Tamer Braian G. Moreiras (P.O.V.)

Day 6 A.F.P. (After Fluffals Pillars) 10: 30 PM

It has been less than a week since the Pink Pillars appeared, but the once beautiful city of Saint Petersburg has nearly been reduced to rubble. There were a lot of buildings that managed to avoid collapse, but the dried blood painted their walls, and scattered bones of its residents filled the ice-covered roads.

My mind records every detail of the crime scenes as I walk through the streets while keeping my Icy Mist activated. My lunar charge supports the skill by converting Lunar energy through the glowing runes on my armor and the blue inverted crescent moon on my forehead.

The Icy Mist covers an area of ten meters around my body. It hid my presence from the sentries as I flitted through the damaged empty buildings. As I rushed through the city to find a suitable Crow monster for Angel to brainwash, I almost walked into a sleeping Crow Gryphon that was partially covered in a blanket of snow.

The beast was as huge as an African Bull Elephant with long Black feathers covering its whole body and white metal armor protecting its vitals, similar to my own Ice armor. The Razor-sharp sickle claws on its feet are covered in dried blood. The wings on its back are too small to provide it any lift to fly. Its tail has a sickle equipped to the end with a half-eaten human corpse still stuck onto it. The corpse had some remnants of a Russian army uniform.

This Crow Gryphon monster is part of the Metal Bird monsters' ground forces used to destroy the Russian army infantry, tanks, and artillery. I could see the marks left by Tank and artillery rounds on its white metal armor. The front head of the creature is entirely hidden by a Crow-shaped helmet that has a massive horn you find on a Black Rhino.

Some of the Russian tank rounds had targetted the creature's head and managed to knock it out of commission during a fight a few days ago.

Fortunately for me, the Crow Gryphon had still not recovered and might not ever get back up on its own due to the damage to its brain.

Braian. "Angel, can you hear my voice?"

Angel. "Even when you are whispering, I can hear it loud and clear. Did you find me a target?"

Braian. "I found a ground-based heavily armored Crow Gryphon that looks like it lost a lot of brain cells from a previous attack."

Angel. "Ground-based? That is no fun... but I guess it could come in handy in the mission or the future, so I might as well add it to my collection for now."

Braian. "How are you going to 'Collect it' when you are flying over the city's outskirts."

Angel. "Through you, of course!"

Braian. "What do you mean by that? You can't turn a Tamer's monster into one of your minions."

Angel. "The Bird Brainwash skill doesn't say that I can't try it on a Monster fused to a Tamer that wants to be bonded with me."

Braian. "I don't think I want to be bonded to you like a bird minion."

Angel. "Relax! I won't subjugate you to the point you will never have free will again. Just let me in your mind for a few minutes to use my Bird Brainwash skill on that Crow through your body. Who knows, you may even enjoy the experience of merging your mind with mine."

Why do I get a bad feeling about this? Probably the way she said it sounds so wrong. I have no problem with her intentions, but that doesn't mean I am comfortable about it when the skill name is called Brainwash.

Braian. "If you have never done this on a human, then what guarantee is there it will work?"

Angel. "If I don't try, I won't find out if I can, right?"

Braian. "This ain't like trying out a new dish! I don't want my mind to get deep-fried."

Angel. "Do you want to help me build a squad of crow minions or not? We only have a few minutes to spare before the commander, and the others occupy the crow monsters in a direct attack. At least this way, I can check out their status and also provide reinforcements if they need help."

Braian. "Alright... just get it over with as quickly as possible."

Angel. "Is that what all women say to you?"

Still cracking some dirty jokes like usual. This is tame compared to what I usually hear Angel say at Seward.

Angel. "Now, clear your thoughts. It will help open your mind, and don't try to resist my mind's entry."

Braian. "Could you not make everything you say sound like you will violate me?"

Angel. "Believe me, if I really set my mind to it, I won't ask for permission."

Why are my legs shivering? Control yourself, Braian! Think of the mission! Wait, why do I care about it again? Ah, right, saving a sixteen-year-old kid from being eaten alive by these Metal Crow monsters. Russian General's nephew and the first mission of the Tamer Battalion. Can't fuck it up!

I calmed my heart and breathing, which allowed my mind to clear up, which wasn't easy.

It took over a dozen seconds before Angel's will flooded into my headspace. I resisted the instinctual urge to kick her out and allow her to take over the controls over my body. Suddenly, images of a little blonde girl playing with her pet birds in a bird sanctuary in Norway fill my mind's eye.

