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Abel had spent a long time doing absolutely nothing, though he could not remember any of the 'nothing' that he had been doing. He flapped his wings, carrying himself forward through the air as silently as his shadow slithered upon the ground below him. He didn't know rightly where he was, or even what he was.

He only knew something about him was not right, something that caused humans and animals alike to flee from him. He knew he had killed already in this life, something he now did fair regularly since he opened his eyes inside the small clearing at midnight with the corpse of a woman beside him. He also knew he was alone.

He'd traveled a far deal in this day, though whether it was trying to escape the nagging guilt he always felt so deeply in his chest or to appease the sense that he'd lost something very important to him and so was looking for it, he knew not which one.

Abel tilted his wings just a few degrees, slowly circling as he descended from the sky to land at last on white sands, his nose pointed toward the ocean. He sighed softly, letting the sand and salt of the place comfort his mind for the small amount they could, then he turned to walk back toward the forest that grew on a hill above the beach.

Safety, Abel had learned, was in cover. Self preservation, he also knew, was in avoiding the other beasts that were similar to himself. They fought too often for his tastes, and so far he'd found no other indication of another beast such as himself, who could take to the skies. Surely they would attack him for his mutations, Abel thought, and so he remained solitary with only his guilt and sorrow for companions.

Abel barely stepped a paw into the shade of the forest before he was given pause. He didn't know what it was, but something felt wrong. His wings folded against his back as he waited, listening to the silence of the forest, trying to pick up what wasn't right with the world. He didn't hear anything, but for the leaves swaying in the slight breeze that came off of the ocean.

He relaxed slightly and wandered a few meters into the cover of the trees, his ears perked as he tried to pick up some alarm or warning from the birds that something was wrong. His ears tipped forward and back, and yet even ruling out the ruffling of his own feathers, Abel couldn't hear the birds. His fur stood on end as he looked around, unnerved. That was what was wrong...There were no birds. No squirrels. Not even a sleeping lizard under the dense layer of eaves covering the ground.

It wasn't right, for a wood to be so silent. He knew that, from his time hunting this land. A predator listened to all signs of life, even those he doesn't hunt....and this place was more dead then the grounds where humans buried their bodies once their life was gone. Abel couldn't imagine what manner of beast would cause such death to a place of life as this, but he did not feel the animal anywhere nearby.

All the better for him, he thought, though there would be no meal tonight and he would go abed hungry. Rest was needed more, after so long a flight, and so Abel slowly made his way deeper into the forest, letting himself feel as more then a predator, but as prey might when it searched for something that was hunting it. He listened, he walked with silent paws, and he smelt the air for some trace of another creature hidden in the salty breeze from the sea.

Abel did not want to be surprised, if he could help it.

Abel's pace slowed as he reached the thicker brush of the forest, wondering how silent he could be with such bushes as these around his legs. While he was too big for them to impend his sight around him, his feet to his shoulders were hidden to his eyes and this made him uneasy. Should the creature that killed the forest's previous residents be small and quick, he wasn't sure he would be able to escape it before it could land a blow to his limbs.

And a blow, even small, could have a dangerous sting if the attacker had venom.

He stopped to listen and look around, observing the way the trees and bushes swayed in the salty breeze. He noticed nothing that disturbed the unity there, heard nothing amiss. His muscles tensed, wings opening with a soft russling of feathers. Everything seemed peaceful, but he felt something closer by then his eyesight gave him evidence for.

He had no plans on staying in the forest for long, and defending it was too much of a hassel, without food to make it worth his while. Abel waited, letting the silence stretch only a moment before his eyes narrowed. "I've got all day." He called into the silence, voice laced with annoyance and sarcasm. "So stop cowering and either leave me be or come forward."

Abel's head wings flared a bit as the shadow of a beast came toward him into view. He eyed the creature, feeling slightly more anxious upon notice of the male's size. He straightened a bit, his head held a little higher. It made him feel more intimidating, though his mind was aflight with worry. He had not wanted a confrontation, and more so not with another of his own kind that was his own size.

"Who am I with? I'm only with myself, since friends are such a bother to have." He laughed, though he was anything but happy with this meeting. "I did not know this was private land. Curious it is not marked as such. Perhaps you should put up signs to warn a man of this." He suggested, freining politeness.

"My business is that I only seek a place to rest. I have flown a long way this day. Since you seem so protective of your land, I think I shall try a new place to rest my head." He offered, though he made no move to leave. He was not about to turn his back on a beast that rivaled him equally.

"--and let them go shortly thereafter."

Abel tensed slightly, his eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't know what it was about that phrase, so neatly hidden in this male's sentence, but it set his nerves on edge and made him distrust the other's silver tongue.

"I am not a show thing, nor a lab rat." Abel replied with irritation, his eyes never leaving the other. He started circling as well, moving toward the right and trying to keep equal distance between them. "I do not happen to know what our species are..." He admitted, frowning. "However, I can't possibly be so unique that some master of your might wish to see me." He did not even understand what master the other could possibly have.

