Blackwing: God of Humanity

The morning after, Blackwing’s victory was a long forgotten blur, he awoke with a pounding headache and felt slightly sweaty.

Oh goddamn, what happened? I don’t remember going to bed last night. I don’t even remember what I did after I got chased out of Canterlot.

He rubbed his eyes to dislodge sleepers out of them.

The sunlight assaulted his sight when he opened his eyes, it burned and blinded him temporarily.

Blackwing growled softly as he leaned up.

He felt the bed he was on, it wasn’t his.

It wasn’t even a bed, it was a couch.

He regained his sight, he wasn’t even in his own home.

Looking down, he saw a small rabbit staring up at him, twitching its nose.

“Hey little guy...” Blackwing stretched his arm to pat the rabbit on its head.

It hopped back startled.

“Hmph, not a social one, are you?” He said to it.

It only tilted its head at him.

He looked at the edge of the table in front of him, there lied a tall, empty bottle.

What could this be?

He grasped the bottle and read the label, it was a bottle of red wine.

I drank last night? I don’t remember drinking... That must be why I have a splitting headache right now...

He rubbed his temples with his fingers in a circular motion, hoping to ease the pain.

He heard a creaking sound coming from the wooden ceiling, footsteps making their way to the staircase on the opposite side of the room.

A yellow appendage lied on the top step.

A face mostly covered by pink hair peeked down the staircase, looking at him.

“Oh Mitchell, you’re up.” Fluttershy said.

He sat up, “Fluttershy? What am I doing here?”

She walked down the stairs and entered the living room, “I’m sorry, you must not remember, you drank a little too much last night...”

Blackwing placed the bottle on the coffee table, “Why’d I come here? I would’ve gone home first.” He questioned himself.

“You did...” Fluttershy said, “You told me nobody was home and you wanted someone to celebrate with you, so you came here. I’m so sorry, I should’ve cut you off from drinking...”

Blackwing stroked his hair, “It’s not your fault, I rarely drink, I should’ve cut myself off.”

Fluttershy didn’t respond.

“By the way... I didn’t do anything embarrassing or offensive did I? I’ve done that a few times.” Blackwing asked.

Fluttershy giggled, “No, don’t worry. You were just really happy the entire night.”

“What did we even do?” He continued his series of questions.

“You came in and told me that you defeated Celestia, so I decided to make us some dinner to celebrate. You and I started drinking, I didn’t have that much by the way. After dinner you stumbled around everywhere, teased my animals for a while, and passed out on the couch.” She explained.

Blackwing chuckled, “That’s why he must not like me huh?” He looked at the rabbit.

The rabbit hopped its way behind Fluttershy and she brushed its back.

“Oh don’t worry, Angel really only likes me...” She said, “The other animals really liked your company, you really have a way with them...”

Blackwing twiddled his thumbs, “Yeah, I like animals. I spent more time with them than with actual people when I was a kid.”

Fluttershy had no idea how to respond to that, “I’m sorry about that...”

Blackwing laughed, “Don’t be, humans really suck...”

“I’m sure humans weren’t all that bad.” She protested.

“Not all... But most were.” He said.

“There must’ve been many of your kind who you loved.” She insisted.

“The only person I loved was my mother... She’s dead.” He explained.

Fluttershy gasped, “I’m so sorry, it must be hard losing your mother.”

Blackwing sighed, “It was. When she did, I-”

He stopped talking, avoiding the subject ahead.

“You what?” She asked.

Blackwing dropped his head, “Never mind... Forget I said that...”

She didn’t speak, but she joined him on the couch.

“But there must be more humans you loved, there must be!” She said.

“Nope, afraid not.” He said promptly.

She patted him on the shoulder, empathizing with him.

“It’s funny, ponies are just like humans, yet so different. You think like us, talk like us, you even speak the same goddamn language as us. Christ, I mean, castles and villages, humans had those for ages!” He rambled.

He raised his head back up, “Yet ponies treat me like I’m so different from your kind, like I’m completely alien.”

