Meat eaters

They shape-shifted again, those newborns. Not to a fourth form however, that would be pretty overdone. They just shifted back into that demonic form, and sported their intimidating black-red colors.

"You can already fly around, huh? Plenty of birds could never do that this early." Arila said and squeaked with joy as well.

In the meantime, Gustav could barely grasp what a bird was. He saw some tiny animals fly around in these fields before, but was never introduced to what they actually were.

He could just nod along now, and act smart as he added. "Yes, birds are so dumb, and probably don't even have wings like you. Haha!"

In response, Arila, and a couple more lady guards started giggling frantically. Oblivious towards why they were excited, he just started laughing along with them. Pretty loudly too which enhanced a group-spread, hardy laugh.

After a while, his lady said. "You have no idea what birds are, that's so cute!"

Embarrassingly, Gustav added. "Well, back home I saw flying fish. Does that count?" 

"No... kinda, but it's ok! I'll introduce you to some birds later, but I doubt that we can catch one." She softly said.

This embarrassing laugh they all shared, temporarily steered them away from a better topic, one which already bloomed. 

These demons were already capable and almost independent too, so that was the topic! Although they expected such a kickstart from them, it was still staggering!

Nature didn't quite work like that. Most animals would die off in the first few hours, if they were left alone in the wild right after birth. 

Death was a cruel, and constantly recurring fate across all life, it didn't spare children on account of their innocence, no. Everything was fair game when death lurked around the corner, but yet, these newborn demons seemingly lived only to fight off the cycle of nature itself! 

"They're amazing," He thought, but couldn't really muster up any words.

The science behind this form of existence was bizarre. It did, however, remind once more just why Gustav's guts were so unique. From the clear looks of it, he could give birth to some superior species! 

"Look at them go," He celebrated.

The demons beamed around the room without a care in the world. Their wings were agile, so they could take plenty of sharp turns with ease, and did quite a few barrel-rolls too while in flight!

"This gives me an idea," Gustav mumbled.

Arila casually overheard him, and immediately intervened. "Maybe they should be a bit more ready, before you try out any 'ideas'? They're not as big as a lamb, like those guys over there."

She referred to the demonic moles, who also enjoyed being around family. They understood a couple of languages too, so they smirked almost viciously when their names were mentioned.

"Ready, how? Should babies eat a lot of meat already?" Gustav asked.

"Not sure… I want to breastfeed them, but it probably doesn't work like that, because I was never pregnant." Arila followed along.

"My body doesn't work like that either, woman!" He embarrassingly argued.

Regardless of this cute little debate, the general idea was still smart, although it seemed rushed at the moment. He wanted to put these newborns into use by asking them to fly high above the ocean, just to get a better sense of where the sunken spaceship might be!

It could be dangerous, even for anyone who wasn't a baby. This was why Arila insisted to be cautious, and it took little talking to figure out what she wanted; The newborns had to be prepared before going anywhere, for common logic's sake. 

Of course, there was still the matter of figuring out what these newborns wanted to eat. They could shape-shift into three forms, so it felt impossible to guess what their digestive tract favored. 

Such a species was unheard of, and it would be considered a genetic mutation by some! 

"They're part rhino, so... what do you guys eat?" Gustav asked, as they had to start from somewhere. 

"I don't know... meat? Sometimes apples, and we really love carrots! It's not easy to grow enough carrots for the whole village, though." Arila slowly answered.

It seemed like a far stretch to feed babies with carrots, especially since these babies were part demonic. A carnivorous sense idled in their mind somewhere, without a doubt!

At this point, even though it sounded irresponsible and stupid, the best idea was to feed them raw meat!

The newborns got excited too! They kept chanting a single word, which they recognized. "Meat! Meat!"

It was difficult to ignore such a direct demand, they wanted meat. With sheep meat being more than common thanks to the countless farmers, they managed to get some right away!

The guards fetched a leg of meat, which had been softly boiled for a while now. It needed some frying, but these babies didn't seem to be picky.

They started chewing on the food right away, but weren't as vicious in comparison. After a little while, they were full. Chances were that they only ate a few ounces of food, and yet they still grew by an inch!

The difference in size wasn't so drastic now, but still somewhat noticeable!

Gustav was impressed nonetheless, and he insisted. "My little girls look ready to me! Look at them, even their wings got a little bit fatter!"

Arila was still a bit skeptical, but she sighed and gave in. "I don't know if that's a good thing, but you got me convinced. You can 'borrow' our children for a little while, but they can't fly over the ocean."

"So like, I should just let them fly really high above land?" Gustav asked, and didn't know how that would be useful.

"Yes, but don't let them fly for long. The birds you want to see are up in the sky as well, and they could chew our kids up." She explained.

"Well shit, then I guess we'll be guarding them from the ground. Blasters should help!" He plotted.

Gustav felt really guilty about putting them in danger, as they were newborns after all, regardless of their capabilities. Action had to be taken, however, or else any alien threat could wipe out his entire family!