The Story of Dante

[Megaguirus]

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed during my tossing and turning. Even though I had plenty of sleep the night before, I found it easy to just lay there and rest. Sleep didn’t come too easy, but I never had the attention span to just spend the day laying down. The grave loss affected me in some way.

Nobody bothered me, not that I knew of, at least. And I was okay with that. Somehow, through my unrest, I knew night had fallen, and I took this opportunity to relieve myself in the cave that the griffins had designated for such a thing, to keep the rest of the area clean. It was at a mountain peak, so that nobody would be disturbed by the smell.

After doing my business, I took a moment to look at the brilliant night sky. The moon still looked full as it hung low in the sky. I felt a slight pain in my heart as I thought of Solstice. Oh, how I wanted to talk to her. She’d make everything better. She reminded me a lot of Lofty, with that tender motherly personality. I started to cry again and flew back into my lonely cave, crawling back under the nest.

I sighed when I heard the gong chime. Another day was upon us. I wondered if anybody would hassle me about not going hunting, but to my surprise, nobody did. While it did feel nice at first, my thoughts began to linger, and I grew scared of being kicked out again. Nobody would be there to stop Blackbird from doing so. I was easy prey.

Just as I was about to cry, I heard the soft footsteps of someone slowly approach my nest. With my ear so close to the ground, I was able to focus on the vibrations, and knew it must’ve been Trinity. She always had a gentle and shy gait that was easily recognizable.

“Kage told me about what happened.” she said as I felt her press against the nest I was under. “I’m so sorry, Dante, I cannot even begin to know what you’re feeling.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Here comes the sympathy.

She let out with a gentle sigh herself, and pressed even harder against the nest. “I miss you,” she murmured. “It’s lonely out there in the play area without you. Erion is worried too, but he feels there is little he can do. My mother says that it’s best to leave the grieving alone, but I can’t do that, not anymore. I love you and care about you.” she said.

Tears welled up in my eyes as she spoke. In my grief, I forgot just how much I loved Trinity. I still didn’t feel like replying, afraid my voice would just be the same haunting cries.

She didn’t speak anymore, instead, she began to hum a gentle tune. It was a lullaby that Lofty used to sing to me, just then it occurred to me that Lofty didn’t think it up herself. As Trinity hummed, the words began to form in my mind. As they did, Lofty’s gentle face appeared as well, staring down at me as she sang.

Dawn is come, the sun is gone
As the world falls into silence.
The time for sleep, the time for rest
As you lay inside my nest.
Tomorrow will come, the sun will shine
Oh little griffling of mine.
Hush my child, sleep my baby
The sun will be there when you wake.
Dawn is come, the sun is gone
The world has fallen to silence.

I was a sobbing mess when the song ended. Not only did it make me miss Lofty even more, it made me feel more love towards Trinity. More than I knew was possible.

The weight was lifted off my nest, and I realized then that she must’ve been laying on it. “I have to go now,” she told me as I heard her footsteps grow farther. “I hope to see you tomorrow.”

I hope so too. I thought in reply.

The hunting party must’ve returned, because it wasn’t too long after Trinity left that Kage entered. I knew so by his heavier and bolder footsteps. “Hey, I thought you’d be hungry so I brought you something to eat.” he said carefully. There was a few minutes that passed before he spoke up again, he must’ve been waiting for a reply.

“I’m sorry about what happened to Lofty, I truly am,” he said, ending on a pause. He walked closer to the nest and I felt his head press up close to it. “But you cannot keep this up much longer. I know you need to mourn, and I’ll let you, but Blackbird won’t. He’s already delivered a threat that if you don’t start to hunt again, he’ll banish you. According to him, if a griffin doesn’t become a part of the flock, then there’s no need to keep them around. He says that rule has been around for decades, but I don’t believe him.” he explained to me in a hushed tone.

His words stunned me, but it just made my pain of Lofty’s death worse. After more waiting to see if I’d reply, Kage sighed and pulled away.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he said as he walked off.

I was left alone for the rest of the day. I was thankful, because I had a lot to think about. It was obvious there were others who still cared for me, but there was still a plot to banish me beneath it all. I didn’t know how to feel. I wondered for awhile if I should leave on my own, save Blackbird some precious breath. But then I’d betray Trinity, Erion and Kage. I couldn’t leave my friends behind like that.

I tried to encourage myself to step out of the nest, eat whatever Kage left me to regain energy and get back to life as usual, but I couldn’t do it. But my sadness paralyzed me. And would it be life as usual? Lofty was gone, I’d be all alone. Blackbird would still be scheming, thinking up ways to banish me and not look like the bad guy.

Life would be even harder than it was when Lofty was alive. I’d have less support now, less griffins on my side whenever Blackbird decided to banish me. I was stuck at a crossroads. Two choices, both of which seemed equally as bad. But, eventually, and with a heavy heart, I made a decision.

When I assumed night fell, I mentally prepared myself to step out, spread my wings and leave. If I did, I wouldn’t be welcomed back, and I’d be abandoning some dear friends, but it seemed like the best decision, though it had me on the verge of tears. I crawled out from under the nest, but stopped when I saw something laying in front of me.

It wasn’t the food Kage left, that was a couple feet away. No, this was a griffin, but not just any griffin, Erion. He was so close to the nest, I was worried I woke him, but he stayed still. I slowly and ever so gingerly stepped over the sleeping griffin. I didn’t want to wake him. I just wanted to slip out and leave.

But for a moment, I paused and stared back at him. When did he come by? Did I happen to take a quick nap while I waited for night to fall? Do his parents know he’s here? I decided to answer those questions later and instead continued on my plan.

“Dante?” a sleepy voice spoke up.

I froze. Erion had awoken. I turned to see the griffin standing up, peering at me with wide eyes. I forgot that griffins had a
problem seeing at night. It came so easy to me. He stumbled towards me, his depth perception obviously compromised by the dim lighting.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Eating the food Kage left for me.” I replied. I wasn’t lying, that was exactly what I intended to do.

He kept walking until he bumped into me. He paused before crawling up on my back. I felt as his claws connected as they wrapped around my chest. He laid his head down against mine. “I missed you.” he mumbled, obviously starting to fall back asleep.

I sighed, turning my head to nuzzle him. “Do your parents know you’re here?” I asked him.

He nodded.

I was surprised. They willingly let him stay with me? Maybe I wasn’t as hated as Blackbird made me out to be.

“Mother said if it made you feel better, I could stay with you.”

Tears welled up in my eyes again. I was a mess. “Thank you, it does. But I need to eat, maybe you could get off me, please?”

“You can eat with me on you. I’m tiny, you’re big.”

I sighed. So much for my great escape. Waiting for him to fall asleep wouldn’t make it any better, either, griffins have the ability to lock their talons together and keep them locked, even in sleep. Lofty told me it was because we used to sleep in trees.

I looked at the piece of meat, which didn’t look appetizing at all. The blood reminded me of Lofty’s blood spilling into The Cove. That was enough to turn me away, despite being terribly hungry from not eating for two days.

Erion had already fallen asleep, and since he was locked to my back, I didn’t think it appropriate to sleep inside the nest. So I turned around and laid on top of it. It was nothing but a mess of sticks and fluff now, but it was still a nest to me. I actually found it comforting to have Erion’s heavy body on top of mine, and it helped me fall asleep faster. Though I still had those troubled dreams.

I was awoken early by Erion as he crawled off my back, and then dragging me off the nest.

“Thanks for letting me sleep with you,” Erion said as he waited at the mouth of the cave for his mother to awake and get him.

I slowly stood, my night wasn’t peaceful, and I was awake for the most of it. So, naturally, I was tired. Sleep didn’t come easy because Lofty’s death was waiting for me when I closed my eyes. “Don’t thank me, thank your mother.” I replied, shaking my head as I saw him standing there. The gong hadn’t even chimed.

He said nothing in reply and I took place beside him. The sun was just starting to rise, the gong wouldn’t be chimed for a few more minutes. I looked over at Erion. “Do you like watching the sunrise?” I asked him.

He nodded. “I always get up before Mother to watch it rise.”

I smiled, a thought coming to my mind. The smile felt odd, I hadn’t smiled for two days. “Do you want to get a better view of it?” I offered and stood, turning my back to him and getting into the perfect position for him to climb on.

He looked excited, but hesitated. “Is it safe?”

I nodded. “Nothing will happen to you.”

He trusted my words and hopped on. Once I was sure he was secure, I spread my wings and took off towards the pillar.

I gently landed and turned to the sun. It was rising over the trees, so it wasn’t too easy to see, but from the height of the pillar, it was still a much better view. I looked over at Erion to see his jaw drop.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked him.

He was speechless and simply nodded.

It was beautiful, there was no doubt to that. The beams of yellow stretching across the dark blue sky, slowly turning it to the light blue of the day. The glow it gave off illuminated the entire landscape, causing the whole world to glow. It still didn’t compare to the sunset, though.

Suddenly, the gong chimed, making us both jump, startled out of our daze. I looked down to see all the griffins stir and quickly flew back down into my cave before anybody noticed. To my surprise, the sunrise made me momentarily forget about Lofty’s death, and it only came back the moment I landed and noticed the cave to be empty.

Erion leapt off of me, a wide grin spread across his face. “Thank you so much for showing me the sunrise!” he exclaimed.

I smiled softly at him, but this smile felt forced as depressing thoughts flooded back into my head. Oh, to be innocent again. The moment Lofty died, my innocence left with her. I knew of death, I grew up knowing Lofty was my adoptive mother, but after witnessing it, I broke.

"You're welcome," I replied.

His mother approached and smiled at me. Erion chirped and nuzzled with force, almost knocking her back. "Did you enjoy your night with Dante?" she asked him.

"Yes!" he exclaimed and opened his beak to tell her, but he hushed him.

"You can tell me when we get back to the cave." she told him and looked at me. "Are you doing better?" she asked me with obvious concern.

I wanted to nod, but instead shook my head with a sigh. "Erion cheered me up for awhile, I won't deny that. But still, Lofty's death is continuing to haunt me." I replied.

"It will. Deaths tend to do that." she said. "Don't let it torment you, though. You need to eat, and you need to get back to living."

"What do I have to live for?" I asked her sincerely.

She looked at Erion, who had wandered over to the nest to play with it. Despite having quills, he still acted like a griffling. She then looked me in the eyes. "You tell me." she replied.

I knew exactly what her answer was eluding to. My friends popped into my mind as I chewed on her words.

"Blackbird is trying to make everyone hate you, but there are still those who are willing to trust you." she said.

I shook my head and turned away, tears were starting to form again. Trinity came and sang to me, Kage brought food, and Erion spent the night with me. But not only that, Erion's mother allowed him to do it. More than just my friends cared for me.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I'll try."

She approached and gently nuzzled me, purring softly. "Take your time, nobody is rushing you."

I looked up at her and nodded with a smile.

She smiled back at me, turning back to the exit of the cave. "Come on, Erion, it's time to eat!" she called to him and he bounded after her with a chirp, the sticks from the nest falling off him as he ran.

I laid down once they were both out of sight and watched the griffins all return to their caves to eat. My eyes eventually drifted up to the sky as I continued to think. What she said was great, but it felt like my heart belonged elsewhere. Solstice was out there, and I wanted to see if more dragons knew of my parents. But then again, I had plenty of friends and griffins who cared about me here.

I was torn between two worlds. One was all too familiar, and the other strange and new. I wanted to live in both, but I knew Blackbird would never allow it. I dug my claws into the ground. Blackbird, that monster. The moment I thought about him, a familiar figure approached. For a moment, I confused with with his brother and got a little excited, but when I saw that cold stare, I knew this wasn't Kage.

"So, you're up," he said as he stood at the entrance of the cave. "Does this mean that you'll start hunting tomorrow?"

His voice had a tone that I couldn't put a name to, but it gave me chills. "What does it matter to you?" I asked back.

He grinned wickedly. "It matters a lot, actually. Not to me, but to the entire flock. See, Blackbird doesn't like a waste of space, and that is you at the moment. There are plenty soon to be griffin families who could take that cave, and yet, there is a depressed griffin inside it, not even using the space."

His words hurt, but I tried not to show it. I was a waste of space? "Why doesn't Blackbird come here and tell me this? Have you become his voice?" I decided to retort.

He let out with a low snarl. "Our leader is busy with other matters, besides, he says that if you are going to go back to hunting, then you can stay." he told me and took a step closer. "The thing is, though, I don't want that. I don't trust you. The only reason Blackbird said that is because he doesn't want to lose more griffins."

"You used to trust me. You played with me all the time."

"I was younger then. Foolish and naive. When Blackbird began to grow suspicious of you, I listened in to the conversations he had with the older griffins, and they all made sense. You are a danger, Dante. Rebellious, strong, huge and possibly a dragon yourself. I wouldn't be surprised if a dragon swapped eggs after killing your parents."

He was speaking nonsense. "You have no proof! Besides, look at me, I'm all griffin. How could I be a dragon?"

"No proof? You've got to be kidding me. Green eyes, large size, unbelievable strength. Maybe you have scales under those feathers, too. Dragons come in all shapes and sizes, you could easily be one in disguise."

His words hurt, but they also made me pause. I looked at my wings and preened the feathers. Dragons didn't have feathers, they had a strange skin on their wings. I had feathers on my wings. Right? As I slowly preened through, I noticed something jarring. A golden skin was hidden underneath my wing feathers. Since when did that grow in? I preen myself everyday, I would've noticed something. Unless it grew in while I was mourning.

I looked up from my wings to see Dimidas standing over me, his grin spread wider. I yelped and jumped away, surprised that he moved that quietly.

"See? Proof." he said, walking past me and out of the cave. "Just wait until Blackbird hears about this." he chuckled to himself quietly.

I wanted to beg for him not to do it, but I stopped right at the last moment. That would give him too much pleasure. I sprinted out of the cave to where I expected Kage to be, playing with all the others.

He smiled when he first saw me run toward him, but it quickly faded when he saw my panic. "What's wrong?"

I showed him my wings by pulling out a clump of feathers, showing off the skin. "Dimidas noticed this the moment I did. He's going to tell Blackbird about me, I'm going to be banished!" I sputtered out as quickly as I could.

He was shocked when he saw my dragon-like skin, and even more surprised with the news. But he wasn't the only one who heard and noticed, I caught the eyes of a few others, who were simply surprised by my words.

"He can't do that, though," Kage said. "You're not a threat. There's no proof."

"Oh, there's plenty of proof, and he's plenty enough of a threat." Blackbird's voice bellowed. Dimidas was quick. The black griffin slowly approached me as all eyes turned to him. On his right side was Dimidas, glaring at me with fierce eyes.

Before I knew it, a crowd had gathered around us. Frightened and confused eyes surrounded me.

"In case most of you are unaware, just a moment ago, Dimidas told me that this griffin that we've all trusted, is actually a dragon." Blackbird announced to the crowd.

Gasps filled the air, making me cringe.

"Behold, the golden scales this beast hides under his disguise!" he exclaimed and raised up my wing, showing off the feathers. I didn't fight him. How could I?

More gasps, I pulled in my wings and looked at the ground.

"Now, just like his parents, I shall send him to where he belongs."

That was what broke me. All of my pent up anger towards him, all that I'd been building since hatching, spilled out. I was his size, and I was simply submitting and letting this one eyed bully banish me? No, not today. Not after the promising words spoken by my friends, not after Lofty's death.

I sprang at him with a fury I didn't know I had. I slammed him to the ground and dug my claws into his chest. "If you want to send me to my grave, then do it here, right now! Don't let some slimy dragon do it. You've always hated me, so why not kill me here? Maybe it'll satisfy you enough to leave everyone else alone." I yelled at him.

He struggled to get me off him, but eventually met my gaze. "Then get off me and we shall fight properly. I would love to kill you."

"That's what I thought." I said, jumping off him. I looked down at my talons and smiled to see blood on them.

"So, Dante, you want a fight to the death?" he bellowed.

He wanted this to be a show, didn't he? Then I'd give him one. "Yes," I hissed, turning to face him. I didn't even wait for more words to be spoken and lunged at him again. But this time, he expected it, and jumped away, quickly jumping for me.

It was obvious he was a skilled fighter. His ability to dodge showed that all too well. But he was old and out of practice. I didn't have the fighting experience, but I had the youth. Because of this, my attacks with swifter, and I was finally able to claw his face. I missed his good eye, but it hurt him enough to make him pause.

That pause gave me just enough time to build a charge, and I ran at him, digging into his neck with my beak when I made contact. The taste of his blood furthered my fury. It was a mistake to go without eating for so long. He shook me off him and I was left with bloody feathers.

I could see, for a split second, terror in his yellow eye. I smiled. "Scared?" I roared, and he actually flinched. "Good, because you now get to see the creature you've feared! The creature you fed. You are not a good leader, but a vicious tyrant. You use and abuse us like we're mere fodder! Not actual living creatures!" I ran at him, and he dodged, just as I expected. I quickly whipped around and grabbed his tail in my beak, biting down hard.

He yowled and flipped around, trying to make me let go. I did once a claw got too close to my eyes. He charged after me, screaming. I leapt out of the way and flapped my wings to get myself a little airborn. Then I flew at him with my head down and headbutted him with such force he slammed into the pillar with a loud crack.

I smiled, thinking that I had broken a wing, and landed, folding in my wings. I strutted towards him. "Do you give up?" I asked him, expecting him to look at me. But instead, his body was still. My smile, pride and anger all vanished when I saw the blood come from his head. My stomach sank. That crack wasn't a wing. I killed him.

"He killed him!" a griffin echoed my defeated thought.

"He killed Blackbird!" another cried.

Everybody was filled with panic as I just stood there, the battle flashing before my eyes. I looked down at my blood soaked talons, my feathers spattered with the stuff. His blood now tasted bitter as my stomach churned.

"Silence!" Dimidas bellowed. The crowd quickly hushed, and I slowly looked up to see my old friend approach me. "Blackbird already wanted to banish you, and had many reasons too. But this, this is an offense that nobody can forgive. Dante, you are hereby banished from The Circle of Mountains. If you show your face here again, we will not hesitate to kill you."

My eyes were still wide, and his words fell on dead ears. I didn't care anymore. I felt terrible, I felt like I deserved my banishment.

"Well? Are you going to say something or are you going to fly away and join your own kind?"

I looked at the sky, nodded and spread my wings. I was just about to fly away when a voice spoke up.

"Wait a moment! I have something to say." it was Kage, and I turned to see him walk towards us.

"Kage, stay out of this, it doesn't pertain to you."

"Lies, Dimidas! It does to pertain to me. Dante was like a younger brother to me, I cannot let you banish him like this."

"Look at Blackbird! What Dante did is unforgiveable and is punishable by death, I'm doing a favor just banishing him."

"Blackbird got what was coming to him! Dante's right, he's a bully! And I cannot believe you are following after him. You used to hate him as much as I did, what changed?"

"His words began to make sense to me. He was right about dragons, just as he's right about Dante."

"You've never even seen dragons! Not enough to get an idea of what they're like!" Kage turned to the crowd. "You should be praising Dante! What he did was heroic!"

The other griffins looked away. I couldn't read them to see what they really felt, they looked away too quickly. Even Trinity had turned away. My numbness began to wear away and tears flooded down my blood covered cheeks.

"They seem to agree with me, brother, now let Dante leave peaceably, we don't want another fight." Dimidas said to Kage.

Kage flinched when Dimidas addressed him as a brother. "Don't you dare call me brother. If you want to banish Dante, then you're going to have to banish me too."

My eyes widened when he said that. I wanted to disagree, but I was speechless, the sound of Blackbird hitting the pillar repeated constantly in my confused head.

"Fine then," Dimidas said without a second thought. "If that is what you wish. At least he won't die alone."

Kage looked almost as defeated as me. For the first time I saw tears hiding in his eyes. I'd never seen him cry before. He opened his beak to retort, but quickly closed it after the bitter stare from his brother. He looked at me. "Come on, Dante. They clearly don't need us." he told me and spread his wings.

My wings slowly stretched back out and we both took to the sky. Too much had happened in such a short span of time. I had now witnessed two deaths, one by my own claws. Kage was disowned and banished by his own brother. We were both broken and lost. We stopped flying once we reached The Forest, assuming this would be the safest place to hide.

We each chose our own branch to rest on. Kage let the tears loose, and I couldn't help but cry with him. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Don't be, Dante. You did nothing wrong."

"I killed Blackbird. I did a very bad wrong."

He sighed and shook his head, resting it on the branch.

We both lay in silence for a long time, watching life continue as it always does around us. After all, it was still day, and the forest was bustling with life. We were also left alone, which didn't help my dead feeling. Something died when I killed Blackbird, but what was worse, was that something awoke in the fight. I didn't want to see that part of myself ever again.

Maybe I was a danger, maybe I was a dragon in disguise. Maybe I was the vicious monster everyone believed me to be. Because of me, Blackbird is dead, and Kage is banished. I looked at him as he silently cried on his branch. I wanted to help him, but I was just as broken. "I'm sorry," I whispered so quietly, even I barely heard.

If you're wondering why the ending of chapter nine seems so abrupt, it's because nine and ten were originally the same chapter, but when I realized how long it was, I cut it, and didn't know how to make it better.

