Finally.

Stepping away from the mangled corpse, I let out a great sigh of relief. The air was already cooling. And I didn’t need to even worry over having to re-adapt to the cold air, either. I had been able to finish her off before she had been able to truly heat up the surrounding environment.

We had caught her off-guard, while she still had been healing from wounds from the previous battle.

Shaking my right arm and hand free of some of the boiling blood, I lifted the heart up to see the difference between it and the male’s.

It was strangely bigger, and not as bright a pink. It too felt hot, but didn’t burn the skin like her blood had just been doing.

Like most hearts that have been recently ripped from their hosts, the thing looked strangely clean. As if I hadn’t just dug it out of flesh and bone.

Staring into the pink orb, I wondered what would happen if Miss Beak ate both of them. It worried me a little, since they were very powerful. Each one was stronger, holding more divinity, than the two dozen she had eaten on our journey to strengthen her enough to fight toe to toe with her parents.

There was a limit. I knew not what hers was, but there was indeed a cap on how many hearts one could devour. And it wasn’t just a physical limit either.

Half the time the monarchs broke in the mind before their bodies did.

Mother had explained it to me, but not enough to tell if a monarch was at that point yet or not. I had no way to tell if Miss Beak was close to her limit, or far from it. And something told me Miss Beak wouldn’t tell me even if she knew.

Speaking of my friendly flamingo monarch…

I glanced around and frowned. Where was she?

She had flown up overhead when we had found her mother. I had jumped off Miss Beak while she flew high up in the sky, farther than even her mother would have been able to see or sense us. It had taken me many minutes to fall down to the ground, and I had even drifted a great distance even though I had tried to guide myself along the wind.

A couple miles away was a crater. From my impact. I was lucky that I had only broken bones, and hadn’t lost and limbs upon the impact, else Miss Beak’s mother may have been able to escape before I healed enough.

I coughed as I scanned the skies for my pink friend, and felt a little worried when I didn’t see her.

There was no way she had gotten hurt… right? The fight had not lasted long. A few dozen minutes at best. And Miss Beak was supposed to have stayed at a distance, to only dive in and help when I needed it. When I got stuck, or her mother started to escape…

Ah. There she was. She was diving now towards me. I felt strangely relieved at the sight of her as I waited for her to land nearby.

She flapped her wings, kicking up dry dust as she landed and then walked over to me and her mother’s corpse.

“Well done, Vim,” she said happily.

I nodded. “Thanks to you, Miss Beak. Thank you, really,” I said to my friend.

She ruffled her feathers, shifting wings as if suddenly embarrassed. She turned to look at her mother’s corpse and tilted her head.

“She had not healed much since our last encounter,” she noted.

“No. Your kind can heal wondrously, but there are limits. Everything has limits,” I said.

“You don’t seem to have any,” she said.

Well…

Miss Beak stepped forward, and I noticed the very solid ground she strode upon as she neared her mother’s corpse.

The ground was cold already. No slag this time.

I stayed back and studied my friend who stared down at her fallen mother, and I wondered if I should say something. All these years and Miss Beak had never really seemed to care, or even show a hint of love, to her parents… but I knew sometimes such things still existed deep down in children. Even when their parents were monsters, and the children knew it, they still sometimes held love for them. Even sometimes unwillingly.

“I never knew their names,” she said.

“They may not have had any,” I responded gently.

“Hm…” She hummed, and I wondered if maybe I should have said something else.

Taking a small breath of cool air, I glanced around at the area. There wasn’t as many signs I had just waged war with a monarch as usual. There were a few feathers here and there, some broken rocks and trees, and that crater off in the distance where I’d fallen… but no pools of molten slag. No fires. No half-destroyed mountains.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

All in all this battle had truly been one of my best. Especially when considering just how powerful my foe had actually been.

Glancing down at the heart in my hand, I tried to squeeze it for a moment. To try and break it.

Like always I didn’t seem to do anything to it. It didn’t make a noise, or crack or break.

Scoffing at the thing, I sighed and looked away from it and found my friend standing before me.

“It is done, Vim,” she said.

I nodded. “Yes. Thanks to you, Miss Beak,” I said.

She shuffled her wings, ruffling smooth feathers, and tilted her head at me. “I did help, didn’t I?” she wondered.

I nodded again. “You did. You distracted your mother as I killed your father. And just now you helped me track her down and then slay her before she could fully heal, allowing me to kill her too,” I said as I lifted her heart to display it.

