My eyes searched frantically for Emily, but I didn't see her. Damn, how far has she walked off? I shot my eyes to the short red dragoness and the tall green drake near me and said with a worried look, "Damon, Cora, can you smell her?"

Damon stuck his nose in the air and sniffed a few times, "She's not far. No doubt about it."

Rick while near Cora demanded with a narrowed look, "Well which way?"

Cora after she drew some air in with her nose, motioned her snout toward a direction, "That way." I didn't want to walk anymore. This was getting to be a waste of time. If Emily was in trouble and about to get hurt, I'd better get to where she is and help her now. I sprinted ahead before them, following what Cora said. Dread surrounded my chest as I was REALLY worried for my girlfriend. Please be ok.

I think I heard everyone else running behind me, but I think I was faster than them. I didn't look back. I was merely focusing where I was going as my form ran through the woods at full speed. When I ran through a bush, I can barely see a few figures straight ahead through low tree branches. That must be where Emily's at. I can't tell what's going on yet. Is she in trouble? Did some Lost Souls find her? I gotta get over there! I didn't hesitate to keep dashing, until I ended up in a small clearing with a sneer, "HOLD IT!!!"

What I saw first when I came out of nowhere was Emily who had her back turned on me. She spun around and held out her hands, "Scott, wait!"

I heard her and skidded to a stop about a few feet in front of her. That's when I saw about three cheetahs standing near her and realized when I got a good look at them...They weren't black furred. One of them had spotted yellow fur, the second one had yellow fur as well but is spotless, and the last one to my surprise has the color blue for fur. They weren't attacking, weren't wearing robes and instead were wearing vests and pants. And most of all don't have those sword like claws growing out of their fingers and scary glowing red eyes in their sockets. I realized they aren't Lost Souls. They must be NORMAL cheetahs. The ones who hadn't died and brought back to life by the evil drake who started the war.

Emily actually came across a few cheetahs.

I let out a whoosh of air in relief. Judging by the look in their eyes...They are just surprised at my presence. Probably didn't expect to see me, I guess.

"Emily!" That was Rick's voice I heard and I looked over my shoulder after Emily lowered her arms back down to her sides. Rick, Cora and Damon came out of the woods after me and caught sight of us. Rick ran past me to Emily and hugged her tight.

Damon strode till his shadow covered my body, "What's going on here?"

Cora as she froze in her tracks beside Damon had a look of excitement and a gasp escaped her snout, "I see what's going on here. Cheetahs!"

The cheetah with the spotless yellow fur chuckled at her, "You sound like you're a big fan of our kind."

Cora giddied a bit on her paws as her tail wagged in excitement, "Eee! Ancestors, I've heard stories of cheetahs for years! I finally get to meet a few!" All three cheetahs had wide looks, appearing surprised about her more than anything.

Emily laughed as she was still hugged by her own father, "Hey Cora, don't scare them." Then I watched Emily try pushing her dad's chest off her, "You can let go now, dad."

Rick's form twitched, "Oops." He removed her from his embrace at lightning speed and then started to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment, "Um, sorry." I giggled at him and after lowering his hand back down, Rick turned his whole attention to the cheetahs, "So...You're not Lost Souls?"

The one with the blue fur relaxed his face and giggled, "Well we don't have black fur and we ain't attacking you in sight. Does it look like we are?"

Damon puffed out his chest and let it out as his golden eyes locked onto them, "No, now what happened here? We thought our friend was in trouble."

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we heard her scream."

The cheetah with yellow fur and no spots held an apologetic look, "We're sorry about that." Then he gestured to Emily, "It's just we were out hunting and found her." He thumbed at one of his pals, "He grabbed her when we tried to talk to her. Thing about it was she did not know we were coming. That's why she screamed."

Emily brushed her hair off her shoulder and giggled a bit, "Yeah, and that made you three jump a little like frightened cats." She let out a sigh, showing some apology in her eyes as well, "My mistake, guys. It's just I thought you were-"

The cheetah with spots and yellow fur waved her off and shook his head, "It's fine. We understand." I continued to stare at them. Heh...Cheetahs. Normal, friendly looking cheetahs on two legs. I knew we would meet some of them sometime on the journey. Didn't know it'd be this day. At least they're not evil and attacking us. That's when I rose my brow when I realized something here. Me, Emily and Rick are creatures from another world. I'm sure they know Damon and Cora are dragons, but the cheetahs...Don't appear to be suspicious, nor curious at our presence. About what we are and where we came from the most. What's going on here?

Rick said to them with a smile full of relief, "Well...It's a good thing my family wasn't hurt." Then he made a frown, his eyes locking onto the quiver of bows on each the cheetah's shoulders, "But apparently you aren't showing aggression to us."

Damon was growing curious as well, as he was getting what Rick implied, "Yeah, here I thought you'd be drawing your bows and demanding some answers from them."

The blue cheetah shrugged with his hands, "Why would we want to do that?"

Emily's eyes were filled with curiosity, "Ah, you do know we're new creatures...Do you?" Nearby, Cora's excitement in her eyes went away and now they looked like Emily's. She must have gotten the same thought as we did.

That's when the same cheetah who shrugged got the picture as his mouth was a bit opened, "Oh. I see what you're getting at." He was shaking his head, "Nah, that's not necessary. We won't be interrogating you humans for answers. We know you're innocent."

My brain clicked when that cheetah said that. What? They know what me, Emily and Rick are? I wrinkled my brow, "Wait...You know what I am?"

Emily asked as she strode up to stand beside me, "You know we're humans?"

The cheetah with no spots and yellow fur nodded in reply and the other one with blue fur answered, "We do."

Cora tilted her head, "Huh? ...How?"

Damon cocked his head too as his wings fluttered on his back, "That's right, how did you know what they were?" He pointed a talon at me and my girlfriend, "Me and Cora didn't know what they were at all at first sight, and we have grown curious of them." His paw dropped back on the grass, "Humans don't belong in Avarilan, so that would be impossible to know what they are. So how'd you know right away?"

That's when the cheetah with yellow fur and spots replied with a smile, "Because they aren't the first ones we've met."

All of us gasped. What? Me, Emily and Rick aren't?! What the-

Wait! ....So there have been other humans who escaped the monsters? Some had survived in this unfamiliar world?

The cheetah who said we weren't the first humans they'd met held a pity look towards us humans, "You three were brought to this world and attacked before, haven't you?" Me, Emily and Rick nodded a bit, and then the cheetah looked to the dragons, "And apparently you dragons are protecting them, that right?"

That was Damon and Cora's turn to nod. Then the green drake said, "We are."

Cora giggled deep in her throat, "Course, I hadn't done much protecting quite yet."

Damon went on, "All five of us are travelling through the lands and evading the enemy as best we could. Me and Corajan are trying to help them."

The yellow furred cheetah with spots nodded a few times at them, "Good to hear." He let out a breath and looked at all of us, "Well, I know half the day hasn't arrived here yet, but you guys must've travelled for a long time before today." He turned his back to us, so did his pals, and waved us over, "Come. We'll take you all to our village. You probably need a break." Then he added with a smirk on his muzzle, "We'll be having a few more humans living there. I think the chief's gonna be surprised about this."

