by Caleb Monroe
Shadow swoops in to where I am standing so I can get on his back once again. “Now you know what to do,” I say to the other griffins. “Go show the rest how to kill these things.”
The griffins spread out, and within minutes, I see groups of griffins working together to take down the closest Imago to them. As we fly through the sky, I see a completely different battle unfolding below. The chaos of careless cries being let loose and griffins trying to win by sheer numbers is over. The griffins, now working together, are surrounding the Imago and are taking out their eyes, using their blindness to flip them over before striking the final blow.
Shadow lets out a loud roar and flies toward the tree line that leads to the tunnel. I see one of the Imago trying to escape, and yell, “Don’t let it get away!” Shadow tucks his wings in to speed up, releasing them again when we enter the forest, so he can better maneuver around the trees.
The Imago is weaving in and out of the trees trying to lose us, but Shadow is too fast. The roles of these two mythical creatures have switched and now the Imago is running for its life.
“The lake is coming up. Cut it off.”
Shadow does what I ask and rockets us through the trees out into the night sky leaving Captain to chase it on the ground, and the moment my stomach finally settles again, he launches us for the lake where we know the Imago will stop because of its fear of water. We reach the lake seconds before the Imago does, and Shadow hovers above the middle of the lake as we await our prey.
“When you have its location, fire.”
Shadow’s ears start to twitch, and I can tell he is searching for the scared Imago. His ears and eyes focus on a spot to our left, and before I can see the Imago, he fires a cry that hits the breaching monster right in the face. The blow hits full force and breaks off both pincers and causes a few of those haunting red eyes to rupture.
The Imago frantically tries to back up into the forest again, seeking a place to hide, but four griffins, including Captain, come flying in, flanking it on all sides.
“I want to finish this one myself,” I tell Shadow, jumping off his back the moment we get over land. “You killed my friends tonight.” I take my Sica and throw it straight into the Imago’s lower stomach. I charge the monster yelling, “Your kind killed my parents!” I can feel all those years of fear, frustration, and pain coming out. The Imago dives at me, but I dodge by rolling to the right. I hastily get to my feet, and when the monster lunges at me again, I flip over his head screaming, “I am going to end you!”
I wait for my chance, and when the Imago dives at me for the last time, I spin to the left. As it pulls its head back, I dive for my blade, which is still sticking out from the creature’s stomach. I grab and hold it with all my might while digging my feet into the ground. I scream in a rage that I had no idea was paralyzing me for so long.
I hold my Sica steady so that it cuts the Imago all the way up its neck as it pulls back from the last attack. I hear the beast try to scream as the blade carves into it, but with all the blood filling its throat, all it can do is generate a horrible gurgling sound.
Shadow joins me as I stand next to the dying Imago, and I pet him on the side while I take a moment to compose myself. After a few deep breaths, I use Shadow’s front foot to hop on his back, and along with the griffins who came to help, we make our way back to the mountain. When we return to the field where the battle was raging minutes ago, I see that every invading Imago is dead.
“We did it.” Shadow proclaims a victorious roar, causing every griffin still standing to respond in kind. We circle the sky once before landing, and I see many of the griffins moving to check on the wounded and find those that did not make it. “We need to help those that are hurt and bury those that lost their lives tonight.”
Shadow chirps at me before making his way to do what he can. As he makes his way around the other griffins, I see many of them stop whatever they are doing, even the wounded ones, and bow as he passes. The reverence with which they hold him is beautiful and inspiring. They truly see him as their leader.
I spend the rest of the night helping to aid those that were hurt in the fight. Shadow gets the far worse job of helping to bury our dead. As the suns rise, I take a moment to just sit and watch, letting the weight of the past twenty years slip off, while also mourning the loss of our griffin friends. Shadow comes to my side and lies down next to me as the first of the two suns begins to peak over the horizon.
He lets out a big sigh, and I tell him, “I know, buddy. We lost eight of our friends tonight, but we showed them how to kill those monsters.” Shadow chirps as he closes his eyes. “This will never happen again. I promise.” Shadow rests his head on my lap, and I tell him, “Just rest. Tomorrow we will start again.”
Chapter 6
“What time is it?” I ask as I stretch my hands over my head and squint my eyes to see where the lower blue sun is. I give a yawn as I say, “You awake, Shadow?” I pat his side to check on him, and he responds with a low growl. I tell him, “Come on, we need to get up. It’s already lunchtime.” I feel Shadow moving, but before I am ready, he violently flips over, tossing me to the ground. “Was that really necessary?” I say while dusting off my pants.
I kick some dirt at Shadow, who flippantly chirps to tell me he does not care about my insignificant retaliation. “Fine. I am going to get some food and get cleaned up. I don’t know if you forgot, but we have a dance tonight.” Shadow throws his head back to look at me. “You did forget, didn’t you? Well, don’t worry we have a few hours till our meeting with Tayus, so you can get some more rest. I will come get you after I check on Captain and everyone else.”
Shadow flips onto his back allowing his legs to go limp as he falls back asleep, and I hope that he can find some peace while he sleeps. I know last night’s losses really took a toll on him. Ever since he took over as leader of this group of griffins, any pain that they feel hits him tenfold. He is very empathetic toward his new family.
