It was strange, the way everyone seemed so wary of him. Hadn’t they noticed that when he changed into the Sky Demon’s brutal possession, that his color altered entirely, that the chartreuse of then crystal bled into his scales and his normal charcoal hue was imprisoned entirely within the pitiless irises of his eyes? And now that he was a rich sable again, with iridescent scales that flashed almost-blue in the sun and almost-green if you turned them another way, couldn’t they see that he had never been more ordinary?
Still, he didn’t feel entirely normal (whatever that was supposed to mean)—he would allow himself that. His body was disconnected from the world, a gentle and alien hum in the back of his head and neck. Everything seemed unreal, and he was sure that it was only a dream, a dream where he would wake up to find himself alone and unencumbered once more. It seemed so obvious, for he couldn’t possibly be a product of human science. No—he had a mother, and a father, and they were somewhere—perhaps island-hopping like him, with their own brilliant pendants. He had inherited it form them, that was all. That was all.
Razorwing might have suspected was demonry or that some essential part of Eypok’s soul had been lost, like a piece of dulled jewelry slipping from a too-small finger to disappear into the depths of a murky lake, impossibly deep and irretrievable. If that was at all true, it was a product of the dissociation that ravaged his brain, neural networks stubbornly refusing to integrate because if they did, it would mean certain emotional disaster. All he was able to manage right now was to smile that crooked grin to Bladewind while his mind pretended it was all okay.
Jade breathed heavily and backed away, her face sad and tired, older than she had ever felt before. Again, her trembling fingers found Swiftclaw’s shoulder. They should not have have brought the little girl—she had seen too much, and now her disillusionment would haunt her sleep. Jade should have protected her from this, but she hadn’t, and now they were all scarred.
Eypok limped near to Bladewind, ignoring Razorwing entirely (or perhaps he had forgotten that he was there?), gingerly nuzzling her muzzle. He felt something pass between them, trading electrons that they couldn’t really feel except as a reflection of the deepest kind of contentment. They were both the Sky Demon. Shouldn’t he be happy now? He had found this purpose, a purpose.
“Thanks guys, everyone,” he said outloud, but he seemed to mostly be speaking to the Queen herself. “Let’s… let’s get you home.”
"I am not the Sky Demon. We both are. Bladewind and I," Eypok's voice didn't sound the same as before. Something had changed in the way he normally reacted to such crisis, perhaps something had changed within his heart as well.
The guardian stifled an almost involuntary growl as the dragon seemed to down-play the seriousness of their situation. But without another word, Razorwing lay Bladewind before Jade, who showed the promise for healing her.
-----
It was as if Bladewind was in another world. She had no concept of reality, or the fact that Jade, Swiftclaw, Razorwing and Eypok were hovering over her. Instead, she could only focus on the terrors unfolding before her, she was in some kind of nightmare.
She could hear voices wailing all around her, yet only a silent jungle met her eyes. She kept turning around and around, trying to determine the source of all the horrible sounds. Bladewind squatted on the ground and held her head, trying to blot out the voices. Were they coming from somewhere in the jungle or were they actually in her head? "No...no...." She rocked forward gently, then back again, instinctively trying to calm herself.
Suddenly, the fronds rustled before her. Fearful of what it might be, Bladewind slowly looked up and her heart sank....
It was Sheerwing.
He walked confidently forward and easily slid a hand around her neck, squeezing it until Bladewind could barely breathe. "I found you," he grinned.
Bladewind clawed at his arms, her tail writhed and her wings quivered, yet he seemed stronger than ever before.
Was this real?
Sheerwing said nothing further. The wailing voices in the jungle stopped and there was only the deafening silence between Sheerwing's heavy breathing and Bladewind's ragged gasps. Sheerwing looked her in the eye, then ran his muzzle along her own. He roughly slid his scarred face down the left side of her neck, licking it until he reached her heaving chest. He released her neck and immediately grabbed both of her hands and forced her to the ground. Then, he knelt over her and spread her legs apart with his own. Still, he said nothing.