I frowned at the mention of other humans, "...Yeah." Then I remembered after me and the others left to look for Emily, we left the bags me, her and her dad carried for the journey behind. Crap. Better go get them. Before the cheetahs could lead the way, I stopped them with my voice, "Hey wait, we have some stuff we need to gather up before we go with you." I pointed at my right, at the woods, "They're that way, not far from here."

Emily twitched as she sucked in a breath, realizing she almost forgot about them also, "Whoops." She made a big grin and said to the cheetahs as they turned around, "Um, yeah, can you walk with us so we could go get them? I promise this won't take long."

The blue furred cheetah smiled as he did say, "Do not worry about us. There's no rush. C'mon, let's go get your stuff." Then we started to stroll to the woods as we were leaving the small clearing, heading back to the spot me and the others came from. After trekking through them a bit, me, Emily and Rick did see our bags lying on the ground right where they were at, untouched. At least some animal in this world didn't tear into them while we went after Emily. It didn't take long to swing our bags over our shoulders, and we turned our gazes to face the cheetahs who stood and waited nearby.

The one with the spots and yellow fur asked with his ears perked up, "Is that all?"

Damon as he stood with Cora and watched us as well, replied when he turned his snout to them, "Yep. That's it."

Then after that cheetah nodded, he and his pals turned their bodies, off to the direction of their home. As they started to lead the way, he waved us over, "Alright. Let's go, travelers."

As the cheetahs walked ahead about a few feet, and while Emily came up to me and Rick as she shifted her bag on her shoulder, her dad whispered to us, "So hold on...There are humans other than us?"

Cora padded up to us, and formed a huge smirk of excitement on her muzzle when she stopped close to me, "Starting to sound like it. I'll get to meet MORE creatures from another world! And that's not all, I'll be heading to a cheetah village too! THIS IS AMAZING!"

I rolled my eyes and giggled, "Oh boy."

Damon hummed with a curious frown, "Hmm...Other humans. I wonder what they went through to survive in Avarilan? They must be lucky like you three are."

Rick said when he gazed upward at the drake, "But I wonder how many humans are there?"

Damon started to pad after the cheetahs, folding his wings against his back, "Well, they're at their village. Guess we'll see." He arched his neck to look over his shoulder at us when he stopped a moment, "Well guys, if you really want to see what the village is like, and see more humans, then we'd better get after the furry little ones leading us there."

Cora held an excited gleam in her yellow eyes, "Oh! Oh! Let's go!"

I let out a laugh as we started to catch up to Damon, "I agree with her. Come on." As Damon beside all of us resumed his pace, my eyes caught sight of the cheetahs who stopped and waited for us. Yep, better follow them now. Don't want to keep them waiting.

*****

As Luna's wings fought against the air, I hollered up to her while still within her grasp. The fear of being in the air still getting to me, "Can we go down now?"

Luna replied as she beated her wings once again, only having her gaze ahead, "Nope. Not yet."

I made an apprehensive glare, "Aw come on! We've been in the air for a long time!" It was true. It did feel like we were up over the lands for a long time. I did lose track of how many minutes had passed though, but I do feel that it HAS been a long damn flight. And here I'd thought this was gonna be a short one!

She's trying to help me get over my fear, AGAIN, but it hasn't worked well so far! I looked down and my eyes widened up at the far distance below us. Oh god, I still feel it!

The black scaled dragoness let out a giggle, "No we haven't."

I shouted when I shot my eyes back up, "Yes we have!"

But Luna still denied it, "We haven't." Her silver eyes finally casted down at me in her forepaws, a teasing smirk on her snout, "Now, Mike, don't you go making lies and convincing me to put you down."

That's when I spat out accusingly, "You're the one who's making a lie! I remember how long we made our flight for the first few minutes! And I believe THIS has gone on longer than that!" I kicked my feet toward the air, "Seriously, girl, flight's over!"

"No way." She raised her eyes and added with another loud flap, "Huh, apparently this long flight's not helping you." A playful, but also serious growl emitted in her throat, "I think a bit longer shall do it."

I glared again, "I knew it! You WERE lying to me! We have flown for a long time!"

She said as I feel her grip tightened a bit around my body, "So what? I had to lie. A teacher sometimes lies to help his or her students."

I tried to resist the urge to look down again as I shot at her, "I don't think Illuminus is going to like this fucking idea of yours."

"Sure he would!" A laugh bursted out of her snout, "He would be proud that I've made a lie to help you! I'm sure he would do the same thing."

I rolled my eyes while the wind still rushed at me, "Wonderful." Then I had an idea. It's a good, but also a reasonable and cautious idea. I said to her, "But seriously, maybe we should go down now. I mean, flying in the air can be dangerous. We'll get spotted in the air by the enemy below or we'll get chased in the sky by Dark Dragons, remember?"

Her mighty wings beated the air again as she snorted, "Don't care about that. I'm taking our chances." Her snout looked down to me, "Don't make an excuse to get me to land, Mikey."

I protested again, squirming and kicking my feet furiously beneath me, "Come on! Let me down from here!"

She shot me a teasing question when she deviously giggled, "Want me to drop you? Okay!"

My face turned pale and I screamed in desperation, "No! No! Don't do that!"

Luna tossed up her head and laughed as her body tilted a bit in the air and gave her wings another flap, "Relax, I'm kidding! I've told you before I wouldn't drop you."

I angrily replied, "If you did, I will kick your black ass HARD when we land!"

"I thought you would slap my nose."

"That too!"

She giggled, "Whatever. I honestly can't believe you...FELL for that!" More laughter came from her own pun, but I wasn't laughing, I just let out a groan. What a freakin pun. Then after she let out an amused sigh, she said, "I'll take us down, if you start loving flying."

I desperately shouted, just telling her what she needs to hear, "I love flying! I love being in the air!"

Luna's eyes held accusation as she looked at me again, "Now you're the one who's lying! You're saying that to get us down. Not gonna happen, my student!"

I let out a sigh that was filled with plea, "Luna, I'm tired of feeling scared right now and I'm tired of being in the air. Please put us down."

Luna sighed too as her body started to dive towards land, "Fine, you little wuss." I let out a breath in relief and tossed down my sight to see that we're heading through the small space in the canopy of the woods. The wind started to slow down as the dragon I'm being carried by was slowing her own flight down with a glide. Getting through that small space wasn't without breaking some tree limbs. Wood snapped as her huge frame went through some branches. They weren't strong enough to hold off against a landing dragon. As Luna and I went more closer to the dirt trail beneath the canopy, she backwinged a few times, blowing a lot of dirt and leaves away, till her hind legs landed on the dirt. Luna lowered my little self to the ground and put me there. As I strolled a couple feet from her, dusting myself and feeling pretty relieved that we're on the ground again, I looked over my shoulder and saw she's standing on all fours with her wings curling up on her back.

