Gnihzur: The Legendary Prokeral God Crow!

Overlooking a vast expanse of egotistical terrestrial habitat long ago built by humankind was the peak of Mt. Destiny. At its summit, a gathering of bloodthirsty crows was present in a circular formation. Within the centre of these enlivened bodies was a mighty crow of great influence among its species; It sat cross-legged and dignified upon an unwavering rock, which superimposed its mettle. As the flapping of tousled wings settled down, a meander of dis-ease permeated until the mighty crow began to speak its mother’s tongue.
“My fellow crows… the Day of Reckoning is upon us.”
“What? Are you sure, Emperor? That time has already come?” Many distraught crows made known their startled appearances to the personified entity sitting on the unwavering rock. It wasn’t until it spoke again till they quieted down.
“Yes, my fellow crows, you’ve heard correctly. The ground feast is imminent; just as the prophecy foretold.”
“Emperor, could you be talking about the feast that All-Mother spoke of?”
“Indeed.”
“It is real? I thought that was a comforting myth told among the fledglings to assure our faith in All-Mother.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The surrounding bodies of crows whose appearances were similar to a dark mass of infestation blotting out the sky atop Mt. Destiny were once again riddled with disharmony among their particular phonetics. They questioned if the long-ago prophecy that was foretold by the prognosticators-of-prognosticators of their feathery clan was indeed coming to pass. Some accepted it with glee intent, others did not.
“The prophecy is finally coming to pass!”
“I’m so excited! My mouth is watering.” Numerous crows began salivating as they entertained the possibility of the Day of Reckoning. Thick drools trickled down the side of their protruding beaks until they moistened the dry surface of Mt. Destiny.
A particular crow among the group wasn’t as gullible as the rest of the gang. Being the voice of reason, it expressed, “Don’t get too excited just yet. This prophecy could be a fluke.”
“A fluke?” Some crows got upset after hearing what the other had to say. “All-Mother’s premonitions are never wrong. They are 100% certain. How could you even mention it being a fluke?”
“The future isn’t set in stone, dummy. Do you know how ridiculous you all sound?”
“Damn you, Yellow Belly for always being the sceptic. You’re the one who’s sounding ridiculous. You can’t apply logic to everything.”
“Yeah, Gar is right! Shut the hell up, Yellow Belly! We don’t want to hear your negative input right now.”
Yellow Belly retorted, “How am I being negative for sharing my point of view? It’s only logical to not put 100% of your faith in prophecies.”
“You’re beginning to sound just like those damn arrogant humans scurrying around down there like ignorant rodents.”
“Yeah, Yellow Belly. Shut your beak!”
Many of the crows started bashing a fellow crow based on its shared opinions on the Day of Reckoning. They became so noisy that a higher ranking crow who was perched on a log abreast of the Emperor Crow shouted, “Hold your tongues! Show some respect before the Emperor!”
“We’re sorry.”
Silence ensued shortly after the second in command spoke. Now, Emperor Crow could speak freely. “As I was saying my fellow crows… the ground feast is nigh. I had a direct conversation with All-Mother the other night.”
“A direct conversation with All-Mother?” The crows were surprised to hear this.
“All-Mother hasn’t made contact with any crow for a long time.”
The Emperor continued, “She was kind enough to inform me that our species are about to shift the earthly paradigm completely. No longer will we wait for our prey to die before we feast upon them! No longer will we lurk in the shadows and flee like aerial maggots! No longer will our intelligence be diminished by humans’ ignorance! No! We will take to the skies in droves and rain upon this world with mighty valour!”
“Yes! It’s about damn time!” The crows became very excited and riled up by their leader’s speech. Many of them were ready to take to the sky that very instant and fulfil the long-ago prophecy, except, Yellow Belly spoke again and interrupted them.
“That sounds very good, Lord Emperor. However, there is a major obstacle walking on the surface, the humans. How are we supposed to deal with them? I doubt they will just lie down, open their chests and allow us to feast on their stinking hearts.”
“That is a very good question, Yellow Belly.” Upon listening to what the sceptic in the clan had to say, the surrounding crows gave ear to the Emperor’s suggestions.
“You see my fellow crows. That will be the simplest task yet. The humans… will inevitably destroy themselves.” Many were dumbfounded to hear this, thus the Emperor opted to give them some verification. He flapped his left wing slightly until a bundle of blue feathers started rushing forth. They form a concentric ring, moreover produced a powerful glow that caused many of the surrounding crows atop Mt. Destiny to squint.
“Observe, my fellow crows.” [Whoosh!] As the Emperor directed everyone’s attention to the centre of the sapphire ring of radiant feathers, vivid images started to come into view. “This link is connected to Jeago’s feed. I’ve sent him on a secret mission. He’s currently spying on the world’s elite.”
The crows’ eyes became fixated on the feed being broadcasted from Jeago’s link. Being cloaked in an invisible aura, Jeago was able to sneak inside the secret world conference currently being held by heads of government from all the corners of the globe. Jeago was standing inverted on the ceiling, looking down on all the world leaders who were having an intense discussion sitting around an expansive table.
Due to many of the lesser hierarch of crows being unable to understand human speech very well, the Emperor had to interpret what was going on at the conference. “The humans are plotting to annihilate themselves and us along with them. The governing bodies of the humans crave depopulation. They believe that the more the humans increase, the harder it will be for them to control them. Therefore, they are considering thinning down the flock, so to speak, in order to reign supreme.”
“What a crude thing to do to their own kind.” Commented a disturbed crow. “They disgust me.”
“Me as well!” “Me too!” “Those humans have no shame!”
Back at the world summit, the discussions among the world leaders weren’t going so well. Jeago stood his ground and continued to record everything using his telepathic blue feather camera.
The president of America was getting impatient with his oriental colleague. “We can’t condone your tardiness any longer, President Chin. How long are you going to hold out for?”
“I will resign my signature as long as I have breath in my body. I love my country and my people too much to agree to such a genocide act. I believe you should also withdraw your signature, President Klint.”
“Damn you!” [Boom!] President Klint slammed the table with the palm of his hand; obviously expressing his discontent with the opposition. “Don’t pretend to be such a saint, President Chin. Remember Operation Babies?”
“Huh?” President Chin expressed a bit of surprise when he heard this, but he still played it cool by sipping on his glass of water. “What might you be implying, President Klint?”
“Continue playing dumb. Our investigation unit is one of the best in the world. All of us sitting at this table knows about Operation Babies which was carried out in your country. Millions of newborns were injected with Almaconic Leukaemia. A very potent inoculation that hampers the 12-strand of DNA from awakening. This caused many defects in childbirth.”
President Chin didn’t deny a thing that President Klint spoke of, instead, he responded, “Yes, Operation Babies was carried out under my authorisation. However, that process was done low-key. What you and the others are proposing is using outright brute force to commit mass genocide. What will the public say?”
“To hell with the public!” President Klint's demeanour became more brutish. “We the government are the king of this world. Who cares about those weak bastards' opinions? They can’t contend with us. Our military and atomic arsenal are all we need to dominate them.”
“I agree. However, the kings are nothing without their subjects.”
“President Chin has a point.” Said another world representative. “I believe our approach to this is too outright and front centre. What will happen when the general public becomes knowledgeable of our plot? Too many of them will be a thorn in our ass. It is best we operate sneaky at first just until we get rid of most of them who might be capable of fighting back. So if they were to later find out the truth, it will be easier to handle them.”
“I agree with President Fernanda.” Another representative voiced their opinion. “The world population is around 45,000,000,000, not including the millions of stragglers out there who are unrecorded. I believe we should act swiftly and sneaky.”
President Klint inquired, “What is your suggestion, Prime Minister Noris?”
“I’ve employed a skilful group of scientists who have been working assiduously on a flesh-eating pathogen, one that I think might be able to spark a major uproar and quickly destabilize the masses. I was considering the release location to be South Africa this time around.”
“Why there, Prime Minister Noris?”
“Well, considering the given controversy surrounding the black’s strong resistance to the global pandemic that elapsed a decade ago. I believe this might be the perfect place to start. We can weaponize the media to promulgate fear and hatred. These emotions are the basics for disease to spread rapidly.”
“Not a bad idea. I like it.”
“What do you think about this, President Chin?”
“It is quite a stable plan above what President Klint was proposing earlier.” President Chin look asquint at President Klint who was softly grumbling. “My signature will definitely be brought forward on this one.”
“Good, then it is decided then.”
“I assume your scientists are working on the vaccine as well, Prime Minister Noris?”
“Of course. What do you take me for, an amateur? The vaccine manufacturing process is currently in its last stage of testing. I believe it should be up and ready in a few more days. ”
“So when will this pathogen be ready?” Asked President Klint
“In 3 weeks, give or take a couple of days.” Responded Prime Minister Noris.
“That’s sooner than I expected.” Commented President Chin. “Alright, I’ll let my people know about this.”
Someone among the group wasn’t so please with this idea. “Wait just a moment all of you. Don’t you think that sort of pathogen is very dangerous? I mean, I have family and some good friends all over the globe.”
Hearing their colleague’s genuine concerns, Prime Minister Noris responded, “Not to worry President Roku. We’ll make sure that all your loved ones are taken care of. The preliminary vaccines will be ready in just a few more days. Now, are we all good here?”
Someone else had something to say, “Just one more thing before we conclude our little meeting.”
“What is it, President Fernanda?”
With a sinister smile sitting on her face, President Fernanda responded to the inquiry, “Why don’t we make this coming war a bit more interesting…?”
“What do you have in mine…?” Every world leader sitting around the expansive table gave a keen ear to President Fernanda’s schemes.
[Blip! Blip! Blip!] Unknown to the elite members of the world summit, their entire conversation was being broadcasted live to a particular group of crows who had vested interests.
Atop Mt. Destiny, the crows who could understand bits of human language looked at their leader with worried eyes and spoke, “Ahm, Emperor, won’t that pathogen kill us all along with the humans?”
“Another good question.” The Emperor Crow subtly answered, “I’ve been knowledgeable of this development for quite some time now. The specific pathogen these humans spoke of is being concocted to solely target humans. Although, due to the specific Gain of Function research, the pathogen can mutate after release under certain conditions. They are many variables at play currently. However, we will only be focusing on the positive here. Imagine if all living thing on this loving blue planet was affected by the human virus? What then would the remaining humans have to eat? They need us animals alive for food and that will be their own downfall. Crah-ha-ha-ha!” Emperor Crow gave a burst of sinister laughter at the end of his speech. The others join in as well.
“Crah-ha-ha-ha! Crah-ha-ha-ha!”

 

