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Allure of the Royal Gems

Day 00:

He was sharpening his arrows one at a time on a whetstone when it happened. He had a whole quiver to get through and prepare for the upcoming hunt, and he needed to make sure the obsidian points were as fine as could be. Toumak the Hunter was efficient, and he believed in a clean kill; a sharp arrow head ensured that his prey would not suffer. The meat was just more tender when not tainted by fear.

The gryphon was sitting in front of the blacksmith's building as the various felines and avians walk by in front of him, mind full with dozens of thoughts as he observed. His village was run by chief Storm and Princess Melodion Pangol of Castle Arrenthen, a mated pair who were both notorious for extracurricular promiscuity. Storm was just eternally needy, and the princess was the sister of the current ruler, Queen Talba Ebonoldty; she was affectionately referred to as the whore queen by many. Certainly the libido ran in the family.

Toumak had spent many nights thinking about the princess, fantasizing about her or imagining the things he would do to her. She wasn't a gryphon, but a wingless hippogryph, and that made her as exotic in a village of avians and felines as she was beautiful. His fantasies came to a head the night before when she caught him at the end of his hunt to enjoy passionate, steamy mating behind the meat locker before he could properly hang his kill.

She had surprised him with a hoot and a chirp before pouncing on him, claws and beak all over him. Of course, he'd resisted - if the chief found out he was likely to have Toumak beheaded - but she had a strength unlike any gryphon he knew and the feminine wiles of the most sensual of mares. Of course he couldn't say no for long.

And now, as he was sharpening his arrows, he couldn't keep his mind off that memory. Her supple flesh, soft feathers, and fine equine hairs were exquisite to the point of divinity in his mind, and he knew he had to do his best to shut that out or he would be too distracted on his hunt to focus on the kill.

He kicked at the dust a bit as he blew on the obsidian arrow head, he slid a feather down the side of the blade to test its sharpness, and both shaft and barbs sliced in two. That one was ready, so he turned to carefully place it in the quiver next to the dozen others before grabbing the next un-sharpened arrow. When he sat back up, he was greeted with the image of Melodi across the marketplace in a ceremonial looking cloak and leathers as she offered some coin to one of the bread makers.

Her golden tail flicked and reflected the afternoon light before she turned back, emerald eyes glancing at Toumak as the bread maker handed her a loaf. She smiled and clicked her beak as she looked ready to call out, but was interrupted by a deep rumble followed by a powerful wave of purple light that lanced across the sky from the south, headed north.

Every single person in town halted what they were doing to look up, observing at the band of light slid across the sky above the clouds. It was moving just slow enough that everybody had a second or two to get a good look at it before it disappeared over the treeline.

While the people of the tribe started to mutter amongst themselves, a series of gentle 'thwip' sounds started to rain down upon them from every angle, hailing from the sky and culminating in a powerful thud or a cracking snap in the jungle around them. Toumak quickly got to his feet and grabbed his bow, holstering an arrow and pulling back on the string in preparation for a fight. More sounds of crashing in the trees surrounding the village accompanied by a series of thwips only made him pull back harder. But nothing came.

After a few more seconds of the rain-like thwips and no evidence of an attack or anything falling down around him, he relaxed the bow and lowered the tip to the ground. The gryphon glanced around to the other people, occasionally catching their gaze enough to shrug in confusion before going to the next person to see if they caught sight of anything.

When he looked back to the bread maker's hut, he saw that Melodi was gone. He wasn't sure if she was hiding - as he felt a princess should do during a siege - or if she had simply moved on. Either way, he was quite curious to investigate these sounds and the wave of light that crashed over the sky above them.

=================================

"It is an omen." Dasa declared as he slammed the butt of his staff down on the dirt in his hut. "The spirits have made their voices known, and if we are to weather their rage, we should offer sacrifice."

Toumak, Storm, Melodi, and Dasa had all gathered in the shaman's hut, hoping to gather some insight to the peculiar light and the sounds that had graced their village just hours prior. With Storm and Melodi as rulers and Dasa the shaman as an adviser, the three were quite the powerful trio. Toumak, though only a hunter, was respected as part of their inner circle and was invited to consult with them as well despite his protests and utter lack of interest in politics.

As it turned out, Melodi had immediately headed to Storm in the wake of the light after her sudden disappearance.

"You always call for sacrifice, Dasa." Melodi accused while rolling her eyes, fists balled up on the shrine. "You can't just fuck every virgin in town and call it a sacrifice by collecting the blood."

The shaman bared his teeth in a growl as he waved his staff towards her, skull end forward. "Say what you will about the spirits, they've kept you and this village alive and in good health for years now, and it's about time you started respecting-"

She cut him off with a dismissive wave. "Let it go, dog, our hunters and warriors have kept us alive, not the spirits." She shook her head and turned to Storm. "So, assuming this wasn't an omen, what else could it be?"

Storm clicked his beak and laid back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "I have no idea. By the reports I've heard, it has come from far higher than any of us can fly, so it wasn't an attack. It was a color unlike anything seen in a storm, and the skies were otherwise clear aside from a few clouds. I really have no idea, but the sounds of things falling around the village is certainly something to investigate."

Melodi got to her hooves. "Then I shall form a party and explore the region. We will comb through the trees in the basin around the village, and see if we can find anything out of the ordinary." she got up to leave, only to be stopped by Dasa.

He grabbed her wrist. "Be careful. If one has descended from the heavens, then you must treat it as a threat. If the spirits have sent an ambassador, it's to judge us. Be wary."

She pulled her wrist out of his hand and kept walking, motioning toward Toumak to follow. "Shut up Dasa, let's get some eyes out there to decipher this occurrence before jumping to conclusions."

Toumak got to his feet and politely bowed to Storm and Dasa before leaving in tow behind her. Melodi was taller than he was, but not by a lot, and her strides were longer. This made him struggle to keep up in her haste. "What have you got in mind, princess?" He asked, hustling along beside her.