As I whirled around to face her, I glared and defiantly crossed my arms across my chest, "About damn time."

The dragoness shot a snort out of her nose at me, "Geez, Mike. You're worse than a scared hatchling."

"That's because I was a nervous wreck! I didn't like having a long flight!"

"But I thought it would help you." Then she curled her neck in a shape of an s, "That really didn't do the trick? Goodness, I guess your fear is impenetrable to break like, uh...Like a rock! You know, like Stoney!"

That had me softening my eyes and gave me a giggle, "Make a good point there. And Stoney's probably relieved that he wasn't the one being carried."

A smirk spread across her muzzle as her tail swished behind her, "He's a bigger wuss than you are."

I dropped my arms back to my sides and gave her an interesting fact, "Well honestly, some rocks aren't exactly VERY hard to break. Just depends how strong you feel they are, I guess."

Luna replied to that, having hope in her silver eyes, "Heh. When you put it that way, I hope I'll break that rock in that head of yours, Mike."

I held a very unsure look from her statement, then lowered my eyes to my feet and sighed, "I guess. But, I wouldn't count on it."

Luna dismissively waved her forepaw at that one, "I'm still not giving up on that."

I made an amused smile at her optimism and raised my gaze to look at hers, "Yeah, I know."

Then Luna lowered her head to my level, showing concern in her eyes, "By the way, are you feeling ok? Feeling better that we're back down now?"

"Yeah. From the moment we landed, I have."

Her snout pushed forward and it started nuzzling against my own cheek, "Good. I know I was trying to help, but I didn't want you to be so scared, you know. You know I care about your feelings, right?"

My heart warmed up hearing that. I know you care about me, Luna. Then when she still nuzzled me a bit, I used my hand to lead her snout off my cheek and I held her chin with both my hands, gazing in her silver eyes deeply, "Of course I do." I gave her nose a kiss.

Luna giggled and stuck her pink tongue out to lick my nose in return, "And can I ask you another question?" I frowned, wondering what it was. She made a playful look and asked, "Not gonna kick my black ass now since we landed?"

I chuckled lightly and shook my head in reply, "Not even angry enough to slap your nose now." The big girl rose her head off my hands and looked down at me while twitching her nose. Then I rose my brows playfully, while I shifted my bag and quiver full of arrows on my shoulders, "BUT, if you didn't warn me before taking us in flight earlier, I probably would have done it by now."

"Then I'm lucky I did warn you that time...Sort of." She showed her teeth as she smiled wide.

I shrugged my shoulders, "You did better than the last time so don't worry. Like I said, I'm not angry enough to do it now." I gave her a wink. When I watched her giggle from my wink, I sighed pleasantly and whirled around on her. I gazed past my shoulder and waved her over, "Alright...Lead the way."

As she padded till she was beside me, Luna turned her neck and looked down at me. She said as she made another step slowly with her wings fluttered, "Thanks for waiting for me, student. A teacher always leads the way." It was her turn to give me a wink. I grinned and gave her scales a pat as we started to stroll alongside each other. Back to travelling as we're both on foot again.

*****

While the sun still shined in the sky, all five of us were following the cheetahs several feet from us on a meadow. As me and Emily were walking side by side holding hands, Damon spoke up behind us, "I mean honestly, Emily, you had to walk a LITTLE far off just to urinate?"

Emily shot a glare over her shoulder, "I had to pee somewhere, Damon."

I joined in while my shoulders shrugged a little, "True, but you did walk a tiny bit far away from us to go tinkling." Emily's eyes flashed some anger when she looked at me. I formed a smirk, acting innocent, "Hey, c'mon Em, we were a little worried. We kinda thought a wolfir found you taking a piss and attacked you."

Cora, while she was fluttering her wings on her back, said as she padded between Rick and I, "I didn't think it would find her like that. I thought it would find her AFTER THAT."

Rick, after he shifted his bag around on his back, chimed in with a shake of his head, "Me neither."

Damon shot up his, "Same here." He giggled, "Guess, you're the only one who had thought that."

I chuckled shyly a bit as I was the odd man out, "Give me a break. My imagination was a bit wild with worry." I let out a sigh as eyes were drawn to the three cheetahs leading us the way, "At least it wasn't another werewolf like monster that found her pissing and instead it was three innocent normal cheetahs that found her."

Cora wrinkled her face at me, "Werewolf? What's a werewolf?"

I shook my head, "Forget it."

Emily's face turned red while her eyes were solely focused on the two legged cheetahs, "When you bring up the part about something finding me while I was tinkling around, I'm thinking THEY probably did before they came to talk to me."

Rick giggled and said nearby, "Well if they did, at least they were being polite and never said a word about it."

His daughter replied as her eyes wander from left to right in a single motion, "Still, I don't want anyone or ANYTHING watching me while doing it."

I smirked, "Not even me?"

The red tint on her face went away as she smiled at me, "Scott, I know I love you and all, but even I need a break from you every now and then."

Rick frowned as he looked past Cora right at me, "Seriously, who does that? I mean, what kind of person would watch someone peeing? That's pretty weird."

Damon mumbled, "Yeah, I'll admit it...That does sound weird."

I rolled my eyes up playfully, "Someone who has a weird fetish for that, I guess." I glanced at Rick and put a hand that's not holding Emily to my chest to clarify, "And before you get the wrong idea, I don't have that." He just shrugged his shoulders, his eyes silently telling me he didn't think I did. As my hand went off my chest, my eyes gestured to the cheetahs, "I doubt they have that too."

Emily formed a narrowed look, "They'd better not. Or I'll slap each one of them so damn hard for being so damn weird."

Rick said, "Yeah, and they'd see what it feels like to be slapped by you." He rose his hand to rub his cheek, "I know that from experience." He let out a chuckle.

I giggled a little before I had a curious thought running through my head. More humans that have survived in this world...I still didn't expect that. How many are in their village? Also, are they from The Lady Carina? Or perhaps they're people from another ship?

Or...Perhaps there were more survivors from the cruise ship. Maybe a few of them have escaped from that stone fortress like me, Emily and Rick have. Maybe they've ran and ran for their lives, until they were found by cheetahs.

One name clicked in my brain. Could...Could Mike be there? Is he alive and living with the cheetahs for now? I hope that's the case.

We need to get to that village. I need to get to that village.

Mike...I hope you're there. I'll be there soon...

All of us have let the cheetahs lead us to their home for several long minutes until I could see something huge up ahead. It must be the place. Only I didn't imagine their village being like THIS. First off, I don't see any houses. There's a tall wooden made wall with huge gates on it. From what I figure, the village must be past this wall and I think it surrounds their home like a fort. Gosh...That thing is BIG!

I turned my head back and forth, seeing the others having wide looks. They were just surprised about this as well. No kidding, I was too.

While we still kept our pace towards their home, Rick hollered to the cheetahs, "Is that your home ahead?"

The blue furred cheetah hollered back over his shoulder, "Yes. This is it."

Then Rick was chuckling under his breath, "Jesus...I didn't know a village could be like this. This looks like a fort."

