Authors Corner

I'm removing some of the time and place tags from the scenes for my own reasons, let me know if it's a lot harder to follow though.

As usual, thanks for reading!

Chapter 20 – Birds of a Flaether

Wil

I know where the Flathel that Jelt mentioned comes from.

It comes from these birds, the Flaebird.

Should they even be called birds?

I have never seen one until now. Now there is front of me a flock of twelve. Like most monsters, they look bizarre.

The Flaebird is a sleek hard edged thorny bird with a gaunt face. Instead of real feathers, it has long thin needle-like crystals which the bird resonates to slip through the air. The problem with these birds rests in these pseudo-feathers. They are called Flaethers by the masses. Whether the Flaebird was named after the flaether or the flaether after the Flaebird, I can't know. All I do know is that they can render themselves insubstantial to not only air, but all matter. When using these flaethers the become impossible to harm using normal means.

To top this off, or perhaps because of this, the Flaebird is an irreverent animal. They enjoy torturing humans by slicing them with their sharp serated wings when the humans have their backs turned. From what I've heard, they are slow and methodical, cackling as they flay the humans alive bit by bit. Hence where their name comes from. They are hard to catch unless they are in the middle of flaying.

I don't like the sound of that now that I am faced with them.

These birds are worth an incredible amount of money if you can manage to catch one. If you render down enough Flaethers you get a few drops of Flathel. Flathel is dangerous and hard to obtain because it retains some of the properties of the flaether, so it's exorbitant price is well-suited.

I don't like this situation because I am the one who will have to be chased by these birds as they try to flay me.

We're far enough away that we're not in danger yet. In fact, we wouldn't have even noticed that the birds were watching us if not for Jelt. He's in the middle of hiding. As a precog, he doesn't have to do any hard work.

“Wil, you gonna take this?” Voxol yells from the wagon behind me.

I, on the other hand, do.

“Ya.” I respond.

At least I'm calm.

---

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I'm yelling as I'm running away at full speed.

Yes, full speed.

My robe evidently has two options of what hormones to feed me.

Fight or flight.

Sadly, flight isn't actual flying, but I'm moving so fast right now I'm coming close.

I've dropped my normal leisure pace because of some rips in my robe and lacerations on my body.

These birds can make me bleed. Not a small amount, either.

This is shocking.

I have become more resilient over the last few weeks, due to my mana resistance training at night. I found that my bodies weakness towards metal was only due to traces of mana that certain metals naturally dissipate. If metal is in the right configuration, or in other words, if the weapon is made properly, a portion of mana can be dissipates in a controlled manner. It's the reason why all the famous warriors have visible trails behind their weapons edges. The mana dissipation causes a focused ray of mana to come off of the weapon, which does slightly more damage even if the wielder has no affinity for mana at all. Some creatures are even known to be able to do it on their claws, or in this case, wings.

For the me of before, even the most basic or natural of mana dissipation was enough to cause my body harm. At least, before I started taking off my Ethul every night. I have been testing it recently and after borrowing a good weapon from Voxol by pretending to want to train, I confirmed that I had covered most of my weakness.

So the fact that these birds can damage me is shocking.

My robe's self-defense mechanism must have kicked in, because my whole body agrees.

I'm pushing myself faster than I have before.

“Awwww-yeahhhh” a bird swoops down in front of me from above and screams this ridiculous sound.

I'll have to ask later, but that obnoxious call sounds like words again. The last thing I need is another psychic monster.

“Awwwwwww” another bird cries in dismay as it passes by, having missed. It was trying to swipe me from behind.

In a straight line, they birds should not be able to catch up to me. It doesn't help me at all that I have to stay close to the expedition team. It's quite maddening. Sadly these birds have never heard of playing fair.

They are trying to distract me while another bird attacks. Even with my speed, their bird brained plan is working because more keep showing up out of the low hanging clouds as I run further and further along. Every time one swoops down, another attacks from behind or the side as I dodge. The total number of birds has grown. A few dozen more have showed up since first ones started chasing me. The rest of the expedition team is having a hard time keeping up, both with the distance and the number of enemies. At this point it would be smarter to leave. Smart for them, anyways. The birds are still mostly focused on me, for the time being.

“Cawww” a normal sounding bird nearby calls out in frustration.

I can feel nothing but frustration myself.

I have no overwhelming desire to kill these birds, just the normal desire of a human in a bad situation. I am drawing nothing from myself except the focus on running away. When it comes to fighting these birds, I don't think I can. I think this is the first enemy that I cannot easily beat. The robe has chosen to not fill me up with insanity, probably because I'll be killed. I have found the first true limit of this body.

I eke out a whistle as I run. It's the signal to the others that they should distance themselves because I'm going to flee. I haven't had to use it until now. The whistle feels sour on my lips.

…

…

After many moments, I finally hear the whistled response. It says to meet them further along our path, once I've lost the birds.

Ya, easy for you to say … err .. whistle.

“Awwww” another bird cries as it misses.

“Awwww”

…

My sentiments exactly.

---

Wil

Hours later.

I think I'm lost.

Panic is setting in, but I'm keeping myself controlled.

At least I managed to escape the birds. It took me a while. Eventually I decided to use my trusted method of burying myself, digging a tunnel far into the ground until the birds stopped mocking me overhead. It took a while, but they left. I came out to find the team again.

I'm breathing in the fresh air to get rid of the strange feeling of breathlessness that has come over me.

I'm going to kill those stupid birds.

The clouds are gone, and the sun is lower in the sky. I don't like the open air, I don't like being out here by myself. I'm not scared, but worried. I have always been around people since I first met them. I don't go off on my own unless it's to sleep.

I don't want to be alone again. It's lonely out here. Will everyone continue on without me? Even if I die out here to these stupid birds, will they make a little grave and continue on their way?

My breath is hard to contain. It's catching in my throat.

I'm worried. It shouldn't be catching, I don't even need to breathe.

I look up at the warm sunset. The pastel reds and oranges start at the last of the Sun and fuse their way across the sky until they almost reach the beginning of the night. A sight such as this should give those who see it a sense of awe. It should be a lovely sunset.

But to my eyes, I can only see the twilight encroaching upon it. Growing out of the darkness to overtake the warmth.

…

Other humans act as my cage.

I like having a ceiling so that I don't see the sky, because it reminds me of the infinity I hide from. Infinite ways to come to harm. Infinite doubts. Infinite questions.

The freedom of the world scares me.

The world has an unbounded morality revolving around personal strength, and I have unbounded personal strength revolving around an unbounded morality.

When everything connects, everything unravels into chaos, starting with me.

It'd be trivial to lose what little I have.

Money.

Friends.

… Sanity.

…

What was that?

I heard a rustle in those bushes.

Ah, the thrum of the world. I recognize it.

There must be danger ahead.

It's been a while since I've felt this good. I need to enjoy it right now. I almost want to laugh. I think I should laugh.

I think I will laugh.

“Haha.”

Quietly, Wil, quietly.

Time to kill something.

In front of me is a normal bush. A usual bush. It seems normal, but it contains my prey.

I heard it rustling earlier. Behind the normal bush is my enemy.

I pull out my new sword. It might be short but that doesn't make it have any less of a longing to draw blood.

I wonder how fast I can swing?

My grin is stretched wide.

This will be so relaxing!

…

The rustling is getting stronger, it sounds like something is hunting me. It's getting closer. Any second no-

Something bursts around the bush instead and catches me off guard, it's moving fast directly towards me.

No time! Swing!

…

“Ah, Wil! There you are!”

…

It's only one of the twins.

Why aren't they together?

---