Back at the great tree, Soren was refusing to speak to Steele. Since he had nothing better to do, Steele went to go find Kludd. He didn't have to go far, though, because Kludd showed up at the tree a moment later. He told them what had become of the One-Eyed Renegade. Soren decided it was time for one final attack. Soren got ready to leave for the Vultures' Stronghold. Once his team was ready, which consisted of fifty owls, they left. They arrived there in less than a day. As they approached, Soren saw Ed, One-Eyed Thomas' pet, waving a white flag. The Guardians landed, and Ed approached them. He said Aerex wished to speak to Soren in private. Some of his team questioned Soren's safety if he was alone on enemy territory, but Soren said that they could trust that he could take care of himself if something happened between him and Aerex. He told the Barn owls of the group to keep their ears open, just in case. Then he followed Ed to where Aerex was waiting for him. When he saw Aerex, he was sitting at a table. Aerex smiled at Soren and told him to sit down. Then he said they would settle this like civilized beings. Underground in the St. Aggies Canyons, One-Eyed Thomas and I had been flying for what felt like hours. We had reached multiple forks, and by using my incredible hearing, I pointed us in what I hoped was the right direction. Soon, we came upon a three-way fork. I listened intently down each of them. The left one I could tell was flooded; the right one was open; but the center one, well there was something special about that one. The sounds coming from it were confusing, but I felt an urge to explore it. I didn't tell One-Eyed Thomas that the right path was the right one, but instead said we should check out the center one. We flew down it and came to another fork, this one a two-way. I said to go right, and so we did. Again, we came to yet another fork, same as the last. This time though, I decided to go left. We followed it, and soon came upon a wide open cave. It was huge in every sense of the word. Half of it was what seemed to be an underwater lake. The other half, though, was dry land. In the center of the wall on the dry land half, there was a big, metal door with a handle. It looked heavy and hard to open, which was true; but I figured Steele could open it if he were in Phoenix form. I asked One-Eyed Thomas if he could open the door, but he said he wasn't even going to bother trying. I asked him why, and he said the door was locked in multiple places. It wouldn't be worth the energy. I didn't notice the locks at first, but now that I looked closer at the door, there were seven locks on the door: two on top, two on bottom, and three running down the left side. I decided that we should leave, but I left scratches in the walls every so often so that I could find my way back to the cave. We came back to the three-way fork, and then went down the right tunnel. After a couple hundred feet, I stopped and hovered. One-Eyed Thomas stopped too, and asked me why we were stopping. I told him to be quiet for a moment. Then I listened real hard. I could hear the strangest sound. It sounded like water, but it was rushing really fast. The only other place I'd ever heard such a sound was from a waterfall. I told One-Eyed Thomas to follow me to the end of the cave. We soon reached one last fork, and I said go right, towards the sound of the water. We flew towards it, and when we reached the end, there it was: a waterfall. I couldn't believe it. There was a waterfall in the St. Aegolius Canyons! It was covering the entrance to the cave. I told One-Eyed Thomas that we needed to fly through it to get out. He seemed hesitant, so I asked him if he'd rather stay in the cave with no food, light, or room to fly. That made up his mind in a heartbeat. We were going to need more distance, so we flew back into the cave a short distance. I asked if he wanted to go first, but he said I should. I nodded, and then flew through the cave, through the waterfall, and out into the open air. I looked around, and the first thing I noticed was that we were no longer in the canyons, but were now in Ambala. I knew exactly where I was now. I flew back into the cave and told One-Eyed Thomas it was safe and that we were in Ambala. He followed me back out of the cave. He said that now that we were out, we were no longer a team, and he fled to the west, back into the canyons of St. Aggies. I flew in the opposite direction, but I didn't go very far before I heard a familiar voice yell out my name. I flew to the voice and found Jexas with an old Burrowing owl. Jexas was so happy to see me. He introduced the old owl as Dex, his grandpa. I asked if this family member of his was going to try and kill me too, and he said that he wasn't. Then we went back to Dex's hollow and he told me his story. At Aerex's stronghold, while Aerex talked with Soren, Soren started to realize that he was stalling for something. He turned to look outside, and saw bats filling the sky. When he turned back, Aerex attacked him. A new fight between owl and vulture had begun. Outside, Gylfie sew hundreds and hundreds of bats flying overhead. They soon started to swarm the Guardians, but the Guardians fought back. As One-Eyed Thomas was flying to the canyons, he saw the bats swarming to a spot in Ambala. He hurried over there. As Dex finished his story, I looked out his hollow to see the bats swarming, and I also saw One-Eyed Thomas flying to the source. I told Dex and Jexas that I had to go and see what trouble he was causing now. I said my goodbyes, and took off after him. They also saw the bats, and Jexas turned to Dex with a wanting look on his face. Dex pulled out a