"I'm gonna WHAT?!"
Had Blu yelled any louder, all the birds around Jewel's nest would have taken off in fear - just like the way they did whenever Eva decided to sing. "Don't scream so loud!" Nightfly exclaimed with covering his ears with his wings and a frown plastered on his face. "I may have recovered from the drinking game, but my head is still sensitive." The hooded macaw lowered his wings and continued what he was saying. "I just said that I think it is time for you to have a real sword."
"... A real sword? Like, a sword not just made of wood but actual metal that can cut through stuff?" Blu inquired just to be sure.
"That's right, my dear student," the teacher confirmed. "You have made a lot of progress lately, and I think you are more than ready to start using a true sword instead of your training one. Plus, you won't be able to defend yourself by burrowing my swords all the time."
Blu's level of excitation could not go any higher. When he was a chick, Linda used to read him stories of knights riding on horses and fighting monsters with swords. Sure, he kinda lost interest for these books in favor of scientific and historical work, but he always dreamed to be like those knights during his younger days. And now, he was gonna get his very own sword! "This is too COOL!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Nightfly?" Jewel asked in worry. While she was glad to see her mate so happy and excited, she couldn't help but be a bit afraid to see him carrying a dangerous human object designed to kill. "It might not be safe to carry a sword for him. You know how clumsy Blu can be."
"Hey!" the macaw in question exclaimed with a glare while his mate just gave him an amused look.
"Yes, Jewel, I know how clumsy Blu can be," Nightfly agreed, causing Blu's glare to become even sharper. "However, you must remember that I will not always be there to protect you from my world's monsters. Blu will have to be able to defend the both of you when I'm gone, and I strongly advise you against doing it with a training tool. This is why today, Blu and I will go to visit the same bird who crafted his training sword so that he can make him a real one."
"Can I come too?" Jewel asked.
"Of course; I'm not gonna leave you alone and possibly at the mercy of a vampire... or another werewolf... or Dark Riders... You get the idea," Nightfly quickly summed up before the list could carry on for too long.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Blu beamed and dashed out of the hollow, taking off faster than a rocket.
Jewel giggled in amusement. "I think it's the first time I see him so excited about something. Let's go before he gets to Luiz's garage without us."
In spite of his excitement, Blu managed to contain himself just enough to stay at the same pace as his mate and teacher. After many minutes of flying above the city, the trio proceeded to land down on the pavement of the city. They finally made it to the street where Luiz's garage was located.
As they walked along the side way toward their destination, Jewel couldn't help but give an inspecting gaze around her, lost deep in her thoughts. A tramway passed down the exact same passage she, Blu and the others took to reach Luiz's garage in the first place, but she couldn't tell if it was the same or a different one. Her mind immediately going back to the moment she and Blu sat together at the end of the human vehicle, watching the sunset with flower petals falling from the tree branches, and a romantic song flowing in the air (Blu explained to her, a few days ago, that it was all the work of their friends who attempted to help them get together; it made her laugh and mentally thank her friends). While all of this was pleasant, the part of this memory she cherished the most was when Blu clumsily attempted to bond with her by telling how he found her eyes beautiful (right after praising his own). Even though the way he choked on a flower petal (thanks a lot, Ralfi) kinda ruined the moment, it was the first time in very long years that someone genuinely attempted to charm her for who she was instead of just wanting to flirt because of her looks.
Yup, she would cherish this moment for the rest of her days.
"Nice to be back here, isn't it, sweetie?" Jewel was snapped out of her thoughts and brought back to reality by her boyfriend's voice.
"Huh? Hum, yeah, sure. How could I forget the way we almost got cut to pieces trying to get our chains off, how I was finally released and allowed to fly for the first time in 24 hours, and, of course, our little argument where you said you never wanted to come to Brazil and that you hated samba."
That last part caused the happy smile to fade away from Blu's face and get replaced by a look of guilt he tried to conceal by looking away. Even though his first adventure in Rio was a good memory overall, he could not deny that it had some pretty bad moments... like this one. He couldn't even remember the reason that pushed him to say something so mean that it made Nico cry. It was probably because of the pain of not being able to fly with his fellow avian friends after all the hardships they went through, or maybe the frustration of always feeling useless due to his inability to fly. Nonetheless, it was unnecessary and caused Jewel to get captured. Sometimes, he even wondered how Jewel could not still be mad at him after his selfish actions...
