The hot sun beat down upon the shifting sands relentlessly, keeping even the most formidable of desert creatures to what little shade was available. It seemed that for miles around, only the tides of white hot sand could be seen, the vegetation sparse as it was shriveled within such unbearable conditions. Yes, desert climates lent themselves well to hotter temperatures, but even Orabella thought it to be ridiculous how warm it had become. She kept a pale colored wing outstretched over her head, bidding away the sun’s incessant rays with her own self made shadow. Gilded talons sunk deep into the sand with each step as if to try and swallow her whole. Despite how desolate the sea of nothingness was, the teenaged noctua marched on with explicit purpose. Despite its unassuming and empty nature, there was in fact a point of interest well in the distance, barely visible even to the powerful pale eyes of the massive beast.

It wasn’t every day that she caught wind of such enticing human rumors (those lesser creatures had always bored her despite her parents’ efforts to try and educate her upon their menial politics and the like), but the whispering breeze carried with it a juicy nugget of intel she simply couldn’t refuse. And so, it was with such a motive that the young gryphon had slipped away under the cover of night in pursuit of that liiiiiittle speck of a caravan, their covered carts and exhausted camels leaving her just enough of a trail to follow well into the next two days where she found herself now. Like stalking prey, the young Midaas knew it best to hang back and allow for the humans to do a brunt of the work in finding exactly what she sought, allowing them to believe that what their efforts afforded them wasn’t but mere collateral for the gryphon instead. She made sure to keep her presence shrouded, though it pained her vain side to do so. 

They were but mere sighthounds for her to capitalize upon their discoveries. And what of their reward? Well, such details would come later. For the time being, the young avian trekked onward, only then wondering if her own efforts would turn up a reward for herself as well. It was far too late now to consider if this whole journey had been for naught, going days without so much as a proper meal for this endeavor. It was her young naivety at play, being late to realize that failure was a possibility, but the gold adorned gryphon shook away such negativity. What would come would come; this was her first outing into the world as her own gryphon, and she wouldn’t allow failure to be an option. She was on her own now, making her first choice as her own being and she would stick to her instincts. 

She would succeed. 

For the glory of her kingdom. For the glory of the Midaas bloodline.

By the time night fell, the caravan had come to a halt; though unlike previous rests, this had come with a point of interest. The maw of a dark cave had come into view as she slithered over a cooling dune, her pale pupils locking onto the sight of her brave little, unsuspecting pawns taking to traversing the pitch black depths with their silly little torches in hand. She could see from her perch the flickering flames steadily disappearing into the massive cavern. She had to admit, with how little there was about to mark as a frame of locational reference, it only made sense that those silly little humans hadn’t found such a landmark. 

Or at least she hoped others hadn’t yet discovered it before her.

Once she observed the last of the flames fade from view, the noctua made her move. She quickly took flight, soaring silently towards the cave herself. For the first time, she saw the carts up close, their size almost comparable to that of her own size. Which was to say she had little experience with humans; she’d thought them to be much smaller, though perhaps it was perspective that had her assuming otherwise. 

She landed a fair few meters away from the silent camp, watching carefully how their camels mostly folded in upon themselves in preparation for rest. The gryphon kneaded the malleable sands beneath her claws, taking count of each visible living creature upon the scene. There were four of them, camels, each within their own varying state of alertness. It seemed to be the perfect time to deploy her secret tool. Orabella pressed her scaled belly to the cool sands, clicking her tongue several times as she did so. With a quick ruffle of her feathers, a small sound chirped from upon her back. With a languid yawn and stretch, a small feline emerged seemingly from the sooty black of Orabella’s back coloration. Drowsily, the mythical creature floated down from his own perch to seat himself beside the young princess. 

“My sweet little Anchurus,” Orabella cooed as the black cat blinked his three golden eyes at her blankly, “It’s time to get to work. Scout the camp, make sure that it’s empty aside from those dreadful beasts of burden.” With that, the young Midaas shoved her pet forth, shooing him along with gold dipped claws much to his chagrin. The little cat grumbled at the massive gryphon despite the fact that he fit well within a single clawed foot had she so willed it. Anchurus drifted forth like a leaf in the breeze, floating towards the human crafts; all three of his eyes scanning for signs of wakeful foes. He didn’t immediately see any outside, so the tiny creature took to inviting himself into one of the wagons. It was there that he did find a human, seemingly retiring for the night. 

But hadn’t quite been asleep.

Anchurus arched his back at the human man as he sat up murmuring his way. The unintelligible slew of cooing and chirps wasn’t unlike his young master, though the grubby looking hand in which the man reached towards him with wasn’t appreciated. The cat hissed and swiped at the man, scoring small scratches upon the man’s palm before he scurried off, leaving the human to hiss and spit himself. Anchurus darted back towards Orabella, unintentionally drawing the human’s attention towards her as he’d given chase. The man made it about halfway around the sandy hill before realizing the error of his ways. He let out a scream, which in turn made the gryphon jolt in surprise at the sheer volume of it. She didn’t know that humans had such powerful lungs! That was NOT good. 

