The last one is here.

I will begin by announcing the winner of the mini Contest (that everyone made so hard for me to choose ugh it took me longer than I imagined and every response was just really insightful)! While there is no right and wrong answer, I did feel that some interpretations were on a completely different level with how well-versed and panned out they were. There was depth in every response I've read and trust me, it was hard picking just one person in the end.

One user's responses stood out with their impressive, mature analysis and most importantly, in-depth explanation of their chosen descriptive word. They nailed every aspect of my writing and probably saw through my every intention with specific characters and their traits.

Here's to TheLostPancake

Do send me a private message or comment your desired chapter request here, whether it is Adventure's of Flight Crew or Flight School: Lore. Do give me specifics should you wish to see them (e.g. please let them cuddle more/please let them roll in grass). I am willing to write anything save complete no-no's like intercourse or fetishist plays hELLO Io is barely fifteen HAHAHA.

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. Some of your responses inspired what I intend to address in this chapter of Intentions, and without further ado—let us begin.

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Cuppie reads comments often enough to know where her stars get very very lost about what in skies is going on or what a character is trying to do. Yes! Reux is dead; he bit a cyanide pill placed at the back of his mouth where the molar is and everyone knows what a small amount of cyanide can do to the brain and the heart. I will now explain why and how this isn't necessarily suicide, how and why this end was necessarily written, the symbols and imageries of the previous chapter and how it ties everything together.

As much as it is gratifying when some of you stars get it at once, I am reluctant to leave those who need some help with the interpreting and understanding of the text. After all, the reason I write boils down to you, not me—not me writing what I want to write, but you coming to terms with your humanity.

Ink

I've always used this word to describe Reux's darkness. It is apart from Vaughn's—disorderly and chaotic, of inner turmoil. Reux's darkness is "pure" and "untainted" in its blindness. In fact, he is the "purest form of darkness", a harbour that is free of ships and does not allow one to dock. He has the full view of his horizon—where he wants to go and where he is going. This is why he cannot be stopped and cannot be reasoned with; simply because he doesn't allow reason to enter his frame of mind. It is also why he is unafraid of death.

Birds & Cages

This prevalent symbol's meaning changes in the previous chapter when we read about Reux's past and his ideologies. To Reux, birds were meant to be in cages. Should the birds not serve a purpose—to entertain human beings or to be eaten as food—then, they serve no purpose in being at all. In his world, birds are not meant to fly or be in the sky.

Birds (or the creatures) in our cages are known in this book to be the hearts of human beings. Bear this interpretation in mind and apply it to Reux's take on birds and where they were meant to be because they were beautiful only inside the cage. As he grows out of his childhood, he begins to see that human hearts too were meant to be caged because they, too, were beautiful things and for Reux, beautiful things MUST be caged and be perceived because otherwise, they will lose their purpose.

The previous chapter suggests that Reux was born with the mind of an artist. He is in an endless pursuit for his most beautiful creation, and the reason why he has had many so far is because they were all failed attempts at "stuffing a bird in a cage" (capturing a heart) and "letting it sing". Different hearts produce different songs when captured and Io's was the most exquisite grief and loneliness that Reux had ever seen.

That was why Io was a "must have". Io would be a masterpiece.

Art & Perfection

You were my greatest masterpiece, Io

And with this, you will always be.

Having established that Reux's world view is that of art and perfection, we can see how he imposes it onto one single heart and that is Io's. In attempt to capture this bird, he goes to lengths to do so, killing (planned) everyone around him and finally himself to ensure his eternal loneliness, to ensure that there was no one outside of Io's cage to bring the key and take him out to fly, no. Reux saw that Io would be most beautiful when he was most alone and this was what he set out to do.

What Reux (and many other characters, save Vaughn, Luka and Pipa) do not understand about Io: he is already alone and has been for his entire life.

Without the knowledge of this, Reux has set out to with futile intentions until his very last moment which is, in a way, his very own tragedy. Till the very end, he thinks that he has created the most beautiful masterpiece when it was not HE who did it, but Io himself who'd done so a long time ago.

Why, then—what makes him say "with this, you will always be" when he sinks his teeth into the suicide pill and smiles?

Reux is the only one in the entire book who has the knowledge of Io's wayward choice. He falls to temptation and cannot resist choosing Luka over five strangers, the supposedly wrong option in practical ethics and principles. In practical ethics (utilitarianism, consequentialism), we must always choose the five. Because Reux is the only one (apart from Io himself) who knows this secret, Reux could have used it as blackmail to force Io to do as he wants him to.

But it is precisely because that is too simple for the beauty that Reux is striving to achieve, he decides to give this opportunity up entirely for the sake of LEAVING THE CHOICE TO IO HIMSELF.

Tell everyone they you were not who they thought you were; or live with the secret within, guilt and remorse piling at every step until he stands before his coffin. This turmoil is worth so much because it will perfect his creation and is the final step to making it his masterpiece—eternal loneliness. It is worth so much that Reux is willing to die for this beauty that he will never get to see, like every other artist would do.

Most artists (poets, playwrights, novelists, painters) do not live to see their creations raised to the level of god despite spending their entire lives perfecting their art. Reux reflects this exact notion. He is willing to die for the beauty that he has always wanted to achieve.

Hence, Reux did not commit suicide, he saw his death as the final step to realizing his dream of creating a masterpiece. It was part of his art.

Lastly, Reux's 'real name' is Kupera, meaning Eclipse in the language Shona. He is 'he who ate the moon'. Piece this together with his capturing of birds (hearts) and finally, literally eating them and you will arrive at what the previous chapter is trying to say.

Although Reux did not literally eat the moon, obviously, representative of Io, he, in a way, has consumed his light and fed on his heart.

