Kevin and his blue gryphon friend, Paxadorf were only in silence as they made their way to Pax's dome-shaped wooden house. The human was deep in thought still after the small tour in Suzue's house he gave to the guests of the village, thinking about Rick's proposal.

To journey with them to Wingspan, find Illuminus, and find out from him how to get home.

Kevin held his hand to his chest, feeling all sorts of hesitation in it. He doesn't want to go. He kinda had a feeling one of them would ask him and Jill to tag along...But he doesn't want to go.

Jill said that her and him would talk about it in private, but since she's in a bad mood thanks to the lewd comment by the big bird, Kevin thought he'd speak to the feathered devil about it, see what he'd want him to do. Other than knowing that Pax's tired and wants a nap, he can also feel the tiny bit of anticipation coming from the gryphon just by walking close to him. Kevin hung his head as they were about real close to the house. Paxadorf probably wouldn't love that idea. Other than he's close to Jill, he's more closer to Kevin. But he's gonna find out. Maybe he would want him and Jill to be safe and sound back in their home instead of staying in this hostile one any longer.

But, like he just thought, he's gonna find out.

The human and the gryphon went through the large opening of the house, the inside of it wasn't anything much, like Pax told the others before. There was just one room in the house they're in, wide and large enough for about nine gryphons to stand around and spread their wings in, and it was mostly bare except right across from them at the other side was a large nest made of twigs along with a few large soft blankets made by the cheetahs lying on it.

As they head towards the nest, Pax broke the silence with a small chuckle. Kevin stared at him with a playful frown, "What's so funny? Jill?" He smirked, "You really pissed her off, dude...AGAIN."

Pax clacked his beak, furling his wings, "Yeah, twice in one day. But seriously, about the first time, I didn't mean to have her fall off my back. It really was an accident." As they stopped at the edge of the nest, he looked down at the human beside him, "Don't you believe it was an accident?"

Kevin crossed his arms across his chest, trying to find words for this, "Well...You kinda did flew down fast just to land."

He had his fore talons to his chest, "Which I didn't mean to, by the way. I was just in a rush to eat some makrub berries!"

Kevin giggled, "I guess I can take your word for that. And your rush to have berries in your beak cost you not to have one today." He got one hand out of his arm and raised his finger, "Honestly, I think Jill's motivation to give you a berry is lost FOERVER cause of your comment about helping her with her...'Needs'."

The gryphon made a mischievous smirk on his beak, "I doubt it. She loves it."

"She just said to you quote, 'screw you' before she left."

"Yeah! That means she loves it. That means she plans to screw me!"

Kevin moaned as he rolled his eyes, "Oh my god, you bird brain." The gryphon laughed out loud in his 'awrks' and strode onto the nest, turning himself around as he stood in the middle and lied down on his stomach.

Pax pleasantly sighed, "Ancestors...Always gotta love Jill." Then he cleared his throat and had seriousness on his face, "Alright, what's up?"

Kevin was quizzical as he uncrossed his arms, "Huh?"

"You said before we left your new friends that you wanted to speak to me alone." Then his throat made a deep growl of lust, "Unless you wanted to talk to me about something...I think you want to have a different kind of 'chat' with me. I know I'm in a mood for a nap, but I think I can also be in the mood for 'that'."

Kevin's cheeks made a flush when he blinked a couple times, "Paaaax….That's not what this is about. I told you it was 'important'."

Pax reared back his head with a low squawk as his wings flared on his back, "What? Are you telling me mating's not important?"

"Well...Not at the moment." Then he narrowed his eyes at him, "AND, besides that, it's still day! Others will hear us."

Pax tossed his head, "Let them hear us. Not like nobody knows what the Pax does for a living."

"Not EVERYONE knows, pal." Kevin rose a brow, "And you call giving pleasure to anybody you talk to a living?"

"Well what do you call it?"

Kevin teased him with a small smile, "I'll call that you have the job of being the dirtiest gryphon of all Avarilan."

Pax smirked, "And you know it." He winked, then he brought back the serious look on his face as his wings laid out at his sides, "Ok, so if it's NOT what our private chats about, what is it, then?"

Kevin's face turned serious as well when he let out a hesitant sigh, "Yeah...I seriously need to talk to you...It's about Scott and the others."

He slowly lowered his head down to Kevin's level as the human still stood at the edge of the nest, "What about them?"

Kevin tried to explain it as best he could while scratching behind his head, "Well...It was during the tour in Suzue's house, before we came out of it...Rick asked if me and Jill can come with them to Wingspan...To The Great One...So we could go home."

Pax didn't exactly give the reaction Kevin thought he would, he only nodded with a calm face, "Ah...I see...Knew they'd ask you guys this."

The young human dropped his hand down to his side, "Me too...Sorta."

"So what did you say to them? Are you going with them or-"

"Jill said me and her would talk it over. But I wanted to talk to you about it first...Because you're my best friend."

Pax replied with a bit of smug in his voice, "Well thanks for thinking that."

Kevin asked, "So...What do you want me to do? Do I accept and go with them? Or say no and stay here?"

The blue gryphon raised his head and turned his eyes away from the human, confliction right on his face, "I...Ummm…." He looked back at him shortly afterward, "Look man...I don't know. I mean, I love you and Jill, I don't want you guys to go, but then...I think maybe you should. Only because this world's still dangerous."

Kevin wrinkled his brow, "I know that this world's dangerous, but we're still alive after three years of living in it."