[Megaguirus]

I continued to lay there, numb, until hunger made me stir. I looked at the blood that covered my feathers, which made them stick together as it slowly dried. I preened as best as I could to separate the feathers, but the blood still lingered. I wondered if there was anything that would make it go away.

I suddenly remembered that Lofty used to use water to wash me and the eaglets off if we got messy. I looked around, could I find water here? I didn't want to go to The Cove to wash off, that was for sure. A lonely sigh exited my beak as I looked over at Kage, who was laying almost motionless on the branch. I would've worried he had died if it hadn't been for his breathing.

A bird stopped on a nearby branch for a moment to eat a bug, and my stomach growled as I watched the creature. But before I was even able to move, it flew off. I looked back at Kage.

"I'm going off to hunt and maybe get this blood off my feathers. You can stay here, if you want." I told him and stood, spreading my wings.

"Please, don't go anywhere without me." he replied. His voice was defeated, without the usual bold tone that was always behind it.

I looked at him and he stared back at me with sad and hurt eyes. "Why not?"

"Because this place is huge, and we could easily lose each other. I almost got separated from the hunting group when we hunted here." he explained. "I'm coming with you."

"But you need to mourn, you need to be left alone. I was going to give that to you."

He let out with a heavy sigh. "Mourning is going to do nothing. It's easy to mourn when you're safe at home, but we're easy prey here. I'll mourn when we have a proper home."

He made perfect sense. I was too dead to worry about staying alive, but I was glad that he showed concern for the both of us. "Okay, you lead the way."

We both spread our wings and took off. I followed directly behind Kage, since it was tricky avoiding the branches in our way. We flew slowly and both kept a good eye on the ground for any prey. Even though I wasn't taught how to hunt, my instinct seemed to have kicked in. I spotted prey before even Kage did, and didn't hesitate to attack it.

The rabbit let out with a squeak as my claws closed around it. I ate it immediately and quickly. When I was done, almost nothing was left. Some fur, a couple of bones, blood. It didn't fill me up, but it satisfied me. I looked around for Kage and noticed him resting on a branch above me. I flew up to meet him.

I looked down at what was left of the rabbit. "Kage, what did I look like when I fought Blackbird?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the rabbit.

"Do you really want to know?" he replied.

I nodded.

He sighed. "You were savage. The look in your eyes was the same as it was when you crushed that skull in our very first game together. Except it was fiercer, scarier. Like a beast was ignited." he explained. "I-I thought you'd kill everyone."

I expected his answer, because that was what I felt. His hesitation at the last sentence made me pause. I finally looked at him. "I think that's what everybody else thought. I should've been banished, I deserved it. I'm not safe, Kage."

"Dante, stop it. You didn't deserve to be banished. And you're perfectly safe. I grow up with you, I know you'd never turn on me or anyone. But in the heat of the moment, I did have a doubt. And as I've said, Blackbird got what was coming to him."

"But I am a danger! The thing you saw awaken? I felt it. It awoke when I fought Blackbird. I think it's behind everything, my eyes, my strange wings, my insomnia." I replied, a hint of life coming back to my voice.

"Do you feel it now?"

I paused. That was an interesting question. I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. I was numb, but that was expected. "No."

He flashed a smile. "Then it's nothing. That's just how you fight. Maybe it was anger, or vengeance. I doubt that what's behind your differences is what you felt when you fought Blackbird." he explained.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because," he flashed another smile, but this one stayed. "You didn't go after everyone else. You stopped, you cooled down and realized what you did. I don't think a monster would do that."

I tried to smile with him. Encouraging me seemed to have brought back some of the boldness in his voice. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome. And Dante, don't ever hate who you are. The worst thing someone can do is hate who they are." he said and stood. "Now, you said you wanted to wash off that blood, right?"

I nodded.

"Then let's go, I don't think we have much time until sundown."

And with that, we were off. We flew for awhile in a forest that seemed endless. Both of us kept up our guards, dragons could be anywhere. Flying through the forest was still tricky, and Kage helped me through most of it. I didn't dodge every branch, though, and one clipped my wing and sent me spiraling down.

"Dante!" he called frantically as I fell.

I reached for every branch that passed by me with my talons, and finally caught one mere feet from the forest floor. I pulled myself up and caught my breath as I examined my wing.

"Are you okay?" he asked, landing on a branch nearby.

I flexed and flapped my wing, nothing seemed broken. I nodded. "How about we fly lower from now on?" I suggested, managing a smile to lighten the mood.

He smiled back. "Okay, just until you can get the hang of it."

"How can you do it, anyway?"

"As I've said, I've hunted here a couple of times before. My father taught me how to navigate around the trees." he explained.

I looked at the tall barky things surrounding us. "That's what these are called? Trees?"

"Yeah, I don't know why. Father never told me why, it seems like they avoid the trivial and meaningless questions." he chuckled. "Maybe that's why Blackbird hated you, you ask too many questions."

"I don't see anything wrong with that, though. Don't we need to learn about the world around us so that we can survive?"

"That may be true, but to Blackbird, the only world around us was The Circle of Mountains."

"Do you believe that?" I asked warily.

He looked around the forest. "No, never did and never will." he shook his feathers. "Anyways, we should keep looking for water."

I nodded and once again, we were off, just flying at a lower altitude now. Only a few more minutes passed until we found a small body of water. We landed beside it and I slowly walked into the water. It felt weird to be standing in that much water, and I looked back to see Kage sitting at the shore, not exactly wanting to come in.

I didn't wait to start washing off the now dry blood. It hurt as I pulled it off my feathers, but thankfully, I didn't lose any. As I cleaned, I couldn't help but examine myself, to see if I had scales hiding under my feathers. Unsurprisingly, I did. But they didn't seem ready, they looked more like skin than scales.

I turned to my exposed wing and saw the same color skin, except it didn't have small scale indents and wasn't on the bridge of becoming gold. I was scared and intrigued at the same time.

"Did it hurt?" Kage asked when I was done examining my wing.

I knew he was asking if that skin growing in hurt, because that wing wasn't the one that got clipped on the tree. "No," I replied simply. "I don't even know when it grew in. I also have noticed scales under the rest of my feathers, too. But they don't appear ready, strangely."

He paused for a moment with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I wonder if they weren't supposed to be noticed until you reached adulthood. Maybe, instead of molting out your juvenile feathers to grow in the adult ones, the juvenile ones would just fall out, revealing your scales."

I blinked at him in surprise. That was incredibly farfetched, but then again, it made sense. I suddenly remembered the dream I had about Solstice talking with my parents. "Oh my goodness, Kage, you're a genius!" I exclaimed, bounding towards him out of the water.

He backed up, confused. "I am?"

"I'm not a dragon in disguise at all, at least, not in the way Blackbird thought. My parents wanted me to be like this. I had a dream of a conversation my parents had when I was still in my egg. There was a dragon mentioned, Kyori, who did something to me. And when I visited Solstice for the second time, she was visited by their king, and he called me a king." I spat out quickly, excited.

Kage paused a moment and shook his head. "What are you going on about? I guess it makes sense, but how?"

"I don't know, but maybe I'm not a freak? What if I'm made for something more?"

Kage smiled, but I could see he doubted me. I didn't blame him. "There you go, there's that hopefulness I always see in you. So, you don't hate yourself anymore?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what I am, but I do know who I am. Dante, the hopeful, daydreaming and dragon loving griffin."

He chuckled. "Good, that's the spirit. Now, let's go and find a cave to sleep in."

"Do you think there are even caves here?"

"No idea, but I'd sleep inside a tree if it came down to it."

I laughed. "If it came down to it." I echoed.

It came down to it. We found a fallen tree that had a part of it hollowed out just enough for us. We found it just in time, because the sun was almost set when we crawled in. The outside of it was draped with so many roots, we could barely see out, which meant things could barely see in.

We curled up and preened each other until we fell asleep. Strangely, it was one of the first peaceful sleeps I'd had in awhile. I didn't wake up in the middle of the night and I didn't have any nightmares. I was thankful for it. I had no idea what tomorrow held, but I knew Kage and I could make it together. As friends and as brothers.



I awoke early in the morning. Kage was still sleeping beside me and I paused to watch him sleep peacefully. My dear friend. I slowly walked to the end of the fallen log and peered out. The air was crisp with a sweet indescribable smell to it. I never released how plain The Circle of Mountains smelled. In fact, everything about that place was plain.

But here, plain wasn't even a word. Birds were singing happily above me, and below me bugs crawled all around. Growing braver, I stepped out completely and just sat to take in the sights. The rising sun shone through the trees, giving the forest a magical feel. One thing I didn't realize was how cool the forest was. I assumed this was because of the morning, since it wasn't like this yesterday.

I looked to the sky, wondering if the griffins had started hunting. This was usually the time they'd come out. I smiled, for once I wasn't woken to the annoying hum of the gong. I wondered how Kage would feel waking up normally. I loved it. The freedom this banishment gave me kept me from wallowing in my sadness.

Somehow, I didn't fear encountering a dragon. Not this morning. This morning felt like it was made for me. Given to me. I sighed happily as I laid down and began to roll in the moist leaves. The small sticks and rocks felt good against my feathers and skin.

"Dante, what are you doing?" I heard Kage ask.

I sat up and smiled at him as he stared at me from the log. A small leaf fell off my head. "Enjoying this beautiful morning." I replied.

He chuckled. "By covering yourself in leaves?"

"Of course! You should try it, sure beats the boring rock we grow up on."

He shook his head. "One day has passed and you're already happy that we got banished?"

My smile fell. "No, I'm just enjoying the freedom it brings. Believe me, I'm still sad about it. I miss Trinity and silly little Erion. I just don't see the point in wallowing in it." I replied.

He sighed and opened his beak to say something, but quickly closed it and shook his head. "Never mind," he mumbled and crawled out to join me.

I watched him silently as he took place beside me. I didn't know what he wanted to say, but I wasn't going to press him. I could see he was still hurting. And I understood that, he lost more than I did in the banishment.

"Thank you for defending me," I said after a long moment of silence.

"You're welcome. It was just the right thing to do."

"You risked getting banished to keep me there. I know you didn't expect Dimidas would do it, but the risk was there. I'm thanking you for taking that risk, it took an incredible amount of bravery."

He was smiling and I could see tears hang in his eyes. "Stop it with the compliments already." he chuckled.

I nudged him softly before giving him a harder nudge and pushing him to the ground. I was smiling as I held him down.

"What do you want, you little scamp?" he asked, smiling back.

"A wrestling match," I replied. "We haven't had one in too long, and it would warm us up for hunting."

He laughed. "Then get off me and we can start."

I hopped off him and the fight began.

It was a quick fight, and neither of us won, we just broke down laughing because we got covered in the still moist leaves and looked ridiculous.

"Okay, okay, you win. I won't be melancholy. Now, can we just go hunt?" Kage said when he was down laughing.

"Sure. Sounds like fun."

The lightheartedness didn't stay. After we were done eating our rabbits, which seemed like the only things we could catch out here, we perched high in the trees and began to talk again. We had a lot of catching up to do. There were so many things we couldn't talk about in The Circle of Mountains that we could here.

"Do you think Dimidas can change?" Kage asked me after we just got through reliving some griffling memories.

"Of course I do. I just don't think he's willing or even wants to." I shook my head. "Just what did Blackbird say to him to change his personality like that?"

"Lies. Obviously. But Dimidas did have a personality similar to Blackbird before then. I think Blackbird saw that in him and capitalized on it. He watched all of us very closely, obviously looking for a successor. I didn't want it to be Dimidas. I knew I'd lose him, but not to this extent."

"What about your parents? Were they worried?"

He scoffed angrily. "They're blind, just like everyone else. They were proud their son was becoming Blackbird's successor, they didn't see that Blackbird was making a duplicate of himself. Because they didn't see any problem with Blackbird. 'He's mean, but he means good!' They'd tell me." he scoffed again and gripped the tree. "That monster got exactly what was coming to him. If you didn't kill him, I would've done it myself."

His bitterness was clear, but it didn't scare me. It made me smile. He cared so much about this issue, no wonder he defended me. I always found a friend in him because of that. Our similar opinions on Blackbird formed our tight friendship. That was the only thing I could thank that monster for.

He sighed and shook his head, calming down. He crossed his eyes when he saw me smiling at him. "That didn't scare you?"

"Of course not. It just proved to me how similar we are. We have the same opinions on a lot of things."

He laughed. "You are a crazy little creature."

"Thanks,"

Our conversation continued like this for awhile until we got back onto the topic of friendship. But this time, it was directed towards me.

"So, what drew you towards Trinity?" he asked me.

I paused. "I don't know. I just had this draw towards her. I wanted to be with her, I wanted to talk to her." I replied.

"You risked your life to keep her mother alive."

I smiled. "Yes, of course I did. What else was there to do? I couldn't stand to watch her sad." I sighed. "I miss her. Her shy smile, her gentle voice."

Kage grinned. "You know, one day I overheard some female griffins talking about the two of you. They think you're soulmates and come mating season, there won't even be a ritual between you two. It'll just be an instant bond."

I cocked my head at him. "Mating season?" I asked.

"You don't know?"

I shook my head.

"Well, soon you and I will grow in our golden adult feathers, and when that happens, it will be time to get our mates. This is done through a mating ritual that all newly mature griffins take part in. That is where and when we chose a mate." he explained.

"Really? Wow, that's pretty cool."

"I know."

"Do you believe that, too? That Trinity and I would be an instant pair?"

"Of course. I've seen you two together. It's almost as if you two were made for each other."

I simply smiled back as I looked back on the many days I spent with her. I still had no idea what he was talking about in terms of the mating season and maturity, but I somehow knew it would come to me eventually. When I was ready. Kage's words stuck with me. The thought that was I made just for Trinity, and she just for me, warmed me to no end.

I was thankful of the friend I had in Kage.

I'll have to admit something here, I had such a hard time trying not to ship these two. I don't even ship! LOL.

[Megaguirus]

A good long week passed of Kage and I bonding. It was great to have him with me. We never encountered a dragon or a griffin during the week, and began to get pretty comfortable with our life. We eventually dropped painful subjects from the not-so-distant past and focused on the here and now.

I got better at navigating through the trees, through still wasn’t as good as Kage. But then again, he was an excellent flyer. We seemed to only be able to catch the smaller animals, but I knew that we couldn’t live off rabbit and squirrel, and needed to start learning just how to catch deer.

Every night I would get up to practice just that. My insomnia returned with a vengeance, I barely got any sleep during the night. Though since there wasn’t any strict schedule, and we felt safe here in the forest, Kage didn’t mind me sleeping through half the day while he did other things.

Once Kage was asleep I crawled out of the tree we slept in and took in my surroundings. The forest was different at night, a good different. Quieter and with more mystery. Each shadow could be hiding a surprise. The silent winged owls always giving me a startle when they catch a mouse in front of me.

Yes, I belonged here. This was my home. I breathed in the crisp night air and looked up at the pieces of sky that hid behind the treeline. The moon was almost a full half, but it still gave off little light. The stars seemed to shine brighter tonight. I then set off on my nightly deer hunts.

When Kage and I first set foot in the forest, the ground was very weird and uncomfortable for us to walk on, but now, I had grown used to it. Only after a few minutes of walking, I heard the light footsteps of a quadrupedal animal walking in my direction. I froze and ducked down behind a bush.

But soon, a voice carried with the footsteps. From what I knew, deer didn’t talk. I turned my ears to the sound to see if I couldn’t catch what it was saying.

“Goodness, where is that plant? According to this book, it should be easy to find. Its leaves and flowers are very distinct. Then where is it? I need it for my medicine.” the voice spoke. It was female and confused.

I wasn’t filled with panic, though. Sure, it was an unfamiliar voice, but she didn’t sound particularly threatening. I stayed hidden, however. The voice and the footsteps grew closer.

“Heart shaped leaves, bell shaped flowers,” she suddenly paused and broke out into laughter. “Oh, I’m so silly! I was reading two flowers at once. Well then,” another pause. Suddenly the bush began to quiver and shake, somebody was touching it. “Yes! A large bush with heart shaped leaves!” she exclaimed.

I stayed completely still, afraid that if I made the tiniest movement I would be noticed. While not particularly scared of her, I was still nervous. Solstice was the only kind dragon I knew, but she spoke of Dragon King, who seemed evil, and then there was that one that killed Lofty. I still couldn’t trust them. That is, if she even was a dragon. But I didn’t know any other creatures that could speak.

The rustling soon stopped. “There we go, that should be enough for the medicine. I do hope I’m doing this right,” she mumbled and I heard the footsteps fall back. She let out with a sigh. “You can come out now,”

I gasped. Was she talking to me?

“I can smell you in the bush, dear. Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you.” she said to me.

Her voice was tender, though not as motherly as Solstice or Lofty, it was still gentle and comforting. I took a deep breath and stepped out. There was no point in hiding, she already noticed me. She wasn’t the type of dragon I was expecting.

The first thing I noticed were her wide, light blue eyes that seemed to be reading my mind. She had a long, slender and snakelike body and lacked wings entirely. Her neck wasn’t too long, but her body and tail were. Her legs were the same length as Solstice’s, but had tufts of blue fur on the elbows and knees. Her snout was long and slender, with a tuft of fur on the chin and two thin black things growing from behind her nostrils.

More blue fur also ran down her entire spine and ended in a big sweeping fluff at the very tip of her tail. Two spiraling silver horns sprouted from her head. Her body was covered in thin purple scales, and her belly was a rich shade of pink. She had to have been only a little shorter than Solstice. In one of her claws was a bushel of leaves from the bush, and hanging off of one of her horns was a thick vine and at the end of the vine a book.

I wasn’t sure if I was afraid or in awe of her. She didn’t seem surprised by me at all, and just smiled softly.

“I-I honestly don’t know what to say,” she began. “Solstice told me that you survived, but I didn’t know I’d see you myself. Especially this early on, too. You have your mother’s eyes, my dear. Oh, she was such a gentle and caring griffin. Did you know that I was teaching her medicine? She told me that she always wanted to be a healer, but she just couldn’t support the tyranny of Blackbird.”

I blinked. She didn’t stay on topic for too long. “You know Solstice? And you know about me?”

“Of course I do! I’ve known her all my life. And why wouldn’t I know about you? Oh my dear, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be who you are! Who your parents wished for you to be.”

I froze. This was the Kyori mentioned in my dream, in that distant memory. Suddenly, I felt a wave of feelings. Excitement over the fact that I found the dragon who made me part dragon, but also anger on the same fact. After talking with Kage about my revelation, I began to think on it more, and let the simple fact sink in. The further it sank, the more anger towards this Kyori I felt.

Because of her, I was insulted and hated. Because of her, I lost Lofty. Because of her Kage and I got banished.

She seemed to pick up on this and sighed. “Yes, your reaction is understandable. I’m so sorry for whatever torment it caused you, but your parents pleaded with me to do it. They wanted you to be the hope for a better future. Dante, the plan they had in mind for you will bind two warring sides. I know you are confused as to why dragons and griffins are divided, and I know you hate it. It’s in your blood.” she explained.

Her words didn’t help calm me down. In fact, my optimism of being part of a bigger plan had turned bitter, and now I didn’t want to hear about it. Maybe I was just starting to feel homesick, or finally seeing Kyori solidified the feelings. “What if I didn’t want to be part dragon? This shouldn’t have been my parent’s choice to make.”

She sighed. “I know, I refused at first. Even after I had found them a hiding spot, there still wasn’t the assurance that Dragon King wouldn’t find them. But they pleaded and pleaded, telling me that they had even already named you after The Great One. They were sure we could protect them, so eventually, I gave in to their pleas.” she bowed her head and shook it from side to side, making that book swing wildly.

“I’m sorry, Dante. We failed to save your parents. It shouldn’t have been this way, though, I made it so that your dragon half wouldn’t be noticeable until you reached adulthood. I underestimated Blackbird’s suspicion.” she finished explaining.

Her explanation calmed me down a bit. I believed her, so my anger wasn’t directed towards her, but it was still partly directed towards my parents. Though, since they were dead, there wasn’t much I could do about it. “It’s okay, I’m not angry at you. I’m just confused, scared and lost.” I replied.

“Why?” she asked.

I let out with a heavy sigh. Could I trust her enough to tell her everything? My parents trusted her, so maybe I could too. “I’m surprised you assumed Blackbird is the reason I’m here, but not in the way you might think.” I shuffled my feet nervously. “I-I killed him.” I uttered in barely a whisper.

She gasped. She had no reply, she just stared at me, wide-eyed with her jaw hanging open.

“But it was an accident! After Lofty got killed, I feel into a deep depression, during which Blackbird conspired to banish me, because I wasn’t ‘contributing to the flock’. My green eyes and unnatural strength was enough to cause suspicion in him. However, I snapped and fought him, and it was my unnatural strength that killed him. I still got banished, though, because he had enough time to teach a successor.” I explained.

Her mouth finally closed, but her eyes were still filled with shock. “So, you’re alone then? How long have you been out here?”

“No, I’m not alone. A friend of mine came with me. And it’s been a week so far.” I replied.

