Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 168

He looked nothing as I remember him and I could only recognize him because of his face and scent as his body and soul looked... frail, burned down and battered, the smiling warm young man hit with the worst life has to offer and hammered down like hot iron over and over again until a sharp edge formed and gave his eyes a sharp glint that wasn’t there on his younger self.

It is a surprise to see such a piercing look in his eyes, but I can’t say is an unwelcome one. We all have changed with what the Lion did, and I see now that I may have taken a better end than most in this place.

"Aaron, long time no see my friend." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Ah, Seraph, brave son of Alinda, is this your doing? We thought we lost you that day." He smiles, but his eyes are scanning our surroundings, twitchy even.

"Well, I’m not that easy to kill." I say, even if I truly almost did die that day, not even by the fall but by drowning of all things. "Seems that our little friend has taken good care of things around here." I say, a hint of disgust thrown at the sarcastic use of the word friend.

He snarls at it, no comment needed in that regard. "Took you long enough to come back."

"Took you long enough to be free." At that his eyes cloud a bit, losing himself in thoughts for a second as he gives me a small smile and answers:

"Yeah, that took long enough."

It had been such a long time since I last saw him, not the closest one from my childhood but we would still meet from time to time in the city or underground outposts, plus there is a sense of familiarity between that share this burden, a common enemy to take revenge upon.

So I do not linger and ask: "Do you know where mother is? Alinda."

He nods. "I do, come with me."

At that he spreads his wings, knowing full well the urgency of the task and not wasting any time talking, but I cannot help but notice that his lustrous white wings are not only dry, grey and with smoldered feathers, but seem a little bit shorter than I remember, plucked of their feathers and locked away, out of use for too long.

I say nothing as he, with great difficulty, takes the air, and as Ethan hops on my back I find Camillo’s master, Atticus, and with a simple nod we communicate the next steps of the plan, where they will attract the attention of the others here with the confusing and leave in time for us to rescue mother on the other.

So without looking back I quickly match Aaron’s pace, clearly going slower than I wished but I say nothing as I take glances at his battered wings, more after I hear him mumble:

"Ah, this... how I missed this."

So I keep my beak shut and let him enjoy his moment until the end of our short journey, thinking back in all these years that I had the freedom to train and fight back while they had their energies and freedom drained out of them like this.

Years without taking the skies... and I could not last a week without spacing into the plains.

That thought alone hardens my resolve that, tonight, there would be no more lion to deal with.

The more we fly, the more I recognize parts unchanged from my motherland, the more a feeling of disgust and repulse grows inside me as I watch the destruction of it all, a land battered by war now, and the sensation only grows when we finally reach her prison, such a dear place to us destroyed to encaged her must have to be a sick joke from Heavenclaw no less.

Because he built a type of castle right where our nest used to be, in between the trees, in the colder lands.

Knowing that such an important part of my childhood does not exist anymore pierces a sharp pain with a hint of sorrow into my heart, as if it had finally reached me that there is a place in my memory long past that I could not go back to and, as silly as it sounds, that the happy childhood I had has been finally lost forever.

I thought I had already come to terms with it, but I guess there is no such wound that cannot be reopened, and I think I’ve prepared myself for so long to be strong enough to fight my way in that I did not had enough time, no... that I avoided for so long thinking or letting myself feel that I don’t know how to deal with my emotion at this moment, not even knowing how to feel in this mess. Am I happy I am about to save mother? Of course! Scared of what I may find of her? Shitless.

I have hope, always have, but now here, seconds away from knowing the true, from facing it, for seeing the results of his captivity to her... no, no, I have to focus now, I think while the stubborn feelings don’t go away.

I say castle to define the structure since it has four big towers at each side, but is not quite the usual type made of stones and grey, looking sturdy and mighty yes, but one with an inner garden inside the four walls, an open corridor around the main building in the middle and a smaller one in the back linked by some sort of roofed bridge, with the walls in white contrasting with the red roof and sparse green foliage taken care on the inside.

It is an odd choice of structure, although against flying enemies there is not much use for a wall minus the archer towers around.

There is until I see the rune barrier on them.

"We cannot fly in, the runes are blocking it." I say as my trained eyes track the thin almost imperceptible layer of magic making a dome around the base of the construction, obstructing any flying creature or being who came from anywhere beyond the gates, the wooden double door standing tall as the only opening in the magic, but the only sturdy closed structure as well.

"This is... is the Goddess style of building, what is this doing here?" Indeed is really out of place even for Ethan’s eyes, who did not know much of the High Lands.

"It was mother’s favorite style." I say, frowning, a pit of angry fire that has never died since that day resurging, of seeing the pretty cell Heavenclaw has made for mother.

And how that made me sick.