The Game is On

After a pleasant lunch time chatting with Hira, the time had come for Thunder to bite another bullet, or peck another arrow, or whatever term they used around here. At the southern gate, he was supposed to meet with Karyn for a hunting practice.

She was already expecting for him there and nodded upon seeing him, “Right on time.”

“I thought we were going to the northern gate as with Karmyl,” he commented.

“Level three areas are too tame for a proper hunting. Training or not, you must know that it’s at same time your life on the line and those which you are committed to finding food for,” she explained. “We’ll venture deeper into the forest, looking for level four and five areas. There, monsters will attack you just because you’re approaching their territory, so keep your guard up and your senses fully alert to your surroundings. And above all else, Sparky: Don’t fuck up with me.”

“I’ll try my best, sir!” he answered.

“Good. The same directories my daughter gave you are in vigor there. If, anytime, I say to you leave me there and go back, you do. No second thoughts and, above all else, no playing the hero. That’s a very good way to die out there. In order to go back to Austarak, fly high above the trees. I see you and Hira flying to the clouds, so I know you can fly that high.”

“You said as if griffins couldn’t fly above tree’s height,” he commented curiously.

“Most griffins can’t keep flying that high for long. Thankfully you can, thanks to that weather magic you told us about. And I’ll be glad a lot to you if you can teach that to my daughter.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” He nodded with a smile. “Anything else?”

Different from the survival lessons, hunting with Karyn was always pushing Thunder to his limit. More than just identifying if something has passed nearby recently, Karyn made sure he knew which direction it went before they followed. When they reached the level four areas, Thunder was almost instantly forced to drag his bow to defend himself against a wolf-like creature with large canine fangs and dark green fur all over his body. Karyn said that was a cedar wolf and, much to Thunder’s surprise, she pointed to a marking and said it was typical of lonely cedar wolves. The packs normally roamed level five areas and the loner knew better that to try those same areas without the help of a group.

Thunder understood now when Karyn said he should always keep his sense into full alert mode all times. Many times, it was a faint bush rustling that warned him he was target of a creature or another, while other times it was a sweet and delicious aroma that warned him of a trap. By the time they returned to Austarak, both had a nice amount of cuts and bruises, but nothing deep enough to leave a scar. They also managed to bring back a couple lonely cedar wolves they killed on their way back. Karyn said it has been a long time since she had eaten a succulent cedar wolf grilled steak.

When dinner time came, Thunder found himself sharing a table with Karyn, Karmyl and Baldok again. They shared a couple more histories about their lives, taking laughs out of the others in the table. And then, even before their dinner was properly finished, Thunder heard a sound echoing the whole training complex. Karyn and Baldok quickly got up and rushed outside along with many other griffins around. Thunder was about to follow when Karmyl held his forepaw.

“That was the alert we use when an enemy is attacking,” she explained. “If it was a wild beast, the signal would be different and both Archers and Hunters would be expected to join the battle, mostly as a training session under the eyes of their Masters. An enemy, though, means it’s a matter for the Rangers to solve.”

“And… what are we supposed to do?”

“Be safe. Come!” she then ran along a flux of other griffins.

Their path eventually guided them across the main atrium. Looking outside one of the windows there, one thing called Thunder’s attention. A sole hippogriff was there, covered mostly by a dark mantle with a symbol on its back that resembled a skull with a dark grey halo above it.

Three Rangers came to attack her, but were easily defeated. Truth be told, Thunder couldn’t actually identify how she managed to defeat them, but she seemed secure enough of herself.

Stopping, Thunder took his bow and drew an arrow, quickly pulling the string and releasing the arrow against the aggressor. However, he haven’t stopped to see if it had hit or not, he continued to follow the stream of griffins, ponies, zebras and other hippogriffs to wherever they called safe. Soon, they all could hear the pain scream of the hippogriff. She looked around, the arrow still stuck to her flank where it hit.

Sudden, she turned to see a volley of arrows from other Rangers shooting at her. Thunder could actually see her beak moving as if she was cursing and, as if nothing had happened, she disappeared and all the arrows hit the ground.

When he noticed it, Thunder stood there, eyes wide open. He then felt someone pulling his tail. Looking back, it was Karmyl. “What are you doing?”

“She was looking for something…” Thunder answered.

“What?”

“A hippogriff was right there. She was wearing a black mantle with a skull and a halo on it…” Thunder said, focusing all his senses around him. “I shoot an arrow at her and hid among the other refugees. I hit her and distracted her enough for the Rangers to come but…”

He then jumped out of the line and followed exactly to where the hippogriff was. “HEY! THUNDER!” Karmyl took flight just after him.

