Morning Song [HOLD]

w y v e r n

The griffon was eager to go out and fly that morning. They didn't take Kokai with them, but Kokai didn't mind. He knew that later that day, the two of them would go home, to the forest. He watched as the majestic beast flew off, their ebony feathers shimmering as they flew, and Kokai couldn't help but to admire the scene. The morning sun seemed to match the black feathers magnificently. He adored it. He didn't want to say anything, though. Instead, since he was alone, intrusive thoughts got the better of him. He didn't want to leave the treasures unattended (even though he thought that they'd probably been left unattended plenty of times before) but couldn't help but to want to go stretch his legs. His left leg was in desperate need of roaming. Something about his legs didn't like to keep still, and Kokai had always assumed it was because he was a faun. He wondered if that was truly the case. He slipped out of the mouth of the cave, and hoped that there were rocks below to catch him. There were. He stared blankly ahead. Kokai had to admit, he was a little anxious. He looked to his right. He looked down at his footing. He was shocked that he was standing on the little footing he had. He took a leap of faith down the mountain. He managed to catch onto more rocks. He was still astonished at his ability to stand on such small platforms. Tiny rocks managed to get in between his hooves, and he began to whine. His feet were soft and sensitive. That was why he was a forest faun. He expected mountain fauns to be a lot more tough in their feet. He also partly expected much more upper body strength, compared to his scrawny figure, and also expected tougher horns. Forest fauns only needed their horns to maybe ram into trees that had nice fruits that they couldn't reach through any other means. Mountain fauns probably needed tougher horns for defense against gargoyles and griffons, or even just general rock falls. He didn't really expect them to stand a chance against rock slides, of course. Kokai took another leap, this time to the side. He almost lost his footing, slipping a little and suffering from a mini heart-attack, as if he'd missed a stair. Kokai was not used to bounding from rock to rock on steep mountain cliffs. He was scared. He wanted to go back to the safety of the cave. This was why he expected mountain fauns to have upper body strength; in case they wanted to get back up somewhere and couldn't quite jump. Kokai chose to just stand there, hoping that he wouldn't get attacked, and hoping for the griffon to come back. Kokai hated intrusive thoughts, and hated doing things impulsively. And he strongly regretted doing anything he did. He didn't know how far down the mountain he'd come, and he only realized just how far he'd gone when he looked up and could no longer see the mouth of the cave. "Oh no..." he murmured softly to himself, the moment of realization setting in. "Oh no, oh no, oh no..."

Where had the griffon gone? Kokai had been getting nervous. He was lucky, he thought, when he saw a dark shadow circling the mountain. He thought he'd caught a break. 'It was just a quick fly to stretch his wings. Just like I needed a quick walk and jump to stretch my legs.' Kokai smiled, sighing with relief. Unfortunately, this creature was no griffon, and when it had spotted Kokai, it stared at him. Its bright magenta eyes contrasted its shining black skin. Kokai gulped when he realized the eyes weren't the amber ones he was used to. "Oh no," he repeated again. He didn't know what else to say. The realization was scaring him. He didn't know what to think or feel. This creature wasn't a griffon. It was a wyvern. And it had its sights set on Kokai. "Wh-what do you want?" Kokai eventually managed to stammer, expecting a response. If the griffon could talk, what made it impossible for dragons, or even gargoyles for that matter, to not be able to? The wyvern just continued to stare at him, as if it hadn't heard him. It began to move down towards him. Kokai noticed two sharp white fangs poking out from its snout. As much as the faun wanted to move backwards, he knew he couldn't, as it would be the death of him. But it felt like it would be the death of him regardless. Though, maybe this dragon was safe. Maybe this dragon wouldn't harm him. It moved closer. Kokai noticed that its snout was almost his height and width, and considering he was pretty tall (compared to angels and nymphs, anyway), this concerned him. "H-hey, you're not going to hurt me, are you?" Kokai whimpered softly, not knowing what else to say. He figured that by trying to hold a conversation, he might be able to distract the other.