CHAPTER 5

It's a rare occurrence, but there's always a few minutes that the seraphs let Zai have for her own. It was hard to live like her, what with the constant experiments that her fellow seraphs are conducting to her, but she loved the few minutes that they give her to sit alone at the edge of the temple where she's being experimented on. She hates every being that lives in that place, hates how everyone turns their heads when they see her and acts holy whenever a fellow mythical being would come to their place, she hates how everyone would act sweetly to the beings that would come and see the experiment that is her as if she's not also one of them, but despite the hatred that she's been harboring for decades, there was always this sound that she can never hate.

Whenever she sits alone with her thoughts, there would be this sound that sounded like someone's flapping their wings so loud for her to hear, to invite her to fly with them, or the howling of a fenris wolf that always sounded so sad in her ears, sometimes, she hears a low bark of a nine-tailed fox or the occasional roar of a dragon that she later on learned that those four sounds came from the same mythical being that she is yet to meet.

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Zai woke up in a room that she doesn't recognized, but before all of her senses would be on guard, she heard a slow padding of feet outside the room she's in that she can recognize as Hwayatt's. She didn't have to wait for long before the door opened revealing her friend who is carrying a basin and a stranger at her back who is carrying what she thinks is food because of the sweet aroma that came with them when they opened the door.

"Oh, you're awake." Hwayatt said with a smile before putting the basin at the near-by table and removed the rug in her forehead that she didn't notice. "Can you move?" she asked her, Zai felt her heavy limbs before nodding and Hwayatt helps her sit and help her drink some water that her companion didn't approved of but couldn't exactly voice out her disapproval to their princess.

"What just happened?" Zai asks when her dry throat is finally quenched with what felt like a magical water but not actually magical, sue her she's just thirsty and dramatic.

"You've been in and out of consciousness for days, we tried to give you some food and water when you were awake but the healers said that you're not exactly conscious and your human body can't contain your new found powers so it kinda made your body adjust to your new form that's why you were out for so long." Hwayatt explains as she wipes Zai's temple. "You just had your first fever and I don't know if I should congratulate you or not." She jokes. Zai laughs at this and told her to stop wiping her face since she's not hot anymore.

"Its been weeks since I had this body though, don't you think that its kind of late for it to like reject my human body?" Zai asks. "It is. But your senses are all working when you were in the cave so you were kinda hyper-aware of your surroundings and is ready to attack if something bad happens which didn't actually happen because you were aware that no one's gonna kill you, but anyways, you didn't felt the consequences then because your instincts are forbidding you to fall asleep." A newcomer says. "I'm Kale, the head healer of this place." He introduces.

"Well, you know who I am." Zai says bitterly when she recognizes him as the one who injected her the poisons. "Ah yes, I apologize for what happened at the caves, we're just really cautious when it comes to the Nebulas." He says. Zai frowns at this "And what even made you say that I am one of them? Damn, if I am one of the bad guys then one of you have died at that cave." Zai says in a controlled voice to not show her irritation.

"Apologies for that, miss. But anyone who is connected to the moon is considered as dark beings and none of the light beings has wings as dark as yours." He explains with a regretful look that didn't actually soften Zai's irritation. She feels Hwayatt hold her hand to comfort her and she squeezes her hand as a thank you. "And the dark beings have wings like mine?" she asks. Kale shakes his head as a no, "We never actually saw anyone with wings like you in this part of the realm but with how the dark king is experimenting on hybrids, we don't question the new things that we see when it comes to the Nebulas."

"Interesting." Is Zai's only response as she massages her temple for the sudden headache.

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Hwayatt is out playing with the kids and helping them make flower crowns when she hears a commotion that the kids don't seem to hear. She looks around and everything seems to be normal except for the worried whispers of the elders and the change of the wind that is likely to be caused by the sylphs.

"Is everything alright, your Highness?" an elf asks as she puts the flower crown on Hwayatt's head. Everyone's looking at her now so she smiles at them and tell them that everything is okay before saying her goodbyes because she needs to talk to the elders. The kids happily let her and continued doing their thing.

"What's happening?" she asks when she reaches where Gobias and the others are. A series of "your highness" is heard and bows before Gobias started talking. "A light being's head is found at the base of the mountain." He says grimly. Hwayatt gasps at this before looking back at the kids and back to everyone, "Who found it? Are they okay?" she asks. "Yes, your highness. One of the fairies wondered outside of the barrier and found the head, some of sylphs went to help in securing the area and it seems like the dark king has left one of his warnings again to tell us to surrender or all of us will die." Gobias says with anger that all of them could see.

