Arlen was crouched on a branch, his violet eyes intensely scanning the foliage for his target. He was precariously perched, one foot balanced on the branch, his right arm hanging onto the trunk, and gravity threatening to yank him off his branch. He was relaxed but tense, (the kind of tense like a coiled spring ready to release all of its energy).
Suddenly, movement from behind him. He whirled around, ready to pounce, but it was just his sister, Aranwyn, who landed on the tree branch next to him.
"Aranwyn!" He protested, then looked around, before lowering his voice to a whisper.
"You're scaring away the prey," he tried to look angry but failed miserably.
Aranwyn folded her arms, ruefully looking at her brother.
"I sincerely hate to be the bearer of bad news...but it's the village chief. He wants to see you. I think," and she scowled, "it has to do with his son, Malequinon."
Arlen's face paled, the hunt forgotten.
"Thanks sis. I guess I better go, then. Tell mother that supper will be later than usual."
He tried to put on a front like everything was fine. He didn't want to worry Aranwyn, or his mother. His mother was older, and ever since his dad had died it was Arlen's job to provide for his family. He didn't see it as a job, it just came naturally to him. He loved his family.
Aranwyn unfurled her wings and prepared to leave.
"I'll see you at supper then?"
Arlen nodded.
"See you at supper."
—————————————————————————————————
The village tribal council was a mess, the council angrily arguing amongst themselves.
The door opened, and the room fell silent.
The chief, Eldriquion, was a figure that commanded respect.
He walked in, holding some black feathers, and sat down at the head of the council.
"We all know why we're gathered here, yes?" His deep voice boomed out across the council.
"Well, we do but it doesn't feel right," one of the oldest members cautioned.
"It's been a week since the competition. Arlen won fair and square. The murder wasn't even brought up until two days ago, and we're supposed to reach a conclusion on a viable suspect?"
The other council members agreed, causing a din to fall upon the room.
Eldriquion stood up.
"Silence!" He roared angrily. He held up black feathers.
"These were found on the body, by my dear son. Now, who in this village has black feathers? Only one man: Arlen. Is that evidence enough for you?"
The council consulted among themselves, some reluctantly agreeing, other only agreeing because of the chief. But two refused, insisting there wasn't enough to convict a man to death.
Eldriquion bribed the council.
Finally, a resolution was reached. The council ended up traditionally passing the punishment of execution upon Arlen. The chief ordered it to be reduced to exile.
The vote was passed.
And that's where we find ourselves, a confused and angry Arlen being read his punishment by an indifferent council. He was so shocked by it all he had no words.
Arlen was flanked by two guards. He was struggling to keep his composure. It all didn't make sense. He knew Malequinion hated him, but this much?
The guards tied him up and threw him in an old rowboat some fisherman had abandoned.
"This is practically murder!" Arlen angrily yelled, finally finding some semblance of protest.
The guards pushed the rowboat, sending it out to sea
With the way he was tied up, he couldn't even use his wings.
There was no food on the boat...no water...no spare clothes. He was, for all anybody else knew, dead.
He thought about his family. They don't know where he is. They thought he was out hunting.
He could feel tears running down his face. He cried until he had no more tears left.
A week passed.
Then two weeks passed.
Arlen survived by managing to catch some rainwater when it would storm.
He was in a lot of pain, his stomach cramping from no food, his lips dry and cracked from a lack of sufficient amount of water.
His muscles cramped and ached, any small movement causing him to cry out in pain.
He was stuck, lying at the bottom of the small rowboat, weak and hurting.
The boat bumped into something with a loud grating noise.
The boat stopped rocking.
Arlen summmoned the last of his strength, managing somehow to get up and fall facefirst onto the beach with an agonized cry.
There were fewer things in life better than vindication. The feeling of being proven right-- or at least coming out on top of a situation where you've been slighted. It was just one of those beautiful feelings that you got addicted to if you had an addictive personality-- and Kolara had a hell of an addictive personality. That was half of the reason she enjoyed her visits back home; To soak up that vindictive sunshine in the presence of her village chief. And to help her mom around the house. That was secondary, though.
But those visits came and went, as did Kolara-- never too eager to stay in one place for long. She needed to stretch her wings-- so by the evening, she often made her way back to the mainland, enjoying the afternoon sun on her back as she flew.
And boy, did she fly. Certainly like no other Yoreiqi could. She could disappear into the distant horizon and not get tired. She could reach the heavens and not miss a beat of her wings. That's what it meant to be the queen of the skies-- the apex avian.
Of course, even she eventually had to land, and land she did-- near to a strange sight just off the western coast. A lone boat... a Yoreiqi boat. And a familiar, yet unfamiliar body, just inches away from it. What was that? One of the tribesmen, striking out on their own?
Out of sheer nostalgia for home more than concern for the fallen Yoreiqi man, she came to a swift landing not even a blink from his boat-- The beating of her wings kicking up a mound of dirt as she slowed to a gentle touchdown. Her talons weren't the biggest fan of sand, but so close to the ocean it was compacted enough that she didn't instinctively tear through it and lose her balance.
"What's this? A lost bird?" Kolara strolled over to the fallen man's side, before rather unceremoniously flipping him over off of his stomach with her talons to get a better look at him. "You dead? Or just lazy?" She was, more than anything, curious if he was from her village; She'd only just started visiting again, so her not knowing or remembering every mug from home wasn't exactly strange-- but the Yoreiqi folk had so many clans along the islands that he could've been a nobody to her.
Relief came in the form of the cool sand pressing against his face. Then severe exhaustion claimed Arlen, and he stayed where he had fallen onto the sandy coast.
Until...
Until an angel came along.
Harsh, bright light met Arlen's face instead of the cool sand.
Was he dead? Is this the afterlife? Arlen wasn't particularly religious but the seemingly supernatural figure above him seemed to indicate that he was not in Le'raana anymore.
"Am I dead?" He half repeated half asked himself in response to her question.
"Is this the afterlife? Are you..." his damn eyes wouldn't focus, so he closed them and opened them again.
"Are you an angel? You must be an angel."
"Listen, oh beautiful angel of this land, before you pass judgement, I must say that I was framed for a crime I didn't commit."
He realized, that his wings, and the rest of his body, was still tied up. Pesky Yoreiqi guards...
Kolara was a firebird— in name and in presence. Her wings practically glittered like gold in the sun, and her eyes were every bit as illuminating as they were piercing. She struck, in her mind, quite the inspiring and intimidating presence into the hearts of anyone that bore witness to her presence. She was called a destroyer, a dominator, a divine beast, even.
Perhaps that was why being called a "beautiful angel" caught her so far off-guard.
"Wh-wha-" Her face lit up like a phoenix's flame as she staggered backward a bit, before she recovered from the unexpected shot to her heart. "Ahem— I mean, you're not dead. And I get that a lot, but smooth talk isn't going to get you out of those ropes."
She did not, in fact, get that a lot. And smooth talking was, in fact, about to get him out of those ropes.
