Chapter 32
“Gryphon.”
The word tumbles out of my gaping, shocked mouth. Alexis's shift is mind-blowingly amazing. His body is a giant cat, and his head? An eagle.
And he has wings.
The beautiful creature is the size of a small pony, and is currently stalking, almost silently, through the research room tables, every now and then pausing before a document.
He’s definitely examining them, the eagle-head angles from one side to another, but has no discernible change of expression.
I wonder if he’d mind if I petted his sleek coat?
It’s a mottled mix of colors: black, browns, dark gray, and even some green—almost like a camouflage.
I take a step closer. He lifts his massive head, golden eyes locking onto mine.
Tentatively, I reach out. My fingers brush the feathers at the junction of his neck and shoulder.
They are impossibly soft, transitioning into sleek, warm fur.
A sound rumbles in his chest—not a growl, but a deep, vibrating purr that I feel in the soles of my feet. He nudges his beak against my palm, gentle, then extends one massive wing, curving it around me like a shield.
He’s protecting me. Even in this form his instinct is to keep me safe.
“Can you still understand me, Alexis?” I ask aloud, then again mentally. —Do you hear me?—
—Hear you, yes…but now must read—
Of course. His form shifted to meet an imperative need. The Gryphon understands what humans can’t.
“What are you learning?”
—Much. Talk is hard. I read then shift back—
“Good plan. While you do, I might go grab a book on gryphons, learn some ins and outs of your new form.” I blow him a kiss, then head to the reference section.
The Bestiary of Conjoined Forms instantly catches my eye on the ‘hybrid entities’ shelf.
The Gryphon (Latin: Gryphus) ?The Gryphon is a creature that has been blessed with the body of a lion and the head and wings of a great eagle.
Its feathers and fur are typically a golden ochre.
There are two notable subspecies: the Forest Gryphon with darker fur and plumage, and the rare Arctic Gryphon with white fur, adapted for cold climates.
Hmm, Alexis must be a Forest Gryphon; that seems appropriate, seeing as he’s from the wild mountain lands of Kormovia.
I refocus on the page.
?A Gryphon's strength is immense, allowing it to tear through steel with its talons and crush bone with its beak. Their vision is exceptionally keen, allowing them to spot small objects from great heights.
?Behavior: Gryphons are fiercely intelligent, proud, and solitary. While they can never be truly "tamed," they form unbreakable bonds with worthy individuals. They are innately hostile toward dragons.
Smirking slightly at that last piece of information, I turn to the minotaur section next.
The Minotaur (Latin: Taurus Humanus) ?The Minotaur has the body of a man and the head of a bull, complete with mighty horns. Its immense physical strength, bull-like endurance, and fierce rage make it a nearly unstoppable force in combat.
?Behavior: Driven by instinct and aggression, the Minotaur is a creature that exists to act as a guardian for sacred or powerful places, and occasionally, divine beings. The labyrinth is their natural habitat, where their connection to the earth is strongest.
Then I move on to Centaurs.
The Centaur (Latin: Hippos Humanus) ?The Centaur has the lower body and legs of a horse, complete with a powerful equine torso and four hooves, and the upper body, head, and arms of a human.
This combination grants them immense strength and speed.
They are skilled in both combat and hunting, often using bows and arrows, spears, or clubs.
?Behavior: Centaurs are known for being brutish and lustful, living in harmony with nature but without the refinements of civilization. The pursuit of pleasure is a leading factor in the psyche of a centaur.
Hmm, that kinda tracks, at least for Donovan, but I’d never describe Wes as brutish.
My heart stutters. Fuck.
Wes, my Wes.
A squelching sound snaps me out of my head.
Turning, it’s hard to believe my eyes. The mottled fur and feathers of the Gryphon seem to be melting off his body.
A body that is shrinking and convulsing as the form breaks down.
It’s violent and looks so, so painful. I hold my breath until finally, my Alexis is staggering back in his regular professor form.
“Hey.” I rush over and place a hand on his back, then move it in small circles. “Just breathe.” The beat of his heart is fast under my palm.
“Thanks, pulu. Transforming is rough.”
“Let’s sit,” I take Alexis’s hand and lead him over to a small sofa to one side of the room.
“Shame about Quinlin’s no liquid rules,” he grins weakly at me. “Could really do with a pint of vodka about now. Fuck.”
I lay my head on his chest. “I wish I could supply that for you.”
We are silent for a moment, then I look up at his face. “You’re a very beautiful gryphon,” I tell him. “Like, intensely beautiful. Did you have any idea that’s what you’d shift into?”
