Boreas' Gaze

by TundraStanza

Ch. 1: Sure is Windy Down Here

They called it the Abysmal Abyss. If creatures showed anything through their naming conventions, it was that they liked alliteration. It was also proof that their humor was heavily dependent on puns. Still, it was kind of hard to get mad specifically at the old cartographers. Heck, it was hard to hear oneself thinking anything at the moment.

"Why is this wind so darn loud?!"

That was what one climber wanted to shout. However, the mentioned wind was pummeling the cliffs and rock face so much. The annoyed question simply vanished upon leaving the beak. Flying was out of the question, due to the strong winds attacking from every direction. Skeletons remained on a few of the cliffs where unlucky visitors tried and failed to fly out.

Despite the grim signs, the young body of white fur and violet feathers continued to slowly descend. He was using a collection of ropes tied to a big rock several feet away from the edge of the cliff. Dark brown eyes kept darting around the rope, the abyss wall, and the darkness below him. His striped tiger tail kept itself wrapped around his right, hind thigh.

He had been slowly sliding and stepping for what felt like a long while. Some stray gusts felt like they were cutting under his feathers, straight to the skin. It was impossible to tell if he was sweating from all the effort, what with all the blasts of dry air trying to discourage him. Still, he kept crawling down and looking for something.

Sometime after his own beak had vanished in the darkness, a little bit of red glinted on a crooked cliff. He tried swinging a little to get the rope closer. When he grabbed the cliff, he realized that his talons weren't grasping stone. They were touching bone. He shivered while doing his best to remember how to breathe normally.

What he hadn't seen was how the swinging motions had sawed his rope at the top of the abyss. He did, however, feel a sudden weightlessness as the length of his rope fell past him. Holding onto the bones with both sets of talons, he managed to pull himself into a cavern in which the rest of the bones were sitting.

"Arimaspi." He shook his head before looking around the rest of the cavern. Within a moment, he found the source of the red glint. It was attached to the base of an ornate statue that could fit atop a king's talons. Holding it himself, he observed the patterns carved into the gold and couldn't help but exhale in awe.

...

He could have sworn someone just spoke to him. Yet, there was no else there. He took a look outside the cavern. The winds would never stop, so he had to make a judgment call on how long he needed to rest before he left. Reaching the talon holding the Idol of Boreas back, he willed his tail around to secure it. He cracked his knuckles before digging his talons into the rock face outside the cavern.

During the climb, his thoughts strayed to the current events. Sombra's Crystal Empire had invaded and spread claim across much of the land. At first, Celestia's own forces had managed to keep the fighting contained to Equestria. But the mind-control spells placed upon the crystal ponies' helmets kept them fighting long after normal minds would have succumbed to fatigue and injury. The Princess had needed to call in more support.

Some of the neighboring creatures joined Sombra's army as a means of knocking Celestia down a peg or two. Others joined the war on either side, expecting compensation for military service. But word got out that the only reward Sombra offered recruits and mercenaries was another helmet and permanent mind-control. After that, the chance of maybe getting payment from Celestia sounded a little more enticing versus never getting to eat or enjoy benefits under Sombra.

What was this gryphon hoping to accomplish? He thought if this idol brought unity and pride to the gryphons before, maybe they could get at least some hope. Maybe the nostalgic urges would give them back some drive to live for in this world. It would take something more than that, sure, but he figured it could at least be a starting point.

When he pulled himself safely to the top of the ledge, he gasped. A squad of Sombra's army had lined up and some of them had bows with ice arrows pointed right at the gryphon. A whisper floated in the back of his head. As the arrows were let loose, he flung the Idol of Boreas up in front of his face.

In a brief moment, he thought he saw a female gryphon with white feathers and light green fur. She was holding her talons off to either side. The instant passed as all of the arrows had landed into the idol in a flurry, freezing the idol and the rest of the arrows colliding with it. It then shattered, launching gold dust and shards of ruby into his eyes.

He screeched and quickly rubbed his eyes.

"Listen carefully, Gylpher. We don't have much time."

He stopped rubbing. "Who...? Are you the girl I just saw inside the idol?"

"These slaves will not pause for long. They will rearm themselves by the time we finish this conversation. You will have to stop them from killing you."

"How am I supposed to do that? I've just been blinded by the debris!"

"I have a proposal. You and I will enter a pact. I give you the power you need to save yourself. You will owe me a favor later."

"Most of the books I've read have been scraps, but even I know that making deals with devils isn't a good idea."

The voice chuckled. "A devil? I suppose that's fitting for me. Still, do you think these brainwashed ponies will have a better offer?"

He grunted. "Seems like life has turned into nothing but 'maybes' that are better than certain deaths." He tapped his chest with a talon. "Fine, lady. Let's make a pact."

Her presence mentally nodded. "Then by the power of Boreas, I grant this vessel the sight of release!"

...

He blinked once. He blinked twice. He blinked a third time. His sight had returned, and he could clearly see the emotionless helmets and the arrows wielded by them. Yet, he felt no glass or irritation in his eyes. It felt as if a huge surge of strength lifted his head. He flapped his wings, spreading them out. He stared at all of his attackers with stubborn eyes.

If these slaves could have thought for themselves, they might have taken notice of the red bird-like pattern floating in the gryphon's eyes. Alas, they merely lifted their bows, preparing to fire again.

"Crystal Ponies, I beseech you!" He called out. "Cast off your helmets and denounce your king!"

There was a sound similar to an eagle's cry. The bird-like pattern flapped its wings and dove into the gaze of all who were looking at the gryphon's eyes. Something jolted the sleeping minds. Flickers of green in the helmets shut off, revealing the various colors of eyes underneath.

