Snippet #1332436

The night was when life came alive in the desert. All sorts of creatures who can't stand the heat in their home were out. However, on this night there was another creature in the desert. A griffin. One that would only be seen if someone happened to look up at just the right moment to see a shadow racing over the sky. The moon was full, providing ample light for night sight, but the griffin was flying too high, so he looked no larger than a bug in the clear night sky. Occasionally, he was noticed by something, but nothing was done about him.

Up in the sky, the brown griffin shivered. It had certainly been a better choice to enter the desert at night. During the day, it was hot, and there were some rather nasty creatures patrolling both the land and sky. At night, most of the weaker creatures came out, most of which couldn't even fly, not at this hight at least. And it was this hight that was causing the problem! It was a horribly cold night, and the griffin was flying well above a safe level. Even the spell that he had put on his body to resist the frost was slowly becoming ineffective. Still this hight was not because he was reckless or stupid. This height was one the exact best height for finding a spire in the desert. High enough to have very wide visibility (good thing about the desert is that it has no clouds) but low enough that a spire would stand out at a fast speed.

The griffin's brown eyes scanned the earth, calmly looking for the spire, while the rest of his body was relaxed, but alert. This could very well be a trap, but the promises in the letter were too great. He had to try. But the troubling thoughts would not leave his mind. Why? Why were the Gods not trying to stop him? They knew everything, they would have known about the griffin's plots of revenge and the letter. If the letter was true, and such power would be his, would the Gods not try to stop him before he could obtain it? Or was it that they knew he was doomed to fail? They knew something he didn't, and it was a frustrating idea. The letter and this Chess person were mysterious enough without having the ominous sign of an easy trip.

About an hour ago, the landscape had given away to sand. Back then, it probably should have been best to cast a locator spell, but he hadn't expected it to take this long to find without magic. Now he was faced with the annoying idea that he could be minutes away from the spire, wasting the spell if he cast it, or saving another hour by doing so. Another minute went by and the griffin almost missed the spires appearing on the horizon. Almost. The griffin let out a whoop of joy and slowed his flight, making a quick decent. Soon enough, he was landing in front of the tallest spire. A bit of sand was kicked up from his land, and the soft sand gave way to his talons and paws, but it felt good for them to sink into the cool sand. He took a moment to check himself. A bit of frost had built up on his wings and beak, but he was alright and they weren't going to cause any problems in the long run. The bag he'd been carrying also seemed intact. It was a rather interesting invention. Made from his own molted feathers and charmed to stay close to his body; it looked invisible. The inside was also impressive. Charmed to be much large on the inside than on the outside, it contained an assortment of already prepared spells, food items, potions, a few magic books, magical items, and a few sentiments. Anything he might need.

The griffin's brown eyes lifted up to the spire. It really was quite large. His eyes traveled downward until he saw something that looked like an entrance. As soon as he had landed, he had started gathering his magic up to be prepared for an attack. Now he was ready. Confidently, he folded his wings to his side and strode into the spire, not looking the least bit afraid. However, the inside did make him stop in his tracks, for more reasons than one. The inside was breath taking enough, and his eyes took a minute to adjust to the soft purple glow, but he was suddenly rushed with a strong sense of magic that had been completely masked on the outside. The appearance of the inside reminded him of a rock he'd once been given as a present. When he was young, he didn't know his own strength yet, so his father had given him the rock and charmed it to roll around. Of course, the griffin had chased it, and at one point he had batted it so hard that it went flying and cracked open on another rock. At first he had been heart-broken, but when he saw the inside, he realized his father had expected him to break it.

The memories of his father were starting to form a lump in the griffin's throat and he shook it away. He could let his mind drift to the past later. He was here to avenge his father, and he must stay focused. The first thing he did was locate the source of the magic. It was all around him, but the strongest was coming from the center of the cavern. When he took a few steps forward, he noticed an odd, almost glowing circular patter. It was definitely transport magic, but it was bloody strong. Enough to say... transport a griffin to another world far away. The griffin chuckled at this, already interested. He knew there were other worlds out there, in fact, his world was linked to another, almost mirrored one in the next galaxy called the otherworld. Where this spell would take him was anyone's guess.

For the first time he felt a pang of uncertainty. He was leaving behind everything he knew to go off to some random world. Still, he wasn't leaving behind anything precious to him. The one important thing in his life was gone, and the only reason he had to return was for revenge. With that thought in mind, he moved over to the circle. His talons chinked against the floor as he made his way to the center of the markings, noticing how it began lighting up more with each step. He waited, quietly observing as the light emitting from the circle got brighter and brighter until he was forced to look up and close his eyes or risk being blinded. His body and the insides of the spire were bathed in the purple light and a light ray was shot out of the top of the spire, catching the attention of all the creatures in the desert.

Not a moment later, the griffin appeared somewhere else in a flash of purple light. He staggered forward and snapped out his wings to steady himself. The air around his shimmered and crackled for a moment as his own magic fought off the purple light. His eyes opened when his magic calmed.