7 months later… [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
Various showers of explosive manmade projectiles began falling onto a quarantined city complex that was infested with flesh-eating humanoids. These creatures were the by-product of the successful release of the special pathogen set in motion by the world leaders several months ago. More than half of the world’s population had become zombie-like embodiments. The vaccines weren’t introduced to the sheltered public until all hell had broken loose. The city of Monsterdam had already been overrun.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] The terrifying sounds produced by the blasts that barraged the dilapidated city caused many zombies who were further away from the impact to be attracted. These infected bodies had no relationship with fear as they rushed towards the blast apace. Some were much slower to be attracted.
[Creek!] At the farthest reach from the blast where an Armageddon of destruction had passed through long ago; a sense of silence permeated that area, so much so that the opening of a broken supermarket door caught the attention of a few zombies who were lurking close by. They quickly assuaged their sense of alertness as soon as they recognized that the creature that came through the supermarket door was just like them— an infected.
As the zombie teetered further away from the supermarket’s entrance, its rotten body and half-eaten face became more visible to a survivor who kept himself hidden behind a toppled military vehicle.
“Geez, disgusting.” The survivor scoffed at the grotesque figure that was staining his eyeballs with its maggoty feculence.
The survivor was a burly man in his early thirties. From his ragged attire, one could deduce that he hadn’t had a proper shower in weeks. His apparel was laden with blood as well as raw entrails that must have gotten on him after he bashed a few zombies’ heads in. Visible scratches were present all over his face and forearms. It was almost as if he previously had himself supine on a chopping board and a master chef failed to fillet him properly.
Unable to withstand the terrible funk that the nearby zombie was oozing, the burly man slowly picked up his bags filled with canned products and started sneaking his way around the toppled military vehicle. “Easy does it…” While he tried his best not to be spotted by the sporadic hoard of zombies in the vicinity, he failed to realize that the strap on his bag got hitched onto a protruding compartment of the vehicle. This slight mishap caused a can to fall onto the floor, creating a thud noise.
“???” The zombies were now alerted towards the survivor’s position. He had no choice but to start making a run for it.
“Dammit! This is just not my lucky day today! I decided to make this run for the food and now I’m being chased by a hungry hoard of flesh-eating monsters!”
As he continued to flee from his hungry pursuers, the man hollered out for help. However, his frightened shouts only served to attract more zombies towards his proximity. “Shit, there’s more of them coming up ahead.”
“ARRAAAH!” A zombie intercepted the man just after he jumped over a crawling corpse plastered on the side of the road.
“You’re not going to eat me today!” [Boom!] The zombie almost chewed the man’s face off had it not been for his quick reflexes to use his bag to slap its head off. But in so doing, he lost all his canned goods in the process.
“Dammit! My loot!” Knowing that he would be attempting suicide if he turned back towards the hoard of zombies to retrieve his lost canned goods, the man decided to rush ahead. He dodged another hungry zombie that lurched at him. It had parts of its intestines exposed. Shortly after his evasion, the man realized that the zombie was a reanimated soldier who had a pistol strapped to its waist.
“That gun will be very useful. Come here you!” [Whoosh!] The man used the zombie’s intestines as a lasso to tug it towards him before slamming it into the side of a collapsed building. [Boom!] He quickly retrieved the gun from the holster, checked if it was loaded then began shooting at the zombies closest to him. [Bang! Bang! Bang!]
“Die, you stinking bastards!”
While the man continued to make a run for it, he came upon a street that still had functioning speakers situated at the lateral region of a pole. These were mainly used for emergency broadcasts. At first, he perceived a wave of static followed by vague echoes.
Directing his attention towards the speakers, the man thought to himself, “Those emergency speakers are still operational? I thought the military had already bombed this city into the Stone Age. I can hear a faint message trying to relay.”
Wondering what might be broadcasting over the speakers, the man tried to get closer to it. However, due to the large number of zombies situated in that area, he found it to be impossible to go any further. Thus he picked up a stone from the ground and toss it at the speaker, hoping that it would knock it into functioning properly, and lo and behold it did. Not only could he hear with clarity what was being broadcasted over the emergency speakers, but the zombies heard it too, which meant more of them started crowding that area.
“Attention! Attention to all survivors… I repeat, if there are any survivors out there, please make your way towards the barracks located in the city centre. We have food, vaccines and shelter. The government has finally sent reinforcement to our settlement. Keep on the lookout for military presence. They are…” [Thud!]
Before the rest of the message could be broadcast, the zombies surrounding the emergency speakers had already taken down the pole. Now that the static no longer attracted them, they directed their attention toward the man who kept fleeing.
“This place is swarming with those nasty bastards. I can’t even find a place to hide anymore. Reinforcement has come to the city, but the town centre is a good distance away from here. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it on foot, besides, I’m almost out of bullets.”
[Bang! Bang!] After emptying the last bullet in his gun, the man ran and ran until he found himself stuck in an alley. “A freaking dead end?” Among the increasing cacophony of zombies’ cries, the man heard a loud caw above him and looked up. He saw what resembled a 10-foot long crow.
“That’s one huge ass bird. Huh?” It was by pure luck that he directed his gaze above him because just a few metres above his head was a ladder waiting for him to climb. “I can’t reach it from this height.” Quickly scanning his environment, the man saw a dumpster close to the entrance of the alley along with incoming zombies.
“I better get to that dumpster first.” Making a rush towards the dumpster, the man picked up a long piece of wood along the way. He tossed it at the zombies which caused them to stumble back a bit so that he could get hold of the dumpster. He rushed with it back to the area where the leader was situated. Just a few metres behind him, the recovered zombies were giving chase.
“Damn these persistent bastards! They are right up my ass!” [Thud! Thud!] After placing the dumpster in place, the man quickly hopped up on it and dashed onto the ladder. He climbed the ladder as if he was sliding downhill.
“I made it up top.” Looking below him, he saw the zombies also forcing their way up the ladder. “These rotten corpses don’t know when to quit do they?” Seeming out of breath, the man picked up his legs and began running around the rooftop trying to find a route of escape. While doing this, he heard a peculiar crying sound.
“Is that a baby crying?” Investigating the cry, he made his way over to the other side of the roof. Hiding behind an AC unit, he discovered a little girl drenched in blood and brain matter, moreover, within her arms was a crying naked baby.
“Stay back!” The little girl pushed forward a rusted machete towards the man’s crotch. He had to take a few steps backwards and tried his best not to startle them.
“It’s ok little girl. I’m not one of them flesh-eating monsters. Look at me. See?”
“Huh?” Even after confirming that the man was indeed uninfected, the little girl was still very cautious and wouldn’t lower the machete. However, he had no time to waste due to the incoming hoard of zombies who were scaling the side of the building.
“Are you alone little girl? Where are your parents? Are they around here somewhere?”
“…”The little girl shook her head in response to his inquiry.
“My name is Murdock. What’s your name?”
“I…” Just as the little girl was about to give her answer, a flesh-craving zombie successfully made its way onto the rooftop.
“Dammit! There is no time for introductions.” Murdock became alerted by the zombie’s intruding presence. “Give me that machete little girl. Give it now!” He quickly grabbed the machete from the little girl’s hand and used it to chop the zombie’s head off. Blood spewed all over his face; also on the rooftop. “Dammit! I think some got in my mouth.”
While Murdock was busy spitting out blood, he wasn’t aware of the other zombie that was sneaking up behind him.
“Mister behind you!”
“Huh?” Murdock was alerted just in time to swing his machete around and impaled the grotesque zombie. It slithered further down the blade of the machete to get a bite of Murdock’s neck. “Piss off you ugly shithead!” [Boom!] He kicked the zombie off the roof before it could bite his neck. Looking down, he saw just how close the other zombies were to reaching the roof.
“They are coming up.” Murdock ran back to where the little girl was hiding with her baby brother. “Listen, it’s not safe here anymore. You got to come with me, ok? I’m not going to hurt you or the baby. Trust me. Give me the baby and hop onto my back.”
Murdock bent over to make it easy for the little girl to climb up, but she was still a bit hesitant. “We don’t have much time. Hurry! Come on! Come on!”
“OK…” The little girl eventually gave him the baby and climbed onto his back.
“Good.” By the time Murdock raised his head and looked to where he had climbed up on the roof, myriads of zombies had already made it up, moreover, rushing towards him in hungry dashes.
“KYAAH!” The little girl expressed a very frightened scream that almost exploded Murdock’s eardrums.
“Not so loud! You’re going to make me lose my balance! Dammit!” Murdock had to quickly suck up the damage dealt to his eardrums and swung his machete forwards. [Chop! Chop! Chop!] He slashed through several bodies of zombies as he tried to find safety.
Murdock checked the door leading to the roof but it was chained shut, probably by the little girl after she came up. He was forced to play tug of war with the zombies on the rooftop until a solution came to his head.
“Come and get me, you ugly bastards!” [Chop! Chop! Chop!] Murdock found it difficult to keep up with the swarm of zombies. Every time he chopped one of them, they tried to get at the baby within his grasp.
“Is there really no way off this rooftop?” As Murdock thought of this, the little girl on his back pointed to an adjacent building complex.
“Over there, mister.”
“Huh?” Directing his eyes to where the little girl pointed, Murdock noticed a tall apartment complex not too far from the rooftop he was currently on. The roof of that building was taller, therefore, he couldn’t make the jump up there. However, he discovered an alternate route. There was an apartment in reach that had its windows and walls shattered.
“Hold on tight to me! I’m going to make a jump for it.” Murdock glanced back at the incoming hoard of zombies then dashed towards the edge of the rooftop with full speed. The little girl squeezed her eyes shut as she screamed.
[Thump!] Reaching the edge, Murdock jumped with all his leg strength. It propelled him along with his 2 human passengers towards the other building.
“Please make it! Please it!” A bit of fear tethered with hope played around Murdock’s emotional body as he envisioned himself making the jump successfully. [Boom!] His left leg landed on the very edge of the collapsed portion of the apartment complex.
“I made it.” Speaking too soon, Murdock felt the ground slipping away from beneath his feet. “Oh no! Oh no!” [Thud!] The surface beneath his leg shattered before he could put forth his right leg for better footing. To stall his fall, Murdock made use of his great reflexes to grab onto a severed cable wire that was hanging from the building.
“Hurry girl! Climb up and take the baby.” Murdock felt his arm muscles burning intensely. He could only hold on with one arm due to the baby engulfed in his other hand.
After climbing up, the little girl took her baby brother from Murdock’s tired arm and then lent him a helping hand, though little it might have been. “Mister are you ok?”
“I’ll live and my name is not mister. Call me Murdock got that?”
“Alright, mister… I mean Murdock. My name is Alia and this is my little brother, Jovain.”
“Well, nice to make you 2 acquaintances, although the current circumstance isn’t all that ideal for introductions.”
“What’s the worry, we got away from the monsters didn’t we?” The moment Alia uttered these words, she glanced behind Murdock’s figure to see multitudes of zombies jumping from the roof of the adjacent building. They locked themselves onto each other as they jumped; forming a sustainable bridge for the other infected humans to cross over.
“Huh, what the hell…?” Murdock couldn’t believe the zombie ingenuity that he was witnessing, he took back the baby from Alia then began rushing towards the other end of the dystopic apartment complex. He made haste to get away from the persistent zombies who were rushing over the infected bridge.
“You got to be kidding me! How come these bastards are so creative?”
“They were once human weren’t they?”
“I supposed you’re right, Alia. But still, how are we supposed to shake those greedy bastards?”
“What about that over there?” Alia pointed to a thick metallic pipeline that extended from the apartment complex onto another building 42-metres away.
“I think that just might work. Come on Alia!” As he made a rush for the metallic pipeline, Murdock came across a sneaky zombie that lurched at Alia from behind some wooden rubble.
“Alia watch out!” [Whoosh!] Due to Alia being a couple of paces ahead of him, Murdock couldn’t get to her in time, instead, he tossed the machete forwards. It went directly into the Zombie’s oesophagus.
“KYAH!” Alia was frightened to see the impaled zombie still reaching out towards her.
“Come on, Alia!” Murdock grabbed her hand and directed her in front of him. He made her cross over the metallic pipeline first. When it was his time to cross over, his heart began beating through his chest erotically. “I can do this. I can do this. All I have to do is walk straight ahead and don’t look down.” The path below was very far away, if he fell, that would be the end of his zombie-killing career.
“GRAAAAHH!” The hoard of zombies caught up with Murdock shortly after he started crossing over the metallic pipeline. At first, they intensified their thrust across the pipeline, but upon realizing that the crowded zombies were always falling off, they decided to tread across the narrow path one by one. One after the other, zombies began balancing across the pipeline in repetitious succession.
“Holy shit! What is that?” Looking back, Murdock discovered that the zombies were quickly gaining on him.
From the other side of the pathway, Alia shouted, “Mister, hurry! The monsters are right behind you!”
“I know that! This is harder than it looks you know.” Murdock became slightly discouraged when he saw just how well the zombies were balancing across the pipeline. “How are those brainless bastards so freaking good at this? Were they acrobats before getting infected?”
[Bang! Bang! Bang!] Suddenly, many loud sounds of gunshots firing startled Murdock to a halt. Looking below him, he spotted a squadron of military personnel firing at the zombies that were chasing him across the metallic pipeline. They began falling in droves.
“Oh, I’m saved!” Murdock rejoiced too early. One of the zombies had escaped being blown to bits by the militia below. It lurched at Murdock’s back, causing him to almost fall off the metallic pipeline.
“No! Jovain!” Perceiving that her baby brother was in serious danger of falling to his doom, Alia ran back across the pipeline to where Murdock was barely hanging on. The zombie managed to bite a chunk out of his arm.
“Get off me, you bastard!”
[Bang! Bang! Bang!] An elite marksman placed a bullet between the zombie’s eyes. It fell to its doom with a part of Murdock’s flesh still stuck in its mouth. [Splatter!]
“Mister, give me your hand.” Alia helped Murdock to his feet, moreover, she checked to see if her baby brother was injured.
“Hey, you up there!” One of the military personnel spoke to Murdock and Alia from below. “Hurry across! We’ll meet you on the side!”
“Ok!” Responded Murdock. “Thank goodness we’re saved.” He was no longer afraid to tread across the narrow pipeline. After reaching the other building, he along with Alia and her baby brother made their way to the street level where they were met by a group of soldiers.
“You guys ok?”
Murdock secretly covered his injured arm and responded, “Yeah, we’re fine.”
“Alright then, hop on in. We’re bringing you back to base.”
Murdock went inside the military vehicle with Alia and her baby brother. They met some other survivors in the back. “Who knew there were this many survivors scattered across the city. There are even some old ones among them.”
“Alright men, we’re pulling out!”
“Roger!”
“Bogeys dead ahead!”
“Step on it!”
The military vehicles directed their course back towards the town centre. Along the way, they came across a multitude of zombies who they shot down with their machine guns, moreover, ran over with their bulky tyres. [Vrm! Vrm!]

 

