Chapter 6: Practice

(Tyler's P.O.V.)

We had been heading to my camp for a total of 15 minutes, it had taken so long since I had to climb over many rocks or around the tree roots… which are massive… and also I was a little sore from my fall off of the tree branch. As I was climbing over a particularly large rock, I saw my camp not too far away, alone with an owl holding an armor suit next to the fire pit. I told Soren, "Go ahead. I'll meet you guys there."

The camp was left the way it was when I was first going to the dining pavilion, but the mist from the waves was still enough to dampen everything I had left out of my 'tent'. I had just started to enter my camp when I saw the carrier fly above and back to the inner area of the tree. Soren was standing next to Gylfie next to the armor, and Outillisa was near the fire pit, but didn't seem to notice the soot getting on her feathers.

"What are you planning to do with this armor?" Asked Soren. "It is much too small for you to wear. And I don't think you would want to get close and fight with your… knife." A gust of wind blew and swirled some of the soot onto Outillisa, and she huffed, "great…"

"If you two will move over next to Outillisa, I will show you. Me and my gun will handle the rest." I replied. I was starting to be grateful that the eggheads had insisted on giving me this assault rifle; I was going to end up needing it more that I had originally planned. As soon as Soren and Gylfie had fluttered out of the way, I lifted my gun to my shoulder and aimed down my sites, I centered the cross hairs right on the center of the armor and meant to let off just a shot, but fired three into the armor, which wouldn't do well if I needed to fight over a thousand evil owls.

I gestured them towards in as I said, "This is how I am going to help, by shooting them out of the air. I can reduce the amount the guardians need to fight so it would half their enemies, the rest… well I would have to do what Soren said, to fight them with my knife, which won't be easy. And also, how will I be able to tell which owls to shoot at?"

Gylfie spoke up, even though her voice wavered a little bit, "Trust me, you will know, either by how they fight, or what you see."

I was pondering over that as I bent down to inspect the bullet holes with them, and was glad to see what the bullets had accomplished. They had cratered the armor, and made cracks appear in the armor, and left jagged edges coming from the back. I touched the back so gently that I shouldn't have gotten hurt, but the edges still managed to draw a pinprick of blood from my finger. I quickly withdrew my finger out of view, and successfully hid my finger in the palm of my hand. "So… what do you guys wanna do now?"

(Outillisa's P.O.V.)

I was surprised what I had just seen. Our best armor, destroyed in less than a few heartbeats. As Tyler motioned us towards it, I went all the way around it, and was surprised that the bullets had not only went through the front, but also the back. I saw Tyler reach around to the back and touch the metal that stuck out from the back, and I saw a little bit of blood form on his finger. He appeared to try and hide it, but he didn't manage to trick me. I decided I would ask him about it later.

"… Do now?" Tyler asked.

Soren responded after a short pause, "We usually just talk with one another. We still have 'till day-break before the Pure Ones come around."

I was waiting for Tyler to respond, but I wasn't surprised when it was Gylfie who chose to speak up instead, and asked, "So how did you get here in the first place?"

Tyler raised his finger and said, "first, I don't remember," he looked at his finger and quickly hid it in his palm, for he had seen the blood streak covering his finger. Gylfie and Soren were looking around during his slip up and looked back at him after his pause grew noticeably long, "anddd I can only guess."

(Tyler's P.O.V.)

I made a huge mistake when I showed my finger, the blood that had looked just like a pin-drop, had actually spread out and made a huge smear all over the underside of my finger. I tucked it back in quickly, for I didn't want to worry the owls near me. Luckily none of them saw my finger, but since I didn't say anything, I'm guessing that's why they all turned to me, "anddd I can only guess." I stuttered out the last part. I felt a nervousness tie my stomach into a knot. Then I realized something that sent an ice cold feeling run down my back; Outillisa was staring at me… or more specifically, my hand.

I pulled my hand behind my back and turned my face to the side. I felt my face heating up, which never happens to me. Ever. "Uhhh. Tyler? Why is your face turning red? Is that normal for humans?" I heard Soren ask. Before he could ask any more questions, I mumbled some excuses and asked and half stated, "I should be getting some rest, and so should you, we have a big day coming up."

