24th of Thermidor, 1535

Scarecrows in the shape of goblins were erected near the lake's eastern side on upper-Kerth; each of them were filled with jaws of day old meat. It smelled much worse than anyone had imagined, especially in the middle of summer. Oleander sealed his nose with a clothespin, as did the others.

Gurleon ordered everyone into position; many of the goblins under his command hid in the while rice fields, while Oleander and Cormag took shelter in Cormag's hut. The two former Red Wolves members prepared themselves. Oleander stretched out his arms and legs and examined his claymore—the griffin would be the biggest thing his sword would soon cleave through.

Cormag’s preparation was much more involved. He filled up a small flask with finely ground orichalcum, egg yolks, honey, and alcohol. After vigorous shaking and mixing, Cormag made some rather low-quality orichalcum ink. He poured the concoction into six flip-tip containers with sponge pads at the bottom. Cormag fumbled through his knapsack and pulled out six wooden stamps—each with its own custom Signum symbol. He put the stamps in each container and tested how well the ink conformed to the stamp. The images came out perfectly enough for him to perform Signomancy, but Cormag knew he could’ve made better ink. He then slipped on a glove with thin orichalcum rods sewn into the leather—the rods formed a diamond. With the containers affixed to his belt, Cormag readied up right beside Oleander.”

“Think this’ll work Oleander?”

“I’m positive. Even the smartest of animals won’t deny food if they’re hungry. This is also a meal the griffin doesn’t have to fight for, making it more enticing.”

Oleander peered across the fields for Gurleon. He spotted him on top of a hut with one of his subordinates. Both of them were dressed in thatch camouflage.

“Eastern skies are still clear,” Gurleon’s subordinate, Mavix, called out to everyone nearby. The female goblin was a hair shorter than Gurleon and had her white hair tied into a long, tight braid. Mavix spun around to look at the mountain top to their south, “Mountain passage is clear as well.”

“Stay ready everyone, it can still show up at any moment. Check your rifles, load them if you haven’t. Affix bayonets, our best bet is to ground the beast and charge it when it lands. If we’re lucky—”

A far-off gunshot rang off in the distance, everyone except for Oleander heard it.

“Mavix, report! Is it one of our own out there?” Gurleon inquired.

“I’m not seeing anything, sir,” Mavix scanned the horizon, “Wait, I see something! Target spotted flying over Mt. Melogav to the east, thirty kilometers and closing.”

Gurleon ordered, “Everyone out of sight. Do not fire until I order it—”

“Second target spotted!”

Gurleon whipped around, “is it another dajjert?”

“I can’t tell—”

“Reig! Alert towers one through five, we need as many guns and bows trained on these beasts as possible.”

Cormag and Oleander scrambled to one of the windows trying to see the two specks off in the distance approaching them.

*****

The griffin closely followed its target, a winged snake-like creature, up and around the peak of Mt. Melogav. Small clumps of ice formed on both creatures’ wings as they raced up the mountain at frightening speeds. The griffin’s larger and thicker wings allowed it to gain more speed between flaps, but the snake’s thinner wings made it more adept at quickly changing directions. The snake and its rider, Winona, were only able to outpace the griffin because of how often they abruptly swerved to avoid it. No amount of turns would deter the beast as it was adament to make the snake its next meal. Winona had other plans, she took out her rifle and made wild shoots at the unyielding beast.

Winona switched tactics and went into a rapid descent towards the forest between the Kerth Plateau and Mt. Melogav. She pressed herself against her snake’s body to cut down on their drag; her snake closed its wings halfway. They dropped out of the sky like a bullet before leveling off with the ground and rocketing through the forest. It swerved around the sugar pine trees and over any low-lying briar bushes. The flying snake’s brown body camouflaged well with the forest floor and its feathers looked like dark green foliage; normally it would’ve tricked any unsuspecting animal, but the griffin, even with one working eye, wouldn’t be fooled. It dove out of the sky at over three hundred kilometers per hour—it moved so fast that it became a blur to Winona. She pulled on her snake’s reigns and pulled into a sharp ninety-degree turn.