"Exactly as I said. We are going to collect a series of hunters, gatherers, and warriors to scan the village and find whatever it was that fell. You heard it, right? The sound of rocks or arrows or something cascading through the air after the blast?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sounded like arrows whipping past my ears, though I saw nothing coming from the skies and I've not heard any reports of anyone being harmed or finding anything yet. The birds in the trees have been strangely silent ever since it happened though."

"Good, that's our first clue. Something has happened if the winged ones aren't singing their songs. Let's go to the barracks, we'll start there." She commanded, taking Toumak by the wrist and dragging him along with her.

He couldn't help but blush a little bit, having such a beautiful princess yanking him around by the arm. It was inappropriate, sure, but his bashfulness knew no barriers. He simply went along with what she was asking for, seeking out the warriors and other hunters for a search.

That night, two teams explored the jungle surrounding the village in waves. One was made of hunters and gatherers, with the flyers soaring high above the treeline while the gatherers combed through the underbrush. They investigated only a small portion of the area around the village, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

The second team was with Melodi, scouring the trade routes and roads from Storm's homestead to the other villages and towards the capitol. They didn't find anything either, but the night was coming and both teams were requested to return to the village upon nightfall. When they converged back in the village market amidst dozens of citizens all cowering and praying to the sky, Melodi took Toumak aside to compliment him on his resolve and dedication.

"You did real good out there, Toumak. The village is lucky to have a hunter like you." She said with a smile, hand on his shoulder. She leaned in to rub her beak against his in a respectful kiss. "But we need you in the morning, we want to do more searching again, and I'm sure we'll need every able-bodied gryphon out there if we are to unravel this mystery.

Toumak was too bashful from the kiss to properly respond so he just nodded and pounded his fist to his chest.

"Glad to hear it. Sleep well." She cradled his cheek and gave a gentle pat before turning away to head back to her home tree where she and Storm lived high above the village.

His knees buckled a bit as a swell of pride inflated within him. He could feel his plumage standing on end as his chest puffed out in a display before he was able to calm himself. He shook his head and returned to his home, where he was able to fantasize about the princess in the privacy of his own den. She was often the subject of his fantasies, especially after their last flirtatious encounter; in fact, to him it was more about recollecting memories than it was fantasizing.

Still, he needed sleep if he was to be up at the rise of the sun, so he had to go home and fill his belly before curling up in his nest.

Day 01:

The next morning, he was woken by the sound of clamoring peoples just outside his den. He lived underground in a bunker, so things had to get very loud to wake or disturb him in any way. When he finally emerged into the morning light, he was greeted by a dozen others all huddled around one.

Toumak stepped forward to part the crowd and see what was going on, only to see a single feline with claw marks across his chest, a swollen eye, and what looked like a broken wrist and tail. He was curled up in the fetal position while the others remained around him, asking him questions. "What happened?" Toumak asked one of the nearest villagers.

"He says he was attacked. Someone in his hamlet said they found a glowing rock, and then he apparently used the rock to beat at this guy until he-"

The gryph waved a hand dismissively as he knelt down next to the broken and battered feline. "I need to hear it from you. What happened?"

The feline turned his head and looked to him, his motions jerky and weak. "I-I don't really remember. I just, I went to see my friend because I heard she had found something. When I entered her room, she hit me with a rock! She broke my wrist, she broke my tail, she did this to my face, and then kicked me out, her feet clawing me up and leaving me bloody." He whimpered a bit as he curled back up. "I just came to the village to see about getting a healer to help me out. I don't know-" He stopped to sniffle a bit, holding back tears. "I don't know what I did wrong..."

"We'll get you to the healers. Come on, can you stand?" Toumak asked.

"Yeah, but I feel weak, I collapsed when I arrived here." He explained.

Toumak slipped a hand under the feline's back and shoulders, easily helping him to hobble his way down the main strip of the village to eventually reach the barracks, where a few healers were permanently employed. They would help the feline in mending his bones and sealing his wounds. He would be fine, but that didn't mean that Toumak was convinced that the situation was remedied.

This incident seemed unrelated at first, until he started connecting threads. The wounded said that his friend had presumably found a glowing rock of some sort, and when he went to ask about it, she had attacked him. He thought to ask him what color the rock was, but upon recollection of his story, he never actually saw the rock, so he had no way of knowing what color it was, or if that was relevant.

He immediately climbed up the tree to Melodi and Storm's home, knocking on the door while eagerly waiting for a response. A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal naked Storm standing tall over him. "Good morning, hunter. What can I do for you?" The chief asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Something has happened. A feline from a nearby settlement has come to us with wounds inflicted by his friend." Toumak explained, pausing a bit to take note of the chief's sheath before shaking his mind clear of those thoughts and returning his gaze to Storm's eyes.

"And? What concern is this of mine? Our healers care for many, what's so special about this feline?"

"He says his friend that attacked him found a glowing rock before doing so. I fear it may be connected to the sounds and the light from yesterday, and I wish to speak to Melodi about investigating this anomaly." Toumak explained, glancing around Storm's form to see if he could find Melodi anywhere.

He just grunted and huffed before turning around, tail swiping out behind him and smacking Toumak in the face. "Come on in, Melodi was busy, but I guess she can talk."

Toumak was about to step forward when he heard the shrieking call of another avian in the skies above. He leaned back and looked up to catch a glimpse of a beautiful green and blue bird flitting around in the skies, doing tight turns and dips as he called out for help.

"Where is the chief? Where is the princess? Where is the shaman? Where are your hunters?!" he was squawking, shouting for anyone who was willing to listen.

"Traveler! I am a hunter, come!" Toumak called, waving his arms and spreading his wings to show where he was, leaning against the railing of the chief's balcony.

