Utter Darkness, complete and endless, a void scattered with the wandering spirits of the dead.
A voice, quiet, yet powerful, the words beyond comprehension, reverberating throughout the Darkness.
A deep purple glow forms, visible, but not illuminating the surrounding void.
The glow moves, commanded by the words spoken, flowing within the darkness as oil would water.
Wandering… Seeking… Then, The Chosen is found.
A soul, though afflicted by much, still pure, but weakened...
Purple quickly contacts a fading flickering blue, pushing into it, melding with it, strengthening it.
Not gently, time is of the essence before The Chosen fades.
A silent scream fills the void as a soul is reborn
It is finished, the task is complete.
The soul is strong once more, purple and blue undulating in harmonic synergy, bright in the Darkness.
A sensation, movement, a pull upon the spirit, to strong for it's feeble attempts to fight against.
Indeterminate time and distance found the spirit drawn near the source.
A tear in the void, rimmed in crackling purple, a black fluid rippling within, reflecting the spirit's light.
Drawn closer, the soul fought the pull once more, but all in vain as the spirit was pulled through...
"Uuhn."I winced as I slowly sat up from unconsciousness, cracking my eyes against the bright daylight scalding my eyeballs, a migraine throbbing against my skull. Doing my best to ignore the deep ache of my muscles, feeling like I had taken a swim through lava, I took in my surroundings.
I was in a small forest clearing, and as I gazed around, I noticed the sheer amount of red which surrounded me.
The leaves in the trees and carpeting the ground being a slew of almost unnaturally bright shades, while the tree bark was a dark crimson color. Even the dirt had a red tinge to it, looking like powdered rust. The only contrast against the red coloration was the clear sky and the odd patch of grass here and there.
You know, for most people, waking up in an unfamiliar location, their entire body feeling like it's been dipped in lava, and suffering from a splitting headache would for most be cause for alarm.
But for me, Maximum Ride, it's pretty much become an annual occurrence (which just goes to prove how much my life sucks).
At least I'm not locked up in some Whitecoat lab. I thought, working my way onto my feet slowly, trying and failing to not aggravate my migraine further. Now, how did I get here? And where's the flock?
I started sweeping the area for any signs of the flock, meanwhile trying to remember the events that lead to my being there.
From what I could remember, the flock had been captured by that science-project-gone-wrong calling itself the Uber-Director, who had attempted to run an illegal auction. The one and only attraction? Us.
Thankfully, due to a series of events(read: general flock antics/bad location planning by the U-D), we were able to escape after the category 4-5 hurricane raging outside started ripping into the Miami skyscraper we were being auctioned in. Ironically, the U-D had claimed the building would withstand the storm's fury just moments before it got completely wrecked.
Probably his bad karma from kidnapping (birdnapping?) us finally catching up with him. I thought with a smirk, still looking for flock evidence.
Anyways, after the flock somehow survived the hurricane, and landed safely within the eye, I had seen the U-D, along with his sci-fi Frankenstein, Gozen, being tossed about the edge of the storm wall.
A bitter taste filled my mouth as I remembered the white hot anger that burst within me, diving me to instinctual action as I had surged back into the air, ignoring the pleas against said action the flock yelled at me.
It took some struggle to fight my way to the U-D and Gozen's position within the storm wall, but faster than expected, I made it there.
Having reached the U-D, I knocked Gozen free of his death grip on the science-project's motorized wheelchair, before flipping the U-D the bird, breaking the straps holding the plexiglass boxes which contained it's organs to the chair.
I winced as I remembered what happened next. What little flight control I had shattered when one of the boxes, no longer being secured to the wheelchair, came flying at my head, cracking against my skull.
I leaned against a tree as the last few memories came crashing over my conscience, the pain as I was tossed by the hurricane, my wings being wrenched unnaturally by the storm's fury, objects flung into me by the near 150 mph winds, acting as an insane, wind-driven roller-coaster/blender.
And I remembered the fear that I could plainly see in my reflection, just milliseconds before being smashed into and through the window of a skyscraper, the glass cutting through my body like paper, then…. I remember no more.
I must have lost consciousnesses, I thought having finished searching, figuring out I was alone. The flock wasn't nearby.