Casting her gaze down at the fallen Yoreiqi, Kolara's golden eyes narrowed a bit at the sight of the bindings on his wings, arms and legs. Within moments they began to sizzle— and before long they snapped— weakened from the controlled flames. After so long at sea, the man was at last free to stretch once again.
"You're welcome," Kolara haughtily stated, fighting (and losing) a desperate battle to keep the rather pleased smile off her face. The 'beautiful angel of the island' was feeling rather generous today— and so, leaning back against the man's boat, she decided to sit and make sure he caught his bearings. For a little while, at least.
"So? What's your story?" She asked, crossing her arms, her wings folding to rest as she did so.
Arlen felt the ropes that were mercilessly digging into his skin melt away.
"Thank you," he said as he struggled to get into a more comfortable position, finally deciding to sit crosslegged and massage his wrists, which had lost feeling.
Arlen cautiously moved his wings a few times to make sure they weren't broken.
"My story?" He paused, thinking.
"No one has ever asked me that before," he said truthfully.
"Well...I'm from a small village on the northern side of Yoreiq...I used to hunt a lot, and I had a mother and a younger sister." His eyes grew sad.
"But...I was framed for murder, and exiled to wherever this is. Unless I died in the boat." He added that last sentence as more of an afterthought. Because the figure standing in front of him had to be an angel.
He looked around, the territory around him unfamiliar.
"Where are we exactly?"
His stomach growled, reminding him of an impending problem...lack of food and lack of water.
"Erm, would you happen to know where a freshwater spring is? I haven't had water in a concerning amount of time." He did notice that he hadn't stopped feeling lightheaded. Arlen figured that was just from falling out of the boat but the lightheadeness persisted.
"Fucking birdmen-- always with their traditions and herd mentality. I guess I shouldn't even be surprised to hear any of that!"
Unconsciously, Kolara's talons tapped the ground impatiently as she vented her frustration from hearing the Yoreiqi guy's story. She wasn't specifically upset on his behalf-- no, having had her own dealings with the tribesmen of the islands, it was nothing short of a reminder of her own internal aggression towards their ways. With a disgusted 'ugh', she shook her head, freeing her mind of the haze of emotions for a little while; Her crimson mane of hair whipping about a bit as she did so.
Calm, girl. At the very least, the man before her hadn't done her any wrong. Yet.
As Kolara had only just returned from Yoreiq herself, she was still dressed very much like a Yoreiqi native-- a very, very lavish native. Her waist was wrapped in arguably the most luxurious sarong one might see in the commonplace-- A crimson, silken cloth adorned with gold-weaved trimmings and embroidery, the likes of which one would never see on the islands. Even among the the traditional, bright-colored garbs of her people, she easily stood out-- which was the entire point. She wore a wrap of fine red silks around her chest as well, rather uncommon among Yoreiqi women.
Granted, she was a bit more... 'gifted' there than the average Yoreiqi woman, so it was more for hunting practicality than anything else.
"...Here." From a pouch tied at her waist, she retried two items-- one, a rather light-looking water sleeve, and the other a small, closed bag-- inside of which was a bit of dried fish her mother had prepared for her before she left. She had a much heavier appetite these days; She wouldn't miss either. "You're not dead, and I'd rather you not die in front of me. That's all." She explained, diverting her eyes to literally anything else.
Angel...
"I-I just happen to be in a helpful mood at the moment, okay? Be grateful." She further clarified, further averting her gaze to hide the bit of red the began to creep back onto her face. "Anyway, you're not on the islands anymore-- you're on the mainland now, and it doesn't sound like you'll be heading home anytime soon. You'd better come to terms with that quickly, and pick yourself up-- The people here, the things-- they'll all chew you up and spit you out if you treat it like Yoreiq."
It was sound advice. It was also Kolara trying to come off as tough and cool in front of him. She'd sooner die than admit that, though.
Arlen gratefully took the water sleeve and the bag containing the dried fish, trying to drink the water slowly.
"Thank you, m'lady" Arlen said, eating the dried fish and occasionally taking a sip of water.
He finished both the food and the water, offering Kolara back the containers.
"Is there a village nearby?" He stood up carefully, the lightheadeness slowly dissipating.
"Wait...did you say 'mainland'? What I was on wasn't the mainland? Oh gods above..." he trailed off, speechless at that revelation.
"You sure you're not an angel? Or a phoenix, at the very least."
For dramatic effect, Kolara turned away and stretched her wings while the Yoreiqi man recovered his strength with her fish and water. She could tell just by the tone of his voice that he was far out of his scope-- unsurprising for someone who had never been off of the islands. It was something that Kolara herself never understood about the tribes--they kept mostly to themselves, when there was this, entire world out there that they could've been a part of! She remembered the first 'outsider' her tribe had met with in her years-- a Essyrni trader who'd traveled too far adrift and needed a quick stop to rest before making his way back toward LeRaana proper. THAT was the spirit of adventure, right there!
She had gotten all caught up in her thoughts, and nearly missed the man's words to her which once more caught her off-guard-- though not nearly as badly as before. Again with the 'angel' comments! She gave her brilliant, golden-red wings a flap-- mostly to hide her own embarrassment as she cleared her throat, and her mind, before turning back to him with a rather proud look on her face. "Phoenix is close enough. Am I not magnificent? You'll not find another like me, you know."
She hoped, anyway.
"Anyway, you're worrying about the wrong stuff, aren't you?" She leaned over a bit to get a better look at the man, getting a better look at his face-- and more importantly, the innocent look in his eyes. "A village? You're just short of the Serha Plains-- the hordes further inland'll have you roped back down and sold off like livestock before you find any villages out here. Weren't you listening when I said 'The people here will chew you up and spit you out?'" She chastised, a hint of annoyance coming off in her voice-- mixed with concern. She didn't exactly want the guy she just saved to wander off and get killed, after all-- that would've been a waste of dried fish.
"So don't go to the Serha Plains...got it..." Arlen carefully said.
"But...can you not just fly over them? I mean that's why we have wings, is it not?"
The dried fish and the water were doing wonders for him. He was feeling much better than about 15 minutes ago.
He cautiously spread his black wings out, testing the slight wind that was in the air. He was not used to this heat.
"Well...you seem to know your way around here. Where do you recommend I go? Honestly I'd like to go back to my village and prove my innocence...but that's going to be difficult."
"You really are a bit clueless, aren't you?" Kolara frowned crossing her arms over her chest as she made the arguably less-than-needed conclusion. Of course he was; He'd never been off the islands. Expecting him to have any idea of how to fend for himself on the mainland wasn't exactly fair... Thinking this through, Kolara raised a hand to her face, and massaged her temples while trying to think through next steps.
"I dunno what kinda flying you're used to doing, but I'm not taking my chances guiding you across the plains before I see it for myself. You're a little thin for a tribesman, I'll give you that, but..." She paused, a little more thinking going on in her head. Before long, she nodded to herself again.
