> Your Human and You: You are not food, my friend
>  by Feral Pony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A world filled with Nudists and Griffins.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dead weight strapped to my hands felt unusually heavy today. Elpis had told me it was necessary to tie my hands together for this meeting, because griffins apparently wasn`t very trusting of humans, or at least less so than ponies. I was in a very short queue on my way to be evaluated; it is where I would be deemed safe as a pet… or food for hungry griffins. But I am getting ahead of myself, you are probably asking what`s going on and why I am rambling about ponies and griffins, and whether I be deemed food or pet. It wasn`t that long ago either that I arrived, maybe about two weeks ago? Anyways…





So wake me up when It`s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older,
all this time I was finding…


“Shut up.” I mumbled while turning off my alarm. I looked at the time even though I knew what time it was. The cellphone told me it was 07.00 in the morning, but to me it felt like I was being awakened in the middle of the night. I cupped my face in my hands and tried rubbing the tiredness out of me with very little success, but it gave me the little rush I needed to stand up and pack my bag for school. I was going to start off the day with some jolly gymnastics, and then have physics right after. When I first saw the school schedule I wanted to shake some sense into whatever incompetent douche that had decided it was a good idea to start off a day with gymnastics of all things. But I quickly grew accustomed to it, but that didn`t mean I had to like it.


“Monday`s sucks.” I mumbled tiredly, secretly hoping my complaining would magically change the day from Monday to a late Friday evening. But that was just wishful thinking on my part. I double checked that I had everything I needed for school and checked the clock again. 07.35 it read.


“Great fifteen minutes to do nothing.” I laid back down onto the bed again and closed my eyes to relax the best I could before those fifteen minutes were spent. 


“Hey sweetie, it`s time to go.” I shot up my eyes at hearing my mother’s soothing voice telling me it`s time to wake up. I checked the clock again and read 07.53. How those fifteen minutes went by so quick will remain a mystery to me, but school was important so I fought through the urge to sleep and took on my new coat and went out into the cold, cold, cold winter of the oh so wonderful country that is Norway.


The first steps into the cold storm were painful, but my quest to get to my school had to take effect at once and so I marched onward into the cold hell. It was still dark outside and lamp post`s was still on to light the road, seeing this did not really help my brain to understand that according to school it was early morning, but there are those things you just gotta deal with. The snow whipped across my face and the cold northern wind blew my coat around making it flap everywhere. I could barely see more than 10 meters in front of me because of the thick layer of snow everywhere. But I didn`t need to see, I knew the road to my school by heart.


On my way I saw some people were up and early and let their cars warm up to their trip to work. I envied them, I had to walk to school and suffer the harsh cold weather while they could just chill in their car and enjoy warmth and maybe a cup of coffee on their way, while the source of warmth I had was my pockets and a cap on my head and a scarf placed tightly around my neck.


“Ey, Victor.” I heard someone shout. I turned around to get an eye on who was shouting. It was Carl, not the most popular guy around but he was okay once you got to know him, though a bit random at times.


“Hey.” I just gave him a tired wave with my hand and slowed down my walking so he could catch up easier.


“Were you at the party this weekend?” Carl asked. I was a bit surprised he wanted to know about the party, He usually didn`t get invited to that kind of thing.


“Yeah… stuff went down to put it bluntly Carl. It wasn`t you kind of party.” Carl just shrugged and kept his gaze forward while I pieced together what I could from last night.

-------------------------

“WHOOOOO!” Oskar stood on the roof right above the pool, dancing and shaking to the rhythm of the music. It must have been a five meter drop to the pool, and much to my surprise he jumped and landed safely in the water with a big splash. This earned him a cheer from everyone in the area, including me. I saw Harold raise his glass to Oskar, and I did the same as well as most other people who had drinks. The crowd erupted “Cheers WHOOO!” and we drank the alcohol in our glasses leaving us with the stinging sensation of having drunk poison. The loud music only getting louder and more earshattering.

-------------------------


“Yeah… definitely not something for you Carl.” I smiled inwardly, knowing Carl didn`t sit well with parties.


===========


The school day was long, and very painful. Mondays were the longest days, so me and my class ended around the four thirty mark. I was on my way back home returning to where I could relax from all the stress I was feeling. Honestly being told that next week we were going to have four midterms was just downright cruel and added to my already sky high stress level. I took my box of snus and placed a piece underneath my lip and let it do its job. I was under age, but honestly I didn`t care all that much. I needed something to relieve my stress and I had found snus to be a beautiful solution to my stress problem.


The snow and wind level had gone down significantly during my time in class, but it was still pretty cold, even more so than normal. I felt a small sensation of dizziness overtaking me, and it was from the snus. I was still pretty new to it so not being used to snus makes you dizzy, but you get over it over time. But this time the dizziness lead me to tripping, which was a first. “What the fuck… I have never tripped because of snus…” I thought to myself. I was about to stand up but I lost my grip on the ground and began falling into a white abyss of nothingness. “WHAT THE SHIIIII…” I screamed out wondering what the heck just happened.


I was spinning in mid air trying desperately to get a grasp of something to hold myself with, but nothing. There was nothing I could hold onto. I felt myself falling, but no wind rushed past me, it was dead silent except my screaming, which left me wondering whether I actually was dead or maybe just dreaming in a coma state or something. My train of though quickly got interrupted when I suddenly slammed my face into a tree that appeared out of nowhere. “Uuhhh…” I whined to myself, wondering what the hell just happened. I lifted my gaze from the tree to get an idea of where I was. I didn`t recognize the area at all. There was a hedge surrounding the area I was in, trapping me inside without any clear way out other than a metal door on the far end. There were trees placed evenly out and a very small river running down the middle of the garden like area. The grass was green as well as the trees which confused me, since not more than maybe five minutes ago I was in a snowy cold frozen place called Norway. But now I was finding myself in a hot, green and summerlike place. I took off my backpack and other winter gear and slowly walked over to the river, taking in my surroundings.


Arriving at the river I looked down and saw the still water. I saw my own reflection for what must have been forever. My dirty blonde hair was combed to the left and some of hit hung a bit out of place making some of it cover some of my vision on my left eye. My dark green eyes looked right back at me, my reflection imitating my every movement. I saw a weak scruff making its way on my chin and cheeks. I had bags under my eyes telling me I was tired from last night activities. I smirked at myself wondering what had just happened. I cupped some water in my hands and splashed it in my face hoping it would resolve something. Alas, much was still left to be resolved.


I took in the enviroment once more, just to make sure that it still was the lush green garden which it still was. 
I grabbed my cellphone from my back pocket and took a quick glance at the time; it read five in the evening. I sighed and wandered off towards the big metal chunk of a door that was my way to freedom most likely. I tried opening the door several times but it remained locked.

I figured, since I wasn`t getting out anytime soon i could do what any sane person would do in this situation. Call somebody with the cellphone. I tried to call both the police, and my parents and even all the animal control services I could think of. But I couldn`t for the life of me get any signal anywhere, not that a phone call would help me much since I had on some mysterious occasion lost my speech which I figured out after failing to say "fuck my life". I had climbed the trees to get a better view on the outside of the hedge, but the trees weren`t tall enough. Go figure. So I figured I wasn`t going anywhere soon so I just laid my head on my backpack and let sleep overtake me hoping someone would come through the metal door at some point and wake me up and tell me what the hell was going on.


===========


I felt something kick me on my side. I opened my eyes slowly wondering who dared to wake me up when I was sleeping so peacefully. What met me was a completely butt naked man who looked down upon me with a curious glare. I gazed right back, but not at his face, but rather down at his junk wondering what the hell this guy is thinking walking around like that. I broke contact from his ding, ding dong`s  and stood up, and surprisingly enough towering him by about a head`s worth of height. I saw behind him was dozens of other naked people stumbling around with no goal in mind from what I could tell. I face palmed, and tough of the ridiculous situation I was finding myself in. "Yup, im definelty dead, or dreaming." I tried to say, but only grumbles and growls really came out. 



I’m surrounded by nudists that decided that this pit was a nice place to just pointlessly walk around in. The guy who woke me up was tugging at my arm sniffing at my clothing and scrunching up a bit as the smell reached his nostrils. I reflectively pulled my arm away and tried to say “Is there a problem?” but nothing but a grumble came out. I groaned annoyed at the situation. I couldn`t talk, and all the humans around me were nudists who happen to like sniffing things like animals. The little naked man did not take this well and pushed me while showing off his teeth at me. “Okay seriously what the fuck” I got into a combat ready pose hoping I wasn`t going to go into a fight with a nudist, I really wasn`t keen on fighting in general really, never have, never will be.



He just stared at me while exposing his teeth. I backed away hoping he would take the sign that I didn`t want to fight. But he just took a step forward when I took a step backward making my retreat pointless. This guy seriously wanted to fight. My hands were shaking, and I was actually cold sweating as well because I had forgotten to take out my snus before I went to sleep, making my throat sore from the juice that had been running while I was sleeping. I was also dizzy, which didn`t help all that much. Before the little man could lounge at me he just collapsed and began to spaz out while tugging and trying to rip at his collar off. Collar, how hadn`t I seen it before? I heard the metal door on the far end open and out came a bunch of… Griffins?!



“GET HIM!” I heard one of them shout while pointing a talon somewhere in my direction. It took me a second to realize it was directed towards me.



I stared in disbelief as they ran with chains and restraints ready for use, and they were running towards… ME! My body quickly caught up with my brain and gave me a huge spike of adrenaline making my whole body sting as energy flowed and was ready to be used, and use it I did. I quickly began sprinting in the opposite direction of the griffins running between the nude humans who stared with great interest at the chase that was ongoing in front of them. I jumped over the small river and counted seconds before I could hear the griffin’s splash through it so I could know how far behind they were. But no splash ever came so I curiously looked behind me trying to catch a glint of where they were. Much to my dismay they were up in the air flying after me and catching up quickly.
I looked at the metal door which was guarded by two griffins with a set of restraints themselves, making my only way of escaping impossible. I could feel my body giving up, as it knew this was already a doomed fight. So naturally my body slowed down and It didn`t take long before I was slammed into the ground eating dirt while the Griffins went crazy on restraining my hands on my back and shutting a collar around my neck. Didn`t take long before I felt a huge surge of electricity shoot through me efficiently knocking me out cold.



=============


I awoke being dragged through some orange hallways by two griffins. My knees were being scratched up by them pulling my limp body on concrete. “Well you guys care much for my well-being” I groaned inwardly. My hands were restrained in front of me and I was stripped of all my clothes, and I mean "ALL" the clothes. I looked tiredly up trying to get an idea of where I was being dragged to.



“He is awake.” I heard the griffin to my right say. I cast a glance at him noticing he had a dark brown coat and light brown head and chest. He honestly didn`t look all that intimidating, aside from his talons and his beak, which was a shade of gray and a little hint of black spots.



The griffin on my right turned his head towards me and gave me a smirk which I didn`t quite like. “He sure does look delicious.” I heard coming from my left. That quickly got my brain up and running and I tried to yelp "WHAT?!". Just a loud surprised scream escaped from me. I looked horrified at the griffin silently hoping he would begin laughing the whole remark he made about me off as a joke. But nothing came other than an annoyed glare at my surprised behavior.



“Do you think we will even get to eat him? I mean he came with all those books and clothes which makes me think he is someone’s pet.” Left said



“Yeah I don`t get that, Humans are food, not pets. Not for griffins anyway, just for ponies. Ponies need them after all, they are weak and need protection fwom us sawy gwiffins” Right said mockingly. It took me a moment to catch up to what he just said. “Wait… pets… FOOD. I think this is a nice choice of words for this situation, *gasp* WHAT THE FUCK!”



“Do you think some stupid unicorn accidently teleported the human here?” Left Griff asked to the Right griffin.



Right Griff didn`t answer, instead he chose to look curiously at me as I was still in shock of what I had just heard. My mouth was agape and my eyes were just staring straight forward while my brain tried to reboot what little left of working wires I had left.



“Do you think he is autistic like some of the others?” Left asked?



“Nah… he seemed just fine a few minutes ago, beside he doesn’t show any signs of having any autism`s. I think… never mind, let’s just get to the boss and ask what to do with him.”



I was in shock the whole trip to wherever we were headed, and before I knew it I was standing in front of a griffin who sat behind a desk with glasses on doing paperwork. To my left and right were the two griffins who dragged me here. The griffin to my right coughed to make our presence clear. The griffin behind the desk snapped out of his work and looked at the griffins, and then his eyes fell onto me.



“Yes… what is it Agathon?” The griffin behind the desk asked to Right, or now known as Agathon.



“We have an unidentified human, and were wondering what to do with him.” Agathon said with a business like voice.



“Why, tag him of course and send him to the other humans where he gets fattened up so we can sell him.”



“What if he has an owner sir? He had belongings with him when he arrived.”



“What kind of belongings” The griffin behind the desk asked. Now curious about the situation.



“Something that probably were books, and some clothes. The books have been mysteriously burnt up tough, and the clothes looked something close to pony design. No collar or nametag were on him. And he isn`t branded either. We don`t know how he found his way in here so...”


He was interrupted by my breakdown.


I lost all control and puked right on the floor, I couldn`t deal with all that was happening. I was food? I was a pet? Humans were branded? Nametags? It wasn`t just reality of the situation hitting me hard either. I still had that stupid fucking snus under my lip for a ridiculous amount of time which I really wanted to get out, but my restrained hands were holding me back. My brain decided this was a remarkable moment to do a second shutdown for the day, officially announcing that Victor.EXE has stopped worki7ng. But not before I heard.



“Get him out of this office this instant, and get him to the vet for the ancestor’s sake.” The griffin behind the desk practically yelled. I was being dragged out of the office and I blacked out for the second time.


===========


The griffin vet was the first one to actually treat me with some decency. She had shouted at the griffins who had dragged me to her that they were being inconsiderate, and just because I was food didn`t mean I was to be mistreated. Although that sentence could do without the food part, it was a nice tough. She had lashed out because of my knees which barely had any skin left after being dragged for so long on concrete. She had fixed them up and bandaged them and then proceeded to do some other examinations. Her coat was a nice shade of brown with some 
orange-ish feathers here and there making variation in her coat. Her chest and head were a shade of light gray making it stand out, and her beak was a dark orange, matching her claws.



Say “aaaahhhhh” she said while forcing my mouth open.“let’s have some fun”



“Aaaahhh” I responded. This made her look at me with great confusion probarly wondering what the heck just happened or how I understood her. Since I was supposedly a pet, me being smart might come as a surprise. She shook her head and got to looking at my teeth again. While she fiddled with my teeth I took a moment to look around. The room was a nice shade of light blue, and the walls had nice and shiny tiles covering them. A nice change compared to the orange dimly lighted hallways with concrete walls and floors. The lamp actually provided enough light for the room to feel welcome and light up, while still remaining comfortable and not too bright. There was a table with drawers in it going from one end of the room to the other with a sink and soaps, maybe even different types of medication and sterilization products. I was currently sitting on a bed that had straps ready on the sides, but luckily wasn`t in use… yet. So I mentally noted those down, just acknowledging their presence even if they made me uncomfortable. 



