Feather turned a corner at a fast sprint with Kya and Achitha on his tail, his eyes narrowed in on the hawk that was leading them someplace deep into the labyrinth. This could very well be a trap, but he knew what he was getting into. If worst came to worst, he could just blow the whole place up. Though, thoughts of blowing up an underground lab aside, it looked like they were being led through a twisting maze, but Feather trusted Achitha to remember exactly where they were going. So when the hawk eventually stopped and started circling a room filled with large, inky black pods rooted to the ceiling, he knew he could trust her for directions if it became necessary, which is exactly why he wanted her with him.
And the hawk was laughing giddily, loudly chirping as it flew in circles, before it eventually morphed back into the man they’d seen before, with his bronze-toned skin and shining golden eyes, dark violet hair that was long and silky draping gracefully over his shoulders while he smirked at them. “I see you followed me! Are you sure that was smart?”
“Well, sure, why wouldn’t it be?” Feather grinned in return, looking perfectly at ease in their grim surroundings as he outstretched his arms wide. “We’re here for information, not to act on our self preservation instincts! Although it’s not like I have those either way.”
And for some odd reason, the golden-eyed man found that statement to be very funny, and he burst into chilling laughter as he bent forward with a hand clutching his trembling stomach. “Hahah, wow, isn’t that hilarious! But I guess, knowing who you are, and the certain little concept you wield…” the man’s eyes glinted, lifting his face slightly to give them a demeaning smile. “I guess that makes sense for you.”
That statement, of course, shocked him, although he tried not to show it. After all, this shapeshifter had no business knowing what his concept was. And Kya was the first to act, blood cutting itself through her arm as a red whip lashed towards the man, Feather unsurprised to watch her move while Achitha froze at what she was witnessing. Seeing the usage of the concept of blood was rare… it was something that took centuries for even the most skilled people to master. You needed to truly become one with your blood, which meant self harm was inevitable. But the muscular woman quickly stepped in front of Feather regardless, her first instinct to protect the healer despite her mixed feelings as he allowed himself to get shoved behind her.
Though the shapeshifter just laughed as he morphed into a little bug the size of a fingernail, a golden little beetle buzzing around on slow wings as Kya’s blood sliced right past it. And the woman’s blazing red eyes only narrowed, her buried instincts from her military training resurfacing tenfold as she sliced at the bug, cutting off one of its wings while the man gave yet another sharp laugh, morphing back into a humanoid with a reptilian claw to block more blood whips with his hardened green scales.
“Wow, milady! You’re as bloodthirsty as all the rumors make you out to be, haha!” the violet-haired man grinned, golden eyes wide and malicious as he thrust his claw at her, Kya dodging while she moved under his arm to make a slice at his stomach, attempting to gut him. But the man’s torso suddenly contorted, the flesh thinning and his bones elongating to absorb Kya’s blood as it went in one way and out the other. He looked so smug, before he reached forward and gripped her by the hair with his green claw, jerking her downwards with a murderous grin that was all but friendly. “It’s a good thing I’m bloodthirsty, too, right?”
“Fuck you,” Kya spat, lurching forward to knee him in the crotch as the man’s face contorted, wobbling on his knees before he let go of the woman’s long hair, her blood lashing out while it had the chance. But the man’s body merely shifted into that of a woman while he continued to shield himself with a wide, scaly claw, the pain slowly seeping away once he changed the makeup of his genitals, and tried her best to overcome the throbbing pain that now existed in her lower area.
“Hah! What underhanded tactics! How joyous!” the man-turned-woman laughed, voice higher in pitch with a chest to match, tight shirt clinging to her body as she snickered. “But I’ve still got bigger tits than you, so we all know who’s the superior one here!”
“I fucking hate men,” Kya growled out, rushing forward once more as Achitha stood her ground next to Feather, judging whether or not she should move in to help. But something told her this entire scenario was a trap, and that she needed to be alert in a way you couldn't be while in the middle of a fight. She knew Feather was thinking the same thing, with the way his shimmering sky blue eyes weren’t even paying attention to the physical combat in the slightest and were instead looking around, examining the room they were in and the large black pods that were beside them.
It took a moment, but after a while of back-and-forth between Kya and the shapeshifter, Feather summoned her by name, the woman immediately shuffling back to her leader as the antagonistic woman in front of them still smiled.
