“Hi there Luke, how was your healing session? I hear you are feeling quite lively today?” Said Jerzy as he chuckled and reached for an apple in front of him.
With a thought, Luke sends the apple shooting like a projectile towards the Hedgehog. He flinched and twisted his body, the fruit piercing into one of his spikes and embedding deeply.
“Oh come on, you know how hard it is to clean the spikes! Learn to take a joke…” Whined the creature.
“Behave, both of you.” Spoke the Avian Lord into their minds.
“Sorry, I’m a bit lively today,” Luke answered as he glared at Jerzy as he tried and failed to reach the spike that held the apple.
Grabbing a bowl filled with seeds mixed with groats gruel, he started putting it on his plate.
“Jesus I would kill for some chicken.” He said under his nose and felt a spike of disapproval pierce his mind.
“Can you not?” Asked the Avian.
“Sorry, sorry… so, I’m anxious to hear the last lesson. What’s the big secret awaiting me?”
Both of his teachers looked at each other, not knowing who should start.
The Avian put his chalice down with a clang. He started.
“ It’s not a magical secret or any arcane knowledge.”
“Ohhh…” Luke complained.
“It’s about Monsoon and his past.”
“Oh?” Luke became curious.
“As you know, he asked you not to contact him. With the expedition in the bowels of the city and the damage you caused still being handled he needs you to stay as far as you can so you won’t be discovered. You are our little secret, and no one yet discovered that you are the reason for the mayhem in the sewers. The Council members are on a wild goose chase in the sewers, clearing them slowly. As it turned out, they actually became infested with strong monsters, strong enough to warrant a small army being sent out by the coalition to clear the threat.”
Luke nodded at the information he had already been told before.
“What you may not know is why Monsoon is even covering for you, and tolerating the people he hates so much invading his domain.”
“Yeah, I was wondering about that, don’t get me wrong, Monsoon is a great guy but no one is so great to spend so much and care for a person who they barely met few times and got their shit destroyed by them. So, what’s up?”
Both of his masters chuckled.
“Do you know how Monsoons species breed?” Asked Jerzy.
“Jesus, no, I don’t, and I don’t want to hear any spicy specifics please, I would rather go for round 2 with Stitcher,” Luke answered with his face scrunched.
“Hahaha, no you dummy, not that. I mean their bonding habits.” He paused and became more serious.
“His kind… they treat their bonds really seriously. They create enclaves where they care for and tend to their numerous broods with their mates. To create offspring, their physiology demands an exchange of souls and certain body parts, literally a part of their hearts needs to be exchanged to start the conception of hundreds of children. Once they are bonded, they lay eggs, and tend to the children until some of them develop consciousness. Honestly, they are one of the few homely and caring kinds in the magical world. They bond with only one mate for life. They share their soul, body, and thoughts with them, they become inseparable and bound by their love for each other and their children. “ Said the Avian with dropped feathers and his body sagging.
“I don’t like where this is going…” Said Luke concerned.
“… And, as you know, we are creatures of longevity, a blessing and a curse at the same time. The love they shared lasted for over a century, and with some issues, they managed to create their first brood. A little over 150 children were born, out of that usually 10% reach sapience upon maturity. A humble amount, but enough for a loving couple.” … silence took place after that as all three stood there in uncomfortable silence.
“So, what happened?” Asked Luke.
“Only 2 were left alive.” Like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, the news shocked Luke.
“What? WHY?” He demanded to know as veins started throbbing in his temples.
“War, The World War, second to be exact. While not comparable to the scale of the normals, the magical world also experienced some tumulus times, we also had our fair share of atrocities committed. With the invasion of the Nazis, their patrons came with them. A power struggle emerged and as our City of Hundred Bridges fell, new forces took over. Mostly the Germans, but other factions also did their share of violence. Even we, the Avian clan, went down the dark path to assure our survival…”
“But what does it have to do with Monsoon? Or his children?
