught up to the last bird in line and leaped from the branch...I soared gracelessly through the air with my wings tucked in close to my body... Then, I spread my wings and caught an updraft. The wind filled every inch of my wings as I pushed down, the first flap pushed me out of my dive. The second flap helped stabilize me. The third flap pushed me onwards as I flew with all my might to catch up to the group. Every flap of my wings caused panic to flood my nerves as thoughts of plummeting to my death ran through my mind... But fly on, I did. All the practice I''d had with dad allowed me to stay airborne. I still flew with all the grace of rock fired from a catapult... But hey, at least I was in the air. "You look nervous!" One of the birds carrying Sonny said after I''d returned to the formation. "Little bit!" I agreed. "Don''t be! C.R knows what he''s doing!" "That wasn''tat all what I was worried about..." ... "Okay!" I replied as confidently as I could manage. "Cogi is right!" The other member of Sonny''s carrier team said. "We''ve been apart of C.R''s team for two years. Haven''t had a problem, yet!" "Yeah, what he said!" The first bird, Cogi, agreed. "I bet our trip will be completely boring, and we''ll bewishing for some action by the time it''s over!" He laughed. It was at this moment that I was reminded of an old saying... A favorite of the Knight I served. "He who tempts fate should be prepared for fate to take the bait." ... I could only hope he was wrong, and this tripwould be uneventful. Chapter 12 Flying over, around, and in some casesunder the massive trees of the forest was an interesting experience, to say the least.It was unlike anything I''d ever seen on earth. "Hey," I began as something on the ground caught my eye. "What''s that?" As we were only flying a hundred or so feet above the ground, I could easily see any animal that happened to pass under us. Which was the point of flying this low. "High enough they can''t reach us, low enough we can see them try." Or so C.R had said. Cogi and Fen, Sonny''s carrier team, both looked down while Sonny looked anywherebut down. ''That'', happened to be a massive four-legged creature with shaggy black fur, four, long, ash-colored horns sticking out of the back of its head and a fifth on its nose. Each horn on the back if its head branched off into various twist and turns as if they were bolts of lightning. The creature reminded me of a picture I''d seen in the hospital... Though the creature in the picture only had two horns, short brown fur, and was cute. "Maybe it''s a magical deer?" The creature looked up at us... Its big, doe eyes glowed with an eerie blue light. "Thundeer." Cogi replied as he looked away from the creature. ... "Seriously?" "Yep." ... "Okay, if you say so." "Best not to dwell on it too much." Fen said "Why''s that?" "Because, if you any of you newbies get distracted and end up slamming into a tree. Who do you think has to save you, hmm?" "Ahh," "Yeah." He finished with a wink. "Enough chatter." C.R said. I looked up and saw Captain Rogar... staring at me... While flying backwards. ... "H¡ªHOW!?" "Experience." Was his succinct reply, as hecontinuedto fly without looking where he was going. But the most surprising part wasn''t that he could fly backwards, no, it was that he could keep up with uswhile flying backwards. Here we were, busting our tail-feathers off to make good time to the training course, and he''s casually keeping up with us,in reverse. "Show off." "H¡ªHow much further, sir?" Sonny said around chattering teeth.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. C.R tilted his head to one side... Then bobbed his head. "Pulse racing, pupils dilated, body shaking. You''re afraid of heights." "N¡ªNot afraid, sir. Uncomfortable with." "Semantics. Why''d you volunteer if you''re afraid of heights? Loyalty? Revenge?" C.R glanced at me, then back to Sonny. "Love?" "No, sir," Sonny said forcefully. "I volunteered because I didn''t want my home destroyed." ... "Interesting." Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, but I was too late. "Captain, watch ou¡ª" The branch C.R was about to fly into, passed through him as if he were made of smoke... Then he was gone. "Captain!?" "Don''t worry, C.R''s fine." Fen said, though he was clearly uninterested in what just happened. "No, Rage is right!" Sonny protested. "The captain, he¡ª" "Is fine. Whatever you saw wasn''t real." ... "What?" Sonny and I asked at the same time. "C.R is mana-touched." Cogi said as if that would explain everything. ... "Is that supposed to mean something?" Fen and Cogi looked at each other, sighed, then shook their heads. "Sorry, I forgot you guys are not only new, you''re young. Being mana-touched means you can use magic, and C.R is... Well... He''s one of the youngest birds to ever master his chosen magic." "Which is?" Sonny prodded. "Illusion. C.R can project an astral form of himself to anyone he chooses." "So... The one just talking to us was¡ª" "An astral projection, yes. And before you ask, no, neither Fen nor I could see what you saw, but we heard your responses just fine." I felt something incredibly light land on my head. "And we will arrive at the training camp in two-hours, forty-six minutes, and twelve seconds." C.R finished. "Also, yes, I am fine. Thank you for asking." C.R pushed off my head, then he was suddenly at the front of the group