The griffin pounced onto a nearby tree and snapped it in half. The beast tumbled across the ground but regathered itself just before it came to a full stop. It stared at the snake that also came to a complete stop after its sudden turn. They slowly circled one another.

“Don’t go feral on me Bishop, fighting this thing head-on is gonna get us both killed,” Winona tried tugging on Bishop’s reigns with all her might.

Bishop coiled up the back half of his body while he kept his head high. He opened up his wings as wide as possible and let out low hisses to get the beast to step away. In retaliation, the griffin let out an ear-splitting shriek.

The beast lunged forward with its talons out. Winona was powerless to stop Bishop from lunging as well. The griffin was able to pin Bishop to the ground, the big snake’s fangs just a hairsbreadth away from catching flesh. The bird’s eyes then locked onto Winona. Its first peck missed but when it tried again Winona walloped him in the good eye with the butt of her rifle. It shrieked again and stumbled back, Bishop slithered out of the beast’s grip. Winona snapped on his reigns and Bishop sprang up with a mighty beat of his wings. They shot straight up like a lightning bolt.

The griffin stumbled about until its vision returned. Filled with bloodlust, the beast took off in hot pursuit. Instead of serpentining like Winona did while flying around the mountain, she had another plan. As the griffin approached, Winona initiated a back somersault. As Bishop completed his 360-degree loop, his tail whipped down onto the griffin’s back—sounding like a thunderclap. Its wings stopped flapping and a large gash opened up along its spine. It dropped out of the sky like a lead weight, giving Winona and Bishop a golden opportunity to escape. Without hesitation, the two flew toward the Kerth Plateau.

*****

“The griffin is down. Repeat, the griffin is down,” Mavix announced, “The flying snake is headed directly for us.”

Gurleon commanded, “Fire on my mark only! We know nothing about this new target!”

The flying snake rose over the plateau and flew fifteen meters above everyone. One of the goblins screamed, “It’s a dragon!” Another one screeched, “Dragons fly among us!” The majority of Gurleon’s troops fled as Winona and Bishop settled in the sky above the lake.

“Stop! I said stop! That’s an order for all of you!" Gurleon grabbed two of his underlings, but they were so terrified that they slipped out of their coats and ran for the entrances to the undercity. Gurleon now only had Mavix, a scout, and Reig, the meekest member of his team. His hopes lay mostly with the two former Red Wolves members.

A sliver of fear infiltrated Cormag’s voice, “What’s-what’s a coatl doing on this side of the Gthraxian Spires?”

Oleander added, “I dunno, but it’s not attacking us...wait...I think someones riding it."

"I think it’s a human," Cormag remarked, "I thought only Kassedians could tame coatls!”

“I thought so too. Do you still have that lightning stamp?”

“Think we’ll need it?” A sharp eagle’s screech shot across the plateau. “Oh we’re definitely going to need it,” Oleander affirmed as he readied his claymore.

The griffin flew around the plateau and entered Kerth from the north side—trying to blindside Winona and Bishop. It only managed to slash off a clawful of feathers. “Volley, fire!” Gurleon, Mavix, and Reig, and the remaining goblins spread out in different towers all fired upon the griffin. A cacophony of gunshots rang out. Several made their marks, but the griffin did not fall.

Oleander watched as Winona maneuvered Bishop in a wide circle within the Kerth Plateau allowing soldiers in each tower to get a small window of opportunity to shoot the griffin at close range. “Cormag, get that lightning stamp ready, on my command you blast it.”

“Aye, aye Oleander.”

Oleander dashed across the wild rice fields towards the closest tower. He ascended the ladder and raced to the top. He was surrounded by five goblins frantically reloading their rifles. “Sit this round out lads, I’ve got this.” With a running start, Oleander jumped onto Bishop’s tail as he passed by. Bishop immediately lost speed and elevation; thankfully they fell fast enough that the griffin had overtaken them without getting a chance to swipe at them. In order to get back behind the snake, the griffin performed its own back somersault while bracing itself from a barrage of bullets.

