The Owl's Decision

The cold crisp air bit at my feathers, as I flew through the night. The moon, a guiding light above the dark trees of the ebony forest, brought her glowing friendship as per usual. It has always been the same passing events everyday; during the sunlight hours, I rest in a hollow of an old warn barn and throughout the starlight hours, I fly through the inky dark night under the sultry moon.

However, three nights ago as I flew through the bitter cold, something changed. My feathers ruffled in an unusual way, my heart beat faster, the blood in my veins felt like fire, my thoughts were cloudy, my eyes blurred and eventually I collapsed out of the sky. Sometime later, I awoke, thankfully still alive, my bones aching, my feathers tattered and my brain clouded. Everything in me screamed to get up from the frosted ground, away from the terrors of the world, so I quickly stumble-flew back to the warmth and safety of my hollow.

Trying to put the weirdo events outta my mind, and willing normal back into my life, I went back to my daily owlish routine; rest, eat, fly, rest, eat, fly. But then, I felt it again, the difference. The freaky of exactly what I did not want to happen, the weirdo returning. Those strange sensations of feeling myself falling into darkness, without a plan or a prayer. Luckily, my stubborn steak is on fire these days, and I just decided to simply refuse to to put myself in harms way again. I fought the urge to fall pretty darn hard, feeling my face turn red from sheer dissention, but it was simply just too powerful. As I started swirling again from the night sky, I did feel something new, a sense of calm rush over me. Landing with a thump in the middle of the woods, felt more like a warm dream than a dark nightmare. I shook the leaves from my feathers, rattled my head and blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. As if she was ascending from the heavens, a girl with bright red curly hair, shiny silver eyes, pale skin dotted with freckles and an ashen dress that hung from her small frame, just appeared. Yes, that's right, just appeared, outta nowhere.

She spoke in a voice that sounded of wind chimes and said, “ hello young one, I am the goddess of the moon, and my soul name is Hari. I have guarded the world over thousands of years, and I am heart broken by how cold hearted the humans can be. The sorrow I have seen on the earth and among the people, must end, and you are going to help me! I grew weary of it all, so I sent a star in the shape of a hare that could shapeshift into a human at will, to help the parts of the earth that have fallen victim to the coldhearted ones. However, after only three days of struggle, she was taken by a group of especially cruel humans, the ones I have deemed the Firebringers. So now to you dear owl. You must stop them. I need you to go and save my star from the firebringers immediately. If the star does not return to me in the next two weeks, she will fade into the gray unknown and bring eternal darkness. You must start by finding a sage who goes by the moniker of Shariesh, he will help you get started,” and as she ended her sentence, she began to fade.

I immediately shouted, “NO! wait, you have to come back. I don't want this. I have to return to my home where I'm safe, not fly off on some crazy adventure. I'm an owl for goddess sake, I dont have the ability to save her, please!” Then I think I passed out, unconscious, praying for death to come instead of this quest.

When I awoke, I felt different. I remembered the goddess Hari, but it felt foggy, like a dreamy state of, huh? As I brought my wing up to my face I noticed it was no longer a wing, but a human HAND!! Fear coarsed through me and I lept to my feet. YES, FEET. Human feet, not my long talens that could kill a mouse in seconds, bizzare human feet with 10 toes. I looked down and I was clad in a earthy green dress and on the ground where I had been lying, was a leather bag. I clumsily nelt down and opened the bag, the contents of which were not only confusing, but disturbing. I mean, not more disturbing than the fact that now I had hands and feet, but a close second. Inside the bag was a loaf of bread. BREAD. I am an owl, I eat small rodents, not bread! There was also a flask of water and a map of the country with a little note saying:

Sorry for knocking you out, but it was for a good cause. You will find the sage in the Marigold Village. Don't worry, you will be able to turn back into an owl once you complete your task. It's just a little insurance, for you seem like a stubborn bird, so I gave you a human body. No need to thank me, afterall, you might end up liking human life. After you find Shariesh, an X will appear on the map and as they say, ‘X marks the spot’, good luck little owl, you're gonna need it.

