Bird Eyes || Tomtord

Hunting

He had spent a few days mastering flight, and it wasn't easy. Flapping his wings enough to get him to go straight up took a lot of work, but he came to the conclusion that once he had momentum, things would go a lot more smoothly. He had seen plenty of birds fly before, and they had just glided through the air with ease. He was sure that he would too.

His siblings were given courage by him and took it upon themselves to attempt flight as well. One had slowly flailed to the ground, beating its wings ineffectively into the surround. Luckily, it had made its way back up to the nest, only it took an hour. Tord watched the unsuccessful attempt in pity and humour. It was kind of funny to him, who was able to fly.

Then, his mother just stopped feeding him as much, even if he and his siblings cawed at her for hours. He had been the first to spitefully leave the nest in search of food, and believed that his siblings weren't going to come with. He had taken it upon himself to look for food for them and himself.

As quietly as possible, he cut through the night. For the most part, instinct took hold and told him what he had to do. Landing softly on a branch, he looked out into the night. He could easily see the dirty ground through thedarkness and the  branches that jutted out of the trees like arms, clawing at him, trying to reach out but not able to grasp anything.

He sat there in wait for any sign of life. A rustle of leaves, a stir of soil, listening, watching, waiting. His body became tense and relaxed and tense again as the wind shook the twigs around him. His eyes were everywhere, forcing him to repeatedly move his head, as his eyes just wouldn't move. A moment passed where everything was still, then he heard a chittering sound.

A small squirrel or chipmunk or something was making a light amount of noise, giving away its position. Tord lowered his body and peered at the creature, ready to dive and attack it with his claws as instinct told him. He waited. It waited. Then it looked around, as if it could feel his glare piercing through its small body.

The bird then fell forwards, swooping down the critter. Time slowed and he could only see the small mammal below him. It looked at him, finally noticing, but it was far too late. It just watched with wide, dark eyes as the owl bore down on it. Fight or flight didn't even get a chance to come into its mind before Tord's talons wrapped around it, tearing its skin. Poking and stabbing into the flesh as it's fur turned red.

Tord flapped his wings violently upwards, having swooped at an angle so steep. He flew back up and latched onto a branch, the creature still under his talon, crushing it. He lifted his leg and let the body balance on the branch. It was dead, he could clearly tell, and a chipmunk. He pecked at it slightly, gnawing on the flesh and meat for a time.

After his fill, he took the rest of the body back to the nest, where his siblings gleefully tore it up and fought over bits.

His siblings did learn how to hunt for themselves, one by one. It was cute to him. He was watching them grow up. In his old life, he was without siblings and all of his friends could take care of themselves. It was nice to have beings that he could care for. Maybe that was what made him the coldblooded killer that he was.

Never once did his siblings bring food back to him, because they couldn't feel the same way Tord could. They were never human. If they were, it was long ago, all connection to human intelligence was lost. He had done something out of his own compassion, not instinct, to help his three siblings.

Then one day there were only two. One of his siblings had up and left, supposedly for food, and never came back. Tord believed that it was because it had truly left the nest and wasn't coming back. He shamed all thoughts of it being attacked while hunting. He couldn't stand them.

That happening, though, had made him realize that he needed to leave. He needed to go find Tom. He needed to go care for Tom. Even though he wanted to, he knew that he couldn't stay, just as he knew that his siblings wouldn't follow him.

He stepped out of the nest and cawed to his family. They cawed back, possibly knowing that he wasn't coming back, possibly expecting him to bring back food. Either way, he was going.

Going to find his Tom.