We both ran as quickly as possible. The towers hung over our head as the first set of defense. I thought. Rain looked at me and I climbed fast up a tree and then I whistled. She started to sneak closer to the tower and I leaped off the tree. I grew brown and white feathers and grew a brite yellow beak and some bright yellow talons for feet.
I flapped around the soldiers head, making them distracted. One of the soldiers stabbed me in the leg and I almost fell with pain. My wing flapped harder and I dived into one of them. The soldier fell from the tower and I pulled up. The second soldier grabbed the gun beside him and pointed it at me. I flopped harder and harder up in the air, then I dived and swerved enough to not be shot. Then my beak made contact with the second soldier's chest.
He stammered back and dropped off the tower and I pressed the red button which opened the gate. rain had finally gotten out of the tower and started to climb. I stabbed the soldor with my beak.
When Rain got up I grew hair on my head and got pale skin, then I grew longer legs. My power was exhausted and I could barely move. Rain caught me. She helped me to the wall where I lay while she gave a fake hand that everything was fine.
"I can't fly you off the tower i can't even get off" i said disappointed
"We'll camp here. I'll keep lookout you get some rest" she said
I quickly went to sleep
"You have a family you spoiled brat" my sister yelled at me "unless you want to leave then you can not be that way"
My tears dropped down against my soft cheek and a couple fell on the dress my mother gave me before she left. My sister slapped me "you are not allowed to cry" she yelled in my face. She then dragged me toward a gray door. I struggled and kicked .
"No please '' I screamed when some people from the party looked at me. One looked mildly concerned but when most of them started to talk again she joined them. I struggled so much but when I heard the door open I cried "i want you to LET ME GO '' I yelled something. A piece of fur grew on my arm but I pushed the thought away. My anger subsided and so did the fur.
"Look, this is for your own good," my sister said to me, closing the door behind me. My hands were bleeding and my dress was ripped. Something inside me told me to get very angry to get up and slam myself against the door. To make a shattering scream a roar that would cover such distance. The soldiers would come, they would take me away from my sister, and I would be free. But I didn't want to listen. Images came to mind. My mother kissing me on the cheek saying
"I'll be back dont worry little star" she said walking toward the front door. My dad was already in the car and he didn't bother saying goodbye to me.
"I'll take care of you" my sister said in her nicer times. "Don't worry about that" she put both hands on my shoulders from behind. My mother closed the door, and tears dripped down my face faster and faster..
"Celesta wake up we have to go" Rain said
"You let me sleep longer than we agreed upon" i said getting up
"I didn't need sleep.. Plus when we're going to be flying a good distance.. Right" she said
"Yes we are" i got up and we packed up the supplied Rain did something unexpected she took the generator of the machine out after shutting it off of course.
"What are you doing? '' I picked up the sleeping bag and the bag with the tent. We didn't need it because there was already a roof.
"I want this for the volcano" she said
"Okay" i said i changed feathers appeared on my skin my arms became massive wings
"Are you sure you're able to fly with me and our supplies?" she said, looking at me doubtfully. "I mean we need to fly a good distance"
"If i can't i will at least egt us farther and faster than we would on foot" i said right before my beak changed. She packed up the stuff then got on my back. She gripped my feathers tightly but I didn't complain. I leaped and flew in the air as I went over the trees.
After about an hour passed I had to stop. My wings were in pain. I swooped down and landed in a pretty tall tree.
"You can sleep" rain said "i slept a bit on your back"
"Alright" i layed down and went to sleep
When I woke up the next day, Rain had gathered some fruits from the forest. "Breakfast is served!" she said, giving me a small cup full of crushed fruits.
"Thank you" I grabbed the fruit thankfully and ate once we were both finished. I changed into a bird. Rain got on my back like last time and we flew through the air. My wings flapped and I could tell the rain was asleep after a while. During the flight I grabbed a fish from the river gulping it down. When we got farther down the river I saw a huge castle.
It was very pretty but it was so far from here I saw the volcano and wondered if it was even worth going there. I mean we were going to be killed anyway.
"Rain wake up" i said with a squawk at the end, she stirred and then i heard a whisper in my ear
"Drop me on the roof and distract them" i dropped her carefully and noticeably on the roof they figured out i was there and as i flew they shot at me. I saw Rain quickly climb down and sneak attack one of the guards. The other two changed their aim and started to shoot and attack in the rain. I dived and speared one of the guards with my long beak.
"This bird is.." the guard said before he died. With that distraction Rain was able to kill the last guard with fire. We threw the guard into the river and hoped that the people saw it, that way they would know that their guards were destroyed.
"We should rest, i should rest" i corrected
"Yes i'll get us some food," she slid down the tower i saw a cut on her arm before she left. As I changed, my skin became hot and dry for some reason. I'm using my power too much. I thought while trying to fall asleep.