sharpened stick, and said he just cleaned it. Then the two Burrowing owls flew out to the battle to help the Guardians. The eagles soon showed up to the fight to help the Guardians as well. Steele commanded Kludd to go assist Yren with the bats he was fighting. Kludd obeyed and went to help. Steele was greatly shocked by how cooperative Kludd was being, but that didn't matter. Soren needed help. Steele finished off the bats he was fighting and went to go help Soren. On his way to Soren, he noticed that Ed was following him with three other bats. Steele swiped around, hitting Ed with his wing, sending him spiraling towards the ground and to his death. Ed hit one of the bats following him, taking it with him. The other two flew off in fear. Then Steele turned around and started back on his way to Soren. Jexas and Dex soon showed up at the battle. They began attacking the bats. As One-Eyed Thomas arrived, I got in front of him and blocked his way. I told him that we needed to work together in order to stop the fighting. If we wanted to end the war, we would need to become a team again. One-Eyed Thomas wasn't looking for a peaceful end to the war, though. He was becoming power-hungry again. He yelled at me to get out of his way. Because I up and refused to, he started to get madder and madder. He let loose from his beak a huge roar, and then flew at me. He tackled me, and I went spiraling backwards. I quickly regained my balance and flew back into is flight path, once more blocking his way. I told him I wasn't going to fight him, but I also wasn't going to allow him to pass. He said that if I wouldn't move and if I wouldn't fight him, then he'd make me fight him, and he charged at me again. I dodged left, and he spun around and flew back at me. I flew off and he followed me. When I was close enough, I hooked to the left ninety degrees, faster than One-Eyed Thomas could think, and he kept flying straight; straight into a tree. His self-induced concussion didn't knock him out, but it did knock him senseless for a moment. He fell a good distance and was caught between two branches of the tree. Once he was back to normal, he took off back into the sky. It didn't take him long to find me, for I was watching his downfall begin to unfold from only a few yards away. He looked mad as Hagsmire when he flew at me this time. As he got closer, I flew in a circle and bolted off in a random direction. I just so happened to be flying towards the bats, but One-Eyed Thomas didn't notice. I flew straight through a group of bats, but didn't so much as touch one of them. One-Eyed Thomas, on the other hand, hit many of them. He was taking out his own troops and didn't even know it; he was too focused on trying to kill me. In response to taking out a bunch of the bats, what he didn't take out turned on him and started attacking him. I stopped flying and hovered before the sight in front of me. I told One-Eyed Thomas that it could end at any time. All he had to do was call the bats off from attacking the other Guardians. As soon as the bats started to try eating him, he agreed. I quickly pulled out my short swords and killed off the bats that were trying to eat him. Then I heard words I thought I'd never hear come out of One-Eyed Thomas' beak. He thanked me for saving his life. Then he flew to a spot above the bats and Guardians and yelled for the bats to stop fighting and retreat. Much to his surprise though, the bats kept on fighting. He had lost his control over them. He flew back to me and said that they were no longer obeying his commands. I said that Aerex must've bribed them. I told him that the only way for the bats to give up was for Aerex to be killed. One-Eyed Thomas said he could do it. At that comment, he flew to the entrance of Aerex's stronghold. I followed after him. Inside the stronghold, Aerex and Soren were fighting inside the dining hall. Aerex suddenly grabbed a knife and slashed at Soren. He missed, but not by much. Soren looked around and an idea came to him. He needed to get Aerex outside. There was a window off to his left. If he could just get Aerex close enough to it... Aerex slashed at Soren again and Soren dodged again, this time in the direction of the window. This happened several times more. After one more swipe, Aerex would be close enough. Aerex took that swipe, missed again, and got quite the surprise. Soren kicked him really hard and he went flipping through the window, and then plummeted to the ground. Soren waited a moment, and then flew out the broken window to see if Aerex was alive. Aerex suddenly came flying at him from below, pointing the knife at Soren, ready to kill him. Soren looked down just in time and was able to dodge Aerex. One-Eyed Thomas and I saw it happen, and we charged in their direction. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to Soren, because bats started to swarm us. We fought them off as best we could, but if my calculations were correct, we weren't going to make it to Soren in time. Luckily, Steele would. Steele rocketed his way to Soren, and when the bats tried to swarm him, he erupted into Phoenix form and forced his way through them. Steele got to him just in time. Right before Aerex could take another swipe at Soren, Steele flew in and knocked the knife from Aerex's talon. Then he grabbed it and stabbed Aerex's wing. Aerex started to fall, but he grabbed Soren by his talons and they both fell to the roof below them. The only thing holding them up was Soren's quick thinking. He had grabbed on to the ledge with his free foot. Steele flew to them and grabbed Soren and lifted him up. Aerex took one last swipe at Soren, but Soren dodged and clawed Aerex in the face. Since