"Exactly. And I sometimes wonder if the day you guys die in battle will happen. You know a couple battles had happened here while you were living here."

The human nodded, "Yes, but those battles hadn't caused lot of damage and there weren't any casualties, luckily. The Lost Souls and a few Dark Dragons that came here each time didn't stand a chance against a battalion of cheetahs and gryphons, along with two humans at their side."

The gryphon huffed, "I know. But I was still worried for you guys, along with worrying for everyone else. What if something bad happens when another battle comes here?" Then he formed a sad look as he dipped his beak, "Before I met you, before I started to live in this cheetah village, you know that several gryphons I know died in that battle...I don't want that to happen to you guys." Then he raised his gaze and asked as he somewhat formed a curious one, "But what about you? What do you want to do?"

Kevin sucked in a lot of air, puffing out his chest, and let it out, "...To be honest...I don't want to go. I want to stay here." He lowered his gaze, "I kinda know what Jill's decision is on this. She still thinks and talks about home a lot."

Pax made a low, sad squawk in his throat, "I think so too." Then he went on, "Listen, Kev...It's up to you. If you want to stay here for the rest of your life, that's fine. I won't force you to go with them....Probably gonna be saying goodbye to Jill though." Kevin sighed sadly, thinking about the girl who'll probably leave him for home. Pax rose a talon off the nest, "But if both you and Jill ARE gonna head off with our new friends and hope there is a way back home...Then I'M coming with you."

Kevin's face went wide, "Wait, what?" He held out his hands in front of him and shook his head, "No, you don't have to go with us. I-"

Paxadorf cut him off with his beak clacking, "Look, I still want to come along and make sure. I know there are two dragons you're gonna be going along with, but who are we kidding? One of them is short and small like you. Only Damon will provide a lot of protection than Cora, she can't do a lot. What if there was some kind of huge ambush or something? Well, I'm not sitting around here on my sexy ass wondering if you and your girl had made it there. I'm gonna go with you, and you can't stop me. I want to protect you and Jill on your journey. And plus...I want to give a last goodbye to you guys before you go home."

When Pax mentioned the last part, he can imagine that tearful goodbye. If Kevin goes home...He probably won't see Pax again. Not to mention Suzue and all the other villagers he'd come to know. Kevin heard Pax's voice, bringing him out of his thoughts, "Kev?" He looked at the big bird and Pax said with a foot gestured to him, "You ok?"

Kevin let out a slow, trembling sigh, "A little."

The gryphon finally smiled, "Hey, no matter what your decision is...I'll support it. Same goes for Jill." Then he frowned, "But if Jill's the only one going, then you're gonna have to wait for me for a while." His lion tail tapped on the nest and his haunches shifted behind him as he lustfully growled, "Probably gonna miss my sexy ass while at it."

Kevin tried to hold down his laugh, "Oh god!" But he couldn't and let it out along with Pax. After they went down to giggles, Kevin smiled in appreciation, "Thanks for that, Pax...That made me feel a bit better."

He gave him a nod, "You're welcome, buddy." He tilted his head, his ear shot straight up, "So, what about Jill? When are you two going to talk?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders, speaking slowly, "Well since she's probably still steamed because of you...I'm gonna let her cool off. I'll be talking to her later."

"Right." Pax's yawn escaped his beak as he drew his head back, "Okay, I think I'm done talking. I gonna nap now, if you don't mind...Unless you want to nap with me."

He shook his head, "No. I'm gonna go." He waved a hand as he soon as he started to back up, "I'll see you later." Pax nodded and started to lower his head to the nest before Kevin whirled around and started to walk toward the exit. Before he could make another step, Kevin stopped, then spun around to face his feathered friend, forming a pleading look, "Hey uh...Pax?"

Pax was about to close his eyes before he raised his head off a blanket on the twigs, "Yeah?"

The human made his way back to the gryphon, stepping onto the nest, and laid a hand on his shoulder, "If Jill's going and I'm staying here...Promise me you'll come back here alive. I...I don't want to lose you."

Pax rolled his eyes, "Naaah, I'll be fine. I can probably fight better than a normal dragon!" Then he made pity for Kevin, and slowly nodded, "But...I promise."

Kevin smiled, and then wrapped his arms around the gryphon's neck and buried his head into Pax's soft, blue feathers, "Thanks." Pax didn't deny the hug and shortly curled his neck around the human and nuzzled him with his beak, warbling for him. With Kevin's ear still pressed against his chest, he can hear the gryphon's heartbeat in there. It sounded relaxing in a way to him. Kevin finally let Pax's neck go, and backed away as Pax raised his head off him. Kevin said as he was off the nest, "Later."

Pax raised his bird like foot and waved it when he gave him a playful glare, "Yeah, now get outa here. This bird's tired!" Kevin let out a laugh and trotted away till he came outside and the sun in the sky greeted him again.

He sighed to himself, having thoughts about Jill now. Well...He's gonna be having that talk with her soon.

And he hopes she doesn't leave this new home. He'd probably feel lonely without her.

*****

While still walking in the slightly dark wide tunnel, and a bit freaked out still from what happened here earlier, I was muttering to myself in a complained tone, "Well Mike, let's go over a few questions and answers you'd thought of. Who knows WHAT could happen in the cave? A cave in. Who knows what's living IN it? Weird, ugly bat like monsters that are just plain scary."

As Luna's black form padded beside me with tucked in wings and swinging tail she frowned at me, "Hey Mike, are you seriously talking to yourself? I'm right here, you know."