"Can I talk to the fairy who found your fellow being?" A voice said behind Hwayatt, she doesn't need to turn around because she knows by years of being together that Zai would always come beside her.

"Why would we let one of us near you?" someone snarky says from the back of the crowd, a few agrees to this. Zai remains impassive as she stares at Gobias.

"Shut it. I won't tolerate any of you disrespecting my best friend." Hwayatt grits at the people who is glaring at Zai, her glare alone made everyone bow their heads and mutters an apology.

"Of course. I'll let someone summon her here, she'll be here in a few minutes." Gobias says and it seems like the fairy can feel the tension in the air so not a minute has gone by and they can already feel her presence coming near them.

"You called for me, your highness?" said the fairy as she transforms into her human form and bows to Hwayatt. "She did." She tells the fairy as she gestures Zai and the fairy looks at the other with a questioning gaze.

Zai offers her hand that the fairy looks at wondering, "May I?" she asks and it's then that the fairy understands what she means so she shows her palm and Zai holds it after tracing something that only she knows, Hwayatt watches her friend as she ignores the few groans of displeasure at the crowd.

After what felt like an hour, but actually just a minute, Zai opens her eyes that Hwayatt didn't notice if when did she closed them. Her eyes were glowing with a few golden specks around her iris and she started walking towards the crowd. The crowd parted and follows her with their gaze and when she's a few distance away from everyone, she spreads her wings, giving everyone a view of her majestic wings and with a strong flap, she's already gone, leaving a strong wind that some of them have to cover their eyes to protect it from dust particles.

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When Zai reaches the end of the forest, where she knows where the barrier is placed, she slowly approaches it and lifted her arms to feel the subtle magic that is pouring out of the invisible dome. She overheard the elves talking about it to Hwayatt, they said that the barrier was made by the greatest wizard that ever lived centuries ago so no one could ever feel or see it but Zai has always been an aberration, a freak of nature – a phrase that some of the elders has called her when they think that she couldn't hear them.

She raises both of her arms and slowly feels the barrier, and when she deems it safe to cross, she takes a slow step out of the safety of the dome and a low crackle of magic is heard, a signal that alerts the original residents of Aelfrun that someone has left or entered the forest.

The air has changed a little bit, Zai notices. Aelfrun's air is light and refreshing especially for her wings, but the air that greeted her is heavier, thicker and a low buzz of danger is lingering in the air and it's making her instincts alert at anything. She slowly walks at the direction of where she saw at the fairy's memory, the area where they found the head. Some small animals ran away when she approaches the area, taking away some things that Zai doesn't want to know, it's already clean from any remnants of the dead but she can still smell the lingering odor of blood and what she can remember as the smell of that monster who attacked her and Hwayatt at the beach that felt so long ago already.

She kneels at the ground and examines the area, she saw a dried blood left on a leaf and without thinking, she touches it.

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"Should we go after your friend, your highness?" Gobias asks when Hwayatt didn't make any move to follow Zai's disappearing presence. It shocked everyone, how fast her presence is leaving the area as if she was never around, he could notice some of his fellow elves and nature nymphs trying to scent the air but none of them can catch Zai's scent anymore, it's then that he realized how strong the black winged being is and maybe, just maybe, after years of hiding and enslavement, together with the return of their princess, they might finally have a chance on the impending war and they might actually win this time.

"Let her be. She would appreciate it if we leave her alone until she returns." Hwayatt says and before someone can ask more about what her friend would be doing, she starts asking about how tight their security is and if someone's rounding the ends of their barrier to make sure that none of the dark beings is lurking around Aelfrun.

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Zai returns in the middle of the night with a pounding headache. She hates it, she knows that her body is still adjusting but she can't fully control her abilities yet so it always leaves her with a headache when she forces to use them, even just a simple use of her retrocognition can give her a headache and forcing and using it for a long time gives her a too much pain and she just vomited her guts out before coming back to Aelfrun.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to call Kale or anyone?" Hwayatt says when she notices her friend in the dark corner of their cabin. Zai uses the wall as a support for her to stand up straight, "No, I just need to wait for this headache to pass and I'll be alright." She answers before breathing deeply and opens her eyes. They are glowing, Hwayatt notices and the golden sparks are still present in Zai's eyes. The elf went and helps her friend towards her room. "Do you want me to get you anything?" she asks again and Zai groans when they reach her bed. "All I need in this moment is sleep and for this fucking headache to disappear." She mumbles and plants her head to the pillows as she sighs deeply. "Finally." She says before falling into deep slumber and Hwayatt smiles at her friend before slowly exiting the room and making a mental note to call for a healer first thing in the morning.