“Wake up, human,” a gentle voice cooed. “I’ve prepared some food for you.”

Alex wondered about this very place: at first, he was out there in the woods, mauled by a bear and nearly left for dead, and now he ends up in a room that looked more like an emptied office. To his left he saw a woman, whose hair flowed like a fragrant cloak of blossoms, and who is clad in a dress of cyan and yellow wool. She also had two wings draped in golden feathers, and she presented to the perplex human a tray of food with a glass of water.

“Is this Heaven?” Alex muttered. “And … are you angels?”

“We’re the Sisters of Mercy,” the winged humanoid responded, “and we just like to help people. Won’t you please eat?”

“Sure, it kind of smells delicious — oops!” His careless toppling of a bottle of medicine prompted a second bird-woman to quickly jump out. She flapped her wings and quickly rushed towards the medicine, but her left wing slapped a third bird-woman, jolting her and causing her to drop her equipment.

“No, no, no!” the bird-woman whimpered. “This medicine is so precious!” And at last she caught it with her hands at the nick of time.

“Panyosai,” the third humanoid yelled angrily at the one who caught the medicine. “Won’t you please stop having the impatience of a cat? My work is important!”

Fluttershy models by Stefano96