"Now, summon Aquila." Aquila's essence shimmered beside him as he resummoned her, her golden eyes glinting the moment she arrived in front of him.
"Round two, then," Damien said quietly, mounting her back.
Woooooosh~
The flight back began immediately Aquila was summoned back in front of Damien.
The griffin spread her wings, and with a single mighty beat, they rose into the mist—back toward Delwig, back toward blood, and the truth that refused to stay buried.
Cold wind whistled across the edges of Aquila's wings as Damien leaned forward slightly, one hand on the griffin's neck feathers, eyes narrowed at the endless sprawl of the Verdant Verge below.
He didn't fly high. Not this time.
He wanted the trees close enough that he could trace his way back through the route he had come from — the broken trails, the scattered blood drops on the leaves, the strange stillness that seemed to have spread overnight across the forest's heart.
