Author's Note

Grover's voice (Constantine):

Chapter 23~ Grover Eagleswort

Urgency propels Sandy and Leonard along an unkept trail piercing through untouched-by-flame bamboo forestation. The Kirin-Arabian leads on with exerted breaths while the accompanying stallion keeps pace with her; displaying no signs of fatigue.

Leaves shuffle as the duo plow through bushes and maneuver around towering bamboo stalks; the wingbeats and roars of the wyvern engaged in the ever-raging battle in the distance rhythmically meeting their ears.

Before long, the pair burst out into the open, a worry-filled gasp escaping Sandy’s parted lips from the scene laid out before them.

“Buddha, help us…” Sandy muttered in horror as the duo witnessed the devastating aftermath of the School Grounds.

The wyvern’s rampage had torn apart the Grounds’ once peaceful visage, a formerly fine blend of the kirins’ eastern civilization, which Leonard often compared to the Land of Reeds, and nature’s beauty. Several treehouses specializing in all branches of academics are toppled over, the land scarred and charred as now-snuffed-out flames left their mark.

No… It looked as if someone had doused the flames themself.

Sandy’s heart pounded as she continued to survey the area while thoughts of students possibly being hurt, or worse, raced through her mind.

“Over there!” Leonard abruptly shouts alongside her, lunging forward into a gallop and garnering Sandy’s attention.

Her eyes widen as she, too, takes notice of a figure donned in the armor of the Blades of Peril, their back leaning up against the ruined remains of a playground. A figure that, for Sandy, caused a sense of familiarity to grow with every passing second and increased tensing in her muscles.

Leonard is the first to approach the downed member of The Blades. Slowing himself to a steady gait, he notices a fatal wound the Kirin lioness tried to cover with a blood-drenched cloth torn from her attire before coming to a stop in front of her.

The Kirin’s chest plate slowly rises and falls in tune with her pained breaths while her discarded helmet rests a short distance away, her pink mane concealing her eyes.

“Hang in there, warrior,” Leonard comforts while lowering his head, the new angle allowing him to meet the Kirin’s orange gaze beyond the pink curtains of her mane, “We’ll get you out of here and-”

“F…f-forget…m-me…” She interjected through pained effort. “Pups… Gri…ffin…”

‘Griffon…?’ Leonard questioned internally, taken aback. He’d never heard of such a creature before but could only assume it was of another sapient species.

The injured Kirin slowly turned her head. Leonard follows her gaze as their eyes rest on a distant treehouse that was undoubtedly the grandest of them all despite the visible claw marks and broken branches sullying its mighty frame.

“Got it,” Leonard said in affirmation, turning his neck to face the downed Kirin again. “I’ll check for any-” his eyes widened, and his words died instantly as the Kirin lay there motionless, her eyes open, but lifeless.

Leonard’s ears twitched as Sandy’s hurried steps stopped a short distance away.

“Oh, no…” she began somberly, stomping the ground with a foreleg in frustration. “Damn it… Damn it!”

“Did you know her?”

“I’m Sun Tzu’s daughter. I know everyone here.” Sandy answered while joining the stallion and lowering her neck to nuzzle the deceased Kirin’s right cheek. “Her name is Yīnghuā Shǎonǚ. Sakura Maiden, in Equish. I…used to babysit her daughter.”

Sandy sorrowfully pulls away, lifting her neck and standing at her full height, just shy of Leonard’s shoulders. “Did she say anything to you?”

“She wanted me to check out that building over there,” Leonard responds, looking off toward the same grand treehouse appointed by ‘Sakura.’

“She also mentioned a…griffin…?”

“Griffin? Why would…” Sandy shakes her head, “Never mind. Look, I’ll check the other schoolhouses. You go on and check Building A. Let’s round up any pups we can find and get them the diyu out of here before that monster comes back.”

They share a look of understanding, and no further words are exchanged as action dictates their next move; the two breaking off in separate directions.

With a resounding neigh, Leonard rears up and slams his forelegs into one of the two circular-shaped double doors of the treehouse, nearly knocking the left-side obstacle off its hinges.

A red and orange light, magical in nature and hovering near the ceiling, flickers on and off in a chaotic fashion as if the light itself were at war with ever-reaching shadows that melded with knocked-over furnishings and numerous items that had been littered by panicked masses.

As he proceeds into the schoolhouse, eyes scanning over the hollowed-out tree chamber he now finds himself in, he is in awe of what seems to be illusionary magic at play, or something a bit more complicated, like that dirty trick Flare had used against him.

The tree’s innards are much larger than what the actual tree itself could contain; that there were two entrances to two separate hallways positioned on either side of a front desk looked to be impossible from an outside perspective, and yet, there it was.

