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Too late Vex realizes he was on the wrong side of the mountain, the forest was beneath, he had flown into the Wyvern's hunting grounds. Vex was flying deeper into the Wyvern's territory, their dark shadows looming over, a chilling reminder of the danger he was in. The Gryphon's skin begins to crawl as that soul-shattering shriek sounds behind him, growing louder as the Wyvern gains ground.

He looks back and sees the Wyvern's bulky arms stretching the leathery skin-like membrane between its five fingers. The beast's massive wingspan blots out the two suns from Vex's sight as he raises his gaze up. There is no evidence of his prior elation, all he has is unhindered distress. Every nerve in his brain is firing off, urging him to kick and flap his wings, to dive faster and faster, straight into the ground.

Vex's bird-like shrieks escape shrilly from his beaked maw as he realizes he is out of options and goes into a sudden dive. The wind whips past him as he dives to escape, although loud. Its howl is nothing in comparison to the roar of the wyvern behind him. The monster is closing the gap on Vex, agile as he is, he can't outpace those relentless and formidable wings which propel the predator forward and bring its clawed feet within inches of Vex.

The Gryphon tucks his legs in and holds his wings tight to his body, plummeting like a comet out of the sky. Wind blows the tears from Vex's eyes, making them burn while the tree-cover starts to race toward him. He can hardly breathe through the excessive air speeding past him in his descent. "Faster... faster... faster," is all Vex can think, speeding down until he hits his terminal velocity. The griffin doesn't know what lies below that thick canopy, but it has to be better than being torn apart and turned into the Wyvern's dinner.

The Wyvern's claws close around Vex's ashen flank, ripping through fur and flesh, and sending crimson streaking into the sky above. Vex cries out in pain from the strips of pure agony in his hind end and sends himself into a panic, tucking his body in together. Suddenly, the trees envelop his form in a loud swoosh and the distinct sound of breaking branches snapping over Vex's body.

The Monster buffets its wings hard as it crashes down onto the canopy as well, but its massive size causes it to get stuck against the unyielding trunks of the Ironwoods. All it could do was beat its wings and try to recover. Its claws thrashing beneath attempting to grasp its prey, as it starts rising back up.

It had been injured from the crash, though the dreadful Wyvern didn't act like it. As blood drips onto the leaves from a gash in its leg, the Wyvern rises higher and higher. Its wings beat hard, propelling itself skyward, leaving Vex to his fate.

The trees rush past Vex at breakneck speed, his body colliding with the strong twigs and boughs, snapping and breaking more than just the tree limbs, as he cascades down through the thick canopy. Vex raises his wings to try and slow himself, earning him a swift hard crack across his left wing. His world was nothing but blinding pain, as he felt the limb crumble under that smashing blow, sending aching sharp throbs of excruciating discomfort, through the Gryphon's whole body.

With each collision, Vex's speed slows, until a limb strikes his beaked maw, breaking the branch with a loud crack. Everything becomes a blur for Vex, yet he still feels every repetitive strike from the limbs he hit on the way down. The sunlight fades quickly, and he wonders if it's just his vision or if the underside is truly a world of darkness and pain.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Vex's downward momentum comes to a sudden halt, as he slams into a low-hanging branch. His lower legs snag on a thick limb, which arrests his descent and causes him to bounce up and down like a ragdoll.

The branch bends, under the excessive force and fractures. It then began emitting a long, drawn-out whine, as it breaks; The gryphon drops hard onto the ground, his body bouncing off of it, with a dull muffled thud.

Vex was finally still, his loose feathers slowly falling all around him as he sinks into the decaying leaves. His vision is clouded and his entire body throbs with pain. He knows he's suffered broken bones, sprains, and the warm sensation of his blood trickling down his leg tells him he's badly injured. Panting heavily, he lies there, dazed and bewildered. This had to be a dream?

He tries to convince himself that he's back home, lying in the shade of a tree on a warm spring day, his feathers glistening in the sunlight. He just needs to wake up. But how? He considers pinching himself, but would he even feel it? Is he really here, or is this just some twisted nightmare?

