Serve or Die | Teen Ink

Serve or Die

November 18, 2012
By TayTayOO7 BRONZE, Albia, Iowa
TayTayOO7 BRONZE, Albia, Iowa
1 article 2 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The people shouldn't be afraid of its government. The government should be afraid of its people."
"We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, dull, black or white, and they live in the same box."


Years after the human life ended in 2012, a species called Febil lived and thrived.Febils are creatures that hatch from an egg with the body and fur of a cat but wings, eyes and talons of a bird. They receive their wings at a certain stage of their life. Some don't get them at all. The kingdom, where the Febils lived, consisted of both winged and wingless creatures, and was run by a king and queen. A group of Febils called the Equalists rebelled against the Kingdom, believing that their problems would go away if the flightless Febils were rid of their society. A battle started between the groups, ending the lives of the King and Queen, and causing the Equalists to gain control of the Kingdom.
Presently we follow the struggle of the sons of the fallen King and Queen, Weasel and Ivan.
Weasel, a strong Febil with sharp talons, glossy strong wings, and thick brown fur, stepped carefully through a forest, his taloned paws making little to no sound. Hunting was hard anymore, thanks to the Equalists over hunting. Most of the prey moved on or became smart enough to hid. He moved until he spotted movement in the leaves. Freezing where he stood, he watched. A eaglet wondered out of the leaves, squawking loudly. It must of fallen from its nest. Even for a baby, it was about as big as him. He sneaks closer, the birds squawking made it easy to go unnoticed. The cat-bird creature took his leap, silencing the bird with a snap of the neck. He opened his wings and flew into the sky. The bird hung from his talons as he flew back to his home.
"Hannah, I'm home." He called as he landed in front of an old house structure from when humans lived. He folded his wings and carried the eaglet inside. Stepping into the next room, the sight he saw made him drop the lifeless eaglet to the ground.
"Hannah!" He shouted painfully, running to the motionless blond wingless female that lay on the ground. His amber eyes stared widely at the crimson blood that was pooled around her. His eyes traveled up to reveal an even more terrifying sight. Laying in the crimson blood of his beloved, was her insides along with four unborn eggs. His eyes were wide. He had no knowledge of her expecting his children. He shook his head, tears flinging from his cheeks as he did. He glanced over at the wall, noticing blood at the base. His eyes wondered up to see words written in her blood. Serve or die.
He knew that was a message from an Equalist. They slaughtered any wingless Febil they find. Weasel laid by his slain love and rests his head on her shoulders, his cheeks soaked from tears. He slowly drifts into sleep.
He awoke to being dragged awake from Hannah's body. He growled.
"What?!" He said as the intruder dropped him to the ground. He quickly looked up to see a black furred male, a member of the Equalists by the symbol scarred on his cheek.
"You are under arrest, and are to be taken to the leader for your trial." The male said, his voice deep.
"Arrested? You come into my home and slaughter my wife, and I'm the one under arrest?" Weasel said bitterly.
"It is a well known crime to associate with their kind. Now come or you'll be taken by force and your crimes will be worse."
"Fine..." Weasel said and was pushed form his home by the male.
They showed up to another structure, this one bigger and also the Equalist hideout. He was forced inside and taken down a hall, where they turned into a dark room, lightened only by light from the hall, where two large males stood at the door. He blinked his eyes until they adjusted to the darkness.
"Ah Weasel." Came a voice from the dark. "Nice to finally see you again." The voice said as a white male with ginger freckled on his face stepped into the light. Weasel growled and stepped forward, only to be stopped by the guards on either side of him.
"Roulf." He spat his words in his direction. Roulf nodded to the guards,who turned and left the room.
"I haven't seen you since we played that little game at the Orphanage." How's Hannah, I heard after flight school you two got together." He said, walking around the brown male. Weasel bares his fangs.
"Dead, thanks to you." His voice low and harsh, but he couldn't hide the pain in it. Roulf blinked green eyes, his face confused. He opened his jaws to speak, but before he could another voice sounded from the blackness behind him.
"Roulf. Leave." Roulf glanced backwards then walked out without another word. Weasel looked in the direction of the voice. "Weasel. Your crimes consist of associating and breeding with the scourge of this land. These crimes are punishable by death." Weasel perked his ears, his gaze still searching for the owner of the voice. He didn't mind this punishment. At least he'd be with his beloved again.
"But." He heard, causing his ear to twitch. He didn't like buts. "But that punishment would be much to kind of me. Your punishment is serving the Equalist cause until your death. That is all." Then the dark room was silent. Weasel watched the darkness horrified, not noticing the guards herding him away. They led him to another room and stood him outside of it. One raised his talons, and carved their symbol into Weasel's cheek. After he cringed in pain, the shoved him into the room. Weasel blinked at the room full of other creatures.
"New recruit!" One he couldn't see called excitedly.
"No. Not yet hes not." Another said.
"But he has the mark." A female said, her voice shaky. Weasel could tell these all these Febils have also been forced to join recently.
"He has yet been through the test."

The test. When I heard of this test, I thought nothing of it. Yet as we walk toward an old human house, I felt my stomach knot. By we I mean two big Febils, leaders choice, and I. We enter without invite and step into another room, where my eyes rest on a silver tabby female, her wings folded at her side and eyes on us.
"May I help you?" She asked, her angelic voice ringing through my ears.
"We have orders for your arrest." The one to my left said. What possible crimes could she have done? I returned eyes to her.
"On what charges?" She somehow was able to keep calm.
"Association with the scourge of this land." One of the guards replied, as if taking the words out the mouth of the leader. The other looked at me. I stepped forward.
"Now come, or you'll be forced and your crimes will be greater." I said to the beautiful female. She looked at all three of us, as if examining, then without warning she flew into the air. I flew to the entrance, blocking her way. She ran into me, sending us back to the floor of the house. I managed to pin her, but she raised her wing, smacking me int he side of the head, knocking me over. She got up and headed for the door, the guards stayed where they were, not allowed to help me. I swat my paws, my talon hooking her tail. During our tussle, I slammed her against the ground, accidently snapping her wing. She bit her lip and lay in pain.
I will always remember her eyes, those wide fearful blue eyes that stared at me as I crept closer.
"Serve or die." My voice was shaky as I spoke the words.
"Never." She said, her breath raspy from the pain. I slowly raise my talons and in a flash, she was gone. I look down at her body, my blood covered legs shaking noticeably. I know I did her a favor. If I refused to do this, the others would, and they would have made her suffer.
"Heaven!" A familiar voice shouted near by, and before I knew it, I was shoved over by an orange furred wingless creature. Tears soaked his cheeks.
"Ivan?" I said painfully shocked.
"Weasel?" He replied painfully in return.
"I'm sorry.." I said. I felt tears stinging my amber eyes as I said it.
"For what." My brother said bluntly, still not looking at me.
"Serve...Or die.." I choked out.


The author's comments:
I like creating things that don't make sense to a lot of people. I love cats, and I find birds very intresting. Thats how I came up with the creatures that make up this story; Febil. They hatch from eggs and when they hatched they only have talons and eyes of a bird. As they grow and get to a certain age, they develope their wings. Not everyone gets them though.
I also wanted to do a story of a war. Sometimes we hear stories of the good side defeating the bad, but what if the bad actually won? Then I threw in a struggle a male had, where he is forced to do what was done to him, and it turned out to be to his brother.

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