New York, December 31st 20XX, 11:55 PM
The City is A buzz with activity. More so than usual as thousands, hundreds of thousands go out into the streets to drink, party and do other irresponsible things. Bars stuffed to capacity as the night slinks closer and closer to midnight. Hundreds of street vendors selling Food, toys, and especially cheap nick knack glasses with 20XX on them even though that trend should've died years ago. Sparklers shine in every street, Small batches of Legal and Illegal fireworks set off in the neighborhoods surrounding the dense urban center. Nearly the entire city celebrates the coming new year.
Verris is among those Millions in the city. Sitting at a bar with a half finished soda in one hand and his phone in the other. Only half paying attention to the television and whatever the news anchor is spewing to buy time till the ball drops. Taking another sip he puts his phone away and looks around at the party. Wishing he just stayed home instead. He Downs the rest of his soda before turning around in his bar stool, and was about to get up when a person sits next to him.
"Hey Verris, enjoying the party?"
"Yeah its great, how about you Tom?" Verris puts on a fake smile as tom puts his arm around him, smelling of alcohol.
"Ah its awesome! Glad you could come! Told you there would be lots of hot chicks here." Tom blurts each sentence as if its a rebuttal in an argument. "But dont lie to me i havent seen you move from this seat alllll night! So cmon you might even bring home a friend if you catch my drift~"
Verris Sighs, "Thanks Tom but I think ill be fine. I am actually about to leave." Verris gets up and takes a step before tom holds him back.
"Aww come on man you barely got here an hour ago. plus the ball is only minutes away from dropping you gotta stay till then!" Tom Gets up and points to the countdown clock mounted on one of the walls next to the largest of the tvs in the bar. With a few minutes counting down.
"I know but I got to get some sleep. I still got work tomorrow" Verris lies, knowing his job gave everybody the day off. "And parties are not my thing you know."
"Verris some day you'll look back on these days and wonder why you never had fun, Life isn't about those old books and Camping you know. You gotta get out there, and have fun!" Tom tries to hand Verris an opened bottle of beer, to which Verris grabs and puts down on the counter. Verris rolls his eyes and takes toms arm off him.
"You have your hobbies and i have mine tom. Thanks for inviting me to your bar party but Ill see you later." Verris Gives tom a pat on the shoulder before quickly walking through the crowd before tom could try to convince him to stay again. Exiting the packed bar onto he equally packed streets. Weaving through the hordes of people heading past him, ignoring the yells of drunk and or overexcited people screaming about how long till the ball drops, Verris heads into an alleyway partially to take a shortcut but mostly to avoid the crowds and drunks. He pulls out his phone and looks for some music to play when he hears someone walk up behind him. Turning around to see who's tailing him he sees a shady man glaring at him, wearing some hoodie and pulling out a handgun
"Whoa whoa! don't shoot!" Verris quickly turns to face him and puts his hands in the air. The man visibly on some drug, his gun shaking in his hand as his eyes look crazed and looking everywhere around him.
"Don't move!" He shouts out "I want you to tell your friends to stop following me!!" The man shouts louder, yelling as he cocks his pistol.
"I-I don't know what your talking about, your the one who was following me-"
"I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING ME!" The man yells louder screaming some incoherent dribble, drowning out the sound of a countdown by the crowds in the street.
"Look how about you just put the gun down and-" Verris backs up
"7" Is shouted by the crowds in the street
"Don't give me that bullshit! I know you want the goods! They told me! They told me about you!" The man grabs his handgun in both hands stabilizing his shaky grip just a little.
"5"
"Calm down man ca-"
"4"
"I SAID SHUT UP" "3" YOU'LL NEVER FOLLOW ME AGAIN!" "2"
"WAI-"
"1"
*BANG BANG*
*Thump*
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Verris comes to slowly. Blinking his eyes, seeing the ungodly bright sun stinging his retinas and quickly rolling over. Trying to shade his eyes from the Bright light. Grumbling about forgetting to pull the curtains over the window, he goes still laying his head in his arms, nearly sinking back into sleep. Before the memories of the previous night ring through his head. New years, The party, The man, The gun, The gunshot.
