All these pieces broken and scattered
In mercy gathered, mended and whole.
The peryton walked towards the spire in Polaris. The blue light washed the area in a dazzling, calm hue that attracted Rafael. Soft doe eyes blinked gently as he titled his head this way and that to allow the crystals’ glimmer to reflect in his grey eyes. Rafael had wandered into this place by chance, though approaching the Spire had been a deliberate consideration. It had been a few days since he’d been born and the peryton had felt a great itching begin in his haunches where his wings connected to his shoulders. For the first few days, the elk-bird had remained unaware of these extra appendages. They just were. Now, though, he could feel the sinews and muscles gathering and strengthening in his wings. They wanted a taste of air and freedom. Carefully now, Rafael allowed his appendages to stretch out in either direction awkwardly. It felt pleasurably to display his hawk wings. They were well-formed and when a gentle gust ruffled up his wings, the cool feeling felt simply divine. He nickered gently, pleased with his actions, then tapped his hoof onto the ground and looked up at the spire. It spun 10 metres high in the air and the calf knew that he was meant to fly and reach the top. That being said, he pawed the ground and shook his glorious crown of horns, then flapped his wings a couple of times and attempted to kick himself off the ground using his strong, hindlimbs as a support.

Sharp talons scraped onto the ground as he leaned his body weight onto the flat surface of his hindlegs, then with a couple of beats with his wings, he lifted up! The peryton found himself hovering clumsily, four legs flailing about as he attempted to flap his wings. This caused him to dip and rise in spurts, giving him quite an unstable and insecure ride. He bleated and steadied his four limbs in the air by forcing his muscles to relax, then lifted his elk limbs close to his chest, streamlining his body. The air was thick with energy and a faint cackling could be heard emitting from the crystals forming the spire. For some reason, the magic seemed to rejuvenate the pertyon although it proved a little too strong for his juvenile body to handle. With a flick of his ears, the peryton attempted to flap his wings with greater, strong beats and ascend to the top of the crystal spire. Rafael would reach the top and then practice his diving, swooping and flying skills from there. Now he went past the many crystal formations, grey eyes reflecting the strong blue hues infused into the spire.

Rafael was extremely successful on his first airborne flight. With careful consideration of when he should flap his wings and how he should balance his weight while ascending, he was able to adapt to the atmosphere and soon reached the top of the spire, where upon he set his hooves down and folded his wings by his sides. The boy found firm footing on the uneven surface of the spire. Dainty elk hooves found purchase in the tiny flat surfaces afforded by the crystal formation while his talons gripped onto the uneven crystal surfaces behind him with great ease. The white underside of the elk’s stomach glowed a faint blue as he felt a gush of energy run through his veins. It made Rafael feel invincible and extremely powerful. He could attempt more tricks perhaps.

Shifting forward gingerly, the peryton opened his wings again and looked down below. If he could ascend, then he should practise descending as well – though at a normal pace first. Rafael adjusted himself such that he was facing downwards, then kicked out with his hindlegs to launch himself downwards. His wings were spread out on either side of him, tilted parallel to his hooves, so that they might provide some air resistance and that he would not plunge down headfirst to his own death.

The peryton tapped the edge of the crystal which seemed to vibrate in magical resonance. He could do this. Drawing in a sharp breath, the young prince lifted his majestic crown of antlers and took the dive down. A sense of exhilaration overcame the adrenaline-seeking youth who laughed in delight as he found perfect balance in his wings. Within a couple of seconds, his front hooves touched down and he trotted forward a bit to absorb the very minor impact, and closed his wings by his side once again. A grin stretched across the young one’s features and he promptly shook his head and pawed the ground in delight. It was his very first time attempting a flight and it seemed to work extremely well. Now, he would need to practise his speed in quick acceleration and deceleration. Rafael shook out his wings again and reared onto his hindlegs like a horse might, front limbs close to his chest, ready to kick himself upwards and take flight to the top of the spire at top speed.

As soon as his wings had spread out, Rafael felt victory in his feathers. He snorted through his moist black nose and blinked then stared at the spire’s tip in great concentration. Then, he pushed out from behind him with as much force as he could muster and flapped upwards. From there, he rotated himself such that he was parallel to the spire – heading upwards, with his belly towards the large crystal formation. He flapped hard with his wings which obeyed his commands without a hitch. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh the wind thumped with every beat of his wings. The multiple beats allowed him to gain altitude at a greater speed and he burst to the top of the spire with an even quicker timing than that which he had anticipated. Landing securely at the top of the spire, Rafael parted his obsidian lips and screeched like an eagle, his victory to the world. He then pawed the ground and looked down below. His next stunt would be to swoop down and at the last minute, sweep up parallel to the ground. Would he succeed? There was only one way to find out.

Rafael tucked his wings by his side, then turned around to nuzzle them into place, straightening out the edges in his soft feathers. He then snorted and shifted forward to the edge and then launched himself off, head first towards the ground. This time, he kept his forelimbs bent and tucked close to his chest, while huge falcon talons trailed behind him, kept straight and parallel to each other. His little elk tail flagged out as well, though to a useless effect, not impacting his plunge in any manner. The wind gusted into his face and eyes, causing the peryton to squint. He was going down, down, down, NOW.