…… The Town Hall
This particular area was heavily fortified with government troops and a strategically placed barricade. It was one of the most secure barracks in the entire city of Monsterdam. The various missiles that barraged the city earlier came from the powerful Howitzers set up all around this facility. The zombies knew well to not venture carelessly towards this area.
[Vrm! Vrm!] The military vessel that was transporting the city survivors came to a gradual stop near the west entrance of the barricade. The persons in charge of opening the gates allowed them entry.
Looking outside of his window, Murdock discovered many military presences as well as medical practitioners. Several tents were set up around the grounds to host the infected individuals who hadn’t fully turned yet. “We finally made it to a safe place that has a proper shelter, food and water. What do you think Alia?”
“Ahm…” Alia didn’t give an audible response, however, the glee in her eyes as she glanced outside the windows said it all.
As they exited the bus, Alia held tightly onto Murdock’s trousers while exuding a bit of fear. “Hey, you and your baby brother are going to be alright now. This place has food, vaccines and a safe place for you to stay.”
“But, I want to stay with you, Mister Murdock.”
Noticing the sincere concern in Alia’s eyes, Murdock told her, “Ok, let’s go together.”
Coming off the bus, every survivor was directed to a particular quarantine zone for safety checks.
“You 2, over here.” A soldier called over Murdock’s gang inside a secure tent for testing.
The doctors inside were very thorough, they made sure to check every nook and cranny of their patients. During his search, the male doctor discovered a fresh bite mark on Murdock’s left arm. “What is this?”
“It’s no big deal doc. I’ve already been vaccinated before the outbreak evolved this far.”
The doctor wasn’t so convinced by Murdock’s answer. “Well, we’ll inoculate you again just in case you’re lying. We can’t afford to have a crazy infected wreaking havoc inside these secure walls.”
Finished inoculating Murdock with the flesh-eating pathogen vaccine, the doctor directed his gaze towards Alia. “You’re next little girl. Let me take a look at that baby too.”
“Ahm…” Alia was hesitant to hand her baby brother over to science, thus she looked at Murdock for advice.
“It’s ok, Alia. You can trust these people.”
“Alright.”
The female doctor took the baby from Alia’s grasp. While they were busy being looked after, Murdock sparked up a conversation with the male doctor.
“Hey, doc, quick question. You work for the government right, so you must have some intel about what caused this outbreak? Why have so many people worldwide transformed into disgusting zombies? Could we be experiencing another God pandemic?”
The doctor was reluctant to answer. “That’s classified information.”
“No shit. The government has yet to inform the public about what caused this major shit storm that we’re currently in. it’s been months now. Those bastards must be hiding something from us. Come on man, I need to know what’s going on with our world.”
“Hmm…” The doctors side-glanced each other for a brief period before speculating. “I heard that it was a worldwide terrorist attack. You know about that infamous Icesis group that has been the talk of the world for these past years?”
“How could I not? Everybody has heard of them.” Answered Murdock.
“My sources told me that this all started in South Africa where they engineered a liquid-based pathogen to wipe all humans from the face of the planet. They poisoned the irrigation systems along with all the world’s major sources of freshwater supply.”
Murdock was startled hearing this. “How did they even manage to accomplish such a feat? They must have a lot of friends in high places, am I right?” He tried to squeeze out more information but the doctors weren’t that foolish.
“That’s all I know. I can’t tell you anything else. Now put these on and go.” The doctor gave them fresh clothes to wear, afterwards, he toss their old garments in a trash can.
While getting dressed inside, something clicked in Murdock’s head. “Wait, something still doesn’t add up. Those vaccines that you’re injecting into everyone, how did your people synthesize an effective batch so quickly? If I were those terrorists, I’d imagine they’d make it very virulent and complex to create a vaccine within only a matter of weeks after the outbreak.” Cold sweat began to form on the doctors’ cheeks as they listened to Murdock’s assumptions. “Very weird indeed. Either your technologies are really advanced or this was all an elaborate scheme from the…”
“Mister…” Alia came along and interrupted Murdock. “I’m all dressed now. Can we go get something to eat?”
“Ok, we’ll go right now. I’m also starving.”
“This way.” The doctors followed Murdock, Alia and her little brother outside the tent. After they were far away, the male doctor called over a soldier who was stationed nearby and told him to keep a watchful on them, especially the big thick man.
Upon venturing further inside the secure compound, Alia and Murdock discovered that there were a lot more people there than they expected. After getting registered, they went straight ahead to the area that was serving food. While filling their tummies, they were completely unaware of the influential figure that was sitting 12 stories above them.
At the tallest peak of the heavily guarded building, inside a luxurious office, President Klint was pacing back and forth in front of numerous monitors which depicted a live stream of other worldwide leaders. His countenance was livid as he spoke:
“Prime Minister Noris, this is a catastrophe! Why the hell are the dead coming back to life?”
“Something must have gone wrong during the pathogen’s development. Maybe the research team overlook some important variables.”
“Well obviously dumbass!” President Klint’s angry saliva spewed all over the monitors. “As we speak, my team is doing their best to rescue survivors and keep this base secure. We’re waiting on a proper countermeasure to counteract this bloody apocalypse.”
Another world leader voiced their opinion. “Enough with your suggestions, Prime Minister Noris. We won’t be needing your assistance anymore. Your next advice might just doom us all.”
“We’re cutting you off, Prime Minister Noris.” Agreed another world leader.
“No, wait! Listen to what I have to say please!” Prime Minister Noris begged for a chance to speak. “I think we’ve found a way to neutralize the pathogen inside the infected who came back to life. It is liquid base similar to that of the vaccine, but with the newly added component, it will become a deadly weapon against the infected. Right now this virus is in the early stages of development but given a bit more time it should be ready for deployment.”
President Klint considered Prime Minister Noris’s proposal. “How long do you need?”
“Just a few more days and I promise that all will be ready. Trust me.”
“Alright, then I will give my official authorization to the board of… huh?” President Klint became distracted by something that he spotted outside his window. The others who were watching from the monitors, saw when he moved out of frame.
“President Klint, is something wrong over there?”
“I’m not sure yet. What might that be?” As President Klint walked closer and closer to the window, his eyes started noticing a growing black swarm of humungous birds descending from the sky. “Are those… crows?”
Pouring out of the sky was indeed a very large flock of crows. Emperor Crow was among the centre of them issuing his command. “My fellow crows! Commence, Operation Feast!”
“With great pleasure, Emperor!”
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this! Those damn humans are about to find out just who are the most powerful species on this planet.”
“Crows! Attack!”
[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!]
“What the heck is going on here?” President Klint was dumbstruck with cumbersome trepidation; so scared that he couldn’t move a muscle to evade the incoming crow rushing directly at him.
[Boom!] As soon as the window exploded to bits, President Klint found his head melting inside the stomach acid of a large crow.
“What the hell was that explosion? Mr President are you ok?”
The guards dashed into the room and were met with a very grotesque imagery. They witnessed their president’s intestines being guzzled down by an oversize crow. So terrified they were that they pissed and shit themselves. “AHHH WE’RE GOING TO DIE!” And indeed they did.
[Chomp! Chomp!] The two security guards that came into the room were devoured so quickly that they didn’t even taste their own deaths.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
Chaos ensued all over the barracks. In the presence of the raining storms of crows, myriads of humans were running around scared shitless. Only a handful of them was manly/womanly enough to fight back.
“Deploy the Howitzers! We can’t let these bastards, whatever they are overpower us!”
“The colonel is right. We have to fight back!”
“Everyone prepare for battle!”
The morale and battle spirits of the soldiers became extremely riled up. They were facing an unpredicted life and death situation, so it was expected of them to go all out and never hold back.
“We’re under attack by goddamn giant birds! Bring out the heavy artilleries!”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
The humans weren’t going to just bend over and take defeat up the ass. They started fighting back against the raining barrage of crows with everything they had, even the zombies joined the fight after the barricade crumbled under the chaos. However, they mostly attack the humans who were on the ground and within reach.
“Ah hell, now we have to deal with these flesh-eating bastards too!”
“What of the president's situation? Has he been safely evacuated?”
“We don’t know. We’ve lost contact with the top floor a while ago. I hope the president has already evacuated to safety.”
“Now is not the time to be focusing on others. Try to save yourselves first!”
“Right! Eat lead you flying mother…” [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
The battle wasn’t going so well outside. With the crows sending aerial attacks from above coupled with the ground assault from the zombies, the humans were being drastically overwhelmed.
Within the inner region of the compound, Murdock was dodging falling ceiling debris as he tried his best to make it to safety with Alia and her baby brother. [Boom!] Suddenly, a crow burst through the ceiling and landed before Murdock; he clung tightly to the crying baby in his arms as he tried to wrap his head around what was currently taking place around him.
“Holy shit that’s a huge bird! Could the virus have caused them to mutate this big?”
“Mister, I’m scared.” Alia clung tightly to Murdock’s backside.
“Don’t worry Alia. We’re not going to die today.” Although he said this with much hubris, Murdock was about to shit his pants in fear, he even unwillingly farted in Alia’s face.
[Caw!] The crow identified a succulent human child crying away in Murdock’s arms. To remedy its salivating hunger, it pushed forth its pointy beak towards the baby, but its entire head got blown off before it could get there. [Boom!]
“Are you ok?” A soldier arrived just in time to rescue Murdock and the other survivors. Judging his muscularity, he said, “You look like a man who can handle a weapon. Take this.” He gave Murdock a massive gun and told him to defend himself against the crows and zombies.
“Alia hold him.” To better handle the big gun he was handed, Murdock gave the baby over to Alia then told her to stay close. “We’re getting the hell out of here! This place is infested with hostile presence.”
[Bang! Bang! Bang!] Leading the way for Alia and some other survivors, Murdock shot through all the ground obstacles that presented themselves in his path. He didn’t bother trying to hit any of the crows that were out of his reach, instead, he focused mainly on the zombies, trying to clear a path so he and the others could get to a suitable vehicle nearby.
“There is no end to these bastards! It’s as if they were waiting close by for this specific chance to gain entry inside the stronghold.” Murdock struggled to get to a suitable vehicle. The ones that he ran passed so far amid the chaos were either trampled or on fire.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] The soldiers weren’t making victory easy for the legion of crows. Using every powerful weapon they had in their arsenal, they executed a barraged of explosive attacks against their feathery oppressors.
One of the crows on the front line became pissed that his comrades were falling from the skies in deadly droves. “KAAAW! Those damn bombers are killing our flock in droves. Uri, take care of their weapon.”
“Just leave it to me!” [Caw! Caw!] Receiving the go-ahead from her commander, Uri, the feminine crow descended towards the military barracks. “I’ll get rid of those filthy weapons.” [Whoosh!] Uri spread her wings mightily across the battlefield. Soon, she detached her feathers and sent them into the ethers. What the soldiers started witnessing next was a shocking occurrence.
[Clung! Clung! Bang!]
“What the hell is happening now? Our weapons? They are…?”
The soldiers felt the grip of their weapons slipping away from their grasp, moreover, witnessed the metallic presence in the vicinity getting sucked into the sky; even some zombies who had some form of metal strapped around them and lead stuck inside their bodies were getting sucked up.
“Magnetic Pull!” Uri increased the attractive intensity of her gathering feathers. Her feathery sorcery was indeed potent. Heavy armoured tankers, Howitzers, knives, guns, cans, computers, buses along with an array of other metallic bodies were getting pulled into the huge sphere of crushed metals forming in the sky.
“That feathery thing in the sky is sucking up all of our weapons. What do we do now?”
“There is only one thing to do… RUN!” [Thud! Thud! Thud!]
Numerous soldiers began rushing to safety after witnessing the supernatural capabilities being exuded by the crow army. Murdock tried holding onto his gun but he eventually had to let it go. Some of the soldiers realized that it was too late for them to escape and attempted a suicide attack.
“I’m not going to die with my tail between my legs. Suck on this you bird bitches!” Before a metallic container filled with explosives could be sucked into the sky, this soldier removed the pin from a grenade and placed it into the ammo crate. Seconds later, he along with the crate was getting sucked into the magnetic focal point present in the sky. Immediately after making contact, a huge explosion formed that decimated the entire sphere along with several dozens of crows.
[Boom!]
“Huh!” Looking above him as he made his way towards the collapsed barricade exit, Murdock saw countless birds on fire falling from the sky as well as deadly metallic debris. “Everyone! Look out for those projectiles!” Murdock grabbed Alia’s hand and increased his dashing pace. By a slim brush of death, he missed getting impaled by burning metal.
“I didn’t crawl out of my mother’s vagina to experience this shit.” Successfully making it outside the barricade, Murdock ran towards a military tanker that fell out of the sky not too long ago. Surprisingly enough, it was in good shape and operational. He and the other handful of survivors dashed inside and drove as far away as they possibly could from the town centre. As they were leaving, an army of dead presences was on their way towards the town centre. I guess they were attracted by the explosive noises coupled with burning flesh.
…… Elsewhere in the country of Orientals.
[Boom!] A couple of guards barged into President Chin’s private office while he was having a discussion with the world leaders via satellite feed and shouted, “President Chin! We’re under attack!”
“What do you mean?” President Chin was startled to hear this. “We’re under attack? Has the infected broken through our impenetrable fortress?”
“No Mister President. They aren’t the ones who are attacking us.”
“Then what is?” The moment President Chin asked this question, a violent crow crashed through the sidewall. Its malefic presence caused President Chin to burp and fart simultaneously due to his heightened fear.
“Mr Present, follow me!” [Bang! Bang! Bang!] The security guards open fire at the crow that crashed into the office. Afterwards, they dragged their president to safety. “Sir, let’s get you to the bunker!”
“Yes! Yes! Hurry!” Frightened President Chin looked through the side windows of the so-called impenetrable facility as he was on his way to the bunker. What his eyes beheld was a catastrophic anomaly that he never would have expected in a million years. “Where did all those large birds come from?”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] On the grassy lawn within the borders of the protected facility, the greenery was hardly recognized anymore; only an increasing dye of blood stained the land in rich Chinese red. The crows were viciously slaughtering the human resistance; eating their head off, moreover, sucking their entrails out. Yet they still weren’t satisfied.
“I need more meat!” A greedy crow was unrelentingly chewing on the viscera of a dead human with such zeal that it didn’t notice the many snipers aimed at its head from 200-metres away atop a roof, or did it?
[Boom!] Milliseconds after the snipers fired their rounds at the greedy crow, they witnessed something spectacular. The crow vanished into thin air only to reappear instantly behind the small squadron of snipers.
“Will you satisfy me?” [Caw!] The greedy crow acquired the attention of the startled snipers; they were very surprised by its presence behind them. With the crow now being so close to them, they switched to their handguns and began firing countless shots. However, they found it difficult to land a single bullet on its swift feathers.
“This one is super fast! We can’t lock on to it at all!” [Bang! Bang! Bang!]
“Where the hell did these bird freaks come from?” [Bang! Bang!]
“We can’t get a clean shot!” [Bang! Bang!]
[Caw!] Getting tired of playing around with the elite snipers, the greedy crow made a bold swing with its wings and lopped all 6 of their heads off simultaneous. Without waiting for them to hit the ground, the crow hurriedly swallowed them. [Gulp!]
…… Elsewhere in Europe
“AHHHH!” Prime Minister Noris was screaming for his life as he along with a small group of scientists and military personnel rushed inside a secure room just in time to avoid being spotted by the squadron of crows. “This entire country has gone to shit! The entire atmosphere outside is blanketed with vicious birds!”
“What would you have us do, Prime Minister Noris?”
“Ready the goddamn warheads! Prepared to fire on all selected locations.” Prime Minister Noris marked a couple of spots on the huge monitor inside the control room.
One of his allies wasn’t so please with one of the areas that he selected because he had family members residing in that area. “Prime Minister there are still a lot of uninfected people living in those areas.”
“I don’t give a flying shit!” Prime Minister Noris had lost his dignified countenance as well as his rational mind. It seems as if he had drastically aged by a decade or two. “Do as I say; prepare the warheads for launch! Originally, we were going to use them as currier for our latest antigen to wipe out the infected zones, but I guess we’ll just have to use it on these damn birds instead. Now fire!”
“Yes sir!” The persons around the control panel pushed the activation buttons. [Beep! Beep! Beep!] “The warheads are now deploying.”
[Whoosh! Whoosh!] Across the entire country, many underground compartments began opening up. They sent out myriads of deadly warheads towards the areas that Prime Minister Noris marked on the monitor. As if in sync, many other world leaders who had nuclear capabilities released their warheads almost at the same time. From an outer world perspective, the dark corners of the earth became illuminated with thousands of deadly bright brilliance.
The nuclear warheads reached the height of their ascended course, now they were turning to go downwards to impact their designated targets.
Back at the collapsed Monsterdam city where Murdock and the hand full of survivors were fleeing, Alia noticed a strange occurrence outside and informed the others. “What are those things coming from the sky?”
“You mean the birds?”
“No, look further up there.”
“Huh.” Murdock stopped the vehicle on a vacant roadway; he and the others got outside to get a better look at what was blindingly illuminating the evening sky. “I have a bad feeling about those shooting stars.”
“What do you think they might be, mister?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say those shooting stars are nuclear missiles.”
“Nuclear missiles! Then we better escape then!”
An elderly lady among them who managed to escape a near-death experience during the bombing of Hiroshima knew just how deadly one of those nukes could be. “It’s no use. We can’t outrun them. Only God can help us all now.”
[Caw! Caw! Caw!] During their coordinated raid on the human settlements, the crows noticed multiple falling presences from the sky that was way more potent than they could ever be. They tried to flee the blast radius but there was nowhere left in the sky for them to seek shelter. Many of them sought advice from their respective leaders.
“Emperor! Those humans have released their world-ending atomic bombs all over the globe! We’re all dead meat when those things detonate! Emperor can you hear me! Emperor, please answer me!”
Within his own chain of thought, Emperor Crow knew that the current situation of nukes bombarding the planet was also a part of the long-ago prophecy, one that had been kept hidden from the majority of the younger crows. There was nothing he could do about it with his limited powers, thus he transmitted this message to all the surrounding crows, “Trust in All-Mother.”
“All-mother!” “All-mother!” “All-mother!” “All-mother!”
Being in sync, every crow around the world calmed the flapping of their wings and put all their fate in the renowned All-mother. Billions of their collective consciousness exuded a formidable strength of manifestation which paved the way for the one and only true All-Mother to act.
[Swoosh! Swoosh!] Zooming in on the frosty environment of the North Pole and the South Pole of planet earth, a multidimensional crow was present simultaneously in both regions. Its almighty presence measured over 20 metres in height. She was darker than any negative presence of night aside from her beak and eyes that radiated energies brighter than the sun. This was All-Mother, the primordial essence that all known crows worshipped. The first embodied Prokeral God Crow!
All-Mother was aware of the current predicament that her daughter, Gaia was facing currently. Earth was set for annihilation in only a matter of seconds, yet, this realization did nothing to dampen her serene and calm disposition. Deciding to take action, she began spreading her glorious wings.
[Whoosh!] All-Mother’s wings were vastly widespread, moreover, very intimidating. Millions of her feathers started to separate and multiplied rapidly until they canvased 90% of the earth’s atmosphere. These special multidimensional feathers were seen only by her godly sight. Seconds after deployment, time seemed to have stopped in the entire galaxy. For a split instant, the sun’s radiance dimmed to a darkened state and rekindled with more explosive brilliance!
With the entire galaxy’s time/space in the plume of her feathers, All-Mother roused her powerful throat chakra and uttered, “Narak-Hak, Narak-Shak, Narak-Tak, Narak-Narak, Akmi-Toga!”
[Boom!] A most powerful frequency was unleashed across the entire globe. Time in the earthly perspective restarted. Every living creature was impacted by what All-Mother had released.
[Thud!] Murdock and the others fell to their knees. “This sensation… what is this presence that I’m feeling?”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I’m paralyzed? What in God’s name is happening to us?”
While the humans were baffled, only the crows were aware of what was going on. “There is no mistaking it. This presence is the All-Mother of Crows!”
“The All-Mother! Do you mean she’s here? But why can’t we see her?”
“Emperor, do you have any idea why this is?”
Emperor Crow said the first thing that came to his mind, “The All-Mother is everywhere and everything.” Shortly after saying this, the many nukes that were frozen in mid-air suddenly vanished into thin air followed by a strange anomaly that even the crows weren’t expecting.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] A dark energy source began shooting upwards out of the mouths of the surviving humans as well as the infected zombies. Every living creature on the planet was experiencing this phenomenon; the dogs, cats, ants, mice, birds, butterflies, etc.
The dark energies were being sucked into a multidimensional portal. This phenomenon lasted only for a brief 30 seconds. Afterwards, everything seemed to have returned to normal, however, the crows could feel the inevitable change permeating the atmosphere.
“All-Mother, she’s done it! My fellow crows, a new era has begun!”
[Caw! Caw! Caw!] All around the globe, the crows were celebrating in unity; basking in their victory. The era of human dominion over mother earth has shifted into the new paradigm of empowered crows.