But I complained some more, ignoring her for the moment, "AND, who knows if one Lost Soul FOUND this cave and hollered for a few of his pals to come CHECK it out with him? One probably had and they did and me and the dragon here had encountered them." I groaned loudly, shaking my head to myself, "Why did all this stuff had to happen to us? We aren't having much luck today."

Luna popped a question out of her snout, "You talkin' to me now?" I gave her a glare, and she formed a toothy, innocent smile, "Hey, I thought you were speaking out loud to yourself again."

I pinched at the bridge of my nose and sighed, "Sorry...I'm just whining."

Luna snorted, "Well quit whining when we get into trouble. We do try our best to avoid it."

My hand fell off my face, and I was looking up at her, "Yeah, and I thought we were avoiding it when we wandered in a deep, dark cave that's basically also scary. Which it was basically YOUR idea that we wander down in it in the first place."

Her face frowned, "Are you done?"

My brows were raised, "Yes."

A smirk formed on her snout, "Good. And for the record, I didn't know any of that was gonna happen. Not even the leichin living here."

I waved my hand to her, "Yeah! The leichin! I forgot the name of the monsters you never mentioned before just now."

The dragoness gave me a glare, "Miiike, are you still whining?"

"Noooo." I went on with wide eyes, "I'm also a bit freaked out because of them, other than the cave in of course. Seriously, oh my god, they were the scariest things I had ever seen! I'm probably gonna have nightmares about them for a while!" Luna's narrowed expression immediately went off her scaled face as she tossed back her head to laugh. I gave her a glare of my own, "Hey! That wasn't funny!"

Luna looked at me again, snickering, "Sorry. It was just funny listening to you about the leichin."

I let out a huff and went on, "Well, since I freakin' know about them, let me ask you this: When exactly were you going to bring up the leichin?"

She shrugged her wings and shoulders, "Oh who knows when, little guy? I have told you before that we were probably gonna run into another type of danger on our walk to the city of dragons."

"Sure you did, but I didn't think it'd be THAT scary." I held up my hands in front of my eyes, seeing them shaking, "God and they're shaking!"

Luna chuckled deeply, then slowly stretched out a wing and wrapped it around me, speaking to me in a smooth tone, "Mike...They're not here. Now quit freaking out."

To be honest, her words, other than the warmness of her wing, was making feel a lot more less freaked out now. Just like she calmed me down a bit after we realized there was no way back to where we came from. I let out a calmed sigh, "Sorry, Luna."

"It's ok. I know what meeting those things the first time was like. Ancestors, I was short like you when I first did."

I giggled in amusement, imagining her as the donkey sized dragoness meeting up those scary monsters, "I can imagine...So what'd you do? You know, since you were short back then and they were bigger? Did you just stand up and fight or run away?"

Luna held up her muzzle to the ceiling, mulling over in thought, "Well...Screamed and ran away at first, then stood up and breathed fire and poison at them for a bit, and then ran away till I hid myself and lost them." She glanced back down at me while still within her wing, "I wasn't scared the WHOLE time." She winked and that had me giggling. Luna asked, "Do you feel better?"

"Ah, getting there." I tried to look over my shoulder, but her wing membrane was in the way, "Maybe I'll totally feel better when we get out of here."

Luna hummed, "Still afraid there's no way out at the end of the tunnel?"

"Sorta. I'm just trying to have faith there will be."

The black dragoness stared at me for a long moment, before admitting, "I'll be honest, I'm a bit worried too. But I do have faith there is another way out of here, though. But if there isn't, and we're just stuck in this place, and when we run out of food...I won't let us starve to death. I'll put us both out of our misery."

Well...At least she's sensible. I giggled once more and made a crack, "Or I'll probably live a bit longer by eating you, since you were going to die anyways." Luna giggled at me in response. Then my voice sounded serious, "Then later...I'll take my own life with the dagger I have in my bag."

Luna's nervous breath was let out, probably scared by the image of that, "Well...Let's hope it doesn't come to that." She finally removed her wing and pulled it against her back, "We just need to keep going."

I nodded in agreement, "Right." Then I asked her with a raised brow, "By the way...About the leichin, do you know more about them? I'm just curious."

Luna giggled, "When we get out of here, Mike, I'll tell you more about them. Be a good topic of discussion for tonight."

I let out a slow, drawn out sigh, "Alright...It's a deal." We were both back in silence as I shifted the quiver on my back while we took more steps along the stone ground. About a few more minutes later, we see the end of the tunnel. Only there isn't any light at the end. We ended up in another cavern, noticing it wasn't as large as the last one, only smaller, and there isn't a several hundred foot long rock bridge in here along with no dark abyss below it. A couple stalagmites stuck out of the ground at one corner in this place. Another entrance to another tunnel was at the other end of the cavern.

And right there in the middle of the cavern, is a huge skeleton of an animal. On its back, it has skeletal remains of wings.

Me and Luna strode up to the skeleton, and she had a bit of a disturbed look in her eyes, "Ohhh...That kinda creeps me out."

I kneeled down, gazing right at the huge skull, "It seems to be a dragon, I think...Only it died here a long time ago."

Luna lowered her head a bit as she was examining it, "I'm pretty sure you're right. It's not a gryphon, its mouth doesn't have a beak."

I looked up at her, "Wonder what happened to him?"