"Alright, let's see how high you can get. You've gotta be able to put some height under your wings if you don't want to get shot out of the sky by an arrow. And I am NOT saving you if you get shot out of the sky for being too weak-winged." Her own wings flared in response to the very thought of flight, yet she held back on taking off herself, until she got a better idea of what the Yoreiqi man was capable of. They weren't known for their long-distance flying after all-- More than anything, she wanted to know how much of the way to the nearest town she could think of she'd have to carry him. Somewhat impatiently, she flicked her index finger upward. "Go on, then-- up you go. And don't worry about leaving me-- You can't."
Arlen listened to her think things through.
"Well, I'm about as clueless as every other Yoreiqi," Arlen shrugged.
"My kindof flying? Not endurance flying, that's for sure. I hunt. Sometimes I like seeing if I can catch peregrine falcons. If it's a good day, I can." He smiled, getting the feel for the hot, sweltering air.
"Oh? Is that a challenge, Phoenix?" He was getting his energy back. He didn't much like having to fly over a hostile plain, but he wasn't going to admit that.
And as soon as she pointed upward, he shot up fast, clumsily at first, but gained his bearings pretty quickly.
"Where are we going?" He yelled over his shoulder.
Arlen's figure, with his black wings, painted a sharp contrast against the blue sky. He was not used to flying very high up, so he slowed his ascent, saving his energy.
A... challenge?
A wide, toothy grin spread across Kolara's face as she eyed the Yoreiqi man's takeoff. Clumsy, impractical, but serviceable. He had potential. As her wings stretched one last time, capillaries coursing with molten-hot blood, she felt good about being able to compliment him on at least that much.
Because he wasn't anywhere near as good as her.
Two flaps. With one, she had already pushed herself off the ground, kicking up a small storm of sand from the sheer force alone. With the next? No sooner than the man's inquiry on direction finish did a bolt of red flash past him-- almost slamming into him-- as it overtook his height in moments.
She stopped ascending, just within eyesight-- her form blocking the sun, yet somehow just as radiant. Her golden-red tailfeathers flourished as she, midair, performed a graceful somersault before stabilizing with another beat of her wings-- which gave off a near-fiery luminescence which directly contrasted his own wings of midnight black.
Oh, she was ready to have some fun.
"I said, up! Let's see how high you can go!" She challenged, ready and willing to go back down and drag him up with her talons if she needed to.
Oh it was a challenge.
He grinned as she shot past him.
"Wow," he breathed, almost forgetting to fly himself as he watched her gracefully soar.
Up higher, the air was thinner...but it was also colder, more refreshing. Arlen felt the wind come back into his sails as he flew, gaining more energy by the second. He utilized the wind, almost using it as a launching pad, using smaller beats of his wings to build up speed, rolling into a barrel roll and using the force and the gusts of wind to rocket after her.
He set his sights on the wispy stratus clouds and as he flew past her, happily twisting into another barrel roll, he yelled
"Catch me if you can, Phoenix!"
Oh yeah, it was on. There was a marginalized part of Kolara's brain-- a part that she typically used to make good judgement calls when dealing with people, or assess the danger of any particular situation in regard to herself, or the people around her. She needed that part of her when she was on the ground, dealing with people who might've wanted to take advantage of her unique lineage, or otherwise harm her.
She left that part of her on the ground.
"Catch 'you'!?" Eyes narrowing, grin widening, Kolara's wings took on another mighty flap-- and in moments, she was piercing upward once more. The clouds gave way as she punched a hole through them from sheer windforce, and within moments she once more caught the Yoreiqi man... Literally, this time. Mid-roll, she practically pounced upon him; The talons of her wings clasping onto his shoulders as she unceremoniously lent her weight and momentum to him.
He'd been in the midst of a spin-- but with her near-unnatural propulsion, she pulled him just a bit further up-- where where even the stratus clouds dared not reach. She released his shoulders with her talons, before grasping them with her own hands instead-- a wild look in her eyes as instincts slowly began to make a mess of her sane mind. "Let's take you for a little ride," She proclaimed, an almost predatory glint in her eyes and edge to her voice as she looked from the man's face to the endless skies above.
With another few beats, the skies grew calmer-- colder, even, and the more defined, familiar stratus clouds gave way to misty, near-transparent altostratus. And as she gripped the man a bit harder, before attempting to once more pull him into a high-velocity barrel roll of her own, it became more and clear that she might've needed that rational part of her brain a bit more than one might initially expect. Because this was no longer a test of the man's wing strength-- any further up, and there might not be enough air for the two of them to share, at the rate she was ascending.
This was exhilarating. Arlen didn't even know one could fly this high, he had never flown much higher than the treetops on Yoreiq, purely because he never had needed to.
I've won, he gleefully thought himself, but that thought didn't last long, Kolara rapidly overtaking him, and in fact, literally catching him.
Where Kolara had flown them, the air was much thinner, the sky a deeper blue. In fact, the higher they flew, the deeper the hue of the sky. The clouds couldn't reach up here, even the condensation trails their wings were leaving had disappeared.
The air felt brisk and invigorating. But even Arlen realized something.
The air felt too thin, and so he utilized a move he used when he was tracking peregrine falcons.
He went into a reverse loop, going down instead of up, the momentum carrying both of them down to a slightly safer altitude, and at the crux of the loop twisted into another barrel roll, uprighting both of them, still above where the clouds couldn't reach, but at least where they could breathe.
"I'm at a loss for words..." Arlen said, the adrenaline still flowing through his veins, Kolara still holding onto him.
"This is amazing...I should have left and explored years ago! You do realize what this proves though?" He asked Kolara.
"You most definitely are an angel. An angel of fire," and he grinned.
From up here, it felt like you could see forever.
Him taunting her into chasing him? Fine. She caught him anyway, which was never even a question in the back of her mind-- and honestly she'd only entertained it to see how much higher he could safely go without tiring himself out.
Him pulling her out of her ascent? Fine. She honestly wasn't paying attention, nor actively trying to pull him that far. She got a little ahead of herself, all things considered, and hadn't considered if he could hang with her that high up.
But he just couldn't keep his damned mouth shut! Again with the angel compliments! In a fairly unceremonious manner, Kolara almost immediately let him go-- pushing him away in the same motion that she did so, to give herself space to turn away from him and cover her face. Her golden eyes and crimson locks made it difficult to tell, but the moment he spoke those words, she lit up like an Essyrni fireshow.
"I-I already said I'm not a-- Wh-whatever! At least we know you can go a little higher than normal. You'll do. I-I guess." She eventually explained, not facing him for a bit longer. She was NOT getting this bothered by some random Yoreiqi. Not happening. "Let's just-- let's just get moving. We're going down a few leagues, into the clouds-- stay by my si--"
Nope-- she could NOT say that with a straight face.
"Stay close. I'm not circling back for you if you get lost!"
She would, in fact, circle back for him if he got lost.
That settled, and without waiting for confirmation from the man, she dipped backward-- almost as if she intended to fall out of the sky-- and began to glide back downward into the sea of clouds below them. From so high up, they didn't need to waste unnecessary energy on trying to stay aflight-- It was just a matter of stamina. Even as she dove into stray cumulus clouds, the glow of her crimson wings and tail somewhat illuminated a path for the man to follow.
Arlen laughed as she practically stopped in her tracks and shoved him away, him dropping like fifty feet before catching himself and laughing some more.