"Stop it! Stop Sheerwing!" Bladewind snaked her tail about in hopes of hitting him, but he easily ducked out of the way. She flapped her wings but his strength held her so close to the ground they did nothing but stir up dust. She was completely powerless. "No," she began to cry, "no!"
A devious smile spread across Sheerwing's face as he pulled away the clothing from her chest. His hot breath against her skin was like a poison to a wilting flower. She shrank away but she could not escape it.
But with one last burst of strength, Bladewind exploded upward, fighting to free her hands from Sheerwing's gasp. "NO!" she screamed--
--Razorwing immediately sustained Bladewind's violent reaction to the healing by holding her down. But even in all his strength she knocked him over.
"NO!" she cried again, her feathers ruffled and her face contorted in confusion. Then, she realized where she was. "Razorwing?" she looked to her side where she had pushed him moments before. Then she saw Jade and Swiftclaw standing over her too. "Jade?" she gasped for breath, still frightened from her nightmare, "what's going on?"
Then, she saw Eypok. Her heart fluttered. Was it truly Eypok? The one she cared so much for? Or was he still Sky Demon? She reached out for him, her voice changed from fear to joy "Eypok!"
His wings shifted over his back, bloodstained claws returning to the hardness of the ashen ground. “Nothing that Bladewind herself hasn’t done,” he responded, his voice not outwardly defensive, but his tones deep and darkly secure. “She has simply worn herself out. Perhaps she isn’t quite as used to this as I am. I’ve only done this once or twice before but… she never has. I certainly didn’t do anything to her. As I have told you confidently before, I am not the Sky Demon. We both are. Bladewind and I.” Eypok sat back on his haunches, eyeing Razorwing curiously and still feeling a note of alien calmness thrumming in his brain. Why was he so cavalier about this? He had just killed hundreds, thousands of people, and he felt… nothing.
Jade shifted, the first time she had moved from her frozen position in minutes, her gentle claws patting Swiftclaw’s shoulder. “Hold on,” she whispered to her. She knew she could do this. Haitken had taught her so much, and she could still see his golden eyes in front of her, encouraging her, a girl in love. She had been trying to heal an injured bird so long again, and she could just make out its frail, shaking wing. Haitken had taught her well, and the bones shifted back to normalcy, the bird squeaking in startlement before it flapped clumsily off. Haitken’s eyes were still there, in front of her, watching. This injured animal was much bigger, was more complex. But he knew that Jade could do it.
Jade approached Bladewind’s side and kneeled, placing a cupped and wrinkled palm over Bladewind’s muddied cheek. Without sound, in the most precious of silence and held breaths, she found that lit thread inside her, inside them both. It glowed, humming the smallest of mysterious noises, strange yet familiar. Nothing had changed… they were still just two living things, hearts beating and blood moving in the veins inside them, bones holding them up and muscles moving their matter. Nothing had changed. They were alive.
When Eypok approached the queen and spoke her name, Razorwing instinctively drew Bladewind away. "She needs our help," the guardian pronounced his words carefully, trying not to show his anxiety. "We need a healer."
The crystal around Eypok's neck pulsed rhythmically, causing Razorwing to step away. Was the Sky Demon still present or was the violence over? He cast a glance at Jade and repeated: "We need a healer." Still, an uneasy silence pervaded the party. Razorwing noticed Eypok's blood encrusted claws, his blood-splattered skin, his blood-dyed teeth. He looked more a monster now then ever before. A chill ran down the guardian's spine. "Eypok," Razorwing started slowly, stepping back yet again, "What did you do to her?" Razorwing was beginning to panic. For the first time, not only had he failed Bladewind, but he was completely without control over the situation.
As Eypok’s eyelid slipped open, he saw Razorwing caress Bladewind’s cheek devotedly, something much more than a simple guard-queen relationship unfolding before his barely cognizant vision. So this was what he was to wake to? Was he still in a nightmare? Did Razorwing know what Eypok felt for Bladewind, that she was his other half, as much as the crystal was? Together they created the Sky Demon. That bond was stronger than anything that Razorwing felt. Or so Eypok told himself, in that precious second that Razorwing had not noticed Eypok’s awakeness yet.
