Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (45 page)

Never before had Pesstian taken witness
somebody causing so much damage to a tree; they were killing it!
How could the humans have been so deceitful, so cruel as what
Pesstian had just taken sight of?

Unable to hold its own weight, this tree
withdrew from its place as a pointer to the sky to a heavy
sleeper.

The—the humans, they—
stammered
Pesstian, still fighting back tears.
How did they? How
could
they? Are the humans completely oblivious to the fact that
they’re killing so many creatures by cutting down a tree? My
mother—oh no! I can’t even imagine what
she
would have to
say about this!

From the day he was born to the day he left
home, Pesstian and all the owls around him saw these wooden beings
as symbols to the very basis in which they lived. Never before had
Pesstian guessed a
human
would topple a tree over.

While he had heard before about rumors of
humans using trees for their own selfish needs, Pesstian never
chose to believe in them—until now. Every bone and every muscle in
his body yearned to spill human blood, yet he still held enough
common sense to keep from permanently scarring the beasts in front
of him.

So what now? Are they going to try to
eat
that tree?
All the while of uttering these words did he
rest up against the humans’ cart. Only by doing so did he realize
what they
really
intended to do with the tree.

They’re—going to use the tree for their
own selfish purposes?
Pesstian’s heart thumped about in his
chest with grief and sorrow.
I have to tell Leyai!
Without a
care for whether or not if the humans took sight of him, he flew up
from out behind the cart and up into the sky.

Okay. Where did the humans take me
from?
Pesstian moved up and up and up, hoping to find a human
light stick out into his eyes. Upon finding such a series of
lights, he immediately flew toward the human village.

From the time Pesstian had left the human
town to the time he’d returned, the light of the sky disappeared
from sight. As a result of this fact, Leyai was nothing more than
an invisible speck in the background.

It was after a long time of tedious searching
when Pesstian took sight of Leyai sitting on one of the human
roofs. Upon taking sight of her, he swept down to her while
simultaneously shouting to her, “Get off of that!”

“What?”

“Get off, now!” he responded, coming up by
Leyai’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Leyai, lifting
up into the air. “Do you know what the humans are making their
stuff from?”

The only response to such a question was
silence.

It was at that moment when Pesstian felt his
heart being attacked by a thousand and one lightning bolts.

Seeing him still as her friend, Leyai
released a sigh before commanding of him, “Pesstian—just—follow
me,” and lifted off toward the place where they’d both rested
during last night’s blizzard.

What’s she been hiding from me?
wondered Pesstian.
Does she know about the humans?

Upon making her way to the top of the
familiar cliff, Leyai sat down and made her confession to Pesstian.
“Pesstian,” she began. “Do you remember yesterday when I asked you
to get me a coat?”

Hesitantly but sincerely, Pesstian responded,
“Yes.”

“I didn’t
really
need a coat; I just
made that up so that I could distract you from the humans behind
us. Ever since the first day we came here, I’ve seen them,
Pesstian. I’ve seen what the humans have done to the trees!”

These words left Pesstian speechless—giving
Leyai the chance to move on.

“I didn’t think you would be able to see them
if I made you go to get one of those coats. So while the humans
were out in the woods killing trees, I wanted to make you get away
as far as possible away from them.”

“But—
why
would you do that?” snapped
Pesstian. “Why would you keep that from me? We could have stopped
them!”

“Stop them?” Leyai murmured, picking herself
up on her feet. “What makes you think two little owls could
possibly
stop creatures who like to bring down trees? If we
tried to kill at least one of the humans, another would pull out
one of their weapons and kill us—just like they did to all those
owls on their oceanic device.”

“Can’t we just use the weapons that are short
to the humans? Their weapons will at least help us to take them
over. We can stab, slash, and slice the humans up!”

With a notion to stop Pesstian’s wild ideas,
Leyai confronted him by muttering, “Pesstian—”

“How about we go get all the owls out in the
wild to rise up against the humans?”

“Pesstian—”

“Or maybe we can set a fire in their—”

“
Pesstian
!”

