Cream Lain
The Sacred Orb...
His earliest memory was of a great source of filtered light, amid the dark ocean in which he floated in. He could hear noises outside, where the source of the brightness was, and sometimes felt the urge to rock towards it. The Voice was both terrible and comforting, but he liked it best when it was soft, singing him the sweetest of tunes...the other times, the Voice was cruel, sharp, and harsh, striking a cold fear into his fluttering heart...In a world long untouched by human hands, owls had arisen to fill the humans' old roles. Several kingdoms were founded - Tyto, Ambala, Kuneer, Silverveil, the Shadow Forest, and the Northern Kingdoms - but the greatest of all of them was Ga'Hoole. Centered on an island in the middle of the vast Sea of Hoolemere, in the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, the kingdom, founded by the great King Hoole, was home to a powerful order.
Legend told of this band of noble warriors...known as the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Whenever trouble was at hand, many would seek them out. For they were sworn to protect the innocent, and vanquish evil...
However, there arose a mighty threat to the Guardians' reign of peace.
The Pure Ones, led by the High Tyto Kludd and his mate most Pure, Nyra, were a faction of Barn Owls who believed that they alone were fit to rule all of the kingdoms. They waged war against the Guardians, seeking to "purify" the rest of the owl realms, and enslave all those not of Tyto. Above all, they prized pure Barn Owls, Tyto alba, and revered their leader, the High Tyto Kludd, and worshiped him and his mate, Nyra, as living gods.
After a long and harsh war, and several brutal skirmishes, the Pure Ones faced a horrific defeat in the Battle of Fire and Ice. The High Tyto Kludd was murdered by Twilight, a Guardian and an "impure" owl, after Kludd nearly slew Soren, his own brother and a Guardian. For many days and nights, a silent vigil was held as Kludd's body was retrieved, and Her Pureness Nyra took charge as the dreaded "General Ma'am". From then on forth, Nyra ordered that it be considered that Soren, not Twilight, had murdered Kludd. On her life, Nyra sore that she would exact vengeance on Kludd's "traitorous" brother.
All hope was not lost for the Pure Ones, however. Before Kludd had been slain, Nyra had laid a single, luminous egg, which the Pure Ones revered as "the Sacred Orb".
Soon after their loss, and under the night of a lunar eclipse, the Scared Orb hatched...
Nyroc, son of the most Pure...
From the shell of the Sacred Orb came forth a male chick...the first, and only, son of Kludd and Nyra. In the sacred, ancient tradition of revering the moon god and goddess, and the magical abilities they blessed upon those hatched under a lunar eclipse, Nyra christened her son "Nyroc".Above all, Nyra swore to raise Nyroc as Kludd was, and to teach the hatchling to hate...and through it, gain terrible, cruel power.
Merely a few months after his hatching, Nyroc soon showed the strong promise the Pure Ones hoped for when he completed his First Flight ceremony, mastering figure eights and power dives merely days after. The Pure Ones Elders highly praised Nyroc as "perfect", while all the other young Pure Ones initiates envied and resented Nyroc to such an extent that they distanced themselves from the heir apparent. Only a low-ranking Sooty Owl named Phillip, or "Dustytuft" as Nyra mockingly called him, treated Nyroc with kindness...and soon, the the two became best friends.
The Pure Ones wasted little time and his father's Final Ceremony, or funeral, took place. In a public ceremony, they cremated Kludd's remains.
Staring into the flames, Nyroc saw images of four-legged creatures and an oddly colored coal, which seemed to pulsate with a myriad of colors.
Gwyndor, a rogue smith whom the Pure Ones had hired for the cremation, noticed Nyroc's fascination with the the fire and recognized the young Barn Owl had the ability of firesight, an extremely rare, psychic gift.
Meanwhile, Nyra spun her lies to Nyroc, seeking to instill hatred in her son by weaving him the false tale of how his uncle Soren, a Guardian of Ga'Hoole, murdered his father, Kludd, in cold blood.
Returning from a brief trip to the kingdom of Silverveil, Gwyndor was tipped off by another rogue smith that Nyroc, who was fast approaching adulthood, was to soon assume the final, secret rite of initiation into the Pure Ones. The rite, called T.U.P.S.I., or the "Tytonic Union of Pure Ones Special Initiation", would require Nyroc to murder another owl and make his "first kill".
