"is this how it's always been? to exist in the face of suffering and death, and somehow still keep singing?"
A fourteen year old avian trailed around the forest, foraging for sweet berries and honeycomb for his family. He was still feeling the lingering anger from his closest friend and almost brother just up and leaving them, all because he was simply told to do so. He was cursed, seemingly fully overtaken by whatever entity had stolen his body, possessed him, and forced to leave Tawnypine. Even thinking about it brought dewy tears to his eyes, dripping down onto the forest floor. He wiped at them roughly, glaring down at the leaf litter from the autumn trees as they fell rhythmically around him. His golden wings fluttered, shuffling as he stood from the crouch he had done to collect the berries from the bush.
His talons released the dirt, making the motion to walk forward along the earth, as if out of control of his action. Although, he supposed he was in a way, lost in his thoughts about his brother and his abandonment of Tawnypine. His tail-feathers dragged in the dirt behind him, dirtied from his rummaging in the soil throughout his hunt for sweet berries, but it wasn't his focus as he continued his pattern of thought about macaw wings and-
The sound of rustling amongst bushes finally dragged him out of his destructive spiral, head-wings perked and trying to locate where the sound came from. Instinctively, he tightened his golden wings into a column on his back, attempting to hide the coveted canary feathers from potential threats, although he knew it was pointless. He could be spotted from a mile away, his entire being glowing gold, outing him for being a rare species with highly sought after feathers.
He felt as if he was being hunted, shackles raised and attention caught onto a spot in front of him. The rustling was coming from behind him, and slowly, he turned to meet eyes with a wolf whose head was poking out of the brush, watching him. Neither creature blinked for several moments, before the wolf growled lowly, stalking closer to the avian, full body being revealed from the shrubbery.
He ran.
His talons kept sticking into roots in the earth, forcing him to take a few precious seconds to pry his foot out of the brambles before continuing his mad run back to his village. His feathers were also tangling in the leaves of low hanging trees, catching into his wings and dirt into his tail-feathers. He'd have to preen them when he was free from danger-
Another wolf jumped out from his right, startling him and forcing him to veer to the left in an attempt to escape from the now two wolves chasing him steadily. From the sounds of their footfalls on the earth, they weren't running at their top speed, only barely running after him. The avian huffed, feeling the weight of the debris-filled feathers heaving on him, making him let up on his sprint to catch his breath.
Suddenly, the canary was heaved into the air, feathers twisted into weird angles as the rope tightened around him, holding him up and captured.
Oh. He was trapped. He tried to readjust the askew feathers, but to no avail as the net was gathered to close to him, his lanky body constricted into a tiny space, and the rope burning into his wings and arms where they were wrapped around his legs.
A low laugh sounded from the forest, accompanied by twin huffs of air from two creatures as they approached him, unable to escape and left at the mercy of whatever came across him first.
"Well. This really is a lucky, lucky day, isn't it?"
A puff of something obscured his vision, gleaming a dark red as he coughed to get rid of the feeling of it in his throat. His eyes were getting heavier and more difficult to keep open as he slumped back into the rope holding him. Three shadows stepped forward, all hidden by his darkening vision.
"Good night little canary. Sweet dreams." was all he heard before he lost the fight with his vision and drifted into a magic-induced sleep.