Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (46 page)

“Just
what
makes him think he can just
take down the humans?
What
makes him so high-and-mighty and
strong that he can just do and tell me to do what he wants?”

Although she was unable to tell, her
recently-placed scar started emanating a neon glow above her
eyes.

Surrounding the little owl were layers and
layers of blanketed clouds; coming in from behind were the dawning
sun’s rays. Because of her great altitude, not a speck of green
showed itself unto Leyai’s eyes. At the same time did the blowing
wind bristle about in her ears—interfering with her hearing.

Leyai barely needed to flap her wings in her
current environment; the wind did all the work for her. She could
only imagine how long she could keep airborne without having to
flap her wings once again. How she made it all the way up here was
beyond her thoughts and memory.

Although the day had soon to come, the sun
shined on behind Leyai, its light bouncing off her cloud-soaked
feathers. She’d almost completely forgotten about what time of day
it was because of this fact.

Once she praised Pesstian—but now she
despised him. It was at this moment when Leyai finally retracted
back into her thoughts.

“And what a weakling! He can’t even put that
blue rock down without needing somebody’s help.” As her words grew
louder, so did her altitude and temper and the glow from her scar.
Eventually she came to the point where the light proved bright
enough to interfere with Leyai’s sight.
What is that?

--

No need for flight,
Pesstian calmly
reminded himself every time he felt some kind of slowdown in
walking.

Thick and dense, a cluster of woods
surrounded Pesstian—hiding him from all possible threats. As a
result, he felt no need to turn his back and check for any possible
phenomena.

A sigh sprouting from his beak, he walked
into a forest untouched by the humans. Sounds of smaller birds,
burrowing mammals, and singing insects vibrated in his ears—and he
was almost relieved not a word from Leyai’s voice came into the
mix. He didn’t want anything to spoil this peaceful moment, whether
it was by catastrophe or by a familiar voice out of nowhere.

Nothing could have stopped Pesstian’s
positive attitude from sprouting out into his veins.
I think
Leyai is more worried about this whole human situation than I
am.
But then the silent utterance of her name started bringing
him down.

Pesstian continued to walk through the
deciduous landscape surrounding him. All of the sounds of nature
once surrounding him gradually disappeared from Pesstian’s ears—as
if the animals of the forest wanted to give him a moment to
himself.

Lighter and lighter his steps became—and it
was at that moment when he took notice of the two halves within
himself.
But which part does Leyai want
? The very thought
made his head spin around and about. As a result, his footsteps
gradually drew to a stop.

“Which part—does Leyai want?” he repeated
through a murmur. Tears nearly came to his eyes upon uttering these
words.

Only then was he able to take in the fact
that there was a whole side of his being Leyai resented. It wasn’t
an ugly side; it wasn’t a rude side; it was an immature side.
Pesstian had never really seen it as immature—just optimistic—but
he knew others felt different about it. Because of this, he
wouldn’t fight for this side’s defense until somebody would come up
and start to fight for it.

Even with these thoughts in mind, he knew he
could never give up on either side of his personality. With a
grunt, he continued his walking through the dense forest. Almost
all his strength gone—wiped from existence—he eventually found
himself walking out from under the forest’s fingers. It was then
when he stopped once again and took a look at the thick clouds
above.

Even now out of the reaches of the forest,
the sounds of its inhabitants rang once again in his ears. Even now
with the sight of clouds flashing in his eyes, he still felt as if
he were trapped within the forest. Just
what
was happening
to his surroundings?

Something called out to him at that moment;
he was not sure what or where from, but something wanted him. The
sky seemed to move much toward his liking, but whistled much to his
dismay.
Leyai
, he realized,
Something’s wrong. I have to
find her!

A quick burst of wind beneath his wings sent
Pesstian blazing up higher and higher toward the sky. All the while
did the sun gradually inch its way over the horizon and shed some
of its light on the thick clouds.

