The birds were pleased as Gembounds came and went, delivering stones to them.
Alnitak had been the first to receive a stone. A weasel had approached, quieting the three brothers as it did so; and its offering was for the red-eyed brother, silent as it nudged its red stone forward. Alnitak fluttered down from his perch and stepped forward, reaching out to collect the first stone. As the weasel said nothing, neither did Alnitak; instead, he nodded proudly. He was pledged to first, and so he turned with a great show of himself, holding out the stone to his brothers as the weasel skittered back off into the depths of Orion.
Alnilam and Mintaka did not seem so impressed. Behind Alnitak, a wolf with a cape had approached and delivered yellow stones, asking for Alnilam. Brushing past his boasting brother, the yellow-eyed bird glided down to meet her, ignoring the scoff from his brother.
"Thank you," he said to the wolf, scooping her contributions to make his own pile. As she called back to him over her shoulder, he looked up to her and smiled.
One of the gembounds they had seen from their reemergence into the cave arrived with stones for Mintaka, who hopped pasted a now-grumpy Alnitak—who had yet to receive more stones since his first—and gathered the donated stones into a pile.
Mister Mintaka, it had called him. He chirped a bit of laughter, matching the pup's grin and enthusiasm.
"They are perfect, young one," Mintaka cooed.
"Thank you for answering my call; your best will do."
Alnitak was simmering, but before he lashed out at the pup for pledging to the wrong choice, a goose had flown in with a red stone; and it was for him!
"I will give you the reward as promised," he confirmed, watching as she turned and took flight.
More gembounds started to enter the Forum offering stones. Their request had been heard!
A winged wolf for Mintaka, delivering three stones before saying farewell to gather more. A hybrid next for Mintaka, with two stones, followed by a cobra with one stone. Mintaka was proud of how many had pledged themselves to him. The mass of star-stuff was shimmering within his body. He was a humble being but he was proud to know these cave inhabitants chose to trust him with this seemingly tedious task.
And then... An interruption.
A short, long, and thick creature lumbered up to them and opened its wide jaws, letting thirteen red stones spill out before Alnitak's talons. The bird's red eyes opened wide as the gembound announced that he was here for the wings, spewing flame into the air. He was Dragon! Alnitak slowly picked through the pile Dragon had brought, and decided to add the few stones he already had obtained to this new pile.
"A fine offering, Dragon," Alnitak said.
"Wings you will have, indeed." His eyes raised to meet this creature's, its scales strange to Alnitak, but perhaps... not unlike a true dragon's.
Alnilam and Mintaka were stuck staring at this exchange, but a speedy slithering and a gleam caught Alnilam's eye. He glanced down toward the python's stone and smiled brightly.
"Thank you," he said as she slowly backed away. Just after her, a fox bounded up, excited at the yellow stone he had found.
"It is fantastic!" Alnilam agreed, chirping with glee.
"You have done so well! Thank you!"
Soon after, another canine approached him, but it used a name he did not know.
"Ringo? Well, they were right," Alnilam confirmed, smiling.
"Thank you—and thank you to your friend, Ringo." After the dog, a red wolf struggling with its offerings finally freed its mouth of such hassles and Alnilam nodded gratefully toward him.
"Of course, thank you." Following the red wolf, a raven hobbled up, sacrificing flight for its stone contributions. Alnilam was tempted to reach forward and help untie the knot in its scarf, but waited patiently; when all was untied and done, the raven had two offerings, and one of them was large and beautiful. Alnilam nodded and again said,
"Thank you."
Alnitak was sour again, watching his brother receive many pledges. A black wolf pushed forward and through to him, however, and gave to him
five stones!
"Yes!" he cawed, scooping them from under her snout and pulling them into his pile of stones.
Mintaka frowned at his brothers lack of gratitude, but a thudding caught his attention. Alnilam had been gathering the stones from earlier into his pile as the python approached, but looked up to the thudding sound as well. His eyes widened briefly at the sight, and was surprised to see what the python had brought him.
"Wow! Thank you very much," he said.
"Please, go rest! What effort!"
Next to receive stones was Mintaka. The jaguar cub was excited, and that made Mintaka excited too.
"Of course, as promised!" Mintaka said happily, raising his wings outward and letting their spectral transformation take over before shuffling them back to normal and scooting the stones into their pile. A small dog approached them next with more respect than Mintaka every expected to receive, bowing to them and calling them
My Lord; Mintaka was already a humble being, but they felt in awe at this display, hesitating to take the stone.
"Thank you, it's more than sufficient!" Mintaka called after the gembound as it left, moving the stone into the pile.
Alnitak was staring at Mintaka with narrowed eyes. Why hadn't
he been called
My Lord?
Time had passed between all of these offerings, and soon, others were coming back with more stones.
The caped wolf returned to Alnilam again. As he collected her stones, he noticed she may have been injured; he hoped she hadn't been pushing herself too hard to do this.
"Thank you," he called after her, watching her figure disappear through the gathered gembounds.
As the wing wolf returned to Mintaka, he was happy to receive her stones; but the troubled look she had was curious to him, and he tried to follow her gaze. One of his pledged? He couldn't quite tell, and did not want to make an assumption.
"Quite the contribution you have made!" he tried to say as a bit of a distraction.
"Thank you so much for your hard work!"
A small fox approached Alnitak with two stones, and he grinned down toward her.
"Ah, yes," he crooned, clawing them into his pile.