Fluttershy felt uncomfortable about his remark, she sat in silence.

“Listen, you, my sisters, Zecora... Those are the only living things on this planet I trust with my life.” He continued.

Fluttershy felt flattered, “Thank you for trusting me, but why exactly?”

“Because, when we first met, you didn’t judge me, you offered me help. Without you, I wouldn’t have met Bloodline. Besides, you are a way better friend than anyone I knew when I was younger. For example: you made me dinner last night because I did something, my own goddamn mother never did that...” He complimented.

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh come on, I’m not that great of a friend.”

Blackwing stood up, “Don’t be so humble.” He advised.

“Are you leaving? I left your things by the door...” She said.

“Yeah, Bloodline is probably wondering where I am.” He said as he walked towards the door.

“Tell her I said ‘Hi’...” She replied.

Blackwing nodded and gathered his things and left.

He closed the door behind him, taking in a deep breath of air, he saw children playing out in the sun, a forgotten but reclaimed practice.

As he walked down the winding path down the hill, he noticed the spirit stand by the creek, the same spot where he first woke up in Equestria.

He stopped at the renovated stone bridge and greeted the spirit.

“You finally did it Mitchell, you restored my world back into working order.” The spirit cheered.

“I did, who will run the place now?” Blackwing asked.

“You will find out soon. But graver matters are at hand right now.”

“Like what? The princesses are no longer a problem.”

“Bloodline and your sisters have been seized, they are in Starlight Concave.” The spirit explained.

“What?! Who took them?”

“Cordis, the leader of the Legion, she has reclaimed her soldiers.”

“How do I get to Starlight Concave? Bloodline told me it’s far, far from here.” He asked.

The spirit reached out her long, skinny arm to him.

“It is much too far from here to get there quickly, grab ahold of me, I will bring you there.”

Blackwing wrapped his fingers around the ghost’s somehow physically grabbable arm.

He closed his eyes, feeling a sense of weightlessness, he felt his stomach curdle and his face blasted with a rush of cold air.

The songs of the birds turned into the crying howl of the arctic winds.

He felt the snow crunch below his boots and flakes gather on his hair.

He opened his eyes, the hilly plains of Ponyville were replaced by the icy cliffs, peaks, and jagged spires of Starlight Hollow.

He looked up into the sky, the night sky, and saw stars dance and glow among the black macrocosm, then looked down, he saw a tall solid stone wall past the flurrying blizzard.

The spirit vanished without a trace, his instinct telling him to walk up to the wall.

He pressed his hand to the wall, it sent chills up his bones and up his spine.

Blackwing noticed that part of the bottom of the wall was crumbled and was traversable.

He crouched down and squeezed through the small hole.

Past the wall was a row of battlements and towers.

Killzones... Must be the Legion’s base...

The Legion’s base was a large village with what looked like a tall wooden castle in the middle, identical to Japanese styled ones he had seen before.

The village consisted of market concourses and short homes, or more appropriate; machiyas.

The whole place was perfectly nestled in a pit surrounded by the tall icebergs and mountains, completely secluded from the rest of the world.

It felt empty, the entire town was absent of it’s inhabitants.

Blackwing decided he would head to the castle, it would be the most likely place Cordis would be.

Within the castle, Bloodline sat in a dark, round chamber room, her head drooped on the slate floor.

Torches illuminated the room in an eerie glow.

“He’s here...” A voice echoed throughout the castle.

The voice came from the mare sitting on a tall throne at the head of the room.

“He’s going to make you regret taking us.” Bloodline said.

The mare hopped off the throne, the flames of the torches lit up her face.

Cordis looked strangely similar to Bloodline, soot black fur, cherry red hair (Despite it being tied ironically in a ponytail and had a large scarlet feather sticking out of it.), and deeply piercing eyes.

But her’s were different.

Her eyeballs glowed bright red in a fluorescent vibe, yellow LED’s bulbs made up her irises and thin wires came out of the corners of her eye socket and attached to a small box implanted below her right ear.