"...Maybe he was in the war and probably wandered in here to escape from a battle...Possibly got wounded and died from bleeding." Luna looked around the area, her eyes traced across the ceiling till she looked at the wall on the far left. Her eyes frowned, like she saw something, "Huh?"

The dragon started to walk off towards the wall, tail swinging behind her, and I stood up straight with a curious frown on my face, "Hey, where you goin'?" I jogged to catch up and strode alongside her. I saw what she was about to check out on the wall. Some kind of depictions on it. When we stopped in front of it, I looked at them closely. There wasn't anything much, only three small characters were shown on the wall, standing together. The drawings on the wall looks like what a caveman would draw. Two of the characters seemed to have four legs with wings on their backs, and the third one was only on two legs. I knew the one with two legs is a cheetah, and at first I thought both the ones with four legs and wings were dragons, but looking at them more closely, I can tell one of them is a dragon and the other one is actually a gryphon.

I looked down at the ground, noticing some sharp rocks lying close to the wall. I'm guessing somebody was using one of those rocks to draw them on here. Then I reached out to one of the depictions, my fingertips touching the one in the middle, "Someone's definitely been here and did that. Those three characters probably came here too, I bet. Guess that explains the torch we found earlier."

I looked at her as Luna replied, not taking her eyes off the wall, "Pretty sure it does. They appear to be a dragon, a cheetah, and a gryphon."

I dropped my hand off the wall, "Who do you think are those three?"

"...Well, things have been so different back then...All three of our kinds had socialized and became friends...I'm guessing they are just buddies and found this cave as some sort of hangout."

I smirked, "Hangout? Well I hope they hadn't ran into trouble back in the last cavern...You know, the one with the rock bridge and leichins living in it."

Luna giggled and turned her snout to me, "Maybe nothing lived here during their time." Her eyes drifted back to the drawings of the possibly first visitors of this place, "One of them probably came up with the idea to draw themselves on this wall...As a symbol of their friendship. I think that's what this is."

I think she was right. The drawings feel...Special and meaningful. Then I had thoughts on the long dead dragon in the middle of the cavern, having me pulling my head away from the wall and looking at the skeleton, "Do you think that dragon over there is the same dragon on the wall?"

Luna joined my gaze, frowning curiously as she fluttered her wings, "Maybe. Or maybe it's a different dragon. Maybe that dragon is related to that dragon on the wall...I guess. Perhaps....If it was that dragon on the wall, perhaps he got attacked during the war we both know, got wounded so badly, and just wanted to die here in peace...In a place where decent memories had happened. Maybe his pals died before he did. Or if he's related to that dragon-"

I interjected, getting what she was saying, "If he's related to that guy on the wall, maybe the father told his son about this place...And came here to die...Feeling that his father's here with him..." Luna tore her eyes off the dead dragon, back to staring at the wall we're standing close to, and letting out a long saddened sigh. I looked at her myself, noticing that there is some kind of pain behind her eyes. I reached and touched her scales, rubbing them up and down in a comforting way, "You alright?"

Her form shook a bit from my touch, but she did nod, "I'm fine...It's just...This is so sad...I've never seen anything like this before..."

I said softly in pity, "Neither have I."

The dragoness went on, looking down at me a bit, "This isn't fair. None of what happens outside this place of friendship is fair. Abyss caused a lot of death, including one behind us. Whether it's the father or the hatchling, that dragon didn't deserve to die back then."

My other hand motioned at the drawings, "Neither do the cheetah and the gryphon."

Luna shook her muzzle softly, sighing in a sad way, "No...They didn't." I glanced at the rocks on the ground, and suddenly I came up with an idea. I removed my hand off Luna's black scales and bent down to pick up a sharp rock. I heard Luna's voice saying in curiosity, "What are you doing?"

I was raising the rock in my hand, and turned only my head to her to reply, "I'm gonna draw US on the wall."

She curled her neck in a shape of an s, "Why?"

I smiled, "What do you think why? I'm putting us on there as a symbol of our friendship."

That statement earned her a smile, "Mike. You don't have to do that. Besides, we may not even come back here."

"I know...But I want to. I'm sure this won't take long. Besides that, I want to decorate the place a bit." I gave her a playful wink and then thrusted the sharp end of the rock and scratched the wall with it up and down, sending out a couple of small sparks from the friction caused by wall and rock rubbing together. I had never done this for anyone before, come to think of it, I was never an artist. But hey, it's the first time for everything. While drawing with a rock, Luna meanwhile didn't seem to have been impatient with me, she didn't say a word. She was just standing there, close to me, watching me do this in amusement. I think she found this cute and meaningful just like me.

With the finishing touches done on the drawings, I dropped the rock to the ground and backed up a bit, putting hands on my waist and admiring my work on there.

Well, my art kinda sucked, but it was worth the time and effort. I still stared at my drawings. On the right, is me, and on the left, is Luna. It was easy drawing me I'll admit, but it was a bit hard trying to scribble Luna on the wall, mostly her wings. But she seems perfect!

I sighed in content at my work, and Luna made an impressed croon, "Huh...Pretty good."

I turned to her, "You think so?" Then I shrugged, being a little modest, "Well, it may not be great as the other drawings on here, but-"

Luna giggled as she snaked her snout down to my level and nuzzled my arm with her nose in gratitude, "Oh, I think in my opinion it's better than the others....I really love it. Thank you so much."

I smiled and had my hand drift below her head and curl my arm around it, pulling her more closer to me. I said as I leaned my head onto hers, "Hey, just figured I do something special for us."

