Author's Note

Before you'll start read, take look at this Blog Post

II. Chapter 23: A way to the Griffonstone

It was early afternoon. The sky was very cloudy, but sometimes the sun was emerging from behind the clouds, nevertheless... The day was very gloomy and there was still a slight mist in the air. In the morning, Colin and Ember crossed the sea separating Dragon Land from the Griffon Empire and headed towards the main city of the kingdom, the Capital. The city was very far in the mountains, so they would have to pass half the kingdom to get there. They walked the forest, which despite the current season was still very green, although... Many leaves were withered. The forest itself was very thick, dark and probably swarmed with wild animals like wolves, deers, hares, and even bears. Colin felt slightly anxious about this forest, although... He was worried about something else. At night he had a nightmare associated with the demonic manticore, but also with his mother. The boy saw her suicide in his nightmare. She slowly brought the knife closer to her neck, then she stuck it in and cut her throat, which made the disgusting sound of sliced meat, and blood spilled out of the wound. Then she just fell and her blood... her blood began to turn black. At first, the boy thought he had anticipated it, but he didn't. The blood was getting more black and...

"Hey, you alright?" - He heard. It was Ember's voice.

"What?" - He asked, slightly stunned and looked at her.

"I asked is everything alright."

"Y-yes." - He rubbed his face with his hand and looked ahead. - "How long are we going?"

She shrugged - "I don't know, I guess... Ten minutes?."

"This forest." - He started. - "It's very dense."

"Well, Griffon Empire is a very wild kingdom, I don't know how it looked like before, but... I think it was different."

"Hmm, It means?"

"It means less trees, less weeds, and..." - At that moment they heard a howl, somewhere deep in the forest. Ember shuddered slightly, swallowed, and she felt a cold shudder piercing her. - "And less wild animals."

"What do you think, can they attack us?"

"I do not know. It's better to stick together."

They walked together until they reached a small lake in the middle of the forest. The water was clean, transparent and even some fish swimming in it. Colin and Ember made a small break. They drank water, washed in it, and they both sat down under one of the trees, which were many in the area. The wind blew lightly, setting leaves and grass in motion. The trees swayed to the left and right, and at times gave quiet creaks. Birds could be heard in the forest, and in its depths, they could hear a howl. This place had its charm, all these sounds, the atmosphere itself was soothing. Both Ember and Colin relaxed and listened to the sounds of the forest.

"How are you?" - Ember asked, looking at the lake.

"Good and you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." - She closed her eyes and yawned. - "So." - She said, looking at him. - "Before we reach the Capital, I'll show you Griffonstone... After all... We can even spend the night there. What do you think?"

"It's a good idea."

"Are you afraid of walking in such forests?" - She asked, and a small smile appeared on her face.

Colin, despite all the relaxing things, like birdsong and tree noises, he felt uncomfortable in the wilderness. Maybe he trained with Iris and she taught him how to survive, but they never really were together in the forest, let alone spending the night because Luna forbade them. She thought it was just too dangerous, which was obviously exaggerated, but... That's what mothers are. They are overprotective, exaggerated, but this is because they are very worried about their children. - "Maybe a little bit..." - Boy said, smiling nervously.

"Hah. First time in the travel?"

"Yeah... When I was in the castle, I trained with one of the guards. Her name is Iris, she taught me sword fighting and... She also taught me about survival, but... She never took me to the forest because my mom forbade us. "

"You know, maybe if you'll be older, she will allow you to go to the forest for the night."

"Yeah... I'm sure she will allow it when I'll be forty." - Ember laughed, just like Colin, but... Then he realized that he said something very unfriendly, even malicious about his mother. He shouldn't say such things. She's just worried about him, she loves him. "I'm sorry, mom, I'm so sorry, I... I didn't want to." He thought. Deep down he was very sad, he was ashamed that he had said something like that. However, his expression was still normal, so the dragoness beside him didn't suspect that something was wrong.

"Will you show me how you fight with the sword once?" - Ember asked.

"Oh... I... I don't know..."

"Please. I want to see it."

