CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 34: RAINBOW COLOURED BIRD

Aiden walked deeper into the forest, his boots crunching softly on the leafy ground. At first, his steps were cautious, but as time passed and nothing leapt at him from the shadows, his pace became steady. He kept walking, expecting the trees to thin or an edge to appear, but the forest stretched endlessly before him. The thought that this place was somehow contained inside a classroom gnawed at his mind.

He finally muttered under his breath, half in awe and half in disbelief, "Witches are literally so amazing. They can create such a huge forest inside a classroom."

When he had first entered, he had been nervous, almost frightened, certain that wild animals would be lurking behind every tree trunk. But after walking for what felt like forever, the only sounds he heard were the chirps of unseen birds above. No rustling predators, no hidden dangers, only birdsong. The more he thought about it, the more it felt unreal, like he was strolling through an illusion too perfect to belong to the real world.

Just when his doubts grew heavier, his eyes caught movement. On the branch of a tall tree sat a bird unlike anything he had ever seen.

Aiden stopped in his tracks, his mouth slightly open.

The creature perched proudly on the branch was breathtaking. Its feathers shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, each one glowing faintly as though painted with sunlight. Even its eyes reflected that rainbow sheen, a kaleidoscope of shifting hues that seemed almost magical.

Aiden had never seen anything that beautiful before, not even in books or dreams. He forgot himself, forgot his steps, forgot where he was. He simply stared. So entranced was he that he didn’t notice a log lying in his path. His foot caught, and before he could steady himself, he stumbled forward and crashed hard to the ground.

The sharp sting of pain exploded in his knee, forcing out a groan. When he looked down, blood trickled from a cut where his skin had scraped against the bark and earth. He hissed through his teeth, muttering in frustration, "What bad luck is this?"

Lifting his head, he saw that the bird was still perched above him, rainbow eyes fixed intently on him.

But then something else caught his gaze. Just below the branch where the bird sat, wedged against the bark, was a strip of white cloth. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the dried red stain upon it.

"A blood chicken bandage," he whispered.

Joy surged through him. He quickly tried to rise, forgetting his injured knee, and another groan escaped him as pain shot up his leg. But even through the sting, his face lit with excitement. He had found what they had all been sent here to search for.

He almost laughed at the irony of it. Earlier, he had resigned himself to failure. He had thought there was no chance he would succeed, especially since the other students, with all their wolfish senses, had only managed to find six the day before. If wolves with sharp noses and incredible speed found it difficult, how could a human like him manage it? He had already accepted that he would spend two hours wandering hopelessly until time was up. Yet here, through sheer accident, he had stumbled onto one.

The problem, however, quickly became clear.

The bandage was stuck on the trunk of one of the tall forest trees, the kind that could only be found deep in natural woods. Its surface was rough and thick, its height intimidating. Aiden frowned, his excitement faltering as he realized he had no idea how he was supposed to retrieve it.

His eyes flicked to the bird still perched above the bandage. A sudden, ridiculous idea formed.

"Dear beautiful bird," he said, speaking aloud as though addressing a person, "could you please help me get that white bandage cloth?"

The bird tilted its rainbow head and fixed its strange, gleaming eyes on him. The look was so sharp, so pointed, that Aiden blinked.

It looked... like disdain.

His eyes widened. "Did a bird just look at me in disdain?"

For a moment he shook his head, laughing nervously to himself. "Of course I’m overthinking. A bird looking at me like that? Impossible."

Yet despite his own dismissal, he could not shake the feeling. He tried again, this time exaggerating with hand gestures, pointing at the bandage and then back at the bird, hoping the creature would somehow understand.

"Dear bird," he coaxed, "you see that white bandage there? Please, help me get it."

But the bird did not move. Instead, it deliberately turned around, showing him its feathery backside as though to dismiss him entirely.

Aiden’s jaw dropped.

"It’s not my imagination. This bird really just ignored me! Oh my goodness, things in this school keep getting more shocking."

Frustrated, he breathed out heavily. "Of course, of course. This entire forest is magical. Which means you’re not even real. You’re just part of an illusion."

To his surprise, the bird immediately whipped back around, staring at him again, and this time the stare burned with something he could only interpret as anger.

Aiden pointed at it. "See? Now you’re glaring at me! No, no, you do you. I’ll get the bandage myself."

He turned away from the bird and searched the ground for something useful. His eyes landed on a long twig, more like a thin branch, lying not far from him. A smile crept onto his face.

"Like they say, where there’s spirit, there’s a way."

He grabbed the twig and positioned himself beneath the bandage. Raising the branch, he began prodding at the strip of cloth, hoping to knock it loose.

The plan, however, did not work.

The twig was fresh and soft, not sturdy enough to push with precision. Instead of dislodging the bandage, Aiden’s efforts only pushed it deeper into the grooves of the tree bark until it slipped further out of sight.

"No, no, no!" he exclaimed, horrified. "You’re supposed to fall, not hide yourself!"

With a groan, he hurled the twig to the ground in defeat.

He looked up at the tree again, studying its bark. His gaze caught on the grooves and notches carved into its surface by time and weather. A new idea sparked.

"I can climb," he told himself. "It’ll be just like wall climbing. Use the grooves as footholds, get up there, grab it, and come back down."

What he didn’t consider was how slick the bark was in places, or how dangerous climbing down would be even if he somehow reached the bandage. In his mind, only one thought dominated: he had to get that bandage.

He placed his hands on the trunk, positioned his feet, and began climbing. Inch by inch, he pulled himself upward. Ten inches off the ground, he looked down and grinned.

"I knew this was doable. I’m getting that bandage."

But his triumph was short-lived. Before he could reach even halfway to his goal, his foot slipped. His grip faltered, and he tumbled backward, hitting the ground with a thud.

Pain exploded in his already injured knee as it scraped the earth once again. Tears welled in his golden eyes, his silver hair tangled with dirt and leaves. He lay there groaning, fighting the sting.

Above him, the bird shifted. For a moment, it seemed to watch him in silence. Then, perhaps out of pity or exasperation, it took off from its perch. Its wings shimmered with rainbow light as it swooped down, seized the bandage in its beak, and fluttered to Aiden’s side.

It dropped the cloth before him.

Aiden blinked, then sat up.

"You stupid bird!" he burst out angrily. "So you heard me earlier and pretended not to? You’re such a... bird person!" He caught himself mid-sentence and corrected, "Such a bad bird, rather."

The bird tilted its head at him, as if offended. Then, to his horror, it picked the bandage back up in its beak and turned to fly toward the tree again.

"Wait, wait!" Aiden cried. His eyes widened as he realized what it was about to do. "Oh, great rainbow bird, forgive me. You’re not stupid at all. Please, return the bandage to me!"

The bird hesitated. It looked back at him, staring into his eyes. Whatever it saw there seemed to satisfy it, for it fluttered back down and dropped the bandage into his hands.

Relief washed over Aiden. He clutched the cloth tightly and beamed at it, his smile radiant.

The bird, however, only stared at him, perhaps wondering why a boy would look so delighted over a bloodstained strip of cloth.

Its gaze then shifted to his injured knee. It cocked its head, considering. Then, as though deciding on something, it hopped closer.

Before Aiden realized what it intended, the bird pressed its beak to his wound and began licking at the blood.

He jolted in shock. "Hey, hey, what are you doing? That’s blood, you know! You can’t just lick it!"