"Wake up, Wake up, little one." The daughter of the farmer began nudging Augustus softly with her fingers. "You have a big day today; you get to see the world for the first time today," she said as she lifted him in her smooth palm. Augustus woke as the warm sunlight fell across his small frame as the little girl carried him outside of the shed he had spent the night sleeping within. He looked out and saw the farm had creatures that he had never seen before. There were horses with red manes that gave off sparks of flames, creatures that looked like armored pigs, and then there were two chickens walking around, but they were much larger than any he had seen in his previous world. These chickens were almost three feet tall and had scarlet feathers glinted with gold under the warm sunlight.

"What should we name you, little guy? You see, this rooster over here is named Umber, this one's name is Melvin, but he's a bit of a jerk. Your name is going to be Abæus little one. I welcome you to the Starflame family, and she said as she left him on the ground with the other two roosters.

Hmmm, Abæus Starflame, I can live with that name, Augustus thought to himself as he began slowing inching forth his new body. He felt that walking was unusual as his tiny talons sank into the soft earth with each step. The ground was covered with soft green grass that lay flat like a fresh blanket. It was a nice warm day with a light breeze that rippled through the farm as he made his way towards the nicer of the two roosters the young girl had introduced to him before abandoning him on the farm.

Just as he was walking towards Umber, a shadow fell over Abæus drawing his attention behind him. There stood Melvin looking down at him as he lifted his foot high above Abæus and quickly thrust down, stabbing his talons in the ground, trapping Abæus within them.

"Hee-hee, I caught a tiny little rooster, so you're the new guy around here, huh, fluffy butt?" Melvin crowed from above as his eyes locked on their small target.

"So, you are Melvin…"

"That's right, and I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know who the boss is soft feathers, and now that I have.." Melvin said just Abæus was sighing he noticed an evil glare in Melvin's eyes as his talons clasped around his small fluffy frame.

"Away with you!" Melvin loudly crowed as he tossed Abæus with a full-strength kick sending him speeding through the air like a yellow crowing bullet. Abæus soared the weather whipping his feathers in the air madly as the ground grew closer during his descent before he crashed, tumbling over himself in the long grass as it wrapped itself around his body.

"Son of a Bitch!!" Abæus crowed loudly towards Melvin, who was flapping his wings wildly and squawking madly in his direction. It seemed like Melvin was having the time of his life at his expense. Abæus looked at his body and noticed his feather had become disheveled, dirty, and leaving him feeling unkempt. A strong force surged from the recesses of his mind as he began shaking and pecking softly to clean his shiny feathers. A few minutes passed as Abæus cleaned and organized his appearance before stopping with a feather in his small beak. He stared up at the sky above before crowing loudly, "FUCK, I'm a chicken."

"Oh, what is wrong with being a chicken? A voice sounded out from behind him. It was Umber, the other rooster of the Starflame family. He looked at down upon Abæus, who still had a feather out place on the top of his head.

"Follow me, I am Umber, the head rooster of this farm, and you are replacing the spot left by Ember, the previous head rooster.

"What happened to Ember?" Abæus crowed.

"he died fighting a hellish python last week as it attempted to enter the farm to steal from us." Abæus listened as Umber began to explain that their duties as roosters, which was to prevent any wild beasts from roaming into the farm and killing the other animals.

Umber paused for a moment, lost in the thought of the skirmish with the hellish python. He shook his left-wing as the memory faded. This wing seemed to have been slightly damaged; there was an area underneath it still missing feathers. Abæus noticed this injury as Umber quickly folded his wing back down his eyes looking down upon Abæus' tiny golden body.

"There is much you do not know yet, little one, this world is cruel, and even chickens have our pride," Umber said. He stood still before ushering Abæus to follow him across the farm's open field to a small hill in the distance; the hill had large grass swayed with under the soft breeze of the morning. Abæus followed behind Umber as they reached the top of the hill.

"This is the highest point on the farm, and you can watch everything from here as we need to protect the farm," Umber recited. He stood still for a few minutes allowing Abæus to take in the full view after had slowly lifted Abæus nestled on top of his right-wing.

"It's beautiful," Abæus whispered. Trees were rising into the soft blue skyline that intertwined with the orange glow of the sun. The field had a few more scarlet horses running free with small flames flowing amongst their manes as they herded what cows that had black coats that sparkled like a starry night under the morning sun. He watched for a moment before Umber had set him down amongst the tall grass once again before sitting down himself next to Abæus.

There was a silence hanging in the air between them as Umber seemed to be waiting. A few minutes had passed, and just as Abæus was going to ask Umber a question, a chill ran up his back, making his feathers fluffed out.

"Hehehehe, so this is where you guys are, you are in my spot soft feathers, and I guess that means you want to be my new cushion. Melvin's voice rang out from behind Abæus as a large shadow began spreading over him. He looked up and saw Melvin had jumped high in the air aiming to squash him with his bottoms and use him as a cushion. He quickly scrambled forward as Melvin's heavy body smashed upon the soft grass where he had been nestled just seconds again. Melvin's eyes squinted as he stared at Abæus for a second before facing the sun in the same manner as Umber.

"I hate you already," Abæus said as he moved towards Umber's left side and nestled himself onto the grass. As he was getting comfortable again both Umber and Melvin had begun glowing with a warm orange light beneath the morning sun. They didn't move as the light grew brighter, brighter until it seemed as if they were encompassed in a dancing flame.

"Hey, Soft feather, hurry up and get in between us. We can't hold this much energy for long." Melvin crowed out loudly. Abæus quickly got up and squeezed in between them as they just began crowing will all their might. The dancing flame began to twist softly around their bodies as a warmth spread through Abæus, building up just below his stomach. The warmth started to grow into a blazing heat as Umber and Melvin stood up with their wings spread out as they dashed outside the flame. They moved so fast it left him stunned as they began circling more quickly than he could see. He could feel the beat of their wings as the heat around him grew to extreme temperature. It felt like he was roasted alive. They continued running faster and faster using their wings to force the flame to grow a deeper scarlet red as they suddenly stopped and crowed out a screech that pushed the flame from both sides into Abæus's tiny body. He crowed out from the pain as the fire flooded into him under the pressure of their screech as the fire invaded every part of his being before passing out amongst the well-cooked grass.

"He is pretty weak, huh Umber," Melvin squawked.

"If I remember, you passed out when the flames were still orange Melvin, if nothing else, take him back to rest," Umber replied.

"Fuck, fine, I'll take the soft feathers back," Melvin said just before he grabbed Abæus and tossed him in the air as he dashed forwarding his wings to catch Abæus' small body on his back.