There, Thunder started looking around. All his senses were fully listening to his surroundings. Suddenly, he felt something. “Karmyl…” she looked at him worried, “… what you have in that direction?” Thunder asked pointing with a claw.

“Inside the complex? Nothing that much important. I mean, it’s the playground for children when their parents are on missions and facilities like that, but…” she answered.

“And out of it?”

“Hmmm… Austarak’s main square, the western exit, and Keura’s Temple too…”

“Wanna make something crazy?” he asked.

“What?”

“I think they’re attacking the Temple.”

Karmyl’s eyes widened at that. “You want to raid them yourself? That’s crazy!” then she looked at him and he smiled.

“I know,” he chuckled, and then took flight. Karmyl followed him soon after, both going right towards the sky. A couple minutes later, they were in front of a cloud. “Do you remember your lessons about sitting on clouds?” he asked.

“Focus your essence on paws and claws… I know…”

“This one will be a step further! You must expand your essence into the cloud so it keeps its shape. We’ll both pull from opposite directions,” he ordered. “My plan is to reduce the density of the cloud and turn it into a fog. We’ll use it to enter Keura’s Temple then.”

“But with only two pulling it would only stretch the cloud, right?” the voice of Hira behind them got both by surprise. “I saw you two flying while running to one of the safe areas.”

Thunder smiled, “Yes, you’re right. It would work better if we had a fourth one to pull but we can’t stretch our luck that much. Then you two can pull on the extremes, I’ll make sure it stretches both directions in the middle to reduce its density.”

“Can you do that?” Karmyl asked.

“I was a junior member of the weather patrol back in Equestria… Things like stretching and squeezing clouds are basic for us… Trust me when I say that I’ll work faster than you due to familiarity, so we should keep more likely the same pace. We don’t have time! GO!”

Both griffins nodded and flew to each side of the cloud, grabbing it and then pulling it. Meanwhile, Thunder flew straight into the cloud, working from the inside to stretch it in most other directions to keep the cloud proportional. It was about two minutes effort before he judged it was thick enough to work against their enemies and at same time not so thick to work against them. Karmyl did agree that Keura Rangers were supposed to hunt under some adverse climates, like foggy, so the only problem was Hira herself. She, though, surprised Thunder by telling she was not one of the Keura Rangers, but actually of Irilka Sages’ clan. It means she knew how to heal wounds and was more efficient at martial arts, so her claws alone were weapons.

With a team effort, the three griffins pulled the fog-cloud towards Keura’s Temple and, when it was in place, they could hear people screaming inside, some saying it was the Goddess claiming vengeance on intruders, other just common obscenity at unforeseen scenery.

Either way, Thunder and Karmyl entered the temple ready for the kill. Before they were spotted, two dark-mantle persons were down, arrows stuck at their heads. The others began screaming louder at the sound of someone falling hard. One by one, they cleared the main hall of the Keura’s Temple and, by then, the fog was already starting to dissipate.

“Thunder!” Karmyl looked at him, only to see something completely unexpected.

The male griffin was up on his hindpaws, bow and arrow ready on his claws and using both his tail and wings to keep balance in a bipedal fashion. “Don’t worry, I was counting on it. Clouds don’t hold together for long this low, even more when they’re so thin,” he answered looking back at her as if nothing was wrong. Then he looked around and noticed the bodies of griffin across the whole hall.

When he noticed the hall itself, it was with awe. Large enough so griffins could actually fly in there. Pillars were few, but those were sturdy enough to support the whole ceiling. Dominating the scene, though, was a statue of a griffin ranger with a simple bow, nothing fancy like he thought it would be on the claws of whom he supposed to be the Goddess Keura.

“These…” Hira started to say. “I can’t believe it! It’s the necromancer’s symbol!”

That called both Karmyl and Thunder’s attention. “You mean to say our enemy is the necromancer?” he asked.

“This changes everything…” Karmyl said.

“Either way, they’ve gone deeper that way. Let’s go and find what they’re after!” Thunder said already moving on.

As they followed, Hira approached Karmyl and whispered, “I didn’t know Rangers could hunt like that.”

“It’s because they can’t,” Karmyl answered back. “So far, the only one to do that efficiently was the first Ranger that learned under Goddess Keura herself!”

“He does seem sure of himself, though…” Hira finished and they trotted up a bit faster to follow him.

The trio moved deeper into the less public parts of Keura’s Temple. The corridors weren’t all that big but they could move side by side there. Following the smell of burnt flesh, they soon discovered the body of two Keura’s priestess burned to a crisp. Turning around a corner, a fireball hit Thunder in the chest. With the impact, he was sent backwards, but quickly rolled on his sides to get out of their sight.