that didn't get Aerex to let go, Steele took the knife and stabbed Aerex's talon. That caused him to lose his grip, and he fell into the large cavern below. He tried to fly, but because his wing was cut, he couldn't. All he really did by flapping his wings was cause the damaged one to bleed more, so he finally gave up and accepted his fate. He hit the ground a moment later with a loud crack. Aerex was finally dead. Now that the bats' leader was dead, they surrendered. Steele landed on the ground and set Soren down. Soren told him that he forgave him for resurrecting Kludd; besides, he seemed to be acting good. Steele still had a bad feeling deep down in his gizzard, though. The war was finally over. I invited One-Eyed Thomas to come to the great tree to get his wounds healed, and after a long time of thinking, he accepted the offer. With no more reason to stay, the Guardians, along with Dex and One-Eyed Thomas, flew back to the great tree. One-Eyed Thomas didn't stay long though. His visit lasted only until his wounds were healed. I asked him where he was going to go. He said that he didn't have anywhere to go. The whole Southern Kingdoms, and possibly the Northern Kingdoms, knew that he was evil. I told him that there was only one place for him now. He asked where that was. I told him that the place he needed to go was in Beyond the Beyond. My team and I would even give him a Guardian escort there, so he wouldn't be attacked on a solo flight there. He thanked me. I told Soren our plan, and he agreed that it was the best thing for One-Eyed Thomas. He said we could leave the next night. The next night came, and we left at First Dark. As soon as we left, a falcon landed and requested to see Soren. When they met, the falcon handed Soren a note. Then he left. Soren opened the note and read it to himself. The note said that the Leaders (well, what was left of them) were to meet up five days from now to discuss an important matter. It also asked Soren to bring the two owls that were accused of killing Princess Darla, but not to worry, because they weren't in trouble. Soren was intrigued by the note. He hoped that I'd make it back in time for the meeting. My team, One-Eyed Thomas, and I had just made it across the Sea of Hoolemere, and were now heading into Silverveil from Cape Glaux. We made it through Silverveil in one day. We flew day and night. We didn't have to worry about being mobbed by crows, because I was with us, and One-Eyed Thomas was with us. The crows feared both. We rested on the outskirts of Silverveil for a day, and then flew through the Shadow Forest the next night. By the middle of the next day, we were in the Beyond the Beyond. I introduced One-Eyed Thomas to a MacHeath wolf named Dryden. Dryden was the first friend I made in the Beyond, and even though he was labeled a MacHeath by name, he was quite the contrary by action. I told Dryden to take care of One-Eyed Thomas as best he could, and if he needed to contact me, to have him tell Dryden, and he would make sure I got the message. Dryden offered us his cave to rest in for the rest of the day, and we gladly took him up on it. We left that night and made it back to the tree in two days time. As soon as we got there though, Soren said I had to leave again with him and Digger. We were going to meet with the Leaders. I groaned a bit about it, but went nonetheless. When we got there, Yren and Jerex were waiting for us. Soren had updated us on what the meeting was going to be about on the way there, so I became rather curious as to what the Leaders had to say. Jerex stepped forward and asked that the two Guardians accused of murdering his daughter please step forward. Digger and I did so, and then he began. He started by saying that after abandoning an unwanted alliance with the One-Eyed Renegade, he and the falcons returned to their palace. When they got there, they found the dead body of a hawk. When talking with One-Eyed Thomas, he had heard him say things about the hawks, but he had never seen them. He even overheard him bragging once about an assassination plan of a falcon that was to be performed by two hawks, and would gain his alliance, but he had refused to believe it to be true. When he found the hawk body outside the palace, he realized it was true. Then he lowered himself to the ground and said he was deeply sorry for accusing us for the death of his daughter, and asked us if we would ever forgive him. After a moment, we both said that we would. He thanked us, and got back up. Then Yren went up to Jerex, lowered himself to the ground, and apologized for not being there to help the falcons the first time One-Eyed Thomas attacked them. Jerex told him that he forgave him, and for him to get up. Yren rose, and then Soren asked what the issue was that needed discussing. Yren said that they were going to ask him that. That's when I stepped forward. I told them that even though One-Eyed Thomas and Aerex were no longer threats, there was still one more to worry about. His name was Draux, and he was the Devil Owl. Then I told them what Dr. Percival and I had discovered. I wasn't sure if this was important or not, but I also mentioned the door One-Eyed Thomas and I had found in the tunnels of St. Aggies. The Leaders were shocked by this news. They said that this owl called Draux must be found and executed. I told him that it's been tried before, but he has still managed to come back. Yren and Jerex said they would try and think of something to do about him. I said that they needed to hurry, because the anniversary of the Burning was coming up quickly. Then the meeting was adjourned. We all went back to our homes to try and figure out what to do.