Avian
An Excerpt of a longer work by Thomas Age 16
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Creation…………………………………………………………………………………….3
Chapter 3: School’s Out…With a Bang………………………………………………………………..6
Chapter 4: The Island of Cere………………………………………………………………………………12
Chapter 5: Target Practice…………………………………………………………………………………..17
Chapter X: The Old Hoot……………………………………………………………………………………..21
Chapter Y: Finding Jay…………………………………………………………………………………………25
Chapter Z……………………………………………………………………………………………………………26
Chapter 1
The Creation
Many, many years ago, in the year 2689, there was a scientist who owned a lab near Area 51 in Nevada. He had done many experiments on various subjects and was famous in the scientific community, but not much farther.
His lab was located in a lush forest. It was an unusual place to have a laboratory, but that was the whole reason he put it there, to keep others from finding him and discovering the secrets behind the science he did. The lab was whitish-grey on the outside with a small green door at one end. There were no cars, only the various animals that had grown accustomed to the scientist and his assistant coming in and out of the large building. On the inside, the bright white walls were filled with blueprints, plans, and calendars scheduling the work that needed to be done each day. Equipment, supplies, concoctions, and other things used for the various projects they did were located on the many shelves and tables scattered around the rooms.
Each room in the lab served a different purpose. One of the rooms was entirely for showcasing completed experiments the scientist and his assistant had done in the past. The other rooms, such as the biologic experiments room, medicinal experiments room, and time and space experiments room were filled with gadgets and gizmos used for experiments’ specific subjects.
The scientist preferred to work alone on most things, so he only hired one assistant. The scientist and the assistant worked in tandem on many experiments at once. One of the ones they were currently working on included something called an archaeopteryx, the first bird in the world. They used their time traveling machine they had finished in an earlier experiment to go get this ancient bird so they could use him in their testing.
They called the archaeopteryx Albert, after Albert Einstein. Since dinosaurs evolved from birds, Albert still had many characteristics that we associate with dinosaurs. He was small for a dinosaur, but very big for a bird. Just like all the other archaeopteryxes, Albert was brown all over with large wings like a bird of prey. He was the only bird to have teeth and had red eyes. Even though he looked menacing, he was actually very gentle, that’s why they picked him to change history.
The assistant walked up to Albert’s cage carrying a green serum. He wore glasses and a long white lab coat that covered up his slim figure. His hair was short and brown. He was starting to bald in the front and had accumulated some grey lines on the edges. Albert was always happy when he came to visit, since the assistant was the only one who actually paid attention to him. Albert really wasn’t capable of thought much more complex than that…yet.
The serum was a potion very far ahead of its time. If it worked, the scientist and his assistant would be famous. It served three purposes: A. it allowed the flightless archaeopteryx to fly, B. It sped up the evolution process enough so that it could be observed in a lifetime, C. it allowed the bird to speak English. This would not only allow people to communicate with the archaeopteryx, but also with all the children that came from it. By the time they died, there would be at least one of every bird species that could talk. This would not only be a great discovery on itself, but it would pave the road for many other experiments in which scientists could track a bird’s feelings and how they reacted to certain things.
Meanwhile, in the other lab, the scientist was working on a contraption in the time space section of his lab. His glasses drooped halfway down his nose as he looked through them with small, grey eyes. He scratched his beard as he though, ruffling the silvery grey hair that ran down from his wrinkly chin. When his mouth was closed, it was covered up by the long, grey handlebar mustache. He wore a long lab coat just like his assistant.
The machine he was working on was about the width of an eagle’s body with an octagonal hole in the center and a rectangular prism shaped base that decreased in size as you went farther up it. He was almost done, he just needed to make a few more adjustments before it was finished. He was so close, he could almost taste it.
After a while, the scientist flicked the switch on the side…nothing. This stupid machine would never work. He would never be able to go to alternate dimensions like he had always dreamed of. He put his head down on the desk, but then, picked it back up and went back to work. He knew he couldn’t give up.
The assistant poured the serum into Albert’s food dish.
“There you go,” he said, “Soon, you’ll be able to understand what we’re…” He was interrupted by a large flash of energy from the other room.
“I did it!” the scientist exclaimed, “I figured it out! They said I was crazy, but it worked, the portal worked!” A spiral of swirling color flew around the room. Images of other dimensions and areas within their own dimension flashed by. The assistant ran into the room, a look of awe spreading across his face.
“What happens now?” he asked.
“We get ready to delve into another world and see where it takes us!” exclaimed the scientist. A look of horror spread across his face. Puzzled, the assistant followed the scientist’s eyes and his heart sank to the floor. He had forgotten to close Albert’s cage! Albert flew around looking at all the color, trying to figure out where he was and what was happening.
“You fool!” cried the scientist, “Grab him!”
“I’m trying!” cried the assistant, but however much he tried, he just couldn’t catch the bird. It was simply too high. The scientist was literally hopping mad, his face turning red, screaming orders at the assistant to catch their experiment. The assistant watched in horror as Albert, the archaeopteryx they had worked so hard to get, flew into the portal and disappeared.
“Noooooo!” cried the scientist.
“We have to go save him!” cried the assistant.
“We’re not ready!” the scientist cried, “It would take hours of preparation! If I turn the portal off, who knows whether it will open the same dimension again. If I leave it open, there could be serious side effects! It’s all because you couldn’t catch him!”
“At least you could have helped!” the assistant returned.
“I’m old!” he cried, “I couldn’t!”
“Well you seemed well enough to stand there hopping up and down barking orders!” the assistant spat.
“That is it!” the scientist cried, “Leave my laboratory at once! You have officially been declared a hazard to the scientific research done in this lab!” Neither realized that the metal of the portal starting to turn reddish orange.
“Fine!” he spat, “I’ll go start my own lab where I don’t get yelled at by lazy know it alls!”
