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A lone monster peered through the small crevice in the wall, watching the destruction that had unfold in front of him. He could see a few other monster searching for their family from the small window in the room. Monsters scrambling around of what used to be a peaceful street.
But he couldn’t care less. He didn’t have anyone to search for.
Time passed, and he remained unmoved. He didn’t care. There was no reason for him to go anywhere. Everything he had, was beneath him, piled in mounds of dust. Screams broke, wailings and spits of anger; shrills of pure agony split the already broken atmosphere.
And again, he couldn’t care less. He was numb. He watched as monsters scrambled haphazardly to get to safety. There was absolutely no reason for him to move from where he was. Everyone was gone. No one to go to.
He, like many others, had Lost Hope.
The wind felt heavy. It was the first thing that crossed the scientist’s mind as he walked down the hall. Another sleepless night had pulled him away from his chambers. It was still early to call it a night but the day had left him exhausted. Either way, he was unable to fall asleep. He supposed he still had some leftover energy left, a walk along the castle corridors might do the trick.
Looking through the windows, wind blowing softly through the opened ones, catching some of it on his feathers. He shuddered. Not from the cold, no it wasn’t that. It felt... ominous. He shuddered again as he continued his way around the halls. There was something in the air that didn’t felt quite right, almost as if…
A loud voice boomed and echoed through the walls. The voices seemed to come from the throne room at the end of the hall. Had he walked this far out? More importantly than that, why were there people in the throne room this late at night.
He steeled himself. As he adjusted his glasses on his beak he only hoped for the foreboding feeling to only be a product of his tired imagination.
“What!?” The King slammed his fits oh his throne, his booming voice resonating on every corner of the room. “Then what are you doing here waiting?! Go send help immediately!” one of the guards reporting ran towards the exit as fast as his sleepiness let him.
“What is all the ruckus?” a crane monster entered the room dressed in a long black overcoat, round small glasses on top of his long beak, with a worried expression, he asked: “What happened?”
“Dr. Crane…” Rasgor said calmly. “The Necrotic Villa is being attacked.”
“The Necrotic… What? What do you mean that- Why would-” he gasped. A sudden realization hit him. “Web Dings and Vani! And the kids! Are they alright?! Do you have any word from them?” he clutched the neck of his coat. The face of the guard said it all.
“According to the reports, their home… seems to be the first one to fall on the chaos.” The guard lower his gaze like he was apologizing for having done it himself.
“We already sent troops to help, there is not much we can do about it. A bit earlier and why might have been able to assist.” The King lamented. Roils boiled. The passiveness of his actions enraged him.
“No… No. There is.” he ran towards the front door without giving it a second thought.
“Dr. Crane! What are you doing?!” Rasgor yelled, but his Royal Scientist was already out of the castle, hearing only a rustle of wings as he flew off. “Roils!”
Roils Crane, the Royal Scientist to the King of monsters, Rasgor Dremmurr, generally knew what he was doing but as he flew towards the Necrotic Villa, he was fairly sure he didn’t at the moment.
The Villa wasn’t that far away from the castle, just a couple of hours on foot; even after taking off, he could see the fumes from the destruction caused by the attack from the distance. He tried to fly faster, in a hurry to see what he could do as he watched from above the destroyed houses and shops. The field’s fire already subduing. Monsters still scrambling along the roads trying to find someplace to hide or look for help as they were being chased by a smaller number of humans. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t do anything for them, he needed to make sure his friends were alright.
He flew faster, directing himself towards his friend’s manor. The Aster’s Manor. A chill coursed through his body as he set to land near the entrance. Panic was overtaking him. Roils searched the outside of the manor before entering it. The walls on corridors where beaten up, cracks now decorated them instead of patterns and pretty designs. The floors had the same finishing now. There was a little part on Roils mind that just wanted to ignore the darkish splatters, trying his best not to imagine what could’ve happen. He was about to move away from the Foyer when his search was cut short. Before he could react, human hands grabbed him by the wings and shoulders, pushing him to his knees. he had been careless.
“Let go of me, you filthy…” his insult was cut short by a jab to his side.