Miss Beak leaned forward, staring at the thing.

“My father’s is not gone yet,” she said lowly, as if to whisper. To me though it still sounded loud.

“I know. I can sense it,” I said. It was near her own heart, and pulsing and buzzing though not as strongly as hers.

She lifted her head a little, curling her neck in the way her type of birds do, and stared down at me with a strange look.

Before I could ask what was wrong, she then lowered her beak and tapped her chest. Right where her hearts were.

“Here,” she whispered.

I slowly nodded. Yes. That was where they were. Hadn’t she known I could sense them? I’ve explained it to her before hadn’t I? Even she could sense them.

“I’d be proud for you to take it,” she then said.

My eyes narrowed as I tried to comprehend what she had just said.

Did she mean one day? That there would come a time I took her heart, as I did all others…? Or…?

“Miss Beak…?” I asked softly.

She nodded just once, and did so strongly. “I’ve thought long and hard about this. I think… I think I’m okay with this being my end. Here and now,” she said.

I blinked and shook my head. “Miss Beak, I’ll not kill you,” I said.

She did her little blink with her membrane, and tilted her head at me. “Why not?”

“You’re my friend,” I said.

Her beak made a noise as she shut it, and then she opened it slowly and gave me a small laugh. “Yes. I am.”

I relaxed a little as I realized she had been serious, but not in the way I had originally thought.

I had thought she wanted to die. Was ready to die. But that wasn’t it. She simply thought I’d kill her too, now that her parents were gone and I didn’t need her help anymore.

“Have I been so terrible a friend that you thought I’d kill you once I no longer needed your help, my friend?” I asked.

“Well… no. But you hunt monarchs, Vim. It’s your purpose. Your whole reason to live. So…” she shifted a little and then lowered down. Her long, huge legs, curled as she sat down in front of me.

Even while sitting she loomed over me. In all these years, and with all the hearts she’s absorbed, she’s grown to a massive size. Not the biggest monarch I’d ever seen, but she was now even bigger than her father had been.

“So you thought to sacrifice yourself to me, so I could fulfill my goals,” I said as I understood her.

She nodded without hesitation.

Smiling at my friend, I felt a strange mix of happiness and pain. I was glad that I had honestly gained a friend such as her. Someone willing to sacrifice herself, and finding it not just acceptable but something to be proud of, for what she thought was my life-goals. Yet at the same time that very same thing, that same truth, hurt me so terribly.

I must have been a horrible man all this time. Or… well…

“Has these years… my years with you, our time together, have I been so focused such that you’d think such a thing?” I asked her.

She nodded again. “You think of nothing else Vim. Your every waking moment, which is every moment since you don’t even sleep, is spent on the hunt.”

Right…

Looking down at her mother’s heart, I glared at the thing. I now wasn’t holding my pride, but my shame.

“I’m sorry Miss Beak. For neglecting your friendship in such a way. For being such a failure,” I said.

She chuckled at me. “I’ve grown long used to it, Vim. And I’ve enjoyed every moment alongside you, so all is well.”

I shook my head. “No. You deserved better. Though… I know not what to say or do about it. To be honest even now, all I wish to do is continue the hunt. Just now for others,” I said.

She nodded. “I figured. You don’t look proud, or happy Vim. You accomplished a great feat. You killed two of the strongest monarchs left on this planet, yet don’t even seem fazed. Do you not feel any glee of what you’ve done?” she asked.

“No.”

“You should be proud, Vim. My parents had been monsters. They had slaughtered untold numbers,” she said gently.

“Well yes. I am proud of being able to stop that. But this was what I was born for, Miss Beak. Being proud of simply doing what I had been made for isn’t that…” I stopped speaking as I realized what I’d just said to her.

She did her little blink thing, and I looked away from her.

Suddenly I felt ashamed. Though I shouldn’t. Not anymore.

“You were made to burn everything, Miss Beak. You overcame that. You are the one worth praise. You went against your purpose, to fulfill an even greater one,” I said.

“I’ve long since grown old enough to not fall for such a misdirected comment, Vim,” she teased.

Groaning I nodded. “I know. You’ve become far too calm and level headed. It’s almost annoying,” I said.

She chuckled at me and then lowered her head far enough to tap me with her beak, on my chest. The impact was so gentle it didn’t even budge me.

“Well done Vim. I’m glad I was able to help you stop my parents,” she said.

I sighed and nodded. “Yes. Thank you. Are you done talking about giving me your heart at least?” I asked.

“For now.”

Great.