“They rained down relentless.

Bleakstone Sanctuary, the fortress famed to have stood against Dragon Lordes of old shuddered and wailed at the onslaught of the Furhanaer, the Sylphax-riding regiment of the Sun-Elves. They rained down fire and ice, thunder and light from their flying steeds and the famed Royal Guards of Jalahaeshin stood like puppets. All their might came to naught that day as the Elves brought down the fury of their God-Emperor upon mankind. And all the gods, stood witness”

-Stories of War, Grahern Standerg, Historian and Philosopher, Royal College of Salizbergen, 15065 AC

“Faeve!” I cried out as her lithe body crashed into the wall.

I barely had time before the Kairex slammed its head on my stomach. The hit sent shockwaves of pain blossoming through my body. My hand went numb as I crumpled on the floor.

The bird brought down its sharp claws to rip me apart. I rolled away just in time to see its nails take chunks off the rock-hard guano encrusting the floor.

Shit, shit shit!

Faeve’s unconscious body lay sprawled a few feet away from me. Dammit! I cursed as I realised she won’t be of any help. “Wake up! Wake you elf” I screamed as I slashed my dagger at the bird’s feet.

The Kairex roared in pain and reared back. It screamed again as the movement cracked its head against the rocky ceiling. The cavern offered little space for the huge bird to freely manoeuvre, making its attack a lot less precise. But it also meant I couldn’t swing Thirst.

Flames flickered along my gloves as I channelled AP through my hand. My eyes didn’t leave the Kairax as it glared at me with hatred in its eyes.

The bird puffed its feathers as a strange ululating cry escaped its long throat.

Singed leather burnt my nose as fire engulfed my palm.

A sudden chill ran down my spine; I barely had time to jolt my body away.

CLANG! Stone wailed in pain.

The Kairex’s tail split the air again.

I raised my hands up in reflex. Stone cried out again right beside my ear.

“FUCK!” I cursed loudly as I scampered away from the Kairex. My back was against the wall.

The bird closed in again. The Kairex dropped its head a few inches from my face. Its beak opened wide to reveal serrated teeth and stringy meat still hanging from it.

My arms were unresponsive to my commands. Fuck! Fuck! A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. I stared at the huge beak’s slow approach.

I...I don’t want to die!

My spine ran ice-cold as the bird screamed a few inches from my face.

For a few moments, my world consisted of only those teeth. I sat there, transfixed at my approaching death.

I could feel the warmth roiling off the Kairex as it approached even closer. Its open jaws blasted me with the putrid smell of rotting meat.

No! Not today!

I slammed the wakizashi-dagger on the side of its head. The blade slid off its skin.

No,no no, I kept pounding the dagger; each time its steel skin rejected the blade.

The Kairex howled but didn’t relent. Its beak snapped once, twice, mere inches from my face. My heart thumped wildly as the bird went for my other hand, still laying numb on the floor.

Thwack! A single bolt sunk into the bird’s throat. It scampered back in pain.

A gout of fire engulfed where the bird stood. I propped up my numbed hand with the other and continued spraying the fire.

The Kairex growled in anger.

“Eridan!” Faeve screamed.

I screamed in pain as something hot seared across my palm. The fire sputtered and waned.

The bird brought its tail up, its end still dripping with my blood.

The flames in my hand sizzled and finally went out; the bird lunged again sensing an opportunity.

Two more bolts flew past my ear; one of them caught the Kairex on its neck.

Faeve ran past me, her daggers out. She lost no moment and countered the Kairex with her daggers.

They fought in a volley of lunges and parries, each strike faster than the previous. The Kairex shouted as Faeve’s daggers managed to pile up damage on it. Her slashes unerringly found gaps between the Kairex’s steel skin.

A trickling warmth reminded me of my own pressing problem. Blood seeped out of my hands in an alarming rate. I bit down on the hem of my shirt and pulled. Linen ripped away with the sound of wet rags.

Something flew by my ears and peppered the wall behind me.

I yelped and hit the floor as more stones came hurtling towards me. The Kairex’s tail took chunks off the cave wall and sent it flying in all directions.

The cloth smelled of bitter sweat and dust as I wrapped it around my palms. I kept my head down to avoid the flying stones as I took a breather. The battle in front of me was drawing to a close. Faeve had cornered the Kairex with her agility and resilience. Blood dripped down the bird’s ochre feathers, the steel edges glistened with matted blood.

But Faeve wasn’t in a good shaped either. She drew laborious breaths as she danced around the bird, her daggers flashing in tandem. Her shirt sported a few new slashes across it.

Green motes of dust swirled around the curved daggers as they fought with the steel-tipped tail of the Kairex.

However, that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye.

What the...

