Leo’s whole body was aching. Despite leveling up, his old wounds remained in his psyche like a phantom pain. He had read that amputees could sometimes feel pain in the limb they lost, and he thought what he was feeling might be similar. The tip of a protruding rock bludgeoned his foot as he passed by, eliciting a hiss through his gritted teeth as he quickly lifted his feet farther off the ground, curling his knees to his chest in a tight ball.

“Can you be a little more careful you dumb bird!” he yelled at his captor, trying hard to make his voice heard above the crazed rabble behind them. Sparky’s beak clutched the back of his shirt and armor, leaving him dangling and feeling like a mewling kitten.

As his kidnapper’s beak was currently full, the bird gave him a slight tilt of its head in reply, leaving Leo with no idea if his “friend” had actually understood his words. Then flashes of electricity bounded across Sparky’s yellow feathers. Leo managed to shut his mouth just in time to avoid biting off his own tongue as his tormentor gave him yet another playful zap.

He hung there roasted and dazed for several moments, barely noticing the next cluster of rocks that slammed into his once-more-dragging feet. This was the second time he had been electrocuted over the past five minutes, and he was beginning to doubt his odds of survival in getting to wherever the bird was taking him. All around him lightning was thrown, pecks were dealt out, and squawks reverberated off the canyon walls. If it was possible, the Thunder Roc horde seemed to get more riled up each time their leader illuminated their human lightbulb.

Freedom was already a forgotten endeavor for Leo. He had dropped Aveth when he fell and the sword now rested in the beak of one of Sparky’s neighbors. Arc Bolt had been the first attack he had tried to break free with, but rather than do damage, the lightning seemed to supercharge his captor and had led to his first near-lethal shock.

Leo waited as his charred flesh slowly mended itself. He hoped the smell of cooked meat wouldn’t invite the other birds to try to have a sample. He managed to lose himself in his thoughts on the different ways one could cook with lightning, more to distract his mind from the excruciating pain than any actual curiosity when the jostling of his ride finally stopped.

He opened his eyes to a fantastical scene. They had made their way out of the canyon and onto a large plateau in the mountain range. A small strip of land divided a large lake of crystal clear water right down the center. The still water reflected the tens of thousands of stars dotting the night sky. Both halves of the lake were brimming over, leaving the liquid to trickle down and form numerous small streams much like the one he had followed.

On the far side of the lake, the strip of land changed into a series of long steps stretching hundreds of feet across. Water flowed down all but the center-most portion of the stairway into either half of the lake, keeping the reservoir at max capacity. The steps were made of a pure white material that matched the reflecting starlight. To the left of the stairway was an elegant gazebo made of the same material as the stairs. In the center of the gazebo floated a large blue orb that bathed the structure in an azure light.

Leo’s gaze traced up the sleek staircase and fell on a creature staring directly down at him. It stood proudly on four legs, looking with large eyes of garnet red. Its long fur coat was the same shade as freshly fallen snow, and the fur partially hid the dark grey skin of the beast’s feline structured face in much the same manner as a tightly woven scarf. Atop the creature’s head rose a thin blade-shaped horn, and from its back split off two long cat-like tails that swished back and forth as it studied Leo with a look of faint interest.

Leo was at a loss; he had thought observation was an all or nothing skill. Did he receive partial information on his target, or had the creature chosen to reveal that bit of information to him?

The Chari sank to its haunches before sweeping its gaze over the assembled mass of Thunder Rocs sprawling beneath its perch. Under its casual scrutiny, the horde of crazed electric chicks had gone shockingly silent. It felt like the birds were reining in their energy in deference to the beast, and only the slight twitch or spark could be seen. He didn’t feel any hostility coming from the creature, and the whole scene reminded Leo of a bunch of ADHD students trying to stop themselves from doing something stupid in front of a teacher.

