It had been centuries since the final battle had been fought outside of the great gates of Mulique. Centuries since the last of the black unicorns had died out. The land had been filled with peace all this time, until they came.

They stood on there two hind legs only. The front two legs had twisted and changed into things which they called arms . They used these arms to grasp things. For the most part their hair was limited to the tops of their heads though some of the males had hair on their faces. They were called humans.

The first ones that had wandered into our territory had been alright. They had marvelled at the beauty of the land and stood in awe when they set their eyes upon us. They had the same effect upon us. Some of these first ones even had the honour of becoming the welcome guests in the many kingdoms of our land. That is when the others came.

Swarming over the land like so many insects they destroyed everything in their paths. Their buildings rose up in all directions and they cultivated the land that did not belong to them. This was bad enough but it would only get worse. The hunting began.

To them it was a sign of power to have a dragon caged in your barn or the pelt of a griffin hanging on your wall. Worse of all was when they began to capture unicorns and pegasus' to ride. I pity those who were captured.

Of course we resisted but as crude as they were these humans were smart. They set ingenious traps and beat us back until they had crushed the resistance. The humans now reigned supreme.

I did not blame all of the humans though. Some were very kind and helped us in the fight while others would tend to our wounded and heal them. These kind souls would perish as well. Though they fought valiantly it hadn't worked.

After the war was over the changes began. Some say that a human with the ability to perform magic could no longer bear to see our suffering. So they cast a spell to ease it. For better or worse it began.

The winged creatures either shed their wings or became birds. Unicorns shed their horns and their coats changed to a variety of different colors. So did the pegasus'. Minotaurs became mere cattle and the dragons became smaller, much smaller. The great phoenixes, after all their glory and triumph, became simple red feathered birds. The griffins became either lions or a bird which the humans chose to call an eagle.

I, Jantar, Became one of those eagles. I missed my old form very much and the power it held but my new form held its purpose. The humans did not hunt these new forms as much as the old. They weren't as fantastic and so they weren't much of a prize.

A few of us still retained the ability to speak and some of us never changed to a new form. One of these was Sinta, an old friend of mine.

He was a descendent of the great Cantella, a hero who was all but forgotten. He hadn't shed his pegasus wings and still had his shining white coat.

Since we both still had the ability to speak I visited him often. This was one of those days, but it was to be very different than any other.

Our meeting place was an open spot within the decaying ruins of Mulique, Sinta's old home which he had seen fall with his own eyes. It had been one of the very last kingdoms to fall in the resistance over three decades ago. I wasn't sure why he liked to meet there but I honoured his wishes.

As I approached the meeting place I heard men yelling. I swooped in slowly so that I could get a clear view of what was happening. As I landed on one of the few walls which still stood, I saw the source of the disturbance.

Hunters had set a trap and Sinta had been snared by it. The hunters had now moved in and were throwing ropes over him to bring him under their control. They were pinning his wings down at a painful angle and all Sinta could do about it was try to struggle free.

I was about to swoop in so that I could help as best as I could when I saw her. The girl was crouching in the tall grass and peering around a piece of wall at the scene. She was so well hidden that I would not have seen her if it hadn't been for the eyes of this form. I continued to watch her as she drew a knife from her belt and slowly stood up. Then, in a sudden fleury of movement, she broke into a run and threw herself at the nearest hunter.

As the hunter hit the ground he let go of the rope he was holding. This gave Sinta a little more freedom. Seeing this, the other hunters quickly staked their ropes to the ground and moved in on the girl. When she saw them coming she rolled beneath Sinta's pounding hooves and cut the ropes on the other side with her knife.

Once the ropes were severed Sinta was able to break the last few ropes and achieve freedom. He plunged at the hunters with his sharp hooves and his teeth bared. This was enough to scare the hunters away. Without their ropes over Sinta they were cowards.

I swooped down to a stone near Sinta and asked him, "Are you all right?"

"Yes," he said, "Thanks to this girl. Without her help my wings could be hanging on someone's wall as a trophy." Then, turning to her he asked, "What is your name?"

The girl looked between the two of us in awe before saying, "Seara." She paused for a moment then asked, "You can speak?"

"Yes." Sinta said, "But I should introduce myself. I am Sinta and this is Jantar."

I nodded my head to her in acknowledgement and said, "I would like to thank you for helping my friend. In this form it is difficult for me to be of much help."

"Yes. Thank you." Sinta said.

"It was the least I could do." Seara replied.

"That was a very brave thing to do." Sinta said. As he said this he stretched out his wings now that they were free. It had been painful for them to be pinned to his sides before. Just as his wings reached their full span he suddenly let out a cry of pain.

Seara quickly moved to the wing that seemed to have caused the pain and looked it over carefully. "One of the ropes must have cut into your wing and its bleeding quite a bit." she said. She reached down to her skirt and tore a piece of cloth off the bottom. She gently wrapped it around the wound and tied it off. "There." she said once she was finished, "That should help."

At that moment a warm breeze swept through the ruins. On it I caught Seara's scent. Mixed among the usual human scents I smelled something I hadn't smelled on a human in a long time. The ability to perform feats of magic. Even if she didn't have powers now they would develop with time.

By the look on Sinta's face I could tell that he had smelled it too. A smile slowly spread across his face. "Seara," he said quietly, "I want to repay you for the help you gave me. Now I think I know how I can do it."

"You needn't do that." Seara said, "I helped you because I love all of nature and its creatures."

"Please Seara," he pleaded, "Let me thank you." With that said he walked up to her and put his forehead against her's. Then he wrapped his good wing around her shoulders. "So you love animals." he said looking into her eyes, "Now you can be one of them."

A bright light shone between their foreheads and then disappeared. Seara looked back at Sinta with confusion on her face.

"You will now be able to change into the form of whatever animal you choose." Sinta said, "Just think about the animal and you will become it. Give it a try."

Seara looked over at me, smiled, and closed her eyes. Suddenly, feathers sprouted from her skin and she began to grow smaller. Soon, where she had once stood, there was an eagle. She then reversed the process.

"That felt wonderful." she said.

"That's not all." Sinta said, "The necklace around your neck, does it have a charm on it?"

"Yes." she said as she pulled it out from beneath her shirt. It was a clear jewel.

"Place it in the wound on my wing."

Seara looked at him with confusion on her face again. Sinta nodded to reassure her and she did as she was told.

"Now pull it out." Sinta said after a few moments.

Again Seara did as she was told. Instead of being coated in blood the jewel was clean. It now glowed red inside as if it had absorbed the blood.

"This jewel will allow you to speak with animals." Sinta said, "Eventually you will not need it though, for you will absorb the power from it. These gifts shall carry on through your descendants until one of them misuses this power. The power will no longer be passed on once this happens."

Seara was always grateful for these gifts. As they developed she used them to protect the nature she loved so much. She also developed some powers naturally. These were the ones that I had felt that day amongst the ruins of Mulique.

We three became inseparable. When she got married there was always a place at her home for us. We were some of the first to see her son after he was born. We were there to comfort her when her husband died in one of the humans' wars. We helped to train her son in the use of the magic he had inherited from her.

Seara's son helped her in defending the nature she cared for so much. Eventually, though, the day came when he left to find his own place in the world. That is when Seara found out about Sicora.

In her quest to find a place where she would no longer need to fight she learned of the astral plane. Shaped into its image by Seara's magic it became a haven for us. Seara's son sent his daughter there so that she could be taught properly about her magic. This started the long tradition of Seara teaching young sorcerers and sorceress'.