I head toward the lake with the full intention of getting myself cleaned off for tonight, because I am finally going to see Cecilia, and the way I smell right now is not something I want her to experience. A small, irrepressible smile spreads across my face, because I will finally get to see her standing right in front of me. The lake is not too far away, but I take a quick detour to make sure our plan is still on schedule.
“Captain, you in there?” I shout as loudly as possible into the large tunnel. I hear nothing, which prompts me to venture farther down into the damp tunnel. “Captain! Where are you!?” I am not sure how much progress they have made by now, so I have no idea how far Captain is from me.
When I stop moving, I hear something I thought was the sound of my own shuffling feet. I hold my breath and let the sound bounce off the tunnel walls until it reaches my ears. Scratching noises. “At least I know they are working down here.”
I continue venturing deeper into the tunnel, which has now become pitch black. “Captain! I need to talk to you!” I stop moving again and try to figure out how far the scratching is. I hear my voice echo through the tunnel for a long time after I finish. Finally, I hear something coming my way. “That you?”
I cannot see who is coming, but I can hear footsteps and the rustling of wings, and before my eyes can make anything out, I feel feathers hit my hand. “There you are, Captain. Come back outside with me for a moment.” I turn around and head for the small dot of light telling me I went even further down this rabbit hole than I realized. Sunlight slowly begins to fill the black tunnel as we get closer to the opening, and I can see Captain walking next to me.
It takes longer than I thought to reach the edge of the tunnel, and I tell Captain, “You guys are making serious progress.” Captain chirps at me. “I hate to ask this, but is there any way we can get it done faster? What if we put more workers down there?” Captain growls at me, and I know what that means.
“The problem is we might have more to worry about than just Pontis. There is a giant ar
my of Mortem Mangoners preparing to attack, and they could be here any day. This tunnel was supposed to be our trump card against Pontis, but it looks like it might be our last line of defense against the crystal army. I guess I will have to take care of Pontis myself.” Captain produces a flurry of chirps ranging in all kinds of octaves, so I hold my hand out saying, “I know. I know. That army is the reason those Imago found us last night. That is why we must finish this as soon as possible to make sure we are ready when they attack.”
Captain lets out an exaggerated sigh as he turns to head back into the tunnel. “I will send more griffins in a little bit, and don’t forget I am going to be gone tonight, so you are in charge.” I hear a roar from the tunnel telling me he knows.
I hate pushing Captain and his team this hard, but if this plan is not ready when we need it, then taking Pontis down will be a frivolous act if we cannot stop the incoming crystal army. My plan for this tunnel was never to end a war, but it just might be the thing that saves us if it comes to that.
I forgo taking a bath and decide it’s more important to go back to the mountain to get more griffins for Captain. When I get back, I find that Shadow has gotten up and is starting to train the griffins we freed yesterday from the Mangoners.
“Nice to you see finally got up.” Shadow ignores my prodding and keeps training his new troops. “I’m going to get Captain more help for the tunnel.” I head for the base of the mountain and begin to climb to the lowest set of caves I can reach.
The first few weeks we stayed here, Shadow and I explored these caves and discovered that the interior tunnels and caves inside the mountains are all linked. I pull myself up to the lip of the first cave, and I am immediately attacked by a horde of terribly adorable but dangerous griffin pups.
“Come on, guys. You’re tickling me with your baby claws.” The little griffins have come to see me as nothing more than another brother of theirs, and when I visit them, it usually ends up with us playing instead of me accomplishing whatever I had planned, but this time I cannot afford to be distracted.
“I need to talk to your parents.” I gently push and toss them off me, knowing their wings are strong enough to catch them at this age. “I promise I will come back and play later. I promise.” The little griffins follow me as I make my way farther into the cave system looking for their parents. “Anyone home?” I hear a few chirps to my left, so I head down a tunnel in that direction. “There you are. I need to ask a favor.”
The path leads me to a large cave that is lit up by sunlight coming through a few holes in the side of the cavern. There are rock formations for the griffins to lay on, a small lake to swim in, and the patches of sunlight are being used by the griffins to warm themselves after swimming in the cool water. There are places just like this all throughout the mountain, and the griffins often commune here when they are taking a break from training or tunnel duty.
“Could I have your attention?!” The griffins stop playing and swimming as they turn to listen to me. I hear a soft cry below me, and I bend down to pick up the little brown griffin who followed me all the way down here.
“I need more of your help. I know last night we lost some of our friends, but if we don’t get the tunnel done in time, then we will lose even more. There is an army of Mortem Mangoners preparing to invade this world, and they will certainly bring more Imago with them who will stop at nothing to search you out and kill you. This plan might be the only thing that can stop them.” The griffins growl and roar when I say this. “That is why I need some of you who are not already on Captain’s team to step up and help out. Will you help me?”
I go to every level of the mountain giving the same speech, pleading for anyone that will help us complete the tunnel. By the time I am done, I have gained the support of nearly twenty more griffins. That brings us to a total of over thirty griffins now working to complete the project, leaving the remaining twenty or so to train with Shadow.