But then Razorwing spied the sliver of brilliant green beneath the charcoal eyelid, and he had whipped around in defense, only arousing Eypok’s burning anger like a rising serpent. How could he think that Eypok would harm Bladewind? He would never—he could never… he had never done so before. He had killed humans, he had severely injured Sheerwing… but he had never yet cast a talon against the Queen. Eypok was not the enemy. So why was Razorwing treating him as if he were someone to be feared? Eypok felt something like a corrosive rage toward Razorwing then, and something was scarred in their still budding friendship forever.
The crystal pulsed weakly, triggered by the dragon’s anger, but it was nothing to the brilliance the light had been as it systematically rended human bodies apart through its vessel of Eypok. His eyelids slid fully open, and a smooth frown appeared on his face. “Yes?” he answered quite sanely, giving only the impression of mild irritation despite the inferno he felt inside. He would keep his anger to himself. Razorwing would not know what he had seen while he believed Eypok unconscious. As he replied, the dragon pushed himself up with his stained claws, realizing belatedly that he was covered in dry blood and dirt, the remains of the holocaust that they had created together as the Sky Demon. His muscles screamed with soreness.
As he glanced upon Bladewind, he felt his anger dwindle somewhat, the crystal’s glow dimming. As he deliberately strode in a circle around Razorwing’s guarded position, he neared Bladewind, nudging her jaw tentatively. “Bladewind?” he whispered in those familiar sultry tones, like a rich instrument playing a thousand different thrumming tones at once
Swiftclaw tensed slightly at Razorwing's reaction, then buried her face in Jade's side. She sniffled but said nothing.
There was a moment of unbearable silence as Razorwing searched for life in Bladewind's seemingly lifeless body. Finally, he felt the hint of a very slow pulse. Razorwing caressed Bladewind's face lovingly, then looked to Jade. "She's still alive, but barely," he sighed and pressed his face against hers. "I'm sorry Bladewind." For a moment he wanted to kiss her, but it was strictly against all teachings for a guardian to act in such a way toward his subject. Instead, he scooped her up in his arms and looked about frantically. "I-I," he stopped and bit his lip. For once -- this life-long guardian of Bladewind, a perfect example of an attractive, confident and healthy male member of his species -- knew not what to do. He snorted, then admitted "I'm not sure what to do. We need someone with healing powers and only her father, Bladecrest, knew such things. He's dead now. I don't know how to help her." Razorwing looked down in shame, feeling as if he had totally failed Bladewind when his sole purpose was to protect her.
Eypok's eye slid open to reveal a shining green and eerie glare. Razorwing backed away from Eypok, not sure if he could trust him. Was he still the Sky Demon's other half? Or, was he the Eypok Razorwing knew? "Eypok...." Razorwing trailed off and then turned away in order to shield Bladewind, should Eypok act violently.
-----
Sheerwing felt the wind slide along his scarred face. His crest of long, curving horns re-directed the wind up and over his head, making a slight whistling sound as he flew. He flapped his wings, then reached up to touch his head. He could still feel the Sky Demon's presence, as if it were speaking to him. It hurt, a lot. It wasn't long before the great male had to make a landing in a secluded area of the tropical forests of his home island. His head hurt too much. He might have made his escape from prison, but it would be some time before he could regain enough physical confidence to seek Bladewind once again.
As he landed with his usual heavy thud, his long curving claws left deep ruts in the dirt. He knelt and held his head. "I can hear you!" he growled angrily. "You gave me the power to escape, yet you mock my existence with such unbearable pain." It was as if his personality had split -- a battle between his prior conscious and the Sky Demon's. He spat on the ground and added, "Cursed Sky Demon -- you chose Bladewind over me. But she's mine."
