When tragedy strikes, a young griffin must do everything he can to survive.
Backstory for Into That Wild Blue Yonder _______________________________________________________________________
Yafid started as any of us do; a young child, full of wonder and awe for the world. But like so many children in troubling times, his innocence was ripped away from him, and he found himself on a road to nowhere, full of hardship and suffering until the bitter end.
The day started as it always did; bright, shining sun, and a chilly gust that he had been accustomed to since the day he was born. Living at altitude did that to a society.
The little griffin sat up in his nesting and looked out the stone doorway over the valley. It was a glorious view, one that any ground dweller would rarely ever get to appreciate. Most of them wouldn’t handle the cold too well, though.
“Yafid!” his mother called. “Yafid, wake up, or you will be late!”
“Coming, ma!” Yafid shouted back.
As usual, he had to go to school today. It was a fairly new thing, mandated public schooling for young griffins. Yafid didn’t remember the days where it wasn’t mandatory, but his ma and da grew up in those days. They were raised as a farmer and warrior, respectively. His mother traded as well, which was how she made the money to influence the city governor to mandate public school before he was born.
Yafid’s da had never learned how to read. His mother was very good at reading, and often read Yafid stories to help him go to sleep. Those stories were okay, but he preferred the stories his ma had of her clever trading and his da’s stories of battles won. He had never lost a battle; that was how he was there to raise Yafid.
“I’m here, ma!” Yafid announced as he rushed into the room with his waiting parents.
“Good, can’t have you being late for school,” his da said. Yafid jumped up and tackled his da, who pretended to be knocked over by the sheer force.
“Ah! He has slain me, my love!” Yafid’s da said. “He is too strong! He may resist going to school!”
“Haha!” Yafid said, turning to his ma. “None can defeat me!”
Yafid’s ma chuckled. “Well, you won’t win any battles if you can’t read the strategy books, will you?”
“Oh no!” Yafid said. “Da, I have to go!”
Yafid gave each of his parents a big hug, then ran outside and took flight. He had only recently gotten flying down, with the help of his da and encouragement from his ma. It was still a little awkward, but it was the greatest moment of his young life. Seeing his parents so proud of him was the greatest thing he could have asked for.
The flight to school wasn’t too far for him, which was good, as he still ha dot train those flying muscles. He’s only eight years old, his parents would say, of course he wasn’t an expert at flying. No one expected him to be. But he was determined to be something entirely different from what anyone expected him to be.
When Yafid landed at the school; a repurposed government building from decades ago; he met up with his classmates and waited for the teacher to bring them inside. She was a nice griffin, and she always seemed to have an answer for their questions.
“Yafid!” a voice called. Yafid turned.
It was his best friend Vadim. Their das had been battle buddies, as they said, for many years, before even meeting their mas. When they started sending their kids to school, they made sure to send them to the same school. The kids hit it off instantly, and their das took any opportunity to hang out and drink that nasty Ale stuff.
“Vadim!” Yafid called back. He ran to his friend. “Hey!”
“Hey!” Vadim replied. “Did you fly here by yourself again?”
“I sure did!” Yafid said proudly. “Ma and da taught me well.”
“Awesome!” Vadim said. “I only flew halfway here today, but I wasn’t too tired after.”
“Cool!” Yafid said. “Soon, we’ll be the best flyers in the whole class!”
Before long, the teacher came out and pulled the kids in for the beginning of their lessons for the day. It was Sunday, the first day of the week for school, so it was gym and history day. Everyone loved Fridays because they usually got to reenact battles with pretend swords and armor. Everyone got assigned a part, and they were encouraged to ham it out and make it extra fun. It certainly got them all to remember their history.
Today, Yafid and Vadim got the parts of their own das in the Battle for Bobrov Pass. Their das had been critical in preventing the evil, twisted Arimaspi from crossing the pass into the city’s outer limits. No one knew where the twisted creatures came from, but they could see very clearly that they were full of evil and thievery. They were much smaller than the Arimaspi of legend, though, and no one ever found out why, or where they came from.
They got to swing their cardboard swords at their classmates, bellowing their squeaky battle cries against the rawrs of their foes. The teacher could hardly contain her laughter at the absolutely adorable display of tiny griffins putting on their war faces. When they finished, everyone was completely exhausted, and it was time for some well-earned naps.
