CHAPTER 287: 287: WINDS BENEATH THE WINGS

---

Batbat gave Kai a final mock salute with his wing, winked, and with a single whoosh, dissolved into the sky like a red mist chased by the first kiss of dawn.

Silence returned. The fire crackled softly.

Kai stood there alone for a long while. The camp behind him stirred but did not wake. All his girls still slumbered in their beds of leaves, furs, and stolen pillows. Akayoroi murmured in her sleep. Naaro turned over, clutching a half eaten fruit. Azhara rolled onto Sha and murmured something about moonberries on Kai’s anaconda, then sucking it for flavour.

Kai looked toward the east. The black sky was beginning to shift. The tiniest sliver of blue pressed against the stars, nudging them out of view.

Morning was coming. Fast.

He sat back down by the fire, tossing another stick into the embers. His body felt tired, his blood still not fully replaced, and his mind still digesting what just happened.

Gods. Artifacts. World ending predator monsters.

He let out a low sigh. "Just one peaceful day," he muttered. "Is that so much to ask?"

Alka, their giant avian mount, let out a low sleepy chirp from the other side of the camp.

Kai leaned back, arms behind his head. The fire warmed his exoskeleton as the sky slowly brightened. They had two hours before morning or departure. Two hours before the march resumed toward Monarch Mountain.

His home. He watched the embers dance, eyes finally relaxing, even if his thoughts did not.

A few moments later... Kai woke to the sound of rhythmic wingbeats and soft snoring.

The sky above him was still painted in pre-dawn hues, deep purples and fading blues giving way to the ghost of sunlight at the horizon’s edge. A low breeze rustled the treetops, and faint stars still clung stubbornly to the heavens like children refusing to leave the playground.

Kai blinked a few times. The fire had died down to faint orange glimmers, warm but no longer crackling. The night’s surreal encounter still echoed in the back of his mind, but he forced the thoughts aside. That... was done.

And now, reality has returned with all its chaotic responsibilities.

He stood, stretching his limbs with a series of quiet pops and creaks. His human shell was slightly dull from lack of sleep, but he flexed and cracked his shoulders anyway, exhaling slowly as the tension drained from his body.

Then he turned to look at his party.

Azhara had rolled onto her stomach, hugging her satchel like it was a teddy bear. Drool trickled onto a half-eaten fruit.

Akayoroi lay just behind her, wrapped in her silky red veil. Her ant abdomen twitched occasionally as she dreamt, and her lips whispered his name with the tone of someone halfway between prayer and seduction.

Vel and Sha were curled up back to back like a pair of squabbling kittens who had accidentally fallen asleep in the middle of a fight.

Naaro was sprawled out like she had been tossed there by an angry god, legs in the air, one arm clinging to a tiny cactus as if protecting a sacred treasure.

The four injured sisters, and the twins , rested side by side under a feathered blanket that Azhara had insisted was for cuteness and symmetry.

And above them, perched majestically on a mossy slope like some oversized guardian hawk, was Alka.

The bird blinked its sharp eyes slowly and tilted its head as Kai approached. "You awake, feather beauty?" Kai asked.

Alka chirped softly and preened a wing. A nod of sorts. "I am an early bird."

"Good. We fly at dawn."

He checked the time by glancing toward the sky again. Maybe an hour left. Enough time to prep.

He walked over to the supplies and began the morning ritual: sorting dried meat, checking water flasks, scanning for any trouble, and verifying that none of Azhara’s secret ’training potions’ had leaked. One had melted a tree last week, so he had good reason to be paranoid.

As he packed, a sleepy groan caught his attention.

Azhara sat up, blinking slowly. Her black hair was sticking up at absurd angles. One eye was open. The other still firmly closed, as if refusing to accept the start of the day.

"Are we dead?" she croaked.

"No. You’re just stupid in the morning."

She groaned louder and flopped over dramatically. "Ugh. Morning is a disease."

"It’s not morning yet."

"Then it’s the pre-symptom phase."

Kai chuckled.

Akayoroi stirred next. Her upper human torso rose gracefully as if every joint in her body was made of silk. She looked well-rested, despite the journey.

"Kai," she murmured, bowing her head slightly.

"Morning," he replied.

Akayoroi’s eyes lingered on him a moment longer than necessary. Then she turned her attention to the girls and began gently waking the others.

Within fifteen minutes, the entire camp was alive with half-awake groans, stretching sexy bodies, and the occasional complaint about someone stealing someone else’s moss pillow.

Vel accused Naaro. Naaro accused the cactus. The mouthless poor plant cactus, tragically, had no legal defense.

Kai let them fuss. The morning chaos was familiar and strangely comforting.

They had only seven days of travel left to reach the Monarch Mountain. The mountain where Kai had built his new kingdom, where Luna waited, where Miryam and Shadeclaw and the others kept the fires burning.

He had promised to return soon. And that time was near. As the final bag was strapped and the makeshift camp cleared, Kai walked over to Alka.

The giant bird lowered her head, allowing Kai to pat her beak. He leapt lightly onto her back, talons digging into the leather grips he had attached.

"Let’s move, people," Kai called out. "We have to cover good ground before midday."

One by one, the girls boarded Alka with varying levels of grace.

Akayoroi climbed elegantly and took her spot behind Kai. Vel and Sha tripped over each other before being dragged up by Naaro, who threatened to ride them both like backpacks if they did not hurry.