Arlen stylishly fell sideways to follow her, one wing dipping towards the ground and the rest of his body following.
"You sure about that?" He teasingly yelled after her before flapping his wings to speed up.
He flew right beside Kolara and soared at her speed, shooting an unabashed grin her way.
"Soooooo...where exactly are we going?" He asked, flipping upside down.
The cold air brought out a playful side to Arlen he didn't even know he possessed.
Don't get cute with me. You're lucky I was feeling bored, or I would've left you on the shore."
She talked a big game, but she was still slightly red in the face-- even with the winds in her face and the mists of clouds on her skin. Part of that was certainly due to her getting a little hotheaded moments earlier— figuratively and literally— but part of it was... well.
She was quickly beginning to prefer the tied down, close to death birdman that she'd found earlier.
"Anyway, we're heading east— across the plains, toward that mountain range." She didn't point— she didn't feel as though she needed to. The mountain range in question was far off in the distance, but it was visible despite that. Its peaks even poked into some of the far-off clouds, a testament to how truly massive the chain was. "I would've dropped of off at one of the nomad camps, but knowing you, you'd probably end up in raider's hands either way. There's a city near the base of the mountains— Ketra, it's called. That's where we're headed."
It was the real reason Kolara wanted to fly skyward— both to keep herself and the Yoreiqi's scent out of of the horsemen's noses, as well as to keep a decent visual on the mountains themselves. If they got separated, at least he would know to just keep flying that way. "It'll be a day or so by flight— so I'd curb the tricks and turns if I were you!" She admonished, before descending a little— avoiding a particularly heavy cloud.
"...What's your name, anyway?" She eventually followed up, feeling somewhat awkward about leaving off on a mean note.
Arlen grew solemn, righting himself with a flourish, a thin cloud scattering in his wake.
When Arlen saw the mountains, his breath caught in his throat. Even from afar, they were beautiful.
Snow topped the peaks of the mountains, clouds weaving through the mountain range. From this far, the mountains looked purple.
"You don't have to take me to Ketra," he said quietly.
"You can just drop me off wherever. I'll survive. I don't want to be a burden. If I get captured by these raiders it will be my fault," he said, flying straight through a dense, gray cloud, lost in thought.
"Names Arlen. Arlen Vaer, at your service."
Thunder clouds rolled in the distance, lighting flashing through them.
"We might need to fly higher. There's storms up ahead."
Kolara groaned internally, mentally facepalming at the atmosphere she'd knowingly brought about between them now. Godsdamnit, now he was making her feel even worse. It wasn't like she was outright trying to make him feel bad for flying-- hell, he was better in the sky than quite a few Yoreiqi that she'd flown with, but... UGH. "...Look, I never-- I never said-- You're not a..." She started, before catching herself mid-sentence. "...Listen, you-- I already said I was gunna take you someplace safe, so I'm gunna do that-- Because I want to do that! So cut the mopey act and just be grateful, damnit!"
Getting an honest response out of Kolara was probably more difficult than out-flying her. Probably.
"A-anyway, we'd better not fly any higher-- not this far inland. There's... we're not the only ones up here, after all. We'll fly through them." She went on to explain, also eying the storm clouds ahead. She didn't call herself the queen of the skies for nothing; a small smirk-- or a confident smile-- illuminated her face as she swung in a little closer toward her flight partner. "You'll be fine. Just stay close... Arlen."
"You do know what's in storm clouds? Lightning? Lightning and Yoreiqi don't mix, you know. I'd rather be tied up in a boat again. But if you say so..." Arlen sighed and steeled himself to fly......straight into the roiling dark grey cumulonimbus clouds.
"I am very grateful. I would have died without you finding me," he finally said, after being quiet for a moment.
The thunder was growing louder, and becoming more frequent.
"Good grief," Kolara reaffirmed, a flap of her wings bringing her just slightly above Arlen's own flying form, "Just trust me, for cryin' out loud. You're not flying with some ordinary Yoreiqi."
The question, however, was just that— what WAS she doing? It was hard to tell, just as it was on the beach... but from just above Arlen, an unnatural heat began to radiate from Kolara's body— almost enough to scorch, and definitely enough to be noticed even in the midst of the skyward winds and the mist-heavy clouds.
The further into the storm front they flew, the darker and more consistent the tell-tale calls of lightning became. Kolara could feel her hair charge with static, and her skin tinge slightly from the sensation of the latent electricity. Danger seemed near— inevitable, even... and yet, for as long as they flew through the clouds, no matter how many strikes occurred around them, not a single one targeted either Kolara or Aren.
Which was strange, truly— almost as strange as the realization that they'd been able to see, for the most part, well ahead of and around them, despite the misty... wait, where was the mist? The space they flew through was rather dry by comparison— as if the accumulating rain had simply... evaporated. It left behind a beautiful sight— an eye in the center of the storm, through which the powerful strike of lightning could be seen all around them... at a distance.
Kolara smirked a bit as she continued onward— her body aglow in a flourishing gold, like embers touched by the gentlest breeze. "This takes a little concentration when I'm doing it for a space this big— but as long as you stay close, it's simple enough."
"Woah," Arlen breathed as they flew through the lightning storm.
"This is...beautiful. Scary, but beautiful. Kinda like you."
If Arlen coulda died right there he would have. He did not mean to say that out loud. Oh well.
He coughed awkwardly.
Kolara had taken several blows in her lifetime. Physical, magical, mental. One of the hardest times she'd ever been hit was by a Taowanwa-- A giant, mud-dwelling, eel-like monitor, something like a normal person and a half in size, and a loaded wagon in weight. Left some bruises, rattled her head a little, but she shook it off just fine.
But this... this was torture. It was cruel, and unusual, and as she covered her face to hide the obvious shade of red she'd turned, she found herself questioning for the first time in her life what she'd done to deserve such suffering. "...Just... Just keep close." Was all she could manage as a reply, completely defeated by the embarrassingly blunt statement.
And then, her ears perked. The color drained from her face, and her eyes sharpened as she removed her hands. It wasn't clear what she heard-- at least, not at first. But she definitely heard something-- or felt something. Why else would she suddenly be so on-edge? "...Hells. Are they THAT starved this time of year...?"
Arlen saw the color drain from her face. He looked around. They were mostly out of the thunderstorm now, save for an occasional flash of lightning from behind them.
"Is what hungry this time of year?" He cautiously asked, dreading the answer.
A low rumble echoed through the clouds, as well as the bodies of the flying Yoreiqi pair. Thunder? No... something else. Something far, far worse. A bead of cold sweat rolled down the side of Kolara's face as her lungs rattled from the overbearing noise, and her eardrums trembled. Goodness knew how Arlen was faring-- but she couldn't slow or stop to ask him. Not with that thing so close.
What thing, exactly?
"...Arlen-- no matter what, keep flying forward, okay? Don't look back, don't slow down, and don't panic."
