Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (20 page)

I have to do something!
Leyoht
exclaimed silently. The sight of the other owls in pain was far too
much for him to bear any longer. He held back an array of tears as
every one of the large owl’s steps echoed into his ears.

Unable to hold his tongue, Leyoht slowly
removed himself from his frozen state and pushed himself toward his
opponent. At the sight of this, every one of the owlets behind him
placed shocked looks on their faces.

“Leyoht—what are you doing?” Roseti asked,
alarm flushing back the color on her down.

As the antagonist took sight of Leyoht making
his way toward him, he snorted, “I’m still surprised that you were
afraid of that little human! Only a mouse-tail would be afraid of
them!”

Leyoht suddenly pointed at the bully with an
outstretched talon and allowed Alar to speak through his beak: “Are
you sure that’s not your problem?”

Once these words made their way into the
owls’ ears, a moment of hesitation was brought into place. Such a
moment was broken when the older owl exclaimed, “Of course it’s not
my problem!”

“If you’re not scared of the human, then why
don’t you walk up to it?” Leyoht noticed as the large owl’s muscles
tensed in both his wings and legs. His shoulders gave a hunch as
parts of his face started to quiver. Just before too much emotion
could have been shown upon his face, he hissed, “I’ll see you
later.”

With these words, the owl turned his back on
the younger owlets and hastily strode away from them. With every
step he took, his legs remained stiff—as if they had been dipped in
ice. Leyoht tried not to chuckle at such a ridiculous sight.

“Leyoht, that was amazing!” a voice behind
Leyoht complimented. Within a heartbeat, every owlet who had once
been behind him now made a ring around him. Their voices blocked
out all sound—such voices made only complimentary remarks toward
Leyoht.

--

After a long time of mingling between Leyoht
and the other owlets, it soon came time for them to eat. Leyoht
could feel his stomach churning with hunger as he made his way
toward his parents’ hollow tree.

In preparation for their food, all the
acquainted owlets went from one home to the other. All the while
did they remain clustered together in a group—a group which only
grew smaller as each made their way to their nest homes. Leyoht
thought of it interesting how the collection of little owlets grew
smaller and smaller with every home they passed by.

Eventually Leyoht and Roseti were the only
ones left of what was once a plentiful group of owlets. By accident
did they run into Leyoht’s towering home, watching as it soared up
into the sky. Such was an activity Leyoht wished to someday
perform.

“Well,” Roseti began, breaking Leyoht out of
his trance. “I guess I’m going to leave you here now.”

A moment of hesitation came into play before
Leyoht flicked his gaze over on Roseti and responded through a
stammer, “O-okay. I’ll see you later!”

“Bye, Leyoht!” she called out, starting
herself on her walk home.

As the echoes of his new friend faded out of
existence, Leyoht turned over to his home. Now under the tree, he
yelled with as much effort as his lungs would allow, “Mother!
Father! I’m ready to come back up!”

A moment of silence came into place before
Sahemawia’ head was sighted poking its way through the hollow’s
exit. Once she took sight of her freezing son standing such a long
distance below her, she exclaimed, “Hang on, Leyoht! I’m
coming.”

Only a heartbeat of silence occurred before
Sahemawia jumped through the hollow’s exit. Leyoht watched as his
mother swung her wings downward just before hitting the ground.
Before he knew it, her swift talons picked her son up from the icy
ground. Feeling as Sahemawia’s talons now wrapped around Leyoht’s
chest, Leyoht made his way up into the air until both he and his
mother were back inside the hollow.

“Mother—I just met a bunch of new friends
today!” Leyoht exclaimed once they were both safely in the
hollow.

“Oh—that’s great! What were their names?”
Sahemawia asked enthusiastically, shaking some snow from her
feathers.

“There were two girls there, one’s name was
Roseti, and the other one was Behinlo. There were three boys, one
was Ramil, another was Plenot, and the last was Jsaleor.” Through
the rest of the day, the excitement to wake up for his next
adventure constantly clouded his mind.

Chapter VIII

The Other Side of the World

In a land far beyond Leyoht’s reach, human
scientists and adventurers were beginning to wonder about life on
Earth; was it bigger than they had once anticipated? The humans’
natural curiosities allowed them to believe in the existence of
undiscovered mysteries their world had to offer.

An example of one of the theories by these
humans was the idea that the world was set up into a sphere.
Another idea the wise ones had thought of was an idea stating how
every single object was made up of extremely tiny particles. Each
idea the humans had brought forth to their people sparked more and
more brilliant minds to come into place.

As these theories spread through the land, a
group of wise humans, warriors, and architects set themselves on a
quest to turn these theories into fact. The first theory they would
test was the theory which stated the world gave a round appearance,
instead of flat—as the original theory stated.

Their plan to proving this theory was to set
an oceanic vessel off to sea—the likes of which they hoped would
make an entire trip around the world. Through many years of being a
myriad distance away from home, they would eventually return back
home in the exact same spot from where they had sailed off.

Along with the architects, the wise men and
warriors played major roles in this secret mission. While the
warriors would protect from any enemy soldiers and pirates, the
wise men would act like maps for the rest of the crew by looking up
at the stars. At the same time, the wise men would make maps of
their journey.

For almost a year had these humans spent
their time collecting items and preparing for the trip. A large
amount of their earnings had been given up to help make their
journey a success. Each of them felt as if they would have given up
everything they had once owned to better the human race’s knowledge
of the world.

There were two reasons for such a journey to
be set into place. Obviously, the first reason was to gain
scientific evidence based on already-popular theories. However, the
second reason was to create a new community on whatever unclaimed
lands they would find. This reason gave the architects a major role
in the mission.

