Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (25 page)

So
that’s
what they look like!
Every one of the foreign creatures held somewhat similar and almost
unexplainable characteristics—at least in Leyoht’s mind. These
special characteristics made them unique from any creature he had
ever seen.

Coincidentally enough, three out of the five
humans carried long, slender wooden sticks in their hands. Such
sticks game equipped with small rock-like blades—the likes of which
protruded out from the sticks’ tops. While keeping a tight grip on
the sticks did the humans show off unique, individual faces; each
of which gave off a slight glisten against the light.

While thinking of how haunting the humans
seemed in appearance, Leyoht was barely able to notice how they
drew nearer and nearer to him with every passing heartbeat.

As he watched the mentally-optical humans
draw ever-closer, one of their icy, choking sticks suddenly speared
right through Leyoht’s heart. It was at the realization of this
stick’s presence when he set himself on an attempt to move away
from the strange humans. But he couldn’t move away; he just simply
couldn’t—because at that moment, the humans with the jabbing stick
lifted Leyoht off his feet.

Fear and nothing but fear flooded the inner
sanctums of the endangered owl’s mind. But then he realized it was
all a vision. The humans were still there, but they weren’t
attacking him. Rather than attack, they seemed to pass through
Leyoht as if he were nothing but a desert cloud. At the same time,
a peculiar scent filled the air: a scent which only grew stronger
with every step the humans took.

It was then when Leyoht saw the humans
target: his home.
What are they going to do with it?
wondered he.
What
would
they want to do with it?
Slowly making his way around the edges of his own home, Leyoht
witnessed the human activity as his heart leapt throughout his
chest.

Upon finding himself on the opposite side of
his parents’ tree from the humans, a small sense of safety began to
sweep over the snowy owlet’s. Unfortunately for him, all sense of
safety and security seemed to vanish from his mind as a strange
hacking sound called from the other side of the tree. Curious to
know what the humans might have been doing to cause this sound,
Leyoht came out of hiding; the resulting image caused a shock of
alert to speed up through his spine.

Moving as stealthily as he could, Leyoht
stood in awe when he noticed how the sticks in the humans’ seemed
to shrink down to a much punier size. Rather than pointy, jabbing
tools, the humans’ devices now looked as if they could be used for
hacking into wood.

Oh no!
Leyoht realized,
They’re
going to use their tools to bring our house down!
Upon taking
realization of this fact, Leyoht forgot all about his fear as he
made an attempt to rush over to the humans.

Unfortunately for Leyoht, he found himself
unable to make his way over to the humans in time. It was at that
moment when the sound of cracking bark filled his ears. At the same
time, he noticed as the weakened started tipping over toward the
side opposite of the humans.
Good thing I moved!

Leyoht stood in complete awe as he watched
the tree crash into the snowy ground with a loud thud. His entire
body quivering in fear, Leyoht was surprised to see how his feet
seemed to lock themselves into the snow. After a pause of silence
had come to pass, his gaze gave an upwards flinch when he realized
the humans were staring straight through him.

What are they going to do to me?
Leyoht helplessly asked himself as his body began to grow still as
the snow and ice beneath his feet.

As this fateful question rang throughout his
head, a sense of confusion began to ebb into Leyoht’s mind when he
realized three humans who had killed his tree walking around him.
Curious to know what was going on, he turned around to notice the
barbarically-raised humans making their way toward Roseti’s fragile
home.

This sight blocking his vision, Leyoht
watched as the three unwelcome foreign visitors left a trail of
large printings toward the home of Roseti’s family. Once this trail
had reached off to a nearly uncountable number of tracks, the
humans placed their weapon-like sticks inside of strange sacks
resting on their backs—the likes of which Leyoht had just now taken
notice of. After what seemed to be only a heartbeat of having their
hands in the bags, each of the humans drew out some of the
shiniest, sharpest blades Leyoht had ever seen.

Taking notice of these blades, Leyoht
silently asked himself,
What are those for?
Only a heartbeat
came to pass when a spurt of blood made a small, upwards explosion
into the air. All the while did one of the humans stick their arm
into Roseti’s home.

