The Birth (The Black Wing Book 1)

by Yvette, Miriam

  “Run.” he wheezed.

  Ethan’s eyes went vacant, his expression froze.

  Before stepping down the gallows, I watched the Abundant lean over at Rat’s dead body, he grumbled. The thought of eating him didn’t settle in his mind. Something is preventing him.

  “You degenerate.” he said to Rat’s lifeless body. “Even in death, your God protects you.”

  The desperate minister’s fat legs rolled over each other, bubbling towards me. He turned into an incoming train, frantic for some live meat. My steps downstairs have been careless, I forgot about the slimy steps, and fell among the dead villagers. I looked at the Abundant One, who opened his mouth. His jaw broke as they pulled apart expanding and closing towards me.

  On the ground, I found the white haired girl staring blankly at the floor. The burning flames have started to surround her. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t catch her words. She fell on her knees, and hugged herself. It’s as if someone just punched her in the stomach, she grunted and cried. The strong wind agitated the flames. Without any consideration of her terrible situation, her teeth clenched as the flames began to encircle her. The back of her dress ripped, red blood leaked through the fabric.

  The Abundant One came to a complete stop, his eyes twisted, staring at us both. He’s contemplating on who he should gulp down first. Finally, he decided to leave me, and galloped towards her. His approach didn’t bother her, she remained slouched to her knees. After an eerie cry, it happened—two white wings bounced out of her back. She screamed as it expanded, the wings shook with dripping blood.

  The tense wings relaxed, and expanded, brushing the flames aside, but the Abundant One made haste.

  “Watch out!” I cried.

  She opened her eyes, and saw the bolting monster. The girl barely missed his launching mouth, and landed in front of me. She gripped the long chain that handcuffed my wrists, I pulled away from her but her strength overpowered me. Her wings formed a heavy wind cycle, she looked up at the sky, ready to take off.

  “H-hold up—!” I stammered.

  The Abundant One roared, a hot noodle shot from his boils and sprinted to me. The fast worm leaped, and wrapped my throat. My skin scorched instantly. I tried to pull it off, but it stretched and constricted me. Black dots started to overwhelm my poor sight, and I fell into darkness.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Away

  “What’s your name?”

  This can’t be Arizona, the air is startling cold, the humidity has a salty taste. I opened my eyes to a vast blue ocean widening below. The sun has been setting, sparkling the ocean waters, swaying in different currents. I must be dead, I’m a ghost—on my way to nowhere. The Abundant One had his way, he ate me—he fucking ate me!

  My wrist pulsated with pain, if I’m really dead, I shouldn’t be feeling my body. The chains on my wrist held my weight, little by little digging into my skin. A stream of blood has already drizzled into my armpit.

  Okay, so I’m not dead. The silver-haired girl is above me, flying the skies with her white gigantic wings. Her hands tightly gripped the chain Ethan broke. She doesn’t seem to have any trouble carrying my weight. Why would she? She swung a fat man like an Olympic competitor would swing a hammer throw.

  The mystifying work of her white wings, hasn’t cease to bewilder me. There’s a primary, and secondary wing, no different than the wing of a bird. The only exception, is that her wings are strikingly massive when compared to her small body. With steady timing, they flapped with enough force to glide smoothly through the air. If the aviation pioneers saw this, they would see their hard work has gone to waste. A drumming hot sensation hit my neck, the damn worm from the Abundant One’s boil almost killed me! My flesh still burns, it feels like second degree burn.

  An innocent flash caught my eye. We’re heading towards a crowd of dark gathering clouds. I looked for any sign of land, but there’s nothing, just endless water and this cold breeze. The closer we got to the clouds, the darker the sky is growing. I waited for the silver-haired girl to say something, she noticed me, but she went on and looked ahead.

  “Where are we going” I called out.

  She smirked again, and shook her head.

  “I don’t know.” she replied.

  “You don’t know?” I quoted. “We need to find some land.”

  “I’m trying to.” she interrupted.