Blinking past the stun of surprise, Orabella sharply inhaled; her darkly colored dewlaps inflating with glowing air swirling within them as she readied an attack. She loosed a powerful breath of golden dust, a jet of glowing riches much like the lick of flames spewing forth from her glistening beak. Unfortunately for her, by the time the plume of golden light dissipated, her target was nowhere to be seen. She quickly rose to her feet, her head swiveling sharply in all directions before snapping onto the sight and sound of the man shouting down the cave’s yawning mouth towards the other humans within no doubt. She gritted her teeth in frustration, growling low, “Come Anchurus, our cover’s been compromised.” Her pet hopped back up upon her back before she took to the skies once more, closing the final gap between her and the caravan. She didn’t bother to be stealthy despite her gift of silent flight, opting instead to land directly upon one of the wagons and crushing it beneath her weight with ease. How satisfying! 

The camp was thrown into a bout of immediate chaos at her uninvited arrival, the tan colored animals rising with a screeching cacophony that grated upon the senses. She loosed a quick blast of luster, silencing one of the reeking beasts by means of petrifying it in gold. It was a much more appealing appearance for the animal to take otherwise, despite the frozen look of terror forever morphed upon its face. She slapped its presence away with a powerful swing of her reptilian tail, sending it careening into another of its own species and pinning it into silence beneath the unwieldy weight of the golden statue she’d made of the first. The other two had already scattered in the chaos; a damn shame really. Orabella’s talons itched for excitement after days of endless walking. She sped into the cave herself then, chasing after the echoes of her misbehaving treasure hound. It didn’t take the young gryphon long to catch up to her quarry, quickly pouncing upon the wailing man and slamming him into the cavernous wall by a splaying set of deadly claws caging him in by his chest. She could feel bones crunching beneath the pressure of her pin, drawing out a terrible and wet scream from the pathetic being. 

Orabella narrowed her eyes, the feathers of her neck raising in mild annoyance. She didn’t want a broken toy. Her grip tightened around the human into a vice grip as she pulled him away from the wall. She inspected the caught creature for a moment, her thumb stroking the human’s hair several times despite his cries. She hummed to herself, acknowledging what minute details made up a human before she suddenly flicked the man away towards the opposing wall. He hit the rocky interior with a dull thud, then tumbled to the ground with a silence that Orabella could appreciate. 

Such silence only lasted a moment, for she could hear the muddied voices of the human’s band further ahead yet. The Midaas heir carried herself quickly further down into the depths, leaving the carcass behind now that she had expended its use to her.

The noctua came to a steep incline that had her slipping further downward unexpectedly, her golden claws scrabbling noisily against the craggy floor beneath her before she braced her descent with her wings. She slid straight into the fray, her arrival being met with force. Several arrows were loosed in her direction, drawing a spiteful screech from the gryphon as she raised a wing defensively. The puny points had been mostly deflected, but the ones that did connect had dug into her thick hide like annoying little thorns. They only served to piss her off. She swept outward with her raised wing, knocking back the pack of humans. Orabella reared up upon her hind legs, slashing the air threateningly as she flapped her mighty wings. The power behind her wings whipped up enough of a force to send the men tumbling further backwards before she lowered herself once more. She scratched at the ground, her razor sharp talons sending sparks flying every which way as she defensively lowered her head to brandish her small but dense horns. 

“Bow before your Goddess, or suffer her wrath!” She commanded in a booming voice that rattled loose several stalactites from the ceiling. When the spears had come crashing down from above, she hadn’t expected the metallic tinkling sound that echoed back to her ears. She perked momentarily, her eyes peering off further into the darkness that lay just behind the humans. Before she could parse what it was her eyes perceived, several of the men leapt at her with various weapons at the ready. 

Right, she reminded herself, humans were stupid. They did not heed her command, instead taking to barking at her with their nearly indiscernible language in face of a higher being than they. She could hear her mother’s voice in the back of her mind complaining of how humans lacked respect for their superiors; a lesson she had once metaphorically rolled her eyes at. But now? Now she understood. She drew a quick breath, her dewlaps inflating once more with a golden glow. She fired a focused blast of her breath ability upon one of the men, forever gilding him into the threat pose he’d taken to and shaking the courage of his fellow packmates within an instant. Her attention had snapped quickly to the next closest human, freezing his terrified posture in place much like the last. The others had begun to run deeper into the cave, but Orabella was far from done toying with them, bastards.

