Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (42 page)

I’m finally doing it! I’m finally—!

Almost as if a bolt of lightning coursed
through his veins, Leyoht stopped where he was.
Where am I? What
happened to me?

Noticing his wings were still outstretched,
Leyoht immediately put them down and took in the area around him.
Nothing but pitch blackness surrounded him—added to the sound of
dripping water.

Feeling as if he would go insane had he
remained inactive any longer, he tried to run away from his
problems. Feeling as if nothing was coming from his futile attempt
at escape, he started flying.

Nothing’s working!
While he flapped
his wings and ran all about, Leyoht felt no sensation of wind
brushing up against his feathers. How could this have been
possible?

Looking down, Leyoht took notice of somebody
he’d never thought to see in this area: Biaulae. “What?” he
whispered. Raising his voice, he shouted out to her, “How did you
get here?”

“I don’t know!” Biaulae admitted. “I was
trying to fly and I ended up here.

A small pause came into the conversation
before Leyoht asked, “How are you coming closer to me without—” It
was during this moment of confusion when an immense pressure formed
around Leyoht’s ankles without warning. At one moment he was
supposedly flying—and now he’d supposedly crashed. With no control
or knowledge of his surroundings, Leyoht crashed down on his
knees.

“Leyoht! What happened?” Biaulae
panicked.

Making no attempt to answer Biaulae’s
questions, Leyoht responded to his friend through a series of
grunts. It was at this moment when he took notice of his own wings.
His own wings—once black with gloss—now back to their original
white selves. The only black remaining were the little specks of
black he was destined to die with. For a reason unexplained,
however, Biaulae paid no heed to such a phenomenon.

“Don’t worry! Just stay still!” Biaulae
pulled Leyoht up on his feet, but stopped with a twitch of her
ears.

A newcomer approached the two confused owls—a
breath of fresh air, they hoped. On the contrary, all this newcomer
did was snicker at them.

“H-hello?” stuttered Biaulae. “Is someone
there?”

All noise stopped, only causing the
acceleration of Biaulae’s infuriation. A growl formed beneath her
beak that would only gain momentum with every passing heartbeat.
Such a growl would lead up to her finally screeching, “If you don’t
show me where you are, I’m gonna unl—”

Without any warning, Biaulae was clobbered on
the back of her head—making her just as defenseless as Leyoht. Now
on her knees, she fought her own dizziness when she murmured,
“Wh—what was that?” Now looking up, “Who are you?”

Only more snickering. While this small
laughter proved taunting to the owl’s ears, nothing would triumph
over what they were about to hear.

“You two little owls—why must you fly before
us; why do you need help from others; why have you the inability to
hunt?” a voice grunted through a murmur.

The sound of such a voice caused Leyoht’s
blood to freeze.
I’ve heard that voice before!
he swore.
But where? Where did I hear it?
Such a thought nearly
brought him to mental collapse. Wondering if Biaulae had ever heard
such a voice before, he started shaking her by her shoulder.

“No, not right now,” she yawned.

“Biaulae wake up!”

With a stretch of her legs, Biaulae retorted,
“I think I’ll stay out of this.” Upon releasing these words from
her beak did she fade from existence.

A gasp expressing itself into the air, Leyoht
waved his wings over where his friend had once been. “Hello?
Biaulae? Biaulae!” He’d almost forgotten about his pain when he
stood back up on his feet, rotating his flexible head all the while
in a desperate attempt to search for Biaulae.

“Oh no! Oh no; this can’t be good!”

“Why even bother?” the voice asked. “You’re
friend doesn’t want you. Why would she want a snowy owl such as
you?”

Maybe it’s because
she’s
a snowy
owl too!
Leyoht silently bit back. Before any motion could have
been made by Leyoht’s claw, he found himself being tackled onto the
ground chest-first.

Whomever made the dishonorable decision of
knocking down a little owlet was now unseen to Leyoht’s eye. The
only part of this creature that was visible to Leyoht’s eyes was an
orange arm.

A gargle formed in the back of this
creature’s throat, causing Leyoht to feel the urge to show disgust
toward such a foul beast. With no ability to move, however, he
simply squirmed about in one place as the orange arm came closer
and closer to his throat.

