Tai had a pounding headache. He was also dizzy, and the wind grating on his skin didn't make him any better. He hoped and prayed for the bird to stop somewhere—anywhere nearby—to put him out of his misery. Instead, it flew on towards the nearest set of mountains.

It might've been an hour or five, but eventually, the bird smoothly descended towards an expansive assortment of pillars made of rock. It was a stark contrast to the blanket of trees everywhere else.

As the bird neared the stone pillars, Tai found out with dread that they had reached not only the nesting space of the bird but for the rest of its kind. Thousands of gray stone pillars stood tall at various heights, and each housed a nest upon their flat tops. Large numbers of birds, all of the same species, flew in and out of their habitat.

Deafening, high-pitched squeaks of what seemed to be the baby versions of the birds resounded throughout the entire area. With his severe headache, those babies were nothing short of vile.

As Tai was writhing in mental pain, his carrier took an abrupt dive and smoothly glided towards a nest with three hungry chicks and two eggs lying by the rim, as if abandoned.

When the bird was right above that nest, he felt its grasp on him disappear, and he fell right in.

He clumsily landed deep within the nest of sticks as thick as his waist. Not long after, three bloodstained yellow beaks stabbed at where he fell with deadly force, threatening to kill him.

Tai delved into the large nest and quickly squeezed his body through the openings between the myriad of sticks.

The chicks' immature chirps became feral, but Tai was now too deep to care about them. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Crack! Crack!

A huge, familiar beak stabbed into the nest rapidly. With each stab, it came dangerously close to where Tai was hiding. Despite that, he remained unmoving. From the pattern of the adult bird’s movements, it definitely doesn’t have a clue of where he was.

The bird screeched in anger and stabbed its nest in a frenzy, not caring for where he was. The attacks strayed farther and farther from where Tai hid, much to his relief.

…

Nighttime came, and the cacophony of chirps gradually quieted. Tai remained still. The chicks and their mother nestled into their nest and were now in a deep slumber, not far from him. Surprisingly, the mother was wide awake.

Through the uneven openings, Tai managed to glimpse the face of the mother bird. The look in its eyes wasn't unfamiliar to him; it was cold, merciless, and cruel. The creature surveyed its nest, obviously still looking for him.

Three days have passed, and Tai was long past sore from being curled in one position for so long. The good thing, however, is that he managed to have a thorough idea of the mother bird’s routine.

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She leaves her nest as the sun rises and returns in three hours with food for her babies. That is the longest time she leaves her nest. After which, she stays by her children's side.

The night was currently giving way to dawn, and the mother bird, who woke up before her chicks, was picking her feathers, looking relaxed. Occasionally, she would survey the floor of her nest, trying to find him.

Once the first ray of sunshine touched the birds' habitat, she flew off, leaving a gust of wind that woke up her chicks. After their initial flurry, they settled once again, cuddling each other and drifting into slumber.

Tai slowly, yet carefully, crawled out of his hiding spot. It was painfully hard to do so because of his numb hands and feet. He carefully treaded towards the edge of the nest.

Suddenly, he heard the shrieks of thousands of birds, like a mighty roar. It was so loud—the very air vibrated. The shriller, immature shrieks of baby birds resounded immediately after, creating an air of confusion and panic.

Tai soon saw ten, then twenty, followed by thousands upon thousands of birds in the sky, all flying in one direction. The fleet of birds darkened the barely lit surroundings. They made an intimidating sight.

The chicks in his nest also went into a frenzy. Amidst their panic, they spotted him. Tai's heart sank. The birds, who now seemed to have channeled all their panic into anger, chased him. They were fast but clumsy, and that allowed Tai to dodge them well, albeit awkwardly due to the odd terrain of the nest.

The birds zooming overhead had now disappeared, giving way to a clear sky. Tai hopped and dodged as he haphazardly ran towards the edge of the nest to find some kind of amnesty.

He was, unfortunately, too slow. He attacked a dangerously close chick with his knife with the intent to kill in one fell swoop. He dodged yet another clumsy peck from the chick and stabbed it in the chest.

As soon as the attack landed, he retrieved his weapon and dashed towards his goal. He just killed one of those things. His badly bruised pride had somewhat recovered.

Tai took the opportunity to climb to the edge of the nest while the bird shrieked in pain. Maybe the other birds were shocked at what happened, but he heard none of their footsteps following after him. In no time, he reached the top.

He paled.

What greeted him were the myriad of narrow stone pillars crowned with bird nests. Each pillar's surface was smooth and glossy. He knew that there was virtually no way of scaling down the stone pillar on which the nest was, but he hoped for maybe a weed growing along it, grooves in its surface, something—anything. There was nothing.

The baby birds behind him resumed their screeches, and this time, they sounded manic. He turned around.

Two baby birds, faster than ever, ran towards him. The dying baby bird was on its last breath. Its dull, unmoving eyes stared at him as if he were dead meat.

Tai brandished his weapon and hacked at the bird closest to him. The bird rushed in, its beak poised for a deadly attack. It struck at Tai as he hacked at its left eye.

They both missed.

His blade sliced the bird beneath its left eye, and the bird missed his body entirely. The clumsy baby bird shoved him off the nest with himself in tow.

Tai's scream drowned in the sea of the desperate shrieks of thousands of chicks. The familiar rush of wind around him welcomed the familiar terror from the depths of his heart.

Through the corners of his eyes, he saw a large, white bird followed by thousands of birds, whom he was now intimately familiar with. What stood out to him now, however, was that they were all flying towards him. The white bird elegantly dove below him, and before he knew it, he was on its back.

"Haha! You really don't see this every day!”