Pretending to make deadly "fire claws" for Nyra, Gwyndor whisked Nyroc away to another fire, in which Nyroc, through his firesight, saw the truth about his parents, and the Battle of Fire and Ice. Shocked, and deeply confused, Nyroc retreated to his hollow to mull over his visions.
Deciding to embark on a "quest for truth", Nyroc persuaded Phillip to accompany him.
However, it wasn't long before Nyra noticed their absence, and hired Doc Finebeak, the world's greatest tracker and a Snowy Owl, to track the two down with a search team.
By the time Nyroc and Phillip noticed the search team, it was too late.
Desperate, Nyroc and Phillip threw themselves into the "shredders", infamous for their deadly winds, to try and escape.
They survived, but failed. Knocked unconscious, they were soon recaptured by the Pure Ones.
When Nyroc awoke, he was with his mother, Nyra. She showed him Phillip, bound to a tree, and revealed that for his T.U.P.S.I. ceremony, and take his rightful place as a Pure One, he was required to murder Phillip.
When Nyroc refused, Nyra ripped out Phillip's heart.
Trying to reason with Nyroc, Nyra promised that if Nyroc did everything perfectly from now on, she would pretend that he was the one that killed Phillip.
Horrified, Nyroc attacked his mother and managed to escape...but not before she dealt him a slanting, vertical facial wound.
On the run, Nyroc had a frightening encounter with a vision that claimed to be Kludd's ghost, demanding that Nyroc return to the Pure Ones and claim his rightful place as his father's heir. Refusing, and terrified, Nyroc hid in a fallen tree for weeks...sleeping by night, and hunting by day...
Coryn of the Beyond...
After weeks of living in his new hollow, Coryn left for the kingdom of Ambala.Encountering three Great Gray Owls, they informed Nyroc that he was not welcome in Ambala, and insisted that he continue on to the land known as Beyond the Beyond, the traditional place for outcasts. However, they allowed him to stay in their hollow for a short while.
In the corner of the hollow, Nyroc met two flying snakes, Slynella and Stingyll. Recognizing Nyroc's true identity, the reptilian pair took Nyroc to see Mist, a legendary Spotted Owl of Ambala who lived in an old human castle...and a Guardian ally.
Taking up lodge with Mist, Nyroc soon learned how to read and write from the Spotted Owl and two snakes.
Noticing that "Coryn" was "Nyroc" spelled backwards, Nyroc, from then on, dubbed himself Coryn, cutting all ties to the Pure Ones and his mother's intents.
Realizing that his destiny awaited him in Beyond the Beyond, Coryn soon left for the volcanic land.
Arriving at the Beyond, Coryn overheard the tale of Grank, the first collier, or coal-bearer, and his discovery of a extremely powerful, magical, stone-like object called the Ember of Hoole. According to the legend, Grank, who had firesight, rescued the egg of the young King Hoole, and raised Hoole as his own, until Hoole himself learned the secret of retrieving the Ember from a volcano, where Grank had hidden it. Only Hoole could withstand the Ember's intoxicating power, and its corrupting influence, to wield it as a tool for good.
Soon, Coryn learned of the dire wolves, the main inhabitants of the beyond. Befriending Hamish, a wolf with a lame leg, Coryn and the wolf soon became fast friends, and Coryn confided his secret of firesight to Hamish.
One night, while watching the Sacred Volcanoes, Coryn encountered an owl that he realized to be none other than Otulissa. Otulissa, a Guardian, mistook Coryn for Nyra and fainted, only to be caught, and convinced otherwise, by Gwyndor, who has returned to the Beyond.
Staying close to Hamish, who soon begins training for the dire wolves' Sacred Watch over the volcanoes, and protecting the hidden Ember of Hoole, Coryn soon impressed other wolves and owls alike with his flying skills. Working for Gwyndor as a collier, Coryn learned to catch hot coals on the fly, retrieving excellent ones for Gwyndor to use in his smithing.
Amid his rising fame as a collier, however, Coryn has a vision of his mother, Nyra in the flames...
Watching Coryn intensively, Otulissa and Gwyndor suspected that Coryn may be the prophesied "Heir of Hoole", and the one destined to once again retrieve the Ember of Hoole, be immune to its influence, and return as the new King of Ga'Hoole.
Otulissa, recognizing the importance of training Coryn, told him to work on finding his strengths. However, Coryn shirked her, flying off to be by himself.