Snit!
whispered an unarming blade.
Leyoht knew this could only mean one thing.

Hoping to avoid the inevitable, Leyoht
flapped his wings at a rapid—yet steady—pace. Miraculously, this
was enough to take this foreign creature off his back.

At first Leyoht’s flight came close to the
ground, but he managed to swerve back up to the sky.
Please
don’t fly! Please don’t fly!
he silently urged of the creatures
surrounding him. Fortunately they couldn’t fly; all the while did
growls and grunts of infuriation expel from the creature’s
maws.

While safe at last, Leyoht couldn’t help but
feel as if something was buzzing in the back of his head—something
that just wouldn’t go away. It was a voice; a familiar voice, but
still a voice nevertheless. Was somebody shouting at him?

--

“Leyoht come down!” Leyoht heard this voice
command.

Leyoht was back on earth.
Make that the
sky!

“Come on, I’m going to teach you how to
hunt!” Xemson shouted from the ground.

What just happened? How did I do
that?!
panicked, looking down toward Xemson.

“You’ve already proven yourself, now just get
down here!”

“Oh! Okay!” Leyoht assured. With these few
words, he stopped his flapping and ricocheted down to the
ground—pushing all his thoughts aside.

Seeing Leyoht make such a hasty approach
toward landing had Xemson nearly panic. “W-wait!” he stammered,
“Leyoht; don’t rush yourself!”

“What?” He landed on his face and chest, his
whole body dragging across the snowy ground. Luckily for him, there
was nothing on this ground to be seen but snow. Also luckily for
him was the fact that he hadn’t left a single scratch and was able
to pick himself up with ease.

“Umm—be more careful next time, please. That
would be greatly appreciated.” Xemson let out a chuckle too silent
for anybody to hear. It was just after scratching the back of his
head when Xemson continued, “Do you know what comes next?”

“Here it comes!” Biaulae whispered with a
small squeak immersing from her voice.

Leyoht barely had the chance to ask what
Biaulae was talking about when Xemson abruptly exclaimed, “It’s
time to start hunting!”

“Score!” Biaulae cooed, shedding a small tear
from the back of her eye.

We get to learn about flying
and
hunting—all in one day?
Leyoht silently asked.
This’ll be
great! Oh no; I’m starting to sound like Biaulae!

“Come on, now!” Xemson encouraged while
pointing his wings toward the sky. “We have to get going!”

“But what about mom?” Biaulae suddenly
realized.

“Don’t worry,” her father reassured. “She’ll
be pleasantly surprised by the time we get back. Giving a flap of
his wings, he lifted himself into the bright, subarctic sky.

“Hey! Wait up!” Leyoht commanded.

Both at the same time, Biaulae and Leyoht
lifted up into the sky—all the while stumbling in their takeoff.
Fortunately for them, they were able to regain their stability
within a few heartbeats.

Although they were finally flying freely for
the first time in their lives, the two owlets quickly found
themselves falling behind Xemson. How anybody could have been
flying as fast as him was beyond their knowledge. “Wait!” Biaulae
insisted from behind.

Taking a look behind his shoulder, Xemson
noticed just how far behind the two children were. They both seemed
to give off the appearance of black and white pebbles floating in
the sky.
Oops.
This thought buzzing about in his head, he
stopped in his tracks and floated in the air.

By the time Leyoht and Biaulae made their way
up to Xemson, their lungs had become weak with icy-cold air while
their wings began to ache with weariness. Flashing in his eyes was
the realization of just how hard he was pushing the children. As a
result, he stammered, “Um—I—I think we should land here.”

Not landing!
Leyoht silently sighed.
He couldn’t handle the thought of having to land once again. The
fact that he was able to make it down to the ground the first time
was nothing short of a miracle.

Okay—
he told himself.
I just have
to slow down my pace. That’s all.
This thought in mind, he
feared for every sudden drop in altitude—as each and every one of
them seemed to spell his death. While he eventually made it down to
the ground, Biaulae and Xemson had—to his expectations—made it
before him.

