On his journey, Ryn made a quick stop at Gideon's place and requested a new weapon, seeking an upgrade from the ordinary dagger he had previously. Unfortunately, Gideon declined the request and only fixed up and honed the existing blade.

Ryn didn’t wait long before he scaled the tree and arrived at the nest. But he was shocked to see that the nest was occupied and prepared for another assault, only this time nothing happened.

“What is this?” Ryn exclaimed, noticing a unfamiliar bird settling in the nest.

“What is this intruder doing here? Hey! Shoo Shoo!” Ryn attempted to scare the unexpected guest away.

Ryn couldn’t tell if the nest was over taken with the absence of the eggs and their mother. So he tried to shoo the intruder away.

“Wait!....”

‘Didn’t that one snatch one egg yesterday? But it wasn’t carrying anything when it was falling and even when it flew away.’

“So, shouldn’t it be back by now?”

Ryn thought since the mother bird he knocked out the other day didn’t escape with all of the eggs, it would be natural for it to return to its nest and eggs.

“Unless..”

Ryn neared the nest, cautiously peeking over its edge to catch a full view of its current occupant.

“I knew it. This one killed her.”

Now that he could see most of its body, he could also see its blood soaked talons and some dark spots sticking to it. Probably feathers of the victim.

Ryn took out his training swords and was preparing to strike it but halted for a moment.

‘Before i attack, i should know what it is first’

Ryn searched it in the fauna of the forest he memorized before, while closing his eyes. After quickly skimming through its pages, he arrived at the page that had details of it. Then recited the content in it.

“A white, elegant bird of prey with piercing red eyes that seem to look straight into your soul. Its majestic wings span the sky like a royal cape, exuding an aura of power and grace. With talons sharp as daggers, this magnificent bird strikes fear into the hearts of its prey, ruling the skies with unparalleled majesty.”

“Ruling the skies my a–”

‘Those words again!’ he Sighed internally.

Ryn was about to bad mouth how that house stealing thief was referred to as a ruler when it was nothing but mere nest robber, when his mouth started to go off.

“I should be careful of what i say, and find out what the origin of this words are”

Stolen story; please report.

Those words started coming out of his mouth after he uttered them first when he found himself in a sudden dangerous position. And now he almost said it in a fit of anger.

“I should use this one for the house thief”

Ryn took out the dagger from his waist, sheathing his training swords. And proceeded to stab it right between its wings, since he couldn’t see its neck or head.

THUD!

“HA?”

Ryn was surprised by the sound first then how the bird didn’t react at all.

‘Hmm’

Now that he was almost climbing on its back, Ryn realized the bird wasn’t warm, nor did he hear or feel any sound or vibration coming from it. Nothing to indicate it is a life.

“It can’t be that I killed it with just that, right?” Ryn questioned loudly.

He wanted to believe that he finished it off with just one single strike, but he knew it was unlikely, from yesterday's experience.

“If not, was it dead already then!?”

The only other option if he didn’t kill it was that something else did.

‘But how? I don’t see any wounds.’

Ryn scanned it closely, now that he was in the nest with it, but he couldn’t find any injury on its body.

‘It just looks sad!’

Ryn didn’t know what it was, but something about the white feathers that turned gloomy, or the twisted neck under its belly, or just the air around the nest—now that he was inside—was gloomy and sad.

“I should first look for that swiftbeak bird first.”

Ryn couldn’t understand how the elegant SilverMist bird was in such a sad state, even if it was an intruder who forced another bird out of its nest.

But first he decided to look for the one who was kicked out.

He also grabbed some of the stuff stuck in the talons of the silver mist before he left the nest.

“Isn’t this fur? A dark one at that”

Ryn checked closely the patches he retrieved from the Silvermist’s talons after he climbed down from the nest and it appeared to be a fur.

‘I don’t think Swiftbeaks have fur this dark.’

Ryn then glanced around to search for the fur around the tree, but there was none. He then looked around for a place the Swiftbeak would make its nest at.

“There are not that many of this type of tree around.”

He could see the number of the tree as high as the one he just climbed down from where not that many.

“I should start looking then.”

Ryn kept looking for any visible nest first from the ground and went from one tree to another.

On his search, Ryn reached a dense part of the forest where the last two trees stood tall.

Right in his path, he stumbled upon scattered blood marks in an area that seemed to be a battleground.

Ryn was taken aback by the scene, a place where a fierce battle had evidently transpired.

“This is... white feathers?”

To his surprise, he discovered a white feather that likely belonged to the deceased Silver Mist.

‘This fur looks familiar too.’

He also came across several small patches of fur identical to the one he held.

Scanning the surroundings, Ryn spotted a trail of blood leading away from where he came. Following it along, as it aligned with his path.

*RUSTLE!*

Striding through the dense area, tracking the blood trail closely, Ryn heard a sudden rustling up ahead.

Then, out of the shadows leaped a creature, pouncing on him with alarming speed and aggression.

With no time to dodge or counter, Ryn instinctively shielded his upper body with one arm, holding onto the satchel with the other. The force of the attack sent him sprawling, narrowly avoiding collision with a nearby tree.

Caught off guard, Ryn struggled to identify what the creature held in its jaws, as it moved swiftly and blinded him with glimmering fangs - a MoonHowl.

“Not this time,” Ryn bellowed.

Instead of defending, he dropped his stance and launched a counterattack. The MoonHowl narrowly missed, feeling the impact of two consecutive hits from Ryn.

Whimper!

Perceiving Ryn’s strikes as real swords, the MoonHowl whimpered in panic. Ryn used the creature’s momentum to steer it off to the side, almost tossing it over his head.

But in doing so, the MoonHowl stumbled closer to where Ryn had secured his satchel earlier.

“...a kitten?” Ryn muttered.

Getting a closer look at what the MoonHowl clenched in its jaws, Ryn saw a small jet-black furred kitten.

“HISS.”

The tiny kitten, lying motionless and shocked, hissed at Ryn as he inched closer.

Remaining vigilant, Ryn kept his gaze on the MoonHowl, observing it lick its wounds and prepare to strike once more.

Unfazed by Ryn’s belongings nearby, the MoonHowl, driven by false confidence, disregarded the harmless fangs of its opponent and lunged forward, launching into another fierce assault.