Best Friends to Enemies

“The moment Egake and Tai clashed mid-air, a violent gust of wind and fiery sparks erupted. This was the first time I had ever seen someone stop Egake’s deadly attack. Even Egake looked stunned.

“You know, my friend,” Tai mocked Egake with a smirk, “now you aren’t the only one with a magic fruit power.”

His beak and talons were glowing in molten golden-yellow colour, radiating heat like lava. Maybe it was because of the magic fruit Tai had eaten, but his power was clearly stronger than Egake’s—I could see black smoke rising and a deep scar etched into Egake’s diamond-hard body.

From their words, I pieced together a chilling truth: the one who killed Egake’s wife was Tai’s father. Egake and Tai… they were once best friends, but fate had turned them into enemies.

“Your father killed my wife, Tai! I only wish I had given him a more painful death!” Egake roared.

“He did what he was ordered, You did what you thought was right. And now… I’ll do what I want,” Tai snapped back.

With that, Tai lunged at Egake, dodged his strike, and clamped his talons around Egake’s face—grabbed him. Then, with terrifying speed, he soared upward, dragging Egake helplessly along. Egake resisted, but Tai’s grip was unbreakable.

In moments, they were at least fifty stories high.

“You know, Egake… I’m not on the same level as you anymore. I’m faster. Stronger & Better,” Tai declared, his voice dripping with arrogance.

And then—he let go of Egake from such height. Egake plummeted like a stone. The ground shook violently when he crashed, the thunderous impact kicking up a storm of dust.

But that was not all: from all that height, with all the momentum he could gather, Tai crashed into Egake with his golden beak pointing toward him like an arrow. This time the impact was far bigger and stronger—I flew off the ground and fell at least five feet away.

When the dust cleared, I saw Egake lying there—unconscious, with a lot of blood and his diamond skin particles scattered around.

“Ahh, you’re still alive huh… Egake. Good—you haven’t gotten that weak. And now that you’re alive, I can torture you even more.” After saying that, Tai let out an evil laugh, as if he had been waiting for this moment for centuries.

Soon, some more eagles arrived. “Put this boy in a cage; the king might get happy to see him after he wakes up. And put my friend in my cage. I wanna meet him again after he wakes up,” Tai ordered his subordinates.

I was locked in a cage with a bowl of earthworms bigger than my fingers. I was scared but satisfied too, because this was what I wanted—to meet the king. But I was sad too, for Egake, because he would be tortured pretty harshly now.

My hands were numb and my mind blank. I wasn’t able to understand what I was supposed to do then. “Huhh… I can’t do anything now. Anyway, it’s their planet’s business—not mine. I just want to return to my world with Miwa…” Then the thought hit me. “Wait, I might not be able to take Miwa senpai back with me. Because I don’t know the relation between the Mad King and Drax. He might be his father. He won’t allow me to take his daughter-in-law back with me!”

I now realized that what was happening was totally not okay for me. But there was nothing I could do—I was locked in that unbreakable cage with a super strong guard sleeping outside.

“Ah… I wish I could be out of this cage—over there.”

Fiiiiii…

Suddenly, something shocking happened. The scene I was looking at a moment ago totally changed on its own. When I looked around, I realized—I was out of the cage, exactly where I had wished to be.

“What the hell was that?” I whispered to myself, because the eagle guards were just a few meters away.

“Wait, was that because of the magic fruit I ate?” I tried again by looking right outside the jail through a small window, but this time my power didn’t work.

Then, when I thought of getting inside the cage again—

Fiiiiii…

Surprisingly, I was inside the cage again. Then I switched multiple times between inside and outside the cage, and my power worked pretty well every time. I couldn’t understand it. If I could switch places here, why couldn’t I just do the same and go outside the jail?

And then, after several minutes and nearly all my brainpower, I got it. “Oh yes, it must be the range… There must be a range to my power, how far I can switch.” And I was right. After analyzing my powers a little more, right next to the sleeping guard, I figured out that I could only teleport up to seven meters in all directions.

I knew it wasn’t much, but I was very happy—because I had just gotten a new ‘Teleportation Super Power.’

Now it was time to get out of that jail. I used my teleportation multiple times, and after somehow escaping the few guards present in the jail, I got to the ground floor. But then I saw him again—the deadly monster who had one-sidedly defeated Egake.

“Is he up yet?” he asked another guard.

“No, sir,” the guard replied.

“Here, take this bucket of water and splash it on him. If he wakes up, then call me. I’m going to see if the king is up,” Tai said, leaving the jail.

I wanted to run away, but my promise and compulsion to save Miwa senpai forced me to follow the guard. I followed him very secretly, and thanks to the darkness and the bad hearing of eagles, I managed to follow him to Egake’s chamber.

It was guarded by two more guards. They splashed the water on Egake, which made him conscious again.

“Good, so you’re awake now. I wish I could kill you for what you did to Ruf. But what Sir Tai will do will be a much better punishment for you.” Then the guard spat on Egake’s face.

Egake was heavily injured and the floor was full of his blood. I had no idea what metal his cage bars were made of, but they were definitely a lot thicker and stronger than the ones of my cage.

“How am I supposed to save him with these three armed guards sitting here?” I thought to myself.

“Hey, I think it’s time for Julie’s bath!” one of the guards shouted.

“You two stay here, I’ll be back in a moment,” said one of the guards as he flew away.

“You stay here, okay? I’ll be back too in a moment,” the other said.

“Wait—Sir Tai would be angry. How will I guard him alone?” the third protested.

“You fool, look at him and these bars. No matter how many people come to save him, it’s impossible for him to get out. And besides, I highly doubt anyone would come to save him.” The second guard flew off after saying that.

Then just one remained. And our poor male breed… we just can’t control our emotions, can we? The third fool flew off too, giving me a chance to save Egake.

Fiiii…

I was inside his cage.

“Are you alright, sir?”

“How many times… I need to tell you… kid, my name is… Egake.” I could feel the pain in his voice. He wasn’t even able to open his eyes fully.

“Wait… How did you even get in here?” he asked.

“Now you noticed. Anyways—I think I got my superpower. It’s teleportation,” I replied.

“Really?” Egake was shocked hearing that.

“Good, then we might have a chance. I knew about this power a little. I think you can teleport me too outside this cage by touching me and imagining to go outside with me,” he said.

“Really? But I can only teleport up to seven meters,” I replied.

“Pathetic!” Egake said in a disappointed tone, and it really did hurt my feelings.

“Fine. Get us both out of this cage first,” Egake ordered.

As ordered, I touched him and imagined being out of the cage along with him.

Fuuiii…

It worked. We were both out of the cell. But blood started to come out of my nose.

“I guess you’re not used to handling that much pressure.”

We were about to head out when suddenly we heard the guard noises—they were coming back.

“How dare she not bathe today. That’s absurd,” one guard said.

“But still, how is she still so pretty tho,” the other replied.

Me and Egake were terrified, because he was definitely not in shape to fight three guards alone.

“Go hide, kid. I must fight them,” Egake ordered with his fragile body.

“But how will you fight in these conditions, sir?” I countered. But then egake said something that turn on a switch in me

“Life isn’t fair, kid… Battles don’t wait for you to be ready, nor do they care about your wounds; that’s why you must always be ready to face them head-on!” That was a line of pure heroism from a dying snake—heroic enough to ignite courage even in my trembling little body.

So this time, I did not hide. I stood firmly beside Egake, ready to confront a danger that could very well end my life!