luck

ran out,

finally caught by those

who sought his head.

They placed him before a

pedestal

and forced him to

kneel,

his beak

snapping,

wings-

twitching,

eyes full of

fear.

The king who stood above him

ismirked/i

and told his Knight

to hold the bird in place.

Obeying his request, she forced him to

still

and pushed his

head

down onto the block.

A man with an

ax,

wide shoulders,

thick arms,

and wearing not even a

cowl,

stood next to the creature

and raised his

blade.

With a guttural

growl

he hefted the

ax

and brought it

down

on Nephranos'

neck,

his head

flying

three feet as blood

sprayed

across the dust

and stained the very

earth.

The knight

unceremoniously

shoved his body with her

foot

and he fell to the side,

the king clapping

happily

before rising from his

throne

and returning to his waiting horse.

The ax-man stepped back and moved

away

to clean his blade

as the Knight climbed into her horses

saddle

and rode off with the

King

back to their kingdom.

Nephranos,

without a

head,

blood still spurting from the

stump

where it once sat,

stood

and left,

only to wander

aimlessly

from the site of

execution;

leaving the ax-man to

watch,

wonder,

and think.

As the body roamed

away,

and wandered the

deserts,

plains,

moutains,

and swamps,

it sought something that could not be found.

Without his head,

without his heart,

without his soul,

intertwined,

and as

one,

he was no more than a

husk,

doomed to wander the lands;

without purpose

and

without pity.

Long he would travel,

blind

to the world,

incapable of

feeling,

senses

lost,

until one day

someone

found the rather curious sight

of the headless beast.

Myth and rumor,

tales spun by

women

and men alike,

spoke of such a

creature,

seeking not its

head,

but something,

someone,

to mend it.

This person, who had long been

lost

as well

took it upon himself to end his

suffering.

As Nephranos walked,

the stranger silently

followed,

until he came to a

river,

and began to cross.

His steps were measured,

and he did not

slip,

even as he moved over moss-covered rocks

and

slippery fish

that darted beneath and

between

his great talons and hooves.

The one who

followed

made haste

and traveled in Nephranos'

wake

through the rushing river.

However, its currents would prove to

be too great a

challenge,

and quickly it

overwhelmed

and

swept away

the stranger.

Though he had no

head,

Nephranos stopped and quickly

turned

to catch the stranger with his

tail,

holding it out and down like a

fallen log

for him to catch hold of.

Once they did, their fingers

curling desperately

around his tail,

they gave their

thanks

and Nephranos kindly

dragged him

from the river.

On land,

cold,

shivering,

and wet,

he wrapped the person he could not

see

within his wings

and kept him

warm

as the sun fell below the horizon.

That night the man

slept

within Nephranos'

wings

as the cold settled in

and would have

chilled him to the bone without his

kindness.

The next day, as the sun

rose

over the horizon

creating a golden and purple hued

sky,

the man decided to ask

"What happened?" to make him

hated,

feared,

despised,

and

misunderstood.

With no head, and only his

heart

and

soul

left intact,

he regaled his tale by

connecting

to the

stranger

on a level never once thought

possible.

This stranger was the

first

and would be the

last

to hear his

story

before Nephranos would move on

and continue

with no one to help him,

and no one else who could

understand

him.

So he left the stranger with a

heavy heart

and

enlightened mind.

The stranger, who called himself

Demon,

for lack of a better

name,

one that had been

coined

by those who

feared

what they did not know,

and

hated,

what they could not

understand,

took it upon himself to

reunite

heart,

soul,

and mind,

and to make

whole

what was now

broken.