Her face was now filled with surprise. “A week? Wow, that’s a long time. But don’t get too comfortable. Dragon King has been getting restless, and I guess now I know why. You haven’t been in the hunting parties. He must assume that means you’re banished. He’ll be looking for you.” she warned.

“What?” I exclaimed in panic. “But I don’t have anywhere to go! We don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Oh dear, please don’t panic. It’ll be okay, I think.” she shook her head and put both front claws on the sides of her head. I was surprised to see her sitting on her haunches. “Oh, I’ve messed up. I said something wrong.” she mumbled.

I looked at her with concern, my panic quickly dying away. I leaned in closer to see... tears? in her eyes? “It’s okay, I’m not that panicked. Kage and I will figure something out.”

She stopped shaking and took slow breaths. She slowly turned to look at me. “S-sorry for freaking out there. I have a problem with saying too much or the wrong thing. I just hate it when someone’s distressed or upset because of me.”

I smiled softly at her. “Then you have nothing to worry about, because I am neither. Now, if you help me figure something out, that’ll be wonderful.”

Her smile returned. “Sure! But maybe we can talk on the way to my cave? I have to hang these leaves so that they can dry properly. And I may lose them if I keep this up.” she chuckled softly.

I looked back in the direction of the log Kage was sleeping in. “That sounds great. Just as long as we make it home before sunrise so Kage doesn’t worry.”

“That’s fine, you may just have to remind me when it is getting near sunrise, though, I often get carried away.”

I nodded and took place beside her, looking up at her with a wide smile. “Okay, I’m ready.”

She smiled back at me and we began our walk. I noticed that not only did she sit on her haunches, but she walked just on her back legs. Except she was leaning her other part forward just a tiny bit, so that she could still talk to me, I assumed.

The silent walk didn’t last too long. “You know, when I heard that your parents were dead and you were nowhere to be found, I felt like I’d failed. Your parents trusted me to make you who you were and to watch over you, but I couldn’t do it. I don’t know how to take care of hatchlings. But then, to know you had lived, it was the greatest feeling.” she said.

“Solstice told me about the same. In my dream, she gave my parents the explanation, though. My question is, why did both of you say you couldn’t raise me?”

“I cannot give you her answer, but as for mine, as I’ve previously said, I don’t think I’m capable. I’m far too disorganized to take care of a hatchling.” she chuckled.

“That’s okay, I’m not angry. I was raised by a very sweet and motherly griffin. Lofty had lost her mate, and since she wasn’t allowed to find another, she raised abandoned eaglets.” I smiled, feeling the tears start to come. “I grew up with three eaglet siblings, one of which I named Glory. Lofty hunted for all of us, and raised all of us with a smile. Despite still believing Blackbird was good for them, even after he struck her face, she was the best adoptive mother I could’ve asked for.”

She stopped walking and turned to look at me. “My father was the same. He raised many other creatures, other than me. His mate, my mother, left him after I was laid. He was foolish enough to break it to her then that when I matured, he would die. No matter what age he was, he would still die. That’s the thing about Guardians. It’s the reason why I’m not actively pursuing a mate at this time. The island is bound to our souls, it is our magic that keeps it hidden from humans and its environment sustainable. However, two Guardians can’t exist at the same time, so one has to die. My great grandfather made it so that the one that dies is the older, so the younger can live on.

“It was a sad day when Father died, but he prepared me for what was coming. There was no need to bury him, his body turned to golden dust and ascended into the stars.” she paused for a moment to stare up at the tiny bit of sky peeking through the trees. “That is where we all belong, in the stars. You, me, anybody. Not all bodies ascend, but all souls do. This I know.” she looked at me with a smile. “Lofty is up there, waiting for you when your time comes. I have no doubt that she is watching you this very moment, a smile on her face.”

What she said may have been a little disjointed, but it made my heart flutter with anticipation. I would see her again? Lofty? Then my hopes were soured when I remembered Blackbird. “What about Blackbird, does he belong there too?”

“Of course, my dear! But not until he repents for all that he’s done. The gods know what they are doing, you will see him there too. Do not worry, though, he will be a changed griffin. At least, I think, I’m actually not positive.” she shook her head. “I shouldn’t make my assumptions about the afterlife. The gods tell me nothing, I can only make assumptions on what I’ve been told and what I’ve seen. Though, for the most part, that is evidence enough for me.” she turned her head back towards the direction we were walking. “Anyway, we better keep our pace. I want to show you my cave before sunrise.”

I nodded and followed after her. It was silent until we got to her cave. This cave didn’t seem to be attached to a mountain, it just looked like a huge rock with a hole inside it. Outside, the trees had vines connecting their branches, and on these vines, countless hanging herbs and plants.

I looked down when I felt the ground’s texture change and saw it was paved with stones embedded in the ground, leading to the mouth of the cave. Covering the mouth of the cave was a huge curtain of what appeared to be animal hide. She hung the herbs on a free vine and then pulled back the hide, tying the bottom part to a tree with more vine so it wouldn’t close again.

She finally went back on all four legs and walked inside the cave. She beckoned me to come closer, and I complied. The inside was surprisingly huge and there were book and rolls on paper tucked in shapes carved in the walls. In the back was a table with a couple of herbs and glowing jars of liquid on it. Hanging from the ceiling were more herbs, and in the wall behind the table more jars were placed.

My jaw was hanging open in wonder.

Kyori laughed. “This is my secret cave, only a couple of others know where it is. I’ve cloaked it with a spell, so only those I trust can see it. But, despite its appearance, and the fact that I’ve cloaked it, I’m not that magical. In fact, the cloaking spell was the first one I’ve ever used, and probably the last. I’m more for practical ‘magic’ like medicines or potions. Alchemy is my strong suit. Unlike Father, I cannot do much magic. But that doesn’t mean I can’t trick others into believing I’m more magical than I am.”

Not knowing what to say to her dump of information, I looked at a roll of paper dropped on the floor. I stretched it out on the ground and saw black scribbles on it. I heard Kyori come up behind me.

“Oh yes, that is a thing from my father. It reads ‘Let this be known, you are not only a Guardian, but in my eyes, a goddess, my dear Kyori.’” she picked it up and rolled it back up. “He called me his goddess all the time. Goddess of what, he never said, but a goddess nonetheless. When I was younger, he’d tell me I wasn’t hatched, I fell from the stars. A gift from the gods. And while I now know this to not be true, I do know he saw me as a gift.” she explained, pulling the paper close to her chest before placing it on a shelf.

“You could read that?” I asked her.

“Oh yes. Father taught me how to read and write a lot of languages. My favorite are the human ones, especially one called Latin. Humans come up with the best tales, too. Father shared with me some when I was younger.” her voice grew solemn in tone as I watched her walk outside the cave.

“Although I know he’s in a better place, I miss him often. He was a great father and an even greater friend.” she said while she was outside the cave. I had to follow her to hear her better.

I kept walking, though, and took my place beside her, gently nuzzling her leg. “I miss Lofty every day. At least you got to see your father pass peacefully. Lofty’s death will forever haunt me. But do you know how I keep smiling and living? I surround myself with my friends. They are where I find my place, my home. Which is why I still call The Circle of Mountains my home. Because of my friends there. But this forest is my home too, because of Kage, and now, because of you.”

Kyori let out with a sob and nuzzled me back with her snout. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Thank you, Dante,” she said. “You’re my friend too,”

We kept this embrace for awhile until I noticed the forest start to lighten. I pulled back and sighed. “Well, looks like I have to be going back now,” I told her.

She was still smiling and glanced up at the sky. “Right, of course, you have to get back to Kage.”

“When can I see you again?” I asked her.

“Whenever you wish, my dear. I don’t sleep, I never seemed to need it. It comes with being a Guardian. Night or day, I will be here, if you remember how to get here. And if I’m not, you’ll encounter me somewhere else. These woods may be big, but we will see each other again. I promise you, dear.”

I smiled at her, before yawning, realizing I didn’t sleep at all tonight. But Kage wouldn’t mind if I slept during the day. “Okay, then I’ll be seeing you, Kyori.” I said before trotting off.

“See you soon!” she called back.

The sky was even lighter by the time I made it back. I yawned again and crawled in the log just as Kage woke up. He looked at me curiously as I sleepily curled up in my spot.

“Were you out all night again?” he asked.

I nodded.

He smiled and shook his head. “You will never have a normal schedule. I’m still going to go out and get something to eat. Want me to bring something back to you?”

I nodded, not even opening my eyes.

“Okay then, see you in a little while.” he said and left the log.

Once he was gone I quickly fell asleep, my thoughts swarming with all that Kyori told me. I made a mental note to let her meet Kage. Since she didn’t sleep, we could meet her in the daytime, since I knew Kage couldn’t see as well in the night. That was only one of the thoughts that helped me fall asleep.

Kyori was one of the few characters to go through a complete change from her original self. In the original book she barely had a personality, and when she did, it was almost like she was a clone of Solstice. I actually had to interview Kyori before writing this chapter, since I didn't know her.

[Megaguirus]

When I woke, I wasn’t surprised to see a fresh rabbit waiting for me. I was about to dig in, my stomach practically roaring with hunger, when I heard a strange clank. I looked ahead to see Kage messing with something. Curiosity pulled me towards him, and after looking over his shoulder, I noticed him messing with a silver claw.

It fit perfectly over his front talon, armoring his talon with thick leather, and adding sharp metal sheaths to his claws. The clanking was the claws tapping together as he slashed the tree, obviously trying it out.

“What are those?” I asked him.

He jumped, startled, and I jumped back, afraid he’d accidentally strike me. Noticing it was me, he laughed. “Oh, Dante, I didn’t see you there. Sorry.” he apologized and looked at the talon. “This? I have no idea, I found it in a huge pile of all sorts of these things. But not only talon extensions, but also thick leather you can wear.” he described.

The thought of such interesting things excited me. “Can you take me there?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course!” he then looked behind me and saw the uneaten rabbit. He looked back at me and rolled his eyes. “Not until you eat that rabbit. I know you’re starving, and I know you didn’t pick anything up last night, you didn’t smell of blood.”

I turned back to the rabbit and drooled. Without another word I turned around and quickly devoured the thing, bone and all. I looked back at Kage to see his jaw agape.

“Since when did you eat bone?”

I looked back at the puddle of blood and shrugged. “Don’t know. I was just hungry. Rabbit bone is brittle anyway, it was easy to break.” I grinned and walked toward him. “Now, where did you find that shiny talon?”

He sighed and shook his head. “You know, this forest is doing good to you. You’ve become more wild. I honestly don’t see why I decided to go with you, I think you’d do just fine here alone.” he said as he led me to the area.

“I agree with you, but I’d be alone without you.” I replied.

“No you wouldn’t,” he disagreed with a chuckle. “I smelled dragon on you this morning. I can only assume you went to see Solstice.”

I cocked my head at him. “How do you know the smell of dragon?”

He laughed. “It certainly wasn’t griffin, and I don’t know any other highly intelligent species other than dragon. You smelled of scales and ash, the same smell when you came back from meeting Solstice.”

“I actually smelled significantly different? Why didn’t you tell me beforehand! That’s how Blackbird grew quickly suspicious.”

“Actually, no, I doubt that. My sense of smell is greater than average. According to Father, griffins have a poor sense of smell, so we rely more on sight and sound. But I was able to distinguish smells better than any other griffin.” he shook his head. “Anyway, we are deviating. What I’m saying is you’d be perfectly fine without me, because it’s clear you have other friends. Dragon friends.”

I sighed. “I’m confused,” I mumbled. “I want to disagree, but you are right. I was out all night last night because I met another dragon friend. The one who made me who I am. Kyori. She’s a very friendly and talkative dragon. I want you to meet her sometime.” I replied, then stopped.

Kage stopped with me and looked at me curiously.

“I still disagree, though. Kyori and Solstice can’t hunt with me, they can’t share a log with me. You are a special type of company, one that I grew up with. Familiar.”

He smiled. “Well, thank you, I feel flattered.” he replied with a bow. “Now, shall we continue?”

I nodded and we headed on. It was only a few minutes after walking that we reached the destination. The trees gave way to a large clearing, and in the middle of that clearing, a hole. And in that hole was exactly what Kage described. Huge masses of indescribable things made of leather and metal.

I slowly climbed down and grabbed a talon for myself. It was a larger one than Kage’s, and slipped perfectly on my talon. I found another and also equipped it. I flew to a nearby tree and slashed at it with my new talons. The metal claws dug smoothly through the bark, leaving huge gashes bleeding sap.

I grinned at my new claws and turned back to Kage, landing and running towards him. “This is amazing! We have to tell Kyori!” I exclaimed.

“Really?” he asked me, pulling back a little.

I nodded. “Follow me!” I exclaimed and took to the sky. I didn’t fly too high, though, I needed to see where I was going. If I flew above the trees, I would get lost.

Kage was soon flying beside me. “But wouldn’t she be asleep?”

“Nope! She told me she doesn’t sleep at all. She’ll explain it to you herself when you meet her. Well, probably. If you ask.” I replied excitedly.

I glanced at the new talons. They felt so natural, so perfect. I thought I knew Kyori enough that she’d be just as excited as me with this discovery. After all, she did seem like the type to jump at new discoveries. In this case, I was wrong.

I landed in front of the barrier she had made. I knew it was the front, because it was where the stone path began. I looked back at Kage.

“Okay, I will most likely disappear for awhile, that is because Kyori told me she enchanted this area to only be visible to those she trusts. Obviously, not having met you yet, she doesn’t fully trust you. I will slip in and ask if she can give you permission.” I explained as quickly as I could.

“Okay,” he replied, he didn’t seem to be too sure in his tone.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” I said and slipped in. Just as I expected, Kage was startled, obviously noticing me disappear. I could see him, but he couldn’t see me. I turned and headed towards the cave. I knew Kyori was in, because the hide was pulled back and I saw her fiddling around at her table.

The talons clinked against the stone pathway, giving away my presence. She turned, and I noticed a quick startled look in her eyes, before they faded back down to happiness.

“Dante! I didn’t expect to be seeing you so soon.” she exclaimed, turning from what she was doing and walking towards me. She stopped midway though when her eyes fell on my new talons. “Where did you get those?” she asked.

“Oh, these?” I asked, lifting one up. “Kage found them in a hole not too far away. Actually, tha-” I was cut off midway by her panic.

“No, no, no, that is not good.” she walked towards me. “Get those terrible things off, now.” she demanded.

She was beginning to scare me. “What?”

She grabbed at my talons and ripped the metal attachments off with a frightening speed, throwing them far behind her. “I’ll have to meet Kage later. Right now, I have a hole to fill,” she said and jumped into the air. To my surprise, she stayed in the air. Somehow, without wings, she was able to fly, and I watched in awe as she slithered through the trees.

“What on earth was that?” I heard Kage exclaim.

I looked back to see him watch Kyori fly away. I was about to run to him but stopped suddenly. I turned and ran towards one of the talons, grabbing it and putting it back on. I didn’t know what she was so freaked out about, but I was going to keep just one until she told me what was going on. I turned and exited her area, startling Kage.

“What was that thing? Was that Kyori?” he asked.

I nodded. “Come on, we have to follow her.” I said and spread my wings.

Kage reluctantly followed. “Why? Where is she headed?”

“To the hole. When I told her about it, she panicked and said she needed to fill it in. I want to follow her so that she can explain.” I replied.

Kage seemed too stunned to reply.

On the way back to the hole, I dropped the talon by our log for safekeeping and pressed on. When we reached the hole, Kyori had it almost filled. I didn’t notice it at first, but on one of the sides of the hole was a large mound of dirt. She was filling the hole with that mound of dirt.

I landed very close to the hole, while Kage was standing back. I didn’t blame him, Kyori looked very intimidating with her angry and bewildered expression. She was practically using her entire body to fill it in.

“Why are you so panicked? What’s going on?” I asked her.

She didn’t seem to hear me for a moment while she continued her work, but eventually she stopped and looked at me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know why I’m so panicked. What lies within this hole are cruel weapons. Long ago, before this island was even created, dragons and griffins lived with a creature called Man. Man was a small and weak creature, they also had the same intellect as dragons and griffins, but due to their size and weakness, there wasn’t much to fear. Until they made tools. These wicked items are tools that Man made to use griffins as their own weapons against dragons.” she explained and continued to bury the items.

After a moment, she paused and spoke up again. “Griffins and dragons were at war long before this island was made. Man helped encourage it, since they began to see griffins to be more noble than dragons. Of course, Man soon turned on the griffins, which is why my great grandfather made this island in the first place. But some griffins chose to bring their weapons with them, which my great grandfather confiscated and buried in this hole. This is the very first time I’ve seen them. But I’ve read enough to know just what these things can do.”

It took me a moment to take all this in as I watched Kyori finish burying the items, but one question arose from the explanation. “Why do griffins need special weapons to fight dragons?”

“Because most dragons are covered in scales harder than stone. Dragon claws can barely strike through these scales, and griffins find it impossible. But these weapons can easily cut through dragon scale, just as other weapons of Man could.” she replied. I could see she wanted to say more, but Kage soon interjected.

“But isn’t that a good thing?”

He was shot down by a cold and angry stare from Kyori, but she soon dropped it when she remembered that Kage wasn’t as educated as me. “No, it is a very bad thing. With this, griffins could easily make dragons extinct. What the griffins failed to tell you is that most wars ended in stalemates. We both lost an equal amount on both sides. You might wonder why, and it is because griffins are smaller and quicker and know how to get at a dragon’s weak spot.” she explained.

She sighed and slowly walked towards us, sitting down once she was close. “I’m sorry if I scared you, it was I just scared myself. What concerns me the most is that a few of the weapons, like the ones you had, weren’t rusted beyond repair. Something buried underground for that long shouldn’t be shiny. Someone found the hole, dug it up and polished some of the items. I don’t know who, but I will find out. I have to. If these fall into the hands of the griffins,” she paused and shook her head.

Kage finally moved closer, and I thought for a moment when he passed by me that he was going to sit beside me, but instead he continued walking and dropped the talon that was still on him in front of her. “You might have missed one,” he told her.

I was stunned. He just fearlessly approached Kyori, a large and certainly frightening dragon, and handed her the only thing that could protect him. He trusted easier than me. He then took place beside me and we watched as Kyori buried the talon.

“You trusted Kyori enough to hand her that talon?” I asked him.

“Of course. I won’t deny that I am terrified that I am this close to a dragon, but she seems pretty normal. Not at all like the monsters I was raised to see them as. Also, if you trust her, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t.” he replied.

I smiled at him. “Why didn’t you tell her about the talon I dropped off at the log?” I whispered to him.

“If you, a dragon lover, want to keep it, then you must have good reason. You did mention that there was a dragon that wanted you dead, right? You’re going to use it against him, aren’t you?” he replied and asked.

I nodded. “Please don’t tell Kyori, I don’t want to get her angry again.”

Kyori came back towards us, causing us both to hush. We smiled at her and she smiled back. “Well, I am sorry for the panic, but I think now we can properly introduce ourselves. I am Kyori,” she said giving a little bow.

Kage grinned and bowed back. “Kage. Pleasure to meet you, Kyori.”

She smiled back at him. “Now, if you two are up for it, I can tell you more about this island’s history and any other questions you have back at my cave.”

Kage and I glanced at each other and quickly came to a decision. “Sounds good to me,” I replied.

Kage nodded.

“Excellent! Then follow me.” and we headed back to her cave.

On the walk I decided to ask her about earlier. “How can you fly without wings?”

“Magic, I guess. My family has always had that ability, and nobody has been able to explain.” she replied.

“Are dragons as vicious as everyone has told me?” Kage asked her.

“Not all of them, just look at me or Solstice. But there are those who definitely deserve the title of ‘Monster’. Dragon King is one of them, along with some of his minions. I still cannot believe he has followers. And not unwilling, they willingly want to follow him.” she shook her head.

“What does Dante have to do with all this?”

She stopped walking and looked at Kage. “Everything. He is the hope for this island. I know we shouldn’t put all our hope on him, but Dragon King has been nothing but cruel. And to go from a wonderful leader to a cruel one is jarring and upsetting. I already apologized to Dante for it, and explained to him everything. If you want to know, that’s fine, I can tell you.” she said and continued on.

Kage looked at me and I looked back at him. I couldn’t read his expression, and it concerned me a little. Did he disagree with my destiny, since it wasn’t mine to choose? But did I really have a choice in my destiny?

We finished the walk in silence, and when we made it to the cave, Kyori allowed it to be visible to Kage just as she did with me. He was just as amazed as I was when he saw it. As we walked down the path, Kyori didn’t seem to notice the talon she left behind, or that there was only one. I fell back a little so that I was behind them and quickly threw the talon as far as I could into the woods. I then hurried back to join them.

We all gathered in her cave, with her nearer to the back wall and us nearer to the entrance. She smiled softly at us. “So, what would you two like to learn about?” she asked us.

Kage and I glanced at each other, almost having a conversation with just our eyes.

“More about the history would be great,” Kage replied. “What is Man? What is the world outside of this one?”

Her smiled widened and she turned to one of the scrolls and pulled it out. She stretched it across the floor in front of us. “This is Man.” she explained as we looked at the drawing that was on the scroll.