“Well, well.” One of the most imposing humans walked towards them. “Seems we caught a little bird. Wait… hahah! What do we have here? The Royal Scientist?”
“The Monster King’s right hand?” said one of the humans that was holding him. “We could get a pretty nice ransom for this bastard.”
“It would be a shame to waste this opportunity.” The imposing one said. “The monsters in here didn’t had as much as we thought. We might had hit a stroke of luck!”
Roils gasped. “The monsters here… what did you do to them…” he regretted asking the moment the words exit his beak.
“Do you see all this dust?” he motioned around himself. Roils felt his stomach churn. He could see pieces of clothing and accessories from the maids and servants, and the armor of the brave guardsman who tried to defend them. On the corner of a pillar… he could see a familiar broach. He had seen that on the oldest son just the other day. Castellar. Strong and arrogant, but kind to a fault. The boy was getting married next month. Roils felt his inside twist. “One of those freaks killed one of mine. I think it was a fair trade.”
“Fair trade…” Roils repeated with as much venom as possible. If he thought this one through, he could escape mostly unscathed, all he needed was an opening of sorts. “One of your man for a whole family and an entire Villa… of course… that seems fair. A good family, for one filth of yours. What happened to him? Was he shred to pieces or maybe decapitated? I personally prefer impalement, but either way is a good way to dispose of trash.” He felt the grip of the humans tighten around him, a glint of anger on the leader’s eyes. “Or maybe burned. One of the maids here could use fire magic. I bet he writhed in agony-” that popped a vein on the human’s head.
“Shut up!” simpletons, Roils thought. The leader launched towards him to land a punch, unable to see the gust of wind swiping him out of his feet. He took the opportunity of the other ones shock to deal them a flurry of feather-shaped bullets. That wouldn’t kill them, but it would slow them down.
He ran outside the manor, about to take flight, when he caught a small glimpse of faint pin sized glow from the entrance to the catacombs. “Oh, no…” he stumbled a few feet away from where he landed. He was about to go for them when an arrow pierced his shoulder like if it was being aimed to a heart that didn’t necessarily allowed him to live. Turning around to face the humans, he gripped the tip of the arrow that had come through the front and yanked it. Blood was slightly sipping out from the wound. He needed to distract them enough to help the little one; he could feel his magic, slowly sipping fear from him. Wing Dings. The youngest boy seemed to be the only one that had survived but it would be for naught if he couldn’t save himself.
Summoning big feather, he launched them in front of the human to try to stopped them and lift up some smoke. A human launched themselves forward only to be met with feather projectiles. He needed to incapacitate them as soon of possible.
Another one prepared an arrow, letting it loose, Roils redirected it with a gust of wind effectively dodging it, sending a sharp feather to the one that had yet to move, getting him just above the clavicle. He summoned another big barrage of feathers to their legs, making them kneel in pain. One more, one more. He invoked a small gust of wind that surrounded him before launching it towards them, sending them slamming into the wall behind them.
Gasping, he clutched his shoulder, turning to face the child that was still watching from behind the entrance. He moved fast towards him. Wing Dings backed a bit seeing him get close. “No, wait. It’s me, Roils. Do you remember me? I’m a friend.” He stretched a wing. “We have to get out of here, fast.” He turned to look at the humans, they were starting to get back to their senses. Roils considered it for a moment, they could take the catacombs, it would lead them to one of the exits but it would risk getting caught in a dead end. No, he couldn’t risk it.
“We have to get out of here, Wing Dings! It’s not safe!” he opened the door and reached towards him grabbing him by an arm. Carrying him on his back, Wing Dings started to struggle but was instantly relaxed by Roils intent to save him that emanated from his magic. Roils adjusted him on his back as fast as he could. “Hold tight!” the skeleton nodded. He grew his wings and took flight. They had to get out fast. He didn’t want to cross into a human mage or another archer, so instead of flying above the Villa, above the buildings, he leaned towards the nearest edge of the forest. There were a few archers whom arrows were either deflected or avoided. Lousy shots, he thought.
