Chapter XIV: Visions -Ria

The black creature made and ear-splitting cry, halfway between a lion's roar and an eagle's screech. It pulled against the shackles on it's scaled front legs and furred back legs, but the chains did not yield.

"Control it Ria." A voice said. It was strange but slightly familiar. "Remember who you are. Never forget or you will be lost."

The griffin's powerful wings flapped, blowing up clouds of dirt in all directions.

"Listen to me Adrian. Listen to my voice and remember." The voice droned on, now almost indistinct, like a lullaby. Master? The thought was foreign. The creature strained again. It wanted to kill, tear into living flesh, feel the blood flow. Control.

"Feel the rage and suppress it. You have to gain control." The voice cut through the thoughts of death and slaughter again.

Must get control. The foreign voice was stronger. The creature cried out in rage. It wanted to be free. It wanted to hunt, to kill, to eat. I will have control. I have control. The voice was almost as fierce as the creature's cry. Adrian suddenly remember who she was. Her mind pushing aside the griffin's desire to hunt and kill. It was not gone, but now was controlled, controlled enough to let her calm the body down.

She looked around, now with the incredibly sharp eyes of the griffin. Her master, Ragon stood in front of her. Behind him the trees stretched into the sky, green and alive. The sky. To use these wings and fly. Adrian thought to herself almost wistfully. This was her sixth try at morphing and she had yet to control the griffin's mind right off. She knew Ragon would never let her morph unchained until she had done is at least a dozen times.

"I have control master." She said. It was harder to form words with a beak instead of a mouth but she managed.

"Better then last time." He replied.

"But still not good enough." Adrian replied. She felt an anger rise up in her chest at the fact that she had so much trouble. Suddenly the griffin's mind sprang at the break in concentration and the body once again lunged against the chains.

"Don't drop your guard." Ragon said.

Adrian pushed the griffin mind down once again and regained control. "I don't think I'll ever be able to do this master."

"A griffin is not an easy morph to master. It is in many ways more difficult then even a dragon because it is naturally cunning and has a more bloodthirsty nature." Ragon said. "And you will succeed. You've come along fast in your training, perhaps I rushed you into your first morph."

"No master. You did nothing wrong. If anything I am the one to blame." Adrian said.

"Don't blame yourself too often Ria, or others will let you take the blame whether you deserve it or not. Now change back."

Adrian nodded the griffin's feathered head and immediately the feather began to retract back into her skin. The black fur covering most of her body also melted away and her cloths came back to the surface. The wings on her back disappeared, sucked into her shoulderblades. She became fully auran again; the only thing remaining was the griffin's tail, which she had been born with, and a mop of black hair, hanging just below her shoulders. This whole process took no more then ten seconds.

Ragon moved forward and unlocked the chains still attached to her arms and feet. She stood up gratefully, rubbing her wrists. Her cloths consisted of a pair of baggy jeans and a black tank top. She bent down to pick up the two swords laying nearby. It was easier to morph without having to change a lot besides the actually body. Adrian needed more practice before she could morph anything besides clothing and shoes.

The sword she strapped to her back was Lightbringer, her vulth'n slaying sword. The other, which was attached around her waist, was Deathbringer, her normal sword. Both were made of Kaiyli.

"You are getting better Ria." Ragon said. "You just have to believe in yourself."

She nodded. The griffin's attitude was very much like her own in many ways. Always eager and sharp, and though she did not have an overwhelming desire to kill, she had come to find that killing creatures, whether living or vulth'n, didn't bother her in the least. That made controlling her wild magic all the easier. It was what helped make her the best.

"You almost got it down Ria." Ren ran up. "I was watching. You're lucky you get to try morphing already."

Adrian looked at the other boy but made no reply. He was also training to control the wild magic, but he was years behind her, being younger then her by almost twenty years. He was taller then her however, and had short blond hair. Two large brown wings protruded from his back, his auran mark. His morph would be a thunderbird when his training got far enough.

He almost seemed to be waiting for a reply but Adrian was far from offering one. Ren seemed to realize this after a minute of silence. The friendly grin fading from his face. He then turned and walked away.

"And always as proud as the griffin." Ragon stood at her shoulder.

"What would I reply to that? Thanks? It's a waste of his time to say it, and my time to answer it." Adrian said.

Dinner was eaten just as the world's first sun dipped below the tree line. The second, smaller sun would set in a few hours, but it gave the aurans a few extra hours of light before night truly fell. Ragon and Adrian were out in the forest, just outside the village working on wild magic spells.

Adrian's strength was wind spells but she had disciplined herself to learn some handy ones from the other elements also. A ball of light sprang up in her hand, it shifted into a ball of fire, then a ball of water, then a ball of earth, a ball of darkness, and then it seemed to disappear. The ball of wind was invisible to anyone who looked except Adrian herself because she was in control of the magic.

A bird flew by over head. Adrian threw the ball towards the bird. It struck the bird, causing it to wobble wildly and almost fall out of the sky. It finally regained control and flew away as fast as it could.

"I think you need to practice with Deathbringer." Ragon said. "It's been a while and you don't want to fall out of practice."

Adrian nodded and reach back, drawing the sword from its sheath. She made a few passes, feeling it respond under her hand. She began to draw in wild magic from all around her, and at the same time pushed down all the emotion she was feeling. She then focused the magic she had gathered into Deathbringer's blade. She whispered a spell and the metal of the sword seemed to come alive. It began to shift and moved under the surface like water.

She controlled the blade's power with a steady hand. Ragon formed a large rock in front of her. She eyed her target and swung the blade around. There was no sound as the blade sliced into the rock. The top half of the rock slowly slid off the base, to the ground. Adrian sighed and ended the spell in the sword. The water like movement ended abruptly.

"I almost wish there were real vulth'n around to try this spell on." Adrian said examining the smooth cut Deathbringer had created.

"The less vulth'n, the more life." Ragon said.

Adrian had only seen a vulth'n once. It was a weak shadow that had attached itself to one of the younger aurans of the village. It had taken no more then a word to dislodge it from its unwilling host and Adrian had been allowed to kill it. Her first vulth'n kill.

The second sun set and the forest grew dark. Adrian resheathed her sword and they headed back to the village. She settled down in her room to do her nightly meditation. Outside she could hear the sounds of the night. There was a howl in the distance.

Adrian closed her eyes. She wiped the thoughts from her mind the same way she could push down her emotions. With her mind clear she let the magic around her flow through her. The colors of the different magic types flowed through her mind in wild colors and patterns.

Suddenly the colors parted and there were flashes, scenes that passed almost to quickly for her to discern. Lizards? More flashes. Spirits and a robot. But where are they coming from? She opened her eyes, cutting off the visions, if that's what they were. But were they visions of the past, present, or the future?