Although he was unsure of his chances of
actually finding his friend in the midst of a blanket of fluff,
Pesstian pushed on. Twitching at every slight sound, his ears led
the way to Leyai.
I know she’s here,
he constantly reminded
himself.

The tiniest speck of gray led him to believe
he was looking at Leyai.
But that’s not her. I have to listen to
her!

--

Leyai sighed, “Is it really necessary for me
to be yelling at nothing?” she wondering, feeling stupid at
herself. Since departing from Pesstian, all she’d done was complain
about his very existence. She’d even gone as far as screaming.

Now—with all her anger almost completely
vanquished—she quickly found herself fighting against wind and a
bout of dizziness.
I don’t feel—feel so good.
Such an
unsettling notion tipped off Leyai’s ability to remain on one
subject at a time.
My wings hurt
, even though she had no
need to flap her wings while so high up in the sky.

With time she literally came to a point where
she lost her ability to fly straight. As a result, Leyai swerved
all about the clouds without her intention or notice—thus removing
all challenge of somebody from the outside trying to spot her.
Leyai, however, took no notice to the obvious distortion.

Coincidentally was Pesstian flying idly by.
There she is!
exclaimed Pesstian, easing his way in. A
scream told him for sure he’d made his target. It was at that
moment when Pesstian took notice of just how much altitude he and
Leyai were covering.

Clouds below his feet, the temperature in
this area dipped below freezing. Surprisingly, however, no signs of
hypothermia or a cold of any kind plagued his frost-bitten body.
Besides temperature, another major downside to being so high up was
the lack of oxygen—which only stifled his progress toward
Leyai.

Travelling at an upward angle, he strained
harder and harder in flapping his way against the large gusts of
approaching wind. For a split-second he closed his eyes—a
split-second too long—after which Leyai disappeared from his
sight.

“Leyai?” he panicked. “
Leyai
? Where
are you?” Not a speck of thought coming to mind, he blindly dove
back down through the clouds. Even with the wind brushing about in
his ears, the small sounds of Leyai’s screams resided in his mind
as sounds he neither would nor
could
never forget.

Within a matter of heartbeats, Pesstian found
himself below the clouds at last. His body heat and oxygen source
returning, Pesstian took no time in hesitation. In a time of such
desperation and hopelessness, how could he?

Where is she? Where
is
she?
Pesstian panicked, hurriedly swinging his head two and fro.

Upon casting his sight on Leyai once again,
he swooped his way down to her aid. Everything happened at once;
the possible demise of his friend, the rapidly-changing climates,
the revolution against humans. All of this led to chaos and nothing
else but chaos. A hope to reverse the tides of his current
situation ached in Pesstian’s mind.

For another split-second did he close his
eyes—opening them to find what appeared to be a newly-formed pond
sitting in the ground. Such a pond was large, shaped like a perfect
circle—and Leyai was about to splash in it! The resulting impact
would have killed her for sure.

I have to make this count!
Without
flapping his wings, Pesstian sped down—every bone in his body
locked for the sake of speed.

I’m not going to make it!
he wept, his
scar glowing suddenly. He closed his eyes and surrendered. It was
then when he brought himself up in an upwards arc—only to find an
unexpected surprise in front of his face.

“
Leyai
!” he cried upon catching sigh
of her. Never before had such joy and elation and relief evenly
bottled up inside him. However, these emotions were soon to spell
their end—as Pesstian lost control of his flight and prepared for a
belly-landing.

With only heartbeats to perform this
perfectly, he ended up failing in coming out unscathed. Sticks and
stones scraped his body in the process of landing—added to him
losing a grip of Leyai.

Bouncing about a grassy landscape, the two
owls found themselves brutally bludgeoned by their environment.
Using all the strength left in his blood, Pesstian pushed himself
up off the ground with his bashed wings. It was t hen when he took
notice of a gash at the side of Leyai’s torso. “Leyai,” he
murmured, coming up on his feet.

