Day three of our journey concluded. The fourth day of our journey was underway. I gained a new friend, but neither of us were able to use an element as of yet. Still, my friend's eyes looked mean, and she glared at Enora.

We had entered a flat plains area again, and the Beastkin reservation was still a day away. While looking towards the south, I could still see the giant redwood trees in the distance from the window. If those were on Earth, they would have been one of the great wonders.

I placed my hand on Enora’s thigh as she complained about Nychibi quietly. She smiled gently at me. Her smile that revealed her vampire lineage was my shining star. It was so bright that I blushed and looked away back out the window.

As the carriage bounced once more, I saw specs in the distance. Tiny numerous dots were coming from the Redwoods. It was as though a swarm of flies had graced the landscape with their presence. I looked back towards Enora, but she was already squinting her eyes at the dots so far away.

“Pegasus…”

“You mean all of those are flying horses!?” I couldn’t really make them out from such a distance, but I got excited about the prospect of meeting such majestic creatures. Though looking back at Enora, she didn’t share my excitement. Her face was filled with worry.

“Nychibi, does this kingdom have Pegasus riders?” She asked the green harpy.

“The Fallen Kingdom has a few, but they are so hard to tame that only the higher ups would have them.”

Enora looked back out of the window towards the specs that were steadily growing in size as they came nearer.

“This is bad. Very bad.” She opened the shutter towards the coachman’s seat. “Ethora, stop the carriage. We won’t reach the reservation in time.”

As the carriage ground to a halt, dust sprayed our surroundings. I started to panic from Enora's tone and the realization that these Pegasus riders were likely not on our side.

“39…40.” Nychibi said as she hopped out of the carriage in the direction of the Pegasus riders. “The kingdom wouldn’t employ that many, and if they did, I would have heard about it.”

“Ethora!”

“Yes, miss Enora?”

“Take refuge in the carriage. You should as well, Melle.”

“No! I won’t leave your side. I am an adventurer now too.” I said but what could I even do? I didn’t even know how to use my element yet, and the specs were getting closer and louder. I was already starting to hear the steady flapping of their wings.

I could finally make out the riders on the backs of the horses, and all of them were bird people. A few of them were armored to the beak. Golden chains were strapped to the bird people at the helm.

Enora became louder this time. “Get in the carriage, Melle!”

She was resolved to face an unknown enemy, despite her visible worry. I didn’t want to leave them alone.

“Do as she says!” Even my newly gained friend wasn’t an ally.

From behind Ethora placed a hand on my shoulder. “Come, miss Melle. We shouldn’t get in their way.”

“Okay…” I said in defeat. I realized that the only thing I would be able to do is get in their way. I was a regular human, and I hated fighting. The only thing I had was magic power, but even that was useless if I couldn’t use it.

I looked down at my hand as I once again tried to push my element out, but the only thing that came was a small mana burst. Enora placed her hand on my cheek. I looked at her through my eyes that had started to become blurry. I couldn’t stand being a weight.

“Please be strong for me, Melle. I love you, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. That is why I need you to wait in there with Ethora.”

“I also love you, and that is why I hate this.”

Enora kissed my cheek and smiled at me gently. “I told you already, remember? I am strong. I will protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“Okay…Please stay safe…If something bad happens to you, I could never forgive myself.”

Her response was a simple nod as Ethora pulled me into the carriage and shut the door. In the next moment they were upon us. The Pegasus riders had landed on the grass with a loud rumble, and soon their leader spoke.

I felt bad for forcing Melle into the carriage. I knew she hated feeling useless, but I had a major bad feeling about these birds as they dismounted their flying horses.

“I know that bird…” Nychibi said as their leader stepped forward. “Who are you!? Come closer, and I will skewer you where you stand!” Nychibi said as she cast her glare at their leader.

“My leader didn’t say you would be here, too,” the armored bird said.

“What are you talking about!?”

“My, don’t you think it is rude to forget a face, Nychibi?” The brown bird with golden chainmail adorning his body smirked.

“I have never seen your face before! How do you know my name!?”

Nychibi’s yelling did nothing to remove the grin from his face.

“I would have thought I left a huge impression on you after our last meeting. You know, your father gave our leader quite the thrashing ten years ago. Of course, I had my fair share of battle that day dealing with your tribe. It was honestly quite a pain, and I don’t really like fighting. I don’t want to fight either of you, so how about we make a deal?” His sadistic grin returned to his scarred face.

Nychibi had started trembling as she looked at him with pure hatred. “A deal? I have a deal to make with you already.”

“Oh?” His query provoked the other birds behind him into laughter, and I could tell something was coming.

“Nychibi, dont!”

It was too late. My words were too slow, and my hesitation had caused the inevitable. A loud crack of thunder resounded from Nychibi’s position as she took off like a raging thunderbird. Her speed was faster than ever before, and it was clear the reason why. She had used her element. The wind propelled her at the speed of a sniper rifle right into the enemy.

