✯ Idea by: Crystal Scherer ✯
✯ Everyone thought that the titans had appeared after evolving for such a long time without human contact that when they finally evolved just enough to survive and eat human kind, they appeared.
No one thought that the...
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**Seven Year Time Lapse**
Ramsey bit into the neck of the hare she had caught. She spread her wings and flew over to land on a rock on the edge of a creek. It was a good place to enjoy some sun and peace, and to get a drink while eating. Although we were given berries in the lab, we prefer meat, but will sometimes eat berries.
The titans continued to try and catch us, so we live near the walls, as the scout regiment kills off the titans in the area regularly so it's not as much as a problem as it was before. Ramsey spread her wings to absorb the sun as she nibbled on the hare, spitting out the fur. She glanced around at the greenery; the people inside the walls planted a variety of evolved plants with large fruits and berries on them. They were delicious and provided juice as well.
She heard a splash and looked over. Ramsey grinned as Mace's fledglings payed at the water's edge. It was true; love would always find a way. Whatever the scientists injected in our DNA bred true as well. The original gryphons may have hatched from huge eggs in the lab, but our natural eggs were a bit larger than a whiskey bottle. Every clutch had one to three gold or white eggs. Gold meant male, white meant female. But for the adults, the brown shades meant male, and the black and white shades meant female.
Thankfully, the hatchlings inherited their parents' intelligence and human heart. Hatchlings were ableto fly within about seven days, although it took around six years before they were fully grown. At one year old, they were about as intelligent as an educated young adult human, which made things much easier for us.
So far, 15 had hatched since the lab was destroyed. I didn't have a mate; there had been far more females than males when we had escaped the lab. Although several in the new generation had reached maturity, it felt like too much of an age gap from my human years to consider one of them. Almost all the males had paired up at this point, and they stayed with their mate. A couple hadn't chosen a mate and showed no interest in pairing up.
Pairs seemed to form for like, unlike the humans. Our numbers had dropped during our first year of freedom due to titans, injuries, and accidents as we learned to survive in this evolved world. There were only 79 of the original gryphons left from the 99 who had escaped, although with the fledglings and new adults, our numbers had finally climbed closer to a hundred.
Ramsey finished off the hare, leaving the fur and bones on the ground as she swiped them with her tail, pushing them into the stream. She examined the small fish that dared to eat insects near the surface of the slow-moving stream. We were fierce enough that we could take on almost anything our size or bigger, execpt titans. Our speed in the air was impressive despite our size, and even on the ground, we were agile. We had a few tricks that give us an edge over even larger creatures.
We had the ability to control nature. Like kill off plants and trees, grow plants and trees, that kind of thing. That had been a learning curve when a male discovered the little tidbit of information. It came naturally to us even though it's incredibly odd. When I wanted to become an adult in my old Moon Village, this is not where I thought I would end up almost half a decade later. Going from a respected human to a nature-controlling lion with wings was not in any of the papers I studied.
Ramsey dipped a wing tip in the water. Fun fact, our pelt and wings were waterproof so they dried easily. We could also close our nostrils on our beaks to dive for over 30 minutes easily. She flicked the water at the two fledglings. They jumped as the cool water hit them. "Aye! What's that for!?"
She chuckled lightly at their playful tantrum. "Just bored and I wanted to."
She jumped straight up into the air and beat down with her wings to build momentum as the two gave chase. She fitted throuh the much larger tree branches and around the tree trunks in the high-speed chase with the of a energized hummingbird. Although we were built for speed and maneuverability, we also had immense muscle and weighed over 500 pounds pure of muscle.
Ramsey weaved effortlessly through the part of the forest while the younger gryphons struggled to keep her in their sight. She noticed a fairly large eagle flying by and made a quick turn to slash at its tail feathers, ripping half off with a fierce snarl. It siwftly picked up its pace although it couldn't go much faster now that it's speed and turning were at an all-time low due to the loss of tail feathers.
A eagle as large as that one could potentially go after a fledgling. Ramsey had lost too many friends among the gryphons during that first year to even consider letting an overgrown chicken harm one of our flock's children. All of us were protective over an fledgling or hatchling.
She dove back into the tree canopy at an alarming speed as the youngsters resumed their chase. A while later, she unfurled her wings to glide down on a rock near their father. "Mace, please watch your fledglings." Her voice held playfulness, and she knew he wouldn't take her seriously.
Mace unfurled his wings lazily where he lay beside his mate. "Unless I am blind and deaf, you started that one."
Ramsey grinned and spread her legs out to lay on her belly as she spread her own wings in the sun. She replied, "You're correct."
The male fledgling landed on Ramseys' back lightly before sliding off her wing, playfully saying, "Gotcha!" His claws were retracted and didn't push her pelt in.
Ramsey turned her neck to gaze at him in amusement. "Considering I am laying down, if you hadn't caught me, we would've needed to sit down for a long talk with your parents."
His sister chuckled as she herself landed next to Ramsey and her father. She turned back to Mace. "Any idea where the Morning Meeting is taking place tomorrow?"
He yawned, showing his large teeth. "Near that big oak in the field of flowers, just east of where the creek splits." We aren't as worried as we were a few years back now that the Scouts continouisly cut down any titan near the walls so we were safe.
She replied, "Alright." Before both Mace and his mate hummed, their fur vibrating in content.