Minute globules of fire sparked and danced between their feet. Each time the monster pranced the fire spread.

Fire.

Guano.

I broke out in a cold sweat as I screamed at Faeve. She whipped her head to see what I was pointing at.

Her eyes went wide—and then the guano exploded right in front of her.

Green fire rolled through the cave for a few moments. The blooming flames dissipated as abruptly as they had appeared. But those flames had expended in much of the air in the cave. I wheezed in pain as my lungs sucked in scorching carbon dioxide. My throat and chest burned in the lack of air.

Crawling on my knees, I searched for Faeve. She lay a few feet away from me, covered in soot. I dragged her prone body across the cavern floor. Suddenly, the room plunged into darkness as the glowing moss lost their luminescence.

At almost the same time, breathable air returned to the cave. I coughed like a beached whale as air returned to my lungs. Sweet, sweet air flooded my veins as I lay on the ground, Faeve by my side.

When some measure of strength returned to my body, I turned Faeve over. Surprisingly enough, except the soot, Faeve seemed to have sustained no harm. Well, if one disregards the singed ends of her hair and vanished eyebrows.

Faeve wheezed loudly and blinked. With a muffled groan she rolled over and watched the deep darkness inside the cave. Our position near the entrance gave us a clear view of the soot covered chicks too. They lay clumped in an unmoving mass.

“Looks like the Vulp-head moss started its—” Faeve coughed loudly, “work”.

“What work?” I asked while I peered at the darkness for a sign of the Kairex. If our luck was good, it was dead. But our luck was never good.

“Sylphax and Kairex build their nest in caves infested with Vulp-head moss. Since their guano is combustible, Vulp-head is a security measure”. Faeve sighed at the listless look on my face, “Vulp-head takes burned air and fire and consumes it. And this pure air...is what they give”.

Photosymthesis on steroids...rather, magic.

“Good thing the Kairex is dead”, I muttered. Oh wait. If Faeve is alive then...

“Aye”, Faeve confirmed my suspicions as my thoughts flowed into her, “It is still alive”.

Almost as soon as she stopped talking, something rumbled in the cavern. With a loud scream, the Kairex shot out of the cave like a freight train and faced us. It had fared much worse than Faeve in the explosion. Blood dripped down its neck and feathers as it wailed loudly, bits and pieces of charred meat flying from its beak.

I chewed my lips as I saw the Kairex take a stance. In the commotion, I had lost my wakizashi, but we were near the entrance now. It meant—

I unslung Thirst. I winced as the metal dug into my injured palm.

“Faeve”, I called.

She nodded when my thoughts reached her. For once, the mental connection between us served to fulfil our purpose, not hinder it.

The Kairex charged without warning. I grit my teeth as I braced for its charge.

It barrelled towards us—Not yet, not yet, I chanted in my mind.

The bird reached the mouth of the cave. NOW!

A bone the size of a dog hit the Kairex on its legs. The bird tripped over and launched itself. The ledge shook as the Kairex tumbled and fell on its face.

I immediately ran over and hit the bird with the flat of the blade. I kept battering it with hits. AP ran through the blade, infusing each hit with more strength.

Faeve walked over, her job done.

“Nice throw”, I complimented her.

She snorted and went back inside the cave.

The Kairex hardly moved now. It whimpered with each hit of the blade, its body trembling. The explosion and the violent fall had taken much of its strength away.

My hits slowed as Faeve walked out of teh cave with a rustling sound. I stetched my hands for the wakizashi she recovered from inside the cave. Faeve’s stare never left the fallen Kairex when she handed my dagger over.

Sensing something uncanny, I called after her, “Faeve?”

Her eyes had gone wide. Her cheast vsibly heaved as she breathed roughly.

“Faeve?”

She pushed me away and jumped on the Kairex. With a savage cry she brought down her daggers on the Kairex. No trace of the usual grace that embodied her combat was visible as she scored hit after hit on the bird.

No, I couldn’t be called combat. She hit the bird senselessly, most of her hits just sliding off the Kairex’s skin.

“Die. Die. Die”, Faeve screamed over and over as she slashes at the bird, “Die”.

What just. “Faeve!” I barked. What is with her and the bird?

“Die you rotworm”, Faeve cursed in Elvish. She looked up at me, her face devoid of blood despite her excited state. Her eyes bore no coherent thoughts as she mumbled in her native.

Loud cackles broke out inside the cave. The chicks we thought dead came tumbling out, screaming for their mother. The soot covered little birds came tumbling about, their little sqawks a heartrending cry as they searched for their mother.

Faeve’s face twisted with rage even further. She got up and kicked the fallen Kairex. The action sent the chicks in frenzy. Shrill cries ripped through their throat as they watched Faeve desecrate their fallen mother.