 

High into the sky, within the earth’s atmosphere were vast floating continents of ethereal splendour and magnificent grandeur. They were being kept levitating by a circular array of mystical cloud energy that wrapped around their base cluster of hard sediments. Beautiful vegetation was populated all around these floating continents. Their cities had gorgeous architecture built from a very rare type of wood element called Rekishda. Almost everything from the below mother earth was present on these floating structures; clear pure water streams; viridian jade pavements; a mixture of wooden-cloud bridges that connected the separated floating islands; numerous types of beasts; and to top off the beautiful ambience were various shimmering types of Cloud Butterflies flying around everywhere. Together, these majestic floating islands when viewed from outer space resembled a bird's anatomy, thus they are classified under the one appellation, Waiv-rum-nagar.
This new era of crows was an empowering one. Soul evolution was taking place all across mother earth. The surviving humans have fallen to the very bottom of the food chain and frequency chart while the evolved crows reign supreme at the very top.
Within this special paradigm, the crows have become more humanoid. They have gained a pair of arms as well as a more defined physique that suited their specific gender. They still have each of their varying dark feathers which symbolizes their strength. As for their wings, they have become more flexible and adjustable; a uniqueness was about them in the form of two specific state; Flaccid state and Fully Ejected State. In their Flaccid State, the wings are clustered into one long loosely flowing feather that easily billowed in the wind; the majority of its humerus and bone structure was within the scapula tissue. The Fully Ejected State was the opposite of the Flaccid State; in this process the wings' rigid structure was fully formed with enough outspread feathers to capture the wind, thus equalling flight. An invigorating adventure awaits those who submerge their consciousness within this world.
[Whoosh!] Farthest east to the aerial borders of Waivrumnagar, a lone crow whose ejected wings were partly white was flying through the air lightning fast. He was carrying a suitable size suitcase. His countenance seemed as if he was in a hurry to be somewhere quick. Unlike most crows his age, his figure was rather thin. This enabled him to adroitly shift through the throng of aerial traffic without causing any disturbance.
“Excuse me, excuse me. I’m in a rush here. Make way, I have to get to that Crowtrain before it departs.”
[Whoosh!] The crow made haste until he arrived inside a huge enclosed transport terminal that catered to the Crowtrains upon arrival and departure. This area was heavily crowded with young individuals due to the auspicious time of the almanac when Soul Academies would be accepting new talented students.
“Excuse me. Coming through.” Unauthorized flying was strictly prohibited inside this transport terminal, thus the little crow had to reduce his wings to their Flaccid State and start walking among the crowd. He found it rather challenging to get to where he wanted to be fast.
A lot of shoving and pushing was taking place across the edifice until the young crows got to their desired departure terminal where the Crowtrains were waiting for them to board.
The Crowtrains were very large bird-like structures that were mostly comprised of intelligent metals which could contract and expand with much versatility. They shared a close semblance with a bullet train that had large feathery wings. These Crowtrains were mostly used to transport passengers to very faraway places a lot quicker and to provide a comfortable experience for passengers who didn’t wish to spread their own wings or for those who didn’t have wings.
“Excuse me…” After some minutes of forcing his way through the crowd, the white-winged crow arrived at his particular Crowtrain with his luggage in hand. It was only accepting young examinees who had applied prior for entry to Crowjun Soul Academy.
As the eager young lad got closer to the Crowtrain’s entrance, he ran into a small group of bullies who tried to prevent him from passing. A particular strapping young crow whose muscles were twice the size of the thin lad stopped him from passing, by placing his big arms in his path.
“Hold it right there, string bean. This Crowtrain is heading to Crowjun Soul Academy. Only examinees are allowed to pass by here. Now get lost!” The big fellow shoved back the little crow.
“But I am an examinee!” Protested the little crow. To prove he was legit to the bullies, the amicable crow dipped into his white feathers and whipped out a piece of laminated square paper. “This is my application card. You see here where it says, Gnihzur Costar? That is me.”
“Let me see that?” After taking a quick gander at Gnihzur’s card, the muscular crow burst into laughter followed by his recalcitrant gang. “Cra-ha-ha-ha! A scrawny little shrimp such as you is an examinee like us? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t sense even an ounce of Krowqui (Spiritual energy bestowed to all living creatures by All-Mother) coming from you. You must be one of them duds they call a loser. There is no way that you’re getting on this Crowtrain with me. Scram you little punk!” [Push!]
Gnihzur fell onto his backside after the big bully shoved him. “Hey, I’m telling the truth. I am an examinee! Just please let me pass.” He got up and went back to where the bullies were guarding the Crowtrain’s entrance.
“This little punk. Are you deaf or something? I said scram!” The big crow still refused to let Gnihzur on board the Crowtrain. While he was messing around, a broadcast was sounded inside the terminal:
“Crowtrain number A-625 will be departing for Crowjun Soul Academy in 10 minutes. Passengers please get on board and strap yourselves in.”
“Huh?” Gnihzur became alerted by the broadcast. “The Crowtrain is going to depart soon. Please step aside and let me through.” Gnihzur pleaded with the big crow but he still refused to let him pass.
“You want to get on this Crowtrain, shrimp? Then you have to go through me first! That is if you can. Cra-ha-ha-ha!” The bullies burst into laughter again.
Gnihzur became fed up with their bad behaviour. “Please, I don’t wish to fight you guys, so please let me pass.”
“I said to scram, punk!” [Whoosh!] The big bully couldn’t stand Gnihzur’s persistence any further, thus he tossed out a robust fist at his face.
Before Gnihzur could react, the bully’s fist was stopped by a petite feminine crow who had a body type similar to Gnihzur’s but more curvy and seductive. Her sparkly feathery tresses were quite long and animated as they swayed back and forth in the wind gracefully
“Huh, where did you come from?” The bully was startled.
Flicking a small cluster of feathers from her face, the petite crow took a gander at Gnihzur then glared at the big bully whose fist she had stopped. “How troublesome you are. A bully on the first day of attendance? We haven’t even gotten to the academy as yet. So disgusting.”
“What did you call me, you skinny bitch? Watch how I shut that big mouth of yours.” [Whoosh!] The big bully tossed forwards another robust fist.
“Go get her, Crokan! Teach her some manners!” His degenerate friends encouraged him to prove his badness.
“No sweat. This dirty beak wench is dead meat!”
[Boom!] The petite crow skilfully caught Crokan’s huge fist during mid-execution. Next, she twisted his arms, flipped him onto the ground then stepped on his right ejected wing. [Stomp!]
“Kyah! My wing!” The big bully hollered out in pain.
“Crokan!” Perceiving the major hurt that their leader was in, the remaining 2 bullies rushed to his aid. They didn’t bother troubling the petite crow; only helped their injured friend to his feet.
“Wow.” Gnihzur was amazed by how swiftly the petite crow took down the big bully. He followed her onto the Crowtrain then offered his gratitude. “Thanks for rescuing me back there.”
Sparing Gnihzur another glance of disdain, the petite crow said, “Tsk, I don’t need your gratitude. A useless crow that can’t defend himself against those brutes dares to enrol in a Soul Academy. So despicable.” She strutted onwards to find a suitable seat inside the Crowtrain.
“She’s so pretty.” Gnihzur admired her petite figure from behind for a while before he also start searching for a vacant seat to rest his bottom.
Walking down the long aisle of the Crowtrain, Gnihzur tried to gauge the strength of the present crows. “They are a lot of strong crows applying this year.” He walked by a noisy bunch of crows who weren’t afraid to unleash their arrogant aspirations.
“I’m going to crush all of you weak turds in the preliminaries! Ha-ha-ha!” This utterance came from a hot-headed crow who had parts of his feathers dyed blazing red.
“Keep dreaming, hothead. I will be the one to crush this examination.” Retorted a suave crow who sat in his seat playing with a sweet-scented rose.
“Over my stinking farts, you won’t! I can blow your smelly ass to pieces whenever I damn well please!”
“Heh, we’ll see about that.”
“Want to start something right now, punk!?”
The hot-headed crow and the suave crow with the lovely rose seemed as if they were about to start fighting. However, they got interrupted by a mysterious crow who sat directly behind them. He wore his dark plumes like a hoodie that cancelled parts of his face but enhanced the radiance of his pernicious blue eyes.
“Settle down, both of you. I’m starting to get annoyed by your voices.”
“Who the hell does this bastard think he’s talking to?” The hothead crow was pissed.
“Obviously it’s not me, therefore it must be you since your voice is the loudest among the passengers on board this Crowtrain.” Retorted the suave crow.
“Can it freak before I shove that stinking rose down your damn throat!”
“This atmosphere is so tense.” Still searching for somewhere to sit down, Gnihzur reminisced about his past failure. “I hope I don’t fail this time around. I’ve been training really hard for this chance. I won’t mess it up like last time.”
“Passengers, the Crowtrain will be departing shortly.” It wasn’t until this broadcast echoed in Gnihzur’s ears that he jumped out of his sea of thoughts and looked harder for a place to sit down before departure. Glancing behind him briefly, he saw the bullies assisting their humiliated comrade to a seat.
Gnihzur went by a row of seats where a vacant spot was, however, the crow that sat there had a rough demeanour about her. “Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”
“What did you say to me? Did you just call me ugly, huh shrimp?”
Gnihzur didn’t know exactly how to respond to the girl’s upset tone. “No, I ah… sorry!” He quickly moved away from there thinking about how he had offended her. He wasn’t looking ahead of him, hence he bumped into an intimidating crow who had a sturdy back.
“Watch where you are going, midget.” The bulky crow gave Gnihzur a strong glare.
“Sorry! Sorry.” Shortly after apologizing, Gnihzur heard a familiar voice coming from abreast him:
“A crow that can only whimper and say sorry… you disgust me.”
“Huh? Her again?” Gnihzur identified the originator of the voice to be the attractive petite crow who rescued him earlier. The seat beside her was also vacant, thus he asked, “Listen, do you mind if I sit there?”
“Fhm…” She responded with a low snort.
Gnihzur interpreted this as a ‘yes’ then sat beside her. Getting comfy in the cushiony seat, he sparked up a conversation. “You can call me, Gnihzur. What’s your name?”
She answered boastfully, “A crow that has no Krowqui doesn’t deserve to know this precious maiden’s name.”
“Oh, I see.” Gnihzur didn’t let what she said bother him. He only directed his attention elsewhere until the Crowtrain was ready for take-off.
Another broadcast was sounded inside the Crowtrain. “Be seated passengers. The Crowtrain is now going to leave the terminal.”
“Finally!”
“It’s about damn time!”
A lot of crows were happy that the Crowtrain was finally preparing to take flight. Unlike manmade trains, this Crowtrain didn’t need any rails to move on. Instead, they flew on a designated air current which did much to add to its swift velocity. [Whoosh!]
“Wow, this Crowtrain is really fast!” Gnihzur’s excited countenance didn’t go unnoticed by the petite influence sitting abreast him.
“What’s with the stupid face? You’re acting as if you’ve never been on a Crowtrain before. Have you been living under a rock this entire time?”
“Of course not.” Answered Gnihzur. “I was busy training for my exams.”
“Training? Fu-hu-hu.” Finished laughing, she turned to Gnihzur and said, “You who possesses no Krowqui, what kind of training could you’ve possibly been undertaking, Newpalf?”
“How did you guess it? I was indeed brushing up on my Newpalf skillset.”
“For real? You were learning Newpalf?” The reason why she was so shocked to hear Gnihzur’s answer was because, among the variety of evolved birds, Newpalf was the most basic technique for all to learn. Basically, it means learning how to flap one’s wings.
