The Parting of Destiny
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Guardians of Ga'Hoole
Chapter 1: Eglantine's Dream
"Great Glaux, am I dreaming?" Eglantine asked herself as she peered around at her surroundings. She was at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, for that she was certain. But the tree looked...well, different. There were no more of the Milkberry vines that had once hung there. In fact, the branches looked burnt, charred even. It looked as if the Great Ga'Hoole Tree had caught fire once, long ago. There was a rustle, and Eglantine looked up yo see...Could it be? She thought it might be a chaw! Glaux almighty, it is a chaw! Eglantine thought, it must be!
Looking more closely, Eglantine realized that this was not a chaw, but none other than the band! The original band! Soren, her dear brother, and Gylfie, his best friend, were both looking at the tree, seemingly searching for something. Eglantine realized that she couldn't see Soren's face. She wondered why. However, as she hopped over to take a closer look, Soren turned his face away from her. Digger was doing what he did best...walking. On the ground, he seemed to be searching for something. Twilight was circling the tree from above. Was he looking for something? He must be a lookout.
As if on cue, Digger called, "Soren, I think I've got something here." Her brother turned, and Eglantine finally got to see his face. A deep scar ran from his left eye to his beak. It was a terrible sight for Eglantine to see. With this scar, Soren looked exactly like Nyra, evil leader of the Pure Ones. Soren flew over to where Digger stood. Out of pure curiosity, Eglantine followed. Now Digger entered a hidden hollow near the base of the tree. Soren, closely followed by Eglantine, also entered the dark hollow.
They walked for quite some time. Digger, the experienced walker, had no trouble, but Soren and Eglantine were having a hard time keeping up. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, they entered a room that was lit by many small holes in the ceiling. Eglantine was amazed, but Soren and Digger were staring into a corner. She looked around, and then gasped in horror. On the ground, in front of her, was...no...it couldn't be. Her own dead body? And what was that...carved, burnt into her breast feathers? It said, "Death to the impure."
From outside, all three owls heard Gylfies call. "Soren, they're here." Soren and Digger immediately spread their wings and lifted off through the holes in the ceiling. Digger made it easily through, but Soren had to crash through. Eglantine followed closely, making sure to exit through the hole Soren made. When they got outside, Eglantine saw for the first time that Soren was wearing battle claws. Ezylryb's battle claws. Why did he have them. Oh well, she thought, There would be time for that later. Or would there?
When they reached Gylfie, no words were exchanged, but she extended one of her talons and pointed toward the sky. Eglantine immediately saw what she was pointing at. About 150 owls were flying at them at top speed. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger were all ready. They knew what was coming. These were Nyra's Annihilators, coming to kill them. Nyra herself was flying point. All four of the bands took out ice swords, and flew up to meet them. What followed was the bloodiest battle Eglantine had ever seen.
As the battle commenced, Twilight began to sing one of his battle chants:
You think you're pure?
I'm not so sure.
You got outta bed,
so you'll soon be dead.
By my hand
and yes our band
will rid the world of all of ye,
You'll all be hurled
into the sea
By ME!!!!!!!!
As Twilight sang, bodies fell from the sky. As Eglantine watched, she thought, At least twenty of the pure are already dead. We're winning! So it seemed that she was right. From twenty owls, the death toll rose to thirty, forty, and then even fifty. Eglantine actually saw Nyra fighting Twilight.
That's when it happened. Gylfie screamed, "Digger, no!" as she watched the scene above. One of the Pure ones, a Tyto Alba, had Digger gripped in his battle claws. As the small Burrowing owl struggled, The Pure one gripped harder, until Digger stopped struggling at all. The Pure one let go, and Digger fell into the sea, already dead.
Though they had now sustained a heavy loss, the battle raged on. The Pure death toll kept creeping up. When there were only about sixty left, the next catastrophe happened. Twilight went into a swooping arc, killing five Pure Owls in the process. When the swoop ended, Twilight gave a whooping yowl...and slammed straight into Nyra's battle claws. His yowl turned to a scream, then silence. It was twilight for Twilight. He fell into the sea.
Now Soren and Gylfie fought as hard as they could, killing many owls. Soren was now battling Nyra, leaving Gylfie to the other fifty owls. She was faring up well, having already killed twenty-five of them. Soren was ducking and dodging Nyra's blows, and countering them with his sword. Suddenly there was a scream and an awful tearing noise, and Gylfie was dead.
That was when the final blow was sealt to Soren's heart. He screeched as loudly as he could and plunged the ice sword straight into Nyra's heart. He then pulled it out as Nyra fell, and began to kill the rest of them. However, the Pure Ones began to retreat. They shouted at him as they left. "Death to the impure!" they shouted.
Soren gave chase for a bit, but then decided to just leave it be. He turned around, and flew back to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. When he got closer, he saw a sight that sent shivers down his spine. Gylfie's severed head lay on top of her severed wings. Her body must have been lost at sea. This was too much for Soren. His best friend, murdered in such a way. He began to cry. Then, just when he thought he could take it no more, his pain began to ease...
Eglantine watched as her brother went yeep and fell into the sea.