Heading back to the clearing, I started checking my body for any of the injuries I should have sustained based on my memory, but besides the dull ache permeating every fiber of my being, and the now only slightly annoying headache, I found nothing. Even my clothes which should have been shredded, where unharmed, said clothes consisting of a dark blue jacket (one of those modified ones the flock had been given) over a gray T-shirt, said shirt tucked into a pair of dark blue jeans, a trusty pair of sneakers on my feet.
Having reached the clearing, I prepared myself, gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut, for the intense pain I expected as I extended my wings…
Nothing.
Well, nothing more than the same residual ache the rest of my body felt. What the heck was going on?! My wings and body should still be heavily damaged, and I should barely even be alive after all the damage I remember sustaining! And yet the only thing off was the fading ache that permeated my body, now feeling like I had been in a friendly brawl that got a little carried away (the pain having faded from lava-swim intensity), not the wind and object blender I remembered forcibly taking part in.
Finally taking a look at my wings, I gasped in shock. No they weren't covered in blood and grime as they should have been, but they had changed.
No longer the fourteen feet I remember, my wingspan was nowat leasteighteen feet across, their coloration having also changed from the hawk-like brown and white, to a black and violet purple, now looking not unlike the wings of a magpie, with the exception of purple instead of white.
What… in the(your choice of expletive here) is going on!
Testing my wings, I flapped them a couple of times, the leaves around me scattering across the ground from the small gusts of wind I generated, but everything appeared to be working as it should.
Quickly checking over the rest of my body, I found no other alterations to my anatomy that I knew of (at least, as much as I could check without a mirror). My hair was still a sun streaked light brown, hanging down about six inches past my shoulders, and my skin was still a tanned white, so everything seemed normal.
Well, other than my wings anyways.
I need to find out where I am, and find the flock, pronto.
Crouching down I leapt into the air, finding a grin splitting my face as I felt my wings fill with air like sails once more, the wind blowing across my face, and the sun beating down on my back and wings as I soared through the sky.
Glancing at the position of the sun, I figured it was mid afternoon, and altered my course so that it was on my right, heading in a southward direction.
Hopefully I'd run across some form of civilization soon, and possibly find some answers regarding where on Earth I am, approximately where the flock is, and possibly, though highly unlikely, figure out just what happened to my wings, and how I ended up I the middle of this red forest.
Having gotten a loose idea of a plan, I gave all my attention to the ground below, or at least, what little I could see through the trees, making sure to stay at a high enough altitude to 'hopefully' be mistaken for a bird.
Albeit a large, misshapen, genetically-altered-kid shaped bird.
A few minutes of travel later, and something in a clearing below caught my eye, but I didn't get a good enough look at it before I passed by, so I circled back, and I was surprised by what I saw.
At first glance, I would have wrote off the creatures below as a small pack of wolves, but upon closer inspection (gotta love the zoom feature of my hawk-like eyes), I saw how wrong that was.
The creatures below were covered in black fur, with what appeared to be white bone plating at key points. Said 'armor' having vibrant red designs that seemed to glow acrossed it, and I saw they were a mix of quadrupedal and bipedal (possibly having the option to change their stance?), much like I'd imagine a wolf-ish version of a gorilla would stand, but their eyes… Their eyes glowed like smoldering coals, filled with an insatiable hate that I could feel from even this distance.
Thankfully, they didn't appear to know I was circling above, but I felt a small shiver of fear work its way down my spine regardless.
Those must be the latest version of Erasers created by the Whitecoats, my brain said, even as I saw how much that statement didn't fit, like a broken puzzle, but I had no other explanation.
Well, I thought, where there's Erasers, there may be a lab of some form nearby I can get info from.
I shuddered at the thought of willingly going near a Whitecoat facility, especially on my own, but a girls got to do what a girl's got to…
My instincts screamed as I dived, and with a glance over my shoulder I saw why. A gigantic raven, at least the size of a school bus, had swooped through the air with talons outstretched in an attempt to attack me, and had I not dived it would've succeeded.
I had no time to think as it turned around, and I had to maneuver out of its second attempt. Thankfully it's size made that fairly easy to do, but I was taken back somewhat when I saw it's head.
Like the creatures below, it had bone plating covering its head, with similar red designs, and the same smoldering ember eyes.
Nope, I thought, backpedaling as it went to strike again, causing another near miss, it's cry of apparent outrage loud enough to hurt at this distance. I'm not dealing with you today.
Ducking underneath its next attack, I poured on the speed, zooming south at over two hundred miles per hour, leaving the super-sized bird in the dust. Slowly coming to a hovering stop, I glanced behind me, happy to see only a small speck instead of the giganto-raven.
