The Crow
I stood upon the branch my claws clinging to the branch as I preened my feathers unfortunately the children from the nearby village kept throwing stones at me. Humans still hate crows even in this world I guess I loved crows in my previous world they were so fun and nice as long as you showed them kindness. I tried to smile but couldn't, so I simply was happy without any expression except my eyes.
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I looked to the sky where the spirits would never go and only birds could soar into the sky within sight even though this world had magic, I had never seen a dragon. I looked upon the human children and began to laugh scaring them as I made a sound no crow should be able to. The kids had fearful looks on their faces and joy flooded me as they ran away Afterall even in my previous life as a human I hated us we torn our environment apart killing it and then decided to abandon everything when it wasn't going our way abandoning the poor and uneducated resulting in us journeying to a new planet.
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We destroyed that planet quite quickly too with our reckless harvestation and deforestation for homes. Humans are a greedy terrible species. I flew in the air relishing the feeling unfortunately I had no flock I was all alone when I was 'born' or got here I'm not really sure which. I looked at the souls of the dead creatures slowly vanishing like wisps in the air slightly above their corpses. For the first time ever I went toward the wisp of a soul of a small lizard and went through it I could feel the soul seek me out and dwell within one of my feathers.
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I plucked the feather causing slight pain and strangely the feather transformed into a small baby crow, and I smiled. I would never be alone anymore, so I began to teach it happily and slowly over the years I expanded my flock teaching every single one how to speak and play. we would fly together and mess with humans, but I always could feel the condition of every single member of my flock none of them had been created from humans.
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The flock was getting too big every single one created from my feathers so I had groups go and spread out and soon since I could see through their eyes and feel their emotions, I realized there was no such thing as a crow here. I could see some ravens, but I never saw another crow other than those I had made. My feathers also grew back strangely quickly but also, I could feel I was becoming slightly bigger with each soul that passed through me.
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The other crows could absorb souls, but they could not make more only I could do so and funnily enough they could transfer souls they had to me instantly. I also no longer had to eat anymore so I began to fly over human villages more and through the sight of my children I began to study the magic of natural birds. I watched how they used mana to flow wind under their feathers how they used their feathers to contain wind mana to make it easier to channel. They would use their wings like humans would use staffs to channel and strengthen their abilities, so I began to do the same.
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I stole one of the orbs they use to test humans for affinities, and it began to change color being filled with a tempest of winds with slight shadows lurking within it. There was also an ethereal version of my crow form riding upon the winds with many other crows. It showed my freedom I had choices, so I began to bother the village tearing up their crops blowing the clouds away with my rudimentary wind magic. After a few months the land began to show signs of drought and now my flocks had reached over 100 crows in total.
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None of my crows ever showed any signs of getting old and dying of natural causes so I began to teach them magic as I learned they quickly picked it up and began to celebrate preening me and each other with happiness within their eyes. I would never be alone again I now had a family that would never abandon me, and I would never abandon them even though some of us die to hunting I don't blame the creatures because this is a world of survival of the fittest, I will protect those I can though.
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The wind flowed under my feathers as I began to travel circling the corpses with the vultures of those who had decided to stay here that were being pecked at by crows some still alive. I came among my crows, and they moved away as if their king approached, and I faced the last standing human who burned a few of my children and so I used my wind magic to pull his breath away and he suffocated his lungs collapsing.
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I then approached him as he was dying and pulled his eyes from their sockets with my beak my size already being twice the size of his head with maliciously sharp talons. I than said "For your transgressions you will suffer within my feathers for an eternity." Absorbing his soul felt much more different his soul struggled to escape as if trying to run from its killer.
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Funnily enough his soul didn't go to my feathers but was instead wholly consumed by me so I told the other crows to absorb the rest of the souls here and some visibly grew bigger and their potential raised and so I smiled here starts the war where humanity shall die to natures hands.