Found.

Even when Will felt himself waking up, his own eyes wouldn’t open up. He could hear soft gusts of wind and could feel something smooth against his cheek, making him remember he was sleeping next to three oversized birds, but even that didn’t alarm him enough to jolt awake. His body felt sore, every muscle contraction painful. Even when he heard one of the birds, likely the parent, start croaking and flapping its wings, Will just couldn’t **** his eyes to open. He was trapped in a state between awareness and sleep, and he knew exhaustion was the cause.

But something was out there. The bird that carried him here was alert, moving around the nest, croaking loudly as if to intimidate something or someone. Will had to rise, but he relaxed when he heard a familiar voice.

“Relax, mama. He’s a friend of mine. I’m not here to hurt you, your babies or your new… friend? Huh. It has to be that, right? You would’ve eaten him already if not.”

That was… Johana, right? But it couldn’t be. Will had been carried kilometers away from the original entrance to the area, and by air no less. How did Johana find him?

Much to Will’s surprise, the mama bird settled down. At least Johana called it ‘mama’, and she seemed the type to know this stuff. He also didn’t hear her speak again. The birds went quiet and for all he knew, Johana may not even be there anymore.

His consciousness faded as he went back to sleep, only to wake up in what could’ve been only a minute later. This time he was able to open his eyes.

It was daytime already yet the sky was covered by darkish clouds. Will turned his head from one side to the other and caught Johana sitting on a rock some distance away from the nest. She was wearing blue jeans, a white tank top and an open, purple, baggy parka over it.

“I’d ask if you slept well but I bet you’ve had better nights,” she said, shooting him a small grin.

“Could’ve been worse,” Will said through a coarse, dry throat.

“For sure. So what did you do to make friends with a black roc and its babies? These things are too smart to trust… anything, really.”

Black rocs? Is that what these birds are called? “They’re smart?”

“Very. They don’t speak any common language, but they understand it for the most part as well as things like context and intent.” Johana’s eyes went to the injured bird next to Will. “What happened to that little guy?”

Will tried to swallow, but he had practically no saliva. Speaking was hard, but at least he could move despite the sore muscles. He sat up and rubbed his shoulders one after the other.

“Big snake-like thing. It was already attacking the nest when mama Roc carried me here. It bit this ‘little one’s’ wing. I… I killed it and passed out from exhaustion afterwards. Used too much aether.”

“I see. That makes sense. Black rocs can definitely understand when they’ve been saved. Still, you’re lucky these ones seem to also understand gratefulness.” Johana looked over at the injured bird again. “Mmm. No poison by the looks of it, but…” She grimaced. “That wing’s broken. I can’t heal it and I assume neither can you. A shame, but that bird will likely die soon.”

Mama roc let out a loud croak that startled Will. He wasn’t sure if that was a protest or a cry of lament.

“Die from a broken wing?” Will asked.

“You have birds in your world, right? If a bird can’t fly then it’s easy prey. Nothing to be done. It’s how life works. Not pretty, but it is how it is.” Johana didn’t look happy, but she shrugged it off. **** herself to do it, more like. “Anyway, you ready to go or do you need another nap? It’ll be a long walk, but we can make it.”

“How’d you even find me?” Will asked

“Oh. This guy,” Johana said, pointing up.

Perched on top of a pointy rock was yet another bird, one that looked positively miniscule compared to the black rocs. It was just a normal raven.

Wait.

“Hey, is that…?”

“Yeah. It’s your friend’s raven. The one that followed you here, I assume. I found it and it led me here. Or maybe it found me. Something’s weird about it, though.”

Will struggled to stand up but managed to do so. He figured he would never stop feeling sore unless he moved his body. “Weird? How so?”

“Can’t explain it. It’s a matter of instinct. This bird is supposed to be under your friend’s control, right? Well, it doesn’t feel like it is. The one that was with me felt like a normal bird, the enchantment was too good to notice. This one jerks and spasms every other moment. I think the enchantment got messed up somehow. Could just be that the bird is in another world, though. I was impressed by the quality of the enchantment, but I guess no one is so good that they can perfectly maintain it through dimensions.”

“...”

‘Belphegor IS that good, though. Johana doesn’t know our friend is the King of Sloth, the oldest one of the seven still alive. Will, something’s fishy here. I trust Johana’s instincts and add my own reasoning to it. The old man wouldn’t fuck up a simple mind control enchantment, especially on a bird with no magic resistance and even in a whole different world.’

Will easily agreed. He did find it odd that the raven seemingly disappeared after they went through the portal and appeared just now. That raven was suspicious.

‘Should we take it out?’

“...” Will glanced to the side, at the injured roc.

‘Ishtar, this is just a hunch, but what would happen if foreign aether suddenly invaded an enchanted creature?’

‘That’s… specific. What do you have in mind? Injecting aether into an enchanted creature would mess up the balance of the spell, breaking the enchantment. But someone at the old man’s level would also put defenses against that, so it wouldn’t be easy.’

'What if that’s not Belphegor’s enchantment? Or the same raven?’

‘Then it would be possible, yeah. Don’t know what would happen to the bird, though. It might just mutate like that dog that snuck into our building.’

Johana thought something was strange and Ishtar had a bad feeling. The raven did lead Johana here, but… Better not hesitate. Will wasn’t an expert, but something told him that wasn’t the same raven Belphegor had accompanying him. They had to take care of it.

And Will had an idea for a little gamble.