What is going on here?
That seemed to be the question of the day. I thought back on the giant bird encounter. Why was it so huge? Why did it have similar eyes and bone armor as the new gen Erasers on the ground? The questions were piling up faster and faster, if I didn't figure out the answers soon I might go insane!
Clearing my head of all the questions crowding my mind, I continued to work my way south, and eventually I saw a flash of white in the forest below
Circling to take a closer look, I saw a group of seven teenagers around my age (that being a guesstimate of late teens since my actual age is sadly an unknown in my life).
Each of the people below seemed to have a different color scheme, the six girls below being red, white, black, yellow, pink, and another red (I decided to call her red two), with the one guy I could see being green.
For a second I contemplated going down and meeting with them, but I tossed that idea out the window, mostly because I didn't want to weave a lie as to why I was in the middle of nowhere, in a forest filled with animals that were definitely not your friendly Disney woodland creature variety, these animals seeming more likely to view you as a tasty snack before attempting to make you so.
So instead I opted to wait and watch. The group had to get here somehow, and by following them, I should find civilization.
The only thing is, I'm not very patient, as I'm sure you've noticed over my past 'adventures'(read: my miserable, horrible, heart wrenching, constantly threatened existence). Thankfully events transpiring below kept me from getting to bored as I watched the antics between Pink and Green, Green trying to fill jars with what appeared to be tree sap, but he was hard pressed to keep up with how fast Pink was chugging it down.
Noticing movement on the opposite slope of the small hill the group was on, I saw a group of five boys, four of which were somewhat bland in comparison to the group directly below me, the last one wearing what appeared to be white cosplay armor, and he seemed to be the pack mule of the group, carrying two large boxes stacked on top of each other, making it difficult for him to see.
The top box was open, and packed with filled jars of that tree sap, and for a second I figured this group was returning to the others, but something felt off.
I saw the Bland four slow to a stop near the top of the hill, and the largest of them (probably the leader) motioned towards the boy in white armor, before pointing down the hill at Red two.
The pack mule of the group set down the boxes, and slowly grabbed one of the jars of sap, hefting it with slumped shoulders in seeming resignment, which allowed me to guess he wasn't part of the leader's group, but being coerced into obedience.
I grit my teeth as the situation below reminded me of the first time I met Ella, my half sister, who had found herself cornered by some punks with a shotgun. At least they got what they deserved, and at the same time I was able to meet Ella and Dr Martinez (who it turned out was my family!).
Shaking my head, I focused back on what was going on below, and watched as instead of hurling the jar down at Red two, the boy in white armor spun around, and hit the leader instead, splattering it all over his clothes.
Oh boy. I thought, watching as the kid was surrounded by the other four, and dragged back into the woods, heading for a small clearing in that direction. Their intent made clear by the struggling of White Cosplay (his attempts to yell being muffled by the hand of one of the other three), and the look of pure outrage on the leader's face.
I groaned, my conscience demanded I go and help the kid, who no doubt was about to get pummeled for his insubordination, but my logical side was in conflict. If I go down and help this guy, I'm not going to be able to just leave again, especially being in the middle of a forest. By going down to help him, I would be calling the two group's attention to myself, as well as all the questions I'm sure they would fling in my direction, which I did not want to deal with.
The internal struggle went on for only a few more seconds though, as the moment I saw the kid getting beat up in the clearing, my mind was made up, and I dived for a break in the trees near the small clearing, in the hopes that with the speed of my descent, coupled with their distraction, I should be able to make it to the ground unseen.
Curse my conscience.
Just as I made it into the trees and out of visibility, things seemed to take a turn for the worse in the clearing.
A deep, loud roar came from the clearing, followed closely by a girlish scream and a resounding thud on the other side of the tree I stood behind.
Quickly folding my wings in tight against my back, hidden underneath the jacket, I turned into the clearing, and for a moment, I froze.
The leader of the boy band was laying on the ground about three feet to my right(who I only just noticed also wore cosplayer-esc armor), groaning in obvious pain, and standing a short ways in front of him was the boy who had been being pummeled, now holding a sword and shield, completing his cosplayer look. That's not what made me freeze though.
At the other end of the clearing facing towards us was another of those creatures I'd seen on my way here, except this one looked more like a bear, and was a lot bigger, standing at least thirteen feet tall, it's front paws slammed into the ground as it got on all fours, eyeing the kid in white armor before it charged.
