(untitled) by Moon

(No stealing my story.)
Notes: The time is located before the War of the Ember and this is my second write here. Please read and comment, thanks. Enjoy!

Preface

The owlet shuddered and nudged more closer to the trunk. Above her lightning shattered across the sky, frightening her. Dark clouds covered the moon's light, allowing the owlet to see dimly in the darkness. Rain began to fall, and the already-miserable owlet shivered in the cold. She hopelessly looked into the sky and, giving the owlet a cold feeling in the gizzard, gleaming black, coal eyes were visible, even to the young owl. Wide eyed, the youngster gasped as she spotted silver claws. In the dim night, the youngster believed that this creature was the raccoon. The raccoon. The raccoon who had eaten her younger brother when he fell from the nest. And now her death was coming near. Talons were just an inch away from her, and the owlet backed away, but the trunk was in her way. As the claws reached for her, she winced and shut her eyes shut. Maybe, she thought, it's going to be a short, painless death... She waited and as she felt claws pressing into her feathers, she screeched with terror...

Chapter 1

….The baby owl felt soft feathers graze her feet. She blinked and opened her eyes. Glaumora, she thought, am I in glaumora? She looked down at herself, expecting a scar that ran through her body or dry blood. Aren’t I dead? She asked herself. Then she noticed the nest. She was sitting a nest filled with moss and downy feathers. The feathers were freshly plucked from the breast, though not her breast. Aura, she, again, questioned herself, is this glaumora? Are you even alive? Am you…a scroom? She shuddered quietly at the thought of being a scroom. She had never seen one before, but according to her older brother, he had seen one. But maybe he was lying, I mean, he always wants to scare me with stories like that. And scrooms aren’t real, she sternly told herself, but inside she was frightened that she could be a scroom right now. She looked at her wings, and hoped that they weren’t grey like a scroom’s. Nope, they weren’t. If I am not a scroom, then I must be in glaumora. Maybe I can find my little brother again. She reminded herself that her little sibling’s name was Leo, and that he was a smaller version of herself.

….When she tried to get up from her nest, she heard a chuckle nearby. She turned her head around and saw a Barn owl watching her. Aura blinked and looked at the size of the Barn owl. The humongous owl was the biggest owl she had ever seen that Aura almost fainted from the sight.

….“Oh, no, young’un,” the Barn owl said so gently that Aura couldn’t believe it came from her, “You can’t get up from your place. Aren’t you comfy there? Don’t you want to stay there?”

….“Yes,” Aura barely squeaked. And then she trembled while saying, “Am I…am I…am I in glaumora? Am I dead?”

….The other Barn owl blinked. “No, dear, you aren’t dead. You’re far, far from glaumora. Of course you’re alive.”

…. “Oh.” Aura said shortly, then blinked, too. “Then where am I? Didn’t a raccoon kill me? Where’s Mum and Da, then?” Aura rambled on about questions she had.

…. “Barny,” the owl called to Aura. Barny?! Aura screamed in her thoughts. My name is Aura!! Barny is a stupid name!! Instinctively to her young age, she stated, “I’m not Barny. My name’s Aura.” Blink. “And who are you?”

…. The giant churred. “Oh, you silly thing, (And then Aura wondered why the owl called her a ‘thing.’ I’m a living being, not an object! She once again protested.) I just called you Barny since you’re a Barn owl, the most purest of the owls. But I guess I’ll just call you Aura for now. And my name’s Rifa. I’m your caretaker for the part being.” She smiled sweetly at Aura.

…. “But…but…” Aura staggered in words, “Where are Mum and Da?”

…. Rifa sadly sighed and mist seemed to cloud her eyes. “I’m sorry, deary,” she started. “Your Mum and Da…they are gone.”

…. “Gone?!” Aura madly screeched. “What do you mean they’re gone? They’re dead? Just dead, dead?”

…. “Yes, my dear. Dead. I am so sorry, darling.”