“Oy, the ride ain’t free, get off!” Winona snapped at Oleander he made Bishop harder to control.

“Cormag, now!” Cormag stamped the lightning symbol onto his palm, in the center of the orichalcum diamond on his glove. He slid his thumb against one of his canines and drew blood; he drew a single line of blood from one side of the diamond, through the lightning symbol, and to the opposite side. The symbol and surrounding diamond turned red, and sparks started shooting from his hand.

“Blood Bolt!” A red streak of lightning rocketed from Cormag’s palm and contorted itself into the sky. It barely missed Bishop and shot right through the griffin. Its whole body was stunned with red sparks coursing through its pelt. It fell towards the ground seemingly immobile. Oleander swung off Bishop’s tail and lunged for the griffin.

“Wait! Wait! I was joking! I wasn’t serious about getting off!” Winona shrieked as she saw Oleander take his leap of faith.

He landed on the griffin’s back as it was starting to shake off the effects of Cormag’s blast. Oleander reached as far back as he could with his sword and then cleaved through the base of the griffin’s right wing—severing it completely. The griffin and by extension Oleander went into a tailspin which ended with them crash landing into the lake. Oleander was caught by the beast’s flailing as he was kicked down to the bottom of the lake; he bounced off the glass bottom. Both impacts took away most of his air. After being spun around, he lost his orientation and his vision started to tunnel. The griffin clawed its way out from the wate.

“Pin it down!” Gurleon ordered as Mavix and Reig rushed forward.

The two of them jumped onto the griffin’s wing; With nary a moment to spare, the two of them stabbed their bayonets through the wing and deep into the dirt. The beast let out a painful roar. It leaned the opposite way from the two goblins to pull itself free. It managed to rip partway free before Gurleon ran up the wing and jumped onto its back. He frantically stabbed the base of the left wing until the bayonet got stuck; with his last bullet primed, he shot directly into the open wound—obliterating the muscle and leaving the wing to go limp.

The feverish beating of his heart monopolized Oleander's hearing. "Alex..." A soft voice faded into his mind. “Alex!” His heart started beating even faster. The voice screamed, “Alex, help me!” Wrapped in pain and fear—the innocent plea snapped Oleander's vision back. He wasn’t done yet. He struggled to swim back to the surface with his claymore. As he broke the surface, he inhaled like he hadn’t breathed in a thousand years.

He saw the beast back kick Mavix and Reig far into the wild rice fields. Gurleon rolled out of the way of the griffin’s claws. Unfortunately, another stray kick found its mark, and Gurleon was sent tumbling across the ground. It turned to face Oleander, who was still struggling to get back to his feet.

Cormag wiped his glove clean and then stamped a second symbol onto his palm. With a line of blood, the symbol turned red and a swarm of gnats, flies, and mosquitos formed around his hand.

“Go my minions!” The swarm harmlessly assaulted the griffin, succeeding at least in changing its choice of target. Cormag stamped his palm with the lightning symbol again, “Blood Bolt!” The red streak of electricity whipped through the air and shot through the griffin. It buckled and fell to its knees.

Cormag pulled out his knife and ran forward, “That eyeball is mine!” The distance was too far for Cormag to cover before his attack’s stun wore off. The griffin lunged forward and caught Cormag’s head in between its beak. The manic goblin flailed and made meager slashes at the beast’s head—only landing one soft cut on its cheek. The griffin snapped its head and sent Cormag flying up, only to open its beak up wide and swallow him whole.

“Cormag!” Oleander yelled as he scrambled to his feet. He gripped both of his hands around the hilt of his claymore. His field of view started to tunnel like before, but his whole body felt like it was on fire. The desire to rip this monster into millions of unidentifiable pieces was hard to contain. Shards of metal formed along his fingers and on his palms.