Blood started spreading across the snow as
the red-stained human pushed an arm deeper and deeper into the
little home. Just when he felt as if he could watch no more, Leyoht
took notice of the human’s arm as it jerked its way out of the
little hole in the ground. What resulted was the exposure of the
human’s blood-covered blade—followed by the mangled body of
Leyoht’s young, deceased friend.

Leyoht’s blood and body grew to the point of
becoming even more motionless than ice.
They—they didn’t!
he
silently screamed in denial. Restarting Leyoht’s blood’s flow, the
very same human who had put an end to Roseti’s life set her body
against the snowy ground.

As a pool of scarlet slowly seeped into the
ground as the human cautiously used his blade to saw through the
deceased owl’s esophagus. A great
snap
vibrated in Leyoht’s
ears just before the human lifted Roseti’s head away from the rest
of her corpse.

Leyoht felt as if he were going to faint had
witnessed any more dread. The sights he had just taken notice of
were already too much to bear; how could he even look at the
humans’ faces after what he had seen them do to Roseti?
I have
to do something!
It was while allowing all these thoughts to
seep into his head when Leyoht realized the other four humans
started splitting away and made their way toward the other owls’
homes.

Realizing he could chase after only
one
of the humans, Leyoht decided to follow the shorter of
them all. Upon making this decision, he realized this human was
heading in the direction of Plenot’s home. At this realization,
Leyoht’s running pace gave a slight increase as he flapped his
wings, urging them to lift his tiny body into the air.

In his futile attempts to make a quicker
approach toward the human, Leyoht shortly found himself too tired
to continue chasing the human with his current pace. Struggling for
breath, he almost immediately stopped in his tracks while ceasing
to flap his wings. He then gave himself a weak push forward as he
struggled to lift his talons out of the snow.

Panting with the effort of following the
towering human, Leyoht soon came to a standstill in the freezing
snow. Sucking in a modicum of chilling air into his lungs, the
struggling owlet fought the urge to let his body fall in and bury
itself in the sheet of ice below. But—in failure—he found himself
on his knees.

As his knees lodged themselves into the snow,
Leyoht desperately met his gaze with the snowy ground below him,
fighting for breath all the while. It was after giving this pause
for breath when his head swung up to a point to where a slight
strain was placed on the back of his neck—but at least now he could
see the human he was chasing. His sight now locked onto the human,
Leyoht made another attempt to impede the owls’ threat from killing
anybody else.

A small spark of determination flashing in
his blood, Leyoht set himself out on a slow march through the snow.
Adrenaline pushed through his veins as a sense of heroism sank into
his head. At the same time, thoughts of selfishness mixed into his
head when he wondered,
Am I going to be rewarded in the
end?

It hadn’t taken long for Leyoht to regain
most of the physical and mental strength he had once held before
even
attempting
to trail through the snow. Such power
coursing through his blood, he valiantly pushed his way through the
trail of ice further and further—until he finally found himself
standing just behind the human’s feet.

Noticing as the sight of the short human’s
body obscured his vision, Leyoht flinched back in surprise—as it
hadn’t taken him nearly as long to make it this far than what he
first thought it would

Tasting the air surrounding this human,
Leyoht felt his tongue tingle with a strange, saline tang.
What
is
that?
Feeling himself lose track of what he
should have been doing, he gave his head a quick shake to drain out
the thoughts.

As Leyoht slowly crept his way around the
human’s leg, he found himself surprised how the human had taken
literally no realization of his presence. Once a fairly safe
distance from this predator, he took sight of Plenot’s family
having a peaceful sleep in their nest.

Relieved and alarmed at the same time,
Leyoht—with no regard for his own safety—cried out, “Plenot! Wake
up!”

Hearing as this loud shriek pierced their
ears, Plenot’s entire family woke up with a jolt. At the same time,
the human covered his right ear with the same hand he had used to
carry the very sharp tool he was to slay Plenot’s family with.
After taking a moment to rub his screech-stricken ear, the human
angrily turned his gaze on Leyoht—noticing as the snowy owlet’s
body trembled.