Cora said in awe with her wings curling on her back and her tail flicking behind her, "I've heard stories from Rocko saying that every cheetah village has tall walls surrounding them because of war...But one of the walls is bigger than I'd imagined!"

Emily shot her gaze at the short dragoness in surprise, "Wait, the other cheetah villages are like that?"

Damon answered behind us, "That's right." Me and Emily turned our heads to glance at him as he explained, "Since the war started a long time ago, the cheetahs had built these walls for defensive purposes. According to what I know, when enemies are outside of it, cheetahs take positions on top of their own walls and fire their arrows from afar and above. They may be a peaceful race, but they are prepared to fight in war. They'd still defend their villages, no matter what it takes." He let out a somber sigh, "Only compared to the land defense they have, they don't have any kind of aerial defense to their home. Dark Dragons can use that to their advantage and that's usually a problem for cheetahs and their villages."

I formed a glum look and returned my gaze upon the village ahead. I can only imagine. Then I was having images of several dead cheetahs lying on the ground and all their houses were burning and destroyed. Shit...The destruction and casualties...I can only imagine what they go through...

When all of us were about halfway there, Damon instructed us with a serious tone, "Wait, stop."

Me and the others stopped in our tracks and turned our gazes to him with frowns. I asked, "What? What is it?"

I saw his ears flicking around on his skull, "...I hear something."

Cora said the same thing, one ear twitched on her head also, "Yeah, me too. It sounds like...Flapping."

Right after she said that, before any of us could look up at the sky, something big landed right in front of us and we all screamed in surprise. We turned our attention to that commotion and as my eyes looked right at it, I can see that it's standing on four legs and has wings on its back. But it isn't a dragon. No, it doesn't have scales, horns, or anything. On the top of its head, it only has ears. On its face, it has a black beak. It has the face of a bird. On the front end of the body, including the chest, it has feathers, and has birdlike forelimbs. And the back end of the body looks like a lion. The hind legs has lion paws, and even has a tuft on its tail to show for it.

While that creature's yellow eyes were gazing intently at us, me and Emily backed up a couple steps together as I can feel her grip on my hand tightening. Holy crap...I know what that thing is.

It's...A gryphon! A gryphon!

Judging by the size of the gryphon, it's almost big as Damon here. I think it's one foot or two shorter than him. Probably the gryphon's average adult size, I think.

The gryphon, who has auburn colored feathers and fur, curled its wings and said with a brow raised, "What have we got here?" By the sound of its voice, it's a male.

Rick, still appeared to be in shock at the presence of the new creature, whispered to himself, "Oh...My god."

Emily had let go my hand and hid behind me. She asked in a trembling voice, "Wh-What are you?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw Damon folding his wings on his back and his eyes showed some surprise in them still, "A gryphon."

Emily peeked behind her with a still frightened look, "A-A gryphon? That's a gryphon?"

Cora excitedly gasped, just appeared to have realized what that thing is, "EEEE, A GRYPHON!"

That excited shriek actually did hurt my ears, since she was basically right beside me! I know it hurt the gryphon's ears as well, since he closed his eyes and flattened them. When he shot them open a moment later, he glared at her, "Hey, not so loud. I'm right here you know. What's your deal?"

Cora giddied a bit on her end as she replied and wagged her red tail behind her, "Oh I'm sorry. This is my first time meeting a gryphon in my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE!"

"Oh." The gryphon's beak formed a smile and his ears perked up, "Really? Then I'm honored to be the first one you meet." That's when he eyed at me, Emily and Rick, "Are you three humans? You don't have fur, except on your heads, so I'm sure you are."

Rick had a relaxed face and pressed him, "Wait...You're not gonna hurt us? I thought you were...A monster."

The gryphon replied to the question with a shake of his head, "Nope." His eyes looked a bit playful, "You thought I was a monster? Like a Dark Dragon? Do I really look like one?" As his tail flicked behind him, he looked at his chest, then he peeked behind him to see the rest of his body for a moment, "Don't see any black scales on me." He tossed his gaze back onto Rick, "Honestly, does a Dark Dragon have a beak, and also feathers on its chest and fur on its ass? Hadn't heard anything like that through my whole life, so no, I'm not a monster. Actually, no gryphon has ever became a murdering monster."

Rick sighed quietly and nodded a bit, taking his words at heart, "Ok. If you say so." I was relaxing a bit myself. That's a relief. He scared us to death! Now as I stared at the gryphon in front of me, my chest started to be filled with awe. A gryphon. Man...Never knew a gryphon would exist like dragons do. And by the sounds of it, there's more than one gryphon in Avarilan. I glanced a bit towards Cora before I looked at Damon next. Apparently they knew about gryphons. Wonder when they were gonna tell us?

Well, with the unexpected arrival of this guy here...We know now.

Damon cocked his head, "A gryphon...What are you doing here?"

Before that gryphon can reply to Damon, the three cheetahs had strolled back and stood close to the bird like creature. The one with the yellow fur and spots asked with a frown, "Synis, what are you doing? You scared them."

The gryphon named Synis looked at the cheetah beside him, "Sorry. It's just I had almost flown over your home when I caught sight of them. I was...Curious who they were." With his ears shot straight up, his eyes trailed to one person in the group at a time, "Hmm...Apparently there's one adult drake, a dragoness who's a teenager, and three humans. How'd you find them?"

The blue cheetah motioned his hand to us, "We were hunting and we just found them. They're travelling through the lands."

Synis said with a small chuckle, "No doubt about that. What else would they be doing around here?" He gave us all an apologetic look, "And sorry that I scared all of you."

Cora placed her forepaw to her scaled chest, "Me? Scared?" Then after dropping her paw back on the ground, she held up her snout adamantly, "I wasn't scared."

Emily came out from behind me with her arms crossing underneath her breasts, "I certainly was. You just dropped right in front of us. Trust me, that's TWICE today I've been scared by something that isn't really going to attack me."

The gryphon giggled as he lifted his front limb a bit off the ground, "Again, I apologize. I have a habit of just dropping in without anyone knowing."

The cheetah with yellow fur and no spots thumbed at Synis, rolling up his eyes, "He's like that with everyone. Even to my mate. Scared her so much when he landed behind her one night."

Synis said in smugness, "Told ya."

Damon pressed the gryphon again, "Okay, but you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here? Are you...Living with the cheetahs?"

Synis said with a small nod, "Figured that part out already. Actually, I'm not the only one living with them. About twenty-five of us gryphons live in their village. We even made our own houses past that wall of theirs. The chief there was pretty considerate about that accommodation."

I stopped this by waving my hand, "Hang on. Gryphons and humans are living in the village?" My eyes looked at one of the cheetahs, particularly at the blue furred one, "Sounds like you really have a lot of guests living in your home."

He shrugged with his hands as a smile showed on his muzzle, "We cheetahs always welcome any traveler." Then the smile melted away a moment later as he gave Synis a comforting pat, "And besides, those gryphons, including him, have been through a lot. They needed a home."

