Muffled crying could be heard echoing in the dark dank rebel cave, one of the hostage guards heard this and applied the proper hilt to the head with his sword on the crying young griffon teenager, “Shut up you whiny excuse for a youngling! You can cry all you want when your parents purchase you back for a pretty bit, and am sure you’ll make out of here unharmed HAHAHA!” The crying griffon kindly shut his beak and just shivered in fear.

“Hey Bryce be a little gentler to the prisoner please! We can’t trade a corpse to the stuck-up politician! You don’t want to be shoved back into the the ‘pit’ now do you!?” The other griffons just laughed loudly at this, “S-sorry boss! I just wanted to shut him up! I don’t want to end up in the ‘pit’ again please!” The rebel leader just flicked his claw at the blubbering rebel, “Just shut up and guard the prisoner! You don’t need to use up all your very small amount brain cells to do that!”

Why do I have to hire these excuses for griffon warriors!? The leader angrily thought to himself, he gripped hard against a rock formation next to him If if wasn't for the King’s new freak of an elite guard from Tartarus striking down our bases like fodder! I would not be in this situation! If that bastard dares interfere with ANY of my plans I will personally introduce him back the Gates of Tartarus itself! An loud sound of rocks being crushed to dust echoed throughout the cave.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and creaking sound emitting from the steel door entrance, “What the?!” A guard flew up the entrance of the rebel base, “Hey! If this is the deliverer for the ransom, we explicitly said you give it to one of the guards OUTSIDE of the base! What are you doing here!?” All the other griffons looked up at the door quizzically, and the rebel just banged his fist against the door, “Are you deaf! Give me an answer or I will slit the prisoner’s thr-”

CRASH! BOOM! The metal door tore off its hinges as it hit the griffon yelling at it, knocking him unconscious on the other side of the cave. The rebels in the room looked terrified at this revelation as they got out their weapons, yet the boss looked absolutely livid as soon as this happened, “Hey we are trying to conduct a proper ransoming here! Whoever had the balls to break the deal: SHOW YOUR FACE!”

sparkle sparkle sparkle As if the devil himself heard these words a gargantuan monstrosity of muscle and armor pulled itself through the opening of the cave and declared, “ROYAL BUSINESS!” Every griffon in the room automatically backed away to the other side of the cave from hearing this.

What they saw truly terrified them: a bipedal giant, with brown skin, the most nasty and commanding glare on its face, and covered in what can be assumed as a military uniform with three stars and the Griffon Kingdom emblem on the middle of it. It turned its head to the cowering griffons as spoke its name thus, “I’m Gamagori Ira, Member of King Sigmar’s Personal Guard!”

After staring in shock at this supposed giant lackey of the King, the boss of the rebels just gritted his teeth in anger and pulled out his sword, “So it seems my wishes were met!The freak loyal pet of the king shows his ugly face in my layer!” He pointed it directly at Ira’s furious glare, “I will strike you down like I have with many others of the King’s blind followers! MEN! To me! Charge at this freak!”

Recovering from the shocking reveal of the invader the rebels staggered into attacking positions with their variety of metal weapons, and charged Ira. Gamagori only smirked and brought out his spiked whip provided by Sigmar’s personal blacksmith, and lashed with precise strikes at each of the charging griffons. The painful screeches of the rebel boss's men could be heard echoing across the cave as their armor fell apart and were knocked unconsciousness.

Surrounded by piles of his men the leader burst a vein yelled at the giant, “YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” The griffon gripped his sword and plunged the blade to his chest, screaming in agony and fury as his blood splattered from the chest wound and mouth. “Hm, took the cowards way I suppose” Gamagori inquired, and was about to confront the prisoner when he saw the boss’s body glow in an aura as the sword vanished. “Sacrificial magic?!” Ira was amazed to see for the first time, then instantly the supposed dead body contorted and bones cracked as if under possession.

It then spoke in a distorted voice, “YEs! I MAy NoT hAve ThE StrEnGth to DEStroY YoU, BUt I ShaLL StrIke yOu DOWn FrOM thE AfTerLIFe.” The undead griffon started to charge at impossible speeds towards his prey. Gamagori quickly dodged the dead griffon’s claw strikes, as they hit the rocky wall and shattered them into pieces, “You have increased your speed tenfold, and this strength you possess is otherworldly, impressive…” Ira observed while still dodging, when he suddenly chose to let the dead griffon hit him square in the chest to tear apart his uniform and flesh, but by the abomination’s surprise there was not even a scratch of damage.

“...Unfortunately my uniform grants me strength not of this world. Even greater than most magic I’ve encountered” Gamagori then started to pummel the dead griffon at ludicrous speed, and then sucker punched him across the room, “GaHHh! W-wHaT aRE yoU!?” The undead griffon choked out as it lay covered in its own blood on the wall.

Gamagori just walked up to griffon, and place his hand on its head, “Like I told you before:  ‘I’m Gamagori Ira, Member of King Sigmar’s Personal Guard!’ And you are no longer meant for this world!” then in an instant Gamagori snapped the griffon’s neck, permanently banning the undead atrocity to the other side.

