Swan

Rhea, Year 813 of Avia, Day 292; 17:00

Icarum opened his eyes, and the blurry silhouette of a girl gradually came into focus. Little by little, he could make out more and more of her physical features.

Light blue hair and dark blue eyes that looked like sapphires. Perfect skin. She walked towards Icarum with elegant strides.

I’m dead, he thought. I must be in heaven.

Icarum had nothing to lose.

“I don’t care if you’re a goddess. Please go out with me!”

He carefully opened one eye and saw the girl looking at him with a surprised look on her face. She looked a few years older than Icarum, probably around thirteen. A moment later, she burst into laughter as she placed a wet towel on Icarum’s arm.

“So you’re finally awake,” she said with a smile.

“I’m alive.” Icarum sounded disappointed.

“Yes, you are. Welcome to the home of the Rhean Rebels.”

“How did I get-”

“During training, I found your unconscious body by the waterfall.” She smirked. “I almost mistook you for an animal.”

Icarum glanced around the room he was in. It seemed to be made of stone and concrete. He was lying on a wooden bed, and a table with an assortment of herbs stood to the right of him. A hunched over, bald, old man carrying a cane walked into the room. “Ilina, I’ll take it from here.”

The girl bowed respectfully and left. Icarum sat up and prepared to wince in pain, but his body felt light and healthy.

“You’ve been asleep for a week, and it looks like you’ve finally recovered.” He squinted at Icarum’s chest, which was no longer covered in bandages. “I thought you were dead for sure, but Ilina’s healing worked wonders on you.”

Icarum looked down at his body. It was true; his wounds had turned into scars, and someone had stitched up his arm. But aside from some loose underwear, he wasn’t wearing any clothes.

“Have I been wearing this the entire time?”

The old man laughed, and Icarum turned red in embarrassment.

“Icarum, why are you here?” The old man’s expression turned serious.

“I want re-”

“Revenge? Everyone’s looking for revenge here, one way or another. Why are you here?”

“I want to save my brother.”

“Igsum’s probably dead already.”

“You don’t know that!” Icarum eyed the old man with a fiery gaze.

“You can stay here for a while, but you’ll have to leave by the next full moon.” The old man turned around to leave. He closed the door before Icarum could say a word.

Outside, Ilina waited patiently.

“Master Rhozo, why are you so harsh on him?”

“I’m not. He failed the test.”

“You gave me a second chance when I first came. Shouldn’t you want to help him, y’know, with him being your grandson and all?”

The two walked up a flight of stairs as they talked. Rhozo sighed. “I’m hard on him because he’s my grandson.”

“A little too hard. If you weren’t going to let him join us, why’d you ask me to take care of him?”

“Because he reminded me of my son.”

“Then why are you forcing him out?”

“Because he reminds me too much of myself.”

Ilina shook her head. “You really don’t make any sense sometimes.”

------------------------

Icarum sat alone in a bustling cafeteria. Like most of the rooms in the rebel base, it was located in a cave underground, a few flights of stairs below the room he was staying in. He was surprised to find out that there were thousands of people living in the caves. His father’s tribe had roughly five hundred members, and he was told that when Old Man Rhozo left for the mountains, he had only taken half the tribe with him.

Wearing a gloomy expression, Icarum gulped down a piece of bread and chugged a glass of water.

You’ll have to leave by the next full moon. The old man’s words echoed in Icarum’s ears. Icarum let out a heavy sigh. It looks like I’ll have to spend a lot of effort convincing him to let me stay, he thought.

“New here?” A slightly chubby, short ten-year-old kid sat down next to Icarum. His metal plate made a loud clang as it crashed against the table, but the voices of everyone else in the cafeteria drowned out the sound.

Icarum nodded. He slid away as the kid obnoxiously slurped water with a straw.

“I’m Khal.”

Icarum debated whether or not to continue the conversation. “I’m Icarum.” He decided he had nothing better to do anyway.

“So. Who’s your spirit?”

“Spirit?”

“Ah, so you’re like really, really new here. Didn’t Master Rhozo tell you yet?” Khal stuffed a piece of pumpkin pie into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing.

Icarum shook his head, but his eyes lit up. “Master Rhozo? Where is he?”

“He’s that old dude who everyone meets when they first come here.”

“Him?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“He’s my grandfather.”