The avian saw him and swooped back down around, landing daintily on the rounded wood of the railing. "I bring news from the northern settlements. Over the past day, a few of our avian friends have been finding small gems and crystals, glowing purple. At first I didn't think anything of it-"

"Most lowborn avians can't resist shiny things. What news is this?" Storm interjected as he rolled his eyes, still walking away in disdain. "Melodi, you have visitors, something about glowing gems or something." With that, he stepped through a doorway and into his nest room, allowing Melodi to come out after him while still putting on some leathers to cover herself.

"What's this about glowing gems?" She asked as she zipped up the skirt behind her.

The blue and green avian paused to glance over at her, head cocked to the side as he tried to get a better look at Melodi's form before she covered it up. "Yes, princess. Gems. Glowing gems. Small ones, big ones, some as big as my fist." He held up his hand for size. "Other birds of our nesting settlement found them while out on a morning hunt, and have been fighting over them ever since. I fear that it might be somehow linked to the burst of light that spread across the skies last night. Same color as the gems. Glowing. Pulsing. Humming." His voice and motions were all jerky, like a feral; he was glancing in every direction as his eyes darted from one source of sound to the next. It was quite unnerving to both Melodi and Toumak.

"Slow down, friend. So, you're saying that the gems, they made your friends fight?" Toumak hypothesized.

"No, I didn't say that, I just know that they have been fighting. We birds, we like shiny things. It's not uncommon to fight over-"

"Stupid bird." Storm called out from his personal den room, commenting on the situation. He may have been avian as well, but Gryphons were often arrogant, considering themselves to be superior to the prime races, having overcome the handicaps and setbacks of being born of two races.

The avian paused to cock his head to the side, eyes wide as he stared between Toumak and Melodi before continuing. "It's not uncommon to fight and bicker, but only for a few seconds and not this fierce. Plus, in our hunting party, there were five of us as four gems, plenty to go around and I didn't really care to have one because I prefer gems of blue and green, like my feathers." He extended his wing to show his colors. "I needn't any desire to have this purple gem, so I didn't touch them. But the moment my mates did, they started fighting within minutes. Seconds. Maybe. I don't know, it all happened so fast." He explained, still rushing through his words quickly.

Melodi leaned into him and gently grabbed his beak, shutting it for him. "Avian friend, just tell me where your village is. We would greatly like to investigate this development, how do you reach your nesting settlement?"

The bird blinked a few times before granting them directions. "North, princess. Northbound from here, and a little east. You'll find it near a small pond and a creek, about half an hour's flight north." He paused to look at Melodi, noticing she was wingless and grounded. "But only by flight, I don't know how you would-"

"I will go." Toumak volunteered. "I will take some other hunters and warriors with me, avians only. If chase is given by those afflicted, then we will be able to keep up with them. With your permission, of course. You can take the grounded to the village of the feline?" It was more of a suggestion than a command, since she outranked him.

She paused a moment, rubbing her beak. "Good plan. I will go to the feline's village, you go to the avian's nesting grounds. We will meet back here at nightfall. Now go, waste no time." She commanded, pointing to the sky.

Toumak nodded and hopped up onto the railing before spreading his wings and taking to the sky. It was time for him to prove himself to the princess. He would do it. He had to.

=================================

The avian guided Toumak out of the village and headed northbound towards the hamlet where his friends had found the glowing gems. With them came three other flying hunters just in case there was more violence to be dealt with, a precaution that Toumak knew to take into consideration given what little he knew about the events leading up to the avian's cry for help. He didn't even know the bird's name, but he didn't feel the need to know since he wasn't a local.

When they got there, They collectively fluttered into the canopy where a tight tangle of branches and leaves were woven together thick enough to act as a platform well above the forest floor. Around each tree trunk was a rounded nest made of sticks, twigs, and boards that was covered in a solid gazebo style roof connected to the trunk above. Nice little setup, not uncommon for avians to nest in the canopy.

What they didn't see was any trace of any other birds. No ferals, no anthros, nothing.

"Is this your village?" Toumak asked. Around him were dozens and dozens of trees poking out of the thick-woven canopy, each with their own nest and little hut attached to it. Every one of them empty.

The bird landed next to him and folded his wings up tight to his side. "Yes, but where is everyone?"

"That's a good question, one I would need to ask you, since I don't believe I've ever been here before. Is it normal for there to be no people here in the settlement? Do your families leave to hunt or scavenge or get food?"

"N-no. There are always people here, chirping and flapping and playing. Where are the chicks? Where are the hens? Where are....where is anyone? This isn't right." He seemed shaken, shocked, and he was growing weak at the knees.

Toumak extended his arms to grab him before he fell. The canopy was thick enough that there was no way he would fall through, but he could still twist his ankle in the tangle of branches. "You're right, this isn't good at all, this isn't right. So what do you suppose we do?" He looked up to the other three gryphon hunters he brought with him. "All of you, go investigate the huts and and the nests, see if you can find anything. If you do, please let me know. I want to know where the people of the village disappeared to."

As a hunter, he knew what the others would look for when it came to prey eluding them. Feathers, marks, claws, blood, and other hints could tell a story better than any elder, and he was relying on them to uncover some plot points for him.

Moments later, the first of his hunter aides came to him with a fist full of bloody feathers, followed by the other two with similar discoveries. "I found this in one of the nests. It's downy, so whoever it came from was either young or was cut deep. Hence the blood. I also found claw marks, gems, trinkets, and trails of blood leading from one nest to another, only to disappear. Whatever happened here, it was violent."

"Yeah, and one of the trails of blood I saw trickled from a nest into a clearing between trees, only to stop in a puddle on the leaves and ferns, then stop. Either that victim was pulled beneath the canopy to fall to the forest floor, or he was hauled up high and taken away."

The third one came with a single un-hatched egg, a spatter of blood accenting the blue and green speckles of its shell. "Even mothers were taken, or they disappeared. Or they flew away. Either way, I don't think it's safe to be here. Either something massive has come to take your villagers, or - and I actually think this is the less likely scenario - everyone simultaneously decided to get up and leave in synchronicity. There's enough blood and feathers to guarantee that whatever happened here was violent, but not enough to fear that anyone died, unless they were eaten by something."

