The Crow

November 17, 2030.

Flying high above the city below was a crow. Though humans may not notice it, this crow was slightly different from others from its kind. It was not its appearance that was different, it was its intelligence. Crows are already one of the most intelligent species of birds, the others being ravens, macaws, and others of their kind. However this crow, while not as intelligent as humans, was far more self aware than the other birds.

The crow had many hobbies such as flying high in the sky and singing but its favorite hobby by far was observing the lives of the strange creatures living in the city below, humans. The crow had no idea what they were called or what they were doing but it found them amusing and strange. As the crow observed them it discovered many things that shocked it. One of the things that confused the crow the most was that they seemed to never hunt for food. It knew that they got food somehow but it had no idea where it came from. What it did know was that strange moving monsters would arrive at the place where the creatures got their food and bring more. The crow believed that it was something similar to a mother bird feeding its children like the crow's mother did for her.

Occasionally, when the crow was perched upon its favorite tree it would spot a few of the strange creatures watching it. The crow, not disturbed by what it believed to be its admirers, would try to communicate with the creatures on the occasion. Unfortunately, the strange creatures seemed to not understand or just ignored the bird. However sometimes some of the creatures would mimic the crows greetings but could not. The crow, seeing this, deemed the creatures too stupid to understand the language of such high class creatures like the crow. The crow even found their attempts at speaking to be adorable at times and would often cackle at their inferior minds.

When the crow felt hungry it would often fly through the city to find food. It found that hunting was far more inefficient to picking up what the creatures left behind. The crow would always find tons of food on the ground left by the creatures. Often when the crow would find a meal just lying on the ground it would laugh at the foolish creatures, thinking that they were too dumb to notice all this food that they were providing it for free. Sometimes, the crow would see one of the creatures just giving out free food in parts of the city. It would just through tiny pieces of it onto the ground and lets the birds eat it. This greatly confused the crow. The crow never experienced charity before that except from its mother. The crow would even feel concerned for the strange creature. Clearly there must be something wrong with its brain for it to be giving out its own food like that of its own volition.

Though the crow thought itself to be superior, it did truly like the humans. It would often pick up trinkets the creatures dropped and put it in its nest. Over the years the crow built its nest out of such things and valued them above all its other possessions. The crow finishing its daily flight over the city landed in its nest. It carefully picked over all its possessions making sure all of them were there. Its favorite among them was a shiny golden locket. This locket was placed as the focal point of the nest.

The crow, done making sure all its possessions were there, once again flew into the city, this time to get food. The crow knew that to find food it had to go where the creatures gathered most. When the crow arrived at the place to find food it spotted several other birds. The crow knew that they too were there for food. It had often fought with these same birds for food including those of its own species.

While searching for food the crow saw many opportunities. However the crow knew that there would be fights for the food. Fortunately the crow had a plan. When the other birds started to fight for the food the crow waited for the perfect moment. The fight was brutal from a birds point of view. Birds would violently peck at one another and try to tug the food form another's mouth, some even used their talons to scratch others. While they birds fought for survival the crow waited. Finally right when a bird dropped the food the crow swept in, gripped it with its claws and flew away. The other birds seeing this panicked and gave chase but were unable to catch up.

Satisfied with its overwhelming victory over the other birds, the crow happily pecked at its prize and ate it. Having a full stomach the crow started to fly home. Suddenly when the crow was approaching its home it noticed a reddish hue to the sky and it heard some of the strange creatures monsters blare sounds loudly into their surroundings. Feeling a sense of dread the bird quickly flew towards her home.

As the crow arrived to the forest she lived she noticed a great fire spreading throughout the forest. Though the crow had never experienced fire before it felt a great sense of danger from it and felt the need to stay away from it. As it started to turn away the crow remembered its possessions. Panicking the crow quickly flew to where her home is.

Deep with in the inferno the crows tree collapsed onto the forest floor. spreading her prized possessions into the fires on the ground. The crow arriving to see her home burning and her possessions being lost to the fire felt her heart break. Suddenly the crow saw her favorite of her possessions shining on the ground. Feeling hope to save at least one of her possessions she dived into the inferno. The fire burned her feathers and fried her skin as she dived down. The crow had never experienced such pain before in her life. It was excruciating. Just as she was going to give in she reached the ground, she gripped her possession and flew upward and just as she was flying up she heard a loud crack as another tree collapsed knocking her to the ground and trapping her under. The crow no longer being able to feel the pain breathed her last breath.

As the crow breathed her last breath a huge explosion of energy came into existence. The Second Big Bang. Many humans looking into the sky saw the light show of their lives. multi colored lights filled the universe changing the universe in a fundamental way. The Earth shook and cities collapsed. The Earth grew many times over.

Ten years passed,

In a burned down forest where life was teeming once again, mana surged and converged into one point forming a white flame. Around that flame a beautiful young woman with vibrant red hair formed.