Investigate the source of the screech
You can't help but feel a little curious as to what could have made such a strange sound, oddly familiar to your own gryphon call. Slowly, you begin to pad from the stream, tilting your head and tryng to ascertain where the call came from.
Unfortunately, it doesn't quite seem to work; you were never a tracker in your old life, and this gryphon's body is still unfamiliar enough to further distort the sound.
Not that that keeps you from trying.
You screech again, a little louder this time in hopes that your echo might reply once more.
It does, and it's a sound that tugs on your gryphon instincts, making you feel warm and oddly comforted by its presence. Your wings flutter behind yourself anxiously as it calls once more, this time a loud cawing that comes closer to you; to your right.
You turn to find a silhouette on the horizon, and your beak's nostrils can pick up a rich scent. It speaks of feathers and fur alike, and you realize that you weren't just calling to another avian; you were calling to a gryphon.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the only thing to hear your call. From behind you comes a loud rustling and a muted growl, something distinctly ursine in nature.
Your pulse picks up in your chest as you begin to turn, dreading what you might find but knowing that you must face it nonetheless.
Sure enough, it's a bear, and a large one at that. The big, furry being sniffs loudly at the air as it pads towards the stream; then when it catches sight of you it roars.
You can see how long its fangs are, watch its jowls ripple from the sheer volume of its cry. Your gryphon mind tells you to fight, but your human brain is caught up in thoughts of panic and fear alike.
Both of your selves wage a mental war against their base primal instincts; and it leaves you locked in horror as you watch the bear begin to charge towards you.
Then a brown blur intercedes it, and a visceral cracking fills the air.
The other gryphon has tackled the bear to the ground; and perhaps done a little more than just stun it.
Indeed, upon closer reflection, you can see that the life has gone out from the large bear's eyes, its neck hanging at an awkward angle. No doubt this is thanks to one of the other gryphon's talons being clamped hard around it.
Your heart still races as you take in the new arrival. It looks much like you, though you can tell it's a little broader of shoulder; larger in form. Its muscles are thicker and it has more predatory look to its face, as though nature itself has decreed that this specimen is an alpha.
No, it's not just an alpha... It's a male.
A caw of realization passes your lips as you look at the large feathered form, and you wonder what you should do...
Written by SketchySeraph on 23 June 2016
