Harpia Harpyja

 

Around a week later, I finally began the long road of learning how to fly.

 

It was tough. The first part was a controlled indoor setting with wind magic creating the winds found in the sky. Soon enough, I could glide easily. Then sudden gusts were added, increasing the difficulty.

 

But it wasn't anywhere close to the difficulty of actually flying.

 

The few times I was brought up to the top of the mansion, I couldn't do it. The long, long drop terrified me.

 

I eventually got over it, but only to the point where I could stand on top of the roof or be carried by my parents in the carrier-bag-thingy.

 

But soon, I was only held in my mother's claws as she flew. And it was fucking terrifying.

 

Then on one final day, I was told I had to try flying on my own.

 

I was brought high up into the sky and dropped. I knew that my parents were above me and five maids were all below, ready to save me if anything happened.

 

But freefalling was so scary. I froze up and fell.

 

But then my mother's words reached me.

 

"You can do it!" She said.

 

And something in her words made me believe her.

 

I spread my arms and felt the air rushing through my feathers. And then something clicked.

 

I had arms when I was on the ground. But up here, high in the sky, they weren't arms. They were wings.

 

I caught the rising air and banked on it, turning my freefall into a downward spiral.

 

I laughed out loud as I glided. When I tried to flap my wings, they caught the air and I flew.

 

Who knew that flying could be so much fun? My parents swooped down to join me and the three of us flew in circles in the air.

 

"I did it!" I said to my mother.

 

"You did it," She agreed, smiling widely. We all landed on the mansion's roof and I hugged my parents. "And now you can gain a second form!"

 

"What?" I asked. "What does it look like?"

 

"Like this," My mother said. She took a step back and glowed bright ice blue. When the light faded, she looked mostly the same. However, instead of her arms being her wings, they were separate and on her back. Her feet also looked like a human's.

 

"Woah!" I said. "I wanna learn how to do that!"

 

"I'll teach you once you learn magic," My mother said. "And that will be after your first birthday."

 

"Okay," I said. My mother changed back into her normal form and she picked me up. I snuggled into the warmth of her body and soon fell asleep.

 

---

 

The next morning, I practiced flying more. Within a few hours, it was as easy as walking.

 

And it was fun too. Now that I could fly, it was much easier to get between the different levels of the mansion. Before, I had to hold onto my mother or Helena when they flew to the different levels, but now I could fly myself.

 

My birthday was also fast approaching. The day after I turned one, there would be a magic ceremony that would release my magical power and show me what my innate magics were.

 

There were three kinds, innate, learned, and generic.

 

Everyone had a latent talent for magic, but the only way to release it was through the ceremony. It would reveal their types as well. Each person had at least one type. Those that were more magical had two, and the best had three. Very rarely, usually once a decade, someone would have four. Each type would have somewhere between one and three spells that were learned automatically. More could be learned after.

 

Learned magics were different. Each person could have up to five types of magic, with a majority of the types usually being learned. Learned magics were never as powerful as if they were innate unless two types combined, which they sometimes did. They also had a set of one to three spells that were learned when the type was, with more able to be learned.

 

Generic magics were different. They were spells that didn't require any kind of type to use. Some could be imbued with a type and others couldn't. An example of the non-typed spells was the spell [Discover], which could be used to find things out about something or someone.

 

I knew I had [Sound] type because I had accidentally used it on my grandfather when I met him. The type that was often found in my family was [Ice], which I would probably have. If I had three, I hoped for a cool type like [Lunar] or [Stellar]. Then, of the ones I learned, I definitely would want to get [Law], which was a powerful type that could change the effects of other spells.

 

But that would be in a week or two. For now, I needed to practice my flying maneuvers.