A soldier blinked twice. He dropped his bow and yanked on his helmet with both of his front hooves. Five helmets dropped to the ground at the same time. The ponies underneath looked around, not really knowing where they were.

Gylpher scratched the ground, growling. Four of the crystal ponies yelped and galloped away. He walked over to a still intact bow and a couple quivers of ice arrows.

"Hmm, these might come in handy later." He slung the quivers to either side and picked up the bow. He pulled on the string and gave it a twang. It was at this moment he noticed the remaining crystal pony shivering in place and whimpering.

Gylpher looked to the ground and saw a bow lying next to the crystal pony. He shrugged his wings and walked closer. With a sliding motion, he placed an ice arrow quiver right beside the bow. The crystal pony paused in her whimpering to look quizzically at him. There was a hint of a gem's shine in her gray eyes. Her yellow hide and short, red mane were faded.

"Why?" she managed to choke out.

"I can't leave you completely defenseless around here." Gylpher turned away. "But, uh... save one of those arrows for yourself."

He then proceeded to spread his wings and flew for home.

---

Once upon a time, Griffonstone was the proud capital of the gryphon kingdom. Now, the only resemblance it had was the species of its residents. Houses were in constant disrepair, nests were made of unkempt garbage, and the malicious red sky wasn't brightening any moods. It was mostly quiet, save for the occasional claw fights between two gryphons over a stray bit or fragment of a pearl. Those who hadn't stayed here were off fighting in the war between ponies.

Gylpher hadn't expected any creature to greet him upon arriving at his loosely thatched roof and nesting ground. So, the sight of a green, fuzzy tail darting behind his front door gave him pause. He landed on the dirt outside as quietly as possible. With one talon on an arrow in his quiver and the other talon holding his bow, he side-stepped before throwing his door open.

"This place is rather drab, isn't it?"

Letting the arrow slide back into the quiver, Gylpher lowered his talon to catch his balance. "How in the world...?"

"I mean, it's what I expected, but it's a whole other thing to witness the dull interior personally."

The female gryphon's green tail rubbed some of the grime off a small, empty bookshelf. Orange cat-eyes looked around the house with a sense of boredom. Her white feathers imitated a mane as she raised her head.

Gylpher walked over to a wall, sat down next to it, and sighed. "What are you? How did you get here? Why are you here?"

She pretended to scratch the back of her head. "I'm Rukh, I walked, and we have a pact."

"Rukh?" He crossed his talon arms. "I thought you were the Idol of Boreas."

"Correction: I was inside that decorative statue." Her eyelids were half-closed. "One of the gryphon kings of long ago thought it would be funny to trap me in that thing. Shame, he didn't live long enough to see the punchline of my escape."

"So you're not a normal gryphon." He set his gained weapons against the wall.

"Oh, lucky me. I made a pact with a genius." Rukh rolled her eyes.

Gylpher stared hard at her. "Tell me. What exactly is this power you gave me?" The red pattern shimmered off his eyes involuntarily.

She shrugged her wings. "The power doesn't have a name. It simply manifests between those that have formed a pact. In your case, it has taken on the properties of suggestion. Before you get any ideas, no. Your power won't work on me."

He gasped and the red pattern faded. "Back near the Abysmal Abyss, how did you know my name?"

"When those ponies broke the idol, some of it made contact with your eyes." Her tail twitched. "In that moment, my soul connected with yours, showing me all of your memories."

"Hang on!" He held up a talon facing her. "All?! Even those times I-"

"Do you really want to continue that tangent, or do you want to ask the more important questions?" She lifted a talon, palm-side up.

"Guh... fine." He groaned before shaking his head. "What happens now? Is my soul forfeit to the games of your whim?"

"On the contrary." Rukh walked over to a straw nest against the back wall. "I'm not into the dark magics of succubi and sirens. Where appropriate, I'll do everything in my power to make sure you stay alive. I can't exactly collect my favor from a corpse."

"Which reminds me, what is this favor you want from me?" He walked over and shut the front door.

"I'll let you know when it's possible for you to act upon it." She walked around in a circle before lying down on the nest.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He stared at her incredulously.

"There will be plenty of time for that later." She lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"Hey! I still have questions!" He pounced onto a spot right next to the nest.

Rukh turned over on her back. Her chest rose and fell deeply. She appeared to be sleeping. Gylpher pinched the upper part of his beak and sighed. What was he supposed to do now? The Idol of Boreas was destroyed, and now he had some ageless stranger taking up his entire bed. To top it all off, he apparently had a power that could surpass King Sombra's mind control.

He chuckled in disbelief. Power to rival a king, huh? He wasn't interested in aiming for a royal throne. The last gryphon that had held that title lost focus when a singular trophy was lost. That kind of position was just asking for a lifetime of blame. He thought that perhaps he could just hide his power for now and bide his time for something to happen.

Three knocks came from his front door. Gylpher shook his head. If it was someone from the Gruff family demanding spare change again, he was just going to tell them to buzz off. He walked over and pulled the door open a crack. Gray eyes under a red mane looked back at him.

---

Author's Note:

Yes, technically this is my second attempt at a Code Geass story. Here's to hoping that it will turn out better.
...
So, considering the "Sombra war" timeline began roughly where Season 3 opened, things that happened after, such as Gilda finding the idol and watching it fall further into the abyss, never happened. It is probably safe to say that the idol was still somewhere near the grave of the cyclops-esque thief. Other discrepancies in historical events will come up later. This is the only warning I'll give to readers that strictly read the cartoon-canonically plausible.