  I should be contingent with my profession, and pinpoint my location. There’s five oceans in the world, but which one are we in? The land of water is without a doubt massive, and it only keeps expanding as we travel. We’re heading west, towards the diminishing sun. The temperature is not outstandingly cold, so that kicks the Arctic Ocean out of the list. Since leaving Arizona, the white-haired girl went for the waters. If she travelled on the opposite direction of the sun, it would lead us to the Atlantic Ocean. We could be just above the tropic of cancer. Looking more closely at the massive aquatic floor, I noticed little dots below the coral islands, they spread out in different proportions from each other. My last clue is our flight towards the sun, my gathered information has successfully offered one answer.

  “We’re in the world’s largest oceanic division—the Pacific Ocean.” I whispered.

  The only problem is our exact location, who knows when we’ll find land. The sun has started to fade behind the packed clouds, the moist in the air is growing heavier.

  “Why didn’t you leave me near a city?” I asked feeling suspicious of her motives.

  She’s has been flying west the entire time.

  “I was going to drop you near the closest civilization.” she said. “Then I realized I would be discovered. I can’t allow myself to get caught by you people again. The most important thing to me right now, is to stay away from everyone.”

  My suspicions are true, for a girl her age, she believes everyone is like the Abundant One and his people. I told what she saw in Arizona is not how we live.

  “You think I’m hiding because I’m scared of you humans? A Lenur spy is what I’m more worried about. If you humans discover what I am, then the Lenur will discover me. I cannot allow that, besides I’m not as stupid as to fly into nowhere. According to Ebon, there’s a safe isolated island nearby.”

  Her priority to keep secret will not last very long. Heading west from Arizona, means she flew over California. That state alone is overwhelmed with an enormous population. They say things were easier in the past, back then the human population in the planet was about 7 billion. Now there’s so many of us, we compacted ourselves like cans on a shelf.

  The government made efforts to protect what little resources we have left. Ironically the companies and scientist who developed genetically modified organisms are now gone. Their crops and pesticides turned American soil unmanageable. Earth had to pay the price of artificial shortcuts.

  Farming is now a big business, more important than energy, and fuel, after all—who can eat gas? The success of Agriculture became possible five years ago, through the Graham Farm Association. The owner made obsessive efforts to promote organic crops for future generations. Food is now a priority business, the farmers have a winning chance to be treated fair by the government rather than be exploited by the commercially dependent corporations.

  Even with the late efforts to sustain our resources and protect the natural inhabitants, many animals have gone extinct. Our consumption of land space affected the birds that rely on migration. If the evolution theory is so concrete, then where does mankind fall in it? Evolution and survival of the fittest can’t exist when one species causes destruction on a massive scale. That is not a natural reaction—it has one word. Self-destruction, the root of evil.

  My thoughts returned to my cell mates who are still imprisoned underground. I thought of the burning village, and the Abundant One. This girl evidently has one vile and merciless way to kill. What struck me the most is the behavior of this super-child. Why did she show up shortly after the black haired girl was hanged? They’re
both the same age. The two must’ve been a duo to the infamous name of Shadow. That poor girl, she didn’t have to die like that. Maybe this one tried to help her, but didn’t make it in time.

  “You got a name?” I shuddered growing a chill from my spine. The temperature is dropping significantly.

  “Serenata.” she answered.

  I immediately thought of my neighbor Juan. One night, I heard loud music coming from his front yard. I went outside disturbed, but not prepared to see a group of mariachis singing a song to the bedroom window of Juan’s daughter. I asked Juan what was going on, and he said he made a serenata for his daughter’s birthday. I was educated serenata means serenade. Over the years, her boyfriend declared his love for her by the same tradition. When their relationship was bumpy, I heard a lot of serenatas at night.

  A few drops of rain fell on us, my dehydrated body acted quickly. I pressed my lips towards the sky. This water is a hundred times cleaner than the scum I had in prison. After drinking till my content, I noticed Serenata doesn’t say much. As for me, I’ll gladly speak as long as it’ll help me relieve my fear of the sharks below.

