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Lavender (Impact)

I held onto the mountainside in horror as the ground began to quake slightly, shaking from softly, to gradual increase. This was no normal earthshake. The valley below moved like the waves of an ocean, but some lifted like mountains, and sank like sinkholes. The mountain where our nest laid shook like a leaf. Major appeared in the sky, and slowly descended onto the nest, which is when he realized what I felt. The nest itself was falling apart beneath our wings, and frightened me like never before.

"We gotta get out of here!" He called over the roar of the earthshake, "C'mon!" He took off again from the nest, spread his wings and caught the shallow wind from the north, floating high and far. I struggled to follow, feeling the eggs jumble up in my belly, but alas, I caught the wind too, and felt the great sense of flight. But the flight wasn't for fun, it was for fear. The nest behind us shook harder and harder, until it all crumbled with the mountain into the dust. I let out a sigh of relief and grief. That was our first home. In the distance, a black cloud of ash and fire began to float closer to us at around our speeds, and spread across the quaking valley below in a matter of seconds. Major began to turn around, flying the opposite way to escape the death cloud.

"This way Lavender!" He directed. I lowered my left wing into an angle, and lifted my right, turning counterclockwise to the south, where our once called home used to be. I looked back again, seeing the cloud grow large and wide, and approach closer and closer, consuming our nest.

"We need to get out of here!" I cried, "It's coming!" Major turned his head and gasped in shock. It was closer than he ever expected.

"Go, GO!" He yelled, flying faster, and swishing his wings harder. He got his lift back after another wind current from the southwest blew in, pushing him further out in front and higher above the cloud and from me. I followed behind him, feeling pain in my chest as the weight of the eggs dragged me down a bit. Flying pregnant isn't a good idea, I realized. I looked back again, but this time, I saw a valley catching fire, roars and screams of anguish echoing the valley in fear. I swallowed hard. That would've been us if we hadn't have escaped. But the cloud wasn't done with us yet. As if a demon controlled it, it suddenly busted forwards at a speed that was way faster than us, and seconds later, it was on my tail.

"MAJOR! HELP!" I cried, seeing the toxin cloud begin to swallow me. Major was taken in next, unable to get away in any direction. As for me, I was already in the cloud, and as soon as I entered, death had plans for me. First, the cloud choked me with its fumes of hell, making my lungs suffer. Then came the bombarding. Glass and fire rained down upon my wings and skin, tearing holes into my flesh. Flight became a liability, and next came the failure of my wings.

"I can't fly!" I shrieked, flapping harder and stronger. But nothing would work. I was descending faster than I could ascend.

"Me neither!" Major's terrified voice cried. The holes on my thin wings were growing bigger, and it became difficult to gain control of my body. A few minutes later, I went from a controlled descent, to an off balanced dive.

"Major!" My face was twisted with regret and grief, "If you could hear me, I love you okay! And I always will." His muffled voice replied back for the last time in the clouds, a heartbroken sound of failure.

"I love you too Lavender. I-" Then his voice cut off. That was the last time I saw his beautiful face. His body. His love. At the same time, my wings finally gave up, and I was falling out of the smoked sky. My stomach lurched hard as my body flipped violently in mid-air, like a leaf somewhat. I couldn't tell where the ground was, since everything flew before me in a blur.

"MAJOR!" I screamed, then finally caught myself with my broken wings. But it was too close to the ground. As I caught myself, I was already heading down into the flaming forest with gravity pulling me down. I only dodged one tree. The rest were crashes. I felt one tear at my chest, another one sliced my arm, and another one hit my beak. The ground came at me at full speed, but nothing could help me at that moment. I braced myself in terror as my body crashed into the ground, flipping and tumbling down this burning slope, until I finally slid down into a clearing. Pain erupted everywhere, but the pain I had most was deep in my belly.

"Oh my eggs," I sobbed, rubbing my cut chest, before I closed my eyes, embracing the painful bruises that flooded my body.