The following day, on a bright and clear morning.
The perfect weather for flying practice, wasn't it?
Charlotte carried me and headed toward one of the rifts that had a ravine.
"This ravine is ideal for practice — not too high and not too low, Miss." Said Sis Ange.
Charlotte then set me down and walked to the edge of the ravine. Upon reaching the edge, she turned back to face me.
"Watch this, Puppy!" Charlotte began to reveal her wings — white with feathers like those of a swan, the wings glowing entirely as though they were the wings of an angel.
She turned back toward the ravine to show me the back of her wings.
"Follow along, okay! Flap like this!" She spread her wings and flapped them very slowly.
I began to imitate her. Starting with opening my wings, I had to feel it first! Since I never had wings before and knew nothing about them, my back felt very strange to me.
I began to focus on my back, and with all my strength I spread them wide.
"Good job, Puppy!" Charlotte called out loudly.
I then tried to mimic the wingbeats of a bird about to take flight.
But it was harder than I had imagined.
I worked from slow to fast.
I could do it! Even if only for a brief moment...
I was exhausted after flying just a little, and my tongue even fell out without me realizing it.
Sis Ange then picked me up.
"Goodness, you must be tired, aren't you? It's alright — there's no need to rush."
I pondered quietly in her arms.
"I know, Sis Ange. I just don't want to trouble you all for any longer than necessary."
Charlotte then looked at me with a face full of curiosity.
"Hey, Sis, do you know what kind of magical creature she is? I've been genuinely curious about this since yesterday." Asked Charlotte, pointing at me.
Sis Ange then looked at me too.
"That's a good point — what kind of magical creature are you exactly?"
She lifted me up and examined me from bottom to top.
"STOP! DON'T DO THAT! I'M SO EMBARRASSED!" I cried inwardly.
I squirmed in her hands, nearly causing Sis Ange to drop me.
"Oh my, you don't like it when I do that, do you? Alright then." Sis Ange made a disappointed face.
Charlotte glanced over at Sis Ange.
"So, Sis, do you have any idea?"
Sis Ange's face began to furrow, signaling that she was thinking seriously.
"I initially thought she was simply a wolf pup of some kind, but looking at her wings... she might be a hybrid."
Sis Ange took hold of my wings and examined them carefully.
"From what I can see, these are Raven wings. It's a crossbreeding between species that is beyond my comprehension at the moment, Miss."
Charlotte furrowed her brow as well.
"You're right — how exactly did they even mate?"
I stared at them, tongue dangling without me realizing it.
"IS THAT REALLY ALL YOU TWO ARE THINKING ABOUT?!" I said in my heart.
AWOOOO
Without meaning to, I let out a howl that came out sounding adorable — probably because I was still a baby in this form.
PLEASE, I'M SO EMBARRASSED.
Sis Ange then set me back down.
"Would you like to try again?" She said.
I nodded and wagged my tail along with my hind legs.
I planted my paws on the ground at the top of the ravine and began practicing flying once more.
Sis Ange and Charlotte went to sit on a rock nearby to watch over me.
"GO FOR IT, PUPPY!!!" Charlotte cheered.
I began my approach — pulling my hips back and bending my wings into an M shape behind me at the tips.
I stretched out my front legs and spread my wings wide.
I then broke into a run and leapt.
I began flapping my wings with steady consistency.
I controlled my breathing.
At last! I could do it! I could fly higher and for longer!
I circled around toward Charlotte and Sis Ange.
I so badly wanted to say, "CHARLOTTE! SIS ANGE! LOOK, I DID IT!"
Charlotte and Sis Ange watched me with smiles bathed in sunlight, and they clapped their hands.
"Congratulations, Puppy." Charlotte opened her arms wide.
My heart felt as though it stopped for a moment.
"THUMP." That was probably the sound that best described it.
Without thinking, I flew with a face full of joyful smiles straight into Charlotte's embrace.
I wanted to stay in this moment forever, but somehow I knew it couldn't last.
I buried my head against Charlotte's chest, and Charlotte gently stroked me.
Sis Ange prepared fresh water for me to drink, taking a bottle and using its cap as a makeshift bowl.