“What did you call me!?” the scientist was furious. At that point, the portal exploded, spewing a ball of fire so big that it could be seen in the village 10 miles away. The forest was burned down and the lab lay in ruins, all the experiments destroyed. The only witnesses to English speaking birds had just died.
Chapter 3
School’s Out…With A Bang
Ore was a goldfinch. He had a gold head with a black stripe on top that engulfed his eyes and ran down all the way to his black beak. His body was yellow, but his wings were black. He was small for a goldfinch, a species which was small in the first place, but, he didn’t care. He figured out ways to work around his small size and even smaller brawn, he was intelligent. He read many complex books in his free time and loved science. However, no amount of brains could prepare him for the challenge that he currently faced: school.
It wasn’t really the school that Ore had trouble with, it was the people in the school, and at the moment, he was about to enter the belly of the beast.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
Ore walked into the classroom ready for another day of science class. He flew over to his lab desk and dropped his bag under it. In Avian, book bags were made of grass woven sacks with handles of tree bark. Ore’s was made of birch bark that gave the handle a nice white color and lightened up the color of the grass. He looked around the room at the various science posters on the walls. The room was made just like all the other rooms in Avian. Instead of living in nests, the trees were carved hollow and large wooden tubes made of the same wood that was in the trees connected the trees of the forest that made up Ore’s school. Each teacher had a tree that they taught in.
Ore could tell that the tree was maple based on the sticky maple syrup smell that it gave off. The light colored wood was dry, he could tell it hadn’t rained in a while, or else the wood would be wet, causing it to be darker than it was now. A poster of a robot saying that science was fun hung up in front of the classroom. Whoever had designed it thought that it would be fun to make its body parts all things that you would find in a science classroom. That wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t decided to include laser pointer eyes that made everyone jump the first time they saw it.
Mixed in with the smell of maple was the smell of several different chemicals and liquids. With all the various potions Ore’s science teacher kept in the closet (also made of the tree’s wood) the whole tree would blow apart if it caught on fire.
Ore’s science teacher was Mrs. Proton, a screech owl. Despite her name, she consistently failed to bring a positive charge to the atmosphere. Her dull grey feathers killed any form of brightness her round yellow eyes could provide. However, no one was looking at her eyes, they were looking at the menacing talons. There was an easy way to get on her good side though: science. Anyone who was really good at science was given constant praise by Mrs. Proton, and, naturally, got graded less toughly. This caused them to get higher grades and gave Mrs. Proton a chance to say “See, if you did more science like (insert name here) over here, you would be getting an A in this class too!”
However, Ore seemed to lack what was needed to get on Mrs. Proton’s good side. Although his main problem really wasn’t that he wasn’t smart, in reality, he was the smartest one in the class. His problem was that the two bullies of the classroom, luck and fate, decided that he wasn’t going to be the top of the class like he wanted.
One of these unlucky events was the lab partner he got stuck with. His name was Wemmick. Wemmick was a catbird, and the laziest bird in the class. He hated science, and any other class that forced him to do work. However, the science labs were the worst. Ore didn’t really mind the fact that he wasn’t all that smart, he actually preferred to work alone on projects like this. It was the fact that he insisted that he actually knew what he was doing and that there was no way he could ever be wrong. He tried to help in ways that would end up hurting their grade instead of helping, insisting that Ore was just trying to show off and that Ore was saying he was wrong, just because Ore didn’t think of it. Of course, Mrs. Proton always heard about this, and punished him several times for not letting Wemmick be part of the project.
“Hey, look who’s finally on time today!” Ore immediately felt better hearing the voice of his best friend Jay behind him. Jay was a blue jay. Like most other blue jays, he had a white head with a blue tuft on top. His blue body and white belly were complimented by the blue, white, and black pattern on his wings.
“So, what’s new?” asked Jay, his usual greeting.
“Not much,” Ore replied, “I’m almost finished with that project I was working on.” Ore was a scientist. His favorite activity was to go into his room and make new experiments that he could play with with his friends. He didn’t have all that many projects done, they were mainly systems that could be used to easily launch things like water balloons for the dogfights he liked to have with Jay. He had made his own catapult, a thing he called a seed gun, and a special sound-sensitive shield. However, Jay had no idea of the magnitude this new project had.
“Why won’t you tell me what any of your projects are until they’re finished?” asked Jay.
“Because that would ruin the surprise,” he said. The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the school bell ringing.
“On your perches!” Mrs. Proton commanded when she heard the bell ring. The class quickly rushed to the perches that were located behind all the lab desks. Ore sat in the very back, next to Wemmick, whom to his displeasure was in school today. Jay sat in front of Ore.
“Today,” said Mrs. Proton, “We are going to be learning about specific heat and heat transfer.” The classroom groaned. All of a sudden, Ore realized something.
“Where’s Amber,” he asked, leaning forward to Jay. Amber was a female cardinal, Jay’s lab partner.
“Dunno,” mumbled Jay, then he turned around, “It’s probably a good thing she’s not here, and it’ll help you concentrate.” Ore’s face turned red, but he knew that Jay was just poking fun at him. Ore had a huge crush on Amber, Jay was the only one who knew. It was just simply the smooth brown color of her feathers and the way her eyes sparkled when you looked into them…
“No talking in my classroom!” snapped Mrs. Proton, bringing Ore out of his trance.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “we will be doing a lab on which objects heat up faster than others. You will be given a beaker of liquid water and a beaker of liquid nitrogen. You will first record how fast each one heats up at their normal colors. You will then use food coloring to dye the two liquids darker colors and record how fast each one of those heats up. You will then derive the specific heat of both liquids at normal color and both liquids once dyed. Then, for homework, you will complete the chart on the back with information such as how much heat it took to bring the liquids to certain temperatures based on the specific heat.”
“Just make sure,” she said with a pause, “That you only put the first food coloring into the nitrogen container, not the water one. You will be given another, special food coloring for the water.”