Verris gasps and quickly sits up looking around frantically for danger. Rubbing his eyes as they adjust to the sudden light difference. Quickly noticing hes in the middle of a forest, in a small clearing between the trees. A pond directly in front of him as well. And what appears to be a dirt road Cutting through the trees and foliage.
"Where am I?" Verris says to himself as he raises his hand to rub his eyes. Only to freeze upon seeing his 'hand'. Which is now much like a birds talon. Clenching it and unclenching it to see if what he is seeing is his actual hand.
"W-whatthefuck!" He raises his other arm too to see it is also a talon. Looking up his shoulder, then staring at his body. His legs are White and striped, feline like. He rapidly pats his body down in disbelief, unsure if what he is seeing and feeling is real. He feels each hair of his new fur, The feathers around his neck and head. He focuses on his nose to reveal a golden beak. Quickly, he gets up Running over to the pond, staring into the reflection, eyes wide with panic, adrenaline pumping through him as his thoughts race a mile a minute. He looks down, Expecting to see the face hes seen a million times, instead an eagle like creature is looking back at him. A golden colored top half, with a yellowish beak and Bright blue eyes. With a Similarly golden furred, lion like lower half, Paws and tail included. With similarly gold colored feathers on his outstretched wings. His body nearly shining as the sun above reflects off his remarkably well groomed fur and feathers.
"T-this has to be a dream! I-I was shot! This.. This is all just my brain dying right?! That's a thing that happens right?!" Verris screams to nobody in his panic. Grabbing his cheeks and beak
"What the fuck... What.. Am.. Am I a gryphon?" Verris finally pieces together what he is. The beak, The bird upper body, The feline lower half. Hes a gryphon now! He remembers reading mythology books about these things. But that doesn't explain how he became one or even where he is. And how he got here
Taking a few deep breaths, Slowly calming his beating heart. "Ok ok.. Calm down. Think clearly.. Your a mythical creature in an unknown forest... Somewhere.. After you got shot in the head by a druggie..." He takes a few more deep breaths to slowly wait for the adrenaline pumping in his veins to wear off so he can think clearly.
"First things first... Where am i.." Verris takes a good look around him. Seeing the road, pond, a small dilapidated stone building off the trail at the end of the clearing and where he was laying before. Noticing a strange looking backpack laying where he woke up. Getting up, Verris starts walking over on all fours towards the bag, getting halfway back to his resting spot before realizing he is easily walking on all fours.
"Wait what.. How am i.." He stops before continuing to walk 'normally' as if he grew up walking on all fours in this body. Putting this new revelation in the back of his mind as he grabs the backpack and opens it up. Pulling each item out individually.
"Lets see here.. Dried fruits.. Rope.. A flint and steel? Some kind of jerky, a compass, a bag of.. Coins?" Verris opens the bag to see it is full of silver and gold coins. "Holy shit is that real gold?" He takes one coin out to inspect it. looking it over and doing the classic bite it. "No clue how to tell if its real.. Im just going to assume its real.. Feels real enough. But who left this here for me.." Verris questions as he counts the coins in his bag. 20 Gold coins and 30 silver, A hefty sum, even though he has no clue what the buying power of a gold or silver coin is anywhere.
Putting the items back into the backpack, he looks towards the stone structure. Looking it up and down, It looks like a mini temple or something of importance made of cobblestone. Hardly looks safe anymore and who knows how long it has been abandoned. Verris considers his options and thinks 'if it has lasted this long it surely will last a few more minutes for me to explore it'. Slinging the backpack onto his back and walking up to it, looking at his legs making sure hes not going to trip himself over on the way. As he walks up a small block of stairs and begins looking inside through the doorway. it seems quite barren inside. part of the roof collapsed in some time ago, with rubble strewn about the floor. Yet one thing is different. A stone box at the far wall along with a carving above it.
