Chapter Sixteen
Finding my Wings
The following day, Callum opened the door of his allocated room and looked out. It was the late hours of the evening and no-one else was up yet, but he knew it wouldn't be long.
He hadn't been able to sleep due to the anger and frustration within him about his past and his mutation, but after a while he had decided there was no point sitting in his room sulking and he was very hungry having barely anything to eat yesterday.
His emotions had suppressed his hunger, but now it had fought back, and he wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the day.
Stepping out of the room, he walked through the residential area to get to the main area of Mutopia, the crystals lighting his way as he went.
Looking at his feet, he could see the way the talons scratched the floor, it felt weird having four long fingers instead of tones and one that stretched out behind him, and the wings on his back still felt like an extra pair of arms he wasn't sure he could control.
Moving his shoulders he tried to see if he could make the wings move slightly like he did yesterday, and he felt them twitch.
He opened his arms and as he did, he felt the wings move as well.
He began to move his arms in an up and down motion and soon the wings did the same!
Before long he felt this want to try to fly, and he began to pick up the pace as he walked and he moved his arms again, the wings following suite and soon he felt himself get lifted off the floor!
Taking a breath, Callum kept going, and he could see the main area of Mutopia ahead of him, he knew would have some space to fly in there and he kept flying forward, his feet just lifted off the ground and he clenched his taloned feet as he lifted himself up more.
Before long he was in the main area of Mutopia and he pushed harder with his wings, and he found himself about ten feet up in the air.
Looking down at the ground below, seeing the canals and bridges, he felt a sense of adrenaline and excitement welling up within him and he pushed harder to go higher into the air.
"Wow..." he thought as he hovered slightly and unsteadily, still flapping his wings "I used to dream as a little boy what it must be like to fly, and now I'm feeling it...this is rather...wow...!"
He looked at the town square of Mutopia below him and above at the high ceiling and he felt the need to try and reach for the crystals above.
He flapped harder and harder, his heart pounding hard, not just with adrenaline, but also from the strength of trying to keep in flight.
Before long he could feel himself getting tired and he looked down and realised just how high up he was.
"Oh shit..." he thought as fear pooled in his stomach "How do I get down?"
He kept flapping his wings and tried to look for a safe place to land, yet there was nowhere soft, unless he landed in the canal.
Looking back at his wings he held his arms still and his wings stopped moving yet stayed open and they acted as a kite, yet there was so wind since he was inside and he started to move forward towards the stone walls!
Callum yelped and placed his arms out in front of him so he couldn't crash his face and beak and he soon hit the wall and bounced before descending down to the ground in a heap!
Luckily because his open wings acted as a parachute he didn't hit the ground too hard, but it still hurt when he landed and he hit the wall again before he hit the ground.
"Shit!" Callum cursed as he lay against the wall and tried to gather himself.
As Callum shook of stars, he sat up and rubbed his head, then he heard laughing coming from a doorway ahead.
"Opps! You okay there? Took quite a fall didn't you?"
Frowning the Raven looked up and he saw a female badger walking out the doors where the Greenhouse was.
Callum glowered as he looked at her, he remembered her from yesterday as she had been talking to the female fox at one of the tables in the Canteen.
As he observed her, she was wearing a green headband around her head holding her curly black hair back and she was wearing matching dungarees with a blue and green checked shirt and was carrying a basket of fruit in one hand and a basket of vegetables in the other.
Feeling humiliated she was still laughing at his fall, Callum glowered harder.
"Morning!" the badger called cheerfully, oblivious to his annoyed glare "Trying to learn your wings?"
"What does it look like?" asked Callum in an annoyed tone, he was feeling better since the day he mutated and now he felt it all disappear.
"You should have seen other flyers when they started flying!" The Badger laughed "Can't tell you all the crashes they got into! Our Ducky friend ended up in James's Medical room for two days and it took him ages to want to fly again since he lost his nerve for a while!"
Callum just stared at the badger and continued to frown.
"Sorry," the badger spoke again "Where are my manners, I'm Paula! But you can call me Patch! Everyone else does!"
"Patch?" asked Callum.
"Yeah! I got patches on my eyes, being a badger!" Patch said gesturing to her eyes and the white stripes over them "I was just getting the first pick for Louie! He'll be starting breakfast soon!"
As Patch said that, Callum felt his stomach growl and Patch laughed again.
"I think I can hear your hungry!" she chuckled, making Callum look down slightly, twice he had felt embarrassed by the Badger.
"Come on!" she said "Let's get to the kitchen! I think Louie's in there now."
Callum stood up and folded his wings on his back then walked with Patch to the Canteen area.
"You're Callum aren't you?" asked Patch.
"How do you know that?" asked Callum eyeing her suspiciously.
"News travels fast here." Patch replied "Almost everyone here knows who you are! You had to drink the water of Mutopia's well to survive didn't you?"
"Wasn't my choice." Callum growled.
"Hey, I understand." said Patch "Not easy being a mutant, but hey! After a while, it might be the best thing that ever happened to you! All us Mutopians agree in a way, after we got used to our mutations!"
Callum sighed and looked ahead, he still didn't think being a mutant was the best thing that happened to him, even though he felt that rush of excitement from trying to fly earlier.
"You thought more about a new name yet?" asked Patch.
"No." Callum replied.
"I'm sure it'll come to you!" Patch replied as she opened the doors of the canteen and walked on ahead to the kitchen area.
"Lou!" she called "Louie!"
"Patch? Is that you?" Callum heard Louie's voice from the kitchen.
"The One and only!" Patch replied "I got the vegetables you wanted! And the fruit!"
"Super!" Louie called "I can get the soup of the day started! Sweet Potato and Squash!"