“What happens if you put the first food coloring in the water beaker?” asked Wemmick.
“The next question will be how much heat energy did it take to bring Wemmick to vaporization point,” muttered Jay under his breath.
“Maybe if you did your homework every once in a while, you would know,” Mrs. Proton scolded, “Speaking of which, I have your projects from yesterday to give back to you. I was disappointed to see how many of you failed to track all 10 of your constellations for the entire week.”
“Because tracking constellations teaches us everything about heat transfer,” Jay whispered.
“Jonathan, one more outburst like that, and I’ll send you to the principal’s office!” Mrs. Proton threatened. Jay hated when anyone called him John, much less Jonathan, but he had learned to keep his mouth shut. Mrs. Proton passed out the papers, pausing at Ore’s desk.
“No Ore,” she sighed, “The skinny dipper is not a constellation…” Ore sank back on the perch he was sitting on in embarrassment. He looked at the handwriting on the page.
“This isn’t my paper,” he said.
“Well then why does it have your name on it?” asked Mrs. Proton.
“I don’t know, but shouldn’t you have another one with the correct answers?” asked Ore.
“That was the only one I got,” she replied, “It’s either the grade you got, or a 0.” Flustered, Ore sank farther into his perch.
“Stop talking or you’ll blow our cover!” complained Wemmick.
“What cover?” asked Ore.
“Well, I didn’t want to tell you because I thought that you wouldn’t want me to trouble myself, but I did it anyway because I wanted to be a good friend, but I still didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think you had to repay me.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Ore, trying to figure heads from tails in the long run-on sentence that just came out of his lab partner’s mouth.
“I know this is unusual for me, but I did my homework early this week. I decided that I wanted to help you get a good grade so I copied my answers onto another page and put it in your backpack,” he started, “but I thought you might get in trouble if you had two projects in your pack, so I threw yours out.”
“Didn’t you think she would catch us if our papers were exactly the same!?” Ore questioned under his breath.
“Ore, how many times do I have to tell you and your friend to stop talking!?” demanded Mrs. Proton. Ore could tell they were about to reach the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“I thought of that ahead of time,” said Wemmick, completely ignoring the fact that Ore was just words away from a one way ticket to the principal, “so when I figured out that the skinny dipper wasn’t a constellation I changed it on mine, but not on yours.” He was beaming at how smart he thought he was. Ore was furious. He didn’t have the courage or the patience to tell Wemmick that he was wrong, so he just bottled up his anger and tried to focus on the task at hand.
“Let’s try to get this lab done and over with,” said Ore, dreading another 30 minute session of trying to do science with his partner.
“I was thinking,” Wemmick started. Ore flinched, knowing that when that happened, it usually ended very badly.
“What is it this time?” asked Ore, not wanting an answer.
“You know how Mrs. Proton said not to mix the water and food coloring together?” he asked.
“Yeah,” answered Ore, “The first food coloring contains potassium.”
“Exactly!” cried Wemmick, “You know how when you mix potassium and water, it releases a lot of energy?”
“It does more than that,” cautioned Ore, “It…”
“Well I was thinking,” Wemmick interrupted, “That if we could harness that energy, that we could use it as a new source of power for the school! Think of all the resources we’ll be saving! Even if we don’t end up doing the experiment, I’m sure Mrs. Proton will be so impressed with my scientific genius, that she’ll give us both As!”
“And how in the world do you expect to harness this massive release of energy?” asked Ore skeptically. Wordlessly, Wemmick pulled a power chord out of his backpack.
“Oh yeah, that’ll work like a charm!” Ore said sarcastically.
“I knew you would understand!” Wemmick said happily.
“That was sarcasm!” Ore said, finishing up with the first part of the experiment, “Your plan will never work. Now, I’m going up to get the food coloring. I need you to listen and listen well. There is no way in the world that we are going to put food coloring with potassium into a beaker of water, especially if you want to come out with an A and your feathers all in the right places.” Ore stormed up to the front of the room the retrieve the two bottles.
“Stupid bird thinks I can’t handle anything,” Wemmick complained, mixing the liquid in the two beakers together. He stopped when he saw Ore coming back.
“Now had we gone with your plan,” Ore explained, putting the potassium coloring in the beaker labeled nitrogen, “When the potassium and water mixed, it would…”
*KABOOM!*
The beaker exploded, sending an expanding ring of fire through the classroom, blowing the top of the tree completely off the rest of the trunk. The top burst into flames as small, flaming wood fragments rained down from above, setting the rest of the tree on fire. The various concoctions in Mrs. Proton’s closet then exploded as well, completely demolishing the rest of the tree in the same fashion. The school was old, and so it burned easily. Ore watched in horror as the rest of the trees of the school were set on fire.
“I’m surprised the debris went that far,” said Wemmick, obviously not bothered by the fact that they had just blown the school up.
“It’s called crowning,” explained Ore, “The fire is elevated, mainly in the leaves and old branches of the trees. This causes an updraft that feeds the fire even more and sends little flaming leaflets from the tree into the air. This then catches the tops of the other trees around it which also start crowning, causing a massive chain reaction,” Ore angrily turned towards Wemmick, “all caused by your stupid energy…” he was cut off by Mrs. Proton standing over the two of them. He looked around at the damage they had caused. It had all happened so quickly. One second, he was putting the food coloring into the beaker, then there was a large series of explosions, and then it was over, not even giving them any time to flee. The fire had died down in the tree they were in, finishing it quickly. All that was left was the outer ring of a large, burnt stump. The air was chocked with ash and the smell of burning wood was overwhelming. The remains of the tree were still too hot to stand on, so the birds were all in the air.
“Alright you two,” Mrs. Proton said coldly, “what happened?”
“Why don’t you ask Mr. power chord over here,” Ore said, looking at Wemmick with about the same tone Mrs. Proton was using on them.