“I know him as well as you do my dear, I will smite him.” Cordis assured.

“As if, you don’t know the first thing about Mitchell...” Bloodline argued.

“The first thing about Mitchell is that he’s filled to the brim with angst, the smallest thing causes him to blow a gasket. Trust me Bloodline, I’ve known him far longer than you.” Cordis implied.

Bloodline didn’t reply.

“Now, if you want to see your sisters, you will do what I told you. Reveal me to him and I will kill them.” She threatened.

Bloodline hesitantly nodded.

Outside the castle door, Blackwing inspected the sliding door for any traps or triggers that may give him away.

Nothing, I guess I have the element of surprise.

He opened the sliding door and entered a narrow corridor, shutting the door behind him.

He lightly kicked the wall to shake off the snow on his boots.

And a scream emanated from deeper inside the castle.

Bloodline’s scream.

Blackwing’s eyes widened and he sprinted down the corridor, hurrying to aid his sister.

At the end of the hallway, he was stopped by a steel door, it opened automatically, but no one behind it.

Uh oh, someone may be expecting me...

He thought about turning back.

Gah, screw it, she needs my help.

He ran through the door and darkness blinded him.

He heard the door slam behind him.

Blackwing couldn’t see a thing, but he had an idea.

He bent his arm, his hand sticking out and the magical gauntlet started up.

The gem produced miniscule amounts of light, but the red glow was enough to see where he was walking.

Then a sputtering sound stopped him dead.

following the sputter was a whir, following that was an airy hiss.

A face emerged from the darkness and into the red light.

It was Bloodline, tears and wrinkles from exhaustion ravaged the youth from her face.

“Bloodline! Are you ok? Where are we?” Blackwing asked.

She dropped her head and closed her eyes.

“Bloodline...” He said.

She turned around.

“What’s wrong?” Blackwing raised his voice.

And as fast as it happened it was over.

He was sent skidding back with massive pressure crushing his chest.

Bloodline bucked him with painful force, force matched only by being run over by a train.

Blackwing couldn’t breathe, he hunched over on the stone floor coughing and gasping for precious air.

Bloodline turned around to see what she had done, but she couldn’t bear it.

She broke down and started bawling uncontrollably.

‘I-I’m sorry b-brother, I’m s-so sorry, s-she made me d-do it!” Bloodline sputtered.

The torches lit themselves back up, the walls and floors of the chamber became fully visible.

Cordis sat high upon a pedestal where her throne sat far, laughing with amusement.

Blackwing punched the floor, constructing words out from growls and ebbs and flows of unbearable agony.

“I’ll... I’ll... I’LL KILL YOU!” Blackwing shouted at the top of what was left of his lungs at both his sister and her captor.

His yell filled the mares’ ears.

Bloodline only lied on the floor, wailing and regretting her decision.

“She betrayed you Mitchell... Her; your beloved and ever loyal sister. She willingly harmed you to protect her own intentions... How does it feel, seeing all of that trust shatter like glass?” Cordis asked.

“It’s n-not true!” Bloodline spouted.

“From the moment you crashed onto the earth from the sky, nopony in the land trusted you, nopony loved you. You are and always will be a castoff.” Cordis insulted.

Blackwing choked on his own anger, he looked up at her, “How did you kno-”

“Know how you arrived here? Simple, I’ve had help.” Cordis interrupted.

“Help f-from who?” He asked.

In that moment, ghostly hooves appeared blocked his sight.

The spirit looked down upon him with a twisted smile on her face.

“Help from someone you know...” Both Cordis and the Spirit spoke simultaneously.

Blackwing was more shocked than angry at this point, utterly shocked.

His whole life here has been a big, cruel lie.

In instinct, he threw a pathetically desperate punch at the ghost.

The punch went straight through her as it did last time, only it caused the spirit’s image grow fuzzy and slowly faded away from sight.

“You up and trusted a strange spirit, wandered a strange land, lived with strange girls, completed a strange task with strange weaponry given to you by a strange benefactor, and now you will die by a stranger’s hoof...” Cordis said.

