The Fray of Werebirds [Discontinued]

Chapter 35 - Gruesome

Enjoying this story so far? Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below!

If one were to have a look at Skylar City at this moment, they would only see the fray raging on relentlessly. They would definitely not spot the four werebirds idling serenely on the edge of the battlefield. Those werebirds, their names were Caleb, Millicent, Sirena and Jay.

You could also call them dazed, devastated, damaged and dead.

Dazed would be me, by the way.

My name is Caleb, and for the first time in my life, I witnessed a friend lose his life. I watched it all. From the moment he took the blow in Millicent's place to the second his breathing came to a halt. And now, after Fernando had gone off somewhere, those of us who were still conscious were sucked into a spiral of grief.

Sorrow hovered above our heads. Death snorted at the sound of Millicent's mournful sniffles. The area where my fingers had once been felt eerily hollow, and so did the puncture in my heart. He's not coming back, the emptiness said. I knew it wasn't lying because, indeed, no matter how loud he was called, Jay never responded.

Dead, damaged, devastated and dazed.

A fifth werebird entered our circle of depression. With a blank expression, his emerald eyes settled on Jay. Even at the sight of the corpse, Gregory didn't falter. His hand swiftly shot out and fastened itself around my neck. I gasped, now completely at his mercy. I was lifted up higher until we were facing each other.

I learned one thing from locking eyes with Gregory then.

He could kill a man with merely a stare.

"Who did this?" he seethed.

His fingers tightened around my throat. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was having trouble obtaining oxygen.

"Who?"

His jawline stiffened, making the scar on his cheek ever more visible, and his eyes hardened, causing my stomach to curdle with fear.

"Fer– Fernando," I wheezed.

Gregory let go of me. "The jailbird, huh?"

I nodded, coughing and massaging my throat with watery eyes. The magician turned away from me. He raised his arm straight up in the air and with one swift, powerful move he brought his arm down. A strong gust of air transpired, blowing my hair back. By the time the wave of wind subsided, the world had fallen quiet.

The shouts, the shrieks, the clash of weapons – all gone. I realized then that I couldn't move. Only my eyes responded to my commands. I searched the battlefield with my vision and found that the entire flock was motionless.

Werebirds who were flying were now hanging in midair. Those who were running, attacking or falling – they were all like statues. It was as if someone had pushed the pause button on the scene before me, and I had no doubt that Gregory was responsible. After all, he was the only mobile creature in the area.

"Fernando? Can you hear me?" Gregory asked. He didn't have to raise his voice; his words were clearly audible against the silence. "Of course you can, but you can't reply, can you?"

Gregory leapt and gracefully landed on top of a rigidified werebird. He brandished a pair of white gloves and carefully began dressing his hands.

"Until I find you, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself."

As he spoke, he skipped from head to head across the battlefield as if the dozens of frozen werebirds were merely stepping stones.

"Seven years ago, my friends and I attempted to save an innocent werebird from execution. When we failed, Sean was beheaded and my friends were sent to Yardbird Island for 'interfering with the justice system'.

"Being the queen's brother, I wasn't charged with anything, but eventually I was banned from the flock. The public was told it was my own personal penalty for helping my friends, but the truth is – ah, there you are!"

Gregory bent down and hauled up the large jailbird by his shirt. Fernando was, like the rest, completely petrified. Only his eyes shifted right and left nervously.

"As I was saying, the truth is, I was banned due to a completely different crime I committed."

Still holding the jailbird effortlessly by the shirt Gregory walked on the heads and towards the closest bell tower.

"Do you know what I did Fernando?"

The magician smiled a cold-blooded, ruthless smile and even from far off I could see the toxic glint that tainted his emerald eyes.

He placed a hand over Fernando's face and clutched it firmly.

"I paid the 'justice system' a visit."

BOOM!

When the dust parted, my vision was met with a horrendous sight. Fernando's head had been bashed against the bell tower's side, leaving a large crack on the wall. I had no doubt his skull was ruptured. Blood was seeping between Gregory's fingers, staining his white gloves with red. The executioner relaxed his grip on his victim and the jailbird dropped – dead.

Jay had been avenged, albeit a little too hideously.

Although Gregory had already achieved his objective, it seemed that his bloodlust hadn't yet calmed. He started grabbing werebirds at random and bashing their head in too as well. I wanted to stop him, needed him to stop, but I was as capable of doing that as much as a sculpture was capable of dancing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

This was no longer a war; it was turning into a gruesome massacre.

Snowflakes, cold and foreboding, started floating down, blanketing the battlefield, coating the frozen heads. I could feel the ice on my hair and clothes, and all I could do was shiver and watch as Gregory murdered one werebird after the other.

No one could stop this mass slaughter because everyone but the slaughterer himself was capable of moving.

BOOM!

I couldn't cringe, not even as the umpteenth victim plummeted to the ground. He was no longer avenging Jay. Gregory was now the slave of his own rage. I could only pray his bloodthirstiness would quench before it completely conquered him.

"You're overdoing it, man."

A pair of feet landed on two of the snowy heads. The speaker almost slid off and had to flail his arms to regain his balance.

"Whoa this is slippery," Leigh said.

I would have probably grinned from ear to ear if I could. For the first time since I've known him, he had come just in time. The ferociousness that had possessed Gregory's eyes moments before diminished.

"If it isn't Leigh! I thought you were captured by some Lady Alexis."

"I managed to escape. As you know, I'm a prankster at nature," Leigh observed his surroundings with amusement. "You need to teach me how to do this sometime – this whole freeze breeze trick, it's pretty cool."

Gregory shook his finger with disapproval. "Tut, tut, a magician never reveals his secrets."

Gregory glanced down as if he had just noticed the blood on his hands. He coolly slipped off his gloves and tossed them to the side.

"Don't you need those gloves?"

"No worries, I always have a spare on me. Now, if you'll excuse me."

The magician turned around and strolled away, still using the werebirds' heads as his platform.

"Where are you going, man?"

The tail of his suit jacket fluttered in the wind. "Away."

"What about all those werebirds, won't you unfreeze them?"

"If there's someone you'd like to unfreeze, just clap twice in front of their face."

Gregory paused. He curved his head back, just far enough for him to see Leigh.

"Oh, and don't bother clapping Jay awake, he's already dead."

With that, the magician exited the stage, bringing his grisly performance to an end.

#RIPJay :'(