Flight (new version)

Chapter 39: A New Leader

Griffin watched in horror as Wolf's body seemed to fall in slow motion, slamming into the cold, black floor like a limp, toy doll.

"WOLF!" Griffin screamed.

Tears blurred his vision, mixing the gray, white, and red colors together into a still, shapeless mass. Griffin felt small and frail, caged in by the looming obsiterite walls. Paralyzed. Powerless. Helpless.

Please...no...

The small room's door slammed open just then, and Griffin whirled around to find himself confronted by a swarm of heavily armed guards and the red-haired phoenix. One of the guards at the front with glowing green eyes flicked his wrist, sending a whip made of green wisp light to wrap around Griffin's body and slam him into the ground. Griffin's injured shoulder took the brunt of the fall, causing pain to hiss through his teeth and stars to spin in his eyes.

Gadrix stepped into his line of sight. "Take him to the interrogation room. Captain will take things from there."

Griffin glared up at his antagonists. Their dark eyes grinned back at him, haughty and confident in their victory.

Murderers.

Something cold welled up inside him. It coasted through his veins, freezing the tears, freezing the pain.

They're all murderers. A strange calmness settled over him. 

"You did this," Griffin spoke. Though he did not bother to look, the spriggan could feel a sudden energy begin to accumulate around his body, his magic seeping out into the room as if it had a will of its own. The wisp's binding light disappeared, eaten away by the spriggan magic.

"You did this," Griffin repeated, standing up. The guards stepped back, momentarily shocked by the sudden change in their quarry. "You killed him."

These words blazed through his body, entwining in the iciness within.

"You killed him. You killed him. You killed him."

"Knock him out already!" Gadrix ordered.

Fire and light fired at Griffin but the he merely walked through the attack, the aura of spriggan magic protecting its master and disintegrating the wisp and phoenix magic. The wisp threw up a wall of light. Something singed Griffin's arm and he ducked as another flaming ball shot at his torso. A guttural growl rumbled through Griffin's chest. He pushed outward and into the wisp's wall, sending a wave of semi-solid shadows to overwhelm the magic and crash into his attackers.

"Kill it!" Gadrix shrieked. "I don't care anymore. Just kill--"

Griffin flicked a wrist at the human and shadows encased Gadrix's body like a chrysallis. The human dropped to the floor with a dull thump. Metal flashed at his face--swords. A pulse of shadows shot from Griffin's body and drove the swords back toward their masters' heads. The guards rushed him, but he paid them little heed and let his magic run wild within the room's shadows. He could feel nothing but the burning cold inside.

One of the guards stumbled away from Griffin toward the window-wall, weaponless hands raised in front of his face. "Back up! Someone run for ba--"

Griffin punched his face, fist inky black with magic. Something cracked and the human crumpled.

Guards with guns shot at Griffin, but the roiling shadows bounced the bullets away from Griffin and into the walls and couches. They turned and ran. Griffin shifted his eyes to the wisp and phoenix who lingered at the exit. The humans had shot the door, locking the Elder in the room.

"Hey now. We're all Elder here. Let's talk this out, yeah?" the phoenix reasoned nervously.

"I refuse to talk to traitors." Griffin spread out his hands, palms toward the hired Elder. His magic surged willingly from his fingers to the shadows, gathering a dark mass before him.