“W-why? Why bring me here? Why lie to me and do this?” Blackwing asked.

“I manipulated you to satisfy one goal, that goal is to seize Canterlot, doing that would ultimately put the Legion in charge of Equestria. As we speak, my soldiers are invading Canterlot and it’s surrounding areas. I needed a catalyst to do this, as my armies are small compared to Celestia’s and I’m too frail bodied. As I observed humans from the past to collect more data for my studies, I saw what you did, you were empty, a perfect puppet, and I brought it upon myself to bring you here to make you lament your ultimate atrocity while you did my dirty work. I gave you a family again and took it away to salt the wounds and make you feel like it was all your fault once more so you would see how you’ve lost everything... And I mean everything...”

“Why, what did I do?” Blackwing cried.

“You know what you did... You took your own life. A selfish deed... What do you think your mother would think? She may have not have been alive to see it, but you devastated her knowing her mark on the earth disappeared in moments.”

Bloodline and Blackwing spoke silence, Bloodline pushed back crying and turned it into disbelief.

“M-Mitchell... Y-you... K-k-killed yourself?” She said to him with her jaw hanging.

Blackwing’s pain was replaced by grim shame, he rested his head on the floor, trying not to break out crying with her.

“You helped me succeed in my endeavour Mitchell, now your sister will do the same...” Cordis continued.

Bloodline cocked her head, “W-what?”

Cordis’s smile bared sick intent, “As you may not have known, this is not my original body, parts were either roboticized or replaced with fresh odds and ends donated from my small line of children. My true body is long gone, I’m only patches of metal and flesh of noble souls who gave up themselves to allow me to elongate my lifespan. I was young when I began the Legion, countless years later I had a realization that I have failed to bring forth the power and might of my people, it would take several generations to live up to my goal. I was afraid that when I died, my empire would follow, so I birthed several children and scattered them across random families that would later be conquered in hopes that it would not raise suspicion or end up being accused of having children in the Legion, which would bring hypocrisy to my name. When they grew up, they would be my key to continual youth. What I’m trying to say is that Bloodline is among those children.”

Bloodline gasped in further disbelief, droning out her sniffling, “Y-you?! You’re my mother?”

“Yes... You’re my last daughter, I was going to wait to use your body, but living on borrowed time makes you impatient.” Cordis replied.

“You get the hell away from her...” Blackwing said.

Cordis hopped off her throne and onto the floor, chuckling.

“Why would you care about her anymore? Either way, there’s nothing you can do Mitchell, I will sacrifice Bloodline, eradicate Celestia’s familiy tree, and take my place as ruler of Equestria.”

She walked towards Blackwing as he lied encumbered on the floor, coughing uncontrollably.

She stood a foot away from his face, he looked up with his blind eye.

Cordis raised her augmented left hoof, it was a short steel cylinder with a small vent in the middle, he heard the sound of gas hissing its ways into the air, he saw a spark and a flaming ball of magical energy was born above her hoof, slowly growing in size.

He felt a heat wave come over his face and saw the air around the flames wave and rise in front of Cordis’s scowling face.

He closed his eyes as tight as he could close them, awaiting the bitter end.

All he could hear was the crackling of the fireball, his focus was stuck in a tight vice, he couldn’t wait another moment to get it over with.

He heard Bloodline scream, “NO!”

Blackwing opened his eyes, Bloodline galloped her way to the to but Cordis ignored her.

Cordis threw her arm back and tossed the ball of energy.

He flinched and closed his eyes again.

But it didn’t hit him, he heard the fire sizzle in front of him.

Bloodline cried in pain on the ground, she took the shot for him.

“B-Bloodline!” Blackwing shouted.

He could see trails of smoke rise from her left side as she cringed in pain.

Blackwing pushed against the floor, lifting himself up.

Cordis grunted in anger and tried to conjure up another projectile.

He lifted up the gauntlet and shot a weak bolt of magic at her, pushing her away slightly.