“Don’t look so surprised. I was studying Newpalf along with my special variation. And I also studied…”
“Stop, stop.” She interrupted Gnihzur for she was tired of hearing how lame he was. “I don’t want to hear any more of your sad stories.”
“What, sad story? This isn’t a sad story that I’m telling you.” Gnihzur was about to elaborate some more on his specific type of Newpalf techniques that he came up with when suddenly, the Crowtrain vibrated roughly, moreover, came to a gradual halt. The passengers on board were all alerted.
“Why the hell has the Crowtrain stopped moving?”
“Is there a malfunction?”
“How could that possibly be? We’ve only just left the main terminal 7 minutes ago.”
“Then why the heck has it stopped?”
Someone directed the passengers’ attention towards the front of the Crowtrain outside. “Look there! Something is blocking our path.”
“Huh? Who are those birds?”
To answer the questions that the majority of the passengers were asking, another broadcast echoed all throughout the expansive Crowtrain. “Attention applicants. The first phase of your test has already begun. Survive the combined assault of the Rouge Doves. Those who wish to forfeit their enrolment at any time are free to leave the Crowtrain via the emergency portals.” [Zzt!] That was it for the important broadcast which got everyone riled up.
The hot-headed crow with the red patch of feathers shot out of his seat with the full intent of dominating his opponents. “The exam has already begun? Hell yeah! Bring it, you brown feather bastards! I’ll pulverize all of you!”
[Boom!] A loud explosion tore through the roof of the Crowtrain. One after the other, multiple hazel coloured humanoid Rouge Doves started pouring into the Crowtrain like raindrops. Their feathers had a more radiant flavour and were present with bright pinkish dots across their plump cheeks. As they entered the Crowtrain, they scattered to combat the hundreds of applicants on board.
“We’re being attacked by Rouge Doves! The announcer’s voice earlier wasn’t lying!”
Gnihzur was especially surprised to see a bunch of Rouge Doves dashing down the aisle attacking every crow in sight. “We’re being tested so soon? We haven’t even arrived at the academy as yet!”
The girl sitting beside him told him, “What did you expect, hugs and kisses? We’re enrolling into one of the most elite Soul Academy on the eastern wing of Waivrumnagar. You should always expect the unexpected during these exams.”
“Yea, your right. It’s just that I thought that the examiners would follow the same pattern as last time.”
“Too bad for you. Don’t expect me to protect you during this raid.”
“I wasn’t expecting that from you.” Gnihzur thought to himself, ‘To enter the academy I must pass all the tests. This time I won’t fail!’ Gnihzur began to rouse his battle spirit.
[Boom!] The loudmouth, hot-headed crow that was bragging arrogantly earlier, got blasted past Gnihzur by a powerful Rouge Dove. He quickly picked himself off the floor and shouted, “Is that all you got, dove bitch? This is nothing! I, Drazil Burns the strongest crow currently on this Crowtrain will now show you how to attack someone!”
[Whoosh!] 5 flat circular red spheres began glowing at Drazil’s fingertips. This signified the emergence of his Krowqui; they were known as Krowqui Circles. He combined the mystical energy with some of his feathers to form a burning boomerang. “Have a load of this baby! Krowqui, Exploding Plume!”
[Boom!] The explosive boomerang detonated as soon as it impacted the Rouge Dove that Drazil was facing.
Drazil celebrated, “Ha-ha-ha! Serve you right, cock sucker!”
“Damn you!” The Rouge Dove collapsed backwards into the burning row of seats. However, it hadn’t been defeated entirely. It got back up and rushed towards Drazil while coating its hazel feathers in a resplendent golden aura.
“Back up for more? Come get some, you damn hairy cunt!” [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
Drazil intercepted the Rouge Dove midway during its thrust. Together, they unleashed a tumultuous wave of chaos that got drowned very quickly by the array of battles taking place across the huge Crowtrain. Hundreds of young crows were engaged in deadly combat. For those who couldn’t endure the heat of battle, they gave up by going through the emergency portals set up across the Crowtrain.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
“Huh, why…?” To Gnihzur’s surprise, no one was coming after him as he stood his ground. It was almost as if he was an invisible entity on board the Crowtrain. “Why is everyone avoiding me? Am I not strong enough to pique their interest?”
As Gnihzur scanned his eyes around, he spotted 2 robustly built Rouge Doves surrounding the petite princess who rescued him from the bullies. [Thud! Thud!]
“Why don’t you play with us for a while, little missy?”
“We promise you it’s going to be lots of fun. Hu-ha-ha-ha!”
“I’m not sure. Can you boys truly make me have fun?”
“Most definitely, little lady. Ha-ha-ha!”
As the confident crow was about to respond to the 2 Rouge Doves, Gnihzur appeared by her side in an instant and said, “Two against one? Now that’s not a fair fight. Allow me to join you.”
“Huh? Where did this scrawny chicken come from? I’ve fought worms ten times the size of you, boy. Ha-ha-ha!” The Rouge Doves mocked Gnihzur's weak appearance.
“Did you hijack this Crowtrain to boast or to fight? Make your move?”
“This little…” What Gnihzur said pissed off the doves even more.
The petite crow gave Gnihzur a displeased gaze. “Hey, don’t butt in. I don’t need your help to take out these 2 trashes.”
“But they’re so big and thick.”
“Their humungous size can’t contend against my silky skills. Watch and learn.”
“These 2 keep talking about us as if we’re not here. Let’s teach them some manners!” The Rouge Doves became agitated by Gnihzur’s and the petite crow’s arrogant behaviour. Amid their seething rage, they released a combined assault against them. [Boom! Boom!]
In response to the Rouge Dove attack, the petite crow quickly unleashed control amounts of her Krowqui from her fingertips along with many of her feathers to form a connecting series of feathery chains. “Krowqui, Humming Feather Bind!”
[Whoosh! Whoosh!] Within an instant, the 2 Rouge Doves were bound by countless interlinks of singing feathers, moreover, their bones got broken.
Gnihzur was surprised by what he had just witnessed. “Wow, I guess you really didn’t need my help after all. You cleaned up those 2 very fast.”
“I told you so didn’t I?” She retorted boastfully as she stepped onto the defeated Rouge Doves’ body. “Now, who should I bind next…?”
[Boom!] “Kyah!” The screaming echoes of multiple Rouge Doves getting blasted away reverberated throughout the Crowtrain. The area they were just at was where the mysterious crow wearing the feathery hoodie was currently sitting with his eyes closed.
Another group of Rouge Doves approached his vicinity with amplified disgust. “Look at this crow, acting like some sort of big shot just sitting there unperturbed by our presence.”
“Let’s kick his bony ass!”
“Together now!” [Thud!] The small group of Rouge Doves rushed the lone crow who sat there unfazed by their presence.
“Tsk, what a nuisance.” Opening his sinister eyes, the hooded crow took only one glance at each Rouge Dove who attempted to gang upon him. Within an instant, they all burst asunder; leaving their entrails splattered all over the place.
“What the hell did he just do?” After witnessing how brutally the hooded crow had decimated their teammates, the surrounding Rouge Doves didn’t dare venture closer to where he was.
“That crow is bad news. I didn’t even see how he attacked earlier.”
“Me neither. We should avoid that one until the test is over.”
“I agree.”
Not only were the Rouge Doves afraid of approaching the hooded crow but also many other crows were scared shitless of going where he was. For the remainder of the Rouge Dove raid, no one bothered that hooded crow. He sat breezily throughout the first phase of the test.
The administrators who presided over the exam from their hidden location were amazed by the new group of applicants, especially the ones who exuded qualities of the famous crow clans. Among the applicants, Gnihzur was the only one who didn’t get a chance to show off what he was capable of due to him sticking close to the petite dame who shackled all her opponents.
The invigilators waited until more than half of the applicants were defeated or either given up before they set in motion the next testing phase. They deactivated all of the emergency portals without the passengers realizing it.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] During the midst of battle, another broadcast reverberated throughout the entire Crowtrain. “Attention all passengers! Attention all passengers! The Crowtrain will self-destruct in 30 seconds.”
“Huh, what was that? Did I hear correctly?”
“The Crowtrain will self-destruct in 30 seconds?”
“Is this a joke?”
“The examiners wouldn’t lie to us.”
“All of you quiet! I want to hear what the message says.”
Every passenger on board the Crowtrain became apprehensive as they listened to the rest of the broadcast, including the Rouge Doves.
The message continued, “Here is your new objective. All applicants are tasked to get to the entrance of Crowjun Soul Academy within the next 30 minutes. Follow the rainbow wind path to not lose your way. How you get there is up to you, just make sure to arrive before the allotted time runs out. Those who are unable to make it in time will be automatically disqualified. And one more thing, the first top 10 crows to arrive will receive useful rewards according to their arrival position. Good luck.” [Zzzt!]
The passengers didn’t get enough time to play through their minds what was properly said. Moments after the broadcast ended, the self-destruct timer elapsed to zero. The Crowtrain began exploding all over. [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
“Oh shit! I wasn’t expecting the self-destruct to take effect as soon as the message ended.”
“Those damn examiners delayed our escape by keeping our focus on their message.”
“The explosions have already begun. We better get the heck out of here!”
“Where are the emergency portals???”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] Crows and Rouge Doves alike began rushing towards the side exits of the Crowtrain that managed to open. Some even blasted their own exit through the roof.
“Explosive Plumes!” [Boom! Boom!] Drazil’s added explosions only served to increase the destruction of the Crowtrain.
22 seconds have passed since the self-destruct commenced, now, almost all of the Crowtrain had been blown to bits. It was taking a lot longer for its complete destruction due to its expansiveness. So far, many of the passengers have made a successful escape.
Gnihzur was among the first group to escape. He was very fast when it came to flapping his wings thanks to his intense Newpalf training. “Huh, where is she?” Spending a few seconds outside, observing as the Crowtrain became engulfed in smoke and fire; watching it falling out of the sky, Gnihzur noticed that he hadn’t seen the petite crow anywhere. He listened to the conversation around him to try and get a clue.
“Did every crow make it out safely?”
“I think that’s all of us.”
“Wait, that snobby chick with the dancing feathers might still be trapped inside. I think I saw her getting stuck somewhere while I was rushing towards the opening.” Gnihzur’s ear clung to what this crow said.
Crokan on the other hand wasn’t so concerned about her wellbeing. “Who cares about that arrogant missy? She deserves to be blown to bits after what she did to my arm and my wing. I can’t even hover properly, goddammit!”
“Huh?” Gnihzur started to realize who the burly bully and the others were talking about. “They must be talking about her. Come to think of it, I don’t see her anywhere. That means she must still be inside. I have to go save her!” [Whoosh!]
Gnihzur flew off at burst speed towards the exploding Crowtrain. The others who saw him were shocked out of their minds.
“That white-winged crow, is he insane? That Crowtrain is completely engulfed in an infernal blaze plus it falling apart.”
“Why are you worried about him? He and the others who failed the test deserve to die pitifully. If he wants a quick burial that’s up to him. Now let’s get our wings in gear. We have a race to win, remember?”
“Yes! The race to Crowjun Soul Academy. We better get there fast before the others beat us to it.”
“Those crows have already gone ahead. We can’t fall too far behind, otherwise, we won’t come in the top 10 and we won’t receive any prizes.”
“Let’s fly! Follow the rainbow-coloured wind path. They’ll lead us to the academy.”
“Alright!”
[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!] All of the crows who escaped the infernal Crowtrain had shot off in a rush towards Crowjun Soul Academy, leaving the Rouge Doves behind. They had already fulfilled their purpose in the first testing phase of the exam. Some of them lingered around the burning Crowtrain, hoping to see if Gnihzur would make it back out unscathed.

