One Big Bird, With One Big Stone

Mission:

Hara did not sleep well that night after his encounter with the murderous twister of crows. His sleep was interrupted by the same nightmare, a singular image of a giant crow, dripping in red and gold. The dripping gold coming out of the eye twirling and extending to latch onto his face, dragging him into it as Hara fell into an endless abyss. He would shoot up out of the small cot laid out by the farmers, sweat drenching his body, and his muscles sore from the constant tension.

Hara got up, unwilling to confront the nightmares that plagued his sleep. He paced around the small living room of the farm house, thinking of a way to get to the bottom of this conundrum. From the corner of his eye he saw a flash of movement, going to the window, he stared out into the blackness of the night, barely able to see the fluttering of feathers. He activated his Byakugan, taking a step back at the sight. Spread across in front of him were hundreds- no, thousands- of crows, they stared at Hara, stretched across the field like a legion, a mass of feathers and beaks and angry eyes. It took everything for Hara not to retreat in fear.

With the situation seeming on edge, Hara didn’t know what these birds intended on doing, and as with most unsure moments Hara decided to address it directly. Quickly stepping out of the house with his Byakugan activated, he would put his hands up in a fighting posture, moving towards the flock of birds with malicious intent.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the birds would begin to disperse. I won't be intimidated that easily. Hara would think to himself as he watched them fly off in a mass of ill intent back towards the woods. He would head back inside and attempt to get some more sleep, only to be plagued by the same nightmare. After another abrupt awakening, he would settle for sitting silently in the living room and making sure the birds didn’t return. While he sat, he plotted, thinking of a way he could get to the leader, that terrifying and massive crow that seemed to control his very senses and body.

Hara sat and planned for the rest of the night, and with the sun fast approaching above the horizon, the house began to stir as the farmers awoke. Hara got up from his seated position and stood in the living room waiting for their natural arrival into the living space. With a slight jump they would be surprised at him being awake so early.

“Not often that a man gets up before the farmhands, sleep well?” The farmer asked cheerily, perhaps the most annoying part of the night for Hara.

“No” He said simply, moving to the table where the farmer's wife had begun to set out food. “Normally I don’t Impose, but today is going to be a tiring day and I must ask for some food before I set myself to my task” He would say bluntly, not waiting for approval as he took a seat and began to shovel food from various dishes onto his plate. Luckily the farmers were more than happy to oblige, and they picked up on Hara's sour attitude.

Hara enjoyed the breakfast in silence, devouring the giant plate of food he had made for himself, all the while ruminating on what he was going to do. He was ruminating because for the first time in a long time he was unsure of how to go about something, usually Hara had a good idea of what to do when a problem arose. But, the bird presented an interesting challenge, how was he to get close to it? How was he supposed to fight something that seemingly made him black out and turn the other way? He grumbled to himself as he finished the food,uncomfortable with his own uncertainty.

“I must go.” He would say unceremoniously as he would stand up, he would pause at the table, thinking for a second before grabbing his plate and the empty plates of his hosts. Heading to the kitchen, he would clean the plates silently, ignoring the farmer's pleas to leave it. His mom taught him to leave a place better than you found it. These farmers, while annoyingly cheerful, deserved his respect.

With the dishes cleaned, he would make his way to the front door, “With any luck, your problems will be solved today.” He would say with a deadly serious tone, giving them a curt nod before walking out of the house and towards the direction of the murderous maelstrom. He activated his Byakugan, nodding contentedly at the sight of it off in the distance. Good, just wait right there. He would think to himself.

As Hara stood at the edge of the tree line he took a deep breath, the walk over had been an enlightening one, and he had a plan formulated. First, he would need to see more of the area where the crows were staying. He knew his plan would be arduous, and might take many attempts, but he was in no mood for quitting. With a focused and deadly look in his eyes he calmly walked into the woods and towards his destination, the walking would make this whole plan take longer but he needed to conserve energy.

As he approached closer to the mysterious clearing, he could already sense the gathering of birds around him, the fluttering of feathers becoming a quickly rising cacophony. They didn’t seem to be attacking him this time, however. He paused briefly, caught off guard by the lack of defense, but decided to continue.

He quickly understood why, as his body began to shiver and weaken at his approach to the clearing. By the time he made it, his body was shaking uncontrollably and weak, Hara felt like at any moment a gust of wind could carry him away as he wobbled on his two feet, being driven by pure determination. Having reached the crest of the large clearing, Hara took his time to activate his Byakugan and scan the area.