On the scroll was a strange looking creature. It only stood on two long legs, and its front legs hang by its sides. The talons on the front legs were skinny and without claws, while the paws on the back legs didn’t resemble any type of paw or talon that I’ve seen. The creature was scrawny and lacking fur, feathers or scales. Its lacked a snout, instead having a stubby curiously shaped face. The only fur it had was on the top of its head.

I could see why Man needed tools. “It looks so weird.” I commented.

“Yes, I know. But their appearance and fondness for tools and weapons is really the only thing that separates us. They are just as smart, have almost the same mannerisms and speak a wide variety of languages. Well, I don’t know from personal experience, but there are books that give me enough of an idea.”

“So these creatures, they come from a different world?” Kage asked.

She rolled the scroll back up and put it back in its place. “Well, not world, but land, yes.” she replied as she grabbed another scroll and laid it out before us. This was nothing but drawings of different strangely shaped green things. “This is a map of the entire world. I cannot tell you where our island is, because I don’t know, but it isn’t on here. Man doesn’t know about this island, as they shouldn’t. Actually, not sure if I’ve already mentioned this to you, Dante, but the reason the island depends on me is because of the magic tied to my blood which keeps this island invisible to Man. They simply go right through it with their ocean machines. Of course, you wouldn’t know of these things, because you cannot see them, thanks to the barrier.” she explained.

I could see that I wasn’t the only one who needed a minute to process what Kyori said.

Kage looked at the green shapes and back at her. “So, griffins and dragons didn’t start on this island?”

She shook her head. “Nope, our ancestors all began on these different land masses. Remember, the only reason why we’re on this island now is because Man turned on us. The more weapons and tools they built, the less they needed us for such things. Not only did we start to become monsters in their eyes, but they began to believe that our claws and scale held medicinal purposes. Lastly, the more we were hunted, the more we were forced the hide, and the less they believed in us. I doubt that we’d even still be alive today if it weren’t for my great grandfather making this island. Man has most likely overrun all these lands.”

My head was spinning with all the info, but I could see Kage was actually taking it all in joyously.

“That is amazing!” he exclaimed.

Kyori seemed to be very delighted with his excitement, because she was grinning from ear to ear. “I’m so glad you love the history. I absolutely love teaching, but ever since Dragon King took over, I haven’t taught. Not that many really cared to listen in the first place, but still, thank you, Kage.”

“Can you tell me more?” Kage asked, now laying down on the floor, staring up at her intently.

“What do you want to hear?”

“Whatever you want to tell.”

“Okay, well,” she paused for a moment to think, until she got an idea, her eyes lighting up. “How about dragon anatomy and physiology?” she suggested.

Kage nodded at that idea and Kyori quickly rolled up the scroll of the world and pulled out one about dragons. This was where I partly lost interest. It was still fascinating to learn, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t anything special. I didn’t wander, though, because I felt like that would be rude to Kyori. It was stuff I needed to learn anyway.

The lesson took up the rest of the day and by the time it was over, Kage was yawning. I wasn’t that sleepy, since I slept through half the day, but I could see why he was getting fatigued.

“You want to go back to your log now?” she asked him.

He stood and shook himself to wake up a bit. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Though I am still hungry, that rabbit didn’t go far.”

She frowned. “Oh, I’m so sorry, but I cannot help you. I do not eat meat, I made a vow to never harm a single creature on this island, and I intend to keep it. Like I explained in my lesson, dragons can eat both meat and plants, meaning that some, like me, can just eat plants, just so long as I get the nutrition I find in meat elsewhere.”

He stretched. “That’s okay, Dante and I will grab another rabbit as we head to the log.” he told her. “Thank you for all that you taught us, I feel so horrible now, thinking that all dragons were like Dragon King.”

“I understand, you were given no comparison. I have no doubt there are some dragon hatchlings that think the same way about you. There’s fear-mongering and then there’s education. I think, with all the wars and the divide, griffins and dragons forgot about education. But, you and Dante are the hope, with your open minds and caring hearts. I do not doubt that you will teach generations the same mindset. That dragons and griffins are both good and bad, they are whatever they make themselves. Now, I have to stop talking now. You two have a bit of a ways’ journey to get back to your log, and night is drawing near.” she explained.

We both smiled at her as we headed out. “Thank you, Kyori, for everything. We’ll be sure to stop by soon.” I said and Kage agreed.

All the way back to the log, and even during our hunt, we talked about the information we learned.

“She talks a lot, doesn’t she?” I asked him.

He laughed. “It makes a nice change. And all the things she knows, I never knew there was that much to learn! The others don’t know what they’re missing.” he exclaimed.

“She’s too talkative for my tastes, and the anatomy of a dragon got very boring, but I’m so glad you like her.”

“I can understand that, you like to do most of the talking anyway.” he teased and I nudged him playfully. “I loved that lesson, we finally know what to call that skin under your feathers.”

I looked at the bald spot in my wing, my heart sinking as I remembered how I got it. “Yeah, membrane is a funny word.” I was interrupted by a rustle in the bushes and we both froze. We crouched down and waited for our prey to make itself known.

I was just about to pounce as it slowly came out of the bushes, but stopped when my mind registered the figure. It was a deer fawn. Kage and I looked at each other and knew we needed to continue hunting. We would never eat the child of an animal.

We stood and took to the sky, startling the poor little creature. It ran after its mother, who was also fleeing. We soon made it to the log and decided to hunt around it. It wasn’t long until we found a rabbit. Kage was the one to kill it and we ate it together.

“I will learn how to hunt deer, Kage, we can’t live on rabbit forever.” I told him.

“I know, but we also can’t live here forever.” he replied.

I paused, the rabbit in my stomach began to dance around, as if I ate it whole. “What do you mean?”

“Kyori mentioned this ‘Dragon King’, and you even mentioned him. I know we’re getting settled in this forest, but I worry he’ll come to kill you.”

“But where else would we go? This is the safest place so far, we’ll just have to have faith and hope that he won’t kill either of us.”

He sighed but eventually smiled after a moment. He yawned wide and slowly crawled into the log. When he noticed that I didn’t follow after him, he smiled. “So, what are you going to do while I sleep?” he asked me.

I grinned. “Remember, I slept through half of the day. To answer your question, though, I’m hoping to see Solstice. I want to see her again.” I replied.

“But didn’t Dragon King make it impossible for you to?”

“Maybe Kyori has a solution. I won’t know until I try.”

He yawned again. “Okay, see you later. Stay safe.”

“I will,” I replied and set off back to Kyori. I flew this time, trying to hone my forest flying skills more. When I came within view, I heard two voices and perched on a branch to listen in.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Kyori said to someone that I couldn’t quite see in the thick forest.

“It’s okay. Doesn’t matter much. Now, where’s Dante? The moment you sent that raven to let me know of the news, I came here as fast as I could.” an all too familiar voice replied.

My heart leapt. Solstice! I jumped off the branch and flew into the scene as fast as I could, startling the two with my sudden arrival. I didn’t wait for their reactions, though, I just ran into Solstice’s arms. Tears began to pour out of my eyes without control.

Solstice purred to comfort me, and I felt it through my entire body. “Oh child, I’ve missed you. Kyori told me that you got banished, and I’m so sorry that Lofty got killed. You shouldn’t have seen that.” she comforted.

“Thank you. I wanted so badly to run to you when that happened.” I said through my sobs. “I love you, Solstice.”

“I love you, too, Dante, my child.”

After a couple more minutes of intense sobbing I finally calmed down enough to pull away from her. I looked up to see her gentle red eyes and soft smile looking down at me. I smiled back.

“Do you feel better now?” she asked.

I nodded. “Sorry, I just needed to get that out.”

“Don’t apologize to me, cry when you need to. According to Kyori, a lot of stuff has happened to you recently. I’m glad to hear you’re not alone, though, Kage sounds cool. I’m ready to listen if you want to give me an in-depth explanation of everything. Anything you feel comfortable with sharing, if you want.” she told me and laid down.

I looked around and saw Kyori was back to messing with the stuff in her cave. I looked up at the fresh night sky. “Sure, I have time.” I replied and began to explain. I told her almost everything that had happened since I last saw her, and she listened with complete interest. Kyori stopped to listen every now and then too.

I talked well into the night until I began to get sleepy. I yawned and instinctively curled up by her side.

She nuzzled me softly and sang me to sleep with a wordless and beautiful song. In that moment, I felt like a griffling again, curled up right next to Lofty, without a care in the world. I felt safe and when my eyes finally shut themselves up tight, I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in awhile.

[Megaguirus]

When I awoke, I found myself at the mouth of the log. It was midday and Kage was up in the tree singing. It was the first time I heard him sing, and I cocked my head at the sound. It was the strangest thing, and it occurred to me then that I’d never heard a male griffin sing.

It was musical like Lofty’s, but had a deep roaring reverb to it that seemed to echo through the trees. I stood and stretched and flew up to meet him. “Why are you singing?” I asked him.

He jumped and almost fell off the branch, but caught himself in time. “You startled me!” he yelped.

“Sorry,” I apologized, shrinking back.

He shook his head. “To answer your question, I was singing because I felt like it. And because there was a bird here earlier and I wanted to mimic its sound.” he replied. “So how was last night?”

“Wonderful,” I replied. “Solstice was actually there and I talked to her about all the stuff that has happened recently. I knew I’d fallen asleep, but I don’t know how I got here.”

He smiled. “Good, I’m happy to hear that.” he said. “And I don’t know either. I just woke and saw you sleeping at the mouth of the log. I guess she must’ve dropped you off here.”

I sighed. “I wished she didn’t. I want to be around her all the time.”

“Maybe I can meet her sometime, especially since I shouldn’t sleep in this time.” he chuckled. “Anyway, are you hungry? I thought it would be nice for us to hunt together. Maybe get a deer this time.”

I smiled and nodded. “Sounds perfect to me.” and we both took off.

We did not catch a deer, but we did catch two rabbits. After we ate we found a patch of sun and quietly basked in it. Not talking, just enjoying the good mood we were both in. I didn’t know why Kage was in a good mood, but I knew why I was. I spent half my night venting to Solstice, and it felt so good. I felt lighter to get all that off my chest to a mother figure.

I sighed and watched a butterfly flit about my nose. I glanced over at Kage who was staring intently at the ground. I strained to see what he was looking at and noticed that he was watching a group of ants move on by. I went back to watching my butterfly contentedly. As I did, I began to plan when I’d meet Solstice again, maybe with Kage by my side too.

After a moment I turned to look over at him to see that he had left. I sat up and began to look around for him. “Kage?” I called out, growing more concerned by the moment.

Next thing I knew something pounced upon me, and I let out with a shriek. The weight and squawking was familiar, and I knew who it was. I playfully retaliated and kicked him off me. I sprang at him before he even had time to recover.

Our wrestling ended in it’s first-ever tie. By the end of it we were both tired and panting.

“Wow,” Kage gasped. “Was that our first tie?”

I nodded. “You’re getting stronger.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, this forest demands strength. That’s one of the things I’ve been doing while you take your daily naps. I’ve been going all over this forest, running, flying, just trying to keep fit.”

I smiled. “Maybe I should try and do some of that stuff too.”

He laughed. “Aren’t you strong enough?”

“No, my strength is only thanks to my size and dragon-ness. I haven’t really built on it.”

“Then you’d be stronger than me,” he whined.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Yes, because then I would continue to lose our fights.”

I laughed and nudged him. “I was just going easy on you this time.”

“Yeah right,”

We continued to banter until we ran out of banter, and then we continued to lay and watch the lazy day go by. After that, we decided to grab dinner before Kage went off to bed.

“So, are you going to wander about in the night again?” he asked me as he curled up inside the log.

I looked around. “I don’t know. I have no idea when I’ll see Solstice again, and Kyori can really be overwhelming.”

He laughed. “That’s not all there is to do. You could learn how to hunt deer, or strengthen yourself.”

I smiled. “You’re right, I might just do that.” I moved to walk away when there was a loud thud that echoed through the forest. Before even pausing to figure out if it was a fallen tree, I darted in the log as fast as I could.

Kage and I huddled close together and the farthest end of the log, listening intently to the sounds outside. It definitely wasn’t a fallen tree. There was a vibration that I felt within the ground as the quiet thudding moved closer.

“What do you think it is?” I whispered to Kage.

“I don’t know. Big.” he replied.

Eventually the thudding ended, but in the dying light of the sun was a shadow. A large, slender shadow. “You cannot hide from me,” a growling booming voice echoed. “Little King.”

My stomach sank. “It’s Dragon King,” I squeaked to Kage.

“Dragon King? You mean the big dragon that wants you dead?”

I nodded.

Our fear was magnified. We needed to find an escape.

“I can smell you, I know your fear.” a foot fell right in front of the log. It was huge, almost as big as the entryway to the log. The claw was big enough to easily crush my head and the toes were long and thick with two in the front and one in the back. On the end of each toe was a large black talon, big enough to cut me through in one swipe.

“We have to get out,” I told Kage and looked behind us. There was a small hole in the end of the log, big enough for us to squeeze out and escape. But we needed a distraction. Kage seemed to get what I was thinking without even needing to talk.

“You go first, I’ll be the distraction. You’re bigger, its going to take you longer to wiggle out.” he said.

I opened my beak to refuse when the claw suddenly shoved itself inside the log, causing us to fall backward. I struggled out of the log while Kage bit the toe, making the claw pull out. Once I was out I hid in a bush and waited for Kage to get out. Once he was out, we ran, just in time, because we heard the log shatter, sending wood flying everywhere.

“You cannot run from me, Little King!” he roared and charged after us. His pounding footfalls shook the ground and made it hard to run, making us slow and struggle.

It only took one shared look for us to both take to the sky, where the shaking wouldn’t get to us. Behind us I heard trees shatter and splinter under the beast’s size. I hoped the trees would slow him down, but soon, the noises stopped and there was a whoosh sound coming from above us, which caused the branches above to shudder from the wind. He was flying!

We swooped down right when he did, and while we would’ve normally been fine, the tree he knocked down to get to us fell over and trapped us under its branches. As we struggled to get out I felt the tree shake from his weight, pushing the branches down even harder on us.

His laugh soon followed, and I felt it shake my entire body. “You cannot hide from me, you cannot run from me. Give up, Little King.”

“Dante, when I say so, run.” Kage told me as we continued to fight our way out.

“Why?”

“He won’t let up, and you need to escape. I’ll distract him while you get help, or at the very least, hide. Since I don’t even know where we are.”

My eyes began to well up. “No, Kage, we’re getting out of this together. I’m going to let you be a distraction.”

He showed me his left claw and I noticed it had the spare talon on it. The one I stole. It was a little big, but it was still a good fit. “I’ll be fine, just go.”

I choked, and paused when I finally got myself free. The tears began to fall out of my eyes.

“Dante, now! You are meant for something great, now go do it! I’m buying you time to do it! If your parents put their faith in you before you even hatched, and two dragons have faith in you and one wants you dead, you must be for something good!”

“But you are, too!” I retorted.

He began to cry, but shook the tears out. He sprung out of the branches and let out with a screech. The Dragon King let out with a startled grunt. That was my cue to bolt and make my escape.

I took to the sky, knowing my wings were faster than my legs. But soon, my strength began to wear out, and I landed to the floor, burrowed myself deep into a hole and prayed he wouldn’t find me.

But he did, sooner than I expected. More tree splintering followed with his land, he must’ve flown after me.

“As I’ve told you, you cannot run or hide from me. Nobody’s gonna come help you, and that precious little griffin barely even lasted a minute. Even with that talon,” he laughed. “Give up, Little King, and surrender yourself to me. You cannot take my throne, I won’t let you. So why even try when time and time again you get defeated? How many more souls have to die until you give up? Maybe it’s Solstice’s turn, or perhaps that little Guardian.”

His words affected to me as I huddled there and grit my beak.

“You know, I do find it strange how, even though you aren’t king yet, there are those willing to die for you. I just wish that griffin was stronger, or maybe not as dumb.”

That was it. I readied myself to spring out of the hole and kill him, when another voice stepped in.

“You will not lay a claw on him,” Kyori threatened in a voice that didn’t seem fitting for her.

“Kyori, I was wondering when you’d pop up. I am sorry for all the trees I’m killing, but, you know how it is when you’re hunting prey.” he chuckled.

I peeked my head out of the hole to see what was going on. I couldn’t see much, just their heads and necks, but that was enough for me. Dragon King was big, almost twice as big as Kyori in both height and weight. His scales were blood red and his belly was bright orange with three rows of black spikes running all the way down. His head was bigger than Kyori’s and had a strong squarish jaw. His eyes were yellow and menacing with a black spiked ridge above them. On each side of his head was a thick curling black horn. His appearance filled me with fear, and I was surprised Kyori wasn’t shaking like me.

“Leave Dante alone, or else there will be consequences.” she threatened.

“Like what? You’re going to hurt me?” he laughed. “You made a vow to hurt no creature. Well, guess what, I’m a creature.”

She grinned. “Oh yes, I did make that vow, and I’m not going to break it. But see, here’s the issue with Nature, she doesn’t believe the same.”

Suddenly there was a groaning and splintering sound, and before Dragon King could even look, a tree fell on him, pulling him to the ground with a snap. He let out with a shriek of pain and struggled to get the tree off him. Once it was off, he was left with a drooping right wing. He glared at Kyori, but also looked at her with fear.

“Typically, wings take three to four months to heal, and that is if you don’t aggravate it. I suggest, while you heal, you don’t do any griffin hunting. Give Dante time, three months, to learn how to fight and grow. Then, he will challenge you, like the Dragon Law says. There will be none of this hunting him business.” she told him.

His wicked face was filled with shock, and he struggled to regain his confident smile. “Fine,” he said through his teeth.

“Oh, and one more thing, give Solstice her flowers back, she misses them. And if Dante chooses to visit her, let him, do not interfere.” she commanded.

“Fine,” he said again and walked away, being careful not to hit his wing on the trees.

Once he was out of sight I crawled out of my hole and looked at Kyori in shock.

She took a breath of relief and smiled at me. “Sorry it took me so long to come to you. I typically don’t get into fights, but I just had to interfere with this one.”

“Thank you for the interference, before you came I was about to attack him. But that was amazing, how did you get that tree to fall on him? I thought you didn’t do magic.”

“You’re welcome, and I don’t do magic. But that tree was weak from him bumping into it when he landed, I just timed it correctly to make it look like I did it.” she replied.

“Why?”

“Because Dragon King is very superstitious, and since my ancestors had magic, he believes I do too. He also thinks Guardianship of this island can be passed down to whoever kills the Guardian, and make them stronger. Which is a complete lie, but that won’t stop him from believing that. So, I play along with his fears, and pretend to be magic when I’m not.”

I smiled. “Clever. Maybe you could tell that to Kage sometime.” the moment I mentioned his name I froze. “Kage!” I called out and took to the sky to find him. If Dragon King was to be believed, Kage would be right where I left him.

And that was where I did indeed find him. He was laying limply on the same tree we got trapped under, most of his feathers and fur were gruesomely burned off, and the surrounding area was also burned.

“No!” I screeched and landed beside him, nudging his warm body desperately. “Please, don’t leave me! Please! Wake up!”

Kyori landed beside me silently and I turned to her.

“Isn’t there something you can do to save him? Herbs or medicine or something? Magic?” I begged.

Kyori gave Kage a good long look before shaking her head. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do when they’re dead.”

“Dead?!” I cried and turned back to him. “No, you can’t be dead! I need you Kage, we were forest brothers! Banished brothers! You cannot leave me.” my cries turned into sobs and I curled up beside him. “I need you, I need you,”

His eyes were partially open and the life that was once behind them was gone. The smell in the air was nauseating. I sobbed madly as I continued to nudge him, my words were incoherent babbles. I couldn’t deal with another death. This couldn’t be happening. Another death where I couldn’t say goodbye.

I felt like I failed him. I shouldn’t have listened to him, I should’ve protected him. I was bigger than him, stronger than him, this was my fight. As I sobbed I felt the tip of Kyori’s tail pat my head with its blue fluff.

“I’m so sorry, Dante. I should’ve come earlier, I should’ve protected you. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” she apologized.

“No,” I sniffed. “It’s my fault. Dragon King was after me, I should’ve just surrendered myself. I’ve failed him.”

She just sighed and shook her head. “I can help you bury him, if you want.”

I sniffed again and shook my head as I remembered something. “No, it’s not my job to bury him. He has a family who needs to know.”

“Dante, no, don’t go back there. You told me that he’d kill you if you showed your face.”

“I know, but if I go now, before the sun rises, then maybe he won’t kill me. I have to, Kyori. I want him to know what he did, what I did.” I told her solemnly as I gently grasped his lifeless body with my claws to carry him away.

She sighed. “Be careful, he could awaken. I’ll be in my cave if you need me.” she said and backed away.

“Thank you, I’ll try my best.” I said and took off. It was a struggle to carry his limp body, it seemed to be heavier now. My flying was slower, but I didn’t feel that afraid when I flew above the trees. Kyori bought me time with Dragon King, so I didn’t have to be afraid for awhile. I was thankful to her for that.

