Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian screamed as he felt those wen hands let go of him. Falling from the large height, he turned himself up to face the sky. Distantly thinking to himself how oddly dark the sky looked above him, the sky seemed bluer and lighter when he left Jiang Cheng on the mountain after the surgery. He could feel the cold wind against him, his hair and robes whipping around him, the lingering pain and tiredness of the last few days, his sorrow, panic and fear, and the overwhelming emptiness inside him.
Not that he would ever regret giving up his golden core for Jiang Cheng.
But now he was falling down to the darkest place in the cultivation world. No weapons, no core, no one else alive with him. What would become of him? Would Jiang Cheng and his Shijie be alright? Would Lan Zhan be alright? Would anyone find his body? Would anyone else mourn him?
Time seemed to stretch impossibly long, flashes of memories and emotions appeared to Wei Wuxian. The agony of his golden cores removal, the pain of the burning of Lotus Pier, the peacefulness of Lan Zhan singing to him, the happiness when Lan Zhan and him fought for the first time on the rooftop, the satisfaction when he beat all his seniors in Lotus Pier in a spar, the joy when he and Jiang Cheng taught their young shidis how to play in the lakes, the pride when he created his first successful talisman, the misery when Madam Yu and Sect leader Jiang fought, the delight eating his Shijies famous lotus pork rib soup, the familial love he felt on his first night at Lotus Pier, the numbness from the bitter cold and torment of the streets, the fear from those monsters called dogs that rule the alleys, the warmth of his parents, the joy of being carried by his mother on a donkey while his father led them somewhere.
Wei Wuxian knew the ground must have been close, that soon he would either die or by a miracle be left to live out a few more minutes in agony before succumbing to some death. Tears pricked his eyes, frustration and desperation from this situation. How could he be so selfish to die now, the Wen dogs are still out there hunting his siblings. How could he die without paying back the family who took him in, when they had to die from his selfish decisions.
No.
He couldn't die here.
Someone needs him.
He still has things to do.
He won't die here or now.
How intriguing...
Suddenly he stopped falling.
He could feel something holding him, and somewhere in the midst of his mind he knew what it was. Its heavy resentful presence couldn't be mistaken for anything else. He stiffened a little.
We can help you..
Wei Wuxian could hear a seemingly uncountable amount of voices mixing into one voice, feeling their words crawl over his body suspended in the air, he glanced around at his surroundings for the first time, however looking a little closer he could see crows silently perched on the barren branches of the trees staring directly at him.
He could also see silky dark smoke gliding through the air at a gentle speed, it seemed to be the same thing keeping him afloat.
We can help each other...
Together we can be great...
Just let us in!
Despite what Wei Wuxian thought of resentful energy in the past, he knew he should be wary. But now he has no core, what good could he do. He still needed to find Shijie and Jiang Cheng. He needed to fight for them and protect them, it was the least he could do.
As if the energy could sense what he was thinking, it purred out all the ways they could be of use. The swirling thoughts of it lowering his guard against them.
Wei Wuxian felt the smoke wrapping around his body more and tightening itself. The crows began cawing, somewhat startling Wei Wuxian. Before sharp white hot pain stabbed him all over his body. His body felt like it was breaking apart and being put back together. From there most of reality blurred out, then he quickly fell unconscious.
…
"Uhhgg fuck.."
Was the first thing that came out of Wei Wuxian's mouth when he woke up an unknown amount of time later. He sat up, noticing he was now on the ground in the entrance of a cave, his body incredibly sore, like the first time he had completely exhausted himself in a grueling training session, and his robes were messier and looser than he had left them. He heard a few caws before two crows swooped down to him, each with a pouch in their claws. They dropped the bags close to him and looked at him before cawing again.
You are still too weak..
Nourish yourself..
He hesitantly opened one and saw a sack of water.
He didn't even realize how thirsty he was until he saw the sack, opening it he threw his head back and chugged it, not even caring how droplets escaped his mouth and trickled down his neck.
