[h2][b]Broken[/b][/h2]

Slowly, Atmav’s senses came back to her, the spreading of pain in her left wing and hushed voices as she began to stir in the night’s sand. She moved her head to look her wing, torn and dislocated from the fight with the lizard, a problem she could not afford. However, her head short to see a group of Selka huddled around a large pile of bones, partially rotting meat attracting flies and other carrion eaters. Attempting to lean up, she felt a hand press firmly against her chest, pushing her down.

Instinctively, she grasped the arm with an almost crushing force, causing the Selka that hovered over her to let out a light yelp before trying to retract the hand. Atmav looked at the Selka and gritted her teeth, wincing from the pain that had spread from her wing. The woman leaned back in the sand before the Selka put a finger to its mouth to hush her, something that was met with a bit of resistance as she asked, “What?” The voice she used was perhaps a bit harsher than she had intended, but the feeling of helplessness was not something she liked nor wanted to continue before she shoved the Selka away and sat up.

The pain that spread from her wing was immediately unbearable, and she let out a minor cry as her hand went to grip her shoulder. Atmav turned her head an what she saw was a matter that she did not like, the wing had nearly been pulled out of her back. Her noise had attracted the attention of the Selka who rushed over to inspect her, suffocating her in a crowd that was most troublesome. Moving to stand and pushed through the crowd, Atmav did her best to ignore the pain trying to find some fresh air away from the following Selka. A hand gripped her arm as she moved.

“Stop. You are unwell,” the Selka said, a female, smaller than the others but noticeably more stout. 

“I am fine,” Atmav growled ripping her hand from the grasp of the Selka before a man stepped in front of her, holding up his hands to get her to stop. 

“No, you are not! Your wing is close to falling off. We have to do something for you, after all, you ran towards danger rather than away,” the male said, earning a light scoff from Atmav as she straightened her form to tower over him. For a moment, it looked as if Atmav would rip the man asunder before she let out a sigh and looked at the ground, knowing that without her wing a lot of her mobility had been compromised. 

“Fine, but do not mob me,” Atmav said, slouching as her hand gripped her shoulder harder. 

“You heard her go back to doing whatever,” the man said, raising his voice to the crowd. They slowly dispersed to doing differing tasks, some doing strange games and others merely talking, it was a strange sight to Atmav who was very much a stoic warrior. The male grabbed her attention once more and motioned for her to follow back to the place that she had awoken. She sat down to see the male before looking at the ground disgracefully, though of course expressing her dissatisfaction completely was hard given she just had a mouth. The male cocked his head and motioned for her to lie down and she begrudgingly obliged the man. 

“My name is Ihorangi,” he said as he looked at her wing, clearly not knowing what to do. He gave her a smile before he asked in a light-hearted voice, “Do you have a name? Or should I just call you, Broken-Wing?”

Atmav scoffed before looking the man over, being silent for a few moments before she answered in a more neutral tone, “Atmav.” 

“Well, Atmav. Your fight was quite something to watch, you did not have to do that for us though,” Ihorangi said, moving to touch her wing. Only for the hand to be intercepted by Atmav’s own, wrenching it away from its path. 

“I did not do it for you. That thing was probably the only source of food I could find, do you know how long it had been since I had fresh meat?”

“I do-” Atmav interrupted the words of Ihorangi.

“A good while! You are lucky I did not descend upon your tribe too and eat them!” Atmav threatened before releasing his hand, clearly frightening the poor soul. Seeing his shocked and frightened expression made her stop and think for a moment, knowing that they were only trying to help her at this point. “I’m… sorry,” she paused to look into the night sky and watch the stars, the man relaxing in her presence, “I am not used to being in this position. I have come from a place of pain, somewhere I don’t want to go back to.”

