The lake

A light in the distance

Small and flickering like a flame, although he of course had never seen an actual flame this description seemed apt

While small, the light shone like the sun in his usually pitch-black vision, like a sunset. It was a waving mess of grey and purple flickers had another seen this they may have believed it to be simply a natural phenomenon such as the willow wisp but he knew better

There was no way a flame that could be perceived by a blind creature was natural in any way, not to mention that the tugs that had been directing him for some time seemed to be directly aimed at the small light

There is no such thing as coincidence, not for him. Whatever his gift was, he knew it was his for a reason, even if he didn't know why, just as he knew that there was likely a reason his mother was dead before he was even born

Dragging his eyes from the light, he closed them and instead drew his wings from his back, raising his arms and capping them as hard as possible, ignoring the light clicking of bones that he felt as he did so. The lake in front of him was far too much of an uncertain environment for him to use the usual technique of echolocation, this required as much detail as possible.

Honestly, it would not be all that difficult to simply swim across the river, judging from its size, it would not take long, especially seeing as he had a quadrupedal form, to which swimming came naturally and judging by how little the floating blobs within it (corpses likely) moved between his bursts of sound the current was likely dead or non-existent

However, he had no idea what could reside within its waters, and seeing as he was barely the size of a human torso, the race he had discovered his mother belonged to, any creature with a strong grip could likely drag him to the depths or even potentially swallow him whole

Leaving him with two options, take the safe and slow route of going around the river or taking the much quicker and riskier path of using the floating debris and bodies as stepping stones

Normally he would follow the logic and take the safer route but there were far too many variables concerning his goal, all he saw from here was light, not what it actually was, it could be a small fire or object, and could be easily moved by the time he had circumvented the river

Besides due to his small form, he had a much higher chance of skipping across the river than he would at another time.

Deciding he clapped his wings once more, in order to identify the closest floater, a small log just to his left, walking over to in front of it he knelt back onto his hind legs, winding up power before pouncing on it, clapping his wings behind him to push him further and using his claws to grasp a tight hold once he landed

This technique ensured not only his safe landing but also allowed for him to find the next "Stepping stone" while still in the air, which just happened to be the nearby corpse of some unidentified animal

waiting until his momentum had pushed the log as close as possible to his next target he then hopped onto it, as quickly and gently as possible. Although obviously not gently enough as he felt a squishy and wet feeling assault his left hand as it slammed straight through the decaying and waterlogged flesh of the animal and straight into its entrails, creating a hole that quikly filled with water

Deciding to move quickly he jumped immediately to the next piece of debris, a large branch that slightly cracked and began to sink upon his landing. Cursing himself for not factoring in the existing rot into his plan of using the debris as a path he began to speed up, jumping from piece to peise and growing more and more desperate as the sunk and crumbled below him

However the closer and closer he got to the center of the river, the older the rubble and fetid remains grew, causing them to shatter and tare upon his landings, speeding him up further! Soon he was running and jumping at the fastest speed his legs would allow, flapping his wings behind him for an increase in speed!

It was a shame he was of yet unable to fly, his body at present was far too large for his wings and his feathers had yet to molt and be replaced with proper feathers used for flight

And as he got closer and closer to the edge of the lake and the light got brighter and brighter, his heart pumped faster and faster until he was panting with exertion and made one final jump as he ran out of stepping stones and slammed into the cold water of the lake's edge, paddling the final stretch before the shallows and finally dragging himself to dry land to regain his breath

After a while, his heart slowed and he stooped panting, calming himself as he pulled himself up, his still not fully matured muscles screaming in protest as he walked/crawled over to the now bright light, its purple and grey glow burning his eyes as he experienced it for the first time up close and as he saw the object in front of him, awash in light one word came to mind

He knew not what it meant

"Father"

And then all went black