The griffin turned to face Oleander. It let out a beleaguered screech. Oleander let out a psychotic yell as the two rushed towards each other. The griffin leaped towards Oleander with its talons out. The enraged monster hunter twisted his body and swung full force. The blade cracked as he severed the right leg and then shattered completely as he sliced off the left leg. The griffin slumped to the ground trying to readjust itself with only its hind legs. When it flailed itself onto its back, Oleander pounced onto its neck. He grabbed its beak and started prying it open.

"You made this personal motherfucker!” Oleander yelled as he wrenched the bird’s jaws open at a 180-degree angle; the metal shards on his hand flew off as he triumphantly opened its mouth. The beast twitched several times as Oleander fished through its esophagus for Cormag.

Covered in stomach juices and mucus, Cormag could only grumble, “I nearly had him.”

“Keep getting carried away like this in combat and I won’t be able to save your scrawny ass,” Oleander explained as he dropped Cormag. He fell to one knee as his heart suddenly stopped beating as fast.

“You okay?” Cormag asked wiping off the stomach acid from his hat.

“I’ll manage,” Oleander reassured. They both shared a smirk and then a laugh.

Despite taking a full-force kick from the griffin, Gurleon stumbled his way over to Cormag and Oleander. He vigorously shook both of their hands; he even looked up at Winona and Bishop and signaled for them to descend. Once they did, Gurleon scrambled onto Bishop and shook Winona’s hand, “You’ve got impeccable timing, miss human, hadn’t been for you, that fight would’ve gone far worse.”

“Honestly, I’m happy to see that big brute stay down. Glad I could be of some help,” Winona remarked.

Oleander stood back up and addressed the coatl rider, “We make a great team miss, we’ll have to do it again sometime.”

“Only if you promise to not throw yourself off Bishop. Bloody hell, nearly shat meself when I saw you drop.”

“Sorry about that, I saw an opportunity and I took it. What’s your name miss, don’t see many coatl riders this side of the continent.”

“Winona Valentine, most people just call me Winnie. And this big beautiful boy is Bishop.”

“Big is an understatement, he’s huge,” Cormag remarked.

“Whatcha mean?”

“He’s easily double the size of any coatl the two of us have seen,” Oleander explained.

“Huh, dunno much about other coatls; I just hatched me boy from an egg.”

“Gods, there’s a breed of coatl that are just that big now?” Cormag shook his head.

Winona shrugged. “Oy, since I helped you lot, maybe you can help me out.” She unstrapped her seat from Bishop’s body and it slowly started sliding down his body until the wheels on the sides of her seat caught the ground. She revealed her saddle to be a modified wheelchair. She propelled herself towards Gurleon, Oleander, and Cormag. Now, getting a better view of her, Oleander could see her long blonde hair, brown eyes, and most striking of all her green, white, and black Endymion military uniform. She reached back into one of her knapsacks and pulled out a map. “Now, where the bloody hell am I? I can’t make heads or tails of this map, and this compass I bought just keeps spinning.”

Mavix hobbled over towards the group, “Compasses don’t work around Kerth. It’s all the magnetic ore underneath the city. In this area, all navigation is celestial.”

“...brilliant...I missed that part at the military academy,” Winona remarked, “Just point me to the nearest human settlement, this little holiday around Eastern Altabaster has been lovely but me and Bishop need a fortnight’s rest. Right, Bishi-boy?”

She turned to see her coatl unhinging his jaw and slowly swallowing the scarecrows filled with now rotting meat. “Bishop! That’s not ours!”

“It’s alright, he’s more than earned it. It was going to be bait for the griffin anyway,” Gurleon explained, “We’d love to reward you for all you’ve done—”

“—All I need are directions to the nearest human settlement. I can't carry that much extra while riding Bishop anyway."

Mavix and Reig led Winnie away towards the western edge of the plateau where they could point out the border between Morrigan and Sotra.