He focused all of his energy just to stand up.

Cordis shook her head, recovering from the attack.

“What... Have you done?” Cordis asked as if it was Blackwing’s fault.

“Mitchell...” Bloodline said as she gasped for air.

He looked at her with unending worry.

“Help... Kill... Her...” She said gasp by gasp.

Her head dropped and slipped from consciousness.

Blackwing grasped his chest and stumbled back and forth, slightly nodding in response.

He fumbled around with his belt until he took out his sword, barely able to hold it up.

He slowly raised his arm to gesture Cordis, provoking her to fight.

Meanwhile, the true Stormcloud lied in the cramped jail cell with her baby sister, both huddled inside a thin burlap blanket to stay warm in the below freezing temperatures of the dark, dank corridors of the unheated castle.

They both were trying as hard as they can to not fall asleep, aware of the penalty if they do.

“Quicksilver, I don’t mean to freak you out, but if we don’t figure out something, we’re going to die in here...” Stormcloud chattered.

Quicksilver’s eyes flared in worry.

“I have an idea, and I need you to do something important.” Storm said, her breath clouding the air around them..

Her sister nodded.

She pointed towards the iron bars of the cell, “I can file down the bars with my wings, but I won’t be able to squeeze out unless I can cut at least three of them and we don’t have time for that.”

Quicksilver hopped up, eager to escape.

“Alright...” Storm said as she inspected her razor-sharp wings and walked to the front of the cell.

She placed a curved steel feather segmented on her right wing onto the rusty iron rods and pushed it back and forth, slowly whittling their way through it.

Inch by inch, the blade hacksawed its way through the middle of the bar, she bended down and did the same to the bottom of the bar.

When the section of iron was severed from the cell, it fell with a hollow clang that echoed throughout the pitch black hallway of the detention center.

“Go Quicksilver, find a key, find a way out, find some blankets for all I care, just get something Hurry!” She said.

Quicksilver snaked her way between the tight squeeze and dropped to the cold cement floor after she popped out of the tight grip of the cell bars.

Stormcloud motioned her to run.

She flashed her sister acknowledgment before scuttling her way into the dark.

Blackwing felt himself falling apart, the only thing keeping him from dying of shock was the adrenaline rushing through his veins and the thoughts of what would happen if he would fail.

His skin grew morbidly pale as he unrelentlessly slash and struck Cordis with his sword, some hits blocked by limbs of steel and brass, some hits only knicking her skin.

the fluorescent bulbs that were Cordis’s eyes turned into a bright white color as she too was on an unending offensive, throwing powerful punches and bursts of magical energy at her foe.

Neither of them were about to let their dreams crumble, to die as failures.

Blackwing never went through such traumatizing displeasure, but he could handle injuries that he never thought would hurt so much.

Same could go for his fighting skills; he had never touched a weapon in his life, yet he moved and attacked with such power and grace, skill matched only by a master of combat.

But he felt like a tattered rag, about to give in from his extensive use and strain.

Cordis on the other hand, was having the time of her life, laughing non-stop as she outsmarted his every move and pounded on his vital weak spots.

A few more hits to the chest or face and Blackwing would be done for.

She couldn’t see anything, but Quicksilver felt herself nearing the end of the hallway.

She bumped into a door, a door barely cracked open with numerous rusted bolts.

She slipped into the other room, this one was lit by torches, it felt agonizingly bright, being as she hadn’t seen sunlight for quite a while.

It was a locker room of sorts, probably for the Legionnaire guards who surprisingly, were absent in this room and all of the detention center.

Quicksilver snooped around the room, looking for any supplies, any food, any stray keys.

Locker to locker, she found only scraps of food and a small rusty on a copper keyring.

Thinking it would be for their cell, Quicksilver bolted back out of the room and back to her sister.

Stormcloud sniffled uncontrollably, she sneezed constantly, and felt like a slab of meat that had been left in the freezer for weeks.

Quicksilver held the keyring in her mouth to present to her sister.

