The shine of the moonlight struggled to peak through the trees of the forest. The darkness of the night hid the path ahead and the vibrating ringing coming from the bugs of the night was so loud they could hardly hear if there was any commotion around them. Selina, chokes up her grip on her staff’s handle until the top of her fist rested softly under the glass encasing that kept her staff’s gem safe. She closed her eyes and a glow began to emit from the gem, lighting the path in front of them.

“Let there be light.” Selina said.

“What about the sound?”

Selina turns her head slightly and glares at Aiken as he walks behind her. “You get one or the other, I won’t be wasting mana on extra spells when we’ve got something more important to worry about.”

Silently, Aiken scoffs at her reaction but acknowledges the truth in her words.

“Is there a reason the cicadas are so loud?” Aiken asked.

“If I had to make a guess, they can probably feel the disruption emitting from the griffin and the louder than usual noise is there way of warning everyone and everything passing by.”

“I guess they’re much smarter than I give them credit for.”

“Sadly, in there case this isn’t something we can run from.” Selina said.

“If I were a different man then your words would have no merit.”

“What do you mean?”

The clamor of the unusually loud cicadas slowly diminished, now welcoming a profound silence instead. The narrow dirt path they traversed widened, permitting the radiant moonlight to peek through the trees and illuminate their way forward. Beyond the thick forest lay a vast, vacant grass field, and a short distance away stood a tall rock wall, with a wide, dark hole that was staring at the trio.

“What do you think we—” Aiken bit the end of his sentence and turned his head to get a look behind him.

“What’s wro—” Aiken grabs Selina’s shoulder and she abruptly stops.

Behind them, there was a sound coming through the rings of the cicadas. The crunch of old leaves and broken branches moving at quite the speed. But it was pitch black behind them and Aiken couldn’t see what was headed straight for them. Luna pivoted, mirroring Aiken, to confront the encroaching darkness, baring her sharp teeth and emitting a low growl. Aiken's hand darted toward his sword's hilt, an unsettling sensation gnawing at his gut. Side by side, they braced themselves in the heart of the dense forest, poised to confront whatever rushed towards them, standing resolute in their stillness.

But the speeding sound of crunched leaves and broken branches vanished suddenly, and the only thing traveling in the darkness now was a strong gust of wind that forced Aiken on his back foot.

Selina reached out her hand and grabbed Aiken before he fell over. “Are you okay?!”

“Did you hear it?” Aiken’s wide eyes stared into the darkness behind them.

“No, but I sensed its mana. Dark, and immensely potent. It gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

“We should move out of the trees.” Aiken said.

He swiftly gets up, yet, for some reason, Luna's previous growls intensify into a series of loud barks. Speedily, Aiken's hand finds his sword's hilt, his eyes scanning the darkness of the night, yet finding nothing there. But something was lurking somewhere. The sudden strong gust of wind returned, again pushing Aiken back and off balance.

“Be carefu—”

Selina's voice was abruptly silenced by an intense, reverberating shriek. Both Selina and Aiken instinctively covered their ears as the rapid, piercing sound, heard earlier, surged back. Without delay, the gust of wind reappeared, causing the canopy of leaves above them to part. Descending from above was the silhouette of a flying creature. Luna let out a howl as the flying figure swiftly swooped down, its claws gripping Aiken's chest tightly before hoisting him into the sky. Luna howled even louder this time.

“Aiken!” With a yelp, Selina hurried forward, bursting out of the thick forest and onto the open grass field.

High above, Aiken struggled, attempting to draw his sword from its sheath, but the creature's grip rendered it impossible. He glanced down, taking in the terrifying distance between him and the ground, realizing the imminent danger he was in. His cries echoed, all in a desperate hope that the creature might descend nearer to the ground, toward safety. However, the creature persisted, soaring over the towering rock wall before unfurling its wings and wheeling back toward the open field where Selina and Luna were watching. Bathed in the glow of the moonlight, the creature cast its shadow over the field. Its feathers, black as obsidian, withered away as it flew, revealing an eagle-like head with a long, razor-sharp beak reminiscent of a knight's sword. They had found their prey.

On the field, Selina gripped her staff firmly, tapping its end twice against the ground, conjuring two large fireballs behind her shoulders. Swinging her arm across her chest, she aimed her staff at the griffin. The blazing fireballs surged forward with immense speed. However, the griffin reacted swiftly, diving downward and deftly spinning its body to slip through the narrow gap between the fireballs, narrowly evading their impact. But the griffin didn’t stop there, it continued with its descent straight for the grass field where Selina and Luna stood.

“Moooovveeeeeeeeeee!!!” Aiken shouted at the top of his lungs.

