The Original

Chapter 6

        Sander's wings were aching. When did he start to have feeling in them? He eventually didn't care as his strong wings carried him far and fast, following his friend. Breecan's grey wings were large and very strong as he never grew tired from flying above the ground. Sander, on the other hand, grew tired quickly at first when he bean flying, but now it didn't seem too bad.

        "How you doing back there bud?" Breecan asked over his shoulder. He was flying in front of Sander.

        They'd been flying for several hours since the sunrise and the sky was cloudy, meaning Sander could see nothing below him, in front of him except for Breecan, or behind him. Sander had followed Breecan for almost three days now and flying non-stop except to sleep and teach Sander a few techniques on flying.

        "My wings are starting to hurt," Sander shouted up to him.

        "We're almost there!"

        Sander felt his excitement building inside him. He was also very nervous to meet the Firsts because he was somewhat told by Breecan that everyone with wings descended from them, which meant that one of them was Sander's great-grandparent. He never learned much about his family history, and he guessed this was a reason why.

        After hours more of flying in silence and with painful wings, Breecan finally landed onto the ground and Sander landed a little less firmly than his friend. The fog was incredibly thick and Sander looked around to try and see anything.

        Suddenly, the fog cleared and Sander was standing in a very small clearing surrounded by tall pine trees as well as a large boulder and a fallen tree behind them. As Sander looked in front of him and Breecan he saw there was a cave opening. It was pitch black inside and Sander became extremely nervous. Breecan smirked over his shoulder at his friend.

        "Scared bud?"

        "Um...no, not really."

        Breecan laughed and walked into the cave, not bothering to look behind him to see if Sander was following. He followed his friend into the cave and placed his hands in front of him so he could find his way. He felt Breecan standing in front of him and stopped walking.

        "Hey bud?"

        "Yeah?"

        "Welcome to the flock," Breecan said.

        All of a sudden, a large door opened in front of them and light poured through. Breecan walked in and Sander saw that the large door they were standing in front of was made out of a dark rock. Breecan and Sander walked into the large open room that was dimly lit and there were several people already in there. There were eight others who turned and looked at Breecan, but then glanced over him to stare at Sander.

        Sander was worried. They all had wings, like his, but they were darker. Five of the bird-people were old and hunched over, but one pair of wings caught his attention, and they were pure white like his. He stared at the old woman with white wings and dark hair, and she suddenly smiled at him.

        "Aleksander!" she cried, flying at him with great speed.

        Sander didn't know what to do as she hugged him. Breecan looked surprised as the other old birds walked over to Sander.The old woman released Sander and he only stared at her, unsure of what to say. The old woman's smile faded and she slowly stood back beside the other old people.

        "Zoey, who is this child?" a man asked who was standing beside the old woman.

        Zoey smiled again as she said, "Aleksander, my great-grandson."

        The man smiled as well and without warning, hugged Sander. He smelled like apples and dirt, but Sander didn't care as he felt something warm in his gut form. When the old man released him, he introduced himself and the others.

        "I'm Hamish, your great-grandfather, and this is Zoey, your great-grandmother. Our daughter, Bianca, is your father's mother and your great-aunt is Stephanie." One of the old men nudged Hamish's arm. "Oh, this is Isaiah, Toshi, Artur, and this woman is Viviana. We are the Firsts, and we are here to help you."

        Sander glanced over at Breecan who smiled at him. He then looked over at the other three people standing by his friend. They were much younger than the Firsts, and two of them were younger than Breecan. There were two girls and one boy. The girl older than Breecan had brown wings that matched her hair, and she wore black leggings and a short blue dress; the younger girl was Sander's age and she had blue wings, blonde hair, and she wore black shorts and a green shirt; and the boy was younger than Sander and he had dark red wings and had dirty blonde hair, he looked just like the girl, and he wore jeans and a loose t-shirt.

        Breecan noticed Sander's looks and cleared his throat. The older people turned toward him.

        "Sander, this is Cora," Breecan said, gesturing to the older woman, "and this is Sophia and her little brother Tom."

        Sophia smiled at Sander and bat her eyelashes while Tom frowned. Cora smiled and nodded while Zoey began to lead Sander away from them and toward the center of the cave/room. She smiled at Sander and he smiled back at her for the first time. He had a few questions for her.

        "Are you really my great-grandmother?"

        She nodded. "Indeed."

        "So you all just hide here?"

        She was silent for a moment until Hamish answered for her. "We do hide, but we also protect the others who are like us and who are lost. We follow the example of the Original."

        There's that name again. "Who?"

        "The Original is who we are made after; we have her genes running in our DNA. It's what gives us our wings and abilities."

        "Oh," was all Sander could say.

         Suddenly, the whispers that Sander didn't notice before died instantly as a rush of cold wind entered the room. The torches on the wall fluttered and Sander didn't move as everyone stared at the door with extremely wide eyes. Sanders back was toward the door, and despite how much he wanted to turn around, he couldn't.

        "And who is this?" a voice asked from almost right behind him.

        ——

        Hello everyone! Yikes! Am I late updating or what? So sorry abou it, I've been incredibly busy and haven't found time for this at all.

        Can you guess who just arrived?

        I'll start keeping a better schedule and be absolutely sure to update by Saturday every week. Cya later guys!