“G-Good! Open this door and we’ll get out of here...” Stormcloud said sickly.

Quicksilver stood on her hind legs and fitted the key into the lock.

She turned it and the tumblers squeaked...

Click...

Click...

Click...

And the lock was released.

Stormcloud stood back up and slid the cell door open.

Proud of her sister, Storm patted Quicksilver on the head and told her to follow her out.

The fight was nearly reaching a critical point.

Blackwing’s mind felt like a storm cloud.

His psyche would break before his body and with the intensity of his hatred for this creature, he knew if he did break down mentally, it wouldn’t be pretty.

As he mindlessly swung, Cordis took advantage of his unawareness.

Blackwing swung down at her, but she dashed out of the way and the blade struck the floor.

Before he could bring the sword back up, Cordis uppercutted him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor.

Blackwing’s muscles tightened and locked up, he couldn’t move.

He seethed and groaned and stared at the grains in the concrete with his bloodshot, glassy eye.

And with that, he gave up.

He accepted defeat.

But nothing happened.

Death still hesitated to take him, yet it stared him in the face.

Cordis stared at the chamber doors, they had opened.

She saw only a black and yellow blur before she was tackled to the floor.

Stormcloud trampled Cordis and grabbed ahold of her, attempting to pin her to the ground.

Grunting and yelling, both of them struggled to overcome the other.

“You know Stormcloud, I always hated you compared to your other sisters, at least they listened to authority. I only wish that you would’ve left earlier. Honestly, I feel good knowing your parents didn’t have to raise you before I burned them and their hovels down! Same goes for your pathetic brother. He was a useless, melancholic whiner, if his mother was alive, I don’t think she would’ve cared that he killed himself!”

That response did it.

Blackwing hit the roof.

He had hit the roof and cleared straight through it.

Before either of the mares could process it in their heads, Blackwing had already shot back up to his feet, sprinted towards the two, and dragged Cordis away from Stormcloud across the cold stone.

He stomped his foot down on her neck, immobilizing her.

She was still in shock of what had happened and Blackwing was already in the process of punching out every one of Cordis’s teeth.

Blackwing threw punch after punch after punch without stopping for almost 3 minutes.

Quicksilver had caught up with Stormcloud, they both watched their brother beating the tar out of the pony whom they knew as their mother.

When all was done, all of Blackwing’s knuckles were bleeding and his hands stung as if he had fought a brick wall. (Parts of Cordis’s jaw were made of metal, which didn’t help.)

As he panted nonstop, Cordis had her head stuck to the floor, she coughed our spats of blood mixed with chunks of white powder (Possibly ball bearing lubricant or the remnants of some of her teeth.) and six entire teeth were knocked out.

Her left ‘eyebulb’ was cracked and caused the white light to flicker while her right eye was almost completely covered by her swollen cheek.

Blackwing expected her to give up, pass out, ect., but that wasn’t the case.

Cordis attempted to bear a smile and laughed softly.

“Your mother hated you, she took those pills because of you, she gave up on love because she knew no man would want to raise you. You only distort reality to suit a life where you’re happy, despite the abuse. You think were such an innocent child and you suffered for nothing. You’re... Wrong...” Cordis said.

“I was my mother’s world! You’re a disgusting goddamn liar!” Blackwing shouted at her face, intentionally spitting on her bruised mug.

“Am I Mitchell? Am I? I know you as well as your mother.” She replied.

After she said that, she thrusted her hoof onto his forehead, not in attack, but for something else.

She focused images into his mind.

The cloud that was his thought dispersed and made room for the memories she implanted in him.

The first one was of his mother and his father sitting on a porch, his mom’s stomach stuck out, she was obviously pregnant.

In a distant tone, he heard them conversing.

It’s going to be alright honey, this is a good thing...

I don’t know Paul, I really don’t want this child.

Why not? We’re doing fine financially. Besides, it won’t end up like last time.

I don’t want it to happen again, you know what happened after Rosemary died.

Lisa... I know you’re sad about Rosemary, but we have to try again.