Sparky gave off a soft squawk and stepped forward. The Chari’s eyes snapped over to the movement and the bird met the creature’s imposing gaze in wary defiance. A sudden wave of pressure bore down on them, dropping Leo to his hands and knees as his limbs felt like they had grown lead weights.

Struggling to draw breath under the immense weight, Leo tilted his head up to the source of the pressure. The two large, red eyes of the Chari filled his vision with their ominous glow. Sparky took a half-step back from the force as the rest of the Thunder Roc chicks cowered in fear. A bristle of electricity ran through her feathers and she drew herself up to her full height. Just as Leo was about to choke out for the bird not to do anything stupid, the pressure abated and the Chari turned its head up to stare at the night sky.

Leo took in a few shuddering breaths while he followed the direction of the beast’s gaze. The clouds above swirled and flashed with light as a figure large enough to blot out the moon made a swooping descent. As it glided down, large columns of electricity shot away from the beast, temporarily obscuring Leo’s vision in their blinding flashes. He held a hand to shade his eyes as he stared at the incoming creature. Needing to confirm his suspicions, he spared a glance at Sparky to see her reaction. The bird was gazing up in abject excitement while letting out the occasional happy chirrup. Looks like I’ll have to meet the mom after all, he thought in defeat.

The adult Thunder Roc touched the ground dozens of yards away, the flapping of its gigantic wings creating hurricane force winds that blew up clouds of dirt and shattered the stillness of the lake water with large swells. While Sparky was built like an overgrown newborn chick, its mother resembled the body structure of a hawk. The shape of its feathers flickered like tongues of yellow flame, each an almost incorporeal mass of power and energy.

Leo looked toward the Chari, wondering if he was going to see a monster showdown, but the creature seemed more annoyed by the dramatic entrance than threatened. He turned back to the adult Thunder Roc and cast observation.

As if noticing him cast the skill, Amira tilted her head toward Leo and he felt the judging weight of her gaze. A tingling sensation ran the course of his body and he somehow knew the bird was also pulling up his information. He paled as his brain started to comprehend the implications of what had just happened.

If the Thunder Roc had enough intelligence to scan and understand his information, that meant the creatures standing before him weren’t simple beasts driven by instinct, but individuals capable of thought and learning. The beasts he had faced previously hadn’t seemed to hold any semblance of intelligence beyond their primal instincts, but maybe the stronger a creature became the more it was capable of. Leo filed that train of thought away for a later study. He had more pressing concerns being stuck between these two imposing monsters.

Amira seemed to reach some sort of conclusion with her judgment, and the ground trembled slightly as she took four massive steps that closed the distance between Leo and herself. The bird was several stories tall, and he watched frozen in horror as she leaned her massive beak down directly over his head. He was at a loss what to do. He would die if he tried to fight this creature and die if he didn’t.

The Thunder Roc horde pressed in from all around him, cutting off any hope of escape as they waited for their human lightning rod to be devoured. He shut his eyes to the inevitable pillar of lightning about to fry him or the bite that would gobble his body whole. The large beak brushed against the back of his neck before clipping onto his deteriorating armor and hoisting him off the ground.

He opened his eyes, meeting the unified excited gaze of the Thunder Roc hatchlings some twenty-odd feet below. It was almost cute watching their heads move from side to side as he swayed limply in the air, except the motion made him feel like a worm about to be fed to a rabble of hungry chicks. Then Amira turned and walked toward the gazebo on the left side of the path.

Once there, she set Leo gently on the ground before lying down beside him. He looked at Amira, perplexed why the giant predator hadn’t yet taken him as a morsel or fed him to her family. The oversized bird met his gaze steadily with her giant yellow eyes, then swiveled her head deliberately at the stairway. He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, and every second he was alive was a second he’d take.

Knowing that running was pointless, and his curiosity about what the hell was going on getting the better of him, he sat down beside the massive bird, contenting himself to watch whatever was about to unfold between the Chari and the horde of Thunder Roc hatchlings.