Chapter 4

Dark Eagle

Twenty years ago, Fire Nation, the eagle have risen from the cliffside. Its beak was not empty, it carried a living being, a frightened rat, a creature which usually was not the best prey for the eagle, but in times of need it was more than enough. The eagle flew upon its nest, it made sure so that the nestlings are safe and healthy, a second after the three hungry little bird started to pinch over the legs of the rat. Usually the mother feed them by tearing the flesh off, but this time it was different. The mother eagle kept the rat amongst her beak while the little nestlings tried to tear off the leg of the rat. Meanwhile the rat realized its doom, started to break out from the grip if the mother eagle. Unfortunate to it, the sudden movement of the legs only made the hungry little birds even more aggressive, and this was exactly what the mother eagle wanted, she suddenly lifted the body of the rat by grapping its neck, she loose the grip only for a bit so that the rat might spot it as a possible chance of a last desperate escape. The nestlings were all bloodlusted … not just because of they haven't eaten anything for days, but because of their instinct, the instinct of survival. The sun was about to set, the cliffside had more than a dozen eagle nests. Each of them had nestlings in it. Some of them will be hungry at the end of the day, some of them even lost the mother days before. The dark eagle however had the rat, and the nestlings just realized that pinching the soft skin between the legs is way more effective and so the blood started to spill and the sun finally sat over the horizon.

Several meters below in the local village, two young children were walking down the street. A boy and a girl, both are their ages of ten. They were siblings and orphans. Their parents were killed by the sneaking plague which lasted two years and ended up five years ago. Nowadays they lived with the other orphans at the orphanage which was built soon after the plague ended. They used to sell oranges in the market at the other side of the village. Today they sold only a couple of them, usually the money they got were spent for clothing, as the orphanage was poor. It only gave place to sleep and daily food once a day. There were no money for clothes. Suddenly right after the last rays of the sun vanished over the horizon another group of people came from the opposite street.

"Hey Fen!... it's a bit too late for you guys to walking around like that, isn't it ?" – The tall guy asked with a smile on his face… he was the oldest member in the group, and also the oldest male person in the village who was not "adult" yet.

His name was Atof. He was sixteen years old and the children often ask him about anything they were afraid to ask from their parents and other adults. During the plague not every children have the chance to get into the orphanage. Those who were unlucky formed a group. A group which helped each other as a family, there were about twenty children who were in that group and the leader was Atof. He was only twelve years old when he decided to help the poor orphans. They usually got assistance from the locals, but since the whole village suffered from famine, as the lack of people prevented the village to produce the daily goods for itself. The population had been two times more than it was after the plague. The whole village and its neighborhood who suffered the local plague shared the same fate.

There were no help from the officials, as they wouldn't want to spread the plague, they had to help themselves.

"Oh I can ask the same thing Atof"- Fen said it with a calm voice, he slowly looked to his sister and she firmly grabbed his hand.

"Hey Zaoli, how many oranges did you manage to sell today?" Atof asked now the girl while he stopped in front of them.

"Not that much as we had done yesterday, but enough for a pair of socks, we might buy some tomorrow if the shop will be open" she stepped forward, dragging her brother towards her. They passed the group and continued their walk down the street.

"Oh … poor child" They are yet to realize that staying at the orphanage is even worse than living in the street with us. At least we have clothes, and food daily, and we are free to go anywhere. Whatever c'mon guys we shall hurry, the sun already sat and it's a bit of cold now.

They disappeared as suddenly as the appeared. The street remained silent and emply. Only a few gaslights were glimmering as the last shadows disappeared.

On the meantime up on the cliff, the little eagles finished their eating. The mother eagle still held the rat by its neck, with the only difference that everything below the neck was missing. Blood, gore and flesh were all around the nest, it was left to be cleaned up by the eagle, the nestlings were all gathered as they were all tired.

In the pitch dark night a huge roar emerged. It was possibly a huge predator, a mammal most likely. The forest behind the cliffside was about to wake up, predators went for hunting, spiders were webbing their traps, snakes were crawling in the ground. On the opposite side of the sky, a blue light appeared, it was just a brief moment until it vanished, but for that moment the whole forest got silent, as if the whole world would hold its breath only for a second, and it all went back to normal.