When they all woke up, it was time for flying practice. At least, for those who could. The rest had to learn the basics of flight first, and they had to run around and do an obstacle course to get stronger for flying. Yafid flew the whole practice with Vadim, trying to keep him off the ground. Vadim had to land a few times, but he was really getting the hang of it.
“Yeah, Vadim!” Yafid would shout when his friend got off the ground. Vadim always pushed himself to keep up with his friend, just behind but always right there. Yafid had to work hard to stay ahead.
When the practice ended, all the little ones were completely beat and ready to eat. The teacher always finished the day with an awesome meal she cooked herself in the other room while the kids were napping. She made a cooked beef platter with some tasty seasonings on it that helped the kids grow big and strong.
“This is really good!” Vadim said.
“Thank you,” the teacher replied.
“Hey, Vadim, do you wanna try to fly home?” Yafid said.
“I’d rather not fall down,” Vadim said.
“Not high or anything, just a few feet off the ground,” Yafid said. “Come on.”
“Okay, as long as we aren’t too far off the ground,” Vadim said.
When the meal was concluded and everyone cleaned their plates off, the teacher let them go for the day, and Yafid and Vadim flew home to Yafid’s house. They were so good at flying, they could even outfly the Wonderbolts of Equestria someday. They could form their own flying team, and they’d get all the attention and make tons of money.
As they flew home, they noticed something was off. No one seemed to be out in the streets. There were signs that griffins were in their homes, but their doors were all closed and they didn’t seem to be intent on taking visitors.
“Hey, Vadim,” Yafid said nervously. “Is something wrong here?”
“I don’t know, Yafid,” Vadim said. “Let’s just get home.”
The pair of little griffins hurried back to Yafid’s home. When they arrived, they tried to open the front door, but it was locked, and the windows were all bolted shut. Yafid was too exhausted to fly up to the roof and try to look behind the house, so he knocked on the door.
“Ma!” he shouted. Instantly, the door flung open and two claws grabbed the little ones and yanked them inside.
“Yafid!” his ma proclaimed.
“Ma, what is happening? Where is everyone?” Yafid asked.
“The city is under siege again,” Yafid’s mother explained. Yafid and Vadim gasped. “It is nothing we haven’t seen before, do not worry.”
“Why are we hiding, then?” Vadim asked.
Yafid’s mother paused. She didn’t want to scare the children, but there was something distinctly different about this siege than any from the past. They were led by some brilliant tactician, a human of unknown origins. Word was that he had studied extensively war tactics in the human world, and she was a master of seeing through enemy defenses.
“It is standard procedure,” Yafid’s mother said.
“It is?” Vadim asked. He and Yafid had never been under siege before.
“Of course,” Yafid’s mother said. “We are safe, but if something should somehow occur out of nowhere, it is best to be prepared.”
“Okay, ma,” Yafid said. His ma said they would be okay, and if she said it, they would certainly be fine by morning.
It would have been believable if both Yafid’s and Vadim’s das hadn’t rushed in just after Yafid’s ma said it.
“Da!” Yafid shouted, running to his da.
“Yafid!” his da said. He picked up his boy and Vadim’s da grabbed Vadim. “We need to go, now!”
“Da, what is happening?” Yafid shouted.
“The city is falling, we need to go!” Yafid’s da said.
“What?” Vadim said.
“Gradin, I’ll take the front,” Vadim’s da said. “I’ll take rear. Oleka, hold the kids. We need to leave now.”
“Da, where is ma?” Vadim asked.
“She will meet us outside the city,” Vadim’s da said. “We need to get there to see her again.”
“Okay,” Vadim said.
Oleka grabbed the kids and took her position in between Gradin and Vadim’s da. Yafid and Vadim cowered in Oleka’s arms, terror striking their hearts. Their city was falling, the city they lived in. Where were they supposed to go?
As soon as they left the house, the kids witnessed a battle raging everywhere. In not five minutes, the city went from a dreadful quiet to a manic scene of panic and screaming and clashing of steel. Oleka tried to shield the little ones’ eyes, but she couldn’t stop them from seeing the families of their friends being run through by griffins from another city. Why did they come here to attack them?
It didn’t matter right now; right now, they had to just run. Gradin started moving down the street, Oleka right behind. Vadim’s da kept an eye on their rear as they moved, ready to fend off any cowards who would attack them as they fled.
