Chapter 2: Cast Of Hawks

Arabelle's entire body aches and she feels disoriented as she half-awoke to the sound of wings fluttering and birds of prey chirping. She was finally jolted awake by a loud snap.

She found herself sprawled out on the muddy ground. Arabelle sighed and rolled her eyes at the entire section. She discovers she's inside the dead branch pile. There is darkness, and only the moonlight acts as a source of light.

Arabelle was confused as to why she was there. The sudden rustling of the branches surrounding her as if someone or something had purposefully cut them off with a sharp object was one of her wonders. Her gaze followed every crackle, and the quicker her heart pounded on twitter. She could hear a noise coming from behind, in front, on both sides, and above her. Whatever creatures were outside seemed to be surrounding her.

As the crackles abruptly stopped, Arabelle exhaled a sigh of relief. She clutched her chest and took a long breath to calm herself down. However, the crackles reappeared in less than a minute, becoming even more ferocious than previously.

"Stay away from me!" she screamed, hugging her knee in terror.

They became much more obnoxious. She could already hear a loud sound coming from its flapping wings, as well as the sound of a hungry bird.

Arabelle screamed again when a bird's claw landed on the branches behind, but she quickly stepped away before it could grab her. However, a claw from another bird appeared. More than four bird claws emerged one after the other.

The beauty was on the verge of passing out from terror of not knowing where she should go. Every side has claws ready to grab her at any time; left and right, front and back. In the middle of these claws, she was already cornered.

Her gaze was drawn upwards, a small piece of broken branch dropped from above. When she realized it, it was too late; a massive beak emerged out of nowhere, and she was almost beaked. Luckily, it didn't take her because it was more than two inches away from her head.

Arabelle gasps for air, as the monster lets go of its beak. The beauty kept her gaze locked above, expecting something would attack her again.

The maiden was so startled that a basketball-sized eye peered out of the hole where the beak had come from. She fixed her gaze on it. And she couldn't move as she examined the creature's entire shape; it turned out to be a bird, and not just any bird; it was a gigantic hawk.

The hawk attacked again with its beak at the same time Arabelle yelled. It dips its beak into the hole repeatedly. Arabelle noticed that if the attack continued, the branches would collapse at any moment. She searched the area for a route out. Fortunately, she noticed a hole on the left side, next to another bird's claw. Knowing the danger, she came up with a plan to get through it.

The beauty's snowy complexion revealed itself after she removed her filthy wither rose pink blazer. The swelling of the scars and wounds caused by the bird's claws, branches and her wound from the previous scene were visible on her skin. She crept back above, waiting for the beak to show up again. Staring nervously at the hole, Arabelle's chest pounding so much that she can't even barely hear her surroundings.

The beauty fearlessly tossed her blazer on top as the beak reappeared. It soon vanished after biting her garments along with the buried claws in the branches. She was aware that they were now enjoying her blazer, thinking it was her. Wasting no time, Arabelle crawled towards the hole to escape at the piled branches.

She successfully manages her way out, she stands up as soon as possible despite the fact that she was fully covered in scratches and dirt. She turned around and saw the five massive hawks pecking all over her blazer; they were now starting to fight with one another. Shivering in terror, the maiden forced herself to move her legs running away from this cast of hawks.

Her body was exhausted, and her mind was perplexed. Arabelle had no idea where she was on this earth. She simply followed her feet where it would take her. She looked around for someone who could help her but all she saw were trees, trees that appeared to be sick because they just had branches and no leaves. The beauty recognized that the woodland was frightening, it was completely dark, with only the moonlight providing luminance.

"Ugh!" she moaned in pain as she fell, after accidently touching the tree's protruding root with her foot. She clutched her hands together and sobbed uncontrollably. Fear, despair, and longing are all there in the maiden's mind. She begins to pity herself as she feels cast aside by the world. So many bad things were happening to her: her parents were slaughtered, she was nearly killed twice, she was absorbed in this place, she was chased by those ravenous birds, and she was now lying on the ground. Her wailing was followed by the sky. She decided to stop crying and stand up after dumping everything out. In the rain, her hair and clothes were both soaked.

Arabelle brushed the mud off from her arms and clothing. She was about to run when something unexpected fell from the sky. Her entire body stiffened as her previously used blazer was now torn. Simultaneously with the force of the rain, the sky also released a very strong and bright lightning and made her eyes widened as she noticed the massive bird-shaped shadow wrapping itself around her from behind.

The bird suddenly made a disturbance sound, leading the beauty to turn around and look behind her. The bird was going to attack her when another hawk emerged out of nowhere and whisked her away.

As she regained consciousness. She discovered herself dangling from the claw of a bird. She was also overwhelmed by the height of her current position. Despite her fear of heights, she forced herself to free herself from its claws.

