Chapter 10: Wings of Flight, Breath of Fear
From Oblivion Beyond…
Do you believe in reincarnation?
Ah, a simple question, yet one fraught with complexities so ancient even gods forget the answers. To be judged by your karma, weighed by invisible scales, and cast anew into the endless tapestry of existence… who among you has not wondered what shape your next life might take?
Perhaps you imagine that good deeds would crown you with fortune: reborn into a rich and loving family, tended to and revered. Or perhaps you fear that your missteps would damn you to a lesser form, to the body of a sow rolling in mud, or to the life of an insect crushed beneath careless feet.
It is a thought-provoking idea, isn't it?
Now, consider this: if you were reborn into something lesser… something weak, something mocked by the world… would you retain any glimmer of your former self? Would you cling to the fragments of memory, of dignity, of ambition? Or would the cruelty of your new reality erase you, forcing you to write a new story atop a blank and helpless slate?
Curious, isn't it?
That brings us to the tale before us now.
A soul, small yet stubborn, delicate yet fierce, reincarnated into a world not kind, not forgiving, but sharp and filled with malice. And not even into the body of some grand beast or noble spirit, but into a dodo bird… a creature scorned, pitied, forgotten even by history.
Now ask yourself, dear listener: what kind of punishment was this? To be shackled to a weak form and thrown into a realm where only the strong survive? Was it cruelty, pure and thoughtless? Or was it a trial, carefully crafted, to test the mettle of the soul?
Would the dodo's spirit endure, or would it crumble under the weight of fate's merciless hand?
This tale, like countless others spun by time, should have gone untold. Lost among the dying stars, hidden under layers of more celebrated histories. But you… you chose to listen. You chose to know. And so, I will speak.
Below, our little dodo dangled helplessly in the hands of young cultivators, his feathers ruffled, his pride battered. He understood them. He heard them plotting his end. His heart, fragile yet unbroken, cried out silently for mercy, for deliverance, for a chance… however slim… to fight for his existence.
"Let's cook it," said the stocky youth, eyes gleaming with thoughtless cruelty.
The girl hesitated, tilting her head. "It's kinda cute, though. Maybe it's a spirit beast cub?"
"Doesn't matter," Senior Brother Min replied, his grip tightening slightly on the bird. "Cute things roast just as well."
The dodo flapped helplessly, a pitiful sight to behold. No great cultivation surged from him now. No fearsome technique lay hidden in his claws. All that remained was a soul… stubborn, scared, but still alive.
Was that not enough?
Far above, unseen and unfelt, I watched. I pondered. Would I intervene? Would fate grant a reprieve to this battered soul? Or would I simply observe, silent and impartial, as the world ground down another fragile existence into dust?
The little bird did not know. He could not know.
But his spirit… oh, how it clung! How it refused to die quietly! How it still remembered promises made to a beloved master now lost to flame and ash!
Perhaps that was why, in the next breath, as Senior Brother Min prepared to toss him into a conjured flame, a ripple passed through the air… delicate, nearly imperceptible.
A seed of fate stirred.
A gust of wind, sharp and sudden, tore through the clearing. It knocked the flying swords off-balance and sent the cultivators stumbling midair. In that single moment of chaos, the dodo slipped free, tumbling awkwardly through the air, flapping his stubby wings in desperate panic.
He hit the ground hard, rolling ungracefully down a slope, his small body bruised but intact.
"After it!" cried Senior Brother Min, summoning his sword with a flick.
The hunt began anew.
But something had changed. A thread had shifted. And sometimes, even the smallest shift was enough to change everything.
You chose to listen, dear one. So listen well. For though the soul was small, though the world was cruel… the story was far from over.
And perhaps, just perhaps, this stubborn little dodo would yet defy the stars themselves.
Ah, truly! What manner of foolish fortune was this?
I could scarcely believe my own senses. A gust of wind, no greater than a sigh of the earth itself, had loosened the Senior Brother's grip upon my poor, feathered neck, making him skitter in the air from his floating sword. In that instant, I tumbled to the ground… an ignoble descent, but one that spelled salvation rather than death.
Blessed be the low flight of their spirit swords, for the moment my claws brushed the earth, instinct overtook thought. I ran… no, I fled… with all the desperation my stunted body could muster.
Behind me, cries of indignation tore through the air like knives.
"After it! Catch the beast!" shouted Senior Brother Min, his voice brimming with wrath.
I dared not look back. To turn my gaze behind was to lose precious moments that spelled the difference between life and death. I was no longer a proud cultivating beast; I was a mere creature driven by terror, clumsy wings flapping uselessly, my beak open in frantic breath.
If only I had been born smaller! If only I could burrow into the earth like the humble mole beasts of legend! Perhaps then, their gaze would have passed over me, and I could have vanished like a spirit in the mist.
I wracked my mind, struggling to recall the hidden burrow I had used in a previous existence… yes, I knew there was such a place! But my memories, like smoke on a stormy day, slipped from my grasp.
Then came fire.
Senior Brother Min hurled searing orbs of flame with reckless abandon. I yelped and stumbled, feeling the scorching heat graze my feathers.
"Ouch! Ouch!" I screeched, the sounds warped through my ungraceful, dodo bird throat. In my panic, I cursed with all the venom I could muster, "Screw you, you despicable cretin!"
Hah~ how ironic… It came out more as a series of bizarre squawks and cries, but to my dismay… and terror… they understood my clumsy attempt at communication, despite the dodo accent.
"It speaks!" gasped the young girl, her voice thick with scandalized horror. "Senior Brother, it's a demonic beast!"