Verris analyzes the stone building and walks in careful to keep as much of himself under the open parts of the roof just in case the rest decide to fall on top of him. Standing in front of the box, A carefully carved picture on the wall that has long since degraded with time. A presumably beautiful carving now degraded to a few stylized gryphons and scattered letters. Looking down from the wall to the box, He notices it is not one single stone block, it has a lid. Carefully putting his claws on each corners, he slowly lifts, testing his strength by slowly increasing the force he exerts on the stone to find he can lift it quite easily. Sliding the stone off to the side, he looks in only to recoil back in shock and surprise.
"Fuck its a coffin.." Verris mutters as he sees the bones of what he thinks a gryphon skull might look like. Resting peacefully in a purposefully placed resting position. With what looks like a sword in a leather scabbard on his chest held by both hands. Verris takes a step closer inspecting the leather, Surely it should have rotted away along with the flesh of whoever this was. Yet it looks perfectly preserved, With some strange symbols on the side of the scabbard. Either way it was a sword, And he could use a weapon, after all if he is in a place where gryphons are real, who knows what is.
Verris carefully moves the bony hands off the sword Trying to be as respectful as possible to the dead body despite the fact hes looting the grave. He then picks up the sword by its sheathed blade. Surprising Verris with its light weight despite its nearly long sword length. At least to him. Verris realizes he has know clue how big he actually is compared to.. a human. He could be as big as a horse or a mouse for all he knows. Shaking his head, he looks back to the sword and slowly draws it from its sheath. Revealing an obsidian like blade, Dark purple that is see through in the thin edge of the blade. Though when he taps the flat end of the blade with his claw it feels like metal.
"What fucking loopy fantasy land am I in?" Verris retorts as he realizes the ridiculousness of his situation. "I just so happen to wake up with these.. supplies and a building with a black sword. This is like the start of an RPG." He grumbles out to nobody, he nevertheless straps the sword to his side. "Im still keeping this." Verris states as he looks in the coffin and finds nothing else. Carefully putting the stone top back onto the coffin, And walking out taking the same route as he entered. Upon leaving the building he looks to the sky. Seeing the sun high up in the sky signalling its mid day. Verris takes his compass out and finds the road going from north to south. "Well.. Hopefully ill find civilization.. And hopefully gryphons aren't slaves or food to whatever lives there.." Verris chooses to go north, Stepping onto the trail and slowly walking along it. Wishing he still had his phone to play music to pass the time.
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Verris Slowly walks up over a hill and is glad he strengthened his endurance from hiking and camping in his free time, otherwise he would've collapsed from exhaustion a few miles ago. Finally cresting the fifty third or so hill on the trail he spots a large village in the distance. Farmland surrounding it around making a very large clearing as the surrounding forest surrounds the village, A small river bordering the eastern edge of the buildings int he village, With few on the other side. The Village itself looks worse for wear. A few houses look as if they recently were on fire. one or two look like smoldering rubble and much of the farmland in the west of the village was trampled and dug up by somebody. Not a crop to be seen in the fields on that side.
"This town looks like it has seen better days.. But its the only civilization I've seen." Verris mumbles. The sun setting int he direction of whatever came to this town as Verris walks down the hill towards the village. Upon seeing a small group of gryphons tending to the farmland he sighs a bit of relief knowing hes not the only mythical creature here at least. As he gets closer to the town the gryphons tending to the field notice him and quickly rush to the village.
"That doesn't bode well for me.." Verris knows, no doubt the villagers are going to be wary of him if they run at the sight of him. Maybe they think hes dangerous. He has no answers but continues to walk normally as the shadows of the forest slowly creep up onto the town as the sun sets lower and lower.
When he is mere meters away from a the first building a small group of gryphons emerge from behind it, wielding pitch forks, spears and two even draw bows. Verris stops in his tracks. Looking at the group.
"Who are you!" One of the gryphons yells out to Verris. Pointing his spear at him. Though the way he holds it makes it clear to Verris he is injured in some way, But its too dark to tell.
"Uh I'm Verris.." Verris shouts back thinking of what to say next. "Do you all have a place i can rest at till tomorrow? oh and a map?"
The Group whisper to themselves before the first gryphon responds. "No go away!"
