As Adon held the brown feather in the air, thinking about how he might move it through the air with his Telekinesis, a shape emerged from the crag he had been watching.

In an instant, his focus left the feather and locked in on the brown shape.

The Golden Eagle was back.

A single, powerful wingbeat took it to the skies above Adon. As the butterfly instinctively began flying after it, slightly stunned at the sight of the majestic creature, the wind that the eagle left in its wake shook Adon’s body.

It had kicked up with what felt like a gale with what had appeared to be a relatively small motion of its wings. He saw out of the corner of his vision that the same winds struck the feather he had been testing his powers on, and the slender brown shape spiraled downward, twirling rapidly like a leaf in a hurricane force wind.

How are its wings that powerful? Adon wondered for far from the first time. His mind returned to the possibility that the Golden Eagle could control the wind somehow, though again, he had seen no hint of Mana usage.

As he considered the possibility that perhaps the eagle had some sort of special organ for manipulating the wind, he reminded himself that the big bird was getting away. The distance between them was growing by the second, even as he flapped every more frantically.

The eagle was not flying anywhere near the top speed Adon had seen it employ before. It was soaring, going for height and minimal effort rather than speed and distance. The curved head looked downward, scanning the forest below the mountain. It was searching for more prey.

Of course, it’s hunting again, he thought. I need to take advantage of this opportunity.

Adon flew up to find one of the strong air currents he had harnessed earlier, and he continued flying as quickly as he could, trying to cut the distance between himself and the great bird of prey.

For a moment it seemed he was getting close, only for the eagle to wheel and turn to fly in another direction.

Its head did not turn in Adon’s direction, but he was tempted for a moment to think that the eagle had some ability similar to the owl’s—that, in addition to forcefully propelling the wind around its body, it could also sense objects floating in the nearby winds—but Adon did not think the eagle was even in the same air current that he occupied, which had seemed to be a requirement for the owl to sense him without seeing him.

He narrowed the gap between himself and the eagle again. This time, he would test out whether it could detect attacks coming from its blind spot.

Adon hovered in the air above the eagle’s head, in the region that he was confident it was physically impossible for the forward-facing eyes of a predator to spot him. He began charging a Mana ball, which formed quickly just in front of his curled proboscis.

The attack charged more quickly than it ever had before, as Adon’s eagerness and state of high energy all fueled the concentration of power in front of his head.

Yes, that’s it, he thought. Just another second, and—

A sound like a thunderclap rolled through the air, along with winds so intense that Adon’s body performed a sudden involuntary somersault.

His eyes were barely able to track the accompanying movement as the eagle dove out of the sky.

Wha…?

Adon felt almost certain that the eagle had not noticed the Mana ball that he was charging—he now began pulling the energy back into his core—but then why?

He steadied his body’s position and followed after the Golden Eagle. His opponent had descended into the woods, and Adon saw now that it was just striking the ground as he got a look at it.

Its velocity had increased from its rocket-like start to its landing attack. As it struck the prey—Adon poured Mana into his eyes to enhance his vision and saw that it was a small fox, probably a juvenile—the butterfly recognized the same strike, posturing, and general move set he had seen from the Golden Eagle the previous day, when it killed the capercaillie.

Interesting. It strikes like a bolt of lightning, does an intimidating pose, looks from side to side as if daring a challenger to come forward—but it doesn’t look behind. It’s not really worried that something could ambush it… although, in fairness, there’s nothing else besides another eagle that could have followed directly in its path. That speed was incredible.

Its claws were busy with the fox, and it was not looking directly behind it. Adon wondered if he could use this information for his own attack.

He started trying to put together a better plan than his simple sneak attack idea.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I can wait until he dives again, and then… and then… wait, no, that won’t work. When he dives, he moves faster than when he’s doing anything else. I can barely follow his movements when he’s just soaring through the air without giving a thought to me. I can’t keep up with his dive, can I? How is he so fast when he’s seemingly just falling through the air? I guess it helps that he’s no longer going against gravity…

Adon saw the eagle take off again, the dead fox clutched in its talons. An idea struck him for how his nascent plan might be salvageable after all.

I need to test something.

Adon watched the great bird’s trajectory for a few seconds, then adjusted his flight trajectory and speed so as to be able to cut off its path to the crag where its nest lay.

This time, he cut the distance between himself and the bird down much more quickly than he had earlier. Perhaps the Golden Eagle thought it could relax now that it had its prey firmly in its grip.

