Brown leaves from that year's dying season crunched beneath Azin's feet. His face was twisted into a scowl as he stormed across a small clearing. Revenge consumed his every thought. Pikam had terrorized him for the very last time. He hated the blazing red haired menace that was his archenemy. Imagining him being torn to pieces by the gleaming claws of a large grizzly bear brought the twitch of a smile to his face. But even that was too kind a fate for someone like Pikam.
Movement from the surrounding trees interrupted his thoughts. His deep orange eyes flickered sideways to catch a glimpse of his follower. Azin sighed. Rolling his eyes he masked his anger and called out, "Caima you can get your little butt out here and stop trying to be sneaky anytime now."
"Ah, how'd you see me, I was being real quiet," Caima whined, her small nine year old form emerging from the forest. With her head held down as far as possible she dragged her bare feet across the ground at the pace of a snail. As beast elves they never wore shoes, preferring to feel the ground beneath them as they did while in animal form.
"Because I'm a beast elf and you're not as sneaky as you think you are," Azin told his little sister; his anger was already becoming a distant memory. He stared at Caima's long pink and orange hair pondering upon his little sister's innate ability to put him in a good mood.
"What are you staring at me for anyway Azin, did I mesmerize you with my beauty again?" her high pitched voice demanded to know of him.
"No of course not, you look like an ugly doll, why would I ever be mesmerized by that?" Azin retorted with a laugh.
"Well good!" Caima declared loudly, "because if you had I would've had to pinch you so hard you would've turned black and blue."
"You couldn't catch me, let alone pinch me even if you wanted to," Azin replied in a high mock tone, smiling brightly.
"Oh yea, we'll see about that!" Caima laughed as she began chasing Azin across the forest clearing. Even while trying to laugh and run at the same time Azin's long legs still carried him across the ground far faster than his sister. As he laughed he felt a surge of power rush through his body.
"See you at home," Azin called backwards as he felt the sudden rush of wind beneath his newly formed black wings.
"Hey that's not fair!" Came the distant call of Caima below. Azin smiled, but made no reply. He loved having the power to transform into various animals. The world was at his fingertips and he could go anywhere he wanted.
Azin's favorite animal had always been the black bird. There wasn't anyone around to cause him pain or tell him what to do in the sky. His thoughts were his only company and the rhythmic beating of his wings worked to soothe all his troubled ones away.
After several minutes of therapeutic flight Azin's thoughts began to drift towards his sister. She'd received the blessing of good looks from their mother. Even at nine you could tell she was going to be a beautiful woman. But it was to be expected of any charm Defra. She was one of the lucky ones born with both their father's orange hair and their mother's pink hair; it was a sign of the power she held. And in his village the more colors you obtained the higher your standing within the community would be. Azin was born with only his father's orange hair and was destined to follow the same path as him. Yet he felt he could do so much more. Like he was destined for greatness somehow.
How he would achieve that destiny was beyond him. He had no remarkable physical abilities, quite the opposite in fact. His powers were average at best. And his looks were nothing to be proud of. The only time he ever felt the least bit of power was when he was in the sky soaring high above everything else.
He could see the small figures of other Defra elves beneath him. They were all going about their own business--oblivious to the fact he was watching them from above. Air rushed past his face with greater force as he folded his wings in tightly and dived towards his home. The feeling was always exhilarating. The nerve-wracking speed he reached as he approached the ground made his heart beat faster. Its immensity grew steadily larger in his vision. He held the dive until his heart tried to pound its way out of his chest. His beak was only seconds away from smashing against the ground. He could almost hear his heart sigh in relief as his wings burst open, spreading out to catch a wave of air, just like he'd done so many times before. Heart stopping descent turned to that of a hover and seconds later his elvish legs touched down upon the ground while the rest of his body continued to transform itself back to his regular form. Feathers transformed to a woolen shirt while beak melted away leaving his face in its place.
"One of these days you'll make a mistake and get yourself killed doing that you know," scolded the familiar voice of his father.
"Don't worry dad, I've got it all under control, I've done it a million times," Azin confidently defended himself against his dad's glaring orange eyes.
"Tell that to your mother when you end up breaking your legs and have to try to see Fila," he answered frustrated. Fila was the village's life Defra, the only Defra that had the powers of life amongst all the Defra elves in existence, which made her the busiest person in their entire village.
"Alright, alright I promise I'll be much more careful the next time I'm diving in," Azin promised knowing he would just do the same thing the next time he returned home by flight. It was a routine argument he found himself in quite often with his father.
His father sighed indicating he was tired of pointless arguing, "How was your day?" he asked. Azin looked away. Feelings of anger rushed back as he reflected on the day's experiences. Pikam had decided it would be entertaining to light a rabbit's hole on fire while the entire family of rabbits were still trapped inside. Their screams of pain and terror still echoed hauntingly in his mind. He'd begged Pikam to stop desperately as the smell of freshly burnt fur wafted up into his sensitive nose, but Pikam would not heed his pleas. The smell still clear in his mind made his nose wrinkle in revulsion, Azin looked back at his father and said, "Pikam needs to pay."
"Not so good I take it, well cheer up son, you won't be in that class for much longer," he replied as though it was nothing more than a hurt knee. His father's ability to ignore all of the bad things in life always infuriated Azin.
"How can you be so happy? Pikam tortured an entire family of rabbits today without any reason, he's evil, someone needs to do something about him," Azin complained fruitlessly.
"Now son you know it's hard for fire Defra to learn control of their anger at first, just give him some time. It will all be alright," His father tried to soothe him.
"No! I will not stand by as he kills things just because he's some stupid fire Defra," Azin roared, his anger consuming him completely. Needing to get away from his father Azin ran as fast as he could. He did not care where, just as long as it was away from everyone else. He couldn't stand their sympathetic explanations and illogical justifications for cruelty any longer. The soft green ground beneath him sped by as his legs carried him past the ancient trees surrounding their village. Thoughts of anger continued to race through his mind as he began breathing heavily. Streams of sweat poured over his face. He pushed onwards despite his body's weakness. He entered another clearing and almost passed out as the heat hit him like a wall. He could see the sun had dropped low in the sky, but he did not care. Let them worry.
Azin exerted his beast powers to transform into a black bird, but found his anger had robbed him of the ability to do so. Emotions held a strong influence upon Defra magic. he forced himself to begin calming down using breathing techniques and mind exercises he'd learned in class. It took some time before he noticed his magic return to its full strength. Without any more delay he flew off into the sky, his familiar black wings gliding across a gentle breeze.
Azin slowly let his thoughts go back to Pikam careful not to let hi
mself lose control again. He was not angry just because Pikam had killed animals. Azin knew his father and many others went on hunts for food all the time. Everyone needed to survive and that was one of the necessities. But Pikam had done it solely for the pleasure of it. Just killing them was not enough to satisfy Pikam's cruelty though. Instead he cooked them alive slowly and painfully laughing hysterically the whole time. Yet even that was not the worst part. The particular family of rabbits Pikam had chosen were some of his best childhood friends. Pikam knew it too. It was the very reason Pikam had chosen them as his victims.
Remembering his look of triumph nearly made Azin lose control of his bird form again. He quickly forced the thoughts out of his mind and let the rhythmic beats of his wings calm him back