Today was a day like any other. Annoying.

I was awoken by the incessant noises coming from that cub’s chamber. After I forcefully quieted the foul thing down, I left to go hunting as my mood was soiled and I had nothing better to do. The forests below my domain were as tranquil as they often were, with the rare exception of a stray human ruining my stroll.

Unlike the human cub I hesitate to call my companion, this one was fully grown. That doesn’t mean it was any less rude than the cub however. The moment it laid it’s eyes on my majestic form it may as well have become a fish with how it was flopping around in fear.

Honestly, not even a “hello”.

Recently I’ve had the thought that humans in general are a particularly rude group of people. That includes those “races” as well. What difference does it make if the person refusing to say “hello” to me on a morning stroll has wings or a tail? They’re all still rude wastes of space in my opinion.

After leaving the rude, flopping human, my hopes that the day would get better were dashed almost instantly as I ran into a red dragon not far from where the human was. Unlike the previous dragon I vanquished this one was fully grown. Simply remarkable. My day just continues to get better.

Perhaps this dragon was why the human was so rude to me. Humans do tend to get rather rude when they perceive a danger to their life.

The dragon roared, as if to scare me away. I fail to even flinch at the sudden ear-piercing roar.

The brat’s screams are louder anyways.

In any case, the battle with the dragon was a short one. I didn’t bother with magic as I knew such a thing was useless against them. As fire bellowed out of the dragon’s throat, I evaded it’s flames and crushed it’s maw shut with my talons. Still keeping the dragon’s mouth shut, I throw the dreadful thing on the ground and dig deeply into its chest with my free claw via it’s soft and exposed underbelly. After efficiently relieving the dragon of it’s heart, it breathes its last.

Well, now my claw is covered in blood.

Despite the charred forrest and raging fires around me, I’m more concerned with my beautiful coat, and how it’s now stained with this vile creature’s blood. I don’t particularly care, but the cub would undoubtedly shriek if she saw me like this. I’d prefer to keep what little hearing I have left, so I make way to the nearest pond to wash myself, dragging the corpse with me.

It’s quite perplexing. The cub is not unfamiliar with gore, yet if there’s blood staining my coat from an unidentifiable source she quickly becomes terrified.

After I cleasned myself I made my way back to my domain. When I arrived, the human cub was still in her chamber, either that or looting my horde again.

The accursed brat thinks she’s being sneaky by taking whatever she wants from it when I’m not here. Well, it’s not like I care. I never use that junk anyways.

I made my way to my horde and cast the dragon’s corpse upon the pile. I’ll feast on it later today.

At that moment, a presence that I’ve despised for so long, flickers out of existence.

I pause, scanning with my senses to make sure I wasn’t mistaken.

It’s gone. That hideous sword is finally gone. What a wonderful day.

A moment after I think that I hear an earth-shattering shriek from the cub’s chamber.

“GRIFFIN! GET IN HERE!”

I’ve traded one evil for another, haven’t I?

IT’S GONE! THE SWORD I’VE BEEN RELYING ON FOR FIVE YEARS IS GONE! WHAT A HORRIBLE DAY!

“GRIFFIN! GET IN HERE!”

The sword is gone. It's just gone. It was here a second ago but as I was draining it of energy it just vanished! SWORDS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO DISAPPEAR!

As I was freaking out over how a sword just defied every bit of logic I understood, the circuit I was fine-tuning began to glow dangerously bright.

“SHIT!”

I knock away the energy crystal that was feeding the circuit and duck for cover. After waiting a few seconds with my hands over my head for the circuit to either cool-off to a degree I’m comfortable with or explode, I poke my head out from behind the dug-out I had the Griffin make me. I decided it was necessary to take safety precautions after I almost blew my hand off doing this exact same thing a few years ago.

The circuit wasn’t glowing anymore, but I could smell charred flesh and smoke was coming from the animal pelt I wrote it on. I ran out of usable paper about three years ago, so I’ve had to make due. Coming out from behind the dug-out, I throw the chard piece of flesh onto the “discard” pile and quickly sketch down the circuit in my notebook.

In a large circular chamber without shelving or filing-cabinets, large piles of stuff is about as organized as you can really get. I have a few piles around the room. One for books and other things I can’t sacrifice to my research, I’ve read all the books probably four times over trying to keep my sanity in this desolate mental-ward. The second pile is just a large pile of furs that I sleep on, the hard ice-floor isn’t good for your back. The third pile is all the circuits and devices that I’m happy with and deem fully-functional, although it’s a good size, part of me wishes it were a little bigger. The fourth pile is where I keep all the rocks I’ve made into magic crystals by sucking power from the sword that disappeared a few moments ago. Not only is this pile the only power-source I have, it's also the smallest. The last pile is for all the circuits I’ve discarded for various reasons, this is the largest one.