Synis lowered his head, looking sad as a memory flowed behind his eyes and a low squawk emitted in his throat. I tilted my head at that. Gosh...Wonder what happened to him and his feathered friends? No doubt the war had something to do with this.

Then the blue cheetah turned around and waved his hand over, "Speaking of welcoming any traveler, we'd better get going to the village. Our comrades are wondering what took me and my friends so long." The other two cheetahs nodded in agreement and started to strode along with their pal.

Synis after he rose his gaze and watched them walk off about a few paces, turned his attention back to us, especially to me, Emily and Rick. His eyes blinked the sadness away and his beak started to form a smile full of pride as he said, "You know what, how bout I give you humans a flight to the village? Still a bit of a walk from right here."

Emily shook her head at him, "No thanks." Her hand gestured to the green dragon, "I already had my flights with this guy here. So better leave me out of it."

Synis bragged, "You sure? If you didn't like riding on a dragon, perhaps you outa give riding a gryphon a try. We're better fliers than dragons are."

Damon meanwhile rolled his golden eyes upon that statement, "Oh ancestors."

Cora snorted as she glared at him, "You know what, now I regret feeling happy to meet a gryphon like you."

Synis looked down at her with a playful chirp, "Aw, c'mon. I'm the first one you've met in your whole life, remember? You can't hate me now."

"Too late. With that comment of yours, I already have." Her yellow eyes trailed past the gryphon to the cheetahs who are waiting for us to catch up about several feet away, "Perhaps I'll go find the first gryphon I see in their home, and say to it 'wow, you're the first one I've met in my whole life'." Then her muzzle formed a devious smile as she looked up at the tall feathered creature, "I'm sure the new gryphon I find will love to hear that."

Synis narrowed his eyes, "But that'll be a lie! I'm the first one!"

"Not anymore! I'm disowning my thought that you're the first one I've met, as of right now!" Then Cora stuck her pink tongue out at him as his beak dropped agape with a squawk. Me and the others were laughing at his reaction. Well, big feathered dude, you shouldn't have messed with Cora. She's disowned you!

After Cora gave Synis a somewhat humiliating comment, we all started to follow the cheetahs as we head to the tall wall ahead of us. As we walked, me and the others had a chance to introduce ourselves to the gryphon, since we didn't do that yet. About several minutes later, we were close to the gates of the huge wooden wall. Very soon, the cheetahs from inside the wall opened up the gates very slowly with loud wooden creaks, and me and everyone in the group followed the three cheetahs and the gryphon through them. A moment later, the gates closed with a loud slam.

With my eyes trailing along the area, it was pretty much as I expected the village to look like. On the inside of the wall, the place looked a bit vast, just like any fort would be. From where I'm at, I saw several wooden made houses that have triangular shaped rooftops. I even see a few houses that looked different. They appear to be dome shaped. From one of those houses, another gryphon with golden feathers strolled out of it. That's when I figured it right away. Those dome shaped houses must be the ones the gryphons built and live in. Judging the size of the doorway and how large each house is, they look perfect for their sizes. And the triangular ones must be the ones cheetahs live in. The way those type of houses appear, especially those doorways, no way a dragon or a gryphon could fit their big butts in there.

I shot a glance to Cora and shrugged my shoulders to myself. Except Cora. And I know she'll be bragging about it. Must to Damon's annoyance.

Emily finally spoke after a minute of seeing the sights, "So this is a cheetah village."

Synis whirled around with fluttered wings and grinned at us guests, "More like cheetah and gryphon village in one."

The three cheetahs who led us to their home spun around and the yellow spotted one greeted us politely, "Welcome to our home."

I saw Cora was shifting around on her paws in excitement beside me and I laughed at her, "Cora, don't you ever relax? With all this excitement, you're probably gonna get a heart attack."

But she spat out words nonstop and loudly as she flared out her wings, "Eee! I can't help it! I'm in a village! A cheetah and gryphon village! Oooo, that's awesome!" The cheetahs and the gryphon looked absolutely surprised at her attitude with their wide faces.

Damon chuckled and waved his forepaw as his tail swung around behind him, "I apologize about her. Let's just say she doesn't travel the world much. This is all new to her."

Rick added with a smirk, "Like this is all new to us humans." He looked around the village some more with his head turned to the right, "Nice place you guys have here."

The blue cheetah giggled and nodded at us, "Thanks. The humans who live here think so too."

That's when Damon tilted his head, "And where are those humans you're talking about?"

Emily wrinkled her brow, "Yeah, where are they?"

Cora jumped on her paws up and down repeatedly, "Yeah! Let us see them!"

I laughed again and planted my hand on the jumping dragon's shoulder, "Calm down, you jumping lizard." After I placed my hand on her scales, she stopped jumping and turned her muzzle to me with a huge grin, folding up her wings as well. She held anticipation in her eyes, but she kept herself in check. You better, girl. Don't want to scare anyone we come across.

Rick giggled as he thumbed at our red scaled friend, "I'm with her. Let's see them."

Synis nodded at the idea, "Sure." He started to turn his body when he went on with his tufted tail swung at us, "They should be off at this direction. They both live with a cheetah. A nice female one too. Follow me." After I lifted my hand off of Cora, my brows went up. Both? That means there's only two of them? Well that didn't sound like a lot. When I saw Emily and Rick's eyes after hearing this, they had the same look as well, thinking the same thing. That's when I shrugged my shoulders and looked toward the gryphon again. Oh well, I guess it's better than none. Better follow him.

But before we could, we were met by a small welcoming community. Several cheetahs, even the little ones who are cubs, came up to greet me and the others, especially me, Emily and Rick since we're just humans. Even about five gryphons joined in too. Me, Emily and Rick were being polite and started talking and greeting them back. With all the creatures who came to see us, we were like rockstars who has rounded up a good crowd! Only this was a small one. The chief of the village even showed up a minute later and greeted us as well.

Honestly, I know I love being polite and all, but I feel like I want a break already! Also, I wanted to meet two people from my world here! I think Emily and Rick were thinking the same thing, but they didn't say a word. They just went along with this meet and greet we have here. Out of the crowd while I was shaking a guy cheetah's hand, I caught Synis waiting patiently for this to be over from several feet away. He was waiting for us to be exact. I know he's thinking like I am, but he would have to wait a bit longer unless someone does something about this.

And the chief finally did do something. He used his command to finally stop the crowd, hollering at them that there will be plenty of time to see the new guests of the village. As the small crowd cleared a path, me and the others used it and we're finally able to walk away from them. When I looked back, they all left in separate directions to go on with their daily routines. Phew...Thank god they'll give us a break! I couldn't take this stardom anymore!

We finally caught up to Synis a couple seconds later and he had his beak grinning at us, "So, what'd you think?"

Rick replied with a smug, but nervous giggle, "Never had that kind of attention before, I'll give ya that."

Synis said when he shot his head toward the separating crowd, "Other than surprised about your presence, they probably feel bad for you. They probably figured what sort of trouble you humans went through." His eyes were filled with pity as more words came out of his beak, "I know we just met, but from what I've learned from humans like you, I have an idea what happened to you."