When Adon got to within ten feet of the eagle, he used Telekinesis again. He visualized his invisible fist, wrapping around and grabbing hold of the eagle’s head. And he pulled.

As he had imagined, the invisible fist was far too weak to move the eagle toward him. However, perhaps because Adon was imagining the fist as an extension of his body, it pulled him toward the eagle instead. Without him needing to do anything special with his wings, or find any new air current, he was closing the distance with the enemy at incredible speed.

Best of all, the bird did not even appear to react to Adon’s Telekinetic touch. It seemed to continue flying as if everything was normal.

Its strong, steady wings bore it ever upwards and forward, but slowly, without any sense of urgency. It was returning home to its mountainside, food clutched in its talons. What could there possibly be to worry about?

Adon found it easy to pull himself along behind the eagle, steadily drawing closer and essentially ignoring the wind for once. It was a strange experience for him as a flying creature, not needing to worry about the effect of air currents on his flight speed and path.

But even weak Telekinesis seemed to be a powerful and versatile ability.

As Adon closed in on the Golden Eagle, and the distance to the mountainside closed to around fifty feet, he began quickly charging his Mana ball again. This time, he would fire it from as close to point blank range as he could—let the eagle try to get away from that!

The warmth rose in his body as Mana coursed through it, pooling in front of his coiled proboscis again, ready to be launched like a sneeze—if sneezes tore right through whatever organic tissue they touched.

The eagle wheeled and changed directions. For a moment, Adon thought his cover was blown. But the eagle eyes still had not shifted toward the butterfly, and as he felt the wind ruffle his wings, he recognized that the bird had just shifted into a different air current, slowing down slightly as it made its final descent.

It was barely even moving its wings now—Adon knew that because of how much the eagle agitated the air around him with even seemingly small movements, as if it was a much larger creature than it was.

I only have one shot at this, Adon thought. Time had rushed by faster than he would have imagined possible. No, it’s just that even when it’s moving at a leisurely pace, this damn bird is so fast…

He did not want to contemplate the possibility of following the eagle into its dark eyrie. A confined space with an apex predator seemed like just the wrong way to use his advantages—and perhaps an excellent way to get killed. In a dark, stony hole like the eagle’s home, even his invisibility would not serve him.

Adon pulled in as close as he dared, tugging his body to within a foot of the back of the eagle’s head. He could now see the fine details of every feather that rippled on its back. The body that seemed so majestic and graceful at a distance was smaller and more fragile up close than Adon would ever have imagined.

Yes, it could tear him apart—or even swallow him whole. But its body must be quite light, he observed. Perhaps as little as ten pounds? He would not have guessed that something that could kill much heavier animals would seem so small and vulnerable when he got to within firing range.

And as he thought of the Golden Eagle being within firing range, the Mana ball that stood poised in front of Adon’s head finally felt ready. Strong enough to go through whatever obstacle he fired it at.

I should probably be regretting that I’m going to take you out like an assassin with a bullet in the head, without you ever getting to see me. It seems cowardly and dishonorable… except that you kind of killed the capercaillie and that poor little fox there the same way. You dropped from out of the sky with no warning at all, like one of those metal rods that the War Department from my last world would drop from space. So, I guess what I’m saying is… you’re just getting your medicine? Um, yeah! Turnabout is fair play.

With the eagle poised to enter the crag almost immediately, Adon let fly.

The Mana ball flew from his head toward the eagle’s body. The air hissed slightly as the orb of concentrated energy moved through it. The ball closed to within a few inches.

Then it seemed that an unseen force had decided to protect the bird. The Mana ball reached perhaps two inches from the eagle’s feathery head, and the wind or something equally invisible sent it careening off to the side. Instead of continuing its short, straight path down into the eagle’s head, the ball curved around its neck and continued downward.

What?

As Adon looked on in horror, the Mana ball missed the eagle’s body entirely and fell toward the soil, spinning brightly through the air as if it, too, had been caught in the power of the bird’s wings, despite having been launched from directly behind where the force of those wings should reach.

No. Wait. What?! How?

Adon’s mind flatly refused to accept what had just happened. As he stared numbly after his attack—which fell until it struck the stony mountainside some distance below, bounced once, struck rock again, and then disappeared from view—the Golden Eagle slipped up and then around the rocks that stood between the open air and its nest.

The butterfly retained the presence of mind to release his telekinetic hold on the eagle’s head—he still did not want to be dragged into the bird’s nest alongside it.

And he watched as the prey he thought he’d had dead to rights disappeared back into its home.

No!