Flight School: Prey

Betraying Faith

Io tugged on his sleeve, and the owl's eyes opened and his gaze lowered to meet the sparrow's...but one of his eye did not move.

Startled, Io scrambled to his feet to check his eye. He made a gesture of numbers and tiptoed to get a closer look at Slayne's dead eye. The latter frowned and did not quite understand what the sparrow was trying to do apart from the world that appeared so much less jarring and the lines between land and sky seemed particularly blur. He clutched the side of his head.

Jing knew that if she were to speak to him through an established Link, it would only serve to worsen the pounding in his head and so she decided against it. She did, however, call upon Sol to lead the way; their destination being wherever Io desired.

Naturally, Io gave an equally vague and abstract answer: and that was by the side of his friends.

*

It was a heated afternoon by the time the three arrived at their destination, Io lagging behind with Slayne who had a weakened sense of balance, and it was no surprise that Sol had led them to where Luka was.

Contrary to popular belief, Avians were perfectly aware of where human hearts seemed to lie.

The sun baked the air three times over and it was only the shade of the trees that provided much comfort to the group that traversed for a little over an hour. On Io's mind was how he should face Luka the next time he should see him; the safety of the prey that they had gathered along, and whether everything was going to be alright in the end.

He felt himself complacent, if he were to assume the orderly nature of narrative would reflect itself upon the course of his life. His story would end in happiness—and that would be the correct ending. The right one. But was it to be so in reality? Was there a structure to his life, planned out long before him without individual agency?

Will it be 'all's well ends well'?

Such a heated afternoon brought drowsy thoughts to his increasingly clouded mind and one could not help but associate such moods to lazy days of short naps and slow conversations over the couch; a chilled drink within reach and the ceiling being all. Their sore legs, occasionally itchy from dried blood or the scratch of undergrowth, and near-empty canteens were, in contrast, barely functioning.

The brief sensation of having come a long way eased its way into Io's cage as he recalled just how he had spent his afternoons back in the village before...before this.

Things have changed—but did he, Io, change?

That answer would not have come from the first person they saw.

Across the creek that Sol hovered above with a stop, was a bizarre gathering of predator and prey. There was, for some reason, an overwhelming number of prey tentatively huddled together as they filled their canteens with water while the sole predator, a cold golden eagle, stood apart from them. Mauri was nowhere in sight.

Though it was hard to tell what he was feeling, Io was the only one who could—and it made him guilty as soon as he realized that it was most likely himself who caused the eagle much distress.

Jing who had been leading the way was the first to come into his vision. She was far, quite far away, partially concealed by the shade of the towering trees and yet his eyes had snapped immediately towards her. Sharp, as usual.