Fins Above:HOPE

CH.12

The sand was clear in the howling sun, and only made noise when the ocean mist drew over it in speckles of white and hot yellow. It smelled like the iron of wyvern blood etched into each grain, and the blowing earth looked like ashes. A pair of white wings fell upon the air, water slipping between his wet face as he called against a sore throat. His plumage shivered in the breeze and his skin itched with an indescribable pain. Each sand particle under him was growing soppy with the pool of blood underneath it.

He was the only one sitting out for her body. And the flock had dispersed into their nooks and hammocks for the day. It was cloudy. And each scribble of air that passed tasted like sorrow. Each and every one. This sadness, no, this despair on his tongue made him widen his jaw and let out a drawn out wail. His lungs pressed upwards before doing it again. And again. His feathers ached. He would do it again and again as long as he didn't have to hear his other half's body slowly resting in the sun kissed sand. If he didn't have to hear the eggs of flies hatch, if he didn't have to hear the sand becoming bloody mud under her perfect feathers. Only if he didn't have to listen to his flock when they told him to leave it alone.

He is standing aside for her passage through the stars. But each wail got quieter until he had finally rested his throat and leaned against the lump of a wyvern. His own feathers, stained with the rain and wind that drizzled on him, melted into her own depressing musk.

"You must be able to see the stars now, Strato. Once you get there, smell the wind and tell me if Ozone was lying about the golden ichor wires.." He whispered to the corpse, swallowing the spit that fell from his beak as he shuddered. His stomach clenched in disgust, feeling the body under him sink further.

The days of the spinning sun tore into his breath. Each pitter patter of his wings dragged across the coursing winds. His other half died at the hands of that siren. The war they served in was for naught, as wyvern freedom was already assured. If Strato had listened..

If Strato had not pushed him aside when it came to their rations, when it came to their concerns and to their land- their lives- her life- would be assured. Now her wings were placed in the tree branches. Now her bones are the only thing sitting there. Like the rest.

The wyvern peaked his talons up so that he could land. Even as webbed as his feet were, the guards that acted as talons were perfect for what he was about to do. Cirrus dipped his body, spreading his wings as he swirled into the flock dome, hailing down a wail as he fell upon the highest perch. The wyvern glared at the flock that had gathered. Few of them met his gaze. A growing anxiety filled his esophagus before he cried out again, revealing the painted wings he bore along the primary and secondary feathers. The flock made their wings grow out from their sides, holding their heads high as he announced.

"I declare myself Pastor Cirrus. As per the stars, they have granted me my 4 wings." He held his head up. They knew what this meant. Yet their reluctant caws gave him a taste of rejection.

One wyvern flicked their tail, eyeing him. "Pastor Strato was only on her 2nd wing! What happened to her other wings? Where is our pastor?"

Another dropped their wings and hooted angrily. "You can never replace her! Pastor Strato would never let you lead. Look at you."

He did. Cirrus took a look at himself and breathed in. He wore a shark's fin on his back, ripped off the living beast. The same shark motif appeared all over, with its teeth lacing his visor's edges as he looked through green sea glass lenses. His chest and hips were covered with gray fish leather and adorned with woven seagrass and shells. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet the flock never saw this dress before. Their eyes fell with their wings.

Cirrus lifted his wings higher and cried on his tongue. "She was killed by a sunbringer. That fire destroys your wings, your life, your blood, your chemicals. You no longer are you when you are killed by a sunbringer."