How long had he flown now, without rest? The novelty of clouds spooling below him had begun to grow old, and no sense of wonder remained; rather, all he felt was the numb of cold on his flesh and the fire of exhausted muscle in his... wings. Yes, his wings. Beating heavily on the air on either side of him, a sound somehow intensely familiar and yet still alien, they struggled now after a day's worth of flight; even gliding on the easy wind had taken its toll, but he would not stop, not until they seized in the air and he fell to his death. Or until...
He swooped down through a break in the clouds below, and his powerful vision focused in on the horizon. There, atop a waterfall grander than anything he'd yet seen in his travels, was his destination: The Forbidden Temple of the Great Falls. It was perched precariously on the stone of the mountain, stopped from a great plunged by the grace of the land's solid stone, a weary favor returned by the Guard and the Monks of the temple; for without them, the world itself would have fallen long ago.
These deep thoughts were torn by the creature's mind as he spotted the guards along the temple's walls; though to their sight he would be a distant shadow in the sky, he would soon be upon them. There was a decision to be made: Approach the gates, and try to reason with the guard? Or descend within the walls and find rest upon the Temple proper? The answer was clear the moment he gathered his thoughts.
'Bows. They may have bows. I may not even be able to speak. If they fire, if they hit...' The creature turned its head, feathered ears tucked tightly against its skull, and watched the small leather satchel tucked tightly against his body; it was partially buried in his wind-blown feathers, but not hidden. 'Inside the walls. If I die, let them find me. Let them find this. If I am struck over the falls, it will be lost. It will... harm another.'
Somewhere in its great, twisted frame, it felt fear. The eyes of an aerial hunter narrowed. He did not swallow, did not clench his hands- talons- his... whatever they were. He did not rightly know. But these were human things; he could mimic them, certainly, but he felt no instict for them. Not anymore. Instead, it was the careful tuck of his tail tight against his body as he descended that signalled his terror. He knew he could not begin to hope the guards wouldn't be hostile. His only chance was to approach with enough speed that their arrows might miss before he hit the ground.
And, slowly, the shadow of its body on the horizon became a distinctive shape- that of spread wings, appearing at first as merely a large bird. And, as it grew closer, a too-large bird. Closer still, and the great speed of its descent became apparent; the most astute of the guards may even make out the paradoxically mammalian set of hind-limbs trailing behind the creature as it went from a level descent to a steep dive aimed roughly at the temple's roof. At his rate and distance, there would be no more than a minute and a half until it was upon the temple; two, at most.
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