“He and his wife occupied most of the underground caverns and river banks under the city, the “Sewers” you know did not truly exist before, it was barely one level deep self-expanding zone of influence. The caverns that feed it the energy to this day lay undisturbed and deep, deep underground. Barely connected by any passage…After the massacres ended, and the bodies started rotting on the streets, the city’s new rulers decided to implement new rules, plans, and structures. One of those would be the Sewers. A mass graveyard, a hatching place for a myriad of tormented and demented monsters that grew on death, filth, and suffering, an addition to their armies. And someone needed to build that, and to maintain that nightmare they dreamed up.”
“…” Luke just stared in silence, barely containing his rage and trying to hear the rest through the noise of his heartbeat and rushing blood filling out his ears.
“Remember, we experience time differently Beyond the Veil, here, the battles took over 2 decades as we tried, and failed to stop them. Monsoon… even with the advantage of his environment and his natural gifts, he could do nothing to stop them. His kind is not meant to battle, it is meant to protect and to live blissfully, with their mates. As he lost, he tried to resist their demands, but that was quickly sorted… they killed his wife, in front of him, as he lay crushed to the floor by the Atlantians’ feet and claws and was forced to watch her being torn apart and eaten alive.”
The rage was all-consuming, Luke had flashes of the man that brought him into this world, one of those damned creatures. His bones cracked under the tension of his clenched muscles and his teeth grinded loud enough to scare away the birds resting near them.
With concern, the Avian Lord continued, his voice filled with grief.
“That filled Monsoon with rage unknown to him before, the agony of loss overtook his mind. They were connected, on a level that you could not even begin to comprehend. And he felt it, he felt every bite, every snapped tendon, every tooth singing into her flesh as she silently wept for her husband’s future. He trashed like mad, and switched between begging them to kill him and threatening to kill them.”
The air around Luke crackled with sparks and distorted with heat as his skin sizzled from the barely contained power.
“A delicacy is what they called her and his kind. They knew that with how he was, he would be of no use. So they went on with their plan and brought into the great hall all of their children. You yourself have stepped into, the one with the mounds of trash, all of it is there to mask the blood stains and the memories of them being slaughtered one by one, dismembered, until he agreed to the slavery contract. He was Bound, forever to stay in the Sewers, maintain them and protect them. They were only satisfied with leaving two of his children alive that reached sentience and three that remained animalistic in nature. The injured, traumatized children were taken in by us, while the primal ones were released into the sewers. The price of their life was their fathers, forever bound and forbidden from seeing the light of day, to live every day in the slaughterhouse of his closest ones, right under the feet of his oppressors.”
Minutes passed in silence as all of them digested the memories of old.
Luke relaxed his fists, with blood dripping from his fingers that dug deeply into his palms. He exhaled, and the deep rumbling sound that came out was filled with ire and the promise of vengeance. The air and rocks he stood upon shook as he made an unspoken promise to himself, his mentors, and to the world.
With passion in his eyes, he looked back at his teachers, they visibly relaxed after his powers were contained by him. Jerzy even managed to hide his poisoned needles filled with sedatives before Luke noticed them. He stepped closer to Luke and patted him on his bulging with muscles and veins shoulders.
PAT PAT
“We understand how you feel, most of the old generation knows the story, we were all forced to watch it, they showed us their compiled memories and forced them into our heads. To humiliate him, to threaten us, to force even more compliance. A warning to those that would dare to resist.”
He exhaled shortly through his snout.
“Monsoon is forbidden to ever contact his family, they both left into the world long ago and the ones released into the bowels were never found, they have a spell burned into their cores, if their father ever leaves the sewers or kills himself they will be soon to follow after an excruciating torture inflicted upon their mortal bodies. Monsoon is a good guy, and quite lonely at that. He shuts himself in and relieves the horrors or fixates on a task so his mind can rest from the memories. When he found you, he probably viewed you just as another peculiar piece of shit washed onto his shores. After your story of wrecking the youngest of the Atlantians, he was overjoyed, we didn’t see him as excited in ages. Hearing your story, he probably wished for you to not experience what he has been through. I don’t know if he sees himself in you, or one of his children and I don’t care. You brought smiles to my tired old friend, the first smiles in a really long time. And for that, me and that bird over there thank you.”