A wolf of the MacHealth wolf clan, Gyllbane, approached Coryn, warning him that Nyra has allied with her clan to kill him, as well as to steal the Ember of Hoole for the Pure Ones.
Racing back to the Sacred Ring of volcanoes, Coryn circled the volcanoes, desperate to retrieve the Ember before Nyra did.
With everyone, including Nyra and the Pure Ones, watched Coryn with bated breath.
Coryn noticed one of the volcanoes seemingly turn into a glass-like structure, allowing him to see the Ember clearly.
Diving straight-first into the volcano, Coryn felt no heat as he snatched the Ember in his talons, feeling its power pulsate in his claws.
Soaring above the volcano, wolves and owls alike shouted in praise of Coryn.
Flying upward, Nyra swooped in to attack Coryn, hoping to steal the Ember for herself.
Realizing Nyra's threat, owl and wolf onlooker alike moved to aid Coryn in his fight.
Were it not for a mistake of Uglamore, a traitor to the Pure Ones, Nyra would have been killed.
Escaping, Nyra disappeared into the wilds of the Beyond with the remaining Pure Ones, leaving Uglamore to die from his injuries. Moved by the older owl's sacrifice, Coryn ordered Uglamore's remains to be cremated, and his memory honored.
Coryn, accompanied by Otulissa and Gwyndor, flew across the ocean to the island of Ga'Hoole in valiant triumph, returning the Ember of Hoole, after one thousand years of absence, to its former home.
Welcomed by his uncle, Soren, and the rest of the Guardians as a hero, Coryn was crowned the new King of Ga'Hoole.
Coryn, King of Ga'Hoole...
"I am a Guardian of Ga’Hoole. From this night on, I dedicate my life to the protection of owl-kind. I shall not swerve in my duty. I shall support my brother and sister Guardians in times of battle as well as in times of peace. I am the eyes in the night, the silence within the wind. I am the talons through the fire, the shield that guards the innocent. I shall seek to wear no crown, nor win any glory. And all these things I do swear upon my honor as a Guardian of Ga’Hoole until my days on this Earth cease to be. This is my vow. This is my life. By Glaux, I do swear."Soon after Coryn's coronation, the eldest teacher at the Tree, Ezylryb, summoned Coryn and his uncle Soren to his private hollow. Ezylryb knew that his time was coming to an end, and wished to speak with the two younger owls while he still had the chance. Before he could finish the task, Ezylryb died.
Arranging for Ezylryb's Final Ceremony, Coryn and Soren locked themselves in Ezylryb's old hollow to read the legends of Ga'Hoole and of the first king, Hoole.
Coryn learned that, long ago, evil creatures called "hagsfiends", half-owl and half-crow, existed. Born with dark magic, hagsfiends once embroiled in a bitter war for ultimate power, and the Ember, with King Hoole, one thousand years prior...yet the hagsfiends lost, and eventually, died out. Shortly before his death, King Hoole returned the Ember to the volcano, acknowledging that without someone destined to wield it, the Ember would cause chaos.
Drawing paralells between the hagsfiends' nature and that of Nyra, Nyroc suspected that Nyra may be descended from hagsfiends...or perhaps, even be one herself.
After further studying the legends, Coryn realized that returning the Ember also meant that the ether veil had been torn. With the border between magic and "normality" sundered, magic was seeping back into the owl world. Coryn shared his findings with the other Guardians, emphasizing that both good and evil magic was able to pass through the veil freely.
After finishing the legends, however, Coryn soon found the task of being king to be nearly too much.
Worried, his uncle Soren suggested that Coryn take a "break" from ruling, and that he and a few other Guardians go out for an excursion outside of Ga'Hoole for a time.
Rumor soon spread that Nyra had discovered an ancient hagsfiend's spell book, and was attempting to use dark magic to bring the hagsfiends back into existence.
While out on patrol, the Guardians captured a a female Barn Owl, who called herself Ebony.
Ebony was completely black, and missing an eye. With only one working yellow eye, Coryn realized immediately that Ebony was the victim of one of Nyra's attempts to create a hagsfiend.
Trying to learn more about Ebony, and what Nyra did to her, Coryn befriended her...
Coryn, the Poet...
"Doubt thou the stars are fire,Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love..."
There was something about Ebony that always seemed to catch him off guard.
