The Children of Destiny

Chapter 10 - Saved By An Elf

A few days later, Roxie and I had been wandering through the desert for a while, unable to find much food or water. I'd find the occasional animal that we could kill for food, but Roxie and I were both either too tired or too hungry to fight anything. I'd also been unable to find Starling tribe's main village. I knew it had been hidden ever since the war started so that it would be harder to attack them, but I never thought they'd hidden it so well that I wouldn't be able to find it at all.

I felt so weak that I could barely stand on my own. The heat hadn't done me any favors, either. Every night, I failed to find a proper place to shelter and we ended up sleeping restlessly out in the middle of nowhere, fearing that something might jump out of nowhere and attack while we were vulnerable. As a result, we rarely ever got any sleep, which made everything even worse.

I knew that if one of us had to survive, it would be Roxie, so I ended up giving her every scrap of food I had and giving her as much water as she needed while not eating or drinking much myself. I knew full well that I could just be replaced if I died, but I'd never be able to forgive myself if Roxie died instead of me.

She has to survive this, no matter what. I'll make sure of that.

While we walked, I felt my legs shaking and was getting more and more tired. Suddenly, my legs were lifted off the ground and I heard Roxie yelp in surprise as the ground got further and further away. I looked up to see a female owl carrying me with her talons stabbing into my sides. I was too sleep-deprived to notice the pain though, and just accepted my fate. I closed my eyes and went limp, allowing the owl to carry me wherever it was she was going.

Probably to her nest to feed me to her babies...

I listened as Roxie's desperate barking sounded further and further as I went higher and higher in the air. Then, out of nowhere, the owl screeched in pain and I was no longer flying with her. I was falling.

Some hunter probably shot her, or something...

I knew either way that I was probably going to die from the impact on the ground. But, just as I was giving up on trying to find a way to cushion my fall, my descent gradually slowed until I was falling as slowly as a feather. I finally landed on something and slightly opened my eyes to see what it was. But, that was the exact moment when all the blood I'd lost from the wounds on my side from the owl's talons started to take a toll on me, and I was starting to go unconscious. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the worried blue eyes of a black-haired boy with his hair tied up in a short ponytail...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my dreamland, I was lying down beside someone and stargazing. I looked beside me to see the black-haired boy I'd seen before I blacked out. This time, though, I saw him clearly. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt with white stripes, sky blue shorts with what looked like clouds scattered around them, and a dark blue necktie. He also wore aviator goggles, but not over his eyes. They were just kind of there. There was some sort of black substance splattered on his cheeks and in a few other places on his body. There was plenty of it on his clothes, too.

He glanced over at me curiously before scooting closer to me and rolling over so his arm was lying across my chest. It was almost like we hadn't just met a few moments ago. Like we'd known each other for years. For whatever reason, I didn't feel the need to push him away. Instead, I hesitantly put my hand on his and he chuckled.

"Looks like someone's nervous!" the boy taunted in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, shut up," I hissed. "You're the one who started cuddling with me out of nowhere. How was I supposed to react?"