“Hand me the map Riven,” Galina pleaded for the sixth time as she brushed off the leaves that clung to her overcoat, and pants.

“No Galina. I’m telling you that fucker Simon marked it wrong.”

“Well it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion.”

“I know how to read a map!”

“Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes.” Galina held her hand out.

“Fine.”

Galina glanced at the map, and within seconds noticed something odd. “I don’t believe we checked out this cave he marked.”

“Where?”

“Right here.” Galina pointed to a cave just beyond the area Simon had marked.

“We’re looking for a griffin. They live in open space, not caves,” Riven said.

“Well we aren’t finding anything here, and it’s the only landmark we haven’t checked out, so why not?” Galina asked.

“It’s a waste of time.”

“I found something!” The treetops rustled as Cili descended from above them.

“Where?” Galina asked.

“There are marks over at this cave that way. Shadow griffins make their nests in dark areas like caves, so that might be where Artemis hunted it.”

Galina turned toward Riven and raised an eyebrow.

“In my defense, it was outside the area Simon marked, so that’s his fault.”.

“Of course.”

“Alright Cili, good job! You can come down now!” Galina shouted.

Cili touched down, then placed her hands on her knees and doubled over. “Been a while since I’ve been in the air that long,” Cili remarked through heavy breathing.

“You good?” Riven asked.

“Yeah, flying just drains a lot of essence.”.

“Tell us if you need a break,” Galina said.

“I’m good.”

“Okay then, let’s go,” Riven said.

As Riven and Galina began to walk away, Cili pushed herself upright, took a single step, and immediately tripped over her own feet, slamming into the ground. With a gloopy splat, her whole body was covered in brown mud.

“On second thought, could we take like five minutes?”

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The group crept closer toward the cave. Tendrils of ivy draped over its gaping maw that faded to darkness obscuring everything inside. Large, four-taloned footprints carved up the damp earth leading up to the cave. Enormous white feathers upwards of three feet long could be seen stuck to bark and caught up in leaves.

“Down,” Cili said.

The trees rustled as a galeforce shook the leaves loose. As the leaves cascaded to the ground, a single beam of sunlight pierced through the opening in the canopy. A massive griffin—a creature whose body was larger than a hippo, its back half was that of a muscular lion, and the front half was that of an eagle—crept through treetops. Its massive wings retracted inward as it landed on the ground. Trapped within its beak was the body of a young roc—a monstrous bird with colorful, exotic feathers.

“Is that a shadow griffin?” Galina asked. “It looks like a normal one to me.”

Cili snuck closer; each of her steps ended before her feet touched the ground as she quietly glided along the air toward the creature. Her eyes narrowed as she closely inspected the creature and its habits. “I don’t think so. It just killed that roc. Shadow griffins only hunt at night.”

The griffin marched toward the cave, parting the ivy, and entering into the darkness.

“Let’s go after it,” Cili said.

“Wait. It’s dark in there. We won’t be able to see,” Galina said.

“I can see fine,” Cili said.

“Well not all of us are part dragon. Riven do you happen to have a tor—” Galina turned to where Riven was a moment ago, but saw nobody there. “Where’d she go?”

“Hey, I think I found something,” Riven called out from just a few feet away.

Now that the griffin was inside the cave, Galina and Cili no longer needed to tread carefully. They hurried over to Riven, and arrived at a rather strange scene.

In the middle of the forest, a single tree trunk had collapsed; a solemn stump lay on the ground, but it was several feet away from the trunk. The base of the trunk looked shattered, not cut, as if an explosive force had shattered it and sent it flying through the air. Embedded in the trunk was a singular arrow; skewered through its head was a dark purple feather caked in dried blood.

“Is that one of Artemis' arrows?” Cili exclaimed. Rushing over to it, she went to snatch it out of the trunk, but Riven grabbed it first and held it above her head so Cili couldn’t reach it.

“Finders keepers,” Riven said.

“No! I want it!”.

“Fine, but I’m keeping this,” Riven plucked out one of the feathers from its fletching and handed the arrow to Cili.

The arrow’s shaft was constructed out of a beautiful mahogany wood; its head was made out of ashen steel; the feathers on the fletching were a bloody crimson.

Cili immediately placed the arrow into a secret compartment in her quiver.

“Any point looking for the body?” Galina asked. “I mean it’s not like it’s going to help us at this point.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Fair point,” Riven said. “What’d you see? Sorry I dipped, I just spotted and wanted to take a look.”

“You’re good. A griffin came back with a young roc in its beak, and carried it into the cave,” Cili said.

“Huh? Like a baby roc?”

“It looked older than a baby. Nowhere near maturity though,” Cili said.

“Weird that there’s another griffin. A roc, even a young one, feels like a lot of food too,” Riven said. “So what’s the plan?”

“We wanted to go into the cave. We were wondering if you had a torch?” Galina asked.

“Yeah, one sec.” Riven reached into her satchel and pulled out a torch. “[Ignite].” The torch burst into flames, lighting up the area. “Let’s go.”

As the trio descended into the cavern’s depths, they were careful to move gently as with each step a faint echo rippled through the space. The flickering torch light cast the trio's dancing shadows against the rough stone walls. Amidst the dim light, they spotted both white and purple feathers of varying sizes littering the ground.

Just before they turned a corner, Cili held out her hand. She had been walking ahead, since her being part dragon let her see in the dark much better than Galina or Riven.

Suddenly, Cili came to a stop.

“What is it?” Galina asked.

w

Cili glanced around the corner and saw a massive nest woven from a myriad of twigs, leaves, and vines. The griffin they had seen earlier gently rustled the nest. With a heavy thud, it dropped the roc it was carrying in its mouth into the nest jostling it.

