Born to Fly

Book 2 - Ch 2(Part 2)

Mory and Thacris were in awe as they stood in the doorway viewing a gorgeous spectacle.

Before them, there was a young woman in front of a dresser who stood with her back towards the boys, showing them her magnificent butterfly wings. They were an elegant emerald-green and sparkled under the moonlight that shined through a window. Both wing sets had a vibrant band of teal which came together at the bottom to form a "V" shape.

She turned and looked at the boys, revealing a frightened, yet beautiful face. She looked to be about their age. Every part of her eyes was black. Like Thacris, she had two antennae on top of her head. The bases of them were buried within her long, brown hair. She wore a plain buckskin dress-the typical attire of a female Zitonian slave.

Mory and Thacris were both at a loss for words and their senses.

"Who are you? said the girl.

Their brains scrambled to find the answer, but Thacris managed to scrape some words together.

"Uh. W-we're here for you."

The girl took a cautious step back. The fear was still evident on her face. Thacris realized his choice of words was bad and instinctively waved his hands in front of him.

"We mean no harm though! We want to free you from your enslavement."

The girl was silent. It was difficult to get a read on her thoughts due to her dark and pupilless eyes, but her body was rigid. The intense awkwardness was nearly unbearable. Neither side really knew how to proceed at that moment.

The tense atmosphere was disturbed when a door opened behind the butterfly girl and a large figure dashed into the room. It knocked the girl to the floor onto her stomach. The boys' eyes adjusted, allowing them to see a tall and fat man with giant house spider legs coming out of his back. He had the most terrifying face out of any spider person they had seen that night.

He shot some webbing out of his hand which hit Mory's face with enough force to knock him down. Mory desperately tried to pick away at the webbing that was blinding and suffocating him. Thacris initially reached to try to help Mory but pulled back fearing another attack from the man. The spider manek user spoke with a pissed-off tone of voice.

"You idiots have a lot of nerve, sneaking into my home, scaring my daughter, and trying to run off with my property. Get ready to become history."

"Property?!" Thacris shouted.

He looked at the butterfly girl who was trying to stand up, but the big guy put his foot on her back and forced her back to the ground. Thacris was enraged.

"Move your foot now!"

"I don't take orders from a trespasser--especially spora scum like you."

Thacris crouched down as if he was about to run a foot race. The spider man tried to shoot a web at Thacris's face just like he had done to Mory, but Thacris launched himself at the man using his insane leg power. He blasted the guy, sending him through a wall. Debris began to plummet from above. Thacris used his own body to shield the butterfly from falling ceiling rubble.

Mory, with the use of his claws, was finally able to remove the webbing that covered his mouth, nostrils, and eyes. The rest remained on his face as a mask of webs.

The girl's wings felt like soft velvet on Thacris's palms.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Thacris was knocked a meter away by the powerful fluttering of her wings. She flew through the door, sending Mory back to the floor right after he had dusted himself off.

"We gotta catch her," Thacris said while zooming through the door. He couldn't be bothered to help Mory to his feet.

Mory battled his way back up and pursued the butterfly and the grasshopper. When he made his way out of the home, through the front door, he couldn't believe his eyes. The butterfly girl was stuck high up in some webs that were attached between a couple of homes. Thacris stood below her looking puzzled.

That wasn't the last of the craziness though. Sap was running through the street, screaming as three spider villagers chased him.

This has been a flawless first mission.

Mory jogged over to Thacris. He looked at Mory with a surprisingly calm expression.

"I can reach her," Thacris said, "but I'm not sure if I can get her to the ground safely after cutting her out."

Mory thought about it and soon realized that he was the man for the job.

"Thacris, let me hop on your back. Jump me up to her and I'll take care of the rest."

Thacris squatted down and Mory climbed on his back.

"You ready?" Thacris asked.

"Yeah."

Thacris effortlessly popped ten meters straight up, getting Mory close enough to hug and hold the trapped girl. Thacris dropped to the ground, landing clean on his feet. Mory used his claws to slice away at the webbing that was holding the girl. He saw the discomfort in her face but couldn't tell if it was from her being stuck or him wrapping his arms and legs around her. Probably both.

They fell the instant Mory cut the last strand of web that could hold their weight. Afraid to fall, she grabbed him tight, but Mory used his wind-resistant body to slowly lower them down. Mory kept a strong hug around her, preventing her from using her wings to fly away. Thacris wasted no time tying a rope around her body to keep her bound.

"Please don't hate us for this," Thacris said. "We really are trying to help you."

The girl gave up all efforts of resistance. She disengaged her manek form, revealing what she looked like as her ordinary self. She was a natural beauty with her dark-green eyes--eyes that were full of despair.

Thacris quickly tightened up the rope to adjust for her missing wings.

"Umbriel!" someone called out from the house.

They all turned and saw the little girl who, earlier, had come to the aid of her pet spider. She was transformed into a mini red spider form. Her biggest pair of eyes were flooded with tears. A woman -perhaps her mother- was running after her.

"Umbriel, don't go!" the girl shouted.

The woman managed to grab the girl by the arm. "Stop this at once, Clover! It's not safe here." She dragged the girl back into the wrecked house.

Umbriel's face was expressionless, which sent chills through both Thacris and Mory.

A/N: Here's a fun fact. The giant house spider is the fastest spider in the world. I thought it'd be funny to give this manek to a guy who's too big to use the speed aspect.