Time flew by as Kristen watched wildlife around her, the birds chirping and rustling of grass blending together to create an almost dazed sort of state.
Olivia stalked up to her and knocked her out of the stupor with a slight nudge on the shoulder.
'AH!'
For one horrifying, weightless second, there was nothing beneath her talons but open space and the dirt below.
"KRISTEN—" Olivia snapped.
Kristen flailed around randomly, wings exploding outward in a frantic beat that sent loose pebbles scattering. A burst of heat flared from her eyes in pure panic, scorching a black streak across the stone where she'd been standing.
She caught herself mid-fall.
Barely.
Her wings slammed downward hard enough to buffet the grass flat as she lurched upward again, heart hammering against her ribs.
She hovered awkwardly for a moment, feathers puffed to twice their size.
"…I meant to do that," she croaked.
Olivia stood at the edge of the boulder, completely unimpressed. "You were about to into the river."
Kristen slowly drifted back onto the rock, talons scraping for stability. "You cannot sneak up on someone who is contemplating life."
"I did not sneak," Olivia replied calmly. "You were staring at a grasshopper for three full minutes."
"It was a very profound grasshopper."
Olivia exhaled softly through her beak. "We're leaving in ten minutes."
Kristen blinked. "Already?"
"You said five hours. It has been five hours."
Kristen glanced at the sun again, now clearly higher in the sky, burning off the last threads of fog. The ravine looked different in full light, less mysterious, more ordinary.
"Oh," she murmured.
Olivia studied her for a second longer. "Second thoughts?"
Kristen hesitated.
"…Maybe a tiny, microscopic one."
Olivia tilted her head.
Kristen shuffled her talons against the rock. "It's just weird, okay? This place sucks. Everything tried to kill me. But it's still where I woke up."
Olivia's gaze softened slightly.
"Leaving does not erase it," she said. "It just means it no longer cages you."
Kristen huffed quietly. "You always say things that sound like you rehearsed them."
"I do not rehearse."
"Liar."
A shadow passed overhead.
Both of them looked up.
Lucia descended smoothly from a short scouting flight, landing without sound beside them. The faint golden-white shimmer beneath her feathers was almost invisible in daylight but when she folded her wings, it flickered once, like light refracting through water.
"The road is clear for now," Lucia said. "A merchant caravan passed an hour ago. No cultivator signatures within immediate range."
Kristen perked up. "See? Perfect timing. This is fate."
Lucia gave her a look. "If fate exists, it has a strange sense of humor."
Kristen grinned. "Yeah, but it keeps things interesting."
Lucia's gaze drifted over the ravine one last time.
The river.
The grass.
The boulder they'd slept under. A quiet, temporary sanctuary carved out between dangers.
Her eyes lingered only a heartbeat longer before she turned away.
Olivia stepped closer to both of them, feathers settling into focus. Kristen felt it again, that subtle thinning of their presence, like the world's attention sliding off them.
Olivia's concealment, it wrapped around them like a second skin.
Lucia nodded once. "Stay low. Avoid open sky until we reach farmland. Once we're closer to Dockland Harbor, we move only between cover."
Kristen saluted dramatically. "Captain scary illusion bird, yes ma'am."
Lucia did not dignify that with a response. They launched into the air together.
The ravine fell away beneath them shrinking, narrowing, turning into nothing more than a dark seam carved through green earth.
Kristen didn't look back at first.
She focused on the wind cutting past her feathers, on the rhythm of her wings beating in sync with the others.
But just before the forest swallowed the last view of stone and river, she glanced over her shoulder.
The boulder was barely visible now.
She felt something tug faintly in her chest.
Then she faced forward again.
Ahead lay farmland, roads, humans-
And beyond that-
Ocean.
Kristen's eyes sharpened.
"Next stop," she muttered under her breath, a grin slowly forming despite the nerves fluttering in her stomach.
"Dockland Harbor."
..
.
.
The grass stretched as far as the eye could see underneath them, seemingly endless, the cold morning also had completely turned around and now was a blistering heat.