“You have remarkably clean teeth” she said with much surprise in her voice while she examined my teeth. I smirked slightly at that remark, thought, not enough to be noticed.



“What is this?” she took a gloved talon and carefully extracted my snus which I was eternally grateful for, I don`t want to know what would have happened should it have been there longer. She smelled it, her face scrunching up into one of disgust.



“Who would give you something so disgusting?” she asked throwing the snus into the closes garbage bin. I put up a smirk again knowing I was the one who placed it there in the first place. The vet however noticed my smirk and looked at me with a slightly confused expression.



She shook her head and said “I’m just being a bit weird today.” She said to herself. I narrowed my eyes in confused. I knew humans were stupid here and acted like animals, at least that`s what I tough and put together using the information at my disposal, but was she referring to my smirk. Can`t humans here do something so simple as to show any kind of emotion? She had her back turned towards me while she looked through the drawers looking for something. When she closed the drawer she held out a syringe with some dark blue liquid in the container. This made me sigh. I hated needles, I didn`t fear them, but I hated them. What was she about to pump into my body anyway? Should I let her? Maybe it was deadly to me?! Should I try and stop her showing her that I am intelligent? How would she even react if she knew I was intelligent?



I snapped out of my trance when she offed me a red apple. Red, juicy, delicious apple. I hadn’t eaten for what felt like an eternity so I greedily grabbed the apple from her claw and was about to take a huge chunk off it. But the vet decided that she would just take the apple away right before I got to set my teeth into it, making me slam my teeth together rather painfully. I gave her my best pouty face. She tilted her head to the right. Why did she do that when I did something with my face? Whether it be a smirk or a sad expression. 



“Well, now I know you aren`t aggressive. But I have seen humans show some semblance of sad expressions, but never something quite like yours.” She said. Why did she talk to herself anyway? Not that I minded. I liked to know what she was thinking so I could have something to work with, but still who talks that much? Maybe it`s just a doctor`s thing to talk about the patient…



I was in deep thought again wondering why doctors talk to themselves, or even if they did on a regular basis, so naturally I didn`t notice her sterilizing my arm with some cold goo. But when she jabbed the needle into my arm I yelped out of surprise and looked at her with narrowed eyes doing a weak annoyed growl directed at her. “You could have warned me first you douche” I thought to myself. I hated when doctors just did stuff randomly or worse, plain out lied to you. I remember being at the school taking a shot against some influenza shit, and the one who gave me the shot assured me that she was going to stab me on the count of three, but she jabbed the syringe in at the first second instead. “I hate doctors” I confirmed to myself.



“You are a different one aren`t you?” she asked me, but I knew she didn`t expect an answer. So I just played dumb, wanting to get a feeling of her before I showed her anything that could potentially put my life at risk. I mean, considering humans are food, and we are dumb animals there were bound to be consequences should an intelligent human suddenly appear out of nowhere. I smirked in response to her question and this earned that confused furrowed brow again. What was it with my smirk she was so curious about? She stepped closer to me, and was practically touching my nose with her beak. I could feel her breath from her nose grace my cheeks. “OOOkay... what are you doing?”



She took her right claw and placed it on my chest. “Oooookayy…?” Then suddenly I felt a small pain growing in my chest. And I could feel some thick warm liquid run down to my stomach. I looked down and saw she had clawed up a small cut on my chest. I narrowed my eyes angrily at the so called veterinarian and gave her my most venomous look I could. She narrowed her eyes back, but with confusion, not anger.



“Why aren`t you turning violent?” she asked confused. She probably had to deal with a lot of violent humans I assumed form her statement and confused expression. But something ticked off in me from the statement as well, and the action.



“I`m done. I`m done playing dumb. You want to know why I am not hostile? I will show you why I am not hostile.” I growled inwardly. I jumped off from where I was seated and marched over to the counter in hope of finding some papers and a pen. She watched me with wary eyes wondering what I was up to, but I didn`t care anymore. I know I was just a few minutes ago telling myself to be careful, but I had had it with being an animal especially if I were to be mistreated. I drew out a tray and found lots needles with blue liquid in them stacked neatly besides each other.



“Nope”



I closed the tray and opened the one beneath and found some apples and something that looked like chewing toys made for dogs.



“I don`t even want to know” I thought tiredly.



“You actually know how trays work. Either you are a fast learner or your previous master has trained you to know…” I heard the Vet analyze behind me. I am surprised she hasn`t tried to stop me from lurking around in the drawers, but I didn`t care all that much, I just wanted to find that stupid piece of paper. I turned around to face the vet and motioned with my hands that I was drawing or writing. “Come on, understand basic motions you little chicken. Please. Pretty, please.” I wished, hoping my little wish would come true. But she wasn`t looking! She was watching the clock hanging on the wall! "Just my fucking luck" I facepalmed. My hands were still restrained so, facepalming proved to be a bit more challenging, but I managed to make a nice loud slap sound.



“Well that`s all the time I had for you, I will check up on you in about a week and we will see how your wounds have healed up by then. AGATHON! IM DONE!” She yelled out. Immediately the griffins who were dragging me in the first place were now showing me the way out.



“No, no, no, no. Please just react to my motions you stupid talking bird!” I desperately cried out to myself hoping my pleads would reach her.



“Thank you for taking care of him Elpis. When will you be seeing him next time?” Agathon asked The Vet, or Elpis.



“Next week would be fine. Don`t fatten him up yet tough! We can`t be sure if his wounds have gotten infected. I used Antibiotics, but I just don`t want to risk it.” Elpis smiled, talking about me like I’m not even here. I shrinked at her remark, but none of them noticed. Agathon just smiled back at Elpis 



“Sure thing doc. Don`t let them humans hurt you now.”



And so we left doc Elpis, and Agathon was now in the lead tugging at my newly acquired rope that went nicely with my collar so I knew which way to go, sponsored by your friendly neighborhood doctor Elpis. God how I hated her right now. Don`t get me wrong, It`s better than being dragged around raping my knees to a bloody mess, but it is rather humiliating, not that the griffins would know I though this way.



After some walking through the dimly lit hallways Agathon opened a door that lead to a room containing three other humans which were currently growling at each other. But they were bound to a pole, the rope just short enough so they can`t reach each other. There were two females and one male, the male looking rather strong and almost like something I would consider an Alpha. Every eye was on me as I was lead into the dimly lit room that smelled poop and piss all over making me gag, so I refused to breathe with my nose.



“Wounds isn`t going to kill me, but disease” I groaned. The place lacked so much of hygiene. I stopped dead in my track making Agathon pulling at my leash harder in an attempt to make me follow. It quickly went from normal tugging and pulling to straight out trying to drag me with the rope into the room.



“Come on you stupid human, you can look at the pretty females while you are here.” Agathon growled while having a hard time pulling me. Agathon must have been weak, because I wasn`t particularly heavy, and I hadn`t any muscles to boast about, so why he was having a hard time pulling me was beyond me. I began backtracking our steps without much of a struggle, out of the doorway, and I had actually managed to pull Agathon with me out to the hallway. Then I sat down right in front of him showing him I wasn`t going in there. Period. 



Agathon faceclawed which made it quiet visible he was frustrated by my stubbornness. “FINE, where do you want to go then?!” He asked me. I shot up and went through the hallway maze in an attempt to find the outdoor area where I had first arrived. I wasn`t going to sleep in no shithole literally, I wanted to be alone and left to my thoughts. I surprisingly enough managed to understand the signs telling what were where in which direction. (Try saying that ten times, fast.) So it didn`t take long before I found the door leading to the outdoor area. Agathon did a nice impression of a fish once I stopped at the door, understanding that I wanted out. I guess he was just trying to wrap his mind around the fact that I got there in the first place without much error.



“Y…You want out?” He asked intelligently.



My first reaction would have been to nod, but I held back the urge to. I honestly didn`t want to grow too used to me acting dumb, but if it kept my life safe until I had someone I could trust, or hopefully find a way back home before it came to that even, then I would just keep on playing the role of the dumb human.



“You aren’t actually allowed but…” He sighed in defeat. “I just really want to go to bed right now. It`s been a long day, for both you and me.” He unlocked and opened the door leading outside into the outdoor area where I had first arrived, though the moonlight made it look slightly blue-ish instead of green like when I first had arrived. How long ago was that anyway? I don`t think I have been here for more than twelve hours even, and I have disturbingly fast managed to grow accustomed to griffins?
“Human adaptability?” I questioned myself while stepping out into the cold night air, wrapping a cold blanked around me and my more… ahem… sensitive parts.



When I was fully outside Agathon closed the door behind me leaving me alone with the moon and the stars. I walked over to the small river and cupped some water and began drinking. I hadn`t realized how thirsty I actually was, until I had seen that bowl of water standing beside each pole in the room with the three humans in it. Why hadn`t Elpis done something about the hygiene in those rooms if she cared so much for us humans. I was still a bit down for her not seeing my attempt at communicating. And It was a week until next meeting with her… damn. 



For once in the twelve hours or so that I have been here in this crazy wonderland, I was alone, without a griffin hanging on my back, or telling me where to go and what to do. It was refreshing, and allowed me for some time to think. I sat down by the closest tree and looked out into the open area. I resembled something of a small park now that I thought about it. “An encased park of sort?”


My mind began drifting other places, one of which was home. Many things went through my mind, first it was My parents. I was going to miss them during my stay in wherever I was, but I was goin to miss my sister the most. I didn`t even get to say goobye. I closed my eyes, frustrated, tired, angry! WHAT WAS GOING ON?! I let out a luod sigh and felt my emotions tun to sadness. I missed home. I clenched my eys shut further, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up behind them. But it was all in vain as I began sobbing and curling up, trying to make myself as small as possible. I wanted to go home, to wake up and forget whatever this was.



> I need sombody to make me feel alright
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could hear machinery working in the background making rumbling noises and stirring me from my sleep. I opened my eyes and noticed I was on a conveyer belt with my arms and legs strapped to the sides so I couldn’t move. How the heck did I get strapped to a conveyer belt, and where was it taking me? I looked around and saw nothing but darkness. The only thing that was clear was the path I was moving down and a light shining down upon me. I followed the light with my eyes to see where it was coming from. The light was emitting from a window, and standing in the window was a griffin. A griffin I swear I had seen before… Agathon was his name I think, but something was off about him. His eyes were looking at me hungrily and almost impatiently. And his beak had something resembling to a maniacal grin plastered to it. His eyes moved from me and down the direction I was heading. I followed his gaze and saw something I really wanted be a teddy bear. But It was unfortunately not a fluffy stuffed animal, It was a huge saw spinning at an insane speed and it was closing in in a uncomfortable steady pace.



I ripped and thrashed hoping to break the straps holding me down on the conveyer belt, but to no use. I looked for help on my sides, but what had previously been complete darkness was now filled with cut up body parts, fresh blood still trickling down their fresh open wounds. I looked at the blood covered saw and heard it`s uncomfortable humming sound closing in in a rapid pace. I screamed at and thrashed not wanting to die. Seeing arms and legs not connected to torsos just showed what fate I was doomed to suffer. I looked back up at Agathon hoping he would show mercy, but Agathon was no longer standing there. What was instead was a giant dark shadow with the form of a griffin, only twisted and it`s shadowy limbs floating oily in the air. It`s glowing red eyes standing out and covering me in cold, dark, fear. I looked up at the demon, and resisted the straps holding me down even further. The shadow spoke directly into my head, making shutting it out impossible. It spoke of how it had plans for me, and how it was going to make my life as miserable as possible. Luckily for me, the straps broke everything around me tore apart, the saw, the bloody body parts, the demon and I felt the sensation of falling.



Suddenly a bright light intruded the darkness and scared the darkness away. Gasped and I jerked back slamming my head into a tree. My breath was shaky and I could feel cold sweat trickle down my face. I closed my eyes trying to calm down, from whatever had happened. I reached my hand to the back of my head to see if the tree slam had caused any damage. Lucky for me no damage had been made. Just a nightmare I convinced myself.



After a few seconds of taking deep breaths and relaxing my body I looked up to see where I was. Sure enough I was in the garden area, where I had slept last night, only now it was filled with other humans and an unknown woman was standing next to me, eyeing me curiously. I moved my mouth to say hello, but a grunt came out. I sighed, mentally face palming myself for not remembering that I couldn`t talk. I looked up at her again, but only this time not her face, but her naked body. Hey I am a boy, and instincts rockets sky high when naked people are around, especially when that certain individual is of the opposite sex. I am honestly proud of how much I have managed to hold myself back considering I am still filled with hormones.  I however for this occation had trouble holding the little guy down. But I tried my best not wanting any unwanted attention, because for all I knew these humans were only driven by instinct like most animals who want to breed during heat or something. So if little mister junior saluted they might take that as approval for any sexual intercourse.



I causally stood up and walked away from her not wanting to deal with her, or anyone for that matter, my grumpy mood caused from my nightmare probably wouldn`t be much good company anyway not to mention my growing erection which I did not want!



I passed many people, just wandering around doing nothing in particular. I noticed some females were holding around this one bulky guy who juts relaxed, and did nothing in particular other than stroke some of his females.“So humans can show some level of affection” I noted. There were no other males who sat down like that guy so I figured this guy was the Alpha of this garden area. I wandered around aimlessly already missing my clothes and my cellphone. Come to think of it, what did the griffins do to those anyway? I mean, surely they would figure out something was wrong when they saw me with all the books with human culture and history. Oh wait, that`s right, they burned up in some mysterious way according to Agathon. But couldn`t they at least have let me keep my clothes. I wandered around for what must have been hours just complaining about why I didn`t get to keep any of my things and wondering what they were doing with it. The only thing I owned now was this collar around my neck with a small tag that I could not read since I couldn`t see it. 



“Time to get the humans back into their rooms.” I looked over to the metal door and now saw Agathon standing there with another older griffin and some others. I actually felt a tinge of fear shoot trough me when I saw Agathon, I can`t explain why but I did recall the Nightmare I had a while ago. “Alright griffins! Round `em up.” The old one ordered, and quickly the griffins surrounded us and herded us over to the metal door where each human got into the hallway then later into their respectful rooms. I stood outside my room still refusing to go into the poop filled hole. That was until I was the only one standing in the hallway with the griffins.



“Why isn`t this one going into his room?” I heard the old griffin demand. I gave him a quick once over and saw he had a mix of grey and brown coat. He had wrinkles under his eyes. The wrinkles didn`t suggest tired tough. Just experienced and his eyes suggested the same thing making me not wanting to get in this griffin`s bad side.



“Well… He refused yesterday as well so I let him sleep outside in the garden.” Agathon answered while scratching his neck sheepishly. “Well he ain`t sleeping out there tonight again. Gotta make em learn to respect ya, like you can with any other dumb animal.” The old guy approached me and took his claw on my neck and pulled me down to his eye level and began hissing at me “You will go into that room, and you will sleep there tonight, and don`t you try anything funny or I will personally hurt you so much you would wish you were never born, is that understood?!”



