A/N - I've been having trouble coming up with what to call the Griffins. You see, a while back I was looking at mythical creatures and I came across and oddity... There are sphinxes (body of a lion head of a human) Griffins (body of a lion, head of an eagle) Chimeras (part lion, part goat, part snake), etc... There are tons of mythical creatures with the body of a lion. But, I never found a creature with the head of a lion and the body of something else. Which is where I came up with the idea of inverting the Griffin. The question is then, what should I call it? Unfortunately, I'm drawing a big, fat blank on this one. So, if you have an idea please comment! For now, I'll just keep calling them Griffin's. After all they are mythical, made up creatures so I can change them in my story right? :) Anyway, here's the epilogue to Volume One, enjoy!

Chit

P.S. - Thanks Akitodb for rating and reviewing. Glad you're enjoying the story!

Volume One - Epilogue: Homecoming

Eight hours later, we were still in the plane. The first time I rode in this thing I was too messed up, thinking about how I wasn’t going to see my parents or Lizzy for another three years. But, I didn’t remember it taking this long to get here. “Hey, Great-Granny Kingsly, why’s it taking so long? I don’t think it took this long last time.”

“Your parents moved a year ago, the old house was great for pretending to be normal. But, you wouldn’t have been able to continue training there. Also, your dad had been slacking off with his training for the last couple decades so I paid him a few visits. I only had to nearly kill him a few times before he got his act together, Kekekekeke.” Remembering some of the times Elin had cut me to pieces, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for dad. Feeling a little tired, I decided to take a nap. It had been a long time since I got to sleep instead of meditate.

A few hours later, I yawned myself awake. I’d been sitting still for far too long, I’m used to spending eighteen hours a day running around training, and fighting beasts. My body was screaming at me to move! So, I stood up and started doing some light stretching and warmup exercises in the small plane. I woke Elin up accidently while I was moving. She just grinned at me evilly and said, “Guess it’s time to train again.” Throwing a sword at me, she grabbed her own blade and charged at me. I was caught completely off guard, thankfully Great-Granny Kingsly woke up from her own nap right then. “ARE YOU STUPID!!!? I SPENT A LOT OF MONEY ON THIS PLANE IF YOU BREAK IT I’LL BREAK YOU!” Looking somewhat chagrined, but mostly bored, Elin sat back down.

It’s been eighteen hours since we left the mansion, and now Great-Granny Kingsly is starting to get cranky too. I have the feeling that Elin could’ve run to my parents’ new place hours ago, and Great-Granny Kingsly… Well, I’m pretty sure she could’ve been there in a few seconds. I’ve learned to put up with her weird personality; it’s like she’s roleplaying an old, crazy woman just to pass the time. As long as you play along, she leaves you alone. The instant you stop playing along, you find yourself on the bottom of a lake with a giant shark trying to eat you while she sips her coffee from the shore. Anyway, I could’ve sworn that steam was coming out of her ears and every now and then I could hear her muttering to herself. “I’m going to kill that boy. Thinking he can get away from me just by moving way out here! He should know better by now.”

Another six hours have passed, only two more and it’ll have been a full day since we left the mansion. Everyone in the plane is stir crazy, if it wasn’t for Great-Granny Kingsly I’m pretty sure that Elin and I would’ve destroyed the plane by now. The scary thing is a couple of hours ago, Great-Granny Kingsly stopped muttering. Instead, she began smiling. It started as just a crack and then slowly widened over time. I’m pretty sure that means she is about to destroy the world or something, especially since Elin is acting like a frightened little mouse. She’s spent the last hour sitting perfectly still, with eyes wide, and blood slowly draining from her face. At that moment, I heard a mechanical sound and the plane started descending while the wheels extended themselves. YAY!!! We’re about to land, if we can get on the ground fast enough maybe the world will be saved! At this, Great-Granny Kingsly seems to have broken free of whatever day-dream she was having. The smile left her face, turning into a frown as she glanced outside while she continued muttering to herself, “That boy better have picked a good place, or I’ll hang him up and tear off his limbs every time they regenerate for the next week.”

We finally landed at a small airport in a valley surrounded by mountains. Looking around as I stiffly walked off the plane, the scenery was amazing. Off to the left was a giant waterfall, while on the right a forest bigger than Great-Granny Kingsly’s stretched off. At first I thought that this must be another mana-rich environment, but I didn’t feel the normal tingle. I’d never noticed it before, but now I definitely noticed its absence. It’s like standing on top of a mountain and breathing in the clean air. It revitalizes you, makes you happy, and gives you energy. No wonder even the ignorant humans flock to these places in such numbers that they end up destroying them.

As I observed my surroundings I saw a car approaching us, and in the driver's seat I could see my dad! I didn’t wait for the car to get to us, damned thing was going too slow. 20 miles an hour? Please, I could run that fast two years ago… I sprinted across the tarmac, making my dad slam on the brakes so he didn’t hit me. Before he was even out the door, I’d already dove into him with tears streaming down my cheeks. Hugging me back, my dad said, “Its ok son, the evil witch won’t hurt you anymore.” Of course, the evil witch in question heard that… My dad handed me off to mom for another tearful hug, while he went to go say hi to Elin and Great-Granny Kingsly. Of course, he only made it halfway to them before he was sent flying, spitting blood as his internal organs were injured. “You made this evil witch sit on a plane for nearly 25 hours!” Looking, my mom and I chuckled while I thought he’d actually gotten off fairly lightly. No amputated limbs to regrow or anything! The shaking of the car from our tearful hugs combined with the noise outside woke up the baby in the backseat. I hadn’t seen it at first, but my mom leaned over the seat to grab her, saying “Say hello to your baby sister”