“Thank you, Kya," Feather grinned in return, noticing how the shapeshifter didn’t move to attack further once he had her recoil, and he carefully took his time to walk up to the black pods that were hanging from black roots molded into the smooth ceiling, looking to have black fleshy leaves covering what was inside the small pockets that it held. “So, let’s have a conversation,” he instead smiled, going to tap the pod with his finger as he pressed into the gooey black flesh. “What is this, and why did you take us to this room specifically? What are you trying to show me, hm?”
“Haha, well don’t you catch on quickly, Feather the miracle man,” the woman laughed at him, the flesh of her bronze palm molding into a wooden pole that she placed on the ground to lean on and prop herself up. “But why should I tell you? It’d be much more fun for you to figure it out yourself.”
“Ohh, hm, you’re right,” Feather responded with an easy grin, continuing to carelessly poke at the black flesh pod with a breezy smile. “But since you know my name, it’s rude to not tell me yours.”
“Since when have you cared if someone’s rude or polite? Aren’t you rude to everyone all the time?”
“Only when others annoy me,” Feather laughed openly, moving to lift open the fleshy black leaf to learn of what was inside, only to see an empty pocket filled to the brim with black blood, the ink trickling out and under as it slipped off, droplets falling onto the concrete ground below him.
But the woman just laughed along with him, one hand on her hip and the other supporting her pole as she watched him mess around. “Well then, sure! My name is Alroy. I don’t mind you so much, honestly. You’re the kinda guy I think I could be friends with in another life,” she nodded amusingly, looking very satisfied to say that, before her golden eyes flickered towards Kya, who was still giving her a fierce glare. “But that bitch on the other hand, I fucking despise. Can I kill her, pretty please, oh mighty Feather?”
“Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline on that offer,” he laughed away, Achitha growing increasingly unnerved as she swallowed the thick saliva building up in her throat. Kya did the same, but she was so caught up in her anger that she barely noticed the signs when she had to wipe at her mouth, glaring daggers at Alroy and everything she stood for. Feather didn’t notice them either, and merely kept lifting up different patches of the pod as he proceeded his casual investigating. “Why do you wanna kill her so bad, anyways? What’d she do to you?”
“Oh, no, she didn’t do anything to me personally,” Alroy waved away, continuing to let him pick around at the pods as her smile turned slyer. “I just hate everything she stands for and represents. That’s all.”
“So you know who she is?”
“I know who you are, as well.”
“Ahh,” Feather paused, blue eyes turning a bit darker as he faced Alroy’s flashy smirk. “You better not say anything more on that topic.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Alroy taunted, lifting her palm up in Feather’s face before it turned into a paper snake, wiggling around harmlessly until it shriveled and turned to ash the moment she dropped it from her flesh. “Just like that? But I thought the great Feather and man of miracles didn’t kill people.”
“That’s true… I wonder if that means you have no reason to be afraid,” Feather hummed happily, Alroy resisting the urge to frown at that unbothered statement as her face stiffened. But that was when the mighty blond finally caught sight of what he was missing. All of these pods were going to be empty. There wasn’t anything inside them, as they were merely a distraction. But a distraction from what? What in this room was so dangerous?
His blue eyes spotted it within moments, and he immediately used telekinesis to levitate the leech that had been crawling on the ground towards him. It wriggled in his grasp, its hair-fine teeth sharp with a large wide mouth that took up half its small body, and Achitha immediately winced as she took a step forward.
“Feather, you shouldn’t mess with that!”
“Hah, too late,” he responded carelessly, immediately freaking the rest of the group out as he plopped the leech directly onto his arm with a wide grin dripping with his mania. So this was how they were infecting people. He was so certain, and felt all too giddy to be figuring it out at last, only for the leech to take one bite of his skin before it made a small, gross whine, shriveling into a white sack that looked more akin to an ugly pale raisin before it fell off, falling to the ground with a drop. And his smile finally fell off, overwhelming anger filling him to brim at being wrong once again. “Huh?” he drawled out, confusion swarming his mind as he turned back towards Alroy. “What was that?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Isn’t it obvious?” the woman laughed, moving her hands behind her back to grin at him. “The little guy just didn’t like you, so it died. That’s all.”