The half moon cast a solemn glow across the land as I flew closer and closer to my old home. The closer I got, the more my eyes fell upon a grisly sight. I was frightened, what did Dimidas do?

On the top of the pillar was Blackbird’s sun-bleached skull, being held up by one of his arms that was shoved in the ground. This wasn’t what civilized griffins did, Blackbird never would have done that, would he? In fact, I couldn’t be so sure. I looked down at Kage’s body and began to have regrets. He wouldn’t do the same thing to his brother, right?

I looked back at the Forest. I could turn back now, if I wanted. But then I remembered Kage’s parents, they wouldn’t let such a heinous thing happen to their child. No, I couldn’t turn back. With my heart in my throat and face still wet with tears, I landed in front of Blackbird’s cave, which now held Dimidas.

I set Kage’s body down in front of it and gave him one last farewell nuzzle. That was when some mumblings came to my attention. I looked over at Dimidas, who was tossing about in his sleep.

“No, Kage, please come back. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you.” I heard him say among incoherent mumbles.

If I wasn’t so sad, I would’ve smiled, knowing that he felt regret. Maybe he would take the blame for his brother’s death. Not that I wanted to be around for that. I spread my sore wings and took off into the air. I was halfway up the pillar when a voice screamed at me, making me freeze.

“Dante! What did you do?!” Dimidas screeched.

I turned around just in time to see him fly at me, talons at the ready. He dug them into my chest and slammed me into the pillar and the slowly dragged me down to the ground, some of my feathers ripped off as they scraped against the pillar.

My head was ringing from being slammed into the pillar and my back was bleeding. I had no fight in me as he threw me to the ground and continued to yell.

“You got him killed! My baby brother, killed! Burned by dragon’s fire. How dare you, how dare you!” he smacked me across the face.

I stayed silent and saw that he had tears in his eyes.

“Say something, will you? Say something, freak!” he demanded and smacked me again.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“What?” he screeched.

“I’m sorry,” I said, a little louder this time.

“Is that all you have to say? Sorry? Sorry won’t bring my brother back!”

“Dimidas, stop this nonsense!” his father commanded.

He froze and turned towards his father. To my surprise, his father wasn’t the only one awake, almost everybody was. His mother was crying over Kage’s body.

“Killing Dante won’t bring your brother back, either. We don’t kill each other, and look at him, he’s sorry too. His face is wet with tears.” his father spoke softly.

Dimidas grit his beak and stared at me. He got off me with a huff and I slowly got to my feet. I held my body low to the ground as I looked at him.

“Dante, I will not thank you for bringing back my brother. Instead, I will banish you even further.” he took a step closer to me and I lowered myself even more. “Next time you return, if you ever do, you will trigger the next war. Father is right, we don’t kill each other, but in my opinion, you are no longer a griffin. You are a dragon, and if a dragon is found here, war is started. So the option goes for you. Obviously, a death threat wasn’t enough to keep you away, but maybe a war one is.”

I glanced about at the others, who turned their faces. The only one who wasn’t was Erion, who looked confused as his mother pulled him back to their cave. I didn’t see Trinity, but I had a feeling she was looking away as well. Nobody dared to look at me but Dimidas, who gave me a death glare.

“Now go! Dragon! And never return!” he yelled.

With a choked sob, I flew away. It hurt to fly, the muscles pulled on my cut skin. My face stun from his smacks. But what hurt the most was my heart. I didn’t look back as I headed towards The Forest. My spirit and heart were broken. I had no fight, no home, no family.

When I got to The Forest, I collapsed on the ground, my sorrow paralyzing me as I cried through the night. This sadness was like when I lost Lofty, but somehow even worse. During the day, I continued to sob as I hid my face beneath the leaves while I fell in and out of sleep.

Soon enough, Kyori found me and pulled me from under the leaves. I kept my eyes closed, I didn’t want to look at her in the face.

“Have you been out here since yesterday night?” she asked me.

There was no reply.

“Come on, you can’t stay like this forever, you need to eat and drink.”

My eyes fluttered open for a moment to glance at her. “What does it matter? Everyone hates me. If I ever return to The Circle of Mountains, I’ll start a war! I’m alone here in this forest, and Dragon King still wants me dead.”

She sighed and dusted me off with her tail. “Not everyone, I like you,”

“And so do I,” another voice interrupted. My eyes flicked open and I saw Kyori jump as Solstice came up from behind. The purple dragon backed away to make room for her.

She looked at me with her tender eyes and nuzzled me with comforting purrs. “Don’t give up just yet, my child. I’m here for you.”

I lifted up my head to nuzzle her back.

“Not all the griffins hate you, Dante. Don’t say that.” she comforted.

“How do you know? They all turned their faces when Dimidas attacked me, and only Kage was brave enough to stand up to Blackbird.” I told her.

“And that is how I know, Child. They turned their faces because they couldn’t stand to see you get beaten. They didn’t defend you against Blackbird because they were afraid of being banished.” she replied. “I do not have a doubt that they cared for you, because they cared for your parents.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. Some have said kind words, but they’re just so timid and stupid. So scared of doing anything to upset Blackbird, or now Dimidas. I am thankful for Kage’s father who intervened so I wouldn’t be killed.”

“They are not stupid,” Kyori piped up as she was messing with something behind Solstice. She came into view and I saw that she was mixing something in a clay bowl. “They just don’t hold the power. They know that if they do stand up, they’ll get punished, like you did. That’s why corrupt leaders set such examples, to make ‘dumb’ and ‘blind’ followers. He scares them into submission, where they almost can’t think for themselves.” she explained and set the bowl beside me before walking back to behind Solstice.

Solstice nodded. “Exactly. You always do know how to give intellectual replies,” she complimented as the purple dragon came back over with a bigger bowl filled with liquid.

Kyori chuckled and set the other bowl beside me. “When you can’t sleep, you come up with many intellectual replies.”

Almost all my attention was now focused on Kyori, who was dipping her tail fluff in the big bowl. “What are you doing?” I asked her.

“Cleaning your wounds,” she replied. “They’re pretty nasty, and I don’t want you getting an infection.” She then preceeded to wash the dried blood off my back. I winced from the pain of the cuts being touched.

“I partly regret making your dragon scales come to their full hardness upon maturity,” she mumbled as she worked.

Solstice had curled up beside me, keeping a tender claw on mine. “But you didn’t know it would be like this. You may be wise, but you can’t see into the future. Besides, even dragons don’t get fully solid scales until maturity.”

“I know,” she murmured as she moved onto the next task, putting on the stuff she previously mixed. “It just hurts to see someone wounded.”

Solstice sighed and stretched out her wings a bit, glancing at the torn membrane. “Yeah,” she replied softly.

Kyori paused and looked at Solstice’s wings before shaking her head and returning to the task at hand.

I was just left there in pain and confused. “Why are your wings torn?” I asked Solstice.

She shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a long story, I’ll tell it to you later, okay?”

I was surprised. That was the first question she didn’t answer.

“Don’t feel too bad, Dante, she hasn’t told me the reason either, and I’ve known her since we were hatchlings.” Kyori chimed in.

“You should know if you think on it. You saw me when the tears were fresh, haven’t you put it together? There’s no need to bring up a painful memory if the one you’re talking to already knows.” Solstice replied.

Kyori paused, and I could see the shocked expression when she figured whatever it was out. “My goodness, Solstice I’m so sorry!”

“And there it is,” she said in a huff as she stood.

“You’re mad that I’m sympathizing? You do it all the time for others, but you hate it when it is done for you?”

“I don’t hate it! I just don’t like it. I don’t need people to pity me.” she sighed and looked at me with a smile, bending down to kiss my head. “I have to go now, my flowers need me. See you two later, and Dante, you can visit me anytime now, thanks to Kyori.” she said and walked off.

I stood to follow her but Kyori stopped me. I looked back at her confused.

“Solstice likes to hide herself and her feelings, despite being so kind and gentle to everyone else. Just give her time, she needs to get through it alone.” Kyori told me.

I looked back at the last bits I could see of Solstice as she crept off into the forest. I sighed and sat down.

“So, are you still depressed? Because I think you might be hungry.” Kyori said as she packed up her stuff.

I thought for a moment. I didn’t feel too depressed anymore. Maybe it was spending time with two great friends, or the forest was calling to me. “No, I think I’m good, thanks for everything. Especially mending my back, it does feel a little better.”

She smiled softly at me. “I’m glad. Well, if you feel lonely, you can always come visit me and Solstice. Our proverbial doors are open.”

I cocked my head at the last sentence. There were two words I’d never heard before.

She laughed at my bafflement. “Its a saying the humans use sometimes, from the books I’ve read. It basically means you are always welcome. I really ought to teach you human speech, it comes in handy sometimes.”

I nodded to humor her. “Okay, I’ll be seeing you later then. Thanks again for everything, and thank Solstice as well if you see her before me.”

She smiled back at me before she walked away.

I took to the sky and started to hunt. While I knew all I could catch is a rabbit, I was now even more determined to catch a deer. For Kage.

I warned you there would be more death. I do hope nobody was growing especially fond of Kage. Oh, BTW, I actually felt sad while writing this, unlike my other death scenes. I guess I am still human.

[Megaguirus]

I was beginning to realize just how lonely it was without Kage. I couldn’t talk to him, couldn’t wrestle with him, so I needed to find something else to fill my time with. I tried talking with Kyori, but she was too scatterbrained and jumped from subject to subject. I hunted for the most part, and slowly got better and better at hunting deer to where I almost had it down.

But there were days I didn’t want to hunt, so I took to the sky and explored. I was thankful to Kyori for breaking Dragon King’s wing so that I could openly explore without fear. I was still cautious, however, because I wasn’t sure if Dragon King would send an assassin. One night when I took to the sky, I finally got the courage to see Solstice again after a three day wait.

As I flew I purposely passed over The Circle of Mountains to see if Kage’s corpse was also placed on the Pillar and I was thankful that it wasn’t. Blackbird’s still stood, and was just as disgusting as ever. I couldn’t believe Dimidas went to such lows as to put the skeleton of his leader up as a warning to me.

However, those bad feelings were replaced with warmth the closer I got to Solstice. My heart danced in my chest as I saw her lying there and was brought back to when I first approached her. She wasn’t sleeping and smiled when she saw me fly in.

“Dante! I was wondering when you’d visit.” she greeted.

“I was lonely, and Kyori doesn’t make for good company.” I replied.

She chuckled. “Tried to teach you too much?”

I nodded. “She also can’t stick one subject, it seems.”

“Yeah, I also understand that. But she is a great friend when you ignore those two things. After all, we all have bad and crazy quirks. Like the fact that I don’t like sharing much of my personal life.”

“Why is that?”

She sighed. “I don’t like being vulnerable, and telling everyone everything about you makes you very vulnerable. And, of course, there’s also the pity. I hate being pitied.”

I remembered what happened three days ago. “Can you tell me about that? I’ll try not to pity you.”

She thought for a moment. “Okay, sure, but I won’t make it about me.” she began and I looked at her curiously as I got comfortable, huddling beside her tail. “I’ll turn it into a story, about your namesake.”

Now I got excited. I was actually going to get a story about him!

“Long ago, one hundred and fifty years ago, when Kyori, Dragon King and I were just hatchlings, there was a war going on. We were still learning how to cope with dragons being up at night and griffins being up during the day. So we collided, often, and that was why I call it a war.” she explained.

“Why is there war?” I decided to ask when she took a breath.

“Because of disagreements. We believe differently, so we fight. We also had a different ancient history. Dragons were the villains while griffins were the heroes, for the most part. That causes our wars as well. War is very nasty, and I’m glad you didn’t have to grow up in it like I did. Yes, you were still afraid of dragons, but the threat wasn’t that real.” she replied. “Now, any more questions?”

I shook my head.

“Good, back to the story. So, anyway, we were at war. Then, one day, a mysterious dragon visited. We were stunned because no dragon had ever come in from the outside. It was made possible for mythical visitors to come, but we’d never seen it. He was unlike any dragon we had seen. He had the body of a dragon, but his back half was covered in dark brown fur while the front half was covered in golden feathers, like a griffin. His wings were also feathered and instead of a snout he had a long snout-like beak. He had a beautiful crown of horns on his head and bright blue eyes. His back feet were paws while his front feet were talons. His tail was thick like a dragon’s, but had bushy fluff at the end of it.

“He told us that he was part griffin and dragon and that he came to repair the devision between our two species. His name was Dante. We didn’t immediately accept him, especially since we dragons already had another leader. When he heard of the news, he challenged Dante to fight for the throne, as dragon custom, but Dante refused. To the point where he let the old leader attack him. Kyori’s father finally broke it up, and since he still held some command over us, he appointed Dante king. The old leader left the island and was never seen again.

“Then we began to grow to like this new king. But there was still the griffins to win over. They accepted him easier than we did, because they knew they could easily be outmatched by us, which was why they always played dirty. It took a year or two, but before we knew it, we were at peace. It was the fifty year truce, and it was the greatest fifty years of my life.”

“Why was it only fifty years?” I asked.

She sighed, her eyes darkening with sorrow. “Because, not everybody is going to agree with you. Unbeknownst to almost everybody, there was an assassination plot going on. Some dragons and griffins hated this truce. Why? We will never know. So they planned to assassinate our kind and caring leader. A couple of us were onto them, me included. I was on the way to report this behavior to Dante himself when the assassins had already arrived. The two griffins stood over his sleeping body, with those metal claws at the ready.

“I roared for help, but I was a fraction too late, because it was right when I roared that they killed him. In revenge, they flew towards me, claws and beaks bared. I ran, I wasn’t in any shape to fight. I can’t fight, I’m not made for it. They caught up to me and pinned me down. I was a little bigger than them at that age, so they could easily overpower me. However, they knew they were caught, so instead of killing me, they punished me. One griffin took off the metal claw and tore the membrane of my wings, grounding me.” she let out with a choking sob.

“That was when help arrived and they willingly surrendered. After some pointless interrogation to see who they were working with, they were banished to leave the island and tough it with the humans. I say pointless because they never told. I left the scene as a sobbing mess, not in any mood to talk with anyone. The only one I had to turn to was my old mother as she lay sick in the cave.

“But something amazing happened to Dante’s body as they got ready to bury him. He disintegrated into golden dust and the dust flew up into the sky, forming a new constellation. Because of this, some theorized that he was actually a god in disguise. I still believe that he was just a special dragon. War broke out again shortly after his death. This one was the worst we’d ever had, each side blaming the other for Dante’s death. Another dragon leader was appointed and Kyori’s father died. We finally stuck to our schedules, and the rest is, well, history.” she finished.

My jaw was hanging open when she finished. I finally knew what my namesake looked like, and I also knew what to call that bright constellation I saw all those months ago. The meat of the story made me forget to pity Solstice, which was what she must’ve expected. I had so many questions. But one was prevalent in my mind.

“So when did Dragon King become king?” I asked.

She sighed. “That, my dear child, is another story. Right now, it is time to eat.” she replied.

I cocked my head at her. “But you don’t have any food.”

“Not yet,” she said as she looked to the sky.

A dragon was flying in, a large deer in his claws. I looked back to Solstice who smiled hungrily.

“About time you showed!” she yelled out to the approaching the dragon.

“At least I’m feeding you!” he called back. I recognized that voice. It was that one dragon Solstice was talking with when I was visiting her.

I stood when I saw his figure in the dim moonlight. He looked very similar to Dragon King, frighteningly so. Same horns, spikes and build. He was just a little bit smaller and was a deep dark blue with bright green belly scales and wing membrane. His eyes were brown and the spikes on his back were black, like his horns. He smiled gently at me.

“I know, I know, I look a lot like my vicious older brother. Don’t worry, though, I’m nothing like him in personality. If I was, Solstice wouldn’t be talking to me.” he told me and I lowered my guard a little. “It’s so great to finally meet you, Solstice talks about you as if you were her hatchling.”

Solstice had stood and was beginning to dig into the deer. “You’re just jealous I’m not talking about you like you were my mate.”

“But you like me, and that’s what matters.” he replied.

She snorted.

He shook his head and looked back at me. “Oh, by the way, my name is Cobblestone, but everybody just calls me Cobble.” he introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” I said nervously, his appearance still freaked me out because of the last encounter I had with his nasty brother. “I’m Dante, but you probably already know that. Everybody seems to know my name.”

“Of course we do! You’re famous. We’ve been waiting one hundred years for another leader to join our two sides, and you are an answer to prayers.”

“Yes, but I’m only like this because of my parents. If you want to take that as an answer to prayer, then fine, be my guest. Just stop putting all your faith in me. I might fail.” I told him.

“I can’t help it, like I said, you’re an answer to prayers. Its not like we have much to lose anymore.” he replied.

Solstice stopped eating when he said that and turned to look at him. She sighed and stretched her torn wings. “He has a point, child, we don’t have much to lose.” she said, looking at me now. “We’ve lost hope. Not many dragons want to breed right now, so our numbers are at a stand-still. If Dragon King starts a war, we might very well go extinct. Griffins might be smaller than us, but that is their strength. And if Dragon King helps them find the weapons, we’re lost. Joining our two sides is the only hope we have left.” she told me in a sorrowful tone.

Cobble’s face fell as well and I was left staring at these two dragons in silence. I didn’t like all this pressure that was being put on me. But they did seem pretty hopeless, and I understood the fear of war. Except now I might be on the losing side. I sighed. “Please don’t get all depressed on me, I’m trying to fight it myself.” I finally told them. “I’ll be your hope, I will. I just don’t know how much I can do. Dragon King could easily overpower me, I’m not strong enough. And three months is too little time for me to wait for maturity.”

When I said that, I saw Solstice’s eyes change into a smile. Her mouth was still frowning, but her eyes were smiling. I just knew from that look she had something planned. Cobble looked at us both awkwardly.

“Sorry for getting sad there. And I could help you train, I’m pretty good at fighting. After all, I did grow up with him.” Cobble offered.

I was about to thank him when Solstice broke out into raucous laughter. She nudged him playfully. “You? Fight? You’re worse than me! You’re too tender hearted, Cobbie, even you submitted to your brother when you had the chance to dethrone him.”

He looked a little hurt and that was when I realized something. The way he acted with her, the way he looked at her, it reminded me of how the griffins pairs looked at each other. But Solstice wasn’t reciprocating. I remembered her telling him that it was because of Dragon King, but I didn’t believe it anymore. I made a note to talk to Kyori about it, maybe she knew something, she was friends with Solstice after all.

He smiled and nudged her back. “I’ve gotten better! I’ve been practicing with the others.”

“I’m just teasing, sorry. I just don’t think you’d be a good trainer for him, you care too much about your brother.” she apologized.

“Who are you thinking of?”

This time, her mouth grinned. She leaned up to his ear and whispered something to him. His face momentarily turned to shock before he smiled.

“I see, that’s a genius idea. Do you think he’ll do it?” he asked.

“Kyori’s probably already told him. Yes, I do think he will.” she replied.

“Who are you talking about?” I interrupted, upset they were being so secretive.

“Someone you’ll most likely meet sometime soon.” Solstice replied.

“Then why won’t you tell me about him, if I’ll be meeting him soon?”

“Because he needs to be seen to be believed.”

“Don’t worry,” Cobble said, nudging me. “He’ll be a great teacher, and he’s better as a surprise.”

I shook my head at their silliness. Solstice went back to finish her deer and an idea popped into my head.

“Can you teach me how to hunt deer?” I asked Cobble. “It’s not fighting, and I want to catch one for once. For Kage.”

He paused and looked over at Solstice for approval. She shrugged at him while she was still eating. He looked back over at me and smiled. “Sure, would now be okay?”

I nodded and we both took to the air after bidding Solstice farewell. “You like Solstice, don’t you?” I asked him.

He almost stopped flying from surprise and looked at me cautiously. He nodded with a sigh. “Is it obvious?”

I nodded. “And I know she knows it too, I just don’t know why she keeps avoiding you.”

“Neither do I. I’m the only dragon other than Kyori who cares about her around here, and she treats me like a friend. And she uses lame excuses too, like Dragon King wouldn’t allow it. He wants us to procreate so that we can overpower the griffins. He would encourage our relationship.” he replied.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. That’s why I’m going to ask Kyori about it.”

“You can try, but it won’t do you much good. Solstice doesn’t tell her much, either, and her brain is too scattered for her to give you a clear answer.”

I sighed. “So it will always remain a mystery?”

“I guess so.”

We flew into the forest once we reached it and he began to teach me how to stalk and catch deer. It was much like the lesson Lofty taught me. Showing me how it was done and then asking me to copy.

I failed, twice, and gave up after that. I was discouraged. Would I ever be able to catch a deer?

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, we all fail. Deer are tricky creatures. It took me a long while to catch one.” he comforted.

“I’m just sick of rabbit. And I want to do it for Kage.” I complained.

He sighed and spread his wings. “Follow me,” he said as he launch into the air. I followed him and he led me a familiar lake. The one I washed off in when Kage and I just got banished.

He dove right in and laid on his back, his wings stretched out far into the water. The moon and the stars reflected off the blue water and he motioned for me to copy him. I laid on the surface as well, though it was very tricky to not just sink in.