Considering that she had been a victim of Nyra's haggish experiments, Coryn found this even more surprising...or even the fact that she was so honest, he couldn't help but trust her. Though her yellow eye had been jarring at first, whenever he stared into it, he felt mesmerized, as he did when watching the Ember flicker...
A few months after he began to watch Ebony, Coryn began to feel genuinely attracted to her, which soon transformed into a passionate, but hidden love for the female Barn Owl. Honest, thoughtful, selfless, and kind, Ebony was the opposite of the almost-hagsfiend the Guardians, at first, expected her to be. While Ebony had been tainted by Nyra's influence, she had seemingly come away from it to develop into a noble, good owl...and a beautiful one, at that.
Admiring her compassion, and feeling lonely and a bit isolated himself, Coryn soon took to treating Ebony as his companion and best friend. Before long, the two fell deeply in love.
Coryn had always secretly written poetry and prose from time to time, and kept some known to be human work, but kept such things hidden in his journal, where no other owl aside from him could access them. Ignited by his affection for his new mate, he would recite them to Ebony every night, serenading her with words beneath the moonlight.
For an entire year, they enjoyed a blissful peace, along with the rest of the Tree.
Then, the Middle Kingdom was discovered.
It began as a series of rumors of a legendary land beyond the Beyond, a mountainous region where "Shangri-La" was said to be.
After years of speculation, a blue Snowy Owl named Orlando had accidentally crossed the mountains, and was stumbled upon by Guardian scouts.
Gathering a team of the finest Guardians, along with Ebony, Coryn and the group set out to discover this new land by riding the River of Wind, a highly dangerous, and potentially deadly, series of air currents, above the mountains.
What they found was a kingdom of "blue owls", their feathers tainted shades of azure, to fit in with the cold, snowy landscape.
Meeting the H'ryth, leader of the Middle Kingdom, the Guardians soon discovered a much more sinister aspect of the new realm...the Dragon Court.
The owls of the Dragon Court, larger than their other counterparts, and bearing extremely long, luxurious feathers, came alarmingly close the description of hagsfiends. Yet, these "Dragon Owls" were harmless, taught to value only their own vanity by the Hryth's followers, the monks, from an early age.
Only Orlando, a blue Dragon Owl resembling a Snowy, had realized the monks' efforts, and managed to escape.
Meanwhile, two Guardians, Primrose and Eglantine, traveling in the kingdom of Ambala, discovered a plot by the Pure Ones to follow Coryn, Ebony, and the others to the Middle Kingdom, and murder all of them.
In a race against time, Primrose and Eglantine made the arduous journey to the Middle Kingdom, only to arrive just in time as Nyra and the Pure Ones ambushed Coryn, Ebony, and their party.
After a short-lived skirmish, the monk-owls of the H'ryth soon proved their martial skills, sending Nyra and the surviving Pure Ones fleeing back across the River of Wind.
Journeying successfully back to the Tree, having formed relations with the Middle Kingdom, Coryn and the Guardians discovered Orlando being sheltered at the tree by Bell, Soren's daughter.
While they welcomed Orlando, or "the Striga", as he called himself, as a refugee at first, Orlando soon became corrupted by the influence of the Ember, seeking to possess the powerful object for himself.
Befriending Coryn, the Striga began to chip away at Coryn's senses and mind using his mysterious, hypnotic abilities, persuading Coryn to banish Soren, Otulissa, and the leaders of the Tree from Ga'Hoole.
The Striga, though Coryn, instituted a harsh new regime that would not stop until learning itself, the very foundation of the Tree, became suspect, and all books consigned to flame.
Through the help of a young, noble Burrowing Owl, the Guardians managed to return to the tree, in turn banishing the Striga, freeing Coryn from the blue owl's sinister influence.
After another year of silence, the Guardians received word that the Striga had joined forces with Nyra and the Pure Ones.
Knowing the Ember was no longer safe at the Tree, Coryn decided to return it to the volcano from which it came, telling no one of his plans, save for Ebony and Hamish, his wolf friend from the Beyond.
However, Coryn knew that the Pure Ones' spies were likely many, and that Nyra and the Striga would try to intercept him and take the Ember by force.
Devising a bait plan, Coryn had several other Guardians carry false Embers, with one carrying the real one, though none of them were sure which one was real. Only Coryn, specially attuned to the hum of the Ember's power, could tell the difference.