He wondered…did those vibrant runes etched onto the tree’s bark have something to do with it? Upon pondering on it further as he attentively made his way down the right-side hallway and passed the first circular door of a closed-off classroom, his steps echoing off the wooden walls of the half-cylinder-shaped hall, he recalled the Carians possessing similar runic-based magics back home. Illusion, teleportation, and-

A sudden scratching sound along with the broadcast of a bird of prey echoing from down the hall stopped Leonard dead in his tracks, movements and thoughts alike, ears flicking upward. It was distant, but it seemed to come from around a corner of a split that went in two opposite directions further down.

As he drew near, the scratching grew louder, but the stallion could tell that it was coming from the right, and… Was that a voice?

Yes… It followed a grunt, one of strenuous effort. Male, but with an accent akin to that of Castellan Jerren’s.

“Bloody door! Rrrgh! Come out, you little buggers. I’m just trying to ‘elp yas!”

Leonard leaned his right side against the wall as he crept down what remained of the hallway, taking calculative steps to avoid his hooves clopping against the wooden floor. He peeks around the right corner, shock and awe consuming him immediately as his widened eyes lay upon the creature responsible for the commotion. It was truly unlike anything he’d ever seen before, though there were physical traits he certainly recognized.

The creature, much like the kirin, is chimeric, having the forefront of an eagle with the hind portions of a lion. Its reddish, brownish gray fur transitions smoothly into feathers of equal coloration as its tail bearing a black patch of fur at its end rests lazily on the floor.

“What in the…?” Leonard questioned outwardly, dumbfounded—startling the chimeric entity, who whirls around with outstretched dark grayish vermillion wings to face him, its avian talons almost digging into the wooden surface they stood upon.

“Y-you startled me- wait, you just spoke in Equish!” The being asked through its shock. “Thank my father’s feathery arse. I…ain’t exactly familiar with that Qinese gibberish. No offense to ‘em.”

The two stared at one another in dead silence for seconds that felt far too long. For the chimera, he had to admit…this didn’t look good. One look at this situation would easily arouse suspicion, what with somegriffin like him trying to break into a room full of young chicks behind a locked door with talon marks on its’ surface…

There was, however, a question forming in the chimera’s mind as his yellow eyes took in the stranger’s appearance, their blue and gold attire of a familiar motif originating from western lands sealing the deal: what was a saddle arabian doing this far east?

Stowing that question away for the time being, the chimera lowered himself onto his hindquarters, folding his wings to his sides and raising his yellow-scaled talons in surrender. “This ain’t what it looks like. I’m not here to cause anymore trouble. I…didn’t even know any of these kirin folk were up here.”

Leonard’s eyes narrowed, “Anymore trouble?” He emphasized in great suspicion.

The chimera lets out a sigh, not missing the dark brown equine’s implication. “I can explain later.” His lion’s end lifts him to his full height, his yellow beak tilting upward because of the red-maned stallion’s height advantage. “First time being up close to a saddle arabian like this. A far way from home, ain’t ya?”

“So I’ve been told. You got a name?”

“Grover. Grover Eagleswort, of the Griffish Isles. You?”

“Leonard.”

“Leonard, huh? Latin for lion-hearted, if I'm not mistaken. One of ‘em fancy-schmancy pony languages. Which is odd…given what you are.”

“I know fairly little about the ponies, but it’s the common tongue used in the Lands Between.”

“You daft, mate? The ponies are the Lands Between.”

“R-right…” Leonard answered in uncertainty. “Griffish Isles… Going out on a limb here, but are you something called a griffin?”

“You say that like you only just learned of my kind.”

“I kind of…did. Yīnghuā mentioned it to me.”

“She that Kirin with the pink mane?” Grover asked, earning a nod. “Then I'm your griffin. Where is she, anyway? Las saved my arse big time from that scaly bastard and deserves proper thanks.”

“She…didn’t make it.”

The stallion’s words caused Grover’s eyes to widen, followed by a sympathetic click of his tongue. “Dammit…”

“But that’s why I’m here. Did you find any pups around here? We need to get them out now.”

“As it so happens,” Grover answered while turning to face the door, “the little buggers fled from me and locked themselves in there. Well, guess it didn’t help that neither of us could understand the other.”

Leonard takes a few steps closer to the door, eyes specifically focused on the marks littering its’ surface. “...And you thought scratching at the door was a good idea? Seriously, look at that! You are aware that there’s a wyvern attacking the village, right?”

“Oi!” Grover expressed with an appointed talon. “Instead of questioning my methods, why don’t you make yourself useful and talk them out of there, you wanker. I assume you speak Qinese?”

Leonard snorts while rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” The stallion taps at the door twice with a forehoof.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Wèi? Yǒu rén zài mǎ?”

As those words left Leonard’s lips, Grover looked on in ignorance as, from his perspective, the equine spoke in the kirins' foreign language.

“H-hello?!” A muffled, timid, young female voice responds from the other side, prompting Leonard to press his right ear against the hardwood door’s surface. “W-who are you? C-can you help us?! That eagle-lion thing is trying to eat us!”