Gurleon turned to Oleander and Cormag, “Not what I figured would happen today, but all for the best. I’ll run this incident through high command in the undercity, it might take a couple of days...maybe a week at most for any paperwork to be drawn up—”

Oleander and Cormag groaned. Gurleon continued, “But I assure you two, you’ll get paid. Aid like this shouldn’t go unrewarded, at least not on my watch.”

“Well send the money this way whenever you can,” Oleander handed Gurleon his address. Oleander looked over to his broken sword and then over to the two severed griffin claws. The talons looked sharp, thick, and durable. He kelt over and picked them up, "I'll take these as a downpayment."

Cormag, not letting the opportunity pass him by, dug his knife into the griffin's eye socket and popped out the good eye.

"Not so tough now are you?" He remarked after taking a victorious chomp.

Gurleon snorted out a small laugh, “That's fine by me. I take it that you two will be on your way?”

Oleander replied, “I got a quiet little homestead to get back to. Say you wouldn’t happen to know anyone around here who sells horses would you?”

“Only goats I’m afraid,” Gurleon shrugged.

“Oh! I actually figured out a way to get you home Oleander,” Cormag remarked.

“I swear to the gods above if this is another—”

“—It’s not a joke, I came up with it last night. I got it all set up and ready to go.”

“Well shit, what are we waiting for then.”

Oleander and Cormag said their good-byes to Gurleon, Mavix, Reig, and their new acquaintance Winona. The moment they climbed back down into Cormag’s library, Oleander was assaulted by Bashaz. The poor thing had been cooped up all day and was excited to see her two favorite people.

“So this idea I have. You might not like it, but I think it’s the fastest way I can get you home.”

“Alright, hit me with it,” Oleander replied.

Cormag shoved his desk out of the way and revealed a small safe. Inside was a red, glassy octahedron wrapped in cloth.

Oleander’s demeanor soured upon seeing the crystal, “You keep that devil shit away from me!”

“It’s not devil shit!”

Oleander snapped, “Then where did it come from?”

Cormag paused, “...This has been important for my research!”

“Research that Garrison, Murdoch, and I said you had to stop. Using those corpse crystals—”

“—They’re called Philosopher’s Stones!—” Cormag corrected.

“—I don’t care what fancy name you give them, that shits evil!”

Cormag snapped back, “Well, do you want to go home or not?”

Oleander stared daggers at Cormag.

The goblin grumbled, “...Look, I promise that this will be the last I use.”

“It better be. I don't need that stuff around my house. Alright then...get on with it,” Oleander remarked.

Cormag grabbed a bundle of orichalcum and outlined a giant square around his house. He drew a symbol on the front door identical to the one that appeared on Oleander’s wall when Cormag sent him a letter. Finally, Cormag drew a line from the square outside to the center of his library. To that line, he attached a circle and then drew one last symbol inside of it.

“There! If I have this right, this should bring us all the way to your house.”

“Wait, how?”

“Remember, how I mailed that letter to you?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I’m essentially going to mail my house to you,” Cormag slid his thumb against his tooth and drew blood. He dripped a bit onto the crystal, which started ominously humming. Cormag slammed the crystal onto the symbol in the library. The familiar red glow of Signomancy was replaced with cold, dark energy; the green, chalky outlined turned jet black. Some of that energy even jumped into the disconnected symbol on the door.

“Cormag, you’ve done something like this before, right?” Oleander asked.

“On this scale...nope."

They felt the floorboards shake and the windows shudder. Textbooks and tomes rained from the bookcases. Pots and pans were ejected from cabinets. Bashaz jumped into Oleander’s arms and cowered in fear as it felt like the house was going to start tearing itself apart. The view outside was strange; Kerth had disappeared and was replaced by an endless void of black, gray, and white particles. They felt pushed down as if the house had suddenly launched itself into the air.

“Grab onto something!” Cormag yelled as he straddled one of the legs of his desk.

Oleander hugged the doorframe between the library and Cormag’s bedroom. "I swear if we both die, I’ll beat your ghost until the end of time happens!”

