Heavenly Mortals-Act One

VI-Calum ( I )

As Calum leapt on, he kept asking himself the same question over and over again.

Why did they do that?

All he wanted was a nice, peaceful life with his family. Why did his father send him away? If it was for his safety, why ten years? A whole decade of struggle and training, with no direction at all.

And why didn't Grandmaster Katari give him those letters until the last moment? Maybe it would have been unfair to the other disciples? But he taught the art of stealth. He could give him the letters without anyone finding out.

Calum decided to take his head out of the clouds before he put a foot wrong and broke his neck. Shoving away his thoughts and finding something else to focus on, he glanced at Aetos.

Calum couldn't stop staring in awe. He barely managed to put enough focus into leaping and not breaking his legs.

The sight was incredible.

It was surreal.

Aetos was pecking an apple mid-flight, his beak actually being able to open. It wasn't a piece of static metal. Yet when he spoke, he didn't even move it.

When he realised Calum was staring he asked, "What is it?"

"I need to know how you speak without opening your beak. And the fact that you can open it... it makes it all the more I-need-to-know."

Aetos looked at him, puzzled, "Did you not notice me opening my beak when I shared that piece of meat with you? And not to mention I even told you my beak could move,"

Calum shook his head while in the high point of his leap.

Aetos sighed, "Our vocal cords work like humans', but they vibrate more, and the flesh around our neck is a good medium for letting sound pass through. So, we are able to speak without opening our beaks."

"And how do you breathe?"

Aetos finished his apple and stuffed the core in his bag, "Special windpipes connecting elsewhere,"

"Are you born in your armour?"

"No! Our armour is made of a special magical metal, which is flexible and grows with us. And it does not come off unless we want it to,"

"Were you born from an egg?"

Aetos held up one hand, the other gripping their "passenger" who was tied up in his whip, "That is enough with the questions,"

"Alright, alright," Calum dropped the questions. "Hmm, we've been traveling for quite long now. Maybe we should find somewhere to make camp,"

Aetos nodded in agreement. They were about to scan for suitable trees to sleep in when something swooped in front of them, "WAIT!"

They tumbled out of the sky uncontrollably. Calum got caught mid-leap as they intercepted his course. He started screaming.

They were too close to the ground when they crashed into that thing. Aetos managed to spread his wings, but he was falling too fast. Calum was too disoriented by the sudden impact. They braced themselves as they were about to hit the ground.

Nothing happened.

Calum opened his eyes. He was floating inches above the ground, suspended mid-air. He felt wind blow against his face. Aetos was floating as well.

They were gently set on the ground.

Straight away, Calum drew his katana and whirled around, searching for whatever hit them and fell along with them. He stopped when he heard a "Yeek, stop!" His blade was less than an inch away from decapitating... A strange-looking kid?