She let out a pleasant breath, replying in a sweet whisper, "...You did."

My heart warmed from that. Me and her were both like this for a long time, looking at ourselves on the wall. Finally, Luna rose her head off my arm and let out a breath, having enough of this, "Alright...I think we're done here now." She gazed at me, "C'mon, little guy. Let's get out of this place, or we're gonna starve to death from standing here staring at our cute little selves on a wall."

I laughed at that, nodding at her a bit after that, "I THINK I agree with you. Let's get outa here." She swung her body and tail towards the other end of the cavern, padding towards it. I gave my drawings one last look before I jogged after my scaly friend.

If we get out of here, and if there's no way for me to get home...Then maybe me and Luna will find this place one day and come back in here.

Because the symbol of our friendship is right in here.

*****

As the three of us walked around the cheetah-gryphon village on the thick green grass below us, Emily was raising her brows, "Hey, just to ask you this Damon, since it came up, when were you going to tell us that Avarilan has gryphons?"

I crossed my arms, saying in playful tone, "Yeah I'm with her. When were you, big guy?"

Damon as he strode between us had a smile etched on his snout, "Cut me a break, you two. You didn't ask."

Emily replied loudly, "How could we ask if we didn't know your world had gryphons, dragon?"

"I dunno."

She only poked her finger into his green scales a few times, "Exactly. You still should've told us. I was freaked out at seeing one when we were walking toward the village! I didn't expect to see one, not to mention a friendly one to boot, you know."

Damon had shot up his head and groaned, "Oh give me a break on that too, Em. I didn't expect to meet not one but a lot of them today either. Besides...I kinda thought you wouldn't understand what I'm talking about until you see it. That's why I didn't say a damn word about them a long time ago."

My girlfriend chuckled and rolled her eyes, "YEAH RIGHT."

Damon rolled his eyes back at her, "Whatever, believe what you want." He lowered his head a bit down to her, "I'm surprised you humans heard of gryphons as well. Let me guess...Do they live in your world?"

I answered, "No, they-"

The drake cut me off with his head now turned to me, "You heard of them in stories?"

I frowned, "Yeah. How'd you guess?"

One of his wings pointed down at Emily, "Your mate had mentioned last night that humans back in your world had made up stories about dragons, that's how I guessed it."

My face went red as Emily slapped his scaled foreleg, "DAMON. What did we tell you before?"

The green scaled drake sighed and rolled his eyes around, "That you two are not mates. I know, I know." Then he shot some curious daggers at her with his eyes, "Now. Since I told you that, aren't you gonna tell me what sort of stories about my kind are like? I'm still curious about them. Actually...More curious about what gryphons are like in your stories."

I was a bit hesitant to tell him, pretty much like Emily is at the moment. Knowing that my kind usually place dragons as monsters in most stories. I wonder how he'd take it...Or Cora? I said to him, "Perhaps later, man."

Damon let out a very long, slightly impatient sigh. When he hung his head, he nodded a bit, "Alright...I guess I can wait."

Emily smiled and gave his side a gentle rub, "Sure you can. We'll tell you, just not today. Maybe one night with you along with Cora is when we'll speak about them."

Damon shrugged his shoulders as he settled his wings, "Sounds like a good plan." I only nodded at that. Yeah...One night...The stories will be spoken of. Then we just padded on in silence, walking in the middle of the huge fort like village, enjoying our stay here.

It's been a bit of a while since Kevin, Pax and Jill left us guests to do what we want here, and also since Rick left the village with Suzue and another companion to get herbs. Now at the moment, me, Damon and Emily are having a nice stroll around this place. A little bit after the others left, Cora had wandered off alone. Probably wanting to socialize with everyone as much as she wants, knowing her. I can see her face, her eyes wide at any cheetah and gryphon that seems amazing to her and she probably has a lot of 'eees' within her lungs that she's holding down, and is letting out.

Heh...Since Pax told us that he wanted to take a nap before he'd show us around his house, I'm betting she came up with an idea to ask another gryphon about that, and she probably had a blast that she went inside a house of a gryphon. Ahhh...Cora.

Then I started to think about Kevin and Jill again as we still walked in silence. About what Rick offered them earlier. Well...We can't force them to come with us, and me the others know it. That's up to them. If they want to stay here forever, so be it, if not, they can travel with us to go home. I hope they'll want to go with us. They're lucky to be in this world for three years and live that long...But it probably won't last forever, I'm having a feeling for sure it won't.

I sincerely hope they'll consider going...But if they love living in this world instead of their own...Then I can't make them go. Heck, since Paxadorf's a protective bird, if I even tried, I think he'll angrily squawk at me just to scare me off.

My thoughts about those people were cut short when Emily's voice cut through them, "Hey Scott." I peered past Damon's scaled form and see her pointing at something past us, "Look over there." I followed her gaze and caught sight of a pretty white and black feathered gryphon lying around on the ground beneath a huge tree that has a lot of green on it, laying under its shadow, preening feathers on an out-stretched wing.

All of us stopped where we were as my girlfriend smiled in admiration, "Doesn't that one look beautiful?"

I formed a smile as well, turning my head to her, "It does...In my honest opinion, probably second to Pax and Synis is the third."

Emily's blonde hair moved back and forth as she shook her skull, "No way. I think Pax is the second most beautiful and this one over there's the first most."