"I can pay!"
The group whisper to themselves once again, this time a bit more like an argument. "Fine, but if you harm anyone there Will be trouble."
Verris Nods and walks closer. The sun nearly under the horizon as he walks up. They eye his sword cautiously as one walks up to him. "If you want to say give three silver coins." The gryphon huffs, and Verris sees each one of them is at least a few.. Inches? Taller than him. He fishes out his bag from his backpack and pulls out a gold coin. and hands it to them
"Is a gold coin enough?"
The group look stunned and snatch the coin from his outstretched claw, Bringing up a lantern closer to inspect the coin.
"Is it real?" The gryphon snarls out, inspecting every inch along with two of the closest gryphons.
"As far as i can tell, Im no goldsmith though. If you want i can just pay in silver." Verris says thinking maybe paying in what they want will ease their fears of him scamming them with fools gold.
"No well take the gold. Follow us." The gryphons let Verris follow the 'leader'. Then follow behind him.
"So uh things look worse for wear here. Did I come at a bad time?"
"Hmf you could say so. Bandit Raid came by and we barely managed to hold them off. Still stole the west field of its crops." One of the gryphons behind Verris states.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you managed to get here alone without getting robbed of everything including your life. These roads aren't as safe as they used to be."
"Why is that?" Verris walks a bit faster to get next to the lead gryphon. While also admiring the buildings around. Despite being thatch roofs and wooden homes their remarkably well made. And even have doors and even have a surprising amount of balconies without guardrails. Probably landing spots to go home when your flying.
"What do you mean why? Everybody knows why. You been living in a cave?"
"I'm.. Not from here. From far away and I don't exactly know where I am. So could you enlighten me?" Verris continues looking around the Village, Could be about a two dozen maybe three dozen houses around. Much bigger than he would've thought for a 'village'. Though video games weren't exactly masters of scale.
"Tomorrow. I ain't looking to give a history lesson this late. Now here we are." The gryphon steps up to a two story home. Looking back the other gryphons dispersed as you were talking and presumably went home. The lead gryphon, Opening the front door as two small.. kids? Chicks? Run up to him.
"DADDY!" Both exclaim as they jump and hug him. The gryphons stoic and neutral look melts as he smiles and picks up the two.
"Hey kids. Did you do your chores?" He rubs both their heads before putting him down.
"Yes! Mommy even said we could get an extra cookie tonight!" The eldest of the two siblings, a girl from the sounds of it, says to the father.
"Oh Honey, Did you say that?" He yells out to the mother upstairs.
"I did not! You better not be telling your father lies!" The mother jokingly yells back as she walks up to the balcony with a lantern. A small candle in it. "Oh honey who's your guest?"
"Ah a traveler from the looks of it. Got lost and asked to stay for the night. Paid us a gold." The gryphon holds up the coin with a grin.
The Two children gawk at the gold coin as the wife walks down the stairs towards the front door. "A gold?! My my a rich fellow then? You sure hes not some nobleman?" The wife jokes as she takes a look at the coin.
"No I'm not from around this place." Verris says while walking in and closing the door.
"Speaking of which, Sword, now." The gryphon regains his stoic demeanor as he holds out his claw.
Verris looks surprised before realizing its reasonable to not want a stranger to have a weapon in his own home. Taking off the sword with the scabbard and handing it to the gryphon. "Here, Put it somewhere safe, wouldn't want your.. Children trying to play with it."
He softens a bit after getting a hold of the sword and putting it under his wing. "Don't worry, you'll get it back in the morning. Just a bit.. cautious."
"I understand, I would do the same. So do you have a spare bed?"
"Yes yes, this room over here." The gryphon leads Verris to an empty side room, With an old straw bed with a blanket haphazardly strewn on it. "Pardon the dust we haven't used this room in quite a while."
"Thank you. Oh and I never got your name."
"Grinbeak, And yours?"
"Verris Serall" Verris lays his backpack on the ground sliding it under the bed. lifting the blanket to shake off the dust.
"Well ill see you in the morning. Goodnight Verris." Grinbeak closes the door behind him as the room is completely dark now.
