Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (34 page)

Upon first receiving the large creature’s
meat from the humans, both little owls ravenously devoured it with
pleasure. Ever since they’d first dipped their beaks into the meat,
they felt as if they should have never been as hungry as they were
the day before. If it weren’t for the amazing amount of food the
creatures had offered, Pesstian and Leyai would have died from
starvation.

Soon would a cold, yet mild night catch up to
the colonists. Feeling as the cool night took over them, the owls
snuggled themselves into their animal pelt cloaks. The feeling of
being wrapped up in another creature’s pelt made them feel
comfortable—yet strangely uneasy at the very same time.

Once they had both covered themselves up in
the pelts of the creatures the humans had killed the day before,
Pesstian decided to start up a conversation with his friend.
“Leyai—do you have any brothers or sisters?” he wondered as they
both walked over to the edge of the human town.

“No,” Leyai responded, a hint of confusion
beaming from her voice.

“I was just wondering—cause it didn’t seem
like you brought anybody you knew to this trip. The only reason I
came was because my father
made
me come here.”

“I came here on my own free will,” Leyai
responded with a snort.

“Your family
allowed
you to come here?
They didn’t do anything?”

It was only a heartbeat later when a pause of
silence filled the air. Turning in Pesstian’s direction, Leyai
stifled a hiss. Another heartbeat had come to pass when she closed
her eyes and released a minute growl.

Oh no,
Pesstian muttered, a spark of
fear lighting up in his mind.
She’s going to hurt me!
However, instead of receiving a blow to the shoulder, Pesstian
heard as a sigh escaped from his friend’s beak.

“I used to have my entire family by my side,
but they turned on me,” Leyai muttered while looking down at her
feet.

“What?” Pesstian asked.

“I said that I used to have my entire family
by my side, you deaf mouse-tail!” Leyai screeched, a fire lighting
up in both of her eyes. At the same time, a layer of tears seemed
to shield her pupils.

A dumbfounded expression crossed Pesstian’s
face at the sound of Leyai’s screech.

Taking sight of Pesstian’s expression, Leyai
curtly covered her face with her two wings.

Seeing her depression, Pesstian came up to
Leyai’s side, staring right into her eyes all the while. “What do
you mean you
used
to have your entire family by your side?”
he asked Leyai through a murmur.

Raising her face from her wings’ grasp, Leyai
shot a blurry glance toward her friend. “I had no brothers or
sisters, and just when I expected to learn how to fly, my parents
left me. I was not entirely sure why—and I still don’t understand
why—but I could never forgive them for doing that to me.”

“I had to learn how to fly from my friend
after she was taught. After she taught me, I had to learn how to
hunt all by myself. Since nobody was there to help me, I never
became a very good hunter.”

“Ever since then, I prayed to Hona for
answers to my problems. So far, she’s only shown herself to me in
my dreams.”

This talk of religion caused Pesstian’s
feathers to ruffle with unease. As he had
also
shared a
slightly difficult life, he, had also tried falling into the claws
of religion. However, it would have been only a matter of time
before he would let go of it completely. Swallowing a bead of
nervousness, Pesstian continued listening to Leyai’s words of
sorrow.

“I later heard that the humans were
collecting owls to go onboard their new device. Thinking that I
could have volunteered myself to go on, I was assisted by a few
other owls on a trip to see the humans’ vessel. I didn’t even
try
to ask the humans to go onboard—I just jumped on.”

As Leyai’s story came to an end, a moment of
silence came between the two owls. Almost every one of Leyai’s
words caused grief to light up within Pesstian’s mind.

“And I’m sorry that I called you a deaf
mouse-tail,” Leyai apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” came Pesstian’s
response. “I would act the same way if—”

“Would you just
stop
doing that?”
Leyai interrupted, a sense of playfulness escaping from her voice.
“There’s
no
excuse for me snapping at you like that!”

It was while snuggling himself into the
animal fur when Pesstian released a small chuckle. Only a heartbeat
had passed when Leyai steadily joined in. “I guess you made the
right decision to come here,” Pesstian muttered. “It already seems
like we’re going to have an awesome time here.”