With a claw over his chest, he looked at Karmyl. Using the other claw, he extended two talons and pointed to each side of the entrance. She nodded and readied two arrows in her claw. She then whispered something to Hira, which nodded back and then she all but jumped in the gap. Another fireball would hit her squarely in the face when a shining white shield popped in front of her. Before the spellcasters could find a place to hide, Karmyl had already aimed and released her both arrows, each of them finding a target in her opponents’ heads. Hira then crossed the gap towards Thunder, taking out the claw from his chest.

“You’re crazy! How you go into territory filled with enemy without a plan?” she asked, one of her claws shining a soft pink light and then she touched it on his chest.

Thunder hmmmed as a pleasant and relaxing sensation took care of him. The burnt mark gone and nothing of the damage remained at all. “I guess… I just haven’t thought things through.”

“We can go back and take another fog-cloud down…” Karmyl offered as she approached them, making their guard.

Thunder got up and shook his head, “It will take too long or it will be so thick even I would find problems within this cramped space.”

“The idea then is go sneaky,” Hira suggested.

“I guess I’m going ahead this time then. Are you ready?”

The group nodded and, following Karmyl, the walked deeper and deeper within Keura’s Temple. They were actively hunting their enemies now, and, with Karmyl’s lead, were doing a reasonable job. Crossing a room filled with many kinds of treasure on shelves, a thought crossed Thunder’s mind.

“If they’re attacking there, it means the others are distraction. For such a huge attack be a distraction, they must be after something really valuable. What’s the most important or powerful relic they could find in this temple?”

“No, surely they weren’t coming all this way to try their chance at the Ranger Pride,” Karmyl commented.

“What’s this ‘Ranger Pride’ thing?”

“When the clans were started, the gods had given their students a very powerful amulet,” Hira started. “They became known as the Clan Prides. It was a matter of honor to protect it with their lives above all else.”

“Then, to protect it from those that weren’t worth, each clan created a maze under the main Temple of their Guardian God,” Karmyl continued the tale. “The maze itself would only open for those who had the blessing of the God or Goddess in question and then there were the monsters placed in there to test the abilities of whoever tried it to the limit. Many Rangers lost their lives looking for the Ranger Pride!”

Even though she didn’t believe it, Karmyl guided the group straight there after they made sure that most of their enemies in the corridors, if not all, were dealt with. And then, to their dismay, the dead body of a Ranger laid in the doorway. It was open.

“They… they’re after it!” Karmyl was pale under her feathers. “There’s no telling what another clan’s warrior will be able to do against these creatures!”

“You should calm down Karmyl!” Hira called. “I don’t think it would be that simple to fool a Goddess.”

“But they weren’t supposed to enter!” she yelled.

“That’s why they brought him,” he said pointing a griffin Ranger. Then Thunder looked deeper inside the maze’s open doors. After a couple seconds, he turned to the other two, “Hide!”

Both females looked at him and then at the labyrinth, deciding to hide on one side of the heavy doors. Not much longer after they were hiding, five hippogriffs came running, badly damaged, as if they were facing their worst nightmares. After confirming they were also enemies, Thunder shoot an arrow at one of them and Karmyl at another two. Hira then jumped over the two left, her claws at the side of their heads and she all but smashed them together. Such force she had that both hippogriffs couldn’t do anything but tremble and fall. With a properly placed punch, she terminated the life of another one and grabbed the other by the collar.

“We got ourselves a prisoner!” she said with a smile.

“Huh, not that he’s going to be useful anyway,” said another female voice from the labyrinth. Thunder’s eyes widened when he recognized her as the one he shot before. “Keep him. Play as you want. I have to go now.” And then, all of a sudden, she disappeared again.

“Who’s she?” Karmyl asked.

“I don’t know. But I know who can answer that and many other questions we have…” Hira said, her claw tightening around her captive hippogriff. “Unless, of course, she prefers to be dead… That can be arranged…”

“Sorry but… I never thought I would see an Irilka Sage talking like that…” Karmyl commented.

“Don’t forget I’m still a griffin at hear, dear,” Hira smiled at her, all but pulling the hippogriff ahead.

***

“YOU DID WHAT?” Thunder was making no effort to hear them outside his room. Even with Hira’s ministrations, they insisted he would see the doctor of the Keura Rangers to a full check-up just in case something else happened. As he continued to refuse, they took a doctor to see him.

“IT’S NOT LIKE THERE WAS ANY RANGER AVAILABLE TO DO THAT!” No, no effort at all required.

As soon as Karyn had found out what Karmyl had done, she has gone mad with fury and all that just outside Thunder’s room. His injuries weren’t so bad that he needed to stay in infirmary. So the doctor just patched up what she could and sighed, “Your body recovered just fine and there’s nothing else I can do or that need to be doing at all. Will you be alive to resume your duties by tomorrow morning?”

