Islands of the Sky

Chapter 11- Wings Doesn't Mean Angels

"The smallest example can shift one beings ideas and thoughts away from what htey have always been told."

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How about now, Kiero? Still, think you can solve your own problems? Wouldn't surprise me if you thought you could. You're unbelievably naive for your age. Lunar's taunts in my mind as I surveyed the cell the revolution had thrown me into. It was dark and cramped but I had seen far worse throughout my years.

Bringing myself to my feet, I looked around to see if there were any other bones in this room. To my relief, there weren't any human skeletons in the room but there were a few bones from what seemed to be a mole rat and a few mice. Walking over to these decomposed animals I ran my fingers over them to feel for dust or fractures. Finding one of the skeletons spines cracked in half closer to the end in a very jagged snap.

This means I am not the first person in this cell. Only something close to a human or Gemini body would snap the bone like this instead of just causing fractures or cracks. I continued to ignore Lunar as he pushed harder and harder against my mind trying to break out. Turning my gaze to the gate that held me into this cement box of boredom. From first glance, it seemed to be made up of an iron and aluminum alloy, as well as another metal I couldn't quite identify. I got closer feeling the coldness of the metal and the hatred from previous prisoners. Even touching the metal seemed to drain the hope of every getting out from my body. Emerald must have enchanted it to discourage prisoners from trying to get out. Though why would she try that? She made it seem like no one else knew she was a Gemini. For her to use magic to stop people from getting out means she must actually want to support Wilnah. I turn my gaze from the lattice design of the metal bars and run my fingers along the cement walls. Each step I took echoed with a defining clarity of how tiny this box was.

Only four steps wide and six long. So it had to be designed for humans or Gemini around that build because Griffin wouldn't fit and most other magical creatures are either too small and could slip through or simply to large for the space given. Lunar stops fighting me for control as he can feel the brick wall he is hitting really doesn't have any holes for him to hold onto or break through. So he starts to observe with me adding his own comments. This turned out a bit more useful than I had imagined it would be.

The smell... It's damp, whoever was in here last didn't drink water like humans do, or used it for a different purpose. There also isn't a smell of urine anywhere in this cell so they must escort you to some other room for that. The smell is extremely damp over to that left corner in the front. I walk over to the corner he was referring to and saw wet spots all around a circle that was completely dry.

Wouldn't that be what it would look like for a water bowl? Like what they would give to a dog or some sort of beast? I couldn't understand why that would be there, the mark was there but no bowl so it wasn't for me. Someone else was definitely in this cell before I was but it was a while ago the water stain looked at least three weeks old.

Let me smell it if there was someone who had to drink in this spot the smell with being faint but might be there. Lunar asked roughly pushing against my mind as if to move me out of the way so he could have control over my body. I slowly let him have control over the sense of smell. I held on with a mental grip so strong had it been physical it would have crushed boulders.

That can't be right... They're roughly seven different animal smells here. there is a dog, cat, mouse, citrus, gollar, vippet, and human is the last one. Lunar listed each smell carefully and with caution taking a whiff in between each animal's name to confirm its scent hadn't changed into something else.

Can you tell roughly how fresh each smell is? Would they have switched the cell out for each animal? What would they have done with each animal, though? They aren't an extremely useful animal in a cell this small. I was trying to wrap my mind around what that could mean. I scanned through my memories of walking through the building to see if there were an abnormal amount of animal pelts along the walls or floors. I failed to even remember one single pelt or stuffed mount of any of those creatures. So why would those exact seven animals have been here in this cell? If a mouse was put in this cell how did it not just run out? Its body is small enough to fit through the bars.

Only one way to tell isn't there? You can shapeshift Kiero why not just test that theory yourself? Lunar asked, our curiosity was rising as steadily as a stream of water from a hose. He was not wrong in that I could test this theory but at what cost? If I broke out would they assume I had used some cheap trick? Then it could cause more revolt as I subjugated myself to this.

Well, your right that I can do that but I have an idea and need to test this theory first before we stoop to that kind of level. I hold my hand up and grin reaching out as my hand catches ablaze in my fire. I pull my hand back enjoying the sight of this long lost flame and think back on how it used to flow around my old sword Flamespeaker. The core of this fire was a burning crimson and the edges were a deep navy blue and they seemed to flicker and dance in joy as if they're moving to an unheard song that only they can hear. After breaking my gaze from the fire that burned so brightly around my hand, I reached out to curl my hand around the metal bars in the front of my cell. On impact with the metal my fire flickered out and a shock like an electric shock bolted its way through my bodies senses. I stumble back a few feet catching myself against the back wall and I reach out with my other hand that isn't on fire and I can curl my fingers around the bar and there is no shock.

It's enchanted to fight against magic! I bet that any magic other than the casters. So even if I was to shapeshift into a mouse and try to race through the bars, I'm fairly certain that it would shock me once more. Did the mouse try and run out or is it circling around in the cell? Can you nose detect that? I ask Lunar, I knew his nose would most likely be able to figure out a path that the mouse followed but the main question was did the mouse run straight through here or did it run in circles trapped?

Can I detect a trail of a mouse? Pah such things are simple for even an omega's pup! He took control of my nose for a moment as I laid down on the floor trying not to make it to obvious that I was doing something as inhuman as sniffing the floor of a jail cell. I let him sniff as I held onto the rest of the control of my body with the same grip a man would do if he were to climb a mountain. There is definitely a trail but it's not straight it curves and arcs around the cell as if this mouse was smart enough to try and find cracks to run through.

A mouse that can't slip through the bars and tried to find new cracks instead of just sensing the light as they typically do. That can only mean that it was a magic user who shapeshifted into it. Before I could ask my next question Lunar had already answered it.

It's the same with all the animals that could have slipped through the jail cell bars. Why is that? That was odd it could mean that it was more than one magic user in here but all of tho's people specializing in shape shifting would be incredibly rare. Wait, Kiero didn't that human child turn into more than one animal? Is that common amongst you mages?

Lunar was right! Micros had shifted into many different animals and had even said something about being able to change into others as well. Was it possible he could be a descendant of the Beast of Animals? I didn't have time to finish this thought as I hear a loud bang outside the walls and almost like it was outside the building. I ran to the bars grabbing them trying to see what was happening. My vision got interrupted by a blur of brown and white feathers.

What the... hawk? Lunar asks as I stumble back out of instinct to get a better view of what just crossed my field of vision. It was a hawk that was now sitting in the middle of the room outside my cell. I looked around outside the cell to see a window that was perched open that the hawk must have gone through.

"What?" I look back to the hawk and in the moment I had looked away the hawk began to transform into a familiar boy that never seemed to like me much. His clothes were the same as before but he hadn't finished his transformation so where his arms would be, were wings.

"I'm not your saving angel, but I won't let you die without a trail first, what they were planning is just coldblooded murder!"