Caged Wilderness

Chapter 1.

Alarm!

Danger!

Teres rolled down from her branch, spread her wings while still half-asleep, crashed into someone who let our a screech of rage, then managed to fly up. Opening her eyes made barely any difference - black shadows of her flock were barely invisible in the darkness of the moonless night. Someone flew right into her, she snapped and clawed at them, pushing them away, but was immediately forced up when somebody else dashed upwards and collided with her. Screeches and screams of pain, fear and overwhelming confusion clouded her mind, leading to her wildly twisting and turning, scratching everyone who got top close. Sharp pain ripped through her wing and she blindly kicked the attacker away.

Out! Out! Out!

The noises were deafening. Nobody could see a thing, but the repetitive calls of alarm were enough to drive the flock so crazy that everyone was ready - and willing to - fight everyone that came into contact with them.

Teres propelled herself upwards only to fly head-first into someone. She barely managed to duck before a clawed hand sliced the air where Teres' head had just been. She didn't think, just swooshed away and up, away and up.

A familiar scream right into her ear made her frantically beating wings stop for a moment, and the next instant Aorra crashed into her. Teres could hear his terrified voice, and she grabbed his hand so as not to get separated. The entire world around them seemed to be screaming in utmost terror, their hearts beating along with the rhythm.

Ascend! Ascend! Ascend!

With Aorra now by her side, Teres completely forgot about anything other than holding onto him and speeding away from the ground, as fast as she could. The flock began to change course, a mass of wings and feathers and terrified screams.

And over those screams there came the sounds so loud that the night appeared to burst.

BAM! - and the flock once again collided into itself, clawing and biting to get away from certain death.

BAM! - and Aorra began to drag Teres downwards before they got choked to death. She could barely make out the madness in his eyes as he bit into someone so hard that the putrid scent of blood penetrated the air, followed by a screech of agony. Rocha.

BAM! - and suddenly the force of the flock was too much for Teres to bear, and she cried out when Aorra was ripped away from her.

Fly! She had to fly! Fly! Fly up and out!

There was no thinking, no trying to understand the situation. She forced her wings to carry her, go with the flock, her claws slashing in every direction. Every now and again someone would scratch her or bite into her flesh, and her screams blended into the cacophony of the horrified flock.

Teres wasn't even registering the sounds now. She saw something painfully white drop from the middle of the crowd, then begged her wings to carry her just a little bit higher. She was too low. Too close to the ground. She needed to fly up. She needed to-

Something painfully cold crashed into her at such a speed that for a moment her body froze in complete shock. When she began trashing around, her heart pounding so hard that she felt it in the tip of her tongue, she was already plummeting to the ground. Her wings got tangled in a mass of ropes and threads, her claws and teeth useless against the constricting vines.

The horrible sensation of a fall is something that nobody deserves to feel. Especially nobody gifted with flight.

Teres let out a screech of absolute, blinding terror as her tiny body dropped down, lower and lower, towards certain death. From within the flock there came a familiar scream - Aorra - but no sooner had she heard it than her body collided with the ground.