The Dark Age Chronicles: The Fall of Night.
They Who Were

It was suddenly hard tobreath. The air here seemed thick. He tried to take a deep breath but all hegot was dust in his throat. “Griffin?” he asked his voice strangely muffled.The Griffin had its head bend down to the ground as though it was paying itsrespects. Then it got up and shook itself. A small cloud of earth billowedunderneath it. It then began scratching the earth with its two eagle claws.

“What are you doing?” Ihloden asked movingback from the air depriving mass of dust that the Griffin was causing. TheGriffin kept going and small grunting and stuffing noises. Ihloden tried to getclose to see what it was doing, but all he got was most gray dust in his face.He backed off coughing and fanning the air wildly in front of him. “When youare done there, call me,” he choked the words out and walked away to where theair was clean.

The silence was oppressiveand dead, till even the scrapping sounds of the Griffin, seemed muffled. It made his skin crawl. He had heard all hislife of the Waste Plains of Writhia. Of the wars that were fought here, of thetragedy that occurred hair, that fateful day, when Lyficen not only destroyedbut forever shamed the armies of Cysia. He could not even feel the Land here,it was like a huge scar on the face of Cysia. He sighed and turned to see whatthe Griffin was doing. He was just in time to see it snap its head back with ajoyous squawk and it pulled at something firm and hard with its beak and thesomething came free. The Griffin stumbled back a bit then faced him and droppedthe something on the ground. Dust billowed up greatly. Iholden wisely stoodback till it settled and then went to see what it was. He stood in shock, thenlooked at the Griffin, then back at the ground. An overwhelming feeling ofassurance rolled over him, driving aside the question he was going to ask. Thesomething was in fact a something; it was a Griffin Rider Armor.

He reached out to touch itthen pulled back his hand. He suddenly didn’t know if he wanted to touch it ornot, he felt unworthy. The Griffin nudged his shoulder and he looked up intolarge kind eyes. He took a breath and gently laid the armor out so that itwould not disturb the dust a lot. It wassurprisingly intact. He fumbled with the straps and found them to loosen with alittle pulling and tugging. He then tied them back and sat down in the graydust.

“What should I do withthis?” he asked more to himself than to the Griffin, then he spoke directly tothe Griffin, “Why did you bring me here?”

It was small at first, then it came one afterthe other, the rolling overpowering emotions that were the Griffin’s way oftalking to him. Pride followed by joy, then wariness. A certain sorrowful angerfollowed by a brief hint of relief then utter despair. Then shame, and a dullfear, followed by hope and a strong sense of justice. That strong desire to doright, to start fighting back struck home with Ihloden. In that moment, it wasas if he and the Griffin were one and the emotions of the Griffin were his ownand it swelled in his heart and fired his brain. He took a breath and choked onthe dust and the emotions went away, reducing back to normal levels. He lookedat the Griffin and for the first time, he understood clearly what it was sayingto him. It had shown him what all Griffins had felt, from the time they weremade to the war with Lyficen, to the life they lived after. It wanted to putthings right. It was a Griffin and he was its rider. It brought him to placewhere their shame all began, and it was asking him to help it put things right,to erase that shame, to restore the pride that once belonged to Cysia.

He got up and tenderlylifted the armor and tucked it under his arm. It was very light, but he couldfeel the sturdiness of the material.

“Let’s go home,” he said in a low voice, “andfix this up.”

The Griffin looked at him and nodded, therewas something like gratefulness in its eyes that was replaced by a fiercelight. He had a feeling that he impressed the Griffin. It settled back downonto the ground and he struggled up onto it back. He put the armor betweenhimself and the Griffin and leaned on it to make sure that it did not fall off.It turned out that he was almost lying flat from the waist, along the Griffin.The Griffin took its time in flying back. It stopped for them to spend thenight in a small cave, in the Krogas Range. If it wasn’t for the Griffin itwould have been a cold hard night. But Ihloden had the luxury of curling upagainst the warm furry body and spending quite a peaceful night, lulled tosleep by the deep steady breathing and the soft woody voices of the trees. Theywere already flying before the sun came up fully. It was Ihloden’s first viewof the sunrise from up so high. It was amazing. The sun was no longer peekingover the range, instead it seemed to glide silently and gloriously up out ofthe earth; a bright golden orb. He kept watching it as it came up; the airgetting slowly warm around him, the skies changing colour. He actually gaspedwhen the first solid ray of light shot out unexpectedly. He felt a deepsatisfaction and awe, and he patted the Griffin. “Me too,” he said to it, “Metoo.”

Soon they were over thefamiliar trees of the Beruhd. Memory of home pressed hard against Ihloden, ashe pulled the armor up onto the griffin back for the twentieth time.

“What are we going to tell my mother?” Ihlodenwondered out loud. A gentle ripple of concern passed through him. “Don’tworry,” Ihloden assured the Griffin, “I won’t sell you out.” The Griffinresponded with a loud squawk. “Shhhh…you don’t want anyone to hear you, doyou?” Ihloden hissed. The Griffin gave a huff and dove cleanly through thetrees and lighted easily on the ground. It ruffled its feathers and shook itshind legs. Ihloden looked around after placing the armor on the ground. Thetrees were dense in this part of the forest, not a lot people dared to bravethe dark green tangles or the thick under brush. It was a perfect place to hidethe Griffin and the armor. The Griffin pushed through the undergrowth and thesquawked once it was through. Ihloden took it as a sign to follow it. He heftedthe armor onto his shoulder and pushed through as well. He found himself in awarm leafy enclosure. The ground was clean and neat. The brush was arranged ina rather organized fashion. He looked at the Griffin.

“You did this?” he asked. The Griffin lookedaround, seeming quite pleased. “Auramancers,” It said.

“What?” Ihloden asked again.The Griffin did not reply. He shrugged. “This is a good place to leave thearmor,” he said to the Griffin. The Griffin lowered its head and looked up athim, a whisper of feeling like an idiot passed through him. He looked shocked,“Well excuse me for stating the obvious,” he pouted at the Griffin.

He turned away and put thearmor in a neat corner. Soft feathers brushed his head and he looked up to seethe Griffin pressing its head towards him. He stood still as its foreheadtouched his. He braced for the painful sensation like the last time, but all hefelt was a deep contentment and a warm feeling that went right to his core. TheGriffin then, went and sat down next to the armor. Ihloden didn’t know what tomake of it. “I’ll come back to clean up that armor.” He said. The Griffinnodded and laid its head on its forelegs. Ihloden realized it was nodding off.He smiled a little and went back out and set his face toward home.