Devour (2)

"Uh... Did your parents not give you names?"

Berkah asked the two Harpy hatchlings.

"Well... We haven't met our... parents either."

The girl replied.

"HUH? Then how do you guys get food, how do you even survive in this place??"

[These little brats... Are they messing with me?]

"Hahaha! Enough of that!"

The obnoxious little boy stepped in with a broad smile on his face.

"Let's go play!"

He grabbed both Berkah and the girl by their wrists and pulled them away from table.

"Hey slow down!"

Berkah cried out loud, his little feet not able to keep up due to the fatigue from earlier.

The three of them joyfully played together in the endless white room, first they played tag and then they played a game where they pretended to fly.

Berkah really wanted to rest but, he found himself having fun and just bore through his fatigue and continued to play with the young hatchlings.

[Look at me... a 19 year old playing with toddlers...]

He mused with a bitter smile as they continued with their games.

[Well whatever... This is pretty fun.]

They continued playing for hours, joyful laughter echoing throughout the surroundings.

Soon enough they played themselves to exhaustion and just passed out right then and there.

A few hours passed and Berkah slowly opened his eyes.

He felt a comforting warmth coming from either side of him, shifting his eyes he found the two Harpy hatchlings tightly cuddling him.

Above him he heard a strange sound. The sound of ferocious winds whistling above him.

What made it strange was that they were still in the white room.

And even more strange was that the three of them were somehow sleeping on a nest that appeared out of nowhere.

But... Berkah recognized the nest, it was a the same nest that he was born in and had lived in for the past two years.

Even though it was not at the top of the mountain but rather in the white room, there was no way he would be unable to recognize it, from the shape of the feathers and the crunchiness of the bed of grass.

"What is going on here...?"

"Is this a dream after all?... But it feels way too real..."

He whispered under his breath, not wishing to wake the two who slept beside him.

"Now that I mention it... if this is a dream, then does that mean these two aren't real?"

"What a shame, I was really starting to like them."

"... Even this obnoxious brat was growing on me."

He continued whispering to himself, and slowly stood up from the bed of grass and feathers.

"... So, when will I wake up?."

He wondered, resting his elbows on the edge of the nest and his palms on his face.

*crunch...*

The two hatchlings woke from their sleep and slowly walked toward Berkah, whilst stretching their white wings and scratching their messy blue hair.

"Sorry if I woke you up, but..."

"Do you guys know where this nest came from?"

Berkah asked.

"Nope, it's always been here."

The girl replied nonchalantly.

[Huh?! It wasn't here yesterday though?!]

Berkah cried inwardly and turned his gaze to the boy of the pair for answers.

"Haha! What game should we play today?!"

The boy stepped forward and laughed with his tiny fists on his waist.

[Hey don't ignore me!]

Berkah cried inwardly.

"Be sure to keep up with your big bro today Mr. Poopy pants! Haha!"

"Who are you calling poopy pants you little...!!!"

Berkah shouted and swallowed the cuss words that rested at the tip of his tounge.

"Hahaha!"

The boy continued laughing until he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at Berkah with his eyes as cold a winter and his teeth bared.

"By the way... I know what game we should play now. How about a game where I ask you a question and you answer me..."

Then boy spoke in an uncharacteristic serious tone and approached Berkah.

"Hm?"

Berkah was puzzled by the sudden change in his demeanor.

The boy extend his arm toward Berkah.

*Yank!*

The boy suddenly grabbed Berkah by the collar of his grey robe.

[The fuck??]

Berkah became even more puzzled.

"Why did you do it?"

The boy asked, gnashing his teeth and frowning intensely.

"HUH? What are you talking about?"

Berkah was genuinely confused and turned his gaze toward the girl of the pair but she was silent, watching the situation unfold with a blank expression on her face.

"WHY DID YOU DO IT?!"

The boy repeated his question, shouting with all that his lungs could allow.

"Do what?? What are you talking about??"

