His Presence: Chapter 1

Tendrils of the sun’s rays crept over the horizon, quickly eating away the stars and turning the sky a dusty gold. As the sun rose, light began to fall on a large harpia’s form: Minute. His soil feathers were much like the sun itself, perpetually battling against the midnight feathers on his head. Sunrise was his time and he was already awake. His old, gnarled beak pointed downwards at two bleary eyed Stryx: a lycan no older than a few moons and a hawk not much older.

Minute spread his wings, gently flapping them in order to feel the warmth of the sunrise on them. The lycan, named Kodiak, unfurled his own wings in response. The dark feathered hawk, however, simply blinked tiredly. “It’s really late. Do we have to do this now?” For him, it was far past the time he’d usually be awake. Tycho’s nocturnal habits weren’t very compatible with what they were about to embark on… but Minute found little sympathy for the young hawk.

He twisted his head towards the sun. “Daius does not bless those who do not pay him tribute,” he answered simply. “His presence wanes with the sun and is strongest now. Can you feel him?” The old harpia closed his silver eyes and took a deep breath of air. He kept his great wings spread and allowed the gold to seep through his feathers. Kodiak attempted to do the same, keeping his eyes shut tight and trying to experience whatever his elder was feeling. The veteran certainly seemed serene.

After a moment, the pup felt a wing stretch out and tap his own. “Hey!” he glared at Tycho. “Daius was trying to talk to me!”

“Chiro shit!” Tycho shot back. His feathers fluffed up to make him appear larger and he dropped his beak defensively. 

This seemed to infuriate the bat, who swung his still growing horns through the air and clawed at the ground. “That’s-”

He was interrupted by Minute stepping between them and pushing them away from each other with his massive wings. “Tycho! Language! Kodiak... “ He sighed heavily and gave a disapproving look at them both. “You know better than to show violence. Daius is here… he is watching and listening to you both on this day. Enough of this! Come!” Before either young Stryx could process what was happening, Minute began to run towards the edge of a cliff. He allowed himself to let gravity take him, faster and faster, down towards the ground. Tycho and Kodiak scrambled to the ledge, staring down with wide, horror filled eyes as they watched their mentor plummet.

And then, with a single flap of his wings, he was shooting straight up towards the sky. His shadow passed over the sun, making him appear as if his feathers were dipped in pure gold. His eyes glinted, filled with power neither young creature had ever seen. “Catch me!” he cried out, his voice booming over what felt to be the whole world. The command was so stern that Kodiak found his wings dropping to his side in surprise and shock.

Tycho, however, grinned as he began to back up. He took a moment to breathe before letting his legs carry him as fast as they could over the edge. There was a brief moment of fear when his talons felt the grass shift to rock and the rock shift to air. He found himself dropping. Down, down, down… and then he instinctively unfurled his wings. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before! His exhaustion was suddenly gone as he was carried by a warmth that seemed to allow him to float. It took no effort… it was like gliding from trees as a young bird, and yet the air was pushing him upward!

The lycan wasn’t far behind, but his stunned appreciation for his mentor’s strange, godlike appearance made him much slower. He didn’t submit himself to falling down the cliff, too afraid that he’d be unable to recover his flight like Minute or Tycho had. And yet, just as his friend, he found some invisible force lifting him up into the sky. His blue eyes widened in a combination of fear and awe as he glided and found himself moving farther and farther from the ground below.

“Awesome, isn’t it?” Tycho asked. The dark hawk was doing slow loops upwards now, allowing the draft to push him forwards without so much as flapping a wing. “If this is Daius’ doing, I never want to sleep during the day again!”

Kodiak simply continued to move forwards, lazily flapping his wings every so often to get a boost of speed. The deep black hawk was up ahead, his wings flashing from the sunlight. The feathers on the feather tips of his dorsal side glittered while he flew and Kodiak was briefly transfixed by how pretty they were. His silent adoration for the small things in life was broken very suddenly by the very hawk crying out. “Oh! Minute! He’s so far away!” He frantically pointed with his beak towards the dwindling form of the harpia in the distance. Already he had to have been a mile or so ahead of them. How he’d gained so much speed, neither young Stryx knew.

Minute glanced over his shoulder, his exceptional ears hearing the exclamation of the hawk. Despite himself, he smirked a bit and gave a faster flap of his wings. He then reached out each wing to its fullest extent in order to ride the morning thermals. Daius was warm today, invigorating his old bones and allowing him the energy to keep up the swift pace. He had no intention of allowing neither Tycho nor Kodiak an easy challenge. After all, Daius demanded it.

Behind him, Kodiak and Tycho found themselves thrust into a vicious competition of speed and agility, trying to make the most use of the thermals without straying from their goal. The hawk seemed to be faster, however, with his narrow wings and intense focus than the lycan did. He was lightning quick, diving downwards to pick up more speed before allowing the thermals to carry him back up so he could do it all again. However, he lost speed during each lift, allowing Kodiak to keep a steady pace while still - more or less - keeping up with him. He simply allowed the thermals to carry him forwards, aiding their power by adding a powerful downstroke in order to quickly hop to the next.

And yet as quickly as they were learning to navigate this new world of air, Minute was still leagues ahead of them. Tycho’s eagle-eyed gaze thought he might be seeing tendrils of the sun’s light itself trailing from the tips of the harpia’s wings. Was Daius assisting him? However, when he blinked the tendrils were gone. Perhaps he was simply overtired and overexhilerated, but he wasn’t sure. Still, he felt too fast to be real. As time passed, he looked over to Kodiak. They both were starting to feel the fatigue of the race on their wings. “We can’t… catch him…” Kodiak panted, trying to somehow find the strength and speed to keep going. A dull ache had spread from his shoulders up his arms and into the delicate fingers supporting the membrane that kept him afloat. “He’s too fast!”

Tycho nodded, no longer doing the diving and ascending to keep his speed. Minute was still so far away… and he, too, was beginning to feel twinges of pain crawling over his wings. “Yeah… you’re right. Can we… Can we rest?” he asked, noting a rock ledge nearby similar to one they’d leapt from. He eyed it longingly. “But we can’t. Can we?” The bright blue orbs shifted to Kodiak, wanting him to make the decision. After all, he was too competitive to admit defeat… unless his primary competitor decided to quit first.

The lycan shook his head. “No. We need to catch up to him. Look! He’s slowing down!” He pointed with his muzzle to the harpia ahead of them. Indeed, Minute was beginning to slow to a far more believable pace.

“Oh good! We can finish this then!” Tycho called, deciding he had enough fight left in him to keep going. In the blink of an eye, he was diving down once more, making headway while he left Kodiak in the dust.

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1387 Words