Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (39 page)

A sense of agony began to clutch around the
carmahn’s stomach with this thought in mind. Such a meta occurrence
caused him to struggle for stealth.

Hoping his legs had stopped their shaking,
Bearneomal stood himself straight up and attempted to make his way
into Aphost’s tree.

How Bearneomal could have had any trouble
sneaking his way into somebody’s house was beyond his
understanding. He had done the task of keeping stealthy so many
times before; it should have been an almost monotonous task for
him. In the carmahn’s mind, his feet seemed to contradict him at
this moment.
Let’s try this again.

This thought in mind, Bearneomal furtively
swept into Aphost’s tree. As a result, an enormous sense of relief
and accomplishment overwhelmed his mind. He almost let out a
sigh—but quickly realized that doing so could have placed his
mission in jeopardy.

The sound of Leyoht’s breathing hummed in
Bearneomal’s ears as soon as he was sure he’d successfully made it
into the tree. At the same time, Bearneomal was slightly thrown off
from his task as his interior cranial buzzing made a sudden impact
against the walls of his head.

Slightly annoyed for a split-second,
Bearneomal locked his eyes on the sleeping owl. It was at this
point when only one thing remained on his mind: his mission to
bring Leyoht to Mocrano. It was at this point when he sat down on
his hind-legs—patiently waiting for the right moment.

What Bearneomal was waiting for, however, was
not for Leyoht to wake up. He was not waiting for the element of
surprise, either. What could he possibly be doing?

Before the sun’s breath could have sat upon
Leyoht’s closed eyes, Bearneomal allowed his body to slowly
dissolve into a gaseous form. Unafraid and fully sure of himself,
he made no attempt to stop the dissolving.

The disintegration of Bearneomal’s body
continued until nothing was left of him but gas.

Chapter XIII

A Time of Many Experiences

The morning had come at last. A sense of
clarity seemed to grip onto the fabric of nature itself. The barren
landscape Leyoht had earlier met up with now seemed to hide itself
from him.

Leyoht had awoken up from his strangely
painless sleep. How he could have not felt pain after all the chaos
of the previous night was a mystifying fact for him to wrap his
head around. While confused, he still picked himself up from his
sleep—feeling almost as if nothing had happened.

A strange, slightly dizzy feeling overwhelmed
him as he stretched his legs out as far as he possibly could.
Releasing a small yawn, Leyoht took hearing of somebody’s
footsteps. These steps only grew louder with every passing
heartbeat. Such noises would come to an end when Leyoht caught
sight of another owl he first believed to be Aphost.

While a little dizzy, he could see this owl’s
face almost perfectly. As a result, he was able to discover just
how wrong he was with the thought of Aphost approaching him.
Instead of Aphost, who he saw in front of him was a young female
snowy owl—probably the same age he was.

“Who are you?” the young owl asked through an
eager, yet curious voice.

“My name is Leyoht,” Leyoht replied.

“I’m Biaulae: Aphost’s daughter.” A small
pause came into the owls’ conversation just before the eager owl
continued, “What kind of owl are you?”

“I’m a snowy owl.”

“But you’re almost entirely black,” Biaulae
replied.

“I am?” Leyoht asked.

“Your eyes are red too.”

It was at this moment when Leyoht found
himself completely baffled by this girl’s words. “What?”

Full of energy, Leyoht took a small step away
from Biaulae and took a look down at his chest. He noticed how his
feathers were almost completely black with red, barely noticeable,
curvy stripes. At the same time, an enormous shine showed itself on
his feathers—as if they had just been cleansed in a purified
lake.

Almost complete and utter silence came
between the two young owls as Leyoht glanced at his body with a
perplexing and astounded expression crossing his face.

“Why do I look like this?” Leyoht exclaimed.
It was before continuing, however, when a smile showed itself upon
his face. For the time he had spent since he had fallen into the
clutches of the wintry outdoors.

I can’t believe this
, he thought with
a burst of emotion.
I’ll be ready to fly today!

“So—you don’t normally look like this?”
Biaulae wondered.