Emily lowered her eyes to the ground, "Yeah...Ending up in another world and getting attacked by evil monsters."

"Exactly." Then the gryphon quirked a curious brow, "And I don't understand it still. Your kind getting involved in a war from a world not your own is just strange. Why your kind really?"

I wrinkled my face. You ain't the only one who wonders, feather head.

Synis sighed, "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now." He formed a smile, "I think you probably want to meet your fellow humans, right? Well c'mon." The auburn gryphon started to pad, leading us the way to that house he's taking us, "Follow me." I nodded at that as we all started to follow him. Alright, let's find the humans.

Mike...Are you one of them?

While we trotted along with him, me and the others caught a few greets here and there from some inhabitants of the village who haven't met us yet as we walked past them. Just glad there isn't another crowd gathering! About a few more minutes later, Synis stopped in his tracks in front of a house and whirled around to face us. One of his talons pointed at the house and said, "There it is. Now I don't know if they are inside it. If they aren't and they're somewhere in the village, I'll tell them about you guys and have them come find you. Although..." He giggled, "Word probably got around already and they know you're here."

I snickered, "Probably."

Cora asked with an eager face, "Can we go see them now?"

Synis replied with a nod, "Sure, go right ahead." Then he chuckled and looked right at Damon, "I think you're the only one who can't go in there. Sorry. I guess you'll have to-"

Damon hissed angrily and immediately turned his green butt to us with a swish coming from his tail, "Arrg, fine, I'll wait out here." Then he trotted off a few feet away and firmly planted his haunches on the ground, grumbling to himself.

I giggled a bit and held a hand to my mouth, hollering, "Don't worry, bud. When they come out, you'll meet them."

Damon twisted his neck and said over his shoulder as his wings settled on his back, "Can't wait!"

Synis joined in with a small laugh, "Hey, I know how that feels. Believe me." The green drake only replied with a snort and sharply turned his snout away from us. Not in the mood to talk anymore. The auburn gryphon said to us as he took a step away from the house, "Alright, I'll leave you guys be. See you around." With that, Synis finally walked away and left us alone.

Emily giggled when she looked at Damon for a second and said to me, "Poor Damon. Can't even go in a certain type of house like humans and cheetahs do."

Cora however held up her snout and her tail as she strutted between me and my girlfriend towards the house, "Oh well, it's his loss, come on let's go meet them." Me and Emily laughed away as we along with Rick started to go with her.

I beat them to the front door and knocked twice on it. After waiting around for almost a minute, a female cheetah with only white fur and purple eyes wearing a blue furry dress answered the door. I can tell she's a female because she has breasts just like Emily here. Heh. No four legged female cheetahs would have breasts like a human being. Not that I'd heard of anyway.

The female cheetah gasped and backed up a bit as her eyes caught sight of us humans, "Oh goodness!" I snickered quietly so she wouldn't hear me. Well, guess word hasn't gotten to her yet. No wonder she looked shocked. The white cheetah placed a hand over her chest as she asked with ears stood up and a warm tone that made her sound middle aged, "Huh? ...Humans? Are you humans?"

Emily giggled at her expression and waved at her, "Hi there."

"Sorry about that." I said, frowning a bit in a apologetic way, "We...Kinda thought you heard about us."

The female cheetah smiled at us, "Oh don't be sorry. I...Didn't expect another human that I haven't met just show up at my door. Let alone THREE new ones. This is a surprise."

Rick made a smirk, "Guess you don't have humans dropping by your house everyday."

She held her fingers to her mouth and giggled warmly at the grownup figure in the group, "Well I've only known two of them and none more had shown up. Been three years since I've met them. I hadn't expected more to come since they came here. Kinda thought they'd be the only ones." My mind registered her words. Three years? They lived here for three years? That's a long time!

Emily when she slightly nodded said, "So have we, honestly."

Then the white furred cheetah frowned, "So, when did you end up in the village? Like I said, I had never expected to see more show up."

I replied, "Not very long ago. A few cheetahs found us while they were hunting and brought us here. It's just great they didn't hurt us." I tried to look past her form to see the inside of the place, "Speaking of humans, we heard that you have two of them living in your house. We came to meet them. Are they here by any chance?"

The cheetah answered, "No. But they should be back later." Then she held pity in her purple eyes, "Hmm...Since you were glad you weren't hurt by us cheetahs, let me guess, you've been in this sort of trouble when you came to this new world, am I correct?" Me, Emily and Rick gave her nods in unison and she said in a pity tone, "Oh...I'm dreadfully sorry about that."

Rick let out a sigh while having dark look, "Yeah...We've...Been through a lot."

Cora shoved her snout between me and Emily since she was hidden behind us humans, "But I've helped them out."

"Oh!" The middle aged cheetah was surprised about the red dragoness butting in the conversation. She didn't know Cora was behind us at all. But it didn't take long for the surprise in her eyes to go away as she locked them on Cora for a moment. They looked curious now, "A dragon? Are you a dragon?" Then she smiled as her eyes now appear astonished, "Wow, so you were helping them out all by yourself? You must be a very brave girl."

While we knew that cheetah's wrong about that, Cora fondly said it, "Aw, thank you..." Then her eyes frowned, "...Ummm...Who are you?"

The white cheetah's eyes went wide, "Oops. Sorry. Where are my manners?" She placed her hand to her chest, "My name's Suzue. I'm one of the healers of the village."

Rick said with a shrug of his hands, "Guess we'd forgotten our manners too. My name's Rick. Rick Harper." He gestured to me and Emily, "This is my daughter, Emily, and Scott Sumner."

I grinned widely after the introduction. But it went away as Corajan stepped forward and her red scaled body pushed me and Emily out of her way a bit. After I grunted a little, I saw her tail swished behind her as Cora's snout was almost inches away from Suzue, "And I'm Corajan. Or Cora for short."

Suzue just smiled at the dragon in front of her, then raised her hand and affectionately rubbed Cora's nose, "Nice to meet you. I don't meet dragons a lot. Well, I've seen Dark Dragons, but friendly, normal ones, no. It's nice to meet you too." Then her eyes went to me as she formed anger in them, "I can imagine you saw those dreadful monsters before. They're just cruel and heartless, just like their master." But the light came back in her eyes as she went on, "But at least you had a nice normal dragoness against all odds protecting you three from harm." That's when her eyes held concern for Cora, "But hold on. Aren't you a bit young to start fighting and protecting somebody? I know you must be brave, but I can't believe a young one like you is doing that."

I finally had the urge to push Cora away from the doorway with a hand on her chest so me and Emily can stand near it. Afterward, Cora while behind me rested her chin on my shoulder when I said with a giggle in my throat, "She can handle things, I assure you. And by the way she wasn't the only one helping us. Another dragon's with us too."

Rick chimed in with one finger raised, "Which he's older than her, actually. His name's Damonen, or Damon if you want."

