Militis Corde

by Sanguine Eyes

Bonus Chapter: Past I

He never called his teacher by his real name name, for the first half of his life he didn’t even know it, but every time he saw the old Bird's face, it's stung with all the pride and sorrow he could ever feel.

He could still feel his Talons clicking against the Stone in the training Hall, he could feel the pads of his paws heating up as he slid to and fro, he could feel the wind rushing over his young feathers as he tore through the air in practice as he warmed up. But all of this was nothing to when he could feel his heart thunder in his chest with overwhelming pride every time he completed the task and he saw the old Bird's face the old bird had his odd almost sad half-smile, even well into the Autumn of his life. He was so old that his feathers we're falling out despite his exceptional breeding. This one Griffon he knew in his heart had lived a thousand times the life any other had.

But today, today was the day that he was forced to do something he did not want to, the day it all changed and really understood one of the reasons the old bird had taken him in.

He knew there was something wrong with the old bird the moment he came into the training Hall. The smell of alcohol, though not forbidden was not often made known in the training Hall. Alcohol was used to forget, it was used to prevent the ability to feel. It was not a crutch he saw the old bird use often at all.

"Boy?..." He flinched at the words, over the years the old Bird's voice had become weaker and weaker, raspier and raspier. But this one word spoken so simply didn't sound like his usual gravelly voice. He sounded like he was in pain, not the kind of pain caused from bruises and broken bones, but real pain.

"...s...sir?.. " He didn't know what to think when he laid eyes on the old bird, all he could see was the dying pride and strength of the one that might as well have been his father.

"Come... come boy... I wanted more time, you aren't ready for what I have to ask of you... You aren't ready, but you must..." He coughed and he could not hide the small trickle of blood that came from his lungs. He wheezed and his talons shook. His Talons shook even more as he reached out pointing past the young Griffon he was at the time. The single gnarled Talon leveled at the training floor. "The...the weapons... fetch them..."

Unsure he followed the order but hesitated as he watched the old bird struggle to meet him in the circle.

"No!... boy... the real weapons... the steel ones...."

He hesitated but slowly and surely retrieved the cold steel blades and presented them to him. His shaking talons snatched up one of the blades and he offered a solute.

"Stand boy... you won't understand... Not yet anyway..." He went into a coughing fit and plowed his blade into the ground to steady himself, the blood dribbling from his beak. But his eyes leveled and focused.

"T.. this is our last training session... Listen to me and listen well, I am going to attack you... And I am going to attack you with all the might I still have. All of my skill and all of my power will be put into attempting to end your life... "

His heart sank and the breath left him as he looked up at this dying Griffon will shock in his eyes and the pain in his heart. "B..but..."

"But nothing!... you do recall the songs I sing?... those songs aren’t something we sing because we think it sounds nice..." His eyes trailed off and he mumbled softly trying to find the tune of the song and though it was across the room to a dying warriors breath he could hear it. "...lord... make me dead before you make me old..."

The old bird shivered and pulled the blade from the floor. " I tried to teach you everything I knew... There's very little I haven't been able to teach you... But the time is gone, and you must learn one final lesson before it is too late.. We are warriors my boy... warriors live and die by the blade, while all are born, very few are made, and the likes of us are forged within a fire lit long ago… When all tremble in fear for their lives, we stand and we bask in the glow of the rise of war, we wade through the rivers of blood needed to be spilled through the art of violence in order to keep the peace that the petty take for granted... until the river of life runs dry and our last breath leaves us... We are warriors... we fight for honor and we fear nothing but more than anything, we die right… We die in battle..."

Despite his crippled dying body, the old bird lunged forward with all of his might, at a speed he could barely keep up with, his heart shuttered as he watched sparks fly off of his blade as his teacher let loose with an unyielding assault.

He gave ground quickly as the old veteran tore through the space between them, he watched the blade ping off of his defenses with masterful precision, blows that would have severed arteries, tendons, or even ended his life within a single blow. Fear ravaged his heart, but so too did sorrow, but he saw enough to know what was going on, despite how horribly it hurt him, he knew what the old bird was doing and why.

The High Talon had retired him from the military, his war wounds prevented him from being consistent on the battlefield, the young High Talon didn't know what this meant. He was denying the old bird his rightful death, a death in combat. The death of a true warrior. And now the task fell to him. The old bird had spent 15 years training a hatchling into the most powerful warior he could, and now all he asked in return was the right that was denied to him because a fool pitied him, because his strength was mistaken for stubbornness, his duty mislabeled as tradition.

The more he watched the old bird tear away at his defense the more he realized, the old bird was robbed of his honor, and after 15 years of what can only be described as true fatherhood, it was time for him to become a true warrior, and it was time for a true warrior to have his rightful death.

The blade had swung so fast but neither of them fully comprehended exactly who's weapon shattered first, but the broken and shattered blade sank deep into the fur and flesh.

Tears welled up in their eyes as they both look to each other and the old bird smiled. "T...thats my boy...."

He watched as the old bird fell back the shattered steel into his throat, the blood gurgling with every word barely escaping his beak. "You ..you... you did it... You are a warrior... And more than anything... you are my son... it does not matter if my blood is not yours, you are my son and I could not be any more proud..."

He held the old bird and watched the light fade from his eyes. "Into the hall of the fallen, great father, bless this soul and take him into your fold, for if he is unworthy of the Hall of the Fallen... then none are worthy..."

Reaching up he slowly close the eyes of the Griffon who raised him. Crossing his arms over his chest and placing his Broken Blade within his talons. He stood in silence for what had to be hours, listening to the Rain beat against the training Hall. It felt like an eternity before he turned and retrieved his traveling bag, he grabbed the cask of strong alcohol and shattered it in the hall before dragging his talons over the flint and lighting his home Ablaze.

As the flames rose up around him, he sealed every last detail into his memory, he would not allow himself to forget this. His father choosing his death at the talons of his finest creation. A worthy death and the best gift he could ever give to the Griffon he owed everything to.

He wiped the tears from his eyes taking up his pack and looking back at the old bird. The young Griffon stepped out, his heart hurt. He didn’t know where he would go, Equestria? Griffonstone? It didn’t matter. He would find a place to belong, a cause to fight for, and he would not disappoint his father. He was no longer a lost bastard, but a proud warrior who sent his father off to meet a fate once robbed of him.

His heart ached, but he never before felt such pride, even as he stood in the rain, the blazing home behind him. He looked to the north and spread his wings. His father’s life just ended, but his own just began.

Author's Note:

I will try not to give EVERYTHING away, but Imma do some future and past stuff, just bonus content for the story. ^_^ a lot of stuff went without an explanation and I kinda have a lot of content just laying around.