Sage walked into the room where he’d stored the large cage. From his perspective it was only about ten feet wide, the objects inside seeming only a tenth of their normal size. He looked down into the cage at the small figure within. The Breach Hawk in human form was definitely an unusual sight. Technically, it had no features that were impossible for a human to have. There were no feathers or unusual animal parts present, but he still looked weird nonetheless.

As a man, the Breach Hawk was tall and lanky. He had wide shoulders and long arms, with thin spindly fingers. His nose was large, long, and hooked. His eyes were very large and carried a piercing gaze. His eyebrows and hair were bushy yet laid back like feathers. Everything completely human, but very much a hawk’s style. There were even a few streaks of blue hair at his temples, a bright contrast to the rest of it being sandy brown.

When the birdman saw Sage walk in, it went wild. The seal appeared on its forehead and it smashed its body up against the cage. While it was unconscious he put some simple robes on it, but it was still barefoot. At this time, the bird attacked according to its instincts, flapping its arms around and hopping up to kick the cage wall. The seal flashing showed how loose it was and the Breach Hawk’s feet partially reverted, the five toes turning into three toes with large talons. The heel sprouted another toe and talon, the human feet quickly becoming those of a bird. Its translucent blue talons struck towards the space between the bars of the cage and smashed into a spatial barrier. The energy that warps the space inside from the outside acted as a barrier. Most creatures had no chance of doing anything to it, but the Breach Hawk had innate spatial abilities and the cage shook violently.

Getting over his amazement, Sage rose a hand, “Enough!”

The Twin Soul, still inside the Breach Hawk, struck out towards the soul of the Hawk. The Twin Ringed Serpent venom had mostly worn off by now, and a barrier of Spirit Power sprung up against the Hawk’s soul. It was just too bad that the strength of the two souls was drastically unbalanced now. The Twin Soul burst through that barrier of Spirit Power with one strike and landed a blow on the other soul. The Hawk lost another portion of its soul and shrunk down even smaller, looking like a little sparrow now in comparison to the Twin Soul.

Sensing the danger, the hawkman almost instantly calmed down and stood there. Unsure of what to do and how to act it could only freeze in place. A lofty and proud existence, how could it submit to another being? It would rather give up its life than be humiliated.

Sage gave the beast a nod, “Much better. Can you understand my words? Can you speak?”

The birdman let out a croak. Then it snapped its mouth shut and stood up to its full height. It turned away and crossed its arms, not wanting to be embarrassed. It would rather give Sage the cold shoulder.

Sage nodded his head at this gesture, “I understand. I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t think about escaping or you’ll lose your life.”

He turned around and left the room, heading out to the study and collecting a Memory Sphere. He placed it upon his Memory Forge and activated it. Slipping into a meditative trance, he searched through his memories and drew out the ones from when Lang Sheng was a child. A time before the boy had died and Sage took his life over. From the way he understood it, Sage had only inherited a wisp of the boy’s soul that contained his memories while the rest had already passed on. Sage isolated the memories of when Lang Sheng had first learned how to speak. Then he found the ones that taught him how to read and write. Given they were from so long ago they were quite fragmented, but Sage just needed the general structure.

Using the Memory Forge he turned those memories into a training course and filled in all the blanks to make it a full course on the human language of this world. Or at least the language of this part of the world. Then he added in similar training on etiquette, manners, hygiene, and finally a cooking lesson. The Breach Hawk had probably inherited memories that allowed it to understand human language, a weapon to use against humans that might hunt it. That also meant it would act like a wild animal, which would be no good if he was going to leave the human seal on it. Sage made a quick copy of the Memory Sphere and then returned to the room with the cage.

“Send your energy into this sphere and learn what it contains. Then you’ll know what all these things are for and we can properly communicate.”

He paused to add a bit more dramatic effect and to make sure the birdman was paying attention now, “It can’t have been easy to be alone so long. Those birds are your subjects and they worship and serve you. I know that’s what you want to say, but I also know that isn’t the same thing. None of them can compare to you. No matter how many of them you surround yourself with, they’ll never be able to understand you or accompany you to the top.”

Sage watched the birdman turn towards him and stare at him with those piercing blue eyes. A gaze that seemed to stare deep into him, weighing him. Sage smiled, “Much better. It has never been my intention to make you into a slave. You’ll just have to take our first meeting as my method of proving myself to you. I’m forming an organization, and I’d like you to join. You’ll be able to experience things you’d never imagined and we can fly towards the top together.”

After a few more moments, Sage passed over the Memory Sphere he created and then left the room. Giving the birdman time to mull this all over and learn all that he’d put into the Memory Sphere, Sage went back into the canyon and continued his work. He’d already started a dozen different breeding lines, attempting many different combinations and mutations.

A month later he returned to the Breach Hawk’s cage and smiled when he saw the Hawk using the facilities he’d provided to prepare food. The birdman was also wearing a different outfit and had even put some shoes on. Sage waited patiently for the birdman to finish cooking and prepare a plate before he finally gave a bow in his direction.

“Excellent skills. Were you able to learn everything in the Memory Sphere already?”

The hawkman coughed and sputtered a few times, then he picked up a cup of water and took a drink. He licked his lips awkwardly, birds didn’t have lips after all, and the motion was still foreign to him.

“I have. Human customs are quite strange.”

Sage laughed and smiled, “Perfect! Then it is past time we make a proper introduction! I am Lang Sheng. Lang as in Mantis, and Sheng as in Sage. In the future, I shall be known as Ling Sheng. Ling as in bell, and Sheng as in life. If we are to work together there shall be no secrets between us. What is your name, mighty one?”

The hawk seemed to take in his words with a strange tilt of its head. A hidden identity and flattery? What was this human’s intent?

“Tiankong zhi Wang.”

“The King of the Sky? Truly a fitting name for you.”

Sage had interrupted the bird before it could say more and the bird smiled at him. It even lifted its shoulders like it was preening, standing up straighter and showing off.

“It’s also quite long. May I just call you King?”

The birdman, King, nodded and the two of them began a long conversation.