"Very good."
A wolf pup ran in and dropped a yellow stone before Alnilam.
"Thank y—" and then she was gone, racing back out into Orion. He stared after her for a moment, slowly moving the rock into his pile. Alnitak cawed laughter into the air while Mintaka cocked his head toward the darkness of Orion. Then, in she came again several minutes later, dropping another yellow stone before Alnilam's feet.
"Thank you—" he said quickly, watching her as she raced back out. He said this each time to her as she repeated this.
Nearly an hour later, she was done. Muddy and exhausted, she turned in her final stone and Alnilam opened his beak to squawk out a quick
thank you, holding it in his chest as he realized she wasn't racing back out into the darkness.
"Wow!" he chirped.
"You will certainly get your wings! Please rest, first. That seemed quite exhausting," Alnilam said softly. When she asked of their dispute, the three brothers looked between themselves for a moment.
"It seems most fair to have the inhabitants we will be interacting with decide," Mintaka said, craning his head around Alnilam to look at the pup.
"Oh, because I would be a bully?" Alnitak scoffed from the far side of the other two.
"Yes," Alnilam said flatly, his eyes rolling to view the direction of Alnitak.
"I didn't say that," Mintaka said at the same time, somewhat quietly, defensively.
"We're three parts of a whole," Mintaka tried to explain, looking down at the pup.
"Let's wait until we have the results," Alnilam suggested as the winged wolf approached with possibly the last of the offerings, and Mintaka nodded in agreement. Alnitak
hmmph'd.
With that—and again, Mintaka noticed the discomfort of the wolf, but returned her bow—they tallied the results.
"Alnilam had eight pledged gembounds and twenty-seven stones. Mintaka had six pledged gembounds and thirty-one stones. Alnitak had five pledged gembounds and twenty-two stones." They announced the totals together, looking down at their piles and sifting through them absent-mindedly. Alnitak seemed upset to have lost on both fronts.
"Huh! Ridiculous," he hissed.
"Now, don't be a sore loser," Alnilam said calmly.
"According to the stone count, I have won," Mintaka declared.
Already, something strange was happening between the three of them. A strange swirling of energy began to move between their bodies, connecting them.
"To my pledged, I bless unto you: Eternal Wing!" Alnilam said with a loud voice that echoed around the Forum. A great yellow light washed from his body, ethereal feathers floating around him in a dazzling and bright display. Those that had pledged to him—Kin-Kin, Desire, Azar, Widget, Xireidi, Albeon, Septiezal, Kera—were also suddenly surrounded by the same display, a rush of magic flowing through them. His body began to disappear in a sparkling of light raising up into the air, the feathers swirling around his fading body as if taken up in a whirlwind.
"With this Eternal connection, we will be able to communicate. With this Pledge, I am Yours." Alnilam was gone, the golden feathers fusing with Mintaka's body, which grew double in size.
"To my pledged, I grant unto you: Haunted Wing!" Alnitak said with a booming voice that echoed around the Forum. A strange red light emanated from his body, thick black auras expanding around him in a terrifying and dark display. Those that had pledged to him—Envy, Blackberry, Dragon, Dezba, Ritonai—were also suddenly surrounded by the same display, a rush of magic flowing through them. His body began to disappear in a sparkling of light raising up into the air, the black auras swirling around his fading body as if taken up in a whirlwind.
"With this Haunted connection, we will be able to communicate. With this Pledge, I am Yours but You are Mine." Alnitak was gone, the black aura fusing with Mintaka's body, which grew again in size. For a moment, a mass of swirling star-stuff consumed the body of the birds, an aurora birthing a new creature.
The giant galaxy-like bird was towering over the others now, the size similar to that of other ancient titans. The stones within its chest were orbiting each other. Its eyes were ice blue in color as it slowly blinked, taking in the scenery from its new height.
"To my pledged, I grant unto you," it said softly, the voice Mintaka's. Still, it had a powerful voice which echoed around the arena.
"Spectral Wing!" A dazzling many white-blue lights rose from his body, like fireflies slowly lifting off and gaining speed before disappearing into the dark distance. Those that had pledged to him—Ringo, Rinaotei, Teyouma II, Winter, Aztec, Gabriel—were also suddenly surrounded by the same display, a rush of magic flowing through them.
"With this Spectral connection, we will be able to communicate. With this Pledge, We are One."
"Thank you for helping us decide which of us would remain as the lead personality in this form," they spoke together, the Kings outstretching their wings to display a shifting expanse of a sky the gembounds would not recognize.
"During our search for a lost stone, we fell into disagreement, and split."
"Speaking of," Mintaka broke in, craning the Kings large head downward to look at the collected stones. He gathered them together carefully with a large talon, squinting to look at them carefully.
"It is not here," Alnilam whispered inside of his brother's mind,
though his pledged would be able to hear his voice.
"What! After all that effort, and we did not find it!" Alnitak hissed,
silent to any others except for his pledged..
"Yes, so it seems, the stone we seek is still missing." Mintaka confirmed, gazing up to the gembound gathered.
"Help us one more time, and we will reward you a second time." Their voices called, the large phoenix-like bird shimmering with auroras and galaxies unknown.
"It must be made up of each of these colors—a stone or like-object mixed of blue, red, and white... But it is lost within the depths of time, forgotten and decayed. Find the stag who watches over cycles of the cave."![[Image: NVHk2bm.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/NVHk2bm.gif)