Time seems to crawl by in this dark and dismal place, marked only by each excruciating breath that Vex takes. His frustration builds with each passing moment, stoking the embers of his anger. He attempts to stand, but a fresh cut above his eye obscures his vision as blood trickles down his face. The Gryphon lets out a low growl of annoyance before collapsing back onto the soft, mossy floor.

He parts his beak and releases a sharp cry of pain, clicking his beak closed in frustration, as he tries to push himself up. His wrist gives way with a sickening pop, adding to his distress. His talons curl in reflex, scaly fist clenching in agony as his body twists and contorts in torment.

"Valor, help me," Vex pleads, his voice trembling with desperation as he calls on the ancient demi-god-like figure who once guided the Gryphons through their infancy during the old dragon conflicts. Every motion sends waves of agony coursing through his body, but he knows he must escape this place.

Suddenly, he wishes he had paid more attention to the old stories and songs. Maybe this was a test, and their idol was waiting to sweep him away. "Please, I'm sorry!" he cries out in delirium, knowing that Valor had become nothing more than a myth to his people in recent generations.

As his world slowly brightens, Vex notices an eerie, ominous glow emanating from the buds on the trees and a distinct species of fungi. His emotions are all used up, and he falls into a deep lethargy as his injuries begin to numb and throb, causing him to gasp weakly and chirp in pain with each labored breath.

He had to be such an idiot, he thinks to himself, giving into those darker thoughts, as all the reason and anger bubbles away from his mind. Vex knew he was being stupid as soon as he flew away, the thought of home, only deepens his despair.

The air grows sweet, and as he looks for the source, he notices the mushrooms releasing copious amounts of spores, into the air. The thought of breathing them in revolts Vex, but he can't move; pain keeps bringing him back down, allowing the spores to enter his airway and cling to his fur and feathers. He doesn't know what will happen and just continues to breathe finally, he isn't going to fight it anymore.

His body starts to feel cold, and he's not sure if that means he's running out of blood, but what was he going to do? He utters a painful squawk, his beak parting around a bloodied, feathery face. He's helpless now, the realization making him quiet his tones and shiver. What if something else finds him? Maybe getting eaten on by a Wyvern would have been a better way to die, he thinks to himself. Giving into the pain of his injuries, Vex let out a painful cry and went silent again, his chest heaving, aching each time.

Vex feels a strange sensation come over him: His limbs start to tingle and a wave of nausea washes over him, discomfort rising in his belly. It was hard for him to move, his motions are jerky and irregular. Despite this, his vision begins to sharpen, and the subtle colors of the forest come to life before his eyes. They dance and flicker among the trees and along the forest edges, vibrant and varied, in their color and brilliance. His motions felt slow, the sway of the branched blurring and twisting, as he tried to regain his composure.

He looks around slowly at first, careful not to hurt himself further, and notices that the place is slowly changing before his eyes. The lights from the buds and mushrooms begin to pulse in sync with his breathing, growing brighter as he inhales and fading as he exhales. Despite their alluring quality, Vex can't help but feel that there's something off about them. He can hear his breathing deep in his ears, distorted and foreign, and as he calls out for help, his voice echoes in his ears, drawn out and distant, "Vvvvaaalllooorrr," he says, the sound of it echoing in his mind and reverberating throughout his body.

The trees and lights start to melt before his eyes, and he knows it's the spores, even though it's the only conclusion he can come to. He begins to take more of them in deeply, as the feeling of his wounds begins to change, they don't hurt him anymore, they are just intense feelings, it's the only way his brain can describe it.

Despite the agony of his injuries, he starts to grow fond of the idea that this is how he will die, drawing in another thankful breath of air. The shooting sensation that wracked his body, began to feel good. Though he knew this was false, as occasionally he'd become coherent from this dream,he seems to be awake for, and the pain would return with the forest. Though it did not last long, before returning to that state of bliss and the surreal death he was experiencing.

After all he had done to his family and home, it felt like the natural course of events. Looking back on his life, he couldn't help but feel that he deserved this fate, but unlike before, he wasn't filled with dread or fear. Instead, he felt a strange sense of acceptance. In the short time he had with his mate, he had known love and with luck, he would have little griffin chicklets to continue on his lineage.