The bird, who had been glancing at her while flying, said, "Food."

She was terrified when she looked at it. The maiden couldn't believe it could speak.

"You're just mine!" it exclaimed, making a loud bird noise.

She screamed in terror when suddenly another hawk attack the predatory bird, causing it to release her and fall, but then a beak caught Arabelle. The woman thought she was already safe on the verge of death, but she was suddenly tossed up as if she were a seal thrown by an orca, while the bird's beak was open, waiting for her to fall directly into its mouth.

She screamed. The beauty kept falling into the dead hungry bird's beak. But before she could be eaten by the bird another hawk took her again.

She appeared to be scrambled and passed around like a ball. Her predicament had already made her dizzy. To free herself from those creatures, she stretched for a tree branch and gave herself such high hopes through it. Arabelle refused to release the grip of the branch, despite the hawk's tremendous tug. Blood was also streaming from her arm, which had been buried beneath her skin by its claws. The woman was already in pain, but she remained unfazed and refused to release her grip on the branch.

Unfortunately, all of her efforts were for naught since the branch abruptly snapped. The hawk mocked her.

"Do you think you'll be able to get away from me?" the creature boasts. "I'm the strongest in our cast, even if you keep on raging you still can't escape," he added.

Arabelle became silent as the hawk spoke, she admitted she was really weak. And so she stopped fighting back, making the hawk overjoyed.

"That's right," it stated.

"I'm not as strong as you," she murmured to herself.

The hawk didn't hear it clearly due to the sound of air, "What?" the creature inquired.

"Yes, you are stronger..." she paused herself, and the bird seemed pleased with what she said.

"However," Arabelle spoke before hanging up, the bird frowned as it flew.

"You're the most stupid among your cast!" she exclaimed as she planted the broken piece of branch she had hidden at one of its feet. The bird let out a loud and agonizing squawk. She was released and continued to fall. The maiden falls directly into the trees.

Arabelle groaned in pain as she dropped through the branches. The woman clung to every tree branch she came into contact with before collapsing to the ground. Her entire body was riddled with wounds. Despite being weak and fatigued, she attempted to strengthen herself. Arabelle's pants and sleeveless top were ripped and bloodstained.

She was also hesitant to walk and she just wanted to take a rest. She heard the hawks arrive again, the beauty merely knelt in despair and closed her eyes as tears flowed down her face.

"Please... Someone help me," she pleaded. And kept her eyes closed, even though she wanted to run she didn't have the strength to do that.

"Over here!" a sudden voice said.

Arabelle blinked open her eyes, looking for the source of the voice.

"Hurry! They're coming!" the unknown voice proclaimed.

She tracked down the source of the voice, which came from a hole beneath a tree. Such was her surprise when she discovered a pair of wide eyes inside the hole, the size of a frying pan.

"Are you expecting to stay up all night? What are you waiting for? They've already here!" the mystery creature shouted.

When the maiden switched her gaze to the skies, one of the hawks swooped down, intending to snare her again.

Arabelle stepped up and jumped inside the hole, despite her doubts. Fortunately, the hawk did not track her down. The maiden, on the other hand, never stops falling into a dark abyss. She only came to a halt when she collided with the back of a feathered creature. She took a step back, scared.

"Don't be afraid," the creature whispered quietly before turning to face her and lighting a torch with the lighter in its beak. "This is the torch," it said as it handed the torch to her. "You'll need it, especially since we have a long way to go in this dark tunnel."

The creature in front of her stunned the beauty. The bird simply extended her hand and handed the torch across. It has already begun its journey down the tunnel. So Arabelle decides to follow it, but still looking at the bird's features. It has a huge flat-topped head with no ear tufts, long legs, a compact feathered body, and a short tail. It has sulfur-yellow sparkling wide eyes with white eyebrows, giving the bird a frowning look. The upper feathers are white with brown speckles, whereas the lower feathers are white with brown streaks. It's around 4 feet tall and has a greyish-green bill.

Arabelle was calmly following the creature as it murmured incomprehensible words to her. They'd been traveling for a while, so she just gazed around at everything to get rid of the nagging feeling; all she could see were tree roots and small insects.

"Where are we going?" Arabelle suddenly asks.

She came into halt when the creature stopped and collided with her.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," the creature admitted and faced her.

"My name is Ulula, and as you can see I'm a little owl," she said as she walked away from her. Arabelle frowned since it did not answer her question.

"Don't worry, I'll take you to the place where I know you'll be safe," Ulula stated, as she stopped and removed the vines that were blocking on their path.

"Here we are!" Ulula exclaimed cheerfully.

"Welcome to Asio Flammeus' kingdom, Priestess." And ushered Arabelle out of the tunnel.

"Priestess?" was her only response, after seeing the kingdom's overall appearance.