Pick Your Path: Book 1

43

" O-ow!" a stinging pain erupted from you ankle as the caracal half-breed applied pressure to it. She inspected the ankle. It was mostly bruising, with a minor cut.

" It's just sprained." she concluded. " Nothing's broken or dislodged."

" That's a relief," Ellie sat near you and the caracal half-breed. " Can you treat it now, Abby?"

" Sure, just give me second.." the caracal leaves to gather some supplies and begins to treat the ankle. " This could sting a bit." she explains, carefully preparing some type of ointment. You wince as she applies it to the cut, " It's eucalyptus leaves, used to treat infection and prevent it.." She wraps a bandage around the ankle. " That should keep it from infection. Reapply the bandages for the next few days, after that, you should be fine. Also, it's best not to walk on it for now. Cold water or even ice helps reduce the pain and swelling."

" Thanks, Abby.." you and Ellie leave with a quick goodbye. She turns back to sorting the herbs and berries over at the back of the area. Ellie leads you over to an opening in the valley walls.

" We'll go find a place in the den area to relax." she helps you inside. You pass a girl sitting in a pile of pillows at the corner of the room, reading a book. " Hey, Cassie." Ellie greets the girl as you walk past her, her amber eyes looked up as she gave a quiet wave. You enter the second room. A ladder lead to a loft area in one corner of the room. A large table stood at the opposite corner. Ellie pushes you aside as a ball come flying over your heads. You land on the ground with a yelp of pain, your ankle shooting a wave of pain up your leg. " Will, watch where you're throwing the ball!" Ellie growls, her silver eyes set on a boy who stood in the middle of the room.

" How was I supposed to know you were going to come through the door?!" he whined. " You should know better than to walk in like that. " he smirks.

" You can hear me, idiot." Ellie says, slightly irritated, " You're a half-breed. We have heightened senses." Ellie glares at him, " You know, if (Y/n) wasn't here, you wouldn't be standing there with that smug smile.."

" Oh, how scary.." Will says sarcastically, " I should frightened of a gazelle half-breed. I'm practically begging for mercy." he growls.

"I'll deal with you later." Ellie kneels down next to you, " Can you walk?" she pulls you to your feet only for you to fall back down with hiss of pain. Your ankle clearly wasn't going to let you walk.. Ellie changes into her gazelle form in a glow of silver before laying down next to you. You struggle to get on her back, she stands to her full height and canters over to the loft. You wrap your arms around her neck as she leaps up to the loft and continues through the open door way up there. You continue down a hallway with multiple rooms. She trots into one of the rooms and over to the bed. She lets you slide off onto it. " You should stay here for now." she instructs, changing back into her human form, " You shouldn't walk around for the day.." 

" Where are you going?" you ask her as she turns tail to leave.

" I have a lesson to teach to a smug gryphon." she sighs before leaving. Once she left, you look around the room. It was quite simplistic, with rock walls and floor. A wooded book shelf was placed across from you and the bed, a window to your left. You had a view of the room the gryphon half-breed, Will, was in. A loud yelp echoes from the room out the window, followed by a loud smack against the wall. You scramble to the bed headboard and pushed the curtains aside to take a looks. Ellie was in gazelle form, her head and horns lowered and directed towards Will. Will was against the wall, Cassie stood from the doorway of the other room. Ellie charged again, her horns gleamed like onyx stones. Will leaped out of the way and with a flash of gold, a gryphon flew out of the room by a window. 

" Oh... What's what she means by teaching a lesson to a gryphon.." you mutter, you slide off the the bed and hopped to the bookshelf. You picked up a random book and hopped back to the bed. Wincing as you try to get a more comfortable position as you sat back down. You examine the book, a swirls and fancy writing decorated the cover of the book. Inside, some of the pages had illustrations of bizarre abilities or situations. One page in particular caught your attention. It was titled 'Mind Reading and Telepathy'. Apparently some half-breeds were born with the ability of mind reading and telepathy. Unfortunately, the last of this type of half-breed vanished a few hundred years ago, though some believe they still exist and are just in hiding. Particular traits that identify this type of half-breed include predicting their opponents moves before they execute them and brightly colored eyes, like light blue, pale yellow, and... " Silver..." Ellie's eyes are silver, a shimmery, almost metallic silver. You recall the fight between you and Leo. Ellie had spoken to me during the fight, but no one else reacted to her statements.. She also responded to the question that I had in my mind about Morphia.. Does she have this, long lost, mind reading and telepathy ability? This continued to ]circle in your mind as you close the book, making sure to mark the page, and go to sleep.

Continue to page 63

Will deserves that lesson. Hopefully he'll try harder next time to watch where he's throwing his ball when he's practicing. Maybe (Y/n) will join me when the month's game comes around.. I'll ask him/her maybe tomorrow. I'm sure he/she needs some rest after the eventful day. ~E