"Wake up brat, get on the road" my sister yelled in my face she gave me a bag that was pretty heavy and pushed me out the door. I walked for hours toward the sun. I never changed direction..
I woke up in terror.
"Are you alright Celesta? Rain said, her face showing concern. "We can go now is that's what you want" she said
"We have to walk" i said with a raspy voice as if id been exercising "i've used my power too much"
"Oh okay" she said, packing up our stuff. We didn't talk while we walked. Somehow it wasn't as awkward as I thought. I saw the trees as they looked carefully placed. I saw the dirt. It was more dusty and crusty than I knew it should be. The ground underneath my feet crunched and shrubs started to get in our path
"Rain?" I tried but the crackling and thundering muted my voice. I heard a muffled voice but I knew I wouldn't be able to hear what she had said. Dust clouded my view of what was happening. Then I saw a rock rolling down the volcano. It was coming closer and closer to me! "Rain!" I tried again but that's when ash clouded my lungs. I didn't think she heard me so I started to run toward the trees. I used the little energy I had to turn into my bird form. I flew up in the air over the massive dust cloud. I saw movement inside it and dived. My claws felt some kind of cloth and I lifted them. The object was very heavy.
I flew and my energy quickly drained. The item in my claws was motionless and so I was doubtful if it was her or not. When I landed on top of a small platform. I pecked the object. I saw the boulder go through the dust storm a way where if this wasn't her she wouldn't have survived. I pecked it again. It felt like metal. Oh no. I turned into my human form and unwrapped the object. Now that I could see through human eyes I could tell this was definitely her. It was cloth around a large chest like thing. I looked around the dust spot but I couldn't see anything.
"Rain!" I screamed and it echoed "Rain where are you!" I was scared for her and me. "I can't do this without you!" I saw a fury explosion in the distance. I heard shouting in that spot. "Rain!" I changed to my bird form and flew over the boulder that had instantly stopped moving in the dust. I flew over a small bit of forest to the fiery explosion.
That's when I saw Rain fighting this soldier. There were thousands of soldiers surrounding her. I changed from a hawk to a bear and used up most of my energy to protect her. My brown fur was slashed with blood now. Rain had loads of fear in her that I could only see in this form. Most of the soldiers though didn't have the same reaction; they continued to attack instead of Rain, me.
I did strike fear in them though. My massive paws slashed and broke their armor. I heard a crack as I broke another's bones. My energy quickly wore out and I wanted to collapse. That's when Rain hopped back in the battle. That's probably when she realized it was me and not a random bear. Rain's fire exploded as her power was fired by anger. Continued to attack but even I became a little burnt. My blood soaked brown fur was not holding right so I turned myself into a queen bee. I stung everyone but it wasn't that effective. I have no energy to change into the bear again or anything else. I decided to change back to human and threw knives at them.
"Leave me to the battle, you run out, you need to leave and get to safety" Rain had said using her fiery explosion "I'm about to let the fire take control!"
"But.."
"If it does, it might hurt you!" she screamed at me "go!" I ran into the woods not looking back though I knew I didn't want her to fight alone. I was afraid more soldiers would come. We had to kill all of them to finish and complete our mission. I collapsed on the grass and became unconscious.
When I woke up a few hours later. Rain was sitting beside me. She had a special herb in her hand. Lily could help with that. But Celesta knew that Rain would not want Lily here; she would not want her to die as well. Which led her to the question. Did rain pick me because she would feel bad if anyone else had died?
"Your awak grabbed some leaf and put this on your wound." Rain handed me the leaf she had gathered.
"Is everyone dead" i asked
"Yes and no" she pointed to a man who had brown skin like the other soldiers.
"Is he knocked out?" I asked , angry that she let one of them live.
"He's a researcher, we're going to use him and promise a return to his home. He obviously will die soon after," she said, giving a slight grin that said ''I wish I didn't have to.
"How will he help us!" i said
"He will help us with the volcano, telling us how to explode it."
"Use your fire" I said obviously. I didn't know why she was struggling. I thought she was going to use her fire.
"Well if I used my fire it would have to be hot enough to explode right? '' She said her hair was tied back by something she had found. After she finished healing her wounds she grabbed a plate of the honor the soldiers were wearing.
"What is that?" I asked instead.
"We need to disguise further if people find out they have high security. If we blend in then maybe we have a better chance."
I kind of want them to find out and put us in jail so maybe we could be released and find Lily.
"Even if we get caught, the recruiter will kill us. He will find a way to kill the village without us," she said, reading my mind. I don't know why but she was always good at that sort of thing.
"I know he would be freaking angry if he found out we didn't do what he asked. '' I looked at the trees surrounding us. The man was still unconscious and we had to move. My energy was not even close to full though. I slowly turned from a human to a bird. First the feathers popped up and then small details like my beak. Rain got atop my back and I picked up the man with my claws. I was a magnificent griffin. I didn't know I could be.