Still shivering in fear, the young prisoner, after watching this… this thing take care of the rebels like they were nothing he was even more afraid for his life. “YOU!” the prisoner squeaked after hearing the giant scream at him, “You are safe now! I will make sure you return safely to your family!” The prisoner just scooted back against the wall and whimpered, “THERE IS NO NEED TO FEAR ME! FOR I AM A SERVANT OF THE KI-”

“Jeez are you trying to mentally scar the kid even more than the rebels?” another griffon appeared from the entrance of the cave, a female clad in traditional griffon king guard armor and armed with a dual-bladed sword at her side. “Ah, you finally arrived Eleanor, I knew I could safely leave you to take care of the rebels outside” Gamagori observed. “I told you already to call me Ellen! Is that so hard to ask lug-head!? Sighhhh, anyway, yes the rebels outside are all knocked out in one piece, mostly. Anyway, let me take care of the kid will you? I think he needs a distraction from the otherwise fictional giant from his nightmares” Gamagori slightly glared at this insult, but gladly let Eleanor take care of the prisoner.

“He-he’s not going to eat me right!? That thing does not eat griffons right!?” the prisoner cried out when Eleanor pulled off the beak-gag. Eleanor then helped the prisoner walk out of cave and comforted him, “Don’t worry kid. He may seem ferocious and deadly on the outside, but he’s really a big pushover once you get to know him.” Gamagori, ignoring that, proceeded to tie up the unconscious rebels to prevent future escape.

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(Later at a tavern in the marketplace of Eagle’s Peak)

“So Ellen, did he do his little announcement after breaking into the layer?” one of the guards asked. “HAHA! Of course he did! I was not there to see it, but it is impossible to not hear it in a 10 mile radius!” Gamagori grunted while blushing a bit from being mocked for his traditions in striking fear in the enemy.The guards chuckled at Gamagori’s expense and proceed to continue with their duties. Ellen then proceeded to chug down more cider.

“Eleanor, I demand you stop drinking at this time! There could be a rebel attack at any moment! You already consumed the amount to be worthless in battle!” Gamagori demanded. Eleanor just waved this off and slurred, “AHH shut it you big lug, I only had about 1, 2, 15 mugs, but that does not matter! We have the most fortified city on Equine!”

Eleanor chugged some more, then surprisingly spoke with seriousness in her voice, “So tell me. How was your first experience fighting someone using forbidden dark magic?” Gamagori looked down at the table, “Despite my… lack of knowledge of seeing that type of magic face to face, I’ve read enough upon it in the King’s library to know that magic like this does not make the enemy invincible, despite its great power it gives to the user. Still though… I can’t help but to feel pity on those who think giving up your soul is reasonable enough to gain power.”

Eleanor signed, “To think that it has been only a year since you since you took up the position next the king, and you already express power to overcome anyone or anything, not even dark magic can stop you! Also you’ve become closer to the king than most of his family! Not that I’m complaining, but I worry sometimes that something will take you away with all this attention on you.” Eleanor blushed after realising her stated concern, “Not that I would miss you or anything! You’ve always made me and the other guards look bad in front of the King! It’s just… oh god my head... I think I think I need to lie down.”

Eleanor then proceeded to collapse on the floor of the tavern and snore very loudly. Gamagori just sighed loudly and proceed to carry the griffon over his shoulder, and started the journey to carry her to her room in the castle. She was always this way ever since he met her…

(1 year ago)

On the first real night Gamagori got some sleep, he was plagued with dreadful thoughts about the fate of his comrades; most of the night was just constant reminders of them screaming in frustration at Nui and Ragyo, and worst of all: the cry Mako emitted when she saw the life fate from him.

When Ira woke up in the morning, he got up to rub the sleep out of his eye, and started to look at the only thing he was able to bring to his ‘next life’: his uniform, “Why do I have my first issue of my uniform instead of my final one?” Gamagori pondered, it has been one of the many things bothering him since he fell in this world. He then noticed outside his window that the sun was pretty high, and quickly equipped his uniform hoping he did not make his new leader wait too long. King Sigmar told him to report to the dining hall, outside his room and down the hall when he got up.

As he turned and walked into the large royal dining room of Sigmar’s castle, he saw Sigmar himself eating with a couple more griffons in armor that looked extremely similar to Roman general armor, including the galea helmets. Sigmar, at the far end of the table, noticed Ira’s presence, “Ah! My new guard finally awoke from his hibernation!” He then saw Ira’s slight discomfort, “Don’t give me that look Gamagori! Being knocked out for three days ought to tire a griff- or ‘person’ I should say, for a spell. Anyway! Come join us and feast! I want you to meet the rest of my personal elite guard!”

Ignoring the curious and shocked looks from the other griffons, Ira took a look at the breakfast provided. The table looked like what royalty would have, filled with a variety of foods from one end to the other: sausages, fruits, pancakes, pastries, and drinks covered every inch. Gamagori’s stomach could not help be growl at such a set up in front of him, he blushed while a female griffon giggled at this, “and I can see that your stomach agrees with us. Let’s see if this banquet can provide enough for a giant.”

