Haley woke up in a steel prison cage. She slowly got up and noticed her weapons were missing. She looked at Brent having his arms crossed, looking at Haley. “Well, well, well, it appears that the woman who murdered my son is waking up. We can have a nice chat while I take you to the capital, where your head will roll!”

Haley grunted, “Look if it means anything, I am sorry for killing your son. I really did not know his identity.”

Brent sighed, “If you had bested him in combat, like real combat, I might have even overlooked it and just banished you. But, the way you killed him, taking his weakness and exploiting it. He was supposed to get married when he got home from his first hunt. You can rot here for a while, we are nearing the wall, once we get over it, you are done for.” Brent walked away.

Haley grabbed a pin from her ponytail and managed to unlocked her cuffs, then she unlocked the waistband that had been locked around her waist to keep her wings in check, next up are the other cuffs around her feet. She wanted to touch the collar around her neck. It gave her a jolt of electricity. Haley tried summoning energy but it did not work. Haley sighed and mumbled, “Power preventing collar.”

She lay down on the floor and listened to the breeze under her. After a while, she found the spot where the wind under blew the hardest. Haley grabbed the cuff and rammed it on a weak spot. It cracked through the floor, then she used it as a can opener and wind blew in her face. She grunted, “The things I do for freedom.” Haley jumped head first through the hole she had made. Avoiding some kind of engine on the way out. Her wings spread out, slowing her descent just a little. She wrapped them around her and braced for impact.

She crashed down with a massive impact, near a giant wall. Haley slowly got up and noticed her left arm had a bone sticking out of it, her legs had been bruised, and her left leg also had a bone sticking out of her. A lot of purple blood lay on the ground. Her right wing is broken, her left wing bent the wrong way. Haley looked as the airship stopped moving and starting to land. Haley grunted and started running, she had to push through the pain, stopping now would mean she jumped for nothing.

She ran into a cave and tried to use energy to stop her bleeding, that is when she remembered, the power collar. It had protected her neck from damage, there is that. Haley did not have much time to check out the cave. Luckily, there are no monsters roaming about. She heard a voice, Brent’s voice, “Haley? Did you actually survive that drop? You might be a worthy adversary after all!” Haley pushed herself against the wall and tried to stop breathing.

Haley heard a sword coming out of its sheath. “I can smell your blood Haley!” She looked around, she saw a waterfall in the cave with a stream of water going down. She would normally never do this, but it seems she is running out of options. Haley charged forward and saw Brent tuning the corner. Haley jumped into the waterfall, ignoring her pain. She slid down the waterfall and got bashed against multiple things, including a giant rock against her head.

She rolled down into some kind of building. There seemed to be medical equipment. However, it appears as if there had not been anyone here in many years as dust and dirt covered everything. Haley slowly got up, she could feel blood streaming down her cheeks.

She started walking as she heard Brent call out, “I am coming after you.” Haley grunted in pain, she turned the corner and bumped into a woman.

She gasped, “You are not looking too well.”

Brent called out, “I am going down the slide Haley, you are going to die!”

The woman looked at Haley, “Come with me if you want to live.”

Haley nodded, “I am going to trust you.”

The woman led her to a secret hole in a wall and Haley followed her. She soon came to a rope ladder. The woman helped her up the rope ladder, and they came out into an alleyway. The woman grabbed Haley’s hand and pulled her to a house standing away from the others, it did not look very modern. Haley followed the woman into the house. She quickly closed the door. Haley sat down, “Thanks for the save.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The woman looked at her, “You are not looking too well.” Haley closed her eyes and blacked out.

Haley woke up eventually by the sensation of warm water. She gasped awake and noticed she sat in a tub of warm water, and plenty of bubbles. The woman seemed to be mending her right wing. The woman smiled at her, Red, long hair clumsily hangs over a thin, time-worn face. Round amber eyes, set concealed within her sockets. “Hello there, I hope I did not scare you too much, or that you are too bothered by the fact that I undressed you. You were heavily wounded and blacked out. I have been working on tending your wounds for the last three hours.”

Haley leaned back, “No, it is alright. Thank you for helping me, my name is Haley Rockwell, what is your name?”

The woman smiled, “Just Shirley is fine. Why is the king chasing you?”

Haley sighed, “You will hate me if I tell you.”

Shirley shook her head, “I can sense your void energy, even with that collar on. And in case you haven’t noticed, I have seen your void wings and tail.”

Haley grumbled, “If you are going to hate me and kick me out of your house, might as well get it over with. I killed Lance, I did not know he was the king’s son, and he tried to execute me.”

Shirley nodded, “I see, well, I think that is doing something right. I am one of the few people that are hunted down by the king. Hence, me skulking around in places where I don’t belong, scavenging for canned food. Not the best thing around, but it keeps me alive. Then I bumped into you, you were running with your bone sticking out of your left leg, oh and your left arm as well. You seem to have a high pain tolerance.”

Haley chuckled awkwardly, “Yes I have a high pain tolerance. What is your problem with the king?”

Shirley sighed, “I come from Boluga, did you ever hear of it? It got wiped out when I was little. They sought help from the king, but he just wanted to keep his little island save. As a little girl, I snuck on the airship, and got stranded here. I have been living by myself mostly. Do you come from the land below?”

Haley nodded and winced in pain as Shirley bent something in her wing the right way. Shirley smiled, “Are there many places to research?”

Haley shook her head, “Most of it is covered by the void.”

Shirley nodded with disappointment, “And where do you come from?”

Haley looked around, “I am going to be quite honest with you, seeing the situation we are in. My dad told me to trust my instinct, and it tells me, I can trust you. My mom and dad were captured by the void, I have been born in the void, hence my attributes. For the last eighteen years, I have been in the void.”

Shirley gasped, “that sounds horrible! Would you mind giving me your other wing?” Haley turned around and gave her left wing to Shirley. She immediately started cleaning her left wing and tending her wounds. “If you don’t want me to tend your wounds, or you know patch you up like this, just say the word.”

Haley smiled, “Don’t worry, I am enjoying the fact that you are patching me up. As for the land below, I have barely spent over three weeks there. I came here with my mom and dad, along with some friends to find an artifact to stop the void.”

Shirley looked at Haley, “Do you want to stop the void because it captured you?”

Haley shook her head, “I want to do it because it is the right thing to do.”

After Haley had been patched up, she got up, she looked around and pointed at the towel. Shirley handed it to her while looking away. Haley smiled, “I think you saw enough when treating to my wounds. And seeing the severity of said wounds, I am going to have problems with fighting for a while. Can you help me get this power collar off? My energy can help with mending my internal wounds.”

Shirley nodded, “I can see what we can do about that.” Haley got out of the tub but winced in pain as she put her left foot down and almost slipped. Shirley caught her, “Oh, be careful there, you were hurt really badly.”

Haley nodded and sat down. Shirley looked at her, “What did you even do to get this injured?”

Haley laughed, “I jumped out of an airship!”