Ihorangi gave a solemn smile to her before said, “I am sorry to hear such-”

“You have no reason to be sorry for me,” Atmav interrupted again before her head turned to face that of his again. She saw his whisker twitch as he got annoyed look, having been interrupted twice would have probably done that to anyone. She turned back to look upon the night sky before she spoke in a neutral tone, “I’m sorry.”

“I would like you to know that you can stay with us until your wing is healed,” Ihorangi looked at the wing before meeting her face, “That may be a while.”

Atmav sighed, looking over at the other Selka, watching them dance and play like the innocent beings that they were. She knew that she would disturb this innocence if she stayed, for she was a killer among bystanders that held her in high regard. “I do not want to be a burden,” Atmav stated, moving to get up again before Ihorangi pushed her down, this time not receiving resistance from the wounded one.  

“Nonsense,” Ihorangi said, earning a sigh from Atmav who merely turned from on her side, sand clinging to her and staining her feathers. The selka sighed and stood up and in one last display of hospitality said, “Let us know if you need anything.” Then he went off to join the others. 

The wounded one felt like crying, letting out a few stuttered breathes and curling into a ball. It was not the pain from her wing that made her feel this way, but it was the kindness that the Selka were showing her that made her feel this way. The unwounded wings on her right side moved over her, acting as a blanket as she let out more stuttered breaths, emotions of mixed happiness and unbelief flooding her. This was the first kindness that had been shown to her in this world ever since she had escaped Vakk and the little hell that he had created. Everything felt wrong though, she did not want to believe such kindness could exist in a world where Vakk called himself a god. 

Atmav allowed herself to drift off into a sorrow filled sleep, however, her dreams did not comfort her as they only brought back memories of Vakk filling her pain. Her creation, his words, the endless talking of the echoes in her ears, it was all a hell. Soon her memories turned to that of paranoia, images of Selka stabbing her in her back as she slept drove her dreams to a rampant curse. If it were not for the stabbing pain in her back, she would have likely remained in that hell for the rest of the night. 

She jumped, awakening with her heart racing and looking at the sleeping Selka with paranoia racing through her mind that they were a measure Vakk had taken to keep her under watch. Atmav refused to trust them, but she would stay with them to make sure that Vakk did not call for some form of a hunt on her. However, if Vakk truly were a god, surely there were others that would break her from her binds to Vakk, ones that were some form a benevolent or really just not like Vakk. The berserker got to her feet and walked towards the water, going in enough to where she was ankle deep in the ocean. 

“If there is any other god out there, release me from my debt.” 

She waited for a moment, wondering if anything to happen and after a long while of silence, she released a sigh before she kicked the water up. 

“Fine! If it is only you, Vakk! Then- then!” words failed her as she fell upon the water and released a pained cry, no longer knowing what to do with herself. She continued to cry out, hoping for some answer before she felt the hands of someone on her back. Atmav looked up only to see Ihorangi, her emotions ran rampant as she broke down again. Soon, she felt other hands placed upon her, comforting hands that did not hurt her or wish pain upon her. 

She knew not what to think.

[hider=Summary]
Atmav wakes up in pain, her wing hurting. When she tries to get up a selka tries to keep her down.

This obviously does not work, however, when she gets up the pain in her wing causes her to cry out though that does not stop her from trying to walk off. Yet, the Selka crowd around and one by the name of Ihorangi convinces her to get back and rest. She reluctantly agrees. 

The two talk for a bit, before Ihorangi, goes off to join the others. Atmav does not know how to deal with this and goes to sleep crying.

Her dreams are filled with the pain of her creation and while she was in Vakk’s sphere. The darkness combined with the endless whispers of the Echoes had taken their toll on her. And when she awakens, she is paranoid. 

She goes to the ocean and prays to any god to free her of her debt and when she gets no response she breaks down, cursing Vakk and crying for her hell to be over. Then the tribe of Selka comes to comfort her, but she doesn’t know what to do. 

[b]Prestige[/b]

4 + 2 = 6.

Yay.
[/hider]