Liam lay in the crystal teardrop, watching the sky for any sign of his foe. His vigil had begun in the pre-dawn hours, before the sun shone across the world, and now the sun had risen high above the canopy. Only serving to defeat his patience.
“So much for the early bird getting the worm. Alright big bird, let’s give you some bait.” Said Liam, shimmying around. “I really shouldn’t have sealed this thing.” Muttered Liam, using his earth affinity to open a horizontal slit in the ship’s nose.
He thought back to the day he’d unlocked the spiritual affinity and tapped into the same memories, calling upon them to send a supersonic wind blade across the forest. The blade shattered the sound barrier just as Liam plugged his ears, but just like all the other time’s he’d performed this ritual, no portal appeared. Whatever power he’d tapped into during that first awakening had been spent and he wouldn’t be getting home that way. Given the maps Queen Raina had provided, the shortest route to Greenwood was flying to Talocandel, meeting up with the paladins there, and then continuing northward. He’d been tempted to fly away, heading directly for Greenwood, but the trip was too far to fly without taking a dozen rests, and each rest would leave him exposed. Alone, most likely asleep, and ninety percent sealed inside a quartz tube. Any number of a thousand unpleasantries might occur, from a rattlesnake slithering up his pant leg, to an orc thinking he was some kind of shiny egg and bashing in his skull while he slept.
During times of peace, he could have stopped in a number of towns, graced the mayor’s manor with the presence of a Lightning Lord, and reached Greenwood in a week or two. But now, during the portal plague, most of the smaller towns had been destroyed or were evacuated, even the elven forest was filling with monsters, though most new creatures could not outfight or outbreed the waiting spiders of the White Aelorn. He shuddered, recalling when Leandry had fed a velociraptor to one of those spiders. He hadn’t understood their size, not until it bit off the dinosaur’s head in one go, absolutely mulching the creature in a split second. The elves were plenty safe without him, and without this particular griffon.
Liam channeled his dark magic into a thin tube shape, extending the black straw a hundred yards forward, before forming a portal at the end of it. The exercise took time and energy, two valuable commodities he had plenty of. A torrent of wind disturbed the clouds, four wings beat in an alternating pattern, front pair, rear pair, front pair, bringing the griffon around to dive bomb the portal. Mountains seemed to shudder from its passing, a wind mirage undulating in a massive semicircle.
Gotcha bitch.
Liam disconnected himself from the portal, allowing the griffon a clean shot. His teardrop resealed itself and he shifted his weight, then threw his shoulder against the quartz pod’s wall, tossing the entire coffin off the edge off Selewyn’s Aelorn tree. Gravity snagged him, yanking him down and away, just as the griffon’s head came into view, and Liam finally understood its dimensions.
The creature’s head was that of an eagle, a grand yellow beak protruding between two eyes that were mostly pupils, almost sharklike in their dilation. While the front legs were that of a large cat’s, enormously muscled, with clawed paws, meant for ripping apart prey and fighting competitors. Scales covered random patches along the legs, around the joints and in an odd criss cross, as if the creature’s many battlescars turned to scales instead of scarring over.
Wind lifted Liam’s teardrop, and he zipped away from the portal. Using his initial fall to build momentum by tipping the nose for a few seconds. Gambling that the speed was worth the loss of altitude.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
His speed increased. Flying in a wide circle as the griffon’s four wings tucked, head cocked forward. It plummeted, laser focused on the portal. White vapor poofed in a halo around its body, and Liam heard the supersonic CRACK.
It echoed in his mind, confirming his worst fears. Mundane animals and purely scientific flight struggled tremendously to break the sound barrier. A simple dive would not be enough, meaning the griffon was flying with the aid of magic.
His teeth ground against each other, scowling as he picked up speed, he had to go faster, had to position himself carefully. The teardrop skimmed over the leafy canopy beginning to increase the angle of attack.
Glass shattered.
Liam felt his portal break, torn apart by elephant slaying talons. He summoned all his wind power, throwing thrusters to full as he used his earth mana to alter the teardrop’s angle. Forcing it up against the will of scientific laws. Four wings beat at once, bouncing the griffon off the canopy a millisecond before its momentum could tree the bird.
A typhoon hit trees, blasting them bare of leaves. Selewyne’s lone Aelorn bent precariously backwards, and Liam could imagine him muttering about ‘reeds that bend do not break’ or some other philo-sophistry.
The torrent of wind smashed into Liam’s teardrop, battering it with the force of an angry god. Liam braced, grasping a staff empowered with Selewyne’s wind, and activated the afterburner. His own torrent of wind exploded out of the teardrop’s port-hole.
Typhoons met, clashing against each other. But Liam had maneuvered correctly. The teardrop shot through the torrent, breaking through the edge of the gale to thunder at the creature’s rear.
Liam jerked the ship upwards, narrowly avoiding the record holder of the first griffon proctology exam and zipping through the two feathers he had previously fried. A fortunate happenstance, that shot him directly into the griffon’s spine.
Earth affinity unzipped the capsule, launching a flat front disk and eight crystal shards directly between the beast’s wings. The typhoon under Liam’s command vanished, he extended his limbs, using them as airbrakes to land on the griffon’s feathers. Momentum plowed him into the feathers, kicking the wind out of him. Forcibly exhaling his lungs. If the staves had not been lashed to him, they would have sailed off into the forest below, lost for eons until some future hero found them. Or Nekohiro stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.
Again.
Liam’s weight compressed the thick layer of feathers, squishing them until his momentum faded, and was then redirected into the direction he had come. An equal and opposite force was applied, bouncing Liam backwards. Just as the crystal spears pierced the griffon.
Wings spasmed, half flapping, half flopping. Its four legs kicked wildly, tearing through trees as the beast’s flight faltered. While the enormous head screeched, piercing the very heavens with agony.
-And Liam heard none of it.
He clutched the wind staff, encasing himself in wind and flying forward. The torrent of air became spear and shield, blowing aside feathers and driving him deep. This time pushing through the feathers to reach the griffon's skin. One stroke of his arm, and the swirling aether erupted from Liam, rushing along the creature’s contours. Windblade shaved racchies, plucking the future chicken nugget. Until it encountered a shoulder blade and both shattered, breaking the griffon’s front left wing. The limb went slack, creature shrieking as it lost airspeed. Frantically flapping to recover.
A second windblade hit the right front wing, this time biting so deeply that the limb snapped, bending backwards as muscle tightened against a weakened bone. With half its wings gone the griffon plummeted, tucking as best it could to pierce the canopy of trees. Rear wings folded around Liam, squishing him under three layers of feathers. A convenient bird-belt that cushioned his landing.
Pressure released, Liam rolled, jumping off and gliding to the dirt under his own power.
The griffon rolled, smashing its back against the ground in an attempt to kill the lice that was Liam. One of its eyes caught sight of him. Drawn to him by the mana he exuded.
“Welcome to my domain.” Said Liam, planting his hands in the soft forest dirt.