Luho had never been much of an avid flier. Sure, he would glide here and there. Sure, he would flap up to things he had difficulties reaching. Ultimately, he’d been trying his best to stay away from the sky. Their previous encounter ended with the crunch of mangled wings. However… After they both healed perfectly and he could resume the usual owl activities, one activity remained shunned. Nature granted the owl wings for a reason, right? His flight-deprived thoughts kept jabbing at his side like a titanium twig.

“Learn to fly, birdbrain.”
“Hey, nice functional wings you got there. Would surely be a shame if you WASTED THEIR PURPOSE, HM?”

It was about time he soared out of his comfort zone, wasn’t it? In every way, yes. The scrawny owl boy discarded his jacket and fluffed out his wings like a pair of pillows. Eventually, he made his hesitant way to a rather secluded part of the woodsy village. There were barely any roamers besides the falling autumn leaves. It was time… It was time he spread his wings to their full 9-foot span. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. He squinted his large eyes and crouched down.
With a single and powerful leap and flap, the bird(man) felt himself become weightless as a feather. The ground strayed away from his talons. Better yet, he strayed away from the ground. He was doing it! After more than a year of shaggy feathers and stiff joints, he missed the taste of the clouds against his nares. The gracefully chaotic drafts of air surfing under his wings. The dampened symphony of whistles whipping past his asymmetrical ears. The view.
Within seconds, all of his concerns and “but what if’s,” were left marinating on the surface with his jacket. It was all coming back to his fragile mind like a childhood home. Caught in an adrenaline-rushed trance, the night-raptor was suddenly dozens of meters airborne. Hundreds. Thousands. He didn’t go with his brain, nor his heart. He let his wings guide him upwards and forwards. Sidewards and upside-downwards. During this, he found himself momentarily lost. Both in his psyche and navigation. Not in the panic-inducing way, but rather… In the liberating way. The independent way.
Alas, the avian came to his senses once met with the jarring change of air pressure. Below him was a view he strangely missed. Hundreds of microscopic structures, where surface-folk dwelled at night. Thousands of strange green lumps, which he recently learned were called ‘trees.’ Below the owl was an artwork he underestimated from afar.
‘What now?’ a small voice pondered in his head, gazing down upon the eagle-owl’s-eye view. The liftoff wasn’t the tedious part. It was the touchdown. Finding a safe place, let alone method, to land. Amongst everything else on his mind, this was the least of his worries. Birds tend to be good with directions. Landmarks would act as magnets to his inner compass. For once, he trusted his wings. For once again, he took to the skies.

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Originally, I finished this in 2019 at the start of November. I was 16 and had JUST joined the fandom. After a tedious and picky process of finding artist after artist for this ambitious cover art, I finally came across Arei Calysth. They've quickly become one of my favorite artists, and I still cannot thank them enough for this gorgeous piece (and putting up with me)! What better time to upload my first release than Luho's canonical birthday?

Stems can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11WbRfGlfX7Wyq-VMxILuQrWVA0my445J?usp=sharing

Support the cover artist!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Sykeyjama
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