Ambriel has managed to avoid the 'curse' that has turned most of humanity into monsters. After being separated from her mother as a child, Ambriel keeps her head down by earning her keep as a scavenger. That is until one morning, she ventures too fa...
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The onslaught of cold air in her eyes caught Ambriel by surprise. In spite of her complaining, she'd somehow gotten used to the blindfold. Having it torn off without warning made her feel — vulnerable.
"Ya trust me with yer life, right? Well then...this is me trusting you with mine. And besides," he said as he rubbed one of his eyes, "Not like you've never seen me before."
Ambriel's hands lowered warily. She didn't realize she was staring until he looked at her with the eye he wasn't kneading and arched his brow.
"What's the matter? Too pretty for ya, now?"
His tone was teasing, but the knuckles on his very human hands whitened on the steering wheel.
"I'm just surprised," Ambriel admitted. "I thought maybe you were..."
His hands relaxed but he still didn't glance in her direction. In the awkward silence that wedged between them, Ambriel studied his side profile, the way his dark hair seemed to blend into the feathers and scales of the same color down his back. The top part of the driver's seat was pushed flat behind him to make room for his wings.
"I was?"
"Mad at me, I guess? I might be wrong but I assumed that your, umm, form changing is emotional so the more bird demon you are, the more likely something is going on. Internally. I guess. God, I'm so bad at this!"
A smirk dimpled his cheek.
"Yeah, you are."
"I just thought back to that day in the forest. When Maria showed up..."
And you had a panic attack.
Ambriel allowed silence to suggest the rest until she finished with, "That's why I figured it was emotional."
"Mmm. Well, I'm not angry at ya," he said softly. "And you're not entirely wrong. It can be emotional, but — kinda hard to explain."
"Okay, Ambriel. That's enough hounding him with questions. You don't want to push his hospitality," she thought to herself, but her naturally burning curiosity brute forced the words out of her mouth before she could stop them.
"What does it feel like?"
This time, he did regard her from the corner of his vision before he returned his focus ahead.
"...It feels like when you clench your fist. Sometimes ya do it without realizing but you can also do it on yer own. But it's still your hand either way."
"That makes sense."
"Does it? Considering where...what yer beliefs are?"
Ambriel paused to consider what he was asking. Hallowborne's teachings say that once someone has been tainted, the taint cannot be removed unless by God. There was no in-between. Either you were clean or you were a monster — damned to wander the lands for all eternity. Grackle's existence, however, contradicted everything within the Holy Tome.
"I think it- Grackle!"
Before Ambriel could get the rest of her sentence out, everything around them went pitch black. She swallowed a gasp and held it, patting around desperately to assure herself that yes, they were still moving.
"I can't see! Why can't I-"
"S'okay," he said. "Give it a few seconds. Yer eyes will adjust. You were so focused on my handsome face, you weren't payin' attention to what was outside."
"Outside? Wait. Are we..."
Columns of light in the distance distracted her. As they drew closer, not only did the car brighten again, but new sounds filled it as well. A cacophony.
The hiss of running water, machinery clanging, and thumps of music. Mixed into the din of garbled voices. As far and as high as the eye could see, there were blinking lights — words — of all colors. Rusted highway signs and faded advertisements — what were they called again? Billboards. High above the buildings, carts swung across thick wires that looked like vines crisscrossing. There were more buildings than Ambriel had ever seen, and from afar, they looked as if they were piled on top of each other.
Ambriel craned her neck to look up through the windshield. She expected to see the late morning sky and instead, there were metal grates, pipes, and the occasional punch through the concrete ceiling where weak wisps of sunlight were devoured by the brighter lights below.
Ambriel finally managed to find her voice again and looked at Grackle.
"You okay, little scavenger?"
She followed Grackle's eyes to his arm. Her gloved fingers were digging into his rock-solid bicep. She yanked her hand back as if scalded. The first syllable of an apology slipped out of her mouth again until she caught herself and spluttered, "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to..."
"Nah."
Ambriel held her own gloved hand, in awe as she stared out of the window. Amused by her speechlessness, Grackle flashed her a grin.
"Welcome to the city, Ambriel. This is Netherworld."