The battle had already been lost hours before it even started. The human general leading them had her forces set up all kinds of traps to catch the city guard by surprise, and set up ladders that would enable them to scale the wall all the way from the ground, where the sentries wouldn’t be able to spot them advance. The battle hadn’t even started before they were in the city, making their strike.
At this point, it was every griffin for themselves. No one was safe, and the city had fallen. Gradin tried to lead their small group through the streets to the rear exit to the city, but there were so many enemy forces in every direction that there was no way any exit would actually be clear. They couldn’t fly because the human general had designed net launchers that would take a griffin out of the sky. Gradin didn’t want to see his wife and child, his best friend and his child’s best friend fall hundreds of feet to their demise.
The enemy even had long range siege weapons, launching burning boulders into the city, annihilating sentry towers and showering the streets with rubble. Gradin leapt over his wife to protect her and the kids from falling rocks. He held them down, but he couldn’t look up to see a massive boulder coming down on them.
“Gradin!” Vadim’s da shouted.
Vadim’s father rushed the group and shoved them as hard as he could away from their spot. Just as the boulder came down, they fell out of its path. Vadim’s da smiled for a brief moment as his success before the boulder crushed him.
Gradin and Oleka landed with the kids away from the boulder. When Gradin got up, he saw a bloody puddle underneath the boulder where they had been standing. Gradin could only blink and reach for nothing, then turn around and pick up his family.
“We need to go,” he said grimly.
“Da?” Vadim said.
“Vadim,” Oleka said. “We must go…”
“Da!” Vadim said. He tried to fight his way out of Oleka’s grasp, but to no avail. He could only stare at the boulder and cry for his da.
“Let’s go,” Gradin said. He looked back at the boulder. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
The remaining group ran. Battles raged around them as the attackers ransacked the city, pillaging homes and taking anything of value. Food was thrown into the streets, bodies lay everywhere, fire and death hung in the air. Gradin tried to shield his family from the sights, but it was all around them.
“Hey!” a voice shouted.
Gradin turned to see a group of enemy soldiers pointing at them. He pulled out his sword as they started rushing toward them.
“Oleka, take them and go!” Gradin said. Oleka could only nod and turn around to run.
“Da!” Yafid shouted. His ma carried him and Vadim as fast as she could away from the enemy soldiers.
Gradin stood with his sword drawn against five enemy soldiers. They slowly started to encircle him, all armed with lances and halberds, ready to swing. It was nothing Gradin hadn’t seen before.
“Come on,” he said grimly. And come they did.
Oleka ran until her hind legs couldn’t push her forward. She had made it to the schoolhouse, mostly collapsed and smoldering from boulders crashing into it. Enemies were everywhere around her, slaying her friends and neighbors like cattle.
“No,” she said. Her grip on the kids loosened and she fell. “No… it can’t be…”
“Ma, what do we do?” Yafid asked. Vadim wasn’t able to speak. “What do we do?”
“I… we…” Oleka shook her head. “I do not know, my little Yafid.”
“…Are we going to die, ma?” Yafid asked.
“No…” Oleka said, trying to comfort her boys. Vadim was hers now, she had to take care of him. “You will make it.”
Oleka took the kids by the claws and led them into the burned out schoolhouse. Inside, there were no enemy soldiers, no battles raging. They would just have to wait it out and-
“In here, I saw some go inside!” a voice shouted.
Oleka whipped her head around. “No!” she said.
“Ma, I’m scared!” Yafid said.
“You will be okay,” Oleka said. She looked around frantically and saw a box of gym equipment. “Go, hide!”
Oleka shoved Yafid and Vadim toward the box to hide and stood her ground. The two little ones scurried over and jumped inside, shutting the lid as much as it would close. It didn’t quite close all the way, leaving just enough space for the kids to watch.
Several griffins burst into the schoolhouse and quickly surrounded Oleka. The griffin remained in her place defiantly, as her husband had when he faced these cretins. They had blood on their blades and rage in their eyes.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the little lady,” one said.
“Your husband put up quite a fight,” a big one said. He ran up and knocked Oleka over in one quick move.
“Ma!” Yafid cried in his box. He began to cry and wanted to push out of the box, but he was too scared.
“Yafid, stay quiet!” Vadim said, crying himself. “W-w-w-we have to stay quiet, she told us to…”
“Ma-ha-ha-ha!” Yafid cried.
Oleka looked up at her attackers. “You’ll not be taking me anywhere,” she said darkly.