“Ah!” Pesstian screamed in fright.
“What?”

“We can’t just attack the humans!” Leyai
huffed, growing up to nearly twice her size.

“Then what
can
we do?” snorted
Pesstian.

A moment of silence befell Leyai’s beak just
before she released a grunt of contempt. Just another moment
brought her to flight.

“Hey!” exclaimed Pesstian, readying himself
to chase Leyai. “Wait up!”
What’s up with her?

What seemed like a short time turned into
days for Pesstian. Looping through infinite amount of rings in the
sky, he yearned to catch up to Leyai—but not a single event of any
scenario would seem to withstand the ability to change her
mind.

If she won’t stop, there will be no future
for us,
Pesstian realized. This thought in mind, he boosted the
amount of speed placed into his wings. A velocity of such magnitude
caused tears to stream from his eyes as an unaccounted-for amount
of feathers drifted off in the distance.

With time Pesstian focused too much of his
attention on speed and not enough on simply
trying
to catch
up to Leyai. Resulting from this simple mistake was his sudden
habit of circling above a cluster of trees.

In the midst of Pesstian’s confusion and
hyperactivity, Leyai swept out of the commotion to watch her friend
acting like a fool. In her mind it appeared as if Pesstian was
having a seizure in midflight.

A sigh befell Leyai’s beak when she halted
all forward momentum. “Is he serious?” she murmured. A small growl
formed beneath her throat when she uttered, “Pesstian—” The only
result from such a quiet commandment was Pesstian’s continued
circling.

He’s chasing
nothing
!
she
contemptuously thought. Resisting the urge to keep herself calm,
Leyai screeched at the top of her lungs, “
Pesstian
!” The end
result was Pesstian’s inevitable halt.
Always gets him.
“Pesstian! Over here!”

With these few words rumbling about in his
ears, Pesstian was able to decipher exactly where Leyai was. Taking
no time to hesitate, he zipped his way up to her side—and to his
surprise, she made no move to retreat. Instead of feeling some type
of elation, Pesstian felt a sense of remorse nag about in his
head.

Hoping he wasn’t making the wrong move,
Pesstian suggested to his friend, “Uh—maybe we should stop
flying.”

Another sigh surpassed Leyai’s lungs as she
gave a quick nod of her head—and as a result she and Pesstian
slowly drifted down to the trees.

“So what do you expect us to do?” Pesstian
asked at the very moment his feet touched the ground. “Do you
suggest we—well—run away?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,
I don’t
know
!” Leyai snapped, a foot stamping to the ground. “Do you
expect some idea to just
pop
into my head?” she continued.
“Do you expect something to just fall out of the sky and suddenly
make sense of everything that’s going on?”

In the blink of an eye, a glittering, shining
speck showed itself in the clouds above.

“Are you even listening to me?” growled
Leyai, taking a small step back. She was heartbroken, robbed of her
pride—yet she knew not of what rest behind her head.

Without any regard for the temporary contempt
Leyai would hold for him, Pesstian tackled Leyai down on her back.
At the same time did he command to her, “Look out!”

Fear suddenly clutching to her heart, Leyai
shut her eyes while simultaneously wondering, “What’s going on?”
The only answer to such a question was the sound of wind brushing
through what sounded like the leaves of the trees above. To add to
this, both she and Pesstian took notice of branches falling off
from the trees.

A moment of silence commenced almost
immediately after the trees’ trimming. After such silence did the
sound of human cries split the air.

“What happened?” asked Leyai. “What
was
that?”

Picking himself up from Leyai’s face,
Pesstian crawled up on his feet and took a look up at the trees. It
was then when he took notice of the glistening speck he’d seen
earlier—now stuck in a cluster of leaves.

The sight of her baffled friend flashing in
her eyes, Leyai held her tongue.
Just what does he think he’s
doing?
It wasn’t before too long when the light from the
glistening object sparkled in her eyes. It was then when a gasp
escaped from her beak.
What
is
that?