“The trick is to not fight the water, put all of your trust in it.” he encouraged.

I did just that and found it much easier to stay afloat, I just had to watch my breathing and spread my wings out far enough to keep me up.

“So who’s this Kage?” he asked as we watched the stars.

“Nobody’s told you?” I asked him.

He shook his head, which caused ripples in the water.

“He was a friend of mine, another griffin. When I killed Blackbird, everybody wanted me banished. Kage stood up for me, which didn’t help at all, he just got banished with me. Dragon King killed him a couple days ago. Kage tried to fight Dragon King to buy me time to escape, but he didn’t survive.” I explained, my eyes getting teary. “During the time we stayed in the forest, it was my goal to catch a deer so that we wouldn’t just live on rabbits. We were going to make it. Together.”

“I know how it feels, to lose a dear friend. You never do get over it, the hole is always there. You just have to remind yourself that he’s in a better place now.” he told me.

I looked at his through tear filled eyes. “You mean, he’s up in the stars?” I asked.

“You know?”

“Kyori told me,”

He chuckled. “Of course. Yes, up in the stars. Griffins, dragons, even rabbits go up there. Anything that has a soul belongs in the stars. There is no pain, no sorrow, no hunger.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve seen it. I know you don’t know about all this, since griffins don’t believe in such things. But the gods are real, and we do belong in the stars.”

I sighed. “Sounds nice,”

“It does, doesn’t it? Kyori should teach you more about it. No offense, but I think griffins would be better off if they believed in gods too.”

I smiled. “I’m with you there,”

After a few minutes of silence, I decided to ask him a question. “Was Dragon King always vicious?”

He sighed. “No, but he had all the potential to become who he is now. He always viewed himself superior and was always asserting his dominance. And his parents weren’t to blame, he just had this inherent desire to control and rule over everyone.”

“Reminds me of what Kage said about his brother, Dimidas, who is now the leader of the griffins. He always had the potential, and Blackbird helped bring it out.” I replied.

“War brought it out in my brother. After the death of The Ancient One, he snapped and suddenly grew this tremendous hate for griffins. It escalated even more when our father was killed by a griffin.” he sighed and turned over on the water, floating belly side down. The stars were reflected on his wet blue scales. “We all have the potential for something great and something horrible. It’s just a matter of what choices we make and what we do about them.”

I was tired of laying in the water and flipped myself over to swim back to land. Once on dry land, I looked at my soaked body. It only took a simple claw to pull back the feathers to reveal the shiny golden scales beneath them. “Those are great words, but what if you’re given something you never even wanted and are destined to do something about it?”

Cobble sighed and swam to the shore to sit beside me. “Dante, you don’t have to do anything about it. You could stay living in this forest forever, nobody will hate you for it.”

“Everybody will hate me. Even you have all your faith in me. I’m afraid of failing, because I have a sense I will. But I don’t want anybody to die because of me. I’ve seen and heard of too many deaths. I feel like I’m too young to hold all of these burdens and to know all of these cruel things. Even before I knew how to fly, it felt like Blackbird forced me to grow up faster than normal. I forced myself to fly sooner than normal to save Trinity’s mother. Then Lofty got killed, and I killed Blackbird and I was banished. It all happened so quickly, I don’t think I’ll ever recover.” I replied.

“Then fail, you don’t have to defeat Dragon King.”

“But isn’t it a fight to the death?”

He shook his head. “Not always, you don’t always have to make it a fight to the death. That’s the thing, you are the one who challenges him, and you can make it to any stake you want.”

I paused. I never thought I had control over it. The way Dragon King hunted me made me think I had no chance. “I can do that. Is that one of the reasons he hunted me even before I had a chance to challenge him?”

“Possibly. Nobody knows the real reason, but many of us theorize that he knows you will defeat him. But that’s why Kyori gave you three months to train. Once those months are over, once he is healed, you can go up and challenge him. Preferably before he tries hunting you again.” he replied.

I began to preen my drying feathers so that they’d get back to their regular fluffy texture. I had nothing else to really add to the conversation, so I just left it in silence.

“Did you have any siblings? I know not blood related, but adoptive ones?” he asked after a moment.

I pulled my head up from my wing. “Not griffin siblings, but I had eagle siblings. Lofty, the one who adopted me, lost her mate, so she decided to adopt eagles. They grew up long before me, especially since I was a few days younger than them. It was nice, though, growing up with eagles instead of griffins.” I replied.

He smiled. “Sounds special. It was just my brother and I. We had, er, have, a tight bond.” he paused and looked at me pleadingly. “Actually, I guess I must ask this now, even though it’s fairly soon, but please don’t make it a fight to the death. Don’t kill my brother. I know he’s done bad things, but I love him and would still die for him. I know you really can’t understand it, and you don’t have to it, if you don’t want to. Just...” he sighed and shook his head.

I walked up to him and placed a claw on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I never intend to kill him, I don’t like death and killing without reason. Blackbird was an accident, I don’t know my own strength. Besides, I can relate, Kage had a strong relationship with his brother as well, and was shocked to no end that his brother banished him without a second thought.” I moved off and smiled, remembering something. “In fact, Dimidas, his brother, felt the same way. When I stopped by to drop off Kage, Dimidas was actually having a nightmare.”

He smiled back at me. My eyes were wet from bringing up Kage, but I didn’t cry. “Thank you, Dante. When you do claim the throne, I can see you being the greatest king ever known.”

“You’re welcome, and thank you.”

Our conversation fell in silence, and soon we decided it was time to end our little talk.

“Hey,” he suggested.

“Yeah?”

“Want to hunt a deer one more time before we call it a night?”

I smiled. “Of course,” And we were back in the air.

It was another fail, but this time it was the closest I’d ever came.

“Good job!” he congratulated as we watched the deer run away. “A couple more times and you’ll have this down.”

“Thanks, I sure do hope so.” I spread my wings.

He followed after me. “See you tomorrow?” he asked.

I nodded. “Definitely.” And with that, we parted.

I bedded down in a lonely little hole, not in the mood to talk with anyone else, and I definitely wasn’t going to try and sleep with Kyori. She was too noisy. As I laid there, I thought about my time with Cobble. He reminded me a little of Kage, except with maybe less bravery. I sighed as I let the sleepiness take a hold. Tomorrow was another night, full of unexpected things. Hopefully joyful, unexpected things.

Finally. I finally got to the backstory of Dante's name history. Goodness, this was worth the wait, but in the original it was explained in, like, the second chapter. LOL. Also, say hello to the recolor because I didn't want to take the energy to make a whole new dragon for a very, very minor character. And get ready for the next chapter, because my favorite character is going to be introduced.

[Megaguirus]

I woke at early twilight, a little earlier than normal. Cobblestone and I had not set up a time, so I wanted an early shot. It would be amazing if I had caught a deer before he continued to teach me. I crawled out of my hole and looked at the forest, bathed in the dark blue of twilight. It was magical.

I quickly took to the sky and flew low until I came upon a herd of deer. I fell back, glad they didn’t notice me, and landed. Cobble had taught me to stalk the deer in a low crouch, and only strike when one was right in front of me. He also encouraged me to give chase if I saw it necessary.

He also advised me to follow my ears and nose, which I could do, since I could smell better than the average griffin. Soon, the deer were close enough for me to stop stalking and just hide in the bushes. Right when I was about to pounce on it, something did it first.

Something big and red leapt upon the deer, sending it to the ground with a loud thud. Shocked, I backed up to avoid danger. The rest of the herd left in a panic and I saw what caught my deer.

It looked very similar to a dragon, except it was wingless and had a shorter, stockier build. It was slightly smaller than Kyori, and was covered in a thick and wrinkly red-orange skin. On its head was a crown of golden horns, one in the middle and two on each side, framing the back of the head, and one of the side ones had half of it broken off. Along its back ran a row of golden spines.

My curiosity got the best of me and I took a step closer to get a better look at the feasting beast. That was when I noticed the myriad of scars marked in its skin. Some looked older than others. The creature’s body was facing me, so I knew it must’ve attacked the deer from behind.

I froze when the creature stopped eating and looked up at me. Running down the top of its short snout was a row of golden spines, except they were flatter than the ones on its back, and its head was also a bright red and covered in small scales. More scars riddled its face. I also noticed that its eyes were facing forward more than others I’d seen.

It looked at me with unreadable orange eyes. “Like what you see?” he asked me.

I flinched at the unexpected voice. It was deep and gravelly, like he had been eating rocks.

He laughed, a cruel and mocking laugh. He was missing a good amount of teeth, and the rest were chipped and decaying. I hadn’t seen many teeth, but these were the worst I’d seen. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

I stood there in silence, quivering in fear. Soon my shock and fear gave way to curiosity and questions. “What are you?” I asked him.

“A wingless dragon. My wings were ripped off by the griffins durin’ the last war.”

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” I sympathized.

He broke out into more mocking and cruel laughter. “Oh, you’re fun. No, kid, I lied. I’m a species of large reptile, a drake, or fire drake, to be correct. I look a lot like a dragon, and breathe fire like one, but I am not a dragon. C’mon, did you really think a dragon would have my build? The poor thin’ wouldn’t be able to get into the air, this heavy body would drag it down.”

I was slightly hurt by his mocking laughter, and I was sure he knew it, too. “How did you get covered in scars?”

He snorted. “When you’re as old as me, you develop a lot of scars. Some are from dragons, others are from griffins,” he raised a claw and pointed to the scar across his eye. “This one was made by your cruel leader. An eye for an eye. But I kept my eye, unlike him.”

“You were the one who scratched out that eye?” I asked, surprised.

“Oh yeah,” he bragged. “Ask him, he’ll probably tell you that a wingless dragon took it from him.” he went back to eating the deer.

“Well, I would, except for the fact that I killed him.”

He let out with a loud snort of surprise, so loud and powerful that it splashed deer guts everywhere, some of which hit me. I flinched back in disgust. “You what?!” he exclaimed. His eyes were wide in amazement.

I grimaced at the blood I was covered in, I hated blood on my feathers. “It was an accident!” I defended. “I didn’t mean to slam him against the pillar. I don’t know my own strength.”

“Don’t apologize! Nobody has been able to kill him. You did everyone a huge favor. You should be proud.” he congratulated. His expression was no longer blank, but instead joyful.

“His death is what got me banished, I’m not going to be proud. And I did no favor, Blackbird was able to get a successor, who he brainwashed into being just as bad as him.” I said.

“Then kill him too.”

“No!” I exclaimed. “Never, he’s the older brother to a friend of mine.”

“Fine, I guess you’re not livin’ there anymore anyway. Just promise me you’ll kill Brimstone when it’s time.”

I cocked my head. “Who?”

He sighed and shook his head. “Right, you don’t know his real name, do you? The tyrant everybody calls Dragon King. He was born with the name of Brimstone. Since he’ll never be my king, and I’m not at all afraid of him, I’ve never called him by that stupid title.”

I felt like an idiot. Of course his name wasn’t actually Dragon King, nobody would name their hatchling that. “Sorry, it never occurred to me that he’d have a different name.”

“You apologize way too much, kid. Now let me eat in peace.” he said and went back to eating.

“But that’s my deer. I was hunting it first.” I refused.

“Then you should’ve killed it first. Your loss, hunt somethin’ else.” he replied.

“Do you even know who I am?”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course!”

“No it don’t. But if you promise to leave me alone after I answer your question, I’ll answer it.”

“Fine, I promise.” I was feeling very put out by this cruel creature.

“You are a poor little griffin whose parents decided to convince the Guardian of this island to make you half dragon so that you could give us all hope of joinin’ our two warrin’ sides. A false hope perhaps, but I’m a little less doubtful now that I know you killed Blackbird.” he replied sharply and went back to eating.

I wondered how he knew, and was about to ask him when Kyori came by.

“Dante!” she exclaimed as she made her way over. “I see you’ve met Dave,”

I looked at her and smiled before looking back at the drake. That name was strangely fitting for him, even though it was a very curious name.

Dave growled and pulled his head up from the deer. “Kyori,” he said with a fake smile.

She looked back over at me. “Have you two been getting along?” she asked me.

I shook my head.

“‘Course we haven’t,”

She sighed. “I thought as much. Look, Dave, I’m glad you and Dante met, because I need to ask you something.”

He seemed to know exactly what she was going to ask, because he glared at her bitterly.

“May you please train Dante for the upcoming fight with Dragon King?” she asked.

I looked at her with surprise.

“Why?” Dave asked.

“Because I know how much you hate him, and Dante is our only chance at defeating him. You are one of the strongest dragons I know that isn’t working with Dragon King, and you are relentless and unforgiving.”

“So my worst traits, accordin’ to you, are now my best ‘cause you need me? Get someone else. This kid here killed Blackbird for Sol’s sake, he surely can take Brimstone without me.”

Kyori hissed at him. Dave seemed to bring out anger in everybody. “Dante was almost killed by Dragon King if it wasn’t for me breaking his wing. He needs training in order to defeat him, and we only have three months.”

He was silent for awhile, looking at me and back at Kyori and back at me. He sighed. “I’ll do it, on one condition,”

She smiled. “Yes, anything.”

“You and Solstice stay out of it. If you want me to train him, you leave out your preachin’ on how to be nice and good to everybody. If you want me to train him my way, then you let me.” he demanded.

She looked over at me and nodded. “Okay, we’ll stay out of it.”

He grinned and looked at me. “Well then, looks like you have a mentor, kid.”

“Thank you so much, Dave,” Kyori said. “Please be good to him.”

He locked eyes with her. Her kind eyes were pleading with him, and for a brief moment, I saw something flash in Dave’s eyes as well. “You know I will, Guardian.”

She shifted nervously and bent down to nuzzle me. “I’ll see you later, then, Dante. Remember, you can visit anytime.”

“Okay, wait,” I said, confused a little. “How will this training work? Will I stay with Dave, or you, or Solstice? Or will I be on my own?”

“You’ll be stayin’ with me, kid.” Dave replied.

Kyori smiled and nuzzled me again. The way she was acting confused me. “Okay, well, I’ve got to go now. I have things to do,” she said and left quickly.

Dave went back to eating the deer and I was ignored again. The blood was beginning to dry, and I tried to preen it out. Tasting the deer blood brought back my hunger.

“Can I please have some of that deer?” I asked him.

He ignored me.

I sighed and turned away. I was about to go rabbit hunting, when I had an idea. I flew up into the trees right above him. If he was going to train me, I might as well show him my strength.

I flew down at him and hit his side with all my strength. He let out with a grunt of shock as I knocked him to the ground. Before he was able to get up, I ripped off a leg and took it up in the tree with me.

He glared up at me, a strangely amused smile on his face. “You surprised me there, kid. Maybe trainin’ you won’t be as hard as I think.”

I was confused that he was actually happy that I attacked him. “Thanks, I guess. I just wanted my deer.”

He chuckled and went to eating.

I decided to eat the leg I stole as I happily sat in my tree.

Soon, I was finished eating, although I hadn’t eaten the entire leg. Below me I saw that Dave was done eating too, probably long before me, because he was just sitting there, barely moving a muscle. The deer was almost entirely eaten, just a few pieces of bone and flesh remained.

In a flash he looked up at me, causing me to jump and almost fall out of the tree. I caught myself by hanging to the branch with my talons. He laughed as I dangled there. His typical cruel and mocking laugh.

“You ready, kid?” he asked me.

I pulled myself back onto the branch and threw the deer leg at him. He dodged it with ease and smiled. I grimaced at him. All the friends I knew would’ve either helped me or felt concern, but he just laughed. My dislike was growing stronger the longer I was with him. I couldn’t believe that Kyori and Solstice wanted this beast to train me for three months.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, unfazed. “Now get out of that tree and follow me, there are lessons to learn.”

I reluctantly flew down and before I even touched the ground he began to walk away. I took place beside him and we both simply just walked in the night forest together. After a couple of minutes of silence, I began to notice that he walked with a significant limp.

“Rule number one, don’t ask questions. I know they’ll tell you that askin’ questions is a good thin’, but ignore ‘em when it comes to me. And this goes for any and all questions. You learn from what I teach you.” he began.

“Rule number two, when you see your friends, ‘cause I know you will, don’t tell me what they said in reply to your complaints. I asked ‘em to stay out of it, and that includes you. Rule number three, don’t tell me about your life. Your life’s story does not matter in battle. Rule number four, don’t complain about any injuries that you might receive. If you’re significantly hurt, you can run to Kyori to heal you.”

I was silent, unsure of what to reply. Those seemed like some pretty strict rules. He stopped and glared down at me.

“Got it?” he asked.

I nodded and ducked back.

“Good. C’mon,” he said and started to walk again.

He moved slowly, and his limp looked painful, though he didn’t show it. His skin was sagging and wobbled a bit as he walked, it wasn’t at all skin tight like the dragon scales I’d seen. But it looked thick, some of the scars went so deep the skin sagged over them. However, despite the limp and slow pace, he easily navigated the forest.

We walked for many more minutes until we finally got to a small clearing. Dave walked to the middle of it and stopped, I was about to follow him when he turned to face me. For a moment I saw a kindness in his face, something deep within his glaring eyes.

“Okay, kid, here’s the deal. These will be our trainin’ grounds. My cave is only a couple miles away from here, and we’re far from Kyori and Dragon’s Land, so this is the perfect spot. You stay right there as I tell you what we’re gonna do,” he took a deep breath.

He opened his mouth before shutting it again. “Actually, what we’re gonna do first is have you attack me.”

“What?” I asked.

“Show me what you got, kid. I need to see just how good of a fighter you are. Since you keep tellin’ me that Blackbird was an accident, I want to see if it truly was.”

“But I don’t want to attack you,” I said.

He laughed. “You don’t? Anyone would want to attack me. Even that plant eating Kyori wanted to attack me. Are you really that weak?”

“I’m not weak, and don’t insult Kyori like that. It was her choice. Kage and I wrestled all the time.”

“I don’t believe you,” he spat. He took a step towards me. “Listen, you little griffin. I hate your kind. They’re arrogant little creatures who swear that they were the first to guard man’s treasure, but they forget about us drakes. Then again, even dragons do. Idiots, the lot of ‘em.”

His insults stung, causing me to visibly flinch and I wanted to retort but he spoke again.

“I wanted to refuse trainin’ you, I would’ve preferred watchin’ Brimstone tear you apart. But, alas, I hate him more, and you are the only chance I have to kill him. I’m too old now. Now, attack me! Tap into your anger, I know it is there. Hurt me! I stole your deer, I treat you like scum, I insult your friends and kind!” he roared.

That was enough to ignite my fury. I sprung at him, claws bearing. He dodged, but I quickly followed suit, scratching his thigh. My claws barely made a mark. He flipped around and tried to bite me, but I jumped back and grabbed onto his horns, tearing at the back of his neck. I was trying to bring him down, but he stood strong.

He stood completely still as I struggled. I was beginning to wear down, and that was when he struck, bringing his head to the ground. I dodged just in time not to get crushed. I landed on the ground, panting.

A fireball soared over my head, causing me to jump back up in terror. He glared at me and let out with a roar. I screeched back and took to the sky. I began to circle around him and dive bomb him, hoping to make him dizzy and tired. He leapt at me from time to time, but didn’t always follow my circling.

I was the one growing dizzy. I dived at him one more time, aiming for the back of his head, hoping to use momentum to drag him to the ground. I grabbed for his horns, but he ducked right at the last moment and I ate dirt. I didn’t get up and just laid there, catching my breath.

He stared down at me with expressionless eyes. He didn’t say a word.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” I asked.

“I was testing you. You failed.” he sighed and shook his head. “Don’t catch your breath for too long, we have a lot to do in these three months. I don’t want to waste a minute of it.” he told me and walked away.

I was thirsty and my feathers were still coated in blood. By the time he let me rest, which I assumed would be daytime, this blood would be impossible to clean. After a couple minutes, I slowly stood and shook the sand and dirt out of my feathers. I looked over to Dave and saw him laying down on his side, his legs stretched out. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady.

I thought that he’d fallen asleep, and now would be my chance for escape. But the moment I unfurled my wings, a fireball soared above me, making me shut them as quickly as I opened them.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna see Solstice already,” he groaned.

“No, I just wanted to clean this blood off, sorry.”

He flinched and hissed. “Rule number five, NO apologizing. Stop tiptoein’ around, don’t be afraid to upset me or others. You apologize too much, kid. If you want, you can keep doing that to others, but when you’re with me, you don’t ever say you’re sorry. Got it?”

I nodded. I was learning that when he was angry, which was most of the time, he showed his teeth with every word he spoke.

“So, here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna attack you, and before each strike, I’ll tell you what I’m strikin’ with. Once you grow to read my attacks, this will repeat except I will not tell you what I’m attacking with.”

I understood what he said a little, but found it confusing. Especially one pressing question. Cautiously, I opened my beak. “Can I ask a question?” I said first.

He glared at me. “What’s it about?”

“The explanation you just gave me.”

He growled. “Fine, spit it out.”

“I’m assuming I’m supposed to dodge the attacks, but my question is why are we starting with dodging? You said my attacking was poor, shouldn’t we start that first?”