“Oh, we weren’t planning to,” the first one said.
Before she could even move, the big one came up behind her and slashed her neck. Oleka’s eyes shot wide, and moments later, she lay on the floor. She was gone.
Yafid fell back in the box. His parents were both gone. Vadim’s parents were both gone. They were all alone now, except for each other.
Vadim wiped his eyes and looked outside the box one more time. A new one had entered the school, but it wasn’t a griffin. It looked like a taller, straighter-standing monkey with no hair except for its head where it fell long and dark. It was a human.
“Really?” she said, looking at her soldiers.
“She was gonna fight,” the big one said with a grin.
“I’ll be having a word with your commanding officer,” the woman said. “I remember telling you we wanted as many of them to live as possible.”
“Why would we want that?” the first griffin asked.
“To make sure the stories are told as often as possible,” the woman said.
Vadim fell back toward the rear of the box with Yafid. There, they both lay down, crying, covered in dirt and soot and tears, as everything they had in their short lives was torn away right in front of them. They didn’t know what was going to happen, but they knew that they had to rely on each other. No one else could possibly help them.
Yafid and Vadim ran as fast as they could. Flying would certainly mean the older, stronger griffin would catch them, so they stayed low to the ground. The crowd around them didn’t care about the vendor losing a couple of fish, and simply stood out of the way so the kids could run.
They’d been at the same routine for four years, ever since the city was sacked. After the siege ended, Yafid and Vadim crawled out of their hiding place and looked around; Yafid’s ma was gone, only a bloody puddle on the floor left to signal she had been there. After that, they just had to survive. With no family and everyone who survived looking out for themselves, the little ones had to steal food to live. They ran through crowd and lost sight of the vendor. When they were certain he was gone for good, they took their prizes and rushed to their alleyway home.
After running from the destroyed schoolhouse, Yafid and Vadim looked everywhere for shelter. In between some buildings, they found a hole in the ground that led to some old sewer tunnels, from before modern plumbing. Nothing was there but stale air, and the entrance was just small enough that fully grown griffins couldn’t get them, so they decided to make it their new home.
They had a cooking spot right toward the entrance to avoid burning up all their air. Each of the little ones took a side of the small room. At first, they just lay on the ground, cold and hurting every night, but over time, they took scraps of cloth and soft materials they found to make small beds for themselves. As the years passed, they started to decorate a little, anything that they could find in the ruins that wasn’t totally destroyed.
Most of the city was in complete ruins. They had originally had over five hundred thousand residents; now, that number floated around three hundred thousand. They lost a great deal of griffins in those few days. Most of the city was totally uninhabitable, too, and poverty was everywhere. The city government was trying to rebuild, but it was a slow process taking back the ruined sections of the city.
No one lived in those areas, but they were still dangerous. Crumbling buildings and infrastructure could kill an unsuspecting adventurer, especially since all the city’s tallest buildings were coming down over time. Yafid and Vadim didn’t particularly care, they went out anyway to see what they could salvage. Sometimes, if they found something particularly valuable, they could sell it and use the money for really good food. Most of those residents were long dead or gone, now, so it wasn’t like they would be looking for it.
Yafid and Vadim slid into their home and got right to starting up a small fire to cook their fish. They always had flint in their house in case the nights got too cold or for cooking. They had it a lot better than just about any other kid in the city. Sure, they had to get their own food and stuff, but their home was pretty comfortable relative to anywhere else, and they knew the city in and out because of their exploration. Everyone knew them as the local troublemakers, though, which could be either problematic or fun.
“What kind of fish is this?” Vadim asked. He coughed after asking; the stale air was never fun to hang around in, but it was only slightly worse than outside.
“It’s trout,” Yafid replied. “Come on, dude, we took trout before, I would think you’d know what it looks like by now.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Vadim said. “You gonna keep that fire burning or what?”
“I’m on it, I’m on it,” Yafid said.
Vadim had been coughing for a long time. It was kind of like the Black Lung in miners, but not nearly as serious. Yafid had managed to avoid it somehow, but it was mostly just luck. Maybe it had something to do with being the one who kept watch more often. He would do the ruin diving, but Vadim always said he was better at it.
When the fire was going strong, Yafid and Vadim put the trout over and got cooking. Whenever they cooked something good, they could always hear older griffons outside coming by hoping for food. When they realized they couldn’t get inside, though, they would leave.
