Wings & Horns

Chapter Six

The balmy feeling of sweat on the back of his hands was making his hands too warm. Leo ran them over his shirt. His fingers were trembling slightly, with the ecstatic euphoria he'd just experienced. His eyes focused on the stone brick pathway, all the little criss-crossing cracks and, and the red pooling into them, outlining his path in red...

His shirt clung to his skin where the blood had stained it, and he couldn't move. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, but he couldn't shake off the high. His breath came raggedly, as he caught it with each exhale.

Leo's eyes tingled with pain, but he batted it aside. Slowly, they focused on the limb lying in front of him, from which the blood was gushing out into the stony pathway. As he saw it, he took in a sharp breath. His eyes drifted closer to himself.

He met two cold brown eyes.

Two dead eyes.

The face had no color, no life, and Leo's hands wouldn't stop shaking. His mind slowly brought itself out of its foggy state, and warning bells rang out in his brain. Stringy, limp brown hair, pale skin, bloodless lips parted, and the one arm attached spread out as though in search for a last-ditch rescue, a small woman – corpse – was lying on the road, at his feet.

From her chest, a dark cavity was formed. Torn flesh, broken bone, and blood ... so much blood.

He had killed her. Leo brought his hands up to his face, as the impending consequences slowly bore down on him. But as his hands touched his face, a sticky liquid stuck to them. Leo brought his hands back, feeling dry blood on his face being freshened by his fingerprints.

Leo covered his mouth with his hand, almost nauseous. But this wasn't nausea ... His shoulders dropped forwards, and his body shook.

He was laughing.

The rawness of his voice, the rough, chaotic texture to the sound of laughter, the sweat on his forehead, the blood on the body.

Leo threw back his head, and took flight into the air. As the effects of the kill wore off, he surged energy into his wings, pushing himself further up the turrets of the stormy winds airing in to Avisa. The Wendigos must've been having a field day.

He tried to catch a gust to glide over, but none were that controllable, and he was quickly finding it to be a mistake. He needed to get up. Struggling to maintain a sense of balance as the winds pushed him up and down, Leo pushed upwards again.

He flapped his raven-like wings up into the air, straining to get out. A gust caught him off guard from the east. Leo cried out as he shifted and began to fall.

Panic began to settle in; He couldn't fall – not again. Leo was paralyzed as he dropped like a stone towards the ground.

Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster monster monster monster monste-

A steady stream of lilting whispers drifted through his mind. Leo crashed through the clouds, and he could see his wings in front of him, of no use.

Falling. Falling falling falling falling

Leo closed his eyes in acceptance, awaiting the brutal healing time he'd face after a fall like this. As he had no breath to catch, Leo let go.

"Are you fucking insane?!" His eyes snapped open at the sound of Red's voice. "Wha-?" The rush of air stopped suddenly, the sudden lack of pressure like a punch to the gut. He'd been caught. Leo looked down, at a glowing mass of blindingly gold energy, squinting. It made his eyes water.

He was drifting to the ground. He landed on his feet, dazed and confused. Her eyes flashing, Red grabbed his collar. "Where have you been?! Two days, just disappearing...holy Hell, Leo, you could've been in Oblivion!" Two days? It couldn't've have been. "What . . . do you mean?" Leo asked, shaking his head in an effort to sharpen his senses again.