Vane and Garwhole were facing each other in the middle of the sky. Around them it was totally gray, the same gray that the earth took after crashing against the black planet 500 years ago.
"I must say that the view here is beautiful…" said Garwhole after watching down. Beneath them there was only green; further you could see Allocen's golem and the Hollowroot fighting, but it was really far, you could almost see the desert from here.
"Eheh, I guess I chose a good place to escape," said Vane. Although he was a bit scared, every time he went without thinking it was because he always knew there was someone covering his back… but now?
'I'm alone in the sky… I cannot be reckless,' thought him as he glanced around, but Garwhole was nowhere to be found anymore.
Vane now started to sweat a lot, and after he looked up he saw Garwhole diving on top of him. Vane moved away at the last second, but still some claws were able to hit his wings.
"Oww, I missed you…" said Garwhole with a creepy, annoying voice. Some of his claws had blood coming from Vane's wing.
'I have to escape!' thought him as he immediately flew away at max speed. "Already going away?" said Garwhole as he started to fly towards Vane.
After a bit Vane saw that Garwhole had already reached him, he was simply a few inches away from him.
'He moves faster… I won't be able to escape forever,' thought Vane as he turned around, changing direction, now towards Garwhole, who was shocked and stopped at the last second.
'Then let's attack!' thought Vane as he endured his body, especially his wings, and flew at extreme speed towards Garwhole.
"You chose to attack then?!!" yelled Garwhole as he simply blocked the wing attack with his side. Vane, after the hit, moved a bit further away. 'Ouch, I must say that this hit hurt quite a bit…' thought Garwhole as he shook his wing because it hurt.
'I must not stop now!' thought Vane as he rushed once again towards Garwhole, who now created a really strong wind with his wings. Vane lost balance and could barely hold against the pressure.
"Hahaha, what can you do now!" shouted Garwhole as he moved his wings with even more strength. The wind pressure was too much for Vane to handle, or at least it would be if he was not an eagle.
In fact, eagles can easily resist strong wind pressure thanks to their muscular power and their wing handling. The only problem was that Vane barely had the chance to turn into an eagle, so he didn't even know how to control this body properly.
'I must resist…' thought Vane, but the pressure was becoming stronger, too much for him to resist, so he flew away and started to fall down.
"I guess you weren't anything special…" said Garwhole after realizing that the human simply was a waste of time.
As Vane kept falling, in his mind there were the memories of when he was speaking with Darian and Liro one day. It was the third day of traveling and they had to reach Skar-Zhul. They started to speak about Vane's animals…
"Vane, I wonder why you never use the eagle, it is more useful than you might think," said Darian as he broke the silence. It was early in the morning and they had just started to walk again.
"Oh, to be honest I don't know how to use that really well, and also because it's just too fragile," answered Vane, but he knew the truth of why he never liked to use that.
Vane always liked to go by himself in the battlefield, but he only went there when there was actually someone to help him, someone that could cover his back. But he never met anyone who could fly, so what happens when he is alone fighting in the sky? He could never forget that day…
It was one of his first expeditions in the mainland. There were only him and Kael and they had to kill some krukins just to make them go back, so at least a small portion of land would be conquered. Then the other Alterids would reach them, but it did not go exactly as planned.
They ended up fighting many krukins on the ground, but once Vane noticed some krukins flying, they were Krukwyve, he decided to fly towards them and take them by himself.
But Vane did not know anything about eagles, or how their body worked, so he got brutally injured, especially because he simply overrated this animal.
As Vane got gravely injured, the expedition had to be cancelled, and he and Kael simply retreated back. Vane could barely remember anything from that day, but what remained impressed in his mind is: 'NEVER GO ALONE WITH THE EAGLE.'
Vane did not like to share this story with anyone. Only Kael knew about this, who chose to not tell it around. That is why he simply said that he doesn't know how eagles work.
"Oh, they are actually really simple. See, while I was on XERBAB-7 I found some animals that were similar to the eagles, in fact they were the eagles of that planet," said him. Vane, as always, was confused every time Darian spoke about science and that stuff, while on the other hand Liro was extremely excited to hear all about it.
"See, eagles, thanks to their body, can easily take speed. The main factor that helps all of this is in their wings, which have got a perfect shape. They are really large, and it's ideal for gliding and generating very efficient lift," said Darian. He then started to speak again, not noticing that both Liro and Vane stopped understanding everything Darian said.
"Eagles can take a lot of speed while flying up from down, and imagine that if an eagle gets thrown on the ground, they would be able to glide and fly at extreme speed towards the sky too," said Darian, wondering if eagles still existed in this world. He had barely seen any animals after he came here, but the main thing that he did not see were Liro and Vane, who remained behind.
As these memories flew into Vane's mind he knew what he had to do! 'It is going to be hard… but I trust what Darian told me!' thought him. Darian explained to Vane how to glide, even if he never tried it… but it was the right moment to try something new!
As he pointed himself towards the ground, he took a lot of speed. It was working! As Vane kept gaining speed, right before he touched the trees, he was able to get enough strength to fly up. He was able to move perfectly fine.
'Let's just hope it isn't simply luck…' thought him. As he reached the highest point in the sky, he wanted to make an ambush to Garwhole, who now was flying without any problem towards the battlefield.
But while he kept flying, something pierced into his skin and created a huge scratch on his wing.
"What the hell is that?!" thought Garwhole, scared, as he put one of his hands on top of the injury, although he was barely able to touch it because of how long his wings were and how small his hands were.
He barely had time to think what was happening when another cut appeared on the other wing. Garwhole understood that the cut first came from above, now under him… 'That means he must be up there!' thought Garwhole as he immediately got his eyes up. As he watched up in the sky he saw Vane, once again diving towards him at full speed.
Garwhole was barely able to block the hit with his claws. Vane's wing pressed really hard against Garwhole's claws, who could not do anything against the pressure of that animal… who, after that much speed, no one would be able to resist.
"ARGHHH!!!" shouted Garwhole as another cut appeared on his hand. Vane now was breathing heavily. His human form was bleeding, he had already used too much soul.
He then stood in front of Garwhole, both of them breathing heavily, but Garwhole emitted another strong sound. From the woods rose some Krukwyve, there were just three of them.
"I guess it will be enough to stop him… I need to regenerate, you three take care of him," said Garwhole, breathing heavily. The three Krukwyve immediately rushed towards Vane, who, surprised, could barely make his body harder.