The ex-elder's undying lust for Bladewind was the only reason for his being. So corrupt had he become that Sheerwing desired only one thing...He would never stop until he had Bladewind in his control...The Sky Demon's full power in his control....
When the destruction was complete and apocalypse had been wrought upon the little grove that the human facility once had stood, Jade felt the force around them disappate as unconsciousness took both Bladewind and Eypok into its gentle claws. For a few moments Jade refused to move, then tentatively stretched upwards. Tears still flowed from her eyes uncontrollably, though her sadness was so great that she could barely understand it, hardly approach it, like a huge barren hole in her mind.
Jade turned around as Swiftclaw whimpered. So many lives had been lost here… the Sky Demon’s power had successfully decimated all traces of human life. Not even the bodies had been left for the scavengers to pick at, as was normal in nature. How could this great wasteland, like a gravesite, ever be normal in the center of a great forest? Not even the birds made a sound… it was a great vacuum of noise, as silent as bereavement. A gentle wind teased at her headdress, deceivingly tender in the wake of such a holocaust.
The humans had been so misguided… so foolish, like children, playing with things they couldn’t understand. And like a blinded man swinging an axe in a playground full of them, Eypok and Bladewind together had killed each and every one. It did not even occur to her to imagine that one, let alone two, had escaped relatively unscathed.
A rustling sound from nearby alerted her attention, and Jade called out, “Razorwing?” She could hear no answer. Without wasting any more time, Jade took the silent Swiftclaw’s hand and walked over to where their two friends lay.
It was if their lifeless bodies formed a circle… Eypok’s tail curled around, touching the tip of Bladewind’s, while his muzzle just barely nudged her headdress. The otherwordliness of it sent a shiver down Jade’s spine, for it was as if they had summoned some horrible God to demolish the land. And that’s exactly what they had done.
Kneeling down, Jade nudged Bladewind’s shoulder, and when she did not get a response, she patted Eypok’s cheek gently. His scales really were quite strange to her… but almost pleasant. They were smoother than she had anticipated. “Eypok, Bladewind, wake up!” she commanded. Jade wanted to leave this place as soon as she could, for spasms of forboding were tearing at her mind.
When she was close to giving up, Eypok’s eyelids twitched, and slid back to reveal a sliver of his violently green eye. A low moan issued from his throat, pained and exhausted.
And when Eypok - the Sky Demon's other half - joined hands with Bladewind's body, the terror all around them intensified. The Sky Demon did not open its eyes, it did not react, it did nothing. It simply gripped Eypok's hand in its own and released a chilling energy into Eypok's possession. Together they would decimate the human threat, this was the Sky Demon's destiny.
---
Somewhere deep within Bladewind, a scrap of her consciousness grasped at the sensation of Eypok touching her body. She wanted to cry out to him - to stop the Sky Demon - but she could not. Instead, Eypok's touch began to hurt her, she could feel it in the distant appendages that were once her own. Her fingers felt as if they were burning, her toes felt as if they were freezing. There was so much pain brought on by the Sky Demon's power that she could no longer differentiate between hot or cold...everything stung. She wanted to scream but instead the Sky Demon swallowed her in its commanding voice: "Regret not my queen."
---
All who had come into contact with the Sky Demon's power at one point or another were now fully aware of what was taking place. Swiftclaw, Razorwing, Jade, Sheerwing and Razorcrest: All of them bent under the intensity of the pain and power that was the Sky Demon.
Back on their island Sheerwing broke from his bindings and left the prison in shambles. The half-crazed Razorcrest collapsed in his cell, perhaps dead.
Jade and Swiftclaw huddled together in the woods as tree branches flew overhead and screams filled their ears. Fortunately, unlike the humans a shield protected them -- a wind-shield generated by the Sky Demon. (It was the Sky Demon's responsibility not only to destroy the threat, but protect its people.) Elsewhere in the woods Razorwing also came to a halt and bent under the power of the Demon. He too took note that a shield had generated around him for the duration of the Sky Demon's reign.