Immediately, he flapped his wings open but they remained stuck. NO! Frantically, he attempted to stretch out his muscles. This time they opened, and he immediately flapped them and directed his path upwards and straight. He almost touched the ground but his wings obeyed his commands and at the very last moment, he sweeeped upwards and ran parallel to the ground, knees almost touching the ground. A loud thumping arose in Rafael’s chest as he felt the after-effects of near-crashing and the subsequent adrenaline rushing through his blood. He flew this way for a while more, swooping past the polaris river, then making a huge curve back towards the spire, whereupon he landed on the base, wobbling like a lamb for a while but soon gaining a good grip thanks to his talons. Rafael nickered and leaned his body weight against the side of the spire to take a break. It had been an exhilarating yet dangerous ride – but boy, how much power his wings held!

Rafael being so young was tired from the exertion. Sinking to the base of the spire, he slept.

A vision. Great gnashing of teeth, blood, antlers, and Vazi – these images appeared in his mind, and then disappeared. Rafael himself craved for blood – thick, salty, iron taste trailing down his muzzle. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump…

The peryton jerked away and felt the iron tang running through his mouth. Started, he shrieked and jerked open his jaws, tongue reflexively running across his incisors and teeth. The elk had sharper canines than the normal elk, sharp enough to tear through meat though he did not know this yet, having been brought up on a diet of plants lying around thus far (because it was accessible to him, and because he could eat it and actually liked it). He shook his head, the whites of his eyes expanded and visible as he breathed heavily through his nose. His sides heaved in shock from his dream, or vision. He…had was a meat eater? But, grass was easy game. Grass lay around. Plants were everywhere and meat…meat meant life. It meant taking away a soul of a gembound, lesser or bigger. Still…

The peryton brought himself to his feet and started to look around, nose honing onto the scent of lesser gembounds lying around. His throat craved blood and he was hungry, tired and not in a mood to reason with the logical part of his brain. Somewhat zombified, Rafael staggered forward, blood lust running through his veins hotly, and he bleated as though his gentle tone would lure out any surrounding creatures.

Like a succubus, his bleating was gentle – like that of a helpless babe, childlike (he was after all, still a child and therefore must sound convincingly so) and tender. Each bleat was like a song that resonated with the magic surrounding the spire, sneaking into the crevices of the rocks, gently nickering for any creature to come out…and each bleat started out convincingly needy yet gentle, then falling into a gentle hum of bleats of contentment as though to say “it is safe, come out”. He walked slowly, gently forward, keeping his majestic head low to the ground as an indication that he was not a threat. A hazy fog rested upon the peryton and he felt his inner animalistic desires drawn out. Blood! it screamed, but “Not yet!” his inner voice whispered.

Then, it happened. A small cave deer – one which remotely ressembled a deer but which was NOT a deer came trotting out, ears flicking forward in curiousity. It stared at him curiously, eyes roaming from his herbivore head to carnivore behind, and snuffed at him, unsure of what to do. Rafael lay down and bleated for it to come, like the herbivore that it was, trusting, liquid grey eyes resting tenderly on the other. ”Come to me,” he willed, drawing it out with compassion, gentleness and forlornness in his gaze. He lay his majestic head onto the ground like a snake, and looked at the lesser gembound with large eyes and gentle snuffs, waiting for it to step forward to him.

The naïve gembound tilted its head, eyeing him, then nickered back a sound in a language he did not understand. Rafael remained motionless, though he kept one large, round innocent eye latched onto the cave deer to prick at its curiousity. It venture forth, slowly and uncertain of its surroundings at first, taking a few steps then stopping to gaze at it in an alert fashion with pricked ears, before meandering in its path to reach him. Soon, the cave deer stood just a limb’s way from him and regarded him with soft clicking sounds. Rafael snorted heavily, and then the gem embedded in his chest began to glow as he summoned forth his magic. A smirk slowly crept across his face and his eyes widened with a mad man’s glee as the innocent expression slowly revealed the true nature of the beast within - a succubus luring in the innocent and then ready to wreck destruction, a one-sided affair wrecked with blood, pain and passion.

Alas, his magic failed to activate. Nonetheless, the cave deer had seen his expression smoulder over and its instinctive sense of danger had taken over. It darted away. Dammit! The peryton cursed in his mind and screeched at it with rage as he clambered to his feet and galloped after it, hot air blowing from his nose as his mouth widened like the gaping jaws of a black hole – unable to snarl because of his features, but eyes clearly hardening over and contorting in rage. No prey should ever escape from his clutches! Again he screeched, bird sounds twisted and amplified with a lower bellow as it escaped his elk lips. On it ran, skipping over the rocks, and so did Rafael, hot on its heels, navigating the ground with expert ease. The cave thing was fast but so was he, being able to land a solid footing more easily than his prey thanks to his hybrid spec. Rafael chased the deer and then flapped out his wings, ready to swoop in onto his prey and kill – no, play with it.