He finished the water and took a deep breath then he opened the other bag, inside were some buns and fruits. He took a bun, it was cold, and they had little indents, like someone poked small holes into it. Wei Wuxian realized the crows most likely stole these from local venders down the mountain.
That didn’t stop him from taking a bite, then from eating everything in the bag.
Perhaps now you can finally go through the major changes..
“What does that mean? What are you doing?” Wei Wuxian finally questioned having gotten a better grip of reality than when he fell into the Burial Mounds.
“They help turn you into one of us!” One of the crows says in a cheerful, yet mildly raspy voice
Wei Wuxian whips his head to them and stares, mouth slightly agape. He wants to ask and demand answers. However he cannot even express such desire before he gets hit with immense sleepiness and blacks out. The last thing on his mind being the fear and paranoia of what they had planned for him.
...
Waking up the second time was worse than the first time. He was barely even conscious when he could already feel how numb and prickly his entire body felt. As if there were thousands of pins and needles stabbing into every inch of him but he could only be vaguely aware of them all.
Blinking through his blurry vision he saw the outside the mouth of the cave he vaguely remembered he was in. He stayed down on his side exactly as he woke for a while longer. Eventually the prickly sensation subsides enough for him to move a little, he lifts an arm up to rub at his face.
He stopped. When he lifted his arm he felt something else completely foreign on his back. Sitting up, he felt the odd thing on his back again. He turned to look behind him. Two massive black wings were sprawled out, sleek enough to shine in the little light given to them from the cave entrance. Looking further up, he saw they were connected to him.
He felt if he was any less delirious Wei Wuxian would have definitely started having a panic attack or gone into some sort of craze. However, the fact he now has two new limbs didn't phase him as much as he thought it would.
He didn't have much more time to process his situation when he heard some cawing. He turned his head, a single crow had swooped down to the dirt floor in front of him, they clicked their beak a little while staring at him. Then said "We turned you into one of us. You are no longer just human."
Wei Wuxian stared for a second. His mind was blissfully ignorant of what he should have been doing the entire time he was there: panicking. Instead he just sat there, taking it in.
Don't fret, you are now part of us..
To serve and to be served..
To be freed of your too human restraints..
You know you would have been of no use without a golden core..
So we turned you into something that benefits all of us..
Even you.
The crow cawed in what seemed like agreement to the resentments statements, with a little nod of their head. Wei Wuxian didn't know what to do. He bowed his head down and looked at the rest of him, he had no clothes on, his robes had seemingly gotten torn off of him, and were laying around him, slightly ripped. He lifts one of his arms. From his elbows down, his regular skin color faded to black. his fingers seemed thinner and a little longer, with long sharp black nails. His legs were even stranger, just above his knees were pale thighs but downwards faded to black. Below his knees his legs bent back to another joint bending back forward before going on to the rest of his legs, his feet weren't even human. They were bird feet with sharp black claws.
Looking over the rest of him, he could find no other major differences. His hair was smoother and silkier, his skin paler and softer, the muscles he trained hard for were gone. Even his bruises were gone, any scars he had were gone, leaving only small silver lines. If he had to guess, even Zidians scars on his back were gone, but he couldn't see too well with the wings there.
'What the fuck.'
Shock and a heavy numbness took over Wei Wuxians mind. He barely even noticed the resentful energy surrounding him, nor it pushing up his body and adjusting him to stand up. He could barely process the crow instructing him on wing posture and how to move them properly.
This numb static in his mind lasted a while, eventually it eased. He was lying curled up on the cave floor, the crow was gone. He had no idea how much time he had unknowingly let pass by. He felt a stab of frustration, how could he have been so powerless to have been put in this situation? Was he just meant to suck up this change?
Tears welled up in his eyes. His hands balled up, surprisingly so did his feet. It did nothing to help him calm down. He felt those tears begin to spill. And his frustration grew enough for him to start chewing his lips.
