I can’t believe it’s come to this. All I do these days is fly... it used to be something that I loved, but now, it’s just boring. I used to love the feeling of the air flowing over my wings, and now I need to concentrate to even notice it. I hardly pay any attention to the once-fascinating terrain changes below me; none of it matters. Without my colony to guide me, without my parents to comfort me, there’s no way of knowing where to go. Well, there are the stories they told me, but those were hardly directions. All I know is that, should our home ever be destroyed, we go to the Northern Cap. Of course, it’s hardly that easy. I’m probably the only survivor, and though I’m almost three Cycles old, I feel like a chick again. Lost.
I look down for the first time in… I don’t know how long. To my surprise, there’s no sign of the ocean! Instead, I’m flying over a dark green forest, although which way I’m flying, I have no idea. The trees are somewhat twisted-looking, like giant claws reaching into the sky. Their leaves are long, thin, and they look sharper than my talons. The trees’ trunks are odd-looking things, all gnarled and knobbly, and they’re covered in rotting, mossy bark. I don’t see any movement, but I have a feeling that underneath the serene canopy, there are all sorts of malevolent creatures. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest; I’m a Gryphon, an apex predator everywhere I go. There’s nothing for me to fear except another Gryphon who’s stronger than me, or a better fighter.
Up ahead, the trees thin out for a couple hundred meters, giving way to thick bush, and then to tall, bright green grass. This grassy area stretches to either side as far as I can see, and in the center of it… a great river rushes mightily towards… somewhere else. It doesn’t matter though, because, finally, I can rest, drink some non-salty water, and cool down from my extended flight. I carefully land about twenty meters from the river, my legs shaking a little; I haven’t landed in days. A wave of exhaustion suddenly washes over me, and I almost fall asleep on my feet then and there. As I fight back the attractive thought of sleep, I see a small deer drinking the cold-looking water. He didn’t even hear me land! At long last, I get to eat something other than fish!
I lock on to my target, pondering how to kill it. This is my favourite part of hunting: having the freedom of choice, and the comfort of knowing that my prey will absolutely not escape me. This is what we evolved to do; whether simple griffins, or a mighty Umbral or Luxial Gryphon, we are all meant for one thing: to kill, to eat, to reign supreme over our world. No matter how much I try not to, I will always enjoy hunting. I can’t help it; my body is designed to release endorphins at the smell of non-Gryphon blood, just like everyone else’s. I eventually decide to slay it quickly and unexpectedly, so it won’t suffer. Unlike some, I prefer not to play with my food. One time, I even heard about a chick trying to make friends with a fish he’d just seen his parents catch for him!
My plan set in my mind, I slowly, silently walk towards the young buck, not even bothering to crouch to the ground or fold my still-outstretched wings. I don’t really need to, and, although I’ll never tell anyone, I absolutely hate having anything against my stomach, even the tall grass. I’m just really ticklish there, and it wouldn’t be good to burst out laughing while trying to sneak up on my prey. As I approach my target, I jump into the air without a sound and glide towards him. Three... Two... One... BAM! I land on his back, instantly making him fall to the ground, my well-placed foreleg hitting the buck’s neck and breaking it. I jump off of his paralyzed body, roll him onto his back, and press a talon against his neck. *Shink* I lick the blood off of my forepaw and smile; the scent makes me feel soooooo happy! Now, how are you supposed to eat a deer? ...whatever, I’ll just rip it into fish-sized pieces and eat as much as I can.
As much as I can turns out to be pretty much everything but the bones, and even those get the yummy marrow inside of them relocated to my stomach. After I’ve finished eating, I drink some nice, cold fresh water and take off again; it’s more flying for me. It’s rather tempting to stay here and sleep, but flight is all there is for me to do, at least until I find a more interesting purpose in life. For the moment, I think I’ll fly towards those two mountains in the distance; they look interesting. They’re like a pair of twins! I think that’s what I’ll call them: the Twin Mountains.