To prepare for this trip, the group of humans
would often have meetings in their leader’s basement late at night.
By this time, they had already purchased their oceanic device from
a foreign source, preserved a large amount of food—which had
already been bathed in salt—and collected a variety of animals. Not
a single one of the animals, however, had any idea why the humans
had taken them on this trip.

Horses, camels, little owls, chickens,
chimpanzees, sheep, and lions were boarded onto the vessel. The
humans brought all these animals to test their behaviors to the new
landscape in which they would be presented. Whether or not they
could adapt to the environment was completely unknown to the
humans. Some of these animals, however, were simply brought to be
used in farms and ranches.

Although many of the items these humans
brought along with them weighed just as much as the humans
themselves, the most difficult of the cargo to load onto their
vessel were the animals. To slightly silent their animals’
problems, the humans were required to securely muzzle and cuff
them. Because the humans came only once every night, it was
difficult to feed the animals, as they would often rush out from
their cages in hopes for feeling the smallest piece of food to land
upon their tongues.

Almost every night would the humans fill
whatever goods necessary into the device. Stealth was the most
valuable of all skills on these late-night missions—but it was also
a skill most of the humans didn’t have.

While carrying crates, cages, and other
items, the humans would crouch low to the ground as they scurried
into the device. To communicate, they would often speak through the
quietest of whispers. Because of this, many of them needed to
improve their listening skills.

“Where do I put this?” one of them would ask
through a whisper.

“Down below,” another would respond.

“What?” the same human would hiss in
question.

The crew of humans would often grow hasty if
one of them made a mistake as little as releasing the slightest
cough. To make things even more difficult, the oceanic vessel’s
wood would expel loud squeaks into the air whenever somebody
stepped on board.

After a long time of loading cargo onto the
device, the humans would make their way back to their leader. After
a long time of sneaking around in their own domain, they needed a
break from their hardships.

One occurrence which annoyed the busy humans
was when another human would see what they were up to. The
punishments for this so-called
insanity
would often result
in death—so being the reason why they couldn’t have any other
suspects.

Whenever there was the case where somebody
else had taken sight of the project, the humans taking part in the
project would be forced to take care of the witness. Cruelly
enough, one of the project’s warriors would slit their witness’s
throats until their witness hadn’t any life in them left. To hide
the body, the murderer would simply bury the evidence in the sea of
water below their vessel.

--

There soon came the night when an excited
little owl named Pesstian hopped his way onto the human’s vessel.
As he made his way onto the enormous marvel of human ingenuity, he
drew his gaze toward to the gorgeous wood—the likes of which had
been sighted at nearly every corner of the vessel.

The son of the legendary warrior Karon,
Pesstian had learned many interesting techniques which he could use
for defending himself. Even though Karon was able and determined
enough to turn the weariest of all owls into independent fighters,
Pesstian could never lay a claw on anybody. However much he urge
Pesstian to attack all those who opposed him, Karon could never
convince his son to harm those that he had known for so much as a
heartbeat.

Completely and utterly startled by the sight
of the human’s vessel, Pesstian halted where he was, forgetting all
about the other little owls behind him. He quickly came back to his
senses when he felt a sharp beak poke at the back of his head.
Stopping a cry of pain from exiting his beak, he turned his neck
toward his backside when he mumbled, “Nestak—can you please
not
peck at my wound?”

“Pesstian—can you please
not
fester
with your wound so it can heal properly?” the little owl named
Nestak sneered. Just when these words spilled out into the air,
Pesstian heard the sound of laughter spilling out from behind
him.

Just when Pesstian was about to make his
comeback, the humans behind them gave a great roar. The sound of
such a sudden cry sent a shock of fear to flow through Pesstian as
he restarted his pace. He let out a sorrowful sigh at the thought
of what the human must have thought of him.

As the humans led he and the other little
owls through their vessel, Pesstian grew annoyed when at the
sensation of an irresistible itch at the back of his head.
Nestak’s right,
he told himself silently as he urged himself
away from the itch.
I
really
should learn to stop
festering with my wounds.

Often ridiculed by the little owls
surrounding him, Pesstian lived a somewhat sad life. The main
reason why he was ridiculed—at least the only reason he could think
of—was because of the other owls’ inability to let go of his past
deeds.
Why can’t they all just forget about it?

Behind his brown-tinged gray and white
feathers was his scar-plagued skin. Some of these scars showed
their selves on his outside, as he would sometimes scratch enough
at his wounds to move the feathers once protecting them.

As his itch continued to ebb at the back of
his head, Pesstian begged himself,
Just try to ignore it until
we finally get inside!
He continued to hold onto this thought
as he and the other owls were escorted—by the humans—into their
vessel.

Passing through poles, crates, and barrels,
the owls slowly made their way towards a strange trapdoor. Each of
them witnessed as a tall human twisted a small latch just before
grabbing the trapdoor’s handle. Just after the human’s fingers
wrapped around the handle, he gave a great pull as the door opened
up.

Turning to take a look over his shoulder,
Pesstian noticed as a human—who he could hear speaking his strange
language—as he gently nudged one of the other owls into the
trapdoor with his foot.

“Hey!” the owl growled, “Don’t push me!” But
it was too late for that little owl—for he was hastily pushed down
the trapdoor’s cavern. It was only a heartbeat after when the
humans nudged each and every one of the other owls into the dark
hole.

As each of the little owls were pushed into
the hole, they were forced to slowly float their way toward the
floor. When Pesstian had made his way through, the sight of many
gray feathers blocked his sight while the sound of hoots filled his
ears. The hooting came to an end when one of the humans quickly
shut the door in which they had lead the owls through.

As the sound of the closing trapdoor filled
his ears, Pesstian took sight of at least ten little owls he either
had or hadn’t known before coming to the humans’ aid. Only a few
owls he had known made their way onto the human’s vessel while most
of them were strangers in his eyes.