An unnatural wind swept the hollowing cloud they'd been flying through. The winds disrupted natural currents-- as if something with great, massive wings had just made a quick beat and shifted it's own flight path. Another low, powerful growl echoed out-- even heavier than the first-- followed by a vapid, feral growl. The shadow of a massive, winged creature slowly, surely began to appear above them; Like a giant snake, with several sets of wings.
And then, to their left, another. And beneath them, another.
Gods...
Arlen felt a different kind of thunder. An earth-shattering thunder that went seemingly through his soul.
"What the fuck is that?"
Kolara warned him to keep flying and don't look anywhere but ahead.
Curiosity killed the cat, as they say.
He tried to not look, he really did. But then something seemed to block out the sun, a shadow overtaking both him and Kolara.
Arlen thought he was doing a very good job of not panicking, considering he had never been off of Yoreiqi before this, and had certainly never even heard of things that can block out the sun.
His hunter instincts were kicking in though. If they could hunt him...he could hunt back.
"Do we have a plan or are we just going to fly here like sitting ducks?" He yelled to Kolara.
Kolara frowned. Arlen had one job.
"That," she mentioned in a low tone, "Is a sky serpent. And they're relatively blind, this far down. They only dip this low when they're hungry... think, whales... bobbing for apples."
It wasn't exactly a spectacular analogy, but it'd have to do under the pressure. Kolara's eyes darted from shadow to shadow, her field of warmth and embers shuddering as the echo of another massive, unnatural growl, followed by a distinctly serpentine hiss cascaded through the nearby clouds. "You hear that sound? That growl? It's like echo-location... except that's not all it is. When they're ready to pounce, they'll let out a... call it a 'death roar'. Big things like them, it might sting their ears a little, stun them— small things like us? Your lungs, ears, your brain could all rupture— you'll pop like a balloon. And then they just 'bob' and catch you right out of the sky." A grim, almost horrifying explanation for an equally horrifying situation.
"Listen, I know what you're thinking. I'm as Yoreiqi as you— hell, I'm twice the Yoreiqi you are— and I could probably take ONE of these things in a— Okay, what's done is done. Arlen, when I give you the signal, dive. Low as you can, fast as you can without losing balance. DO NOT LOOK BACK— just dive."
This wasn't a test— another bead of sweat ran down Kolara's face as she tried to prep her ward the best she could before the inevitable occurred. "I'm going to let off a flare— their eyes are underdeveloped for this height, so it should blind them a bit and buy us some time. That'll be the signal, got it? You dive, I'll be right behind you to guide you from there. I'm not screwing around— when I say dive, you dive!" Another heavy growl echoed outward into the cloud— louder than the one prior, practically deafening. The shadows shifted, almost as if agitated. They were posturing. Time was short.
"...Now! Dive!" She screamed, before her wings began to glow hotter and brighter than they had ever shone before. There was barely time to argue, if any— a flare was truly set off— a flash of light, almost like a second sun, whipped through the thundercloud. The creatures hissed— Kolara's plan worked, and the massive, winged serpents began to slow down, distracted by the light. But there was barely time to rejoice— perhaps out of panic, or spite, a low, powerful echo was ringing— so heavy that the sky itself seemed to shake in response. With every split second it grew— as if it were building up energy, soon to explode. This was it— the 'death roar' was coming, and it was coming fast.
As soon as Kolara yelled for Arlen to dive, he dived, seeming to go as fast as a peregrine falcon as he disappeared through the clouds. There was just one problem. There was a bandit camp on the ground, and Arlen dived straight into it. Well. He had traded a problem for another problem. What a pickle to be in.
Arlen was very lucky there was a tent to break his fall.
Angry shouts and curses could be heard, and when Arlen finally untangled himself from the tent and stood up, there were five very angry bandits surrounding the once usable tent with swords drawn.
Arlen put on the act of a prophet.
He very boldly walked over to the nicest looking bandit and gently pointed the bandits sword to the ground. Arlen gestured at the sky.
"You hear the thunder? That is just an omen of what is to come. Thunder is not what we thought it was. It's a beckoning of a Phoenix, an ethereal being from another world. I am just the messenger." And he bowed low to the ground, the bandits looking at each other and then nervously at the sky.
"Any minute, the Phoenix will come blazing out of the sky, and if any of you even look in her direction," and he theatrically fell to the ground, one hand clutching his heart for dramatic effect, "she will cause you to burst into flames."
A loud roar of "thunder" happened just then, and Arlen casually lounged in the tent wreckage.
And indeed, as 'the prophet' proclaimed, so too did it happen; Thunder roared out across the plains, the likes of which was like to be unnatural even for such a flatland... but no phoenix came 'blazing out of the sky', as Arlen explained earlier. At least, not immediately. There was, in fact, nothing that came blazing out of the sky for a time; Nothing but another thunderous roar, and a few more flashes of light-- as if explosions of a solar kind were being set off high above the clouds.
It was a disturbing, uncomfortable pause of a few moments-- perhaps a few minutes-- before something did come blazing down from the heavens... just not exactly what Arlen described. A light; A fiery, streaking light, like a start removed from the skies was the first to fall. Shortly behind it, however, a pair of large, ungodly shadows began t darken the sky; A foreboding pressure exerting on the world below as the atmosphere caved to the force exerted upon it.
The winds stilled, then shifted; The clouds above parted to make way for what followed behind the firelight. It was...
'Leviathan'. No one word in the Le'raanan dictionary of common tongue could accurately capture the description of the massive, scale-winged, shark-headed, snake-like 'fish' that plummeted to the ground behind the stray firelight. Who could truly say how large they were from the distance; Only that they dwarfed the falling streak of fire by leaps and bounds in size. Their scales were translucent, yet reflective; In the skies, they likely blended perfectly into the atmosphere, or looked like creatures made up entirely of mirrors. So close to the ground, and scorched thoroughly as they were now, they gave off the horrid look of enormous, darkened eels. It was indeed not hard to tell, even from a distance, that stray cinders still burned from their bodies as they fell; smoke streaming behind them as they descended to the ground somewhere close to a mile away from the bandits, and Arlen.
The streak of fire made contact first; An unceremonious collision with the ground, inconsequential to the environment around it as the fires that trailed behind it seemed to simply fade, or maintain, at the collision point without spreading. The two giants behind it, however, shook the very continent; Their collisions with the earth sending tremors far and wide as the wildlife of the plains panicked and sought to escape the realm as best they could. They kicked up a veritable mountain of dust and debris with their landing, but before long, all of the violence of their descent came to settle, and stillness swept the plains again in the wake of the fallen creatures. Stillness... and a lack of a phoenix, or so it seemed at a mile distance's glance.
Seemed that Kolara made good on her promise, twofold even... but at what cost?
The thunder shook the plains so much in fact, that the bandits took off as fast as they could in the other direction, leaving behind their entire camp.
Arlen watched with excitement which quickly turned to worry as he realized that Kolara was rather falling out of the sky rather than flying.
And then the serpent like creatures fell after her, looking very much dead and very much burnt.
Arlen stood up out of the tent wreckage, horror in his eyes as he watched the far off scene unfold.
Arlen immediately took off for the chaotic scene, himself a black and purple blur, going so fast that he made it to Kolara's side in one minute.