Verris sighs and only now realizes how tired his legs are from that massive hike. Taking a swig from his leather water jug and a few bites of the salted beef, he lays down in his bed. Sighing. "I just realized how much im going to miss modern beds.. And soda.. and air conditioning....." Verris exhales as he tries to get comfortable as he can before falling asleep.
Author's Note
Had this idea in my head for months and i finally managed to put it down into words. Please leave a comment on what you think and if you liked it OR spotted any mistakes, I would love some constructive criticism.
Thanks for reading the first chapter!
The Sun rises over the east, bathing the village slowly in its gold warming light. Casting long shadows as it banishes the darkness for another day. The beams of light entering the windows of every home and signalling another day of work ahead of them. Verris, slowly stirs in his sleep as the sun shines through his windows lighting up the room. Causing him to sit up and rub his eyes, slowly reopening them to adjust to the light. Letting out a yawn, Verris remembers where he is. Stretching his back and wings, He quickly notices that he did that without thinking. Testing his 'control' of his own body he spreads the wing out, then pulls them against his body again. Flapping them a few times and finally testing their range of motion.
"Another enig.. enigm.. Mystery to somehow figure out." He mumbles getting off his bed and stretching his legs. Pulling out his backpack to take a drink of his water. Putting his leather sack back in his backpack he opens the door to the room, peering out to see if anybody in the house is awake. He quickly notices Grinbeak and his family at a dinner table as his wife walks around the corner probably to the kitchen. Verris steps out of his room and approaches. "Morning Grinbeak."
"Hm? Ah Morning Verris, hope that bed wasn't too uncomfortable for you." Grinbeak pulls out a mat and sets it at the end of the table. "Come sit down were about to have breakfast."
Verris takes a seat, Sitting like a cat or dog would on the mat with the low table. 'Makes sense' Verris thinks to himself. 'Not like a human chair would work for them'. "Thank you, So um Do you have any work I can help you with?"
"Work? Well considering how rough our village has been since the raid id say there's too much work. But why, arent you only staying the night?" Grinbeak takes a swig of water from a wooden mug.
"Well I have nowhere to really go. So I thought I could help around here for a while. Maybe find out where I am, Decide where to go from there."
"Hmm well What skills do you have? Woodworking? Masonry? Blacksmith? Farming?"
Verris realizes he doesn't know anything about any of those besides maybe a trivia fact or two. 'Fuck How can i help them without anything useful to help with.' "Well.. Nothing. To be honest but If you or anyone is willing to teach me I will do my best to help out."
Grinbeak sighs and taps his chin. "Well that doesn't help at all. I guess I could get you to help gather lumber to build new houses. That dont take much skill to do"
"Breakfast is ready!" Grinbeaks wife cheerfully says while putting a plate of fish, bread and various vegetables in front of everybody. "Now eat up Honey you'll need your strength."
The table goes silent as Verris and Grinbeaks family dig into the meal, Verris noticing there's no utensils and goes with tearing apart the fish with his claws and putting the meat into the bread along with the vegetables catching everyone's eye.
"What are you doing?" Grinbeaks daughter asks
"Making a sandwich."
"Whats a sandwich?" Grinbeaks younger son pipes up.
"Oh uh Well when you put meat and things like vegetables in between bread its a sandwich." Verris shows them his roughly cut bread with the fish and vegetables squished between them. "Then you can just grab onto the bread and eat it all in one." Verris takes a bite from it to emphasis the point."
The table remains silent for a second before the four begin tearing their bread in half and making improvised sandwiches with them, Putting as much of the fish and vegetables on it as they can before taking bites.
"Mmmm that's clever, Never thought to put everything together in bread." Grinbeaks wife says excitedly as everybody else is engrossed in eating their newly discovered sandwiches.
============================================================================
*CHOP*
Verris drives the ax into the large tree for the tenth time. Finally getting the stubborn trunk to begin cracking under its own weight, The tree slowly falling forward as Verris steps to the side to avoid any debris.
