Winged Warriors

For the next several months, we perfected our plan to gather orbs mostly unharmed, while simultaneously searching for the source of our mutation. Every night, Nare, Ayah and I would discuss where it could be located. Eventually, we at last discovered that the source resided somewhere we never would have expected it to. The source of our mutation, was in the sky.

After coming up with the idea to retrace the steps we would have taken as mindless flies as accurately as possible, we decided to fly around without much thought as to where we were headed, rather than trying to pinpoint a specific location. Only making certain we did not travel too far into the depths of the island. This led to us stumbling across something truly... striking. Just above the tallest of trees, which were located some distance past where the lanks lived, resided a colossal sized mouth. It was disturbingly inhumane. But, we were not aware of what humans were at the time anyway. The mouth was wide open, and between the lips, the silhouette of a Winged Warrior, or as you call us, Colossal Soarer was visible.

The reason we did not notice it before, was because it only appeared once we were within a certain range. Nare spotted the entity upon traveling slightly past the range we agreed was safe. I trusted him to do so as our leader, so him breaking the agreement didn't bother me at all. Especially since it resulted in success. Once he returned and informed us that he had located what was almost certainly our mutation's source, we gathered the rest of the Winged Warriors and began to discuss what we would be doing next.

"Brethren. My fellow Winged Warriors." Kore began. He spoke to the entire Colossal Soarer species. However, before he could continue, Nare placed a hand on his shoulder, stepped forward, and spoke instead.

"Everyone. The source of our mutation.. has finally been located. It was found just above the trees we see every day off in the distance. I know we agreed not to search there, but I felt like we might not have found it without going at least a bit out of our comfort zone. And, well, I was right. Thankfully I wasn't injured. But the question now is, what's next? I don't know about you all, but I'd rather not live my whole life continuing to do what we're doing now. Avoiding these almost unbeatable creatures who could wipe us all out if we make even a tiny mistake, just so we can eat. So I say we mutate ourselves again. Sure, maybe it'll kill one of us when we test it. But risking one of our lives for the possibility of overwhelming strength, is nothing compared to the countless we could lose if we don't do anything."

All of the Colossal Soarers glanced at each other, chirping in agreement. They all gathered in a group, and traveled to the humongous mouth alongside Nare. Other than a select few, who would keep track of the movements of the lanks. Upon arriving, the Soarers gazed at the entity in awe. Not making a sound, only staring.

"So, who's going to be the test subject?" Asked Ayah.

"Well, like it or not, it can't be you, Kore, or myself." Answered Nare. "We're each too important, being the only three Winged Warriors who can communicate with actual sentences. It'll have to be someone within the crowd, who we can afford to lose." He shifted his gaze toward the crowd of Soarers. "If there's anyone here who's willing to be that someone, the first to potentially propel us to the next level, then hover forward."

A long silence ensued. Eventually, a Soarer who had lost an arm approached from the crowd. It looked at the gaping mouth, narrowing its eyes, then chirping with determination.

Nare looked back at it. "Alright then, it'll be you. All you'll need to do is approach the Winged Warrior silhouette, and try to push your body inside. If this really is where we mutated initially, it should provoke some kind of reaction. Well.. judging by what this thing is, it should provoke a reaction either way."

Nodding, the one armed volunteer began to hover toward the entity. Once reaching it, the Soarer stopped. It gradually eased its hand forward, gazing deep within the strange Soarer silhouette. It was a simple black outline, but seemed to have depth within. Almost looking as if you could see strange objects and rooms off in the distance, it was like an entire separate dimension.

Upon making contact, the Soarer was aggressively sucked inside. The silhouette began to move, forming itself into a sphere. The island, which was normally always dim and nightmarish, only having enough illumination to see, was completely lit up by a tremendous brightness that came from the sphere. It remained this way for several seconds, before shooting out the Soarer and returning to normal.

The Soarer it had shot out violently slammed into the ground below, which was over a mile down. Nobody could see him with the mess of incredibly tall trees that were in the way.

Kore peered in the direction the Soarer landed. "Well... it is now clear that interacting with this abomination does invoke a reaction. However, we will have to see whether or not what has transpired, is what we were hoping for."

