Chapter Seven: Out of the city

I woke up with a yawn, unfurling my wings as I looked at my surroundings. The room hadn't changed, the herbs still hung from the rafters above. I then looked down at my hand that was injured, it appeared to have almost fully healed.

"Thank you Zotz, Nocturna," I said quietly to myself as I caught the sound of a voice echoing from below. It didn't sound like the older bat that was here so I decided to go down and check it out.

Letting go of the beam I rested on I began to fly down towards the floor when I spotted what appeared to be a human cleaning up part of the building, I flew towards a beam as I watched carefully.

I looked at the creature with distaste. It was one of the kinds that decided to bring me to this horrible place. As I watched I heard the human start to hum something in a deep tone, I couldn't make out whatever the creature was saying but that didn't matter.

At this point, I was fully awake and I should be able to make it out of here and continue my journey, with that I glanced up getting ready to go back up towards the drafters. But next to me I suddenly heard Zephyr's voice, "Hello, Yuriel."

I turned to look towards him and responded with a simple, "Hello." I saw that Zephyr was looking at the human down below and he spoke, "Aren't they such interesting creatures."

I spoke, "They are, very interesting…" While they were interesting, making machines that could lift them into the sky like birds and other things that could move fast down roads and such, they were also very annoying, kidnapping me from my homeland and bringing me to this horrible place.

Zephyr turned to look at me and spoke, "You want to know something interesting about them?" I wondered what it would be about so I nodded. Zephyr turned back to the human as he spoke, "Apparently they're fighting a war against themselves."

I spoke confused, "Now why would they do that?" Zephyr in turn, simply shook his head not knowing of an answer for why but he spoke again. "I don't know if this relates to it but I've sensed hundreds of bats from the Northern Realm disappearing from here to somewhere else." Zephyr sighed as he continued, "From what I sensed only a small portion is alive, the rest must be dead."

I looked at him as I thought to myself silently, this bat could sense life. Why was he saying this to a bat he had only met a day ago. I shook my head, but I knew this bat had to be one of Nocturna's great prophets.

Then I thought about the hundreds of bats from here that disappeared to somewhere far away, how could that relate to the human war? They had no need for animals in their wars, they were advanced enough where they could fight the wars themselves.

I cleared the thoughts from my mind and spoke to Zephyr, "Zephyr," I started continuing, "I think I'm gonna start heading out later."

Zephyr simply stared at the human and spoke, "Alright, but before you leave please wait by the stone creature outside of the spire. I wish to give my farewells." I nodded as I unfurled my wings and flew up towards the top of the building, then going out of the exit that led towards the outside world.

As I exited the building I was met by the cold wind. The stars shine brightly in the sky along with the many human buildings in the distance. It was peaceful currently, a break from all the things that happened so far.

After a minute or two I heard Zephyr fly up and land next to me. He spoke softly as he turned to face me, "Yuriel, before you leave I wish to ask if you want me to give you some word on how your journey might turn out." I looked at him confused for a moment but shook it off, he seemed to be one of Nocturna's Prophets so he could probably do that, so I nodded.

I turned to look at Zephyr who closed his eyes and looked to be concentrating hard. Was this how Hudson and the Chief Priest did these things? Communicating to Zotz and stuff? Slightly I saw Zephyr's wings start to mirror the stars above. It was sort of freaky and cool to look at, at the same time.

But the stars from his wings began to fade and he opened his eyes looking at me as he spoke, "You will journey with four other bats, you'll have to pick a side between them. Whatever you pick will have an effect on your path. But in the end, you'll change how it all ends."

Zephyr breathed in as he began to speak again, "And as my last words to you, for now, try to find a colony that will accept you into there so you may survive the winter, as for now, it hasn't hit its coldest." I turned to him and nodded. "Goodbye now, Goodluck." He said as I unfurled my wings and began to fly off.

"Goodbye!" I shouted back towards him.

In the tree's a large group of owls looked up towards one of their captains as he spoke. "Attention!" The owl demanded in front of the group, "We are being sent off to teach a lesson to the bat colonies that dare to unbalance the natural order and the law."

The owl's words were harsh and loud, and the many owls in the group knew to stay silent and listen sharply. "Soon we are going to move out and find the location of the brightwing colony."

"The reason for this is simple, they are in league with the law-breaking Silverwing." The owl paused for a moment before continuing, "This order comes from the general and as the Owl Security Unit, we will not disappoint." The owl looked at the others that stood on the tree branches in front of him as he yelled one last time, "Is that understood?"

The owls that stood near yelled out to their captain, "Yes, Captain!"

"Dismissed!" The Captain yelled out as he turned to fly off towards one of the owls that stood amongst the tree branches. "Lieutenant," The Captain called out to the owl. The lieutenant looked at the captain and gave a quick salute as he responded to him, "What do you need, sir?"

The captain spoke looking at the owl, "King Boreal has ordered that we take his son, Orestes." The lieutenant looked at the captain slightly distraught, "The kings sending his child to watch a massacre?"

"Keep your voice down, some people here are very loyal to the king." The captain hissed at the owl, "I'm entrusting Orestes to you while we deal with the colony."