High-pitched, faint cries resonated out from within the nest. Two tiny griffins, they’re feathers a mix of white and dark purple slowly awoke from their slumber; the two griffins quickly tore into the roc, pecking at it and picking it apart. It wasn’t long before the adult griffin joined in on the feast.

Cili quickly communicated the scene to the other two.

“So, are those its children? Are they, half shadow, half normal?” Galina asked.

“I think so. Interspecies breeding is possible,” Cili said.

“Damn it. So this wasn’t Elric,” Riven said.

“Why do you say that?” Galina asked.

“Cili, how long do griffin eggs take to hatch?”

“Over a month.”

“Figured as much,” Riven said. “Elric only got here at most two or three weeks ago.”

“I see. Since the kids are a mix the griffin must have been a shadow before Elric got here, since that's the latest the eggs could’ve been laid,” Galina said.

“I mean it’s still super fucking weird that a shadow griffin is all the way out here,” Cili said

“Do you think you could talk to them, Cili?” Riven asked.

“No. I always wanted to learn to speak with animals, but I never awoke to one..”

“I think I might be able to,” Galina said, her confidence wavering. “Telepathy doesn’t need a language. You can use it to communicate feelings or memories.”

“Not the worst idea we’ve had today,” Riven said. “If anything goes wrong I’ll back you up.”

“Me too!” Cili exclaimed

“I think we can handle one griffin,” Riven said.

“Oh, okay.”

“Cili it’s okay. Riven only said that because she has a super, secret mission only you can do. Right Riven?” Galina stared daggers into Riven.

“Of course!” Riven said, mildly terrified of Galina. “Cili, I need you to go and look for any signs of other weird creatures in the area. I mean, if a shadow griffin is out here, then who knows what could be here?”

“Aye, aye, captain. Detective Cili is on duty!” Cili saluted Riven and hurried out of the cave.

“You really ought to be more considerate of other people’s feelings,” Galina said.

“Eh, I feel like it’s overrated.”

“Well there’s a defense mechanism,” Galina muttered under her breath.

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing!”

“Whatever.” Riven pulled out her dagger and handed the torch to Galina. “If something goes wrong, scream to let me know you need help. If you can’t scream because you’re getting mauled by a griffin, then … I can probably tell you need help on account of the fact that you’re getting mauled by a griffin.”

“Yes, that is a good indication that I need help.”

Galina stepped out from around the corner, while Riven hung back, peeking out from the darkness. The moment the torchlight touched the griffin it spun around, throwing itself between its young and Galina. It unfurled its wings—its wingspan was wide enough that its feathers scraped along the cavern walls. An ear-piercing screech radiated out from its beak, shaking the cavern, and causing bits of rubble to fall from the ceiling.

Galina raised her staff and slowly raised a hand toward the griffin. “Beyond the mind, words fade, and only the heart is left to understand, [Link].”

----------------------------------------

Galina heard crying. Her whole worldview was suddenly two feet shorter. She didn’t see anyone crying. All she saw were massive trees that stretched far above her vision—for all she knew they went past the clouds and pierced the sky. The whole world was in black and white. Every sound was muffled. The only thing she felt was a tight loving embrace.

As the embrace ended she saw two blurry figures stepping back from her. She didn’t see either of them crying, yet the crying continued. It was a man and a woman. Both had dark skin and black hair. The man’s hair was slicked back; the woman’s hair was tied in a ponytail. Their faces were too blurry to make out any details.

Suddenly they both rushed away toward something dangerous. Galina didn’t know how she knew what they were going to was dangerous. All she knew was that it was and that she desperately didn’t want them to go.

Galina felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to her right. The loving smile of a kind woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Galina knew the woman well. She was the first person Galina ever met when she woke up on the steps of an orphanage at 8 years old with no memory of her past. However, the woman was smiling, not crying, yet still the crying persisted.

That’s when Galina finally understood that the reason she heard crying was because she was the one crying.

----------------------------------------

The griffin’s hostility shifted, subtly toward a more defensive stance. Galina took a step back, and the griffin withdrew its wings.

“What happened?” Riven asked.

“Nothing,” Galina said. “It just wants to protect its young. That’s all.”

“Okay. You wanna just go?”

Galina stood there, silent, processing what she had just seen—or perhaps remembered. “Yeah, I think that’s best.”

As the two brushed away the foliage that covered the cave's entrance, they were met by a bright-eyed Cili who came darting out from the forest into the clearing just around the mouth of the cave.

“Riven, you were right!” Cili exclaimed.

“I was? I mean, of course, I was! What was I right about again? You know there’s just so many things I'm right about I lose track of them all.”

“There’s other creatures that aren’t supposed to be here. Like a lot. There’s traces of them all over the place, I just wasn’t looking for them.”.

“Hang on a sec, like there’s many?” Riven asked.

“Yeah!”

“Could it be that people are smuggling them here?” Riven suggested.

“But why?” Galina asked.

“Same reason people sell hybrid parts. There exist monsters disguised as people who refer to themselves as collectors,” Riven said. “Also, if the Free Few are capturing an avatar, then it's not too crazy that they might be capturing other creatures as well. Might be worth following this trail.”

“At this point, why not?” Galina said exasperated.

“What’s the freshest trail you found, Detective?” Riven asked.

“There were some sea serpent scales. Those bitches dry up in hours, but these were totally fresh.”

“Good going, Detective. Give me five!” Riven held up her hand, and Cili instantly reciprocated with a crisp high-five.

“Come on Galina,” Cili said, holding up her hand. Seeing Cili’s hand, Riven held up her hand as well.

Galina rolled her eyes as a smile crept across her face. She put up both her hands and gently high-fived both Cili and Riven.

“Alright, everyone, just follow me. Detective Cili is on the case!”