//------------------------------//
// Spark - Introduction 
// Story: Our Legacies 
// by Elusive Phoenix 
//------------------------------//

Shadows covered the ground; small specks if blue moonlight rained through the available spaces in the tree leaves. The forest wasn't special. Short green trees blanketed the land for seven miles.

Within this blanket was a large amount of living creatures, like squirrels, rabbits, birds, et cetera, et cetera.

In one small section of the forest, animals fled from the odd noises that filled their ears. A sound known to some as: laughter.

"And he still doesn't know?" One of five creatures spoke from around the massive campfire. These creatures were many colors, all winged. The front half of their bodies were like those of an eagle or hawk. Their backside was obviously lion, but each of the creatures had a different tail.

Another leaned forward. "I doubt he'll ever find out!" Four of the five creatures cackled wildly while the fifth gazed into the pitted campfire.

One of the creatures sensed the lack of voices. The green and brown one spoke. "Come on, Terra! You have to have some story to tell?"

The masked Gryphon didn't reply. The fire didn't seem to brighten her black coat and feathers. The black masquerade hid her eyes from any light, even during the day.

"Come on!" A brown and red Gryphon encouraged. "Even Lioce told a story!" he gestured to the white Gryphon, who was obvious even in the shadows.

Terra's voice sounded almost sore. "I am not Lioce, Taure." Her gaze never left the flames. Taure shrugged before tearing a chunk of rat off of the kebob he held in his claw.

"How about you, Spark?" I looked to the source. "Got any amazing tales for us tonight?" The green one questioned eagerly.

"Until we reach another camp or village," I grinned. "I've read you all the books and told you all the stories I know!" Kylah could be quite a claw-full sometimes. She never stopped being happy for long, and she was always first to find something fun on the darkest of days.

She continued to beam."Anybody else?" as she turned her head away from me, my eye caught her scar. A claw-mark cut down the side of her neck, lacking any feathers or down.

When we first left the Gryphon Kingdom, Kylah had been captured by Nemesis, the leader of a Special Operations group known as Fallen Feather (original, isn't it?). They had tortured her to find us. Luckily, we rescued her before she was severely injured. 

I have no idea how she recovered from that emotionally or mentally, but she made it through. We're not trained soldiers. We haven't been hardened to resist physical torture.

And now Fallen Feather was on a hunt for us 24/7. Apparently Spec-Ops doesn't like being shown up by civilians.

I always kept a close watch on her. Close enough to the point that she even felt like a sister to me.

Taure began another story as I lay my head on my claws. My mind slowly drifted as his voice filled my ears, turning into a jumbled hum. My eyes closed and my mind ran through thoughts that I wasn't even aware of, just like it did every night. My mind didn't finish its last thought...

I would think more about character development tomorrow...