I started to walk to my tent and heard all of them fly away, even though it sounded like one landed shortly after. I walked up to my flight chair and sat down. I opened my palm and gasped. That metal was sharper than I had thought. The entire underside of my palm was red, but the wound had finally sealed up and stopped bleeding. I reached over to my canteen and opened it up, I was about to pour some water on my hand to wash the blood off, but I heard someone flying over to me and resealed the canteen and closed my hand to hide my blood soaked palm.

I turned to see who was flying towards me, and saw Outillisa, and I remembered how she had seen my finger. I wasn't all that surprised to see her coming over actually, I had made a mental note of her seeing my finger, and thought she would ask about it when she got the chance. When she landed, if was closer than they had usually done before, and this is what made me curious. "I saw what you hid earlier Tyler," she said slightly accusingly, "and I would like to see your finger. If it would be to get infected, it wouldn't do either you or the guardians any good in the upcoming fight."

I replied, "I only hid it because I didn't want anyone to worry, but that didn't quite work… especially when you saw it. And sure, come here, I'll show you." She slowly walked towards me, even though it was only a few owl paces away, considering how big they were in this world. As soon as she was close enough, I lowered my hand towards her and stretched out my finger for her to see. I heard her make a faint gasp, but then she looked up at my face, then back to my finger.

I saw her eyes trail up until they were at my closed off palm. She reached her wing out, but when her wing made contact with my finger, green sparks raced up my fingers to my hand, then my elbow, and to my chest. I gasped when I felt a tugging sensation around my heart. After that happened; my palm fell open and she gasped even louder. I thought she felt the sparks also, but when I looked at her, she trailed a finger up my palm, and luckily the blood had dried, or it would have stained her feathers.

Her wing left a strange tingling sensation along my palm, but I was guessing it was the sparks her wing was leaving along my palm. Her gaze turned to me and I was left breathless, her eyes showed wonder, concern, and surprise… all in one gaze. "Tyler? Are you sure you are completely alright. And are you causing these sparks," she asked all in a short sentence. I was stunned. Her gaze, mixed with the feeling of those sparks were leaving, had rendered me speechless.

"Uhh. S.. s… sure y-yea, I'm ok. W-what about you?" I managed to spit out, but only after she had removed her wing. I raised my hand and saw the blood stains gone from where the sparks had moved along my flesh. "And I don't know, I think these sparks show who someone is with their color, but only when my flesh makes contact. I should see what the King and Queens' colors' are." I finished with a small smirk.

I saw Outillisa yawn, and I guess it would be polite, since I was like her guest, "Do you want to stay down here in my little camp, I can keep watch for the pure ones if you would like. And if I spot them, I can wake you up so you can warn the guardians." I said, even if it was only an excuse. I had a tyrant of what I could guess were Outillisa's memories floating around my head. "Ok, thanks Tyler. Good light."

A few minutes later I heard her steady, calm sound of her breath. I chuckled, "I wish I could fall asleep that fast." I then tried to decipher the memories I had received from Outillisa and started to slow them down so I could study them. I then started to slow them down, but heard a noise and saw Outillisa shivering, I estimated since we are near the shoreline that is why she was cold. I walked over to her and gently picked her up so not to disturb her slumber. I then walked back over to my chair and sat down, and pulled some fabric that I had torn off the back of the flight chair around her. It was thick, so I was glad to see that she had stopped shivering, and actually cuddled into the warmth of my body. I smiled to myself and started to think of how I could be even more effective in the upcoming fight…

A.N.: OK everyone, for a sequel, I am wondering if I should make Tyler and Outillisa hook up in some way. But hear me out, in the end of this story he will have three choices or options to make that will affect his future. I'm leaning into my decision, and I will only be changed by superior reasoning, or what ariman0007 thinks, since he is my main reviewer, and to clear this up, since he was my first reviewer, and I used his username for Tyler's last name, so I ended up with 3 airmen in my story. I must say, and I'm not being modest, but my story is really good. I read some of the previous chapters and almost got stuck… and I tried to make this chapter longer than the others, I kept detail, personality, and best of all, imagination. And for everyone to know, I'm planning on two more chapters. Enjoy this while you can. Oh, and review.