“Uuuhhh… Boss. I don`t think he can understand yo…” 



“Shut up Agathon! I have been doing this for years, and I know when a human understands me or not. Isn`t that right…” He looked at my collar “…202”



I was about to nod at the question but I got thrown into the room and tied to one of the remaining posts. “Sleep well humans.” The bossy old griffin said in a rather creepy tone and then closed the door leaving me and three other humans stuck in a dimly lit up room that smelled of shit and piss. There were two females on the other side and one male next to me. We were all tied up so we were out of reach, but that didn`t stop the females from trying to reach to me. Were they attracted to me? Had I known they weren`t dumb animals, I would have been flattered but such was not the case. I tugged at the rope binding me to the post. It was locked with a padlock, making escape impossible and I wasn`t strong enough to cut the rope. So I sat down on my rump leaning my crossed arms on my knees and hid my face from view, ignoring the whining and tugging sounds the ladies were making in an attempt to reach over to me. I began to think, like I have been doing much lately. Even though I was surrounded by my own species, I don`t think I have ever felt more alone. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and small sobs began escaping from me. I was so tired. I wanted this to end. I wanted to go home.



===============



I have somewhat lost track of time. I knew I have been in this world for around five to six days, maybe seven but it had felt like years. Sleeping in a sewer doesn’t really help, not to mention I haven`t talked to anyone in a while, which I think is taking a small toll on my psyche because I am usually very talkative. I have been wondering if I should reveal my intelligence to some of the griffins, but I am still afraid of how they will react. The only one I trust somewhat is the Doc. It is just something about her that made her tick. She felt more trustworthy than the other griffins, so if I am going to reveal my intelligence to some griffin it is going to be her, definitely although I haven`t had much chances to speak to her. So now I at least had a plan, which is better than what I can say for the last couple of days where I have been getting lost of unwanted attention from females who actually dared to leave mister alpha behind to get a better look at me. Of course Alpha had noticed this and was actually keeping an eye on me, probably to make sure I wasn`t going to challenge him for the Alpha rank.



“Round them humans up so we can begin feeding them.” I heard the boss’s voice coming from the door. I had picked up on these feeding sessions. While the first three days or so when I first got here we humans got a small amount of food, but enough to keep us alive. However for the last couple of days we were getting increasingly bigger meals, and some humans were gaining fat, I however got suspicious and only ate as much as I needed to. I had never been any Sherlock Holmes but I knew something was fishy when the meals turned from small and barely a meal to a meal for a family of four, or maybe I am just paranoid and the company that owns this place finally got some founds to feed humans properly.



This went on for maybe two days, before I knew the griffins were intentionally fattening humans up. The Alpha seemed to keep in shape, even though he never trained or did anything aside from cuddling with his females. Like I mentioned earlier, some females were keeping an eye on me and the Alpha was showing more and more aggression signs towards me every time we were close up to each other. I knew he was going to be trouble that I would have to fix soon, because I couldn`t tell the females to just go away since they can`t speak or read, and Mr. Alpha won`t talk either, so something bad was bound to happen soon should more females leave his side just so they can stalk me all day. Fuck my luck.



I was sleeping at my usual tree which was the one I first slept at when I arrived, but every time I woke up I had a tendency to have at least four or five females laying around me like Mr. Alpha had when he first arrived. His number was shortening and mine was growing, even though I hadn`t proved myself worthy for jack shit. “I guess looks can beat strength sometimes.” I chuckled to myself. However my fun was cut short as a shadow blocked the sun.



I looked up from my position and saw an angry Alpha standing above me. I stood up much to the female’s dismay, and walked up to him. I stood a bit taller than him, but what he lacked in height he made up in width, made of pure strength by the looks of it. I swear I could read a stamp on his forehead saying
“You don`t fuck with me cause I’m tha BOSS!” And I didn`t have any quarrel with Alpha, even though I knew he had one with me. But that was business I didn`t care much for so I just grunted and tried to step around him so I could find another sleeping spot. Grunting probably was a bad mistake cause he grabbed my arm and planted his fist directly onto my right cheek. I staggered back and tried to catch up with what just happened, but before I even think “what the fuck” he jumped at me making me fall on the grass and he began slamming his fists at my sides furiously, tough not focusing on my head for some reason. This gave me a small timeframe to think of what to do.



I kicked his leg making him trip and it gave me a window to stand up. Humans had surrounded us making a small fighting ring with no possible exit, so running wasn`t an option. Alpha stood up and ran at me with a war cry. However his move was predictable since he had his left hook raised under the entire run, making dodging easy. I dodged and was going for a counterattack. I grabbed his arm while he passed me and I managed to get a hold of his head. I kneed his face and let him go letting him fall on his back. Blood was trickling from his nose and mouth. He had little stamina since he was already pretty tired, but he began standing up again not giving up the fight.



I knew I had been lucky with my first counterattack, so I was awaiting his move. He was tired, and I was not so he would be slow while I would be quick. We circled each other until I decided that I needed to make a move, so I closed in slowly, and when I was close enough I charged him with the intention to tackle him. However he got a lucky kick in my face, making me fall on my back, and before I could do anything he was on top of me hitting me furiously again, while I was down. This seemed to be his tactic to win. However as I lied there taking hit after hit I noticed he didn`t lock me to the ground. He stood over me with his legs spread above me which gave me the perfect plan, and probably the cruelest. “I am so sorry bud” I thought, not wanting to imagine the pain I was going to put this guy through. I slammed my leg up between his legs shaking hitting his exposed groin and it got the reaction I wanted. He collapsed and actually began puking from pure pain while clenching his groin area. Right as I was about to stand up, the beating my sides had taken caught up with me and. IT. WAS. PAINFUL! I examined the damages and my sides were turning blue and purple already, and I could see an uneven lump stick out from my chest, suggesting a rib is broken. Blood trickled down my chest as well. Whether it was mine or his I didn`t quite know since both of us had gotten a leg in the face at some point during the fight. I looked over at the Alpha whom I had defeated just a few seconds ago with a nicely placed kick up at his ring-a-ding-ding. He was still in immense pain since he wasn`t moving much so I tried to drag my ass away from him, not wanting to think of what that guy would want to do with me now that I had probably sterilized him for life. It was painful putting strain on my wounds, but I really didn`t want to do fight the Alpha more than I already had. I had no desires to become an Alpha myself so… screw that noise.



I used the support of a tree to put less strain on my already aching body. “Why hadn`t any griffin guards intervened anyway? Was fighting allowed today or what? Cause it sure as hell wasn`t allowed yesterday... I think?”  I looked around in the arena hoping to find some griffin watching so he could end this stupide fight for dominance. The pain in my chest grew with each breath, growing to almost an unbearable point. “Fucking hell, I didn`t sign up for this shit, besides isn`t the fight over? Isn`t the poor bastards already defeated, I mean he is puking his last lunch out from pain.” I asked myself worried. If this was a fight to the death then I was royally fucked. I had no intention to kill anybody. I don`t want to kill anybody. I face palmed, at the mess I had gotten myself into hoping an easy way out would just present itself, or I would just wake up from a bad dream and be walking to school any minute from now on, but the pain I was feeling felt pretty real, and the amount of time in this griffin land suggested otherwise.



The Alpha slowly stood up looking at me with a rage I had never seen before. If looks could kill, this look would have gutted, and skinned me and put my head up on a spike. He now stood up tall and flexed his muscles while moving towards me. His blood running down his face and his swollen eye made him look pretty scary, especially combined with the hateful glare he had fixated on me. He seemed to get taller with each step he took closing in on me. I honestly, truly wanted to shed a tear for myself and my luck. You know those moments when you life flashes before your eyes right before you die? I was having one of those and it let me escape to a happy place, where all was fine and dandy, where my mind would protect me from all outside harm. Where I could live happy in my last moments of life.



“Victor!” I turned, and Katinka rammed into me, embracing me in her usual bear hugs while almost knocking me over. Unlike me, she was actually quite strong, and was in much physical activity making her superior in strength. She was also taller than me, which I was embarrassed about before, but grew accustomed to it, and the teasing that came along. “So how was class?”
She let go of the bear hug and looked at me with her dark brown eyes. She grinned at me making her white teeth stand out to her dark brown skin. “It was cool; we finally got to work with animations which I have been longing for, for so long.” I answered. She smiled with the “I am happy for you.” She smiled. She the closed her eyes and closed in on me, making a small O shape with her lips. As she came closer I could feel her breath hit my skin and I could smell her perfume. I wetted my lips and returned her gesture and our lips met each other, making my body grow all warm and fuzzy inside. I knew I could be stuck like this forever and still be happy, since I was with her.



When we broke the kiss I noticed we had an audience staring with mild disgust. What she and I had aren`t not very common around here where I live practically stamping me for blasphemy. But I didn`t care, she meant everything to me. And I meant everything to her. We learned our foreheads on each other and just enjoyed the moment.



I broke out of my trance and returned to seeing the raging man before me running at me at full sprint. But before he could reach me he suddenly collapsed and jerked back and forth on the ground clawing at his collar. “Oh shit” Was all I managed to think before a surge of electricity spread over my body, rendering me unconscious within seconds.



============



I could hear some weird distant voices talking. One sounded like a man, quiet gruff and spoke with authority, while the other was a female voice. The voice had a soft and kind feeling to it. The mumbling slowly became more and more understandable.



“… and he has a broken rib.” I heard the soft voice say.



“I have been knocked out more times within the last 24 hours than what is considered healthy” I groand to myself. I opened my eyes to see what all the fuzz was about related to that broken rib.



“He actually woke up!” I heard the gruff voice say surprised. I looked over at him and recognized him as Agathon. I really did not like any of the griffins, including him. All they had done so far was being rude, insulting, and power abusing, not to mention the stupid shock collars.



“That`s surprising. He was supposed to be in a coma considering the beating he took.” I heard Elpis say surprised as well.



“Does this change our decision?” Agathon asked Elpis.



“What decision?” 



Elpis sighed, clearly not comfortable with answering that question. She looked like she was in deep thought and it looked like Agathon wasn`t about to interrupt. I sat there patiently just curious of what decision they were talking about, since it clearly involved me in some way by how they interacted. Elpis let out another sigh and broke from her though. She walked up to me and began looking at my up beaten stomach. It did look pretty bad. I was all purple, and was probarly suffering from lots of internal bleedings. Not to mention the lump sticking up making it clearly visible a rib was broken.



“N… no, It doesn’t. He will just be a drain of money if we keep him alive. We should put him down so he doesn`t have to suffer no more from the wounds, because they are going to hurt a lot more within about an hour or so.”



“Wait… put me down… You mean... OH HELL NO!”



Just as she finished Agathon shrugged and said “Sure. No one is going miss him aside from his owner anyway.” I growled in response to that. I didn`t think about it, it just happened, but he had insulted me that poor excuse of a living soul. This earned me a confused looks from Elpis and Agathon. Agathon shrugged again and left the room, Elpis on the other hand was still looking at me.
I looked back into her yellow eyes wondering if I could trust her like I wanted to, although I knew I couldn`t. I could trust no one but myself. But I would just have to take a leap of faith here or she was going to put me down, which was not an option for me. I sat up from my lying position and pain shot out from my rib, but I ignored it as best I could, even if the bones grinding against each other was the worst pain I had felt in a while. Elpis was not fond of me moving around and was trying to push me gently back down, but I refused. I needed to show her what I was. When I finally was in a proper sitting position I made sure Elpis and I still had eye contact so she wasn`t busy doing anything else. She was still looking at me, although it was with saddened expression it was still focused on me, good. Why was she sad? Never mind.



I stretched my hands out and did the same motion I did tthe first time we met, motioning I was writing with my right hand onto my left hand. She looked down on the motion and her eyes widened. She backpedaled a few steps while still looking at the motion like what I did was completely alien, which it probably was to her. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down and muttered to herself “It`s probably nothing, just a human doing his weird human things.”



I can respond to that. I could still make something resembling a no in a humming style, which included the yes humming as well making yes and no questions a possibility without writing. So I hummed a "No" to her comment. This actually made her yelp and jump in surprise. She was breathing faster and looking at me with curious and fear filled eyes. “C…Can you understand me?”
I nodded slowly while still keeping eye contact, making sure no mistakes were made.
“I need you to understand me. Please just give me a piece of paper Elpis” I prayed inside myself, hoping she wouldn`t do anything rash.



“Wa… What`s that motion you are doing? Are you a…asking for paper and quill?” She asked me still shaky from our interaction. I nodded feeling a small smile tugging in my face.
She quickly went to one of the drawers and pulled out paper and quill, and she pulled a feather from her wing and sent it over to me by shoving it over the floor. It reached my legs, tough I needed to pick it up, and a broken rib would make that difficult and, it would hurt. “Let`s play with her trust a little” I tough to myself. This had to be done at some point anyway. I gave a small frown to her and pointed at my broken rib, and shook my head. When she saw what I was indicating she had almost an apologetic look, but it turned to a freighted look again. “You…you want me to pick that up for you?”



I gave a small nod. She seemed reluctant, but came closer to me nonetheless. She picked up the paper and quill and handed it to me pretty quickly, and then stepped back two steps to create some distance between us. I tough about what I should write, if there is one thing I know, it is that first impressions are one of the most crucial moments when socializing.



+ Elpis. My name is Victor, and I beg of you to not reveal my intelligence to any of the other griffins. I fear what they might do if they knew. I also need you help to get back home. Please. +



Elpis seemed fascinated when I began to write and when I showed her the message she seemed to sway a bit back and forth struggling to keep conscious. I had intentionally written my message to sound like a plead, to make it look like I relied on her to help me, which I kind of did. When she got a hold of herself she seemed a bit more trusting in her glance, but still wary. “We… I… How do you…” Her mouth was opening and closing, imitating a fish very nicely if I must say so myself. She shook her head and tried to form a coherent sentence again “Ho… How are you talking?”



+ Well technically I am not talking, I am writing but. But I need you to stay calm. Like I said, I don`t want the other griffins to find out. + 



“But how are you so intelligent? Are humans not… erhm… For lack of better term animals back from where you come from? Also I promise to stay quiet if you answer my questions.”



“Well she is definitely the one in control of this conversation”



+ Yes, Humans are animals back in my world. But you are also an animal. Any living thing is an animal. I think what you meant was if Humans are sapiens where I come from. To answer your question, yes we are sapiens. And I agreed with you terms, but if we are going to talk, I am going to need more paper and maybe some painkillers because my chest hurts really badly right now. +



*Gasp* “I am so sorry. I will get you painkillers right away. Ugh I can believe I forgot about his damages in the span of a few minutes.” I heard her say frustrated at herself. Elpis always reacted negatively when I was hurt of it was on the topic of putting me down. Maybe she has some love for humans that the other griffins don`t have? Well as long as she keeps her promise I will answer any questions she asks. So I prepare myself for a long Q&A session with Doc Elpis.

> Making friends on short notice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I`m telling you they are not the kind of people you should hang out with!” 

“Victor! You are not going to boss me around. If I want to hang out with my friends then I am going to hang out with them, and it`s not your call to make.”