"Yum!" Patch replied "Well! First pick of the day is Sweet Potato and squash!"
The badger then turned to Callum.
"Why don't you help yourself to some cereal along with a drink over there?" she asked "Louie will be taking orders for a cooked breakfast when the rest of Mutopia file in!" and so saying she walked into the kitchen area to look for Louie.
Callum watched her go then went over to the tables by the kitchen area where Louie had placed bread for toasting, croissants, conserves, cereals, milk and drinks including tea, coffee, juice and water.
He helped himself to some juice and made some toast with chocolate spread then walked over to a table at the top of the canteen and sat down.
He looked at his wings again and tried to move them without moving his arms, and he soon found himself successfully opening them and stretching them out into a long span. Smirking a little that he was feeling his wings like he would his own arms he began to munch on his toast (or rather peck at it, since he didn't have a proper mouth or teeth) hoping to try and use them more later.
"Hmmm." he thought to himself, "I have to say, using these wings was an interesting experience, I never would be able to do this as a human, maybe being a mutant might not be as bad, as this new body does have it's benefits..."
As he was stretching his wings and musing to himself, Patch and Louie were watching the Raven from the kitchen area.
Patch washed some fruit in the sink before placing them in different bowls so Louie could start preparing them for breakfast.
For the moment, the cockroach was arranging some meats for those who wanted a cooked breakfast as well as making sure no meat juices went on the vegetarian option, especially Sharky's soy dogs. It still made him laugh that the mutant shark was a strict vegetarian despite him being a mutant animal that was a ferice sea hunter.
"So how's the Raven getting on?" asked Louie quietly as he started chopping some black pudding.
"From what I heard he's been isolating himself." Patch replied "But Sephie did try to talk to him, and Gramps said to Tyroth that he's keen to learn to use his wings."
Louie looked at Callum who had his back to the kitchen area and luckily was at a distance away so he wouldn't be able to ear them talking about him, yet they kept their voices down.
"Well, if he's a mutant bird, he'll feel that urge to want to fly!" Louie said.
Patch then chuckled.
"I saw him attempting to fly earlier as I was coming out of the Greenhouse." Patch said.
"Really?" asked Louie as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Patch said "At first he seemed to be doing okay, then then he crashed!" she spluttered a little as she remembered how funny it was, but she stopped when she saw Louie wasn't laughing.
"He was okay!" she said quickly "I was concerned though, did ask if he was alright."
Louie looked at Callum again.
"I'm sure Tyroth will give him a good lesson in learning to fly." he said, then he saw Tyroth walk into the canteen area.
"Ah and here he is now!" he said with a smile.
"Good Morning Louie!" Tyroth said cheerfully "Or should I say Evening, as we are nocturnal after all!"
Louie just laughed.
"Good to see you up and about nice and early Tyroth." Louie chuckled "How those little Geckolings doing?"
"As energetic as ever." Tyroth said "Especially little Loki! Boundless energy he is! More energetic than Pandora and Mikey put together!"
"Kids today eh?" Louie said as he cracked some eggs "They going to be joining us soon?"
"In a moment!" Tyroth said "Sephie and Amber are getting them ready for the day, along with Pandora and Kemeko."
"Guess we'll see them soon." Louie said "I got just what they need for their energy levels and not an ounce of sugar needed!"
"Thank goodness for that!" Tyroth laughed then looked over to see Callum sitting at the end of the room "Ah, just the man I wanted to see." he said looking slightly serious, "I'll be back in a minute Lou."
The Dragon walked over to Callum and stepped into his line of vison.
"Hey!" he said in a cheerful tone to which the Raven looked up.
"How you doing?" Tyroth asked.
"Fine." Callum said "Just trying to still get used to being a mutant."
"Guessed as much." said Tyroth "I know it's difficult, you've only been one for less than 48 hours, it's hard to get used to a new body, hell it took me a while to get used to mine, and I had to learn how to control my wings and my tail, not to mention the fire breath I have."
Callum pecked at his toast again as he listened to Tyroth.
"I can't tell you the amount of times the Mutopians had to keep throwing water over everything I set fire to, made them grateful for the canals in the town square here." Tyroth laughed "No-one apart from Sephie would come near me for fear of being roasted like a Christmas Turkey!"
Callum snorted slightly, that was rather funny, if only briefly.
"Anyway Cal." Tyroth said "Old Gramps told me you're keen to learn your wings? Well, starting today I can give you some lessons?"
Callum looked up from eating his toast as Tyroth said that.
"Really?" he asked "You can show me how to use my wings?"
"I've been flying for over 10 years." Tyroth said "I can show you every trick in the book when it comes to flying, and you might find your own tricks the more you learn."
"Okay." Callum said "I'm ready to begin, if you can teach me."
Tyroth smiled.
"Very well then!" he said "We'll have some breakfast and then we'll get started."
"Thank you Tyroth." Callum replied as the dragon walked off back to the kitchen area.
Watching him go, Callum rubbed his chin, or rather, the underneath part of his beak.
"As much as I still feel anger at my mutation." he thought "I might as well take advantage of my new abilities, having the wings to fly might be the only plus side of this change."
He took a sip of his juice and watched Tyroth talking to Louie and Patch.
"The Gecko was right about starting something new, and the first new thing I will do, is learn to use my wings, and then we'll see how things go from there."
So Callum has tried to use his wings, yet ended up crashing, Opps! But thankfully Tyroth's going to give him some lessons!
And we get to meet a new Mutopian! Paula, or Patch the Badger! Tyroth same up with the real name and 'Patch' was my idea!
As well as wanting to learn to fly, I think Callum's starting to get used to being a mutant if it has it's benefits, and it seems that he might have some other ideas brewing in his head, but what? We shall find out in due course.