Sweat poured down Kristens forehead as she trailed behind Olivia and Lucia, panting in exhaustion.
'Jessssuss christ! When...is this gonna...end?'
Blinking blearily at the distant shapes in front of her, she almost fell out of the sky. Struggling to stay upright she prayed to, quite literally, everything she knew.
Eyes drooping and the sounds starting to blur, she faintly heard Lucia calling from ahead that they were going to take a break.
'THANK EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY.'
Groaning in satisfaction followed the other birds lead and plummeted down from the sky at a dangerous speed. Opening her wings at the last moment she roughly landed face-first into the dirt.
While grumbling on the ground the other members of the group softly touched down a few meters away, making sure to keep their distance with the crazy- *cough cough* -completely normal bird.
They had been flying for 5 hours straight and it still looked like there was still so much land to cover until they would reach the ocean.
To be completely honest, Kristen felt like she was gonna die from it.
Kinda like school back on earth.
Finally resting her body, she took her head out of the dirt and saw that they were in one of the most beautiful and lush places that she had ever seen, even in her past life.
Rich grass grew from every angle and trees sprouted in what seemed like the perfect places. To top it off, a calm river ran throughout it all as well. It was like a living painting.
The only bad thing was that night had fallen upon them and hid some of the beauty.
Suddenly full of energy, she hopped up and sprung towards Lucia and Olivia, curious to see what they made of it all.
When she saw their faces however, a chill ran down her spine. They were devoid of emotion. Expressionless. Brain-dead.
'...What?'
Full of fear, she moved back a few paces and whipped her head around to try and see if anyone was there. Heart beating like a drum in her chest she unknowingly let out a small whimper.
Moving back to her friends she waved her wing in front of their eyes. Still nothing.
Deciding to try and find out what was affecting them since she had no way to cure whatever had happened, she took off and scouted the area.
A myriad of trees passed under her as she extended her senses to try and find anything of use, but everything was absolutely ordinary. Too ordinary. Without the presence of the other two birds, she was tense and missed a lot of things in her hurry, including a set of 7 cruel eyes that were staring daggers into her back.
Spying down, she took in the scene. Birds chirping, running water and a slight rustle here and there. It was so normal that it could make anyone not give it a second glance.
Unnerved by it all, she returned back to her friends and found that a small glimmer had appeared in their eyes. Just a tiny bit, but it was enough to give her hope.
'It looks like they're coming back with time. Which means I need to find somewhere to stay.'
She didn't even know if those night creatures from earlier on lived in this strange place, and it wasn't like she was going to test that theory out. On full alert she dragged her friends under an inconspicuous, hidden tree and waited it out.
'This place gives me the creeps. I wish I had some warmth.'
Because she naturally had a fraction of night vision due to her race she had no intention to start a fire, actually, well, that was before strange sounds started being made less than 20 meters away.
Distracting herself from these scary things, she opened up her status window for what felt like forever since the last time.
[Level 16]
[Status: Healthy]
Exp:145/400
Name:Kristen
Race:Astral Raven
Beast cores: 1
Evolution: Criteria not met
Lineage: Ares Zodiac
Martial Arts:None
Divine Abilities: Astral Gaze
Star Energy: 25
[Stats]
HEALTH:105/105
STRENGTH: 80
STAMINA:84/100
TOUGHNESS:40
[Titles]
Kin killer - Extra 10% damage when attacking family
Star Eater - Gain the option to choose the star evolution path
Flock - Gain 30% boost on all stats when with allies of your own race
[Skills]
Stab:lvl 5 - Requires 1 skill point to turn into [Advanced Stab]
Scratch:lvl 5 - Requires 1 skill point to turn into [Sharp Claws]
Flight:lvl 5 - Requires 1 skill point to turn into [Aerial Flexibility]
Stealth:lvl 3
Cooking:lvl 1
Confidence:lvl 2
Pain adaptation:lvl 2
Appraisal:lvl 4
[Skill Points:6]
[Stat Points:25]