Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land

by Alex Rey

  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.

  Shocked by her father’s sudden decision to leave the two of them, Biaulae lifted her wings into the air while simultaneously crying out, “Hey—wait.”

  Shortly thereafter Leyoht realized what was going on. Neither his friend, his teacher nor his food were anywhere to be seen. Where could they have gone?

  “Dad—wait up!” called Biaulae, wondering if her father even cared for her now. She flapped and flapped—yet still retained her energy by allowing the breeze to brush about her brisk body.

  Not too long after Biaulae’s rejection did Leyoht brush past her—his speed coming as a complete shock to his friend. How he could have earlier travelled so sluggishly earlier and now move at what seemed like lightning speeds was a complete mystery to the greatest extent. As Leyoht circled up to his mentor, Biaulae’s heart stopped for a heartbeat.

  And to think I was doing good! Biaulae resented, losing almost all forward momentum.

  Without a single pant brushing from his beak, Leyoht took a look at the mess of a scholar in front of him and asked, “Where are we going now?”

  The sound of this child’s voice coming as complete and utter shock Xemson flinched his gaze over on Leyoht. “Oh-we’re uh—we’re going to actually fly down to our prey.”

  Whoever was more confused was a baffling question in Leyoht’s mind. “Then why—this whole time did you—? Oh, never mind!” Dumbfounded and stressed beyond all belief, Leyoht swerved back over to Biaulae.

  As Leyoht had come to notice, Biaulae even then still seemed to have trouble reaching her father’s speed. “Do you want any help?” Leyoht sneered through a slightly intimidating voice.

  “Don’t talk to me like that!” she snapped. “I don’t need your help or anybody’s help!”

  Shocked by his friend’s harsh tone, he murmured in response, “You don’t have to be so mean about it!” At the same time, however, did he feel guilty about what he had just done—almost as if he deserved to be snapped at by Biaulae. But—in all honesty—what had he done that was so bad?

  For two reasons did Leyoht turn back over to Xemson. Those reasons were: to discuss future plans and to just prove to Biaulae that he could make it back to her father without a problem—that he deserved more respect than she was giving him.

  It was before Leyoht had the chance to make his way all the way up to his teacher when Xemson commanded, “Both of you follow me down!”

  Suddenly alarmed, Biaulae made a slight hesitation in her stride down to her father. Luckily for her, the boost of speed she made going down was enough to bring her almost all the way back to the two men in her life. The only downside to this fact, however, was her now-present inability to channel her momentum. As a result, her talons scratched up against a countless amount of tree branches.

  “Are you okay?” Leyoht asked with a sneer to his voice. All the while did he glide just in front of Biaulae.

  The sound of these words caused a growl to form in the bottom of Biaulae’s throat. He’s teasing me on purpose! she realized. Why? This very thought caused a tear to stream from her eye—only to be immediately picked up by the wind.

  In response to her former friend’
s hostility toward her, Biaulae retorted, “Oh yeah! Well I’m not the one with the dead parents!”

  A pause came to Leyoht’s forward acceleration—causing Biaulae to bump right into him. Tears streaming in his eyes, he failed to hide his true emotions toward Biaulae’s words. His wings still flapping, Leyoht made a flashing turn back to her and bumped his head into Biaulae’s, muttering all the while, “The one with the dead parents?!”

  An explosion of noise and emotions sprouted from Leyoht’s beak—leading up to his talons, up to Biaulae’s shoulders. With barely any warning, Leyoht scraped skin and feathers off of Biaulae’s shoulders.

  Almost as if somebody had ripped out her will to live, Biaulae released a heart-wrenching screech while simultaneously spinning out of control. Her body came in contact with a tree branch—and then again, and then again!

  Taking notice of her daughter’s fear and pain, Xemson made an immediate halt in the air. “Biaulae!” he hollered, pulling himself out of character.

  For all the time Xemson had let Leyoht into his home, how could Leyoht have just now laid a talon on Biaulae? Even after he and Aphost had promised to let them in their home, Leyoht managed to hurt his daughter.

  Even though Leyoht had nearly caused Biaulae’s demise, Xemson couldn’t help but feel like Biaulae deserved to be clawed by Leyoht. Biaulae—after all—was the one who taunted Leyoht with images of his past.

  Unsure of what to say, Xemson finally came out and shouted, “Stop it right now! Both of you!”

  With these few words, the violence between the two owls came to a halt. Retracting from their resentment toward each other, Leyoht and Biaulae looked over and one another—only to see the monsters they’d made of themselves.

  Fighting the pain on her shoulders, Biaulae halted all momentum and took a look toward Leyoht. One by one did tears swell from her sockets. Whether they better resembled her reddened shoulders or her guilt was unknown to Leyoht.

  Leyoht stared at Biaulae, his look of fury now converting into a gaze of sorrow. What have I done? The very shock from taking in the pain heaved upon Biaulae’s shoulders nearly caused his wings to stop. “Biaulae,” he began, heartbroken. “I’m—”