“Barely,” he agreed. “Call them in, anyway. We must get this done and over with.”

She nodded and left the room. A few moments passed as well as a few more shouts exchanged, before Karmyl and Karyn entered the room. The first looked glad to see him patched up properly, the second looked so angry that he could almost feel the daggers being thrown at him.

“Are you feeling better?” Karmyl asked, her voice clearly a bit higher than normal, as if she was forcing herself not to scream her lungs out anymore.

“A little itchy in the back but I’ll live,” he answered with a chuckle, making Karmyl also give a faint smile. The doctor had placed a kind of magical healing bandage around his torso, where he received the fireball, and where he had received a few more bruises due to him always going forward when they couldn’t foresee the output.

That though set on Karyn’s nerves, and she not even tried to hide her anger, “It’s not a time to make fun of matters!”

“Actually, I think it’s the perfect time,” he answered her. “The danger is gone, the enemy was defeated, the prisoner is willing to talk and the loss among ours has been minimal.”

“It was a battle!”

“Try war!” Thunder called, looking her in the face. Even Karyn was taken aback by his seriousness. “They killed no less than twenty Keura Priests, those that we counted! They invaded Keura’s sacred grounds or whatever you call that maze down there and they tried to steal the Ranger Pride! Even in the peaceful land I grew up in this would scale things up to a war!”

“We don’t even know our enemy!” Karyn tried.

“The necromancer!” Thunder shot back. “Hira came with us and she recognized the symbol on the attackers of the temple. It was the symbol of the necromancer. Something is happening now that is forcing her to act. She tried once and she’ll probably try again and again! If I was you, I would even warn the other clans, for she must be after all other Clan Prides for something!”

“You’re making this up!”

“Say whatever you want! I know why you’re upset but it’s not her fault! I decided to go there, I was willing to sacrifice my life and above all, what I wanted was that both Karmyl and Hira would grow some conscience they were following a crazy griffin and they would return to protect themselves!” Thunder rose on his bed to look Karyn in the eye. “You want to blame someone, blame me all you want for it was my actions that put them in danger! But as Karmyl pointed, I saw a problem and there was no Ranger around to tell what I thought was happening. I decided for a little proactivity, acting before things got sour. Turns out that this time it wasn’t required, however would you like to find out too late that you could have done something to stop it?”

That put Karyn in silence. She continued to glare at him but seemed content to do so. Instead, she decided to turn and leave. “This is the second warning, Sparky. You’re getting closer to the point of no return…” and then she left.

Thunder lay back on the bed again and sighed. “Sheesh… What sins have I committed to pass through it all?”

“Maybe you took the eyes of her daughter?” Karmyl offered. “Thank you for protecting me but it was m-”

Two talons from Thunder closed Karmyl’s beak. He then smiled and looked at her, “It was my fault. If I haven’t put into my head to do something you wouldn’t have tried to help me.” Then, he chuckled, “I agree that she’s a bit overprotective…”

“A bit?” she asked.

“Fine, she is an overprotective mother,” he laughed. “But considering how you were conceived, can you blame her for that?”

Karmyl looked at the door, “She thinks I’m still weak.”

“No. She knows that you’re strong. And that’s what scares her the most. She fears she will lose you. Give her time and let someone else deflect a bit more of her anger and fury.”

Karmyl closed her eyes. “How could you know all this?”

Thunder chuckled. “I’m adopted,” he said. “Both my birth parents died while some adventure or something. I was the only to survive. When my adoptive mother discovered my adventurous nature, she got overprotective with me, just like your mother, but after a little coaching and deflecting focus, she accepted my nature and my vocation. I’m sure your mother will accept it too.”

Karmyl smiled and took his claws on hers. “Thank you for being there for me,” she said.

Thunder used his free claw to caress her face, “Now that’s something I can actually accept you being thankful.”

“It has been just two days I have met you. How could you know me so much in those times?”

He chuckled, “You couldn’t leave me alone. Every time you could grab me, you would!”

“Hey!” she said with a smile and then punched on his shoulder. “I’m trying to be sensible there!”

He smiled, “Let’s just be friends for now. Very good friends. Maybe something more in the future.”

With a nod, she just nuzzled him a little. “Can you fly?”

“The doctor asked me to rest until tomorrow, but said that I could do little things as flying.”

“Let’s go lay on the clouds then?”

“Better not to stir your mother too much after so little time,” he said. “Tomorrow, though, I have survival training in the afternoon.”

“Yeah… maybe you’re right…” she said with a sad look. Then, she smiled up again, “I’ll be waiting for you then!”