All of a sudden, several dead lanks flew past where everyone was hovering. Kore and the other Soarer's expressions shifted to looks of surprise. Kore glanced over at Nare.

Looking back at Kore, Nare said. "Kore. I think... it was a success-.."

He was cut off when some sort of grotesque, horrific, hulkingly sized creature flew upward between him and Kore. The thing was dead, and eventually plummeted back downward.

Even more shock filled everyone. None of them had ever seen any species other than themselves, and lanks.

"Hey. What in the fuck was that thing?" Said Ayah.

Nare placed a hand on his chin. "I'm not entirely sure.... but, whatever it was, it's more than likely our volunteer who killed it. No.. I'm almost completely positive. Unless some sort of insane coincidence has occurred, there's no way that isn't him who tossed it up here. Which means... this is one hundred percent the source of our mutation. And if we go into it to mutate ourselves again, we become overwhelmingly strong. Exactly what we were hoping for. But, I do want to go down there to make sure he's still sane, and to see the extent of his new abilities. Everyone else, stay here, just in case he's gone completely berserk."

As he said, Nare gradually made his way downward to see how the giant mouth had mutated the one armed volunteer. After passing the trees, piles upon piles of lank corpses became visible to him. There were also multiple corpses that were of the same species as the hulkingly sized creatures.

Nare's feet gently graced the blood soaked surface. "If this is how powerful this entity can make us all, I don't see how we could ever lose again. We haven't seen what is deeper within the island, but even so, a single one of us looks to be capable of wiping out the lanks, and whatever these other creatures are all on their own. It doesn't get much better than that. I can't imagine there being something above that level."

Just then, the evolved Soarer approached. Its missing arm had completely healed. It held a deceased lank in one hand, and dragged one of the giant creatures with the other. It then dropped both, gazing at Nare with the same determined eyes it had before, letting out a much more intimidating chirp.

Looking back at it, Nare examined it thoroughly. "I see. Our appearance remains virtually the same, but on the inside, everything else has sky rocketed. He seems to recognize me, and I can see it in his eyes. He's the exact same mentally. So unless I'm missing something, this really is the key. All we have to do is mutate ourselves again, and we should be unstoppable. Even if we somehow aren't, we don't know if a third mutation is possible or not. It could be an option." A wide smile grew upon his face. "Hah... we've really done it. From this point onward, the Winged Warriors.... will be the dominant species on this island."

Following Nare's confirmation, combined with us seeing the results ourselves, we all proceeded to enter the gigantic mouth and initiate our own second mutations. The regular Winged Warriors mutated similarly to the first one who had volunteered. Nare, Ayah, and myself however... had far more substantial results. As expected, since we had already mutated to a greater extent initially.

Ayah, gained the ability to move her limbs, organs, and all other parts to any section of her body. With this power, came the potential of unmatched and unpredictable maneuverability upon mastering it.

Nare gained the ability to wield the powers of every non intelligent creature across the world. We discovered that he must be aware of the creature and the abilities it possesses before he is able to use those abilities himself. Other than that, we have found no limitations to what he is able to mimic.

And I myself, gained the unique ability to have a nearly unlimited variety of weapons and useful items appear in my hands, upon simply thinking of them. In addition to a powerful material that appears wherever my body is put at risk of taking damage. As you witnessed in our battle a moment ago.

Additionally, there was one other member of our kind who's mutation exceeded all others. Unsurprisingly so. Three of us had mutated more than the others the first time it had occurred, so it was only logical to happen again the second time around. His name is Sinde. We discovered that he was capable of using an ability, which allowed him to use the sun itself as a weapon, in addition to now being able to speak.

The series of events that followed this day do not need to be explained in as much detail. We discovered many things about our kind over the years, and soon enough, eradicated every species that resided on this particular island within the archipelago, and took over as the one and only remaining species.

However, it was clear that the power we had obtained was beginning to cloud Nare's vision. He was a phenomenal leader for a time, but the problems began when he proclaimed he wasn't satisfied with being the dominant species of this island. But instead, wanted to be the dominant species of the entire world itself. He believed we could do so with the power of potentially infinite mutations on our side.