As usual, they heard some sounds outside the hole. Someone out there was commenting how good the trout smelled and how hungry they were. Yafid and Vadim sat there with smug grins on their faces, happy with themselves for succeeding where so many adults failed. They wouldn’t help the kids, why should the kids help them?
Then something unexpected happened. A tiny griffon head poked through the hole followed by the body it was attached to. Yafid and Vadim froze as a griffon even younger than them crawled into their home. When the little one saw them, she froze, eyes darting between them and the fire.
“O-oh, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you lived here…”
“Uh, yeah, we do,” Vadim replied.
“I-I just smelled it and followed, I’m sorry.” Her stomach growled loudly and the griffon shrunk back. “I’ll get out…”
“Hang on,” Vadim said with a sign. He looked at Yafid, who looked back understanding. She was obviously really hungry. “You want some trout?”
The little griffon blinked and stared. “R-really?” she asked.
“Come on,” Vadim said. “Even we eat better than you from the looks of it.”
“Seriously,” Yafid said. “Come here and have some trout.”
“T-thank you,” the little griffon said meekly. She crawled forward and sat by the fire. “It’s so warm…”
“Where are your parents?” Yafid asked.
“T-They work in the mines,” the little one said. “I don’t get to see them much, and they usually come home super tired. We don’t talk much.”
“They work in the mines?” Yafid asked. “Doesn’t that pay pretty well?”
“The seventh street gang takes a lot of their money when they come home,” the little one said. “They say it’s ‘protection’ money.”
“That’s messed,” Vadim grumbled.
“That’s not good,” Yafid said. “And the police won’t do anything?”
“Some of them ARE police,” the little one said. Vadim nearly choked on his food. “We can’t do anything. They take our moving money so we can’t leave.”
“Jeeze, I’m sorry,” Yafid said.
The little one gobbled down the trout in a heartbeat and let out a little burp. She looked much happier now that she had some food in her system, but the terminal sadness of this city was still there. It would always be there.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I have a home. Not many can say that.”
“Good attitude,” Vadim said. “Keep positive.”
“I will,” she said. “Thank you for the trout!”
“Sure thing. Come by any time,” Yafid said. The little one smiled and made her way out.
The boys knew it was a struggle out there, and they knew it all too well. While they weren’t interested in helping the grown, independent griffons who wouldn’t give them the time of day, they were more than ready to help the other young ones who were stuck in a bad place. That little griffon came by almost every day for a while after that.
Then, one day, she just stopped coming. They knew her neighborhood, but not exactly where she lived. One day, they went over there to see if she was okay and they found out she was finally gone. Her parents had hid money from the gang well enough to save up to leave. The gang found out and tried to get them as they left, but her dad stayed and distracted them while she and her mom escaped. He never made it out.
These guys were awful. They found out that on top of extorting money and murdering that dude, they would take from locals in non-financial ways f they couldn’t pay the “protection” money. Food, labor, and worse, these guys were pure evil. And no one could stand against them.
Yafid and Vadim made it their goal to mess with them. Whenever they went out scavenging, they would come to the neighborhood and sneak around to steal what the gang took from griffons and give it back. No one ever saw them do it. The gang didn’t know it was them, and the locals didn’t know who was bringing their money back.
It wasn’t long before the gang realized they were being stolen from. Thankfully, their immediate and permanent assumption was that it was some rival gang, not the griffons they stole from. It made it harder to steal from them, but the boys always found a way.
One night, after a successful raiding run on a particularly ruined section of the city, they dropped their stuff in the house and made their way to the neighborhood. In the dead of night, they could easily come in and take anything. It was cloudy all the time over the city since the war, and they had become masters of silent flight. All they had to do was swoop down on the area, move fast, and bolt. Just like usual.
The boys glided over the neighborhood and searched for what was likely a hiding place. They had gotten good at finding them, so good that the only way they had a hard time finding the stash was when it was in one of the gangsters’ houses. Even then, they could easily sneak in and jack whatever they saw plus some extra for themselves.
Tonight, though, the mark was a bit more obvious.
“Yafid, over there,” Vadim whispered.
There was a pile of coins sitting on a picnic table behind a house with a sleeping griffon behind it. It was just sitting there as if it had been being counted and the guy fell asleep on the job. Two sacks were still unopened. It was easy pickings.
“Let’s do it,” Yafid said
Yafid and Vadim dove forward and went for the sacks. They glided silently through the air, cutting it like a honed knife through cheesecake. But right as they got close, everything went wrong.