I get a ride from a red griffin to the base of the mountain where Shadow is waiting for me. “Alright, let me get cleaned up and then in a few hours you can take me to meet Tayus.” Shadow leans over and sniffs my shirt. He quickly pulls back shaking his head. “Is it that bad?” Shadow chirps, so I tell him, “I can’t let Cecilia see me like this. Do you think we could go back to my world? I could use a real shower. The robes Tayus gave me and the clothes I brought with me from home can’t contain this off-putting smell.”
Shadow chirps at me, and I tell him, “No, I don’t think we will have time to go see my grandma again. The last time we traveled back to my world, we spent all day talking to her and never even made it back to my house, and even though it was a wonderful day, we don’t have the luxury of time this trip.” Shadow’s tail starts to dance around as he licks his beak.
“I know you love her spaghetti, but you will have to wait until we deal with two armies trying to kill us. Besides, it was hard enough telling her that I might never come back again the last time we visited; if we see her again then it might be too much for her. I promise once all of this is settled, we will go back and see her again. She is the only family I have left.” Shadow hits me with his tail, and I laugh as I say, “Human family that is. Take us home, buddy.”
Shadow jumps up and down from excitement before standing his ground and opening a portal to the forest near my house. I cannot help but smile and feel a sense of joy fill my body as I walk through the portal that leads me home. It helps me to understand what Cecilia went through when she was trapped on my world, but the difference is that I can come back whenever I want, and she suffered the anxiety that she might never step foot on Liferné again.
When I get through the portal, I am greeted by the sight of a common forest. Living in a different world for so long has opened my eyes to beauty unseen before, but there is something about coming home. The old saying could not be truer: there is no place like home.
Shadow and I walk through the forest behind my house, and the one thing I do miss from Cecilia’s world is the sweet-tasting air that constantly fills your lungs. We get to the fence encasing my backyard, and unlike the last time I tried to conquer this obstacle, I only need one hand to pull myself over the fence.
Shadow follows me up to the back door, which is still unlocked; since the last time we fled this place, I didn’t get to go through my crazy locking regimen.
I open the back door to find my house in the exact same condition as before I left. There is a little dust on the floor and cabinets, but everything seems to be in good shape.
Shadow moves me to the side as he quickly makes his way into the house. “Did you miss this place, buddy?” Shadow runs for the kitchen, and I know why. I follow him in and he has already opened the freezer to find an unopened bag of bacon, which he covets more than any other food. “Why not. Let’s have bacon, since it may be our last time.” I cook the whole pack of bacon, and the smell is intoxicating. Shadow has his tongue out and is drooling uncontrollably at the sight of the large plate of bacon I am holding as I approach the table.
We make quick work of the bacon, but that only leaves us wanting more of these wonderful foods we have missed out on since being in Liferné. I pull more food out of the freezer and make another of his favorite dishes: chicken and waffles, using all the Eggo’s and chicken nuggets I can find.
I clean the kitchen up after we satisfy our gluttonous desires and on the way to the staircase, I am stopped by the ringing of the doorbell. “Who could that be?” I turn to ask Shadow, but he is already hiding at the top of the staircase. “You still remember.” I laugh as I unlock all five locks on the front door and open it to find Jeremey, my food delivery guy.
“Jacob!?” Jeremey is so thrown off by me answering the door that he jumps back and stands in a karate position. Embarrassed, he stands up straight and almost yells, “You’re back? I thought you…” Jeremey goes silent as I step outside to shake his hand. “You are outside. You actually came out of the house.”
Jeremey stands ther
e with his mouth open in awe, barely holding onto the paperwork in his hands. “Things have changed quite a bit since we last saw each other, Jeremey.”
“I would say so, Jacob. Where have you been?!? I quit making deliveries here months ago, since you never answered the door.” Jeremey moves in to take my hand and from the face he makes, I can tell that I made the right choice coming back here to clean up before reuniting with Cecilia.
I shrug my shoulders saying, “Yea. Sorry I left without a warning. It was a… family emergency.” I say, trying to find a good cover for my sudden disappearance. “Why did you decide to stop by again?”
“Well, as you know, I make deliveries to the Schmitts across the street from you, and while I was loading up to leave, I saw someone moving around inside your house. When I came to investigate…” Jeremey pauses to take a breath while examining me from head to toe. “Something is very different about you, Jacob, and I don’t just mean the smell.”
As I turn to go back inside, I say, “You have no idea. Jeremey, I want to thank you.”
“For what?” He asks with a befuddled look on his face as he wipes a layer of sweat off his forehead.
“For years you were the only connection I had to the outside world, and you never once judged me for it. Whether you realize it or not, you were a great friend to me.”
“Thank you, Jacob. I guess I will see you next week?”
“No, this is goodbye, Jeremey. I’m heading back to be with my …um… family, so there’s no need to check in on me anymore. Tell you what? I’ll call you when I’m back in town. Maybe we can go get some coffee.” With a smile, he turns to leave, but he has no idea that this will be the last time he ever sees me. I shut the door, leaving it unlocked, and find Shadow waiting for me with his favorite tennis ball that has turned brown from all our play sessions. “You want to play one last time?”