Jewel probably noticed his guilty expression because she nudged him and said: "Relax, Blu, I was just kidding. You know I'm not mad at you, right?"
"Yeah, but still, what I said was completely unnecessary - I even made Nico cry!" Blu exclaimed with a frown, not even looking at his girlfriend.
This time, the free-spirited bird grabbed her mate by the shoulder and pulled him into a kiss that lasted five seconds, just enough time to fill Blu's beak with warmth, and then gave him a serious if somewhat seductive look. "Blu, I already told you I wasn't mad about it anymore. It's in the past now. Plus, if you hadn't said that, I wouldn't have been caught by Nigel, you wouldn't have come back for me... and we wouldn't have kissed."
Following this statement, Jewel kissed him again, causing the male macaw to smile warmly. "You're an angel, you know that?"
"And you're the best pet in the whole world."
Nightfly, who had remained silent up to that point, chuckled in amusement at the two macaws displaying their love for each other. They finally crossed the entrance door and found themselves in the garage with all of its junk, scrap metal, tools, pieces of car, and other human stuff Jewel didn't know about. When her gaze fell upon the circular buzzsaw that Luiz originally planned to use to free Blu and her from their chains, only to almost end up slicing them in pieces, a shiver ran down her spine. For some reason, she decided to walk on Blu's other side as if to put as much distance as possible between this tool and herself.
"So, where's your friend who you said made your sword?" Jewel asked. She had to admit she was a bit eager to meet her very first owl in person after everything Blu told her about this special species.
"He's living at the back of the garage. Luiz doesn't seem to be here, so I think we can go straight there. Let's go." Blu led his two fellow avians to the far end of the garage where they climbed up the pile of junk leading to the metal plate. He curled his wing into a fist and knocked on it. "Apollo, you're in there?"
Jewel blinked her turquoise eyes in confusion. "Your friend... lives in there?"
"Yes, owls are very timid creatures, Jewel. They usually live in hollows far from civilization - and only in countries with a cold temperature. That's why I was so surprised to see one living here in Rio de Janeiro. You'll see; he might seem strange at first, but he's a nice guy." After failing to receive a response, Blu slammed his wing against the metal plate again. "Apollo?"
"Maybe your friend's not here," Nightfly suggested with his wings crossed.
Blu was about to agree with him and suggest coming back later when his ears picked up on small, faint noises. Curiosity getting the best of him, he pressed the side of his head against the metal plate and listened carefully. Was that... music? The Spix's macaw decided to pull the metal plate aside with his wings, revealing the entrance in the wall, and stepping inside. Behind him, Jewel and Nightfly exchanged curious gazes before following him in.
The usually dark room was illuminated by the neon lights. When he first came here, Blu got the chance to meet his very first owl in person who made it clear that he liked to live in privacy and silence as to be able to do his work. So the Spix's macaw was rather surprised to hear a rhythmic song being blasted at full strength with the barn owl in question moving to it in the spot between his gaming section and workshop. His eyes were closed, so he didn't notice the guests' presence and just shook his body to the beat and sang.
"... To stand out, above the crowd, even if I gotta shout out loud! 'Til mine is the only face you see! Gonna stand out 'til you notice me!" he sang with joy and enthusiasm. Only after finishing this line did he finally open his golden eyes to see three figures standing there, staring at him with blank expressions. His body instantly froze and his heart-shaped face started going from white to red. Once he looked like a cherry, the owl immediately turned around, went to turn his music device off, and then stared nervously at everyone. "What are you doing here?! How long have you been standing there?!"
"Long enough to know you have good tastes in music," Blu replied with a chuckle, trying to somehow ease the tension a bit.
The barn owl attempted to hide his face with his green cap as much as he could. "I-I don't recall allowing you to come inside my private home! You could've knocked on my door to get my permission first!"
"We tried, but your music was clearly too loud for you to hear us," Nightfly pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"... Oh. Sorry about that," the owl sincerely apologized with rubbing the back of his head. "When Luiz's not here, I like to play my music really loud 'cause it's the only time I can do so without bothering him."
"Okay..." As an awkward silence started settling in, Blu decided to move the conversation on, taking Nightfly's wing and pulling him forward. "So, Apollo, let me introduce you to my teacher, Nightfly."