She slashed her claws at one, slicing his back open and spraying blood upon the cold floor and sending him tumbling to the ground with a sharp cry of agony. She ran past the man, kicking him with a hind foot as she passed to launch herself at one of the more successful runners. If only he could escape, she bet he had hoped. She leapt upon him with a springy bounce, crushing him beneath the weight of all four feet bearing down upon his fragile body. She hadn’t expected the sudden splash of glittering metal scattering about upon her successful pounce. She took a moment to finally realize what it was she was seeing before her eyes. 

Coins.. 

Gold coins, thousands and thousands of gold coins piled high where she had thought it to be merely a building of sand blown into the cave’s depths within the low light. Her curious talons ran through the treasure, lifting a handful and allowing it to trickle from betwixt her massive claws like water. 

Oh these little sighthounds of hers had served her well. Too bad they were so, so disobedient… One of the last few stragglers remaining rushed her with a warcry, sword raised over his head. She snarled at the approaching human, spinning around to meet him. He swung the blade, catching a metallic talon of hers that she had raised in defense and clipping the very tip of it. She gasped in utter offense; how dare he?!

“How dare you?!”

She punched the human, snapping him in two by the looks of it as his top half unnaturally bent backwards before he collapsed. 

Her breaths were ragged, heavy and shaken as the massive space quieted down once more. Had that… Had that been the last of them? Her eyes scanned the scene, but she caught no further signs of life within her immediate view. Perhaps she’d actually gotten them all. Or perhaps some had escaped. Either way, she kept her guard relatively high as her gaze returned to that of her new treasure trove. Just as the rumors had said, a hidden cave of immeasurable riches lying within the heart of the wastes, waiting for whomever was strong willed enough to find it. She clambered up the dune of gold, cackling to herself with glee at her newly acquired horde. 

What she hadn’t anticipated was the fright of her life in the form of a sudden skull materializing before her eyes at the top of the money hill. She screeched and fell backwards, tumbling back down from whence she came. The skull clattered down with her, chasing her on her way down until breaking into smaller parts upon impact below. Orabella had landed upon her back, her legs tucked closely to her body as she caught her breath anew. Her eyes flicked to the now broken skull beside her before glancing back up towards the top of the pile, where now that she wasn’t blinded by her own greed could she see the rest of the massive remains lying upon its very crest. 

A dragon, no doubt. 

This was a dragon’s old horde, long forgotten to time it seemed. It made sense, all things considered. But Orabella didn’t care about the lore behind such a stash, but rather she cared to add it to her growing collection of wealth. She swept the brittle bones away from her with a flick of her tail before returning to her gleeful perusal of her begotten gains. She dove into the first of many piles with a chirp of joy, quite literally swimming within the treasure. Though she had herself a lifetime’s worth of gold back home, this new treasure was special. 

She had gotten it all herself, therefore it possessed a sort of… Sentimental value that set it a rank above the rest. It was her first conquest. Her first claim. She wouldn’t soon forget such a monumental moment within her life, her first victory. And with victory came the spoils… For better or worse. That skeleton was putting a real damper on her mood. As were the bloody bodies of slain humans all strewn about. She emerged from her frolicking, shaking out her feathers and scattering about coins in every which direction. 

It was time to get to work. 

Or rather, time for a lunch break. Why let good meat go to waste? She couldn’t say she’d feasted upon human before, another first for the memory bank she supposed as she sauntered down towards the first corpse. She plucked him out from the pile of coins, clicking her tongue at the sight of the bloody mess he had made of the coins beneath his crumpled form. She grumbled to herself quietly before she raised the man to her beak like a slab of jerky. She made quick work of her first morsel, swallowing him down with relative ease. She sighed contentedly, sitting herself down for a moment unceremoniously. She rubbed her stomach, having clearly underestimated how filling just one was going to be. 

She looked to the snapped twig of a man that she’d left behind, contemplating whether or not she should indulge… But ultimately deciding against it. Perhaps… Perhaps a nap was in order instead. All of that travel and final bout of excitement had left her rather tired. She stretched not unlike her celestial company with a wide mouthed yawn of her own. She circled once, twice, and then settled herself down upon a bed of blood stained coins. Her heavy brows lowered further and further shut in a series of long blinks before finally—

An angry howl jolted her awake, drawing an undignified squawk from her as she snapped back to full consciousness. She was met with that true final human charging her. She narrowed her eyes at the human, and loosed but a puff of her gilded breath, coating the top half of the nuisance in gold and effectively silencing him. She giggled, watching as the pitiful being skittered about blindly upon his unafflicted legs before falling over. The poor thing kicked and struggled aimlessly, fighting the inevitable. 

Orabella got bored before those legs even managed to still, instead turning over to finally go to sleep. That was the first time she had allowed for a half baked golden statue. It wasn’t as satisfying as she had hoped. Unsatisfying, but unforgettable surely.

It didn’t take long for slumber to finally claim the juvenile gryphon, her peaceful snores being the only sound to permeate the otherwise silent cave. 

She could get used to this.