 

[Whoosh!] While all the other crows were taking part in an aerial race towards Crowjun Soul Academy, Gnihzur was crawling his way into the crumbling burning vessel. “Please don’t let me be too late. Please let me make it in time to save her.” He mumbled to himself feeling angst.
[Boom!] As he made his way through the infernal debris of the shattering Crowtrain, Gnihzur had to dodge several fallen obstacles while continually flapping his fully ejected wings really fast to create a barrier of wind to abate the toxic fire.
“Hey! Snobby crow! Are you in here, where are you, are you still alive? Say something?”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] Another major structure of the Crowtrain had collapsed in front of Gnihzur, he hopped over it and continued his search. From underneath the destroyed seat that he had just walked by, a hand reached out and grabbed Gnihzur’s leg.
“Huh, is it you?” Gnihzur hurriedly used the gust produced by his wings to blast away the obstacle from his path. He was disappointed to see that it was not the girl he came to rescue but a dying Rouge Dove whose body was split in half.
“Help me! You got to help me!” It begged to be rescued from the burning grips of death.
Analysing the state of the Rouge Dove, Gnihzur knew that there was no saving him. “Sorry, but you’re too far gone.” Walking away from the pleading bird, a negative thought crept into Gnihzur’s mind that he didn’t want to come to pass.
“Please still be alive.” Maintaining his persistency, Gnihzur kept searching while calling out for survivors. “Hey! Is anyone still alive inside?”
“Over here!”
“Huh?” Gnihzur heard a crackling voice respond to his call in the opposite direction from where he was going. “Somebody is still alive.”
[Whoosh!] Gnihzur quickly flew through the cascading inferno until he arrived at the spot where the voice came from. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” Again the crackling voice hollered out.
“Huh?” Gnihzur followed the voice until he discovered a burning Rouge Dove corpse lying flat on the floor, moreover, pinned in place by a metallic brace. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out from under there.”
[Whoosh!] Blowing away the flame from the Rouge Dove’s corpse, Gnihzur turned over the body and discovered the snobby petite crow lying underneath. The Rouge Dove’s broad body acted as a shield that protected her from the scorching hot flames as well as fallen debris.
“I found you!” Gnihzur was happy to see that she was still well, save for her injured arm and broken wings. She was also surprised to see him.
“You? What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? I’ve come to save you.”
“Come to save me? Don’t you have any regard for your own life? Hurry up and leave, otherwise, we’re both going to get roast alive in here.”
She tried to make Gnihzur save himself but he would have none of it. “I came back to save you and I will! Now stop trying to discourage me and give me your hand!”
“Alright.”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] The moment Gnihzur took hold of her hand, he looked ahead of him down the aisle and perceived a vicious chain of explosions rushing towards him.
“This is bad. That wave of fire is enough to melt the solid properties of metals in an instant.” Gnihzur tried harder to get the girl free, but the object she was stuck under was difficult for him to budge. In only a matter of seconds, the demonic wave of fire would arrive at his feathers.
“I told you this would happen. Now we’re both going to die down here! It still isn’t too late to save yourself.”
Despite the girl’s incessant warnings, Gnihzur refused to yield to the demonic inferno. “I have a lot of goals in this life and until I achieve them all, I won’t be kicking the bucket any time soon.”
Strengthening his resolve along with the flexible tissues of his wings, Gnihzur stood face to face with the demonic inferno; looked it directly into the twirling eye as he began increasing the flapping speed of his wings to an insane degree. [Whoosh! Whoosh!] They became like white blurs among the hellish scenery.
“What do you think you can do?”
Hearing this question coming from the injured crow’s lips, Gnihzur said without taking his focus off the incoming demonic fire, “You want to know why I’ve been practising the basics so hard? Observe the fruits of my hard labour. This is my special technique. Newpalf, Gale Storm!”
[Boom! Boom! Boom!] Gnihzur’s fast flapping wings released a frightening gust of exploding wind which collided with the searing demonic fire. Their clash lasted only a fraction of a second. The Gale Storm that Gnihzur’s wings created smashed through the demonic fire like it was nothing, moreover, the residual blast created an opening in the crumbling Crowtrain.
“How did he do that?” The distressed crow was veritably bewildered by Gnihzur’s powerful capabilities with only the basic skillset.
“Are you ok? I’m getting you out of here right now.” Gnihzur tried lifting the heavy obstacle that kept the girl pinned but he hadn’t the muscle strength to do so. “If that won’t work then how about this?” Gnihzur’s wings started gaining great momentum again.
“Newpalf, Gale Slicer!” [Whoosh! Whoosh!] Wind like blades shot out of Gnihzur’s wings and cut apart the metallic obstacles into smaller pieces. Now, he could easily move it and rescue the damsel in distress.
“You’re free now. Give me your hand.”
She took Gnihzur’s hand and said, “My wings are out of commission. I won’t be of much use to you getting out of here.”
“Let me worry about that. Hold on tight to me. I’ll get us out of here in no time.”
“Alright, I trust you.”
While the petite lady was wrapping herself around Gnihzur’s skinny figure, a dark silhouette was spying on them from close by with great displeasure. “That brat, just who does he thinks he’s fondling with those lascivious arms of his? If those elders weren’t keeping a close eye on this examination, I would have gone over there and chop his arms off.”
“Hmm?” For a split second, Gnihzur felt a potent energy of bloodlust beaming off the back of his head. He glanced behind him but the silhouette had already vanished. ‘Was it just my imagination…?’ He thought to himself.
“Time to get out of here and continue the test.” Confirming that he had the injured dame held tightly in his embrace, Gnihzur commenced increasing the flapping velocity of his wings once again. “Newpalf, Burst Speed!”
[Whoosh!] Gnihzur was shooting throughout the Crowtrain faster than any bullet, all the while abating the increasing explosions and dodging crumbling debris. So fast he was that not even a follicle of his feathers got burnt as he safely escaped the Crowtrain with the damsel in distress in his arms.
The Rouge Doves situated outside who were observing the Crowtrain’s annihilation looked afield at the other crows who were long gone then back at the completely destroyed Crowtrain and surmised, “That fool who went back inside must have turned into chicken dinner by now.”
Another Rouge Dove agreed. “I don’t care about the white-winged crow with no Krowqui, but the other one seemed as though she had some potential.”
“What a pity. We should be getting back as well. The others must be waiting for our return.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
[Whoosh!] Preparing to fly away, the Rouge Doves felt a powerful gust of wind fly past them.
“Huh, such speed… what was that just now?” The Rouge Doves had no idea what went by them; they were simply bewildered.
[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!]
Way ahead in the distance was approximately 75 crows who were following the rainbow wind path that led to Crowjun Soul Academy. Many of them had sustained various injuries during the Rouge Doves’ raid inside the Crowtrain. This had a major role to play in their waning speed. As for those crows who suffered fewer injuries or who weren’t injured at all, they were way ahead of the others.
The race to Crowjun Soul Academy wasn’t a peaceful one, no, it was far from it. Due to the strict competition to arrive at first place, the crows were trying their best to slow each other down by engaging in dangerous aerial battles.
“Exploding Plumes!” [Boom! Boom! Boom!] Drazil, the hot-headed crow was in the lead of the huge trail of crows. He was continually releasing exploding feathers behind him as he flew to slow down the others. “Ha-ha-ha! Eat my feathers losers! First place is definitely going to be mine!”
“Not if I can help it!”
“Huh?” Looking beside him at about 25-meters away, Drazil saw a crow morphing a big rose into an aerial propulsion scooter which he held onto as it blasted ahead. [Swoosh!]
“You little shit! Get back here!” Drazil cursed a few expletives as he tried his best to catch up with the suave crow. The crow wearing the hoodie also dashed ahead of him. This got Drazil fired up. “WOOOOAH! I’m going to blow you all to bits!”
As he flew faster, Drazil started amassing frightful amounts of explosive Krowqui all over his wings. When he felt he had amassed enough, he detonated them simultaneously. [Boom! Boom! Boom!] Their combustion created a powerful blast of flames that propelled Drazil ahead of all the other crows.
“Ha-ha-ha! Stay at the rare and stare at my blazingly hot ass you losers! Ha-ha-ha!” Drazil felt so high and mighty that he didn’t even bother dodging the Cloud Butterflies who were on the air current ahead of him. “Move it!” He blasted right through them!
Watching Drazil’s phantasmal figure from behind, some feminine crows thought, “There is no doubt about it. That hot-headed crow is going to take first place.”
“Seems like it. I just hope that we arrive at the academy in time.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it in time. We still have 13 minutes to spare.”
“I believe that’s more than enough time. That is if we’re are not delayed by anyone who is wishing to start a fight.”
“The battles have calmed down now. They aren’t as fierce as they were during the start of the race.”
“That is probably because we’re getting closer to the academy. No one wants to fall too far behind and risk the chance of getting disqualified.”
“A lot of crows have already given up though. I reckon their injury must have gotten the better of them.”
“Seems so. Well, let’s just keep our focus ahead. We might not make it in the top 10 but, we just might arrive in time.”
“I agree.”
Just a few paces behind the large group of feminine crows, Crokan was being assisted by his 2 underlings who used their wing force to keep him flying. “This is all that’s damn chick’s fault! Because of her, my right wing is damaged and I can’t fly properly.”
“Don’t sweat it, Crokan. We’re here to help you out.”
“Yeah, besides, that arrogant chick is probably dead by now. I saw her getting stuck back there during the Crowtrain’s explosion.”
“Really?” Hearing this, brought a big smile to Crokan’s face. “Cru-ha-ha-ha! Serves that bitch right. I hope the other chicken shit is also dead meat.”
Crokan was referring to Gnihzur. A few moments after this thought came across his mind, he and his underlings heard a sonic rush of dynamic wind creeping up behind him. Who was responsible for that loud disturbance? It was none other than Gnihzur.
“Newpalf, Sonic Pulse!” [Boom! Boom! Boom!] By clapping his extremely fast-flapping wings together, they created globular air distortions that rippled the atmosphere. Gnihzur left many explosive airwaves behind every expeditious advance that he made. They served to propel him ahead by leaps and bounds.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
“What the hell is that noise?” Crokan along with his 2 underlings were startled out of their wits. They couldn’t make heads or tails of the unknown sonic explosions that burst past them, causing them to be blown in separated directions.
They weren’t the only ones to experience getting blasted off course. Many other crows who were ahead felt the exciting wind element burst past them at sonic speed! This repetitious motion continued for a while until Gnihzur started closing in on the top 10 crows in the lead.
“WOOOOOOOH!” Gnihzur was making quite the loud raucous as he flew ahead, but due to the sonic air explosions that continually formed around him, his annoying voice was only audible to the injured dame in his embrace.
“Quit screaming into my ear, you fool! Are you trying to make me deaf?”
“Oh, sorry about that. It’s just an old habit I picked up during practice.”
“You stubborn fool. I can’t believe that you risk your life to save me; someone you’ve only just met.”
Gnihzur smiled, “It wasn’t much. I enjoyed saving you.”
“Hey, don’t get ahead of yourself now. In terms of skills, I’m still more skilled than you are. The reason I got stuck back there was because the explosion caught me off guard.”
“No need to elaborate. We were all caught off guard.”
“But you managed to make it out safely, didn’t you?”
“That’s because I can be extremely fast.”
“That I agree with. What did you say your name was again?”
“It’s, Gnihzur.”
“Gnihzur huh? After a near-death ordeal, the petite crow finally decided to give Gnihzur her name. “You’ve earned the right to know this maidens name. You may call me, Kwaserah.”
“Kwaserah…” Gnihzur reminisced on the name for a bit. “It’s such a beautiful name. Why does it seem as if I’ve heard it before though?”
“Fu-hu-hu!” Kwaserah burst into laughter.
Gnihzur asked her, “What is so funny?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You can’t be laughing for nothing. Come on, tell me!” Gnihzur pleaded.
“Alright, if you insist…” Kwaserah moved her beak closer to Gnihzur’s ear and said, “I think you’re kinda cute.”
“Huh?” Gnihzur blushed embarrassingly, but he didn’t get enough time to enjoy this emotion, due to the explosive feathers which suddenly attacked him. [Boom!]
“What was that?” Kwaserah was frightened; she clung tighter to Gnihzur.
Glancing behind him, Gnihzur identified the crow who attacked him. It was none other than the hothead, Drazil Burns. Surprisingly enough, Gnihzur had no idea that he had surpassed all the other crows during his little chat with Kwaserah. He stared back at Drazil and asked, “You, why are you attacking me?”
“You know why, shrimp! You’re trying to steal first place from underneath me!”
“Steal first place?” It was then that Gnihzur realized that he was in the lead. He smiled at Drazil. “First place wasn’t yours to begin with. Now please stop attacking me. Isn’t there some rule against this?”
“Rule? Ha-ha-ha! You plucking bird shit! Our only objective is to reach Crowjun Soul Academy within the allotted time limit. They didn’t say anything about us being banned from killing each other on the way there. So I will be plucking your feathers along the way. Please don’t hold it against me.”
Drazil released another deadly attack. “Krowqui, Exploding Feather Barrage!” [Boom! Boom! Boom!] Multiple explosions surrounded Gnihzur’s proximity.
“You won’t be plucking my feathers today nor any other day for that matter. Newpalf, Swift Evasion!” [Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!] Gnihzur adroitly dodged all of the explosions occurring around him.
“Stay still you slippery bastard!” [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
The other crows who were far behind took notice of the many explosions that sounded ahead of them. “Huh, it seems there is a fight happening up ahead.”
“I thought that it was that hothead alone in the lead. Who else could he be fighting against? I didn’t see anyone fly past us.”
“Let me take a closer look.” A feminine crow who was approximately 3 kilometres behind Gnihzur’s current position, activated a very special eye technique that allowed her to see farther than usual. “Aechos!” A rear pattern formed in her eyes. Zooming in with her dynamic vision, she perceived 2 crows engaged in a fierce battle ahead. “One of them is indeed the explosive hothead, but the other one is… Wait, there are 3 of them. The other one is holding a crow in his arms. I think those 2 might be the girl who was trapped inside the Crowtrain and the skinny white-winged crow who went inside to rescue her.”
“You mean those 2 made it out alive? But how did they get so far ahead of us?”
“Those sonic air explosions that dashed past us earlier, it must have been them.”
“For real? What kind of velocity increase technique are they using?”
While the crows behind remained startled by Gnihzur’s godly speed, up ahead, Drazil was going all out with his exploding feathers. [Boom! Boom! Boom!]
“Get burned to bits!”
“Not so fast! I won’t die so easily. Newpalf, Grizzle Shot!” [Whoosh! Whoosh!] Gnihzur shot out of the infernal stream of feathers, moreover, sent a few slicing airwaves towards Drazil.
“You pesky little shit! Why won’t you go down?” Drazil became peeved at Gnihzur’s flying resilience. He had to be burning every bit of his Krowqui just to keep up.
Even Gnihzur was surprised by how Drazil was sticking close to him. “I won’t be able to shake him off this way. Hey, Kwaserah, can you still pull off that technique that you use to bound those Rouge Doves earlier?”
“I think I can. Just get me closer to him and I’ll tie him up.”
“How close are you talking about?”
“Well…”
While Gnihzur was busy listening to Kwaserah’s suggestions, Drazil caught up with them. [Boom! Boom! Boom!] “You persistent little shit with no Krowqui! Don’t even think that you are going to get into Crowjun Soul Academy. A weak brat like you will only tarnish the academy’s reputation!”
“I might be weak, but it is because of that weakness why I aim to become much stronger. So go ahead and insult me all you want. Your expletives will only serve as fuel to ignite my flame of evolution and allow me to burn even brighter.”
“I have just the right thing to set your ass ablaze, you little shit!”
Getting tired of listening to Drazil’s expletives, Gnihzur slowed his speed then asked Kwaserah, “Is this close enough?”
“It’s perfect.”
“Ok, here we go.” Gnihzur freed his grasp on Kwaserah. Next, he hurled her towards Drazil.
“Krowqui, Humming Feather Bind!”
“Huh?” Drazil was shocked to see the injured crow soaring towards him with an unleashed assault of signing feathers. During his astonishment, he was unable to prevent himself from getting captured. The linked feathers wrapped around him very tightly and broke some of his bones. Because of his wings' zero momentum, he began falling from the sky. “What the pluck is this? Untie me you weakling whore! I’ll plucking kill you!”
Hearing Drazil’s insulting words, Kwaserah just looked down mockingly at him and said, “You can’t even free yourself from a lower-class Amazon Warrior technique and you want to kill me? Who is the weakling now? Bye-bye, loser.” She waved at him.
“You bitch!” Drazil was pissed by how low he had fallen.
Gnihzur came along to retrieve his injured dame. “Come along, Kwaserah. We’re taking first place.” [Whoosh!] Once again, he shot off at burst speed. Kwaserah had to remind him of her injuries and told him to slow down. “Oh, sorry about that. I’ll try to alter my speed a bit more.”
[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!]
Shortly after Gnihzur and Kwaserah went away from Drazil’s descending position, many other crows flew by him while giving their look of pitiful disdain.
“Ho, look who got himself in a bind. Weren’t you going to be the first to reach the finish line? For such a small crow you sure love to talk big.”
“Look at him. He’s so bleeding pathetic.”
Looking up at his boastful peers, Drazil couldn’t take their insult anymore. “Shut up losers! When I get free, I’m going to plucking kill all of you! Especially that dancing chick and that no-Krowqui bastard! I’m going to peel his flesh off, slow roast his bones and eat him then shit his ass out!”
“Come on you guys, let’s go take the top 10 positions.”
“Yeah, screw that wasted bozo. He’s bound to get disqualified.”
The others ignored Drazil rants and went on ahead to claim the top 10 positions. He was left stranded behind in last place.

