Life at the temple was peaceful. Peaceful, yet eerie. The temple rested at the top of a hill, not too far from a small town. All yurbles born with wings where sent to this temple to be protected for the "special" trait they had.

It must've been around my thirteenth birthday when it happened. The masters of this temple, the Winged Temple, held a birthday ceremony for me. It was more of a celebration of my coming of age than my thirteenth birthday. All the winged children presented me with gifts and showered me in praise. Everyone knew that once you turned thirteenth, you were allowed to leave the temple for good and start your own life in the nearby town.

Or so they thought.

As the night settled and the children went into their rooms for the night, the masters pulled me aside. I followed their lead, thinking they themselves had prepared a gift for me.

They had. But it was not a material gift. It was sacrifice.

If I had panicked one second longer, I may not have made it out alive. My legs swiftly carried me away from the temple masters despite being in a long silk dress. The night was dark, and the stairs leading down the hill took me by surprise. I took a nasty fall, scraping my face and hurting my nose.

But I did not give up.

I foolishly made my way through the forests of Shenkuu, travelling further up the mountains. My dress was torn in the process but I would rather be unkempt than be caught and taken back to a place where death awaited me.

Then I realized something...we winged children were kept at the temple solely for sacrificial purposes. To be given to the deities once we came of age. I do not know why I did not realize it sooner. I always thought the winged children would eventually leave and carry on a peaceful life in the town. I was naive for thinking such thoughts. Maybe that's the reason they never let us leave. Because they knew we would wander the town looking for the winged children that supposedly left on their thirteenth birthday.

Once I entered the forest, they did not pursue me any further. But they did say this: You have disobeyed our will and so you have disobeyed the deities! You will not get away with this so easily!

I eventually reached the end of the forest by dawn and collapsed on an open field. I truly thought my life would end there. But somehow, it did not. Rather, it was salvaged by an old mynci, Atsushi. He has a lot of stamina and strength for someone his age, but he was able to bring me to his temple with the help of his petpet, a stocky dandan by the name of Anda. Within a week or so I made a full recovery at his temple, the Garden Temple.

But I did not know where to go.

Master Atsushi was kind enough to offer me a home, but there were a few catches. I would have to:

-Groom the garden (he is quite an old mynci after all)
-Help clean the temple
-Run errands, meaning I would have to walk down a road, hopefully avoiding any field bandits and make it to Rivertown, a small but busy place even further up the Shenkuu mountain.
-Let him teach me "proper" Shenkuu manners

I had nowhere to go, so what else could I do? Master Atsushi and I quickly developed a forced friendship of sorts, yet I admire his wiseness and calm demeanour.

Yet I still fear for his life and mine. I do not allow myself to enter any kind of friendly relationship because I am afraid. I am a coward and I am afraid my clan will discover my location and take me away, maybe even hurting those close to me in the process.

For now, I will live in the moment and hate the wings that made me so special and adored, for they are my greatest downfall.