Equestrian Revelations

by DuskApproaches


Chapter 8: The Exit

“So, can you walk?” asked this strange creature; whom I remember being told long ago was of the ‘human’ species. He needed to know my physical condition seeing my battered, beaten, and almost broken body.

This question was a lot harder to answer than I expected. My entire body ached. But I could feel my hooves. That would be a good starting point to determine my physical capabilities. How hard can walking be? Just put one hoof forward, then put it on the ground. However, instead of putting my hoof forward, I put my face forward and fell on the ground.

“Soooo, I’ll take that as a no?” remarked the human revealing a slight frown.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. Probably just forgot what it feels like to walk from not moving for so long.”

“Wow, one usually doesn’t forget to ride a bike but you can forget to walk. The brain works in mysterious ways,” he said turning the frown into a slight smile.

What’s a bike? I thought before catching sight of the unconscious griffon on the floor. “So, what did you do to him?”

“I used an ancient technique that was invented by my ancestors passed down from generation to generation. No one except for those in my bloodline know of it. All those who have seen it are dead...you didn’t see anything did you?” he said tilting his back with suspicion written on his face.

“No, I didn’t,” I said disregarding the threat but still curious. “Tell me about the technique.”

I was intrigued. Perhaps - if he is the only human on this world - he will not have children which means he’ll have to pass it on to others. Perhaps he’ll pass it to a certain changeling that I have known since birth.

He laughed a little.

“There’s no technique! That was joke,” he laughed in a most annoying - but pleasing - manner. “I just gave him a swift kick in the balls.”

Balls? That’s strange. There isn’t any part of the body that are balls. The only spherical shapes are the eyeballs and the… oh, that’s what he meant. Were they that sensitive? The large amount of foam coming out of the griffon’s mouth told me that it was. I should keep this in mind.

“He’s still alive. Are you going to finish him?”

“Good guys don’t kill,” he replied.

He bent down and put one hand above the griffon. The blood veins on his hand gave off a small glow as a dense white mist came out from the palm of his hand and engulfed the griffon.  The mist cleared a few seconds later and the griffon was frozen in a perfectly shaped ice cube still able to frantically move his eyeballs. He picked up the block of ice and tossed it out the nearby window. We both stuck our head out the window and looked down as the block of ice hit the ground and shattered into a thousand pieces.

“Fortunately,” he started. “I am not a good guy.”

I doubted this statement considering he saved me from much pain and misery. He turned to me and smiled. Not knowing what to do I smiled back.

“Now,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before the other guards show up. The scream from the griffon probably alerted some of them.”

He reached his hand out to the doorknob but, before his hand made contact, the door swung open and smashed into the wall revealing a griffon in full armour on the other side.

“Why does this always happen to me?” the human muttered.

“Halt!” the guard shouted pointing his spear at my saviour, “you will come with me right now!”

“No.”

“But I’m holding a spear to you.”

“Still no.”

“But...I can kill you if I wanted to.”

“But you won’t.”

“Yes I will!”

“No you won’t.”

“I’m telling you right now that I will kill you!”

“More like you’re going to kill me with empty words.”

The look on the griffon’s face went from confusion, to frustration, back to confusion, and then to absolute anger. The griffon recklessly jabbed at the human with the spear which he dodged with ease. He grabbed the shaft of the spear and pulled it out of the griffon’s grasp. Before the griffon could respond, the human swung the spear in a full circle forcibly landing the blunt side of it on the griffon’s head. It knocked the griffon down but he did not lose consciousness. However, there was now a dent on the griffon’s helmet.

The griffon rose to his claws and pulled a small dagger out of his armour. The human countered that action by creating a gigantic blade in his hand that was significantly larger than himself. The griffon looked at it with wide eyes before dropping his dagger and running off.

“How did you do that?” I asked. How much magic would it take to form such a large weapon in such a short time?

“Do what?” he asked me with the blade disappearing in his hand.

“Make the sword.”

“It’s quite simple actually - I didn’t.”

