Chapter 87: Illusionary Viper.

The wind whistled through the air as Haru fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. 'Really? This is how I'm going to die again? I am such a fucking idiot! Why did I let my guard down just because I didn't sense hostile intent?' Hundreds of thoughts ran through Haru's mind as he continued to fall.

He closed his eyes and braced for impact as he felt the fall was coming to its end.

THUD

Suddenly he stopped. His head went back and hit something soft just before the rest of his body dropped down into the same softness. It was like landing on a cloud. There was no resistance to whatever he had landed on but it was still solid.

A few seconds went by as a screeching sound resonated around his head as the eagle dived down after him. It sounded like the sound was bouncing around on all sides. A few seconds went by before Haru opened his eyes.

"Did I die again?" He asked out loud. He looked around but could only see black. But hearing his voice bounce back to him was the indication he needed to know that he was still alive.

"Thank goodness. I don't know what I would have done if I had to become a baby again." He sighed in relief before hearing something whistling through the sky above his head.

The whistle came closer and closer before.

THUD!

It was the same sound Haru had made when he hit whatever he was standing on. There was then a warm breath on his face before he diced to get up.

"Hey Kun, Can you give me some light here." Haru used his spiritual sense to communicate with the phoenix.

"Ugh, Why can't you do it yourself? You can use my power at will…" Kun said as he emerged from Haru's back, Raining golden light down upon him.

The ground he was stood on seemed to be made up of white branches of some kind. The branches were thick and had a slight hollowness to them and were almost transient. He looked down at them for a few seconds and then looked up to where he felt the breath.

And to no surprise, it was the eagle from earlier. Looking straight at him with a dumb look. Haru wasn't sure that the Eagle was even sentient so he couldn't blame the thing for dropping him down here.

But for whatever reason, the Eagle definitely didn't want to eat him. That much was obvious. But that brought up the question. 'If this is the bird's nest… And they have eaten human sin the past… Then that means it must want to feed me to its offspring!?' Haru thought as the Eagle stared at him.

"What is this dumb thing? Why is it still sleeping? Does it not feel my great presence?" Kun said.

Haru looked up to see that Kun had his wings spread out and was striking a majestic pose.

"Hey, Wake up you dumb ostrich!" Kun shouted and then fired off a ball of golden flam toward the ground that Haru was stood upon.

The smell of burnt hair started to rise from the ground as it began to shake. The ground then lifted up into the sky. Haru remained as still as he could and tried to maintain his balance.

He stood on the strange white branches as they continued to expand.

"Thank you, Young one. You brought me a satisfactory meal. I never expected to find an insect-like this." A voice boomed out as the sound of electricity began to crackle.

Haru felt his hair began to rise as a static field formed around him.

He then looked up at Kun who was frozen in fear.

"Why!!! Why can't I move!?" Kun trembled as a cage of purple electricity formed around his body.

A shadow then began to form as something emerged from underneath the mountain of branches that were now suspended in the air.

First came the long yellow beak that poked up into the sky, Then followed by the huge beady eyes that watched Kun floating in the air.

It was also a bird. But the shape of its head was different from the smaller eagle that was perched upon Its gigantic wing. Its head was shaped more like that of a sparrow.

Haru was in shock as the thing seemingly continued to grow. 'How could an animal be this big? It has to be at least fifty meters tall! This is just a bit overkill! Why did I survive only to be eaten by a giant bird?' Haru thought as the thing continued to grow until it was about seventy meters in height.

Kun was still frozen in the air as the giant bird looked over at the eagle. "What? You don't want me to eat them? Wait… Them?" The bird asked the eagle but there was no reply.

It seemed to be communicating through telepathy as Haru didn't hear the eagle speak at all.

The bird then moved its big beady eyes across the length of its wing spotting Haru stood there in shock.

A few seconds of silence went by before a blood-curdling scream resonated through the abyss and back up to the top of the cliff.

"Ah!!!! A h-human!" The bird screamed. And in a puff of smoke, it vanished leaving Haru falling through the sky once again.

This time as he fell he felt a similar softness beneath his back as the fall was cut short by the eagle catching him. He grabbed onto the softness of its feathers, feeling nothing but a fluffy texture between his fingers as he grabbed tighter.

Then all of a sudden water shot up into the air as the eagle landed in a small pool of water beneath them. Haru looked down to see that the eagle was stood in about of foot of water so he jumped down from it's back into the water.

"Where did it go? I can't believe something so big can disappear without me even seeing it move." Haru said as he looked up and down the cave-like area, they were in.

On all sides, there were stone walls with no way to get out. The pool of water along the floor was shallow for a few meters and then it quickly spread out into an underground lake.

Haru looked at the water as he followed it further and further into the lake. The water had a faint blue glow that seemed to be coming from somewhere below. He found it strange but then something else caught his attention.

As he looked out into the water he saw what looked to be an island in the middle. It had grass all along the edge that also seemed to glow blue. But that wasn't the strangest feature. Right in the centre of the island was a stone pillar or something. He couldn't tell from the distance but it looked like it was made out of white marble.

The sound of splashing water took Haru's attention away from the island and back to the water. He looked to where the sound had come from and spotted a small snake-like creature. It was no more than a meter long and had purple scales all along its body.

It seemed to be staring Right at Haru as when he looked back at it the snake froze like a deer in headlights and immediately swam away.

The crackling from the lightning stopped as Kun began to laugh.

"I actually started to think you were a Void Sparrow. But it turns out you were just an illusionary viper all this time? I can't wait until I cook you up." Kun shouted in a fit of rage as the golden flames from his body turned blue.

Kun didn't seem to notice the4 change in his flames as he flew toward the snake that was now swimming away in fear.

"Get back here and fight me like a man!" Kun shouted as he dropped balls of blue fire into the lake causing steam to rise.

He chased the snake around the pound for what seemed like an eternity until it finally squealed in pain.

"Ahhh!!!" The same voice that came from the bird shouted out but it sounded weaker and less menacing.

That was when Haru realised that the huge bird he saw a few minutes ago was, in fact, this small little snake. It was the first time he came across a creature like this so he just watched patiently as Kun walked over to its body.

"Don't let Kun eat that snake," Lao shouted out from inside Haru's consciousness.

"Why?" Haru used his spiritual sense to ask.

"There is no time! Just don't let him!" Lao shouted once again.

Haru looked over at Kun who was perched on the island in the middle of the lake. His head came back as he picked up the snakes body between his beak and tossed it into the air.

It was too late. He thought as he looked at the cloud feathered eagle with a look of distress. The eagle seemed to understand Haru's thoughts as it took less than a millisecond for the eagle to scoop him up onto it's back and fly across the lake.

Haru held out his arm as the flew right past Kun. He caught the snake before it could enter Kuns mouth.

"Hey! Give that back!" Kun shouted as he saw Haru now on the eagles back holding his lunch.