They could feel the whole house move faster and faster. The particles outside the window became a blur. A group of pinkish-purple lights shone in through the window; only Cormag noticed them as Oleander was too busy clinging onto the doorframe and Bashaz. The lights focused into five diamonds in a specific pattern.

Even with everything in the room sliding to the right, Cormag tried approaching the window to get a better look. Deep hums and sharp scratches echoed in his head just before the five diamonds blinked away. Their forward movement suddenly stopped. And then, just as suddenly, they felt the sensation of falling—their bodies even came off the floor for a brief instant. Then crash! Oleander and Cormag slammed down onto the floor. Bookcases toppled over. Everything wedged into the kitchen cabinets now littered the floor.

“Oof, there’s a 50/50 chance that we’re at your house...or in hell,” Coramg remarked as he soothed his head injury.

“For your sake, it better be the former,” Oleander pulled himself up and started clearing a path to the front door.

Without anything keeping the metal tunnel attached to Cormag's library in place, it toppled over with a thunderous crash. "Ah shit. Well, it's not like I have an upper-house anymore."

"Isn't this now considered an upper-house?" Oleander asked.

"Huh, I guess it does," Cormag replied with a small chuckle.

“Was zum Teufel?!” A voice exclaimed from outside.

“Oleander, we’ve got company,” Cormag brandished his knife.

“Wait, hold it Cormag.” Oleander held him back. The front door swung open as Moira pointed her newly crafted shotgun into the room. “Begone from the home of Herr Swine!”

Oleander stood in between Cormag and Moira, “Hey, hey! Easy both of you!”

“Herr Swine? How did you?”

“Cormag was able to bring me back home. We’ll, unfortunately, have to make do without a horse for a bit. I can find one in Blackburn Hollow.”

"But he brought you home by moving a house?" Moira still confusedly asked.

"With Signomancy. Name's Cormag, I'm the greatest Signomancer this side of Kerth. I take it you must be his Spiderkin maid?"

Moira sneered, "How quaint...a lizard that does Bemerog magic tricks."

"Keep it civil you two," Oleander looked down at Moira’s hands, “Is that the finished gun?”

“I need...a day or two to finish testing. I want to make sure it can handle dummy shells filled with gun powder.”

“Shouldn’t it be good as is?” Cormag asked.

“I need to make sure it doesn’t explode in Herr Swine’s hands.”

"Take as long as you need. I also brought these," Oleander handed the severed griffin talons over to Moira, "That griffin took my claymore with it, so I'm going to need a new weapon for close-quarters combat."

Moira looked the claws over before setting them on the table. She took a hammer attached to the side of her dress and slammed it down onto one of the talons; it didn’t crack, there wasn’t even any noticeable damage. “Oh yes, I can work with these, but not until the gun is complete.” Moira scuttled away while periodically looking back at the new house extension they received. Bashaz secretly followed her out the door.

"A Spiderkin blacksmith, not a bad find Oleander. You are serious about this whole restarting a hunting company idea," Cormag remarked.

“It’s a start,” Oleander replied, “I just need to find a few more people. Would you be interested in sticking around to see it all come together?"

"You already know the answer to that," Cormag playfully elbowed Oleander's side.

"Hey, I don't know what your plans are, I figured you would bring me home and then pop on back to Kerth."

"Well...about that. I was only able to teleport here because my front door and your wall have the same symbol. There isn't a corresponding symbol in Kerth anymore...so if I tried transporting my house...I warp somewhere completely different...or maybe even explode. Not likely, but possible."

Oleander examined where his house and Cormag's house met, "There's only one wall here, it looks like the front of your house overwrote my wall."

"I think that's the best way to describe it."

"So um...what happened to that section of wall?" Oleander asked.

Cormag shrugged.

A chilling thought popped into Oleander's mind, "Cormag if anything was occupying this same space your house ended up taking, what would've happened to it?"

Cormag shrugged again.