Chatterbox: KYNGDOM™ Power of Wing

LETTER FROM ZEPHYRA

Dearest F.A.F.A., animal allies, and friends,

I write you from my outpost high on Meek Peak. It feels so, so good to say that.

I’ve been relaxing all week, getting my strength back. Little Crow brings me acorns and grubs and sings me songs he learned at the Bog & Burrow. He also brought me about two dozen shiny new buttons for my leather jacket, gifts from all of you. Thank you all for the buttons, and for taking good care of my nephew.

Thank you above all for being my heroes. I know it took weeks and weeks of planning, and hours of danger, to break me out of that dark lab. I am forever indebted to you, you amazing creatures big and small. If B.I.G. ever captures you, I pledge to fight until you are freed. If B.I.G. ever invades your home, I pledge to push them out of the woods, out of the oceans, out of the deserts, back to where they belong—those bleak steel and granite condos on that most barren peak in all of Kyngdom.

Now we need to talk about a few things.

First of all, many of you have been wondering about the Guardians and the Powers. I don’t know too much about other Guardians and other Powers, but I can tell you about me, and the Power I protected.

When I was a young crow, before I was even given my name, my uncle Boreas took me under his wing (literally). He taught me combat skills far beyond what the other birds were learning in school. I didn’t know why he did that, but I wasn’t going to complain—none of the other birds messed with me anymore, not even the harpy eagles.

Finally, when Boreas felt I was ready, he revealed his secret: He was something called a Guardian, an animal specially chosen to live far away from the others to protect an ancient magical object—something called a Power. Boreas then told me that, if I chose to accept, I would take his place when he died. How could I turn him down? It sounded lonely, and it has been lonely. But how often are you handed a life of meaningful work, ready made, just like that?

Boreas told me he guarded a Power called the Power of Wing. He was its first Guardian, in fact. In the beginning, he was ordered (by whom he would or could not tell me) to the top of Meek Peak, to the same outpost where I would live most of my life. There he found a little hut with a strange object inside it. It was the object he had to hide forever.

As you probably know, the Power of Wing is a hard white stone in the shape of a flute. (It can be played as a flute, actually, but only if one has the beak and lungs of a bird. I believe that’s why B.I.G. hasn’t figure out it’s an instrument.) It is engraved with a rune meaning "Breath of Life," as you must’ve read in B.I.G.'s lab notes. Here is something I swore to keep secret, but that I believe I must reveal to you now: the Power of Wing can, in fact, breathe the breath of life.

When activated, the Power summons a legendary winged beast. This might sound strange, but I have no idea which one. Part of my responsibility has been NEVER to activate it, under any circumstances. But the way B.I.G. has been experimenting on it, I fear they will accidentally trigger its power and unleash chaos on all of Kyngdom. Maybe they think they can control any beast that comes their way—but their fancy technology wasn’t even powerful enough to stop a bunch of animal spies from invading their headquarters. We have to rescue the Power before they can activate it.

Yes, you've heard right. B.I.G. still has the Power of Wing. The one we recovered was a model they built to try and study the Power's aerodynamics. I don’t know where they’re storing the real one. Some of F.A.F.A.'s spies on the inside might know. In any case, it will be much harder to rescue than I was. B.I.G. thought I was nothing but a useless, strange old bird. But they know the Power has some remarkable properties. They just don’t know what those properties are—yet.

Again, I know very little about the other Guardians. But I do know there are many more. The only one I've ever met personally is the Guardian of the Power of Claw. He is a badger who lives somewhere far south of here in a southern Kyngdom grassland. I don't know his name. But he told me once, cryptically, that if I ever needed to find him, I should follow a straight line of petrified trees until I reached the last and largest one. His instructions stopped there. If anyone comes from southern Kyngdom and knows anything about its grasslands or petrified woods, please speak up.

I can only assume the Power of Claw can also summon a mighty beast. That badger will know more. Hopefully B.I.G. hasn’t found him already.

Oh, and what happened to Boreas? He died peacefully on top of Meek Peak. I found him on one of my weekly visits, something like a smile on his beak. After that, it was my time—a time that wasn't quite so peaceful. But if we can make B.I.G. look like fools, I believe we can restore peace across all of Kyngdom. It won't be easy. Peacemaking never is. But we must do it.

Yours,

Zephyra

Guardian of the Power of Wing

Meek Peak