“I think it’s called a griffon.” A noticeably intelligible voice adds. “But I’m confused if that’s spelled with ‘fon’ or ‘fin’ at the end.”

“You're choosing now to be a nerd? It's trying to eat us?!”

“Told ya,” Leonard whispered to the Griffin alongside him while keeping his ear pressed against the door. “You scared them half to death.”

“Wh- bollocks! I don’t even know what any of you are saying! I told you, I don’t speak kung pao chicken!”

“It said; kung pao!” Another youthful and feminine voice cried out from beyond the door, their words alien to Grover, but clear to Leonard. “I knew it! It wants to eat us!”

Several other voices murmured amongst themselves in a panic, Leonard pulling himself away from the door and giving Grover a deadpan stare. “Aaaand you just made this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“You’re the Qinese expert here. What the bloody hell’d they say about me this time?”

“Trust me, I’m no expert. It’s all thanks to a potion, and… Well, they think you’re trying to eat them. To be honest? I don’t blame them.”

A moment of silence takes hold as Grover is taken aback by this. “Have they gone absolutely bonkers?! I’m not that kind o’ griffin! Why do you think there are two ways to spell my race? I prefer fish in my diet, hence the ‘fin’ in griffin.”

“Even so, they’re just pups, dude. They’re scared. And there’s literally-” The treehouse abruptly shakes violently for a moment, halting the stallion’s flow of words, his eyes having sharply been cast up to the ceiling, along with Grover’s.

“That…”

“Blimey… It’s on the bloody roof.”

“Yeah… Radahn’s balls, this isn’t good.”

“You think, Sherlock?”

“What…?”

“Griffish expression…”

Incidentally, and as the duo conversed, the sudden disturbance had caused the young kirin beyond the door to open it hurriedly in a panic, once the rumbling had passed, now gaining Leonard and Grover’s attention. The duo’s eyes now lay upon a collective of horrified and tearful faces, 13 of them, by Leonard’s count. But what is most interesting is the youthful group’s whimpering.

It sounded just like… Huh…

‘So that’s why they’re called pups.’ Leonard compared the whimperings internally. “It’s ok,” he assured them outwardly in their tongue, “we’re here to help, but let’s try to keep our voices down, alright?”

The group nods, although their whimpering persists, but lower.

“Good. Now, our mutual friend, Sandy, sent me.”

The kirins’ ears all perk up collectively. “R-really?” a voice filled with hope said from the group’s rear as several other students felt their fears slowly start to fade away.

“Excuse me, mister? What’s your name?”

“It’s Leonard.”

“Leonard…”

“Weird name.”

“Weird name for a weird horse.” Leonard finished with a wink.

“Horse?”

“Hey,” a ‘pup’ amongst those at the front began, pointing a hoof at Leonard’s clothing, “I know that outfit.”

“Oh, yeah,” another chimed in. “I remember Sandy’s mom bringing it for show-and-tell.”

“Where’s Miss Udrako?”

“Is Mr Griffon n-nice…?”

Leonard lets out a hearty chuckle and raises a forehoof, “Easy now, kids. I know you have a lot of questions, but we need to move. I can at least say that ‘Mr Griffin’ here—trust me, the ‘fin’ part is important—seems like a good person. Although…”

There was one question brought forth that stood out above the rest, prompting Leonard to shift his gaze over to Grover, said Griffin meeting his gaze.

“Did you see a kirin who resembles a giraffe?”

As Leonard spoke, the young kirin looked on in awe as his words were alien to them. Though they are aware of the Equish language, this was the first time any of them had witnessed it.

“Aye. Long legs, long neck. Bit of a long tale, mate, but that pink-maned las Ying and I stuffed ‘em away in another build’n for safekeep’n. Before Ying…you know. Poor las.”

Leonard sighs in relief, “Good thinking. Thanks for that.” he shifts his attention towards the youthful masses.

“Alright,” he began in Qinese, “Let’s get you pups out of here.”

“B-but, what about that monster outside?”

“Yeah…” another pup said. “A-aren’t you…s-scared?”

The young one’s inquiry sparks whispered fears amongst the students before said whispers die down. As Grover watches on, entrusting Leonard to comfort the kirin, the red-maned stallion looks over the sea of youths, cracking a vibrant smile.

“Haha! Scared? Pfft, nah. The only thing I’m worried about at this moment is keeping you all safe. Trust me, kids, it takes a lot to scare a proper Redmane.”

At that moment, something rises from the depths of Leonard’s memories. It is one of the most essential reasons as to how and why Radahn earned the title; Starscourge.

It was why, aside from solidifying their brotherly bond, the titanic demigod mastered gravity magic. To wield incredible cosmic power to combat unfathomable cosmic nightmares.

An infinite legion of Invasive beings that would forever haunt the General and his Steed.

“I’ve seen even worse things. Far worse.”