The length of a thousand trees stood between
the two injured owls. Such was a length Pesstian found himself
willing to triumph over. Against the notion to hold his energy, he
hollered at the top of his lungs, “Leyai! Wake up!”

As if magic had struck her thoughts, Leyai
flicked her eyes open and stretched her neck toward the source of
the sound. With an inaudible, “Pesstian,” she clutched at the grass
with her flimsy wings, pulling herself toward him.

After killing too many blades of grass to
count, she stopped dead in her tracks and rested her weary head
upon a muddy ground—just placed properly enough for her to be taken
aback by the emerging pond.
How did
that
get
here?

Without any warning, Pesstian hurriedly
gasped, “Look out!” while pointing to the sky.

“What?” whispered Leyai. “What’s going on?”
Leyai’s heart raced without the knowledge of what Pesstian was so
afraid of. She could only imagine what kind of horror he was going
through. It wasn’t until the ground around her body shook when she
realized what Pesstian was speaking of.

Taking a glance over toward where she
believed the vibration to come from, the sight of a familiar blue
object sticking from the ground flashed in her eyes. A spark of
fear lit up in her heart when she noticed it was leaning toward
her.

Acting as quickly as her bruised body would
allow, Leyai held up one of her talons against the stone before it
could have caused her any serious damage. Unfortunately for her,
the mere weight of the stone easing in on her talon was enough to
cause yet another cut on her body.

Leyai’s energy literally drained from her
body after being cut—causing her to yelp out a futile, “Help!” into
the air.

Taking no heed to this one word, Pesstian
rushed over to his life-drained friend and used all his strength to
pull the stone away from her. Such a sensation made him feel as if
he truly
was
strong; never before had he used his own power
to save somebody’s life.

A loud grunt escaped from Pesstian’s beak as
the stone hit the ground on a side opposite of Leyai. “Leyai?” he
murmured, grabbing a hold of her talon. His heart raced with fear
and anxiety when he asked of her, “Are you okay?”

The only response Pesstian could have heard
was that of a barely-audible mumble. Not even Pesstian’s sensitive
owl ears were able to make sense of his friend’s words.

Leyai’s head spun around and around, growing
worse with time. It was while in such a trance when she silently
mumbled,
Pesstian—where are you going?
On the contrary,
Pesstian was actually pulling Leyai to the circular pool.

Pesstian thought maybe some water to the face
would perk her up. All he hoped for was that she wouldn’t drown
while underwater.

As Pesstian came closer and closer to the
pool, he realized just how crystal-clear it really was. Not a speck
of muck, algae, or anything of the likeness chocked the water; it
was truly the purest liquid he had ever seen.

Upon finally making his way to the pool,
Pesstian’s legs ached with the burden of having to drag Leyai all
around. After giving himself some time to relax his weary legs, he
gulped down a mouthful of the pool’s water, snatched Leyai’s
sagging head, and placed it in the water.

Silently did he count,
One, two,
three
— just for as safe an approach as possible. All the while
did he keep his eye on Leyai’s head—watching as a series of minor
bubbles floated up to the water’s lining.

With only one look up, however, Pesstian
found himself dumbfounded to find the blue stone sitting in the
pool’s center. Such a sight made him forget about Leyai entirely.
How is that thing floating?

How could something the two owls both
struggled to lift be easily carried by water? Pesstian was truly
entranced by such a thought. However, such entrancement came to a
halt when something beneath his talons started fighting back.

Slightly infuriated, he grunted and took a
look down at the water below—only for his infuriation toward the
fighting to turn into infuriation toward himself.
How long have
I kept Leyai down here?
Guilt-ridden and ashamed, he yanked
Leyai’s drenched face from the pool.

In response to her salvation, Leyai gasped
for air as water dripped from her feathers and beak. At first she
felt absolutely elated to find herself free from a prison where
only fish abound. Such elation, however, was soon to be replaced by
pure and utter rage—anger on a level Pesstian had never before seen
from her.