“Offense always comes before defense. Brimstone is vicious and very good at attackin’, he’s able to hide his attacks and trick you. Thankfully, so am I. Once you get the hang of it, I will switch about my attacks and make it increasingly difficult to dodge.” he replied.

“Oh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now, can we get on with it? The night won’t last long.”

I nodded.

He grinned and the training began.

It was exactly as he explained. When he said “claw left”, he would send a claw from the left, which I had to dodge accordingly. I was thankful to my play fighting, which taught me a lot about how to dodge certain attacks. I ducked and jumped, he swiped and charged. He didn’t do anything tricky, like he told me, so I was able to easily keep up.

When I got tired, I would give a word and he’d stop and let me take a short breather.

“We gotta work on your stamina, kid.” he said during my first rest.

I’d never been so thirsty before, either. Griffins didn’t need much water, so I didn’t drink much, but with this strenuous activity, I needed a drink badly. But Dave wouldn’t let me take a break longer than the few minutes I got. I was amazed by his stamina. He never seemed to get tired.

Eventually, my break came with the sunrise. I wanted to collapse on the ground, my bones were so tired of jumping and ducking. But I did not have that luxury, because I had to follow the silent drake again. It wasn’t long until we got to his small cave. To my joy, there was a pond in front of it.

I jumped in with a splash. I began to eagerly drink the water as I floated on top.

Dave snorted. “Come in the cave when you’re ready to sleep. Tomorrow will be the same,” he told me as he walked inside.

I let out with an exhausted sigh as I began to clean myself. It took awhile, but soon all the blood from earlier was washed off. I crawled out of the pong, the sun was now fully blazing and the daytime forest was glowing. My heart was pained a little as I remembered Kage, and how he’d already be awake and flying around.

I sighed and stumbled to the cave. Dave was sleeping in the furthest corner on what looked like a very comfortable nest of leaves. I was tempted to join him, and in my exhausted stupor, I stumbled towards him.

Despite looking deeply asleep, his eyes instantly flicked opened and I was met with an angry stare and a threatening growl. I backed away and moved to another part of the cave. I didn’t know what to think about all of this.

Dave was most certainly a good trainer in the way of fighting, but in all other aspects, I hated him. He was cruel, angry, violent and seemed to hate me. I hoped I’d get used to this, but did make a mental note to learn as quickly as possible. The less time I spent with him, the better. I let out with a sigh as my eyes slowly shut. Tomorrow was another day.

And in roars Dave, one of my most beloved characters. Yes, I know, he's a jerk and doesn't like pronouncing "g"s at the end of words. But don't worry, with time, you and Dante will soon love this drake. There's a reason he's such a jerk, and while no, that's not an excuse, it is for him.

Fun fact, Dave was originally an animatronic OC I made for Five Night's at Freddy's. But when his animatronic story ended, he went into character hibernation until I decided to throw him in here. That is why his name is the most "human".

[Ranger of the North]

I quite like this salty fire-drake XD

[Megaguirus]

((Thanks. Salty is a good way of describing him.))

I slept peaceful, despite Dave’s mistreatment. I lifted up my head and looked around the cave. Dave had gone, and as I peeked outside, I saw where he was. Laying peacefully by the pond. It was an early morning, the sun hadn’t even fully risen. I slowly stood and walked outside. He was facing away from me, and before I even opened my beak, he spoke.

“Oh good, you’re up,” he said in a dull tone as he stood. He looked at me with tired eyes. He glanced up at the sky and sighed. “You hungry?”

I nodded.

“Then how about you catch us a deer,” he offered.

I blinked. “What? But, but, I don’t know how.”

“Good, then this can be yet another thin’ for me to teach you,” he grumbled and began to walk away.

“Wait, I know a little. I’ve been practicing for awhile. I think I can do it.” I pleaded and trotted after him.

“Then show me,” he turned his head back to look at me before walking on.

I was caught a little off-guard as I hadn’t even fully woke yet. But the moment I stand the day begins. He seemed a little grumpier and since his eyes looked tried, I assumed it was from lack of sleep. I didn’t know why, I wanted to know why, but he wouldn’t let me. He was guarded and mean.

As we walked, I noticed him slow down and motion for me to walk in front of him. Obviously, it was time to track. So I did. I followed my nose, I followed the footprints, I hunted. It took a little while, but I soon found a trail and came upon a herd only ten feet away from us.

I ducked down into the bushes and began to slowly creep towards them. As I did, my stomach rumbled and my brain wandered. I would’ve been fine with rabbit this morning. Before I even met Dave I had planned to hunt with Cobble. But I was at his whims. Once I was close enough to the deer, I waited until one came up to me.

Just as it bent down to eat the bush I was behind, I leapt up at it. It pulled back quickly, but I was able to get my claw through its hide. However, it pulled away and I was left reeling. This was where I would call it quits and watch them run, but I was jolted out of my daze by a roar.

“What’re you doing?! Go after it, kid! Be a predator, hunt!” Dave demanded.

I blinked and ran after them. I even took to the skies halfway through the chase and was soon above them. I found the deer I snagged, who was now running slightly slower because of the cut I made, which seemed worse than I assumed. Maybe the running opened it more.

I dove down on it and landed on its back. It let out with a grunt and huff of terror as I began to dig my claws into it and kill it as quickly as possible.

“Stop moving!” I yelled at it, tears coming to my eyes. I was not pleased in the pain I was giving it. “I’m sorry, just let me kill you.” I apologized as I reached for its throat and pulled back, sending blood flying. It finally fell as I was left panting, covered in blood, and a little traumatized.

Dave was nowhere to be seen, and I was okay with that. I needed time to adjust. I always gave my animals a quick death, but this poor creature suffered. Yes, it was my first deer, but it wasn’t how I wanted to catch it.

“Good job,” came the familiar dull and aged voice. “Tell me, kid, why didn’t you run after it?”

I looked up at him with tearful eyes. “I didn’t want it to suffer. I knew the deer was too big for me to kill quickly without sneaking up on it.” I replied and turned to the deer.

He sighed. “Then it’s no surprise that you haven’t caught any. Deer are too quick, they pull back faster than you can pounce. And, kid, it would’ve suffered anyway. Look at that mark you gave it when you pounced.” he said and pointed to the open wound.

“But did it have to fight me?” I asked.

“Every livin’ thin’ fights to live, it’s the nature of nature. You need the energy and strength that comes of its meat. If you don’t like killin’, then go and eat plants like Kyori. Though you would die if you did, so it isn’t an option.” he replied.

I sighed. “Can you eat it first?”

He shook his head. “To the victor go the spoils. I’ll eat the leftovers.” he said and walked out of sight.

I looked at the deer. I could still feel the warmth peel off it. My stomach growled and soon instincts took over and I began to dig in. I ate until I was full, and then began to look for Dave. He wasn’t too far off as he was walking towards me.

“You can go back to the cave and wash off. I’ll meet you there,” he said as he passed.

I sighed and obeyed, eager to get this blood off me. I flew to the cave and dove right in the water. The cool water felt nice on my skin as it soaked through my feathers. As I soaked, I thought deeply on everything that happened this morning. I tried to think deeper on Dave’s point.

It made sense, but I hated seeing pain and suffering. It all started when I saw Lofty get smacked by Blackbird. That was when I decided no suffering would come through me. And yet, it did. It always did. It seemed like everybody suffered because of me, so I tried even harder to prevent it.

I closed my eyes and let the sounds of the forest soak in. I rolled over on my back and let myself float. Since my ears were under the water, everything sounded muffled. But after a long while I heard the water slosh. The noise startled me and I turned to see Dave having a soak as well.

He looked at me with his tired eyes. “Feels good, don’t it?”

I nodded.

He let out with a relaxed sigh. “Don’t get too relaxed, kid, in a minute we’re gonna start trainin’ again.”

I sighed. “Okay,” and rolled back onto my back. Here we go again.

It was a minute later when he crawled out of the pond and beckoned me to follow him to the training area. I took one sip of water in hopes I wouldn’t get too thirsty. Once I reached the area, training started immediately.

It was exactly like yesterday. “Swipe right” he’d yell, and I’d dodge to the left. “Charge up” he warned, and I had to jump backwards to dodge it. That was how our “dance” went. When I caught a moment, thinking I had the hang of it, he’d switch it up. I still didn’t think why this was needed, and probably never would’ve if I hadn’t used the same dodging techniques in the future.

When I got tired, he’d let me rest a moment while he patiently waited by staring into nowhere. He was a very weird creature. When I was done resting, I’d let him know, and training would begin again. And when the sun started to set, my training ended and I would crawl, exhausted, back to the cave.

As I laid down on the hard cave ground, I looked at Dave with pleading eyes as he settled down into his comfy nest. I let out with a tiny whimper when he glanced over at me.

“Make a nest of your own. This is mine,” he snarled and looked away.

I sighed. But I don’t know how to make a nest. I thought.

I was almost asleep when I heard an eagle screech. I heard bird noises often, but this one was incredibly loud. I looked up and to my surprise, a brown eagle sat on a low branch, a rabbit hanging from its talon. At first, I didn’t recognize it, but after staring into its eyes, the name came back to me.

“Glory!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet and running to him.

He dropped the rabbit and landed on the ground in front of me. I was so much bigger than him now, but we still preened each other as brothers do.

“Why are you here?” I asked him. “I thought you were making a family of your own.”

He let out with a chirp and waddled over to the rabbit, picking it up in his beak and dropping it at my feet. He pointed to it and then to me.

“You want me to eat it?” I asked him.

He made a little nod before taking off and flying away.

I panicked a little to see him fly off, but remembered what Lofty said to me. “Thank you!” I called out to him. He had a life of his own to live. Since I was a little hungry from all that exercise, and it was a small rabbit, I decided to eat it.

I wasn’t even halfway through the rabbit when the flutter of wings came to my ears. I looked up to see Glory once again, this time flying towards the cave with a bunch of sticks in his beak. He landed on the area I slept and began to weave them together. When that was done, he took off once again.

I was stunned. He was building a nest for me. Tears began to well up in my eyes. I thought I’d never see him again, and yet, here he was, after all those months, building a nest for me. An endless amount of gratitude burned inside me as I looked at the tiny starting nest.

He came back again with more sticks and wove them into the tiny nest, adding a bit of his down to it. He was back and forth like this for awhile, even after I ate my rabbit and rested on the soft grass. I was dead tired, but I was going to wait until my nest was built before falling asleep. It would be wrong not to.

I dozed off every now and then, but soon, my nest was completed. It looked incredibly similar to Lofty’s, and my heart ached as I remembered her. I crawled over to the nest and curled myself up in it. It was incredibly soft, and made me realize how much I miss nests. I looked at Glory as he anxiously waited to see my reaction.

I smiled. “Thank you so much, Glory,” I purred and nuzzled him.

He let out with a little screech and stepped back. He looked up to the sky and then back to me. Was he wanting my approval to leave?

“Go, enjoy the rest of the day. And thank you for the nest.” I told him.

He nodded and took off.

I fell asleep, my heart filled to the brim with warmth. Dave might be cruel, but there were those who still cared for me. Yes, there was Kyori, Solstice and Cobble, but Glory was a family member. The only one I had left. The fact that he still cared was magical. Another reason to love the forest.


The next evening, I was awoken by Dave nudging me forcefully.

“Hey, kid, wake up. We gotta get trainin’, and huntin’.”

“Uh, what?” I moaned. I didn’t get much sleep, so I was terribly tired. “Can we take a break?” I asked. “I’m tired.”

He snorted. “Break? Ain’t no way you’re takin' a break with me around. I can see why you’re tired, that is an awesome nest, but get up anyway.”

I sighed and crawled out of the nest. “Thanks,” I said groggily. “Though I didn’t make it, an eagle that I grew up with made it for me.”

“You grew up with eagles?” he asked.

I nodded. “Lofty, my surrogate mother, raised eagles, since her mate got killed by a dragon. Those eagles were my siblings.”

He chuckled. “Well, that would account for your looniness. C’mon, kid, how about we get a bite to eat?”

“Okay,” I agreed, still sleepy, and followed him out of the cave. “You catch it this time.”

“Fine with that,” he said.

He hunted with incredible skill, despite his obvious old age. I let him eat first, going with his “to the victor go the spoils” mindset and when he was done, I ate the leftovers. After we’d eaten, it was time to take a drink of water at the pond and start training. Again. It was the third day and I was already a little bored.

The training would’ve been normal if it weren’t for the fact that Dave had sped up now. It didn’t trip me up, though, because I had kicked off my sleepiness after eating. I could see that he was almost wanting to, though. Another one of his cruelties.

When the sun began to rise we headed home. I was really tired now and could barely walk back, tripping on a couple of branches on my way back. I collapsed in my nest and shut my eyes.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, but I felt something grab at me and when I opened my eyes I saw Glory playfully claw at me. It had to have been midday, because the bright sun hurt my eyes a bit while they adjusted. I smiled at him and clawed back. And that did it, he ran off with his hopping gait, and I chased after him. We then played, much like I played with Kage.

It was nearing sundown when we were done spending time together. When the wrestling was over we simply just preened each other. I was actually the one who encouraged Glory to leave, because I needed some sleep. He reluctantly left, and I wondered why. He should be flying free like the rest of the eaglets.

I walked back to the nest and curled up to get just a little bit more sleep. Only a couple of hours must’ve passed before I felt Dave forcefully nudge me awake with his snout.

“Up and at ‘em, kid. Today’s another day.”

I groaned and slowly crawled out of the nest. “Sorry, didn’t get much sleep,” I apologized.

He growled, “Will you ever remember my rules? I don’t want to write them on the caves walls.”

As my sleepy brain woke up, I remembered that rule. Don’t apologize. I wanted to apologize for breaking the rule, but he would’ve gotten angrier. “Will you hunt again today?”

“‘Course,” he said and carried on. I slowly followed.


This continued for a couple more days. I’d spend the morning playing with Glory, and then be all groggy and sleepy for training. I didn’t think Dave noticed at first, but as I slowed down during the training, he gradually did. I could see suspicion in the back of his eyes. I also took more breaks, and I could see him get more and more irritated.

On the seventh day, on the training grounds, he questioned me.

“What is your problem, kid?” he asked.

“What?” I replied, shaking my feathers.

“You’ve been slowin’ down, even lettin’ me hit you! We can’t train like this. Have you been meetin’ with Kyori or somethin’?”

“Oh,” I said, realizing that he’d found me out. “No, not Kyori, but Glory. That eagle I told you about, he’s come by every morning and we’ve played together. I’m sorry for my lack of sleep, I thought I could handle it.”

“A bird? You losin’ precious trainin’ hours for a bird?” he shook his head with a sigh. “Kid, you’re hopeless unless you get rid of that bird.”

My eyes widened. “What do you mean? Glory is the last of my family, I can’t get rid of him.”

“Then I can’t train you.” he replied, turning away.

“But that’s not fair! I need him, he’s the last of my family!” I yelled.

“He’s a bird!” Dave spat, turning back around and staring at me in the face. “He’ll move on. It’s not like he understands you.”

I took great offense to that. I stood and glared back at him. “He does too understand me! He built a nest for me, and loves me!” I shook my head. “I won’t get rid of him.”

He roared at me. “Then in three months Brimstone can roast you alive! Without my knowledge, he will crush you!”

I jumped at him and clawed his face. He dodged my attack, however, and came back with a smack of his own, knocking me to my side with a squeak. I gasped and panted for air as I laid there, my eyes frantically looking about.

He glared down at me. “Listen,” he began through his teeth. “That type of rage is why I have good hopes for you. I don’t want you to fail, kid, or else Solstice’ll eat me.” he finished by staring at me with a strange kindness.

I had caught my breath but continued to lay there as he spoke. When he was done, I stood up with a loud sigh. “One more day?”

“One more day,” he replied and walked to his usual training spot. “Now, ready for some more trainin’?”

Everything seemed better now, he even had a smile. I decided to have mine match his and our training resumed. When we were finished, like every other morning, I slowly staggered to the cave, curling up in my nest. A little while afterwards, Glory came and woke me.

I wrestled with him for a bit, and when it was our preening time, I decided then was the best time to break it to him. “Glory, this will be our last morning together.” I told him.

He actually stopped preening and looked up at me in surprise.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, but I can’t train half-asleep. I love spending time with you, I do, but I can’t every morning. Maybe once a week?” I decided that compromise while I finished my daily training. Dave didn’t know about it, and he didn’t need to. It would just be our little secret.

The eagle let out with a chirp and resumed preening. Even though he didn’t give me any real sign that he understood, I somehow knew. I preened him back and this time, for the first time, it was he who stopped and flew away. I decided to take that as my sign that he was okay with it.

I sighed, a peaceful smile on my face. Now I could catch up on my sleep and on my training. I was expecting these next couple of days to be hard, as I caught up on my training. But I didn’t have any particular problem with that, because I was still able to see Glory. That was enough encouragement for me.


When I woke up it was only a little bit into the night. Dave was nowhere to be seen, but I wasn’t worried. In fact, I took this as a great pleasure. I debated if I should bolt now and see Solstice or Kyori. That would be great if I could. I spread my wings and prepared for just that.

Suddenly, something large and loud came barging through the trees. In a flash, I shot into the air and landed on top of the cave, since that was where the thing ran into. I gripped onto the ledge and cautiously peered in.

Sitting proudly inside the cave was Dave, the familiar grumpy drake. He looked up at me with a smirk.

“Good, you’re up.” he said. “Breakfast is on you,”

I jumped off the cave and just shook my head at him. It was pointless to try and understand him. I hunted for breakfast, and did it exceptionally well, I was even able to kill the deer faster. I grinned proudly, but Dave showed no excitement.

I just shook my head and had my share. While he ate, I climbed about in the trees. I was in a good mood, and since he scared me, I decided to knock some nuts down on him. At first, he didn’t seem to notice, so I threw more down, pelting him with the hard shells. Finally, he looked up and roared at me. I roared back and went on my merry business.

I wasn’t at all excited to go back to the boring training. But, I had to train, so I bit my tongue and did. Thankfully, rescue came in the form of leathery wings. I looked up to see Cobblestone fly in. I hadn’t seen another dragon for weeks, and was so excited I didn’t see Dave charge at me, and was knocked back with a squeak.

Not wanting Cobble to be concerned for me, I leapt back to my feet, though my head was spinning. The dragon landed delicately and smiled at Dave.

Dave growled back. “Oh, not you,” he groaned.

“Nice to see you, too,” Cobble replied and looked at me. “So, how’s it going with that old beast?”

I glanced over at Dave who was hobbling away. “As well as it can, he’s not as exciting as you made him out to be.”

“I told you he had to have been seen to be believed. If I’d told you that Solstice and I wanted an old wingless dragon to train you, would you really believe us?”

I shook my head. “I guess not, some warning would’ve helped, though.”

“He’s not that bad once you get to know him. How many days has it been, eight or nine, I think? That is not nearly enough time to get to know him.” he replied. “Anyways, how about we fly somewhere else and talk? I don’t think Dave’s listening in, I just want to spend some private time.”

I wasn’t going to complain about that. I spread my wings and we were off. He led me to the same lake we were before. We both dived into the water and came up with laughter. Without a word spoken, we wrestled each other in the water. I wasn’t used to water wrestling, so he quickly beat me.

We climbed ashore, still laughing. I didn’t know Cobble much, if at all, but I somehow trusted him. Then again, I trusted anyone who was nice to me. Those who weren’t, on the other hand.

“So, how’s the training going along?” he asked, breaking me out of my thought.

“Oh, fine, just fine. Rather repetitive, but manageable.”

“That’s good, and repetition is the way to learn. It gets it not only into your head, but into your muscle and bones. Soon, you should be able to do it without thinking.”

I chuckled. “He tested that today, I think. He charged at me out of nowhere the moment I was awake and on my feet. It was startling, to say the least, but I didn’t need to think about jumping.”

“See? It’s working already and it's only been eight days!” he chuckled with me.

“Kage did say I was a quick learner and very smart. I learned a lot just by watching and interacting with the others. Of course, I ran into an interruption with Glory.”

He paused and cocked his head. “Who’s Glory?”

“One of my eagle siblings. He actually built a nest for me and we played for quite awhile. But it was slowing down my reflexes, since Dave trains me in the night and Glory is up in the day. Dave threatened me to chase him off or else my training would end.” I grinned. “But, Glory and I made a compromise to meet once a week. I can’t say goodbye to my last family member.”

“Well, aren’t you the sneaky little thing? I can’t blame you, I would’ve done the same. Dave has his reasons for being cruel, don’t know what they are, but I believe them to be good.”

“He wouldn’t be so lonely if he didn’t have all of those rules. I can’t make friends with him, because I’m not allowed to ask questions or tell him about myself. I think all he knows is that I grew up with eaglets, and that was only because he saw the nest.” I groaned.

Cobble rolled on his back with a sigh. “He’s old, that’s all I can say.”

“How old is he, anyway?” I asked. That was one of the things I always wanted to know.

“Oh, five hundred years I think? Definitely the oldest of us.”

My eyes widened. As a griffin, I couldn’t even fathom those years. “No wonder he limps. That’s a lot of griffins to live through.”