[!!]

Berkah glanced down at the arm of the boy and noticed that it was slowly being mummified.

"Hey let go! You're gonna get hurt!"

[Fuck why did that ability have to activate now of all times?!]

"It's too late..."

The boys said, his body rapidly mummifying.

"WHY... DID... YOU... D —"

*Plop!*

The boy fell to the ground and his frame was reduced to nothing but dried skin and bones.

"Hey!"

Berkah dropped to his knees and shook the boy, as if he was trying to wake him up.

"Ahhhh... AHH!"

He clenched his curly black hair and wailed out loud.

[Why is this happening??]

*thud!*,*thud!*

He hit his forehead on the bed of grass and feathers.

[Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!]

[This is a fucking nightmare!]

Berkah attempted to wake himself up by causing himself pain, but it did not work.

If anything it felt all too real, the smell of the young hatchling's corpse and the warmth of the blood trickling down his forehead contradicted the thought that it was all a dream.

"Why... Why... Why..."

The girl cried out loud, her voice cracking and tears streaming down her round cheeks.

This prompted Berkah to raise his eyes and look at her.

"WHY DID YOU DO IT?"

The girl repeated the same question as the boy.

"Do what?! I didn't do anything!"

Berkah retorted, his eyes red from all the crying.

[!!]

Half the girl's body was suddenly mummified, shocking Berkah, causing body to shudder.

[What's happening?! I didn't even touch her!]

[Make it stop!]

He extended his quivering hands to try and help the girl, but what could he possibly do?

His eyes trembled helplessly at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

"WHY DID YOU... DEVOUR US?!"

*Plop!*

Her now completely mummified body fell to the ground next to the boy's.

"Wh —what are you talking about..."

His lips trembled and he became drenched in sweat.

A part of him knew exactly what they were talking about.

*SNAARRRLLLL!*

A familiar sound echoed throughout the endless white room and a large shadow was cast on Berkah's tiny frame.

He already knew what it was so he didn't even bother to look up.

A large Wyvern appeared with its red eyes laced in vengeance and bloodlust.

Berkah knew why it was there... and even though he refused to admit or accept it... he knew exactly who those two children were.

*Thud!*

The Wyvern landed next to the nest and growled like a beast thirsty for carnage.

Behind the large Wyvern was a smaller one that seemed a bit more timid and scared to approach.

*Grooowll..."

The large Wyvern crawled on its two leathery wings and made its way to face Berkah who was frozen still, his face expressionless.

Berkah raised his piercing blue eyes and glared at the Wyvern.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?"

"Don't you want revenge?! Hurry up and do it!"

He shouted, tears gushing out of his azure blue eyes.

The Wyvern tilted its head and blinked.

"I said do it!"

Berkah punched the Wyverns snout, but it was so weak due to his current lack of mana that it felt as light as a feather to the Wyvern.

*Growl!*

The Wyvern opened its mouth and spat out a ferocious beam of fire that consumed Berkah.

"AAAHHHR!!"

It hurt... More than Berkah could have ever imagined... So painful that it drove him past insanity... Berkah bellowed in pain... Until he was ultimately turned to ash...

///

"AAARRGGH!"

Berkah awoke from his dream... or rather, his nightmare.

His scream was accompanied by a beam of fire ferociously spewing out of his mouth.

*Boom!*

A part of the roof of the wooden house his mother rented was instantly vapourised.

"*huff*, *huff!*... So it was a dream?"

He scratched his head and breathed a sigh of relief, his body drenched in sweat and the feeling of being burned alive vividly etched in his mind.

[But... did I just breath fire?]

[!!]

He casted his eyes towards his shivering arms and saw something that made his wings quiver.

[Why...]

He bit his lower lip.

His arms were adorned by pitch black scales, perfectly joined together and having a unique luster.

[Why the fuck do I have scales?!]

He cried inwardly, his once normal blue eyes now having slit pupils like a reptilian's.