“Oh come on, I can’t be that dislikeable,” Feather smiled, swiftly fixing his composure and pressing down his anger, moving himself forward as Achitha panicked, her instinct to grab his shoulder and stop him from doing any more reckless things that might get himself killed. And yet, against all expectations, Feather shot a blast of pure energy at Alroy’s neck, the woman making a squeak as she morphed herself into a snake to avoid it, falling to the ground as she tried to slither away. Only for him to quickly summon more explosions right in the middle of her belly, causing her thin scaley body to explode from the inside as Alroy had no choice but to return to his original form, his masculine body reappearing as he coughed and wheezed on the ground. Though, it was just his luck that Feather was there to grab him by his long violet hair and pull his head backwards, his neck twisting as Alroy coughed up smoke, only to be instantly healed the moment the blond’s fingers brushed through his hair. “Now, I’m sure that hurt. Would you like me to do that again, or would you like to tell me what’s going on?” Feather smiled menacingly, grip tightening on Alroy’s scalp as the man returned with his own brutal grin.
“Hah! You’re too focused on me! I guess it’s true that the fated miracle worker doesn’t have any situational awareness or impulse control!” Alroy jeered instead, only for his face to contort when Feather dragged him over to the hanging black pod, shoving his face into the flesh dripping with inky black blood as he let out a muffled scream. “Hey!! Hey, don’t do that, you bastard!! Hey, fuck..!!”
“I told you to give me answers,” Feather hummed instead, pressing his knee up against Alroy’s spine as the man coughed on the thick blood in his mouth. “I do joke a lot, but I’m afraid that wasn’t one. Are you ready to tell me anything yet?”
“Hey… fine! Just take a look at yer friends!” Alroy choked out, Feather immediately going to take a glance at Kya and Achitha who stood there, watching with different emotions fixated on their faces. Achitha looked shocked to be seeing this, as if she hadn’t expected it from him in the slightest, but Kya was as stoic and composed as usual. Nothing looked too wrong at first glance…
Until he saw the smear of black under Kya’s bottom lip, and how Achitha's dark mahogany skin was starting to have a subtle white hue. There were black veins popping on Kya’s pale complexion, and for some reason, she was looking even paler than she usually would. And Feather was suddenly outraged beyond what he could suppress or hide, immediately taking Alroy by the hair as he threw him against the wall without an ounce of care, the stone cracking under the pressure as the violet-haired man fell through the rubble, his vision spinning as his skull cracked on the ground, blood sputtering from his mouth as he gave a short, choked out cough.
But Feather didn’t care about that. He instinctively rushed towards the two women, his face uncharacteristically serious as he reached out for both of their heads. Kya was shorter than him and trusted him, so it was easy to tap a hand to her forehead without her trying to move away, but Achitha was taller and larger and didn’t hold that same amount of trust, leading her to try and back off. But Feather reached out to grab her burgundy hair regardless, pulling her closer as he assured swiftly, “It’ll be okay, just let me purify you.”
“What are you—” Achitha went to ask, before a sudden wave of hot vibrations filled her from her head down to her toes, the feeling making her nauseous as she suddenly felt vomit crawl its way up her throat, pooling in her mouth to the point it overflowed. Black sludge came out from both of them, both women gagging and struggling to breathe as he helped soothe them through the process, Feather trying his best to contain how furious he was as he started purifying the blood in their systems. What had done this? Was it the leeches? But if that was the case, why had that little slug shriveled and died when it’d touched him? It didn’t make any sense, none of the evidence was adding up.
Though, luckily, the purification process didn’t take as long as it had with Cirrus, now that he knew the concept of good could purify the black blood without him having to cut open their bodies to physically remove it. It relieved him, knowing there was an easier way, and that Kya and Achitha were both safe. It really was a relief…
But perhaps he’d overexerted himself a bit too much. He’d healed a mythical beast just earlier that day, his tracking and senses had been on full alert for hours, he’d caused explosions and used his super inhuman strength, and now he’d just used the advanced concept of good once again to purify his companions on top of it all. Not to mention, he hadn’t died in a while, meaning he already hadn’t been at top strength to start with… had that been too much? Maybe it had been. All Feather knew was that right now he was feeling rather dizzy, and his legs suddenly began to feel very weak, his stomach cramping as the entire weight of himself started feeling all too heavy to hold.
“Achitha… do you, hahh…” he breathed out, words stammering in his mind as he suddenly collapsed backwards when he tried to move, eyes jerking into the back of his head when Achitha caught him, a sturdy arm wrapping around his waist and under his back as she carefully lowered him to the ground.