I was witnessing Angel's memories of her childhood. The connection between her mind and mine must be a two-way street. I grew curious with the thought of wanting to know what she really was like as a child. Was she always a pervert, or was she normal?

The scenes that played out were like a movie on hyper fast forward. But my natural recording skill managed to keep up with the clips, and I willed my memory to replay the tape regularly. Fortunately, it somehow worked, and now I could view what I saw at my own pace.

I could fast forward or slow down scenes when I wished. I used this method to go through the entire reel in a minute.

The first scene is of Angel's parents abusing each other physically and mentally for years.

Angel always went out into the Bird sanctuary her father owned to avoid the yelling and cries. The sounds that birds make distract her from her traumas. There were birds of all kinds in that sanctuary. I could see her interacting with Owls, Eagles, Parrots, Ravens, Crows, Hawks, Falcons, Sparrows, Cranes, Albatross, Swans, Ducks, Pheasants, Geese, Chickens, Ostriches, and Emus.

Angel had helped her father raise most of them since they were still in their eggs. She fed them every day, sang to them, stroked them, and loved each one like they were her own children.

This began at the age of six, and when she turned thirteen, her mother finally decided to get a divorce and move away with Angel from her father's bird sanctuary.

Angel's teenage years were spent being ill-treated by the students for being a Bird freak because she always talked about how beautiful they are and the fun facts about each species.

Even when they made fun of her, she had clothes, bags, and books with pictures of birds decorating their surfaces.

Angel's Ultra Smartphone was filled with photos of all the birds she came across in the town where she lived and nearby forests.

I fast-forwarded the footage. Angel is now nineteen entering college to study zoology. She wanted to make a career as an Avian Veterinarian. For too many years, the only comfort was the memories of those birds she raised in her father's sanctuary. It now inspired her to help them in return and make her life happier at the same time.

Her first and only boyfriend she had ever gotten into a relationship with called her a degenerate when they broke up after finishing high school. He informed a friend who also went to the same university she had moved to study at about her bird obsession in great detail.

His friend then posted private pictures of Angel drawing Birdmen carrying her in their arms obtained from her ex. In addition, the university's online social space was filled with birdmen fantasy drawings as more students wanted to share the crazy bird girl's obsession.

Most of those pictures weren't made by her. Instead, some idiot thought it would be fun to make Furry-style drawings and then copy her artist signature.

This was enough to get the school board's attention and that of the mental health care institutions. They viewed it as degeneracy and would not allow Angel to continue attending the university without getting some help to correct her thinking.

She never returned to that university, nor did she leave the premises of the mental health care institute she was admitted for many years to come. The doctors there termed it as a type of degenerate deviancy and made her take pills to cure something that wasn't in her in the first place.

No matter how many times she tried to explain that it was a misunderstanding in her therapy sessions, the Docs claimed she was in denial and not taking enough medication. They even forced her into an isolation room where she would spend days, weeks, or months reflecting on a problem that she refused to acknowledge as being there in her mind.

After fifteen months of being ignored and forced to take more drugs to the point that they screwed with her senses of what is real and what is not, she came up with an idea.

Just accept what they say... just admit they were right, and she is a degenerate. Tell them what they want to hear her say out loud. In fact, why not go a bit further and enjoy the performance.

Be how society wants you to be and let them decide what you are. So Angel finally accepted that she had a problem and wanted to be cured. So the number of required meds was reduced, she was transferred out of isolation, and the doctors looked pleased that she finally learned to acknowledge a psychological issue was present.

Angel continued this act for several months of therapy sessions where she had to force herself to believe she had these issues and that their treatments were working.

At the end of every session, she would say the attraction to Birdmen was declining and that regular human photos became appealing.

But this act had a side effect that she didn't realize until it was too late. Angel could not recollect when her acting became indistinguishable from her true thoughts.

She went through what most law enforcement go through when they go deep undercover with no room to revert to their true identity. Eventually, the fake identity becomes second nature, and the moral lines they grew up on blurred until they disappeared.

Angel became aroused by the Birdmen paintings the Docs presented to her in their scheduled appointments to confirm her change in perception. This time she answered honestly that the Birdmen paintings did indeed stimulate her.

In her head, Angel had now accepted that she really had a problem and now needed the help without faking it. But she couldn't tell the docs she was faking it all till now. So the medical professionals took her sudden reversion to her degeneracy state of mind as a bad sign and increased her meds and isolation time again.