On his back, the kid tightened his grip. The scientist had to hurry; he dived towards the forest getting a few meters of advantage. “Don’t worry, child. We’ll be safe once we reach the edge of the forest-” he stopped. In a second, they were plummeting to the ground. A flaming arrow had pierce his right wing, disabling it from any further flight. Struggling to not fall unconscious from the searing pain on his arm, he moved in the air to grab hold of Wing Dings, hugging close to him. A few feet away from the ground he summoned a small gust from his remaining pool of magic that managed to slow down their fall just enough to slam the ground with a loud grunt. Roils could fell a rib or two broken from it, but, he was satisfied with the landing nonetheless.
“Boy… Wing Dings, are you alright?” he brushed his skull with feathered fingers. The child nodded, trembling in fear. “Thank goodness…” he stayed there for a while. Resting. That, until he heard loud voices from the Villa’s direction. “Oh no…” Roils sat up. “Boy, listen to me. You have to get to safety. The King’s guardsmen are on their way here, you have to go to them, is the only way you’ll be safe.” He pushed him towards the road. Wing Dings shook his head, gripping the sleeve of his overcoat with faint whining noises that almost broke the scientist heart. Roils couldn’t waste time here or both of them would die.
In desperation, Roils gripped the boy by the shoulder. “Listen to me! We don’t have much time! You have to go. I can’t protect both of us with an injured wing!” he pushed him again, a bit harder. “GO!” Wing Dings stumbled a bit, a lost expression on his face as he looked back at the road and then at Roils, who was having a hard time standing up. “NOW!” he yelled exasperated. The kid flinched, starting to run the direction he was pointed to.
Roils saw the kid run, hoping –and for the first time praying- that at least he would survive. He might as well serve as an obstacle long enough for him to reach safety. The voices of the humans were getting closer and closer. This was truly not the way he imagined his life would end.
‘This is the best I can do. I’m sorry.’ he thought.
Wing Dings ran and ran and kept running, his legs starting to give up. He needed to find help he would die.
He didn’t want anyone else to die. Not for him. Not anymore.
He kept running, trying to yell and scream for help, but his voice wouldn’t come out. Closing his eyes in impotence, he kept moving forward until his face collided with a solid object. A metallic clunk resounding strongly on the sudden silence of the night. His fall was denied by strong hands.
“Wow, there little one… wait… a skeleton? Are you…” the Captain was in disbelief. Before he could continue, the child was tugging on his arm, motioning him towards Roils. “What’s wrong?”
The boy tried, but as much as he could he could only mouth ‘help’ over and over again. He let go of the guards arm and ran towards his savior. “Wait! Where are you going?” Wing Dings motion them to follow, running, hoping he was on time.
Another feather (or was it two? Maybe three. He couldn’t tell anymore) was plucked from his injured wing. He winced as more feathers were being plucked slowly while the humans that had overpowered him laughed at him.
Roils could no longer move. It was easily for him to count how many ribs were broken at this point. His burnt wing was further injured and probably irreparably smashed. The other one was uselessly pin down with a spear perfectly stuck in between his radius and ulna. A coincidence, he thought, it would’ve been impossible for this brute to know such things.
“Are you comfortable, bird brain?” Roils scoffed at that pathetic attempt for an insult. Even in this situation, his mind remained cynical and sarcastic.
“Did your little friend turned to dust? Or did it managed to escape?” the human moved the spear on his wing. “Tell me.” His voice was dangerously low. The scientist remained silent, draining the last piece of patience. “Have it your way.” He unstuck the spear from the wing, lifting it above his head, bringing it down with as much force as he could muster.
A clank rang on top of Roils head. Looking up with trouble, for once he was glad to see the Captain of Royal Guard. Orange magic axes had been summoned on his sides.
“Lizzandre…” he sighed in relief.
The Captain stood tall, draconians and reptilians were always one of the most intimidating lot and Lizzandre was not the exception. “Either you back down, or we put you down.” He said with a heroic pose. He needed to practice his threats, Roils thought. As weak as they were for Roils opinion, they were effective by the fire coming out of his maws and the number of soldiers behind him. The humans started to back out, apparently not feeling confident enough to fight a battalion at the moment. Running, they scrambled back to the Villa, a good portion of the soldiers following them back, archers at the ready.