Khal laughed. “Tough luck, being related to that demon.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “But still-”

“So that’s where you are!” Ilina placed her head on Icarum’s head and rubbed his hair. Icarum turned around, annoyed. She was wearing a baggy white tunic and a skirt. Khal choked on his pie and grabbed a tissue to wipe his mouth.

“You know the Swan?” he mouthed silently.

“Who the hell is the Swan?” Icarum mouthed back.

“Icarum, do you have a moment? I’ve got something to show you.” Khal glanced jealously at Icarum, and Icarum shrugged in response.

“Sure.” Ilina grabbed Icarum’s sleeve and led him out of the cafeteria. She ran up the winding staircase without looking back.

“Hurry up!”

Icarum panted heavily as he followed. When he reached the top, he noticed that there wasn’t a room, but an outside clearing. He was standing on the peak of the mountain, and everything around him was covered in untouched white snow.

Below Icarum lurked a layer of mist that spread out as far as his eyes could see, seemingly glowing as it reflected the sunlight. As the sun set, a symphony of warm colors danced across the horizon. Stars began to flicker as the sky grew darker with every passing minute.

In the distance, Icarum could see expanding circles of light. They were too big to be stars, yet they looked just as enchantingly beautiful. Icarum stared in awe.

Ilina placed her hands on Icarum’s shoulders and pointed at the light. “That’s Sydurnia. And that’s Enceladus. And that green one over there, that’s Tethys.”

“So it’s true, then,” Icarum whispered. “If you stand on the peaks of the Rhean Mountains, you can see all the floating islands in Avia.”

He turned to Ilina. “Showing me this beautiful spot; healing me when I nearly died; Why are you doing so much for me?”

Ilina paused. With her hands being her head, she laid down on the fluffy snow, staring up at the stars. “Well, Master Rhozo told me to heal you. As for showing you this, I guess it’s my way of welcoming you here.” She grinned.

Icarum felt blood rush to his face and turned away before Ilina could notice.

“Then, can I ask you a question?” Icarum decided to switch the topic to let his head cool off.

“Khal mentioned something about a spirit. Do you know what he means?”

“Ah, that’s something that Master Rhozo usually explains to the new recruits.” She had a smug look on her face. “But he rejected you, remember?”

Icarum scoffed. “Of course I do. Don’t worry, I’ll convince that stupid old man to let me join the rebels.”

“I guess there’s no harm in explaining the spirits a bit ahead of time, then.” She began to undress her tunic, unfastening one button at a time.

Icarum froze and panicked. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.” His eyes glanced to the left, to the right, then to the center. He immediately turned around in embarrassment.

Ilina laughed at Icarum’s reaction. “You can look now.”

Icarum’s head slowly turned. Underneath her tunic, Ilina was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt. He was relieved, but also a little disappointed.

“Watch this.” In a split second, a pair of wings sprouted from Ilina’s back, with a span that was larger than Icarum himself. With one flap, a powerful gust of wind blew into Icarum’s eyes, causing him to fall backward and squint.

Icarum was speechless. The wings were pure white like a Swan’s and emitted a faint light, which allowed them to be seen clearly even in the night.

“What do you think?”

“They’re beautiful.”

“Unfortunately, they’re not actually part of my body. These are mechanical wings that our engineers developed.”

“How do they look so real?”

“When a pair of wings are created, they look metal and plain. But once you pair them up with someone, they’ll take the form of that person’s spirit. Apparently, your spirit manifests into your wings.”

Ilina jumped off the cliff and into the mist. Icarum reached his hand out, but Ilina was already gone. Seconds later, she reappeared in the distance, gracefully flying through the air. After a short lap, she flew back to Icarum.

“Everyone’s born with the spirit of a bird inside them. But in order to use their power, your spirit will have to be awakened by an Owl, like Master Rhozo.” Ilina withdrew her wings and began to put on her tunic.

“Does everyone have a different spirit?”

“Well, there are people who share the same type of spirit, but as I said, everyone’s spirit will manifest in different ways. So even if two people are both Sparrows, they could have very different abilities.”

“Abilities?”

“Mhm. Like this.” Out of nowhere, a blue orb appeared and hovered in front of Ilina’s finger. It grew larger and larger, like air pumping into a balloon. Ilina sneezed. The orb burst, soaking Icarum’s clothes in water from head to toe.

“Oh.” Ilina tried her best to conceal her laughter as Icarum looked up at her with deadpan eyes. She ran back into the caves and down the staircase.

“We should head back!” she yelled. “You wouldn’t want to catch a cold.”