---
The sky grew dark blue as the explosion began, then it drained into a blinding white flash. The explosion was so loud it seemed to suck all other sound out of the air. In mere moments it was over.
As the flash dissipated - the air seemed strangely silent - the world seemed to stand still. What might have been present before the explosion was now gone; The island looked as if a mighty hurricane had made land-fall there.
---
The wind died and the shield around Bladewind and the others promptly disappeared. Bladewind's body lowered itself to the ground - limp - as if the puppeteer had abandoned her....
The windstorm was magnificent, incredible—if Gosseria’s life were not in imminent danger he would have been keen to study exactly how it had come about with the reunion of Project W and the she-raptor. He had made a monstrous mistake by releasing Project W; he imagined that the crystal would drive the new species away, any threat to its own autonomy and supremecy. It had been an error borne of his arrogance; he fully realized that. As he made his way through the extreme winds that buffeted him on all sides, his laboratory coat writhing in midair and his hair whipping around his face, he caught sight of Ryan.
Ryan looked more like a boy than ever, only in his late twenties, caught up in something far too powerful than he had ever imagined. Gosseria could see from his face that he was dreadfully confused, unsure—should he run, or seek shelter in the facility? Gosseria knew that the facility was doomed, however; he had seen to that.
A moment of rare indecision, and then he shouted, “Ryan! Come with me!” The boy looked relieved to find someone in a position of authority, and he did not hesitate to force his way through the windstorm to Gosseria as they both ran to the opposite side of the facility, where the jets were lined. They looked almost like beasts of burden in their stalls, except far more advanced and intelligent than any beast of burden could be.
Gosseria pointed with effort to the smallest one, and shouted over the wind, “Get in, Ryan!” The boy knew instinctively that Gosseria was to sit in the driver’s seat, and he struggled to the opposite side of the jet as Gosseria dove into the pilots seat. When they shut the doors, it seemed blessedly calm on the inside, and quiet—until a branch flew against the windshield and leaves tore at the jet on all sides. Not even saying anything, Ryan panting in exhaustion and success beside him, Gosseria flipped several switches and gripped the two joysticks, the jet darting away to safety, carrying two survivors from the catastrophe that had been wrought behind them.
~~
The piece of Sky Demon that was lodged in Eypok’s body stared in beautiful silence at the words spoken from Bladewind’s body. In those coal eyes was a strange expression so deeply intimate that it seemed almost obscene to watch their reunion, like a clumsy voyeur spying upon the epitome of grace and magnificence. It couldn’t speak—the part that could speak had been given to Bladewind, passed down from her father on his deathbed… Eypok could roar, and he could savage, but he could not speak.
And roar it did—pounding on the skies with the pure rage in its call, the sound seemed to travel on the wind itself, carried by Bladewind’s magic. The humans closest to them clapped their hands over their ears, blood trickling down the sides of their face as they cried out in minute agony. They were like insects in a storm, a storm that they had participated in the making but hadn’t understood what they were doing.
As the Sky Demon’s power charged like electric energy that passed between its two corporeal forms, Eypok stood on his hind legs, wings spread majestically as it reached out to its other half… touching her hand…
The explosion was all-consuming, pent-up energy releasing and decimating completely every aspect of human life and technology that had ever had the misfortune to touch this land. People died by the hundreds, all at once, their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads as their bodies were rent apart with the force of a bomb explosion. Material supposedly ‘indestructible’ met energy that could not possibly be harnessed by humans as it was shredded as pathetically as straw, cast into the heavens as mere sand. The Sky Demon was systematically eliminating any evidence of human existence.
When it had finished, energy disappating into the air as mere charged molecules, Eypok began to feel his consciousness returning to him while the Sky Demon retreated into the recesses of his mind. If he concentrated, he might have been able to hear the crooning whisper, to meet again… but concentration was completely beyond his bewildered and exhausted mind. Wavering on his four legs as his scales once again melted into a crisp black, green concentrating instead in his overwhelmed eyes, Eypok remembered being completely unable to render a coherent thought before he tipped forward into unconsciousness. His fallen body was slightly off center of the massive site of dust and ashes and twisted metal that had once been their enemy’s facility.
