Birds of a Feather

Chapter 2 - Wrestle on the Vessel

2        .        Wrestle in a Vessel

Cerisse looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was slightly violet and paler than before. It happened often but of this magnitude. She felt like she could throw up her insides as an appetizer. The world felt like it was spinning on its axis faster than possible on this realm. She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to stand up straight. I have confidence and character. The world is a great place. It isn't the end of the world. She nodded at her reflection. Whenever she felt ill or gloomy, she repeated this mantra to herself and it always helped to pick her back up.

Knock. Knock.

"Cery?" It was Azur. "Are you in there?"

Cerisse cleared her throat. "I will be out soon."

"Is something wrong? You've been in there for three hours."

 Her eyes widened. Pain always obscurred her perception of time, especially when it radiated from the middle of her back. She splashed her face with clean water from the small basin and dried it with a towel. It was enough to turn her cheeks rosy again. After opening the door of the washroom, she found Azur holding a glossy black feather. It looked like it belonged to a raven.

 "I found this on Zeine's clothes," she said with a mischeivous grin. In a split second, she flicked it at her and in a panic Cerisse caught it in her fist. Here was the thing to be known about Cerisse and feathers. She could see what they had been through and what they would be through. What she saw upon contact with this feather was something she wished she could unseen. Never had she wanted something to badly than to unsee that vision.

 Azur grinned. "What did you see? Was it scandalous?"

Cerisse looked at Azur and blushed a dark red. "I need some air," she said quickly turning to scurry down the hall. She walked out of one of the cars, climbed up a ladder and sat at the edge of the trahin's roof. The heights made her woozy, but the cool air made her feel less nauseous so it was even.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

 The sound of strong flapping made her turn around and she caught her breath before it could utter a gasp. The was just no escaping this man. This oddly-transformed arrogant man! Zeine was shirtless and had a pair of magestic black wings, each twice his own length, sprouted from between his shoulder blades. That explained the raven feather, but it didn't explain what exactly he was. Could he be a Furi? It seemed impossible since she could see the "goodness" that radiated from his core. He turned around and smirked upon catching sight of her.

"Well, good evening, lady sunshine."

Sunshine? She cocked an eyebrow, standing up shakily on the roof. "What are you doing up here?" he inquired.

"A better question is what took you so long to come up here?" There was a way to his words that made her embarassed and furious at the same time. Was it his arrogance? The trahin took a sharp turn and she sunk to the floor (roof) in fear. He laughed. "Are you afraid of... heights?"

"A fear of heights is logical. I am simply more aware that the chances of a person falling off an ascended moving vehicle has a likeliness of one out of four." She regretted climbing up there. What was I thinking?"

The irony was not lost on him and he wasted no time in relishing its amusement. A bird who was afraid of heights. It was like a fish who couldn't swim. Or a bat who was afraid of the dark. She clung to the trahin like a kitten who jumped out of a puddle frantically. Her face was pale and her eyes had become pools of greyish-cobalt. Though he wanted to enjoy this, the woman--a person he felt nothing but indifference towards--looked so vulnerable and helpless that he couldn't stop himself from making his way towards her and offering his hand.

She looked at him confused and after a moment took his hand. He helped her up and not a moment later, she pushed him down roughly.

"Ahhhh!"

Zeine jumped to his feet and looked around but Cerisse was gone. Thud. Thud. He whirled around to see two brawny pair of troll-like men standing behind him. The shorter one slapped the taller one upside the head and looked rather annoyed.

"You imbecile! We were supposed to bring her back alive."

"What's going on here?" There was an insignia tattooed onto one of their muscular arms. He recognized it as the Order of Dement or OD. Dement was a realm where the vilest of creatures and most taintedest of souls were banished to. It was a place where only darkness and hatred roamed. Many of the inhabitants called Furibundas, or Furi for short, tried to escape into Ceres, the realm of the living, and it was often his job to send them back. These were class b Furi. The stench of their power was overwhelming.

"Lord Zeine Voidbane. Furibunda hunter of the realm," said the shorter one who seemed the smarter of the two with a smirk. "I am Shalak and this is Jheren. We have come to take you back to Dement on the orders of our master. What'll it be?" He tried to put two and two together and then looked over the edge of the trahin. The one called Shalak growled. "Sorry about the girl. We planned to bring her too, but unfortunately Jheren was a bit too zealous for that!"

"Aww, she was broken anyways," Jheren's voice was deep and rasping.

Zeine looked over to them. "Broken?" He changed his stance unconsciously which prompted Jheren to charge at him full force. He flew up to avoid it, but then something coiled around his ankle and he was pulled down with a clank. His wings had protected his fall but it hurt them in the process. The two Furi stood over him. He stared at them and if he had blinked he might have not seen it. Two ivory daggers were thrown from behind him with perfect accuracy at the Furi's chests. Those blades were the equivalent of his feathers onto their flesh. It would send them back to Dement. They bursted in the puffs of violet smoke that was carried away by the wind.

He looked behind him but saw nothing. And then he heard a groaned. In a weakened state he managed to crawl to the edge of the trahin with his wings retracting into his body like a felines claws. There she was. Nails like talons clinging onto the side of the trahin for dear life.

After he helped her up, the two of them just sat their in silence, watching sunset turn to dusk, both in exhaustion. There was no use in talking. They both knew, or thought they did, what the other did. She was a Lady Blackbird and aside from the lady part, so was he. They were the hunters, the Regents of good and bad of this realm. The only question was where did they go from here.

"I think we should," her voice sounded like an explosion in the silence. "We aren't meant to mingle and you know it."

"But the prophecy--"

"Screw the damn prophecy," she spat viciously. "I'm not letting a peice of parchment rule my life and neither should you."

Zeine looked at her. "Is that why you love to sing?" She was fulfilling it without even realizing it.

Cerisse laughed. And it was a genuine laugh, not just the ones people parrotted to seem polite. It was real and lovely. It have lasted for half and hour because when she finally stopped the sky was dark and the waning moon was light iridescently in the sky. "I really don't like you," she said, breathing deeply to calm herself.

That was unexpected but not disappointing. "Then why did you save me?"

"Maybe so you'd be indebted to me." He knew that was a lie. Her eyes always looked so dark when she lied or was displeased.

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Please tell me what you think. I haven't written like this for a while and I would really like to hear your thoughts.

BTW, the picture is of Cerise.