Fresh Starts: On Phantom Wings

Chapter 8, Soaring On Souls

Several months had past since Phantom and his Mother escaped. He often visited the nearby area, catching glimpses of what was left of his sister. He couldn't stop feeling guilty, that it should've been him instead of her that got corrupted. There were also the nightmares, times when he would close his eyes and the masked one would have him captured and helpless once again. He rarely went to sleep now.

Stories spread around spirits about what happened to his sister. They often dropped the subject or said she was always going to be a monster despite how kind she was before. Ghost stories of The Wendigo Wood also spread across the leaps and mountains used to scare cubs and cats.

Life had gotten harder in the mountains. The souls of humans began rising and wrecking havoc everywhere. Some mortals left leaving both the spirits and the remaining mortals behind. Those who remained found what ways they could to deal with the new problem, with varying results .

Phantom didn't admit to his father or mother how often he went out satiating his new hunger with the human souls. Only his gramps Terra seemed to know about it and offered what council they could through limited communication. The soul eating also had some side effects.

His form started to revert back to what it was before he was captured, but his horns remained missing. Other than that his scars were hidden and he could pass for a normal spirit. He could understand things from the souls of others, though it mostly minor things like names. He could also heal using souls and he felt he could do other things, but the knowledge seemed to be locked away.

Today he visited the place it all began, where they were captured. When he landed he immediately looked everywhere for humans even though they were all dead. This place always carried a sense of unease. The strange rocks and ruins were buried in snow, he and his mother made sure of that.

Phantom didn't exactly know why he came here, maybe just to reminisce how things were before. It was them that he saw a human skeleton with a brown scarf. Beside it was the rod of wood and metal gleaming in the sunlight. Phantom immediately destroyed the rod before angrily tearing the skeleton apart. When he was done few bones hadn't been broken. Even though it was a skeleton and the soul had already left, this made him feel good.

Phantom thought to everything the humans had done to him and his family. From every whip to every spell cast by the masked one, he remembered it all. Then there was the rise of the human souls, souls he could end and devour.

"I have the power to bring this to an end, to avenge my sister. It's time to hunt." Phantom mewed to no one in a moment of introspection. He made a promise to himself that he would hunt down every last human soul and anything else that would harm those he cared about. He would no longer be the one who was beat down and hunted, he would be their hunter.

Phantom touched the scarf and it wrapped around his neck. It was a sign of his promise and vow. It seemed to fit perfectly and grew in length to mimic his wings.

He then flew off to hunt his prey. The abilities they gave him were to become their downfall. The monster they made him would make sure they couldn't hurt anyone else. So he flew into the distance on phantom wings.