However, Selina had a different plan. Skillfully maneuvering her staff between her fingers, she swiftly tapped it against the ground once more. Instantly, a bubble-like shield materialized, enveloping her and Luna just as the griffin's beak was about to reach them. The griffin's beak collided with the shield, twisting upon impact, and drops of its red blood trickled from beneath the shield's surface. The griffin spread its wings and shrieked in pain but now, Luna was making her move.

Racing out of the protective bubble shield, Luna dashed towards the rock wall, her pace accelerating with each stride. Under the moon's glow, her white fur began to radiate, her teeth sharpened, her paws enlarged, and her body expanded in size. Luna sprinted up the rock wall, her momentum building as she ascended. With her ever-increasing speed, she leaped from the wall and somersaulted, curling her body like a ball to surge forward, gaining momentum the farther she traveled. Spinning in a rapid motion, Luna slammed her body into the griffin's side, compelling it to loosen its grip on Aiken. As the griffin shrieked once more, now with his arms liberated, Aiken swiftly unsheathed his sword and slashed at one of the griffin's clawed feet. It’s crimson blood spraying over the luscious green grass of the open field.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Aiken collides with the open field, Luna promptly rushing to his side. Selina dispels the bubble shield, then lifts her arm and directs her finger skyward. Positioned above the wounded griffin were the two fireballs it had dodged earlier.

“Let it rain fire!” She said.

With a downward swing of her arm, Selina directs the two fireballs to detonate above the griffin, creating a fiery downpour that scorches the already wounded creature. It cried out in agony before finally falling over.

“Is it dead?”

“Don’t be naive Selina.” Aiken bruised from the fall rushed to his feet and held his sword in front of him. “Be ready Luna!” Beside him Luna poised herself, prepared to strike in her newly enhanced state.

The downpour of fire let up and vanished, the smell of burning grass filled their air and like Aiken warned, the wounded griffin stood up. Its eagle head was partially charred, revealing the raw flesh beneath its singed feathers, with blood trickling over the exposed skin. The majority of its wing feathers had burned away, rendering it flightless. Leaning its head forward, the griffin braced for a charge. Despite a deep cut on its left foot from Aiken's sword, it gathered enough strength for one final assault.

“What do we do now?” Selina whispered.

“We kill it.”

“But how?”

“It’s on its last legs. This charge it’s about to do is likely its last attack, and I’d bet it’s expecting for you to do your shield thing from earlier. So, I’ll charge at it head on.”

“Are you crazy?!” She yelled.

“Just, have some faith will ya?”

“You’re way too calm about this!”

“As I charge at the griffin, I want you to shoot a fireball at the blade of my sword.”

“What? Why?”

“When I sliced its foot, I anticipated a clean cut through. However, its skin proved resilient, allowing me only to leave a deep gash.”

“So you need a little extra.”

“Exactly.”

“And how can you be so sure this is going to work?”

“I’m not.”

With another piercing shriek, the griffin launched into a full-speed charge, and Aiken, along with Luna, swiftly matched the griffin’s pace, racing ahead. The griffin lowered its head, hovering it a fingers width above the stained grass field while trying to point its twisted beak as straight as it could. Aiken dragged his oversized behind his sprint, and breaks away from beside him.

In the midst of the grassy field, Aiken and the griffin come face to face. The griffin lifts its head and immediately follows with a crooked slam where its beak could face downward. Aiken digs his right foot into the firm dirt to stop his sprint, while sliding his left foot across the grass and parallel to his right foot. Raising his sword across his waist, he uses its flat side to block the griffin's incoming attack. The griffin uses its big body to dent the dirt under Aiken’s feet as he strained to hold his ground.

“Aiken!” Stressed, and concerned Selina screamed.

“BE READY!”

A streak of a speeding white light slammed into the griffin, causing it to stumble over its injured foot. The force against Aiken eased, enabling him to leap out from the crumbling floor. Sliding across the dirt, his sword followed, silver steel now etched with blue lettering reminiscent of a tattoo melding seamlessly into the blade. Recognizable lettering to Selina. Reacting swiftly, she lifted her staff and directed a fireball towards Aiken's sword, setting his blade ablaze in a furious inferno. With precise strength, Aiken's swing descended, cleanly severing the griffin's neck. The weighty thump echoed as its head tumbled to the ground. A swift twist of his sword and another swipe neatly halved the griffin's body.

Filled with excitement, Selina raises her arms and jumps up with joy, quickly forgetting the recognizable blue lettering etched into Aiken’s sword. “We did it!”

Lifting his head and extending his bruised back, Aiken winced in pain while stretching. “To be fair, you did most of the work.”