The towering pale human just stood there, unsure what to say or do. No words came to his mind that would be appropriate at this moment.
The Avian soundlessly came closer to him, resting his spindly talons on his shoulder he commanded.
“Get up, walk with us.”
And so he did, the trio left the great halls, and as the gates were closing behind them the Sparrowling butlers blurred with movement, throwing themselves at the unfinished food and starting to clean up the place.
They walked in silence until they left the Great Oak, they crossed the island giving Luke some time to think about what he just heard. They passed a myriad of magical creatures, with hundreds of songs being chirped around them combining into one, harmonious song of jubilance.
As they left the tall grasses and the dense forest, they stepped onto the gravel and rocky-filled outer ring of the Island. With a crunch under their feet accompanying it, Luke asked.
“Can’t that contract be broken? Can he be released?”
“No, it is not a formal contact a lawyer could break. It…it was an oath, one bounding him to the world itself. Not something you can take back and live.”
“So what can I do?” he asked desperate.
Monsoon showed him so much kindness, even if it was to deal with his own trauma, Luke understood that feeling. He knew how much those hurt wanted to help others, he knew how trauma could terrify one into wanting to help others to not experience even a fraction of their own pain.
“Live, live in his place, enjoy the powers, enjoy the new world and possibilities you were granted.” Told him the bird lord.
“You can not visit him, not for a long time at least. The sewers are being watched and extra guarded. The expedition is still ongoing so practically no heavy hitters are on the surface but any sighting of a Void user or a suspicious individual may call someone back. Here-“ The Perun’s Messenger said as he gave an intricate necklace with Iridescent stone surrounded by dark metal to Luke. At the back of the necklace were tiny spikes that sucked in surrounding mana.
He looked at them confused.
“Put it on, it’s a parting gift from Him and from Us.” Said Jerzy.
As the surprisingly heavy chains rested on his neck, the amulet lay on his chest for a second, right above his collarbones. Then, it stung as the needles pierced his flesh and melded the jewelry to his body. He didn’t even flinch, as the item connected to his body he could feel it.
“A spatial item…” He said as he viewed in his mind the items he was given.
“And a personalized one at that! Butcher grew it from the crystals your body produces and cut away the space within to create…this… to be honest the process eludes me and listening to him talk is too creepy.” Jerzy said cheerfully.
“Within, you will find parting gifts from us and from Monsoon. We wish you safety and may happiness bless you” said the Avian transferng warmth and cozy feelings across the pathway.
“May Perun guard you, and may the winds be favorable to you.” Said Jerzy while extanding his hand towards him.
Luke shook it while answering.
“Thanks guys, I still feel totally unprepared for anything but I do appreciate the help, I am in your debt.”
“Oh, you are, but don’t worry, you will manage. Plus, what are some favors between friends.” Laughed Jerzy.
The Avian extended his spindly limb and wrapping the talons around Lukes massive hand he just said.
“So as a friend, find it in your heart to forgive us” said the bird monster with a chuckle.
“Forgive what?” and just as Luke asked that he felt a slight push.
Just enough to propel him out of the ledge.
Out of the whole flying island.
The island located kilometers above the city.
“YOU FUCKERS!” he screamed as he dropped downwards rapidly, with wind whistling in his ears.
The two fuckers in question peaked from the ledge and screamed.
“Good luck! You are going to need it!” they both exclaimed.
As the boy disappeared between the clouds of pollution, they started talking between each other casually.
“Good kid, a bit of a cunt, but good kid.”
“Quite… apt description.” Said the avian.
“Did you teach him how to fly?” asked the spiky ball.
“Nope, not at all.” Said the pigeon while gleefully stepping from one foot to another.
They both laughed and went back to the tree to continue their celebratory meeting.