“Katinka! Have you even seen what they are like? They dislike me because I don`t support their use of drugs, especially when you are around. Not to mention the drink like hobos and drive like maniacs!”

“OH! You dislike their use of drugs. Have you seen yourself at the parties we have been too?!”

“Yes and I do it ONLY on parties, and in small doses unlike the guys you hang out with. They do it in their spare time!”

“You are a hypocrite Victor. Oh I am Victor and I can do drugs but those other guys can`t cause hurr du durr! What kind of fucking logic is that?!” She screamed at me while imitating me. She was right to some extent

She was about to leave but not before she heard my last plead.

*sigh* “Katinka. Please. They are just going to be trouble in the long run. I`m telling you, you don`t want to hang out with them fucking nig…”

She stopped dead in her tracks. I knew that I just royally fucked up with my bad choice of words. Fucking parents, raising me in a racist home! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FU…!

“Finish that sentence Victor. NOW!” She yelled, her voice trembling slightly.

I opened my mouth to answer but nothing came out. I knew what I had just done and that this would be the end of everything between me and her. I felt my eyes wetting slightly, but I fought back the tears not wanting to break down in front of her. I could however see that Katinka was hurt from what I had said, her eyes were reddening and her lower lip quivered.

“WELL!” She screamed. Then silence. I tried to say something, but nothing would come out! I just wanted to dig a hole in the ground and disappear forever, never having to face the fury of Katinka. But there was no escaping this. I had to face my mistakes, even if it would only end in despair.

Finally I managed a word. “Sorry.” I whispered.  I closed my eyes in shame, I knew deep down that, that wasn`t going to cut it if anything between me and her was going to keep going. I heard Katinka began to sob. I closed in on her trying to embrace her in a comforting hug but she backed away and stopped sobbing while glared daggers at me. Then she whispered “Fuck you.” And she left through the front door. When the door slammed, it was like a shockwave spread through the room and everything tore apart around me, leaving me in an empty abyss where I would forever be alone.
=============

I opened my eyes slowly. I felt the cold night breeze stroke over my upper body. I was outside in the garden where Elpis had left me after my own request. She had left me a blanket so I could keep warm during the night. She told me during our Q&A session that winter was coming soon, and I was going to have to stay inside when it came. But she offered me to stay outside until then which I gladly accepted. Apparently the griffin seasons and the Norwegian ones were quiet similar, about four months of summer, the rest was winter. So no major changes there.

Elpis had been curious about me as a person, rather than my origin or where I came from. But when she told me our session was over she still looked like she had a lot of questions, and I suspected she was going to ask more around that topic the next time we met. She was going to try and keep me as close to her as possible for my time staying here since my broken rib was still healing. Not to mention if Alpha got released while I was present, the sheer though of what he would do to me made me shudder in fear. I honestly am pretty scared of him, and the griffins. Hell I am even scared of Elpis, she is in control of what happens to me, not me. I don`t have much say in any matter, even though Elpis knows I am smart, but she still isn`t sure about me yet.

I stood up from my position and stretched as much as my heavily damaged body allowed me to. I walked over to the small river cutting through the garden and looked at myself for the first time in maybe a week or so. I was growing a weak stubble on my face and I could see wounds in my face. I had a swollen cheek and a cut cutting above my nose bridge.  “One knee to the face can do miracles.” I thought, chuckling slightly. I noticed my hair which used to have grease keeping it in place, but without it to hold the hair in place it was just getting obnoxious of my vision. I cupped some water in my hands and splashed it in my face, hoping it would work some magic to take away the negative thoughts I was currently having about Katinka, but all the water did was really just irritating my wounds and making my face wet. “I hate her for what she did. But… can I still love her? No, she is lost. You won`t see her again.” I convinced myself. I was after all stuck in a magical land full of talking griffins.  I sighed and left the small river and went back to my tree to catch some shuteye before continuing my Q&A with Elpis that was going to start tomorrow.

===============
“Who was you owner?”

+ Owner? + I asked curious. Nobody owned me. I was an independent being, or I was supposed to be anyway. I don`t know anymore. I am just so confused and lost honestly. I’m hoping these sessions with Elpis will help me.

“Yeah you know, you pony owner. I mean considering you came into the facility through a magic portal, surely it was a unicorn who owned you since no other griffin or pony can perform magic such as that.” She stated like what she was saying was a fact. But no Unicorn owned me. I just fell through a random portal on my way home from school.

Elpis looked at me expectantly.

+ No. You got it wrong Elpis. I don`t think… Can you get me a map? + I asked. I don`t know what I was hoping for, but maybe if Elpis can explain some more on these unicorns, then maybe and just maybe I can get back home somehow. 

“Yeah, sure.” She stood up and told me to not move while she went and got a map. She returned with an atlas in her claw and walked over to my side where she opened the book and pointed at where we were located in the griffin empire.

“This is the city we are at” She said, pointing at city with a white palace as a representing picture. The city I was in was apparently named the “griffin empire”.

+ Bigger map. + I requested. I needed more than just the area close to the city.

She presented me with the map of the entire Griffin kingdom and pointed at the city we were in. We were located in the middle of the griffin kingdom where it looked like it was a distance to walk to the other countries.

+ Is there a world map? + I asked. I wanted to see more. Needed to see more. Maybe this was just some undiscovered land in the pacific ocean? I silently hoped.

She turned the page to where it showed the world map. I wasn`t seeing America, Europe, Africa or anything familiar actually. I could feel queasiness begin to start up. I knew all along I wasn`t at my own planet, but seeing hard proof was rather… eye opening for lack of better term. My gaze left the map and I looked down at the floor.

Elpis noticed my change of behavior and tried to ask me what was wrong.

“What`s wrong?” I looked up and met her eyes. After thinking over whether I should bother her with my newfound depression or not I finally shook my head and gave her a fake smile covering up any trace anything was wrong.

+ Nothing is wrong. I just wanted to see the world. + I lied.

But she saw through my lie and said “You’re not from around here are you?” I shook my head and lifted my shoulders up. It wasn`t much of an answer but she got curious.

“How`s your world like?” She asked with an eager expression. “Here we go.Q&A about my world, yippi.”

====================


“So you are telling me you sun is the center and you planet is just spinning around it by it`s huge gravitational field?” Elpis asked with a sceptic look.

+ Yes. +

“Whatever you say Victor. But here on this world, it is Princess Celestia who moves the sun, and Princess Luna who moves the moon. So either we have come to a clash in realities or it could be YOU are just wrong and there IS someone moving the sun and the moon for you.”

I looked at her with my best, “ARE YOU FUCKIGN SERIOUS” look I could. How could she believe that some pretty pony princess moves the huge ass sun that has the power of thousands of nuclear factories, not to mention it`s ridiculously huge in size! Yeah I’m the one in the wrong here.

+ The sun has a huge gravitational field that… Never mind. I’m not going to bother since you are holy convinced that a pony princess move the sun, so I’m not going to bother. All praise queen sunbutt! 
Off topic question. Elpis, when are you going to help me get back home? I know it hasn`t even been a full 24 hours since we first talked, and I am sure you have questions, but I need to get back home to my family and friends. +

Elpis sighed and looked up to me with a sad expression. “I… I don`t think I can help you Victor. I can’t perform magic like unicorns can and without any understanding of how you got here there is very little I can research on. That is without mentioning that we don`t even know where you home is in the solar system, or in the dimensions for that matter. I just don`t… I don`t think I can help you.”

There was a lot of regret in the voice. I couldn`t blame her, or the griffins since it`s like she said. They can`t perform magic. But then an idea struck me like lightning.

+ What about the pony princess? +

“Victor. NO!” Elpis said with an authority voice I never thought she would use.

+ What? If she is as powerful as you say then she should have no trouble sending me back home right! +

“We won`t ask for her help. Griffins never ask of help, especially from ponies.”

Was the griffin culture and pride the thing that was going to keep me stuck on this planet for who know how long. Fuck me AND the griffins! No better yet. Fuck the world! Screw Elpis. I was going home whether she liked it or not!

+ Then I am leaving by myself to meet her. You don`t need to come along, or any griffins for that matter. I will just be a stray human who escaped until I find her. +

“You won`t leave. You can`t, you need my help and you know it.”

Did she dare… She is threating me with my freedom?! I knew I couldn`t trust her! The gall this girl has!

+ I am leaving Elpis. Period. Even if I have to fight my way out. I`d sooner be killed trying to escape than being cut up into careful pieces of meat that rich griffins can eat later on! +

“It`s not that I don`t want you to leave. It`s just not so easy, look at it this way; the trip to Canterlot would be suicide for a human like you in Griffin territory mainly from the griffin hunters. Even if you should somehow manage to escape griffin territory you would have to cross here.”

She pointed down on the map. I looked at the map over the griffin empire, and saw the distance between the griffin kingdom to Canterlot which was located in a country called Equestria. The journey was far from short and the desert country, Saddle Arabia was a huge path blocker since I would die from thirst should I even come that far. The desert is what Elpis pointed at. I hate my life sometimes.

+ Fine you win. But staying here is suicide for me as well since you griffins eat humans like me! +

Elpis immediately went from bossy to sheepish. “Ye… yes, well, you see human meat is… umm… it tastes…”

I practically shoved the piece of paper into her beak. + I don`t want to hear a word Elpis. Not a single word about how good human meat tastes. Just give me a ticket out of this facility that is safe, and you will forever be good in my book. +

“Okay. But I don`t know how you owner`s will be like since griffins only buy humans to gain status.”

+ Status gain? + I asked with my least amused face put on.

“Yes you see, humans are actually primarily food here in the Griffin Empire as have probarly figured out yourself. But griffins have thinks that affording to keep a human alive and healthy is a sign of wealth and some other wealthy nonsense status things. Point is even tough you might get to be alive, you won`t necessarily thrive with you owners. You get what I`m saying?”

I was about to reply with a question to elaborate, but I threw the quill and paper away when I heard the doorknob turn. The door opened and in came Agathon and the Boss as well as… Alpha.

Alpha immediately noticed my presence and bared his teeth at me while looking at me with pure hatred and rage. I hadn`t seen him after our fight, but he looked beat up. His eye was swollen and he had what looked to be a broken nose. I said it once and I’ll say it again, a knee to the face can do miracles.

The griffins in the room noticed his sudden change of behavior but ignored it as it was nothing of immediate danger.

“Doctor Elpis it`s good to see you doing well today.” The Boss said to Elpis. “Nice to meet you too Leon.” Elpis replied with a bit darker voice than when she and I talked.

On side note I finally got a name for the Boss!

“Yes. This is the Alpha whom was in a fight yesterday. It seems his damages were more severe than we though and thought maybe you could look at him?”

“Certainty, Meanwhile I suppose Vi… urr I mean 202 can go back to the garden where he can spend the rest of the day. He has been inside all day long and it is making him slightly grumpy, hehe.” She chuckled sheepishly. Was it me or did  she seem stressed?

Leon, also known as Boss said “Agathon, bring 202 out to the garden and give him some food too, it looks like he could use it.”

I was being led by Agathon out of the room and out into the hallways, and before I knew it I was in the garden that I loved so dearly, unfortunately it was filled with humans so it didn`t take long for the ladies noticed my presence much to my dismay. So before I knew it had had a small flock of girls stumbling after me while I went to my tree to lie down and rest. I guess I was the new Alpha, or THE alpha when Alpha wasn`t around… I need to name that Alpha guy I can`t go around calling him Alpha all day long, it gets confusing. I will call him Chuck from now on.
=========================


+ Elpis. When does the adoption start again? + 

“It should start in about two days why, are you anxious to leave me that quickly?" She asked with a smirk.

+ NONO! It has nothing to do with you. I am just worried about Chuck. I`m afraid he might twist my neck next time we meet. + 

“Who is Chuck?” She asked with great confusion.

+ Chuck is The alpha you treated from yesterday. Even though he was the bastard who hurt me in the first place I want you to know I still love you.+  I wrote with a goofy expression so she wouldn`t take it seriously.

“That`s sweet.” She said with a deadpanned expression. “Now, hold still will you. You smell like crap and need to be cleaned.”

+ OH really?! Maybe you should get some cleaning service for those holding cells where you keep the humans? And you do realize I am smart enough to clean myself right? Give me the soap and I’ll do it. +

“But then you won’t be able to write.” She replied. She had a point, but I`d rather clean myself than write any day, escpecially with this cramp growing. I was going to confront Elpis about it.

+ Yeah about writing. My hand has been getting lots of cramps recently. We seriously need a better way to communicate because this is getting ridiculous. I could have written books with how much I have written in the past few days. +

“Yeah, I have been considering that myself. I found out that there is something called Hoof language made by ponies primarily, but it is universal and should be easy enough for griffins to use as well… ahem and humans too.” She smiled. 

+ As long as it works and takes away the paper and quill I am happy. +

“Yeah, but adoption start`s in two days like I said just a minute ago. You won`t be able to be taught the language that fast. I will have to see you after you get adopted if you wish to learn it. I actually need to learn it myself not that I think about it.”

+ daaaaw. I knew you couldn`t leave me alone after I leave this facility. +

She looked at me with a bored expression while cleaning my back “What happened to you? The first time we spoke to each other, you were all serious and very few jokes. Now you are almost as annoying as a pink pony!” She said with a bit of irritation.

+ Fine. I will stop being annoying. But let me at least crack a few jokes every now and then to lighten the mood. I mean now we are just having an idle conversation, unlike before where everything was one big Q&A session. Which sucked by the way. Do you know how boring it is to not talk to anyone for a week? +

She scrubbed away further and we just kept silent for a moment, letting our minds go our separate directions. She clearly didn`t want to talk right now since she gave me the cold shoulder, even after I apologized. Why do women have to be so difficult.
======================


“And you`re clean.” She said finishing up. I had been sitting in a medium sized bucked where I had to curl up into a ball to fit. It was humiliating but Elpis didn`t seem to care so I didn`t pay much mind to it either. She was probably used to cleaning humans up before adoptions which happened about once every month by some rich noble griffins. I stood up and stretched my legs and felt surprisingly a lot better than I had in the past few days. This bath was probably a gift from some higher power. But Now that I had gotten my little gift, I was probarly on my way down death row, taking my history and luck into account.

“How`s that rib coming along?”

+ Still hurt`s like a mother humper, but I can live with it. Thanks for asking. How is it going back home? +

Last time I asked that she avoided the topic. I didn’t bother digging further since it`s really none of my business.

“Same old, same old.”

+ What is same old? + I asked curious.


She seemed hesitant. Didn’t she trust me? Or was it something going on that she didn’t like to talk about? I made a mental note this time, reminding me to keep my ears open when I came to this topic.

“It`s nothing. Just boring stuff. How is it when you are in the garden?” She changed the subject, and I figured if I opened up, maybe she would too. I told her of how I was usually just remembering my time back on my world and how I missed my family. I tried to stay away from the subject of the females stumbling after me twenty four seven, but eventually I came to the topic of the fight between me and Alpha.

“So it`s tough huh? Don`t worry I`ll make sure you get out of this facility the next adoption session. I heard that the adopters are the princess of the Kingdom, princess Maya since her birthday is tomorrow. But she only gets to adopt the following day since everything is closed tomorrow for the sake of the celebration.”