"Kolara"—-his words failed to form in his brain and he trailed off, saddened by the sight in front of him.
Kolara lay in a small indent in the ground, probably from the force of her fall. They seemed cut off from the rest of the world by the serpentine giants that lay motionless around them, giving an eerie but somber note to the atmosphere.
The sky was still, the clouds still parted from Kolara and the leviathine forms falling through them, the clouds frozen apart, leaving an ominous gaping hole in the sky.
Arlen didn't know what to do. She had saved his life at least twice now, and he'd done exactly nothing in return.
"Kolara? He asked softly, his black wings limp in sorrow, his entire figure covered in regret.
Was there something else he could have done—something else he should have done?
He ran. Like a coward. His throat felt tight, his eyes watery.
"Kolara, you can't die like this, not alone. Not-" his breath caught in his throat, "not with me. You're stronger than this. You're a phoenix!" Arlen's tears slowly dripped off his face and fell onto the hot ground, sizzling for a millisecond and fading into vapor.
"Cmon," Arlen whispered, gently shaking her by the shoulders.
He knelt there, head bowed, a broken whisper of "angel" slipping out of his lips.
She did not respond. She could not. Up close, the scars of the short, explosive war that the fire-winged woman had fought with the sky serpents was far more noticeable; Far scarier to comprehend. At a glance, shhe was bruised here and there, the worst of it coming from the fall, and more specifically the collision. What was truly worrying, however, was the blood; From her lips, her nose, her ears, even her eyes, streams of red dripped; Her life, or what was her life, draining from her body as if nothing was left within to hold it inside.
Perhaps this was the consequence of the 'death roar' that she'd warned Arlen about. It was as if her insides had been practically liquefied; The color draining from her vibrant, caramel skin with every passing moment. Her chest didn't rise or fall; No beating, even in the faintest, echoed from her heart. Before long, even the bleeding seemed to slow to a stop, if only because of the fact that nothing within her was actively pumping blood anywhere to begin with.
She... she was really...
...Hiiiiiisssssssss...
Before the cold reality could truly set in, a horrifying sound filled the nearby air; The shadows of the blackened beasts shifting slightly in the otherwise silent plains that surrounded them. It was a familiar sound-- though much weaker, and almost desperate in it's utterance. The hiss... that damned hiss, though no guttural, aggressive growl preceded it. A shiver ran down the length of one of the fallen, towering giants... and then it's body began to slowly, faintly writhe.
One of the creatures... had somehow survived, if only barely. But even clinging to life as it may have been, who could truly say how much of a threat a leviathan of the skies truly was?
Arlen couldn't believe it.
He remembered what Kolara had warned him about. The results of the death roar.
Why did he survive and not her? There was nothing he could do. He didn't know the first thing about medicine. Or healing.
"I'm sorry," Arlen whispered, his mind racing.
He was in denial. There was no way she was...but the more he looked the more glaring the answer was.
He shakily removed his shirt and gently covered Kolara's still form with it.
And then a sound filled the air.
A warning.
One of the serpents seemed to be alive.
Arlen's head whirled toward the sound, slowly standing up and preparing to fight to the death.
Indeed, a fight to the death it seemed it would be, as the massive, monstrous creature's body slowly began to wind and coil, giving it the strength to raise it's mighty head from the ground, if only slightly. Granted, 'slightly' for a creature of such monstrous size still had it towering a couple men's height above the fallen Kolara and Arlen, but as it's head whipped one way, then paused, then the other, it was clear that something was wrong.
It couldn't see. Indeed, just as Kolara had once before mentioned, so obscured by the thicker layers of the atmosphere, especially at ground level, it's eyes were poorly developed for land. Extremely poorly. Another hiss rang out; one far more aggressive and pronounced than the first. Only now, with it's appearance fully visible to the eye was it's thin yet massive, barb-covered tongue visible to any who saw the creature. It rang through the surrounding plains with such fervor that the dislodged earth trembled, the nearest tree swayed, and Kolara's body vibrated. Indeed, Arlen likely felt it as well, as the monstrosity turned to 'gaze' at the spot in which the two Yoreiqi remained.
It was just as Kolara had said. Echolocation. Those hisses were somehow relaying their presence to the beast! Glazed, serpentine eyes narrowed as the burned monster bore it's fangs and, with what strength it could muster, slung it's head down at the two Le'raanians with intents to swallow them both, and a chunk of the land itself, whole.
Arlen watched as the monster seemed to locate where they were. There was not a moment to lose.
There was a louder, scarier hiss.
"I'm sorry about this, you can kill me later." Arlen carefully picked Kolara up, unfurled his wings, and just before the serpent closed in, took off in the opposite direction.
Arlen flew back to the now abandoned bandit camp, carefully laying Kolara's body down and covering it with the tent, before finding a sword and flying back towards the monster, intent on killing it. He flew straight towards the monster and at the last second, barrel rolled so he was above it, aiming his sword for the top of the monsters head.
Clang!
The disheartening sound of tempered metal against tempered metal rang out in the nearby distance of the plains. Arlen's blade had met its mark, but to no immediate avail; the hardened scales of the giant serpent repelled his blow handily. In spite of this, the sky serpent, which had let out a hiss while he'd been away with Kolara, did not seem to react; Either the blow was not heavy enough to draw its attention, or the beast could feel even less than it could see.
Another hiss. The surroundings vibrated, and the creature's barbed tongue retracted almost immediately this time as 'tasted' the skyward man's location once more. It raised a set of its giant, scaled wings, but lacked the strength yet to fly, nor use them in any effective way. It could only whip its head about, turning to face Arlen once more, and lunge forward to attempt swallowing him whole once more.
Yet it did so with much more force and fury than it had prior; more of its burned body coiled behind it, allowing it to dig deeper and strike harder. This wasn't good... injured though it was, it seemed to be shaking off the phoenix's assault, slowly but surely. If it was allowed to recover much more...
Arlen swore as the blade seemed to just glance off the monster, sending shocks of vibrations through his hands. The serpentine monster lunged for him again. These things were fast. Much faster than he was expecting.
The serpent just missed Arlen, who ascended to a higher altitude, his hunter instincts kicking in. There was always a weak spot with predators and prey alike.
He narrowed his brows, studying the slowly awakening creature.
He ascended alittle higher and then turned and dove straight towards the monster, sword out and ready, reaching as high of a speed as he could. He let out a fierce roar just before the sword and he slammed into the creature.
CLANG!
Once more, and with far more force, the blade in Arlen's hands ricocheted dangerously off of the giant serpent, this time with force enough to echo throughout both their bodies. Something fascinating, albeit difficult to notice happened; While the beast didn't seem to register any sense of pain, the single scale-- blackened by Kolara's flames, and hammered by Arlen's sword, cracked slightly. Temperance, and repetitive force... was that the key? The serpent's blind eyes tracked the winged man almost immediately this time, and with unnerving speed, it slithered and coiled back-- a tucking gust of wind filling the absence that it's massive head left, before lining it's eyes up with the space where it had felt Arlen's impact.