“THERE!”
A voice rang out from above and to the side, throwing off the boys and forcing them to retreat from being caught. But before they could get away, three more griffons came from seemingly thin air and charged them in the air.
“RUN!” Yafid shouted.
They careened up and took off forward, but their speed was no match for the adults they were messing with. In mere moments, both Yafid and Vadim were in the claws of the gangsters and they all crashed to the street below.
Yafid flailed his talons out and caught one in the eye, making him let go, and ran. The rest of them gave chase, and the one whose eye he got switched places with the one holding Vadim.
“Get that little cockatrice!” he said angrily.
Yafid flew harder than he had ever flown to get away from his foes. He weaved between buildings trying to lose them, but had no luck. They were right on his tail the whole time. It was only when he flew into a section of the city with tighter corners that he was able to get out of sight. After losing his pursuers, Yafid rushed back to where Vadim was being held. As he got closer, he could hear screams of pain and double-timed it.
When he arrived on scene, he saw Vadim on the ground, one wing a twisted mess and the other missing, and his captor standing over him with a sick grin. Yafid felt anger explode in him and dive-bombed toward the gangster.
“LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!” he shouted. The captor turned just in time for Yafid to be on him, talons out. The little griffon raked his talons across the gangster’s throat, ripping it apart and throwing the griffon off Vadim. When Yafid turned around, the gangster was twitching on the ground, rapidly losing blood, and Vadim was trying to crawl away.
“Vadim!” Yafid cried. He ran over to his friend and looked at his wings; they were completely destroyed. They wouldn’t be able to fly out of there. “Don’t worry, Vadim, I’ll get you out!”
Yafid put his friend on his back and started running. He stuck to the shadows and the houses as much as possible in case the gangsters came back. Vadim was catatonic on Yafid’s back and couldn’t speak at all, barely conscious.
It took some time, but Yafid was able to get Vadim out and back to their home underground. He was bleeding from the stump of his wing, but not so much that it wasn’t manageable. Yafid grabbed some cloth and staunched the bleeding.
“Vadim…” Yafid said. Vadim didn’t reply. He simply didn’t have the energy.
Yafid made sure Vadim was relatively comfortable and safe and then went to sleep. The next morning, when he woke up, he checked on Vadim. His friend was cold, clammy, and shaking.
“Vadim?!” Yafid said.
“Yafid..?” Vadim replied shakily. “I don’t feel so good…”
“You took some hits,” Yafid said, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “But you’re a tough guy, I’ll tell you that.”
“Ha, gotta be,” Vadim said. He coughed. “This isn’t very good.”
“What’s wrong?” Yafid asked.
“I think I’m sick,” Vadim said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you some medicine,” Yafid said.
Before Vadim could reply, Yafid was off and on the hunt. There weren’t many doctor’s offices left in the city, as most of them packed up and left after the war, and the few who were left took advantage of everyone who came to see them. They were basically war profiteers, and in spite of everyone hating them, they had to see them or none at all.
Yafid tried to get medicine, but the doctors all told him to get lost and their medicine was locked up tight. He had no way of getting the medicine without money, and he and Vadim never kept the extra money they took from the gangsters for long.
After checking with every doctor in the city, Yafid came home empty-clawed. He sulked into the house he and Vadim built and sat down next to his friend. Vadim was sleeping quietly in his bed, cold and covered in sweat.
“I’m sorry, Vadim,” Yafid said. “I couldn’t get any medicine.”
Vadim didn’t move at all. Yafid poked him. Nothing.
“Vadim?” Yafid asked, worry taking over his voice. Vadim’s chest wasn’t rising.
“VADIM!”
Vadim was gone. Even if Yafid had gotten the medicine, Vadim hadn’t lasted long enough for Yafid to get back. He had died while his friend was out searching for something to save his life.
Yafid broke that day. No one helped him get medicine, gangsters murdered his friend and terrorized locals who didn’t have enough in their own lives to help anyone else. The city had become nothing more than a cancerous tumor, a blight on the world outside of it. Yafid changed that day.
That change put him on a collision course with destiny, one that would decide the fate of nations.
Yafid hocked a big lugie and spit out his wad of chewing tobacco. He had used it up and he wasn’t particularly looking to keep it in without the taste left.
