Winged

Chapter 10

Stracony sat in the center of the Elder's quarters. Surrounding him were the thread-like energy waves of Healik. His eyes were sealed shut; requiring considerable effort to even close them to begin with. It was strange, this feeling inside the young Sokol. It was as if the Healik had entered his body through his mouth - opening his throat making his skin crawl - and making its way into his stomach where it swirled and puddled. 

Closing his lips, the energy began pushing against the inside of his flesh - threatening to pop him like a hawk crushes small prey. Then, as his body was on the edge of collapse, the tension released. The electric power seeped its way into Stracony's body, funneling through his veins - into his wings in particular.

Sucking in some air, he opened his eyes. He sat on a rocky platform in the middle of what looked like a circular river around him. It ran into itself, but was not stagnant; rather running quite quickly around the pedestal. Lumbering to his feet, Stracony leapt over the river and landed beside Hej. 

"I will never get used to that."

"Ahh, well yoh going to have to, in order to fly. Come on, fledgling, we got to go to combat training now."

"Right..." Stracony sighed, lifting Hej on his shoulder and stepping outside. He walked onto the old balcony to look over the booming town. It was beautiful, how the lava coursed from building to building. His eyes picked up traces of the Healik freely moving from chimney to chimney, as if the world began revealing more of the substance to him. Stracony wondered if his eyes had been affected by the strange substance, as now he was no stranger to the plentiful strands of Healik streaming from the ground and into the sky - it was like the energy was slipping through cracks in the soil and dissipating into the stars. A little theory he'd conjured up was the stars were actually huge composites of Healik, but he didn't have the time nor resources to check.

Jumping off the balcony, he caught the air in his wings and slowly glided to the ground. Wincing, he felt his wings yell at him for it. 

"Oof, that still sucks. And now my wings are sore."

"Well, yoh need to exercise them. Healik can't solve everything fast enough, and yoh know that."

"I wonder how it does any of this? Why can it heal me, and make me stronger - even if gradually?"

"Oh, I don't know. My theory is yohr body gets stretched by the Healik, and makes it more receptive to the energy of the world. Yoh see it too, don't you? We're all made of the land, but our only link to it is Healik. That's just a theory, however."

"I get you. It's been a strange couple months with you, Hej."

"Yes, it has."

They arrived at the training grounds just outside the town. It was directly beside the volcano, making it scorching hot. Hej hopped down and ran over to a large crate. Crawling up the side of it, she threw the cover off and motioned for Stracony to come over.

"What is it?" The Sokol asked, strolling over. Looking inside as Hej motioned towards the bottom of the box, he gasped. Reaching inside, he slowly lifted out a hand-crafted weapon. Something he'd only imagine in his wildest dreams. It looked like a blade, but was large at it's base with hooks on either side. As his eyes slowly traced up from the hilt, he saw that the wide base slimmed drastically and only widened once more as his eyes neared its peak. At the top he recognized two thin holes and what seemed to be a container of sorts.

"We named it the Mortdrago. Yoh can call it Mordrag for short. Mordrag uses Healik to create blades of thread that cause tiny explosions along it. Here, we put some Healik in this canister."

Stracony caught the can, which he examined briefly. It was small, around the size of his hand - but it felt larger than that, and was vibrating constantly. However, he couldn't tell if the movement was real or in his head. Look at the side revealed a glass window, which showed the energy swirling around inside, threads twisting and pulling amongst themselves. Popping it open, he looked at Hej who mimed the action of pouring. Following suit, he watched as the power jumped from his hand straight onto the blade - funneling into it quickly and repulsing the container backwards; knocking it from Stracony's grasp. The blade turned ablaze, threads shooting from the holes at the top and wrapping around the hooks on the hilt. The tip then lit; filling with Healik and drastically increasing the weight of the weapon. Surprised by this, it wrenched from Stracony's grasp and fell towards the earth. Stepping back, the winged warrior watched as his new weapon crashed into the ground. 

BOOM

Dust flew into the air, lifting Stracony into the air and flinging him backwards. Twisting to gain balance, he stuck his wings out and parachuted back down; coughing profusely. Landing back down, he saw his blade. Not only had a large crack appeared on either side of the blade - that seemed to stretch for a long time - but had also seeped so far into the dirt that only the handle was visible. Hej had already slammed into the ground long before Stracony landed, and was currently huffing and puffing on her chest; trying to recoup the wind that had been knocked from her.

"Stra.. cony! Yoh... Moron! Hooof, oh my days - that hurt."

"Wha - it was so heavy! What was I supposed to do!"

"Use yohr Healik, twat! Huff - It makes it a bit easier."

Stracony sniffed, not sure how to use his Healik. Not like anyone has taught him that - but, maybe if he tried focusing on the feeling? He flexed his wings and slowly lifted his shirt from his body, uncovering a toned physique. His arms weren't the biggest, but the muscle was defined. Hej couldn't help but stare at him, his chest had lines of striations and his hips ever so slightly peeked above his pants line. Stracony looked up at her, and Hej whipped her gaze away.

The Sokol hummed in curiosity, but didn't say anything about her strange behavior. Rubbing his shoulder, he prepared himself to lift. Bending down he wrapped both hands around the leather handle. 

He began tightening his muscles; bunching them up and straining to raise the blade from the soil. Healik began flowing from the crack in the soil, wrapping up the blade and around his arms. The energy dove into his skin, flowing through his blood and illuminating his veins. Clenching his teeth, he felt the sword kick back against his will. He flared his wings, trying to command the sword into his possession. Hej looked at his wings, which had begun to brilliantly glow. Stracony fluttered them, and streams of energy flickered off his feathers like embers from a flame. 

"GET.... OUT..." Stracony grunted, his muscles now seemed to threaten to burst from his skin. The Sokol spat, having enough. He planted his feet under him and wrenched his head back; deciding to just take all of the Healik from the blade. The threads started flooding into him from the handle until nothing was left. Stracony pulled it easily from the ground, looking at it angrily.

"... This thing doesn't like me."

"Yoh don't say." Hej scoffed, picking up her friend's shirt and pulling it over to him. Thanking her, the Sokol pulled it over his head and fixed himself.

"I'll have to try again tomorrow." Stracony said, wrapping his wing around the sword and lifting Hej onto his shoulder. They walked away from the arena, leaving behind them the evidence of their experiment. Energy continued to spew from it, pluming  like smoke and eventually disappearing into the night sky.

Mordrag had cut its first wound.