again. ... "Was that one real?" Sonny asked. "Did you feel him land on you?" Fen asked me. "Yeah..." I trailed off as I wondered at the sheer speed it must''ve taken to get from my head to the front of the group in the blink of an eye. "Then yes, that was the real C.R." He told Sonny. "That''s so cool!" Sonny squeaked. We continued to talk amongst ourselves for the rest of the trip. Fen and Cogi told anyone within earshot of their adventures under ''Captain ''the mad-bird'' Rogar, and how they were two of his most trusted lieutenants... I wanted to believe them, truly, I did. But every story they told was so far fetched that I internally dismissed them as lies. Eventually, as we passed through the final layers of trees, we laid eyes on the training camp. Twenty-seven wooden buildings with large, wooden planks connecting them awaited us. The buildings were entirely uniform in their make and model, with only a single dark, wooden door, and one wide window on the sides I could see. Otherwise, the buildings appeared bare of decoration. ... "Okay, how, in the world, were these buildings built?" "Squirrels." Cogi replied in a bored tone. "Squirrels?" "Yep. The crazy little buggers are surprisingly handy to keep around... Provided you keep any, and all nuts locked away behind several locks." Fen snorted. "As if a simple lock will keep those spawns of chaos from pilfering nuts." "Is it true that squirrels can smell a nut from a mile away?" A cadet on the other side of Cogi asked. "Guess they''re eavesdropping..." "Wouldn''t surprise me if it was." Cogi replied. "No lie, I''ve seen a squirrel kill a wolf over an acorn." Another cadet said. "If you have to say ''no lie'' before your statement, then you''re probably lying..." I sighed as the conversation strayed off topic and devolved into random squirrel myths. Then I felt something land on my head. "I heard¡ª" Another cadet began. "I once saw a squirrel rip out a bird''s throat for trying to steal its food." ... "Now that I''ve got your attention. Form up. We land in thirty seconds." The cadets shakily nodded their head, then tightened the formation until our wings were almost touching. "Fen, Cogi, bring them into platform three." C.R ordered. "Right." "Understood" They said seriously. They handed off Sonny to two other birds, then the two sped up considerably and quickly overtook the group with their much larger wings. Once there, they angled their bodies down and, one-by-one, guided each line into a covered platform on the edge of the tree-top compound. I flew in with others in my row and ''gently'' landed amongst the other birds. "Haha... Sorry about that." I apologized to the two birds I''d landed on and quickly rolled off of them. "Only crashed into two birds, you''re getting better." Sonny said as he patted me on the back and helped me to my feet. Chapter 13 After taking a few minutes to get ourselves sorted out lined up. C.R, from his post on Fen''s shoulder, led us out of the landing zone, into the compound proper. I saw small groups of birds hurrying to complete some task or another.None of them bothered to greet us as we passed, but that wasn''t surprising since we weren''t supposed to be friends. If anything, we were expected to compete against one another for the glory and prestige this mission offered us. As our group passed through the doors to a fairly large building, two fairly large birds intercepted us. The first bird had sleek blue feathers, red eyes, and a huge, multicolored tail that poked out from over his shoulders. The second had fluffy mud-colored feathers, beady black eyes, and appeared wingless. Oh, sure, he had stumps where his wingsshould have been, but that was it. Height wise, the blue-bird was around mom''s height, while the brown-bird was a slightly chunkier version of Commissioner Pierce. "Ooo, Rogar. Glad you could make it." The brown-bird said. His voice was higher pitched than I''d expected from someone of his size. "Hello, Rogar." The blue-bird nodded his head in greeting. His voice sounded almost as flamboyant as his tail feathers looked... "Captain Shalor," He first nodded to the brown-bird. "Commander Towlis," then the other. "Meeting under different circumstances would have been preferable, but nice to see you all the same. Are we ready to begin?" "Yes, we were just discussing that." Shalor agreed. "Good. Fen, escort the cadets to the course. Cogi, you go round up the other groups and do the same." "Sir!" They said in unison. C.R lifted off Fen''s shoulder with a gentle push and landed on Shalor''s head. "This way." Fen circled around the group and began leading us towards the center of the compound. As Fen led us away I heard them begin speaking in clipped tones, but the noise of the other cadets prevented me from understanding them. "What happens now?" I heard Gri''s loud voice ask from somewhere in the crowd. "Now? Now we separate you into teams based on what you''re good at. Those capable of combat will undoubtedly go to the guard squad. If you''re particularly fast, but not combat oriented, you may find yourself in the Intel or scouting squads." "What happens if we flunk out of all three?" Someone asked. ... "Let''s hope no one does." "That''s an odd way to reassure someone." I grimaced. He led us through the winding branches of the compound to a large, open space at the center. It was separated from the rest of the compound by vines wrapped around poles, creating a large square, or ''ring'' of sorts. Inside the ring was four clearly defined courses.