We started to fly in the air. The people in the towers below were screaming. They were trying to scare me.
They probably didn't know what I was. I saw a village below me. The griffin gave me much strength that was used in the flight toward the volcano. The people in the village screamed and the children laughed as if their childhood fantasy was real. I could have become a pegasus just for them. But I was a griffin. Griffins were strong and they held more energy.
"Celesta" Rain asked "I think we should land, he's waking up" Rain looked at the boy who was tied to her back. He was calm but waking up was kind of bad. They were in the air and the man would panic. Plus I was right over the village. I flew faster toward the deep forest. I needed to find a spot to land. I heard a scream come from my back. My ears were petrified. I dived to the ground and the man screamed louder. I swooped back up getting used to the sound but this allerted the guards and I wondered if we shouldn't just drop the man up here. He would be dead on the gravel and I could fly faster. But i didn't
"Please land Celesta as soon as possible-" then i heard her fall off my back i swooped down and grabbed her with my talons.
"Who are you?" he said with anger. He looked at me with astonishment.
I flipped and the man fell. He screamed and I picked him up with my other claw.
"Please let me down.. There's my home" he pointed somewhere but i didn't care.
"We are taking you to the volcano"
"Why!"
"Because if you don't cooperate" she signaled for me to fake drop him.
"Fine but what do you want!" The man was panicking.
"We will tell you later." I dropped on a tree very far from the forest. Humans would have a hard time getting there.
"Is this- a griffin!" he said, giving me a closer look.
"Yes" she said, looking at me as if to not change "go back to the village and get his family."
I nodded and flew back in the air. My energy was still very far from done. I could easily get his family. I went back to the village. That's when I felt a sharp pain in my side. They Were going to shoot me out of the sky and I screamed in my head. I picked up one of the people with a gun and dropped them off the building. More people started to shoot. So it rushed.
I rushed to the man's house in the courtyard. There was a girl there. She had blond hair and was fairly small. I changed in front of her to myself. My arm was in pain and I dropped to the ground.
The girl ran to me even through her fright. She looked at me with worry.
"Who are you?" she asked me
"Celesta.. Go get your family, everyone in it."
"Okay" the girl agreed. She didn't wonder about why I was here and she's doing what I say. I chuckled at the thought of what I would have done at the girls' age.
Thirty minutes later a lot of people in the family came out including the girl although she was being held by her mother.
"This is her," the girl said with a smile. "Me and her are friends." thank you silently.
"Look, someone is going to explode the volcano. We have saved a man and he begged us to get his family."
"Oh my- my husband went in the army a year ago he's dead" the women said angrily
"No he's not, he's alive and we have him please.. Come ''I motioned blood gushed from my gun wound. I changed into the griffin, some of my energy was restored and the gun wound didn't hurt as much.
"I think we should egt atop her" the girl cried freeing herself from her mothers grip. The mother was stunned
"Your- a griffin" she said the kids all ran to me climbing on top of me. When one of them touched my wound I squeaked , scaring them. The adults were skeptical, the girl motioned for the mother, and she came. "My husband!" she said and then the other women and men came. It was a heavy load and the men brought their guns. I started to fly and flew very quickly. I got shot by some people another time.
The men on my back, yelled at them and said "this is our ride to stop shooting" . The men who had stopped shooting were stunned that there were people on my back.
"Will everyone die?" the girl said. I nodded. I wanted to say to everyone in the village but being a griffin with less energy I couldn't.
"Is dad safe?" she asked i nodded again and flew faster the heavy weight upon my back was taking my energy and time to get to the place.
The forest around us now was very thick. I saw and heard people following us so I decided to swerve and I dived and flew up over the clouds. They could not see me now. They could probably hear me though because now some of the kids were screaming. When I found Rain i dived and landed on the tree.
"My family" the man said getting up and running to me
"Yes" Rain said, once everyone was off i changed in front of the family. My feathers started to molt away from my light skin. My beak changed to a human nose and my body changed to a standing position. They were astonished except for the girl. Rain was astonished that I showed my true identity.
"Really" she said.
"Yes" I said "they need to trust us" I said collapsing "Plus I will need to rest. I got shot by the other villagers."
"Yes we're sorry they're not used to a griffin," one of the men said. "But can I ask you to go get some more people?"
"Who" i said tiredly
"My friend John and his family are family friends." after other people chimed in and said other people.
"I'm only taking two complete families!" I yelled knowing I could not take everyone, some kids started to cry. "Then we have to get back to our journey!"
"Where are you going" the girl asked innocently
"We're going.. To try to stop the people from blowing up the mountain." i lied
"Yes we need to go close now" Rain said, looking at me with a glare.
"Okay" the family said
"Take the lockatas family" the man said "they live right by my house" he said looking at me "i will go with to convince them"
"Okay but that will be tomorrow" I looked at Rain. She was tired and I could tell the situation was weighing on her.