As Ollie ascended into the heavens, a thrill of joy filled his rapidly beating bird-human heart. He felt giddy and the sun spun around him as he twirled, rose and dipped, rising higher and higher. All fear was gone, as his neighborhood became increasingly smaller below him. His keen eyes picked out other areas, a town far away, the baseball fields, his old school, everything for miles around. He paused now, flapping in mid air, and took a breath.
It was hard to believe, but here he was, a completely different being, a being that shouldn't exist. There was nothing between him and the ground below, and yet, he wasn't afraid. It almost felt natural. "I could get used to this." he said aloud, his voice nasely and sounding vaguely like a birds. As he said it though, Ollie felt a strange sensation and the ring warmed on his taloned finger. He blinked, a strange fluttering in his chest, and then felt something else. The sensation on his talons, the feeling of his sneakers against the scales felt different. He looked down and felt his breath catch. The shoes were different ! The sticker on the side was gone, and the canvas material was becoming thicker, tougher. The red color slowly ecked away, replaced by a deep, rich brown. The cream colored ends formed together and began to join one agaisnt the other around his talons, becoming the same material. He lifted one up, seeing the tread form and fade, as it began to unwrap and turn into leather straps on the bottoms of his talons, brass buckles tracing along his backtalons, and over the top of his foot. In moments, his sneakers had altered, now looking more like leather guards with straps, something he might imagine a creature like him wearing in some fantasy world.
"Oh no!" he gasped. The sneakers were the thing that allowed him to turn back to being a human boy, himself. In an instant he folded his wings and began to rush to earth. "I have to change back!"