In the center of the room is a device I fashioned out of an old scabbard I found in the Griffin’s pile of random junk. The scabbard was stuck into the floor and it would drain the sword of its power, then the circuit would move the magic power into a rock positioned at the base of the scabbard. Right now, there’s a half-powered magic crystal at it’s base.

So the sword couldn’t even leave me with a proper parting gift. Fucking asshole.

I pick up the crystal and angrily throw it to the “energy” pile. The failure of an energy crystal dinks of the top and rolls to the bottom. I let out a long and drawn-out sigh out of sheer disappointment. This pile would last me a good month before the demands of my research caught up to it. If I can’t find a replacement energy source, then I’ll have to either cut my research short, or shrink the scope of my goal. Thats a huge shame, I almost had the death-ray done.

In hindsight, the past five years have been rather fruitful. I’ve furthered my understanding of the intricacies of the mechanics of magic circuits and how they function. I’ve got a few weapons that I’m satisfied with, despite the fact that they look like utter-crap. I have a few protective pieces of equipment as well, they also look like crap. In even more hindsight, I can’t really make anything look good while I’m working with the discarded trash of a large griffin, can I?

“For the gods’ sake, what do you want you ear-splitting annoyance?”

Speak of the devil.

“The sword Is gone! FUCKING GONE! What happened?!”

“The Goddess Vulkria fashions her swords from her magic. You drained all the magic from the sword and it vanished. Quite the fortunate outcome in my opinion.”

“FORTUNATE OUTCOME?! THIS IS TERRIBLE! My research will come to a grinding halt because of this!”

“Then those explosions you make will cease as well? Truly a fortunate outcome.”

“I WILL FUCKING SKIN YOU! Wait a second…”

Now that I think about it, didn’t Caboose power a circuit by putting his finger in it? I can’t do that but can’t I do that with this guy?

“Hey, do you mind if I take one or two of your feathers?”

The Griffin gave me a strange look.

“...no.”

“Just one? Pleeeeease?”

The Griffin turned around to leave my chamber.

“Absolutely not.”

“Well then what the fuck am I supposed to do now?!”

I didn’t get an answer.

Fuck. This is really bad. That sword was pretty much the whole reason I stayed in this stupid cave for five years. It was a guaranteed source of magical energy. Now that it’s gone I’ll have to go look for other pastures. I have no idea how long that will take, or even where to start looking.

“Seriously, what do I do now?”

…

…

…

I have to leave.

In all honesty, my departure from this cave is overdue. I’ve been here for five years after all. Everyone who knew me is either dead, or thinks that I’m dead. I have no idea what the current state of the world is, and I have even less of an idea where the other seconds could be.

Not only that, I have to continue my research.

And due to the new power situation, I can’t do that here.

What was my plan? Wasn’t it to make a famous store or something? I’ll probably have to if I want to be able to afford the huge amount of magic crystals I’ll need.

I ran over to my first pile and dug through it to find a large map. A world map believe it or not. Now I’m from a world more advanced than this one, where these things are everywhere, but back in the day a map was a huge expense. Ten-fold so for a world map. The fact that I found one in the Griffin’s pile was a fucking miracle.

After spreading the map out on the floor, I put my finger on the mountain range I’m at least 80% sure holds this cave. The Silverset Mountains.

They’re huge.

The mountain range almost connects one end of the continent to the other, and is clearly the largest mountain range on the continent. Anyways, if I’m going to leave the cave, I might as well leave the Othium Empire as well. They might kill me if they figure out who I am after all. And if I’m leaving the empire, I might as well leave the continent too. Why the fuck not?

The closest continent to the one I currently reside on, Azor, is the continent of Isera. The second smallest of the five known continents. It looks like if I go to a country called “Talcoya”, then I should be able to hop on a ship and ferry over there. The first of many problems however, is getting to Talcoya.

I wonder if I could get the Griffin to fly me there?

“Griffin, can you fly me somewhere?”

As I was feasting upon the dragon I had felled this morning, the cub asked me a strange question. Even stranger was her current appearance. She was wearing her usual clothes fashioned out of animal pelts that she had been wearing ever since she outgrew her human-made clothes, but that's not what was strange.