I began to stick out my tongue and drink the water little by little.
Gradually, my thirst faded away.
She then fed me a magic stone, and before long I grew drowsy.
Sure enough — this body truly was the body of a baby...
I fell asleep in Charlotte's arms.
Dreams began to form, and darkness came to swallow everything.
I kept walking through that darkness, carrying a lantern with a red light in my hand — one I didn't even know the origin of.
The shadowy ground beneath my feet had the appearance of water, yet it did not wet my feet.
"It feels like a hologram." I said.
I looked in every direction, trying to recognize my surroundings.
Then a sound like slow but abundant water droplets began to emerge, followed by the sound of a grown woman crying.
"Who is that?!"
The woman's crying grew louder.
In this darkness, her figure began to appear at the far end of the room, with occasional glitches flickering across her body, and a light bulb above her head illuminating her form.
She wore a net veil adorned with a black rose clip and a black outfit with blood-red accessories.
She had horns on her head. Her ears resembled those of a webbed sea creature. She had six wings and one tail with golden scales, and long curly golden hair.
She held a red camellia decorated with red roses, all adorned with her golden blood.
A gravestone appeared with a glitch, right before her.
She placed the flowers upon the grave, then spoke the words:
"Forgive me... My child." Still weeping without pause, she embraced the tombstone, and then walked away slowly, unsteadily.
That vision was then swallowed and erased by the darkness.
"I don't know what any of this dream means. It feels like it was cut off right at the climax."
I continued walking with the red lantern in my hand.
The sound of water droplets from before began to fade and was replaced by the appearance of red, green, and blue threads spreading out in every direction.
I shone the lantern upward and saw that the threads had formed a tangled dome concealing a painting.
"This story doesn't actually have a horror genre, does it?"
My mind kept whispering, urging me to reach out and untangle all those knotted threads.
I tried to resist this instinct, but unfortunately, I lost.
I tried to take hold of the blue thread.
But an electric current suddenly shocked me. I then tried grabbing the green and red ones, and the result was the same.
It felt truly strange.
This is a dream, isn't it? So why does it feel completely real?
I tried to peek at the painting from below, and all I could make out were golden strokes like tree roots along the bottom edge.
I sat there gazing at the threads and the hidden painting.
I sat for what felt like an eternity, until I had sunk completely into my own thoughts.
Whatever happened next — suddenly the darkness surrounding me began to crack.
Behind those cracks was a white light that blinded me, accompanied by Charlotte's voice echoing throughout the entire space, calling my name over and over again.
"PUPPY?! PUPPY?!"
I woke up to Charlotte's panicked face right in front of me.
My breathing was ragged, and at that moment I was truly disoriented.
What actually just happened?
"SIS ANGE, IS PUPPY OKAY?! SHE WAS CONVULSING JUST NOW, WASN'T SHE?!" Said Charlotte in a worried tone.
Sis Ange then examined me, and afterward looked into my eyes.
"You... were you having a nightmare just now?" Sis Ange stroked me gently.
I nodded. "Yes, that's right! That dream was so strange!"
Sis Ange then turned back toward Charlotte, and smiled.
"Don't worry, Miss. She was only having a bad dream."
Charlotte was finally able to breathe easy. At the same moment, I climbed down from Sis Ange's arms.
I watched the sun setting, and without even thinking about it I flew with complete ease — I saw it...
A view of a dense forest followed by the ocean, adorned with the shimmering glow of the setting sun in front of it.
The wind swept through my fur in that moment, and Charlotte looked over at me.
"Puppy..." Charlotte then flew toward me.
"Hey, Puppy — you see it, don't you? This is what you call natural freedom and tranquility." Charlotte looked in my direction.
"I often come to this place after purging the curses spreading across my planet, all while hiding from the gods. This view alone brings me peace — and you, given your race, will one day venture far from other people."
She then smiled.
"But there will surely always be someone who stays by your side and remains loyal to you. So — fly as high as you possibly can!"
I fell silent, held still by her words, as I gazed upon that breathtaking view.
This scenery, and her — both were so beautiful that I could not look away...
TO BE CONTINUED