"This makes sense." The native avian meekly squeaked out in Toumak's arms. "The second any of them touched one of those wretched gems, they started to fight. The longer they held it, the more vicious they got and the more violent they became. From what you said, I worry that my hunting party may have come back to town, and those gems may have affected the others."

Toumak held him close, cradling his head in his arms as though he was about to lose a loved one. "How could you know that for sure? We can't assume there's a rogue settlement out there, not without more information."

"I can't possibly know, yet I feel so sure of myself. When I got close, I had this odd flash of a vision in my mind, one of hate and spite and conflict. It's one of the reasons I never grabbed for them, I just got a bad feeling. I just...I just..." He leaned over and rolled from Toumak's arms to vomit into the branches beneath him. He coughed and sputtered a bit before turning to look Toumak in the eyes. "Whatever happened here, we need to leave. Now."

Toumak paused and nodded before looking up to his three hunters. "I agree."

=================================

Back at the village, both parties had returned to discuss their findings. Toumak insisted the shocked avian be attended to in the barracks while the other hunters each offered a debriefing on the situation before leaving the core group to discuss plans.

Toumak, Dasa, Storm, and Melodi were all in Storm's home, sitting around a fire while they discussed what they found.

Melodi went first. "When I got there, I found nothing." She said, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. "Absolutely nothing at all."

Toumak leaned forward and rubbed his beak. "Us too. An entire settlement, empty aside from some blood, feathers, and a single egg that our healers are tending to. Every avian of the canopy village just gone, like they fled or were taken by some powerful force."

Dasa stood up and waved his cane towards them. "I told you, there's a greater power here. The spirits of the jungle have tired of our hubris and are-"

Melodi cut him off. "It's not the spirit of the jungle, you can stop that now." She scolded him, raising a middle finger to his declaration. "And you can hex me all you want, you've been doing that for years and I'm still here and well, so I'm not afraid of your voodoo."

He snarled and sat back down, cradling his staff alongside his body.

"No, there are no spirits or demons, just gems. And when I said I found nothing, I mean I found nothing out of the ordinary. The villagers were all there, including the few who got into a scrap. I got to talk with them, and they did give me some pretty interesting information. They said that they felt like they were compelled by the gems, that once in hand they had a deep, innate desire to have more, a desire that compelled them to violence. It was uncontrollable, and it only got stronger the closer they got to the other gems. One mentioned flashes of locations and areas before him, but other than that, it just sounded like he was having hallucinations, so he let his friend take the gem. Furthermore, the one with the larger crystal seems to have retreated into her den, and isn't coming out and wouldn't talk to me."

"Did you tell them that you were royalty and they could be hanged for their insolence?" Storm huffed.

"I could have." Melodi admitted. "But the other villagers knew, and I learned more from this unwillingness to talk than I would have asking her questions. Something about these gems we're seeing and hearing about are altering people, urging them to fight each other. From what it sounds like, they are compelling their holder to seek others, as well. Best I can figure."

Storm crossed his legs and clicked his beak as his arms folded on his chest. "And did you think to get any of these gems for inspection? I'm sure we could learn a thing or two about them if we had one in our claws."

"No, I wasn't able to. The one with the larger crystal rock wasn't willing to host me, and the other ones that had the smaller gems apparently fought until a large striped friend of theirs stole all the gems and ran off with them. Would you like for me to go and try again tomorrow?"

"What do you think?"

She bowed. "Yes, my chief."

"In the mean time, I want you both to head back to your den and tent. It's too late to investigate this peculiar event right now. Our eyes are not made for the light of the moon. Stay safe, and meet here again tomorrow at sunrise. Melodi and I will be here, and we'll be having a bit of a chat about today's events. You are dismissed." He offered a slight nod as acknowledgment, still staring straight at Melodi.

"Yes my chief." Dasa agreed, submissively bowing as he walked backwards out of the chief's living room, eventually hopping over the railing to leave the three avians in the room.

Toumak was about to bow and take his leave as well, but had to ask. "So what are we going to do with these crystals once we find them? Do you have a plan?"

"Not really. Gems are gems. We don't need them here, and though I'm sure having more shiny things to play with would be nice, it seems like they're enchanted - or worse, cursed. We have no use for cursed items in this village, they are likely to be destroyed. But that's none of your concern, just find them and bring them to me." He got to his feet, a noticeable bulge seen in his loincloth. "Now if you don't mind, I have a mare to attend to."

His eye twitched a moment as he got a brief glimpse of the swollen sheath form pressing out against the inside of the loincloth before he was able to force out his response. "Y-yes my chief." He wanted to stay, to get in between the two of them, but he still wasn't sure if Storm knew about his experiences with Melodi, and didn't want to incite another conflict within the one that they were dealing with.

Though it required great restraint and respect on his part, he was able to quietly leave the Chief's home, gliding down to the ground where he happily disappeared into his den to once again fantasize about the princess.

Day 02:

He tossed and turned in his nest, an unnerving sensation throbbing in his ears that kept him from the serenity needed to sleep. Something felt wrong, like an ominous threat to his well-being that he couldn't shake. His fingers tingled, and it felt like his wing feathers were actually vibrating on his back.

After nearly an hour of constant tossing and turning, Toumak finally got to his feet, digging his talons into the wood of his floor in frustration. As he curled his toes, he felt like his extremities had fallen asleep, a gentle poking sensation traveling through the flesh accompanied by an odd numbness. Since the best way to remedy such an unpleasant sensation was through activity, he decided to go for a walk.

Night time was good to him, usually. The other avians were always asleep, and any activity in the village done by felines at night were usually quiet and reclusive, so even if others were out, he likely wouldn't interact with them or even see them; they would be too busy hiding while they hunt. As a fellow hunter, he understood the value of seclusion.

However, when he emerged up the steps from his den to the village's marketplace, he got an intense pain in his ear that brought him to his knees, single finger pressed up against the little nub inside to dull his sense of hearing. Mostly, it was just the surprise that hurt, because once he adjusted, the sound and feeling was just uncomfortable, not painful.