+ Does that mean you won`t come to work tomorrow? +

“Yes. I won`t come to meet you tomorrow, and every human gets to sleep in the garden so they can breed that night aswell. I mean we griffins need food too.”

Did she really crack taht joke in front of me? Of all the jokes she had to take that one?! I looked at her with shocked eyes, not only beacuse of the joke but I was going to share the next night with the other humans while they worked on breeding with each other… Fuck my life. Like seriously, I know I have said it before but the universe hates me, this is the death row I mentioned earlier.

+ WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME!? +

“Cause I knew it would make you upset” She said with a cocky smirk. I looked down on the ground defeated. thinking this couldn`t get any worse.

+ Elpis. I meant to ask earlier, but where are my clothes? Considering what`s going to happen tomorrow I might need clothes for protection. +

“I don`t know. They weren`t my responsibility to keep track of, tough my best guess is that they have burnt it or broken it down and sewn it into griffin clothes.”

I could cry right there and then, My Samsung Galaxy S4… My Tiger of Sweden Coat… burnt up… all my clothes… and I have to spend a night listening to other humans having at it with each other?! I swear, I have the worst possible luck there is. Period.

> Family problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big thanks to Kerberos for Spellchecking and Pre-reading.




“I left you for a day. ONE BUCKING A DAY! And when I return it looks like you have been in the Minotaur war! In the name of the Ancestors…” Elpis kept on muttering unintelligible things under her breath. She pulled out a familiar medium sized bucked and pointed at it and said “Get in.” sternly.



+ I said I was sorry. + I tried, but she took the piece of paper, crumpled it and threw it away then repeated “Get in.”



I obliged fearful of what she might do, but she just threw some fit hot water over my head and began scrubbing with a soaked towel. “Tell me what happened.” She said with no emotion behind her voice. She was clearly mad, and it scared me more than I would like to admit honestly, but her talons and her beak suddenly looked a lot more threatening than they used to.



+ I will explain, but only after you stop being mad. + I wrote.



She sighed and stopped scrubbing. “I`m sorry Victor, It`s just there is a lot on my mind, and seeing you like this is just… a lot for me to take in right now.”



+ Why don`t you tell me what`s stressing you. I can be a very good listener when I choose to be. +



She stayed silent and didn`t budge. I turned to look at her, and I saw she fought to hold back tears that were welling up in her eyes. She opened her eyes and they met mine. She sighed and sat down on her haunches and relaxed. Then she opened her beak to speak.



“I was at my brother`s house so we could be together on the princesses birthday. We enjoyed ourselves and had a good time until he began drinking a bit too much. When that happens he usually yells and… loses his mind a bit. I try to calm him down, but we are alone so I don`t dare to do anything rash.” She took a break from telling and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Then she continued. “He keeps on yelling that I am not good enough, I am a human loving griffin who isn`t any better than the humans.” She took yet another break, doing her best to keep her composure. I fought back the urge to shed some tears myself for her. “Then he hit me and went to bed, told me to leave and not come back until I had changed.”



She broke covering her face with her claws while crying. I stepped out of the tub and sat down beside her while stroking her gently. She said she had been hit so I looked closer at her and noticed she actually had a swollen cheek. I felt bad for not noticing something was wrong.



+ Why didn`t you leave when things got hot? + I asked.



She took control of herself and sat up straight again and read my question.



“Well I forgave him cause that`s what family do. And he apologized right after and said it was the alcohol, which I knew, but he has done this many times before and… an…” She broke completely and embraced me into a hug. I reacted quickly and embraced her back. Her fur got all wet from my wet skin, but she didn`t care since she snuggled up closer to me. She leaned her head against my chest careful not to stab me with her beak. I could feel her warm tears run down my bare chest. Her cries turned into sniffs and she broke our hug and stood back up at her haunches looking away from me. “I`m sorry.” She sniffed. She built up the courage to look up at me again. “I didn`t mean to do that, I am sorry I lost myself. It`s just, I fear I might get fired since my boss isn`t too pleased with me spending most of my time taking care of ONLY you, and…” She gave off a shaky sigh. “And when I saw what you had been through I just… I don`t know what to do, and I am also conflicted, whether I actually should leave this job so my brother will accept me more.” She shut her eyes tight and leaned back at me again.



It hurt to know I was a burden and something that could potentially cost Elpis`s job and family relation, But I couldn`t exactly just leave her either since I was probably one of her few friends, considering she just opened up all the way to me. I don`t think she would take too kindly to me just leaving her alone in this situation alone. 



+ Well, Don`t you have any friends you can talk to? +



“I`m talking to you aren`t I.”



+ Griffin friends. + 



“I do, but they are few and far between, and I haven`t opened up to them like I have with you.”



+ Maybe you should start to? +



She looked up at me with curious eyes, and then she chuckled and smiled. “Never thought I would got to a human for advice… err no offence.”



+ None taken. Who is you brother anyway, He seems kind of like a douche honestly? +



“Mom just sort of disappeared after me being born, so I don`t know her. But dad and my brother took care of me when I was a cub. But ever since my brother broke up with his last relationship he has grown to drink a little bit.” She looked sadly down after she said that.



+ I am sure he will change, just give him time and call him out if he tries to do something like that again to you. Can you promise me that you will do that? +



She looked at me surprised, but then gave me a relieved smile. Surprise hit me when I was embraced in a friendly hug instead of a desperate one like the first, it about as quickly as it came. “Thanks Victor, It means a lot that you care.” She smiled and wiped away all the tears from her face and said “Moving on to other topics.” obviously eager to get onto more happy conversation topics. “How did you get in this condition?” She asked and began scrubbing me clean again.




+ You sure you want to hear it? + I wrote, not really all that comfortable with telling the tale of yesterday.



“Of course.” She said with a friendly smile plastered to her face. “You offered to listen, so now I will listen.”



+ Okay, here it goes. + If I was going to tell what happened I will make the most of it while having fun. Maybe she will take it seriously.



It was a dark and gloomy night in the garden. I was trying my best to sleep under my oak tree where I usually spend most of my time remembering things such as family and friends. But tonight I couldn`t think of them since my mind was too focused on other thoughts mainly surrounding the other humans which were to arrive soon.



“Uumm… Victor, why are you writing like that?”



“Damn… busted.”



+ Like what? I am telling you what happened. +



“Yeah but, dark and gloomy night? Trying to remember better times. Seriously? You make it sound like a horror story.”



+ That`s because it is a horror story now shush with you and keep reading. +



I decided to keep rolling with the style of a bad horror flick.



Just the sheer thought of having to listen to the humans fucking each other was enough to give me the shudders of a thousand earthquakes.



“Thousand earthquakes? Really?”



Okay bad writing on my part, but she doesn’t need to know.



+ Fine! I will give you the boring version!
I sat under the oak tree thinking of how much shit I was in. I was waiting for the other humans to arrive. I was bored, and lost in thought. When they arrived they began fucking each other to make babies. They… +



“OKAY, OKAY! Sorry! Please continue it you way, geeze.” 



+ Thank you. Now where was I. + I picked up my last piece of paper and read it. 



The anticipation was slowly killing me and I could feel it nagging at me. But I knew I had to stay strong. Not just for myself, but for my family. They would probably hate to see their youngest son become depressed or be scarred for life because of some humans fucking right in front of him, having the ultimate gangbang. 



Finally after some tense hours of waiting, the metal door opened and a wave of naked humans poured in through the door and began to evenly spread out throughout the garden. I Ignored them as best I could and leaned back on my tree having my eyes closed. But as time went on I couldn`t help but feel like I was being watched. I opened my eyes slowly to try confirm nobody actually was watching me. But what Met my eye once I opened them was a four headed MONSTER!
-


“Four headed monster?” Elpis looked at me with a bored expression while I was waving my hands up in the air to emphasize the point of how big and scary this monster was. I quickly got a hold of myself, a small cough escaped into my hand to try and hide the embarrassment.



+ Okay. Maybe I overreact a tini, teeny bit. But you should have seen how they looked at me. +



“… uhu …” She nodded, not very amused with how I was explaining my story.



+ Just read the rest while I write okay? +



I tried to stumble back from my sitting position, but I just drove my head hard into the tree for the third time during my stay here. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw the four headed monster actually was four women staring at me. I groaned and just went back to a relaxing position ignoring them as they looked at me. The me ignoring them plan worked for about seven seconds before I felt something touch my hip, and moving closer to junior.



“You were being molested?”



+ No comment. +



I immediately Jumped…



“PLEASE Victor! Show me some mercy and tell me normally what happened. Reading this is horrendous and is quickly giving me a headache!”



I sighed. “why does she have to be so boring, What I was writing would make even J.K Rowling glare in envy.”



===========


The night before.



Fingers were running up my tight closing in on little junior. I jumped from the touch making me yet again bang my head against the tree. “I am going to get brain damaged if this continues” I groaned inwardly. I snapped my eyes open and saw the females huddled around me looking at junior hungrily. This earned another groan from me as I stood up and walked away from the females. If they thought they were going to get a piece of me they were dead wrong, I do know however of somebody that would get a piece of me, and that would be the almighty Chuck. How did I know at the time?
I am smart and can foresee the near future at any point… and maybe Chuck was standing in front of me looking really, really pissed off. His fists were clenched and I could see fire behind his eyes, which were focused at me.



I immediately knew he was going to fight for his Alpha status which I owned without even wanting it. Chuck put his right leg behind him and bent his body a little forward preparing for an attack. “No, bad Chuck.” Hoping my words would make him calm down.



He dug his foot a bit into the ground and I could see his right leg pumping blood faster and faster making his veins easily visible. “Don`t you dare.” 



Suddenly his body jerked and he took a full sprint towards me. Reaction time has never been a strong suit of mine so I didn`t manage to dodge which then ended up with me being rammed by Chuck. He put his whole weight onto me and forced me onto my back.



Chuck seemed to have learnt from our previous encounter. Instead of him standing above me he sat on top of me leaving me in a much more vulnerable position, and him in a much safer, so that mean no cheap shot for me this time. His fist connected hard to my right side where my rib was broken. The rib made a loud and menacing sound indicating if it got hit again the rib would probably snap again. I sighed inwardly since I knew what I was going to do was going to hurt because of my continuously impairing rib. I managed to twist around underneath Chuck. After forcefully twisting myself around I managed to get Chuck to sit on my butt. Then I managed to get up into a crawling position so he was riding on top of my back, but that didn`t last long since I began standing up making lose balance and fall onto the ground. He was pretty lightweight making the process pretty easy.



Chuck seemed surprised and was stunned for maybe a second. But that was all I needed so I went around him and did a headlock, trying to choke him into unconscious. He clawed at my arms trying to force them open. His breath became more ragged as I tightened the headlock more and more. It looked like I was about to score 2-0, but then he shifted tactic, and began clawing in my face and hitting my eye which unfortunately made me release him. I rubbed the hurt in my eye out and tried to focus on the task at hand yet again. Chuck closed in on me and did a right hook on me, making my face explode in pain. He did a left hook which made me lose balance and got me down to my knee while I tried to hold my balance. Another punch hit my right face again making everything around me spin. I put some strength into my legs and jumped back making Chuck lose his strike and in turn his balance making him fall down flat on his face.



I could feel my face pounding from the beating, and a headache coming up, but I had to stay focused. I did a quick shake with my head to get my head and vision straight. I then did a quick run and did my hardest kick I could onto Chuck`s side. I was rewarded with a disgusted snap noise and a screaming Chuck as he grasped his side where I had kicked. I didn`t come out of that unhurt myself though since I quickly felt pain grow in my big toe. I grabbed my foot which had connected with chuck and began yelling my best “OOOOWWWW” Sound while balancing on my other leg jumping up and down while howling in pain. 



However I quickly recovered and got Chuck into another headlock. Chuck ignored the pain on his side and began yet again clawing on my face, but I had learnt and kept my face in cover where he had trouble reaching. It didn’t take long before his movements became limper, and after a moment`s notice he was out like a light.



I let go and heard him gasp greedily in air, but he remained unconscious. I let out a relieved breath. I looked around and saw some of the humans were watching the aftermath, but I could see most of the other humans fucking in the distance like they didn`t have a care in the world, lucky bastards. I fell under my own weight and suddenly I felt really tired. Pain slowly started to make its appearance. But before it could get worse, sleep overtook me and I was having a comfortable dream of being home.



=============


+ And that`s how the story between Chuck and Victor ended. The end. +



Elpis looked at me with a slack jaw. She put the paper down carefully and coughed a bit before saying “I... you… I don`t…” In the end she just put her claw up to her face and let out an exaggerated sigh.



“I… I am done cleaning you, sooo… Anyway, it was quiet the story, I can see why your parents chose to call you Victor.”



I looked at her confused. She understood why my parents chose to call me my name… what was she going on about?



+ What do you mean by my parents choosing to call me Victor? +



She lifted her gaze to face me and said. “Well clearly your are Victorious in you battles, so I assumed you were a champion or leader of some sort back on your world, thus the name Victor. Kind of like pony names.”



+ You think my name says something about me? +



Elpis nodded and then looked at me. I looked back whilst I digested the information. The longer I tought about it the more stupid it sounded, parents naming their child after what they are good at? How could they possibly even know what their child is good at before meeting them?



I was stuck in though a bit longer than I originally thought since Elpis seemed to try and break some awkward silence that had overstayed its welcome. “Well now that you are… presentable to some extent, maybe we should get to the adoption center.” At that statement I face palmed. I had forgotten the adoption, was my face presentable? Was my hair okay? Were my nostrils clean? And was face palming such a good idea when one has taken lots of hits the previous day?



The growing pain in my face indicated that it was not, so there is one mystery solved.



Elpis saw my distraught behavior and said “It`s going to be fine Victor. I`m sure Maya will love you from the moment she sees you.”



“Yeah, and with my swollen face and broken rib I am probably the most handsome guy around.”


==============



The adoption center wasn`t all that different from the rooms I had been in earlier. The whole place still reminded me of something of an animal shelter only with slightly better condition than average.  I was locked in a cage and so were fourteen other potential humans. Elpis was the one who was going to recommend humans, and she had already assured me she would recommend me as number one human.



I still didn`t like the idea of me being someone`s pet. But what other choice do I have unless I want to be turned into pastries.



The door opened and I could hear Elpis talk in the distance talking about how the humans behaved and such. Every human she passed I heard one good thing about, and with it came ten bad things. That continued on every cell they passed until they came to mine, where I got a first glimpse at Princess Maya and her dad, the King.



Maya had a black coat and a white feathered head. Her wings had white outlining them making them stand out from her otherwise black coat. Her eyes were dark brown and she looked quite bored.



“Here we have our finest humans in the whole facility. He is kind, patient, gentle and has never acted violent towards any of the other humans.” Elpis said with her eyes closed and her chin up high. She was sure she had sealed the deal, until the King spoke. “Why is he covered in wounds then?”



Maya and I face palmed at the same time at the obvious lie now having been compromised. Maya looked bored and just wanted to get this over with. “Look, dad I appreciate you wanting to get me a human, but there really is no need.”