"TIMBERRRR" Verris yells out, Wiping his brow as he walks over to the tree. "So what now?"
"No need to yell, I'm standing right here. Now, You gotta chop the branches off and make them into a separate pile for us to get to. Then well take them all to my workshop so ill turn them into something useful." A large burly gryphon responds, Large woodcutting ax on his shoulder.
"Chopping trees is harder than i thought.." Verris catches his breath and raises his ax, bringing it down on one of the branches, cleaving a large chunk off of it. Then yanking it out to do it again.
"Well what did you expect? It to just burst into useful beams and sticks? Takes effort to do things! But with you working on this we can get extra trees to my workshop, And have more time to work the wood."
"Yeah but Grimwing, You got like three sons, And their all much better at chopping than me."
"Yeah but they gotta repair the buildings and still work the wood we bring back. You being here means one more of them can work the wood instead of chopping." Grimwing drives his ax clean through a thick branch as Verris takes his third swing into the first one finally chopping it off.
"I guess your right. Probably why you guys never put up a palisade." Verris takes a deep breath and raises his ax again.
"Paliwaht? Whats that?"
"Uh a wooden wall. You know like logs sharpened at the top and dug into the ground to make a thick wall." Verris puts his ax down. He cant possibly not heard of a palisade.
"Ah I see, nah were not allowed to do that. The baron would raise our taxes more than he already does if we so much as put a fence around the Village. Bastard says the taxes are for 'fighting bandits' but I ain't never seen a single soldier come out here to defend us. Makes me wonder what hes spending it on."
"Wait so your not allowed to put up walls? Wouldn't that help with the whole bandit problem? And make your town less you know vulnerable for being looted?" Verris looks utterly confused at the logic of this.
"I don't know, The baron is always pulling excuses or reasons as to why we cant do the sensible thing." Grimwing drives his ax down on another branch and tosses it into the growing pile.
Verris Looks towards the village. "But if your baron doesn't even protect you why pay the taxes? If he isn't fighting bandits he must not have an army."
Grimwing stops and looks over to Verris. "Hmmf Everybody thinks about that at least once. But what if he does have an army. Then we not only have to worry about bandits but the baron as well. All for a wall."
"Well obviously he isn't doing his job of protecting you. So why not take things into your own ha- claws."
Grimwing stays silent for a moment. "I guess you have a point. But a if were alone without our barons 'protection'" Grimwing using air quotes, "Then some other baron will march in and take everything not nailed down, then bandits will take everything that is. I don't know where you come from but here you deal with what your given in life. No bother complaining about it." He then hoists his ax up and brings it down on another branch. "You finish this tree ill start on another."
Verris watches Grimwing walk over to another tree to start chopping it down. Grabbing his own ax and looking to the sword at his hip. He thinks to himself. 'If you wont change your lot in life, Then maybe I can.. Somehow." Lifting his ax high and chopping the branch in one swing.
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Pulling a cart attached to his waist felt strange to Verris but considering the village doesn't have any pack animals it made sense. Walking into the village and stopping in front of the Grimwings workshop/Home, Verris unlatches himself and waits for one of Grimwings sons or to come out and help him take off the large sections of the tree. Cut in several sections with hand saws.
"Hey your Verris Right?" One of Grimwing sons walks up, sawdust covering his body.
"Yeah whats your name?" He asks as he starts pulling the first log out from cart.
"Beamwing" Beamwing grabs onto the other side of the log and carefully helps Verris put it down on the ground, then rolls it towards a spot for all the lumber, under a roof so to keep them dry.
"So your family are carpenters?" Verris walks back and starts pulling out the second log.
"No no were not carpenters, Were woodworkers. No clue what a carpenter is." He follows Verris and repeats the process.
"Oh its just another word for woodworker where Im from. Do you have blacksmiths?" Verris puts down the second log and rolls it to the other log.
"Yeah we got a blacksmith. Metal worker is what you mean right?"
"Yeah, thats what it is. Maybe I should visit him after were done with these logs."
"Why?" They both grab the third log and hoist it off the cart.
