How To Screw Yourself Over

Chapter 2.5: Albert's Mistakes

Ash reaches to touch the useless parts, but her hand comes up empty. Confusion bubbles to the surface.

The guard, staring at her back with a near unreadable expression, opens his mouth to speak before thinking better of it. Unwilling to drag this out any longer than absolutely necessary, Ash smacks his head to push this further along. People are a lot like those old television sets. If you smack them a couple times, they suddenly become obedient.

"Where are my wings?"

He remains silent for a few more moments "They are mangled." Almost as an afterthought, he adds an extra adjective. "Badly."

Ash massages her temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache clawing at her skull. Indeed, it was her fault for expecting an intelligent response from an intellectually lacking beastman. Fine, whatever. She doesn't have much strength left, but she'll waste her energy anyway. She sighs in utter exasperation as she summons a burst of wind to examine her useless limbs.

The damage is worse than she expected. The wings, in their previous state, were diminutive and asymmetrical. However, they still served as proof of her identity as a winged person.

Now, these extremities fail to serve even that purpose. The bloodied and mutilated appendages look like the corpse of a small creature assaulted by a vicious beast. The sight is gruesome, in a somewhat surreal manner.

Various bones poke through the thin layers of flesh that just barely hold themselves together. In fact, Ash is fairly certain that her right wing was snapped in two at the radius and ulna. The half furthest from her body is only barely held in place by a single ligament.

Needless to say, the vast majority of her feathers were lost along with a great deal of the skin beneath them.

The creases on her forehead deepen. She's fought with this man before; why is it only now that she's lost so much of her wings?

[There is another person here.]

"What?" The word escapes her without her notice.

'Am I capable of capturing them?'

[Their attacks have left them vulnerable. You should be able to.]

Ignoring the vague confusion etched on the guard's face, Ash proceeds to exhaust the remainder of her energy in an effort to summon as much wind as she can muster. Then, throwing everything in the vicinity into chaos, she spreads the air in their area thin, forcing the wind to search their surroundings for her.

Bernard's bewilderment instantly morphs into alarm upon seeing her actions. He puts his guard up as well, scanning the area for potential foes.

Not even a minute later, Ash mutters to herself. "Found him."

She retracts the air she'd sent out and launches the ridiculously dense mass of air at the figure she uncovered, dragging him out of hiding.

"Hey! Don't be hasty—" Ash pulls the air out of his lungs, effectively shutting him up. This is rather entertaining.

Unfortunately, Ash lacks the strength required to admire her handiwork; her legs proceed to give out beneath her, with her concentration slipping as gravity pulls her to the earth. Bernard frowns as she crumples to the ground and, reacting quickly, traps the child who would've escaped otherwise.

Once Ash's control over the air is lost, the area soon regains its originally peaceful aura—that is, if you ignore the large, stoic, and intimidating man pinning a spindly child beneath him.

Ash, collapsed on the uneven ground, chuckles at her own thoughts. She doubts her head is screwed on correctly.

Raising a hand, Ash rolls towards the guard and soundlessly makes grabbing gestures. He sighs. "What happened to yours?"