I playfully frowned at her, "You kidding me? Pax looks pretty good in all blue. Therefore, he's the most beautiful one."

Damon's snout held back a giggle, "Pax will probably love hearing that, I'll tell ya." Then he snapped his eyes down to Em and shrugged his shoulders, agreeing with me, "By the way, I do agree with Scott. Pax does look pretty good for a gryphon....And I don't meet gryphons a whole lot."

Emily waved us off, "You know what? Don't care what you say. That one looks beautifuller than that weirdo blue jay." I let out a laugh. Oh god! Blue jay!

Damon cocked his head quizzically, "Blue...Jay?"

I answered for him, "It's a bird from our world if that answers anything."

"Oh." He nodded when he peered at me, "Got it."

We both turned to Emily as she declared with her own finger pointing at her chest, "And while you both stand here and think it over and try to agree with my opinion, I'm gonna go over there and tell that one straight to its beak."

Damon chuckled lightly as he swished his tail, "Yeah, sure it won't take long to come to a conclusion on what gryphon is most beautiful."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Oh, whatever."

Then the drake watched the gryphon under that tree, still licking and straitening its feathers on the wing, "And I don't think we should bother that gryphon or gryphoness. It looks busy." Then he snickered, "Which I heard they usually are when they preen."

Emily walked across in front of us to the huge tree and another big bird anyway, "I know it's busy, but it won't take long." After strolling about a foot away, she looked back with a grin, "Maybe it won't mind when I do interrupt and say it to its face. And besides, it looks lonely."

"Doubt it feels that way." Damon smiled, "But...Fine. I guess we'll say hello to another gryphon."

I shrugged my hands as we both started to follow along behind her, "Sure, let's go." We all walked to that tree, wanting to greet the gryphon or...Gryphoness as Damon had put it. Don't see why not, other than seeing that gryphon looks busy. It's not like we haven't said hello to a lot of good citizens here anyway.

As our steps were planted against the grass, I think the black and white gryphon heard us and had its amber colored eyes trained on us with perked ears. That's when it talked to us with a smile on its black beak, its lion tail made a soft thump on the ground, "Oh, hello."

I realized right away by its voice that it's a girl. I politely waved at her, "Hi there."

"I assume you're the new guests of the village I heard about?" She eyed at me first, then Emily, "Looks like you guys are. You both don't look like Kevin and Jill. Especially you...Human female. Jill's hair is black as the black feathers on me. Your hair seems golden like."

Emily brushed her hair away, smiling from the compliment, "Gotta admit, that sounds nice."

Then the gryphoness looked up at Damon's face in awe, "And I CERTAINLY don't remember dragons living here. Normal ones at that."

Damon grinned when he simply stated, shifting his weight on his paws, "Yeah, well, I never heard gryphons and cheetahs living together, either."

"We have our reasons for living here. And I hadn't figured since the time us twenty-five gryphons started living here that we'd meet a normal dragon."

"Ain't the only normal dragon here, miss. Another one, who's practically smaller than me, is here too."

That had her head perked up in surprise, "Really? There's a hatchling here also?"

Damon snickered as he shook his snout, "Ah well, technically she's not a hatchling. She's old enough to be a teenager, although she can act like a brat."

The gryphoness giggled at that, folding her stretched out wing onto her back, "I know what that was like back then. And uh...Sorry that I haven't came to meet you guys earlier." She let out a pleasant sigh as her body shifted and laid a bit on her side, "I was just laying under the tree being lazy and all, after having my fill."

Damon shrugged his wings and shoulders, shaking his head, "It's alright. Nothing wrong with being lazy."

Emily rolled up her eyes, "Yeah, you'd know, lazy drake." He hissed at her.

After I giggled at the drake, I gazed upward at the tree we're standing under, "You sure did pick a nice spot to be lazy under. There is hardly any trees within the village...There's only one."

The girl gryphon replied, "Sure is...And it's practically mine. I lay under it most of the time."

Emily chuckled and raised her brow with her wrists planted at her hips, "MOST of the time? Now I don't know who's lazier. You or Damon."

Damon only mumbled, "Probably her."

Don't know if she heard that or not when the gryphon in front of us replied to Emily, "Wouldn't know since we just met." That's when she narrowed her eyes, "And by the way, I don't know how long you guys had travelled and all...But I'm not sharing you the tree."

I frowned curiously, "Why?"

"Because I hate sharing stuff, mostly...Especially spots." Her beak formed another smirk, "Since the day I began to live here, I claimed this tree as my favorite spot to lay and sleep under. And sorry, I'm not sharing. If you're feeling worn, find another place to rest."

"We're not in the mood for resting anyways." Damon cocked his head, "But hold on, don't you have a house to go to and a bed to lay on?"

"Course I do! But I do like laying right here during the day...When it's not raining."

The dragon nodded, "Gotcha. And I'm betting others lay under this tree without your fluffy butt under it. Have to get up and go somewhere sometime."

I see her talons on one foot kneaded against the ground as her face frowned, "Probably so, least I don't see them doing that. Cause if I see anyone lying under MY tree, I'm going to be...VERY PISSSSED."

Damon reared back his head, having wide eyes, "Whoa." Then he snaked his head down to me and whispered, "Ancestors....Never thought anyone would love a tree all that much."

I leaned in and whispered back, "Amen, brother."