He took up dip some time ago. Not as a big habit, but any time he was feeling frustrated, he would pack a fat “lip” as the humans who brought it to the world called it. It was after Vadim died that he realized he might as well just go for it. Life isn’t worth living if it can’t be enjoyed every now and again.
Yafid had stayed on his own for a bit, but without his friend, he wasn’t having the success he once had in staying fed. He was caught a couple of times, got thrown in jail once even. That was where he met the crew. He joined the gang to stay safe in jail while he was there, and when he got out, it was made painfully clear that the only way to stay safe was to stick to them.
It was more than worth it, really. Now, he had actual money for himself, he could eat without trying or scavenging, life was easy. He was able to get them to go easier on the people who owed them protection money, but hey, they still needed to pay up. Other gangs were always trying to move into the area and they were the ones who scared them off their turf.
“Yafiiiiiii~” a lady griffon called softly from behind on the bed. “Come baaaaack~”
“Ah, you always know just how to get me going,” Yafid said, lying back. Yennifer always knew just what to say, as long as you paid the right price. “That’s why I just have to come back.” Yennifer cuddled up to him.
“Baby you know it,” she said. “How’s business these days?”
“Why you always asking that?” Yafid replied jokingly. “It’s always good. No real trouble, easy money… YOU should know all about that.” Yennifer pushed Yafid with a giggle.
“Yeah, right,” Yennifer said. “YOU’RE the only one who’s easy money, ya know.”
“It’s true,” Yafid said. He made a bad habit out of visiting her almost daily.
“I heard there’s been another crew trying to move in lately,” Yennifer said.
“You probably hear that every day,” Yafid said. “It’s always true. But it never goes anywhere. We don’t take their turf, but maybe we should to teach them a lesson.”
“Maybe,” Yennifer said. “Take them out, keep some for fighters, and get even more capital.”
“Listen to you with the fancy words,” Yafid said, grabbing her and getting a giggle. “Maybe I should show you something else to do with that m-“
“YAFID!” a voice shouted. Yafid’s attention whipped to the door and he jumped up.
“Gotta go, hun,” Yafid said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Always a pleasure~” Yennifer said.
Yafid left the room and went downstairs to the main room of the gang’s house. It was a pretty sweet place, kind of like those frat houses from the stories of colleges in Equestria. That was sort of the goal. They were here for money, chicks, and hanging with the boys.
Downstairs, there were a dozen gangsters all waiting in the main room while Yafid rushed down. When he reached the base of the stairs, they all looked his way.
“Yafid, how do you have ANY money left?” one asked.
“Maybe because she actually likes me,” Yafid shot back, getting some laughs.
“Shut it,” the gang leader, Nafiq, said. Everyone shut up. No one did anything when he said not to. Scary dude.
“What’s up?” Yafid asked.
“That rumor of the Backstreeters coming? It’s true,” Nafiq said.
“..And?” Yafid asked. Did they interrupt his session for minor pests?
“And it’s true that another crew has human weapons,” Nafiq said.
Yafid stopped in his tracks. Human weapons; the sharpest blades, best armor, and worst, guns; were a game changer for anyone in this city. They hadn’t seen a gun in a long time, and even then, the city sent a full on SWAT squad to come take it. They ended up selling it to some Equestrian collector.
“What kind?” Yafid asked.
“No guns, thankfully,” Nafiq said. “But they have Katanas and Kevlar.”
“Where did they get those?” one gangster asked. “That’s such a weird combo.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nafiq answered. “Black Market is as Black Market does.”
“Whose job is it to make sure WE get that stuff?” Yafid asked.
“We’ll deal with that later,” Nafiq said. “They’re coming to the house as we speak. We have to set up a perimeter.”
“Got it,” Yafid and the others all said.
Nafiq was ex-military for some other griffon colony somewhere. He was kicked out for whatever reason; no one asked; so when he slipped into military talk, you knew it was serious. He killed a lot of dudes in the past.
Everyone went around and took whatever weapons they could grab. They had some knives, but because they already had talons, and Kevlar is cut-resistant, they picked up heavy objects to either throw or bash the other crew with. They had to avoid close fighting because of the Katanas. If they got in the house, they would need to take the fighting into the halls to keep the other crew from swinging their new swords.
Yafid took the rear door in case of a sneak attack from behind. The rear door was by the kitchen, so while he was there, he grabbed a quick snack from the fridge. He did a brief check of the fridge and found a nice bit of cold beef, so he put it down really fast. If he was about to get cut in half, he wanted to have eaten something good before dying.