“Me!?” exclaimed Wemmick, “You were the one who mixed potassium compound with the water, creating a chemical reaction that released a huge amount of atomic energy causing the combustion we just witnessed!” Ore just simply glared at him, dumbfounded.
“Ore, to the main office now!” Mrs. Proton screamed.
“But, I didn’t…I mean…he,” Ore stammered.
“You can’t blame Wemmick for trying to come up with a new theory,” she scolded, “At least he tries to learn in my classroom,” Ore was speechless, “now GO!” Ore quickly darted out of the tree through the burnt remains of his school.
Chapter 4
The Island of Cere
*note: () is the King of Cere. I haven’t decided on his name yet, so I just put () down*
Crimson was a phoenix. His bright, scarlet-red feathers shone brightly as he glided through the sky to his destination. His large wings were equally brilliant red and his tail was made of three, long, curled feathers of the same color. The only thing about him that wasn’t red was the two black eyes that stared down at the large castle he was flying towards. He was 210 years old, which was young for a phoenix since phoenixes don’t die of old age. Every 100 years, a phoenix’s body burst into flames that reduced them to ash. However, out of the ash, the phoenix was reborn.
Crimson flew down closer to the castle. The large marble building glistened in the sunlight so brightly that he swore he could see his own reflection. The brightness seemed to carry throughout the castle grounds, through the gardens of flowers that, from a bird’s eye view, made up the Cerian flag. The flag was a blue background blotted with white to make it appear to look like a cloudy sky. A single feather was placed in the center of the flag, divided up into four sections. The upper left was red for the phoenixes of Torche. The upper right was white with a little grey thrown in for the snowy owls of Everfrost. The lower left part of the feather was brown with black spots similar to the grey spots on the Everfrost section. This was for the Eagles, Falcons, Hawks, and Raptors of Superia. Finally, the lower right was pitch black, for the crows and grackles of Cancurro.
There was a flag of flowers on each side of the long dirt path that connected the castle to the road. Crimson could smell the wetness of the flowers and the sweet aroma that seemed to radiate from every little blossom. Even the air around him seemed to melt around his wings like butter, giving him a nice warm feeling. In the back of the castle, a field of blue tulips spelled out the Cerian motto “The sky is never the limit”, set to a bright yellow background.
Crimson landed in front of the castle and saw it hulking over him. The friendly giant was probably the most inviting place he had ever been, he always felt better after visiting the King. The bottom section of the castle was built of four marble walls that had a spire built on each corner. In the center of this rectangle, another rectangle of marble came up that ended in three spires of their own, the one in the middle being taller than the other two. Each of the spires had one stained glass window that faced the front. The four lower ones bore the flags of the four territories of Cere, the four areas that the four sections of the flag represented.
The Torche flag was bright scarlet red with orange flames jetting out from the center. The silhouette of a bird was seen in the center of the flames. This was Crimson’s home territory. The flag of Everfrost had a blue grey background to represent sky. A grey snowcapped mountain could be seen rising up from the bottom center of the flag. There was a white and grey blizzard that blew across the mountain, representing the snowy environment of the territory. On top of the environmental setting was a single, large snowflake that took up most of the flag. It was a bright whitish blue, causing it to stand out against the whitish grey blizzard, grey blue sky, and grey snowcapped mountain. The Superian flag took a different approach. It contained the foot of a bird of prey coming from the center of the brown, feather colored background. On the four talons, it gave the four virtues that Superia represented: power, leadership, strength, and virtue, in bold blue text. Cancurro’s flag was the simplest of them all: a black background with a picture of their bird of legend. Nobody knew this bird’s name, just that he was a crow and that he had saved Cancurro before it became part of Cere.
On the two middle windows, the Cerain flag was on the left and the motto was in green letters on the right. The highest window pictured a single jewel encrusted crown. Crimson walked in through the gate. The gate was always open, even at night. In Cere, there was no need to worry about invaders or intruders. There were no guards, the Royal Family simply lived on their own in the castle, inviting visitors to come in whenever they felt. Crimson flew through the castle and went to the King’s throne room.
The throne room was even more magnificent than the outside of the castle. It took up the entire second floor, the red carpet reaching from one end to the other. Emerald shields containing the Cerian flag were evenly spaced on the side walls leading up to the places where the King and Queen sat. The red carpet ran down the gold floor, statues of previous rulers were on each side of the carpet in order of rule. It started with the founder at the end you flew in, and continued through all the other rulers until you finally got to the current King. The shields could be seen through the gaps in between the statues. Cere was a relatively new country, so the statues only took up half the room. Whenever a King died, a statue was built and placed in the spot where the last King was. The other statues were then all moved back one position.
At the far end of the room sat the King and Queen. Each throne was equal in glamour. They were both gold with red cushions on the bottom and back. The golden arms were carved so they looked like a flying Eagle. The King was on his throne today, even though this only happened on special occasions. Usually, the Royal Family would be out and about doing activities in the castle or on the castle grounds. The family mixed in with the rest of the citizens like they were just a few of them. However, General Crimson had reported an important event today, so the King went to the throne room to hear the good news in better detail. The Queen had fallen very ill and was still in the bedroom.
King () smiled upon his highest general’s arrival. He was a chickadee. His grey body contained a black stripe on the head very similar to Ore’s. His wings also had a black and bluish grey pattern to them. The Queen was a chickadee and looked similar, but had brown feathers instead of black and grey. The King simply wore a crown, nothing else. The other Kings before him had worn extravagant jewels and armor, announcing their status to the public. The King didn’t wear anything different than his subjects did, and only wore the crown on special occasions like this one.
“Your majesty,” reported Crimson, kneeling to the ground, “As you already know, I have come here to report that the Superian-Torchian war had officially ended. The King beamed, but his smile quickly turned into a frown.
“Nobody was killed right?” the King asked.