Even as she stood outside the tree, the
conversation shared between Biaulae and Leyoht plummeted into
Aphost’s ears. Fraught with curiosity for what Leyoht and Biaulae
were speaking of, Aphost decided to meet up with the children. It
was upon doing making poking her head into the hollow when her eyes
locked on Leyoht’s shiny black pelt.

At first had astonishment swept its hazy
cloud over Aphost’s eyes. Following this astonishment was a spark
of confusion.
Wasn’t he white last night?
she ominously
wondered.
Or was I just seeing things?

Allowing a shrug to surpass her shoulders,
Aphost slid her entire body into the hollow. In an attempt to
mingle with the two children, she cheerfully exclaimed “Leyoht!
You’re looking fine today—” As if she were given the ability to
read minds by an all-powerful deity, she continued, “looks like
you’re ready to fly.”

A nervous bead of sweat dripped down the side
of Leyoht’s head as these words penetrated his ears. Before he
could have responded to Aphost’s words, however, the young mother
had already swept her way out into the free, open world.

The sight of Aphost’s fully-fledged wings
caused a spark of envy to light up in Leyoht’s mind. This envy
nearly caused him to jump out toward Aphost and make a desperate
attempt to follow her. He was, however, stopped when Biaulae called
out, “Hey—tomorrow I’m learning how to fly.”

In response to the sound of Biaulae’s voice,
Leyoht cocked his head toward her and responded through an
unenthusiastic voice, “Really?”

“Yup!” Biaulae exclaimed with a shine
emanating from her face.

Biaulae’s expression causing a speck of scorn
to pop into Leyoht’s mind, Leyoht made an attempt to wash away a
small sense of regret from his voice and reply, “So will I.”

“Awesome!” Biaulae chimed. We can practice
flying together! This’ll be great!”

Even with his youth blocking his full
thinking power, Leyoht was able to draw many similarities between
Biaulae and Aphost simply by listening to the way they spoke. He
was able to take note of how Biaulae’s mind was set
only
on
his unexpected appearance.

Even though Biaulae seemed to hold the
potential to annoy Leyoht multiple times a day, he felt very lucky
to finally have a true friend by his side for the first time in
days. Such a feeling allowed a comfortably warm feeling to press up
against his heart. This sensation nearly caused him to burst into
tears of joy.

Before Leyoht could have wept, however, he
found himself turning his gaze over to the tree’s opening. It was
in this area where he noticed Aphost popping into the tree.
Accompanying her was a deceased, limping lemming in her beak.

The sight of lemming caused Leyoht’s stomach
to itch with hunger. Although he was unaware of it, saliva began to
drip down his beak.

Slightly disgusted, nervous, and amused all
at the same time, Aphost responded to Leyoht’s hunger by releasing
a small chuckle and tossing him the lemming with a quick swing of
her head.

The sight of having fresh food tossed toward
him broke the hungry owl out of a small trance. As a result, he
hurriedly caught hold of the rodent carcass before its decaying
body could have made contact with the hollow’s ground. With the
feel of meat coming up against his tongue, Biaulae found it nearly
impossible to pry Leyoht’s mind away from his food.

As Biaulae watched her new friend ravenously
tear the lemming apart, she nervously asked, “So—where are you even
from?”

Just as she had hoped, Leyoht came to a halt
in his eating and made a response. “I came from another tree—kinda
like this one,” Leyoht replied. It was at this point when Leyoht
felt himself breaking down uncontrollably.

The sound of Leyoht’s weeping caused Biaulae
to nervously back away from her friend. How Leyoht could have been
in so much distress was a perplexing topic—or so it had seemed in
Biaulae’s mind. Barely any time had come to pass when Aphost popped
in between the two owlets while asking, “What’s going on here?”

Nervous and afraid at the same time, Biaulae
responded through a series of stammers, “I—I don’t know! He just
started crying for no reason.”
Stupid, stupid,
she accused
herself.

While she expected her mother to falsely snap
at her for being dishonest, Biaulae watched as her mother’s
confusion washed away almost instantly.

“Oh,” Aphost began. “I know what’s going
on.”

“What?” Biaulae asked with a slight tremble
in her voice.

As Leyoht continued to weep uncontrollably,
Aphost kneeled over to her daughter and whispered, “His parents are
dead.”