What came next was almost too difficult to follow with eyes, but not with ears. The creature let out a piercing hiss-- almost like a high-pitched scream, or a deafening whistle. This 'screech' seemed to shatter the wind itself-- blowing a massive, concussive burst of air directly at the spot it'd felt the vibrations from moments prior with the effective sharpness of a fired ballista bolt. Kolara hadn't mentioned this 'attack' before!
Another 'bolt' of wind fired from it's barbed tongue, and then another; Each wildly thrown near to the area Arlen had been prior. Was it learning? Was it recovering it's strength, and testing the vocal capability of it's air sacs? It hadn't released a death roar, nor shown an intention to yet... Was it building up to it?
The force of the hit echoed through him, Arlen almost dropping his sword from the shock of the blow. And yet, the serpent's armor seemed undamaged, and Arlen had only served to anger the thing more, the serpent whirling around ridiculously fast, almost too fast for Arlen too react. And then the blasts came.
The first one managed to disorient Arlen, but the second one actually threw him back into the air a few hundred feet, Arlen managing to unfurl his wings so that he didn't slam into the ground. What the fuck were those?! Arlen could not recall Kolara mentioning those. He shot up into the sky relatively safe from the serpent, slowly making his way back to where he had hidden Kolara.
For a time, it appeared as though Arlen had made good on his escape. His aggressor, the massive serpentine creature, only let out a seemingly fruitless, enduring hiss that rang out across the open plains, though with distance there was no doubt that Arlen wouldn't have been as affected by it. As he absconded, the creature writhed on the ground once more; It's charred wings and molten scales still recovering from the scorching they'd taken earlier.
And then it happened.
It was a massive beast, after all— And with every writhing movement, it seemed to shift across the plains just a little, as if trying to orient itself to the idea of being grounded... but eventually, it did. Clumsy though it was, the leviathan's body shifted back and forth across the ground, and the massive creature began to slither at great speeds in the direction of Arlen. What few trees remained in its wake were offset and damaged alike.
It was in fast pursuit of Arlen, now— another bolt of wind projected toward his fleeing form as the two quickly approached the location of the fallen Phoenix...
...Who they would quickly learn, was nowhere to be found.
Arlen made the mistake of looking back once. The serpent was fast on his heels, somehow gaining on Arlen. Arlen being dazed didn't help much either. He managed to make his way back to where he had hidden Kolara only to discover she was gone. Missing. He searched through the wreckage. Nothing. Where did she go? He turned to fly into the sky again and then a bolt of wind from the serpent slammed into him, flinging him against a damaged tent pole and breaking one of his wings with a snap.
TW: Blood
The earth rattled. As if in some cruel, hearty laugh, the land trembled and rumbled beneath the fallen Yoreiqi's body. The serpentine monstrosity quickly closed the gap on Arlen, every slither of it's body against the ground wreaking havoc on the land as it reared its head, pronounced its fangs, and prepared to strike the man as it neared. Victory for it seemed all but certain...
Yet in that critical moment, where almost all seemed lost, from the skies above, a star fell.
The speed was unnatural— no mere rock from the skies or debris from above could descend with such force, nor continue to accelerate as it did so. The falling star went from a ball of flames to a beam of read-hot light— as if all form and function had melted away in its piercing dive, leaving but a singular, unyielding force. It's target?
The cracked scale, atop the leviathan's head.
The collision was swift, yet powerful— like a sharpened spear through trout, the fiery force slammed not into, but clean through the skull of the giant monstrosity, before slamming into the ground with a calamitous impact— shockwaves shattering the calmer breeze of the plains and knocking most everything nearby away. There wasn't even blood to speak of— the wound inflicted was near-immediately cauterized behind the flames.
Reality caught up to the giant beast some moments later— its body, after a pause, falling limp and lifeless to the ground below with yet another loud thud. That left the fiery star alone... until the fires slowly, yet surely died out, and the weakened, heavily-burned body of Kolara was revealed beneath.
Step. Step. Step. Her eyes unfocused, her entire body crying, pleading out to her to stop and rest, the Phoenix-kin limped her way away from the fallen beast, and toward the injured Arlen. She didn't say a word— she didn't have the strength to. Her eyes, the moment they locked onto him, glowed a dim, ember-esque red... and a familiar warmth enveloped his wings, as Kolara did what she could mend wounded flesh and damaged bone. Perhaps not to perfection. But more than enough for him to recover quickly on his own.
...Good. He'd probably be fine now. Thinking thus, Kolara felt a surge of weakness— and surprisingly, cold— overcome her. Her eyes widened as from her throat, a gush of her own blood rushed forth. She felt it drain down her lips, her chin, onto her chest. She could barely tell it was blood— her own vision had run red as well, heated lifeblood beginning to drain from her eyes as well. Dizziness overcame her, and her sight blurred— before she knew it, she was once more on the floor, unsure of if she was even conscious or not.
TW descriptions of injury and blood
Pain. Everything was pain.
As soon as he slammed into the tent pole and felt his wing snap, the world was agony. He couldn't breathe. His ribs were shattered. He fell onto his face with a cry.
His back hurt from the force of the hit, his injured wing hanging uselessly from his body. He couldn't see. His eyes wouldn't focus. His ears were ringing.
He could feel something warm trickling down his back.
Everything went black for a time, the sounds slowly fading away.
Until something rushed out of the atmosphere and dove into the serpent.
The ground shook. The impact shook Arlen, and he struggled to turn onto his side, taking short, desperate, uneven breaths. But what had killed the serpent? His eyes wouldn't focus. He could only see vague shapes. And then two red eyes locked onto his.
Relief. Fiery relief. Like he was being consumed by fire. But it felt as if it was a healing fire.
He sucked in big breaths of air as he felt his ribs mend. His eyes slowly came into focus. His wing was fixed. He'd never be able to fly as fast as he used to. But it was fixed.
As his eyes came into focus and the pain subsided, he could see who it was...it was Kolara.
He tried to get up, but his limbs felt like lead. He watched helplessly as blood poured from her and then she collapsed.
It took every single bit of concentration and physical effort within Arlen to get to his knees. And then he crawled as fast as he could to Kolara, ignoring the puddle of blood around her, staining his clothes red and soaking his hands and knees in blood in the process.
"Kolara...what do I do?" He desperately tried to stop the bleeding but there was too much.
He desperately tried to remember the stories his mom would tell him about the Phoenix. He couldn't think...his brain was in a fog.
Kolara's body was so burned...
"In the feathers of a Phoenix...there is life..." his mom's voice seemed to come out of nowhere.
Arlen jerked his head around
"Mom?" He brokenly whispered, desperately searching for her face.
"The feather Arlen...save your friend." And his mom's voice faded away.
Arlen wiped away tears he didn't know he was shedding, smearing blood across his face, and looking for a feather on Kolara that wasn't singed.
"I'm sorry Kolara...please don't go...don't leave me..."
He finally found a tail feather on her that miraculously wasn't singed, and plucked it, unsure what do now.
He prayed for direction, and then used the last of his energy to stab it right above Kolara's heart, before collapsing, his tears mixing with the blood around them.