"Everyone." Nare stood upon a stage, staring at the massive crowd before him. The island had at this point been changed entirely over the past number of years. It was filled with structures. Homes, small shops, places to hold little events. A small civilization had been established.

Nare continued. "It took us an entire decade, but we've accomplished exactly what we said we would. The Winged Warriors, are now the dominant species on this island. In fact, we're now the only species left here." He paused for a moment to allow the applause to pass by. "We're finally free to do whatever we'd like without any fear of death!" He exclaimed. "But can we really.. call it freedom? There's an entire world out there that we haven't even seen. There's likely to be countless other species, probably even civilized ones like us, that we have no knowledge of. Imagine it, what could be out there? Yeah, things could be just as bad if not worse than they are here. But.. there's just as much of a chance that things are much better. In fact, there's a far greater chance! Just how big is this world we live in? I have no idea myself, but it almost seems to be infinite. And if it is, there has to be somewhere better than here. A paradise waiting for us to take over. The world itself is our paradise to take over! Because in order to remain safe, even the places worse than our island we need to make our own. So, what do you guys say? How about it? We have the strength to be far greater, to make this world ours, so why settle for something like this? Let's prepare, set out to wherever the sea takes us first, and make the Winged Warriors... the dominant species on this planet."

Nare's speech inspired all of our brethren. Their visions became clouded alongside his. Rather than becoming strong enough to defend ourselves against our enemies, we had become that in which others needed to fear and defend themselves against. I attempted to alter his thoughts, I let him know it wasn't wise to jump toward such a bold, aggressive goal. He was too far gone, however. The past decade of battles and combat had changed him completely.

Even so, exploring this unknown world filled with so much mystery and intrigue did seem like an enjoyable endeavor. But, I didn't anticipate Nare to be so aggressive. As we traveled across this vast planet, he commanded us to slaughter even those who were open to friendly relations. Stating that with no way to confirm they would not betray us someday, it was too dangerous to ally ourselves with anyone else.

I cannot begin to rightfully describe the horrific things I've done over the decades. Before departing the island, Nare had mutated himself an additional five times, so I did not stand any chance of establishing a rebellion either. That is... until now.

You all have displayed feats I have not seen in decades. The beings in Obliviana, while they have not posed a significant threat yet, have still managed to eliminate more Winged Warriors in this short time, than every other land we've massacred and taken over, over the past seventy years. This could be my one and only opportunity. The chance I've been waiting for, to take care of the monster I created when I put my faith in Nare as our leader all those years ago. To avenge... the billions of deaths we are responsible for.

Shifting back to present day...

"So, "Elite", as I overheard you were called. With your assistance, in addition to the help of other comrades you may have available, combined with the detailed inside information I posses, I believe it is possible we can defeat Nare and the rest of my kind, put an end to their devilish crusade, and protect your land from the fate of extinction so many others have met." Kore proclaimed. He then asked. "Are you with me?"

Processing everything they had just heard, the Elite remained silent for some time.

At last, Noda was the one to respond. "Tch.. do you really think we have another fuckin choice, shitface? If everything you just told us is true, the Colossal Soarers, Winged Warriors, or whatever the hell you wanna call 'em, are almost untouchable as a whole. Unless we went to the Blackened Archipelago ourselves, which we already planned on doing, we'd stand no chance alone. But hey, now we've got our own personal escort to take us there. Isn't that right? Whatever your plan is, it'll have to wait until after we've mutated. Because as of right now, your buddies can kill us too quickly. Even if we could win in the end with whatever you've got in mind, it'd risk costing us too much in comparison."

"Very well. I suppose I would agree that mutating you all would be a wise decision. With the abilities you already possess, a mutation could uplift you all to an equal level to our higher ups, making things far easier. We simply must make for certain it is not done more than once. After all, there is a reason why Nare is the only one who was able to mutate so many times. It takes a heavy toll on the body and mind."

"Yeah. That's perfectly fine. We aren't gonna need to do it more than once. A single time is all that'll be necessary for us to gain the strength to massacre every last Winged Shithead. I think it's about time... they're reminded of what it's like to lose."