With the young one by his side, Lizzandre gave a few instructions before he and a medic reach to help Roils. The medic in question, a young rabbit monster, tried to convince the scientist to lay there but stubborn as he was, he sat up ignoring the medic as she tried to heal him as best as she could at the moment. Wing Dings walked to Roils slowly, worry in his eyes.
“You did it… you went for help…” Roils was so tired, he could barely remain conscious. He could just see Wing Dings small smile. “Thank you…” he said before finally fainting.
A few days had passed since that day. Roils had been attended immediately to try and save his wing to no avail. The fire had caused more damage then what could be healed. They tried to reassure him that things would be alright, but he knew better, it was obvious. His wing was in no condition to maintain him airborne. A bird that could not fly was better off dead, he thought once, instantly pushing it aside. Giving up was not a thing Doctor Roils Crane did, he would be quite the lousy scientist if that was the case. Right now, there were more important matters that required his full attention.
“You’ll be taking care of that child?” a rough voice came from the doorway. King Rasgor had found a bit of time to visit his recuperating friend.
Roils lifted his gaze from the window in his room that faced the old tree at the courtyard. He’d watched the people walking in and out the courtyard. At no moment had he left his room, too tired to even walk the short hall leading to the stairs. During that time, the child had been taken cared of by one of the maids, only coming up to Roils’s room when it was night time or now and the to check on him. The child almost seemed nonchalant about everything that was happening around him. Even still, their nights were sleepless. The child barely slept himself, being kept awake by memories turned nightmares. Or so Roils thought since Wing Dings didn’t made a sound. He could only assumed from his vacant, distant expressions and the way he carried himself in a hunch, guarded way, alert to everything and everyone around him. He pondered for a long time what he could do for the small child.
Now he had an answer.
“Yes, I will. I’m not sending the son of my friends to an orphanage…” he said scowling. “I won’t do that to him.
“I actually was not expecting that.” Rasgor nodded. “That boy is going to need all your support… you know that, right?”
Roils nodded. “I will be there to offer it. I will also provide him with the education he needs. I already made up my mind. That’s the best I can do for him.” he said, looking back at the King with fierce Determination .
“As you so desire, then.” the King shrugged. Taking a few steps around the room, the King seemed to be deep in thought. After a few minutes of silence, he said: “Have you been told about what happened at the Villa?” he said with a somber tone.
Roils shuddered. “No… I haven’t… asked.” he looked at Rasgor, a stern look in his eyes. “But… do tell.”
The King took a deep breath. “It’s strange how such a small rebelious group could tear apart a small town like that. Humans have a terrifying power, but they couldn’t have been able to do it on their own. …”
“Are you trying to tell me… that they were monsters involved in the raid?” he said almost agast. The King’s expression told him what he needed to know. “How… could they just… turn around on their own people like that?”
“Similar to how humans have being fighting their crusades.” Rasgor shook his head. “I fear the worst, Doctor. I don’t want to believe it but… it’s probably that we could be finally on the receiving end of their so called Divine Justice.” he grimaced.
Roils looked at him for a couple of seconds, unable to believe that monster could turn against their kind. Things could go out of hand any moment and they were not prepared. “Besides… you know necrotics are not exactly the best received species. Maybe one hold a grudge. Either way, is not an excuse. We’ll find the ones who helped their infiltration, Doctor Crane. That I promise.”
“Don’t make promises… you can’t keep, my liege.” Roils said, with a heavy knot in his throat.
Roils stood up alone in his room, thinking. Had he made the right choice? Was it prudent for him to raise the boy? He never envisioned a family in his future, he didn’t want that. He had promised himself he’d never subject anyone to rely on him like a child needed to. But that kid… little Wing Dings… he didn’t deserve being cast aside like that. Many children had become orphaned thanks to everything that humans and monsters were doing. He couldn’t do anything for them, but he could for Wing Dings. If he could provide him with food, clothes, a place to sleep... then that’s the least he could do.
For now.