The king wasn`t listening “Nonsense, I have seen youth today walking around with their humans, and I figured it was time we got our own.”



“But… we eat them. Dad.” She said pleadingly.



“Yes, but now they are more than food to us, isn`t that right Miss Elpis.” The king said with a friendly smile, looking at Elpis for support.



Elpis heightened her beak slightly and said. “Why, of course. But I must ask you to look away from his wounds, he had a hard time here with the male Alpha in here, but I assure he is practically golden in his behave…”



“Okay fine we will take him now let`s go.” Maya said impatiently. I groaned inwardly hoping she wouldn`t be bitchy and be the daddy’s very special and gets whatever she wants daughter stereotype; I had enough of those back home on earth.



“I will come regularly to you castle to check up on him since I assume you won`t be able to bring him down here for checkups. Now with all that out of the way…” Elpis opened the cage I was in and did an encouraging move with her claw for me to come forward. I stepped forward with a bored expression and looked at the princess, trying to get an idea of how she would be like to live with.



While I gazed at Maya Elpis changed my collar with a new one. And of course, of all the colors in the universe Elpis picked it was ultimately pink. PINK! With the nametag “Snuggles” strapped to it! When I saw it I cupped my face into my hands and made an annoyed groan. Everything in life really sucked right now, including breathing since my broken rib had taken a beating not more than twenty four hours ago.



“Is he alright?” I heard Maya question. It wasn`t a concerned tone she used, only a curious one which made me feel mildly insulted by her lack of care for me. I could already tell living with her was only going to be “fun, fun, fun.”



I could hear Elpis working very hard to hold back laughter while she answered. “Y…yes *snort* He is fine.” I looked up at her with the most bored expression I could make. She made silly faces as she held back her laughter.



“I will get her back for this. Before I ever leave this planet, I swear to all that is holy I WILL get her back for this!”



A leash was connected to the collar and I felt Maya tug at the rope. I hadn`t thought about it before now, but I was leaving the facility. Like actually leaving the facility… The place I was so well known to for the past two weeks, where my home had been, where my friend would always be, and I was leaving it. I felt another tug, this time more forceful than the last. I took a small step forward, but not before looking back at Elpis. She smiled at me and nodded her head encouraging me to follow Maya… my new owner.



Fear was welling up inside me. Fear of the unknown, fear of what would happen should I do something wrong, fear of if I got caught being intelligent. Another tug brought me out of my trance and forced me to move forward, towards the exit. I passed other humans in cages their eyes locked at me. It felt like I was walking down the green mile, and for all I knew I was, I just didn`t know it yet.



I walked, but I didn`t know where. I wasn`t paying attention to what was going on around me; I just followed the light tugs while remaining completely out of it, only thinking of what the future may hold for me. That is until fresh air wrapped itself around me and filled my lungs. I snapped out of my thoughts and noticed I was on a street. Griffins were walking back and forth crowding the streets. Shops filled with antiques and items I had never seen before were placed in the windows for display. The houses had a base structure made of cobblestone, and put above it was wood with hay placed on top as roof. It looked like the buildings were ripped straight out of the Viking era, only a few stood out which looked more like an early 1900 house with big windows and proper furniture.



I looked behind me and saw the facility I had been in. It wasn`t as big as I thought it was. Brownish pipes peeped over the outer wall, and I could see vegetation behind the wall, so I assume a garden is located directly behind the wall. A tug made me look forward again, what met my eye was a chariot with two griffins in the front linked to the chariot. They had a light set of leather armor covering most of their body, however where the wings were located there was a huge hole to maximize movement and efficiency in wing power most likely.



Maya tugged again impatient with my slow pace. She walked over to the chariot with me in tow and took a seat on one of the cushions. The king whom I still needed a name for sat down on another cushion, meanwhile I stood slightly crouched, confused as to where I was supposed to sit. The door to the chariot closed behind me and I could feel shortly after the carriage begins to shake lightly. I looked over at Maya whom looked at me bored while the king was staring off in the distantly not meeting the gaze of his daughter nor me.



===========



The ride to wherever we were going to was painful! The awkward silence was torturing, and I was apparently the only one who thought so. I was waiting the whole ride for a father to daughter conversation to start up, but it never happened. So I just sat there feeling stupid while the king was in his own lala-land while Maya looked at me with such a bored expression even the humans here would be jealous. The way they acted it felt like they didn`t even know each other. Luckily the ride was at an end and we touched down at some new destination. The king exited the carriage followed by Maya and then followed by me.



When I exited, and it didn`t look like we had moved an inch from our last position. The houses looked relatively the same other than that more of them now had two floors instead of one. There was also a bit more variation in the terrain. Instead of it being flat like the previous town there were slopes leading up a small hill. The higher we got, the more expensive the houses began to look. We began walking up. On the way I gazed around trying to get a feel of how it would be to live here for a while, maybe plan an escape route if it proved to be necessary.



During the entire walk pretty much every griffin we passed sent a disgusted gaze my way clearly not content with me being in their town. We finally reached the top where we were put to a quick halt as The guards opened the gates to something of a villa.



The villa was pretty big. The main house has two floors with at least two windows for each room. The building sort of made a hollow half square making the main entrance sort of having the building wrap around itself. I looked to my right and saw staff cleaning the house through the window.



We finally reached the front doors. Guards were standing at attention on the front doors saluting to their king and princess, however when I passed I could see disgusted glares following me. It sent a shiver down my spine, but I chose to ignore it and just get used to it since I probably would stay for a while. The first room we came into looked like something of a drinking hall where Vikings would feast and celebrate. Long tables where evenly placed out in the hall and light up candles were covering the whole room in an orange color, giving the room a warm feeling to it. A throne was placed on top of some small stairs making it visible for all to see, a smaller throne was placed to its left looking less majestic, but royal nonetheless, probably belonged to Maya or the Queen.



A light tug lead me out of the room and into another wing of the building, filled with corridors and doors on both sides. I could already tell this place was going to feel a lot bigger on the inside than what it looked like on the outside.



“C'mon Snuggles, I want to go to bed.” Maya complained not happy with my pace. I groaned from the nickname and her short patience. I looked for where the king was, but much to my surprise he had left without me noticing leaving only me and Maya and some… pony servants?



I followed Maya through the hallways examining it. There were a few rare pictures here and there, most of them with a white and brown griffin with dark blue eyes with a crown on top of her head. Other than that, the hallway consisted mostly of walnut walls or some strategically placed windows to allow as much light in as possible. 




Finally we stopped and entered a door which I presumed belonged to Maya. When I entered the room I noticed it wasn`t that different from the rest of the Villas design, Walnut walls and black tiles on the floor with very little adding or detracting from the design. The big difference from this room and from what I had seen so far was the huge window with an open able glass door leading to the garden in the back of the Villa. There was a small pond and grass, and a tree much like the one back at the facility.




Maya Jumped into her queen sized bed and fell sloppily on top of the covers. Before I even had time to turn my head back to look outside I could already hear her snores. It didn’t take rocket scientists to tell me now was my chance to leave. I was sneaking towards the door, but as I was about to reach for it I felt my collar hold me back. My gaze followed the leash and saw it was hooked up to some sort of lock mechanism not very different from the one in the cells in the Facility, though this one had a fancier look to it and looked more new compared to the old rusty ones. I sighed and looked around in the room for a place for me to sleep. Where was I going to go anyway? I had already discussed my possibilities with Elpis of what would happen if I even had left. I wonder what Elpis would have done if she had been the one to take care of me… GAH! why did I have to make friends, they will only make going home harder and more painful, for both sides. I sighed and looked around for something to sleep on.




There were no cushions around for me to sleep on and no bed for me either… not even a blanket. I looked at Maya`s bed and saw she had like ten cushions, surely she wouldn`t mind if I borrowed one. I took a hold of one of the cushions and took it out carefully as to not wake Maya up. I placed it on the floor and put my head down on top of it. I hadn`t had a proper cushion in forever, so placing my head on something so soft was pure nirvana. It brought back memories of my bed and my nightstand which stood right beside it, with a picture of me and my family on a carousel, all of us screaming happily for the sheer joy of it enjoying ourselves. Me and my family…




I haven`t thought of them in a while. I wonder what they are doing, what they are feeling, thinking… missing. My eyes got a bit wet as I trained into the thought of family. I hated crying, and I wasn`t going to do it no more, I`m sure my family wouldn`t want me to be a crybaby who only goes and sniffles and whines in self-pity. When I had gotten to know Maya more, I hope to be able to show her my intelligence, since I knew I wouldn`t be able to keep a good mood if I kept on being treated like an animal, I just hope Elpis keeps her promise and visit soon… I already miss her. And If Maya isn`t going to be a reliable friend, then I only have Elpis.

> So, I need you to not freak out please
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Welcome”

…

…
“Welcome”

…

…
I read the sign again and again, trying to convince to myself that I was welcome. I hadn`t seen Katinka in a while and figured I needed to grow a pair and apologize for the things I said.



“Welco…” I was interrupted as the door opened up and Katinka stood in the doorway looking at me with an unwelcome face. Goes to show how much you can trust a welcome sign. I sighed inwardly



“Victor,” She huffed. I flinched slightly but she didn`t notice, or she just didn`t care, It doesn’t matter. Time to apologize.



“Katinka. Look. I came because I wanted to say that…”



“You are sorry. You didn`t mean any of the things you said and now you want my forgivness? Yeah, well it doesn’t matter anymore. You see, I am moving to England next week, so I don`t need your apology, nor do I want it.”



Her voice seemed to break towards the end of her sentence. It hurt me to see me causing her so much pain. But I was still shocked by her planning to move.



“Wha… When? When was this planned!?” I asked flustered.



“It was planned long ago, my parents just wanted my approval and we would take off. I could have left months ago if I wanted to, but I chose to stay because of you.” She did a half chuckle to herself and continued “But look were we are now.” She spitted at me with venom.



I looked at her speechless. She chose to stay because of me, and because I couldn`t hold back on some mistakes she is now leaving to start over in England. She had been my girlfriend for maybe two years or so… and now she was leaving for good… all because of small slips on my part.  Katinka noticed my hurt expression, and frowned slightly, but it wasn`t directed at me.
“Victor, I`m sorry I was so cold. I just… It hurt. You know? It hurt when you said those things, and I just… I might have overreacted and… I was more than just that one time. I don`t know if you noticed but you have always been a bit on the edge when it comes to how you address me and others with my color.”



I interrupted her. “No, this is all my fault. You don`t have to be sorry for anything. I just… I…  I got to go. I`m sorry.”



I turned and walked away from her house ignoring her callings for me to come back.



Rather break all ties with her now. Put up an iron carpet and forget she was ever a part of my life. That is what I convinced myself would be the best, and maybe it was, or maybe it wasn`t. Who knows? I know I sure as hell don`t.



When I got home I flopped down on my bed and ignored everything, until my little sister came knocked on my door. “Victor? Victoooooor…? Hello?”



“Go away Nora,” I spoke into my pillow. My sentence was muffled by my pillow unfortunately so she couldn’t hear it and kept on knocking on the door. 
“Victor? Can you take me to the park to play? Mom and Dad say they are busy and said you could take me there instead.”



Perfect. I can`t even get a moment to bath in self-pity before my racist, egocentric fucking parents comes into play. They can`t take care of Nora. The can`t show respect for people looking different than themselves or who is lower in the so called social ladder. Their way of living unfortunately rubs off onto me and makes me see thing from their point of view. I promised I would strive to not become like them when I met Katinka, but I can see how far that got me.



I jumped off my bed and ripped the door open harder than I originally intended, so my anger was at full display for Nora to see. I looked down upon Nora, she looked up at me and gave me with a frightened look, but then she attempted a weak smile to try and cheer up the gloom mood.



My bad mood faded immediately, and I picked her up and looked at her with my warmest smile. Her Hair was slightly lighter in tone than my dirty blond hair. Her eyes were dark green like mine and she had the same smile that everyone in my family had, including me. My friends had called me out on it and it had become something of a family trademark.



I went from happy to thoughtful. Family, what family did Nora have? An asshole of a dad and a racist mother, both who rarely have any time for their daughter. They don`t even bother excusing it with work, since family isn`t what is important to them. It is the social ladder. They were playing the “How many people can recognize you” game with the rich families.



I sighed inwardly and made another promise to myself. If my parents don`t have time for their daughter then I will parent her myself, even if my education pays for it. “Let`s go to the park. Maybe we can play some hopscotch or see if some of your friends are around.” I said giving her my most encouraged smile.



Her smile grew while she tried to jump from joy in my arm. Suddenly, she lounged at me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. “Thank you. I love you.” I could hear her whisper to me.



“I love you too,” I said. Returning the hug.



===========




The faint light from the twilight sky woke me up. That and possibly the loudest snoring I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. I looked up and saw It was coming from Maya who was lying in her queen sized bed whilst drooling all over her pillows. I averted my gaze from her and looked out into the backyard. The sun was making its way over the horizon at a steady pace, sunrays peeking from the mountains in the distance painting quiet a beautiful picture. It looked to be going slightly faster than what it did back on earth, making me wonder how long the days on this planet were. I remember Elpis mentioned the sun and the moon being controlled by some horses with magical powers which in all honesty sounded ridiculous, but when one is transferred from one plane of existence to another, many things seemingly impossible can very likely be possible.



A loud snort broke me from my train of thought and I looked back towards the bed and saw Maya looking at me with half lidded eyes and beak agape. “Morning, Snuggles,” she greeted with a tired look. I slumped my head back down into the pillow, remembering what a pretty new name I had gotten myself. “Yeah nice to see you too,” she said. She rose from her bed and stretched her wing which was far larger than I had originally thought making her look quiet majestic. She twisted her back and neck and many pops came from doing so. I figured I should follow suite and stood up to stretch myself, loud satisfying pops coming from my back.



She hopped down from her bed and unhitched me from the lock mechanism that kept me locked in the bedroom all night and tugged at the rope for me to follow. We walked through some hallways and not long after I found myself in a big dining hall filled with banners with a golden claw embedded into the cloth, and pictures hanging off the walls showing painted pictures of a newborn Maya and her family. One of the pictures had Maya wrapped up in a blanked with her face peeking out with a curious gaze at the one who painted the picture, while her dad, and whom I presumed to be her mom were leaning their heads at each other while looking happily down upon their daughter. Maya came up to my side and noticed I was examining the painting. “Yeah, that’s me when I was smaller. That`s mom and dad.” She pointed at each one while she explained. “Come on, let`s go get some breakfast,” she finished, again tugging at the rope.



She sat down on one of the many pillows surrounding the table and bound the rope around one of the table legs. It didn`t take too many minutes before I got restless and started playing with the rope, doing a few knot`s and just in general screw around with it. Maya noticed and eyed me while I played with the rope. Just as it looked like she was about to say something the doors leading to the room burst open, and in came the King, and a lady griffon. I recognized her as the griffin from the painting. I immediately noticed she walked with her beak up high and closed eyes with a very stuck up attitude. I could already tell she was a snobby one and I probably would either love her, or hate her. I noticed Maya`s demeanor change from content to a slightly grim one. “Morning,” Maya greeted to her parents. “Good morning Maya, did you sleep well?” the king greeted back. “Yes.” Maya answered.


