Bird of Night

A long time ago there once lived a young brilliant witch-doctor. She assisted dozens of lives in her homeland by using resourceful skills with rare herbs and ritualistic potions. One day, she woke up and realized she could use her power for the better to help and study folks across the lands. Thus she then traveled thousands of miles from her far away home arriving in a new rural town. She sought to bring nothing more but peace and healing to the town.

But no matter how hard the doctor tried to make a living each day out, whispers, rumors, and lies of skeptical townsfolk grew like wildfire and quickly became too overbearing. No one would dare to even want to glance upon the Witch Doctor’s shop. Promptly, the doctor was forced to evacuate her downtown shop to become distant from the market square. After packing up all of her assets and proceeding past the outskirts of town she trudged past fields with dark thigh-high grass and coiling dead trees.

In the distance, she came across an old abandoned rustic barn.

There wasn't a sight of anyone nor anything until a series of small weak hoots croaking from the corner of the structure, muffled by piles of hay. The doctor made her way through cobwebs and dust and brushed through the poking straw till a small fawn feathery gure appeared, an Owl. The bird’s eyes were nearly sealed with goop, its trembling wings were frail while his head was as rigid as a board. The poor little creature was on the verge of death itself. The Witch-Doctor rummaged in her medical baggage taking special herbs mixed in with colorful potions. The doctor delicately approached the bird with a spoonful of healing sap. “Here, now you may see and hear miles away. You may most especially fly silently into the night as well,” the Doctor pronounced.

The owl consumed the substance. In a matter of moments, the helpless bird's crumpled wings sprouted round and flapped full of flight. Its squinty eyes gleamed like two full gold moons and its heart of a head nearly rotated to face its rescuer. The great and soaring Owl was truly grateful, to say the least. Not only a companion now but also the doctor’s helper to retrieve whatever supplies she may have needed from the town. They were an adequate team, the healer now learned to work alone amongst nature and everything went with ease for the two a good while.

One day, the Owl flew into town searching for small mice to eat for lunch, however, the bird made a devastating discovery. It spotted some unsightly rodents scurrying along with the town’s shadows and sneaking into various citizens’ homes. Unbeknownst to the town yet, there was an oncoming plague delivered by a raid of infectious rats. It only had been a couple of days and several townsfolk were already extremely ill and were becoming bedridden.

The owl glided back to its master’s shoulder to reveal to her everything that it beheld. The Doctor agonized, knowing there was a matter of time before the whole village was wiped out. She immediately began to work on a cure for the horrid plague. She labored all day and night until at last, she’d created a miracle medicine that was strong enough to save the suffering folks. It was a duplicate treatment that had rehabilitated her companion owl to life but more added powerful ingredients. Unfortunately, there was only a small quantity, enough for a handful of sick people.

The Doctor instructed the Owl to fly as quickly as it could to keep on checking just how many feeble people needed the forthcoming treatment. From the Townsquare, a young man caught a glimpse of the wondrous bird flying in spirals around in the sky above all the houses. The man picked up one of the Owl’s beige feathers from the ground with suspicion. A mob was formed and followed a trail of loose feathers outlying out of town where no one ever went before.

There, from a distance, the townsfolk could see a glimpse of the Witch Doctor frantically performing to put the finishing touches on the cure in the barn. The individuals all furious, at once came to the conclusion that how numerous people became infected in the village was all because that malicious doctor wanted to eradicate them all.

The enraged pack fled across to invade the aged barn and the Doctor and all of her belongings became trampled on. Ultimately, the Witch Doctor herself became infected as well, by all the overwhelmingly diseased citizens before she could do anything to help herself or anyone else.

The Owl swiftly plunges in and his beak snatched up the sole cure just in time before it could be ruined by the storm. The bird distressingly glances at the mob and then back to its close companion.

With much forlorn, The Owl determines to treat the sickened citizens and its faithful partner sorrowfully perishes on. The citizens are saved and go back to the village with varied talk about the mysterious bird and if it really did heal them or not. From the fateful day forward, the Owl glided far away into the dark night, voyaging alone whenever the breeze took it. There were still many who mistrusted the creature. Nonetheless, the mystical Owl seeks out each and every night to select certain beings it believes are worthy of its healing and protection.