Assassin Crow Evolution

"Indeed I can," Enkus said, "I can tell you that for once in my life, I feel awake."

"Awake?" He parroted.

"Look around you, brother," Enkus sighed, "I apologize for calling you my brethren, but I consider you one of my own now, as I have no choice. You and I are the only ones that are awake. You appear awake."

Jimmy could not decipher what the other meant. Everything that slipped past Enkus’ beak sounded like the words of a mad-man. Almost philosophical.

Jimmy remembered that in his past life, he grew to hate philosophy. Other people ruined it for him, as they always linked it to divinity, even when they were supposed to, instead of enjoying the profound depths of philosophy itself. He remembered that much.

Granted, he too uttered some ’wise words’ recently, just for the fun of it. He didn’t really care to comfort crows who didn’t deserve comforting. He just liked to mess with them.

In this case, he had to weave a string of consistency within Enkus’ words. He needed comprehensive results as to what the black core did, which was to say that he had to figure out his own statistics without the system’s help.

For that matter, he asked, "You insist that the both of us are awake, but I’m trying to understand what you really mean by that. Tell me, why am I supposed to look around me, or, us?"

"We’re crows, brother," Enkus said.

Jimmy was nowhere close to figuring out what the other meant.

"We were always crows," He nodded, "You, longer than me. Is this the first time you noticed that you were a crow?"

"No, but it’s the first time I truly thought about it." Enkus answered, "Our very breath is a joke, played on us by the divines. Our bodies are useless, we’re not meant for greatness, can’t you see? We’re meant to give into a deep, long slumber before we see our tenth summer, and that’s not all!"

"Oh?" He squinted. "There’s more?"

"Yes!" Enkus exclaimed, "Say the Gods show us mercy, and say we step into the eternal meadows. What then? We’ll be crows for eternity. Useless, boring!"

At last, Enkus’ claims did not sound like that of a mad-man. He started making a lot of sense, to Jimmy at least, even though it took him a while to make his point.

"Ah, I think I understand what got you so upset." He tried to smile, so as to comfort the other. "Your mortality is upsetting you, and so is the fact that you weren’t given a more useful body, right? Well that’s the easy part about what you’re feeling, and I think it’s the core’s fault for that. It made you a lot smarter, and you already had a head-start, because you seemed smarter than the other motherfuckers, but let’s get to the complicated parts... what you’re feeling is an introduction to deeper philosophies. Do you know what philosophy is?"

"I never heard of it," Enkus admitted, "Does it have anything to do with us being awake?"

"It usually is it’s main intent, yes," He nodded, "You seem well aware of what happens in the afterlife, I have to assume you knew of this before you absorbed the black core, because I don’t think a core can teach you that. I remember parts of the afterlife, I kind of visited it, and the fact that the afterlife is real, can be more concerning than what you’d feel if it wasn’t real. I can safely tell you that it’s riskier to die, than to live. The gods won’t treat us well, even if we deserve to step into heaven."

"Our very breath is a joke!" Enkus repeated, "You just proved my point, brother."

Jimmy’s brain worked overtime. He never expected to have such a talk with anyone, but now that he basically created a smart enough crow to talk about this matter to, the thoughts within the very depths of his subconscious, surfaced.

His mortality, and the ridiculously short lifespan of the average crow has been bothering him for a while. The whole point behind getting his hands on Sentient Feather/s was to prolong his lifespan, and the black one he merged with, did double his lifespan, but even now, from a young age, he knew that it wasn’t enough.

With that considered, he knew exactly what to say next, "Living our lives as crows isn’t ideal, but it’s not necessary either. I’ve seen rats get very close to looking like humans, and I’m sure that you can do it too, if you believe that human bodies are more useful. As for the afterlife, the best way to avoid it, is if you refuse to die."

"How can I refuse it?" Enkus asked, "It’s inevitable."

"Maybe it is," He nodded, "But would you rather live to see ten summers, or a hundred of them?"

"A hundred, of course!" Enkus nodded.

"Well, you can," He said, "But first, you need to get stronger. The meadows are large, with plenty of animals to kill. Some of them have cores, rip the cores out of their chests. Once you’re strong enough, explore the world beyond the meadows. You’ll quickly learn that there are many ways to help yourself live longer."

Enkus did not answer for once. He didn’t declare his point of view like a great, burdened philosopher. He tried to process what Jimmy said, because as the situation had it, despite his recently boosted intelligence, he quickly met his match.

Jimmy wasn’t as smart as Enkus. He was smarter.

After a minute, he sighed in relief, and said, "Well, I reckon I can’t live longer if I sit here worrying about it. I shall spend the next few summers dispelling the jokes that the divines played on me."

"You better," He nodded, "I hope to see you get stronger soon, and maybe we can work together then? I could help you, but I have my own feathers to look after. Well, my feathers, and the ones of my brother. I’ve already made enough promises to him that I haven’t followed through with yet, and I can’t afford to make you big promises too."

"I would never burden you with my... mortality, as you say it." Enkus said, "Thank you for your advice. I too hope that we can work together one day, as equals."

Enkus flew away shortly after. One would say that he got the best out of this experimental phase.

Giving greater intelligence to a creature who was never meant to have it, might sound cruel in one way, especially since the first thing Enkus noticed was that he was a crow. Awfully bracketed by his own biology.

It was cruel, in hindsight, and Jimmy wouldn’t have done it if he knew what the black core was all about, but it was done now.

Jimmy found little strings of comfort within the otherwise very enriching conversation he had with Enkus.

"The black cores are very, very useful," He said.

Other than that, he found comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one that was burdened by intelligence now. Amongst the community of crows, that is.

At least now, he wasn’t the only crow who looked for an ultimate, universal reason behind his sub-par existence.

"How are they useful?" Vorin asked, "The poor guy is going to kill himself sooner or later. I’m sure he’ll sooner get killed before he figures out a way to live longer. I mean, we traveled beyond the meadows, we saw what was out there. Enkus isn’t cut out for it."

"We weren’t cut out for it either," He said, "We lucked out. Maybe he’ll get lucky too."

Vorin and Zoey have been quiet throughout most of the time, past the part where Enkus absorbed the black core. They were quiet, because they had nothing to hide.

Vorin could relate to the idea of wanting to live longer, or wanting to be more powerful. He especially related to the latter, but he didn’t let it run his life. He burned through his mental reserves through simpler tasks, such as the unnecessary battle he prevented earlier on.

The answer behind existence was not something he wanted to pursue anytime soon.

Zoey was more enthusiastic, and she said, "I wouldn’t mind absorbing a black core, as long as it doesn’t make me fly head-first into a tree, or something?"

"You’re welcome to break one, but I can’t guarantee what it’ll do to you." He said, "To be safe, I’ll absorb one first, and tell you what it does."

"I’m hoping it’ll make me smarter," She said, "I’m smart, don’t get me wrong, but there probably are smarter ways for me to use my illusion skills. I couldn’t care less why I exist, and I wouldn’t shit myself looking for the answer."

"He shat himself?" He asked.

"A little bit, in the beginning," She nodded, "I had half a mind to mess with him, maybe make him think that he was being eaten by a Dry Eagle, or something like that? But I’m glad that I didn’t. The tiniest push would’ve made him go insane."

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