MagiStream

A beautiful day began as the sun started to rise above the Alasre Mountains. The tall green grass swayed with the gentle breeze. All was peaceful in the Emerald Valley which got its name from the brilliant shades of green that covered the land. The stars began to fade into the lavender morning sky where a lone gryphon drifted among the clouds. Its golden feathers were dim in the early light.
Gliding along patiently he looked down over the Keep he called home. The old barn and small log cabin nestled into a hill, wasn’t much but he loved it there. A large open meadow spread out in front where a pond reflected a mirror of the snow covered mountain peaks that surrounded the valley on all sides. Being so secluded, Emerald Keep rarely welcomed any visitors.
The gryphon landed softly on the pasture, its claws barely gripping the ground. He stood for a moment to scan the area with his excellent vision. Another gryphon with feathers that matched his silently approached him from behind. As she stepped closer to stand beside him they greeted one another with quiet coos.
“Breakfast! Come and get it!” A female’s voice suddenly called out from near the barn.
The gryphon pair remained still and watched as hundreds of other gryphon heads poked up from under the cover of the tall grass all around them. After a few moments of complete silence a wave of young gryphon cubs rushed towards the barn in a scramble to get their share of the morning meal. Grains and various greens were piled neatly along the floor of the large barn. The piles were soon destroyed as the babies played tug of war with some of the more durable plant leaves.
The meat part of their meals would have to wait until the adult gryphons came back from their hunting later that day.
It was a small little sanctuary for gryphons and others here at this keep. Adults did the hunting and brought back some of their prey for the youngsters. The young were provided a safe practically enclosed area safe from most prey until they were old enough to fend for themselves and if they so wished they remained even when grown, helping raise the next generation of gryphons.
Kira the young mage of the keep leaned against the wall of a large horse stable, folding her arms and watching the youngsters enjoy their feast. She enjoyed taking care of her creatures and knew from experience not to interfere with a gryphon’s feeding time. She had spent most of her life in this little piece of the world. Before she had studied at the main keep far away, her parents had raised her around a lot of these creatures.
A warm breath of air caused some of her long red hair to fall In front of her eyes. She brushed it aside again and looked beside her, smiling up at the Earth unicorn that had her muzzle rested over the side of the door.
“Mornin’ Holly ” Kira greeted her as she reached over to stroke the unicorn’s silky white mane. “Have a peaceful night’s rest?” The unicorn replied with a quiet nicker. Turning her attention towards the open barn door.
Kira pulled open the stable’s sliding wall to let the unicorn free. Holly galloped out in a flash, avoiding the hoard of gryphons crowded around the eating area. She was a quiet mare who belonged to her father who was an earth magi. Heartbroken when Kira’s parents had moved out, There was no room for her in their small cottage near the Raza jungle where they moved to. He had thought it best to leave her here to be safe from all of the panthers and manticores that stalked the lands near the jungle.
As Holly disappeared from view the pair of gold gryphons walked side by side towards the barn. Conversing in their own language of chirps and chatters, Kira could only understand a few of their noises. The female glanced ahead to the group of feasting hatchlings and called to one of them. A small tan feathered cub raised its head at the sound of it’s mother’s voice. It turned away from the feast frenzy, scampering to its parents as they neared the barn entrance.
The larger male gryphon approached Kira he came to a rest and sat on his haunches next to her. Exhaling loudly as if sighing in disappointment. He had been unsuccessful in catching any prey for the meal. Kira ruffled the feathers on his folded wing. He tilted his head to the side to look at her with one violet eye, blinking a couple of times. “It’s alright bud, they’re not gonna go hungry. Look at this place its filled with food for them. We’re set for at least a month.” She began to walk past him to the door. “Now that everyone’s all fed I can take some time off. I’ll be inside Fluffy. We’ll go flying later when the wind picks up.” Noticing that a light rain had started to fall, she half ran the rest of the way back to the warm log cabin.
Fluffy looked on after her until she went inside. Returning then to his mate’s side to watch over the young cubs.
As Kira removed her dark grey boots she used the large cherry wood bookshelf to support her balance on one foot. She glanced over the selection of hardbound books on the shelf nearest to her eye level, pulling out a dusty blue book that had already been sticking part of the way out, she figured she had placed it like that to remind her to read it again. Now that her morning work had been done it was her time to kick back and relax, at least for the time being. Her purple wool socks allowed her to slide across the floor as she used her powers over the air to propel her forwards across the hardwood floor. Falling back into a comfortable oversized arm chair, she opened the front cover of the old book slowly being careful to make sure nothing was torn inside. The first page was blank save for the smudged pen scribble marks in the bottom corner. As she flipped to the next page a warmth suddenly crept up over her shoulders, a pink basilisk slithered around her arm and rested his head on her wrist.
“Hey there Bruno, come down out of your tree to join me?”
A small winged kitten leapt up on her lap to join her also, quickly regretting that decision when she saw the large winged serpent in front of her. With a tiny hiss the feline jumped off to curl up on the hearthstones near the warm fireplace on the other side of the lounge. The basilisk just blinked in confusion.
Kira smiled and patted the Bruno’s snout, staring into his crystal like crimson eyes. She had never understood why, but the gaze of basilisks never affected her. It allowed her little posse of them to reside inside the home with her. They spent most of their time in the tree that grew through the center of the cabin. Perched on the branches near the skylight at the very top.
Resuming her reading, she skimmed through the pages reading some until stopping at a page that had a folded corner. A small slip of paper fell out from between the pages and onto her lap. Bruno inspected it with his flickering tongue. Kira picked it up and turned it over, recognizing the small colored doodle. “Huh, that’s strange it looks like…well it is. Unless someone just want a colorful bookmark-”
“Kira? Kira are you in there? Come quickly!” Another voice called as they knocked on the window. Naomi, her centaur friend looked frightened. She was pointing frantically across the meadow. Running to the door and trying to get her boots on at the same time, Kira dropped the book on the ground and started running towards a commotion that had formed far off near the west entrance of the valley.