He was a monster now. How would his siblings react to this? What would Lan Zhan say?
Oh no. His siblings.
How could he have forgotten they are still out there? They need him! He wants to hug them and never let go
His shijie will worry about him, Jiang Cheng has definitely noticed his disappearance. He needs to see them. He wants so desperately to go home
A sob breaks out of him. It wrecks through him, all the way down to the tips of his (new) wings.
Curling his body up into a ball as much as he could, he let himself cry. Wei Wuxian didn't look or feel human anymore.
All into the night his sobbing could be heard throughout the Burial Mounds.
...
Then the next day Wei Wuxian awoke to a young crow dropping some peanuts on the ground in front of his face. They made a small chirp-like sound and did a little hop towards him, and he lifted a hand to lightly pet their head. He felt lighter but still exhausted after his crying session, but this little crow helped lift his mood with its meager aura of innocent comfort.
'Ah, to have a birds pity.. '
However with most of his grievances let out and goals set in his mind he shakily stood up, he gave his wings a little shake too to loosen dirt from the ground, and walked out of his little cave ready for whatever path fate has prepared for him now.
…
Over the next month Wei Wuxian spent most of his time practicing using his new body and learning how to understand and use resentful energy. As the crows had explained to him how they themselves adapted to the resentment and learned to work alongside the darkness. They wanted him to do so as well, for whatever reason he had no idea.
He had shockingly little difficulty getting used to the idea the crows could talk to him, or that they could understand him in return. Unsurprisingly he couldn’t fly the first few tries, resulting in him falling on his face until he could manage to keep himself in the air. The first thing he did once he could successfully fly was steal new robes from down the mountain since his old robes were too ripped to salvage. Then figuring out how to put them on to accommodate his non-human parts.
Besides those tiring activities he spent his remaining waking hours scavenging (and hunting once he got the hang of flying) food. He was taught where to find edible plants and nuts, how to not tangle himself in trees. He had also found some black bamboo which he cut down and after many failed attempts, turned it into a dizi using his claws to make the holes. When Wei Wuxian played it he discovered both the resentment and the crows seemed absolutely delighted by the music.
That discovery had led to a few nights being spent in the clearing he was dropped in, playing Yunmeng songs for his nonhuman audience. The resentment made beautiful moving designs around him, the crows bounced along or flew around him making spins and swoops. None however made loud interruptions to the songs, each clearly enjoying the music in their own way. Wei Wuxian himself was affected by the mood and made small flaps of his wings and occasionally spun around to add to his own little dance.
Those, he felt, were times when everything was alright, when his world was reduced to just that clearing with his closest companions.
In the nights, just before he went to sleep, he hummed a soft calming song he had heard before, but he unfortunately didn't remember the name of it. Nonetheless it reminded him of soft white clouds and gentle golden eyes, it reminded him of Lan Zhan.
Despite his hurt thinking about his siblings and Lan Zhan, he knew soon he would return to them. He just needed a little more time with the resentment, afterall a war was brewing just outside the dreary mounds the crows resided in.
And so the rest of the month passed.
...
And then the next month passed.
...
And then the following month passed
...
Finally came the moment Wei Wuxian could safely leave. The crows had expressed concern if he had left into human territory without resentment as protection, after all he no longer was a spiritual cultivator or had much (if any) yang energy in him.
He stood on the edge of a cliff looking out into the rest of the burial mounds, black robes billowing around him comfortably arranged to not obstruct his feet or wings. Dizi at his belt, his signature red ribbon tied at the back of his head to keep some hair back. A small murder settled around him to accompany him in his journey back home. Like this he felt ready to leave, after all who knew when he would return back to this place.
He tipped forward, diving off the cliff for a few seconds before spreading his wings, pulling his body up and into the gray sky. The few crows trailing behind him.
Wei Ying had many things he desperately wanted to do, however he knew what needed to be done first.