The Owl Realms (Discontinued)

Chapter 23- The Regretting

 Blaine's P.O.V

I flap away from the island as fast as my fatigue-heavy wings will carry me. The metal mask clonks and clanks around on my head, and my elite battle claws shimmer in the sun. A dead give away.

    Before I’m able to react, I feel something smash into me from above. I let out a screech and tumble in mid-air, flailing my wings in every direction. I shriek and right myself, spinning around and searching for whatever hit me. After a few moments of searching, I lock eyes with a brown elderly-she owl. Her green eyes are flaming, and bits of my own feathers are locked in her talons.

    “And where do you think you’re going, you bloody Shadowed One?!” she snarls in-between a clenched beak, her brown flecked wings beating powerfully. I growl and open my battle claws threateningly. “What’s it to you, Wind Rusher?” I retort angrily.

    Suddenly, her frown disappears, and her fierce green eyes go blank. I grin and take this opportunity to lurch forward and smash into her stomach with my head. She goes flying backwards as I lock talons with her and spin her around. A shriek ripples from her mouth as I let go and send her tumbling towards the water.

    Should I finish this off, or should I flee? I don’t have time to answer that question, because the brown she-owl rights herself and rockets forward, head-butting me in the groin. I gasp and barrel in mid-air, righting myself immediately. I shake off the pain and glare menacingly at the older brown owl. 

    “It was YOU!!” she suddenly wails, her olive eyes flooding with new tears. I cock my head and frown, making sure that my blue orbs are glowing in defense. I open my battle claws once again and squint my eyes with rage. “And what have I done, you piece of molt?” I shout over at the elder, who’s clearly in quite a bit of pain.

    “You killed my daughter!!!” she shrieks, her echoing pleas mourning through the air. I freeze and clank my battle claws shut. It was... her daughter that I killed? I let out a shaky breath and tilt my head up to the grieving brown owl. 

    “I HAD to!!” I retort desperately, “she killed our last queen! We were simply gaining our revenge!” The brown owl goes blank once more and peers at her feet, which are now hanging limply below her, defeated. “It wasn’t her...” she gasps just below a whisper. My wings begin to go numb as I try and process what she’s saying.

    “W-what..?” I stutter, uncomprehending. The brown elder wretches and burns into my eyes with her own. “It wasn’t her!” she shouts, her voice heavy with emotion. I cringe away and allow my expression to grow somber. 

    “It was... it was me.” she breathes again. I snap out of my gloom and flit my eyes back up to her. My heart wrenches in my chest, and my skull erupts in tiny shooting pains. 

    “So.......” I try to say, “I killed.... a look alike..... not the culprit....” My voice hitches in my throat. I killed an innocent owl, and for what? A little revenge? I was FORCED into killing that owl by Claude... but she was innocent!!!

    “That’s right,” she growls, her throat rasping loudly, “and now... you’re going to pay.” And, she hits me. She swipes out with her talons and knocks me over the head, making my loose helmet crash against my skull. I gasp and blink away the stars that are appearing in my vision as the she-owl shrieks and grasps my talons in hers.

    I hold my breath and flap angrily, desperately trying to wriggle away from her grasp. She’s too strong! I hear a muffled grunt as she wrenches my ankle, and hard! I screech as my battle claws fly off of my foot and careen into the water below me. Another burst of pain hits my chest as the brown owl scratches her talons into my stomach, my tiny down feathers sprinkling the air around us. 

    Blow after crippling blow. But I don’t fight back.. I can’t... I won’t. I had killed an innocent owl. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She was just flying... going about her daily routine... and I killed her.

    I double over in pain as she twists my ankle in her talons, droplets of blood spraying from the new wound. “Fight back, you coward!!” she shrieks, twisting my ankle even harder and ripping my flesh wide open. I watch in horror as my blood oozes out of my skin... a seemingly endless river of crimson.

    “N-no....” I whisper over the pain. I feel her talons dig into the wound even harder as she peers up at me in confusion. My blue eyes plead into hers, and (I hate to say it) I feel a tear trickle down my cheek. 

    “I’m.... s-sorry..” I stutter, glaring back down at my ankle where bone is beginning to show. The brown she-owl pauses and cocks her head. She opens her beak to say something, when suddenly, a massive black form crashes into her from my left.

    I cringe as her talons are ripped away from my ankle as I spin around. The elder is sent tumbling into the sky from the blow, and I exhale a sigh of relief as the black owl turns his head towards me, brown eyes gleaming. “Zekos!!” I croon towards him, my ankle still dripping blood. He clenches his beak and flaps towards me, sending angry daggers in my direction.

    Uh-oh.... I cringe away from his glare as he eyes my wound. “Let me handle this!!” he grunts before flying back to the brown she-owl. I inch away from the fight as Zekos slams into the smaller owl once more. She tumbles back and shrieks, swiping at him with her talons. He dodges them lithely and swoops into her, smashing her stomach with his head. 

    A gurgled gasp is wrenched from her throat, and she clasps onto his talons with her own. Zekos smirks and whirls around, releasing the brown owl and sending her rocketing into the sky limply. Her wings catch the air forcefully as she turns around and dives towards Zekos, black talons out-stretched. Before he has time to react, she swipes a claw across his face, slicing into the flesh and drawing blood fiercely.

    His massive screech ripples through the air as his right eye is gouged out of his skull. I gasp and tumble backwards as blood trickles from his socket. “Good stars!” I mutter, my mind going into shock. My flapping becomes labored, and I begin to feel light-headed. 

    I peer over at the battle and watch blurrily as Zekos tries to blink away the new blood on his face. He flees and races over to me, flying clumsily and gesturing for me to move. I squint and beat at the air aimlessly as I trail after the black soldier, my vision slowly fading and my peripheral becoming clouded with stars. “Z-zekos....” I breathe out, my ankle still pouring blood.

    I struggle to stay awake as I hear Zekos call out. “Busiris!! Aesma! Come quickly, Blaine’s losing blood and.....”

    His voice fades out of my mind as the world around me goes black.