[Chapter 11] - Wings of Liberation - Part 2
Year 952, day 330, Elfen territory , Predatory forest, 17h.
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"I can! I need to have the courage to do that. " , Think Whiger .
At the top of a cliff approximately thirty meters high, the tiger boy is at the edge of it. Thin, with short legs like those of a dwarf and long, thin arms.
"The time is now."
A layer of thick skin appears all over your arm and attaches from your wrist to your knee. Then, another layer of skin appears gradually connecting your two open legs.
The boy looks at the bottom of the abyss and feels the abyss looking back at him. He takes a step forward, reaching the edge of the cliff.
"Courage!"
He flexes his legs well and jumps forward with all his might, throwing himself into free fall, spreading his arms and legs. Seen from below, he looks like a very large and weird bat. The wind hits your skin and makes you glide, losing altitude very slowly. He flaps his arms in an attempt to climb, but it is very tiring and does not rise more than a few centimeters. Giving up trying to gain altitude, he decides to enjoy the flight.
The landscape is incredible. The village far away is small, as are the trees nearby. The distant vegetation is the size of ants. Tears stream from the boy's eyes, all he can think is that his parents would be very happy to see him like this now.
Unsure of flying without Kalui's power for the first time, Whiger keeps his eyes open for a small crack and as soon as he really opens them, emotion and excitement take over. He directs his head down and closes his arms, free-falling for a few seconds until he opens his fur cloak again and continues to glide at high speed, watching the beautiful landscape in awe and smiling.
After a few minutes of a flight full of maneuvers, he finally arrives on the forest floor. His long arms and short legs make his hands crawl on the floor. The layer of thick skin that formed for him to fly is very grotesque when his arms and legs are not open.
Leaning against a tree, the sensei was waiting for the boy.
— Dude ... I'm amazing! — exclaims the child.
Lucy approaches by clapping her hands slowly.
— Congratulations, Whiger ! — He stares at the boy for a few seconds. — Aren't you going to go back to normal?
The boy's arms slowly return to their original size with the growth of his legs. Your muscles start to inflate until you reach the state they were in before. Now, Whiger is back to being a slightly muscular and tall boy.
— Now yes! You did great! I thought it would break all the way on the first try! Hahahah !
The boy looks seriously at his master and says:
— I want to go further! I ... I want wings!
"This boy..."
— Whiger , wings are a much deeper hole below. Becoming a four-legged being is already a remarkable achievement for your age, but the difficulty of creating a completely new member is very absurd! Maybe transforming your arms into wings is not so difficult, but I don't know if I could handle flying like that with this structure. The birds' bodies are very different. You would have to create complex wings in a completely different system than you are used to. I never tried to create wings because creating something from scratch is very difficult. Transforming is absolutely more realistic.
With a stubborn look and firm stance, Whiger answers him:
— Sensei! I will have wings. I don't want to lose any members for that. I want to be superior to birds! I will have wings and my arms!
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Year 952, day 331, Elfen territory , Gharfien village , 09h.
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In front of the old man's house, Lucy is stopped, wondering whether or not hit the wooden door. Behind him, children play catch and one of them controls the water in a bucket to wet his little friends. People of the most varied eye colors walk through the village.
The man knocks on the door and is immediately answered by the elder, who invites him in.
— So, what do you want so soon, dear Lucy? — He says as he sits in his padded chair in the living room.
He bows slightly as a sign of respect and asks:
— I'll go straight to the point, Mr. Elder. Respectfully, can I ask you a question?
— Sit down and say, feel free.
— Sir, did you really manage to fly off the ground when you were younger?
The village leader leans forward and replies:
— What would you do if I said yes?
Lucy is amazed and says frantically:
— The Whiger boy is relatively prodigious, but he is the most hardworking and obstinate I have ever met. He tests new things without fear and it becomes a defect because he is so thirsty for strength that he is. The boy put it in his head that he will have wings and in order not to end up hurting himself, I prefer to help. Do you have any tips?
— Hm ... Young Whiger ... Roldi told us that he is very good but he grew up with better friends than him and has no idea of that. Raising wings and feathers is very complex, but it is not impossible. As he is a new member, even creating nerves and everything from scratch, he is relatively calm compared to other things. The difficulty is in being something more ... Anyway, I can teach him if I want to.
Exalted, he replies:
— But sir, why don't you fly then ?!
— You don't know about my illness? — The confused old man asks. — Well, it's no secret. When I was younger, at the age of eighty, I started to get tired all the time and then I discovered that my body could no longer digest things properly. Almost everything I eat I vomit, so I eat very little and rest almost all the time. So I use this shape without muscles and lean, to save energy. Besides, even with a huge five meter wing, you can't fly without running hard or jumping from a very high place.
— Sorry for the question ... Do you think there are many people capable of creating wings and flying around the world?
— It is a really complex thing to do, many bones and muscles of the back need to be molded to make room for the creation and support of wings and to do this without any example to copy, it is ... But yes, I imagine that many people in the process of history have succeeded, but people rarely want to share that knowledge and they won't all be able to do it. Anyway, bring it here after your classes.
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Year 952, day 360, Elfen territory , Gharfien village , 09h.
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This past month has been very repetitive for Kalui and Kahyu . Every day they wake up at 7 am, train until they die and come home. At night, life takes on color, as they play with the other children in the village. Today again, as scheduled, it is a day of hand-to-hand fighting worth anything.
— Enough rest. You two, get ready for the fight.
— Yes sir! — Children respond.
The two stand ten meters apart and stretch, squatting, stretching their legs, stretching their arms up and touching their feet with their legs stretched out.
— All right. Now, get —
A high-pitched roar is heard. Startled, Roldi exclaims:
— Kahyu , cover us with earth! Now!
The two children look around, confused and afraid.
— Now, Kahyu ! Now!
The girl awakens and creates an oval earth ceiling covering the three.
Roldi covers the children's mouths and says in a whisper:
— Lower your voice!
— What's it? — Asks Kalui .
— That roar is definitely from Ledakan . Asam Ledakan . An unfortunate bird that spits acid. You might have defeated it easily, but you might also have been melted before anything else. He is not like the Argentavis , which only had size and speed. The Ledakan has protective scales all over its body and the animal's head is so big that it swallows you up. It was the acid he spits at insane speed and the claws. In short, let him pass in peace and we will go to the village to tell you that there is one of these here. They are rare to see and when they appear, the Guild sends a group to exterminate it as soon as possible. When he comes out of his caves it is to hunt and feed his son and usually feed him meat.
Frightened, Kalui replies:
— But ... We are so skinny!
— He doesn't hunt humans specifically, he takes what appears in front of him and that includes the cattle of farmers.
The sounds of his roar and spit of acid are agonizing. Sometimes it seems that it is very close, sometimes it seems that it is far away. After a few minutes, the lasting silence takes over again.
Kahyu breaks a small gap in the ceiling and the three of them stick their faces to see something, but nothing is seen. Everything is calm and peaceful. When the roof is undone and the three look away into the sky, they see the distant flying animal, with a wing of about twelve meters in wingspan and a beautiful gray plumage, a huge head, a small white trunk compared to the rest of the body, in addition to a long tail; with the exception of the wings, the animal is scaly.
— Now the question is: What was he attacking?