Suzue replied to that with a somewhat relieved gaze, "Well at least the young one's not the only one. An older dragon would be able to protect every one of you." She tossed her gaze onto Cora as she shifted her chin around on my shoulder, "No offense."

I feel Cora's mouth move as she spoke, "Don't worry about it. I can understand why."

Then her chin went off my shoulder as we backed up as Suzue started to walk out of her house. She closed the door behind her as she stood outside with us, "So where is this Damonen? I want to tell him thanks for protecting you humans. Just because you're not from Avarilan, doesn't mean you should be ignored and not be protected. I'm happy him and Corajan are doing well at doing so....Knowing you're creatures from another world."

Cora smiled at that, "It's the least we could do. They're our friends also."

Suzue pressed us as she looked off at one direction, searching for Damon no doubt, "So where is he?"

I giggled and responded, "Well he's nearby, but I hope he's in a good mood to talk to someone."

Suzue wrinkled her furred face at me, "Why? Is he angry about something?"

"Let's just say it's a silly reason to be mad about something." When I turned my whole body, I pointed to where I last saw Damon, "But if you want to talk to him, he's right over-eh?" He wasn't exactly at the same spot where he sat, he was actually a lot further down from that. I squinted my eyes as I see him standing on all fours, talking to a creature smaller than him.

I would've thought that he was talking to a cheetah who found the drake pouting and wanted to cheer him up, but I realized that it didn't have any fur and pointed ears.

From what it looks like from my point of view, it was a human being

My brain immediately clicked as the others followed my gaze. That must be one of the humans! Damon's talking to one of them! I mentally giggled. Heh, that didn't take him long to feel better.

Suzue giggled as she came up beside me, "Looks like your other dragon already met one of them."

Cora angrily said with her wings settling on her back, "He's talking to a new human? Darn it, he didn't holler for me!"

Emily laughed, shrugging her hands, "Guess not everything is his loss."

I giggled myself and waved everyone over as I began to strode forward, "Alright, enough standing around. Let's go meet that person." We started to head to where Damon and the other human are. As we gotten more closer, I began to notice a few features right on the human I'm about to meet. The human looks like a guy and he was wearing casual human clothes like me, my girlfriend and her father are. He appears to be young, but not high school kind of young like me and Emily. He looks like he's in his mid twenties. Funny thing is since he has been living in this world for three years, I kinda had a thought he'd grown a huge beard or something. But despite my silly thought, he has a shaved face. I figured he had shaved his face somehow.

And the disappointing part about this, and I didn't show it on my face, only felt it in my chest...The guy talking to Damon is not my brother. I saw that right away.

Damn...I was hoping it was him.

As me and the others stopped near Damon, Cora rose her voice, "Forgotten about us, Damonen?"

Damon's form jumped a bit in surprise before he stumbled around to face us with a small swish of his tail. Then he smirked, "Oh there you are." His horned head gestured to the new human as he also turned to see us, "I was just having all the fun talking to this human I've found."

"And you didn't bother hollering for us, especially ME, to come meet him?" Cora gave him a snort.

"I thought you were busy talking to somebody." His yellow gaze focused on Suzue, "I believe that was her?"

Suzue smiled at the green dragon, "It was. Nice to meet you, Damonen. I'm Suzue."

"Hello there." Damon tilted his head, "Huh...White fur and purple eyes. You actually look pretty beautiful for a cheetah." I turned my head to look at Suzue, forming a smile of agreement on my face. She actually does.

Suzue giggled from the nice compliment and said in modesty, "Well, there's probably other female cheetahs who are beautiful. But thank you, dragon. You look fine and handsome yourself."

In his eyes, I know Damon loved the compliment from her. A pleased growl welled up in his throat, "And thank you, short furry one."

Cora cut through this as she narrowed her eyes at him, "Damon, you should have hollered. I wanted to meet a new human too!"

He narrowed them back when he looked at her, "You know what, maybe the reason why I didn't holler is because I wanted to have the glory of meeting one new human before you." He smugly grinned, "I think that's a bit of payback for you going inside this certain thing from another world and I couldn't." He winked.

Cora hissed at him in response, "I'll get you, Damon."

Then the voice from the male human interrupted this, "Hey, don't go fighting about me." We had our eyes on him and that guy said with a smile, "I don't want two dragons that I just met fighting because of me. I mean c'mon, that's silly." I chuckled mentally. I agree. That is silly.

Rick spoke after his eyes locked onto Cora, "He's right. And besides, you're meeting the new human now, aren't you?"

Cora lowered her snout in a bit of defeat, "Oh, I guess you're right. I'll stop this." Then she rose her gaze fast back up to Damon, "But this rivalry ain't over!"

Damon had a giggle emitted in his throat as he shrugged his forepaw, "Never said it was." I playfully rolled up my eyes. Geez.

Cora turned her muzzle to the new human now and then she held in a breath and let it out, "Okay, I'll start over. I didn't say a word to you yet." She politely said with a big smile forming on it, "Hi new human."

That guy replied with an amused chuckle and a small wave, "Hello."

I gazed at the new human who is up close for my view now. I can clearly see all his features now. The guy in front of me has short brown hair, a lean built body with some muscle, I even see in his eyes that each of them has a different color. One's green and the other's blue. I think he has heterochromia. He actually looks like a handsome dude. Kinda like my brother...A little bit.

The human male said to me, Emily and Rick, "So, you're the humans I've heard about around here? Been forever since I've talked to another one."

Rick replied to that, "Heh, same here. I love talking to dragons, cheetahs and gryphons, but it is great to speak to another human." He nodded to him twice and said, "And a good human always hands out introductions. My name's Rick Harper."

Emily put a hand to her chest with a big smile, "I'm his daughter, Emily."

I did the same, only gesturing myself, "And I'm Scott. Scott Sumner." I looked up at Damon, "I know you already know his name." Then I thumbed to Cora who was smiling away at the new human, "And the dragon shorter than him who kinda complained a moment ago, that's Corajan. Or Cora."

The short red dragoness asked, "So what's your name? I think it's better than 'new human', right?"

The twenty something year old man laughed a bit, "It is." Then he rose his hand to his chest, "It's Kevin. Kevin Thompson." I blinked as his name now flowed through my head. Kevin...Ok.

Emily pressed him with a frown, "Hey, there's supposed to be two humans living in the village. Where's the other?"

Kevin replied, "You must be talking about Jill." As he giggled, he playfully stated, "Heh heh. Of course you must be talking about her. Not like there's more than two humans staying here right now." He waved his hand towards us, "Well, except you three. There's more than two here at the moment." Me and the others giggled as the name he mentioned registered in my head.

Jill...So the other person is a girl. Guess that answers it. The other human isn't Mike. Mike wasn't here at all. My heart dropped in my chest. Damn it.

Kevin went on, his voice cutting through my thoughts, "Well, if you're wanting to meet the other human stuck here with me, she's not in the village right now." He turned his body a bit away from us and his gaze went up to the blue sky, "She took off with a feathered friend of ours."

I grinned at that, "A feathered friend, eh?"