"It is nice to make your acquaintance, Apollo," the hooded macaw formally said with a respectful bow. "I am very grateful for the training sword you made for my student; it helped a lot in his training."
Apollo blinked his golden eyes a few times before smiling. "Yeah, sure, no problem..." He then leaned toward Blu and covering the side of his beak with a wing as to not be heard by the others. "Why's the old man speaking like a wizard from a fantasy book?"
"That's just his way of speaking," Blu replied in amusement, remembering how his teacher's unique form of talking felt odd to him at first too. "Apollo, this is Jewel, my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Jewel politely said, holding her wing out for a wingshake.
Instead of replying to her as he did with the other Spix's macaw, Apollo just widened his eyes and froze on the spot. His beak opened and closed multiple times, made it look like he was trying to say something, but the words got caught in his throat. Jewel blinked her eyes curiously at his reaction. "Hum, is something wrong?"
Apollo probably realized what he was doing because he suddenly shook his head and rubbed the feathers under his cap with a wing and a blush. "S-Sorry, miss! It's just... To be completely honest, I'm not used to be in the presence of... let's say, beautiful girls like you..."
Blu wasn't sure if he was mad that he complimented his girlfriend like this or sad about the statement he just made. However, one thing he was sure of was that he could understand the barn owl on this point. Back in Minnesota, no bird outside his home ever wanted to talk to him, so girls, let alone pretty girls, never did so either. Well, Linda was a pretty woman, there was no doubt about it, but she wasn't a bird. Blu's heart practically skipped a beat when he first saw Jewel flying down toward him... to choke him out. Was he feeling the exact same thing he did back then?
"Anyways, we have come here to ask another favor from you, Apollo." Blu mentally thanked Nightfly for changing the subject. "Last time, you made a wooden sword designed to help with Blu's training. Now, we'd be grateful if you could make him a sword of actual steel that can cut through harder materials."
The barn owl once again blinked his eyes at this demand. "Wait, wait, wait, so you're asking me to make a real sword? Like, a real, REAL sword? One that can actually hurt and kill?"
"Well, yes," Nightfly confirmed with a nod, not trying to hide anything. "I made sure that Blu became good enough to carry a real one. And he's gonna need a real one, believe me."
"Why's that? Is he in trouble or something?"
"Yes, you could say that," the hooded macaw replied, trying to remain vague on the details. After all, he did not wish to scare the only crafter bird around with monster stories.
"Hmm...," Apollo mumbled with rubbing his chin. "I guess I could. However, you must know that it's gonna take a lot more time to make a real sword than it took making the training one. Plus, I haven't actually crafted any real weapon in a very long time, so you're gonna have to be patient."
Nightfly let out a chuckle. "Do not worry, my friend; patience is one of my strong points. However, I cannot make any promises for Blu and Jewel." This remark earned him two glares from the young couple in question.
Apollo nodded a yes and then turned toward his workshop. "Alright, I better start taking out my equipment right now. I'll need my anvil, tongs, power hammer, air hammer, induction heater, cutting torch, angel grinder, bench grinder, belt grinder, drill press, wire wheel... that I can use as soon as I'm done making the sword's design."
"He makes it sounds like it's gonna take him VERY long," Jewel remarked.
"Because it will be," the crafter replied. "You guys can go play with my game collection while I'm working if you want. But, please, have the kindness to pull everything back in place once you're done." He stopped for a second and gave a deadly glare over his shoulder. "And if you have the misfortune of breaking anything..."
Blu and Jewel shared a collective gulp with their eyes wide open. They understood that they would have to be EXTREMELY careful with their host's stuff if they wanted to leave his home alive. Once he was out of their sight, Blu took his girlfriend's wing and led her toward Apollo's gaming zone. "Come on, Jewel; I'm gonna show you how to play video games."
###
For the next hours during which Apollo worked on building Blu's sword, the Spix's macaw in question tried to introduce his mate to the world of video games while his teacher just sat in a corner, meditating in complete silence. The task revealed itself to be harder than initially expected as Jewel couldn't understand anything regardless of Blu's attempts to explain her everything. She could not for the sake of her life get her car to roll in the right direction and avoid crashing in Twisted Metal Black. She died so many times that Blu, who wasn't that good himself, started feeling like a pro.