"A rare spirit beast, surely!" cried the other youth, voice trembling with greed. "Capture it, and the Clan will reward us handsomely!"
Senior Brother Min's eyes blazed with renewed fervor. Gathering Qi at his fingertips, he conjured yet another fireball, greater and more furious than the last.
"In the name of the Huo Clan, you shall not escape!" he roared, casting the burning orb toward my fleeing form.
The world was ablaze with terror and heat. I ran, heedless of dignity, of pride, of anything save the instinct that screamed at me to survive.
And in that moment, as the earth trembled beneath my frenzied steps and the heavens raged with fire behind me, I realized: This world… this cruel, majestic world of cultivation and conflict… would not grant me even the smallest mercy.
If I were to live, if I were to honor my Master's legacy, I must fight, I must endure, even if I had to begin again from the very bottom of existence.
And so I ran, heart pounding, wings useless, but spirit unbroken.
I saw it, a raging river roaring ahead like a feral beast.
My tiny heart clenched in my chest. No burrow, no refuge. If fate wanted me to gamble, then gamble I would! With all the dignity of a panicked chicken, I leapt headfirst into the water. I didn't hesitate. Survival demanded no less.
The river swallowed me whole. I sank like a stone, the coldness gnawing through my feathers.
Memories of the past iteration flickered in my mind. Master Song had once tried to teach me how to swim. A noble endeavor, but a doomed one. I had learned only one thing: I was an atrocious swimmer.
Still, now was not the time to despair. I flailed my stubby legs, kicking furiously, trying to force myself upward. Water flooded my beak, burning down my throat. I coughed, bubbles streaming from me like pearls lost to the deep.
When finally my head broke the surface with a desperate splash, I gasped for air, sputtering and wheezing like a broken bellows. My wings slapped against the water, useless but determined.
I dared to glance behind me… no signs of those three cultivators. Maybe... maybe I had lost them?
"Heavens bless," I croaked between coughs. "I survived!"
But a new problem revealed itself almost immediately. The current was too strong. The river didn't care for my small victories or my fragile hopes. It dragged me along like a leaf caught in a storm.
Panic rose again.
How was I going to get out?
In the past, every time I sank or floundered, Master would be there, plucking me up from the water with a dry chuckle. But now?
No Master. No helping hand. Only the wild river and my own frail will.
"I can do this," I told myself, even as fear gnawed at the edges of my mind. "I have to do this!"
I paddled furiously, trying to steer toward a bank or a root, anything to stop the river from taking me further. But fate, ever so cruel, had other plans.
Ahead of me, the river seemed to vanish.
I blinked. Was I hallucinating from swallowing too much water? No, the sound… the roaring, howling scream of the earth… told me otherwise.
My blood turned cold.
A waterfall.
"No, no, no—!" I screeched, thrashing against the current with all my pathetic might.
The river didn't care for my pleas. It carried me like a sacrificial offering to the abyss.
And then I saw it…
The edge. The void beyond.
"Aaaaaahhhh!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice pitiful and raw, echoing over the thunder of crashing water.
Fear gripped my heart, raw and pure. I flapped and kicked uselessly, a pitiful sight against the vastness of the world.
There was no Master Song to save me this time.
Only me, the river, and whatever lay at the bottom of that roaring fall.
"AAAAAAAHHH! I HATE MYSELF!"
Falling from the sky, I thought I was doomed to a miserable end, maybe dashed against sharp rocks or swallowed by some river demon. Yet as I plunged down, heart hammering in my small chest, I caught sight of what lay beneath. It was not jagged stone or muddy death. It was a lake. A lake! Crystal clear and shimmering under the touch of the sun, like a mirror dropped from the heavens. Color me surprised. It was beautiful. Far more beautiful than anything my pitiful little heart had expected to see.
As the wind rushed past me and the ground loomed closer, I glimpsed more than just water. I saw the forest in all its ancient, untamed glory. Beyond that, the silver expanse of the ocean. And crowning it all, standing proudly against the skyline, was the mountain... No, not just any mountain. It was the Sacred Hill. My Sacred Hill. The one that had cradled my every memory, every lesson, every tear I had shed with Master Song.
High atop it, even from this distance, I could make out the silhouette of the Sacred Tree. Majestic. Timeless. The very heart of everything I once knew and loved. My little bird heart swelled painfully, overcome by the tide of memories. I could barely believe it... I was home.
"I am home!" I cried out, my voice torn away by the wind, but I did not care. I spread my tiny wings, ridiculous and stubby, imagining for one wild moment that I could fly. Maybe if I wished hard enough, maybe if my heart was loud enough, I could soar. My laughter broke out, bright and raw, carried away like an offering to the heavens themselves.
The lake rushed up to meet me with a wet, resounding splash. I hit the water like a thrown pebble, not gracefully like the beasts who ruled the skies. My body bobbed up to the surface, sputtering and flailing, but none of that mattered. I laughed again, splashing water around me in clumsy, joyous motions.
"I am home!" I repeated, louder this time, defying the pain in my chest, defying the exhaustion that gripped my tiny limbs. Home. Home, where memories still lingered like faded footprints, where Master's teachings clung to the very soil, the very wind. "I AM FREAKING HOME, SUCK ON THAT HUO CLAN DICKWADS!"
The Sacred Hill. The Sacred Tree. This land had once cradled me in its roots and shadows, and it would do so again.
I didn't know what fate awaited me now. I didn't know how the wheel of karma had spun me back into existence like this, or why my memories were so fragmented. But I knew one thing for certain: this was where I belonged.
And somehow, someway, I would find my path forward again.