When he got back to his feet, he started to notice a deep, droning hum that seemed to come from the skies, the ground beneath his feet, and the trees surrounding the village. It was an all encompassing sound that neither fluctuated nor weakened; just a long, steady droning.

"Well that explains why I couldn't sleep." He said to himself, ear flicking as though that would discourage the humming sound from drilling at his skull. It didn't work, of course.

"So you hear it, too?" Melodi's voice cooed out at him from above. She was in a tree, her emerald green eyes piercing the darkness. Once toumak looked up to her, she grabbed the branch, spun around, and flipped down to the ground next to him, one talon wrapping around the root of a tree for balance. "I don't suppose you can tell where it's coming from, can you?"

He shook his head. "No, it sounds like it's coming from everywhere all at once. As I move my head, I notice no difference in pitch or frequency. You think it has to do with these purple gems the nearby villagers spoke of?"

"That's exactly what I think this is. Both the feline and avian mentioned that the gems came with a humming sound, like they were vibrating in their hand. Clearly this is linked, but the problem is that we have no way of finding any crystals or gems of we can't pinpoint the source." She stepped up next to him, her shoulder just above his.

His heart went aflutter, feeling her warmth emanating from her feathers. He loved being this close to the princess, but as always he remained respectful, avoiding flirtatious words while also preferring to keep his mind focused on the droning hum that could be heard and felt throughout the village. Toumak did feel unnerved, so he paused before heading out to gather his feathered bow from his den, stocking up on arrows.

Both of them went for a walk together, pacing through the empty marketplace side by side as they talked about their villagers, Storm's ornery behaviour in the wake of the light in the sky, and Dasa's persistent insistence that it was some sort of other worldly message or omen. Melodi naturally rejected the spiritual as she preferred to focus on the realm of the living, but others in the village - including Chief Storm - tended to follow his advice and heed his words.

Toumak remained unsure about the existence of spirits and the effectiveness of Voodoo, so he opted to stay out of that discussion entirely. All he knew was that he worshipped the gods and respected the land that fed him. That was all he needed without interference from additional spirits or getting distracted by hexes and curses.

Both Toumak and Melodi paced through the village, visiting each of the boroughs to see if moving had any impact on how intense or pitched the hum remained. To their dismay, it didn't seem to matter where they were, it felt and sounded the exact same. After a few hours of chatting and reminiscing, both decided it was time to return to their homes. The sound wasn't as intense inside or underground, even if it did make sleep hard.

While they were heading back, they heard a bit of a disturbance in the bushes behind one of the huts. Before they could investigate, a dark furred feline leapt out from the treeline, kicking off the side of the building to lunge at the both of them. His eyes were tinted purple - the same color as the streak of light that lanced across the sky at the beginning of the crystal-related event - and trained directly at Toumak!

He dodged and rolled to the side, grabbing his bow in the process so he could ready an arrow. Melodi also moved to the side and raised her hands in a fighting stance, the telltale teal mist of magic starting to billow out from her palms. They glanced sidelong at each other before preparing themselves to fight the feline attacker.

As they watched, the mysterious feline of black and gray spun in the dirt and crouched down with one hand pressed to the ground with the other raised up with claws ready for a fight. His tail flicked behind him and his eyes shone a royal purple for a split second before he lunged at them again, pouncing with claws outstretched.

Toumak leaned back and drew his bow, ready to catch the feline mid-pounce, only to have Melodi lunge forward and tackle him out of the air with enough force to slam him into the side of a building, a satisfying crack echoing out in the marketplace. The feline cried out in pain, but then wrapped both his arms around Melodi's neck, twisting her spine into an awkward bend until Toumak loosed an arrow into his shoulder, weakening him.

He let go of Melodi and kicked off her chest with enough force to make her stumble on her hooves, nearly folling over until she leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. Toumak checked to make sure she was alright, and when she gave him a knowing nod, he grabbed another arrow and shot it directly at the assailant's chest.

To his surprise and shock, the feline shifted his weight, moved to the side, and deflected the arrow with ease, eyes glowing purple as he did so. Toumak could see a glowing gem in the feline's belt, wrapped in tight leather, and that's when he started to grow worried. This cat was insanely aggressive, violent, and strong for a feline, and was able to not only get the upper hand of not just Toumak - a superior hunter - but also Melodi, who was an accomplished warrior as well as a princess.

The danger was real, and Toumak knew if he didn't go on the offensive, this aggressive feline would continue to attack. He grabbed another arrow and was about to shoot again, but the cat was already one lunge away from him, pouncing forth and smacking the wood of his bow, simultaneously making his arrow careen off into the distance while also barreling forward into his chest, the weight knocking him off balance.

Though the feline was perhaps half of Toumak's size, he was fast, he was strong, and compared to a hollow-boned gryphon, quite heavy. Before Toumak could react, the feline had already kicked the bow out of his hands and was rapidly slashing at the gryphon's chest with claws ready to rend feathers and flesh from him. Toumak was able to dodge and avoid each attack, ducking under some swings and backing away from others, but he knew this wouldn't last forever once he hit the treeline and couldn't back up any farther. Once in the dark of the jungle, he would be at the mercy of any feline, let alone one seemingly enhanced by a gem in his belt. His vision was poor at night, he wouldn't stand a chance.

Luckily, a burst of fire erupted from his side, a pillar of ember and flame shot from Melodi's outstretched hand. This distracted the feline enough and threw him off balance so that Toumak could get a powerful heel kick in, knocking him back onto his rump in the middle of the clearing.

Toumak grabbed his dagger from its chest sheath and prepared for another attack, his eyes glancing back and forth between the feline's gaze and the gem on his belt. He noticed that, right before an attack, both gem and iris pulsated in a bright glow. He used this to prepare himself for the next imminent attack.