Meanwhile, Guardian spies discovered that the Dragon Owls, rallied by the Striga, had left the Middle Kingdom and joined Nyra's forces, embracing their 'true identities' as the descendants of hagsfiends. Some of them had even laid eggs.
Determined not to allow Nyra's dark magic to allow one of these eggs to hatch into a true hagsfiend, Coryn called upon his dire wolf allies, who tracked down, and destroyed, every last one of the would-be hagsfiend eggs.
A few skirmishes ensued...until Coryn was able to trap Nyra in the Beyond, allowing her to take his fake Ember.
Following Coryn and Nyra into the volcano, Soren, Ebony, and the Striga came to aid their respective allies.
After a long, harsh fight, Soren finally dealt Nyra a deadly blow.
Slicing off both of Nyra's wings, Soren allowed the Pure One leader to fall to her death into the volcano.
However, things were not so lucky for Coryn.
Slicing off one of Coryn's wings in retaliation, the Striga also dealt the young king a terrible wound.
Horrified and enraged, Soren and Ebony slew the Striga.
Catching Coryn's dying form in his talons, he and Ebony took Coryn somewhere safe and quiet...
Everything was going dark...his visions was littered with dots of color as he rasped for breath, feeling more and more faint as blood poured from where his wing had once been. He could hear his uncle's voice and that of Ebony, and his heart gave a painful squeeze when he met her gaze. It was laced with heartbreak, and her beak moved as she pleaded with him, begging for him to hang onto his thinning strand of life.
"Coryn, stay with me, please...I need you...everyone needs you...please..."
He gave a choking noise, and his eyes swiveled as he saw another owl he did not recognize enter the cave, when he lost consciousness...
When he woke up, he was lying on the familiar floor of the Tree's hospital wing, nestled and shivering in a pile of straw and down feathers.
Looking beside him, he saw Ebony...but her breast was bare, nothing but reddened, swelled pink skin...
"Coryn," she breathed, "Oh, I'm so glad you're awake. Just...keep holding on..."
The darkness consumed him again as his head went limp...
The Aftermath
Coryn recovered from his wounds, almost miraculously...but certainly far from unscathed.In place where his wing once was, there was a heavily scarred stump. Coryn would never again leave the Great Ga'Hoole Tree without the aid of several other owls, and would never again fly on his own.
Yet, he was alive.
Returning to his role as King, with Soren as his regent, Coryn continued to rule for several more years, alongside his queen consort, Ebony. She proved to be his beacon in his darkest of times.
Ebony laid many eggs, from forth many children came...all normal, healthy Barn Owl chicks.
Retiring when he came down with pox, Coryn spent his final days with his beloved mate, and their extended family.
As his final request, Coryn asked to be carried to the Beyond.
In his final moments, he felt at peace.
There was only the sound of the wolves' howling tunes as he slipped into eternal darkness.
Coryn, Wanderer of the Stars...
It is odd, knowing that he is now dead, but oddly, he feels at peace with himself and the rest of the world. He feels satisfied...complete, even...as he looks down, one last time, at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.The Guardians are giving him his Final Ceremony, and as Coryn watched his body slowly consumed by the flames, he felt a strong tug.
It was time for him to go.
Turning his head, he caught a glimmering, opaque reflection of himself in the sea's waters, and saw that the scar on his face had vanished. His wing, too, was returned to him, as though he had never lost it.
"You did a fine job," came an airy voice from behind him.
Glancing, Coryn noticed the outline of another spirit, a Spotted Owl, clearly male, by his voice.
"I am Hoole, the first king, and founder, of Ga'Hoole. Come with me now, lad...and feel not sad, but happy. You have fulfilled your purpose in life, and ushered in a new era of peace. Come now, and take your rightful place with me, and all the Guardians that have come before you, in the heaven of Glaumora."
Spreading their wings, the spirits of Coryn and Hoole ascended and vanished, forevermore, into the night sky.
Credits
Pet Overlay by
KeshiMinion Overlay by
BlueSkyyEbony reference by
beardsIrion Egg Bomb edit by User not found (1): Upbeat
Background by cYnDeR-lOvEr4196@deviantart.com
Profile by
BohemianWriting by
Thunderbird (me)Editing/Proofreading by
AlkunaCoryn is based off the character Coryn from Kathryn Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Some artistic liberties with Coryn's story were taken to fit "The Betrayal", a Guardians of Ga'Hoole fan fiction by me.
