It was a silent night. The forest lay still underneath the wheeling sky. Scintillating stars dotted the sky above, and a sliver of moonlight shone down into the valley where a silver-haired girl slept. She wore the form of a Wyvern, bestial and long with arms extending to wings and legs bent backwards. Still, she had hair in this form. Most Wyverns didn’t, but she did— because she wasn’t a Wyvern.
She was a Demon. One who could shapeshift. Take on any form she wanted. But today— or, at least, tonight, she had the body of a Wyvern. Why? The reason was simple. It was the same reason why she was sleeping instead of staying awake like she could.
It was because of the three baby Wyverns cuddling up against her. And, yes, these were real Wyverns. They weren’t transformed Demons— no, they weren’t [Changelings] or other kinds of shapeshifters. They had been taken in by the Demon girl over a promise of sorts.
It made no sense— not to the [Will O’ Wisp] who’d been observing the Demon girl for a while now. But none of her actions ever made sense. From the time he met her in the Bloodied Gulf where she promised to save the monsters trapped there, to offering to save the last Wyverns of Sharik by taking in their children. It all felt illogical, yet it was logically consistent with Salvos’ values.
So, Willy didn’t question it. He just went along for the ride, amused at times, bored at other points, but usually preoccupied.
undefinedAnd that was all that mattered to him. As long as he had something to do, Willy was fine with dealing with Salvos’ shenanigans. Now— Willy had a problem when he didn’t have something to do. He didn’t care for anything else. Not for the Humans and their meetings just a bit away at Alyras. Nor did he care about the upcoming Demon invasion of the Mortal Realm.
It was all looming threats and petty politics. Things that had always existed— that had always permeated the world. Willy never understood it. Such things didn’t exist in the Spirit Plane. So, he cared not for it. Because it would always be there tomorrow.
So, instead of dealing with that, he watched. He looked on silently as the first of the three Wyverns stirred. Novis blinked his eyes open, casting his gaze around the dark valley. And started to wail.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
I jerked up at the sound of crying. I had gone to sleep a bit ago— not because I wanted to, but because I didn’t want to disturb the sleeping baby Wyverns. Unfortunately, that was a bad idea because I had to deal with the worst part of sleeping: waking up.
I looked around as the shrill sound pierced my ears, searching for the noise. At first, it was slightly bearable with only a single source of screaming. But two more joined it soon after. I got up and craned my neck, looking through the valley with narrowed eyes and saw nothing. There were no monsters nearby letting out a war cry as it charged me, and neither did I sense anything out of the ordinary in this space.
No— the source of the screaming came from somewhere else. It originated from directly below me. And it was not an attack, either. It was a cry for help.
I looked down and stared at the three baby Wyverns that I had taken under my wing— literally. From oldest to youngest, their names were Novis, Bellum and Oriur. A boy, a girl, and a boy. They had hatched at about the same time, with only a few seconds in between, but that still counted for something, right?
Anyway, their age didn’t matter because they weren’t even a day old. They were new hatchlings. Newborn Wyverns. Little tiny things that couldn’t defend themselves. They were sprawled on the ground, wailing as they threw their arms and legs in the air. They had gone to sleep last time all so suddenly that I instinctively joined them. But now—
“It’s not even sunrise! Why are you guys already awake and screaming?!”
I poked their open bellies one by one, trying to figure out what was wrong. However, they didn’t explain. They just cried louder.
“Ugh, what’s going on? Are you guys hungry?”
I flicked a finger, and a rabbit from a nearby bush came flying to my talons. I lowered it for the baby Wyverns.
“Here, have this.”
They exchanged a glance for a moment. Their crying stopped, and I got a little excited that it was over. Then Novis punted the bunny rabbit away. The small thing went flying into a nearby bush with a squeak as the Wyverns erupted back into their howlings.
I waved my wing-arms in a panic, hovering over the three of them.
“What? What do I do?”
“Idiot.”
I heard a voice snort behind me. A green glow flitted up my way. A ball of flame. A wisp that was the size of the palm of my hand. I stared at it— at him. And frowned.
“What do you mean, Willy?”
The [Will O’ Wisp] just sighed, even with no lips. He gave me a judging look with no face, and spoke with no mouth.
“Biology.”
“Biology? What about it?”
I raised a brow, but Willy didn’t elaborate as usual. He left it up to me to infer what he meant, and my eyes widened. I looked down at the baby Wyverns, hearing their stomachs growl. The realization sunk in as the three of them looked at me pleadingly.
“Huh.”
I made a face of disgust.
“Ewww.”
I backed up as just Willy scoffed and flew down past me.
“I’ll handle it.”
—--
Half an hour later, Willy came back with the three baby Wyverns. The sun was rising in the horizon, and I poked my head out from behind a nearby tree. Although the tree did nothing to hide the rest of my Wyvern body.
“Is it over?”
I asked apprehensively. The [Will O’ Wisp] paused. He stared at me, not responding. But Novis, Bellum, and Oriur just sprinted forward to me.
“Mama!”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I scooped them up as they came to a halt at my feet. I glanced down at them.
“Make sure to thank Willy for his hard work!”
I grinned at them with bared teeth. They smiled back at me the same way, but they didn’t actually thank Willy much to his chagrin. I saw his flames turn green in envy— well, greener in envy. He harrumphed, and I scratched the back of my head.
“Um, so…”
I tried to change the subject, putting the baby Wyverns down.
“What do you guys want to do now?”
I faced them. Novis brightened and chirped ecstatically.
“Hunt!”
Bellum nodded in agreement.
“Kill!”
The third, Oriur, looked as excited as them, but he just pointed at me.
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