Certainly not human, as humans chased Abel from their streets with rocks, and tried to shoot him from the sky with their arrows. He felt a twinge of disgust, staring a the shadow across from him, feeling as if he were being stalked more so then having a conversation with another of his kind. "I think I shall be quite safe enough out here. Should anything try to attack me, I am certain I can escape before they can get to me."

He raised his wings a bit more, the thick skin stretching as he extended them a bit. "So far as I have seen, the only danger to me in the sky is a human's bow and arrow."

Abel frowned, his mistrust growing. None of what this beast said made any sense to him, and he got even more uneasy. He felt as though they were lies, lies covered with promises while grasping for something....but what? Was he reading too deeply into an innocent and possibly honest invitation given out of concern from the other male?

He couldn't remember anything before waking up in the clearing with the corpse beside him. The corpse of a human woman at that. He knew nothing of his species, of what they were, or how they were. He knew nothing of their purpose on this planet where most humans seemed to only want him dead, where all around him things had to die so that he might live. Could it be possible that this male was speaking true of humans that did love his species?

He was silent, listening and watching the male warily, thinking and doubting, listening and fearing the options laid before him. He wanted nothing of power. He did not need to be stronger. His wings carried him easily where he wanted to go, his size and strength currently got him meals easily enough without want for more. He never went hungry is food was about, he never thirst for the world had much water to give. He slept safely where he could, and most creatures never bothered him. What did he need of more power and strength?

But when the shadow male made as if to leave, Abel's doubts flared stronger to life. He knew nothing...He knew no one. While the male spoke in a way that made Abel distrust him, he had knowledge of what they were...Where they came from. The male knew, and it was that connection to the past that Abel so desperately needed and wanted. He couldn't just let the male leave without some kind of explanation to those questions....could he?

Abel grimaced, doubt clouding his expression before he took a step toward the other. "Wait...You're saying humans bring us into this world?" He asked softly, throwing out the first question that might give him an answer he needed from so long ago. Who was the woman he'd killed....? Why had she been there for him to kill...and why didn't he remember it or anything before he woke up?

His blue and green eye focused on the other male's face, studying him. He still did not trust the male, but answers....he needed answers. He needed to know.

"I have seen human children. We're nothing like their race, elder or babe." He continued cautiously, his eyes never leaving the other. "How can ones such as them bring forth beasts such as us?" He demanded, his heart clenching in his chest.

Abel glared at the other male, then spread his wings and shot off the ground in irritation, making his way to the safety of the trees. Though he was quite sick of the other trying to trick him, he had need of the knowledge the other possessed. If his humans were truly caring people, then Abel would come down and speak with them.

But it would be on his own terms.

"You can keep your snake tongue to yourself." He reproached the other, his voice tense with annoyance as he felt his wingtips brush the leaves of the branches around him. Awkward though it was, he was safely tucked away nearly 15 feet from the ground. "You've been trying to trick my trust from me, and I'm sick of it. You wish me to follow you, for what reasons are unbeknown to myself."

He stood with each of his four paws firmly placed on sturdy branches. He just hoped they would hold his weight for the time he needed them to. "I'll not be lead like a lamb to slaughter, trickster. Tell me true, what are your masters about, or I shall sing of this place to every human village I come across once I take my leave of you." He threatened.

Abel knew that even if they feared him, and tried to shoot him down, someone might become curious, perhaps thinking this were where he was born from, and bring a party here to investigate. And according to the other male, that was something they definitely did not want. "Do you wish me to keep my tongue silent, you'll loosen your own and spill those secrets you so deeply want to keep from me."

Abel pushed his own doubts about his paranoia to the back of his mind. His instincts had lead him astray only once before, when he first woke and came to the human village to seek help. Since then, those same instincts had been what kept him alive, taught him how to survive. He wouldn't doubt them now....he couldn't. "You may not have need to lie to me, to get me to come with you. But tell me true and let me decide my own fate."

Abel met the other male's eyes, staring down into the other's blackness with his ocean blue and emerald green. He was silent, thinking to himself about what the other said. "Your masters would not let me leave, once I was there..." He called down sourly, utterly certain about that. He would either join their ranks of Kage, that's what the male had said and Abel was sure it was what they were called. Ranks, the other male said, as if they were an army. He would be forced to join them or he would be killed. Or worse.

"Your masters did not give me life, why should I give them my loyalty? I do not care about power, or being stronger. I can fly while others are left chasing my shadow on the ground. I am bigger then others of our kind, though you are the first whom I have seen that rivals me...." He paused and sighed, looking slightly pained. "But I don't know anything..." He admitted, obviously disgusted by himself.

He raised his head slightly, watching the male. Magic users....The thought of that calmed him some. He felt some kind of kinship to those who used magic. But why? He growled slightly, his blank memories a brick wall in his head. Stopping him. Infuriating him. Scaring him. "I don't know who I am. Can they tell me who I am? Why am I different? Could they tell me that? Could they tell me who I am?" He asked, his voice soft as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "Can they tell me who I am...?"