A day of Varis

Even before he woke up, Varis smelled the food. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, the sizzling meat of the python caught his eye.

'Alex always knew what made me happy.' thought Varis.

Varis chirped excitedly, raised his blue wings, and gracefully swooped down beside Alex.

"Ah, look who finally woke up?" said Alex.

[Who?] asked Varis.

"You. silly."

Varis never understood some of Alex's weird phrases. They did not teach those in the Sky school. All they taught there was how to fly and kill the prey. It may be helpful to those useless blue cousins, but not him.

"Ah, Miss, you woke up." came a old voice.

Varis turned his head and saw the green-haired mistress wake up.

'She is such a sleepy head.' Varis wobbled his head.

The food was prepared, and Varis ate his share. As always, the food was delicious, and Varis was satisfied. Then a soft hand touched his head.

"Varis, you look so handsome when you eat." said the green-haired woman.

Varis chirped: "I already knew that." while trying to get away from her.

"Here, have some Roasted duck."

Just like yesterday, the alluring smell of roasted meat once again reached his nose, and this time Alex did not object to it.

Varis immediately opened his mouth and ate it. The meat instantly melted in his mouth, and warm energy spread through his body.

'Is this food? What has Alex been feeding me all this time?' thought Varis. He felt like a child who got duped by his own parents. He wanted to go peck that guy, but then another piece of meat caught his eye.

Varis forgot all about Alex and started eating. The green-haired mistress caressed his feathers, and Varis did not mind.

Varis chirped: "You will be my friend as long as you feed me." As he finished another piece, he heard a cold voice.

"It's time to start our journey, Miss Elmore." came a cold voice from the faceless guy, interrupting Varis's good mood.

"Of course. Varis, I will feed you next time. Ok?" said the green-haired woman and left.

"But.. but.." chirped Varis trying to stop her with his little blue wings.

[Varis, it's time to start our journey, buddy.] Alex's voice sounded in his mind. Varis felt grieved. Life was so unfair.

"I hate you, and you are a duck head." screeched Varis as he stormed out of the cave and into the sky.

'Ah, the little fellow is as diligent as always. I should cook him more python's meat this evening.' thought Alex as he started to pack.

The group's discussion lasted for a while, and the little Bluebird flying in the sky had time to cool off.

'Maybe I should not hate Alex for being a bad cook.' thought Varis.

Varis, flying at a high altitude, saw the scene below. A vast land full of tall trees, distant mountains, and a twisting river.

An untrained eye could only see a sea of leaves from the sky. Even with his excellent Eagle vision, Varis could see ~50% of the land below. Mostly through the gaps between the trees and leaves. The rest of the land was blank.

Yet, as Varis kept moving, with the wind blowing and seeing the land through different angles, the blank areas slowly filled. A 3D image of the forest formed in Varis's mind.

The group below started to move. The stupid guy on the ugly wolf took the lead and entered the outer region of the Stone monkey.

[Alex, He is moving in the wrong direction.] said Varis, trying to sound extra nice.

"What do you mean?"

[He is entering the territory of the Stone Monkey clan.] said Varis.

"Is he not sticking to the border?" asked Alex confusedly.

[No, but he is in the outer region.]

"Ok, keep watching," said Alex.

'Hope he did not find out I was angry.' thought Varis secretly.

The trees in the distance started to shake. Varis could see the five-feet tall stone monkeys with petrified skin swinging in the trees as they moved towards Alex.

[They are coming.] warned Varis.

Varis saw the team fight with the stone monkeys and got themselves beaten by stones. Varis was secretly looking forward to Alex getting hit. But that did not happen. Only the stupid guy on the wolf got pounded.

"Damn it. What an incredible group ability! Varis, what is the way out of their territory?' asked Alex.

[5 Km to the right] said Varis. As the group moved to the right, Varis went ahead to survey the Fire Jackal territory.

In the middle of the Fire Jackal territory, there was an eye-catching red mountain. On the top of the mountain was a large Fire Jackal lazily lying down while red fire emitted from its ears and its tail.

The Fire Jackal felt a gaze watching him and lazily looked at the sky. A bluebird with two feathers on its head was looking down at him. Annoyed, the Jackal released his aura.

Varis immediately felt a huge pressure, pressing him to the ground.

"An Alpha!" thought Varis. As he fell a few meters, a light blue glow emanated from one of its head feathers and the aura dissipated.

The Fire Jackal who wanted to embarrass the reckless little guy was not expecting it. After some thought, he frowned a little and did not take any action.

Varis breathed a sigh of relief and flew away.

Soon, Alex took the lead, and Varis acted as a scout. Being a scout was a little boring. He had to determine a rough boundary of the territories and keep watch for dangerous beasts. The rest depends on Alex.

The group passed through the edge of a Great bear territory. From the sky, Varis saw the turbulent river flowing down below. On the shore of the river, he saw a small bear of three feet.

The bear sat at the edge of the river, put his hand in his water, and soon pulled out an ugly grey fish whose mouth was filled with three rows of teeth. The bear bit its body and quickly consumed the fish.

'The bears do like their fish.' thought Varis.

Then as the bear put his hand in the water again, Varis saw a large ugly fish in the water slowly sneak up on the bear.

'A Fierce beast!'

The fierce fish bit the little bear's hand and dragged it into the water.

'Oh, shit.' thought Varis. He did not know what it meant, but it sounded right.

Varis dived down to the river, A blue aura filled his whole body, and he fell from the sky like a blue meteor.

Varis descended beside the bear, knocking out the fishes, including the Fierce fish. Varis quickly pulled the little brown bear out of the water. The fierce fish bit the little bear's leg.

'How are you? can you walk?' Varis chirped.

'I can't walk.' growled the little bear as he tried to beat away the would. The little bear quickly realized it is not that way to heal.

'Ok hang on.' said Varis as he picked the brown-haired bear and flew to the core of the Great bear territory.

In an underground cave, the sleeping bear woke up to the smell of the fish and blood. As the bear looked at her drowned son in the sky, she roared furiously.

Varis felt tremendous pressure. Soon the little bear and Varis explained to the furious Alpha.

"Almost eaten by the fish!? Are you striving for a funny death?" growled the mother bear.

Then the bear looked at Varis.

"Little guy. You did a good thing. Here take this as your reward." said the mother bear as she handed him a stone pot with a tight lid.

Varis smelled a sweet fragrance from inside.

"Happy to help," said Varis while trying to give a charming smile, similar to Alex.

Varis came back to find the group still moving along the edge of the territory. Varis sat on a hill and opened the tight lid of the stone pot. a golden liquid filled the stone pot.

Magic honey! A slight drool extended from Varis's beak.

'I should leave half for Alex,' thought Varis as he tasted it.

After the first mouthful, His determination started to fade. Soon the bowl was empty. Varis felt guilty. He quickly looked around and recognized he was on a treetop.

'Ok, Alex should never know about this,' said Varis.

He hurriedly went back to the team and scouted more dutiful from then on. Even during lunch, he tried to eat less. In the evening, Varis could see the three mountain peaks touching the sky in the distance.