Saviour

12. I Get Hunted

Chapter 12.

A deep, content humming vibrated across the floor. A light weight rested over my body, keeping me warm and comfortable. After a moment of stretching, I took a chance at opening my eyes. As my eyelids cracked open, there was only darkness, as if I had gone blind whilst I slept. A tickling sensation rubbed against my nose and I sneezed suddenly, uncurling from the foetal position I had been laid in. The humming continued, and the soft mass that my back had been resting against rose and fell in an even rhythm along with the steady noise that thrummed along the ground, and I realised that it was breathing.

A soft moan of protest escaped my lips as I stretched out again, lifting my arm to knock against the dark expanse over my head, feeling the texture of feathers against my fingers as I pushed it out of the way. The light from the flickering torches around the cave eased me to wake up even more, in a much more subtle way than being blinded by sunlight. Rubbing my eyes, I looked up at Nikkon, who was already awake.

He stared down at me with bright eyes. 'Are you ready to have your thoughts return to you?' His head cocked to the side.

As I nodded, I felt a great weight rush back into my body, with the visions of the previous night's battle flicking past my eyes. I gasped out loud at the shock of it, taking a breath to steady myself. 'Thank you.' I smiled a little in appreciation.

'You've seen bad things for a boy of your age. Those dreams would never have allowed you to sleep as peacefully as you did if I had let you experience them.' The muscles in his forelegs twitched and tensed as he rose to his feet, his great talons scratching against the rock, leaving shallow grooves in the stone.

The sound of it sent shivers down my spine, giving the same effect of someone scratching their fingernails down a chalkboard. 'Can I ask a question?' My thoughts seemed to run in harmony with his, forming together in alliance.

'I assume that you'll ask whether I accept to that offer or not anyway?' The Griffin's voice was humorous, and I could tell that he didn't really mind.

Nodding my head, I asked him. 'How old are you?' It was a question that I had been considering asking him since last night, but I had decided to save it until I was better rested.

Lowering himself back onto his haunches, his tail wrapped around his feet like a rope, the tip of it swaying back and forth slowly. The great yellow beak clicked as he opened and closed it, as if he was trying to recall how many birthdays he'd had. '203,652 human years.' He replied simply, casting his eyes to the ground.

'How does it feel to have lived so long?' Maybe he was upset, I couldn't work it out from the body language he was showing. Is a Griffin's body language similar to that of a dog or a cat?

'It's lonely. I am not considered old in the terms of my species. I am still growing, and won't reach my full size for another 20,000 years.' Nikkon's eyes raised to pierce mine. 'I have watched the ones that I love pass on to the next life and could do nothing to stop it. I have watched humans develop as a species, discovering tools, metals, music, machinery, technology, governments and weapons. And then your species discovered war. They discovered that the only way to get what they wanted was to kill for it. All rational thoughts disappeared and the results were devastating.' His tail twitched more often now, and I could tell that watching this had angered him. 'I have watched some of the most important events in human history; the invention of the nuclear bomb, both World Wars, The Great Depression, The Great Fire of London. I've witnessed them all from afar but have been unable to offer assistance.'

I sat on a rock and watched him, waiting for him to speak once more.

A low grumble came from the back of his throat and he tipped his head back to gaze at the roof of the cave for several minutes. 'I have watched Novalon start to take the same path as the human race. They have also discovered war and violence. They have tried to recruit me for many of these, and this time I could help by joining in with the rest of my species. However, I didn't decide the destiny of any battles. That is my future, and it is your future as well.' He looked at me again.