Its time to put a stop to this. I walked towards Faeve. A bubble of self-depreciating, bitter laughter threatened to rise through my throat. My mouth tasted bitter with my own hypocrisy. What right do I have to stop Faeve?

I answered myself as I pulled Faeve up from the corpse. None. None whatsoever.

Faeve struggled in my arms trying to reach the bird. “Just calm down”, I wearied, “Its dead”. I pointed at the corpse, “look—”

My voice died in my throat as the saw the little chicks climb up and around the mother’s body, much like when she was alive. They nudged their mother with their beaks when she didn’t get up. Their cries wound through the ledge in an incoherent cry, no, they were crying.

It was odd.

So very odd.

I couldn’t tear my eyes off the scene. I couldn’t bear to watch it either. Monsters...it was trying to kill us, right? Then it’s...it’s not really wrong.

The mass of flesh budged. The Kairex wasn’t dead yet. The mother groaned as it dragged its ravaged body along the ground.

I swear, at that moment, I was relieved. I cheered for the bird to get away from us. A strange bubble of comfort rose in me as I saw The Kairex making its way towards the cave.

My joy was short-lived as Faeve managed to break free of my arms. She screamed at the Kairex again and charged it. The bird looked back, and tried to quicken its pace.

I ran after Faeve. But before I could stop her, she planted a savage kick on the bird. “Die, false-mother”.

But the Kairex...oh my god.

The bird shrouded its young under its wings. It simply laid its head down as it took the beating while protecting its chicks. It whimpered and bled but never relented from its position.

My sense of unease boiled over. The Kairex...even if it was a monster...She, she looked a lot like that. I staggered as I remembered what happened years ago. Memories from the past hammered my conscious in a barrage. A woman, the look of desperation on her face, the rubble, a child, the mother’s cries as she dug through the wreckage.

Faeve hit the bird again.

She...even before the disaster management arrived...

The mother curled around the chicks even tighter.

She tried to defy the earthquake for a child that wasn’t even her.

A chick managed to poke its head out and squealed at Faeve. It wobbled out and tried to defend its mother.

“Enough!” I screamed.

I couldn’t stop myself as I rushed Faeve. My punch sent her tumbling down on the ground.

Faeve looked up at me, disbelief in her eyes.

“Just stop”, I implored.

Her face broke into a snarl. “This? Coming from you?”

“Yes, even from me”.

“I saw what you had done, Humankin”, Her eyes fell over the bird, “And you stop me over a false-mother?”

“Yeah, I—” my objection died midway as an idea rose in my mind. A wild, wild idea that would probably get us killed. “Fine! You actually do have a reason to not kill it”.

Faeve eyes widened as she realized my intent. “Very well”, she muttered as she kneeled beside the Kairex. The bird trembled as Faeve put her hands on it. The chicks immediately jumped to their mother’s defence and tried to jab Faeve with their beaks.

Her kick caught one of them and sent it flying. The mother rumbled as the chick squawked as it crashed against the ribs of a carcass lying on the ledge.

I sighed as I watched the mother get more and more agitated. “You heal the Kairex”, I said as I sheathed my sword, “I’ll mind the chicks”.

Faeve nodded and knit her brows. “To think I would have to waste my Voice on a false-mother”, she grit her teeth. Soft green light spilled from her palms and vanished, drowned by the sun.

“Let me know”, I muttered.

Faeve nodded and ebbed the flow of her magic.

The chicks quietened down as they saw Faeve heal their mother. The Kairex itself started to make sounds as it slowly recovered. I started to make a rope girdle while I watched the Bird recover. Too bad it doesn’t know what’s coming.

“Now”, Faeve barked.

I ran up and jumped on the prone body of the Kairex. The steel-tipped wings brushed against me as I hung onto the bird for dear life. Fortunately, only the crown and wing-tips of the bird had steel, or I would have been shred to ribbons.

“Move”. Faeve jumped behind me and scampered up.

I passed her the girdle which she promptly put around the bird’s neck and tightened. Better leave this to the ones who ride these things.

“Just so you know, I have never ridden a Sylphax”.

“What the—” my voice choked off as the Kairex reared up. It shook its head to dislodge us to no avail. I clutched Faeve tightly as she held on to the girdle.

“You know—the Princes are usually ridi—ng and the princess holdin—on to them”, Faeve sputtered between gasping as the Kairex vaulted like an enraged horse.

“Yeah, we are— neither”, I managed to reply, “now shut up”.

The Kairex shrieked and tossed around. It tried to turn its head to snap at me.

I suppressed a loud scream as its flailing wings left deep gashes on me.

The wound in my hand reopened. Blood soaked the makeshift rein.

