As the wind swept under my wings and carried me forward over the snow-covered forest canopy, a burning sense of freedom and defiance surged through my entire body. Everything seemed to change in the blink of an eye. Just by surviving, I defied my royalty, gravity, and every limitation I had set for myself inside my own head.

Shifters are all deeply connected to the earth that we stand on, and we feel a strong connection to the ground as a result. When we transform, the ground is the only thing that stays stable. And after shifting thousands of times over the course of my life, I thought I clearly knew who I was deep down. But this new transformation changed that. It made me feel like I could be anything, do anything, reach anyone.

So as I rose higher and grew familiar with riding the winds, I turned to face my princess and released a wicked laugh. The sound came out like a shriek, but the message was clear enough. You no longer own me.

Her surprise at me apparently refusing to splatter onto the grown had frozen her in place for a moment, but my declaration instantly snapped her free from her stupor. A new light shined from her brilliant emerald eyes, one that told me she now viewed me as a significant opponent to deal with. The glimmering mist that coated her white falcon wings began to seep out further in all directions as her form grew wider. She looked less elegant and more terrifying once her wingspan reached something close to 18 feet, and I knew there would be no chance of out-flying her.

One of us would have to go down here and I knew how immensely powerful every one of her family was, but too many people were depending on me now. I trusted my instincts as a warrior would guide me through this new environment and charged straight toward princess Elisiana. She met my challenge head on, beak open as if to take a giant bite out of me.

Her sheer size and power would have given her a clear edge, but my reaction time was clearly faster. As we came close, I turned up the heat and narrowed my wings to boost right over her head leaving a trail of flames to flare up in her face instead. I twisted midair and latched on to one of her wings with my talons and tried to break her flight pattern using all of my weight. The cool mist coating her feathers stung like an electric fence, but I held on through the pain.

The fight became messy as we wrestled and tumbled midair. She refused to be brought down despite me holding her left wing in a vice grip. Waves of cold air and ice shards materialized to snap at me, but my own flames continued to erupt and fight back. If it came down to a war of stamina, there was no telling how long I could hold out. Releasing flames was like breathing heavy, at a certain point it started to make my head feel light.

Seconds of fighting turned into minutes until my talons nearly let go of the princess through sheer numbness. But just before letting go, she made a single flutter and her voice tore its way into my mind, Get off, you Heathen! She put a stop to our grappling and suddenly grew heavy and still like a dead weight. She rotated so that I was below her and we both began plummeting rapidly to the ground. Ice formed in a large orb around us and I realized her intention.

She was about to perform the most lethal body slam of all time.

Hello everyone! :D

I know its been forever since the last update, and I'm truly sorry for making you wait so long. But I've read all of your comments and the story never left my heart. So with the end of 2020 approaching, I wanted to bring the story back to life. I upgraded the banners a little and you can expect a new chapter daily until new year's day! Thank you to everyone who waited patiently and believed in me all year <3