In Pesstian’s wings was a large blue rock
weighing more than his own being. “Whoa!” he screamed in fear while
being pulled down to the ground. “Look out! It’s too heavy!” His
fear had led the little owl to believe one foul swoop would have
left Leyai beheaded. It wasn’t until he felt the sudden shift of
weight from this heavy object when his fears went away.

Turning his head, the sight of his
once-resentful friend shined in his eyes. Whichever glistened
more—Leyai’s feathers or the stone they both held—was a matter he
would probably never be sure of. He was literally stunned by her
presence; he was shocked by her being.

Bringing Pesstian out of this trance, Leyai
started releasing her grip on the sapphire block. It was at that
moment when he took realization of the true danger this block
held.

Not only was the weight of this object very
disorientating, but also was the danger within its edges. Pesstian
could literally feel the weight of this object digging into his
talons. He tried with all his strength to overcome the pain
withdrawn unto his fingers.

The moment finally came when the two little
owls came down to the ground. With a twitch of his eye, Pesstian
slipped his fingers out from under the blue object upon him. “Ow!”
he screamed simultaneously.”

A moment of silence passed Pesstian before he
took a look down at his bludgeoned talons. He grimaced at the sight
of blood—now wondering if it was worth it to go after this object
that had nearly killed the two owls.

A gasp escaping from her maw, Leyai took a
look at Pesstian when she asked, “What happened?”

“Can’t you tell?” Pesstian responded, trying
not to snap. “That thing’s sharp! There’s no doubt it would have
killed one of us if I didn’t act fast enough. I don’t think my
talons can take it anymore!”

“Not that,” murmured Leyai. “You have a scar
on your forehead.”

“I do?” Pesstian snickered. “Does it look
pretty
?”

“It’s
bleeding
, Pesstian,” Leyai
huffed, “Stop joking around!”

“Sorry!” Pesstian mumbled.

“I just don’t understand,” Leyai sighed. It
was then when she continued, “It’s just a—” only to be interrupted
by the sensation of the block pricking into her fingers. “Ouch!”
she hissed.

With a quick tug, her fingers were free. Like
Pesstian’s, however, they retracted from under the stone with
traces of blood clinging onto them. Before too long what felt like
tears started rolling down her eyes. With a quick rub of her eyes,
however, she discovered no such tears existed; instead there remain
blood.

Curiosity bit Leyai on her head when she
wiped her other wing—a dry, clean wing—across her forehead. The
result in doing so was the realization of the scar that had truly
been placed upon her forehead.

After allowing a moment of silence commence,
Pesstian chuckled, “Are you sure
you’re
not the one with a
scar?”

“We
both
have scars, okay?” Leyai
hissed. “Just because you can’t feel something doesn’t mean it
doesn’t exist.”

Theist logic—
Pesstian silently
sighed.

“What was that?” Leyai snapped.

Taking a backwards leap, Pesstian found
himself dumbfounded when he explained through a series of stammers,
“I di-I didn’t say anything!”
Wow; why’s she being so
stuck-up?

“Stuck-up?” Leyai repeated, “Why are
you
being so immature?”

How did she even hear that?
It was at
that moment when Leyai realized Pesstian was uttering these words
without moving his beak. It was at that moment when she noticed the
strange abilities bestowed upon her mind—but was it by the
stone?

With a sigh, Leyai—without warning—raised her
wings into the air and went her own separate way.

“Leyai!” her pessimistic friend called after
her. For a split-second did Pesstian yearn to catch up to her—only
to be stopped by his own pessimism. He sighed and started himself
on a walk while silently wondering,
Can she hear my thoughts
from all the way over here?
When no answer came from the sky,
he released a sigh of relief and decided to walk his worries away.
All the while did he remain in contact with his thoughts.

Chapter XV

New Friends

“I can’t
believe
Pesstian!” Leyai
mumbled while in air. Closer and closer she came to the clouds,
more and more did she beat her wings. Without realization, she
gained altitude at an alarmingly-rapid rate—as did her temper.