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Dexter continued his walk through the forest. It took him a good ten minute jog to get out of the crater and into the forest. Dexter was not very athletic but even at his speed, that was a very large crater. About 600 meters in radius.

That would have taken out about a column of a section in the Archive... An entire city block. But he made the calculations for the prototype to be a scaled down model. The energy stored would at most blow up his work bench, not give a Tomahawk missile a run for his money.

Something was definitely amiss, but until Dexter could get a link back to the Archive, he was stuck here. Dexter touched an ancient and very alien tree, sending his mind a feeling of fear and anger at the loss of friends and a curiosity towards Dexter. Not just this one, but almost all of them had sentience. An indication that this forest has been around for a very long time.

He tried to communicate with the tree using Psychometry but the tree refused his calls. All it did was urged him to go towards a certain direction. He looked at where the tree was indicating at saw a large city a bit of a ways away.

Warily, He found he had no choice but to go there in hopes of finding some help. He just hopes that this plane of existence did not have any tree loving elves that would LOVE to hear an explanation as to why a large chunk of their forest is gone.... or worse.

Mia followed very close to Esmee, her wings folded back and the talons on her forepaws clacking agains the hard ground while her rear lion paws padded silently.
Even after Laine's comforting words, she still could not help but feel worried and although her eyes were more focused, her ears were twitching wildly still, picking up every noise.


Dexter would hear a loud screech from above and a massive shadow passed over him. For a brief moment, cast by the moon on the creature above him. A few seconds later, a massive griffin landed in front of the man, creating a massive mushroom cloud of dust. The creature was at least two times bigger than Mia and at least three times older. He crouched low, his wings spread out fully, about 20 get from tip to tip and he screeched again at Dexter.

Dexter's Precognition went into overdrive, warning him about a large creature that was about to touchdown right in front of him. He dived behind the nearest tree just barely moments before the creature landed in a cloud of dust.

From behind the tree, he propped his revolver to his shoulder, ready to aim it at a moment's notice. Instead, he cautiously watched the could of dirt settle. He did not want to provoke the natives of the land if that was who he was meeting now.

When the dust finally settled, Dexter sees a Griffin standing before him and it does not look very happy. When the Griffin screeched, words began to appear in Dexter's head as the Griffin's 'speech' began to make sense to him. He then coughed politely, from behind the tree, and spoke in a tongue that the Griffin would understand, hoping to settle this peacefully.

"I'm sorry... but could you repeat that one more time?"

"Who are you?" the griffin repeated and stood right in front of Dexter, "Why did you make the forest disappear?" he sounded more agitated than angry now.

"I did no such thing." Dexter said. Picking up on the body language of the Griffin, Dexter readied himself to bolt at a moment's notice in case the Griffin decided to attack him.

"My name is Dexter. I just woke up to find myself in the middle of that crater. I have no clue as to why I woke up there and where that piece of forest went."

It dawned upon Dexter as he said it, he did not know how he got there...

Usually the combination of his Psychometry and Precognition would have at least given him some hint as to what or who had caused a problem, but this time both powers not only came up with nothing, they did not even give him anything about the incident. Something very serious is going on here, he thought.

"Father." Esmee tested out the word's effectiveness, but there wasn't a reasonable response. Just more babbling and nonsense so she did what she thought would be the best option. " laine." She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. He was a good fighter and at the time, the only one available. "Do you want to redeem yourself?"

She was taking a great risk by asking such. "Can I ask you to be my commander and seek out troops. We need to start building up our defenses." She turned completely, now facing him. "If you do not wish this then I shall find another." She looked at him dead on. "It's time we took action."

Mia knew little of the human military but did know what a commander and soldiers were and had to agree with Esmee. She nodded and looked hopefully at Laine.

The massive Griffin looked skeptically at Dexter, "Are you part of the dark armies? Or the sky?"

With the Griffin's words, a little bit of knowledge about this world entered Dexter's mind. Not much was given to him, only a fraction of the history of this world, about the war with those called the 'Water Kingdom' and the 'City of Darkness'. However, Dexter was only given their names and nothing else. Dexter surmises that he needs time to attune his body to this world before he could use the full extend of his powers.

"Neither... I am tied to no one kingdom or person. I am... not from this parts."

Dexter decided to keep the fact that he is from another world to himself, but not one for telling lies he simply told the Griffin what he could.

"Come with me," he ordered and crouched low, his wings spread out so that Dexter could get on his back.

Dexter raised an eyebrow, showing his scepticism of that idea. A number of possibilities on what would happen if he got on the Griffin flew pass his head. They ranged from the Griffin doing a barrel-roll having Dexter plummet to his death, to being brought back to a nest of ravenous Griffin chicks, or to be brought to a kingdom of said angry elves...

As much as he wanted to run, Dexter knew the large Griffin would just pounce on him and bring him to wherever it wanted anyways. The difference being by the comfort and safety of it's back or the pain and discomfort of in it's talon being dug deep into him.

Dexter sighs deeply, re holstering his revolver and warily climbing on the Griffin's back. "I am only getting on your back without a fight as a sign of good faith. So I sincerely hope you are not bringing me to my doom."

As he climbed on the Griffin, Dexter took great pains to hold his Psychometry back. He did not know if Griffins could sense when their past is being read so he decided not to chance it. He did take note that it was easier for him to hold his powers back than usual, when it usually took a great deal of concentration to do so. Probably from the lack of attunement.

