Court Of The Winged

When Lezlie opened the doors of the enclosed space we were in, a very strong bright light was reflected from outside to inside. My eyes could hardly see because of the light coming in, as if the sun was right above us.

After a short while, my eyes got used to the light and I threw myself outside. The view I encountered was at a level I never expected. Just as I said, the sun was above us because we were somehow above the clouds.

It was as if we were standing on a piece of white cloud with no end in sight. The strangest thing was that there were houses, furniture, and a lot of winged people on top of what we were standing on. Lezlie realized my astonishment but she was sure I would get over it.

"Let's go to the council house. They're waiting for us there," she said.

"Are you sure we're not dead? You know I hit my head pretty hard," I said.

Lezlie pinched me, making me make a noise. "Ouch," I said.

"So you're still alive," she said.

"It seems so for now," I replied.

The only thing Lezlie told me before we arrived at the council building was that Shou's friend had arranged this place for us. They said it was safer for us for the time being. Apparently, Lezlie didn't know as much about many things as I did. So we were going to the council building to get answers to our questions and find out together.

At the entrance, winged guards with armored equipment opened the door directly as if they knew us without asking who we were. It wasn't nice to boast, but we had managed to enter the council building with our hands-free. This meant that they knew who we were, so we had to be careful against every possibility. The building was large inside, but it was clear where we were going. There were enough guards around. For a moment, I assumed that the whole world was here and that the winged people were preparing for it.

We finally arrived at the hall we wanted. Most of the hall was filled with speeches and the rest of the hall was filled with chairs and tables. I'd seen very few winged people in all the time I'd been here, but now I realized why. The chairs and hall were full of them. On the left side of the hall stood Hiroshi and the others. I was very happy to see them all. Although everyone was intact, Hiroshi's bandages couldn't help but catch my eye. As usual, he had a cigar in his mouth.

"Yes, we're not really dead. But where are we?" At that moment, a voice from the center of the dais said, "You are now in the court of the winged."

Lezlie and I were suddenly ushered into Hiroshi's section, amidst the rising voices of the winged people. A large man with four wings then stood up in the middle of the bench to speak and bring order to the hall.

"Silence, the trial begins," he bellowed in a booming voice that silenced the entire hall.

"My name is Gıru, I am the leader of the winged, and I also serve as the judge in this court. You are here today because of the trouble you have brought upon the winged race," Gıru explained.

The winged people began to murmur among themselves at the mention of trouble, but Gıru quickly silenced them.

"That's enough, silence. Now the jury will deliberate on the issues that have arisen and the reason for your presence here," Gıru commanded.

A group of six people called the jury, took their seats. I wasn't sure if they were on our side or against us until one of them spoke up.

"Your Honour, the identity of the people from the land was not known until they arrived. Once their identities were confirmed, there was quite a commotion. These individuals were brought here at the request of Karina, the granddaughter of a man who once produced weapons for our people," the jury member explained.

The judge then turned his attention to Karina, who was with us, and asked, "Karina, do you agree with the jury's statement?"

The winged girl, Karina, stepped forward and spoke in our defense.

"Sir, I agree with the jury's statement, but I want to clarify that the people behind me are no longer wanted. The king has withdrawn his charges against them."

The judge interrupted Karina.

"I am aware that they are no longer wanted and I know who they are, Karina."

"Then what is the issue, sir?"

Juri interrupted her.

"The issue is that by bringing your friends here, you have made us all targets."

"Targets? What are you talking about, Juno?"

"You kidnapped the third epic's prisoner and brought him here. You brought the so-called heroes that the epics were searching for. More dangerously, you have drawn Miron's attention to us."

Hiroshi usually avoided joining conversations but he couldn't resist helping someone who was defending us.

"I apologize for interrupting, but it doesn't make sense for an entire bloodline to fear just one person."

The judge understood Hiroshi's point but there seemed to be something he wanted us to know.

"As much as we hate to admit it, we are dealing with Miron. He rules our enemies, the lineage of death, with his current power."

