[Ugh…] I grunted audibly, as a soft chiming sound interrupted my preparations to lie down and rest for the night.

The feeling of agitation at the sudden unwelcome intrusion on my cherished sleeping time blew incessantly at the, as of late, ever-glowing embers of anger smoldering in the pits of my heart, a remnant of the last few days of constant flight and endless confrontations with the local wildlife.

Ever since the late night encounter with the mage and his companion-

Or was it actually companions?

...

Either way, over the course of the past few days, I have been running away, trying to put as much distance between myself and the ones hunting me as possible. In the end though, not even once did it truly feel as if I was far enough. The ever present feeling of danger that urged me on only got worse, when on the second night, I experienced the out of place sensation of dread yet again, but this time, with a much greater intensity than ever before.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that I have hardly allowed myself a wink of sleep, and was feeling considerably tired. It took me over two weeks to finally calm down just enough to be able to sleep for a few hours, and yet here I was, still wide awake.

*chime* but the annoying sound didn’t seem to be going anywhere, nor did it appear to be merely an auditory hallucination dead set on pestering me. More importantly than that, it seemed to be getting closer-

*chime* I knew I should have been alarmed by the sound, but for some reason it had the opposite effect on me. It felt soothing, and gentle… not unlike home.

“Heh, trying to trick me, aren’t you?” I chuckled inwardly.

*chime*

The sound was drawing increasingly nearer.

“Dammit!” I cursed my bad luck.

Gathering my wits, I started looking around for a suitable hiding spot.  

Unfortunately unlike the last time, I was now far too big to successfully pull off hiding myself atop a tree branch. Since the events that unfolded throughout the last few days wouldn’t really let me alleviate my sleep deprivation through actual sleep, I had to find another way to replenish my energy. And the only one that came to mind was eating…. A whole lot of eating.

At first, I made due with a handful of small critters, preferring not to waste precious time and energy looking for bigger prey. However, soon I came to realise that even in spite of all that effort I was putting into fleeing the nasty old man, I wasn’t truly making a whole lot of progress at all, courtesy of that disgusting slimy goo covering my wings. As if making my stomach turn wasn’t bad enough, the horrible substance even had to keep obstructing my mobility, and rather significantly at that, while still managing to tire me out both mentally and physically.

Honestly, my patience was nearing its limit. I caught myself subconsciously scratching pieces of dirt off my wings more than once. My agitation seemed to only grow stronger with each passing second, and if I allowed this to go on any longer, the camouflage would be rendered completely useless under the unrelenting onslaught of my fingernails.

In the end, any resolution I might have initially had to keep the tiny semblance of subterfuge that disgusting layer of filth provided me with, simply ended up giving way to my inner desires.

Washing off all that filth felt heavenly. I truly felt liberated for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately as expected, that’s when the larger predators started showing up, seemingly attracted to the mysterious source of light.

It didn’t take me long to realise that the never ending influx of predators was actually a gift in disguise. And I decided to make good use of that gift, capitalising on the fact that food was now coming to me of it’s own volition. And as I hunted, I grew stronger, faster, deadlier... and as I was lamenting at this very moment, significantly bigger.

*chime*

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The extreme sleep deprivation truly seemed to be doing a number on me, as my mind kept losing focus, darting all over the place, costing me precious time. Searching for the source of this disturbance, I cupped my long pointy ears in an attempt to focus my hearing.

*chime* Turning my head in the direction the sound was coming from, I spotted a pale light emanating from beyond the densely growing trees. Straining my ears even further, I could make out the playful melody of a lute accompanied by the joyful trills of a flute, and obviously, a chime.

I couldn’t really allow myself the luxury of finding out what any of this actually meant, as I was quickly running out of time.

“This is bad”.

*chime*

Not wasting a moment further, I took a deep breath to calm myself down and started looking around. It would appear that this part of the woods was situated on a mountainous terrain, as various hillocks, mounds and slopes adorned the landscape around me.

“This could work to my advantage.” I arrived at a conclusion, as my eyes analyzed each and every possible nook and cranny I could shove myself into, before the other party found me.

“Not good.” I thought as I realised, that I was currently sitting mere meters away from a modest animal trail, the likeliest of routes their party was to take if they wanted to avoid stumbling on any of the innumerable twisting roots and bushes scattered all over the place.

*chime* the only thing separating the origin of the sound from me at this point, was a bunch of thickets.

“Seems like the time’s up. Best make my move now while I still can.”

Slapping my cheeks with just enough force to sober up for a few precious seconds, I started sluggishly moving towards a shallow ravine. Picking up the charcoal-black feather, my only treasured possession, I threw myself down the nearly vertical slope, landing on top of a cushion of moss and leaves.

Summoning forth the last bit of energy that remained in my tired body, I pulled myself into a shallow opening in the cliff face, hiding myself below the twisting dried roots of a giant tree.

*chime* This time, the sound came directly from above.

I just wanted to close my eyes and hold my breath until it was all over, but I knew better. Closing your eyes during a crucial moment such as this one was a one way trip to the land of disaster and regret. Still, there was no harm in being careful, so I did decide to hold my breath, just in case.

Then it hit me.

“The sound has stopped…”

I could feel my heart somersault as adrenaline assaulted each and every aching muscle in my body. Before I could stand up and make a run for it, an out of place sensation assaulted my senses.

My hand shot up reflexively, aiming for whichever creature had latched itself onto me, but instead of pain, I was greeted by the sensation of soft, fluffy feathers. Ones that I was very familiar with.

Turning my head, a smile spread over my lips as I spotted a tiny pixie hugging my shoulder, grinning profusely. I chuckled as I gently and carefully returned the greeting. It has been such a long time since I’ve been with my kin, that the joy of reunion momentarily made me forget the situation I was in right now.

Closing my eyes in silent appreciation of this gesture, I breathed in deeply, savoring the scent of home that I have missed so dearly. The bliss only lasted for but a short moment though, as I was brought out of my nostalgia induced daze by a series of few weak tugs on one of my wings.

Turning my attention away from the mismatched hug, another little fairy floated into my line of sight, visibly pouting at me for ignoring her for so long. Extending my other arm towards the little rascal, we entered into a three-way hug, and I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

Meanwhile, the number of visitors had increased yet again, and it wasn’t about to stop just yet. In just 20 seconds, there was a small flock of pixies latching onto me, pulling my hair and nestling against my wings eagerly. I was just about to scold them, when a few words broke the silence.

[Little sisters, where have you gone?] a gently sounding male voice spoke in the darkness.

This startled me, but the other pixies didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

[Little sisters?] a different, female voice called out to them.

One of the pixies seemed to have stirred from her stupor, as she started tugging on my fingers as if trying to pull me towards the voices.

There was no way in hell I was going to go though. Not in this lifetime, not after what I have gone through.

“Would it really be so bad though? They seemed to get along well with my kin.” I thought for a moment, but shook my head to get rid of these doubts.

The little pixie tugging me had apparently grown impatient, as she resorted to a different strategy. She snatched the only thing on me that she could - the feather.

I stared dumbly at her back, as she took off into the night with the only worldly thing I cared about.

I panicked. Fear gripped my heart, as adrenaline surged forth yet again, and I stood up with vigor I wouldn’t expect my exhausted body to be capable of. Before I could stop myself, I was already flying after the little thief. Too late did I realise, that there was scarcely anything between me and the road.

So there I was in full view, floating in the air with my wings glowing brighter than the stars, with but my long sparkling black hair and a flock of pixies covering my modesty. There they stood, mouths agape, staring directly at me.