What was strange was that she seemed cleaner than she did this morning, in addition with the wide assortment of luggage she was carrying. Since this morning, it seems like the cub had washed herself, cut her pinkish hair back to shoulder length, and had filed her nails back to her finger-tips. It also seems like she stuffed her every belonging into the large number of bags strapped to her.

“While I am able to carry someone of your stature, why should I?”

“Because I’m leaving, and the place I want to go to is too far away for me to walk there.”

She’s leaving? Why would she be leaving? She’s been here for five years, unless…

“Does this have something to do with Vulkira’s sword?”

“Partly, it’s also because I’ve been here too long. I mean, everyone I knew thinks I’m dead…”

The cub didn’t turn her head away when she said that, but her eyes shifted downwards slightly.

“...You were quite young when you wandered into my domain, I can’t imagine you socialized that much.”

“Daddy paraded me around a bit…”

“I see, that does sound like something he would do… so you want me to return you to your previous home?”

“No, I want you to drop me off near a port town. I plan to leave the continent.”

“That's quite a journey, since I’ll have to carry you, it may take a day or so. What town do you want me to take you to?”

I can make it to the ocean in half a day, but I don’t think the cub will be able to handle that sort of haste.

“I don’t know the name, but it’s a port town in Talcoya.”

“...It will be about a day’s journey, why don’t we leave early tomorrow?”

“...Sure.”

After finishing the conversation, I returned to feasting upon the flesh. However, the human cub loitered around my chamber for a while.

“...Hey, do you want to play uno?”

“...Sure, why not?”

“Cub, wake up. If we do not depart soon we will not reach Talcoya before sundown.”

As I slowly crawl my way back to consciousness, it takes me a minute to register the Griffin’s words.

Oh yeah, I’m leaving today.

“I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

“Then I shall be waiting at the entrance.”

As the Griffin leaves, I work to free myself from the comfort provided by the pile of furs. It’s a real shame I can’t take these with me, I think I prefer this to actual beds. After escaping their grasp, I start gathering up the bags I packed yesterday.

Wait, there's one more than I remember packing.

The bag looked similar to any other, just that it wasn’t jammed full of things to the point that you could see the seams crying out in agony. In other words, a dead give-away that I didn’t pack it. I walk up to it and kick it across the room. It fumbles through the air and lands a few feet away from me, making a small *Thud* sound as it hits the ground.

Okay so it isn’t another “Fairy Dragon”. Thank fuck.

About a year ago, a Fairy dragon followed the Griffin back to the cave and fucked with me for about two weeks before I figured out what was going on. Apparently, the Griffin knew about the little bastard the whole time and just wanted to see me get mad, saying something about how I woke him up too early too often.

Anyways, after confirming that the bag wasn’t the false creation of a hellish animal with reality beckoning at it’s whim, I walk over and open it to see what was inside. Unclasping the latch and opening the top revealed that the bag was about half-full of white feathers. I plucked one from the pile and my fingers lightly tingled as I held it.

“…”

I tossed the feather back in the bag and closed it. I should have been ready to go by now.

I throw all the bags on and run towards the entrance of the cave. I run through the hallway leading to my chamber and into the main chamber. As I run through the main chamber and to the entrance, I look back at the space.

The glow from the blue moss had grown stronger over the years as the moss grew across the ceiling. The glow illuminated the tall and wide chamber revealing how empty the space was, save for the spare scrapped idea that I had yet to clean up. The various gaps in the wall lead to area that I barely spent anytime in, I was always either working or yelling at the Griffin.

Well, there was that chamber with the Griffin’s pile of junk that I spent a good while stealing from, but the Griffin doesn’t need to know about that.

After taking one last look at the cave, I ran to the entrance.

When I exited the cave, I saw the Griffin standing out on a perch.

“Are you ready to depart?”

“Yes.”

This will be the first time I’ve had my feet off the ground since my drunken rampage to Italy, I hope I don’t die this time.

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SLOW DOWN PLEASE!”

The cub was screaming to her heart's content while her tiny hands tightly gripped my feathers, desperately trying to stay on my back.

Before we began our journey to Talcoya, I suggested that I hold the cub with my talons while I flew so that she would not fall off. The cub insisted that doing that would be “insulting” and that she could handle it. After hearing this I may have gone a tad faster than I was originally intending, but she had no reason to know that.

“If I slow our speed, then we will not reach Talcoya before sundown.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Because of the wind rushing past us, the cub didn’t seem to be able to hear me. By all accounts I shouldn’t be able to hear the cub either, as the voice of someone her age should be drowned out by that same wind, yet somehow not even the wind can save me from this piercing cry.

