[Stymphalian Birds I]

Fate/Defiance

Chapter 14 [Stymphalian Birds I]

By theMadLad

Icarus continued on along the village, eventually reaching towards an area a bit past the outskirts that seemed to be completely devoid of people, with only the ruins of former houses remaining marking its existence as part of the village.

The houses were collapsed with damages all over them clear to see, and if one looked closely enough, they could even see the faint marks of talons engraved onto the degraded wood.

"So, this is where the birds have attacked before huh?" Icarus murmured to himself, "…I still need more information."

Icarus took a moment to scour the area and look at any clues he could garner from it, but other than splotches of dry blood… it seemed entirely abandoned.

"Hey!" A voice yelled out to him from behind and back towards the village, Icarus turned to see an older man that was holding a vase filled with flowers looking towards him with concern.

"You shouldn't be over there!" The older man spoke with distress as he hurried over to Icarus. The man hobbled over while carefully holding the vase and then spoke while grabbing Icarus' hand to pull him away, "Look kid, trust me… I understand more than most, that a lot of us lost someone that day, but you should be out there!"

The man tugged Icarus all the way back into the village before he put down the vase onto the grass and grabbed both of Icarus' shoulders while looking into his eyes, "Those damn birds may still be out there, it isn't safe." The man then sighed before releasing one of Icarus' shoulders while continuing, "Here, I can take you back to your parents, just show me the way."

Icarus was a bit stunned at the man's actions but then quickly shook his head in denial, "Thank you for your concern, but I am alone."

The man's eyes drooped in response before replying in a remorseful tone, "Shit, I'm sorry kid." The man then leaned down to look at Icarus with a pained expression, "I get it, I lost my daughter when they came."

Icarus eyes' widened as he realized the man had misinterpreted him, believing him to be an orphan instead of just… some kid wandering a dangerous forest.

Well, he wasn't entirely wrong.

"No need to apologize, you misunderstood." Icarus then looked up to the man who held a confused expression, "I am not from this village in the first place."

The man simply gave him an even more concerned look.

Icarus just shook his head once more, "It was the will of the gods that brought me here."

The man gave Icarus a side eyed glance and reacted like any normal person would, "I know it isn't safe here boy, but you shouldn't try and comfort yourself with false signs."

He expressed doubt.

After all, why would the Gods bring some random kid to a small village in the middle of the forest that was plagued by man eating birds.

"No, I meant that literally." Icarus sheepishly replied, "…as in, the gods actually brought me here."

The man simply looked even more confused.

Icarus then went on to briefly explain his backstory. While this was unnecessary, Icarus wanted to help the man—not just through defeating the birds but also through the man's depression… and to do so, he first had to empathize with him.

The man seemed to have lost his daughter to the birds and Icarus understood that to some extent, while he buried the memories deep inside… Icarus had also lost his previous family when he suddenly reincarnated.

He just tried his best not to think about it.

By the time Icarus had finished explaining how he got there, the man was sitting beside him with red eyes, "You know, I heard a bit about your story a couple days ago when some travelers came by… but I couldn't bear to keep listening." His voice became choked as he continued, "Because… m-my daughter would have loved it. She always used to point at birds in the sky and talk about how much she wished she could fly."

Tears started to stream from the man's eyes as Icarus comforted him with a pat on the shoulder and a soft smile, "Could you tell me a bit about her?"

The man's eyes crinkled a bit as he replied with a rapid nod between hushed sobs. The man then went on to explain between various intense emotions about how his daughter would sneak out to play and how he would have to find her in panic, or even the times she would help mend his clothes when they would be torn while working.

Icarus smiled along as the man would laugh when he spoke of the joy he had while raising his daughter and would comfort the man when he recalled the death of his wife a year after his daughter's birth.

The birds had taken the last thing that mattered to him, but the man still smiled regardless as he recalled the fond memories.

"…But then that day happened." The man's voice shook as he spoke, taking a moment to look down at the vase of flowers on the ground nearby with shaking eyes, "Those damn birds came out the moment Helios' chariot finished its travel for the day!"

The man went on to describe the look of the birds, that they were made of bronze and the size of cranes, with powerful straight beaks and sharp metal feathers that were able to be thrown freely from their wings as deadly attacks.

"They had already ravished all of our food! But, they just could stop there n-no! They h-had to kill my precious Eleni as well!" He yelled in frustrated sobs before eventually looking towards Icarus in shame with haunted eyes, "I-I'm sorry for dropping all this on you so suddenly boy."

Icarus just responded with an understanding smile, "It's alright, I wanted to help you anyways."

The man gave him a thankful smile in response, but it was clear to see that his face was still covered in sadness, "I thank you for comforting this old man in his time of need. If there is anything you need… I am in your debt."

The man was ashamed that he vented so freely to a small child, but he couldn't help but admit that the boulder in his heart… had lightened up a little.

He truly felt the need to repay Icarus, and it's not like he had anything left to lose.

"Do you have any of their feathers left?" Icarus asked unexpectedly.

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It was sometime later that Icarus had left the older man and headed back out with a long and serrated bronze feather in his hands.