"I found this sword in.. An old building in the woods and it doesn't look like a normal sword. Considering how old the building looked the leather scabbard should have rotted away." Verris and Beamwing set the log down and roll it.
"Interesting. Mind if I see it?" They lift the log to put it on top of the previous two
"Sure, Here." Verris puts the log down and reaches for his hip. Pulling the scabbard off and showing him the pristene leather with the strange symbols on it.
"Hmm im no Tanner but that leather looks very expensive. No clue what those symbols are." Beamwing grabs the sword and attempts to draw it. Only for his face to scowl as he grunts and pull harder and harder.
"Uh are you ok?"
"Yeah" He grunts as he pulls one last time. "I think your sword is stuck." He hands it back to Verris.
Verris grabs it and easily pulls the blade out, Showing is Dark obsidian color.
Beamwing stares in confusing at first then awe, As the dark blade reflects the light from the setting sun. "Whoa, that aint no metal i've seen before. Hey Brothers! Come look at this!" Beamwing yells out to his brothers in the workshop.
"What is it Beam? Were kind of busy still- Woah what is that." One of his brothers remarks as he exits the building with his other brother.
"This is Verris and he says he found this sword somewhere in the woods." Beamwing says
"I don't bury it. You don't just go 'finding' black swords in the middle of nowhere. I think hes pulling your leg." The older brother says as he walks up and looks at the sword. "Still looks weird. Go ask the blacksmith cause i've never seen black violet metal."
"Yeah I was going to after we finished unloading these logs. By the way Grimwing told me something about the local baron not letting you guys build a wall around your village to protect against bandits. Is that true?"
A collective groan comes from the three. The eldest speaks up. "Yeah, We tried convincing him to just let us build a small wall on one side so we could have some degree of protection but hes too afraid that the baron, who probably doesn't even know this village exists, will find out and tax us harder or send an army after us."
"I doubt he even has one considering hes doing nothing about these gods forsaken bandits." Beamwing pipes up. "Even if he did i doubt he would even care. Less complaining from us and bandits might go elsewhere."
"Maybe we could gather everybody in town and make like, a vote or something on whether we should try building a wall around town. If most of us agree then we can at least share the blame if the baron is that much of a prick." Verris leans against the wall to the building, the sun now fully set and the dark shadows overtaking everything.
"Sounds like a good enough idea to me. Lets do that tomorrow, Maybe in the morning we can gather everybody to see if anyone else shares our idea." Beamwing yawns. "Speaking of tomorrow, lets wrap up so we can rest up for tomorrow."
=================================================================================
Verris walks back into Grimbeaks home, exhausted from the hard days labor of chopping trees and dragging them in carts. His muscles screaming to lay down and die as his stomach yells louder to eat something before he dies. Upon opening the door and walking in, His nose picks up a near heavenly scent. His body on autopilot he quickly makes his way to the kitchen to find the family around the table with some bowls of stew.
"Ah finally you arrived. Was worried my brother Grimwing worked ya to death."
"Nearly, Clearly I need to build some muscles." Verris Sighs as he sits on the floor in front of the table. "Also hes your brother?"
"Yeah, couldnt you tell by the feathers? Were nearly twins."
"Honey you two are not twins. In fact you have different fathers don't you?" Grimbeaks wife pipes up.
"Ah you didn't have to tell him that. Anyways Verris better eat up, we could hear your stomach from here." Grimwing pours a large bowl of stew and slides it to Verris with a wooden Spoon.
Verris did not need any extra motivation. picking up the spoon and rapidly devouring the bowl till nothing but some of the broth remained. A loud sigh escaping his lips.
"That was amazing. Thank you Miss Beaks, I really needed a good meal after today."
"My pleasure Verris, Now excuse me I have to get these two to rest." Miss Beaks motions to the two nearly asleep kids, picking them up and walking upstairs.
"Oh before i forget, Grimbeak, me and your brothers sons are gathering everybody up in the morning tomorrow so we could discuss something important."
"In town one day and already making changes. I knew there was something about you that I liked. Maybe youll finally convince the neighbors to stop throwing their pig dung in the river."
