Sefirian Chronicles: Avielle's Inferno

Chapter 4: Battle of the Brave

December 2016. Unknown Rainforest.

Avielle flew towards the next tree. Her wings hit a few branches along the way, making her curse, but she landed on a branch perfectly. She's training to jump from tree to tree but with the added bonus of Phoebus the eagle stalking her and Isidore throwing sharpened spears at her if they even caught the slightest sound from her.

From the corner of her eyes, she heard something whizzing by the naturally rustling leaves and she barely had enough time to jerk her head back before a spear flew in front of her face and impaled itself on the tree trunk behind her. If she was even a second late from moving, that spear would have impaled her face for sure.

"You're too loud! Again!"

She heard Isidore yell from a couple of yards away before the shrill shriek of an eagle came from behind her. She dropped, barely dodging razor sharp talons suddenly aiming for her head. She craned her neck to look for a flying Phoebus who was tasked to tag her. The eagle seemed to take a liking to her and Isidore suggested they train it. Avielle has a natural affinity for controlling animals and that would make it easier to communicate with the eagle, but it seems like the fierce Phoebus didn't need training at all. It naturally followed Avielle and instinctively learned to fight alongside her Tal. But if she made any more mistakes now, she could die from the both Phoebus and Isidore going after her.

She frowned and continued to fly. It's not like she didn't have an objective. Her mission is to reach the extraction point that Isidore instructed her. Reaching it while being pursued and stalked required stealth and speed. She had to get used to these types of exercises because most wars aren't fought head-on and she will do most of her time in the near future retrieving intel and plotting ambush.

Finally, Avielle reached the field or her "extraction point". It was the end of her exercise and fairly, she was allowed to hydrate herself and rest before another set of exercises started. Isidore seemed hell bent on training her in warfare recently.

She put her thumb and index finger inside her mouth, making a sharp whistle while she extended her arm up. With its now-familiar cry, Phoebus circled her and finally landed on her padded shoulders. The eagle's heavy build didn't bother Avielle as she proceeded to hand feed him a dead rat she kept on a pouch strapped to her leg.

"Good job, Phoebus," she said quietly, watching as the eagle flew to the ground to devour its treat. She didn't know if Phoebus is a girl or a boy, but Avielle always liked the name Phoebus. And so her winged companion is Phoebus.

She removed her leather shoulder and arm pads for Phoebus and waited patiently for Isidore to join her atop the hill. She wasn't disappointed when a second later, a silver dragon landed in front of her, its scaly wings blowing dust all around them. Avielle covered herself with her wings to prevent anything blowing into her eyes. When she removed her wings from around her, she saw Isidore shifting back into his regular, old man form. Avielle knew she couldn't say his "normal" or default form, because shapeshifters didn't have one. The most tangible, original form they have is being clouds of ominous black smoke.

Without another word spoken between them, they started Avielle's on ground training.

"Remember, when things in battle seem to shift to the worst scenario and nothing is going in your favor, it is not shameful to retreat. It's called mindful leadership. A thousand battles win a war, but not all of those battles must be fought."

Avielle quickly released her wings with ease and did a powerful flap horizontally. That gave her a start and propelled her forward. She flew to the end of the field and did a 180° turn, hearing the soil beneath her wings loosen before flying back to Isidore as fast as she could. The young Sefir did her very best, quickly beating her wings powerfully. Every stroke of her feathered limbs, she put in extra power until the point where she was beginning to falter from exhaustion. It pushed the air out of her lungs and left her in a panting mess.