 

Crowjun Soul Academy was home to the eastern region of Waivrumnagar, otherwise, called Aether. It occupied most of the major complexes that were there. Its borders stretched very far and wide, encompassing thousands of kilometres of airspace which kept levitated by numerous Cloud Butterflies. Across its vast expanse of land, Crowjun Soul Academy was populated by gorgeous vegetation as well as rigidly built structures such as the Grand Hall.
The Grand Hall was a mighty dome-like structure comprised of rare minerals and enlivened metals. It was specifically built with lots of space and décor to host all 300,000 of its student body population. During general assemblies, this was where everyone would come to meet and discussed various concerning topics.
Surrounding the Grand Hall’s northern ark, were numerous oval nest-shaped compounds that occupied spacious areas. They were intricately woven out of a very special Bark Krowqui that was acquired from the mother Rekishda Tree. These edifices were the usual classrooms for educating students on various subjects.
Leading from these majestically built structures were many pathways that travelled above into an expansive globular body of sapphire radiance. To all the residents of Crowjun Soul Academy, this globular sapphire radiance was known as the Central Hub. It was connected to another dimension specifically built to enhance the training of motivated students.
Beyond the north of Crowjun Soul Academy, 7 concealed islands were there that were only visible to a certain group of individuals. These 7 concealed islands were the gathering place for the 7 specific Guilds. Students who were accepted got to experience special training programs that could drastically enhance their evolution.
A few miles away from the central region of Crowjun Soul Academy, stood a magnificent creation that served as the temporary residence for all the academy’s thousands of students. Numerous twisting formations and interconnecting links of Rekishda roots came together to sustain a towering tree decorated with jade pavements; mystical waterfalls trickling through its exposed xylems; mushroom pathways; sheltered complexes and a sporadic alignment of blue silver grass. Suspended from this tree’s dynamic branches were planetary size Nest-Fruits. Each had its own axis of glowing orbs orbiting them; they mostly activated during night time. These Nest-Fruits were the abodes of students. Within them was another series of splendiferous décor to expand your imagination. This was Crowjun Soul Academy Residential Rekishda Tree.
The busy marketplace and generalized area where students usually go to chill out was located further east of the Residential Rekishda Tree. Students called that side of the academy the Laze. The Laze had many other attributes to it that will be revealed in more detail later on in the story.
Encompassing all of Crowjun Soul Academy was an invisible barrier that was strictly being monitored 24/7 for dangerous qualities and uninvited guests. Not anybody could just simply walks in and out of this fortified academy grounds. Only allowed individuals could pass through via the versatile unseen portals. If there was any threat spotted, they would be swiftly taken care of by the swine enforcers and staff officials.
[Whoosh!]
Back to the main topic, Gnihzur along with Kwaserah finally arrived at the end of the rainbow wind path. They were the first to touch down on the jadeite walkway that led to a wooden shrine located a few miles away from the Grand Hall. Their arrival was met by a calm invigilator who stood idle by with a red paper umbrella that was sheltering him from the blistering sun. He wore 2 detachable monocles that did well to mask his glossy eyes.
[Thud! Thud!]
“Kwaserah look, we finally made it to Crowjun Soul Academy!” Gnihzur was veritably happy to behold the beautiful scenery around him. “This means that we’ve passed the test!” Gnihzur hugged Kwaserah once more; even started spinning her around in elation.
“Hey, Gnihzur, stop doing that! Remember that I’m an injured girl here.”
“Oh, sorry about that.” Gnihzur stopped spinning around in elation, however, he was still embracing Kwaserah.
The crow who stood idly by with the umbrella went closer to them, presenting formalities. “Welcome to Crowjun Soul Academy. From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely congratulate both of you. You’ve passed the preliminary test with 9 minutes remaining on the timer. You are now officially enrolled.”
“Oh, thank you very much!” Gnihzur slightly bowed to show his gratitude to the invigilator. “I’m so happy that I passed the test. I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity. Did you hear that Kwaserah? We both passed!”
“Yeah, I heard. I’m not that deaf. Now please unhand me. You’ve carried me for far too long.”
“Oh, ok. But can you stand on your own?”
“Tsk, I’m not that useless you know.”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just concerned about your injuries is all.”
“That’s very sweet of you to care, but you should consider your own injuries as well.”
Hearing this, Gnihzur unhanded Kwaserah and looked briefly at the injuries his wings sustained due to their strict overuse. “This is nothing. I’ve received worse injuries than these.”
“Still, you better get them looked at.”
“I will. Wings insert.” [Whoosh!] To further mitigate the pain he was feeling from his injured wings, Gnihzur rested them in the Flaccid State. Now they were both freely swaying behind him in the form of a pair of flexible extended feathers.
“Ahem…” The invigilator interrupted Gnihzur and Kwaserah then directed their attention to 2 small boxes he had in his hand. “Each of these boxes in my hand contains 1 Amazon Warrior 3^rd Rank technique.”
Gnihzur and Kwaserah directed their attention to the 2 boxes with excitement dancing in their eyes.
The invigilator continued his explanation. “The box on top has the White Lotus Palm technique. The one below it contains the Illusionary Crow Step technique. Since both of you arrived simultaneously, occupying 1^st and 2^nd positions, I’ll allow you to choose who among you gets which technique.”
Kwaserah was overwhelmed as she accepted both boxes. “Wow, they’re both amazing techniques. I don’t know which one to choose.”
“Well, when you 2 have finished making your decision, please make your way directly ahead inside the Orientation Shrine.” Finished speaking, the invigilator went back to his previous position and waited for other applicants to arrive.
Still trying to make up her mind, Kwaserah looked towards Gnihzur and said, “Since you are the one who rescued me from the burning Crowtrain, moreover, brought me here in the top position, I’ll let you choose.”
Perusing the boxes for a bit, Gnihzur remembered something important then spoke, “Oh, you flatter me Kwaserah, but you can have both of them.”
“Really?” Kwaserah was surprised to hear that she could have both superior techniques.
“Yes, you can have them both. Remember that my Krowqui potential isn’t so great, so I doubt that I would be able to utilize any of these techniques.”
“You’re so kind.” Kwaserah grabbed Gnihzur’s hand and looked him in the eyes. “Gnihzur I promise you that I will help you find a way to restore your Krowqui.”
Gnihzur blushed, “No, you don’t have to trouble yourself to help me. I’ve managed on my own so far.”
“Nonsense, I want to do it. It is the least I can do for the crow who saved my life. A promise is a promise. Now let us go inside.” Kwaserah started walking away but she didn’t get far before she tripped over the jade pavement. “Oops!”
“Are you ok?” Gnihzur went to her rescue. “Here, hold onto my arm, I’ll help you up.”
Kwaserah did as was told. Looking Gnihzur in the eyes, she whispered, “Saved by you again.”
“Come on.” Gnihzur held Kwaserah closely as they both went ahead into the Orientation Shrine. Shortly after they vanished, the other crows started to arrive one after the other.
[Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!]
The mysterious crow who wore the dark hoodie came in at 3^rd place. “Welcome to our academy.” When the invigilator greeted him and offered him his prize for arriving in the top 10 positions, he just ignored him and walked on into the shrine, all the while maintaining his enigmatic appeal.
[Whoosh! Whoosh!]
Sometime later after the arrival of 6 others, 2 crows arrived on the jadeite pavement. A male crow with a brilliant red rose between his talons and a female crow wearing clear glasses who sported voluptuous curves. The feminine crow nudged the other on the shoulder and said:
“Mou, I almost beat you there. You were lucky.”
“It wasn’t luck, my darling. You just get tired way too quickly. Lyra, you should work hard on increasing your stamina.” Moving in closer towards the girl’s ear, the suave crow whispered with lascivious intent, “I can give you a private lesson if you’ll have me.”
“As if I would want a private lesson from a pervert like you, Mou. Get away from me.” She pushed him away from groping her sexy body.
Mou wasn’t so please by this reaction. “What? Why am I a pervert?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Mou. You think I didn’t notice you brushing up against my breast feathers a while ago.”
“Come on, Lyra. That was an accident, an accident!” Mou pleaded.
“Accident my beak. Don’t come near me, Mou. I’m being serious.”
The invigilator waited for the duo to arrive closer before he offered them the usual pleasantries. “Welcome and congratulation for making it this far. As per your arrival positions, 10^th and 11^th positions, here are your respective prizes.” He gave Mou a box first then Lyra.
Lyra was surprised to also receive a reward. “What, even I get a reward. How come? I thought I arrived at the 11^th position.”
The invigilator explained, “The crow who came in at 3^rd place refused his reward, thus it has been extended to you.”
“Wow, how lucky!” Lyra expressed her genuine happiness before moving onwards toward the Orientation Shrine.
[Whoosh! Whoosh!] The arrival of many other crows began filling the gaps of the remaining time limit.
“I finally made it.” [Huff! Huff!] “That was really tiring.” [Thud!] A crow lost all balance in his legs and fell flat onto the floor.
“That race was really competitive.”
“Tell me about it. I’m just glad that I made it here in time.”
“Me too. There is still a minute remaining.”
Nearing the 10 second limit of the allotted time set in motion for the race, Drazil landed on the jade pavement looking distorted and hectic. His very appearance could be described as obnoxious. The invigilator came over to where he was and said:
“Welcome and congratulation for making it this far. As fate may have it, you are the very last applicant to have arrived just before the timer reaches its end. Please make your way towards the Orientation Shrine ahead.”
“Huff! Huff!” Drazil was so dumbstruck and pissed off that he couldn’t even offer any insulting words to the calm and collective invigilator. He waited until he was at the entrance of the Orientation Shrine before he let out a resounding scream which frightened all of those who heard it.
“GODDAMMIT!”

 