…. Aura’s eyes turned to hardened, steel stone. “Then why have am I here?” she gravely hissed.

…. Rifa flinched at Aura's hiss, and then smiled miserably. “We brought you here because we rescued you. We brought you here to learn your best after your worst day. We’ll make you better, little Aura.”

…. Aura had to believe this. She had to believe everything after her parents’ death. “Ooh,” Aura oohed. “So what is this place?”

…. Rifa smiled evilly (but looking happily to Aura), and said proudly, “the Pure Ones.”

Chapter 2

…."Okay, I'm going to leave for today, alright, dear? If you need anything just call anyone. Good light, sweets." Rifa left to get her sleep.

….Aura sat in her nest. She didn't feel like sleeping, she felt like thinking. Like about the Pure Ones. She blinked. She had heard about these owls. Her mother...who's dead, Aura glumly thought, had warned her about these owls. Aura's mother had cautioned her about the canyon lands, for they were invested with Barn Owls. Aura's mother, Terra, had told her chicks about great stories and legends, and the Pure Ones were one of them.

…."When you owlets grow older," Terra would say, "you'll have to fly away, away, into the lands of our world. You have the chance to go anywhere you'd like, free, but dearies," and then looking at her chicks endearingly, "don't ever think of heading toward the canyon lands. They are filled with Barn owls already, who think that our kind are the purest, think that Great Glaux summoned them as who they are to rule the other species," and then she shook her head. "We might be part of their species, but they are not us. Not any kind of Barn owl anymore. They are monstrous beings, so never, ever go into the canyon lands."

…."But, Mum," Aura's youngest sister, Fillia, whined, "you said that we could go anywhere we wanted to go. So why can't we go to these Pure Ones?" Then all her siblings stared at her as if she was the dumbest creature in the world.

….Luft, Aura's oldest brother who hated all his younger sisters, rolled his eyes and sighed. "Stupid," he spat, "didn't you hear Mum? She said that they were evil owls and that they wanted to rule the world. We're not evil. We don't want them to win." But to Aura he seemed interested in the Pure Ones, and she thought that she could spot a dim spark, appearing for the first time, in Luft's eyes.

…."Mum," he continued, "can you keep talking about the Pure Ones? Are they going to rule the world?

…."No, my dear, of course they aren't. Isn't that wonderful?" Their mother sighed hopefully and looked out to the north-west. "The Guardians of Ga'Hoole, they shall win each and every battle with those nasty Pure Ones. The Pure Ones shall fall down and tumble, and with that the universe will be in balance once again."

…."Guardians of Ga'Hoole?" All the young owls piped together. They all murmured and looked at each other excitedly. They had not heard a tiny bit about some 'Ga'Hoole.'

…."Oh," Aura's mother said absentmindedly. "A bunch of strong, owls that live on the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, a legend." She sighed. "And I do hope you young'uns go to the tree...it would be such a learning experience for you all!" Terra looked at the nest floor. Her eyes grew misty as her eyes caught a glance of her mate's old, molted feathers. "Your father," she whispered, "he dreamed of getting to the Ga'Hoolian Tree. He went off on a journey, just two months before all of you were born...He said that once he found the tree, he'd bring us there. If he didn't after a week, he would return home. But...he has not returned for us or come back home..." She caught Luft's eyes and stared hard at him. "He's gone. Absolutely gone. But he's probably in glaumora, looking down at us...he'd be proud of one of you children reached the tree. I'm hoping that's where you all will be, guardians of the tree."

…....And now I'm stuck in the Ga'Hoolian owls' enemy hideout! Aura wailed in her mind. Mum and Da would be ASHAMED if they saw me now! And...and... Aura slightly wilfed. and now I'm a evil monstrous owlet!! How'd I get this way!! She whimpered softly. She sniffed, and then soon she had broken into a sob. In an hour, she cried herself to sleep.