“Faeve”, I shouted. Oh shiit, shit, shit. I let loose a stream of curses as I felt my hands slip.

Faeve kicked the Kairex on its flank. The bird wailed and struggled even more furiously.

Inch my inch we neared the precipice of the ledge. Just a little more...

The Kairex tried to swerve towards its chicks. I yanked at the reins violently.

We wobbled at the edge for a few moments. The Kairex seemed to almost stabilize itself.

And then, suddenly, we went over the ledge.

My stomach sank as we fell.

For a few moments the wall rushed passed us in a blur of colours.

My mouth went dry. No, no, no!

We failed. We failed We failed.

Faeve started screaming behind me.

Boom!

Huge wings unfurled beside us. The Kairex took flight. The receding view of the ledge swirled and danced as the bird barrel rolled mid-air.

My heart beat as violent as the Kiarex’s wings. Faeve still shuddered behind me. Her screams had given way to choked sobs.

We aren’t dead yet.

Relief washed over me as we stabilized. The scenery stopped its mad dance as we flew over the land, the wind whipping at my face. I released the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in.

“You okay?” I muttered.

“You almost got me killed”, Faeve seethed in panic.

“Hey!” I retorted, “Weren’t you planning on riding a bird in the first place?”

Faeve went silent.

No matter what I say, It really was very dangerous, I chided myself. Well, we aren’t out of the woods yet. We still need to get down there. My eyes fell over the vast yellow canyon. Its yellowish hills were blood red in the waning sunlight. The sun, half submerged in the horizon threw long shadows that twisted and stretched behind the hillocks.

The Kairex’s shriek brought me out of the stupor. It folded its wings and dived towards a nearby hill.

The flat hill-top rushed at us. Panic started to well up inside me again. If we crash with this speed...We will die!

“Hold on tight”, I commanded Faeve. Before I could say anything else, the Kairex burst onto the ground. The violent landing sent us vaulting onto the hard earth.

Faeve and I hit the ground with loud thuds. The Kairex tumbled and hit a nearby rock. Skin peeled off from my limbs as I skid across the rocks. Faeve wasn’t in much better shape either.

My body screamed in pain. I...it’s not over yet. I looked up to see the Kairex right itself and open its beak.

It recovered faster than I thought. Shit.

An arrow hit the Kairex full in its face. Faeve had recovered to some measure and stalked the bird with her crossbow. Her clothes were in tatters and dripping with blood.

My eyes fell over a small crack in the rock a few feet away. Barely enough for us both, but too small for the Kairex to attack.

I picked up myself shrieking with pain and ran towards Faeve. Her eyes had taken on that insane glint again as she loosened bolt after bolt at the Kairex. Most of it just skid off the bird as it protected itself with its steel-tipped wings.

I grabbed Faeve by the waist and ran for the crack. She wailed and hit me with the crossbow as we ran.

The Kairex followed us with a loud crash.

With a violent push I deposited us both into the small opening. Faeve let loose a stream of cusses in Elvish as she pointed her crossbow at the charging Kairex.

“Stop it!” I grabbed her crossbow. “STOP IT!” I thundered.

Faeve flinched. Her arms went lax as she stared at me in utter disbelief.

I don’t have time for this now.

The Kairex snapped and snarled at the entrance. The rotten smell from its mouth filled the cave. I picked up a rock and threw at it.

The rock caught the Kairex in the face with a loud thud. It shrieked and shook its head. A barrage of stones hit the bird as I threw them relentlessly.

The bird clacked loudly and started to back off. Even if it was somewhat impervious to metal, it couldn’t do anything about blunt force trauma. With a final shriek it flapped its wings and took off. I sighed in relief as the Kairex flew towards the ledge where its children lay.

“Eridan, you—”

I couldn’t hear the rest of her words as I fainted.

~~~

It was night when I woke up. I blinked as the impossibly starry sky came into focus. Thousands, no millions of stars lighted up the moonless night sky. Being a city kid, the number of stars in Sangraal’s sky has always astounded me. But this was in a totally different league.

I tried to get up from where I lay. The effort made me gnash my teeth as pain lanced up every inch of my body. A flash of light caught my eyes while I struggled on the ground. Faeve tended to a small fire some distance away, acrid smoke billowing towards the sky.

“Hey”, I hailed her, “how long was I out?”

She didn’t reply. But I knew she had heard me because her hands trembled, unsettling the fire.

“Hey”, I called again, “what’s the matter?”

She closed her eyes as she swivelled to face me. When she opened her eyes, I could see the coiling rage in them. “Why did not you let me kill the false-mother?”

Still on about that?

I sighed. “First tell me”, I leaned forward as I looked into her eyes, “What the fuck happened back there?”