The peace lasted for a long time, many, many generations forgot the existence of the feud. Eventually, the gods created a cousin race of the Annumreale. The Enephruene, or Sky Shepherds, another of the gods most cherished. The races soon grew intolerant and jealous of the Epeheruene, and began to shun them. Even hunt them from their native land. But one race forged a bond with the shunned race, and soon learned that they were powerful allies. The dragons, most tolerant and powerful, took the Enephruene into their huge continent of Lernalaban. But they gave the Enephruene another name, one that in their language meant ‘the shelter given.’  They gave them the name Griffoniniel, or Griffon. The two races grew to become like brothers, their bond never to be broken. The Men and the Nullroth, not making the mistake of the feud again, decided to embrace the new species, instead of forcing an alliance with them. And Imbroloth grew angry, as the proud griffons could not be converted to his foul needs. The Griffons proved to be artistically adept, and highly talented. They spread the gift with the rest of Lernalaban. Imbroloth grew intolerant. The griffons would prove to be the bane of Imbroloth’s existence, much to the delight of the gods.  

                                                                   -excerpt from the book of Yivyne

 

 

 

  I was awoken by James, who woke me up and pulled me out of bed.

“Whuh...” I said, half asleep. I rubbed my eyes. “Look, look! We’re here! We’re here!” He shouted. “What are you talkin’ about?” I said. He grabbed my hair- “ow, ow! Quit it!”- and shoved my head into one of the portholes. “Wow!” I shouted, fully awake. “That’s amazing!”

 Tall buildings and spires  rose out of the skylines. Buildings that seemed to be made out of glass shone like fire in the morning light. What I thought were large birds-actually dragons- flew to and from buildings. Almost no one was walking on the ground. As the zeppelin landed, James and I were the first ones off.

“You never told me that it looked like this!” I shouted. James, though he lived here, seemed just as amazed. “C’mon! I wanna show you my house!” I thought this a little strange, I mean, he was acting like a five year old, but he was just excited, I guess. “Finally! I get to wear my own clothes!”  “What do you mean?”

Naru stepped out of the zeppelin. I didn’t think he was a morning person. “They’re just clothes, James. Grow up, already.”  James ran back in and got the suit of armor, now in pieces, and the sword. He wrapped it in a sack, shoved it in my face, and grabbed me under the arms. “Where the hell are you going?!” I shouted. He was flying recklessly fast, just barely avoiding other dragons. He flew out of the small city, and into a hilly area, with only a little houses. He slowed down near a small house on a hill. He dropped me, and landed next to me. “C’mon!” I ran to the front door. He had a pretty nice house. And a strange piece of furniture he called the couch. There were blankets and pillows all over it. “Wait here.” he said as he ran into one of the rooms. I put down his clothes, and looked around. Then something happened that scared me lifeless. I could hear a sound, a sound like breathing. But it sounded muffled. “James? James, is that you?” I shouted. No answer. I looked around. Nothing. When I got closer to the couch, the sound grew louder. I noticed that the pillows and blankets were moving. No, not moving. Breathing.

“Uh, James?” but it couldn’t be him. He was in the other room. There was something under those blankets. Something alive. I could barely breathe. I didn’t know what kind of creatures lived here. This was a whole other continent. Maybe it had snuck in while James was gone. “Uuuhh...” it moaned. I looked over to where I thought the head of the creature was. Whatever it was, it’s eye was closed. I could see the pupil moving around sightlessly from under the lid. Oh, God, oh God... suddenly, it opened. “WHOA!!” it screamed. “AAGHH!!” I screamed.  I ran into the kitchen, and grabbed a knife. It got up from it’s sleep, and I realized that the creature that snuck into James’ house had blond hair. And a shirt on. And pants. And grey feathers.

“Whoa, kid! Put the knife down, nice and slow...”  James ran in. What the hell? What’s with the screaming?”

who-what ever had snuck into James’ house seemed to know him.

“James, man! This kid was tryin’ to kill me!” “Me?! I thought there was a wolf or something under there!”  “Do I look like a wolf, kid?”  “Oh. My bad. Beldas, this is Ace... you know. The dude with the name.” I waved, one hand still clutching the knife. Ace scoled, looking embarrassed. “You told him?!”  “Ace, this is Beldas, he’s the Son n’ stuff.” “James, how long have you known me? I don’t pay attention to all that political crap.” I could see now that this was a griffon. Now, I thought to myself, okay, I now know a cat person, a dragon, and a griffon. Cool. “Uh, why’s he here?” Ace asked. “Well, he’s supposed to be the savior of the world, so he’s kinda training here.” “Whatever.”  This thing spoke even weirder than James did. He spoke with words I had never heard of, like “crap, whatever, political,” that sort of thing. I dropped the knife with a clatter. “Hey, James? I’m tired. Can I go back to sleep?”  James didn’t seem to care. “Sure. Whatever.”  The griffon fell back on the couch, and started snoring. “Hm. That was weird.” I found myself saying that more and more lately. The griffon’s tail twitched.

“Come here. I wanna show you something.” I followed him into one of the rooms. I had never seen anything like it. There was a bed, but James picked up a strange wooden object, around four or five feet long. It had strings, and was strangely shiny. He held it in an odd way, and began to mess around with tiny knobs on the end of it.

“What’s that?” I asked.  James looked at me blank faced. “Are you kidding me? Really, are you?” I shook my head. “This is a -say it with me, now- guitar. OK? One more time, but slower. Guitar.” “Okay, okay! I get it. Now, what does it do?”  “Wow. You are so lucky Ace is passed out on my couch, or he’d be beating the crap out of you right now. Okay, see, a guitar plays music. Do you know what music is?” I nodded. “Very good! You get a gold star!” I was getting mad again.

