Okay, this thing is HORRIBLY cliched, but I still like it. So hah.

Lutta...

It was Hoole's voice! Calling to her...but why? No, it must be her imagination, the last longings of her tortured soul as she fell to her eternal doom. Hoole didn't love her, not after she had fooled and lured him. Having seen the one she had imitated and pretended to be, he must love her. Not Lutta, the false one. No one loved Lutta.

Hoole's image smiled at her. Lutta, it is truly me! Now, I am dreaming...and Glaux has told me how you loved me. So Glaux chose to give you a test, and if you pass, you shall enter glaumora. Now, as you must know, you are falling towards hagsmire...

So, will you accept?

Lutta nearly laughed with delight. Opening her beak to speak, she found that no words came out. She screed and streched her vocal cords, but she was speechless.

Lutta, you must merely think your answer. For there is no speech after death...although before you thought you spoke, in truth you were silent. Only when you are actually trying to speak do you realize that you cannot.

Yes. Yes, I accept!

Good, Lutta, very good. Hoole faded from her sight, and so did the red tunnel. With a scream of frustration, the evil voice died away.

She was standing on a white, flat plain. Around her, there was nothing. Before her, behind her, nothing at all.

What must I do? she thought, wondering. She took a hesitant step, and found that, apparently, the ground could completely support her weight. That's good, she thought, as she continued walking. Slowly, step by step, she made her way over the plain. And finally, she stood before golden gates.

That was it? All I had to do was walk to glaumora? she wondered.

"Yes," said a voice. A golden prescence seemed to surround her, and she realized that it was Glaux. With a gasp, she lowered herself to the ground, touching the ground with her forehead.

"I am not worthy..."

"Yes, you are. But before you enter glaumora, will you see Hoole again?"

"Yes!" cried Lutta excitedly. "Oh yes, I will!" But as the air before her began to shimmer, showing her an image of her beloved Hoole, she gasped. For he was pinned against a rock wall by a creature that had no shape, that was nothing but a living shadow. The beast moved closer, its claws extended and ready to rip out the Spotted Owl's throat.

"What is this?" she demanded, fixing her eyes on Glaux, this time feeling no threat from the creator. Without realizing it, she had changed into a Great Gray, one of the largest owl species. Her charcoal-smudged feathers were puffed up, and her eyes were glowering with hatred. "What is that thing?"

"It has been a special case that you were allowed to enter glaumora. In exchange, hagsmire has been promised another soul. And Hoole is that soul..."

Lutta stood, frozen. If she entered glaumora, then her beloved Hoole would fall to hagsmire. How could she live with that knowledge, that she had destroyed the one she loved?

"Take me!" she cried. "Let me return to hagsmire, and free Hoole! He is innocent! His only crime is being loved by me..." She had shrunk to a harmless Pygmy Owl, her golden eyes shining with tears. "Please, don't do this!"

Glaux chuckled, and the image seemed to dissolve away, showing Hoole celebrating with his family.

"Hoole was never in danger. It was merely the test, to see if you truly loved him. And now, enter." The gates opened wide, and Lutta, taking on the form of a Spotted Owl, flew through them, turning her head around to have one last look at Hoole, before the image faded away. And she knew, that one day Hoole would come, and she would be waiting.