He only had a short moment to really take stock of the clearing, it resembled more of a large crater now that Hara was paying attention, at the center sat the large, unnatural crow. Standing at least 10 ft tall, Hara wondered what sort of wingspan a creature like that had. His thoughts, as well as his scouting, were cut off by an intense vibrating and ringing in his ears. It forced his Byakugan to deactivate, something he wasn’t aware could be done. The last glimpses of it as it deactivated showed the massive King Crow staring intensely at Hara's position from behind the lip of the crater.

That was all he had a chance to see before the familiar blacking out and appearing at the tree line occurred. He sighed, the wear on his system already being felt. Still, he had a plan and he needed to see it through. He made his way into the woods once more to test the bird again.

And again, he was sent back. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, until eventually even at the edge of the tree line far away from the crater, Hara's body shivered with cold and moved stiffly. Still, if Hara was anything, it was stubborn. He continued into the woods again and again until the sun was starting to set. He decided for one last prodding of the bird, over the course of his “attacks” he had noticed its own strength diminishing. On this last attempt, the bird still stood- but it was wobbly- and the power with which it used to reject Hara felt weaker by the second. His last fading image of the bird before sinking into unconsciousness was the image of it falling down from the labor of its defense, and for all intents and purposes it looked just as exhausted as Hara.

Got you. He thought to himself as he faded into unconsciousness and reappeared at the tree line.

From there the plan was simple, he had scouted out the area on one of his many ventures into the woods, and the mountainous terrain of the land of Hot Springs provided ample opportunity to kill a few hundred birds with one stone. More importantly, One big bird, with one very big stone.

He skirted around the edge of influence of the crater of crows, finding a suitable hill a few hundred yards above the crater. With his body reaching total exhaustion, he pushed one last time to summon the energy and enact the final part of his plan.

By this time, even the crows knew something was amiss, and at first it was just scouts as the birds observed him, showing incredible intelligence however, they quickly seemed to understand what was going on. Lucky for Hara, his plan to exhaust the King was successful, as instead of leaving the area, the birds seemed to try to stop Hara from enacting his plan.

Through the flurry of beaks and attacks, Hara ignored it all, bearing the cuts and piercing attacks of the birds while he silently and slowly positioned a massive boulder at the edge of the hill. The birds were frantic now, and even the King in its tired state tried to get up, pushed and pulled by various birds as they attempted to move him. It was to no avail however, and the two locked eyes once more as Hara stood from atop the hill, his Byakugan activated to give himself an enhanced vision so he could stare the mysterious beast in the eyes.

As they stared at each other, a silent understanding took a hold of Hara, and he could see it take a hold of the bird as well. In that moment the two of them knew that this was inevitable, Hara would not stop, and the bird in its own nature was not able to stop. He gave a respectful bow as he shoved the teetering boulder over the edge, the mass of rock tumbling with thunderous claps against stone as it raced towards the bird. It closed its eyes in acceptance, something that made Hara pause and almost feel guilt. This was more than just a bird, it was a force, an agent of some mysterious aspect of nature. For that, he felt a pang in his heart for ending it, and yet he had a job to do- and so he did it. The crunching of the boulder was not pleasant and did not fill Hara with any sense of satisfaction. As the King died he could see the birds around it begin to change somewhat, their eyes returning to a more placid and blank expression, their mannerisms dumbing down. Gradually, the birds seemingly forgetting why they were here, flew away in various directions.

The walk back to the farmers house was a cold, tired, and unforgiving one. His ordeal had almost made him accustomed to the birds presence, and now that they were gone it was as if he was being pulled out of a deep trance. He felt alone for some reason, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that permeated his psyche. He mulled on these thoughts silently as he knocked on the door, entering wordlessly as the farmer answered. It was only at their frightened looks that he realized what he must look like, but it was upon looking in the mirror that he realized the true extent of the toll taken on him.

He looked as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks, his cheek bones jutted out from his gaunt skin, and he looked atrophied, only exacerbated by the various cuts adorning his skin from the bird attacks. Almost as if finally understanding the strain, and with the adrenaline wearing off, he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, his massive frame shaking the small farmers house.

He woke up with a searing headache, the farmers informing him he had slept for 3 days straight. With some short words and a meal, Hara found himself leaving the farmers' presence, refusing their payment- he was happy to help his potato farming friend. Upon leaving the place he however found payment in his pockets, smirking at the farmers kindness he decided not to return it and treat himself to some fresh new robes and a hot meal.

---

[exit]

WC: 2084

Claims:

Hara wrote:

Claims:

Approved