The black and white gryphon's smile formed back on her beak, "Alright, enough about the tree. What're your names? Your name, dragon, is Damon, correct?" Damon acknowledged her with a nod, and then she asked me and Emily, "What about you humans?" She giggled and stretched out her neck as if she's trying to inspect us more, "Honestly-"

I rolled up my eyes and sighed, "Didn't expect to meet more humans in your life, I know." I giggled and put a hand to my chest, "I'm Scott." I thumbed through Damon's form toward Emily, "And the human girl with the golden hair is Emily."

The gryphon chirped in amusement, "Scott and Emily...Nice names from a foreign world."

Emily giggled and nodded back in gratitude, "Thank you. And to be honest with you, the reason why we came over here other than to say hello is because I just wanted to say that you look pretty beautiful for a gryphon." Her eyes looked over the huge bird creature, "Black and white certainly fits you."

The gryphoness warbled from those words, "Why thank you." She looked at her own butt, "I'm sure other than my ass the male gryphons usually go to, my good looks attract them too."

As the gryphoness's eyes tossed back to us, my girlfriend replied to that with a slight giggle, "Probably." Her hand waved over Damon's chest, to me, "If Scott over there was a gryphon, he'd probably go for you."

I shrugged my arms, correcting her on that fact, "Ah actually, I'd rather go after a blue female one."

The female gryphon stated, shaking her beak as one of her feathered wings twitched, "Sorry to say this human, but there are no blue gryphonesses around here. The only blue one in the village, who's actually male, is-"

I nodded and said before she finished, "Paxadorf."

She chuckled, "And you guys already met him I see."

"Yep, along with Kevin and Jill. Nice guy."

"He is." Her body made a quiver when she rolled her eyes dreamily along with a croon welled in her throat, "Oooo, and such a dashing gryphon with good hips. I could let him mate me all day if I want to."

My cheeks turned a bit red from that and I giggled a little bit in embarrassment, "I take it that you guys dated before."

"Since I know from Kevin and Jill what the word 'dated' means..." The gryphon said as she slowly shrugged her shoulders, "I'm gonna say...No. I just let him rut me since it's all fun...Other than letting another gryphon do that to me, of course. Most gryphons had wanted me and fucked me, but Paxadorf's my favorite."

I wrinkled my face in disgust. Is she kidding us? She just lets anyone that is gryphon screw her because it's fun? I spoke to her after a moment of silence, "So...You're a slut."

Emily glared and scolded me, "SCOTT!"

I defended myself, "What? That's what it sounds like."

The gryphon dismissively waved her paw, "I know what THAT word means too, and frankly I don't care...Actually nobody does. Not even my mother. Some of us gryphons mate for fun."

I crossed my arms, "I don't."

The female gryphon let out a low squawk, "You're joking, right? Are you telling me you never mated before?"

Damon's muzzle made a chuckle as the tips on both his wings pointed down at me and Emily, "Neither of them had."

She looked at me and Emily back and forth a few times, "Really? Both of you?" She shot up her beak and growled in delight, "Well you two outa get to that one day. You're missing out one of the most pleasurable things you could ever do! And quite honestly, and I know we just met, but I thought you both were together as MATES."

I blushed and I know Emily's blushing too. We said it at the same time, "Yeah….We're not."

"Still!"

I groaned, "Can we talk about something else?" I gestured to her, "Like what is your name? You still didn't tell us."

Her eyes went wide, "Oops. Sorry." She held up her beak and spoke it, "The name's Dawntail."

Emily's blush had went away when she smiled, "Dawntail, huh? Now that's a pretty name for a pretty gryphon."

Dawntail smiled upon her statement, "Thank you, stranger to this village and stranger from another world."

I smiled at the name myself, "Dawntail does sound pretty, I admit. And, if you don't mind me asking, why is your name Dawntail?"

We heard a voice interrupt this conversation, "Hey guys!" We all turned our heads and see the auburn feathered gryphon, Synis, padding up to us with his wings lying against his back. He stopped near me with his tail flicking and a smile on his beak, "Thought I come check on you. You guys seem to be liking this village already."

Damon grinned, tail swishing behind him, "We already have the minute we stepped in it, Synis."

I joined in, "We really like this place. And by the way we already got to meet the humans staying here."

Synis gave us a nod, "Yeah, I heard. I actually found that out from Jill." His form flinched a bit, "Although, she didn't seem happy when I asked her if she had met you. You guys know what got into her?"

Emily let out a breath when she replied, "Let's just say it was something about another gryphon and...Needs."

The auburn gryphon chuckled deeply a bit, "Well I hope she has the 'need' to calm down soon. She practically snapped at me like an angry gryphoness." I pictured Jill stomping across the village in anger and yelling at Synis for bothering her in her heated moment. Yep...Hope she gets that need soon, too. Synis then smirked when he locked his eyes on to Dawntail, "Speaking of gryphoness, I see you guys have met the lady who lies under a tree all day."

Dawntail gave him a glare, her ears splayed against her skull, "And hello to you, you big annoyance from the sky."

Emily playfully sighed as she held her hands to her hips, "Let me take a guess, Dawntail...When you sleep here, he wakes you up from your naps when he lands from the sky close to you and scares you to death, right?" Dawntail snapped her eyes towards Em as she went on, "I know from experience, only I wasn't sleeping."

The black and white gryphoness huffed in annoyance, "Thought he scared you by a landing, too." She gave Synis another sharp glare, "He is so annoying I just want to kick his ass all over this place."

"But you still want me afterwards." Synis let out a squawk that seemed to be filled with lust.

