One Day I Became a Bird
One day, I became a bird.
It was strange. Disorienting. Wings instead of arms. A beak instead of a mouth. Feathers instead of clothes. I looked at my reflection in the lake and couldn't help but laugh. What stared back was a bird making peculiar noises with its beak.
A hundred years passed after that. I grew accustomed to this body, little by little. I accepted that I was no longer human, and the fear faded on its own. Once I let go of wanting to go back, I started looking around.
This isn't Earth.
I thought that as I watched the land below — and the people on it, who looked as though they'd stepped straight out of the Middle Ages. Becoming a divine beast was already bewildering enough. Landing in a fantasy world on top of that?
I'm sleepy.
After circling the region once, drowsiness crashed over me. This place was battered year-round by storms laden with snow and ice. I could keep the chill at bay with my flames, but whenever the cold grew too fierce, an irresistible sleepiness would wash over me.
Come to think of it, my body seemed much smaller than it had been at the start. Not because I couldn't eat — I never felt hunger. Melted ice water was enough. Even the cool air would do.
Is it because of the cold?
I considered moving somewhere else, then dropped the idea. I hate the cold. And who knows how long a journey like that would take? Time to sleep. I returned to the nest I'd called home for a hundred years and settled in. When would I wake? A month from now? A year? It didn't matter anymore. My old life was growing fainter, bit by bit. I had accepted who I was now. Living like this wasn't so bad. As a bird, I had none of a human's worries.
"…"
I pushed myself up. Outside, another ice storm was howling. I don't want to go out. The colder the day, the heavier the lethargy that settles over me. If the cold really is why I'm shrinking, staying put would be the wiser choice.
I hesitated a moment, then spread my wings. Flames bloomed between my feathers.
The commotion was growing louder. Not far from my nest. I don't like getting involved, but I like noise even less — and having to leave this place because of some collateral damage would be worse still. The cold sank into my body. I beat my wings harder. The flames roared higher, and I felt a little more alive. Yeah. I really do hate the cold.
When I finally reached the source of the noise, two beings came into view.
Humans. And a dragon.
What could have driven them into a fight this savage? Curiosity flickered for a moment, but I decided to simply watch. This wasn't my business to meddle in. They had their own reasons. They ought to settle it themselves. If I were still human, maybe. But I'm a bird.
――KRAAAAH!
The dragon staggered under attacks pouring in from every direction. The humans pressed harder. Magic and sword aura rained down. Sensing the tide turning against it, the dragon suddenly wheeled around. It wasn't fleeing. It was heading for the village in the distance. Wounded pride, maybe. It meant to take its rage out on the villagers.
I hadn't planned to intervene. My body moved on its own. I folded my wings and dove toward the earth at tremendous speed. Indiscriminate slaughter. It disgusted me. Stopping it was the right thing to do.
I snapped my wings shut, then flung them wide. A colossal blaze swallowed the sky. The storm that had been raging across the world died down, and the ice melted away.
Sensing something amiss, the dragon that had been about to attack the village looked up at me.
――CRAAACKLE!
The flames engulfed the dragon. It burned like a massive log of firewood. The heat was so tremendous that not even ash remained.
That should keep the village safe.
Sleep crashed over me again. I'd been in the cold too long. I'd beaten my wings hard to get here, and I'd used my flames besides. I didn't look back. I returned to my nest, and I surrendered myself to the sleep that poured over me.
"Press the attack!"
Delphine, the Knight of Steel. A woman who had earned the epithet Sword of the Empire by slaying countless evils. This fight, without question, was the hardest battle of her life.
The Demonic Dragon cannot be allowed to reach the village!
Already, several villages to the west had vanished without a trace. They had hunted this creature — the enemy of so many — for a full three years. And at last, here in the far north of the continent, they had it cornered.
"Insolent vermin!"
Every time Dragon Fear crashed over them, her head reeled. Corrupted or not, a dragon was still a dragon. A terrible opponent by any measure.
"Ghk!"
The Demonic Dragon's tail slammed into Delphine's torso. Even wearing dwarven armor, the impact was tremendous. She staggered, then forced herself back to her feet — and a warm sensation wrapped around her body.
"Are you all right, Delphine?"
Luciel, High Priestess of the Order of Light. The woman closest to becoming the next Saintess poured holy power into her. The pain receded. Vitality and life surged through her body.
Delphine offered a word of thanks and launched herself at the Demonic Dragon once more. Sword aura flew and carved a deep wound into the dragon's scales.
"Now!"
The waiting mages unleashed a volley of simultaneous fire. Magic doesn't work on dragons. But once the scales are stripped away, that's a different story.
――KRAAAAAH!!