As the crows all gathered around inside the Orientation Shrine, they were bombarded left and right by impactful sceneries of meticulously created sculptures, encrusted gemstones as well as various geometric motifs.
“Wow, get a load of this interior. This place is wicked-sick.”
“Yeah, it’s amazing for sure.”
There was a raised platform near the centre of the wooden shrine which hosted several majestic chairs that were surrounded by a half-arc wooden bannister. Seeing how this entrance examination wasn’t so much of a hype, only 2 important figures were present on the platform to greet the new students. One of them truly stood out among the others. He was a senior crow of aged appearance, donned in neatly woven feathers of grey, red and gold combination. He was one of the main elders of Crowjun Soul Academy. As for the other one, he didn’t stand out much with his stubby appearance. To speak covertly into the elder’s ear, he had to maintain a balanced flight.
“Elder Zegel, what do you think about this term batch of students?”
The elder washed his inquisitive gaze over the students below him then responded softly to his sidekick, “I think they might produce some tasty accomplishment for our academy.”
“If you say so, Elder. You know what’s best.”
“Not every time.” Observing the cacophony of voices emanating from below him, Elder Zegel asked his short sidekick for assistance. “They are getting noisy down there. Could you please silence them, Tengan?”
“Right away, Elder Zegel.” Tengan flew ahead of Elder Zegel then shouted, “CAAAAW!!!” His resounding voice garnered the attention of the student body below. He then proceeded to say, “Lower your voices and give your attention to the esteemed figure behind me. This is the Headmaster of Crowjun Soul Academy. He came all the way here to meet with you all in person, so please listen well to what he has to say.”
“Thank you, Tengan.” Stepping ahead, Headmaster Zegel bolstered his voice, looked down at the students and said, “I congratulate all of you who made it this far. Though you’ve all earned you’re enrolment at our academy, it is still far too early for you to settle. I know most of you here are probably tired and want to get you’re injuries looked after and rest up, therefore, I will do my best to keep this message as brief as I can if you would kindly heed this old crow’s words.”
As Elder Zegel spoke, his sidekick, Tengan wondered, ‘Will he be doing that prolix speech that he does every time?’
Elder Zegel continued, “Our academy is ranked number 1 within the entire eastern wing of Waivrumnagar, as such, we have a reputable image to maintain. You’ve all become an addition to the 300,000 students that are currently enrolled here. Though our numbers might be large, it doesn’t give you individuals the right to slack off.”
Some of the students began whispering among themselves as Elder Zegel gave his speech. “Does anybody know how many Soul Academies there are in total inside the eastern wing of Waivrumnagar?”
Gnihzur turned to the crow who asked this question and answered, “There are approximately 22 Soul Academies in Aether if memory serves me correctly. The 3 top ranking ones are Crowjun Soul Academy, Kowlong Soul Academy and Brazzers Soul Academy respectively. Although Brazzers is ranked number 3, their academy is packed with powerhouses that could crush most of Crowjun’s top students.”
“Wow, you really know a lot. Then if Brazzers’ students are so strong, why are they ranked number 3?”
“Good question. That’s because they only accept female birds. Due to this, their enrolment quota is extremely low when you compare it to bigger academies such as Crowjun and Kowlnong that has over 200,000 thousand students on their enrolment list.”
“I see. So they only accept female birds? Gosh, I wish I could attend that school.”
“It is possible for a male crow to attend Brazzers Academy. However, certain conditions must be met and approved by a few special bodies who oversee the board of enrolment for all the Soul Academies currently established in the Aether of Waivrumnagar.”
Kwaserah looked shockingly at Gnihzur and said. “I didn’t know that you were this knowledgeable.”
“I read a lot. There’s a lot that you don’t know about me, Kwaserah.”
“There’s a lot that you don’t know about me either, Gnihzur.”
“I agree. Then we will be spending more time together.”
“What makes you say that, Gnihzur?”
“Just a hunch.”
“Oh…?”
Now back to Headmaster Zegel’s prolix speech. “Many of you thought of joining this academy for its fancy décor and prestigious reputation, but I say to all of you, if you want to advance within this academy then you must be willing to surpass your mental limitations. Laziness won’t be tolerated here, so all of you who thought of slacking off, if you don’t show prominent results then you will receive an expeditious expulsion! Speaking of which, all of you here are expected to raise the evolution of your Krowqui to at least the Amazon Warrior Rank-3 class within half a Crowyear.”
“Just half a Crowyear, is he being serious?”
“That isn’t nearly enough time for me to break through the Imak-Class.”
The majority of the students were shocked to hear this. The most apprehensive of all was none other than Gnihzur. He had no visible qualities of Krowqui to utilize, so how would he pass the challenge?
Garnering the attention of Elder Zegel by raising his flaccid feathers, Gnihzur asked, “Excuse me Headmaster for the interruption. But I want to know what will happen to one of us who fails to evolve their Krowqui to the required stage by the allotted time proposed by you?”
Hearing this inquiry, made every head within the Orientation Shrine turned towards Gnihzur’s locality. Looking at him, the headmaster thought, ‘Hmm, I can’t sense any substantial amount of Krowqui coming from that white-winged crow. Could he perhaps be suppressing it internally? Wait, I remember there being an applicant from the last examination who failed miserably. He too showed no sign of possessing any Krowqui. Could this crow before me be him? If my assumption is indeed correct then this crow must have some sort of hidden potential to have made it this far. I would love to see how he reacts under excessive pressure. The Guild Test tomorrow should be a good challenge.’
“Ahem…” Clearing his throat, Headmaster Zegel donned his serious appearance, looked Gnihzur directly in his eyes and responded to his inquiry, “The answer to the question you’ve asked is very simple. If you fail to comply with this academy’s rules then you can kiss it goodbye.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Huh?” Kwaserah knew exactly the dilemma that Gnihzur now faced, to offer him some solace, she said to him, “Gnihzur… don’t worry. I promised to help you out and I most certainly will.”
“Thanks for cheering me up, Kwaserah.” Gnihzur brushed his palm against Kwaserah’s hand that clung to his forearm.
Headmaster Zegel continued to address the crowd, “I will now speak of the levels of Krowqui Evolution. I believe this is fundamental knowledge that every crow must comprehend before they are truly settled in this academy. You can all sit if you prefer.” He made reference to the row of seats below. Next, he scattered a bunch of his feathers that combined into a rectangle shape. It produced a vivid screen showcasing the various levels of Krowqui Evolution.
Krowqui Evolution Chart:
Imak – 6 Ranks of Evolution
Amazon Warrior – 7 Ranks of Evolution
Gjun – 7 Ranks of Evolution
Emperor – 7 Ranks of Evolution
Heavenly Emperor – 3 Ranks of Evolution
Hermit – 9 Ranks of Evolution
Primordial Saint – 3 Ranks of Evolution
Prokeral God – Unknown Ranks of Evolution
“As you are most familiar with, the lowest level on the Krowqui Evolution Chart is the Imak-Class. Above this level, there are Amazon Warrior, Gjun, Emperor, Heavenly Emperor, Hermit, Primordial Saint, and Prokeral God. Except for the last category which is still unknown to us, all the others have their own unique Ranks of Evolution. This Krowqui Evolution Chart can be applied to all living creatures residing on this planet whose forefathers had long ago received the blessing of our ever pervading, All-Mother. However, us crows are more blessed with All-Mother’s divine light, thus we are able to evolve faster than other species; given enough commitment that is.
They are many out there who still haven’t grasped the most basic comprehension of Krowqui. Soul Academies were erected to remedy these issues in all embodied creatures residing on this planet. Though we don’t all see eye to eye, we are all equal in the expectancy of growth. An embodied creature who has given up on its evolution serves no greater purpose in All-Mother’s divine plan aside from scarce entertainment. Let the just extinction of the human species be an example to all of you. Because of their millennium age incompetence and technocratic misapplication, they had given up on their source of God DNA, thus plunged into the abyss of obscurity. All of you are here to make sure that human history doesn’t repeat itself. Always strive to be greater than who you currently are, not in a selfish mentality but in accordance with All-Mother’s Cosmic Will. Together, we will all someday attain the Infinite Transcendence that will uplift our planetary sphere along the rung of evolution. Once you’ve grown accustomed to our academy, you will get to know more about yourself and…”
“Elder Zegel, a moment.” The stubby crow, Tengan flew forwards and interrupted the Headmaster during his speech. “I think it’s about time. The meeting with the high council is already in progress.”
“Already?” Headmaster Zegel was a bit surprised to hear this important bit of information. He inquired, “How long ago was it?”
“Five minutes, sir.” Answered Tengan.
“It seems I better wrap this up and be on my way.” Giving his attention back to the group below, Headmaster Zegel said to them, “Ok, young crows. It appears that I will have to cut this preamble short for today. I have to be at an important meeting. Not to worry about getting lost, my humble assistant here, Tengan will carry out your orientation. He will get you accustomed to the academy’s grounds along with your schedules. I’ll be going now. I wish you all the best.” Shortly after speaking, Headmaster Zegel scattered his feathers then vanished into thin air. [Whoosh!]
Tengan flew forward to address the students. “I’m aware that many of you are still hurting from your injuries. As such, before we continue this orientation, I would like all of you to come with me to the healing centre just around the corner.”
Tengan led the young group of crows to a medical facility annexed to the Orientation Shrine. There, their wounds were attended to by skilful professionals. In no time at all their disastrous injuries were completely healed.
“Now that you’re all better, kindly come forward one by one bearing your application cards.” Tengan accepted the students’ application cards and in return, he gave them all a Digital Feather.
Almost every crow residing in Waivrumnagar had access to a Digital Feather. These are advanced technologies specially designed for the quick sharing of information among crows. They are a few that are able to undertake more advanced tasks such as Krowqui stabilization, barter, keen sight, inventory storage and many other programmable features. In human reference, Digital Feathers are similar to advance quantum computers that were made from a purer essence of light energy.
The Digital Feather that Tengan gave the students had been programmed with specific information pertaining to Crowjun Soul Academy’s operation. They contained specific student info, a key ID to the Residential Rekishda Tree and a Live 3^rd Dimensional map of the accessible places of Crowjun Soul Academy. This Live 3^rd Dimensional Map enables students to view all of the non-restricted parts of the academy in real-time along with their rich history.
Finished issuing out the Digital Feathers, Tengan addressed the students again. “All you need to know right now about getting familiar with our school grounds has been programmed on your Digital Feathers. Keep them active at all times. The academy’s staff will send you important updates via those trinkets. Everywhere on the map is accessible to you except for the zones that are coloured in red and marked restricted. Anyone caught trespassing in those areas will be severely reprimanded. Do you all understand?” Tengan gave them a strict gaze until they answered in unison:
“I understand.”
“Good, now that we’re all on the same page, I’ll leave you to it. If there is anything else you wish to know before I depart, please speak up now.”
Gnihzur raised a wing then inquired, “I would like to ask something. My suitcase with all my stuff was in the Crowtrain when it suddenly exploded. Who will compensate me for that?”
After Gnihzur put forward this important question, many other crows also started asking the same thing. Many of them had physical objects that were very dear to them that they lost during the Rouge Dove’s raid on the Crowtrain.
To assuage their emotional bodies, Tengan spoke, “As for your belongings, don’t worry. The Crowtrain ordeal was a tangible illusion. All of your belongings are safe and accounted for. After you’ve settled inside your temporary abode, you can request for them to be sent up to you directly.”
Lyra was very happy to hear this. “Really, my belongings are safe? Oh, thank All-Mother. I have some valuable items stored inside my luggage. Now I don’t have to replace my precious fluffy-fluff.”
Hearing this, a fellow crow spoke, “A mature crow like you still sleeps with a dolly? What are you, human?”
“Shut up Mou!” Lyra smacked him on the shoulder.
“Awe! You didn’t have to hit me so hard.”
“Stop being such a baby. I didn’t hit you that hard.”
“You try hitting yourself then before you say that.”
“Why would I do that? I’m not stupid.”
After the quarrel died down, Tengan hovered over the students and said, “If that is all, I will be going now. Do exploit the free time to your benefit to explore the academy and don’t cause any trouble. Getting engaged in physical squabble outside of the combat zones will receive due castigation. I advise you to peruse the rules and regulations installed on your Digital Feathers. See you around.”
[Whoosh!] Tengan disappeared out of sight instantaneously; leaving the new batch of students to do as they like in their spare time.

 

[Whoosh!] As soon as Tengan vanished out of the students’ sight, he materialized beside Headmaster Zegel who was standing in front of a well-decorated table inside a spacious circular chamber located at the summit of the Grand Hall. The room was sealed off from outward interference, only the most highly influential figures were allowed up there.
Inside the council chamber hosted 7 powerhouses who partially had their faces concealed with wooden masks. Only Tengan and Headmaster Zegel’s appearance was bare for all to see.
Among the elders was a portly crow who wore a wooden buffalo mask. He was rapaciously chowing down on the edible table decorations as he spoke with discontent to Headmaster Zegel, “3^rd Elder how long were you planning on keeping the council waiting? I’ve gained 12 pounds in the amount of time I’ve spent waiting for your hoary feathers to grace my presence.”
Hearing this, Headmaster Zegel retorted mockingly, “2^nd Elder don’t blame me for the unceasing stuffing of your face. Your newly acquired avoirdupois is the reflection of your insatiable greed. Probably, I should have the chefs bring less food the next time we hold an assembly.”
“What did you say to me, old geezer? Don’t forget who’s higher in rank here!” The portly crow was pissed to hear Headmaster Zegel’s insults. However, he quickly calmed down after receiving many glances from the other Elders present.
Headmaster Zegel apologized for his tardiness then sat around the table. Now that the atmosphere was calm and well-nourished, the council meeting commenced.
The 4^th Elder wearing a wooden peacock mask clasped her fingers then made grave eye contact with the others before stating, “Our meeting today is one of great importance. Though the remaining Elders aren’t present, I will share my findings regardless.” Taking a deep breath, she spoke, “As of 48 hours ago, the 5^th seal in the Shadow Realm has crumbled.” This utterance startled everyone inside the chamber, shifting their appearance from minimal curiosity to frightened alertness.
“4^th Elder are you speaking the truth?” The 2^nd Elder glared at his equivalent colleague with rage in his eyes.
“I have no reason to lie about such a crucial matter.” Answered the 4^th Elder.
“And I’m just hearing about this now?” The 2^nd Elder was livid.
Adding gasoline to his raging flame, the wooden butterfly mask 5^th Elder who was the youngest among them said sternly, “The good thing is that you’ve been informed, 2^nd Elder. We could have decided not to tell you at all.”
“5^th Elder, you dear speak to me in such a rude manner?” The portly 2^nd Elder resembled a fuming buffalo eyeing its prey for lunch.
In a cool response, the 5^th Elder said, “What are you going to do about it, bite my head off? After that big whack you’ve just eaten, I doubt there’s enough space left inside your stomach to digest me.”
“You little shit! I’ll break you to piece!” [Slam!] Spurring up from his seated position, the 2^nd Elder prepared to engage the 5^th Elder who already had his weapon out, but they were interrupted by the eldest among them.
A feminine crow wearing a hummingbird wooden mask and whose experienced maturity showed in her appearance, mannerism, and commanding voice, shouted, “Silence brats! We don’t have time for your pissing contest! There are more pressing matters at hand.”
“My apologies 1^st Elder.” Both 2^nd and 5^th Elder apologized simultaneously.
The 4^th Elder voiced her input, “Back to the matter of the broken 5^th seal. What do we do about it? I believe the sealing technique that All-Mother used to seal the Beast all those aeons ago, only a Prokeral God can perform it or the combined effort of a few Primordial Saints.”
The snake wooden mask 6^th Elder responded, “If that is the case, we are aware of 4 persons who have broken through to the Primordial Saint realm.”
“Yes, but can we solicit the aid of those specific individuals?” Asked the 4^th Elder with a concerning tone.
“If it was that simple, I would have done it a long time ago when the 6^th seal crumbled.” Replied the 1^st Elder.
“Then what do you propose, 1^st Elder?”
“The matter is more complicate than you think.” The 1^st Elder remained silent for a while in deep thought.
The racoon wooden mask 7^th Elder proposed a question, “What about All-Mother? Couldn’t she rebuild the seal herself?”
“We still haven’t located her whereabouts and we have no way of reaching out to her in person. She seldom appears in worldly matters.”
“But this isn’t no simple matter. The complete breaking of the seals which binds that malicious Beast to the Shadow Realm could threaten the very existence of this planet. Is there really nothing we can do to prevent the seals from further breaking?”
As the wisest among them, everyone gave their attention to the 1^st Elder. “I can’t discuss that matter just yet. We need to gather all the remaining Elders within Aether who have evolved their Krowqui to the Hermit-Class. Then I can discuss my plans.”
Hearing the requirements of the 1^st Elder stimulated an unsure response from the 3^rd Elder (Headmaster Zegel) “Hermits, there’re not that many within Aether. Should we gather some from the west as well?”
“No! This matter must remain private. The west has its own problems to deal with and I can’t risk vital information leaks. Don’t forget that they are many ill powerhouses out there who would do anything to get their feathers on the Beast’s fathomless powers, including the high ranking Hermits and Primordial Saints who might exploit its boundless energies to break through to the Prokeral God realm. Do keep in mind that the Beast’s power is equal to that of All-Mother. If it were to fall into the wrong feathers then the entire world would be at stake.”
After listening keenly to the 1^st Elder’s explanation, the 5^th Elder thought internally, ‘The Beast’s power is equal to All-Mother’s? If I could get my hands on it, I would be the most transcendental crow in existence. But such an undertaking won’t be easy with these ancient monsters around. Fine, I’ll cooperate with them for the time being until I see an opportunity.’
“5^th Elder!” The raving of the 2^nd Elder shouting his title aroused the butterfly mask Elder from his cunning thoughts.
“Ah? Sorry, what were you saying?”
“5^th Elder, you will cooperate with the 3^rd Elder in rallying the remaining Elders. Myself, 6^th, 7^th and 4^th Elder will gather the necessary ingredients needed to patch up the seal.”
“What about the 1^st Elder. What will you be doing, old master?”
The 1^st Elder responded to the 5^th Elder’s inquiry with a shroud of silence. “This meeting is adjourned. We’ll meet again in 3 crescent moons.” The 1^st Elder began to vanish from her feet up. “Be cautious.” [Whoosh!]
Soon after her disappearance, the 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th and 7^th Elders also vanished; leaving only the 5^th Elder, Headmaster Zegel and Tengan in the council room.
The 5^th Elder rose to his feet with a calm air of hubris. He waved nonchalantly at the 3^rd Elder. “Well, I’ll be leaving the gathering of the other old monks in your capable hands, Headmaster. I have something important to take care of.”
Headmaster Zegel became internally livid when he heard this. “What can be more important than our pressing issue?” Receiving no response to his inquiry, he added, “5^th Elder, the others might put their trust in you but I don’t. What are you scheming?”
Cracking a wry smile, the 5^th Elder answered, “You’ll know when the time is right. See you later, old crow.” [Whoosh!] He instantly teleported out of sight, leaving Headmaster Zegel with a disgruntled expression.
“That damn runt. I bet you he’s up to no good.”
“I agree with you, sir.” Said Tengan. He later suggested, “Do you want me to follow him?”
“There is no need. You’ll never be able to keep up with his elusive presence.”
Tengan felt insulted. “Are you underestimating my abilities, Headmaster?”
“No, however, in a game of chase, the 5^th Elder’s potential vastly supersedes yours. That disrespectful runt is one of the youngest prodigies to become a member of the high council, moreover, receive the title of a single-digit Elder. It wasn’t by mistake that he was appointed 5^th Elder.”
“I thought it was his family’s connection that got him on board the high council.”
“You’re wrong, Tengan. The 1^st Elder would never allow family ties to influence her decision on these types of matters. Don’t be so discouraged, Tengan. I still need you by my side.”
“I understand, Elder Zegel.” Tengan didn’t bother keeping tabs on the 5^th Elder. He and Headmaster Zegel vanished out of sight. A few seconds later, the 2^nd Elder reappeared inside the council chambers and scraped up the remaining scraps of food on the table into his feathers before vanishing again.
[Whoosh!]