When the feline lunged, he was prepared. His blade was in hand and he brought it up to meet the attacker's throat, ready to end the fight right there. Wouldn't have been pretty, but fighting to the death rarely was. However, the feline had outstanding reflexes - even for a cat - and was able to deflect the attack mid pounce. Toumak expected this, so he used the shift in weight to grab and flip the assailant over and slam him down. As all felines do, he twisted in midair and landed on his feet, using the momentum to pull Toumak off his balance.

It was about to devolve into hand to hand combat - something this feline seemed to be somewhat better at - until Melodi leaned in with powerful lightning crackling from her fingertips to his neck and head.

That level of power would have easily stunned all but the strongest warriors that Dalon had ever seen, yet it seemed to do nothing to the feline any more than make him shield his glowing eyes and swat as though the arcs of electricity were little more than annoying jungle bugs.

Toumak's eyes went wide as he realized just how powerful this beastly feline was. He dove to the side and grabbed his bow and shot another arrow directly at the assailant's torso. It landed square on his chest, plunging through and stabbing out his back, only to have him hiss and snap the arrow in half, pushing it through and pulling it out with his tail, the wound ceasing its bleeding nearly instantly. Toumak did the same, this time aiming for the heart. The cat simply raised a hand in catch the arrow in midair, rending it in two with the use of only his fingers and palms while his other hand was up, palm out, to absorb the lightning that Melodi was lancing at him.

The fight seemed hopeless when a vein of what looked like fiery magma traced across the dirt from the edge of the marketplace, each tendril extending forward to form a circle around the feline. Toumak could see that it was Dasa with the end of his staff pointed down, the source of the magma tendrils.

Though the fiery liquid erupted from the ground and formed a sort of cage around him, the feline simply stepped forward through the molten bars, the heat sizzling on his skin and bursting his fur into flames before having the bubbling wound scab over and grow hair in its place, glowing eyes staring directly into Toumak's.

He readied another arrow, knowing full well there was nothing it would do before a heavy lance rained down from the sky, plunging through the feline's body from collarbone to hip and stabbing into the ground, pinning him in place. The molten cage lost form and splashed in a thick puddle of flame around his feet as a shadow passed over the clearing followed by Storm landing with his hind paws on the feline's shoulders, slamming him to the ground in a satisfying crunch followed by the hiss and sizzle of fire rending flesh from bone.

In spite of the immense violence and trauma, the feline still raised his hand to the sky in defiance, claws reaching out to slash at Storm's leg before the Chief stomped his head into a pulpy mess and grabbed the gem pocket from his belt.

Toumak, Melodi, Dasa, and Storm all glanced back and forth at one another while they waited to see if anyone had anything to say. Toumak was heaving with his bow still in hand but lowered. Dasa seemed to be calm and collected, but had a sinister look on his face. Melodi still had sparks bursting from her fingertips, but was mostly fine aside from breathing heavy. Standing tall with blood on his calves was Storm, the end of the lance in one hand and the pouch with the gem in it in the other. He growled while he glared at the other three.

"One measly lowborn feline, and the three of you couldn't take it down? Pitful."

Melodi shook her hands clean of the remnants of bolt that were still leaking from her fingertips. "No, Storm. That was no ordinary feline, it was immensely strong, stronger than any Jysarian warrior I've ever come across. HE was faster, stronger, and seemingly immune to magic and had unrivaled healing abilities. Neither Toumak nor myself are weaklings, and he danced around both of us, mostly due to it being night and felines having better night vision than us."

"Hmph. If you say so. Time to get some sleep. We have quite a day ahead of us, don't we?" The chief yanked the lance from the ground, pulling bits of flesh and entrails from the feline up with its barbed tip. He tapped it to the ground to shake some of the mess from it before Melodi called out to him.

"Aren't you worried about the gem's effects on you now that you have it in your possession?" She asked, leaning in towards him with a raised hand, as though she was prepared to handle the burden.

Storm shook his head. "No, my mind is not nearly weak enough to be affected by some low frequency humming gem. I will see you back in the nest, we have plenty to speak about upon the rising of the sun." With that, he turned and took to the skies, leaping back up into the air and returning to his home in the treetops.

Dasa followed, shaking his head in dismay at Melodi. "I told you, the land is rebelling against your lack of belief." He tsked at her and hopped up into a tree to follow, heading back to his own home in a lower tree than the tall one that housed Storm and Melodi.

She came up next to Toumak and patted him on the shoulder. "Good fighting there, this mess of a cat won't be bothering us anymore." Melodi kicked at the pile of fur and blood and torn flesh before them, the smoldering magma crackling as the pool of blood reached it. "Try not to think too much of it. I have to go and visit the barracks to see just what can be done about this mess. Get some sleep." She gave him another pat on the back, then the rump before walking away, hooves clopping in the dirt.

He nodded and chirped a bit, retrieving one of his arrows from the mess of feline before him, eventually returning to his den.

The steady drone of the hum remained, but it was dulled and he was too tired to let it keep him up. He simply laid a pillow over his ears and went to sleep.

=================================

When Toumak was awoken the next morning, it wasn't by the stomping of feet above him or the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, but by the soft, hollow sounding thuds of hooves on the wood of his floor. When he turned, he saw Melodi next to him, about to crouch down on the side of his nest. She turned and lifted her tail for a brief moment, allowing him to see before she sat.

"Good morning." She cooed at him, a smile on her beak.

He was, of course, naked and vulnerable in this position and if it was anyone else he likely would have grabbed the dagger from under his pillow, but this was Melodi. "Good morning to you, my princess." He was still on his side with eyes glued shut from the grogginess of sleep, but he managed a brisk, respectful bow.

"Storm has decided that we are to go on a hunt." She started, not wasting any time in getting right to the point. "This morning after our little battle with the peculiarly strong feline, he was back at the nest playing with the gem, staring at it, coddling it, and mumbling about finding the others. Then, in an emergency meeting this morning with Dasa and Storm and myself, Dasa convinced him that he needed to find the others or perish." She rolled her eyes, then continued. "So, now that Storm knows that possession of these gems, these crystals, enhances one's powers and helps them to be resistant to all forms of magic, he's decided that his next conquest will be to collect as many of them as he can."