“Nobody,” replied General Crimson. The King’s smile returned to his face.
“So tell me,” the King said curiously, “how did it end?”
“The Torchians agreed to share their fire with the Superians,” started the General, “if the Superians did not eat the songbirds that flew in their territory.”
“I thought the last Superian King outlawed the eating of songbirds,” asked the King puzzled.
“He did,” answered Crimson, “but the new King likes them, so he wanted to take away the law.”
“So, what about the songbirds in Superia?” asked the King nervously.
“This is where it gets interesting,” he said, “Torche tried to tell the Superians not to abolish the law, but King Talon didn’t listen. It wasn’t until Everfrost came into the debate and offered a new source of food that Superia finally decided to stop eating songbirds all together again.”
“What was this new food source Everfrost provided?” asked the King.
“First, instead of throwing unfertilized eggs away, eating them will provide protein,” the general explained. The King seemed pleased at this idea and nodded his head. In Avian and Cere alike everything was put to use. Then he frowned.
“However, had the Superian King never threatened Torche or taken Torchian food in the first place, none of this would have happened,” the King said sadly, “King Talon invaded, and what happened? Torche and Everfrost had to give him resources.” Crimson shrugged.
“That’s the price of letting territories do whatever they want,” he stated with a sigh, “However, don’t get me wrong, I think Your Majesty is the best King we’ve had in a while.”
This is what a war was like in Cere. Violence was never used, and all the leaders knew very well that the use of violence would cause them to immediately loose their position.
King () paused for a moment.
“You know, I don’t require my subjects to call me King or My Majesty,” he said.
“I know,” Crimson answered, “but I still think it creates a sense of authority, shows that you are higher.”
“But I’m not,” replied the king, “I’m just simply a citizen in charge of organizing everything.” General Crimson smiled. He knew that this was the way the King thought and that there was no changing it. A grackle flew in the doorway into the throne room. This grackle was huge, almost Crimson’s size, which was already twice the size of the king. His powerful talons flexed as he landed, this was a bird that you wouldn’t want to mess with. His dark eyes seemed to cut like tiny black knives and his large beak looked like it could crush anything the large bird set his mind to.
“And who are you?” the general questioned.
“I’m the new advisor,” the grackle replied. His voice was deep and calm. It had a chilling effect on the general.
“Ah yes!” the King exclaimed, “Come, I’ll give you a tour of your new home.”
“I’ve already had a tour (),” he replied. Crimson was taken back a little by this. Even if the King preferred to be called by his first name, the grackle hadn’t been told this yet.
“See,” said the king, happy over the matter instead of offended, “Now, there is a sense of friendliness instead of authority. It is easier to call someone your friend when you call them by their name than it is when you call them his majesty.”
“But, you didn’t even tell him that!” exclaimed Crimson.
“I heard your conversation when I entered,” the grackle answered.
“Oh, how rude of me, I haven’t even asked for your name!” exclaimed the King, slapping his forehead with his wing.
“My name is Armegator,” the grackle replied. The name sent shivers down Crimson’s spine. He could swear he had heard it before.
“Well then, welcome to the castle Armegator!” welcomed the King, “now, come on and I’ll give you that tour.”
“Should I go continue on the issue with the other advisor?” asked Crimson. The burial of the advisor before Armegator had been put on hold because of the civil war.
“I heard about that,” said Armegator, “It’s too bad…what happened to him…” Crimson could swear he saw a twinkle in Armegator’s eye when he said this.
“Oh yes!” exclaimed the King, “I almost forgot! Go and see if you could possibly make arrangements for his burial. Remember, he wanted to be buried in the garden behind his old house. He lived on the outskirts of Torche, near Cancurro.” Crimson nodded and left. That was part of the reason why he liked the current King so much: he remembered stuff like that for every citizen. Not only that, but he also cared about his citizens. Without a doubt, this was the best King he had ever served.
Armegator watched as the general flew out of the throne room. He turned to the King.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Chapter 5
Target Practice
Ore sat in his room, tinkering with his new machine. The machine was about the width of an eagle’s body with an octagonal hole in the center and a rectangular prism shaped base that decreased in size as you went farther up it. It was modeled after something Albert had described that had the same function. Soon, his work would be complete, and then he would be able to explore worlds no one had explored before.
Hearing Jay coming in the door of his house, he set the machine back on the shelf and went to the door of his room. He looked back at the metallic machine he had worked so hard on. It had to be metal, or else it would break from the energy released. Getting the metal had been a challenge because the trees he lived in were wood, not metal. He had to buy various contraptions imported from Montagne and strip the metal from them, however, it had been worth it. He grabbed a bag of wooden gizmos he had made in the past that Jay and him liked to play with. These, he had made almost entirely out of the extra scrap wood from when the house was made.
Ore raced from his tree down into the main tree where Jay was. Ore’s house was made of three pine trees, one for him, one for his parents, and one main one where most of the activity happened. This was small for a house in Avian, but just like with his size, Ore didn’t mind. However, average houses weren’t much bigger than his. The people of Avian didn’t spend much time inside, mainly just the nights when they slept. Most other “rooms”, such as a family room, were outside.
Ore loved the smell of pine that his house emitted. There was nothing in the world better than smelling the fresh pine smell that said welcome home. He always felt safe in his house, away from the drama of school, free to do whatever he wanted. His parents hadn’t minded as much as he thought they would about Ore blowing his school up. They understood the troubles of his lab partner and weren’t surprised that something like this had happened. They mainly blamed Mrs. Proton for giving the children explosive materials in the class. Ore got along with his parents like that, they just simply understood what it was like to be a kid.
“Hey, you ready for me to kick your butt?” asked Jay mockingly.
“Well seeing as it has never happened before, I’d have to say no,” returned Ore. Jay laughed.
“Well, you’d better start bracing yourself, I feel lucky,” Jay taunted.