After at least fifty failed attempts, Jewel gave up; video games just weren't for her. So, without anything more interesting to do, she just sat on the couch and watched her boyfriend playing some of these games. At first, she found it interesting, but, being the active bird that she was, it started becoming boring to her. She decided to leave the garage and go have some fun at the Samba Club with her friends. Blu opposed her decision at first, but Tanya was probably going to be there to protect her anyway, so there wasn't too much risk letting her go.
Five hours later, Blu became tired of playing video games and decided to go take a little flight outside the garage. Nightfly insisted on him not going too far from the garage in case Apollo would finish so that he could see his sword as soon as it was made. A loud, tired sigh escaped his beak as he flew around the street Luiz's garage was located on for what felt like the hundredth time. When he first came to Rio, he thought the beautiful landscape would never grow old on him. Life once again decided to prove him wrong.
"I wonder if Apollo's done," the young Spix's macaw mumbled to himself, landing on the pavement near the garage and making his way toward the big entrance once again. However, just before he could enter, a noise reached his ears. It sounded like... someone crying?
Turning his head, Blu followed that sniffing noise which seemed to come from an alley on the side of the garage's building. Standing in front of it, he hesitated a bit as he didn't like to venture into dark places like this... and the horrible smell setting his nostrils on fire wasn't helping at all! But he could tell with certitude that the cries were coming from this alley. What if somebody was hurt and needed his help? This mattered more than his own personal hygiene.
"Hello? Is anybody in here?" Blu asked as he carefully stepped inside the dark alley. The horrible smell was growing stronger to the point tears were almost coming out of his eyes. Luckily, he managed to spot a figure standing in the shadow's darkness before that could happen. "Hello? I'm here to help." The figure probably heard him as Blu could see tensing and moving in his direction. But once it came out into the light... Blu wished he hadn't done this.
A tall human-like figure with bronze skin and limbs long enough to put any basketball player to shame. Its skeletal figure made it look like it hadn't eaten anything in weeks - possibly months! However, in spite of these traits, Blu could tell it was not a human being. This thing's face was covered by what looked like a square-shaped snow-white mask with three holes; two for the eyes and one for the mouth. The only problem was that nothing could be seen behind any of those holes. Just seemingly bottomless abysses...
"W-Who are you?" Blu asked with a trembling voice, taking a step back out of instinct. The terrifying sensation of a snake around the neck returned, just like when the werewolf arrived at the stadium following the football game.
The... thing, after spending many seconds without moving at first, started trembling from all of its fibers, as if it was standing naked in a snowstorm. Little red lights started glowing in the eyeholes with teeth coming out of the mouth hole at the same time, opening and closing over and over again. Cries of panic and sadness escaped the mouth hole after every click caused by the colliding teeth, the thing trembling harder and harder.
"RAAAAAARGH!" The ear-piercing shriek pushed by the monster was the last straw preventing Blu from running away, so he turned on his talons and dashed in the opposite direction and out of the alley. Turning to go back to the garage, he looked over his shoulder and realized with horror that the masked creature was on his trail. Running at an incredible speed thanks to its legs, it also reached its unnaturally long bronze arms to catch the poor blue prey.
"HELP! SOMEBODY!" Blu found himself shouting in despair.
Thanks to all the gods in this world, Nightfly happened to walk out of the garage just as Blu passed by the entrance. He was carrying a scabbard covering what seemed to be a sword in his wings. If he wasn't in harm's way, Blu would've probably jumped in joy and excitation... not running in panic. "Hey, Blu, great news. Apollo has finally finished his work, your sword is-" He stopped when he realized the state of panic his student was in. "What's going on, Blu?"
"NIGHTFLY! WATCH OUT! IT'S A MONSTER!" Blu yelled, pointing behind him with a wing.
The hooded macaw's facial features twisted into a confused expression at first. But when he saw what was after his student, they were replaced by widened eyes and a look of shock and terror. "What the...?! Keep running. KEEP RUNNING!" he ordered before turning around and running in the same direction as his student.
Blu thought it was the very first time he ever saw Nightfly in a state of fear and panic. Even when they were up against the Dark Riders or that werewolf, he always kept his cool and managed to calmly figure out a solution to the situation. This time, he seemed to be just as shocked as Blu and almost dropped the sword while running. This made Blu understand he had to keep running at all costs.