--

Had he known anything about the two little
owls and their paradise-like state, Leyoht would have held an
immense amount of envy for them.

He had literally spent a whole day marching
through a snowy wasteland, getting nothing to eat but stale
carrion. While disgusting in taste, the body of the deceased
creature had proven big enough to fill his two stomachs.

Unfortunately, the animal carcass would
eventually cause disease to overwhelm the young owl. As was the
case with the snow, Leyoht released the carcass’s plague through
his beak.

It was after vomiting when hunger clung at
Leyoht’s stomach with an even stronger pull than before.
What’s
happening?
he wondered, feeling lightheaded.

Despite his hunger, Leyoht felt himself
acquiring a phobia for eating. Instead of popping food through his
beak, the young owl told himself,
Just ignore it. Just ignore
it.

Only a day had passed since he lost his
parents. That day showed hell’s punishment on his feet, on his
stomach, and on his morality. There was no doubt about it—Leyoht
would never be the same.

Even as his stomach still rumbled in sheer
hunger, Leyoht knew he would have to find an area to sleep for the
night. He wanted to make a nest, but he hadn’t any intention of how
such a structure was built.

Because of his lack of knowledge, he gave his
eyes a stretch and scanned the outside area for any trees or
caves—or some kind of shelter. When he’d come to realize that there
was not a single shelter in sight, Leyoht released an irritable
sigh.

Struggling to hold his head up, Leyoht
continued on his march through the snow.
I can’t stop until I
find somewhere safe to sleep!
he reminded himself.
If I do
what I did yesterday, someone will find me and take me with
them.
As far as Leyoht was concerned, he was lucky the humans
were hospitable.

Every single step the young owlet took would
only cause him to envy the world’s flying owls more and more.
I’ll never have to worry about this when I fly,
he realized
in both hope and impatience.

A gust of wind blew through Leyoht’s
feathers, causing him to shiver once more.
At least I have
feathers now,
he thought while sighing. He could only imagine
what kind of terrible trials he would have gone through if he
wasn’t destined to hold feathers upon his skin.

Pushing his way through layers of snow,
Leyoht began to wonder if his eyes were deceiving him. He rubbed
his eyes once—then twice. Right then and there, he caught sight of
a small cave, noticing as it rested before his eyes.

Is it really there?
In sight of this
cave, he started himself on a hurried trot. Only a few steps
forward caused Leyoht to trip over his feet.

I can’t believe it!
he thought while
picking himself up. He cared not for his clumsiness; at this point,
a trip would be nothing more than a bump in the road.
Nobody
will find me in there!

A sense of relief and security swept over
Leyoht’s mind when he felt the shadow of the cave sweep over his
head. It was at that moment when a wave of heat splashed unto
Leyoht’s face. While comfortable, this cave was not the kind of
place for an owl to live in.
At least I’ll be able to sleep
here,
he assured himself.

This thought in mind, he used his tired eyes
to find what at looked like a comfortable place for him to rest for
the night. After walking up to a nice, cozy spot next to the wall,
he seated himself and closed his eyes.

For the first time in a day, Leyoht was now
able to sleep without thoughts of agony swimming through his mind.
The thoughts of his parents were not those of shame and regret, but
those of what could have been had his parents survived.

The thoughts quickly drained from Leyoht’s
head as a large yawn burst from his beak. Feeling his own weariness
crawl beneath his skin, he snuggled himself up against the wall and
attempted to fall asleep.

--

As Leyoht found himself on the brink of
falling asleep, Pesstian took off his fur cloak.

Seeing as her friend removed the fur from his
shoulders, Leyai exclaimed, “Whoa! Aren’t you cold?”

“I won’t be cold once I start flying,”
Pesstian immediately responded. These words silently echoing in his
head, he lifted his wings into the air and pushed himself into the
sky.

“Hey!” Leyai playfully cried while taking of
her own cloak. “Wait for me!” It was at that moment when she, too
pointed her wings toward the sky and followed her friend.