----
Both Razorcrest and Sheerwing, half-mad from the events that had turned Sheerwing into a monster and Razorcrest into a babbling prophet, bolted upright in their jail-cells back on Bladewind's island. Razorcrest obscenely screamed prophecies while Sheerwing felt a pain in a fragment of his mind.
"The Sky Demon, it has returned!" Razorcrest shouted into the stale air of their prison "It comes with wrath from two lives instead of one! Behold the might of the Sky Demon!"
"You crazed fool, shut up!" Sheerwing roared from his cell, "I can't concentrate!" Sheerwing did his best to focus on the stimulating pain brought on by the distant Sky Demon. Apparently whomever came into contact with the crystal could sense the power and pains of the Sky Demon. This could lead him back to his queen, he could have her and her power if he could hold onto the intensity and find a way to free himself from this prison.
Razorcrest pounded the back wall and ignored any pains brought on by his wailing. "I can see her, it, them! I can see the power of the Sky Demon!" He shut his eyes and saw a blue glow and a green glow join together, he could hear screams of victims though nothing else was clear. Somewhere in his mind he knew what it was, though anyone else was sure he was a lunatic.
Even the guards dared not to jab spears at him any longer. Speaking of the Sky Demon was forbidden in their culture - unless indeed the Sky Demon had returned (in which case it would become the all-consuming subject of everyone's conversations). But, it had been over 100 years since anyone had witnessed the power of the Demon.
Sheerwing clasped his hands around the bars and howled a lie "This raving fool speaks blasphemy!" But Sheerwing too shut his eyes and tried to find the images that Razorcrest spoke of. If only he could feed off the same power as Razorcrest. Razorcrest- if not for his madness - could use his prophecy for freedom. Perhaps then, Sheerwing could use the powers to break away from the prison as well...He was much more tolerant of the pain and could therefore use it to summon a scrap of the Sky Demon's power.
----
Somewhere in the woods Swiftclaw too began to convulse. She had carried the talisman Bladewind now wore...therefore she was victim of the same pains that Bladewind, Sheerwing, and Razorcrest were now experiencing. She winced and fell down, then curled up into a fetal position. She held her head and screamed against the sounds of the humans but Bladewind and Eypok could not hear her and could not stop even if they had.
Even Razorwing felt a slight pain as he continued to beckon a few remaining humans into the woods. Fortunately he was stronger than his imprisoned brother and did not stop his mission. He would stop at nothing - not even death - to serve his queen.
----
Meanwhile Bladewind's possessed body gravitated toward Eypok. Humans were beginning to abort their mission and run for their lives, but it seemed as if they moved in slow motion. Their last dire bullets fell out of the air as they neared her body. The wind whipped around her so intensely that she was untouchable - at least - for now.
A new voice spoke within her, it was the voice of the Sky Demon, a feral beast that knew only one role: The power of protection. Whenever the Sky Demon was summoned, it served to save its people and fall dormant thereafter. It would stop at nothing until the threat was eliminated, even if such use of power would kill its host in the end. Bladewind was gone, only the Demon remained. It spoke in an unholy, multi-layered foreign tongue that only Bladewind's people knew. It roughly translated to: "I AM."
The Demon encased in Bladewind's body reached one hand out to Eypok, and the other clasped the talisman around her neck. All it could hear was silence, the chaos around the Demon did not faze it in the least. "Like brothers we have reunited, I in this body and you in yours. Let I never part with the power that has been split...I am whole again."
For one being, the two halves of the Sky Demon could never look more different: Eypok's half moved like lightning, aglow in green. Bladewind's half did not move at all, it simply stood in the middle of the chaos and allowed the blue wind-and-magic shield to protect the body. Bladewind's half spoke while Eypok's half roared.
The Demon within Bladewind closed her eyes and spoke only four last words before unleashing the power that would decimate the human facility and the trees around it. "Regret not, my queen."
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