1 : IRRIS

Irris, that's what they call themselves. They have two legs that walk, two arms that take, two ears that listen, two eyes that watch, two breathing lungs, two beating hearts and a pair of two wings attached to their own backs.

It's not the heart that's surprising for most, it's those number of feathers glued to the bones outside their bodies. They're not human at all, they would rather prefer the term Irris. Just because they look similar to them, doesn't mean that they are the same kind.

They treated the Irris like monsters. Forced them to leave their own lands by using fire to burn their trees. They were all forced to hide underneath the people, they hid in caves, mountains, places out of their cruel reach.

They hated the humans because those petty humans hated them in the first place for having something that they don't have. Immortality.

The Irris have the ability to heal themselves and others aswell, if they wanted to. They never die from any attempts but they could feel pain. They could be locked up in a cage and people from faraway lands would pay high prices to touch their feathers, to play them like they aren't living creatures aswell.

For a long time, the Irris hid their clans. Each millenium, replacing the leaders of four. The Kidemónes, they call them, the four who will lead their race in peace. But as always, they were always in peace, in hiding, the same thing everyday.

In their giant cave of wonders, where their only source of light was the lava spilling from the volcano, they were protected. They built their homes out of obsidian and planted their own base of food and plants. The only time that they needed to go out was when they needed sufficient materials for their kind. They could starve but they would never die. Starvation was a pain, they all felt pain.

It wasn't until one of the younger future Kidemónes, Callista, had finally reached the appropriate age to fly outside their coven. She's been waiting for years and now that the time has come, she will use the knowledge that she had learnt from the grand elders and venture with her wits.

She wouldn't be alone though. Her brothers would be there with her. It'a their first official mission, training them to be better because they carry the blood of the Strážci, the first creators of the Irris. They were respected like royals but they weren't rulers either.

"Halcassi! Hal! Hal! Wake up! Wake up, you heavy stinky blackbird!" She shook her older brother, Halcassi, her partner in crime. The pale man with long yellowish shiny hair, lazily opened his eyelids and blinked before closing them again. "You're ruining my precious sleep. What is it?" He yawned and groaned in pain when his sister threw a heavy pillow out of their own feathers, aimed at his crotch. She laughed at how his messy overgrown hair looked almost like their nests without the silks.

"Oh blackbirds! What's the matter with you?!" He stretched his dark wings, finally sat up from his comfortable nest of figs covered by silk and captured Callista in a tight hug. "Ow! Your sharp feathers are hurting me!" He had his jet black wings wrap her body in a bundle and gave her little light. "Hal! Let go of me! You stink mud!"

But he didn't let go yet and chuckled at her attempts to be free when a deep voice spoke, "Hal, let her go. We have to hunt, remember?" He obligated, and Callista ran, flying a little so her feet barely touched the ground. She embraced the fellow Irris who had sat on their windowstill. It was their other brother Zamilioxan. His strong built felt heavy when they touched, his silver hair unlike Halcassi, was neatly cut. His sharp chin tickled her shoulder when they hugged as she pecked his cheekbones.

"Good morning Zamil, aren't you excited for today?" She asked and moved away to get a string of strong grass from her plants to tie her hair. "No, we're just going outside. It's not like we won't be doing that for a limited time. We have all the time in the world to explore the continents." He crossed his arms as he spoke. Halcassi bitterly scoffed and started to dress himself with their silk robes that had holes from behind to fit their wings. "I just want to get back to sleep. Why should we be excited when there's a chance we could be spotted by humans?"

They were so infused with their talking that they didn't notice the other winged fellow who quietly snuck inside the chamber. "Calm yourself Hal and do not think negatively. We'll be safe. It's been two hundred, forty-six years and eighty-nine days since humans last spotted us. Good morning to all of you too." Said Laureitum with a genuine smile on his cherry lips, his pale hair had a tint of ginger that matched his blushing cheeks when Callista embraced him. The youngest brother who preferred to read books about the outside world. For him, he wasn't quite sure of what he should think of the humans. After all, they act pretty much the same like their kind. They speak the same language, or borrowed since they never know who created the very language they use, hunt for survival using their methods and feel emotions aswell.

"Ahh! What are you three doing in my chamber?! Get out, you both have your own rooms! We have plenty of space to fill!" Halcassi complained pushed his fellow winged creatures out through the circular opening. He was considered the strongest physically, he managed to make them all exit his quartz of obsidian. He reminded himself to make a curtain door in the future.

The three landed safely on top of Laureitum's own chamber. Every chamber was like a ball with either one or two openings and concrete bridges that held them together. Balls made of obsidian that had space inside for them to rest. This was how their residences were like, their way of living.

Inside, it was filled with his wonderful collections that he had gathered from digging. It was completely different from the decorum of Halcassi's. Laureitum had knitted threads that hanged from the top and those threads held tight the gemstones he found.

Callista would always touch these emblems whenever she had the chance. Her favorite was the jade crystal. It shone in green and the reason why she adored it so mich is because it resembled the lime fruit a lot, she likes to eat a plenty after all. Yet the jade is smoother and heavier compared to limes. She was attracted to the green emeralds, blue saphires, blood glasses of rubys, amber stones and clear diamonds that hurt her eyes. But she preferred the jade more to the point that she would sometimes begged Laureitum to let her have it, the answer was always no.

"What's the problem with Hal? He's a lot more moody today." Said Zamil who was playing with the weirdly shaped shard of amethyst in his rough hands. "You know Hal, he hates humans eversince...you know." Laureitum said and crashed on his nest, his large wings of red, yellow and blue colors filled the empty space in his sides, preventing the other two to take it.

Callista is secretly and probably the only one who doesn't hate humans. She's always been curious of their thinking, their beliefs and their way of life. But Halcassi, on the other hand, hates them so much because those humans, those heartless and selfish creatures killed the people who gave birth to them. They've been orphans eversince but that's what makes the bond between these four stronger.

The humans had somehow found a way to eliminate their kind. But how? Even if an Irris wishes to die, it's impossible. What kind of weapon have they built? Eversince then, the Irris had been living more in fear than before.

These four are willing to change that. They are willing to protect the lives of their clan and find a way to live without extinction. No matter what, this hidden weapon that humans use must be destroyed before it destroys all of them.