"What's that thing, Nightfly? What does it want from me?!" Blu asked his teacher, struggling to keep breathing in the process.
Nightfly did not respond, instead looking at the ground, lost in his thoughts. Blu hoped he was making up some sort of plan to deal with the thing chasing them. About thirty seconds of running later, he stopped in his tracks and made his student do the same by placing his wing in front of him. "Blu, don't talk to me; I'm gonna do something!"
"What?" Blu asked in disbelief, but the hooded macaw already held his two wings forward and closed his eyes, the frown on his face indicating that he was trying to focus really hard. During their little marathon, the two avians managed to put some distance between the monster and themselves, but it didn't seem to be tired at all and closed on this distance more and more.
Seeing the skeletal figure coming closer and closer, Blu felt his whole body trembling and sweat dropping on the back of his neck like a waterfall. "N-Nightfly?" His teacher did not respond... and the monster was getting closer! "Nightfly... NIGHTFLY!"
Just as the creature arrived mere meters away from their position, Blu felt something grabbing his shoulder and pulling him backwards. A ring of clear blue light passed by him before the air around him felt different. His back fell and collided with a muddy ground, but right now, it didn't bother him. The faceless monster was about to cross the same ring he came through when Nightfly made it disappear with a swing of his wing.
For many seconds, Blu just laid on the ground, staring at his mentor who panted in exhaustion, nobody saying anything. The only thing disturbing the silence was the sound of rain falling and colliding with the environment. Speaking of which, once the shock passed, and he managed to proceed everything that just happened, Blu finally got to inspect his surroundings. They were no longer in Rio's city... but inside a forest of some sorts with very tall trees.
This forest... It wasn't like Rio's at all. It was Mediterranean instead of being tropical with the air being a lot cooler than Rio's usually hot climate - so cold that Blu's body trembled a bit and steam came out of his beak with every breath he took. The rain was colliding with the auburn-colored feathers forming a wall above their heads which didn't prevent them from seeing the dark, cloudy sky.
"W-Where are we, Nightfly?" Blu asked, picking himself up from the ground, and trying to rub the mud that had gotten onto his feathers.
Nightfly still hadn't moved from his spot and seemed to struggle with what happened. "I-It's no time for explanations. We must act quick. I'll tell you everything once we get to safety." He turned around to walk, but stumbled in the process, almost falling face-first in the mud. "Crap... H-Help me to walk, Blu, please."
Blu slipped his teacher's wing over his shoulder and started walking across the muddy ground in the direction that was indicated to him. For many minutes, Blu just carried Nightfly, feeling the cool breeze brushing against his feathers (it wasn't as bad as Moose Lake's, but still) and some raindrops wetting his feathers.
"So? Where are we, Nightfly?" Blu asked again after a moment.
"Sorry for forcing you to carry me; summoning that portal costed me a lot of magic," Nightfly apologized while stumbling forward. "But to answer your question, I brought us to Italy; we should be safe here for the moment."
Blu blinked his eyes multiple times. Did he hear correctly? Italy? "Wait, wait, did you just said Italy? As in: Italy, the country of Europe?"
"Yes, correct," Nightfly confirmed with a nod.
"B-But why did you bring us here? What are we doing in another country?!"
"We are going here," the older macaw replied with pointing his free wing forward.
Only then did Blu realize that they arrived into an open area of the forest with a building coming into a view. It seemed to have been built over a hundred years ago on the side of a river with many statues or crosses and other symbols that seemed to be there to repel evil. Unlike any other building Blu got to see before, which had modern and pleasant presences, this one seemed to represent a much darker time. Nonetheless, he could tell a lot of work had to be done in order to build this monument. He would practically qualify it as a piece of art.
Following his teacher's demand, Blu walked the both of them to this monument's entrance. The wooden gates were at least twenty times taller than him - not very surprising, considering it was a human building. Some metal rings were present to be knocked against the gates and let the owners know of any newcomer's presence, but they were a bit too far for them to reach, and Nightfly was clearly not in condition to jump. Instead, he just curled his wing like a fist and slammed it a few times on the wooden surface, the noise echoing around the empty area.
The two macaws waited for abut twenty seconds under the rain before the gates at last opened and out came a man. At first, he looked left and right with confusion, wondering who knocked at his door. Only once did he lowered his gaze down did he realize it was actually a pair of avians who were his visitors.
