Aldric hugged her closer to his chest. Although Eira felt like she would suffocate from his hug, she didn't try to move away.
Her human—her strong, handsome, and elegant human—was afraid. As his greatest friend, she knew she should calm him down.
Aldric leaned his head back against the root, closing his eyes.
"I have to be strong, Eira. I have to be stronger than everyone. I can't just be a Hunter. I have to be a deterrent. I have to become a monster so terrifying that the High Races hesitate to touch our planet."
He let out a shaky breath.
"I'm scared. Not of the rats. Not of the Tunnel. I'm scared that I won't be fast enough. That one day, the sky above Earth will crack open, and it will be my fault because I wasn't strong enough to stop them."
He opened his eyes and looked at the small bird rubbing her head against his chest vigorously. He could feel she was trying to reassure him. That made him smile.
He reached out and stroked her obsidian feathers with a trembling hand.
"That's why I need you, little one. You're the only one I can tell. The only one who sees me not as the 'Divine Talent,' but just as Aldric."
Eira froze under his touch.
She looked deep into his eyes. She saw the moisture gathering there, the unshed tears of a burden too massive for one seventeen-year-old boy to carry.
She didn't understand politics. She didn't understand the multiverse.
But she understood Pack.
In the wild, the weak were left behind. But Aldric had carried her. He had fed her. He had protected her. He called her friend.
And now, this giant, powerful creature was showing her his throat, exposing his vulnerability to her.
A strange sensation bloomed in Eira's chest. It was something taboo for a Guide Raven.
Even the System should have never expected an ordinary monster like her to grow such an emotion.
She looked at her own wings. They were small. Her beak was sharp, but against the monsters her human fought, it was like a needle against a stone wall.
Today, she had done nothing but watch. She had cheered while he fought. She had eaten while he kept watch.
Useless, a voice in her little mind whispered. If the bad guys come, what will you do? Peck them?
She looked back at her human, who was now staring blankly into the fire, lost in his nightmares of burning worlds.
Eira felt a sharp pang of shame. She had been content to be a pet.
She had been happy to be the "naughty bully" of the city, stealing scraps and acting cute to avoid punishment.
No more.
The heat in her chest expanded, coursing through her small veins, hot as the fire before them.
She didn't want to just be the witness to his legend. She didn't want to be the baggage he carried inside his shirt.
She wanted to be the shield. If he was the sword that cut reality, she wanted to be the wings that carried him out of the fire.
She wanted to be the terror covering the bright sun so he wouldn't have to be afraid.
Aldric shifted, preparing to sleep. "Goodnight, Eira. We move early tomorrow."
He curled up on the bed of dried fibers, exhaustion finally claiming him.
Eira did not sleep.
She hopped off his chest and moved to the edge of the firelight. She turned her back to the safety of the warmth and looked out into the pitch-black darkness of the Tunnel, where the eyes of nocturnal predators gleamed.
She spread her wings. They were black as the void, blending perfectly with the shadows.
I will not be a burden, she thought, the concepts forming clearly in her mind for the first time, sharpened by intent.
I will eat the darkness. I will swallow the fear.
She looked back at the sleeping form of her human. The boy who carried the weight of a world.
Sleep, my human. Sleep and grow strong.
I, Eira, swear to the night.
I will grow claws that can tear iron. I will grow wings that can blot out the stars. I will become a monster, so you do not have to be alone in the dark.
When the bad guys come… I will peck their eyes out.
A faint, dark aura flickered around her body, invisible to the naked eye, but heavy with intent.
Without anyone noticing, a chain binding her soul snapped that day. An anchor floated inside her soul.
From the deep sea of her soul, a multitude of caws echoed. Inside that dark expanse of horror, countless pairs of eyes opened.
Shining red.
Eira settled down near Aldric's head, her red eyes wide open, watching his face. She would not close them.
Not tonight. She would be his Guard Raven from now on. That became her sole purpose.
But deep in contemplation, she was unaware of the strings of fate forming around her. She was unaware that the binding fate between her and her human was slowly distancing them.
And she was unaware that a talent which defied the heavens was already a stain in the multiverse. Then, what if another talent, even more terrifying than the heavens, appeared?
Deep in the endless dimensions, on the ocean of universes, beyond the Star Network's authority, a clock floated in the air.
Its pendulum suddenly stopped moving. The multiverses started to break apart. Countless High Races were terrified by this notion.
That's when the clock suddenly chimed.
From it, two connections extended outwards, piercing through the multiverses and settling into a human boy and a Raven.
Then, the connected needles started rotating at the same time. But at one point, one of the needles stopped moving and reversed its movement.
The pendulum below the clock finally started to move again. From side to side. The stability returned to the multiverse.
Only a helpless sigh echoed from the clock.