He took off with one flap of his wings and circled around once then started towards the castle. He flew without challenge above the amassed dark armies and landed in front of the castle doors. He crouched low again so Dexter could slide off then nudged the door open with his beak and guided him in.

Dexter watched as the Griffin took off. He admitted to himself that it was an exhilarating experience. Then he saw the vast armies of Darkness and could only shudder at the thought of what would have happened if he had been discovered by them.

When they landed in a castle, Dexter grew a little suspicious as the griffon seemed to roam about it without obstruction from anyone. Nonetheless, he followed the Griffin from behind.

For some reason, as he walked through the halls, his Psychometry was sending him signals of wind rushing past his hair and face, like when he was flying with the Griffon.

Dexter was admittedly fascinated by this world and the places he has seen so far. He just hopes his luck holds out and they are not hungry for human meat.

The Griffin guided Dexter through the halls, sniffing the air occasionally to figure out where they were. His eagle talons scratched and clicked over the hard tile floor while his hindpaws made dull thumps with each step.
It wasn't long before they found themselves at the throne room and the griffin nudged the heavy wooden doors open with ease.
"Hello Mia," he greeted the smaller, younger griffin in the room with a smile, or as best of one a creature with a beak can manage.
"Hello Tiberus," she greeted him in much the same manner. She was sitting loyally at Esmee's side now, quietly, absentmindedly clicking her talons on the ground.

She was waiting for Laine's answer when the other griffin made his way into the throne room, along with another visitor to whom she had never seen inside the air kingdom. First suspicion was to think that he was prisoner. However, from the way he stood next to the griffin without the fears of someone who had just been caught she would say he was someone seeking shelter from both the water and dark's army.

Her first words came out in a respectful tone though slightly irritated that she would have to wait on Laine's decision. They needed to get things moving quickly. "Welcome to the Air kingdom." Her attribute to air made the banners that hung from the ceiling flap gently along with the hair and feathers of everyone in the room. "What business do you have here?"

Mia let out a noise somewhere between a chirp and a purr and lay down, loving the feeling of the false wind blowing through her fur and feathers.
The large male griffin made a similar noise though it was much deeper in tone.

In the throne room, Dexter saw two people having a discussion while a smaller Griffin lay beside one of them. The one who caught his attention the most was the young lady, especially her two fuzzy ears on top of her head. And with Dexter's eyes, he could see that the air seemed to shimmer around her. When she greeted him in a regal manner, the shimmering air seemed to expand outward causing a wind to come forth. The sight was spectacular and beautiful, but judging from the reaction of all around her, he was the only one he could see it.

Ah, Dexter thought, that must be where that memory of rushing wind must be from.

The girl was very beautiful, but she looked wary and tired as if the weight of the world sat squarely on her shoulders. There also seems to be something different about this girl but he decided not to delve into it... not now anyway.

Dexter pat himself clean of any other remaining dust and righted his attire before taking a polite step forward and kneeling on one knee.

"Milady, my name is Dexter Talbot. In all honesty, I have no idea what my business is here... I was told by an ancient tree to come here, carried by a large magnificent creature," he motioned at Teberus, "and I now am before, who I believe to be of royalty of the Kingdom of Wind."

Dexter raises his head to look into the girl's eyes and gave her a questioning look.

"I do not suppose, milady, that YOU might have some business with me?"

She watched him steadily, "I may have something..." She didn't know what tree he was referring to but if it told him to come here then he may be of importance. "What skill do you possess? Fire? Earth perhaps?" Gods forbid water. The very thought caused a disturbance in the slow and steady flow of the air current that had been continually flowing.

Still needing an answer from the other, but now she was a little less urgent about it. She looked at Mia "If you wish Mia, you can take leave. I do need some eye on what's going out there in my absence." She gave a brief smile to her feathered friend, not knowing what she would be doing if it weren't for her.

Just then her father gurgled behind her, making her turn towards him. He was smiling at his crown that he held. The he looked at her and laughed, "Pretty shimmer." Esmee's ears drooped and she looked back at the stranger. "I..apologize. My fa- the king hasn't been himself for...a long time." Saddened by the time that they wasted, all the years. She sighed and looked back at him. "I should of introduced myself earlier." She smiled a small smile "You were right Dexter, my name however, is Esmee Silverwing."

The man had watched the two girls leave, and he merely continued his journey onward. he made his way to the outside of the castle, his feet silent but swift. He stood out, but when he came to the castle he remained outside...

Mia was hesitant to go, mostly because she was curious about this man that Tiberus had brought with him but nodded and gave a quiet caw to Esmee as she nuzzled her master then trotted out of the room, her eagle talons clacking against the floor.
She turned one last time to look at Esmee, as if making sure she wanted her to leave then exited and sat silently by the doors.

Dexter watched as the people filtered out the throne room. He looks at the Old man sitting on the throne, and with some sadness, determined from the look in his eyes that he was suffering from this world's version of dementia.

He looks at the careworn young woman in front of him and remembered when he was burdened with great responsibilities when he was younger. Dexter was not a good person and he does not pretend to be one, but he hopes Esmee can deal with the choices she might have to make soon. And Dexter put up a serious face.

"I can control all elements to some degree since I am a wizard, but my talents are elsewhere. In peace, I am a merchant, a negotiator, a scholar and an inventor of mundane things... In war, I am a General, a strategist, an interrogator and an inventor of killing machines. And the last time I checked, you are at war and not on the winning side."

He approached Esmee and knelt before her, taking her hand in his.

"I offer my services to you Lady Esmee Silverwing, and if you use me correctly, you just might have a winning chance in this war yet."