• Chapter 1A

    The wind whipped at Ari's face, there was a fine mist of rain floating in the air. She looked down at the grimy city of Ravensthrope as light's flickered off for the night. She had been flying for a few days straight, only to stop to get food and water a couple of times. She had lost all track of time. She only remembered that it was daytime when she took off from the last city she was in, and didn't know anything beyond that. It was dark, almost pitch-black, but with her enhanced eyesight, she oculd see clearly in front of her.
    Ari scanned the ground for a good landing area. It was usually dangerous for her to land in alleyways, but she was getting desperate and dehydrated. Her wings were slowing down, and she felt herslef slowl decreasing to the ground, inch by inch. She saw several abandoned alleyways, but one in particular stood out to. It had an old, run down in across the street form it. She could inside after a few hours after landing. It was always important to lay low after landing, in case any humans saw her.
    Ari steadily lowered herself into the alley. Her wings were about a half an inch longer than the walls, so they clipped the side pinfully, tearing out a few feathers in the process. Suddenly, in a flurry of feathers, her wing snagged on an unseen metal ladder hanging from the side of the wall. She crashed into the trash cans below her.
    Her wing was stretched out to it's full length when it jammed into the ladder rung. There was blood staining her cloud white feathers red. She tried in vain to unhook her wing from the ladder, panic and pain etched across her face.She could feel the skin at the base of the wing tearing, with one more painful tug, her wing came loose, tearing out a chunkful of feathers. She crashed to the ground, clearing the reaming few inches in seconds.
    Her head cracked when she slammed it into the ground. Ari groaned in pain as she slowly stood up. Her wings dragged on the ground limply, bumping into random objects strewn about the ground. She staggered a few paces, then collapsed on the ground, not having the strength or will to get back up again. Her breathing was shallow and far inbetween, and a small pool of blood was forming on the grimy, concrete ground. Things started to get blurry, and distorted, and soon, she blacked out.

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