Asterians

Chapter 6 - A prince's escape

"I'm quite alright Mythor. I have called you here because of an occasion that happens only once in a 1000 years." Mythor looked at his father confused. There was no way he- "You must seek out someone to rule with you so that you can claim the throne. Now, I will not care who they might be, but you will know." King Raginal's voice faded slowly and he leaned back in his throne.

He coughed violently and Mythor sprung to his side. "Son, I do not have long left in this world due to your mother's passing. Not as a surprise, but you have to follow in my footsteps. I need you to find a princess or prince from a different planet to rule with you. The alliances of the planet have not a single heir produced yet that is your age. I'm sorry to have to do this to you Mythor. Take Koori and your space suits. Tok will take care of your position while you are gone." King Raginal closed his eyes and sighed.

"But father! How do you know that I'll find someone just like that? That's just something in fantasies!" Mythor exclaimed, and suddenly he understood why his father was forcing this on him. Morphians could tell when their final days were upon them, so his father may have a month or two remaining before joining the ranks of their ancestors. "Mythor, know that I love you and whatever choices you make. When you return, I may not be around but know then that I'll be watching you with your mother." King Raginal smiled gently at his son and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Go now and you'll get to see the galaxies you've been wishing for since you were a child."

Mythor nodded shakily, hoping his father would be here when he made his journey back to Morisrus. Slowly, he backed away from his father and swiftly left the room. Mythor passed some peasants along the way as he walked the quiet halls. Every step was agonizing silence. His heels clicked against the cold tile, announcing to the world that he was present. It was made every worse that he would have to go the long route to the stables today to get to Koori and their gear. Luckily, their gear came with the feature of space travel, but they would need to refuel on each planet that they came by. Mythor thought quickly on which planets were located in the closest radius of Morisrus and the first one that he thought of was Lumis. There were two or three planets between Lumis and Morisrus, so he could stop between them on the way.

The planet was beautiful with the forest near a cliff's edge. Some sightings show there had been more activity on the planet in recent years, which excited Mythor. Maybe he could even find royalty on the planet waiting for a prince or princess to be swept away to Morisrus. Mythor was getting ahead of himself, but he couldn't help but love the thought of adventure and learning how to survive in the true wilds, not the excuse they put him through each year where everything was handed to him on a silver platter. A literal silver platter embedded with the finest jewels as he walked out of the palace's Griffon Hangars.

As he got closer to the hangars he noticed less and less guards were around. Not that Mythor minded that is, but it seemed a bit suspicious that there was none inside the hangar when he arrived. It was silent, which the hangars never were. Calm down Mythor, the knight's must be needing to handle a scuttle or two that's extremely bad at the town. Mythor reasoned with himself, though he didn't believe it at all. 

He slowly approached Koori's stall, waiting for her coo's to bounce off the walls of the hangar. No such thing, but when he opened the door to her stall all he saw was a different griffon. Weird, someone must of accidentally taken her stall. He thought, trying to narrow down where she was placed.

Mythor passed by Sleet's stall, who was Tok's mount. The peasants in the castle were allowed if they were ranked highly enough to gain a griffon. Tok and his lineage had served the royal family for years, so it was only natural that he would gain one. Yet Sleet was a weird case in the griffon Hangars. His parents were King Raginal's mount, Indra and a Knight's griffon. Sleet is lucky he still has his life, yet the griffon had no idea that he could have died at a young age.

He looked quickly into Sleet's stall and saw no griffon in sight. Mythor crept forward from the stall and saw movement in the corner of his eye of a pure white feather. She must only be playing games with me. He let out a sigh of relief and quietly whistled to Koori. She reluctantly came out from the corner and she snorted at Mythor. "You really had me worried Koori, but we got to leave now." She looked at him with a puzzled look and cooed to him, seeming to ask why he would leave.

Because father is dying. He wanted to say to her, but he felt that he couldn't. His throat had clogged up with emotion and tears were coming to his eyes, ready to fight him until he spilled. "We got to go Koori. I will put your gear on and we will head out in a few minutes." Koori shook her head and that's when Mythor just gave up with reasoning with her. There was no way he could with the stubborn griffon. "I will quickly grab supplies in town for the journey, but there will be a few planets before Morisrus." Koori rolled her eyes and flicked her feathery tail.

Mythor headed for the saddle rack and rummaged quickly through the exploration drawer. He pulled out a little device that was no larger than his hand, yet he could place it on Koori and it would turn into armor within a blink of an eye. Luckily, it came with a cloaking feature that would help them with going through the town but it wouldn't last forever. He needed to be in and out of the town within an hour, or Koori would become visible to the people.

Some people wouldn't mind an eight foot tall griffon in their backyard eating the butterflies that stowed away on ships from Earth. Others would, so Mythor thought that would be the most logical choice to prevent the public from freaking out. He walked quickly towards Koori and packed her saddle bag. "We're really doing it Koori. Our dream of flying away from the castle walls." Mythor smiled gently at the griffon and she seemed to do so back through her eyes.

Mythor clipped the last strap together and breathed out a sigh of angst. What if something happens to his father while he is gone? There would be nobody to rule the kingdom but possibly Tok. His family had helped them for so long, so his father probably told him about their predicament. Koori cooed to him to calm down and he petted her soft white feathers. It seemed her normally icy cold blue eyes stilled into a gentle river flowing by. "Sorry girl, must be my nerves getting to me. Will you allow me up so we can fly out of here?"

She bent down to let Mythor onto her saddle. The stirrups clicked into his shoes, locking him in place so he didn't fall off. Koori opened her wings slowly and trotted towards the hangar's entrance. She looked back to Mythor, as if questioning if he was ready. "Don't worry girl. I'll be fine, I promise you." He smiled gently as she turned her head back towards the edge.

She backed up slowly and started sprinting towards the hangar's entrance. Mythor leaned forward to help with her aerodynamics in takeoff as she jumped from the platform. Suddenly they were flying towards the village, over the castle walls. Goodbye father. May we meet again when I return. Mythor thought and watched the trees passing underneath them.