The new guy's eyes went back to face us, "Yep. You'd probably like this gryphon."

Cora giggled when her wings curled on her back, "Probably be better than Synis, I guess."

Kevin smirked, "Oh boy...You guys met the gryphon who lands without announcing himself, right?"

I asked him, even though I already know the answer, "We did. And I'm guessing he did that to you?"

"Yep." He groaned a little, "He always does that when he sees someone below him. A cheetah, a fellow gryphon, even to a creature new in this world!" He let out a playful sigh when his hand was placed on his waist, "I'll tell ya, somebody, probably Jill, is gonna clip his wings if he doesn't try to announce himself from above."

Rick just remarked, "Kinda my thoughts exactly. Synis probably thinks he's funny scaring something with his landing."

Kevin laughed and waved his hand, "But this gryphon I was talking about, wouldn't worry about him. He's not like Synis. Just kinda of a comedian more than anything. And besides him, not all big birds are like that."

Damon rolled up his eyes, "We figured, and good thing."

Emily said as she leaned back her head and stared at the sky above us, "Yeah, I've been scared by one giant bird already, I'm not in the mood to get scared by another one." Her head leaned forward and she let out a whoosh of air. And we were left in a moment of silence.

Kevin spoke after it, "Anyways, like I said, Jill and Pax are not here. Don't know when, but they'll be back later."

I frowned, "Pax?"

"Oh, he's the gryphon that's with her. His name's Paxadorf. Or Pax for short. Pax seems easier to say in a conversation."

Rick chuckled deeply, "I can understand that."

Damon hissed at Rick, "What, you can't say the gryphon's name right, human? Or are you gonna say it wrong on purpose?"

My girlfriend's father laughed before he looked up at Damon and shrugged, "Probably both."

Emily snickered, "I'm not surprised."

Damon grumbled, "I'm not either."

Then I looked at Kevin with concern, "But hold on, I wanted to ask. You sure they'll be back? I mean, this world is a bit dangerous..."

While Emily and Rick were showing the same face as I had, Suzue responded to me nearby, "I wouldn't worry about them."

Kevin shot his hand towards the white cheetah, "Yeah, what she said. Pax can fight well. He'd protect Jill when danger comes." Then he made a shrug of his shoulders, "Well, he wouldn't be the only one fighting since Jill knows how. Not like she'll run off and not help. I'm sure they'll be back without a wound on them."

Well...I guess I can trust him for that.

That's when I saw Kevin's face darken up as his eyes traced from Rick, my girlfriend and then me, "Speaking of Avarilan...Guess you guys are trapped in this world too, huh?" He shrugged his hands and flopped them back down to his sides, "Not exactly surprised. Had a gut feeling that more humans would end up here."

Emily nodded slowly at that, "You'd be surprised how many that were with us. And unlike you, we didn't have a gut feeling like you had."

When he folded his arms across his chest, Kevin said, "Let me guess...Green light in the sky during the night, you got curious, while staring at it the light exploded, the light show in the sky brought you to Avarilan, and you got attacked by monsters working for an evil dragon. That right?"

I giggled a bit, "Sums it all up. And we were just lucky we escaped."

Suzue fondly said to Kevin with her hands held together, "And so are him and Jill." Kevin nodded to her at that. Then the white cheetah said to all of us, "Well, since this is out of the way, I'm planning on making some food. Are any of you hungry?"

Damon shook his snout, "No thank you. Me and my friends here had already ate."

Kevin held up a hand, "I am."

Suzue laughed and waved us over, "Then let's head back to my house." With that, we trotted back to her house. Not very long as we made it to this spot at the side of her home, me, Emily and Rick finally dropped our bags on the ground after carrying them on our shoulders for a long time. The second when we did, Suzue said she'll gather some wood to make a fire, but me and Kevin offered to help get it for her. After me and him gathered up the firewood, Cora started the fire with her fire breath. The whole thing didn't take very long at all. With the fire made, the white furred cheetah went ahead and got some meat to cook it.

Now with the flames burning away in the firewood, while the food was getting cooked, me, my girlfriend and her father were sitting close together on one side of the fire, while Cora and Damon were laying on their stomachs nearby with their wings splayed out to their sides. While Kevin was sitting with Suzue close to the other side of the flames, he sighed as he waited patiently for his food to eat.

Damon giggled while his forelimb laid over the other and his tail swished along the grass behind him, "Hey, the time could go by faster if I could breathe fire at it."

Cora shot up her snout, "Or me. Whoever works for you."

Kevin laughed a little before he shook his head at their offer, "Yeah, I know dragons breathe fire, but no thanks. My stomach can handle waiting a little longer."

Suzue said to the offer as well, "I do appreciate your offer as well, but better not risk breathing fire anymore. Why?" She giggled before her eyes trailed off to her house, "Well...Probably because I'm afraid you might burn my house down by accident." But then her eyes went wide and she immediately waved them off, "Don't get the wrong idea that I don't trust you, I do. It's just-"

Damon giggled at her and waved his paw while shaking his head, "No worries. We get it." His yellow eyes looked at the white cheetah's home, "Us dragons are guests in your village, so wouldn't want to totally worn out the warm welcome by burning down a house." He cleared his throat, "Fire is a simple thing to use, but also dangerous."

Rick nodded in agreement, "Too true."

Suzue made a teasing remark, "Well if you did burn down my house, you'll have to help rebuild it."

Damon's snout held back a giggle, "Never did that before, but I'll try just to help."

Cora shrugged her shoulders as her tail flicked on the ground, "Well maybe before it would happen, maybe I can-"

But I think Kevin's curiosity was getting to him so much that he was waving his hand at her, interrupting her, "Hey look, I'm sorry for interrupting and all, but while my food's being cooked, a few of us really need to talk to about something." Then he gazed at me, Rick and Emily, "I know how you got here, but what exactly happened to you guys? You know, before you came here. Also, where are you from really? What I mean is, what place are you from in our world?"

I answered with a question, "What about you and Jill? I didn't think we'd find another human surviving in this world, but we did. So...What happened to you two before you came to the village?"

Kevin chuckled, "You're the guests of the village, aren't you supposed to be the ones telling the stories first?"

Damon shook his head and said while one of his wings twitched, "I don't have a lot of story to tell."

Emily giggled after hearing Damon said that, "Obviously we do."

Damon gazed intently at Kevin, "Look, Kevin, I already know what happened to those humans. I'm more curious about what happened to you and your friend."

Cora agreed on that, "Me too." She cocked her head, "Can you at least tell your story first? For mine and Damon's sakes?"

Kevin gazed at the fire, humming in thought for a moment. Then he looked at all of us and finally said, "Well...Yeah, I guess I'll start first." He pointed right at me and Emily, "I think I've ended up in Avarilan before you guys, so I guess it's fair I'd gone first."

As that guy dropped his hand back on his lap, Rick said, "Honestly, doesn't matter who goes first to me." He gestured to him, insisting him to go on, "But go ahead....What happened to you?"

Kevin started to begin his story with a nod, "Alright. Well...I'll start at the beginning."