I wanted to ask him what that meant but he turned around and walked into the hallway the griffon came from signalling me to follow him.  Naturally I followed. The way to the outside was strangely silent and lonely. There were no guards whatsoever. They must have heard noise from the griffon earlier or seen the ice drop from the window.

“Chao?”

“Yes?”

“Stay alert. They are planning to either trap or ambush us. Maybe both. Stay close to me and tell me if you see any movement at all.”

I obeyed for there was little choice. I moved closer to him until my head was touching his torso. We moved carefully and quickly through the tight halls of the castle. Finally, we found the exit. I was so relieved when he opened the door and we were greeted by a flash of light.

“STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!” roared a distant voice.

Well, so much for being relieved.

There were twenty soldiers surrounding us on the front and twenty more from behind. On the top of the castle, a row of griffons pointed their bows at us. At this point, I was scared for our lives but the human’s expression still hadn’t changed. In fact, it hadn’t changed much since I met him. It’s like as if he was not capable of having emotions. That could very well be the case for all I know.

“I have a very good reason for why you should not arrest us,” the human spoke up.

Was he trying to reason with them? That’s impossible. There’s no way they were going to free us no matter what they were told.

“Number one,” he said raising one finger in the air.

I couldn’t help but wonder what he was going to say.

“Because you fucking can’t!”

After finishing the last syllable he immediately slammed his hand onto the ground creating a circular barrier of ice around us that only had one small opening on the top. I heard hundreds of arrows, spears, and other weaponry assault the wall of ice. Although there were many cracks and the wall was starting to fall apart, it endured the assault long enough for the human to put his hand on my head. I felt a jolt of electricity go through me which was immediately replaced by a feeling of freedom.

I looked around at this time to see the castle from where we had been moments ago. But it was very small. That meant that… oh shit! Oh fucking shit! I’m a few kilometres up in the air. My heart would have started pounding, but I couldn’t feel my heart. In fact, I couldn’t feel any part of my body.

What is happening? Where are we? I thought.

I jumped on the inside when I heard a familiar voice.

We are in a cloud.

I knew who that voice belonged to, but I realized that I was hearing this voice not from the outside but inside my mind.

You can hear my thoughts? I mentally responded feeling a bit awkward from this ethereal communication.

Yes and you can hear mine.

I can’t feel my body. What are we?

We are the electricity in a cloud before it goes down in a bolt of lightning. Look down, you cannot see colours and time does not move. This is what the lightning sees.

That was a little too much information to take in. I am electricity now? How does that work? My fear of heights really isn’t helping me with this situation.

Would you rather return to your normal form?

I guess he noticed my panic.

Yes, please.

Very well.

Just like that I saw a spark with an outcome of me sitting on top of a cloud. I was so relieved to see my hooves again. But I started panicking again as soon as I looked down.

“Chao?”

“Yes?” I answered.

“Why do you have a death grip on my arm?”

Did I? I looked at my front hooves. Huh, looks like I did.

“I’m afraid.”

“No shit you’re afraid. What are you afraid of? Those griffons can’t see us and they’re not going to even bother looking up here when we were just down there.”

“I’m not afraid of that. I’m afraid of heights.”

He stayed silent for a while.

“What the fuck? You have wings. How can you be afraid of heights if you have wings. That’s a like a fish that’s afraid of water or a rat that’s afraid of land.”

Memories of my childhood flashed before my eyes.

“Hey, are you crying? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you...I was just surprised. I didn’t mean any of that. Being afraid of heights is totally normal. I used to be afraid of clowns. Clowns are so scary with their white makeup and red lipstick. Who the hell decided that’s funny? That’s creepy as fuck. Wait, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

“I’m alright. I just remembered how people used to tease me about that when I was young.”

“Well, I can certainly see why… WAIT WAIT WAIT, I DIDN’T MEAN THAT! Don’t start crying again!”

This human might have saved me, but he is quite an asshole...a friendly, kosher, and polite asshole.