The man had collected them from the ruins of that part of the village, with the goal of acquiring some form of weakness to exploit from them in the hopes of avenging his daughter… but to no avail.

Now he said that he mostly just kept them to have something to vent his anger on.

Icarus felt bad for the man who was just trying to live his life, but ended up losing everything to forces outside of his control regardless. It made Icarus dislike the Gods even more, as the Stymphalian Birds were originally familiars of Ares that he had allowed to run rampant without a care.

They couldn't even fix up their own mess… if they ever cared at all.

But after a conversation with that man, he had realized what felt so off about his prior conversation with the Gods.

Empathy.

The ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and resonate with the emotions that they went through.

They had sympathy but not empathy.

The Gods couldn't empathize.

Talking with the man felt genuine, a conversation explored through a base of empathy and understanding, from a shared and relatable point of view. While the one with the Gods felt empty and disingenuous, like a charade made to accomplish a goal or to simply entertain themselves with.

There was no human connection.

Icarus sighed at the thought as he took out a crystallized rock salt from his bag. This was something that Icarus had taken from the material within Daedalus' workshop and finally found a use for.

"καθαρίζω!" (Purify!) Icarus invoked with intent as he observed the dual colored rock salt shift into a single shade.

He then placed it into a small bucket of water, breaking it down while mixing it together and casting a spell to heat it up before watching it slowly turn into a yellowish green mixture.

Then he placed the bronze feather inside.

Soon after, he turned off to the side, where laid out throughout the ground were pieces of cork that had been completely dried to the bone. On top of one of those pieces, sat a small metal box that made no noise but seemed to suck the very moisture from anything it touched.

It was like a dehumidifier on crack.

Icarus had taken to calling it a demoisturizer.

It was what 'Chloe' gave him, it seemed rather futuristic in nature and appearance… and as much as Icarus would love to take a deeper look, right now he simply didn't have the time.

He was on a timer, as he had to attack the birds before the sun started to go down, so Icarus once again got to work and grabbed a few pieces of the dried cork with the intent to make something out of them.

While crafting his next item, his thoughts eventually drifted back to that man. There were likely a lot of people like that man in the world, who had been screwed over by some power out of their control and while he may not be able to help them all.

…he could at least help the one right in front of him.

At first, he simply wanted to catch the birds for their material, but now he had a larger reason to get rid of them. For that man, and all the other nameless men, women, and children who had lost parts of themselves to those birds.

Because he understood, because he empathized.

And even though he will never get comfort or resolution to the losses of his past life, he could at least make sure these people did.

…Maybe those fake reasons he gave the Gods earlier weren't such a blatant lie after all.

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Icarus packed the mixture he made into a bunch of small pouches capable of carrying liquids and strapped them to his waist.

Small plates of thick and dry cork were placed along his body and under his clothes as armor to protect himself from the bird's feathers. He then gripped his bow on one hand and tied a small quiver filled with various arrows to his belt.

Icarus then made sure to double check the various gadgets he made over the last few days were functional, before finally deciding that he was ready.

It was time to fuck up some birds.

He headed back into the ruins on the outskirts of the village, but this time, he went even further. Icarus walked past the damaged and abandoned buildings, heading straight into the swamp of Stymphalus.

The moment he stepped inside could feel the humidity in the air noticeably rise, acting as a prelude for what lay within. The ground below was wet, unsteady, and unable to support any large weight without giving way.

Luckily, Icarus was still a small child and thus lacked the size that would have been detrimental to him.

With his gear lightened from the spells cast onto them, Icarus silently traveled the swamp, carefully watching his steps as he mapped his surroundings and ingrained him into his head.

The trees and bushes were lifeless, with them having been destroyed with dead branches and shrubs turning a swamp which would usually be teeming with life into a dead husk of its former self, foreshadowing doom into whoever dared to enter and face the beasts within.

But Icarus pushed on regardless.

He steadily progressed into the swamp, wading through the bog until he eventually came upon the sounds of rattling metal. Icarus peered from the distance, bringing his eyes up to the scope on his bow as he looked towards the noise from behind the cover of a tree.

There, he saw them.

They were large, the size of cranes as the man had previously stated, and were nesting beneath the shade of the dead trees and away from the scorching heat of the sun.

Icarus lowered his bow and took out a large plank of dried cork from his bag before placing it behind him. After making sure it was firmly in place, he re-equipped his bow and once more gazed out the scope.

He then used a free hand to grab one of the pouches strapped to his waist before tying it to the end of one of the arrows and loading it onto the bow.

He pulled the bowstring back, holding the riser with one hand while straining both his arms and the bow's cams as he pulled, his shot lined up to just above the bronze birds' resting place and on the trunk of the tree.

"ενισχύω (reinforce)," He spoke one word as the mana in the air followed his command, ingraining itself into the materials within the pouch… and fired.

—Then all hell broke loose.

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Author's Notes

Hoho, early chapter! If you guys keep me within the top ten of the rankings, then I will do it next week as well!

Icarus fights the Stymphalian Birds next chapter! About time huh and let me just say this—as the person who wrote it—next chapter goes hard as fuck!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, drop a powerstone if you did! And some reviews please!

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