***
The next day Noctis was back at the forest again along with the giant owl, this time a little before the sunset.
Rather than the exercise from yesterday night, the owl and he sat on a branch without moving.
Noctis saw as the owl remained still with its eyes closed and absolutely no movement as if a statue in the middle of the forest.
Noctis thus similarly sat, perhaps a test of patience, he thought in his mind, not minding the monotony.
As he had come to enjoy it, the forest felt ever peaceful to him as he listened to it intently with his eyes closed.
He hadn't been to the forest at this hour often, and not this deep either.
The forest feels quieter now, but much layered with activity. Birds cooed here and there, likely hunting, insects moving about all around his surroundings, faint rustling of bushes as nocturnal creatures started lying in ambush.
Noctis calmly took it all in soothing his soul. Unconsciously he accelerated the energy coursing through.
He enjoyed the sounds until he heard an unpleasantly familiar rhythm pounding on the forest floor in some distance, instantly alarming his senses.
His body tightened a bit as he started preparing his body to move rapidly.
As he was trying to focus better on the distant sound a faint whistling came from his side.
The owl stared at him with a half opened eye.
"Uhh… the hounds you know…."
Kroo~
"Um… Alright."
Noctis gave in and settled down once again but couldn't regain his calm.
To make the matter worse it felt like they were closing in making him all the more panicked (or vice-versa he didn't know).
Finally the hounds closed the distance enough that he felt they almost reached his position.
Noctis threw a somewhat panicked look towards the owl only to see it absolutely still with his eyes closed.
Noctis swallowed his saliva looking down at the coming hounds and the still owl.
Deciding better he did not move and sat back down again.
The hounds came just beside his tree looking around the tree he was sitting on.
Noctis saw them frantically moving as if searching for something.
Sitting still he observed their behaviour trying to stay calm like the bird beside him.
He rejoiced as the pack looked like they were retreating after failing to find anything. Even though they tried smelling and looking around the tree tops it seemed they just could see them with the dense canopy.
'How lucky.'
He thought to himself while trying not to move from joy.
His joy however, was interrupted when he heard a low growl from the side of the tree. The sight of the giant 2m old hound gritting his teeth while angrily looking at the position he sat came to him.
His heart skipped a beat as he instinctively moved just a fraction of an inch back accelerating the energy to give him some security.
Immediately all the hounds in the area, retreating, moved their eyes towards his tree-top and along with the old hound started barking loudly.
Seeing some hounds jumping and lunging towards him, Noctis stood up once again only to feel a soft curtain-like object on his back.
The old owl had put one of its wings on his back as it looked deep into his eyes.
The serenity of those eyes pulled Noctis in a familiar feeling as when he saw a glimpse of the majestic stag.
A feeling of primal antiquity that transcended everything known to him.
Eventually the owl took off and, holding him by his shoulders, flew away from the hounds.
***
Noctis and the bird sat on another tree after they had escaped the hounds.
Here too they sat silently without any movement. Noctis had an online the owl was trying to tell him something through this but he couldn't figure what.
Something about camouflage perhaps? But he could hide well… about the recent incident he couldn't understand how the hounds found him.
Noctis sighed and relaxed once again basking in the peaceful conversation of the forest.
Soon he felt his instinct warning him about something as he opened his eyes to a snake moving closer towards him.
Noctis did not move in case the snake got rattled but concentrated his energy in case anything did happen.
The moment he did that however, the snake jerked nonetheless and frantically escaped towards another branch.
The owl opened its eyes as it looked at him side-ways.
"Alright I get it. It's the energy. I won't use it."
The owl rather shook his head at him but closed his eyes once again.
The night soon fell enough as the practice just like the previous continued.
The young ones practiced moving through the narrow tree lines silently while keeping eye on their prey and Noctis continued honing his new found skill.
Hiis energy depleted extremely quickly while doing it causing him to take frequent breaks.
Everytime he did the owl gave him the same side-eye.
"oh come on now. I can get a break. I'm still new to this. You're worse than my drill sergeant."
At this the owl looked around a little and picked up two fruits from a tree.
It came down holding onto them in his claws.
Coming down the owl showed the hard shelled fruit in front of him.
The next moment he clenched one of his claws, eventually bursting the insides all over him and his legs.
It then tried to lick the fruit from its claws with a dismayed expression.
'theatrics of this guy.'
Noctis shook his head but focused.
The other fruit he did not crush but used his now free other claw to cut open allowing him to eat the fruit.
Noctis was amazed by the intelligence of the bird.
"Efficiency I suppose? Alright I'll see what I can do."
And the practice continued with Noctis trying different ways to use his energy to get better results.
All to no avail.