Well, you guys are lucky! I've got writers block on several stories and, therefore, this one is being updated! I'm happy to say that this story has been accepted by you all, and I hope that more will come to enjoy it. Thank you.

St33lStrif3~ I'm glad you liked this and here's that MORE you wanted!

It was daylight, the time for sleep. The hallows that lead out of the tree, or were positioned near the surface of the think trunk, were swathed in sunlight. For Soren's family, this was normal, at least since joining the Guardians at the Great Tree.

Before, the family had chosen a fir tree to spend their time in at night. The branches of this tree stretched high and clusters of dark green, needle-like leaves draped over these. The needle covered branches were dispersed at different points and angles to make a think canopy above them. But that was gone, and now all they had to protect them from the sun was the shadows scattered at intervals across the hollow.

Eglantine, pressed up against her mother's side, was sleeping in one of these shadows. She tried to almost disappear into her mother's tawny brown feathers as she dreamt.

xXx

She was flying in mists that clung to her wings and feathers. She, at first thought it wonderful, that is, until she realized that she could not be flying, as she had yet to gain the feathers needed for flight. She felt frightened for a moment, before realizing that somehow, miraculously, she was fully fledged. She took in her surroundings then, and became panicked once more.

The trees were white, Birch Trees, and ghostly as they stood there. Not a single sound was in the wind, not even that of her own breathing. The owl found herself gliding across a powerful wind, pushing her forward and away from the darker parts of the forest. Now, she was heading towards what looked to be sunlight, like that of what she had been awake in at St. Aegolius.

And it was St. Aegolius that she was heading for.

The crags and spikes of brown, sometimes blood stained rock were a sight she hadn't wished to see ever again. For it was where Kludd, her own brother, and Nyra had kept her. At first she didn't think that it was so bad, despite Kludd's talk of how weak Soren was. In fact, she had almost enjoyed being with her brother all by herself. It wasn't until they moonblinked her that she saw what it had truly been. She wished to never go back to those dark days.

But now she was.

The unnatural wind was pulling her into the depths of the academy, the place she had been moonblinked and forced to cheer for Metal Beak before the war that had killed him. Then, dozens of owls had been gathered, clicking clawed talons against the stone in some, almost hypnotic, rhythm. Now, it was empty. The great perch that Metal Beak had stood on was the only thing that seemed familiar and frightening to her. Other than that, it was just an empty room. There was no terror, no calls for other owls' blood, no ghastly speeches, it was just… empty.

Or so Eglantine thought, as just that moment an almost pure white barn owl swooped in, with none other than Kludd at her side. The female's clawed talons clicked menacingly on the stone as she landed, glinting off the sunlight dripping through the carved stone.

The Barn Owl's face was pure white, not a feather out of place, not a scratch touched it. For Eglantine, it felt as if she was staring at the moon itself, and it was trying to moonblink her back. But instead, she tipped her head downward and Eglantine saw, for the first time, what looked like fresh blood rimming her face and dripping down its middle toward her beak. If she hadn't been so scared, this might have even seemed pretty to her.

But the cold, glinting, green rimmed amber eyes were enough to push that thought away. They, too, were beautiful and might have made Eglantine forget her worries if not for the bloodlust behind them. The owl then stretched her wings to their full extent in an almost welcoming gesture. They, too, were white other than a slight dusting of tawny feathers and pink tips. She spoke, "Eglantine, thine soul, why so scared? You are one of us, as you've been marked as one of us from thine start."

Eglantine blinked. Why was the owl that had captured her speaking so strangely? And why was Kludd standing here? Soren and all the other Guardians said he was dead.

Kludd stepped forward. He looked almost exactly like Soren, but with darker feathers and a tuft of feathers at the top of his head that were tinted red. Now, too, he had a wing that was slightly crooked and scars streaking across his white, heat-shaped face.

"Eglantine, what's the matter?" Kludd said softly and, almost, sweetly. "You look like you have seen a ghost. Or is it that the Guardians said I was dead just to keep you from our side?"

Eglantine let out a gasp, "Why would Soren do that?"

"Oh, just to keep thine away from the Pure Ones higher logic," the other owl answered. For the first time, Eglantine recognized her. She was Nyra.

"Yes, sister," Kludd agreed, "that is the truth. The Guardians have been feeding you lies. Pure Ones will reign supreme and the Guardians will fall. That is how it has been since Nyra has created this academy. That is how it was meant to be."

"But y-you moonb-b-blinked me," Eglantine stuttered.

Kludd and Nyra cast each other glares. "Oh, Eglantine," Kludd said with a snarl embedded in his voice, "it had to be done. It was one of the sacrifices we all have to make to join the Pure Ones."

Eglantine stepped back, she didn't believe it. Had her brother gone completely mad? She remembered him as kind, even when he was fighting Soren. Of course, she hadn't been there for that. Perhaps she might have had other thoughts if she had. "I don't want to j-join P-P-Pure Ones s-side."

Nyra stretched her wings higher, her eyes like burning embers, but she kept her voice calm. "You need not join now. But it will happen, because the Guardians are liars. I promise you."

She found herself repeating Nyra. "The Guardians are liars, I promise you." Then the view of her brother and Nyra vanished and she was suspended in darkness. She was back and normal, with her grey, far from flight worthy, feathers and someone was calling to her. She felt a shake and woke up.

xXx

"What did you say, Eglantine?" Soren asked, holding her, as she was trembling. He was worried; his sister of all owls very rarely had daymares. "Are you okay?"

Eglantine's eyes were wide open but vacant for a few seconds. She blinked, once, twice, and was fully conscious. "Soren? Why are you waking me up? I was having the most wonderful dream."

Soren was taken aback, "You were yelling something about Guardians and promises, you were trembling like a leaf in a hurricane, how can you say you were having a wonderful dream?"

"Soren, it was Kludd. He was there, and he was being nice to me." Soren wanted to question her but by the time he had formed words, his sister was already asleep.