Role

Chapter 1

A young girl shivers in the night, the covers over her plume-topped
head and avian body the only thing that is there to show that she
even exists underneath the protective coating she clings to. Her
wings vibrate quickly as a crack of thunder erupts and the room she
is in is lit up by a flash of lightning. The rain outside beats
down on the roof of the hovel that is on the lowest level of the
avian city where the poorest of the arial live. With every gust of
wind that shakes the walls of the barely-standing dwelling, the
young girl lets out a whimper full of fear and despair.

As the young girl's mind races from the fear and the adrenaline that
courses through her body, her mind wanders to the past and the path
that led her to this place and time. Her first memories were of the
elements and the fear they inspired in her. The wind would blow her
wings every time she would unfurl them making her afraid to fly very
high. The water, the first time it splashed her face, surprised her
so much that she avoided it from that moment forward. The first time
she saw lightning, she immediately threw herself into mother's arms
and covered her body with her wings. Yet, even with these natural
tendencies of the arial race, she found that she was fearful of even
the other elements. She looked upon the element of ooze and could
only imagine the inescapability of it if she were caught in it. The
heat of the fire filled with the fear of burning her skin and her
delicate feathers. The ice that sometimes formed upon the mountain
home she lived on would cause her wings to feel as if they could not
move and she knew her wings, even in the fearful wind, were her only
hope of escape. And as one who looked upon the open air as her real
sanctuary, the idea of being placed upon or within the earth forever
filled her with genuine terror.