"Alright, let's get this over with then." The lieutenant sighed as he flew off and sighed to himself.

I turned to look back at the city, I had finally made it out of its borders and into the dense forest that was illuminated by the moon and the other stars in the sky.

While on my way to the outskirts of the city I had to avoid several patrols manned by pigeons, thankfully they were easy to avoid. They were loud and weren't very observant.

When I made it past them near the borders of the city there were few owls that stood guard, luckily for me, I was able to get past them without altering them. But there was one thing about the owl that told me to watch my back, they seemed to be silent.

I turned back to look further into the dense canopy, I hated how different the landscape was here. The tree's here so small and jagged compared to tall and rough vines in the jungle, but still, I flew on.

While I flew I was near the tree's so if anything happened I could dart into one and hide from whatever was out there. But it was surprisingly peaceful currently, I hadn't seen or heard any animals. The only thing I heard was the ambiance of the night, and it was quiet.

The captain looked back on his comrades, the owl getting ready to shout out his orders in front of the two groups of ten.

"We're nearing our destination." The captain said as he began to speak to his troops. "The brightwing colony is up ahead on their migration. The first squadron will be taking the front and the rest of you in the second will be at the back."

The owl breathed as he spoke once more, "I will be with the first squadron, the Sergeant Major will be with the second. The lieutenant will be observing us with the king's son. Do not disappoint me today."

The owls that stood around cried out in agreement, the captain looking back as he spoke one last time. "Alright then, let us go!" He yelled as the owls began to fly off into the distance.

Wingbeats, I heard them clearly as I flew deeper into the forest. I wanted to get close enough so that I could see what it was it was and observe it more clearly, maybe it was a bat colony. If it was I would be thankful, this journey could end quickly and I could get back home faster.

I neared the sounds of the wings beating hard, and in the short distance ahead of me, I spotted what appeared to be a colony of bats. I was actually ecstatic, I flew fast towards them and was about to call out to them but that idea was cut off.

I flew towards the ground and crawled near a bush using it as cover. I had a good view of everything that was going on, there was a bat colony for certain. Their fur was bright in the moon's glow, but I believed it was going to be turned a shade of red soon, as I saw they were being encircled by a large group of owls.

I saw as several bats tried to get out of the circle but were pushed back into it by the owls who stood there menacingly. Before long one of the owls moved up towards the colony and spoke.

"To those who are confused on what is happening, you are being made an example." His words were loud and harsh, "Your colony was found siding with the silverwings who turned their backs on the law and the natural order."

"For this, your colony will be executed." The owl breathed in as he spoke his last words to the group, "May God have mercy on your murderous souls."

I was right, because on those last words the owl said, the others began to dispatch the outer layer of bats. The screams that came from those bats were horrifying, I wanted to look away from the carnage but I couldn't, it was just too terrifying to look away.

Bats were clawed by the owls but most were not finished off, left to drift down onto the ground and bleed out. Others tried to break through the circle and were ultimately killed off or impaled onto trees by the owl's hands.

While the bats were being murdered I saw in the distance two owls standing and watching, why weren't they doing anything? They had to be officers or something, why wouldn't they stop this horrible killing? And to that, I got no answer.

With that time seemed to slow, the onslaught feeling as if it was going on forever. I was scared to move from out of the bush but fear of the owls searching the surrounding area for anyone that survived pushed me to crawl out of the bush.

As I did I unfurled my wings I heard the screams stop, but they were replaced by whimpers from the bats that were hit in that massacre. I started to rise up as fast as I could and as I started to fly off I heard a yell.

"Stop!" I heard a voice cry at me, I turned back to see an owl in the distance trying to chase after me. I started to try and bolt away from the owl as fast as I possibly could but I doubted I would be able to get away.

But there was a second voice, "Stand down, Helix." I didn't look back but I kept flying away as I heard the second voice speak once more, "Let them tell the others about this. This will be an example of what happens when you turn away from the law and the natural order."

I flew on for as long as I could, and I was becoming exhausted. I looked around at my surroundings for a minute and flew onto a tree to rest for a moment. I was still in the forest, and it was quiet.

I appreciated the quiet but I also hated it, after hearing the screams of all those innocents it was horrible hearing the silence. After a while, I looked around and listened for anything to interrupt the horrible silence.

For a while, all I heard was the wind blowing past me and stabbing into my fur. But soon after I heard the sound of wingbeats. For a moment I thought of the horrors the last time I followed the wingbeats but I was desperate for anyone currently, all the death and violence here was getting to me.

So I unfurled my wings and flew towards the sound, I tried to keep my distance in case it was one of those owls and I had to fly away. But relief fell over me as I spotted two bats, I landed up in a tree and looked at them as they perched on another tree.

I saw that one had silver fur and was smaller than the other which had bright fur… My heart sank for a moment, did this bat escape from that massacre? They couldn't have, those owls blocked all of the exits.

My thoughts were confused but I pushed them all away as I began to yell to the pair, "Hello!" I yelled out to them turning to look up at me, I waved at them as I finally began to fly down towards the pair of bats.

Authors note:

That took some time but that chapter is over, yay. Anyways, have a nice day or night.