Finally I snapped out of it, and sprinted towards the bear, past the two boys (who in that brief moment as I passed them gave me looks of bewilderment), quickly crossing the distance as the bear and I charged each other.
It's eyes shifting to me, it attacked without hesitation, swiping it's paw at me, the gleaming claws no doubt razor sharp.
Ducking under its outstretched limb, I gave it an uppercut to the chin with a resounding crack, a starburst of pain exploding through my now broken hand, the creatures head jerking as the punch's strength pushed it upright, onto it's hind legs.
Ow Ow Ow! What the heck was the bones of this thing made of, plate steel!?
Disregarding the pain lancing from my busted hand, I tucked it close to me as I rolled between the legs of the 'bear,' and as I rolled underneath I used the dirtiest trick in the book.
I kicked the creature as hard as I could, right where the sun don't shine.
Instantly the creature crumpled in pain, curling in on itself for a moment, which was all I needed as I finished my roll with a wince as pain spiked from my broken fingers.
Quickly I jumped onto it's back, my brain falling into autopilot as I tightly grabbed onto one of the long bone spines, which I only just noticed where there, and braced my foot against the base of it.
It was at this moment the creature's pain must've faded enough to think, because it immediately jumped to it's feet, bucking and shaking as it tried to get me off.
Though my broken hand was flaring with pain from all the jostling caused by the ursine rodeo ride, I managed to time it right, and I kicked my foot into the base of the spine I was using as a handle, bracing my other foot so I hopefully wouldn't get instantly thrown off or impaled on another spine.
Please let the spine break and not my foot. I thought in the spit second before my kick connected. Cause if my foot breaks I'm so screwed.
A sickening crack filled the air (Thankfully not my foot) as a good two foot length of the spine broke off, the creature standing up to full height as it roared in pain, but somehow I managed to stay on it's back.
Jumping upward, I somehow managed to perfectly land with a foot balanced on each of it's shoulders, and with no hesitation I plunged the spine-turned-weapon into it's eye, getting it a good six inches deep before it stopped.
Somehow managing to swipe at me through the pain of having it's eye decimated, it's claws managed to cut deep into my uninjured arm as I attempted to dodge.
"Gaagh!" Pushing through the combined and almost crippling pain of a sliced arm and broken hand, I sprung off it's shoulders, managing to twist my body so I could land one last kick, and hopefully end this fight.
Kinking both my feet out as I fell just in front of it, I managed to hit the end of the spine jutting from it's eye socket, and after a spit second of resistance, a resounding crunch was heard, all two feet of the spine entering it's skull.
Falling the remaining distance to the ground, I quickly rolling backwards as I landed, letting my momentum carry me out from in front of the 'bear.'
After a moments delay, the creature fell forward almost comically, hitting the ground next to me with a thud.
Warily I stood up, remaining tense for another few seconds as I slowly worked my way to it's head, only allowing myself to relax when I saw the light was gone from it's eyes.
I hissed through my teeth as the pain from my injuries caught up to me, painfully finding out that not only had I managed to get my arm slice-and-diced and opposite hand broken, but I had also managed to possibly sprain an ankle, and there were two nasty gashes acrossed my unbroken hand from the creatures spine.
Still looking at the 'bear' creature, my pain was pushed to the back of my mind, shock taking it's place as my eyes widened and jaw dropped at the sight before me.
The thing was disintegrating, slowly turning into a black smoke, leaving no trace of it's existence.
Before my mind could fill with questions, I remembered the two boys I had come to the defense of. Wincing in anticipation, I slowly turned around, and was surprised by the small audience.
Red, Red two (who I could now see wore a cosplay of gladiator armor), and White had joined the boy in white armor, they probably having heard the commotion. The leader of the 'merry men,' I noticed, wasn't there, he having probably run at the first chance like the coward he and all bullies were.
Noticing that all four teens had their jaws on the floor, I smirked. Time to make a good impression.
…
…
"Sup."
Hello all, Zaffreye here. So, I ended up finishing this chapter's rewrite fairly quickly, and thus am posting it today. As you will probably notice, not much has changed in this chapter, but to be honest not much needed changed beyond some light editing, and of course, the added teaser for what may be occurring between the lines. I hope you all have enjoyed my work so far, and do please check up on the second chapter when it's rewrite drops here in a couple days (Sunday, April 4th, 2021 at the latest)