“Get out of here, Leyoht!” pleaded Plenot as
the sound of the human’s breath grew heavier and heavier with
frustration. Unfortunately for Leyoht, he found himself frozen
among the ice below his feet.

With little warning, the human had wrapped
his hands around Leyoht’s tiny body—causing the young owl’s blood
to warm up the rest of his body. It was at the very moment of
discovering warmth when Leyoht placed a look of both fear and
slight confusion on his face. It was also then when he met his gaze
up to the human’s eyes. Forgetting all about his heroism, he made
an attempt to squirm out of the human’s clutches.

“You’ll never escape from me,” the human
whispered while bringing Leyoht closer to his face.

These words sending a shock down his spine,
Leyoht blinked twice, thinking he was hallucinating. After
discovering the human hadn’t seemed to have been an illusion,
Leyoht asked through a trembling voice, “H-how am I
underst-standing you?”

In response to such a silly question, the
human released a bone-chilling smile, revealing a row of large,
snow-white teeth. His warm breath brushing through the feathers on
Leyoht’s face, the human released a small chuckle before
responding, “I know everything about you, Leyoht.” A small sneer
forming upon the human’s face, he watched as Leyoht continued to
tremble in fear.

Although he found himself tempted to do so,
Leyoht was too awestricken to question the human’s psychological
abilities.
How does he know so much about me?
While his beak
remained silent, his mind raged with a storm of unanswerable
questions. While his body remain numb beneath the human’s grasp,
his head swarmed with wonder.

Losing almost all control of his body, Leyoht
stared into the eyes of the human before him. It was at the moment
of doing so when the human suddenly crept a clean blade over to
Leyoht’s left wing. The chilling touch of the blade alone allowed
the young owl to feel his numbness going away.

“Wait! Please don’t!” Leyoht pleaded, trying
to squirm out from the human’s grip. As his legs kicked around and
about in the open air, Leyoht’s felt as his entire body came to a
pause.

A broken spine breaking his consciousness,
frozen skin breaking his concentration, Leyoht felt as the human’s
cold blade slowly dig into his wing.

From far away did Plenot witness Leyoht’s
despair.
I have to get out of here!
Watching as the piercing
blade delved deeper and deeper into his friend’s skin, Plenot
hopped out of his nest—after which did he lead himself away from
the chaos before him.

Feeling the human’s sharp blade pierced
deeper and deeper into his skin, Leyoht’s opened his beak wide,
urging for a shriek to sprout from his lung—only to find not a
single sound had come out.
What’s happening to me?
he
wondered, panicking to find the answer.

It was then when he realized,
The
pain—it’s too much for me to scream. I can’t do anything; I’m in
too deep!

Upon discovering the futility of crying for
help, Leyoht switched his gaze toward the human’s vivid, green
eyes. Hoping to confront the human, the young owl noticed as he
grew dizzier and dizzier with every passing heartbeat—all the while
slowly forgetting about his pain.

His eyelids growing heavy, Leyoht cast a
downward gaze, taking notice of how a large amount of the snow just
below him withheld puddles of red mixed in with minute spots of
white. Fearing the sight of the reddened snow would be his last,
Leyoht struggled to keep his tired eyes open—eventually failing in
the end.

It was after closing his eyes when the
bleeding owlet felt himself grow lighter, a shield of numbness
surrounding the entirety of his body. Only a heartbeat came to pass
when a shock of surprise sparked up through his blood.

Within a moment’s notice, Leyoht’s lack of
weight and numbness made an exodus from his body. At the same time
did his stomach gave an enormous lurch of fear—the likes of which
had come to an end when an immense amount of pressure was placed
around the snowy owl.

What’s happening?
Leyoht silently
asked himself. It was while asking himself this question when he
discovered he hadn’t any control over his body—if such a thing he
had even possessed anymore. Sensing a pang of fear and irritation
stabbing through his heart, he made a futile attempt to release a
fearsome howl. But not a single noise came out.