Chapter Six

“This all started years ago. Many years ago, back when the law stated that every male winglie of a certain age was legally obliged to serve at least five years in the Winged Forces. At this time, Zephyr’s father Ardor, was filling the position of peace talker, the first one. The last humans on the planet had just gone into hiding, or maybe they went extinct, no one is really sure about that still. Back then, the war between Winglies and Furrs had just ended but everyone was still on edge because there were a few disputes and small skirmishes. They were few and far between and only people who were really looking for trouble ever found it, but it was enough. The Raids were coming to an end for the most part, we were trying to put our differences aside and get back to living in peace.
“Those days, the Peace Talker was more than just a title, it was power. The Peace Talker had the power of words that could bend and shape what people thought, how they felt and how they reacted to certain news. He had the power to shape our future good and peaceful, or bad and full of more fighting. He could have easily started the war again just by saying the wrong thing, or the right thing, depending on how you looked at it.
“Luckily for us, your father was a great Winglie, who truly just wanted a peaceful world for the children and grandchildren to grow up in. He said that everyone deserved to be happy, regardless of race or where you lived or what you ate or if you had wings and scales, or fur and claws. Ardor always said that no one could determine where they were to be born or when, but that no matter the circumstances, everyone deserved respect. I looked up to him and often times wished that I had a father like him.”
Zephyr smiled. It was nice to hear her father spoken of so highly.
“But there were a few back then who didn’t want peace, mostly winglies that had served in the WF during the war and the older winglies. But peace was inevitable at that time, your father had made such huge leaps and bounds on both sides, the war mongers were highly outnumbered. And it was at this time that your father was killed, assassinated actually. In his works to bring peace, he stumbled across some classified information, things that the WF were trying to keep swept under the rug. They couldn’t let him live because he would have put a complete stop to all war talks, forever.
“The truth that he discovered was that the had started the Raids, and forced the Furrs to retaliate after the war was over. It was a desperate attempt to start it up again. The famous general of the war didn’t want peace, he wanted control of everything in the sky and on the ground. The only way for him to do that was to get rid of the Furrs completely. Of course he could have gone in at night and wiped them out, but he would never get any respect, he would never get his power if he did it like that. He had to make it look like he was only defending his people, and the Furrs were savage beasts that were blood hungry. In reality, the Furrs wanted peace more than anyone.”
He looked at Zephyr as he continued, “The winglie that followed your father home, later confessed what he had done. He would have gotten away clean, that was the plan anyway, and then to put the blame on the Furrs, but his conscience wouldn’t let him. So he was quickly sentenced to death by the very winglies that he had been working for. His story never got out to the public. It was all kept inside the WF with the high ranking officers who swore never to tell unless they wanted to suffer the same fate as the assassin. The assassin was denied the right to his last request and to make sure that he didn’t talk to anyone, his tongue was cut from his head and hung around his neck on a bloody cord.

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“If they had let him just let him speak, the real assassins would have been the ones to be punished, but not even the public wanted to listen to him, no one wanted to hear his meek voice trying to explain why he had killed the idol of the winglies. They just wanted him gone. With their plan laying in pieces at their feet, the WF decided to attack the Furrs from another angle.
“After your father was killed the WF made a secret branch of highly trained soldiers that could track anyone in the darkest night through a hurricane if need be, lethal and swift, their only job was to stop any Peace Talker that was doing their job too well. If the Peace Talker wouldn’t listen to the whisperings from the WF then they just disappeared without a trace. With all the trouble they had been having after Ardor’s death, everyone just figured that they had run away from all the stress. The ones that stuck around worked to break apart treaties from the inside.
“Don’t get me wrong here, not everyone in the WF hated the thought of peace, there were really only a few of them. And the ones that started the organization had eyes and ears everywhere, always searching out new loyal members that shared their despise for any earth-walking creature that dared to stand in their way. If by any chance a peace-loving soldier happened upon one of their secret meetings, he was bound and had to swear loyalty to the secret organization or be killed on the spot.
Oscoro looked at Zephyr and then back at Oainix. He started to say something but Oainix waved him silent. “This is the hard part. Just know, that I never intended for it to be like this. You see, about two years ago, my term in the WF was finally coming to an end. I was so happy to be done with all this stupid war business, and then on my very last day serving in the WF I was leaving the bar, the celebration had been going on all day and in my drunken stupor I entered what I thought was my house. It was actually my neighbors who was also in the WF, he was a dark character though. Always seemed to be hiding something, and that night I learned what it was when I crashed the organizations secret meeting. I was beaten, bound and gagged as I had my situation explained to me. Join or die, right there on the floor, in a pool of my own blood and vomit.
“So I chose to live. Back then I thought, ‘Why die for nothing, when I could join and live?’ If I had to make that same choice today, I don’t think that I would have made the same decision. But at that time, the Peace Talker was an obvious idiot who had no idea how to bring two cultures together, I figured that I’d have it easy. I don’t think that I could have been more wrong.
“That winglie was a very old dragon, with a weak heart. He died while flying to a meeting only two days after I was honorably discharged from the WF, even thought I wasn’t actively serving, my deal with the organization was still in effect. It seems like a terrible coincidence when I look back at it now but again, at that time I didn’t think anything of it. Oh well, I had said, they have plenty of members, they won’t ever bother me. Until a member of the secret organization showed up at my door one rainy night when no one should have been out.
“He was wearing a hooded cloak and as if he was waiting for the lightning to flash, he pulled it back and stepped inside my house. I looked at him without a sign of emotion, even as he lifted his head and I could see that there was just a huge scar where his right eye should have been, his ears were shredded and the bones running from his nose to his tail had been sharpened into points. He looked like death.

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“He said that he had come to tell me that it was time for my training, because there was a mission for me, already. I had already decided no to take it and just accept my punishment instead of being the attack dog for the organization, until I heard what my mission was going to be.”
Oscoro shifted in the darkness waiting for Oainix to continue with his story.
After he didn’t say anything for a while Zephyr cleared her throat and said quietly, “What was the mission that this winglie was bringing to you?”
Oainix fell to his knees and took up Zephyr’s claws. “Please forgive me, Zephyr. I only took the mission because I thought that I could stop it somehow. I thought that I’d be able to protect you and take you away from here, away from all this. Where there were no other winglies and on one would ever be able to hurt you.”
“W-What are you talking about? I don’t understand Oainix.” Zephyr looked into his eyes searching for the answer and then it hit her. “Me. The mission was about me, wasn’t it?”
He nodded and said, “Your name had come up in a Triad meeting along with a few others as prospects for the new Peace Talker. For the time being, I only had to watch the people who had been mentioned, and report back whatever you did that might be of importance to the WF secret organization. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I knew that if you became the Peace Talker that one of the other members would have killed you without a second thought. I couldn’t let that happen. You had been my friend through thick and thin, day in and day out, without question. I could always count on my Zephyr to give me a reason to smile.”
Oscoro cringed but didn’t say anything.
“So you see, I couldn’t let anything happen to you. Over time, I got closer and closer to you. We had been friends since childhood but you were becoming more than a friend to me. I fell in love with you Zephyr, and then it happened.”
“I became a Peace Talker.” Zephyr said.


I know this is a short chapter but there's a lot of information in it! Chapter seven is coming up fast O_O