Restored to her usual size, Luna rushed to Aiken's side and hopped onto his leg. Aiken chuckled and affectionately stroked her head. "Truthfully, Luna did the majority of the work. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to access my magic, and you wouldn't have been free from the griffin's clutches."

Aiken smiled softly as he stroked Luna’s now dirty white fur. “Since I was a kid, she’s come to my rescue more times than I can count. I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for her.”

Selina found the sight of a mere mercenary paired with a potent magical being like Luna quite perplexing. She wondered silently how such an alliance could even come to be. Despite her curiosity, she chose not to spoil their victorious moment by delving deeper. Nevertheless, this peculiar situation lingered in her thoughts, likely to stay with her as she moved forward.

“Well that’s a job well done on my part.” Aiken sheathe’s his sword in its casing on his back. “Don’t you want to check out what’s inside this cave it seemed to be protecting?”

Selina's gaze landed on the lifeless griffin, its body adorned with black, dragon-like scales that clung to its form resembling feathers. These scales, tough, rough, and nearly unbreakable, covered the griffin's body like an obsidian stone. “This is probably why you couldn’t cut its foot off the first time you tried it.” She pointed at its unusual scales.

“It looks like a dragon.”

“Which shouldn’t be possible, because dragon’s have been dead for over 200 years.”

“Then how?”

Selina shifted her gaze towards the gaping black hole of the cave looming behind them. “Maybe the answers are in there.”

Her staff's tip vanishes into the cave's abyss, she taps her encased jewel against the rock wall lurking beyond the darkness. A radiant glow emerges, casting light throughout the cave, revealing expansive walls and a lofty ceiling, with a slender path stretching directly ahead in the center. Their steps echoed as Selina and Aiken’s boots glide over the uneven and broken rocks of the cave floor. The slender path was short, as was the cave but at the end of it was a shattered pedestal splattered with a black stain. Selina rubbed her fingers against it, but it stubbornly refused to fade.

“What is that?” Aiken asked.

“I… I don’t know, but there was something here.”

In the moment a thought crossed Selina’s mind, maybe the stain would react to something else.

“Aiken, could you take a step back?”

“What?”

“I just want to try something.”

Aiken nods his head and steps back, Luna following his lead.

Selina leans the tip of her staff against the broken pieces of the pedestal bringing about a black glow. The ebony radiance rises from the pedestal, enveloping the gleaming jewel on Selina's staff and plunging the trio into impenetrable darkness. Aiken hears Selina's light voice transform into a desperate scream ahead of him. He lunges forward, gripping her shoulder, but she remains unyielding. He creeps around her and attempts to seize her staff but is instead met with an agonizing surge of pain that forces him to his knees. A darkness filling their bodies. Her screams intensified, becoming louder and more agonizing. Luna unsure of what to do and of what was going on, could only bark in hopes something would change.

Their consciousness waned, Aiken's grip weakened, and Selina's pained voice grew faint. Luna leaped forward, slamming her head into Aiken's side, causing him to tumble over while still clutching Selina's staff. Barking relentlessly, Luna hoped for a change in the situation.

A flash of white filled Aiken’s eyes, an image of water in a shade of ice blue appeared before him— or at least, that’s what he believed he saw. Across the water stood a tall, dark-skinned woman with a sword at her waist. Her red-painted nails matched the fiery color of her eyes. Turning towards Aiken, she met his gaze with a gentle smile. As he tilted his head in recognition, a fresh breath of air filled his lungs as he opened his mouth.

The blue water and the dark-skinned woman began to merge, dissolving the entire scene. Darkness engulfed his vision again, yet a renewed surge of strength coursed through his body. Slamming his free hand onto the cave floor, he rose to one knee, seizing Selina's shoulder. With all his might, he wrested her staff from her grasp. Selina's arms dropped back, and her body toppled backward. Luna intervened, leaping between them and using her head to dislodge the staff from Aiken's hand. The black glow receded, withdrawing from the staff and returning to the shattered pedestal.

“Selina!” Hoarse and parched, Aiken’s voice cracked as he once again dropped to his knees.

“Aiken…” Soft and filled with pain, her voice resonated.

Luna hurried to Selina, offering support to keep her leaning body upright. For a moment they breathed, regaining their composure as best they could.

“What was that?!” Aiken asked in uneven breath’s.

“I… I don’t know.” Selina cried. “But… something’s telling me that whatever was here is long gone and that’s bad.” A noticeable look of concern plagued Selina’s face.

The lingering dark pain that troubled them eased, and Aiken rose to his feet. “Well, for the time being I’d say we’ve earned some rest. We can worry about the specifics in the morning.” He leans his hand out to Selina, who nods at his words and pulls herself up.

Confusion engulfed both of them, uncertain about the madness they had experienced and stumbled upon.