"As many as he can?" Toumak shifted so that he was leaning on his elbows and looking directly at Melodi. "How many of them are there? We only know of a few."

She sighed. "I don't know. Apparently he says there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, scattered all over Epicelia, and I have no idea how he knows that, but when he gets an idea in his mind there isn't much we can do to change his mind or slow him down. So, he's determined that three teams will be fanning out in all directions, concentrating all our hunting and gathering skills to find these glowing gems. Said to kill anyone who got in our way."

"And you were okay with that?"

"Not at all. He's aggressive, but I've never seen him with such a lust for blood unless it was of the virgin type. This scares me." She flopped onto her back next to him and pulled her legs up onto the bed. "So I don't know what I'm going to do about this. We're to leave within the hour, and he told me to personally come get you."

Toumak sat up and crossed his legs, hands covering the bulge in his crotch that was forming in his sheath. Despite this being a dire circumstance and an emotionally heavy time for Melodi, it seemed impossible for him to get the fantasies out of his head and the moment he smelled her sweet aroma. It was even harder to resist when she leaned over onto her side and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him down to lie with her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice cracking.

"That isn't the right question. You know what I'm doing, the question is why." She pushed him onto his back and rolled over on top of him, straddling his hips with knees on either side of his belly. Her emerald green eyes were piercing into his as she grinned. "But I'm not going to tell you." She winked and sat straight up, the leathers of her skirt tickling his belly and upper thighs as she gyrated her hips against his.

He curled his toes and whimpered, the excitement pooling in his nethers as the pressure forced his member from its depths to rub against her velvety lips.

Melodi pushed her hips down against his, her wetness smearing against the underside of his shaft while she smiled and chirped at him. "I can see you're quite easily excited. Just be quick, dear. We only have a few minutes before Storm or Dasa comes wondering what's taking so long." She winked and reached back around her rump and under the leathers of her skirt to gently roll his balls between her fingers.

Toumak nodded as he gritted his beak tight, hands cautiously resting on her hips to hold her in place as he arched his back, the motions peeling his sheath back to expose his knotted length. He was still nervous about being intimate with her, but dare not leave her unsatisfied. She was hot to the touch and dripping wet, so he knew she was in the mood; since she was a hippgryph and he a gryphon, there was no chance of accidental eggs, so he didn't have that to worry about. Knowing that, he dug his heels into the edge of his bed and bucked up into her, the motion forcing his cock to shift as more of his sheath peeled back, the tip of it sliding between her lips and plunging slowly into her.

She grinned and rubbed at her chest plumage, emerald green eyes staring directly into his as she licked her beak, her thigh muscles contracting as she bounced lightly on his member. She twitched her muscles and contracted her abs to squeeze around his length, massaging it with expert grace as her equine clitoris tensed and folded out in a wink, tiny spurts of her own lubricating fluid trickling down his shaft to soak sheath and belly fur. The aroma of her sex was darting out from under the overlapping leather of her skirt, blasting him in the face with each gently bounce.

"That's so nice, how are you so tight with Storm being as big as-" Toumak started, grunting out the question through a gritted beak, eyes squinting shut.

Melodi clenched her muscles with enough force to nearly force his length from her depths, clamping down on either side as she started grinding and gyrating her hips to his, lips kissing at the peeled back sheath. Her motions made his member slide back and forth rather than in and out, rubbing it as her muscles twitched in waves starting at the tensing of the clit and ending by undulating up towards her womb. "Practice." She cooed at him, her knees squeezing his waist as she kept massaging him.

The gryphon threw his head back and idly bucked his hips up in unison with her clenches and squeezes. He wasn't prepared for this sensual encounter, so he found himself trying to hold back and not finish quickly, but when he attempted to pull out and cool off, Melodi clicked her beak at him in disappeoval.

"I thought I said we only have a few minutes. Go on, hun. Finish up; I want to feel your seed in me while we're out." She leaned down close and pressed her chest to his, the warmth of her feathers sending a tingle through his body as she gyrated her hips, the motions forcing his length to penetrate in shallow thrusts while also sloshing front to back in her slit.

Her lips were pushing against his rapidly growing knot, but not swallowing it. They didn't need to in order to coax the cum from him. Her warmth and motions mixed with the slickness of her smooth fleshy walls brought him to his climax rather quickly.

Toumak whimpered and chirped in delight as his talons dug into the leather of her skirt, his hips forcing themselves up to meet hers as his knot lobes throbbed and a burst of his essence splashed against her walls. He twitched and clenched his pelvic muscles to make his member pulsate and twitch, further massaging back against her constricting muscles. With every spasm, he shot another strand of cum into her while also whimpering and chirping gently in delight.

After a couple minutes of idle ejaculations, he eventually relaxed and collapsed on his bed, arms laying out to the side as his member twitched inside her. Normally, it would have deflated and withered as it was sucked back into the sheath, but instead the knot was still throbbing and pulsating against her velvet lips, eager to be swallowed by her warm flesh.

Melodi smiled and churred at him, her tail flicking up and down in tune with her pleasured pelvic pulsations, each one sucking his length from knot to tip. She shifted from side to side, pulling up her hoof on one side with her knee still down on the other, her motions never allowing his member to be pulled from her depths. She kept moving until both her hooves were against his sides and she was sitting on him, then quickly stood up with one fluid motion to let a bit of their collective juices dribbled out between her legs to splash on his thighs and belly.

While she was standing, she pushed out her hip and twitched her clit again; from his angle, Toumak could clearly see her glistening flesh as it throbbed. She leaned down and rubbed her beak to his before hopping off the bed and heading towards the door, tail swishing behind her. "Come on, soldier. We have a hunt to attend to." She teased before leaving the room and waiting in his common room.

