Chapter Text
In a land far away where beast, man, and those in between thrive, we begin our tale amongst the lush foliage of Kabeki Forest (壁木森). It is so aptly named as the trees grow as tall and thick as the strongest castle walls, and sunlight rarely pierces the thick canopy of leaves above. Rare glimpses of life and light appear when one walks out into the uncommon open field, where the brush teems with all kinds of flora and fauna.
Here, in one of these little pockets of paradise, a hunter lifts his head to the sky above. Having travelled deep into the forest, he has yet to see any game worthy of his swift arrow. The skies are calm and clear with nary a cloud in sight. Within the trees he hears the quiet chitters of wary critters. Silence steadily falls. Then, as if in answer to his prayers, a large shadow glides by overhead and within a single breath he lets his arrow fly—and it hits the mark perfectly with a thud.
But the spear did not land a fatal blow, and the hunter watched as the large grey wings faltered and dove headfirst into the trees with a loud crash. Taking to his heels, he ran in the direction of his prey with a drawn bow.
This hunter was Daichi, a short-haired, skilful youth from a line of proficient hunters. He possessed great talent in the longbow and his hunts always ended quickly within a few well-placed shots. This creature, however, still had the strength to elude Daichi among the gloomy maze of trees, but not without leaving a trail of crimson behind. His heart pounded in excitement as he grasped and examined a large wing feather that was undoubtedly from the bird. It spanned over a metre in length, was sturdy but soft to the touch, and shone a brilliant silver when he crossed it with a ray of light. He wondered what kind of exquisite creature he managed to hunt down this time.
Now, we turn our story around to the unfortunate prey’s point of view. The bird was in fact a half-crow, half-human creature named Suga. They call themselves the Karas, and from such a high altitude, it is easy to mistake one as a large bird. In fact, a shot from such a distance was what saved Suga from instantaneous death, as the arrow pierced his side when it was actually after his heart.
With a torn and battered body, Suga painfully heaved himself from the ground and made haste toward the nest. There was a hunter about, and he wasn’t going to leave his children behind without warning them first. Every step he took made him wince and tear up in pain, and he clutched his bleeding side and clamped his mouth shut. He could not fly as the landing broke his wing, and the canopy made sure that one as large as he could not break through it.
Finally, he trudged into a clearing and collapsed, feeling his life and strength ebb away hopelessly into the green, green grass. ‘Ah… is it over for me?’ he thought, unable to muster any more power to stand. ‘Kageyama… Hinata… I’m sorry…’ Suga closed his eyes and his body went limp. Suddenly, two young Karas came gasping and panting from the bushes, who immediately stumbled to Suga’s side.
“Ma—mama!!” Hinata cried out with tears tumbling down his baby cheeks.
“Mama!” Kageyama grit his teeth and held back his own tears upon seeing the terrible state his parent was in. He stared in hatred at the bloodstained arrow that stuck out from the man’s body like a vile curse. The smaller, orange-haired crow wept and tried to rouse Suga, to no avail.
“Mama is… Mama is…!” he whimpered.
“Stop whining! We have to find the one who did this…!” The other raven growled and pulled a small blade from his hip. “The one who shot Mama out of the sky…”
“B-but Mama’s still alive, we have to do something!” Hinata shook his head.
“We can’t pull the arrow out, you dumbass! Mama’ll bleed out and die!” Kageyama snapped back.
Amid the arguing and emotions that ran high, Daichi had silently arrived onto the scene and was trying to peer over the tall shrubs unnoticed. He was startled upon hearing the voices of children, and even more so when he heard the word ‘mama’. Wasn’t what he shot down a mere bird? It couldn’t have been a human! He swallowed and braced himself.
Carefully, he raised his head above the leaves, but was instantly taken aback when he found himself at knifepoint. His wide eyes met the icy blue glare of a small boy, on whose back black wings flared up in defence.
“Don’t move!” the child yelled, his hands shaking. “You did this, didn’t you?”
It was then Daichi realized his grave mistake.