  “That girl who was your age.” I recall. “I’m sorry you had to lose her in such a horrific manner.”

  That little girl was so terrified when they brought her to the gallows. I’ll never forget the unending shake of her shoulders, and the grip of her hands the moment they pulled the lever.

  “Die?” she repeated. “She didn’t die.”

  Serenata’s wings are effortlessly flying against the pouring rain. The large oiled feathers slid the drops black into the ocean. I wish I predicted the terrible danger we’re heading, but Serenata’s comment distracted me.

  “What do you mean she didn’t die? She was hanged, I saw it.”

  Serenata laughed.

  Every chuckle caused the chain shake, I griped on it tighter. I’m the least interested in testing the ocean waters.

  “She’s alive.” repeated Serenata. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

  “I saw her hang.” I pointed out.

  “And then, you saw Me.” she replied.

  Before I could say another word on the subject, the dark clouds interrupted with the release of a deep grumble. The wind current intensified, gently swinging me like chandelier.

  “What happened to the Abundant One?” I asked.

  I couldn’t be more grateful to see the Abundant One suffer like he did. But the idea of him still being alive terrified me. What if he made his way underground to feast on the prisoners, they’re still alive.

  “He died of course.” revealed Serenata. “He wasn’t able to preserve his form with the corpse of the dead, the state I put him in, requires fresh, live meat to survive.”

  From what I saw in the gallows, it’s hard to believe anyone survived. My only concern is that now’s there’s no one to provide food and water for the prisoners below. Within a few days, they will all die. I have to return for them, for now I can only hope Serenata doesn’t drop me. She doesn’t look tired, and I did lose a lot of weight in the past three months.

  “Thank you!” I shouted. “Thank you for saving me.”

  Serenata didn’t bother to look at me, she barely took notice of my presence. I tried again.

  “I just want to tell you how grateful I am that you helped me.”

  She dismissed my sincere appreciation, with an irritated face. I think I pissed her off.

  “It wasn’t my idea to help you, and your words of gratitude are starting to annoy me. I don’t know why I don’t just let you go.”

  I tightly gripped the chain around my blood-stained wrist and assured her the idea would be terrible. If this brat even tries to let me go, I’m going to climb my way up and hold on to her like a new born monkey.

  The clouds have started to flash repetitively, I can feel the ecstatic electrons dancing around us. The hairs on my arms spiked up with goosebumps. I thought Serenata would act on accordingly with the heaping clouds, but it looks like she doesn’t know what she’s doing. I reported the news like a weatherman, I warned her about our current elevation, and how dangerous it is to be near the clouds.

  “The rains pouring too hard, and it’s already too dark to see. We should find shelter on one of the small islands below.”

  Serenata scoffed, and told me that my intentions are to stop her from her destination. She said nothing will convince her to stop, and that she knows where she’s going.

  “You’re not considering our situation.” I called out. “There’s a high chance we can get struck by lightning. Can’t you at least lower your altitude?”

  “Ebon says were not far!” she replied out in frustration.

  “Don’t you hear the thunder above us? What do you think will come after? You’re flying in the middle of a tropical storm. If you don’t lower your height, we will be fried before we hit the ocean. Just land and wait out the storm, then we can fly all you want.”

  “What you say makes no sense.” scoffed Serenata. “I don’t sense any danger at all.”

  “Do you know what a lightning is?”

  “No!” she yelled. “Don’t look at me like that! I don’t always get to see with my own eyes, and feel with my own body. I’ve waited this long to be free, and nothing you say will convince me to stop!”

  Now she’s speaking like Shakespeare to me, her words are composed of cryptic meaning. This kid doesn’t realize that any second we’ll be turned into fried chicken! I almost pissed my pants at the escalating, deafening sound of a compacted cloud. I saw two rays of lightning traveling among the clouds.