Colin sighed. - "Okay, but not here. When we get to the Capital, okay?"

"Or Griffonstone, they also had an armory there."

"How do you know this?"

"I've been there several times."

"Really?"

"Yes, I can be your conductress. I just need to find a hat."

"Ember..." - Colin laughed and shook his head. - "Okay, are we moving on?"

"Yach." She stood up, just like the boy, and then they started walking again. They were heading northwest, there was Griffonstone.

They walked together for some time until they came across a path. Colin wanted to persuade Ember to follow this path, but she refused. She said it was a very bad idea because someone could just see them and it would end badly. The dragoness and boy were out of the path, but still in one direction. They managed to go out on a small clearing and that's when they saw it. It looked like a gigantic tree, though... it wasn't. It was a gigantic tree-shaped hill.

"Look, it's Griffonstone!" - Ember said, pointing at the strange hill. - "We're lucky, it's usually covered by clouds. What a beautiful view."

"Is it built on a big tree?" - Colin asked.

"What? No. This hill just looks like that."

"It's big."

"It's even bigger from close up."

"Will we spend the night there?"

"Yes, and by the way, you'll show me how you fight with the sword."

"Ember, please..."

"Oh come on! What's the problem?"

Colin sighed heavily and looked at her. - "Look, I... I'm just a bit embarrassed, okay?"

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, just do it."

"Fine. I'll try."

"Let's go, it's better if we reach the city before the nightfall. At night, these forests are very dangerous."

They started walking, but... That's when Colin suddenly stopped. Something flashed in his eyes from the forest, or rather... It reflected the light in his direction. The boy strayed from the course and started walking towards the flash. Ember noticed and followed him. Colin walked about fourteen meters, then bent down and... He froze. He picked up something from the ground, it was a heart-shaped gold necklace, exactly the same as Ashley's. The whole forest literally fell silent. There was no sound of birds singing, the wind stopped blowing, even the sounds from the depths of the forest became silent. It's like time just stopped and only Colin could move, and the rest didn't. - "Oh, shit..." - He said, getting up and looking at the necklace as hypnotized. - "No, it can't be."

"What happened?" - Ember asked. Colin turned to her and showed the necklace in the shape of a heart. - "Uhmmm... That's... Pretty?"

"Ashley had the same necklace."

"Wait, you serious?"

"Yes, I gave it to her for birthday."

Ember looked thoughtful. She looked towards Griffonstone and then looked at him again. - "We must go, we better hurry."

"Okay." - Colin put the necklace in his pocket and started walking with Ember again towards the hill.

They walked again, and the closer they were to the mountain, in the fact actually it seemed larger. Colin, every now and then, pulled the necklace from his pocket and looked at it. A thought appeared in his head "What if Ashley is not at the emperor?" Of course, his aunt, Celestia, assured him that everything was fine with Ashley, but... What was happening with her now? What if, however, the emperor decided to sell her to slave traders who would not treat her well? The boy shook his head and threw away these thoughts, he put the necklace in his pocket and just walked forward. In fact, Ashley was fine, but those thoughts didn't want to leave him alone, but he kept trying to ignore them all the time, which was not always successful. He was again attacked by what he said earlier. "Yeah... I'm sure she will allow it when I'll be forty." It didn't want to leave him alone, the feeling of guilt was just stronger and stronger, but he was still walking ahead, not telling something was wrong, he did not want to worry Ember about his problems, he didn't want to worry anybody. He was just fed up, that's when he decided that: "Enough. I'm sick of hurting the ones I love. I will not tell anyone about my problems. I have already troubled others enough." But then he didn't know that he could not hurt his loved ones even more without telling about his problems. He couldn't know that he was still very young and he didn't understand some things, but can blame him for that? Well, yes and no. They were still walking, they were getting closer and closer. "It's even bigger from close up." Just a little bit, it's not so far away. Colin began to lose his strength slowly, everything began to blur. Then... He fell to the ground and he saw only the blue silhouette coming up to him. In the end, there was only darkness and... A pair of red, glowing eyes.