Pain had a strange way of shining through any gap possible...
I had no girlfriend, no friends at all… The wings were aching like hell, and… well… many things were painful…
Being an outcast sounded cool, at least before you become one…
The dream of being a person with no bonds or obligations, ride with the winds… like a bird…
That dream is crap! I got the wings, but I’ll be damned if I got them flapping fast enough!
Some stiff-suited, high-ranking counselor came to our door shortly after my little “incident”.
It was a red piece of paper that was handed to my mother. He left without even saying a word.
Red was not a good sign… I remember my detention slips…
Uncle Zaz was going to “grease” my wings that day, so I might be able to use them, hopefully.
But he had to focus on mom, after he saw the red note. I was curious as hell!
Nobody would tell me what it was! I finally got a glimpse of it’s contents at the end of the day… Mom was to do another ritual of bloodright. A freaking pit-fight, in defense of MY honor… This shook me up just as much as it did mom… It was tomorrow, at starshine. All rituals were at starshine…
It was unfair… I’m old enough to fend for myself! Why must they torture my mother for something THEIR children drove ME into?!
It was fucking bullshit to me!
Mom was wearing her earth-clothes again, like last time. They were a bit ripped, but she was still covered. And the trenchcoat…
Why didn’t they tell me?
Uncle Zaz knew that I knew something important was going on, and simply didn’t have the heart to let me know what was going on before it was too late. Mom had told him not to, but he took me to see the ritual…
Virtually everyone were at the arena. Even HER…
Mom stood there, middle of the pit, firm as a rock.
Then, a behemoth of a Star-Gazer comes in. He had a staff… Weapons weren’t allowed! They even searched mom for concealed ones!
Mom throws the trenchcoat… A metallic liquid runs down her arms. I’d never seen anything like it before… The fight begun…
Mom lunged at the monster, but he smacked her aside with his staff.
She was out cold.
This was too much for me… I had to get to her!
The crowd was cheering on the butcher… as he stuck the blunt staff’s end through mom’s abdomen…
Something snapped… again…
I climbed atop those who stood in front of me, then lunged forth. My wings secured a long, smooth jump… I wasn’t myself anymore… I was thirsty…
The slaughter-pit was enormous, so I ran… I was perfectly aware of what was happening. I’ve never perceived anything more clearly than right then and there. The drowning chants of the masses were filtered out. I only heard my panting for air, and my feet kicking off the ground… faster and faster…
I felt my teeth grow to sharp razors…
I felt my claws growing into savage murder-weapons…
I felt my heart pounding like a jackhammer…
I felt my mother was in pain…
My feet left the ground, my hands were thrown up to catch the bastard…
I mowed him down like a rotten tree. My hands flew back and forth, over and over… like a chain-saw…
Eating deeper and deeper into the tree…
Ripping chunks, big and meaty…
I bent down to soothe my thirst… His screams abruptly stopped, as did those of the spectators. A huge chunk of his throat was gone…
I’ve tasted better…
The leaders of this wannabe-vendetta sat there in their VIP-seats, mute as stone. The staff stood firmly in the ground, through my half-dead mother.
Uncle Zaz and aunt Eve pops out of the masses and jumps into the pit.
I stood by mom’s side… I felt so helpless… So scared… So seriously pissed off… Zaz immediately starts treating mom… Eve tried to calm me down…
I looked DOWN at her… That’s when I realized I had turned into a beast…
Any word she could project couldn’t stop me now…
I shove her aside.
My feet stomped closer and closer to the “very important persons”.
I fed off their fear…
I could see it in their eyes… I KILLED THEIR SONS!
“Why did you attack my mother!?” my thundering roar went. “Why do you not see?!”
They wanted to flee, but they were too frightened…
“Your sons killed me! They deserved nothing less!!!!”
One of them started to get a movement through, too bad it was his lips…
“Sh-sh-shoot it!!!!” He furiously whispered. The Overseers throws their robes and points big, bad gun-barrels my way.
I was done for…
The bullets ripped up my body…
Everything went so slow…
There’s one, going into my chest… Oh… and what’s this?
One coming right between my eyes?
In that nano-second I knew it was end of the line…
I pinched my eyes tightly together. I could hear them shooting, but I didn’t feel any of them hitting me… I open my eyes and see a blanket of lead in front of me. The Overseers were out of ammo…
I watch as the bullets trickle to the ground, and as I look down I notice a person standing in front of me. A hooded figure…
I bared no longer to stand on my feet, my legs were too damaged.
I drop to my knees, making sure the person in front of me comes clear of my body.
“Cease this bloodbath, IMMEDIATELY!!” the hooded one shouts, in a familiar voice…
The SG-Alpha rises with newfound courage, as the Overseers cock their rifles. “And what gives YOU the authority to give US orders?”
“I don’t care! I will not have you butcher my love and slaughter my son!”
From that moment on I didn’t know what I was to believe… The Overseers flick their rifles a new direction and blew each others brains out, in perfect synchronicity…
Blood rained across the SG-leaders, and they were quick to evacuate the arena.
There only remained few spectators…
My breath was becoming a bit short…
Among the remaining spectators… was HER…
In front of me, stood “Daddy?” “I’m here son… I’m here…”
My muscles were failing, and my body falls forward. I catch the ground with my left arm so I don’t squish dad… He moves a bit away…
I reach out my right hand to try to touch one who sheds tears for me.
Tears of admiration, and fear. “Zil…” I whisper, she smiles as she sees her name run across my bloody lips.
I’m losing it… Everything’s so dark… My heart pounds so furiously…
I can’t get enough air…
My hand slips, letting loose the full weight of my body…
I’m down for the count…
Fuck…
I ripped a perfectly good set of clothes to shreds…
Why is it so silent?