Abatha Among the Stars

Chapter 4

        Standing, Abatha looked around, her eyesight seemed almost heightened in a way; it was so enhanced that she could see the back row of guests quite easily. The details of what was in front of her were quite interesting, from the sway of a wrist as it wiped the nose of its bodies' face to the twitch of a toe in a corner.

        Looking to her left, she saw the king had moved near her, his mouth agape. "You are the first banshee to grow wings." He said. Abatha was so surprised by the statement that she did not question the lack of any slurs in his statement. She had grown what?!! raising her hand, she slowly moved her fingers back to the new protruding bony structures only to realize that they were not bony but rather covered in soft feathers.

        She used her hand to move the wings around slowly. The movement would be similar to the motion of any limb. it was hard at first.

        They were rather heavy and much longer than her arm span. Their muscle mass was rather extensive. Slowly, she began to figure it out how and attempted to wrap her entire body within them, smiling at the gasps of the crowd. She almost succeeded but then, heard the final rip of fabric as the cold air hit her.

        Her dress had ripped with all the movement. Blushing and embaressed, she wrapped within her wings again to cover her nudity. The king's pierced laugh infuriated her. "Love, nudity is no new thing to the elite." He barely said through cackles.

        Abatha held back the large gasp of surprise that threatened to make its way out. She was no human, she reminded herself. The banshee arose slowly taking of their clothes to expose their full nudity.

        Smiling at them out of gratitude, Abatha unwrapped her wings from her body. Her pink heels seemingly had no purpose now, so she flung them off her feet to the right side of the stage. In that moment, she felt as though this clan could be home.

        In all their beauty, they were obviously imperfectly perfect, meaning, they were all covered in the artwork of blue veins that she was covered in. Each and every one of them had an animal quality. Her eyes wandered over the various parts that were not human: paws and hands of wild beasts, tails of felines, noses of various creatures, and so on.

        Home was here in this beauty she had not found anywhere else, this beauty of acceptance. Walking forward, she held out her hands lovingly, to her clan. They all made the sound of their animal with pride; it was the roar of the world combined, unified. She crowed out her acceptance to all, holding her hands up with them in unison.

        The king coughed and it all stopped. Frowning, Abatha approached the stage slowly. "Your name, love?" The king asked as she started up the steps. Frowning, she wondered how he could forget a name so easily.

         "Abatha." She stated as she made it up the third step and on to the stage.

        The chanting began slowly at first, as a low droll, but than it became an uproar that filled the air in the cathedral. Abatha knew that her freedom was over. As head queen, she had too many responsibilities for freedom. Tears graced her eyes as she thought of her inability to see any of her family. Her last chance to see them would be on their deathbeds as she provided them mercy.

        Screams pierced her ears faster than her mind could think to stop her, she zoomed to the horde of zombies to the far left of the stage. They all stopped mid-bite as this was not within protocol. Her brother slipped from the hands of one of the zombies in the front. She thought she could let him take the punishment for his actions. In reality, she could not, his past actions had saved her. She would not, could not abandon him. He was her other half.