"Well ill ask them because that does sound very unsanitary. But no this is for something else."
"About what then?"
"Ill tell you tomorrow. I'm going to go pass out on the bed." Verris yawns and steps up, slowly walking to his room, and opening the door. Walking a few more steps before dumping his sword next to the bed and laying down on it, and promptly passing out.
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The entire village gathered on rooftops and the road around the village Center surrounding the elders hall. A large building where the decisions of the village were decided by whoever considered themselves to be the leaders. Currently, Verris, and the Wing brothers were inside as everybody outside gathered and waited for the few gryphons left to wake up.
"I think we should let you talk us through this Beamwing." Verris says pacing back and forth inside.
"Why, this is all your idea Verris. Plus you've made some good points." Beam responds looking confused.
"Well I just came into this town two nights ago, and now Im talking about making a big change. Putting a wall around the village which will not only be time consuming but expensive. Having someone who lives in the village come up with the idea will make everyone a bit more receptive to the idea don't you think?"
"He makes a point Beam." Farwing, the youngest brother says while leaning against a wall.
"Your right but I don't know what to say. You made all the reasons why we should last night."
"Just stick with the basics then once you make the main pitch ill step up to answer any questions or give a reason here or two, But trust me, Everyone will like the sound of the idea better if someone they know says it first. Just start out about how the raids keep getting more frequent and the baron isnt doing anything to stop them. After that just say we need to build a wall and how the baron either wont notice, wont care or wont be able to do anything since he probably doesn't even have the ability to do anything about the bandits. Simple."
"Yeah.. Simple.." Beam takes a big breath. "Is everybody here yet Farwing?"
Farwing looks outside through the window. "Yeah I can see the butchers, they always wake up late so if their here everybody is here."
"Well no time like the present eh." Verris gives Beamwing a pat on the shoulder before opening the door to the elevated stage in front of the building. Letting Beamwing walk ahead with him going behind him next to the other two brothers. The square goes silent as everybody Stops their chatter chatter and prepares to listen in on what they have to say.
Beam takes another breath.
"Everybody, we have gathered you all here today to discuss something we all know is necessary. As you all know the bandit raids have been getting worse and more frequent as the weeks and months go on. And the baron has yet to help us at all! While im sure many of you have thought of this idea, my brothers and I, Along with the newcomer Verris have decided to ask you all to come here so we can finally decide whether we should take matters into our own claws. And build a wall around the village to protect ourselves!" Beamwing yells out, projecting his voice so everybody in the village square can hear.
"As you all know the baron forbids this with threatening us with more taxes than he already levies upon us, but When has he ever sent someone here to even check up on us after the many raids by bandits and monsters in the forests. Heck he only ever sends someone when its tax season and we meet them halfway anyways!" Beam Takes a deep breath. "Not only that but its high time we defended ourselves from the bandits. If we build the wall they'll have to fly over it and well be ready with bows. Instead of having to face them off after they just run up to us."
The crowd begins to murmur and talk amongst themselves. With multiple conversations going back and forth between the various families and friends. A few heated arguments break out but are quickly silenced by those nearby. Everybody wanting a civil discussion. As the talking and murmuring Verris steps up and clears his throat, silencing the crowd.
"How about we all vote on it? If majority passes well build it and if you'll go on with life as usual?" Verris proposes, looking around to nodding heads and low murmurs of agreement. "Great now everybody-" Verris is cut off by a loud scream coming from behind the crowd.
Everybody jumps and turns to face whoever is screaming, Only to their horror to find a large band of bandits, holding various children hostage who were left home. Verris spots Grinbeaks own son and daughter among the terrified children. The lead bandit smiles, holding Grinbeaks daughter in his claw with a large knife to her neck.
"Well well look what we have here boys. Seems the soft farmers started growing a backbone! Why don't we teach them a lesson on not messing with the food chain." The bandit leader spits out.
To Be Continued
Author's Note
Another chapter done. Hope you all enjoy. Please let me know of any mistakes ive made or inconsistencies ive missed. i really appreciate you all reading this and commenting.
Thank you all for liking