The sound of these words caused Biaulae’s
blood to freeze with shock. “Is all of that really true?” she asked
with a voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes,” Aphost responded with a small growl to
her voice.

Shocked beyond all belief, Biaulae took a
look over at her friend and watched as he placed his face into his
wings. It was heart-wrenching to witness Leyoht losing control of
his emotions—even if they
had
just met. Unable to watch
Leyoht’s weeping, she decided to make her way outside and leave
Aphost to pamper Leyoht back to normal.

Upon making her way outside, took a look up
at the white, winter sky and witnessed somebody’s outspread
wingspan floating in the air. Simply by staring at this floating
object was Biaulae able to tell who this was: her father,
Xemson.

Excited for Leyoht to meet Xemson, Biaulae
anxiously waited for her father’s feet to touch the ground.
I
wonder if they’ll get along at all,
she thought.
Or maybe
dad can help him to stop crying.

Barely any time had come to pass when Xemson
landed himself almost directly in front of Biaulae. “Hi Dad!”

Barely showing any acknowledgement to her
greeting, Xemson flew his way into the hollow and took notice of
Leyoht still crying into his wings. Upon making his way into the
hollow, he broke Leyoht’s weeping into a pause when he stated, “You
must be Leyoht.”

Stifling a sob, Leyoht nodded in response.
“H-how do you know who I am?”

“Aphost told me,” he explained while giving a
sharp nod toward his mate. “And what’s going on here?”

Slightly nervous, Aphost took a step away
from Leyoht and nonchalantly murmured, “Uh—nothing! Nothing’s going
on!” Just after these words slipped from her beak, she gave a small
wink to Leyoht.

Not amused, Xemson rolled his eyes and
allowed a pause to come into the conversation. It was at this
moment when Aphost gave her throat a slightly abrupt clearing.

“What?” wondered Xemson.

“Don’t you have something to tell him?”
Aphost anxiously sneered.

Another pause came into the conversation as
Xemson wondered what his mate could have been talking about. It was
after this pause came into play when a spark lit up in his head.
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Now I remember.” These words caused a smile of
slight relief to show itself upon Aphost’s face.

“Leyoht,” Xemson began. “I’m going to show
you how to fly later.”

As if he were struck by a miracle, Leyoht’s
face lit up at the sound of these words. Almost completely
forgetting about his anguish and fear, he hopped up in front of
Xemson and wondered with a small squeal to his voice, “You
will?”

“Why not?” Xemson responded with a small
speck of intimidation releasing itself from his voice.

While slightly intimidated by Xemson’s tone,
Leyoht couldn’t help but to allow a small, “Yes!” to escape from
his beak.
I’m finally learning how to fly! Finally!
It was
at this moment when Biaulae made her way into the hollow—ironically
at the exact same time as the time when her father had left.

At this point Biaulae expected to find her
friend curling up against her mother. On the contrary, what she had
come to see was the exact opposite of what her expectations had
brought her to think. Rather than weeping, she took sight of Leyoht
about to burst with excitement.
Wow,
she began to think.
My mom’s pretty amazing.

While his daughter took in a shock drawn from
what she believed to be her
mother’s
talents, Xemson stood
outside—leaning against the bark of his own sanctuary. It was at
this moment when many thoughts flooded his mind; the images in the
sky, however, would draw his mind away from these thoughts.

Xemson looked up at the sky as the sun was
devoured by a sea of dark, fast-moving clouds. These clouds brought
with them a slightly disruptive wind—disruptive enough to cause
each one of his feathers to quiver in its presence.

Only a heartbeat had passed when the wind
added in a gust of fluttering snow and ice into its body. As a
result, Xemson found himself being pummeled by ice.

What is with the weather?
he asked
himself while covering his face with his wings.
Isn’t it
supposed to be broad daylight right about now?
This thought in
mind, he crawled his way into his family’s hollow.

Upon making his way into the hollow, he heard
his mate ask him, “What’s going on out there?”

With a grunt, Xemson responded to his mate,
“It just started storming.”

“Again?” Aphost wondered with a spark of
surprise lighting up her mind. “That’s gotta be the tenth time in
two days!”