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The first, and longest of the five, was a standard obstacle course. It had hurdles, climbable walls, and was littered with solid looking poles. Each pole was positioned in such a way that any runner either had to dodge around them... Or crash. The second looked like an old Grecian fighting ring... Just seeing it caused my stomach to start doing flips. I couldn''t see much of the third course because of the high walls that surrounded it. I could tell a few things, though. It was long, thin, and presumably incredibly dark inside those walls. The last ''course'', if that''s what you wanted to call it, was two insanely tall verticle walls with barely a wings breadth between them.The walls had polls sticking out from every side in a presumably random pattern. "Cadets, meet the training course. You''re own personal hells for the next month." "A Month!?" Several cadets yelled in unison... "How do they do that?"I wondered."Seriously, that''s like the fourth time they''ve done it since I met them. Did they practice, is it coincidence... Does it really matter?"I sighed. "So!" Fen flapped his large wings to get everyone''s attention. "Who''s first?" ... "First for what?" ... Fen sighed. "For the course, of course. Weren''t you paying attention?" "Obviously not." Nearly every cadet jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of C.R on Fen''s shoulder. "Gridar," C.R called. "Sir?" Gri replied "You''re trying out for the guard squad, are you not?" "Yes!" "Then you''re in the ring first. Anyone else looking to join the guard squad should follow behind him. Those looking to join the Intel squad should form up on the first course. Scout trainees should head to course four. Everyone scrambled to follow his directions... Well, everyone except for me. I had no idea which squad Iwanted to join since I didn''t realize we were being given a choice, I never thought about it. That''s when I noticed Sonny heading for the Scout testing course. "Scout it is." It was difficult to get an accurate head-count since everyone kept shuffling around, but it looked like the guards had the most recruits, followed by the scouts, then the Intel squad had the least with only five members. C.R, Fen, and Cogi each moved to the front of the lines and faced their chosen recruits. And, lucky us, we got C.R. "Scout is a dangerous job. You must think on your feet, predict the unpredictable, and ultimately face death at every turn. You will be the first to encounter the enemy, and you will be the first to die. Look around at the cadets around you..." We did as he asked. "Most of them won''t survive their first mission... If you can''t handle that, then join one of the other squads." Half our number left the group following C.R''s speech, leaving us with only fiverecruits. Most of those leaving our group went to the Intel squad, bumping their number from five to eight, while the other two moved to join the guard. "Five recruits... More than l expected." C.R mumbled. The five recruits were Sonny and myself, a black-bird with a long, needle-like beak, a multicolored female that was about my size, and a large multicolored bird with a blood-red face, and dangerous looking talons... "That guy should be a guard..." C.R''s body flickered for a moment, almost as if he was a picture on an old television, then he was gone... So was the rest of the cadets... And the compound. The only thing that existed was darkness. "Survive the night, and you join the scouts." C.R''s voice said from within the darkness. "And if we don''t?" The large bird asked. "I saidsurvive the night. Failure isn''t an option for you." C.R replied,his voice barely above a menacing hiss. I gulped... "Well... That''s not good." "Your time begins now." Chapter 14 Darkness... Darkness everywhere. A darkness that swallowed the moon and consumed its light pervaded the forest as the numerous occupants of the forest sang their nightly song... "W¡ªWhat do we do?" I heard Sonny whisper. "We do as C.R said, we survive." An unknown male voice replied. "That must''ve been the large bird." I guessed. "You don''t think he''d leave us out here to die, right? He''s not that cruel." An unknown female asked. ... "I think... That he would if it meant the survivors will learn from their mistakes." I said with more confidence than I felt. I didn''t want to believe that C.R would leave us out here to die, but past experiences with leaders had taught me a valuable lesson. "Sacrifice a few to save many" is a good deal in most leader''s eyes, and from the way Fen and Cogi talked about C.R, he was a very good leader... "Any ideas?" I asked the group. "Just one..." The cracking of a twig and the heavy beat of wings followed the male''s voice. ... "Did he..." The female asked. "Yes," I sighed. "He''s gone." "That chick of a flying rat!" She yelled. "Shh! Not so lou¡ª" Sonny''s warning was cut off by a rustle of leaves, a huff of breath, and the low rumbling of something much larger than any of us. "Grrr..." I felt Sonny''s... Or, what I really hoped was Sonny''s paws, wrap around my head and push me to the ground. A few seconds later I heard the muffled protests of the female as she too was shoved to the ground and pinned beneath my fuzzy friend. "Shh." He