"Shut up. I'm not in the mood for you now." Synis tossed back his head and laughed. I just smirked and pinched the bridge of my nose. Oh man.

The auburn colored gryphon looked to us, "Well she's being grumpy now, like Jill, sorta. Say guys, how about just leave her be and come hang with me and my pals?"

Dawntail said, glare melting away, "Yeah, maybe you should go...I was going to take a nap when I was done preening anyway. I am a bit sleepy."

Damon gave me and Emily glances and we each gave him a nod. Then he smiled and turned his whole body towards the male gryphon, "Sure. We'll go hang with you and your friends."

Synis proudly shot up his head as he began to turn his body away from us, "Alright. I was on my way to them now. Let's go." With that, he strode off to that direction away from the tree and me, Emily and Damon started to trail after him.

Before I could walk anymore further from Dawntail and the tree, I stopped and looked back and see her laying her head on the ground, closing her eyes. I actually had an idea.

Ask her about the huge crystal that the Lost Souls have.

I know earlier me and the others told Kevin, Jill and Pax what we've went through, but me, Emily and Rick didn't mention a word about it. Like we had said to Damon and Cora when we met them, we just mentioned the fact that we were kidnapped by them and escaped. Course, I can tell Cora, since I admitted it to her and asked her about it a couple nights ago, knew from nearby that we weren't telling them everything. Maybe we should have told them that too, all three of them were curious as to why. At least give Kevin some closure to what happened to his father.

But just as usual, we didn't, probably because it wasn't too important. The important part was we escaped, unharmed. But...I partly still think it is important.

And Dawntail probably knows about it...

Someone grabbed ahold of my shoulder and shook me, trying to get my attention. I looked and saw while Damon and Synis were still strolling off Emily had come back to get me. She asked quizzically, "What are you doing?" She giggled and joked, "You admiring her? Are you finally seeing she's more beautiful than Pax?"

I smirked, "Don't count on it. Actually, I want to talk to Dawntail a bit more. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Emily looked past my shoulder and sees Dawntail, "Well....She's sleeping now. But okay, just don't come yelling for help if she gets angry at you for waking her up."

I rolled my eyes playfully, "Please. She just closed her eyes. Not like she slept for a long time." I grasped Emily's wrist and got her hand off me, "Be with you guys in a moment."

Emily nodded as she made another crack, "Alright. Don't make me come looking for you again, handsome." She winked and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I giggled as she started to back away from me a few steps before whirling around and running after the dragon and the gryphon. I let out a breath and spun around. Here we go...

I made my way back to Dawntail and the tree, the memories of that horrifying night clouding my mind. I hope she knows what I'm going to ask her. When I stopped right in front of her, one of Dawntail's ears flicked, probably heard my footstep, and she opened her eyes to see me.

The female gryphon rose her head off the ground, asking while frowning, "What are you doing here? Did you come back to talk to me some more?"

I slowly gestured my hand to her, "Actually...I came back to ask you something...If you wouldn't mind. This won't take long."

She brought her face right in front of mine, "Ok. What is it?"

I ran my hand through my hair as I explained it to her as best I could, "Look...You probably wonder, like everybody else here, why Lost Souls and Dark Dragons are after creatures from another world, right?"

Dawntail slowly nodded.

"And you do know what happened to the people that were with Kevin and Jill, right? One of them being Kevin's father?"

She nodded slowly again as a low pitiful squawk emitted in her throat, "Yes I do...I can see they told you all about it...Poor Kevin."

I shifted a bit on my feet, "Well, Kevin and Jill probably didn't see EXACTLY what happened to them...But I think I know what."

Dawntail had tilted her head, "What are you talking about?"

"...Me and Emily didn't tell you this, but...When we first arrived here, along with her father Rick, who is another guest of the village as well, we were kidnapped by those monsters along with a lot of other humans. We weren't just attacked."

Dawntail's eyes went wide, "Really? ...I had no idea."

I let out another breath, "Yeah, thing is....We were kidnapped to be taken to some...Big, huge crystal in some stone fortress those Lost Souls and Dark Dragons were at. They were forcing humans to...Literally go in it. It's a bit hard to explain, but when a human gets close enough to it..." I moved my hand around in front of her eyes, like it was floating, "Their body disappears and it gets turned into a small, speck of light that floats around in it." I shrugged my hands, "We had escaped from them, luckily, but yet I still wonder about it. Dawntail...Do you have ANY idea what crystal I'm talking about? Have you heard of something like that before?"

She dipped her beak and mulled it over, "Hmm..." Then a moment later, she shook her head, "No...Never heard of it. This sounds new to me."

Fuck...She doesn't know either.

Dawntail probably felt my disappointment and gave me a apologetic look, "I'm sorry."

I waved her off, "No, it's ok."

Then her eyes held confusion, "Now I really don't get it. Why did they do that to you and your kind? That's what I'm really wondering."

Same here, birdy. I sucked in a breath and let it out, "Oh well...I guess it doesn't matter now, does it? What's important is that we escaped, right?"

Dawntail gave me a smile, "That's right. And listen...If you ever want to chat, don't hesitate, even when I'm sleeping...I won't mind it. Same goes for Emily."

I smiled back, "Thanks." I made a few steps back, "Well, I'll leave you alone now. Have a nice nap."

Dawntail lowered her feathered head to the ground, her eyes still watching me, "I will. See you around."

Then I spun around and walked away, still feeling disappointment within my chest.

Well...That answers that. She didn't know either...