Reux & Io

Are strangely alike.

They share certain similarities: growing up as a child different from the others, having a very different worldview and having to keep this to themselves. Both Io and Reux are my special in their thinking. Both understand the world beyond "childish books of witches and fairies". For Reux, he understood that magic existed in human hearts—the bird inside the cage—and that was where he should seek when searching for the ultimate beauty.

Io...is more than understanding where magic or beauty exists. He realizes (a little too early) that he should seek what it means to be human. He starts by understanding that every human has a world view and point of perception, that which no one else can have or understand (Flight School: Prey, The Eye in the Sky, aka chapter 1).

I would like to establish meanwhile, that Reux and Vaughn have their differences. Having read the comments on the contest chapter and the words you guys use to describe Reux, it feels as though the very same words could have been applied to Vaughn in book one >< well, it might have been due to my slow revelation of Reux's character traits, so I apologise.

Reux is pure, straight as an arrow that knows where it needs to land. Vaughn is a lost birb that cannot find his purpose to fly and thus flies blindly. Reux knows perfectly well what he is doing. Vaughn doesn't. While Vaughn does try to pursue order and perfection, Reux pursues it religiously and more than he does. He pursues art.

Finally, while Vaughn is susceptible to persuasion (although yeah sure it took one and a half books to actually make him a soft bean hehe all the more realistic) because he barely has values of his own, Reux leaves no space for anything outside his world.

The Wind

Phew, now that we are done with Reux, we can address certain symbols that I have been asked about. "Cuppie, why do you always capitalize Wind and Self?"

The Wind is something that sweeps. We get swept away, carried away, but not of our own accord. The absence or lack of individual agency is an ongoing theme I try to address every now and then, put usually against one who has complete control over every aspect of their life—which is, of course, impossible save God himself, or in this case, the writer of the story.

Whenever the Wind blows, whichever character we perceive from is losing/loses his individual agency. He is subject to the forces of nature—beyond his control and understanding. Slayne and Jiro feel the Wind that is equally strong against their window, especially at night.

The difference between Slayne and Jiro is that Jiro is stronger than Slayne.

While Slayne shuts his windows and stays inside, Jiro kneels by the root of a tree with his back straight, watches grass as he braces the wind. Unlike Slayne, Jiro is disciplined and orderly. He has trained himself to face adversity with a mind that is strong and calm and yet, all this breaks apart when death comes along.

Death, too, is beyond Jiro's control. It is part of the wind that can sweep him off his feet and send him losing his composure and any 'grounding' he seemed to have before. If anything, I believe that 'being left behind' is the strongest wind anyone can ever experience.

Being left behind can comprise of losing loved ones to the Wind, being abandoned by friends or family, or being forgotten. This gust of Wind—should it ever blow—is an unimaginable, incredible force of terror.

Precisely because we never know when it is going to come, we can never really brace against it. And even if we do try to brace against it always (like Jiro does), no amount of weight can really null the effects of a strong wind unless one chooses to put aside his or her humanity.

Hunter

I have indeed addressed select few concerns and questions in the previous Contest chapter but saved certain ones to answer here in Intentions #2. One of the questions that I see a lot is "is this the last book" or "is there going to be another book after predator" and the answer is no.

Of course there isn't going to be one more book complete the cycle of prey, predator and hunter. Of course Cuppie wouldn't give in to the temptation of going full circle and moving on to the next stage of the pyramid and thus further demonstrate and emphasize the theme of human nature. Of course I am not going to fix broken Luka and broken Jiro and permanently broken Io! :D

Oh give me a break—I wouldn't survive without these birbs. Of course there's going to be a third book and the title is so obvious that it's literally been in your faces for the past ten chapters HAHAHAHA.

What we have in store in the next book is...surprise, surprise. Ah! So many surprises I have in store; perhaps even more than what I had planned in the second book. Fun fact: everything up to Slayne and Reux's death was planned from the beginning of book one, including Trolley. The ending of book three which is, also, the final book, was planned...you will know when I started planning it because it's been building up since the first book and foreshadowing is literally everywhere but huhuhu...Cuppie resides on the dark side of the moon.

There will be lots more Falrir and Slyvain in the next book; lots more Vaughn having friends and being a bean; lots more prey interacting with predators; and Io actually moving into Luka's room because iknowipromiseditbutididntdeliveranditsallmyfaultimsorry HAHAHAHA.

That aside, I'd like to thank all of you for hanging on until this very last chapter and bracing the wind together with the rest of the birds in their cages. I guess a favourable wind always makes the flight easier—but sometimes we fly above the clouds.

This book is about discovering the sides of us that are human. In current times, we often think that the word comprises of characteristics such as: selfish, flawed, sometimes envious, sometimes weak. I'd like to point out something wrong with this definition that is sometimes glorified. He's just being human, as a lot of people always seem to put forth as a defense.

I'd like to leave a mini-conversation I had with myself in my mind about two years ago. I saved it in my phone and came across it only recently while I was deleting stray notes in my files. It's a conversation between human A and human B (who are actually kinda Victorian or at least that's what they sound like in my mind HAHA).

A: Haven't you heard? Selfishness isn't a bad thing in this word.

B: But surely, is isn't good? Just because it isn't bad doesn't mean that we should do it—or that it is the right thing to do.

A: Maybe. Maybe it isn't. I wouldn't know—all I know is that nowadays, they consider humans as naturally selfish. Rational, they term it. It is rational to choose what benefits us.

And rational has a positive connotation, does it not? Is it wrong to be rational?

B: It is not wrong that you are human, B. But it is certainly not humane to be, always.

A: ...

Are you suggesting that we must sometimes cease from being human? Impossible! Impossible.

B: If your definition of being human is the absence of humanity then yes, apparently so.