Winged

~~3~~

"Aarrghhh!" the scream ripped from her lungs, her back tearing open as if a thousand fires crawled from its confines. She arched backwards and writhed in searing pain.

"Silva?" a distant voice. Her mother's? She saw her smiling face before her eyes, blurry and illuminated by a shimmering light. But it blinked out as blackness overtook her every sense. Darkness so deep she struggled to breath under the cloak of heaviness. "Silva?" a warm hand held her shoulder gently. "You're...you're changed..."

Gasps pulled her from the void, and she unclenched her fists and opened her eyes. Her black curls, once before pinned high on her head, dangled in front of her eyes. She tried to stand, but fell onto her back. Grey sky. Jade trees on the periphery.

Something shifted beneath her. Turning her head sideways, she saw them.

Black feathers.

Her heart slammed in her chest. Her mind revolted against the meaning of the sight. She pushed herself up with the help of Saresh, and crawled in circles, her eyes leaking with the breaking of her new heart.

"She's a crow!" someone hooted, the reference to the hated bird scalding her further. The mangy black wings that slapped uselessly on the ground behind her sent tingles of pain and terror into her newly-acquired heart. Why did fate have to be so cruel?

"A fallen angel!" someone else jeered, the stone that missed her head smashing into her arm.

"Don't listen to them," Saresh hissed, but had to dodge the clods of dirt that flew their way. "Come on," she tried pulling her away, but the hating crowd pressed in. Fists. Angry words. Insults that stung her skin.

Saresh pulled away, not wanting to be hurt by Silva's indictment. She was once more alone. She'd been deserted by the last person who may have cared.

"A demon! You've become a wretched demon! You go from worm to demon--good one, Slug!" Pax gripped her arm tightly, the talons stretching from his fingers, an animalistic growl emerging from his voice. He had Changed last season, but his heart hadn't really changed. He'd instead become an embodiment of whom he had always been previously - a monster. She wouldn't be surprised if horns grew from his head.

Red blood dripped from her arm, and she summoned every grain of strength left in her aching bones and wrenched free.

Stumbling blindly.

Foot in front of the other. The rustling sound of her dragging wings trailing her steps as she put the village altar behind her.

Brown trees that matched her skin. She was surrounded. Mud pushing up between her toes and spattering over her legs. Angry shouts echoed around her, buzzing over her ears and settling in a terrified crevice of her heart -- her new heart. It beat erratically, unsure which way to go or what to do. Just run.

It was all that screamed in her head.

The feathered weight that pulled on her back slowed her down, and she cursed the fate of Change for its absurdness.

Sharp branches scratched at her face and tugged on her clothes, but she pushed on. One foot in front of the other, no matter where it led her. She didn't see the cliff up ahead.

Falling. The weightlessness and rush of air as she dropped with gravity churned her stomach. Her back jerked as the dreadful wings fluttered and folded hopelessly. A shriek of pain and fear tore from her throat, sounding otherworldly. Rocks loomed in her vision below, opening their arms to accept her. She panicked, kicking and clawing the thin air, the weights between her shoulder blades pulling her down.