At the strike of the plume, Kolara's body convulsed sharply— as if strict by lightning, more so than the quill of her own feather. And then... nothing. Her gaze still unfocused, her body once more stilled and lifeless in the arms of the Yoreiqi man, Kolara didn't even seem to acknowledge the efforts made on her behalf— or perhaps the fates had chosen not to acknowledge them. For a time, after being pressed into Kolara's chest, there was no notable change— no sudden reaction from the feather— as if it, and the moment of despair Arlen had found himself in, had been captured in time.
Said feather weaved a radiant rainbow of reds, golds and oranges as ever it did— a vibrant flourish which represented the fires of life... yet shortly after being plucked from the phoenix-kin's body, the feather began to wane in its fervor. It's warmth slowly faded, the glow of reds and yellows dying out with every passing second, until before long, it ceased in its entirety— leaving behind a dull, brown tail plume, the magics within having completely faded away.
And then... nothing. Even then, after all the effort, the prayers, the pleas, all that Arlen was left with was—
"...Stop... being... dramatic."
—Warmth. A quiet, hoarse, yet unmistakably familiar voice murmured from beneath him. Against hopelessness itself, a heartbeat ran parallel to Arlen's own— One which slowly, yet surely grew stronger with every passing moment. Golden, magical eyes— once unfocused, now glimmering with a spark of life— weakly stared up at his crying frame, with both an outward mask of annoyance, to hide the overwhelming exhaustion and defeat they lay below.
"...And who gave... you permission... to touch my feathers... you jerk...?"
For a minute Arlen thought the feather did nothing. But then it seemed to work.
The tail feather faded and then Kolara seemed to slowly wake up.
Arlen, through tears, breathed a shaky sigh of relief.
"Me...being dramatic? You literally died! I thought you died!"
Arlen grew quiet at her second question.
"I would never have done it, but you were dead! I'm sorry," Arlen said quietly, looking down at her and wishing there was some way to apologize more.
"You can take some of mine...if that would make you feel better."
Not that Arlen's feathers looked any better. Arlen was covered in blood and dirt, and his wing that had been injured was still slightly injured, healed enough to fly but not as good as before.
For a moment's time, Kolara merely stared back at Arlen, weakness— but more importantly, disapproval— evident in her facial expression as he attempted to plead his case. Truthfully, she wasn't mad at him. Of course she wasn't mad at him. Who could be mad at someone crying over their shortly-dead body? Yet despite that, she didn't say a word for a time, as if to let him stew in the absolute nonsense that was his suggestion of 'taking some of his' feathers to replace hers.
...And eventually, a smile broke through her facade— and shortly afterward, a small laugh— comparatively gentle to her typical abrasiveness. It didn't last long, though— it was interrupted by a hacking cough— a brief bit of blood staining her tongue and lips as her lungs worked to clear the damage within.
"...You're a dork." She eventually replied, somewhat endearingly— at least for Kolkata's standards. She lacked the strength yet to move around on her own, much less stand, but her eyes grazed past Arlen's face, and toward his black wings. Definitely not her style, at least. "How's your wing...? You took a nasty dive back there, didn't you?"
Arlen worriedly looked at Kolara. Coughing up blood was never a good thing.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
Arlen cautiously moved his injured wing, and winced at the spike of pain that shot through his wing.
"It's been better. It's fine." He tried to shrug it off but it was quite clear that it was not fine.
"Can you stand? Or do you need help? We need to get somewhere...less out in the open." Somewhere where they could heal better. Arlen did not like being out on a wide plain like this. He felt exposed.
Kolara ignored his question. Of course she ignored his question; She was annoyed, after all. Yes, in as short a timespan as two sentences, she'd gone from fairly docile, perhaps even gentle, to her typically harsh, chest-puffed persona. Why?
"'...Fine'?"
For a petty reason, obviously; Even if he hadn't meant to, Arlen had slighted her. She was phoenix-born-- The flames of rebirth given shape. She'd mended wounds capable of ending careers, cured ailments deemed too aggressive for mortal hands to touch-- she could even bring back the dead, if she wanted to. But he was just 'fine'? "You... Who do you think you're talking to?" She bit back, putting his question aside with one of her own.
She must've passed out in the midst of healing him before; That wouldn't happen again. A familiar glow began to burn in Kolara's eyes as her gaze fixated on his weakened wing. And as she did, the familiar golden flames began to burn across the wing. "S-sit... sit still... and... I'll..." Yet once more, almost as quickly as the flames began to spread across the wing did they snuff out. More concerning, perhaps was that her eyes, which were alight with magic, quickly dulled, before rolling back and closing. Moment's later, she fell limp in his arms again-- the warmth of her body, oddly, fading... though her breathing, albeit weakly, maintained.
Kolara switched moods faster than Arlen could comprehend.
"Who do you think you're talking to?"
Arlen's mouth hung slightly open in suprise.
"An angel that fell from heaven too hard?" He meekly offered in reply.
She told him to sit still and seemed like she was trying to mend his wing before she just passed out in his arms.
"Kolara!!!!" He anxiously checked her pulse. Her body was cold but she was still breathing.
What could he do? He definitely wasn't going to try to use another one of her feathers.
On the island....on Yoreiq where he had been exiled from...his village. He knew a friend there. A healer. Maybe his friend could help!
But that would require having to somehow find that boat again...so Arlen picked up Kolara in his arms as gently as he could, and set off for the shoreline.
By the time Arlen had made it to the shore, a full day had passed and it was night again. He was exhausted. He carefully set Kolara down in the small boat and got in himself.
Across the channel between Le'Raana and Yoreiq he rowed, having to take occasional breaks and check on Kolara.
Once he got on the Yoreiqi side he wanted to do nothing more than collapse and sleep for a very long time. He pulled on energy he didn't even know he had in him and got her out of the boat, and ran toward the Yoreiqi village. He could see his friends hut. Just a few more strides...one Yoreiqi guard on patrol saw the fleeting shadow and telltale wings of Arlen and quietly slunk off to report that the exiled assumed murderer was in the village.
Arlen ran around to the back; he knocked and then didn't even wait, going inside anyways and laying Kolara's limp form the table.
Irak was an old Yoreiqi, the ex-village healer who was now seen as a bit of a crazy insane person by the village.
Irak came into the kitchen, having heard Arlen knock. "Arlen Id recognize that knock anywhere—mother of trees what happened to you? We thought you had died!!"
And then his gaze fell on Kolara.
"A Phoenix-kin...is it alive?" He asked in wonder, stepping closer to it.
"You really shouldn't be here...if the village finds out they'll kill you!"
"She's my friend-got in a fight with gigantic serpentine monsters, I've never seen the like of it!" Arlen swayed on his feet. His wing hurt.
Irak concernedly looked over Kolara.
""How is she alive still..."
Arlen didn't even hear Irak's question. He fainted out of exhaustion.
Irak tutted and moved Arlen off of the floor and into the living room onto the couch.
Meanwhile the guard had reported the supposed sighting of Arlen and now five guards were on their way to Irak's house.