He groaned a bit with his arms and legs spread out behind him on the nest, a smile on his beak. His eyes closed as he did his best to mentally commit that little encounter to his long term memory, poring over the juicy details and the physical sensations as his knotted cock kept drooling seed all over his belly fur. The lobes were finally deflating, allowing his sheath to swallow up the length and brush the lubrication off his shaft and leave it in a puddle on the fleshy opening.

Toumak slipped his finger inside the sheath and rubbed it around before bringing it up to his beak, sniffing the combined scents of his own sex and hers before licking his finger and getting up to get dressed.

=================================

Outside, it was exactly as Melodi had explained, but the hum had completely dissipated and he couldn't hear it at all. Maybe it was because there was more ambient noise as the marketplace bustled in the early morning, or maybe it was a temporary thing, but either way it was gone. Storm was out rallying the troops, his one hand balled into a fist with the gem firmly in his palm. He told the soldiers and warriors about how important it was to find these gems. He gave advice on how to find them, how to better chart their progress, and how to capture them and bring them back to the Chief in a leather bag.

The hunters were not to touch the crystals; if he found fingerprints or smudges on the crystals, he would have their finger tips put in a stew and fed to their families. Storm was known as being quite aggressive and naturally aggressive, but that was considerably more threatening than Toumak or any of the other hunters were used to.

Still, they all saluted the Chief and were off, flying high above the jungles in loops around the circumference of the city. Three groups of five were to fly in a V-pattern, trailing the border in a line, then shift outward and go a bit farther in circles around the village until they found another settlement to circle. It was either that or head to the mountain and go in straight north-south lines, slowly heading east to scan the entire jungle.

Arrenthen was a reasonably large nation, with millions of inhabitants - nearly half of which were in and around the capitol castle - so it would be hard to do this jungle scan without alerting anyone. The walkers such as Melodi and other felines and equines would be patrolling in an opposite loop, counter-clockwise to the flyer's clockwise, doing the exact same pattern in growing circles around the village's border, then repeating the process around a new nearby settlement.

As hunters, it was Toumak and his crew's job to be discrete but thorough. He could do that. Weird as it was that Storm had such a strong change of heart about the value of the crystals, he was still the Chief and still the operating leader of the village. He was the biggest and the strongest, no other gryphon, feline, hippogryph, avian, or equine dared challenge him.

The day was slow as could be, slowly shifting from a cool morning to a hot afternoon. In time, Toumak decided it was time to take a break, get a drink of water, and maybe harvest or hunt some food instead of gems. "Come on hens and drakes, it's time to take a break." He insisted, only to have one of the others protest.

"Storm said not to break until we found something."

"I found a watering hole, and look, seems purple to me. Come on, let's go have a drink." Toumak laughed, angling his wings to dive towards the clearing. The others chuckled and followed.

All five gryphon hunters were kneeling next to the lake, slurping at the clear water while fish and other marine life flitted about between the freshwater coral. Toumak drank his fill and decided to relieve himself; he hadn't done so since his tryst with Melodi, and he really needed to clean his pipes.

When out, he heard a snap in some branches nearby, followed by a whisper. "She's here."

He spun around and spread his wings to look intimidating, sheathing his member again before relieving himself. "Who's there?" He asked, loud enough to match the volume of the whisper but not loud enough for his flying squad to hear. "Answer me."

Of course, nobody ever answers when demanded to answer, so he lifted his loincloth and marked a tree, eyes peeled and ready to catch any motion or sounds should they crackle through the dense forest. He was ready, but saw nothing when another voice called out. "Come, follow." It clearly came from the south, ahead of where they would be searching soon.

Toumak shook his tip and put it away, idly pushing aside some ferns to get closer to the sound. This time he heard the sound of rustling, snapping twigs, and the gentle thudding of feet kicking against gnarled roots and densely packed forest dirt. With the sound of prey before him, he got into hunting mode, crouching down to be as silent as possible. Slowly, he crept forth, brushing aside ferns as silent as he could, careful to not lose the audio cues from the prey.

He tracked whatever it was for nearly a full kilometer, ending up at another clearing far, far away from his encampment. Another voice called out to him in a hushed whisper. "Wait, stay, she will be here soon." The voice was so quiet, he wasn't sure if it was real or a hallucination. Perhaps it was telepathy - he heard that was possible, even though he'd never heard or experienced such a thing before, so he wasn't sure.

Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of something dark flitting through the trees in the distance. It looked like a bat, only larger and shaped like a biped with wings for arms. The fur was gray, black, and brown, with fiery red hair and a wolf tail. It was unlike any sentient creature he'd seen before, and wasn't one of the many species he was familiar with in the area around the jungle. His eyes remained trained on it as it leapt from one tree trunk to the next, flapping to stay aloft while dodging and weaving through vines.

When it came to a stop, it stared right at him and he heard another voice. "You're almost there, be patient."

Telepathy. It had to be the only answer. Whatever this creature was, it was speaking to him in his mind, making it sound like it was whispering; clear enough to understand the words, but obscure enough to be mistaken and give him second thoughts about what he heard. Clever girl. He was about to grab his bow, thinking about shooting a warning shot against whatever it was that was baiting him, but then he was distracted by the sound of a very large creature in the bush next to him.

He spun and grabbed his dagger, ready for a fight.

But was greeted not by a beast, but by the familiar sight of Melodi, Tail up and skirt raised as she leaned down to grab the biggest, brightest purple crystal he'd ever seen. Again, he felt the familiar hum in the air as he got close.

She smiled as she looked over her shoulder, her hand against the tree for balance as a single drip of his cum trickled out from her lips to dribble off the clit. "Can I help you?" She asked with a cheeky grin, still leaning over to grab towards the crystal, which was far too big to fit in any of the leather satchels they'd brought.

Despite the heart that was leaping in his chest and the cool flow of adrenaline that was surging through his torso, he couldn't help but feel that familiar swell under his loin cloth.