Crown of Purple Fire (English)

~VII~

They spotted the gryphons before they could fully turn west.

Tessa didn't notice the sky darkened to a deep gray when she gave the command, and she should have. The gryphons are known for their storm magic, so a storm could very well head this way.

She flew up to the sky, casting a protective bubble towards her fleet. Though she was tired, she summoned the power of the All, and white light passed through her talons, forming a translucent bubble over her ships. Tessa smiled, and then felt something wet slide down her wings.

Rain.

She cast the bubble faster, but it was too late for her main ship. All the birds were heading below deck, screaming as the water poured harder on the vessel.

Once she finished, she heard a voice call, "Thessalyne!!"

She looked around and found her mother below her. Thalia's face was full of horror, and she was still screaming but her voice wasn't heard over the rain.

Tessa barely flew ten meters when she saw heard the thunder.

Where she was steadily flying earlier was now a raging bolt of lightning. She looked further up, and saw a gryphon towering over her.

Tessa could tell he was male, by the domineering gaze. He cawed aloud, and Tessa felt a myriad of gryphons circle around her.

Please, Tessa thought to herself. Please let me have some lightning magic.

The gryphons around her began chanting, and she saw a light atop her, surging, and getting bigger by the second.

So Tessa did only what she could think of.

The gryphons finished their chant, and the lightning descended toward her, blistering her feathers—

But when the surge of light finished, Tessa remained unburnt, coated in a light of her own.

She cast a protective bubble of the only thing that can withstand lightning: lightning itself.

Tessa then smiled at the wide-eyed gryphons. "Surprised?"

She cast her lightning toward them, and flew across the clouds. Others followed and began casting their own against her, failing due to her protective shield. She kept flying and bestowing her power among the gryphons, protecting her fleet, her subjects—

Until her power turned against her.

From below her, a gryphon controlled the direction of the rain, and built a bubble with it, and sprung the bubble upwards, meeting her protective lightning shield.

Her consciousness began to fade as she felt the lightning electrocute her, but she managed to have one last thought.

Is this the end?

The first thing Tessa realized when she awoke was that she was lying face-first on a wooden bed.

The second thing she realized was that she was alive. My cause has not ended.

She arose and saw the night sky through the window next to her bed. She looked down and saw a small city bustling with gryphons, big and small.

I'm in Liazenth, she thought to herself. Fear began to churn through her stomach. I'm in the city of Gryphons. Loyalist territory.

She stood up to leave, but a male gryphon entered her room saying, "I don't think you've healed yet." He looked at her with a face that was a mixture of boredom and kindness. His amber eyes cut through her like blades, though the rest of his wine-red feathered gaze was calm.

Tessa looked at him and replied, "I think I have." She didn't make any move to leave though, as she continued. "I must be on my way—"

"To your ships?" The gryphon chuckled. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

Her heart sank. "Are they held—?"

"Captive?" He shook his head. "A bubble protects them, and it could not be breached. Not even I can breach it, as the bubble seemed to be made from old, powerful magic."

Tessa held in a sigh. Then a brief realization came to mind. "What do you mean by 'not even you can breach it'? Are you some kind of gryphon magic expert?"

He chuckled. "No, I wouldn't call myself an expert. But I would be knowledgeable, given that I spend majority of my time with fellow higher-up magic wielders."

Fellow higher up magic wielders.

She guessed, but..."Who are you." A command, not a question.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" He cleared his throat, then bowed his head. "I am Lord Matteo Durannes, of Murogh Glyph. And I am at your service, my Queen."