Something Wrong? (Skepnoblade)

Chapter 13

Technoblade galloped for three days and three nights. Finally, he saw the Cliff, and at the top was a Cave. Around the Cliff wheeled the storks, occasionally turning into people.

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Skeppy was surrounded by women. They were pretty women. They all smiled at him, pulled at his hair and clothes, flirted like there was no tomorrow. 

But the feathers trailing after them showed that there was more to them than the eye could see. 

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Techno pulled out his Trusty Sword. He slammed it into the rock, and pulled himself up. Then he took out a knife, and repeated the procedure. Halfway up the cliff he ran out of both swords and knives. 

So he climbed down the cliff again, and went to the nearest village. 

There he wandered into the local forge to steal all the knives.
To his misfortune, the blacksmith was there. So Techno had to explain that "No, no, I'm not going to kill the storks, no, they bring us babies, I just want to climb up the cliff."

The blacksmith, instead of giving Techno what he wanted, sighed and told him that there was a staircase.

Techno left, feeling stupid. 

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The castle felt empty without the middle son and his fiance. 

This was noticeable, as the vines dried out and withered, and the moss took over the empty space. The sun was covered by clouds, yet no rain fell.

There was nothing to do but skulk, and skulk the inhabitants did. 

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The staircase was a very long one. While Techno had seen so many staircases in his life, this one beat them all and left them all far behind in the dust. 

27 flights in, his legs decided to start complaining. It began with a little whine first, then the "Why are we doing this again?", and later the worst "Are we there yet?"

54 flights in, Techno began to think he was doing something wrong. I'm way too high above the cave!
With nothing better to do, he said it out loud. The staircase promptly vanished, and Techno found himself falling. 
Blue sky, horizon, rocks, other horizon, blue sky, horizon...

Fortunately, he fell into a haystack. 
Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork in the haystack.

Techno found himself speared to death, bleeding onto the sweet-smelling golden hay. Everything was stained scarlet, even his vision. He slowly lost consciousness.

The screech of a stork heralded the darkness, and that was all he remembered.

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Skeppy looked out of the cave, where five storks were flying in figure-eights. Well, figure-infinities, but that hadn't been invented back then. 

If he jumped, they would certainly catch him. 

If he had looked up, he would've seen Techno's hand, lifelessly flopped over the side of the cliff. But he didn't, so that future was not his.

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Techno woke up in a room that smelled of wet stork. Not that he knew what wet stork smelled like, but he imagined there weren't any dogs in the vicinity. 

There was a face in his vision. "Hello? The idiot's awake."

Techno tried to talk but no sound came out. Luckily for him, the werestorks could lip-read. 

"You're in the Healing Room. You were stabbed by a pitchfork. You know what they always say, 'Ножа не бойся, бойся вилки. Один удар - четыре дырки.' Translated to Human, that means 'Don't be afraid of the knife, be afraid of the fork. One stab of a fork - four holes.' In stork it even rhymes."