Of Monsters And Men

Fire-Forged Family

It all started with smoke on the horizon. Just a creeping tendril on the breeze, enough to turn his head toward the column of fire burning into the golden afternoon.

It was instinct that let his wings flare behind him and take him soaring towards it. Above treetops, through plumes of black soot until embers left streaks across his skin as he cut through the air. He didn't focus on the sting of ash in his eyes, only focusing on the watery image of flames curling into the sky. Soon, he found himself hovering over a burning building, hordes of people scattered like ants around it. All too familiar were the visions of blood and blackened skin. If he could prevent that at least, he had done his job. Tilting his wings, he swooped towards the ground.

As he dodged the tumultuous updrafts of sweltering heat, he noticed a cry. As the commotion of the spectators, gathered to watch the flames eat away at the wood, mixed with the roar of the inferno, another sound soared shrilly over it all. A scream. A child's scream. And there, on the rooftop, clutching onto the chimney stacks for dear life, were two children. One, shouting so hard their little lungs threatened to give out, the other simply trembling, unable to do anything except watch as the fire crept closer and closer.

It was instinct that let him weave between pillars of dark smoke until he hovered above them, an angel offering sanctuary. He scooped them up and carried them away into the forest, where the soot couldn't eat away at their breath, and the heat couldn't prickle at their skin. They were tired, singed, and hardly came up to his knees when they finally found the strength to stagger to their feet. Then, they rushed over to him and hugged his legs tight.

He took them into his arms and wrapped his wings around them. "Shh, you're safe now. I've got you."

He held them until the tears subsided and then some.

It took twenty minutes for them to finally find their voices again.

"What are your names?"

"Wilbur," stuttered the shorter one, the one who had screamed on the rooftop. "And this is Techno."

"Thank you, Wilbur. I don't mean to pry, but why were you two up there? You don't have to answer, I understand if you don't."

This time, it was Techno's turn to speak, in a voice that seemed a little too stiff for a toddler. "They tried to kill us. They killed Mummy and Daddy. Burnt them."

"Why would they try and kill you? Are you sure it was on purpose?"

"They don't like Mummy and Daddy, so they don't like us too," Wilbur butted in.

"An' I know they wanted it, I saw it!" Techno stared at him with wide brown eyes that reflected far more than just fire. He took a step back involuntarily.

"Can you- Can you two stay here? I need to check something back at the village." He hop-ran away from them, taking off with a large upbeat, feeling their stares bore into him even as he flew back to the village. Something was unsettling about having a toddler look you in the eye and tell you they had watched their parents die. He supposed that the adrenaline had numbed them to reality, still clinging onto the hope that it was just a delusion caused by heat exhaustion.

When he alighted back in the town, he was met with foul glares, ignored stubbornly and hidden behind his wings. "Does anyone know who the two children I rescued belong to?"

One of the villagers spat at his feet. "They're the spawn of the hybrid couple. Unnatural things, they are."

"Where are they now?"

Another villager pushed to the front, folding their arms with a dangerous look in their eye. "Dead," was all he said, and gave a meaningful nod in the direction of the burning house. The roof had collapsed in on itself, and he felt a hard lump in his throat as he realised what would have happened if he hadn't saved the two.

He looked around at the villagers, wings raising as he noticed the details that had slipped his mind. The twisted grins as they watched the fire burn. The water buckets that they held in their hands, but never put to use. The way they snuffed out any embers that strayed too close to another building. "You killed them." The words seemed to make it real.

"Yeah, so what? They hurt our people. What's it to you anyway?"

New flames lit within his eyes, boiling blood rushing through his veins. He took a step towards them. "To me, it's finding two children fighting to escape their parent's fate. To me, it's all too familiar."

"You want to join them, hybrid? You don't stand a chance against us."

There was the sound of metal sliding against metal, a blade illuminated in flickering reds and oranges. "On the contrary, I'd say that the odds were never in your favour."

When the fire burnt out, there was no-one left.

~~~~~

The phantoms circle overhead. He counts three that soar above him, unwilling to attack. There is never only one.

Swarm, they whisper to him, as he opens his wings to bar against the cold. Stronger than friendship, stronger than blood. Unbreakable.

He looks down at the boys nestled in his arms, tear-streaked and soot-stained. He knows, in that moment, that he would carry the world for them. "Swarm," he murmurs, and they bury themselves deep within his embrace. "Family."