“Let me know when you decide to make an accurate prediction,” Ore said, walking out the door to the outside world. Jay followed.
“Well let’s get started!,” exclaimed Jay, anxious to get the show on the road. Meanwhile, Ore was setting up the equipment. He ran through the list in his head. Two seed guns? Check. Two sound shields? Check. Ten damage weights? Check. Ore strapped on his own equipment, and then went over to help Jay put on his. They went to their normal take off places on each side of Ore’s territory, and started the dogfight.
Immediately, the sound of his wings flapping activated the sound shield, causing it to buzz to life and hover a few feet away to his left side. A sound shield was something of his own design that sensed any form of sound and immediately went to the location it heard it. It was programmed to only stay a specific distance away from them and went at a speed high enough to block all incoming bullets.
The bullets came from a seed gun, something else Ore had invented. The seed gun was a device that strapped on to the base of the wings and legs, containing a barrel full of seeds that ran the length of the spine. The bottom was flat while the top was slanted, the higher end being at the back using gravity to reload itself. There was a mouthpiece that connected to a part slanted the other way. All you had to do was blow, and a seed would be shot out of that part of the gun, where it would enter another chamber and create a small gunpowder explosion, sending the seed forward like a bullet. These could kill, but Ore and Jay used fragile seed shells instead of actual seeds.
The last part of the equipment was the damage weight. The damage weight was a sensor that clipped to the wings, head, tail, and lower body. When they sensed that they had been hit, they would suck water vapor from the air and condense it into liquid water, filling the balloon attached to it like a water balloon. This added weight, which made it harder to maneuver that area. The first one not able to fly anymore and touched the ground lost. Each one took the responsibility to make sure the other didn’t hit the ground too hard.
Ore scanned the skies for Jay. Jay was a blue jay, so it was easier for him to blend in with the sky. He also had speed and the ability to stay up in the air with more water in the balloons. However, Ore had strategy and maneuverability on his side. He also was the designer of the equipment, giving him a natural edge.
He saw Jay flying towards him, Ore had obviously already been spotted. Ore banked to the right, putting Jay on his upper left. Jay flew past him, sending a round of seed shells down at him. The shield caught everything. The two birds flew past each other, Jay on the left and Ore on the right. Ore kept going in a straight line, waiting for Jay to turn around. Almost immediately, he heard the sound of seed shells hitting his shield. The shield could detect the number of hits it took and eventually left if its built in health meter got too low. However, that was a sacrifice he was willing to take.
Ore knew that the higher bird had the advantage and that Jay would have made sure he stayed up higher than him, but that’s exactly what he wanted. Ore shot downward even farther and heard the sound of wings whistling through the air behind him. Just a little longer and Jay will have caught up to me he thought. When the whistling sound got loud enough, he banked upward, killing his speed. Jay shot past him like a bullet, unable to copy the maneuver. However, Ore wasn’t done. He banked downward again and used gravity to increase his downward speed. He got right behind Jay and shot a few seeds. Just as he planned, Jay’s shield went to the place that it heard the seed coming from, but so did his. The two collided, draining the health of both. Ore knew his shield had taken hits, but Jay’s was fresh, so he fired seed at Jay’s in order to make sure his died first. Jay turned left and right, went up and down, did spirals in the air, but Ore matched all his moves. The shields were locked together, and no matter how fast Jay went, he wasn’t going to change that. Finally, Jay’s shield fell down to the ground. Ore wasn’t worried about it, it was designed to do this and not break.
Now, Jay was without a shield. Ore took a sharp turn to the right, knowing that there was no way he could chase Jay down. He quickly made a little distance between them, and then turned upward, rotating his body 180˚ at the same time. The half turn of his body and the half, upward circle he made in the air canceled out and caused him to be upright again, facing the other direction. He now faced the shield less Jay, who was also flying towards him. Both of them unloaded a series of seed shells at one another. Jay dodged each one by doing quick rolling maneuvers known as aileron rolls. All the bullets that Jay fired hit Ore’s shield. He couldn’t pull any of the same maneuvers because even if he did, the shield would still follow the bullets.
Ore watched as his shield slowly started falling towards the ground. His edge had just been erased by Jay’s sheer flying skill. They were now even. Jay darted past, close enough for Ore to hear him talking.
“Didn’t think you were goin’ to take me that easily did you?” Jay taunted. Ore turned to left and faced Jay. If we keep going head on like this, I’m going to lose he thought. Jay was more accurate, so he had to somehow create a situation where he could be behind Jay. He turned upward in a half somersault and did a half turn like before, causing Jay to be directly behind him. He could hear the whistle of seed going by him and could feel the weight of the water balloons starting to fill up. He turned quickly, knowing that he could outturn Jay. Unfortunately, Jay knew this from experience and kept going in straight line, avoiding the turning fight. This shot down Ore’s plan, he needed to find a way to force Jay into a maneuvering fight. He turned back towards Jay and followed in hot pursuit. Jay was faster and didn’t have partially filled water balloons weighing him down. Jay turned and headed straight for Ore. Ore dove close to the ground. He tried to dodge as many of the seeds as he could. He had to focus on dodging the shots instead of shooting Jay or else it would turn into a battle of accuracy, which he would lose. He turned upward and shot a series of seeds at Jay’s back. Jay dodged nearly every one, his balloons only filling up a little.
Ore continued in the upward turn, completing the circle and going back the same way he was before. He banked upward, increasing his altitude so that it would be easy for Jay to follow. He could feel the weight he was carrying getting heavier and heavier. Ore knew he only had one shot at this. He turned his body so that his belly was facing the direction he was going, and in one powerful flap, he stopped moving. Jay shot past him, looking a little surprised. Ore regained his momentum and headed towards Jay, sending a shower of seed towards him. He could tell that Jay was starting to lose balance. Jay kept going in a straight line, knowing that that was the only way to escape Ore. However, Ore had another idea. He sent another round, knowing that they would take a while to reach Jay, and turned back. He landed in a tree and waited for Jay to realize that Ore had stopped his pursuit.
