//------------------------------//
// Boreas, Did I Do Good? 
// Story: Griffonia At War 
// by General Soarin 
//------------------------------//

25th of February, 978

The young Grover flinched as another series of distant gunshots rang out, doing his best not to think about the implications behind them as Eros led him through the Imperial Palace and towards the throne room. This had to be one of the most shameful times in his entire life...the Emperor running for his life as the Imperial Guard tried their absolute best to turn back the hordes of commoners that had breached the palace. How did it come to this?

It had started simple enough...a protest against the repeal of another one of his father’s policies in the Groverplatz near the center of Griffenheim. The Regency Council ignored it as the police had moved in to clear it up. However, this would quickly change as a group of soldiers from a local artillery regiment showed up to the protest. While the crowd had initially believed that the soldiers were there to disperse them, their fears were quickly dismissed as the leader of the soldiers took to rallying the crowd to get angrier and fight the police.

Soon, the small protest ballooned as the police, unable to take on armed soldiers, retreated, and the crowd began to march. More and more griffons piled on, until thousands had reached the Imperial palace. Some loyal troops had managed to assemble at the main gates, but the sheer numbers of commoners was too much to disperse. Eventually one of them fired into the crowd, and before any of the rest could do the same, the commoners exploded in anger and stormed the gates, killing the guards and forcing their way inside.

Finally, the Emperor had arrived at the throne room, looking around nervously to see if maybe some of the radicals had beat them there, but was ultimately thankful for the fact that they had not.

“Eros...why bring me here? Should we not be escaping the palace before the commoners arrive?”

The Archon turned around to look at the young teenage Emperor in his eyes, placing his claws gently on his shoulders.

“Don’t worry Your Highness, I have no intention of letting the peasantry get their claws on you. From what I’ve heard, our foes have the palace surrounded, so we must use the catacombs to escape. Boreas knows how good the tunnels have held up though, so I urge you to stick close to me.”

And with that, Eros walked over to one of the many torches that lined the sides of the throne room and pulled it firmly. A loud rumbling could be heard before a set of stairs formed leading into the ground right before the large ornate throne that Grover had been set to occupy in less than a month's time. As Eros removed the torch from it’s holder and began walking towards the newly formed exit, Grover stumbled forward and stopped Eros by reaching out and grabbing his left wing gently.

“We’re witnessing the fall of the Empire, aren’t we Eros? Let’s face it, the palace is falling and the military is nowhere to be found. If we do manage to make it through these tunnels and find ourselves out somewhere in Griffenheim, we’re still in hostile territory. What hope do we have of actually escaping, and even if we do escape how will we ever recover from the loss of Griffenheim?”

The Archon stood there quietly, processing his answer very carefully for a bit before finally turning around to face the young Emperor again, the torch’s flame being held in his beak lighting up his eyes to reveal the eyes of a griffon filled with a steel determination.

“You’re right Your Majesty, the odds are definitely stacked against us. But then again, the odds were stacked against Grover the First when he led the armies of Griffonstone against Wingbardy and Aquileia, the two strongest Kingdoms of the time. He defied the odds, and forged the greatest Empire Griffonia had ever seen, an Empire which has lasted hundreds of years. If we stay here and you get captured, I can assure you that the Empire will certainly die with you. However, if you live and escape, we can rally the rest of the military and eventually crush this revolt, as they have many times in the past.”

With that, Eros turned back to the tunnel, closing his eyes for a few seconds before gesturing with a talon for Grover to follow him. “I can promise you...that as long as I live, I won’t let them get you. The Empire has endured for three hundred years...and it will endure for hundreds more. Now let’s get going, we don’t have much time.”

Another couple of gunshots rang out, this time considerably closer to the throne room than last time and emphasising Eros’s words. Grover needed no more persuasion, and with that the two griffons descended into the secret tunnel. Despite the heavy doubts hanging over him like a cloud, he knew that what Eros had said was true.

As long as he lived, the Empire would endure…








Two weeks had passed since Grover’s escape, and as Eros had promised the military had been quick to act. While Imperial forces had been driven out of the Duchy of Griffenheim after decisive defeats in the Battle of the Griffking and the Battle of Vinnin, the republicans stopped short of invading Bronzehill and Strawberry as they worked to consolidate their power. This decision had proven to be a fatal mistake though, as a coalition of nobles under the newly ascendant Duchess of Strawberry Gabriella Eagleclaw launched a brutal counterattack. Republican resistance crumbled and soon Imperial forces had retaken Griffenheim.

As he looked around from the seat of his open carriage that was being pulled through the streets of the frighteningly quiet capital, Grover couldn’t help but notice the damage the Revolution had done to the city. While some damage had been cleaned up in the two weeks since he had fled, there were still scars of the angry pillaging and looting that the peasants had enacted in the name of their revolution. Graffiti covered some walls, with phrases like “Death to the Grovers” and “Long live the Republic!” scrawled in blood red paint. To see the glory of Griffenheim ruined by these vandals...truth be told it made him rather angry.

However, his attention was soon taken off the destruction surrounding him by a sigh from Gabriella who was directing the cart from the front.

“It’s heartbreaking to see, isn’t it Grover? The desecration of the greatest city on the continent, the murder of so many griffons in the name of republicanism...it’s tragic.”

Grover liked how Gabriella talked to him like another griffon instead of as her Emperor, and he couldn’t help but nod at her statement. The past two weeks had opened his eyes to the serpent that hid in the shadows, and once he finally came of age he would finally be able to deal with it.

“It is. Their definition of justice has seen so much blood running in the streets...so many families destroyed for no reason other than revenge. I’m glad the Imperial army was able to counter attack before the Republicans could entrench.”

To be honest, Grover was amazed at how the 17 year old Gabriella had managed to rally Imperial forces and lead them to victory, her sheer force of will matching the determination of her troops as they decisively defeated Kermanski in the Second Battle of the Griffking. Despite being Emperor himself however, Grover couldn’t bring himself to help her command, a fact that he quietly loathed. After all, what good was an Emperor if he didn’t lead his troops?

Despite his worries however, he knew that he could redeem himself as long as he steered the Empire through the coming weeks as the Imperial Army moved to mop up Republican resistance. After all, one thing was certain:

As long as he lived, the Empire would endure.








As he lay there, struggling to keep his eyes open, he looked at the various griffons assembled in the room in front of him. Grover had only woken about an hour ago, only remembering feeling incredibly tired on the train ride home before falling into a deep sleep, a deep sleep that the doctors had told him had actually been a coma. Yet instead of feeling better, he felt everything in his body slowly starting to give. The only reason he was awake was probably Boreas giving him one chance to make peace with the world, a chance Grover would be foolish to pass up.

As he surveyed the griffons in his room, his eyes fell upon his son, being carried gently by the ever so kind Gabriella as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. Grover desperately wanted to hold his son himself, to hug him close to his body and find the strength to continue.

Finally, Grover looked at the window behind the griffons that had assembled by his bedside, witnessing the rays of Boreas’s sun start to slink behind the towering buildings of Griffenheim. Sighing deeply, the Emperor closed his eyes and asked the only question he could to Boreas.

“Boreas...did I do good?”

And with those words, the 47 year old Emperor Grover, the Fifth of his name, was embraced by the claws of Boreas.