With Love,

Hari

I began cursing my horrid luck for drawing the eyes of this particularly intrusive goddess, and 'Marigold Village'? Where exactly is that? How do I get there if I can't fly? Gahhh. I started to clench my wings, I mean hands, and just began to breathe. I knew if I wanted to go back to my home hollow, I would first have to do this. I started to walk through the trees hoping that I would be able to find this flower village, when I came upon a lake. A water spot I knew very well, Obsidian Lake, one of the four wonders of the Ebony Forest. The water shone like sapphires in the morning light and its beauty somehow looked more astouding as a human, than when I was an owl. I made my way to the edge of the lake, scared to look at my human reflection, not sure who I was going to be looking at. Gone were my midnight black eyes and in their place, were bright silver eyes, the same as Hari. At least my new goddess eyes went well with my tanned skin and long ivory hair that flowed down my back in waves. But still, I hated this, why was this happening to me? Why did I have to endure this life transformation, when just yesterday I was living my peaceful owlish life. Not only am I unfit to do this, how could she put someone's life in the hands of such a clumsy, useless bird like me. As I gazed at my reflection, questioning everything in the known universe, tears started to slowly roll down my cheeks. The self loathing felt like it would swallow me whole when suddenly water flew through the air and completely drenched me.

“What the hell?" I muttered as I glanced around trying to find the source of the mini tidal wave, when I saw a boy standing at the tree line with his hands raised.

“Oh no I'm so sorry, I was just trying to make a little rain cloud over you, cause you know the thing where if people are crying in the rain, they feel less alone, but then the spell got messed up cause I lost my concentration and.. oh sorry, I tend to ramble a lot." As he stumbled over his words, I just looked at him like he was crazy which I'm about 72% sure he was. “Oh my oak, I'm sorry for rambling. I'll just go and leave you in peace.” As this little boy finished vomitting words at me, what he said finally registered in my new brain, which was, he was attempting a spell over me, another , 'huh' moment. These were starting to feel more and more normal, my what the eff moments, so I decided to just scramble to my feet, wipe away the tear streaks from my cheeks and move my human body forward.

“Wait please, I need your help” I pleaded with the boy.

He turned and I got a good look at him. He had soft caramel hair, chocolate brown eyes and sunkissed skin. He wore a sky blue cloak over a white shirt and brown pants.

“Well, I can help you, what do you need?” he questioned.

“I need to find a sage called Shariesh. I was told he could help me,” I said.

“You're looking for Shariesh?” I nodded yes and then he claimed, “he's my master and I can take you to him if you want”.

“Thank you so much, you have no idea how much you're doing for me, really, thank you”. I then let out a breath of relief.

We traveled for so long, the sun was starting to set when we finally came to a valley, and in that valley, was a small village surrounded by marigolds. Unbelieveable fields and fields of these glorious flowers, and with the sun setting behind the vibrant green hills, it turned the whole valley golden. It was the absolute most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Maybe Hari was right, maybe I would like being human afterall.

My traveling companion said, “It's my favorite view, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, something I won't ever forget no matter how many times I see it." when he siad it, I knew he truly meant it.

When we finally made it to the cottage where the Sage lived, I saw an old man on the porch in a chair drinking some kind of orage drink concoction . “Shay, go inside, I need to speak with the young girl," he said in a very commanding voice. The boy whose name I just learned was Shay gave me an apologetic look and rushed inside the house. “I'm sorry” the old man said, drawing my attention from where Shay had gone, “for what the goddess did to you, but I need to ask you a question, and you have to think hard before you answer. Are you really sure you are capable of doing the task she intrusted to you?” he asked.

I immediately froze. How could one question dive so deeply into my fear and insecurity? Luckily, my mantra kicked in quickly and I was back to saying over and over again in my head, "No, I won't fall prey to this fear, and I WILL NOT give up. I will save the star."

And when I said that to myself, I meant it, and that is when my adventure truly began.