The atmosphere was thick with anxiety inside the companions' temporary hideout before the arrival of the Liberation Army. The Blue Bird—that delicate entity that served as their only link to the outside world—was in a wretched state. Its wounds were not merely physical; it seemed as though the turbulent energy of "Aetheria" had dealt it a fatal blow.
Pecos (trying to offer a piece of fruit to the bird):
"Come on, my friend... just one piece. You've been trembling since morning. Is it the smell of my cooking that scares you, or what?"
Nerar (watching from a distance with sadness):
"Pecos, stop joking. It isn't trembling from hunger; it's feeling immense pressure due to its fatal injury."
Suddenly, the bird jolted violently, its small eyes widening with a terrifying brilliance. It let out a sharp cry the likes of which the companions had never heard—a scream that sounded like a plea for help from another world.
Darius (leaping in an attempt to catch it): "Calm down! Nerar, help me! It's losing its mind!"
Ortinus (in a firm voice): "Stay back! It's suffering from a gravity-induced panic attack. If you try to touch it now, its wings might snap from the intensity of the spasms."
But it was too late. With a massive surge of desperate strength, the bird shattered the roof of the hideout and launched like an arrow toward the open window. It flew far into the sky of Aetheria, struggling against violent air currents, leaving the companions in a state of shock and horror.
The companions stood on the balcony, watching a blue speck vanish into the horizon toward the Royal Guard's territories.
Pecos (shouting): "We have to go after it! We can't let it go—it's our only way out of this place!"
Ortinus (grabbing Pecos by the shoulder): "Have you lost your mind? Look over there... soldiers are deployed everywhere. If we take a single step outside this area, we will be arrested or executed."
Nerar (in a broken voice): "The guards will find it... it glows blue in a sky filled with black smoke. It's an easy target."
At that very moment, atop one of the palace's side balconies, Peonil's personal guard was scanning the sky with his magnifying lens. He did not hesitate for a second; he fired a crystal arrow charged with gravitational energy. The arrow pierced the poor bird's chest, and it fell—a lifeless body—into the palace courtyard.
An hour later, Prince Peonil was wearing his leather apron, holding medical forceps as he examined the bird's carcass on his metal table. His eyes gleamed with a sickening scientific obsession.
Peonil (in a crazed whisper):
"Oh... what a rare specimen you are. Your feathers don't just reflect light; they absorb it. You aren't just a bird; you are a natural energy capacitor."
The Guard: "This bird might belong to someone... are you sure about killing it?"
Peonil (laughing as he plucked a glowing blue feather):
"I don't care who it belonged to. What matters is what it will do for me. Look (he places the feather into a slot in a small fragment of the Black Heart Stone). The stone's pulse has suddenly stabilized! These feathers contain 'Distilled Aether.' If I integrate this into the Great Core, our shields will become impenetrable, and I will be able to control gravity without the need for generators!"
Peonil began plunging electrodes into the bird's body, attempting to extract every last drop of its vital energy to fortify his fading kingdom.
Meanwhile, the companions sat in heavy silence. The place felt empty and desolate.
Pecos: "It'll come back... won't it? Birds always return to their nests."
Romelius (entering the room with his usual calm but in a sorrowful tone):
"Birds return if they have a sky to fly in, Pecos. But the sky of Aetheria is now full of hunters."
Nerar: "If we have truly lost it, then we've lost our only exit from here. We will be stuck in this war until the very end... either victory, or falling along with the palace."