The following morning, Kigen hovered around the bud, checking it out to see if any progress had been made. He then went about feeding the eagle, before flying into the forest.
Mistress Kering's visit had given him a lot to think about. He hadn't known he was that close to the village. In his mind, he thought he had gone to the afterlife, where everything was big and he could somehow fly.
Unfortunately, this meant that he was still in the same world. Matter of fact, he was some place near the village, since Mistress Kering could come and go as she pleased. This got him wondering, could he also go back to the village?
Sadly, he could not. Not that he was physically incapable, but he knew, even if he did go back, who would receive him? Who knew of his new identity? It was time to cast his human life behind and move on to this new chapter of his life.
Nevertheless, Kigen looked forward to seeing his little sibling being born. Since he could not hover about all day, he flew to the direction of the river. This time, he was going to brave the cliff.
Since he discovered the waterfall, and the cliff, he had been hesitant to make the jump. He wondered how or if he would be coming back.
Mostly, he was afraid of leaving home, and the shelter and security that mother provided. This was why he would fly and explore the areas surrounding the mother tree. If he got into a major accident as he did on that day, how would he go back?
Enough of this! He yelled at himself. He was so busy thinking of all the things that could go wrong, he had to get out of his own head. Flapping his wings, he rose to the skies.
Since he removed the eagles, he found he could move about with much ease, with nothing threatening him in the air. He was still watchful, careful not to get cocky as he once had been.
Tentatively, he approached the edge of the cliff, just next to the waterfall. From his position, he could see the forest expanse as it stretched up to the horizon. Everything before him was covered by a blanket of green.
The river he was beside led to a waterfall, but it did not stop there. It went and combined with some other rivers until it formed a massive river. He could see the wide river that had cut a path through the green foliage.
To be visible from so far away, the river must have been massive. Kigen wondered what unseemly manner of creatures swam there.
Enough with all this cowardice, Kigen berated himself. Without thinking further, he made a great leap forward. He didn't flap his wings, allowing gravity to pull him down.
Several moments later, it was beginning to dawn on him that he was not as heavy, and thus he couldn't just go with the flow. He then spread his wings and started what he thought of as a controlled fall.
The scenery was breathtaking. The vast expanse of nature, untainted by human encroachment, not to mention the beautiful view he got as he fell alongside a loud waterfall.
As he flew, he totally forgot himself, enjoying the beauty of it all. However, nature was not just going to allow him to do his thing.
Screech!
He heard it before he saw it. An eagle. This time, a bald eagle. It must have made the rocky mountainside its home, Kigen mused as he watched it approach. He was not perturbed at all.
As the haughty eagle came in with its sharp claws, Kigen immediately flapped his mid wings, easily evading the menace. However, he didn't stop there.
Because of the speed and momentum of the eagle, it couldn't just bank, it needed space to make a turn. Kigen, being lighter and much freer in the air, easily stabilized himself and pursued the eagle.
He'd slaughtered a number of chickens in his day, so he knew just where to go.
As the massive eagle was making a turn, a small green thing suddenly stuck it on the side, just below the wing. The next moment, it let out loud screeches of pain, as it tried to wiggle the thing out of its side.
Kigen had just dug his tendrils into the side of the eagle, just below the wing. This was the path with the least resistance if he wanted to get to the heart, which was his intention.
Ever since he learned to control his tendrils, he found he could use them as a powerful tool to wound the unsuspecting creature. He might not be able to do much on the outside, yet, but on the inside, he could inflict a lot of damage.
Fiercely, the eagle's beak came down, ready to tear Kigen up to pieces. Its sharp hostile eyes seemed livid with anger.
Moving fast, Kigen summoned the tendrils on his other hand. This time, they were not going to be inserted into the eagle's body. Rather, Kigen had thought up an ingenious way to utilize them in battle.
As the tendrils grew, they quickly wrapped themselves around Kigen's balled up fist, forming what looked like a boxing glove.
When the eagle's beak came down, Kigen immediately swung his fist, battering the beak. Given the size and steadiness of the beak, it didn't register much pain, but Kigen also took much less damage.
By now, he had one purpose, buy as much time as he could while his other hand slowly encapsulated the heart.
The eagle could feel the intrusive movements going on in its side profile. Every centimeter Kigen gained was a cause of unimaginable pain on the eagle's part, and it was doing everything to pry Kigen off its side.
By now, it did not care that they were still midair, and falling fast. All it wanted was to save its life, but that seemed an impossible feat.
Puchi!
A weird sound came out as Kigen plucked the eagle's heart, severing several major blood vessels in the process. Perhaps the shock was too much, since the eagle suddenly collapsed, never to wake again.
On his side, Kigen went about absorbing as much essence of the eagle as he could, repairing his body in the process. He also ran the strange power through his body.
From his conversation with Mistress Kering, he had learned that what he was doing was cultivating. In essence, he was extracting the Qi of his prey and using it to power up his own Qi. The more powerful his Qi was, the better he'd be at casting spells.
This was why he needed to consume creatures, especially those with magical energy. By consuming their Qi, he could even extract some of their talents in controlling the specific element.
As Kigen consumed and cultivated, he allowed the eagle's body to pull him down. This way, he could get to the bottom much faster with little effort.
As he neared the ground, he realized the area around the bottom of the waterfall had formed into a huge river basin. It was humid and dank, but it was also quite beautiful, especially under the rays of the sun. The jets of the waterfall formed a beautiful rainbow.
Suddenly, Kigen's instincts started firing up, telling him that he was in terrible danger. However, he couldn't see where this danger was coming from. He could feel a deep-set fear fall over him.
Looking at the river basin, he wondered whether this was where his fear came from. The next moment, he got a chilling reply. A mighty river serpent shot out of the basin, its maw wide open as it approached the eagle's body.
Kigen was not waiting around much longer. Beating his wings furiously, he quickly leapt off the eagle's body and flew up, covering as much ground as possible. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and certain death.
The thing had been so massive, even by normal human standards. Its body looked the size of a tree trunk, and it had horns. Kigen wasn't really sure about that last part, but he did not want to find out.
Suddenly, he did not feel invincible anymore. In fact, he just wanted to go back home where he was safe. He had unknowingly wandered into a dragon's pool. All he could hope for was that the serpent was too busy with the eagle's body to concern itself with the little fairy.
Once he was high enough, he took one last look at the forest down below. He had come feeling so mighty, only to be humbled. He still hadn't given up, but he had to proceed with caution.
He noted that the area around the basin was devoid of any animal activity. Not a single monkey or bird seemed to live around it.
"Smart," he muttered as he flew up. Next time, I am coming to conquer you, he thought as he turned around, heading back home.