NOVEL WEB Chapter 19: Feathers
“Can you remind me why I didn’t stop you from punching that damn egg?” Rose barely could contain her annoyance.
“Because you felt guilty?” I shrugged my shoulders and showed her my left arm.
Rose's face twitched. She probed: “Are we good then?”
“No. Why do you ask? Wanna die with a clean conscience?” I was far from forgiving her. But she was the friendliest being I met underground. Although considering the competition it's not all that impressive.
“First of all, I don’t want to die, and no, what happened at the arcades… it's complicated but like I already said I’m really, really sorry.” Behind Rose’s sardonic behavior hid a vulnerable girl. She only rarely showed herself but I sensed her sincerity.
I sighed: “Fine, but you will answer all the questions I have later!”
“I promise”, she offered me her hand, “can we deal with the monster in front of us now?”
“Right”, I agreed and shook her hand, “So, what do we do? Run?”
“I think it's too late for that!” Rose pointed at the hatching egg.
A small orange beak broke through the golden shell. Delightfully bright feathers made out of warm light were covering a small metal body. Frankly, it looked like a chick. Also, the eggshell appeared only like an egg from the outside. After it broke apart I saw that it was composed out of expensive-looking electric circuits. Maybe some kind of incubation device?
“Aww! It’s a little birdy! You were scared of this adorable chick?” My tone of voice changed unintentionally. I always hated babytalk. I wondered why people adjust their voices when they are talking to their babies or to their pets. But here I am in a half torn down demonic church in a secret underground lair in the midst of a deadly battle between cultists and machines looking at a small baby bird and talking like a lovesick parent. Chaos. It’s pure chaos. The stress was getting into my head.
“Don’t underestimate it, Song! It’s a legendary gold beast! It could destroy you with a single flap of its fluffy wings! Fuck, it really is cute!” Rose joined my ride on the rollercoaster of emotions.
The little mechanical bird hopped out of the egg and onto the suitcases padding. Its feet sunk in the soft cushions. It looked unsteady but its eyes were laser-focused on us as if it expected something.
“What does it want?” I whispered.
Rose shook her head: “I don’t know. Food maybe?
“You don’t know? Aren’t you an all-knowing mysterious cultist with an evil super plan? How do you not know what a mecha hatchling needs?” For some reason I was indignant. In the stories, I read on the grams the evil people always had all the information.
“There are so many things wrong with your statement…”, Rose massaged her temples, “I don’t even know where to begin. I suggest we stick to the original plan and just run as far as we can. That thing is not something we can deal with.”
“It's not a thing! It’s alive!” For a moment I forgot it was a mecha beast. If I traced back all my misfortunes then I’d say my bad streak started when they attacked our farm. But this is no simple mecha beast. It’s different. No matter if it bleeds oil or blood it is a baby. And no baby deserved to die or to be left alone. I know I wanted to destroy the egg just a few minutes ago but who knew that something that cute was in there?
“Right, little one?” I very slowly approached the legendary beast. It peeped in agreement. “Hah! see?”
Another quake shook the church. The small bird fell into the cushioning. not realizing the danger we were in.
“Oof, fine. So what? Do you want to take it with you? And then? How will you protect it from the beasts, no, from everyone?” Rose clearly thought a bit more than me about the consequences of my actions.
“I don’t know, yet. Let's just take it with us for now” I said.
That posed another problem: how do we transport it? In the suitcase? No, Seeing it toiling around I’d be scared that it accidentally broke out of it. The safest way was to carry it myself. Except for the danger itself posed. Although it didn’t appear aggressive, its feathers seemed a little scary. Who knows, they could’ve been made out of fire, plasma, or something else dangerous but it felt like it looked: very soft and a bit tingly. I shared this happy discovery with Rose: “See? it’s harmless.”
Rose reached to pet it as well: “Ouch! Didn’t you feel the static? It’s like fingering an electric outlet, only less fun.”
“What are you talking about?” I snuggled its tiny head with the palm of my hand. It playfully reciprocated my gesture.
“Why doesn’t it hurt you!?” Rose protested.
“Maybe because I don’t look like a murdering maniac like you”, I said not being aware that I was at least as blood splattered as Rose.
A mecha beast got through the nuns and was racing towards the heart. Rose sprinted to block it. She gave that rusted thing a roundhouse kick that sent its head flying. “Hurry up, will you!?” She shouted out of breath.
Why is she even still defending that creepy thing? “Wait we forgot something!” I shouted back.
“What?”
“A name! We need a name!”
“I swear if you don’t hurry then I will haunt you in the afterlife!” Rose was steaming. But I didn’t care. Names were important to me. How can we have a relationship without a name?
“Little one, tell me what do you think of the name Birdy?” I offered my free hand. The hatchling tilted its head in disapproval.
“You look a little bit like a phoenix, so… Fawkes?” The bird put his head into the padding.
“Your shiny feathers are your best point… So how about feathers?” I had the feeling the chick sighed, “hey! I'm giving my best here!”
Exhausted the small bird climbed into my hand. “Feathers it is!”
I joined Rose who just beat up another mecha beast and told her the bird's new name. She commented: “Your naming sense sucks.”
Feathers nodded vigorously. “It’s not fair for you two to team up against me!” I complained, “also, why are we defending this terrifying thing?”
The black heart creeped me out. Not only because I nearly got sacrificed to still its hunger for blood. It’s something that should not exist. How can a heart even function without a body? In this sense, it seemed more magical than technological. But then again there were some mechanics integrated into it like the gears and the winding key. So all in all I had no clue.
For once Rose gave me some information while fighting off another intruding machine: “Because if a mecha beast manages to integrate the heart then… then we really will be dead. It will become a demonic beast which would be way more dangerous than the two outside. There is a weird obsession for machines to become living things. Humans in return want to become machines to conquer death... Life and death. The Heavenly Demon integrated both concepts with the help of sorcery. Blood magic to be specific. That’s why machines thirst for the demon's powers and the humans try to protect it. I never imagined the church to lose. Defending it is the last thing I want!… Song, where is Feathers?”
I was too enthralled listening to Rose that I didn’t notice Feathers leaving my hand. It waddled towards the demon heart.
“Feathers wait!” I called.
The Abbess returned, bloody and battered: “What is going on!? What is this thing? A mecha beast? No! Hollow one, stop it!”
Rose already was moving but it was too late. Little Feathers stood before the heart. Its eyes didn’t show any form of greed, no, it was rather… disgust? An aura of flame started around it that led to Rose backing off. The Abbess arrived at her side only an eyeblink later.
“What is it doing? No! Nooo! Don’t burn it!”