Once the two children’s feet had finally
kissed the maw of the icy ground, thoughts of worry began to cloud
Xemson’s mind.
Oh boy,
he feared.
Will we have to do this
on the ground?
Barely any time had passed when he thought,
No—we can’t do that!
There’d be no point!

“Just follow me,” Xemson sighed. “We’re going
on land.”

We are? What a relief!

Sighing and panting, the two snowy owls tried
not to faint from their exhaustion. Leyoht almost felt as if his
squalid, black feathers would prematurely molt from stress had he
kept up this pace.

Before too long Biaulae found herself asking
of her father through a stammer, “C-can we sit down for a moment?”
Bending her knees, she continued, “Just a mo—”

“No!” Xemson snapped.

Suddenly ashamed of himself, he sighed and
calmly explained, “Just follow me.”

Why did she have to ask that?
wondered
Leyoht, wishing to slap his wing against his face.

Pausing for a brief moment, Xemson turned his
gaze over on the children and whispered, “Make sure your steps
count.”

Uhm,
Leyoht silently stammered. Aware
that Xemson couldn’t hear a word, he wondered,
Make them count?
What?
Even with these questions in mind, he continued to stray
close behind his vague teacher.

Not too long after Xemson made his
commandment to the children did Leyoht crush a little branch
beneath his foot. The very sound of the
crunch
caused
Xemson’s spine to shiver.

Flipping his gaze over on the two children,
he brashly whispered, “Watch your step!”

So now Leyoht had two things to do: keep
close behind Xemson
and
make sure he didn’t step on
anything. Was the prey outside really this picky? Whether or not
this was the case, Leyoht and Biaulae closely trudged behind Xemson
while watching their feet.

I guess we wouldn’t have to do this if we
were actually flying.
These thoughts in mind, Leyoht began to
wonder just how so much vegetation could have thrived in such harsh
conditions. Never before had he seen these many plants all at
once—hiding what he
hoped
would be his food.

“There!” Xemson suddenly called through a
whisper. Enough force was placed into this one word to cause
Biaulae—who was currently falling behind Leyoht—to bump into her
friend just when he made a sudden stop in his footing.

With a hiss expelling from her beak, Biaulae
asked of her friend, “Ack! What are you do—”

“Look!” her father interrupted.

It was at this moment when the two owlets
peeped through the spaces of a cluster of dry leaves their mentor
seemed to be looking at. Trying hard not to let her beak poke
through this cluster, Biaulae nudged her father, eased in on his
ear, and whispered, “What are you looking at?”

“The lemming!” Xemson hissed. “All brown and
jittery; it’s not that hard to miss!”

“Oh yeah! I see it!” Biaulae mumbled, her
troubled gaze peering over through layers and layers of leaf.

“On my mark,” Xemson began, “we’ll knock that
little animal out.

“Will you—can you give us a moment?”

“Sure,” Xemson reassured. “Just go after it
on my mark.”

Pressure squeezing around his head, Leyoht
took heed of these words without a single opening of his beak.

A heartbeat of silence passed just before
Xemson muttered, “Go!”

Receiving barely any time to swipe the sweat
from his brow, Leyoht nearly tripped over his own feet when he
randomly lunged out through the bushel of leaves. At the same time
did his friend holler out, “Wait!” scaring all the animals within
her scream’s radius.

What resulted from all this was the two
owlets’ humiliation and the now-present frustration their teacher
held within his veins. If Leyoht’s leap hadn’t scared the little
rodent away, it was Biaulae’s screech.

Taking no heed to whatever Leyoht was doing,
Xemson flicked his gaze on his daughter—a look of infuriation
forming in his gaze. It wasn’t like Xemson to act and feel such
anger; what ever happened to his calm attitude? Did hunting cause
him to act like this?

Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, he
grunted, “Why’d you scream like that?”

“Did I get it?” wondered Leyoht.

Slightly distracted by Leyoht’s ignorance,
Biaulae stammered, “I—I don’t know. It’s just like something
exploded inside me!”

“Where is it?
Where is it
?”

“
Quiet
! Both of you!” Xemson finally
erupted through a greater howl than that of Biaulae’s. Upon
realizing what he had just done, Xemson sighed and lifted up into
the air.