…



And that was that conversation. During the entire meal the family didn`t speak to each other at all, and I got nasty glares from the queen every time she bothered to open her eyes to look around. The doors burst open again and a pony waitress entered and asked the royal family for what meal they wanted to eat for breakfast. I heard the king order lightly cooked hydra meat and a goblet of wine. The queen ordered human meat and wine like the king. Her order made me cringe. Maya ordered the same as her father luckily, except the wine was changed with water. And as the pony left, we were left in an awkward silence again. 



It`s times like these I wish I had the ability to speak. At least I could keep a conversation going unlike these griffins. I sighed, and laid down on my back beginning to think. “This is getting ridiculous.” I thought to myself. I got up again and went over to Mayas side, my eyes focused on her. All eyes were on me as I did this sudden action, and Maya looked at me confused. I broke the biggest grin I could muster up to see what she would do. What I didn`t expect was for Maya to widened her eyes and unhitch her jaw. 



“What`s the matter Maya, a human scaring you?” I heard the queen giggle. 


“H-He`s smiling,” Maya answered. Her eyes still locked onto me. 


“That`s ridiculous Maya. You know humans don`t smile.” I heard the king laugh too. 


“Wha… COME AND LOOK!” Maya shouted while pointing her talon at me.


“Humans don`t smile? Cool.”


I stopped smiling and looked over to the other griffins in the room with a neutral expression. “SEE!” Maya exclaimed. 


“Oh, yes he is definitely smiling dear.” The queen answered with a sarcastic tone. 


“Indeed.” The king shot in. It took strong willpower to keep myself from smiling or laughing. I felt a bit bad for Maya, but I couldn`t resist.


I looked back at Maya who shot me a confused look. She sighed and said, “Let's just wait for the food to arrive.”


“Let`s, but Maya, what do you think of your human, aside from him smiling.” The king started. I did a silent victory cheer for myself for starting up a conversation without even needing to talk. “Victor, you are a genius!” I internally gave myself a tap on the back for a job well done.



“He`s fine I guess. I think I need more time with him before I can judge him though.”


“Why that is true of course. But I have to ask again, are you sure you slept well? When I walked to check on you I heard some noises right outside your room.” The king asked.


“I slept okay, you probably heard Snuggles whimper. I heard him myself, so it wasn`t me.”


“Uh, oh. Did I really whimper? But for what reason?"


Family was the first thing that came to mind, and my good mood disappeared, and sadness started filling up inside me.


“He had a nightmare most likely. I am thinking of taking him out tomorrow so he can walk one of the mountains or something. I guess he could use some fresh air.”


“That sounds like great idea. It would get that filthy being out of the house for a while too.” The queen happily chippered.


“Bitch, I would have you know I do in fact have feelings. But you won't know because you are a only bitching and complaining, and not because I can`t talk and straight up tell you.” I harrumphed, a bit louder than I expected which earned me confused looks again. But my mind was focused on the queen. I could feel how my veins already boiled in how much I hated her, I don`t know why I judged her as a bitch this quickly. Maybe it was because I was used to Elpis treating me with respect, or maybe it was something else. At least Maya had changed her behavior from yesterday to a more acceptable behavior, so the family wasn`t all lost... yet, though it is in a tight spot.



A bitch of a mother, an overly naïve father, and dense king. A daughter with very little of a bond to speak of with her family, making the whole family feel disconnected. I mean, I had to force start a conversation for them without them even knowing it. 



The doors to the hall opened, and in came a pony with three trays of food. The pony placed them on the table and left as quickly as it came. Maya and her parents dug in immediately on the food. My mouth watered at the sight of food and my stomach rumbled loudly right after. I hadn`t touched food since early yesterday back at the facility. Maya noticed me looking hungrily at the food so she took a small piece of food from her tray and threw it on the floor for me to take.



The second the meat hit the floor I got conflicted. I used to do this whenever an animal was around the table, only now I was the animal. "Oh man… this sucks." Reluctantly I took the piece of meat from the floor and began chewing away at it. I had never tasted frog, but I think I would compare the hydra meat to that, or maybe it was the dirty floor. After I finished I saw Maya had a small smile on her face. She cut out another piece and threw it towards me, only this time I caught it midair and began eating. His made Maya giggle and she began cutting another slice.



“Honey, don`t feed the human, he'll get fat.” Maya`s mother said.


“He is my pet, and I do what I want with him.” She threw me another piece of meat which I happily chewed away at while smiling internally. “Take that queen queer”


“Humph” The queen gave me another disgusted glare, and continued with her breakfast. Maya smiled at me again and ruffled my hair. I returned her smile which made her eyes pop out again. “DAD HE IS SMILING AGAIN!”



===========



“So…. Bored… Oh…. My… god.”


I watched as Maya and her bitch mother played chess. The pieces was enchanted so they moved by voice command. It was interesting to watch the pieces move on their own for the first five minutes, but it got boring really quickly. Maya didn`t seem too giddy at play chess either, but it was apparently her duty as daughter of the griffin kingdom. It taught her strategy and to think of every move and all that war tactic bullshit you mostly see in Game of thrones, or in strategy games. Come to think of it I never saw the infamous red wedding in season 3. GAH, another reason I need to get back home.


“Pawn to D6” Maya muttered.


Her mother clicked her tongue in disapproval and moved her bishop to take the pawn.


“Check.” Her mother announced, and surely enough the bishop had a clear path to Maya`s king. The only move Maya could do was to move her rook in front of the bishop’s path. But it would only delay the inevitable, since Maya had lost every other piece while her mother still had her bishop, and two rooks and a queen.



“I forfeit.” Maya sighed, clearly bored.


“No you don`t. A war isn't over until one side has lost.”


“But it`s a lost cause, there are no moves that I can do that will let me win.”


“True, but you don`t forfeit either way. A war goes to the end, no matter what. You must never show mercy towards your opponent, that`s what your father means, and your great grandfather, as well as the ancient ancestors of ours.” Her mother declared.


The game ended swiftly, and Ms. Bitch wanted another round.


“Come one Maya, let’s play another one, maybe even your pet human can help you.” She said with a cocky smirk. 


“You will be in for a surprise I think.” I thought as I walked over to Mayas side and played the famous Ruy Lopez beginner. Miss Queen “perfect” looked at me in shock as I moved one of the pieces while still following the games rules, but recovered and began moving the chess pieces herself. Funny thing is that she walked right into the move set I played which made me and Maya win the game in four moves.


I grabbed the now shocked Maya by her claw, and hauled her with me out of the room whilst leaving a shocked mother behind. I was done playing chess, it was about time I revealed myself to Maya. I was tired of just stumbling around like a mindless husk, pretending to be dumber than I am. Right before we left tough I saw the queen look at me. I flashed a big grin and swiftly left the room. I gave myself a prideful pat on the back for probably giving the queen the biggest mindfuck she has had the pleasure of experiencing.



==========



“How did you do that?” Maya said while looking at me with wide eyes.
I shrugged as a response while giving her a, don`t know, don`t care face.


“Wha… what's that supposed to mean?”


I stared at her. Was she not realizing she was talking to a human? Did she already know I was smart? By the way she is acting she doesn’t seem to notice it herself. I got over to her and picked one of her feathers from her head, which made her snarl at me while rubbing the sore spot where there once was a feather. I walked over to the desk and found some paper, but no inkwell.


I sighed, and knew I was going to regret what I was about to do. I jabbed the end of the feather into my arm, drawing some blood and began to write. Disgusting I know, but I just needed to write "inkwell" down, and hopefully she would understand.


I shoved the paper up to Mayas face her face went from super-duper mad, to mega confused. At first she frowned, then went wide eyed, then her jaw suddenly imitated a fish. To say she ran through a few emotions would be cutting it short, some close to crying in fear, and others close to laughing out loud like a complete maniac. Suddenly she ran out of the room and came back in record-breaking time with and inkwell whilst still looking at me with big eyes.



I looked at the inkwell, and then back at her, wondering to myself how she did that and how she seemed to recover so quickly. I shook the thoughs out of my head and grabbed the inkwell and put it on the table and began writing.





+ Okay. So what I need you to do is to not freak out. Can you do that? +


She read the note, at least five times before an ear shattering shriek filled the room.

“And there is the delayed breakdown” I thought while rolling my eyes.


+ Okay, you are doing a great job at containing your fear, but maybe tone the screaming down just a little bit?  + I asked a bit hopeful


She read the new note while screaming, but when she had read it her screaming quickly ceased.


+ So now that we got that out of the way. Hi my name is Victor, and I come from a faraway land unknown to griffins. I mean you no harm and only wish to be your friend… I think. +


She read the note and looked up to me, then down at the note again. She continued with doing these motions for about five minutes until another shriek filled the room again.


“This is going to be a long hour” I sighed.


==========


“Okay, okay. I think I am calm now,” Maya said. I still wasn`t totally convinced since her feathers were all over the place and her eyes darted back and forth from me and the exit. But I figured I could play along and see if she gets more comfortable then if I didn`t call her out on it.


+ Great. Now can we talk without you trying to blow my eardrums. +


Maya had gone through many stages of insanity. One where she was pacing back and forth convincing herself this was just a dream, then she suddenly began singing a lullaby to herself whilst curled up into a ball, and then she tried to attack me which had earned me a cut on my arm which was still bleeding slightly. I bandaged it up with some ripped bed sheet. Maya didn`t seem to care so I figured I didn`t do anything wrong.


“Yeah… sure. So… a faraway land. Where is this faraway land?”


+ Oh, it’s not really that far, it’s probably just on planet in another dimension, or something like that. Anyway, you already know my name, and you have stopped freaking out which is a big relief on my part. But could you possibly do me a favor? +


“uh… bu… ca… uhhhh...”


“ I broke her didn`t I? ... God damn it!”


She recovered though and managed to stammer an answer.


“Y-Yeah… sure, but first I want to know why you didn`t tell me you were smarter than the other humans.”


+ If you recall exactly five minutes ago while you were shrieking in fear and stuff, you will know why. But I showed my intelligence rather quickly to you if you compare it to what I did back at the facility. +


“We-well I am a princess and I would have demanded to know if I had known.” 


The sentence contradicted itself. Maya would have demanded to know whether I was intelligent had she known I had been intelligent enough to answer… WHAT?!

+ What? +


“I said I would have demanded to know had I known?”


"Time for me to stoop low on the intelligence scale to see what level she is at."


+ Are you smart? +


“YES!” She screamed at me like I had insulted her, which I kind of did, but I figured now it was my time to come out with my secret weapon.


+ Okay, since you are so smart then answer me this, what came first, the chicken or the egg? +


…


“I broke her again.”


"How am I suppose to know that?!"


+ I don`t know, and really it doesn’t matter. What is important is that you help me find a way back home, Elpis said it was impossible, but with you, the princess on my side, maybe things can be different. +


“Waitwaitwaitwait, timeout. First of all, get you home. How? You are from another planet, or plane of existence, am I like suppose to shoot you out to space from one of our ballista’s and hope we aimed at the right star or whatever, and second who is Elpis.”


+ I have heard about this pony princess named Celpest or Molestia or something like that. She supposedly moves the sun, so what stops her from sending me back home? Oh, and Elpis is a friend who will be visiting regularly. I hope you don`t mind. +


After Maya read she looked confused and deep in tough, which I suppose would be a natural reaction. Especially considering she now knows her pet can write. But it was a lot to take in too. Her pet from another planet that needed to get home, and for me to get home would need careful planning to pull off.


“Yeah, should be easy to pull off. Celestia is invited to visit in three months time, so we can just ask her then.”


Well it could have taken carefully laying plans and a lot of hassle, or the pony could just visit and we can ask her… that works too.


+ Great. + I smiled legitimatly for once. What could possibly go wrong?

> The dawn is new
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I slowly opened my eyes and took a moment to try and recollect my thoughts. I turned my head and looked around to get an idea of where I was. “What was that all about?” I pondered. “bah… doesn’t matter, it`s just a dream.” Still fearful for the dream I decided to test my arms. I could move them. I let out a relieved sigh, a small smile making its way on my face. 



In an attempt to get my mind going again, I began examined where I was. Where was I anyway? It took a moment before my brain caught up with everything that`s happened but I quickly recognized the room as Princess Mayas room. I still hadn`t grown used to live with her. I still expected to wake up back under the tree, or in one of the cells humans were kept back at the facility.



Princess Maya... I let out a weak huff, and though of how crazy it sounded. Victor the human, ends up in a sick kind of wonderland where he is currently living with the princess of the land. Before he knows it, he will end up marrying her like it is some fairy tale. I took a quick glance at Maya`s sleeping form.



Her blanket moved in a relaxed, repetitive motion up and down by her breathing. I saw her eagle claw stick out, hanging from the edge of the bed. Her beak was peeking slightly out form her blanket. “Marrying her, yeah right.” What made me so sure anything of this even was real anyway? For all I knew I was currently sitting with a straightjacket thumping my head against a cushion covered wall. Maybe I was in coma, like I have been suspecting for some time now. Or maybe I was dead?! 



In the end, it doesn’t really matter, there seems to be very little I can do from where I am right now. All I can do is hope and wait for this magical pony princess to help me get back, and that was three months away, so better swallow a pill of patience and wait till then. 



I caught myself spacing out, so I brought my attention back to reality. I once more looked over at Mayas sleeping form, only she wasn`t sleeping anymore. She was now was staring at me intensely. Ones I met her eyes, her breathing intensified slightly. It felt like she was observing me, curious about something. I patiently waited for her to ask me what she had on heart. “You are still smart aren`t you?” “Well, that`s one question to start off the day with.” I thought.



I responded with a nod and dared forth a weak smile. Satisfied with my response I averted my gaze from her and overt to the window noticing the sun peeking up from the mountains in the distance. The sunlight spread evenly over the land slowly hitting my eyes with its blinding light. I relished in the comfortable warmth the sun provided, feeling a sense of familiarity from Earth, of how I used to relax in the sun, of how I used to go the beach and take a swim during the summer. Of how me and…



“uuurgh…” I heard Maya grunt, rudely interrupt my train of thought while slumping back onto her bed. “Why of all the humans I got did I have to get the weird one… UURGH!” She exclaimed again, her talons in the air to emphasize her point. I got up from my basket and looked at her with a stink eye. “She only thinks of herself, go figure.” I snorted. “There`s royalty for you.” Right after I thought that, I mentally scowled myself for judging her that quickly. “She is probably just in a bad mood because it is early in the morning.” I decided to forgive her for her rude rather selfish comment, and move on with my life, giving her a second chance to introduce herself when she was thinking straight.



“I don’t mean to be rude Victor, but why were you so willingly acting like a dumb animal when we brought you back here?” Maya asked. I looked at her and saw she was genuinely curious. Her mind was probably just trying to wrap itself around me being smart, thus she will probably want an explanation for all my decisions up to this point. I walked over to the pile of paper and quill that had been prepared yesterday and began writing down an answer to her question.