When Angel turned twenty-two, she was still stuck in the mental health institute because she failed to eliminate her Birdmen fascination. She complied without complaint, no matter what the docs gave her or instructed her to do, but they could not help her return to her original orientation.

But now, she felt it was hopeless and decided it was time to act like the treatment worked again. It took ten months before she finally got released into society, just two months before the Apocalypse would begin.

Her new Ultra Smartphone came with a Butler, and that artificial intelligence was programmed to alert the Medical staff if she ever returned to her degeneracy.

Angel refused to return to her mother's home. That woman had abandoned her own daughter to those quack Doctors and never bothered to visit her even once.

Instead, Angel took the unemployment and healthcare cheque to buy a trailer home. She drove it to the Bird Sanctuary that once belonged to her father, who had abandoned the place to live with his new family.

Most of the birds she helped raise had passed away long ago. Luckily, a few still lived or managed to have descendants. Angel studied these birds and found that they all treated her with warmth and affection. This behavior surprised her as they usually were frightened by strangers.

It was also around this time her phone received the monster app. So when the egg was presented to her, she thought it would be a fun activity to see what came out of it.

Angel spent her free time clearing the monster app tasks at night and spending her days taking care of the birds and restoring the sanctuary.

I then fast forward the memory reel, which changed to a scene of me dropping down from the stormy sky to save her. The thoughts that filled her head were awe and happiness that someone cared enough to save her. The fact that I looked like a Birdman didn't cross her mind until she transformed and had another look at me.

Then I fast-forwarded to the moment I told her I was interested in her. Angel was so happy that tears were coming out of her eyes. There was finally someone who wanted to be with her and had also fit the profile that she desired.

Finally, I shut down the recording and refocused my awareness to Angel's mind using my body to hold onto the head of the unconscious Crow Gryphon and help it restore its mind from the abyss it had been lost in.

She wasn't brainwashing it but helping it come back to life. Then a new presence entered my headspace as the Crow Gryphon's mind had been restored and now emitting emotions of happiness. Angel and the Gryphon formed a link that slowly fused until they were one and the same.

Then her presence in my mind retreated, and my vision of the natural world was restored. The Crow Gryphon shook its head as if it came out of a long, painful hangover and then shook off the blanket of snow that had covered its colossal body.

Angel. "I told you it would work! Now go find another Crow monster while Gryphon here finds our comrades. Hey, why are you crying? Did I break you? I thought I was super careful."

For some reason, tears were coming out of my Raven eyes, and I didn't move from my spot as I processed what I saw in her memories.

Braian. "Angel... I saw your life while you were in my head."

Angel. "Less than a minute has passed since I entered your head. How much do you remember from that mind-meld?"

Braian. "Enough to know your Birdmen fetish isn't something you had until those Docs at the mental institute forced you to believe it and that your childhood is filled with memories of Birds while your parents abused each other."

There was no reply for a few seconds. An awkward silence filled the air as the snow fell around me.

Angel's voice stammered as what I said stunned her.

Angel. "That...it can't be possible! How could you have seen or remembered all those years' worth of memories?"

Braian. "I sort of have a natural skill of recording everything I see in UHD. I didn't know it worked on what I saw in my own head, but all your memories are stuck in my head now for good."

More awkward silence.

Angel. "I will share what I glimpsed from your mind. You really don't want to be with a Bird Freak like me!"

Damn! Did she see my reaction to her Bird Fetish?

Braian. "I... I did think that at first, but now I-"

Angel. "I am not ashamed of it anymore, so you don't have to feel sorry for me and say it doesn't bother you just because you saw my past."

Braian. "Angel I-"

Angel. "Forget all that and focus on the mission! I will hunt down and create bird minions on my own. Don't waste time trying to console a freak like me."

The connection between Angel and me was severed.

I took that as a sign the Angel was pissed off and didn't want to continue the discussion.

The Crow Gryphon that was now Angel's Bird minion looked at me before it turned around. Then, it sprinted towards a Samurai armored Tengu Crow monster which had flown over to check out the sudden revival of the Gryphon.

The Crow Gryphon rammed into that poor Tengu bird with its heavily armored body and stomped on its victim's body before the Tengu crow gave up resisting.

Then, after a dozen seconds of watching a staring contest between the two, the Crow Gryphon lifted the pressure and allowed the new Tengu Bird Minion to rise up and join it in gathering more minions.

I let out a defeated sigh and shook my head before refocusing my mind on the mission. The Cathedral is nearby, and I was the only one capable of extracting Asher out of that bunker at this point.

Braian, forget everything else and focus on the task in front of you.