Next to the fridge they had a window. When he took a look outside, he spotted two griffons outside trying to sneak up on the building. They spotted the door to the kitchen and started sneaking in that direction.
Yafid rushed as quietly as possible to the side of the door that would put hi behind it when it opened and waited. In moments, the door started to creep open, inches at a time, and a griffon snuck through. Yafid didn’t attack yet; another was just starting to come through as he stood there. Neither of them saw him behind the door.
They were, in fact, wearing Kevlar and had Katanas. But the best weapons and armor won’t save you from a sneak attack. Yafid leapt forward and shoved his right talons into the neck of the rear guy, right into the base of his spine at his neck, and dropped him instantly. He made no noise until he actually hit the ground, drawing the forward one to turn.
He shouted out as Yafid pulled his talons from the one’s neck and grabbed the katana off the floor. As he shouted, Yafid could hear windows crashing and door exploding open elsewhere in the house. Yafid held up the sword and stared his enemy down.
The guy screeched as he lunged forward and brought the sword down. Yafid dodged the vertical strike and spun to the side, following with a sweep strike diagonally across the griffon’s side. He just missed, by mere millimeters, and spun into a guard to block the inevitable counter strike.
After blocking, Yafid lunged forward and pecked at his opponent’s eye. He just missed, but tagged him right above the eye, causing the blood to flow right down into the griffon’s eye. The griffon was forced to fight with one eye closed.
The griffon tried to go for a stab, but Yafid parried it and brought the sword up into a rising arc, slicing the griffon badly all up its midsection and face, but missing the neck. The griffon fell back and put its claw to its chest and then face.
While it was distracted, Yafid rushed forward and swung the sword around, catching his opponent right on the neck and definitively ending his life that moment. As the parts separated and fell to the floor, Yafid listened to the rest of the house. The fighting was still raging on the floor above him, but it sounded like the next room was almost done.
Yafid quickly took the Kevlar off the griffon he killed first and slipped it on. He understood why everyone wanted this tuff so badly; it was basically invulnerability incarnate. Nothing could cut him, only crush him, and if he was flying, nothing could really crush him. The weapons capable of that were too heavy to carry flying.
Yafid stepped to the door to the next room and looked in, ready to get the boys and fight upstairs. What he saw didn’t indicate that he would be doing that; the boss was on the ground, arms tied behind his back, surrounded by Kevlar-clad griffons. Yafid quickly moved away from the door to avoid being seen and just peeked his head around the corner.
“Do it, you pussy son of a bitch,” Nafiq said.
“Aight,” his captor said coolly.
Yafid could only watch as the captor took his sword and slowly pushed it into and down Nafiq’s throat, making a sickening crackling and slipping noise as it went in. Nafiq had just enough time to look at Yafid once before the light left his eyes. His eyes said to get the hell out.
Yafid took the advice he assumed he saw and ran out the back door. In the upstairs section of the house, he saw blood on the windows. From Yennifer’s room, he heard screaming, and then silence. The crews all had a rule, no hurting the biddies, but they could have hurt her to make her stop screaming. In all honesty, Yafid did not care in the slightest. He paid for her company, he could pay for someone else.
Yafid left the property and ran. His crew had all been killed. He liked those guys; it was a shame they were all killed. And by a weaker crew, too. Even if they had human equipment.
Yafid couldn’t stay here in the city at all any more. He was the only survivor of his crew. Any other crew would kill him just to make a point. These guys would pay others to find him and bring him back alive. Staying was a death trap.
Yafid stopped by the shed in the back really quickly. He and the others stored their money bags here because they all trusted each other not to steal them. The guys wouldn’t need them any more, and this would serve as one last screw you to the other crews who would want their hauls. All together, it was about eight hundred gold coins. Enough to start a new gang somewhere else.
Yafid took his massive haul and silently ran away. There was nothing here for him any more, and he was no longer limited to where he could go. This was his chance to start anew, to make a whole new life. And in that life, he would own every. Single. Thing.
With blackness in his heart and a sack of gold to spend on it’s desires, Yafid knew that the future would be plentiful. What would be plentiful, however, would not be what he expected. His life of suffering, started by a fateful encounter with a human, would be destroyed by yet another human one day, along a road of suffering paved by anger and hatred and violence.