The Demonic Dragon, raked by magic, let out a cry of agony. This much couldn't threaten its life. Pain and a sting — that was all. But damage accumulates. And eventually, an opening always comes.
"Delphine!"
The area around the Dragon Heart — which the Demonic Dragon had been desperately protecting — lay exposed. Luciel recited a prayer to strengthen Delphine's body. The mages poured on their attacks in unison, slowing the beast.
"Haaah!"
With a roaring battle cry, Delphine's sword pierced the Demonic Dragon's chest. Crimson blood erupted. The dragon screamed in agony once more.
It's in!
She'd punched through the hide. Destroy the Dragon Heart from here, and victory was theirs.
Just a little more. A little more!
She drove her blade toward the seething heart of that vast mana.
"Delphine!"
At Luciel's urgent cry, Delphine wrenched herself free. A few more seconds and she could have finished it. But that was fine. An attack that worked once could work twice.
"I shall bestow despair upon you all."
They'd thought they had the upper hand. They were wrong. The moment the subjugation squad tried to catch its breath, the Demonic Dragon surged into the sky.
"N-no! Stop it! Any way you can!"
"Too late, vermin."
The Demonic Dragon delighted in slaughter. Its preferred victims were those who couldn't fight back. Wherever it went, only death and smoldering ash remained.
"The Demonic Dragon is heading for the village!"
Right now. Right before their eyes. The Demonic Dragon was about to visit another massacre upon the world.
"Kh!"
She couldn't shoot it down. She couldn't catch it. It was beyond Delphine. Impossible for her as she was now — unless she paid a corresponding price.
A year? No — would it take three?
Fire needs firewood to burn. In Delphine's case, that firewood was her own lifespan. Place years of life on one side of the scale to balance the weight, and on the other side, a brief burst of power.
"Delphine! Don't tell me you're going to use the Scale—!"
"I have no choice, Luciel. This is the best we have."
Better to spend that much of her life killing the thing than live with the regret of failing to save the villagers.
Her decision was made. Delphine drew her blade across her own palm. Blood soaked the ground — an offering to the Scale.
"O Scale of Balance."
"I, Delphine Lionheart, do hereby petition—"
――Whoooosh!
She offered a rightful price, and on the other side of the scale...
"...Huh?"
Fortunately, Delphine's Scale never tipped.
The flesh-cutting wind stopped. The savage ice storm vanished. A heat so intense it went beyond warmth — a heat that bordered on scorching. A warmth that should have been impossible in this brutal north.
"Luciel? Did you... use your holy power?"
"No, Delphine."
"Then what is this...?"
She'd cut her palm. It was still smeared with blood. And yet the wound had vanished as if washed away. Not even a scar remained. All she could feel was a faint heat. A gentle warmth.
The sky beyond, where the Demonic Dragon had vanished, was burning. In crimson light. In gold. And now in every color of the rainbow.
"Ah... ahhh..."
Delphine. Luciel. The entire subjugation squad. Even the Demonic Dragon racing toward the village. All of them lost themselves in that fire and light.
――CRAAACKLE!
The mighty Demonic Dragon's body was swallowed by flame. A dragon's body that had withstood sword aura. That had withstood magic. A body said to be invulnerable to all things under heaven.
――GRAAAAGH!
It melted. It scattered as ash on the wind. Scales. Hide. Flesh and bone. Even the heart. The very existence called the Demonic Dragon was erased from the world.
The world flushed a deeper red. Gold filled everything. Beyond it all, something could be seen gliding serenely through the sky.
So beautiful it brought tears. So terrifying it raised every hair. Even from this great a distance. Even appearing so small. Delphine knew, by instinct.
In this moment, the Demonic Dragon had been right. She was nothing but vermin.
The heat subsided. The warmth faded. The world, which had blazed in every color, returned to gray. The cold crept back. Snow and ice whirled once more. Only after the being beyond the sky had vanished completely—
"...Hah! Hahk!"
Delphine. Luciel. Every member of the subjugation squad. All of them collapsed where they stood, gasping for breath.
What... what in the world was that?
Clutching a heart that hammered like mad, forcing her trembling body to still, Delphine tried to make sense of what had just happened. She had fought countless beings. Even for Delphine, this was a first. It wasn't a matter of strength, or of evil. The very caliber was different. Even "immeasurable" fell short. She could barely accept what she had just witnessed.
"O God..."
Luciel offered a prayer through her tears. Not as she usually did, with scripture open before her — but facing the direction in which that great being had vanished. Watching her, Delphine clasped her own hands together.
She knew that gods did not always answer prayers. Her soul was one that dealt in the Scale, after all. And yet. Even so. Today, Delphine prayed with all her heart.
Please. Let us never have to fight that being. Let the day never come when it stands against us.