Cupid pushed on a rusty wooden door, exiting the inn that he was staying in. He had been very recently assigned to a mission by the Revolutionaries, to shoot down a couple of very nasty birds roaming about on Swallow Island. The Marines assigned to Swallow Island were usually the ones that dealt with the ever increasing wild bird population, but the entire lot of them had an incredibly over the top birthday party for the Captain. All of them are drunk and passed out, some on the streets of the island.

The birds on Swallow Island were no ordinary birds, the Marines usually shot down any bird that got too close to the town, but since they were incapacitated, it was up to Cupid to make sure that the birds did not harm anybody. The birds are not known to attack adults without provocation, but children are apparently fair game to them.

As Cupid was walking on a dirty old cobbled path, he heard a bloodcurdling shriek from an unspectacular bungalow located on the side of the road. Through a distant window, Cupid saw a young brunette girl trying to fend off a bloodthirsty, oversized bird from coming into her house through the window. The lady kept striking the bird with a wooden ladle, but it did little to stop the bird’s advances.

Cupid walked slowly towards a tree, trying to avoid drawing the bird’s attention. Once the bird was within his sight, Cupid drew his bow, and placed an arrow on it, before letting it fly at the bird.

The arrow zoomed past the side of the building, before landing right on the bird’s body, piercing its heart. Small drips of blood landed around the kitchen here and there, due to both the piercing arrow and the impact of the bird’s body on the kitchen counter. Cupid cried out to the lady, “Sorry, but I’m gonna have to leave the bird for you to clean up. Maybe you could make some chicken soup or something tonight!” before flashing a smile to her and running back to the road.

As Cupid tried to collect his thoughts, he heard an object whiz towards him, and he instinctively ducked. As he got up, he found his “opponent” already defeated, as it had crashed into a nearby building. Cupid got out an arrow and stabbed the bird with it, making sure that it was dead, before placing the arrow back into his quiver. A few drips of blood landed on his clothes while he was carrying out the unsightly task, drawing a quick frown from the Revolutionary.

Cupid returned to the road once again, and followed the path. Many of the civilians had locked themselves inside their homes, so it would not be unwise for Cupid to be on the lookout for any possible attacks from the birds. As he was following the path, Cupid saw a Marine passed out next to a tree, an empty bottle of booze located not too far from his hands, and a bird on top of the man, curiously pecking at various parts of his body.

Huffing slightly, Cupid grabbed a rock from beside the road, and threw it at the bird. The bird flew away, and the rock landed on the Marine, eliciting a loud yelp from the man. The bird started chirping loudly like a madman, before being shot down by an arrow to the head. However, Cupid’s victory was short-lived, as he spotted a large number of large black figures advancing towards him in the horizon.

[3 T0 Birds killed]

The flock of birds looked like a black cloud from the distance. It seems that one of the birds had called over the rest of its murder. As the birds drew closer, Cupid focused his glance at the bird leading the murder. The bird was a monstrosity, it was about the size of an adult human, and it had various visible scars throughout its body, presumably from fights with other birds. It was obvious to Cupid that the big boss itself had come into the picture to deal with him.

As the distance between Cupid and the birds became smaller, Cupid unleashed an arrow at the alpha bird, however it darted away at the last second, although the bird that was flying right behind it fell from the skies. Cupid launched another arrow at the bird, but the same thing happened, and another, smaller black figure fell from the sky. Feeling provoked, the big bird darted towards Cupid at an impressive speed. Cupid drew his bow, focusing his aim at the big bird, until a figure crashed into Cupid from the back. Another bird had taken advantage of the opportunity to pounce Cupid, and he struggled to get the bird off of him. It was too heavy for Cupid to fight back against, and for a moment, it felt like Cupid’s journey was going to be end just like this, being ripped apart by a bunch of birds..

However, the unexpected happened and the big bird flew past Cupid, grabbing the smaller bird. The big bird ripped the smaller bird’s throat, before hitting the bird’s lifeless body onto the dirt multiple times. Regaining his balance, Cupid shot an arrow at the big bird, before using the last of his strength to grab a large rock from the ground and smashing the oversized bird’s head with it. The rock landed on the bird once more, then again, then again, then again..

Cupid had lost control of himself, having become frightened of the prospect of dying in Swallow Island like this. By the time he knew it, Cupid’s hand was bleeding, with scrapes and cuts all over his palm and fingers. Preparing to give one more stand against the murder of birds that were inevitably coming to rip him apart, Cupid got up again and looked at the sky. The sky was pure blue, not a hint of white or black in the sky. It seemed that they were frightened off by their leader being killed, and Cupid gave a huge sigh of relief.

[3 T0 birds; 1 T1 bird killed]