+ I honestly don`t know. +



And that was a blunt lie. I honestly knew why I had done everything I have up to this point. Acting scared, dumb… blending in. It was cause was scared of what the griffins might do if they found out I was smart, but I wasn`t going to tell her that, it`s not like she needed to know. If the information that I am smart gets out to the wrong griffins I could still end up in serious trouble. Being experimented on is one possibility. Or maybe I would be questioned, and to never see the light of day ever again! Or-or… 



I had apparently had a minor panic attack, since Maya was looking at me like I had gone insane, which I probably was I just didn`t know it. I did an awkward chough to ease the tension and returned to thinking normally again. What was my reasoning for telling Maya I was smart again? Probably not a good reason seeing as I can`t even remember it now.



She read my previous note and gave off another annoyed huff. “Whatever, just promise you won`t be trouble for me while you are here.”



+ I am considered a pet. Pets are nothing but trouble most of the time. + I joked, while keeping a smirk in an attempt to brighten the mood. But my snarky comment failed miserably and she was already at work on glaring daggers at me. “Don’t. Do. Anything. Stupid.” She whispered with a hard sternness found in her voice.



I let out a sigh while rubbed my forehead, signaling with my other hand that I understood her. She let another exaggerated sigh and was up and about to leave the room. “Don’t leave this room until I get back.” She ordered to me which I gave a tired grunt back in return. "yes mom." She took a second to look back at me with another glare emphasizing her previous command.



The second she left the room I flipped the bird at the closed door she had left through. “What a glorious way to start of the day.” I cupped my face into my hands and let out a tired sigh, wondering how Maya and I would get along. From what I had gathered up until now, we were already at each other’s throats. And from what I had gathered so far she was bipolar as well. She was the only one I could talk to here, besides Elpis. But Elpis isn`t here, so that leaves me with Bipolar, princess Maya… whoop Dee doo. Day one the first time I met her, she was tired and mad at her dad for whatever reason. Day two she would be nice and treat me like I was her best and only friend, and today she was back to being in a shitty mood, probably only wanting death and misery upon every individual who bothers her. Maybe it was the morning; maybe it was some mental bipolar condition. In the end, what could I do about it? I was… just a human after all. And we all know what humans are here in this fucked up world.



“It`s not her fault Victor. She is just having a serious case of bad morning mood, that’s all.” A small voice reasoned with me, trying to convince me that, that it was just the morning.



“No, she is mentally unstable, and every other day you are going to have to deal with her mad at the world behavior.” Another part of me tried to convince me. But I denied the accusation and shook my head as I didn`t really bother delving deeper into the behavior of Princess Maya; also know as the “possibly bipolar bird”. 



I decided sitting on a bedside drooling in thoughts all day would do me no good, so I went over to the stack of paper and began drawing, or doodling is more like it. Much more productive, I know, but it was at least something to keep me occupied with.



What came in the end of my doodling session was a beautiful piece of artwork. Of course when I say “art”, I am talking of stick figurines doing absolutely nothing but standing in a very stiff `t` shape. They might have been holding something resembling a phone or a book. To be honest I didn`t know myself honestly. I wrote my name in the bottom corner like any true professional artist would do and made my way over went over to the desk and dropped off the artwork there right beside a small mirror.



I hadn`t seen myself in weeks, so I picked up the mirror and looked at my reflection. My hair and scruff had gotten slightly longer and thicker, and I had a serious case of bedhead. My cheeks had sunken in an uncomfortable amount since last I saw them, making my cheekbones clearly visible compared to what of before. I still had a few cuts and scratches in my face, but they were healing nicely. I had bags underneath my eyes, implying I needed sleep. I didn`t feel tired. Could it be something else?



Still, seeing myself like this got me a bit worried, so to take my mind of my current physical condition I began pacing around the room thinking of an excuse as to my parents and friends as to why I went missing. But most of all, I thought of my little sister. God, how I miss her cute little giggles when we played tag, or how she listened so intently when I explained how I viewed the world… How would I explain my departure to her?



I took notice of how I was thinking about those back home again. If I kept thinking like this I would go mad in less than a week, not that I already wasn`t. I decided that I wasn`t going to think of them, or home for that matter, during the rest of my stay here. Maybe, with a dash of luck it would make the time go quicker even.



So I returned to pacing around the room and think about absolutely nothing. I must have an easily entertained brain, since thinking of jack shit drove the time surprisingly fast. Before I knew it Maya came back from through the doors and looked at me with a questioning look. I stopped my pacing and looked back at her waiting for her to ask a question, or at least tell me what she had been doing. She looked at me for a little bit longer and began tilting her head slightly while still holding up that curious gaze. I shot up an eyebrow, now just as confused as she was.



We stood there looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. I finally decided to break the little staring contest we were holding and began writing a question.



+ Is there some breakfast around? I`m hungry. +



Without answering Maya was out the door again.



------------------



+ I am not eating on the floor, period. + 



“Yes you are.”


+ No I’m not +


“Yes” 


+ No +


“Yes”


+ No + I tapped the answer again.


“Yes you are!” She said with her stern commanding voice.



Luckily she didn`t notice, but I actually shrunk a bit by that voice. There was something weird with how she used it. It made me want to listen to her orders. However I quickly recovered and gave her a quick glance again to make sure she hadn`t noticed my moment of weakness. I decided giving her my best death glare would help my argument on not eating on the floor, but she returned mine with her own to her fullest capacity. My stomach unfortunately waved the white flag by giving off a hungry rumbling sound. I gave a defeated exhale and began eating from the bowl on the floor while Maya got a smug grin on her face.



Maya had given me hydra steak and a bowl of water all neatly placed on the floor for me to eat. What was bugging me though was that I had to eat on the floor without any explanation what so ever. So naturally I asked.



+ Why do you make me eat on the floor anyway, it`s only us here and you already know I am smart. +



Her smug grin dissipated and turned into a thoughtful one whilst slowly opening her beak to come forth with an answer. “I… It`s to…” She stammered. She stopped trying to say something and started scratched the underside of her beak with a claw while staring out through the window with a distant expression. After a little while she began speaking again. “It`s to help me cope with the situation I guess.” She answered with a shrug. I honestly would have been bothered by her short answer hadn`t it been for the delicious steak I was currently diving into.



I gave an affirming nod. “I suppose I`ll just have to deal with it for now.”



+ Fine. + I wrote quickly, and began eating hungrily away at the steak again.


…

…

…

…


An awkward silence had now filled the room, the only sound that could be heard was me eating happily away at the hydra steak which tasted surprisingly enough, just like fish, or more specifically, cod. But it is better than the slop I got back at the facility. 



“Soooo… How are you?” Maya asked.



I glanced surprised at Maya. I gave a small chuckle from how ridiculously generic the question was, but played along, figuring she would only get more comfortable with me over time. It`s not like I could force her to like me. Did she even like me at all. Did she even like humans, or were I an unwanted gift from her father? Was that why she was so mad? 



The thought made me shift a bit uncomfortably.



Maya took notice of my uncomfortable shifting and looked away a bit ashamed. Maybe she though she hit a sensitive spot with that question. That in itself is a miracle really, that a so generic “how are you” question made me uncomfortable. But she pushed the conversation further anyway.



“I personally am doing okay. At least what the modern society would call okay anyway. How about you?”



I released a weak chuckle from her “modern society” and answered. Maya`s expression brightened slightly from my chuckle.



+ I am okay... or as okay as I am going to get. Escpecially now since I have got some food in me. +



She read the note but got a small frown. “That’s not how you spell especially.” She commented.



I took the note and looked at it. It felt right to me, but I wouldn`t actually know. English was one of my stronger suites back home at school, but I was by no means perfect so there were a few spelling errors here and there. I just hoped it wouldn`t become a problem as I conversed by writing.



+ How do you spell it then? +



Maya took the note from me and drew a line through the word, and wrote it the right way.



+ I am well, thanks for asking. Escpecially now since I have got some food in me. +

Especially



“Why did you think it was spelled that way?”



+ English isn`t my native language, nor my native writing as you can see there. + I said while pointing at the error I had made.



“English? Do you mean Equestrian?” 



+ No, I meant English. + I answered with a confused expression.



She furrowed her brows slightly confused herself. “But we are talking and writing Equestrian now.” She tried explaining.



I ran my tongue over my upper canine thinking over what she said. I had to remember that I was on a different planet now, not that it was hard to forget since I was surrounded by griffins and nude humans.



+ Where I come from, that is English. I suppose Equestrian is the native language here? + I wrote.



“erhm… well yes and no, it is kind of split. The new generation of griffins including me prefer Equestrian since it makes communicating with every other race on the planet easier since most races knows how to speak equestrian, whilst the older generations prefer to speak in our old language.”



+ So, newer generations prefer efficiency over culture, correct? +



“I guess you could say that.”



+ That`s what it sounds like. Do you know how to talk your native language though? +



“Of course I do, just because the newer generation prefer Equestrian, doesn’t mean we forget where our blood is from. Equestrian has just become its own thing in school now, but we still learn our own language for the sake of culture and history.”



+ Wouldn`t leaving the griffin native language behind be more efficient, that way you could spend more time teaching other things rather than two different languages. I mean, you are already turning Eng Equestrian, why not go ALL the way? + I wrote a small mistake, but Maya didn’t pay it any heed.



“It is still our history, our culture. Think of how many books would become useless if we didn`t learn to read our native texts?”



+ Couldn`t you just translate them? +



I took my hand on the greasy plate and found no food on it. I took a quick glance down to see the steak gone. “Where did my food go?”



Maya looked at the plate, and then back at me. “You want more?”



I took a quick glance at the plate and imagined another hydra steak being there. But my mind quickly erased that though of process making it obvious I wasn`t all that hungry anymore, not that my slightly bulging stomach wasn`t proof enough.



+ No I`m good, thanks. + I answered, still slightly confused as to how fast I actually got done with the steak.



I leaned back at the the bed whilst clapping my hand contently on my stomach, a content grin slowly making its way onto my face.



“So on the topic of culture, I was going to ask about your culture. How is it like? Are all the humans intelligent like you? Do you have any deities?”



I shifted myself so I could get into a better position to hold a conversation.



+ I guess you could say that we all are. And yes we do have deities, but they are more commonly known as Gods or the God. +



“What do you mean by, Gods and the God?”



I didn’t really want to get into religion with Maya, another world, another religion debate. + Some say God is just God. Some refer to him as Allah. Others believes in several Gods. Long story short, we don`t have a set religion. +



“What do you believe?”



I gave a tired sigh and responded + I don`t know anymore. Not since I fell through that portal and ended up on this world.


But I don`t really want to talk about my world seeing as you probably won`t be seeing it anytime soon. I however could use some information on your world since it seems I will be staying for a while. +



“Information… Such as?” Maya gave me a skeptical look probably wondering what my motives are. I guess I could see where she was coming from. I just admitted I was alien, and an alien being asking for information on the country she lives in, yeah I wouldn`t be sharing any information before I trusted said alien. Only now I found myself being the alien, putting me at a disadvantage.



+ Well… I don`t know. I have gotten quite a few nasty glares directed at me from other griffins. Care to explain what that is all about, and don`t tell me it is because griffins hate humans cause I know humans are food to you. +



“It`s because most griffins hate humans. And what do you being food to us have anything to do with it? Most griffins just think humans are disgusting.”



I thought about it, but there was something she was holding. I looked at her with a questioning look in an attempt to keep Maya talking.



She let out a sight and continued. “Humans being pets is… a very new thing here in the griffin kingdom. Humans have been a part of Equestrian society for some time, but things are different here in the Kingdom, and you could say we are sort of lagging behind on the idea of humans as pets.”



+ Let me guess. There is a whole political debate surrounding this topic, am I right? +



“Yes.”



She turned her gaze away from me and looked out the window taking deep relaxed breaths. She was finally calming down around me. It gave me a small surge of hope that being here would be hell on earth. I turned my eyes the opposite direction of Mayas and examined her room further.



It wasn`t much I hadn`t already seen in her room, but when my eyes landed on the door I felt keen on exploring the rest of the house… castle… villa, whatever. Point is I wanted to get out of this room and see something more. A whole new world to explore and discover. And since Maya knew I was intelligent, she could explain things such as history and other things with that in mind.



+ Think we could go out of this room, I could use some air? + I wrote on a piece of paper. I gently shove the note over to Maya, but she didn`t notice. Her mind was still elsewhere, proven by her distant look.



I didn`t want to disturb her train of thought, so I gently got up and slowly made my way over to the mirror I had previously used. I picked it up and looked at myself for the second time today. After doing a quick once over my face I moved the mirror down to where I could see where my broken rib was. The area was still a nasty purple color, but that wasn`t what worried me.



Carefully I stroked my hand over the damaged rib in an attempt to get a feel on how it was mending together. I could feel an uneven bump right where it had been broken; however it was solid and stuck in place. I mentally cursed myself for letting the rib mend unevenly. Why hadn`t I tried to make sure it was straight. Why hadn`t Elpis done something when she saw it? Wasn`t she a supposed veterinarian?



Thinking back at the conditions I lived in, were they really legal in the first place? Wouldn`t it be considered animal cruelty for the way humans were treated back at the facility? Shouldn`t the guards take responsibility… Maybe they didn`t know. I should try and tell Maya about it, see what she thinks.



I turned and met Mayas eyes looking at me. 



“What happened there?” She asked, nodding her head towards my rib.



+ I might have gotten into a fight. And the fight might have resulted in me breaking a rib... possibly. + I answered.



“You got a broken rib?” She asked with a raised brow.



+ Well, it`s not broken anymore I don`t think. But it has mended unevenly unfortunately. And don`t look at me like that, it`s not like I can ask for medical attention if that is what you are trying to get at. +



“Didn`t you have this friend of yours… what was her name Elpis, Wasn`t she the pet stores veterinarian or something? How did you even get into a fight in the first place?”



+ She was… I think. I don`t know. She claimed she was one, and all her coworkers seemed to think so too. So I just took her word for it. But I have been thinking lately, and I am beginning to wonder if the facility even was legal.


To answer your second question. Long story short, I evolved to become an Alpha of the humans and the previous Alpha were not happy about it. +



“Alpha… as in you being the dominant male?” She examined me a bit closer with a resemblance of a giggle being heard. “H-how?”



+ I don`t know, but in my defense I didn`t really want to become the Alpha. It just sort of… happened. +



“Just happened?”



+ Yeah. +

…

“Right.” she answered, clearly not believing me.



My hand began cramping up, so I took a moment to do some hand exercising in an attempt to get blood flowing properly into my hand again. Maya noticed me doing this and muttered to herself “We got to get a better way of communicating.”



She looked at the stack of papers I we had made during our dialog. She began shuffling them around and read some of them. Then she suddenly nodded at one of them. She got up standing and headed towards her nightstand where she then brought forth a rope with a hook attached at the end of it. She clasped the hook onto my collar before I could even react to what she was doing. She then nodded her head towards the door with a friendly smile. “I think we should head out. I could use some fresh air.”



“Yeah… lets.”