“Okay, but can you play it?”  James just put the guitar down and walked out of the room. “I’m just gonna stop tryin. Right now.” “What’d I do?” I said. “Nothing. Your just not used to Lernalaban.” as we walked out the door, I could hear Ace snoring loudly. When we walked outside, I remembered something. “Um, I can’t fly. How are we both gonna get around without you carrying me.” “You can fly. You just need a pinch-” “SHUT UP SHUT UP!” he laughed. “Okay, okay. But did you see any wings on Ace?” I thought for a moment. “No.”  “Well, how do you think he got around?” I thought again. “Walk?” “Yep. It’s pretty normal for griffons to not have wings. It’s a minority, but it’s normal. You ready to get stared at again?” he said. “Why am I gonna get stared at?”  He once again looked blank faced. “There about three humans on this entire continent. You are one third of the population. Do the math.”  James agreed to walk with me because I had no idea where I was going. As we walked along the street, I realized something. For the first time in my life, I had no tail, scales, wings, feathers, or anything else weird, and yet people stared at me. It depends on what the people around you think that decides wether you’re weird or not. There were a few people walking on the streets, mainly dragons with one of their wings in a sling, or wingless griffons. And all of them stared.

“Uh, James? Have you noticed-” he nodded. “Yes I have. That people are staring? Don’t worry about it. They’ll stop in a week or so.” when we walked past a certain street corner, James stopped. He stared at the corner. “Uh, James? You okay?” he shook himself and said,  “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just remembering something.”   He looked pained again. I realized why he was staring at the area. There was a small carving on the wall that James leaned over and scratched with his fingernail. He sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.” he kept walking, but I leaned in and read the carving. It said, in an untidy scrawl,  I’m so sorry momma. “Oh god...” I gasped. “C’mon.” James said. I nodded and walked. Even though I had no proof, every muscle, tendon, and bone in my body told me that he wrote that. This is where he lived. Or begged. I put my hand on James’ shoulder, and said,  “Sorry, man. Try not to think about it.”                        James said nothing.

 

“Get the hell outta here!!”  A glass bottle flew at me. It shattered on the wall behind him. “I said I was sorry, momma!” I screamed. I could feel tears pouring down my face. I could feel her hate, like a stomach ache that spread to my entire body. I seemed to form a haze around her. “I said get the HELL OUT!!!” the light from the candle shone through the green and amber bottles. I could see her raise a bottle over her head. “OUT!!” I could hear her grunt as she threw the bottle at me. I heard an explosion of sound, and my eyes seemed to rip apart. I could feel my mind go blank. Then, a hot liquid flowed down my face, stinging my eyes. A voice that didn’t believe that this was happening said, maybe it’s hot chocolate! But I soon regained reason. A few drops of alcohol stung the wound on my forehead. I could see my mother lean in closer, and wipe a layer of drool from her mouth. “Ya know what ya did? Huh?” she slurred, her breath smelling heavily of  Theigarim. “You killed ya father!” “No! I didn’t!” I screamed. “Yes ya did! You stole from the man down tha street-” “I haven’ eaten anything in three days, Mommy!” I screamed, the hot liquid now covering my face. “I DON CARE!” she slurred. “The man came down an arrested-ed yer fatherr...” I was sobbing quietly. Mothers weren’t supposed to say these things to their children. I knew they weren’t. “P-please, mommy, I f-feel dizzy... my heart hurts...” she took another empty bottle from the counter and smashed it across my bare chest. I screamed. The shattered glass stung my skin. I couldn’t breath easily anymore. My eyes were taking in the wrong colors, and I felt dizzy and lightheaded. She pushed me by the open wound on my chest, and rivulets of blood poured down my abdomen. As I fell, I could see four of my mom, and there left hand was covered in blood. She didn’t come to her senses and help her only child to safety. She wiped it on her dress, like one would with mud, as one would if something filthy and unclean were on her hand. Not the blood of her only child. Her dying only child. She shut the door. I couldn’t believe it. She shut the door. I wasn’t going to die here. I made myself a promise. I started limping into the road, the rhythmic drip of blood staining the street. The moon looked red as my eyes stung with blood. I started to lose feeling. I limped across the street, and collapsed. I knocked on the door. I could see the figure of a tall man. “P-please,” I coughed weakly. I could see a few drops of blood fall on the man’s shoes. “No, I’m sorry,” I heard. And the door was shut in my face. I fell back, hand clutchin my chest. I could fell my heart beating, like someone inside my chest punching my hand. It grew slower and slower. “Oh, God... oh God, no, please!!” I screamed. I collapsed spread eagled on the ground. My mouth was open in a continuous sob. My mouth was cold, and filled with a hot liquid. I n longer saw colors. Just shapes, and even those were fading to black. I could feel my feet and hands shivering frightfully as my muscles spasmed. My hand was flopping on the concrete like a dying fish out of water. My ears twitched. I managed to sit up, and I grabbed a rock. I started smacking it against the wall, until it was sharp. I spelled out, Im sorry mommy. And with that, my head slumped against the wall and my body went limp. I would have died then. But someone I didn’t even know at the time dragged me to a hospital. And I was a lot bigger than that person, even though I was nine. He was poor, too, and didn’t even know who his parents were. So he knocked on the door and left my lifeless body there. I had lost 6 quarts of blood, that night. The dragon body needs at least 10 quarts  at all times. I was a miracle case, I shouldn’t have lived. I should have died, leaning against the wall where I carved my final words. But I didn’t. I lived. An I owe it all to Ace.