CHAPTER 25: Wings.

Sirin ran across the wasteland, not knowing how much time had passed.

Slowly he felt himself getting dizzy. Finally he fell to his knees.

There were no other demons close by, but he was exposed. It wouldn't be safe to collapse here.

He pushed himself off the ground, but he didn't get much further. The pain he felt was almost the same as when he took on a new form for the first time. Finally, he couldn't stay awake any longer. The last thing he felt was how his face touched the ground.

< Hey? Are you still alive? >

It was blurry at first, but after a few blinks he saw the text on the blue screen. He was still drowsy and confused, and he could barely feel his body.

<Ah, good. For a moment I thought you weren't going to make it. Death from natural causes is not as easily reversible as a wound or holy energy. >

Sirin didn't know what to do with this. The system had never talked to him like that before. It was like there was a real person behind it.

< That's because I'm not the system. Don't worry, I'll be gone in a minute. I was only afraid you would die and I tried to help you. Otherwise it would be a shame to let all my efforts be for nothing. >

"Who are you?"

< If you have to ask, then it's not even worth telling you. >

Sirin closed his eyes for a moment. His head was bursting with pain, as was his back.

"I understand."

< Good, very good. >

The system glitched for a moment and a grinning silhouette was visible among the static noice. It was not human, that was clear. Although the image was very distorted, the creature now speaking through the system appeared to have three yellow eyes that glowed like coal.

< If I stay here any longer, I may break the system. It's a real shame, but I'll probably see you in person soon. Please make sure that your existence is not undone until then. My siblings wouldn't be happy. >

The system glitched again, only this time the screen went completely black. For a moment, Sirin was afraid that this creature had taken the system with him. Fortunately, the familiar blue screen reappeared.

< Update completed >

< New options:

Inspect ( This will be displayed in a number that shows the exact strength and ability of the target. Wounds, fatigue, etc. are counted as well so that the number is a exact representation of the moment. )

Pocket dimension (A small space between worlds that completly belongs to the host. Only dead and inanimate things can be stored in the dimension. Time moves a lot slower there. )

Magic Creation ( The host's mana is used to create things. The only limits are the host's creativity and the amount of magic he can use at a time. ) >

Sirin briefly glanced through the notifications, he was still out in the open. The sun had almost set, which meant that he had been lying here unconscious for a few hours. If nothing had found him yet, it wouldn't be long before something did.

When he got up he got the feeling back in his body. Everything hurt, especially his back.

When he stood up, he noticed that he was slightly longer than before. But that wasn't the most shocking thing. The thing that stood out the most were the two stark white bat-like wings that had torn through his shirt.

At least most of the wings were bat-like only the top had feathers, white large feathers that ran over the membrane of the wings.

Sirin had never seen a demon have snow white feathers on its wings, and he started to panic. At first he'd been denying that these wings were actually his. That this was just a new form that he had been given through the system. Perhaps he had gotten one for free from the visit of that creature.

But the wings had torn his clothes apart. Even though the system itself wasn't magic, it often behaved that way. When he changed shape, the clothes he wore changed with him so he wouldn't get entangled in them. So this wasn't an action from the system.

In a last-ditch effort to deny that these wings were his, he tried to move them in hopes of them not actually being connected to his back. The both of them moved exactly as he wanted. There was no doubt, these wings were his.

He tried to calm down. He had never seen another demon of his kind, maybe the white feathers were normal. Or maybe they would gain more color later on.

After practicing moving his wings for a while, he found that he could sort of hide them inside his back the same way he could change the shape of his legs. Of course he did this right away. Who knew what the other demons would do if they found out how weird his wings were!

Sirin took a deep breath and began to walk toward the encampment. No one would ever know what his wings looked like.