whispered. The sound of something''s breath rustling leaves on the forest''s floor sent shivers down my spine. Judging from the sound alone, I guess it was about twenty feet away... And getting closer by the second. "We¡ª" I felt Sonny tense up as the girl spoke... That wasn''t the problem though, no, the problem came from the beast... Because it wasn''t sniffing anymore. ... Silence, unlike anything I''d ever experienced, invaded the forest... "Rrrrr" The thing rumbled. A huff of hot, stinking breath hit my face. Old habits began to resurface as my brain tried to come up with something, anything that would get us out of this. Fly away? I wasn''t strong enough to carry Sonny by myself and I doubted the girl would both to stick around and help. Attack it together? Sure, it could work... But it would most likely get us all killed. So that left one option... "Scatter!!" I yelled. I shoved Sonny off of me with a furious kick that would hopefully get both him and the female far enough away that the thing would ignore them. I blindly swung my right wing and felt it brush against something big... Like, really really big. "Over here! Come and get me!" I yelled, desperate to give Sonny and the girl time to get away. A whoosh of air ruffled my feathers and caused me to instinctively twist out of the way as something heavy slammed into the leaves beneath my feet. I kicked off the thing I''d just dodged, digging my new talons into it as I did, and jumped to where I suspected the things head was... I was slapped out of the air before I''d gotten a foot off the ground. My body bounced along the forest floor twice, before coming to a stop beneath what I suspected to be some kind of bush.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I''m not sure what hurt more, the possibly broken wing, the definitely broken leg, or my beak that felt like it was half-torn off. What I was sure of was that I was in pain... A lot of pain. I was in so much pain that I barely noticed the muffled screams a few feet away. I barely noticed the sound of flesh being ripped or the crunching of some poor saps bones. "No..." I groaned as I tried to move. I was too delirious to know what I was moving towards, only that I needed to help. To the sound of tearing flesh and the whimpering moans of something breathing its last breaths, I wormed my way out from beneath the bush. Then I felt something grab my non-broken leg and yank me backward. I struggled, briefly. Then I gave in... The pain was just too much for my body to handle. "Rage?" A whispered voice broke through my pain-filled haze. "Huny?" "Yeah... It''s me." I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but that was a little difficult to do at the moment, so I settled for a gurgled acknowledgment. Then another thought broke through the haze. If the thing didn''t have Sonny... Who did it catch? Was there someone else with us? Then, for the first time since this nightmare began, I saw light. Moonlight broke the treetops and illuminated the area around the bush. The female bird was clearly dead, over half of her body devoured by the large, gray-scaled cat that knelt over her. One of her wings dangling lazily from its mouth as it chewed. I felt Sonny''s body tense. "That could have been me..." I heard him whisper. He grabbed my leg tightly, causing me to wince in pain, and began to drag me away from the creature. I would have screamed were it not for the threat of immediate death currently eating one of my comrades a few feet away, so I settled for screaming internally. ... It didn''t help. I''m not sure how long, or how far Sonny dragged me. All I remember is bouts of intense pain, followed by moments of clarity, that were quickly followed by me blacking out. Eventually, we stopped moving and Sonny settled me in someplace dark and cold. "Do you have enough points to heal?" I heard him ask. Though I didn''t remember calling for my E-Chart, it was suddenly floating in front of my eyes.
Name Rage
Current diet Omnivore
Current evolution style Explorer Avian
Current senses Basic Avian
Current movement style Explorer Avian
Status Severely Injured
Evolution Points 12/67
Possible Evolution Options
Mild¡ª> Major wings¡ª 30 points (Damaged)
Mild¡ª> Major Legs¡ª 20 points (Damaged)
Normal Vision¡ª> Hunter''s vision¡ª 12 points
Basic Talons¡ª> Sharp Talons¡ª 10 points
Size Change Tiny¡ª> Small¡ª 20 points
Size change Tiny¡ª> Diminutive¡ª 10 points
Basic perception¡ª> +10% Perception speed¡ª 30 points
Basic Strength¡ª> +10% strength increase¡ª 20 points
Basic Speed¡ª> +10% Speed increase¡ª 20 points
Repair Broken Beak¡ª 10 points
Repair Bruises¡ª 10 points
Repair Major Concussion¡ª 15 points
Repair Internal Hemorrhaging¡ª 25 points
Repair Broken Leg¡ª 15 points
Repair Ruptured Blood Vessels¡ª 15 points
Repair Torn Wing¡ª 20 points
Repair Cracked Ribbs¡ª 25 points
Injuries Continued... Total points needed to return to optimum health¡ª 152 points
I immediately spent ten points to repair my beak, then screamed as it wrenched itself back into place. I felt power beyond my comprehension flow through me as my beak knitted itself back together. However, once my beak was healed I was left feeling drained, and exhausted. "Sonny?" I whispered as my vision grew darker. "You can talk!? Oh, thank god!" I laughed in spite of the pain. "Do me a favor, yeah?" "Anything." "Remind me not to do that again." Sonny laughed.