DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 11 - Quoth the Raven

I flew through the broken warehouse window. I landed on one knee with my head down. My wings overshadowed me, then they shook and folded up against my back. I raised my head and stood up. I saw Shadow lying next to the fire unconscious.

The old rag was now completely soaked in blood. I slowly walked over and kneeled down next to her with everyone else on the other side of her. I gently unwrapped her wing and threw the rag in the fire. Then, I grabbed a clean shirt and wrapped her wound with that. I checked her eyes for brain trauma and concussions, her body for broken bones, but there was nothing else wrong with her. Just a broken wing. "I don't know much about wings, but if this was her arm, she would be healed in no more than a week or two. It's not too serious." I saw relief on everyone's face.

I got up and turned around. I wasn't relieved. I went to a dark corner, and sat there alone for the rest of the night. I didn't understand. I looked in the mirror, and had thought I was the monster, but I was wrong.

I heard them. "Do it."

The voices. "We've found them."

They echoed in my head. "They deserve it."

They wouldn't stop. "Make them pay."

"Fine," I whispered.

It was just before dawn. I couldn't tell where the voices were coming from. I walked out of the warehouse, and the ghosts of the echoes sounded like they were coming from all directions. They would just drift through me like the wind. I closed my eyes and spread my wings. I couldn't hear where the voices were coming from, but I thought for a second that I could feel them. I trusted my instincts, and began flying to town.

I landed in the middle of a deserted street. I felt like I was being watched from all directions, but there was no one around. I wandered down the street, the serene darkness washing over me. Some voices faded away, while others became more prominent. They infected my head, slowly driving me from sanity.

I found myself blindly wandering for what felt like hours, but when I looked around, I realized that I was in the same spot where I first arrived. I looked around frantically. The voices were leading me in circles. Following them to their source seemed like an impossible task, especially considering that there was no one around so I didn't even know what their source was. The streets were empty, the houses were dark, the neighborhood was lifeless. I began to get frustrated.

"Where are you?!?" I screamed. My mind was lost in a blind fury born from my desperation. "What do you want from me?!?" The blaring chaos of whispers suddenly ceased. The silence was unsettling. I froze, fearfully waiting for a response. "Who are you..." I whispered.

Then, out of the silence, came an angelic voice out from the shadows. "Death..."

I quickly turned, but no one was there. But then I looked down, and I saw a pair of dark eyes staring back at me through the darkness. Next to me stood a raven. I stared at her, and she stared back, and there was this strange connection we shared that can only be described as pure understanding. She flew up and perched on my left shoulder. I could hear her thoughts, and it felt like she could hear mine. It was as if she was in my head, like a second conscience. Once she was in physical contact with me, the bond was much stronger, and I finally knew why she and her brethren had called me there.

I was facing a house, small, lifeless. I walked up to their fence separating it's dead grass from the neighbors' dead grass. The rusty hinges let out a dull shriek as I slowly pushed open the gate. As I walked from the rotting fence to the disheveled front porch, I learned where all the other whispers came from. In every dead tree, every shadowy corner, the dark eyes watched, waited. Ravens everywhere, silent observers. They brought me here because they could hear my thoughts, they knew what I had to do.

I was halfway across the decaying yard when all the ravens seemed to bow their heads to me. I nodded to them, and they continued to watch me. I made it to the door, and glanced at Death. She was still perched on my shoulder, and I knew she planned on staying there. I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, relaxed my shoulders and spread my wings. I opened my eyes, and in the reflection of the glass in their door, I could see them. They were black once again, an infinite ebony. They were the same color as my wings, as the ravens, as the darkness, as Death.

The rest of the night felt like a dream, the most vivid dream of my life. The feeling of blood pouring over my arms, hearing a heart slowly approach it's last beat, an atmosphere, heavy with a sinful soul freed from it's destructive, fleshy vessel.

The whispers of the waiting ravens echoed in my head, this time not as chaos, but almost like a song. I broke open the rotted front door, and each step I took was followed by a hollow creak resonating from the decaying floorboards. As I made my way through the disordered house, the whispers of the ravens came together, rising in volume. I placed my hand on the bedroom door handle, and the song of the ravens grew stronger and stronger. Step by step, I approached the oblivious, dormant monster. I stood over his bed, the ravens' words pounding in my head. My wings spread, and I raised my talons. My arm cast an overarching shadow across his closed eyes. He groggily awoke and turned in his bed.

I saw those eyes, the eyes of the man that broke Shadow's wing. I hated him, hated him more than I could fathom. He opened his mouth to scream, and the ravens' song reached it's climax. My arm came down on his bare throat like a guillotine, painting his sheets a dark crimson. The ravens went silent, but I could hear that sound, far away. That sharp humm, the end, death, that torturous shriek that has haunted me ever since my mom's death. Out of the dark silence, it blew by the house like a faint breeze. It disappeared as quickly as it came, and after the silence had once again settled, I could hear my brethren outside disperse. Their wings fluttered, carrying them in their respective directions, but Death stayed with me. From that day on, Death was always with me, perched right there on my shoulder.

Everyone was asleep when I got back to the warehouse, everyone but Shadow. Her eyes were closed, but with her being blind and all, that meant absolutely nothing. She wasn't exactly awake, but she was conscious, conscious and in pain. I came through the window and landed as quietly as I could. Jinx, Shadow, and Wulf having incredibly acute hearing, dropping a pin at the other end of the warehouse could probably wake them all up. I was quiet, but not quiet enough. Shadow woke up from her half-consciousness. "Flyboy..." she whispered as she let out a deep breath.

"It's okay Shadow..." I whispered as I kneeled down next to her. "You'll be healed in no time, it doesn't look bad at all." Earlier it looked just fine, just a minor break, but now, it was a different story. All of the skin was discolored, a sickening sort of blackish yellow. Bones and cartilage were shifting and sticking out of her thin flesh. It was as if her body was transforming again.

"What is going on..." I thought to myself. "What has Corrector Corps done to us?"

"Flyboy..." Shadow whispered. "I need... To..." She stopped. It looked as though her mind had finally given out and she could rest. I was relieved. I looked at Death, still on my shoulder, and she bowed her head while keeping her eyes fixed on mine. I nodded. I knew she wanted me to sleep. I made a pile of rags near the fire, and laid on it. I saw the sun gently begin to rise over the horizon. It must've been around 5 in the morning. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.