Jay flew back, scanning the sky for his friend. When Jay passed Ore, he burst from the tree and shot another round. The score was about even now, but Jay was the one who could fly with more water. However, he could tell Jay was getting worried, the battle was shifting into one that Ore knew he could win. Jay made a large banking turn, trying to buy thinking time. Ore followed, turning the turn tighter as to stay behind Jay.
Ore fired seed at Jay as he turned. This wasn’t nearly as accurate as firing at Jay while they were going in a straight line, that’s why Jay was taking so long to turn. Jay’s balloons were bulging, causing him to falter in his flying. Ore could see the fatigue in his expression, the battle wouldn’t be much longer.
Finally, Jay decided to fly in a straight line again, Ore following. Jay turned his body so that his belly was facing in the direction he was going, and stopped in one powerful flap, stealing Ore’s idea. However, Ore wasn’t expecting it and collided with Jay in mid air, popping all the water balloons. The two tumbled head over heels towards the ground. Ore was quickly able to regain his control, but he saw that Jay wasn’t. He flew close to him, ready to make sure he didn’t hit the ground too hard. Finally, once Jay had reached a certain point in his falling, Ore tried to catch him the best he could, lowering him to the ground.
Jay sat up holding his head in his wings. When the spinning in his head stopped, he looked up at Ore with a grin on his face. Ore smiled too.
“You just don’t learn,” said Ore.
“Some day, some day I will have my vengeance!” cried Jay with his wing in the air. Ore knew he was just teasing.
“Not today,” teased Ore. Jay got up and took off to head home. He did one circle, flying low to say, “Just you wait,” before he left.
Chapter X
The Old Hoot
*Note: In order to understand this chapter, you have to know that Armegator has taken over Cere and that the King and Crimson are dead. Armegator has now taken over Avian as well and no one seems to be trying to stop his rule. Even though Albert is doing everything he can, Ore, Jay, and Amber believe that they are the last hopes for their nation, so they decide to go try to liberate Avian themselves. On their journey, there was a battle with some of Armegator’s troops, and Amber was hurt. Ore went to go find a healer while Jay continued to resist Armegator’s forces. Ore runs into Albert, who tells him of an old owl named Sogak. He warns Ore that Sogak is very confused, but also tells him that this might be Amber’s only hope of regaining consciousness.*
Ore rushed into the old, rotting tree. He was immediately hit with the smell of rotting wood and wet moss. The tree wasn’t very tall, the door was about his height and the ceiling about three times that, but it was wide. The walls sloped up at a curve on all sides, forming a dome with a flat top. The top of the dome showed the inside of the trunk where it hadn’t been carved away. Judging by the rings that were exposed on the flat part of the ceiling, Ore could tell that the tree had been exposed to a lot of water before it died.
Shelves of oak were filled with glass bottles that held all sorts of various liquids, many of which Ore had never seen before. There was an arched doorway on the other side of the room that was emitting a soft glow. He knew that it must have been coming from a lantern, so that must have been where Sogak was.
Ore still had Amber strapped to his back. His wings ached from the task of carrying two bodies. He laid her down next to the front door and out of the rain, after which he ran into the room with the lanterns. What was in the next room made Ore stop in his tracks as soon as he saw it.
The room wasn’t really a room, more of a tunnel that was carved out of one of the tree’s roots. Lanterns hung evenly spaced along the walls and tables filled with what appeared to be potion making equipment such as flasks, goggles, and test tubes were scattered everywhere. There appeared to be no electricity.
However, it wasn’t really what was in the room that made Ore pause, it was who was in the room. The “Old Hoot” as they called him really lived up to his name. He was an elf owl about Ore’s size. He was very old and missing chunks of feathers in several places, exposing his wrinkly skin. He was a hunchback who carried a staff about twice his height. For some odd reason, the healer had his wings wrapped around the staff instead of his talons, something Ore didn’t think was all entirely possible. The old owl was missing his right eye, just like Albert had said in his story. He stood in the middle of the room, apparently sleeping upright, giving no reaction to Ore entering.
He tiptoed closer to the old man, trying to make a plan for how he was going to convince this crazy old bird to help him.
“Hello?” he asked…no answer.
“Mr. Sogak?” he asked, waving his wing in front of the elf owl’s face. Still, there was no reaction. Frustrated, Ore decided to look around the room some more. A book on one of the tables caught his attention. It was titled “A History of Avian”. He opened it up and started to read.
As far as anyone in Avian knows, there is no other country or land anywhere in the universe. Others have made hypotheses stating that the universe is simply so big, that there is no way we are the only planet with life. The same is true for the planet we live on.
There have been reports of extranational species in the past. Several birds in the past have claimed to have seen brilliant red birds far too big to be cardinals flying in the sky. They are said to be able to breathe fire and are immortal.
Yet, if we really aren’t alone in this universe, or even on this planet, where are these other birds? Why haven’t we run into them?
“Fascinating stuff isn’t it?” With a start, Ore realized that Sogak’s head was inches away from his own. He jumped a mile into the air, knocking over one of the potion flasks, spilling the liquid into a separate beaker. A puff of pink smoke rose from the new concoction. The old owl picked up the beaker and drank its contents, smacking his beak as he tasted it.
“Not bad for a beginner,” said Sogak in a low raspy voice, “Could use some salt though.” Suddenly remembering what he had come here for, Ore stood up and addressed the healer.
“My name is Ore,” he explained, “I live in…”
“Ore…that’s a nice name,” Sogak interrupted.
“You didn’t let me finish,” he continued, “I am Ore, a goldfinch from Cantar. I am traveling with my friends Amber the cardinal, and Jay the blue Jay. While we were traveling…”
“So where are your friends now?” asked Sogak.