“What’s wrong? Feather?” the woman worried, Kya quickly piecing things together that her leader was about to die again. She'd known it would be coming soon. He hadn’t killed himself in over two weeks and had been using his concept of anything on rapid fire. She should’ve killed him and reset him before they even entered this damned lab or got stuck in this labyrinth, but that would’ve let Cirrus’ party know what Feather’s true abilities were, and she knew he didn’t want that…
But Feather still seemed to be holding onto consciousness, clinging to Achitha’s shoulders as he tried to steady his heavy breathing and spinning thoughts. “Way out… the way… out… do you remember?”
“Huh? Yes, of course I do. Are you saying we should leave?” Achitha asked dutifully, Kya immediately dividing her attention to go check on Alroy, whose head was still bleeding as he was blankly staring up at the ceiling. But he wasn’t dead yet.
She was debating on killing him, though quickly turned her head when Feather called out her name again, attempting to lift himself up despite his aching bones as his words wobbled out. “Kya… what direction is Cirrus?”
“Hm? Oh, let me check,” she conceded, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small shred of purple cloth that had once made up one of the sleeves to Cirrus’ nice outer garments, the very one he’d been wearing on the day he’d gotten so injured on the corrupted planet of Viscendant. She could track people as long as she had some of their blood, and even though Achitha looked horrified when she realized that meant Kya had specifically stored away some of Cirrus’ blood for a situation like this, she still did her job and kept Feather lifted up and steady before the other woman pointed in a certain direction. “That way. He’s about three fourths of a mile away.”
“Okay. Achitha, lift me towards that wall,” Feather commanded, the woman confused as to what was being asked of her as she took him under the arms, carefully lifting him up like you would a fragile doll as she tried to support his back.
“What are you trying to do? How can I help?”
“Just support me,” he reiterated, leaning back on Achitha’s firm chest before he lifted a shaking arm, red blood already trickling from his mouth as he summoned the last of his power. A bright, fizzing explosion hissed on his arm, sizzling and snapping as it snaked around towards his hand and fingertips, building up on his palm as Achitha's mossy eyes widened at the building monstrosity of energy.
…hadn’t Cirrus said the miracle worker had killed that hydra from what felt like so long ago using only an energy blast that lasted two seconds? And hadn’t Alroy been referring to Feather as a miracle man this entire time? Was that all just a coincidence? It was clear to her that she was in the presence of great power, but still, what in the world was she witnessing?
Achitha didn’t have any time to comprehend as the explosion was finally set off, the heated energy wave being set off like a rocket as it blasted through walls simultaneously, the rock cracking and melting under the threatening heat as the entire underground facility shook, Alroy giggling to himself as he felt the immense power from his semi-conscious state.
But Feather didn’t have the time or life force to do anything else before he collapsed and died right in Achitha’s arms, the woman staring at him incredulously while Kya decided to do her best to cover for him. “Come on! Pick him up and let’s go! He’ll be fine!” she urged quickly, using Achitha’s confusion to her advantage as the woman instinctively did as she was asked with little questioning.
“You’re certain he’ll be fine?” the strong woman double checked for certainty, carefully situating Feather across her shoulder as his head lolled against her back.
Though the two of them suddenly had to pause when Alroy’s once stiff, motionless body somehow lifted itself up, steam rising off his bloody head as his wounds stitched themselves back together, and Kya immediately turned towards the other woman with a heated glare, urging her forward with new insistence. “Go! Take him to Cirrus! Get Eve to heal him, she’ll be able to help better than we can!”
It was a quick decision to make, but when she weighed her options, Achitha knew Kya was strong. She'd seen enough evidence of that. So she gave the black-haired woman a firm stare, and spoke with a small, respectful nod her head, “Okay. I trust that you will be fine on your own,” before she turned and began sprinting through the wide-open hole Feather had created with such a powerful burst.
And Kya faced her opponent with anger, anger at what he’d just orchestrated. It was clear to her now that this was a trap meant for Feather. They purposely made him use up all of his power, and she didn’t think it was a stretch to believe that even the serpent’s attack had been staged, even if the miserable beast hadn’t realized that itself.
But she would not lose. She was Kyavir Sanguin, and she was once one of the most powerful knights in Salaven’s army, working as one of the top three generals. She would not lose to a no-name shapeshifter, and she would finish the job Feather had started. Because unlike her leader, killing didn’t go against her principles, so if it came down to it, she would do just that. She just hoped his heart would start back up again once Achitha arrived at Cirrus’ group, because she couldn’t imagine what they would think if they found out he was currently dead, not knowing it wasn’t permanent… because as she faced her opponent with smoke steaming off his skin, Kya figured that anyone would probably be panicked by that.
Is Kya a girlboss?
