“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Darius shouted as he jumped for joy. “We did it, and I still have both of my limbs. What an absolute win!” Darius expected Kristina to be celebrating right there with him, or at least a few words of encouragement, thanks, ridicule, really anything, but she stayed completely silent. “Hey what’s wrong with you, did something-”

With the griffin gone, Darius had completely forgotten that they had one more problem to solve. In Kristina’s arms was the baby griffin born only moments ago. Some primal force within Darius’s psyche compelled him to scratch it behind the ears a bit, a feeling he didn’t argue with.

“So, what are we going to do with this little guy?”

“Fierce, its name is Fierce.” She took some time to look under it. “Her name is Fierce.”

“Not a bad name, does that mean you plan on keeping…” Do you mind if I hold onto her for a second?” Kristina looked wary, wanting to keep her hold of Fierce, probably indefinitely. “I might be a thief, but I’m not going to steal her.”

“A thief?”

“Just let me have her for a second.” Kristina pouted but relented.

Darius expected Fierce to struggle in his arms, most newborns would find some complaint being separated from their perceived mothers, but she seemed to like his arms just as much as Kristina’s. “Now that’s a good girl.”

When up close, he was able to get a better look at Fierce’s body. Almost identical to her mother’s, there were two main differences. Her tail was much more feline like rather than the reptilian version of her mothers. Then there was the small sort of incision that resembled a wave across her back. He rubbed his fingers against it and gave them a pull, revealing still developing wings.

“She has wings!” they both exclaimed.

“Is it normal for a griffin without wings to give birth to one that does?”

“No, not usually. Her father was probably a flyer. Hey, at least this way we know she won’t accidentally paralyze one of us.”

“So, you really do intend on keeping her.”

Kristina held out her arms and took back Fierce, who was just waking up at this point. “Of course I do, just look at how adorable she is!”

“That is until it becomes a 10-foot-tall destructive killing machine.”

“Every gallant warrior needs a gallant stead by their side.”

“You got me there. Just make sure that this doesn’t bite us in the butt later, and I do mean that literally.

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Satisfied, the two made their way back to the village ready to report their success the Chief and get their reward. Along the way, Darius tried sewing his gadget pack back together after collecting as many pieces of it as possible.

“Hey Darius, you never explained why you were riding the griffin when I saw you.”

He pricked his finger with a needle when she asked. “I was hoping you forgot”.

“Nope.”

“Well, I was doing the steak distraction when your backpack ran out of them. I switched to mine when a snake, or wait I think you called them nagas, slithered onto me. With the griffin preoccupied with the steak a threw, I was a bit too focused on not getting bitten. Only thing was, I forgot that I left my gadget pack completely open.”

“Didn’t I tell you nagas were harmless even though they’re so big?”

“No, no you did not. Regardless, the smell must have caught the griffin’s attention because next thing I knew the griffin was right on me biting into my bag, lifting me with it. I managed to free myself from my gadget kit, but it’s very important memorabilia of some old friends, so I didn’t want to lose it. In a moment of incredible intelligence, I made the choice to climb onto its back to save whatever was left of my gadget pack.”

“That must have been around the time it noticed something amiss about its nest and ran back, leading to me seeing you on its back.”

“That’s the gist of it.”

Playfully, Kristina ran in front of Darius and held Fierce up to his face. Then, in a very high voice said, “Don’t worry Uncle Darius, I believe that incredibly stupid thing that happened to you wasn’t completely your fault!”

Kristina smile brightened when Fierce licked his face. Darius played along when he said, “Can’t I be big brother Darius? I’m only 19. Being called uncle makes me feel old.”

“You’re old to me Uncle Darius. I mean I was only born today!”

In this moment of peace, Darius decided to reflect on his surroundings. Beautiful green land, a stark contrast to the metallic grey and ocean blues he was used to, yet behind all this beauty was a hellscape. He’d only been here a day, yet he had almost died several times. Sure, it was mostly because he was hunting dangerous creatures, but there was danger even where he’d least expect it. Plants that could shoot fire at you, animals that could alter your mind. This was a place where a person without magic, like himself, like Kristina, didn’t really belong.

“Kristina, you want to be a great warrior, right? To make your dream come true, you’re going to do things like saving villages from giant beasts, like that griffin. All while being unable to use magic, but why do it? Why try to be the hero? Even with your strength, it just becomes useless in front of beast like that.”

Darius felt he struck a nerve as Kristina stopped to sit on the ground. He was going to apologize, but before Darius could, she patted on a path of grass beside her, gesturing for him to sit next to her.

Once he did, Kristina spoke to him, “A friend of mine told me that, regardless of the hand fate chooses to deal me, it will always be up to me to play it. It took me a while to really understand what he meant. Right now, I have a pretty crappy hand, and honestly, it’d be foolish not to fold.”

“But if your gamble pays off, it’ll feel so much better when you win?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“My gramps, he used to be a notorious gambler, probably said it to me before, I don’t know. It just felt right.”

“Yeah… it does.” The two of them sat in silence for a while. The only noise between them the shallow whimpering of Fierce.

“After everything I had to go through, meeting you is like life finally dealing me an ace. Let’s finish up with that Chief guy and get Fierce something to eat. Bet she’s hungry,” Darius said as his stomach rumbled, “and she’s not the only one.”