Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 156

He stops walking in front of Ethan with one last strong click of his cane, the metal of his leg cracking as he narrows his eye, on edge with our presence here: "So, Ethan, what is that you are looking for? You don’t seem surprised to find us here." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Ethan starts being questioned about his intentions, but he is sly and answers them in a nonchalant way without giving out our objective at first, unsure of what to expect in this place.

"Ah, you see, I saw some hunters with a great species down the lake and we talked and-" He slightly changes Lily’s version of how she came to know this place, panting us as mere hunters or enthusiasts on the subject as if we were searching from someone to sell one of those too, keeping it simple and vague and yet far from the truth although I cannot deny we share a level of curiosity on the creature as well but not deep enough to deviant us from our objective, especially when we are so close now to saving mother, after all these years.

I am excited and pumped for it, to finally do it, but somehow unsure and even scared at the results, of something so important finally unfolding because is just that important, and I may not like what I find there after all.

Still there is no way that I am backing out of this, so while Ethan keeps the humans entertained and occupied I scout the area with my owl eyes, the animal me being overlooked and disregarded enough that I can glance around more freely than Ethan, shaking my head to move my beak elsewhere, and for a few moments nothing out of the ordinary pops up beyond all we have seen thus far...

That is, until a group goes up the opposite bridge we just passed through, their figures coming to view one by one as they pass the round white barrier that blurs the view from outside.

It is quite a diverse group, dirty and bloody from a possible battle, weapons sheathed and armors scratched but laughing the adrenaline off as they talked and walked as if they were merely going out for a stroll and not equipped for battle from head to toe.

There is no way of faking it with their physique and way of walking, these were warriors, experienced ones forged in battle, and of course the group would catch my eye the moment their loud voices resonated inside the barrier, making the others inside look too and smile in relief or roll their eyes at their loud voices.

And that’s not all, every single person there had a magical creature with them, mostly water or ice types for what I can tell, but some rock and fire too around, from all types and sizes, a hunting force to behold.

But it is the last one that raises the fur on my back.

I focus my gaze on him, a huge white tiger with back stripes and feathery black wings sprouting from his shoulder blades, no bird legs just like myself, something very uncommon on griffins as most have at least a pair of scaled claw bird legs.

And their conversation just confirms what I already suspected:

"You and Camillo did a great job today too! Thanks to that Ice Shield we weren’t melted down!" One of the warriors makes a joke about a very unfunny deadly situation, but I guess is their way to cope with this apparently constant endangering job, but what catches my attention is the name, one that I could very much live without knowing and wouldn’t bat an eye.

Camillo.

With a cry of surprise I leave Ethan and the Major behind as I fly down towards that path, little to no space to maneuver inside the barrier but as an owl my flying is a little more adapted to turns and dodges, so with grace and a degree of ease I twist and turn and land right in front of the group who, at this point, had already stop talking and were paying close attention to me.

And when they see that I am not in a friendly mood, wings slightly ajar and beak up high, most rest their hands in their weapons.

I speak in Celestial Language to him, the language of our kind to make my point known: "Are you the one they call Camillo Tillman?"

"And who is asking?"

I have run out of patience at this moment, run out of patience for him a long time ago.

"You know, is not a hard question to answer. Are you, or are you not? Answer me!" I knew I did not see him favorably, but only then, staring into his eyes, seeing just how care free he is, laughing and surrounded by friends while mother is left to her fate, having to endure so much for so long that the blame I put on him for not being there to protect her seemed fitting more than ever at that moment, all of that resentment coming crushing down at once when is silence confirms my suspicious.

It is as if I have been building up a pile of dynamites day after day since I lost mother, putting aside my anger in a corner and avoiding the feeling to focus on the actions, on the studies, of becoming strong and capable of saving her, only for a flame to strike the match now and light it up all at once.

I snap and jump up at him with my claws stretched out and a rare roar of rage, ignoring the fact that he was at the end of the line and between us are the warriors from before that, seeing a colleague suddenly being attacked by a strange beast, are prompt to go out in his defense.

With so many sharp ends pointed at me I have to stop on my tracks and fall back, but still I have means to attack as I form Ice Lances in the air and throw them at the tiger, so fast in forming and launching the spell that the others have no time to react.

Expect Ethan, who knows me well, way too well, and is able to predict my attack patterns at this point, his fire blocking my attack’s path.

"Seraph, calm down, we did not come all the way here for this." He jumps in front of me, blocking my line of sight and any further attacks, trying to calm me, but even I do not know what came over me at that point, I just wanted, I don’t know, smash his head against the wall until he stopped moving.

And yet among all the chaos and tension the tiger that was unfazed by it all actually widens his eyes then as my name clicks something on him as I hear him say: "...Seraph?"

And his voice is full of recognition.