The sensation is overwhelming, and Vex could feel his body start to convulse. It was as though the spores were taking him, and he was becoming one, with the forest. His vision starts to blur, and the world around him distorts further, morphing into something unrecognizable. Despite the fear that crept into his mind, Vex couldn't help but feel a strange sense of wonder and excitement. He was part of something bigger now, something ancient and powerful, and for a moment, he felt truly alive.

The distortions and manipulation of his senses continue. He can hear his thoughts, and they begin to loop, feeding back into themselves until his head throbs with noise. It suddenly dies down as his attention comes back to the world, the trees become solid again, for a moment. His eyes search for the source of a sound, Vex swears he can hear. Before the world around him begins to melt and shift again, his body begins to feel like putty, sweating profusely as his mind runs red hot from activity. He feels as though he is falling again, his body rushing faster and faster until he lets out a startled squawk as he realizes he has hit the ground. The fear of the fall drains the last of his energy, leaving him to curl up as best he can, his dream turning into a nightmare.

He could hear everything and he saw the world melting and shifting violently with the wind whistles past his pointy ears, taunting him with an other-worldly notion. Around him the bushes shake and rustle, shapeshifting into The Massive Wyvern, in his mind, It had found him! It opens its toothy maw and a figure walks out, pushing the image aside, causing the Wyvern to melt back into a bush.

Vex's eyes shot wide open, the pupils dilating heavily, seized with a wracking terror at the monstrous, dark entity that begins approaching him: It had no face, it was just a pair of large black eyes, and a beak, cloaked in a thick hide down to its feet. It reaches for Vex and he cries out, "Gaaaah. Stay away!" His heart was pounding in his ears, then it skipped a beat and his world went black again.

Leaving the cloaked figure to pause and look over the gryphon in puzzlement. Vex passes out, in front of the figure, who's hand was held aloft, ready to check the chest of the gryphon for a heart beat. Another rustle behind the two, caught the cloaked figure's attention. Through the lenses of its thick mask, it would see a large beast come into view. The green, scaly creature, was a Dragon, though it had no wings; its monstrous size towers over the cloaked figure.

The crested skull of the monstrous entity was adorned with five vine-covered horns, arrayed in a star shape behind its head, their long smooth protrusions draped with limp flora. The creature's large toothy maw was wrapped in damp cloth, providing some protection from the floating spores in the air. It looks at the scene and gives a nod of its head, "Tie him up, and bind him to my back. He's gonna have a long recovery, so be careful." The Dragon said, in a deep resounding tone, that was distinctly male. The cloaked figure gives a nod and adjusts the mask on their head, ensuring none of the spores were getting in.

"You think he'll live then?" Asked the soft muffled feminine tone under the mask.

It will be a while before the Fire-Fly Spores work out of his system,' the Dragon says, his voice muffled by his own protective gear. He turns to the other cloaked figure, who is clad in voluminous gear and has a noticeable swell to their chest and hips beneath their leathery mantle. 'I'll trust you to keep an eye on him.

The leather-clad figure carefully binds Vex's legs, paying close attention to his broken wing. From behind the mask, they exclaim, "Alibra, he's bleeding. It doesn't look like it's from the fall." They turn to the dragon, Alibra'Nok, before rummaging through the bags hanging from his scaly green body. Eventually, the small figure retrieves a bundle of wrapped leaves and returns to Vex.

Alibra'Nok observes as they open the bundle and begin smearing the greasy mixture inside, liberally applying it to Vex's wounds. Both of them can see that the griffin has lost a considerable amount of blood, but the pool beneath him does not seem life-threatening, at least not from what they can tell.

"It's likely another Wyvern attack, they're growing bolder..." Alibra'Nok comments while watching them work.

The Dragon moves to grab a vine from his back with his mouth, giving it a tug back over before holding it out. The cloaked figure takes hold of it and starts to tie Vex's wing in place, binding it to his body. With that out of the way she moves to grasp his bound wrists.

There's no way Vex could be lifted like that, the Dragon is quick to help. He brings his large scaly hand between Vex and the cloaked figure before hefting the Gryphon onto his back, the gryphon a third of the Dragon's size against his massive frame. "Careful!" They chastise Alibra'Nok at how he handles the feathery creature.

"Just lead the way, We've been here too long as it is," the Dragon says, easily carrying Vex on his back as they begin to follow the cloaked figure, back through the bushes and far away from the troublesome fungi.