Strings of Sin

Chapter 4

"Look what we caught snooping in our town," Provoking eyed the chained icewing.

"And he's a juicy one too," one of the Idiots added.

"He'll make a great toy," another one said and picked the poor icewing up by his neck.

Stardom watched and froze. Every limb in his body chilled, and he felt his face twist in horror. His mind spun, and he couldn't withstand the trauma. He walked in on something he never should have seen and wanted to leave. He wanted to run. He wanted to cry. He wanted to hide. He wanted to...

But he stood his ground with shaky courage and felt strange memories rush through his mind, almost as if someone was calling his name. And he let rage take over his mind and consume his fear. He lost control, and his memories grew stale. The memory of himself faded, and his strings loosened greatly.

And he called out into the darkness and wasn't even sure if that was him calling, it was their voice again. "Stop!"

The nightwings dropped the icewing on the ground. And the Idiots turned and faced Stardom.

"What are you going to do about it, Stardom? You think you're acting like a hero, but you would never understand what it feels like to be poor," Provoking stated. "Are you going to run away again? Are you going to cry? Are you going to continue to hide from the truth?"

The poor, icewing dragonet struggled in his chains, and Stardom wanted to do all of those things she said.

But he refused.

"Get away. From my. Friend!" Stardom roared.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Provoking laughed.

Something beyond their understanding possessed Stardom, and he punched the laughing Idiot in the face. Blood shot out of Provoking's jaw, and she fell to the ground.

"Oh, it's on. So you finally snapped? You're just a monster as he is!" the downed nightwing shouted.

And she and her gang charged for Stardom. Provoking returned the favor and stuck her talons near Stardom's face. Stardom grabbed her by the foreleg and twisted it, just like he practiced on training dummies. He slammed her to the ground without mercy and struck his talons into her flesh. He jabbed his claw at the other two nightwings running at him and grabbed one of them by the throat. Provoking reached for Stardom's hind legs, and he swung the nightwing in his claws around and banged them on top of the struggling nightwing below him. The two nightwings screamed and howled in agony, and the third began to back away. Stardom rushed up to his final victim and backed them into a corner. He pounded his talons into the nightwing's throat and stuck him against the wall. He watched his catch struggle and plead to be freed. He crushed the nightwing's throat slowly as December and Provoking watched in terror.

December struggled heavily in his chains and tried to break the bind on his mouth. Provoking tried to stop Stardom and ran over to him. She pulled out a knife and chain and tried to stick it in Stardom's neck. The ruthless, nightwing dragonet turned around and shoved the Idiot in his talons in front of him. And the knife in Provoking's claw struck her friend in the throat.

The blood gushed out and painted Provoking's knife and talons red. She realized what she had done and cried out into the darkness of her own actions. The victim in Stardom's claws thrashed around as the blood continuously flooded out. He dropped the doomed nightwing down on the ground, and they never moved again. Their last string had been cut.

Provoking began to cry. "You really are a monster!"

Stardom didn't speak.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" the crying nightwing asked.