  “You’re going to kill us!” I pleaded. “If we get struck by that light, we’ll both be turned to dust!”

  I thought I heard her say shut up, but her voice got muted by another bang of combusted energy. I couldn’t get used to the feeling that a bomb is exploding within my heart. The rain grew heavier, the chain attached to my wrist became loose. When a flash stroke into the clouds, Serenata’s face is now in the state of confusion. She’s looking around desperately, now she’s getting the idea of our shitty situation, but it’s too late. Things just got worse, Serenata is elevating!

  “Lower your height!” I cried. “What are you trying to do?”

  “What do you think?” she barked back. “I’m going to fly over the nasty clouds!”

  In the realm of Mother Nature’s lighting storm, the ability to fly is just another way to die. I won’t survive this one. For three months I imagined my death would be like the prisoners before me, hanged, burned, and mutilated. I even accepted that one day, I will stand in the gallows with the rope tight around my neck.

  Against the heavy, pouring rain, Serenata’s wings whistle as she glides up. At any moment, lightning will notice the foreigners invading their celestial territory. This rapid discharge of electrical energy will claim our lives any second. Like Benjamin Franklin’s experiment, we are nothing more than a kite. Then again, Serenata is more like the kite and I’m the respectable, Benjamin Franklin. It’s small, but I have a small chance to avoid the electrostatic discharge. I much rather meet my fate in the ocean, than the merciless energy above.

  A deep grumble roared among the clouds, powerful roots of light traveled around us, missing us by a hairline. The next won’t be so sympathetic. With my hands tightly around the chain, I squeezed my abdomen and rose my torso to climb up inch by inch. I’m confident that the hard rain has relaxed Serenata’s grip. The familiar grumble came back, without hesitation, I hauled down the chain with all of my might. My quick yank released me from Serenata’s hold, the chain curled, and clanked.

  Serenata looked down, realizing what I did. My timing has been flawless. In a blink of an eye, the traveling roots of lightning struck Serenata. Her echo cry ended. She disappeared, obliterated by the limitless energy.

  I fell into the sky, with my back facing the waters below. I watched the lightning continue to combust among the clouds. The view turned out to be hypnotic. Soon I will descend into t
he ocean like a drop of water, and evaporate into the ocean. I’m glad I didn’t evaporate like Serenata. I’m thankful for these final moments to gather up my thoughts. Everything is happening so fast, and yet time is running slow. I’m still thinking, so I must be alive.

  My fixed my eyes at the flashing clouds, I rather not know when I’ll be splatting into the ocean. A shadow above me grew closer. It must be Serenata’s crisp body. The last thing I want to see is a scorched child before I leave this earth. I’m surprised she didn’t turn into pieces. When the corpse got closer, I have been mistaken.

  It’s her.

  The black haired girl who was executed in the hang stand. The flashes of lightning confirmed it. It really is her—but what is she doing here—where did she come from?

  I’m beginning to realize that there’s some connection with Serenata and this girl. From the beginning, Serenata didn’t want to help me escape, but she did it anyway. This girl probably pleaded for my life. But why? I don’t deserve it, all I gave her were just a few words of encouragement and she stuck her neck out for me.

  Her body caught up to my speed. When her eyes opened, lightning struck nearby. In the midst of flashing light, I notice a wild color in her eyes. A color certain flowers inherited—purple. Her iris is whirling around the pupil, almost like it’s alive. She recognized me, and smiled wide. Her hands stretched towards me, and I reached back. We extended our hands as much as our bodies allowed, finally, we succeeded. We’re now falling at the same speed, but she’s unafraid. Her ongoing smile lightens my heart. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear her small voice. There is so much I wanted to know about before the oceans claim me.

  Who are you? I wanted to ask.

  What’s your name? I wanted to say.

  Maybe I don’t deserve to know, what this girl and Serenata have is beyond my capacity to understand. It must be a vital function or their survival, so much that they’re willing to hide themselves from the world.