Blu could tell from his face that this man was Hispanic-Caucasian American. His jacket was of the same color as Nightfly's feathers and even came with a hoodie that was currently used to protect him from the rain. When he looked left and right, Blu got to see a dark blue cross symbol on the back of the hoodie. His jeans and leather shoes all shared the same color as his jacket while the leather gloves on his hands were an opposite pitch-black. His short hazel-brown hair was covering his right eye while his left ice-blue one scanned the two avians very carefully.
"N-Nightfly?!" he exclaimed with surprise in his voice.
"Hello, Isaiah. It has been a very long time, don't you think?" Nightfly replied with a smile, using the same friendly tone he used when they went to see Dominic for the first time.
Just a second, how could Nightfly know this human guy? And how could he understand a Spix's macaw? Why was he living in this monument in the middle of nowhere, Italy? A lot of questions were storming inside Blu's mind and needed answers. Like, right now!
"What are you doing here? And who's this bird? Are you hurt?" the human named Isaiah asked, kneeling down and inspecting the avians with care.
"Don't worry; I'm just tired. I'll tell you everything, but can we get somewhere comfortable first, if you don't mind?" the hooded macaw politely requested.
"Sure, come in, come in," Isaiah said with inviting the two birds inside, closing the large gate after they had entered.
The monument in question revealed itself to be a church - a Christian one if Blu was to believe the numerous crosses and paintings of Jesus decorating the place. Isaiah led both birds to a smaller room at the back that served as the living room where he brought some towels so that they could clean and dry themselves. Blu sat down on the couch next to Nightfly as Isaiah took a little chair.
"Thanks for welcoming us to your humble residence, old friend," Nightfly gratefully said after removing his hoodie so that he could dry it up.
"No problem, my brother," Isaiah assured. "It is always a joy for me to receive old friends in the House of God. But tell me, why did you come to our world and why are you so tired?"
"It's a long story, and I'm afraid I don't have the time to explain it in detail. But I think some introductions are in order to kick things off." Nightfly wrapped a wing around Blu's shoulders. "Isaiah, this young man is Blu, my personal student."
"Nice to meet you... Isaiah, right?" Blu politely asked, extending his wing to shake the human's hand (which honestly felt rather weird to him).
"Yes, like the prophet of the eight century who created 'Isaiah 7:14'," the man said with a nod. "You did read the Bible, right?"
"Huh... Can't say I have, sorry," Blu apologized with rubbing the back of his head. Linda had never truly been into religion, so neither had Blu. He did have some knowledge on the subject such as Heaven and Hell, but with all the different practices and deities created across each different versions of religion existing in the world, he never took the time to make a complete analysis on any of them as he preferred science rather than idolization of beings he wasn't even sure existed.
"Isaiah here present is a Universal Knight, Blu," Nightfly explained.
"A Universal Knight?"
"Yes," Isaiah confirmed, placing a hand on his heart with an air of noblesse. "We are the sons and daughters of God who were blessed with the power of Jesus. For generation to generation, we have been keeping the world of humans and animals save by slaying the monsters of evil threatening our beautiful lands. If evil comes, then my brothers and I will be there to protect!"
An organization of knights blessed by Jesus fighting evil across the world now? It started feeling to Blu like he was discovering something new and supernatural about his world every single day...
"Speaking of evil, we should move on to the reason we came here," Nightfly suddenly pointed out, taking a very serious expression. "I'm afraid those are not good news, Isaiah. My student here present has come across a Hollow Face."
As soon as he mentioned the last words, Isaiah's blue eyes widened as far as they could go, his face looking as if we had just told him a close one had died. "A-A Hollow Face?! In the Human World?! Are you sure?!" When Nightfly nodded his head in confirmation, an uncomfortable silence settled in with Isaiah waiting a long time before speaking again. "H-Have any of you seen its face?"
"I'm afraid Blu did," Nightfly confirmed, his eyes looking at the floor with the closest thing to a nervous expression Blu ever saw on his face.
The young macaw stared alternately at his teacher and the Universal Knight before finally joining in their conversation. "Hey, wait a second, guys! What's a Hollow Face? Is it a monster from the world Nightfly came from?"
"Indeed," the teacher confirmed.