Alexis grunts. “Not at all. I’ve not heard of a gryphon being in my family line, but as soon as I shifted, I felt my lineage.” He smiles. “Being a bastard, there’s quite a lot I don’t know about my father’s people, but now I know they came from gryphons.”
When he says that, I think about how there is still everything to learn about my birth parents.
Suddenly, I get a full-body shiver.
I’m adopted.
Fuck, if I hadn’t had my parents, I could have ended up unwanted in an orphanage, vulnerable prey for the Conclave.
“Just think, a couple of weeks ago, the most challenging part of my day was getting up and meeting you for parkour.” I sigh. “The good old days, when everything was simple.”
“So simple,” Alexis replies, kissing the top of my head.
“I know what you mean. The fate of the world resting on our shoulders definitely takes our lives to a slightly more complicated realm. Talking of realms, I have got so much knowledge in my head right now; the origins of Earth, Avalon. Amirene—all of it.”
“Shit, is that OK?” I ask, shifting to sit up and place a hand on either side of his head. “Your brains aren't going to explode or anything?”
“Not currently,” he grins down at me. “I’m actually getting a kick from being so filled with knowledge. I imagine it’s similar to how the Lumina inside you feels.”
Talking of Lumina.
“Was Amirene a God before she became Avalon’s keeper?”
Alexis immediately shakes his head. “No, Amirene is a Golem.”
“Amazing. I can ask you anything and you’ll know the answer? Like my own personal Nexus,” I laugh, naming Havengard’s most popular search engine.
“Ha, I’d run Nexus into the dirt in a knowledge battle,” my professor smiles. “Child's play. Gods, pulu, the histories I’ve learned, stories that humans have long forgotten, it’s indescribable.”
Being able to access all this knowledge is making my professor exceedingly happy.
“So, tell me more about Amirene. She’s a Golem and the Guardian of Avalon?”
“There are two guardians; Amirene and Obex,” he corrects me. “Amirene was to keep the place light and peaceful, ready for Gods to use as a pleasurable retreat. Obex’s role was to tend to Amirene’s supply of Lumina, and dispose of the negative energy— basically, be her bitch-boy.”
That makes me snort a little. I imagine this is the first time in the history of everything that someone has been telling the history of Avalon and used the phrase bitch boy. “Why aren’t the Gods sorting all this out then? Avalon is their place.”
“Good question. It seems Avalon was abandoned by the Gods because of a wager, though none of the annals have a record of the bet itself. The Gods abandoned the island as a result, leaving two caretakers until their return.”
“Heavenly housekeepers? Who’d have thought it?”
“From what I’ve read, and connecting the dots,” Alexis continues, “Obex started letting the dark energy loose into our realm. Golem Obex was not created to make or hold the Lumina, and all the handling of the darkness broke and twisted him.”
“He’s malfunctioning at our expense.”
“Exactly.”
"As Maximus would say, ruh-roh,” I say quietly.
“Indeed. Amirene sent some of her Lumina into the Earth Realm, hoping a mortal could hold it and use it to combat the dark energy, and pulu?”
I think I know what’s coming. “Yes?”
“You are that mortal. One section of the documents contained dozens and dozens of prophecies. This one stood out like a shining beacon.”
He clears his throat.
“For a thousand years, a thousand seasons of ice or bloom,
The shadows in the room seem to lengthen, and the air grows cold.
a fading Guardian will send her essence to seek its home.
As he speaks, hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It’s Alexis’s voice, but it’s also not.
This mote shall pass through a thousand hearts, leaving mourning mothers in its wake. But on the final day, in the final hour, the Lumina finds a home for its power.
One human, but not alone, holds the light to restore the realms. The scales tilt in either way, waiting for fate to have her say.”
Alexis blinks several times, still looking a little green.
“That was highly odd, like the gryphon was speaking through my human form.”
“Does your gryphon know what our next steps are?” I ask, then an idea occurs to me. “Maybe we can transfer the Lumina to you? You’d do a way better job than me as this whole savior thing. I’m such an ordinary person with a track record of disasters.”
Alexis pulls me into his arms. “You don’t see yourself as I do, pulu.
I wish you could. You are made to carry the Lumina because you are already so perfectly full of light and goodness.
Without you being so incredibly special, the Lumina would never have found its home in you.
You, my dearest Theo, are the one. Only you. ”
“But it’s all so terrifying.”
“It is, but remember you are not alone in this. You have me, Ludo and Donavon ready to lay down our lives for you. Max is team-Theo as well.”