Prologue

He slowly bent down and took a deep breath.

He could hear within himself a sound akin to the lengthy howling of the wind through large cave structures, all the way from his chest to his skull.

Pressure within blocked both ears, he started to feel slightly dizzy, but fear was disappearing as if another soul entered within his body. Blood flow increased, muscles started to throb painfully, the physical pain started to gradually pressure him. He held gripped his hands while reciting that same sentence all the while doing his best to keep breathing steady while waiting quietly.

The time is coming.

The more painful it is, the clearer it becomes.

All the anxiety, hesitation and restlessness were disappearing.

He closed both eyes, from within the nothingness he could see a pure white ball of light gathering. At that point, his body started to shudder, his muscles become taut, hot as if burning. He heard a very long roar, but could not believe it came from his own throat.

Bone structure started transforming. The most painful moment has arrived, like nerves being pulled out from the core of his bones, the extreme pain made his whole body tense and crackle; the pair of wings spread, every (feather) tip tightly packed like a sheet of metal, as if ready to embrace the sun at the beach. Now he looked no different from a statue, nothing could impact his posture.

Just like his forefathers, just like his relatives, just like his father and brothers, unchanging generation after generation.

The wind over the ocean became more intense, a sliver of golden appears across the horizon, suddenly a clear divide forms between the land and the sky. Sunlight illuminated him, the one roaring beside the sea.

Every inch of his skin, every blood vessel were filled to the extreme with power.

Pain suddenly disappeared. Joy to the extent of driving one insane filled his heart. His eyes were closed by the sunlight shining at him, could not make a sound but was clearly shouting crazily.

Finally — his whole body suddenly lost weight, abruptly lost track of his own existence, but that was an extremely brief moment as the sense of weight suddenly returned.

As if the ground below unexpectedly disappeared, he plunged sharply, the abyss was stretching him infinitely.

But while the heavy body was diving downwards, another force was pulling him upwards, he must capture this moment, let his soul merge with that upward force.

Focus, focus, let all the desire rise upward, upward, upward!

A long and crisp cry tore through the sky like a blade of wind cutting apart the clouds, like a sword cutting apart the darkness.

As if suspended in nothingness. Spread limbs, like a blooming flower bursting into life. Suddenly, two radiant trails of blue light burst forth from his back, as if it's condensing when brushing against the wind, a pair of wings…

SPREAD

OPEN—!

Feathered people took to the skies just like this, the tips of their feet little by little left the ground.

He opened his eyes.

In front, the sea was burning in a sparkling golden red under the rising sun.