Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 158

His massive tiger face appears around the open double main doors and our eyes meet for a long stare contest, more assertive than dominant, but when I narrow my eyelids in defiance he is the one to look away, ashamed. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

All this uncomfortable and self-conscious behavior of his takes me back a little, I expected him to rise up and talk back, I don’t know, to act more violently or go against the anger that I felt, instead he seems to... accept it almost and I much rather he reacts in any way possible than to simply take the beating in silence, as deserving as he is of it.

It is almost as if I am the one in the wrong here and bullying him damn Goddess.

"What do you want?" And yet this small feeling does not stop my crude cold response.

He tactfully ignores my sharp outtakes and gives a small step forward so I can see him better before he says:

"I thought we could talk now...just the two of us in private, even more if you can’t sleep as well."

"You can’t?" He gives a tiger smile that shows part of his canines before he says, calmer after the surprise encounter we had before:

"Of course, how could I after meeting my son, my son! And like this after all this time? You have already grown so much... in more ways than one..." He says at first with water in his eyes and a silly smile on his face that widens as he glances at Ethan sleeping soundly at the side, and it takes me a few moments to understand what he meant.

I close my notebook with my elaborate writing with strength. I was not about to talk about my private life with this father I barely know, that’s for sure.

So he coughs the tension away raised by my very clear uninviting gaze, but then I pocket my book and raise to follow him out, not aware of the smile that spreads over the ’sleeping’ Ethan as we move out.

But after that short exchange of words and uncomfortable fatherly behavior we walk in an awkward silence, especially when heverything around had quieted down for the night and the streets were mostly empty, minus some torch lighter carrying on with his duty or a posted guard who would nod at Camillo and stare suspiciously at me.

And yet, unsure what to say, what to look, how to act and what to question, I end up simply following him around as he actually takes me farther and farther away from everything and everyone, until we find ourselves in front of the barrier, but on the opposite side we came in from the surface at the other stone curving bridge.

That’s when I hesitate and stop, with him already passing through and outside as I look at his blurry figure from the inside.

"I have a place that I want to show you." He does not turn his head around when he says it but I can hear the weight in his voice when I hesitate to leave a secure area with him, not trusting him at all, but once he starts walking up without waiting for me I soon follow.

This is, this is all for mother, I think, clenching my fists purple.

We follow the same path the group of warriors had come from beforehand, and from what I can tell there are two entry points into the barrier, one coming up from the outside of the cave, and the other going down and deeper into it.

The path is lighten with many purple torches, giving the place an eerie unnatural glint, a ghostly out shadow that seems to be an odd choice for this place, and it does even illuminate that well, but curious and with an eye for these things I see why is that, for the metals that hold the torches are enchanted with runes that activated upon heat, squiring their way up the wood and dancing along the flames, discreet and blurry but giving deep and meaning to those.

"What spell is that?" I find myself asking, curiosity getting the best of me as questioning comes naturally for me so much so that I don’t even question the situation and to whom am I asking to.

"Protective and watchful runes, they cloud the thoughts and direction of those that cannot go up, while warning us if any of them do." He says, big paws moving forward without making a sound, and I cannot help but notice such characteristics since most griffins had at least one pair of bird legs like mother, the foxes, wolves, the lion, all had talons and scales going up their legs.

Expect for me, with four snow leopard furry legs and soft pawed ends, good for walking, running and sneaking, but not too good at holding prey in the air, but I guess I know the reason why I had it different now.

It is quite odd to see resemblances of him in myself as much as I know it makes sense to, after all he is my father, but to have something that connects us, flesh to flesh like this, characteristics so far apart present in the both of us is just... confusing, how it should bring us closer, and yet fills me with unpleasantness.

Thankfully I more the beak of my mother, with the owl snow leopard parts of her, but because of the paws and how strongly discernible the black spots at my back are there is no denying the connection my father and I have, even for how small it may be.

"We are here." He finally says as I find myself lost in thought, not sure of how I should feel about the situation as much as I knew how I wanted to, sometimes the heart has a will of its own.

But what I see next empties my mind from these silly thoughts as I watch something so ominous and overwhelming that I can feel its overbearing presence from this far off.

Surrounded by a dark mist, so thick that is almost palpable, is a huge black and red gate.