I simply have to wonder if she really even is human. To my memory humans shouldn’t be able to scream so loudly. At least she isn’t screaming anymore. Wait a moment…

I look behind me to see the cub hurtling towards her doom as she couldn’t keep her grip and fell off. Again. Although I couldn’t hear her, thank the gods, I’m sure she was cursing me a thousand times over.

Throughout my time with the cub, I’ve noticed that I had heavily relied on my ability to sense the magic of others, and now that I’ve run into someone without any magic, I’m simply oblivious when it comes to them. I’ve attempted to correct that, but the results have been mixed at best.

Honestly, how am I supposed to hear a dragon beat its wings when it can be as silent as it wants with the employment of magic?

While shelving my query for a later date, I circle around and dive to catch the cub. After I pluck her from the air with my claw, I hover in the air for a bit so that the cub would be capable of hearing me.

“Cub, if you continue to fall off, then we will not make it to your destination before sundown.”

“YOU'VE ALREADY SAID THAT YOU BARBARIC PISS GRIFFIN!”

Oh, would you look at that, she lost her grip again.

I swoop down and catch her, this time landing afterwards. As soon as the cub sets her feet on the ground she practically collapses.

*GASP* “I think…” *GASP* “That I’d rather…” *GASP* “Ride on another train…” *GASP* “Than do that…” *GASP* “Again.” *GASP*

“I would hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we are only halfway to Talcoya. Whether you want to continue or go back, it would be the same distance either way.”

*GASP* “You…” *GASP* “You dropped me.” *GASP*

“I think that's quite a malicious interpretation of events. In anycase, since I’m already carrying your luggage in one of my palms, I might as well carry you in the other. You certainly wouldn’t fall off as much.”

The cub hesitated. She had stated before that doing so would be “insulting”, but now that she’s almost died an early death four times in a single day, she seems to be considering her options.

“......fine. BUT! If you drop me then so help me god, I’ll fucking skin you alive.”

“Whatever you say.”

I ignore the hollow threat and firmly grasp the cub in my palm. I think that I’ll increase our pace a little. I want to return to my domain before tomorrow after all.

After what felt like eight hours of tourture, we finally made it to our destination.

Actually that was a lie, the stupid Griffin dropped me off about a two hour walk away from the town.

“Why couldn’t you drop me off closer to the town?”

I asked while pointing my best working plasma rifle at the overgrown pigeon.

I wasn’t mad or anything.

Really.

“If I went any closer to the town, then I’m sure at least ten of the Valkyries stationed there would come to subjugate me.”

Wait, there are ten valkyries in this town? That feels like a lot. Also how can he tell from here?

“While ten valkyries wouldn’t be a threat to my life, I don’t particularly feel like engaging in combat at the moment.”

“How do you know there are ten valkyries?”

I lower the rifle and cram it back into one of my many bags. I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to fight. We had a Valkyrie back at my hometown, but not ten. Although Daddy never told me why she was there, I always got the idea that she was there for “peace-keeping”. Othium did take a lot of it’s territories by force after all.

“There are more than ten, I would say at least twenty.”

“Twenty! Why the fuck do they need that many valkyries there?!”

“You’re the human, wouldn’t you have a better idea than I?”

“Gah, fucking empire.”

When I as living with Daddy, I honestly didn’t care about whose flag was waving in front of the town hall, but after that train incident my opinion of the Othium empire was a little worse for wear.

Whatever, I’m leaving the continent. I’ll be far away from the empire by next week.

Looking up at the sun, I can see it was about two hours till sundown. If I wanted to make it to town before dark, I’d better leave soon. I turn towards the Griffin.

“Well… thanks for not eating me five years ago, I guess.”

“Hm, a decision I regret to this day.”

“Wha-!”

The Griffin flaps his wings and lifts off the ground.

“Goodbye Julie, if your next cohabitant grows tired of you, then you know my terms.”

“Do you think I’m just gonna leach off people all my life?! I’m capable of taking care of myself!”

“Now I would love to see that.”

With those words the Griffin puts power into his wings and bursts into the sky, heading back towards the Silverset mountains.

“HEY! YOU BIG FUCK PIGEON! AT LEAST BE HERE WHEN I SAY GOODBYE!”

That asshole! He could have waited half a second… wait, whats tha-

*THE SOUND OF AN ICE-FILLED SNOWBALL HITTING A YOUNG CHILD IN THE MIDDLE OF SPRING*

Would you believe that I got hit in the face with a snowball in the middle of spring? ‘Cause I just fucking did. It had ice in it too. Bastard. I’ll have to get back at him.