Flock Origins

1: Unlikely Alliances

Three people sat around doing nothing in a large clearing, and had been since noon that day. With the exception of the one with wings that glowed blue in the sunset, they looked like normal, human teens. Two of them sat close together and were starting to shiver as the cold October night started to fall.

"Fire?" one asked. It wasn't a full question, but their mind was foggy, their thoughts sluggish from the cold. The others nodded in understanding. "Maya, can you still do the thing?" This time they directed the words to the person standing in front of them, whose long pink hair they brushed out of the way.

"Yes? Oh. Oh! Ok, yes, that'll work. We need some wood then, Blue." She pulled the winged girl to her feet. The remaining person pulled themselves in further, shivering, and deciding that they were too cold to move.

The pink-headed girl, Maya, led the winged girl, Blue, to the surrounding shrubs, handing her different sticks and twigs as she saw fit. They walked deeper into the shrubs, collecting sticks of all sizes. They never turned around. They didn't need to. After a five minute trip, they saw the clearing ahead of them, just like it had the other times they had tried to leave.

Night has started to take its toll on both the world and the people in the clearing. Shadows stretched and their breaths started to fog up the air. Goosebumps were visible on two of the company's arms, though Maya did not seem affected by the cold.

Blue dumped the sticks in a pile and plopped down next to the huddled figure of her friend, wrapping her wings around them both. The figure stopped shivering as much.

"Hey, you good, Eclipse?" Blue asked the figure under her wing with a slightly shaky voice and then yawned, watching Maya work on a pile of sticks with intent.

Eclipse was wearing a long, sleeveless black dress with a braided gold sash around her waist. She had immaculate hazel hair that came down to her shoulders, and on the top of her head lay a crown. She nodded slightly and then shook from the cold.

Maya finished with her pile of sticks. She held out her hand and willed purple fire to dance across her palm. Ignoring the surprised cry coming from Eclipse, she held out the flames and let them lick at the wood, staying there for a few seconds before the wood caught and she retracted her hand, shaking out the flames.

Blue dragged Eclipse and herself towards the new fire, and they relaxed almost immediately. Eclipse reached her hands out to the fire, nearly touching the flames before Blue ripped her hands back. Eclipse huffed and muttered something under her breath before scooching closer to the warm fire. Blue did the same, and she started preening her wings with a hand while watching Maya walk around.

Pacing back and forth across the clearing was one of Maya's new pastimes. She wanted out. She hated being trapped, and though this was a larger cage than usual, it was still a cage. She would walk into the forest surrounding the clearing until she came back to it, and then turn around and try again. Maya had done this countless times. She knew where the boundaries were.

The boundaries were like walls that surrounded the clearing, and when you crossed them, it transported you to another point in the boundary, facing back to the clearing. Maya paced across the clearing again, stopping right at the boundary, and turned back to the now sleeping bodies next to the fire. It had started to die down a bit, so she tossed more wood into the flames, unflinching as a spray of sparks flew up into the dark sky.

She glanced over to her friends and wondered how they had gotten here. The memories were foggy, which she hated because her memory was never foggy. She and her blue feathered friend had wanted to go camping. So why was there no camping equipment? The fog blurred the memories from the entire day before the clearing and even the day before.

The others hadn't complained about any foggy memories, but they were mortal. They always had foggy minds. Maya grew more and more frustrated with every minute she spent searching through the misty shores of the sea of her mind. She paced back and forth for a long time, trying to grasp at any clear memories.

There were frustratingly few of them. The immortal being felt goosebumps prick up on their arms, and they rubbed them up and down, even angrier now. They never got cold. Blood boiled in her ears and she didn't hear as the forest started to rustle.

She just kept pacing up and down across the clearing. Then she stopped and tilted her head to one side. Something had changed. The feel of the air was. . . different. Maya couldn't explain it, she just knew that it was different somehow.

She stood for a couple seconds before marching over to the trees and pulling aside some shrubs. Behind a browning bush was a girl.

Maya stepped back in shock before composing herself again. The stranger was short and slim, wearing a hot pink dress that clashed nicely with her bright blue hair. A tail of the same color as her hair lay next to her, and as Maya stared her down it started swishing uncomfortably. She had large ears on the top of her head that looked fluffy beyond all reason.

The cat-like girl looked Maya up and down as well, scanning her over with bright green eyes. A mixture of emotions flashed over the catgirl's face before she offered Maya a smile.

"So," the stranger started, glancing quickly behind Maya towards the campfire before meeting her eyes."Do you want any food?"

WC:984

This took way too long, and you should expect slow updates because we are a strange bunch. We all really hope you enjoy this role-play fiction!

Remember, reality is a illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold. Bye!