Somewhere. In a distant, vastly different world.
Due to a lack of direct "Sun"light, the world is cold and dark. But across this foreign planet,
Birds.
Many bird-like beings inhabit this world. They've established advanced civilization, monarchies...
Chaos. The air viciously tossed the trees around. The wind destructively struck and threw everything it could reach. This weather wasn't anything like bloomtime should be. It would appear as darktime if the plants weren’t still their seasonal dull green.
But that didn't matter. That wasn’t a concern. The only thing that mattered was getting away. Far, far away. He had to. It was the only important thing. Aero had to fight the storm's ferocious attacks. He had to fly. Fly away from the world behind. Fly away from what had happened. He knew this. He knew this, but he was so tired. He couldn’t fly against this wind for long. He had to find somewhere. Some place hidden, away from the danger, away from the wind. Aero desperately looked around. Where, where, where?! What’s safe? Why isn’t there anywhere to go?! He couldn’t find anywhere to go! What was he supposed to do?!
Aero couldn’t keep flying. He had to rest. His only option was down… Into the Shadow Forest… With a sigh of despair, he tightened his wings against his torso, and dove down, into the thicket, into the forest, into the darkness below. Why the Shadow Forest, of all places? I might just die down there!
He had no other option. The sooner Aero could hide, the sooner he would be safe. Even the Shadow Forest was safer than what was behind. He plummeted downwards. His wings shook as he dove, rapidly descending.
Before he knew it, his body penetrated the overgrown thicket, so quickly he had no time to break his fall. Aero desperately flapped his wings, but even despite the abundant distance, he dropped too quickly. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact. He felt the branches whacking into his sides, colliding roughly with his wings and torso. For a brief moment of time, the pummeling wood ceased. Aero opened his eyes just in time to see the jutting undergrowth. Aero smashed into the floor. He felt like he’d just died. Anything he could have been hearing was overtaken by a high ringing sound. Everything hurt.
He briefly laid there in silence, breathing heavily. Then sat up, sorely. He looked around in confusion, realizing he hadn’t even hit the ground that hard. He was fine. And now he was safe. No storm would ever be strong enough to reach into the Shadow Forest. This forest was said to be the most impenetrable, dangerous, labyrinthian stretch anywhere in all of Britishshia. Actually, probably the most deadly place anywhere… Probably Aero believed it was so impenetrable. He was surprised that he could even get through the leafage. No doubt there would be even more trouble getting back out. Wait… I must have made a giant hole up above, when I crashed in here. Aero wanted to at least make sure he could leave after the storm, so he’d have to stay nearby. He looked at the dim light, just in time to witness the terrifying sight of leaves closing over the hole,unnaturally fast. Aero yelped in surprise. What the-! He blinked a few times, until he was completely sure he had actually seen it right. … Well, whatever just happened, I’ve lost my best chance of leaving this place. And my only source of light.
Before anything else, he would have to find a way to see. Maybe a fire? A controlled torch would be his best chance of light, since he couldn’t use any light orbs. He patted the ground with his wings, searching for something to use. There! A dead branch of one of the dementing trees above. And one of the large fallen leaves of this forest. He delicately wrapped the half dried leaf around the branch. Okay and now I just have to set it on fire… Aero held up the unlit torch, flapped his wings. Once, twice, three times, and…
The makeshift torch burst into flames, spreading its blinding light across the stretch of forest, covering the trees with its basking heat. Suddenly, the fire swirled wildly. It turned purely white, then flared into a black. The fire had gone out. But, that brief fire was enough light for Aero to see the creature in the thicket. He scrambled onto his talons, and flailed his wings until he found a tree. Aero couldn’t fly in here, but he could climb. And he did. He clawed up the tree, flapping his wings for balance. And he silently waited in the branches, hoping the beast couldn’t climb. Grrrrg hisss. The creature snarled. Scratch stomp stomp. It stalked away in furious defeat. "Ha!" Aero shook his wings in delight. "No weird looking terrifying Shadow Forest hiss-monster is going to eat me!” The bird announced proudly. “I think…” Well, the only way to ensure Aero wouldn’t be eaten, would be to get out. But he couldn’t see… So how would he get out? Aero started to reach out towards the branches of the trees, in hopes to find loose wood. Wait. Doesn’t the Nightglow shine here? I heard it does. He paused. I don’t trust rumors, but this one’s my best shot.
Aero would just have to wait out the day. And, hopefully, the Skymist would have made way by then. What could he do? There must be some way to wait and be productive. Oh, maybe I could gather these leaves? Aero reached farther up, talons scraping at the dry leaf canopy. He felt a rough surface, indicating that he had found the large buds above. Aero grasped the leaves and pulled clawfulls down, delicately to keep them whole. I don’t know what to do with these, but it's better to have them than need them. He scurried around the branches, grasping and pulling leaves.
Swoosh whoosh whistle. He stopped. Was that the wind? He clawed at the leaves more. Suddenly, something shuffled. Click click vrrrrrrrrr.
Aero barely had time to pull away his claws before the trees bound their branches together, growing at an unnatural speed. Is that magic? He shivered and climbed back down, away from the angered coverage above.
Whatever was happening with this forest, it obviously didn’t want anyone leaving.
(Sorry if there's any typos/formatting errors doing italic on this app is so, excuse my language, f*cking dumb)
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(Thay drawing took 6 hours) Thank you so much for reading!
Sorry about the late post, I literally worked every day on this and still didn't have it ready in time. I'll plan for chapter 2 on December second.