“I laid Amber down by the front door of your tree,” explained Ore, “Jay and I split up, he went…”
“What melts faster, two small ice cubes or one big one?”
“What?” Ore replied confused.
“What melts faster, two ice cubes, or one big block of ice?” asked Sogak, “Same total volume, just one is cut in half.”
“The one cut in half,” answered Ore.
“Why?” asked Sogak, “There’s just one big ice cube, but two small ones.”
“There’s more surface area,” explained Ore, “The more…”
“So?” interrupted Sogak.
“You didn’t let me finish,” said Ore for the second time that night, “The more surface area per unit volume, the faster it will melt. Therefore, one of the smaller ones will melt faster than half the bigger one will melt.”
“So?” asked Sogak again.
“Think of it this way,” explained Ore, starting to get annoyed, “The heat can take out the smaller quantity easily. It just does an easy task twice. If the block stays together, it is much harder to melt. That is why you wouldn’t want to split up the ice…” Ore stopped in mid sentence, realizing what was going on. Sogak grinned.
“Well, I’ll meet up with Jay as soon as I’m done here,” explained Ore, happy he figured out why the healer was acting this way, “but right now I need a potion to heal my other friend.”
“No,” answered Sogak.
“What? Why?” stammered Ore.
“I don’t know,” replied Sogak, “I was hoping you would.”
“This is hopeless…” Ore said to himself.
“Well why didn’t you say so!” exclaimed Sogak, “Of course I’ll help!” Confused, but happy, Ore started to explain what happened to Amber.
“She got struck over the head,” he explained, “I was hoping…” Trailing off, he realized the owl had fallen asleep again. His offers to help must have been in some form of dream.
“I’m just going to have to see if I can find something on my own,” Ore muttered, disappointed. He went over to the pile of books and found one titled “Potion Making for Complete Morons”. He opened it up to the index and looked up “concussions”. Reading what the book said, he went back into the first room and pulled one of the potions off the shelf.
“Close,” said Sogak, his head inches away from Ore’s again, “but you forgot a few steps.” Ore jumped again as he had the last time, dropping the potion on the ground and knocking over two others. The potion he was holding hit the ground first and a flower immediately sprang up. One of the other potions then hit the ground and the flower immediately budded several juicy purple berries. When the third hit the ground, the flower in the ground, along with its berries wilted and fell.
“Perfect!!” exclaimed Sogak. Dumbfounded, Ore stared down at the shriveled up berries on the floor.
“I’ll take these into the back,” he said, “Then, I’ll come out with the potion.” Ore stood transfixed, still trying to piece together everything that had happened. He went and nested next to Amber, waiting for the potion to come out. Please be alright he pleaded in his mind to her, even though he knew she couldn’t hear him. After what seemed like ages, Sogak finally came out with the potion to heal Amber. Even though the berries had been purple, the liquid in the flask was crystal clear. He could see right through it.
“Give this to her every day,” explained Sogak, “when she wakes up, keep giving it to her until I say she is Ok to come off it. She’ll have to stay here until she’s better.”
“Thank you,” was all that Ore could get out. He took the flask and poured the liquid down Amber’s throat.
“Now,” said Sogak, turning back towards the door to his potion making room, “Do me a favor.”
“Anything,” returned Ore.
“Go find your friend.”
Chapter Y
Finding Jay
“What about Amber?” asked Ore. He was on top of the old healer Sogak’s tree, ready to take off and find Jay.
“Don’t worry,” Sogak replied on the branch next to him, “I’ll take care of her.” Ore was a little worried about leaving Amber in his care, but he had to go find Jay. Sogak was right, splitting up had been a bad idea. He took off, did a few circles around the tree, and then flew away, starting the search for his friend.
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Note: Not finished yet
Chapter Z
Ore, Jay, and Amber stood atop the large tree, its owner, Sogak, behind them. The three stood on the edge, about ready to take off. Ore turned to the old healer.
“How can we ever thank you?” asked Ore. The old man simply smiled.
“If you win,” he said, “That’ll be all the thanks I’ll need.” Ore smiled at this. Even though the old man was crazy, once you got to know him, he was a really nice bird.
“By the way” asked Ore, “What was that we’ve been feeding Amber this entire time?”
“Water,” replied Sogak. The threesome’s jaws all dropped.
“What!?” exclaimed Ore, “All we needed to do was give her water?”
“No,” replied Sogak, “I had to give you water, and tell you that it was some form of magic potion.” Stunned, Ore, Jay, and Amber left their take off positions and turned to the old man. Sensing that his new friends weren’t catching on, Sogak started to explain further.
“I told you that this water was magical and it wasn’t,” started Sogak, “that was to reduce the stress. When you are stressed out, it actually hurts your body. Injuries heal slower and fatal diseases have a higher chance of killing. By making you believe I was using some form of magic to heal your friend, she wasn’t stressed out about possibly dying, and neither were the two of you. Since stress in contagious, I had to fool the two of you as well, or else you wouldn’t have been able to hide your worry, and your friend would have found out.” Ore just stood there, amazed at what he was hearing.
“So, the first night I came here,” Ore said slowly, “I accidently planted a flower that grew berries, and then shriveled them up into nothingness. If that wasn’t the potion, then what did I make?”
“Raisins!” exclaimed Sogak.
“Raisins!?,” Ore was lost for words other than that.
“And they were very good I might add,” said the healer, rubbing his stomach with one of his wings.
“You only helped me because I made you dinner!?” exclaimed Ore.
“No, I helped you because you tried, instead of just telling me to do it,” corrected Sogak, “but the raisins were a nice present.” Ore just simply shook his head and turned back to the edge of the tree.
“Thank you,” he said, “Thank you for everything.” The three took off, together in the air for the first time since Amber had gotten hurt. Ore took one last look back at Sogak. He sure was going to miss him.
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Note: Not finished yet