"What's so special about it then? Couldn't we just have taken on it as we did with every previous monster up to that point? Especially since that, now, I have my own sword?" Blu pointed out, designing his newly-made sword that Nightfly was still holding in his wings.
"I'm afraid it's not so simple, Blu," Nightfly explained, giving the most serious look in the world behind his brown eyes. "Hollow Faces are not easy to take down like Ghouls or werewolves; they are one of the most dangerous and deadly creatures known to the order I'm part of..."
"Why's that?" Blu asked, fearing he might not like the answer.
"Ever since their first interaction with the civilization of my world, Hollow Faces became known as dangerous threats that had to be avoided at all costs. They might seem like just small figures wandering in random places with no purposes... but do not let that fool you; they are murderous creatures. At first, Hollow Faces do nothing but walk around and just mind their own business, sometimes even crying to themselves. Any good spirit will be attracted by these cries and think someone needs their help... which would only be a death warrant..."
Blu felt a shiver running up his spine at this statement.
"Hollow Faces like the one you've seen today are docile at first, not minding any form of presence, whether it be human or animal, and minding their own business. They will not do anything if you even touch them physically." For some reason, Blu felt like the worse part was about to come. "However, should you stare directly at its face and into its non-existent eyes... then everything will be different. The Hollow Face will get into a state of murderous rage and get hooked on the sole and unique purpose of killing the one who saw its face, not resting until this is done."
"And what's to prevent them from achieving their goal?" Blu asked, feeling more and more nervous as the explanation went on.
"I'm afraid they are not easy to kill, Blu. Whenever a Hollow Face got seen and went on a murderous streak, warriors of my world did everything they could to stop it - cut it down, shoot it with arrows, or even squash it with catapults! Nothing ever worked. Regardless of the damage it took, the Hollow Face never died and always recovered. It also seems like they have unlimited energy as whenever someone with the misfortune of seeing its face attempted to run away, the Hollow Face would always follow this person - sometimes even for days. One could try to run away or hide from them, the Hollow Face always ends up finding its prey and doesn't rest until he or she is torn to pieces."
By now, Blu's whole body froze as if it was trapped in ice. "So you're saying...?!"
"Yes," Nightfly confirmed, staring at him right in the eyes. "The Hollow Face you saw is not gonna stop until you die, Blu. At the moment we're speaking, it's making a beeline from Rio de Janeiro to right here, in Italy. It is gonna cross the ocean without rest and come here to kill you..." Then, just before his student could fall into panic mode, Nightfly continued: "But don't worry; they have existed for many generations. Now, my organization has found a way to kill them for good."
"Really?" Blu asked, a small wave of relief washing over his nervous soul.
"Yes. By using magic; we can cut them down and send them to the afterlife. If we both team up with Isaiah here present, then we should have a chance against it," Nightfly explained. "The Hollow Face will take a few days to arrive here; this leave us plenty of times to get ready. This is why I decided to come here instead of going to Dominic. Because his firearms wouldn't have been of any help against such a monster. Plus, he was way too close to where you met it; we wouldn't have had enough time to prepare for the inevitable fight."
Blu stood up on the couch. "Alright then, what are we supposed to do now?"
"First of all...," Nightfly unsheathed Blu's sword from its scabbard, allowing the blade to come out, "... you're gonna learn to fight with this."
Author's note: Things have gotten quite dark, haven't they? Yeah, I started to feel like things were going a bit too easy for Blu and his friends who were supposed to be threatened by monsters from another world. My good friend, Stormknight089, pointed it out to me, so I decided to go up with a monster that would be stronger than everything our heroes faced up to that point.
Speaking of which, the Hollow Face is inspired by SCP-096, also known as the "Shy Guy", whom is the fictional creature that scared me the most (I sometimes wonder if, one day, it won't come after me for seeing its face online!). The Redeads from Legend of Zelda also helped with the creation in terms of design. They, too, are quite scary to me with their empty eyes and bared teeth... *shiver*
This chapter also introduced the concept of religion in the story. While I've never been much of a religion guy myself, my aforementioned friend, Stormknight089, is a good Christian fellow, and his OC, Isaiah, is issued from his beliefs, so I can respect that.
I wanna thank you all for reading this story so far as your support is greatly appreciated. Constructive reviews are welcome and, as always, may the gods watch over you all :)