“I don’t understand why the council doesn’t want us to leave the city,” said Trianor, frowning at the scenery beyond the city’s outskirts and walls. “It’s perfectly safe out there.” He glanced up at his teacher, Miss Ydara. “They ended the Purges three hundred years ago. We should be safe if we went into the outside world and joined their society.” “They wouldn’t welcome the return of our kinds. We’ve both changed so much between our powerful species and their weakened reliance on technology rather than tradition and magic. They’ve changed too much and the outside world has lost much of its magic. We live on a wellspring of power. It’s better to stay here to practice our magic, Trianor.” Trianor sighed. It hadn’t hurt to ask, although it was annoying to constantly be shut down time and time again. Looking out beyond the magic shield that encompassed the entire city and kept it expanding to provide for everyone without bothering anyone who lived beyond the borders, he spotted the highway, with cars trundling quickly down the dark gray paths. He couldn’t see any of the people inside without magic, but he could imagine. Cars were another thing they weren’t allowed to build or use. As well as modern conveniences of the outside world; any piece of modern technology was deemed illegal and were not allowed, although they did adopt some pieces of old technology in the outside world and powered them with magic. There was one discrepancy with it, though. While they used technology with magic alterations, there were some things that couldn’t be shrugged off that they blatantly used without magic, and that was some forms of transportation and communication, as well as the current popular fashions. The council may make claims, but Trianor’s age group knew better than that. “Trianor?” asked Miss Ydara, breaking him from his thoughts. “We’ve already moved on to the next location. Are you coming?” Trianor nodded and transformed into a Gryphon with golden-brown feathers and fur, bright gold eyes, and strong yet delicate clawed feet and beak. He stretched his wings and launched into the air, flapping hard to follow his class, although he still looked longingly out past the wall they’d been standing on only moments before. Shaking his head, he zipped up to the flock of flying shifters with their partnered passengers, who couldn’t fly with everyone else without having to be carried in their human form, sometimes in their animal form, if they were small enough to be easily carried by one of the phoenixes or even one of the faerie dragons. Miss Ydara hadn’t spoken to him verbally; she’d telepathically linked to his mind in order to break his thoughts and get his attention. “What exactly were you thinking about, this time?” asked Trianor’s friend Rafcadion, a dragon shifter. “The border? Crossing over like the dire wolf scouts do from time to time?” “What do you think, Rafe? Why do I typically stare off into space?” “Because you keep thinking about that Ursan assassin and his little menagerie of so- called extinct normal shifters who have strong magical powers and keep wondering what happened to them?” Rafe asked, recalling the story he’d heard from Trianor several times before. “Isn’t that what you typically end up thinking about, anyways?” Trianor sighed, following the rest of the group as they moved on to land in the Roosts, the historic site of the Council of Skye. History Day was a dull time for anyone, especially having to go to school for the first half of the day and take the flight tour around the city. He’d gone through this three times already in the past four years, though last year, he’d been too sick to have any fun, and far too miserable to even think about leaving his bed. With him being almost eighteen, this was his last year to deal with the annoyances of History Day at school. He was determined to stay out of academics, though his test scores clearly said he’d be perfect for it, and that was with him barely trying and making guesses without looking at the questions every so often. If he’d actually fully applied himself, he most definitely would be a scholar, but he desperately wanted to get out of the city, one way or another. Maybe he could lead an expedition to truly scout out the outside world with the dire wolves. …who wouldn’t allow him to go with them, let alone set foot outside of the city. Maybe he could sneak out on his own on a random day, without telling anyone. Perhaps in the middle of the night? Two in the morning was the ideal time, since barely any of the nocturnals were out and about at that point in time. They tended to head to bed at that time, which made it increasingly easier for him to escape outside the city. If he could even make it to the gates.
“Trianor? Would you mind telling us about this specific artifact?” asked Miss Ydara, gesturing to the glass dome covering a crown made of gold, silver, bronze, copper, and meteorite iron. “The Stargazer’s Crown. Technically an Equinian relic, but guarded for centuries by Gryphon sentries. Specifically, though, guarded by my family.” Trianor clacked his beak, then turned back to his human form like everyone else, walking up to the case and gently placing a hand over top of it. “It’s composed of gold, silver, bronze, copper, and meteorite iron, enchanted with several spells of change, alteration of size, beauty, strength, and wisdom. There are many legends and rumors regarding them, and I could tell you every single one, but I’m sure everyone’s likely heard the history of it. Equinian rulers wore it for centuries before the collapse of their kingdom and the secession of the Unicorns, Pegasi, and Alicorns to the Hidden Cities, when they took it with them. It now resides here, and it’s been under my family’s watch for the past four hundred years. It only has historical and monetary value, as its enchantments have no use in the modern world beyond our borders.” “And why does your family have it as their charge?” “Gryphons are loyal to a fault, and we like shiny things, like this crown. Once we’ve been given something to guard, we guard it with our lives. There is no such thing as abandoning our treasures, but unlike dragons, we’re better-suited for smaller rooms such as this one. My dad’s supposed to be on sentry duty today… but I don’t sense him in the building at the moment. He’s probably leaving it to me while we’re visiting.” “Oooh,” teased some of the boys. “Daddy’s boy!” “Boys!” There were mumbled apologies, then Miss Ydara had Trianor continue. “Traditionally, once a Gryphon is fully fledged, they’re placed as a sentry and are trained. I’m trained, but I’m not allowed to be placed as a sentry until I graduate, and at that time, there’s this little ceremony that bonds us to protect our artifact at all costs. It’s public to only other Gryphons. It’s an important step forward from fledgling to full sentry Gryphon, and I’m sure I’m boring you guys, so I’ll just shut my beak.” He shuffled back, almost hiding behind the crown’s glass dome, as he partially stood guard over the artifact while listening to his teacher speak further on the Stargazer’s Crown. He already knew all of this information, and was anxious to leave so his dad could take over. He knew what could happen if he stayed there for an extended period of time. He’d bond to it and be stuck in the city forever, unless he stole it when he ran. Nobody knew it other than other Gryphons, though, since it was such a closely guarded secret. If word got out to the rest of the world, they would bind every Gryphon to an artifact, and place them deep underground, far away from their element. Trap a Gryphon with one or more artifacts for more than twenty minutes, and they start to bond to them, purely by chance of magic. He’d seen Gryphons lose their minds after being bound to artifacts and then kept away. Families could keep one another sane, but if they separated, the members not in contact with the artifact would slowly lose their minds until they either killed themselves or were put in an asylum for hurtful tendencies. Sentries until death. Luckily, he hadn’t been placed with an artifact, yet, and he knew he’d likely be placed in charge of the crown. He hoped, though, that because of his older brothers and sisters, he wouldn’t have to be bound to the Stargazer’s Crown like his brothers, or the Stained Tear–a crystal shard tainted with dark magic and extremely dangerous in the hands of anyone but a Gryphon sentry–like his sisters and mother. Besides, the artifacts they guarded hadn’t been threatened for over five hundred years. There wouldn’t be any problem if he decided to apprentice to someone else, though his family would gripe about it for years until he would be forced into finally becoming a sentry. Fortunately, his father appeared just as they were leaving, rubbing shoulders with Trianor before heading over to his post near the Stargazer’s Crown. They didn’t say anything to one another, but knowledge was exchanged between them in those few seconds of contact, keeping one another informed of what went on with the artifact. And what his father had gone off to do while Trianor was “standing watch”.