Never before had I felt such anger as when my parents' killers stood in front of me. My mind tried to think rationally, but it kept reverting to that day. The flames of the village, the screams of my fellow harpies, all of it played in my mind.

“…I don’t want to fight either of you, so how about we make a deal?” The group that had caused me to suffer stood in front of me, and their leader wanted a deal?

“A deal? I have a deal to make with you already.” My body betrayed my mind that was failing to keep up rational thought.

I shivered all over in a torrential rage. The rage poured into me like Melle’s own water element. The wind blowing over the clearing brought a moment of clarity to my shattered mind, but the winds of my heart were anything but calm.

My winds had become raging thunder as I poured mana into my feet. I tore through the air, becoming the winds of wrath, arriving right in front of the large brown bird with my claws outstretched. I would destroy that stupid grinning beak. Despite all of the momentum from my take off he blocked my wing with his own.

The collision of wings created an echoing boom across the grasslands, and his smirk became wider. “Juran, pleased to make your reacquaintance.”

His introduction was followed by a kick aimed straight at the side of my torso. The only thing I could do was put my other wing to block, but the kick was too heavy. The weight was too much for my wing to bear, and I felt the bones shatter as I was sent flying.

I clenched my teeth and turned my head to relocate Juran from the air, but he was gone.

“Right here, brat!”

I was in disbelief. He was faster than my initial takeoff from finally using my element, and he was right above me, talons aimed right at my throat.

Everything I had done was for nothing. I became a B-rank adventurer. I defeated so many monsters to get stronger. I fought Enora, and I lost. I learned my element just to get vengeance, and now it was my turn to join my parents.

“You won’t die on me yet, chibi.”

A dark black hand grabbed the foot of death looming above me. The misty hand clenched tightly to Juran’s foot, before whipping him through the air towards the other birds standing on ceremony. The bastards retreated to the air in a confusion of squawks and feathers to avoid Juran, who had become Enora’s hammer. His own Pegasus wasn’t so lucky as it was crushed beneath his weight.

Just as I heard the sound of the creature’s bones snapping, I collided into the ground. “Ugh…”

The world spun round and round. My eyes became clouded from the dirt, and I could tell that at least one of my ribs had broken. My vision started to go blurry, and my head was still spinning even after I had stopped spinning.

I lifted my head as much as I could from the grass I was forced to eat. I saw Enora standing there, glaring at the enemy. The birds that were close to her in the air were unlucky. Her Shadow hands had gripped their legs, and 15 of them were caught in her web of shadow.

“That’s right,” I said. She was stronger than me.

The remaining 39 pegasi had taken off in fright back towards their home in the redwoods after witnessing the death of their own. The birds caught in Enora’s grasp were delivered from life straight into the hands of death. Death’s carrier pigeon delivered their end through the ground itself as they were slammed down.

The black hands of death returned to their master, becoming a mist that surrounded Enora’s feet.

Like those hands, my vision started to become black. Was this all of my rage and vengeance would amount to? I couldn’t reach my papa. I couldn’t even overcome my tribe’s murderers. I coughed up blood, staining the greenery below in crimson.

Move. Move. “Move!”

I willed my weak body into motion, forcing myself to my knees. With the ones I hated the most in this world before me, I couldn’t afford to rest.

“I won’t let you!” I yelled out into the wind, willing myself to my feet.

“Nychibi! Get to the carriage!” Enora yelled back.

“I won’t let you have my revenge…”

I walked forward. The motion of battle had halted, but I wouldn’t be stopped. I stumbled forward even as the metallic taste filled my mouth.

“Kill her, and we’ll take the princess. Quickly!” One of the four birds in the sky called out.

My rage filled determination to kill all of the Golden Wing Bandits before me gave me the boost needed to use my element. The wind heeded my command to propel me from the ground towards the issuer of that heinous order. Even without a usable wing I took to the sky.

If I was going to see my parents again, then I would at least take him with me. The memory of my village in flames and my wind was enough to fuel the raging fire of my heart, and it burned stronger than the black flames of Kalameet. He didn’t react in time as my head rammed into his chest, covered in plate armor. My momma had always said that me and papa were hard headed, so now was the time to use that to my advantage.

The bastard grunted, and I knew that my hit had done the trick from the crunching sound of the bones in his chest, despite his armor. Still, my own skull rattled from the impact, and my consciousness was fading fast.

“...Coming…with…me…” I managed to choke out as I filled my usable wing with sharp wind, before severing his own wing from his body.

The bird let loose a guttural screech and fell toward the ground.

I knew from this height we would both die if we fell, or at the very least he would die from blood loss while Enora finished off the other bags of shit. I was out of fuel, and I plunged towards the ground fast.

Before my vision faded, I felt water.