The man in the jury who had been speaking supported the judge.

"We have been informed that Miron knows you are here and he is preparing his army to kill you, us, and everyone else here."

"Why does he want to do this? " Hiroshi said.

With a sigh, the judge was about to say something he didn't want to say. "The death line and our line have an ancient enmity, an ancestral enmity. But it never led to a great war until Miron came along. He joined the death line and turned their leader against us, giving him powers he had never seen before. Miron could now manipulate him, so he started a war. I fought a great battle with their leader to stop this war. I won the battle but I could never fly or fight again. That's exactly what Miron wanted. When I defeated the leader of the death line, he declared himself the new leader. Everyone had to accept it because no one else could control the spirits but him."

I wanted to support our conversation but I couldn't do it with just one thought. I had other questions in my mind and we all deserved to know the answers." "What about the evolved creatures?"

"What do you mean?" Judge said.

"On the battlefield, we saw one of you, a winged one. Our friend, with his consent, used his blood and managed to destroy an evolved creature."I said

I was having a hard time explaining my thoughts, but the judge understood me immediately. "They are not creatures," he said. "They were once human beings, but unfortunately they evolved into mutants. They all have different personalities and are almost too difficult to kill."

"Do you know where they come from?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Listen," I said. "I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I'm a doctor. I've studied the human body for a long time and I have to say that mutants are not created by nature."

"So someone designs them," the judge concluded.

"Think about it," I continued. "Why are the epics just digging mines all this time? To extract minerals, of course. I've been in the mines for a long time and I've seen most of the dwarves change because of the different minerals in the mines. But their changes are short-term and without a factor."

"So if someone is using minerals to not only give them permanence and ferocity but also make them into mutants…" The judge finally understood what I meant and I replied happily, "Exactly."

The jury kept looking for logic in our conversations. "What does this have to do with anything?" one of them asked.

In response, I wanted them to know what they were up against. "What if it's Miron who's making these mutants and he's just waiting for the right time to strike?"

Hiroshi joined my speech and once again impressed people with his words. "If you ask me," he said, "Miron was looking for an excuse to attack you sooner or later. And as my friend said, they have something very powerful. I don't know if it's mutants, but I saw it with my own eyes when they held me prisoner."

The jury insisted on disagreeing with us and kept pushing us with their sentences. "Sir," one of them said, "even if what they say is true, we can't trust them. As you know, Wedan aka the Prince of Ice used to work for the epics and now he's working with our opponents. And for the record, he has injured several of our men."

As everyone turned their heads towards Wedan, our new recruit, he began to speak in a strange way. "Giru," he said, "it's been a long time. How are you? I hope you're not still mad at me for freezing the warehouse. I know I was wrong, but I've really settled down now. Let's not blame others for my mistakes, okay?"

Hiroshi rubbed his forehead when he heard Wedan's desperate speech. "I need painkillers," he muttered.

Since Mila was the one who found Wedan, she knew him better than we did. So she would be the one to tell us whether or not to trust him. But Mila trusted him more than I expected. "Your Honor," she said, "my name is Mila and as the last princess and heiress of the Sea Kingdom, I vouch for Wedan and my friends."

Wedan was mumbling something funny behind my back. "This girl is definitely in love with me," he said.

The judge was finally about to make his decision. "Listen," he said, "I know you don't mean any harm, but what you're asking is very dangerous…"

He hadn't finished speaking when Shou appeared with slow steps in front of the court. Everyone who saw him looked at him with admiration, as if he was quite recognizable. Shou took his sword out of its hilt and grasped it with both hands, with the sword pointing to the ground.

"You know who I am and where I come from," he said. "No more, no less. We didn't mean to bring you trouble, but trouble is closer than you think. So I will tell you only once: either you join us or you get out of our way."

After these words, the judge had to make a decision. After looking at us and his people, he began to speak. "Very well," he said. "Contact the King and get ready. We will fight."