He laughed. “I don’t know much about Dave, but the one to ask the most questions is Solstice. Dave spends the longest time with her, they bonded as children. She saw him as an older brother. They’ve shared secrets with each other no-one else knows.”

“I hate secrets,” I grumbled. “Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I rolled on my back now, and we both gazed at the stars. A long moment passed before we spoke again.

“So,” Cobble began. “Caught any deer lately?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Dave helped me catch my first one. He encouraged me to chase it down, something I hadn’t thought of before, and I didn’t like it. The panic in its eyes as I tried to kill it,” I shuddered. “Thankfully, the second time I was able to kill it much quicker.”

“Sounds like me,” Cobble said.

I looked at him. “But you don’t have to eat meat.”

“Yeah, but I’ve become numb to it. Thanks to my brother. He taught me how to hunt, and had the same mindset of Dave. I’m sure Dave has told you that ‘that’s just how it works’, my brother said the same thing. After a couple more times, the panic I saw in a deer’s eyes didn’t affect me.” he sighed. “That’s why I like you, I don’t think you’ll turn out like that. Have pity on the animals you kill, because while it may be the way of life, the way of life does not need to be so cruel.”

I smiled back at him. “Thanks, another thing to keep in mind.”

We continued to stargaze in silence, no other words needed to be spoken. When the sky started to brighten we bid farewell.

“Hope to see you soon,” he said as he stood to fly away.

“Yeah, you too!” I replied as I went back to Dave’s cave. When I returned, I was surprised to find it empty. For a moment I froze, wondering if he was going to jump out at me again. But after a couple of minutes, drowsiness kicked in and I settled down into my nest. I then felt a twinge of concern for Dave, but reminded myself of how tough he looked. He should be fine. I thought to myself as sleep gently covered me.

[Megaguirus]

I woke naturally, for the first time, and it was a little into the evening. I looked around and saw Dave resting by the pond, half his body on the water. His face was facing me and I saw his eyes were closed. He seemed fairly peaceful but had a tense look in his face.

I slowly approached him and he still didn’t move. He just stayed there, his eyes shut tight. Maybe he was asleep. Even though I didn’t like him, I felt a little sorry for him and laid beside him. After a moment of watching him sleep, I decided that I was going to surprise him with a deer.

But the moment I stood, a strong claw forced me back down with a squeak. A little panicked, I turned to look at him and saw him staring at me.

“How was your night with that dragon?” he asked me.

“F-fine, I guess.” I slowly replied.

His face was expressionless as he stared. “You guess? You looked peaceful this mornin’, it must’ve been nice,” He paused momentarily. “So, what’d you talk about?”

“Stuff,” I spat out. He glared harder, and it broke me. “About you, among other things.”

“Oh really? What?”

“Just your age, and your bond with Solstice.”

He dug his claws deeper into me. I began to panic even more when suddenly, he stood, claw still on me, and pushed me into the pond. After some frantic swimming, I reached the top of the water, gasping for breath. I swam to the shore as I heard his laughter.

“Don’t panic, kid, I was only jokin’.” he said as he sat and watched.

I dug my claws into the grassy shore and pulled myself up, gasping desperately. “I hate you,” I murmured.

“Good, it’s about time you mentioned it.”

I just glared at him viciously.

“C’mon, it’s about time you hunt somethin’ other than deer and rabbit. Follow me,” he said and stood, walking off into the woods.

I hesitated until I could barely see him through the trees. After that stunt, I really wasn’t feeling too fond of him. The thought of hunting with him again, and training with him again, made my stomach churn. But I remembered what he told me before, I needed him to train me, or else Dragon King would crush me.

With a sigh, I stood, shook myself off, and followed the old drake, trotting a bit to catch up with him. We walked for a long while in silence until the trees began to grow sparse and ahead of us lay The Plains. I froze when I was at the edge of the forest, staring out at the vast expanse. Every bone in my body told me not to go, I would be vulnerable, easy prey for dragons.

Dave was already far out into The Plains and turned to look at me, obviously noticing I was no longer following. He sighed and shook his head. “Kid, you’re perfectly safe out here. Even if a dragon wanted to snatch you, it’d be too afraid to. I am feared among all beasts,” he assured me, giving a wide toothy grin with the last sentence.

I first glanced up at the sky, but then began to stare in its beauty. The moon wasn’t visible at all, all I could see was stars. Stars among stars. It brought me back to growing up in the Circle, and my sleepless nights where I would gaze at the stars. I paused when I came upon a familiar constellation. The one that looked like a mix between a griffin and a dragon. Dante, the Ancient One.

“Do you know what that group is?” I asked Dave and pointed.

He glanced up and shrugged. “Dunno, never was one for stargazin’ ask Kyori, she’d know.” he replied before letting out a hissing sigh. “Stargazin’ comes later, if you don’t come soon I’ll be eatin’ without you.”

“Thanks for the answer,” I said, trotting after him. I already knew, but was actually surprised he answered, that was the first question I didn’t get yelled at for.

We walked for a while longer, it was so much walking that I decided to take to the sky to give my legs a rest. I slowly flew above Dave as he led me into who-knows-where. Soon, I noticed a group of some curious looking creatures ahead of us.

They were all sleeping standing perfectly upright, with muscular bodies and thin legs. They looked a lot like a deer, except their heads were differently shaped and they had tails made of long fur. The same type of fur was also coming out of the back of their necks. Some were black, some were white, and the smaller ones were light brown. The most striking thing was a singular silver horn coming out of their heads.

I landed and stared at them in awe, they were beautiful, in a way.

“If you think they look pretty, then you’ll love what they taste like.” he told me.

I paused. “That’s what we’re hunting?”

“Oh, c’mon, kid, don’t go all plant eater on me. They’re just like deer, except bigger, tastier and more dangerous,” he let out with an amused snort. “Humans believed their horns were magical, and accordin’ to Kyori, they have sight medical properties. But to me, all they are are horns. Vicious, stabbing, killing thin’s.”

I sighed, my stomach growled at the thought of eating. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Excellent. Now, these are very aggressive creatures, and are also very good at hearin’. They might even be hearin’ us now at this distance. So, we’re gonna wake ‘em, and actually have ‘em come after us.”

I couldn’t hide my violent quivering as it rustled my feathers, creating a soft hiss.

“Oh, don’t worry, kid, my trainin’ should kick in, you’ll be fine.” he smirked and let out with a loud roar, before charging at the unicorns a little.

The unicorns all jumped awake, and the black ones seemed to find us instantly and began to charge us. Dave laughed and charged at them. Frightened, I took to the air to watch the battle. The closer the unicorns got to him, the slower they charged. They let out with a weird shrieking sound and reared, quickly turning away and running from the laughing monster.

Despite being old, Dave could run like no other. He caught up to them quickly and leapt in a frightening bound. He landed right on top of one of the black ones and didn’t even need to bite it to kill it, his weight killed it with a sickening crunch. The other unicorns seemed to be alerted to the sound and turned to look at the bloody scene.

Dave kept laughing, even as he shot fireballs at the stunned unicorns, who scattered and resumed running. My heart was pounding, I didn’t want to land, everything inside me told me to run away with the unicorns. My ears were alerted to the loud sound of crunching, and below me the brutal monster was digging into the poor creature.

Eventually, my wings grew tired and I landed ten feet away from him, watching in terror. I didn’t say a thing, didn’t move an inch. My muscles were still tight in case he turned to strike at me. Thankfully, he didn’t look at me at all as he ate. But when he was finished, he stood and looked at me.

He was covered in blood, as was the ground all around him. He gave me a vicious grin. “That’s why, kid, Kyori wanted me to train you. There’s a reason I’m feared, a reason why nobody speaks my name unless they have to. Now go on, eat, I won’t hurt you unless you give me reason to. And believe me, you haven’t. Yet,”

I stood and slowly approached the mess, taking a gentle bite. He was right, it was delicious beyond words. I began to viciously dig in, taking in each bite of the indescribable meat.

When I was finished, there was nothing left, but for a couple of bones and the horn. I took the horn, already broken off of the skull, and held it in my claw.

“You can keep that as a trophy, if you want. But we’ll be eatin’ these soon, probably next month, so you’ll have another.” he told me.

I nodded and kept it clutched in my claw. I wondered what medicinal properties this had. I looked over at the bloody drake. His dull expression was there once again.

“You ready to go?” he asked me.

I nodded once again and we began our walk back home. As we walked, I watched Dave’s walk. He seemed to be limping even worse, and let out with a little grimace of pain with each step. That charge did hurt him, he just didn’t show it. My heart felt a little twinge of pity for him, even though I still hated him and feared him even more.

When we finally reached home, we both headed directly for the pond. Dave slipped in first with a splash, the blood quickly washed off and floated away from him on the surface. I wasn’t nearly as bloody as him, and wasn’t in the mood to get wet again, so I sat at the shore and cleaned myself off with a mixture of preening and splashing water on myself.

In front of me Dave sounded in a mix of pain and relief. His body was in the water while he stayed afloat by digging his claws in the shore. I felt very concerned for him now, but knew he’d yell at me if I showed it.

“Next time, it’ll be you who hunts ‘em.” he told me.

“But how? You can’t be expecting me to do what you did.”

He chuckled. “Nobody’s as crazy as me. No, I expect you to do something different. Once you know how to fight properly.”

That excited me a little. “Are we going to start that now?”

He shook his head and turned to look at me. “Nope.” he answered simply. He stepped out of the water with a groan, the water sliding off his wrinkly skin. He then started to walk to the training spot, obviously assuming I’d just follow.

I did. The conversation was obviously over. When we reached the area, the typical training resumed. For another long and dreadful week, the training continued as normal. We didn’t go unicorn hunting and I noticed his limp was starting to get better. The day Glory and I chose to interact was wonderful, but it felt like a tease when he left.


One night I awoke to see Dave was nowhere. I looked around and kept on my highest guard as I walked out of the cave. But to my surprise, there was nothing. For once I decided to use my nose, and I couldn’t even smell him. I was pretty used to his smell, so I’d know if he was around. My ears and eyes also gave no clue as to where he was.

I wasn’t concerned for him at all. After seeing him attack those unicorns, I knew nobody would mess with him. I took this as an opportunity to visit with one of my friends. Kyori, specifically. Normally I didn’t like her disjointed way of speaking, and most of the things she taught were boring, but I was dying for some conversation and learning something other than fighting.

I eagerly spread my wings and flew the long distance to Kyori. She was exactly where I knew she’d be, messing about in her cave, murmuring to herself. Dave’s cruel nature rubbed off on me and I snuck up behind her, leaping at her with a playful shriek to give her a surprise.

She got surprised for sure. She leapt upwards and outwards, flying into a tree and coiling herself amongst the branches. She looked down at me when she heard my laughter.

I stopped laughing when I saw her scolding expression. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do. Or not, because the next thing I heard was her laughter as I got pelted with nuts. I gave out squeaks of exclamation as I ran for cover inside her cave, burying myself beneath her unfolded scrolls.

I heard a soft thud and peeked out from my hiding spot, to see her walk towards her cave, I thought she didn’t see me, but it was hard to hide when my quivering body rustled the scrolls. She stood up on her back legs and crossed her front ones in a very odd manner. She was still grinning.

“Please don’t tell me Dave is actually influencing you,” she said with a shake of her head.

I crawled out from my hiding spot and cocked my head. “How’d you know he influenced me?”

She laughed and went back to standing on four legs. “Because that is exactly something he used to do to me all the time. Of course, when I pelted him with nuts he’d spew Man obscenities and breath fire at me. Sometimes my tail would catch, and he would get even more joy to see me douse it in a panic.” she swept it in front of her, causing the scrolls to rustle from the air it moved.

“Did you enjoy it?” I asked. It felt so nice to know that I wouldn’t get yelled at for asking a question around her.

“At first, no, but soon I accepted that that was the way he was,” she sighed and walked past me to roll up her scrolls and put them away. I found it so curious how often she walked only on her back legs. “Now I actually want him to scare me again, just so that I can hear him laugh genuinely.”

I thought on that for a moment. It was true, every time he laughed it was in a mocking manner, but there was no joy in it. No true joy. “What happened to make him stop?”

She stopped putting away her scrolls and placed a talon on the wall, only turning her head to look at me. “War. The last war, the one that happened after The Ancient One got assassinated. He lost his son in that war. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know, my father kept me hidden during it. I just know he lost him, because when I saw him and his mate again, they were both in deep mourning. After a time of silence, they came back a little better, but some of their joy had been taken from them.

“Then, when Dragon King took the throne, he lost his mate when she tried to challenge the brute. When I ran into him later, he had changed completely. All the life he had in him seemed to be gone, leaving vacant and angry eyes. He stopped talking and lived in hiding. If anyone tried to get close, he’d chase them away with fire, violence and those stupid Man obscenities. Now, the only one he speaks to is Solstice, but even then, those visits are rare.”

A melancholy mood seemed to have seeped into the forest like a fog. All my hate and anger towards him changed to sympathy. Kyori seemed to have noticed it, and walked towards me.

“Please don’t let him see that you know. It may make him stop training you, or make him go completely into hiding.” she shook her head and sighed a couple of times. “I shouldn’t have even told you. I didn’t want to mess up our visit, you just asked, and oh goodness, I’m so bad at talking with others.”

“Kyori, it’s okay, I won’t let him know, and thank you for telling me. I won’t throw his cruelty back at him more than normal. I knew something happened to him to make him act so mean, especially since I saw a couple of glimpses of kindness in his eyes.” I gently placed a claw on her leg.

She stopped panicking and smiled at me. She continued to stare until her eyes widened and she backed away. She looked me up and down and then herself, then she stood exactly beside me and continued to compare.

“Have you grown a little?” she asked.

I was confused, and started to examine myself. “Maybe?” I replied with a shrug.

She chuckled a little. “You have, you’ve grown just a little bit. I knew you had more growing to do.”

I momentarily stood on my haunches and looked myself up and down. I guess I did, I didn’t really think much about it. I let out with a little yelp when she dashed behind me and started to shift through my feathers with her strangely delicate claws. The preening felt good and I slowly closed my eyes, not even caring to ask just what she was doing.

I was so relaxed, I fell backwards when she moved away. I let out with a little shriek and looked up to see her chuckling.

“Your scales are coming in nicely, too. Not too weak, but also not too strong. if they get strong too early, they’ll push out your feathers too early. Not that it matters, since you don’t have to blend in with the griffins anymore, but hey,” she said with a shrug. “What else could I do? I can’t see into the future or anything.”

“Glad to know I have your approval.”

She laughed at that. “Well, you are my little experiment.” she shook her head and stood back on her haunches. “Now, since you’re here, is there anything you’d like to learn?”

I thought for a moment and finally came up with a question. “Yeah, what are ‘man obscenities’?”

She lit up brighter than the sun. “Oh yes, well, there are certain words that Man uses, or used, I don’t know, as a way of expressing himself. In dragon and griffin culture, they don’t mean much, but according to the works of Man I have on my walls, they had significant meaning.”

“Then why does Dave use them if they have no use here?”

“Because, he’s very old, over five hundred years, I think. The oldest on the island, he’s the direct descendant of one of the young drake pairs that got carried here when the island got created. Since he’s the direct descendant, and since drakes were closely involved with Man, they picked up on a lot of the words and names. To him, they mean just as much as they do to Man. Ever wonder why his name sounds so weird? That’s because drakes are, or were, I don’t even know if any are alive anymore, into the habit to naming their hatchlings Man names.” she explained in her usual way.

But instead of taking me awhile to absorb it, I sucked it in immediately. “Is that why he calls me ‘kid’?”

She nodded. “Kid is what Man calls his young. Oddly enough, according to man, that is also what they call young goats,” she shook her head with a chuckle. “I don’t even know about that.”

Having eaten a goat once, and after seeing that image of Man, I was very confused as to why they used the same name for goats.

She laughed at my puzzled expression. “Like I said, I don’t even know. Man is a weird creature, capable of doing or writing weird things. It’s a shame they hate us now, it would be fun to see them.”

I agreed with a nod. That was when I remembered the unicorn horn, and that I left it behind. I clicked my claw in frustration and turned to look in the direction I came from.

“Everything okay?” she asked me, noticing my change in mood.

“A week ago, Dave took me to hunt unicorns and said that according to you their horns had medicinal properties. I just wanted to know what they were.” I replied in a frustrated tone.

She perked up and ran off to her cave, pulling off a scroll. “Don’t feel bad that you don’t have it with you, it isn’t needed. I already wrote down all of its uses here,” she said and pointed to the scroll now rolled out on her cave floor.

I crept over to it and looked down. On the large piece of parchment was a drawing of a unicorn horn, and then beside it were curious scribbles. After staring at them for so long my eyes ached, I pulled back and rapidly shook my head.

“Nice image, but I don’t know what to make of those scribbles.” I told her.

She paused before putting her claw to her face with a quiet smack. “You don’t know how to read, do you?” she asked.

I cocked my head at her. “What is ‘read’?” I asked.

She sighed and glanced up at the sky, probably to see what time it is. “Well, looks like we have some work to do. Read, or reading, is something almost nobody knows. Normally, I wouldn’t teach you. But, since you’re going to become king, I think being well educated would be delightful change. After all, you’re going to need to understand The Ancient One’s rules in order to rule like him,” she took a breath, for once, before resuming, “I’ll have to pay you and Dave a visit to work out a way to split your time, hopefully, so that we can get you well read.”

Now my head was spinning. I had too many questions. “Okay,” I replied reluctantly.

“What about Dave, anyway? Why are you here at night, shouldn’t he be training you?” she asked.

“That was my question when I woke, but he wasn’t there. I decided to take advantage of that and come visit you. This is the second time I’ve noticed him missing, the other time was when I returned after meeting with Cobblestone.” I replied.

She sighed. “Well, if I know him, which I hope I should, he’s probably waiting for you right now.” she smiled. “How about we both pay him a visit and talk about learning how to read?”

I still didn’t get my question about how medicinal a unicorn horn is, and probably never would until I could read her scroll. So, with that in mind, I agreed with a nod and we both flew to the grumpy beast’s hideout.

Kyori was right, the drake was laying in front of the cave, looking both sad and disappointed. He turned his head to watch us fly in and grimaced.

“I thought I told you to stay out of my business,” he growled at her.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she replied with a forced smile as we landed. “I am, but Dante was just visiting with me and after some talking, I decided to teach him how to read.”

He laughed bitterly. “‘Course you have,” he said and uttered a few Man obscenities. At least, that’s what I thought they were, it was in a strange unknown language. “Let me guess, you want us to split time ‘tween the kid, so that he can get overwhelmed? Ain’t gonna happen, not one bit.” he replied with a shake of his head.

“I knew you were going to say that. Please, Dave, let me have at least one hour with Dante.” she begged.

He continued to shake his head and stood. “Unless you can convince me that it’ll help him defeat Brimstone, I ain’t gonna go with it. C’mon, you know me, fighting always comes first.”

She sighed and looked down at me. She seemed very disappointed. “Would you be okay with waiting until after you defeat Dragon King?”

I looked at her and then back at Dave, who gave me a scornful glare, and then back at her. “I’m sorry, I really want to learn, but Dave seems adamant that my boring training comes first.” I emphasized “boring”, in hopes it would change his mind. Instead, he threw me a cruel, broken toothed grin.

“Okay then,” she said in disappointment and bent down to nuzzle me. “You stay safe now, and don’t hesitate to visit again soon.” she whispered to me.

I nuzzled her back. “Will do,” I whispered back.

With that, the Guardian flew off, back to her own lonely cave. I turned back to Dave just in time to get a solid smack against the head.

“Fool! Since you decided to talk with that nut, you probably haven’t eaten, and therefor the rest of our night will be devoted in gettin’ you a meal. Or, I could force you to train on an empty stomach.” he scolded.

I was shocked and taken aback, my ears ringed and the side of my face that he hit stung. His yelling didn’t help with the ringing. Once I regained my focus, I yelled back at him. “I wouldn’t have ran off if you weren’t gone! It’s your fault that you left in the first place.”

“You were supposed to hunt for yourself and patiently wait for me!” he roared back.

I raised my claw to smack him back, but he shoved me away with his snout. I quickly recovered. “If your training wasn’t so boring, maybe I wouldn’t have left in the first place! I needed some other type of interaction, it’s not like you’re much for conversation.”

We were both snarling and glaring at each other viciously. I spread my wings and fluffed out my feathers to look bigger than him. Eventually, after a long standoff, he backed off.

“Fine, you grab your own meal tonight, and tomorrow, the trainin’ will be ten times worse. Then next time you might think twice before angerin’ me.” he grumbled and walked into his cave, curling into a large and snarling heap.

My feathers settled and I folded in my wings. I took no time to soak in what just happened, and just turned to hunt for the night and thought while I flew. There went my sympathy, and in came my hatred. I felt like he was just as bad as Blackbird now that he smacked me.

But being angry made me selfishly minded, and I never even thought about what a bad night he had. I desperately needed that sympathy back.

Firstly, Dave, no, bad drake don't hit him. Secondly, Dante, don't aggravate him! He can kill you if he wants, remember what he did to that unicorn?

I swear, Dante may be a "plucky little chap", but man is he risking it.