Something bad is going to happen, I know it.

Well, we won’t know about that until he or she comes out.

Silence befell the two.

...I want an abortion Paul.

His father didn’t reply and the memory went fuzzy.

It was replaced by another.

An infant version of himself was sitting on a plastic high chair with his father feeding him green mush.

He could see his mother leaning over the kitchen sink, vomiting off and on while she took heavy swigs of liquor.

His father looked at her, obviously annoyed.

The memory went black and another took its place.

Mitchell’s graduation day, that dreaded day where everything went downhill.

Both of them sat in the kitchen, his mother was yelling muted words that eventually became hearable.

-our fault! It’s all your fault!

Mom, it’s ok.

She threw an empty scotch bottle at him, it missed and smashed on the kitchen counter.

I wish that pussy you call your father had a pair and allow me to get an abortion while I was pregnant with you, I knew you’d be nothing but trouble!

M-Mom... I love you...

FUCK YOU!

It went white, the memories were over.

His mother had been an abusive bitch ever since his sister Rosemary died, she probably had quit her job and started drinking before he was even born, maybe after that day he just slowly started seeing the truth.

Cordis panted and sputtered as she dropped her hoof.

Blackwing stood there salivating, foaming at the mouth with absolute rage.

“You see? Your entire life has been a lie, all constructed by you. You lived in fake world made by your childish mind, you lived in ignorance; your mother hit and yelled at you, but you still see her as a saint, as a person. Who can you blame for that? A higher power? Another person? Wrong, you can only blame yourself.”

Whoever Cordis was talking to, it wasn’t Blackwing or Mitchell.

It was that blood-drinking, cold, butcher of a man who dreamed only of torture and revenge.

He let go of his footing on Cordis’s neck, but he dropped down onto his hands and knees, positioning his face inches from her.

Stormcloud hugged her sister tightly, blocking Quicksilver’s sight of what he was about to do.

In an animalistic sense of instinct, he slowly sunk his teeth, deep into the neck of Cordis, squeezing tighter and tighter.

Cordis didn’t scream, only laughing harder and harder, Stormcloud wasn’t sure who was the craziest of the two.

Blackwing pulled and pulled until...

SNAP

He raised his head back up, holding a thick chunk of bloody flesh in his mouth, spitting it onto the floor.

A gaping hole where the chunk of neck was formed.

Cordis could only giggle as she bled out on the chamber floor.

Blackwing snapped out of his psychotic episode and got off of Cordis.

She didn’t attempt to get up and retaliate, she didn’t even move.

She only twitched and laughed as her black fur turned into a mahogany shade of red.

‘I-I hated you... But y-you more special than the other kids...”

Blackwing looked at her confused.

Cordis stared into the infinite with foggy eyes.

“I-I know... B-Because I’m... I-I’m... L-Li...”

She failed to finish her sentence and exhaled her final breath.

She lied back and her eyebulbs flickered on and off and eventually powering down, leaving empty black spheres.

Dead.

Somehow, he had survived.

He stood triumphantly over his ultimate threat with bruises all over his body and blood dripping from the corner of his lip.

This time, he finally felt like it was over.

He looked over and saw his sisters standing around the unconscious Bloodline.

Stormcloud didn’t bother to look at him.

Quicksilver flashed him a look, but was too ashamed of herself to look any longer or to speak.

He dropped to the floor and picked up his sword and slowly crept back up.

With feelings mutual, he limped out of the chamber, not looking at them either.

As he walked towards the front door of the palace, the air felt much colder and felt his bones chill to their core.

He slid open the wooden door into the outside, numerous faces greeting them.

Legionnaires of all different size, age, color stood near the doorway.

Some bared tattoos, some wore identical articles of jewelry.

The cybernetic augmentations ranging from prosthetic legs, ears, and even steel fangs made up the war machine of the Legion.

They said nothing, they did nothing.

As he continued to walk forward, they moved out of the way for him.

Whether they did it in respect or fear, he didn’t care.

He stretched his wings out, ready to take flight.