Realizing her feet were no longer touching
the ground, Leyai attempted to move herself closer to Pesstian.
While gaining altitude, Leyai asked while panting, “Wh-where
exactly are we going?”

“I don’t know,” Pesstian admitted while
taking a look back at his friend. “But there has to be
some
place interesting out here. I’m pretty sick of the humans just
having us sit around and do nothing all day.”

“I guess,” Leyai agreed through a murmur.
“But I haven’t seen anything interesting here—and we’ve been here
for days!”

“That’s what I thought about my old home,”
her friend informed. “At least—that was the case until I heard
about the humans’ device.”

The sound of these words caused Leyai to
place a humored grin upon her face. At the same time, she stifled a
small gout of laughter.

“Oh—look right there!” exclaimed Pesstian,
pointing his beak out in front of him.

“Look at what?”

“There’s a pool over there,” Pesstian
remarked, taking a look back at Leyai. “And it looks pretty
nice!”

“Oh—a pool!” exclaimed Leyai. “I’m thirsty
anyway. Let’s get down there!”

With these last four words echoing within
their heads, the two owls dove down toward the ground. At the same
time, they both gradually glided down to the water, coming closer
and closer by the second.

Only a heartbeat had come to pass when a
glint of light sparked in Leyai’s eye. It had only taken a moment
for her to realize the light’s shine was coming from the pool’s
reflection of the moon. “Hey! There it is!” she exclaimed,
excitement coursing over her veins.

Not a single heartbeat had come to pass when
she attempted to land. She could see herself standing there before
the pool’s embrace—watching as its shine flashed into her eyes.

With talons outstretched, she inched closer
and closer toward the edge of the pool. In a split-second, her
nails dug into the wet earth accompanying the water.

Contrary to her fantasy, the attempt to land
only ended in Leyai tipping over, falling face-first into the
water. Her imbalance and irrational thoughts had brought her
here—cold and wet—as she started crawling out of the water.

“Are you okay?” wondered Pesstian, landing
behind Leyai.

“I’ll be all right,” Leyai responded through
a series of coughs.

Upon catching her breath, Leyai turned around
and took a look upon at what lay in front of her. Dark blue mixed
in with the vibrant light of the moon, creating a shining pool.
Ripples of waves gave the moon an urge to dance within the water.
“It’s beautiful!” Leyai gasped through a wide smile.
I almost
don’t want to drink from it!

“Almost,” Leyai giggled with an eerie
whisper. Upon uttering this one word, the wet little owl bent down
over the pool and dipped her beak into its refreshing water.

Witnessing as his friend sucked the water
into her stomach, Pesstian sneered from behind, “See? There’s
always gonna be something interesting somewhere.”

Although Leyai was able to hear her friend
loud and clear, she made no direct response to his statement.
Rather did she simply continued to drink from the pool—feeling as
it blissfully intoxicated her with its natural essence.

With a small shrug of his shoulders, Pesstian
walked over to a spot to the left his friend. Now in this position,
he dipped his beak into the water along with Leyai.

A strange connection suddenly linked the two
owls together as they continued to drink the water. It was a link
in which had caused them both to realize this may have been the way
their lives were meant to be lived—until they both died.

--

Almost half a day had come to pass when
Leyoht had awakened from a nearly motionless sleep. A crooked spine
and stung eyes crippled the owlet as he woke up.

Although he felt very accustomed to falling
asleep, the feel of a rather irritating series breezes made
constantly pushed up against the young owl’s feathers. This
sensation caused him to shuffle in his spot multiple times.

Failing to outstand this war of attrition,
Leyoht finally flicked his eyes wide open. He would have to accept
his terms: under his current conditions, he would never fall
asleep.

Leyoht released a large yawn and attempted to
pick himself up on his weary legs. This effort had proven quite
strenuous at first, but quickly grew easier to perform within a
matter of heartbeats.

Now on his feet, Leyoht shook up his ruffled
feathers and cleared his blurred vision through a series of blinks.
What now?
he wondered while yawning.