Wearing the armor previously described, this female griffon was slightly smaller than the other griffons he encountered, assuming these were one of the gender differences. These differences also included a distinct feminine look to her face along with longer eyelashes and a smaller beak. Her facial feathers were a light brown with a distinct shadow of red around her eyes.

She patted the set right next to her. Once again, Gamagori was shocked by this amount of informalities, next to the king no less! But a certain pink-haired student reminded him of such a possible phenomenon. He sat hesitantly next to the griffon, and silently picked out foods, while the female griffon just looked up at him with a quizzical look.

Gamagori soon was getting slightly annoyed by this and asked, “Is there a reason you are staring at me so much?” The griffon just laughed at this, “Man Sigmar, you really find the strange ones don’t ya!? Did he fall from the sky or something?” Sigmar just rolled his eyes and replied, “Speak for yourself, Eleanor, I found you trying to sneak off with my family heirlooms, be glad I was impressed with your skills to not imprison you.”

He took a bite of his sausage and continued, “Also, yes, in a way Gamagori did fall out of nowhere, right smack a mile away from the city!” Eleanor recoiled at this news, “First I find out a non-griffon is part of your guard, second he is a giant ‘human’ that has never been seen in Equine, and now I find out that he fell right next to our city! You interest me more and more Gamagori. And call me ‘ELLEN’ Sigmar!” Sigmar just giggled like a child at Eleanor’s rant.

Strangely enough, only Eleanor (whose full name is Eleanor the Swift) and Sigmar conversed with Ira during the late breakfast they had. Despite the slight annoyance with Eleanor’s demeanor, he could not help but respect her past experiences in battle and missions that were depended on her fighting prowess, as demonstrated by Sigmar’s loud boasting of her. The rest of the guard at the table tried their best to avoid even looking at Gamagori, and when they did they expressed either fear or distaste of Ira’s existence.

When Eleanor noticed this she just leaned into Ira’s side and whispered, “Don’t let those bozos get to you, while they may be impressive in battle they lack in social skills. I don’t care if you are a human, minotaur, or even a pony; you're too interesting and impressive to not be a part of the King’s Guard.” Gamagori could not help to chuckle at Eleanor’s moral support, but then she whispered more harshly, “But don’t think I’m going easy on you, there are two rules to stay on my good side: 1. never take my cider from me and 2. call me Ellen, I hate my birth name.” Ira raised his eyebrows at these demands, but silently agreed to these terms, “I think I understand….. Eleanor.” Eleanor then gave an intense mock glare at Ira, and then just giggled out loud, “I think we are going to get along just fine”.

present day

Eleanor to Gamagori was one of the only griffons, that kept him calm and distracted from worrying about his past life, despite her brash attitude she always had a certain charm to her that made even his worst days great, as that same attitude grew on him.

I wonder what she meant by something terrible might take me away. Gamagori pondered, I guess if the heavens decided to put me on Equine they could take me out, and there does seem to be a spreading of name around the Griffon Kingdom, mostly by the King’s enemies unfortunately.

For the past year, for a couple a weeks at first, he got many strange looks from the population of Eagles Peak, but they were more of interest than malice from the public. I only wish Eleanor did not convince a group of younglings that if they disobeyed their parents the ‘giant’ would find them and eat them that one time. It took all day and night to convince that I was a loyal and safe citizen of Eagles Peak to the parents. Now most griffons either ignore or wave to him most of the time now, but still the parents are still hesitant of their younglings to get close to the 'human'.

As Ira walked through the streets of the city to the higher areas while focusing on his thoughts, he felt a wetness on his back grow, and looked over his shoulder to notice Eleanor was mumbling something about a “big lug not letting her drink”, while her tongue was stuck out drooling all over his uniform. Gamagori just audibly groaned at this and complained to himself having to clean of his uniform for the third time today.

*At the same time in King Sigmar’s throne room*

King Sigmar was having a wonderful day today, he got the report that Gamagori, Ellen, and an assigned squad of soldiers were able to apprehend the rebel camp with the prisoner intact, maybe a little shaken eh what’s a little life experience going to do bad for the youngling? Sigmar humorously thought to himself.

A loud echo of a large door being slammed open made Sigmar focus back on reality from his thoughts. “I hope this is important enough to risk damage to royal property, I just had the door repaired from last week’s freak out!” Sigmar groaned loudly. “I’m sorry about that your majesty” the messenger said while bowing in apology, “but we just got a message from Equestria directly from Princess Celestia herself, and it was rather hurried from the ponies that gave us the message, but they said ‘only King Sigmar can read this message.”

Sigmar realizing this might be very important held out his hand to receive the sealed message. He quickly opened the note and started to read the writing inside. Slowly, Sigmar put down the note revealing a grim expression on his face, “What’s wrong your majesty? What does it say?” The King ignored these questions and started to walk towards his bedroom, stress apparent on his face. “Sire is there anything wrong?” The messenger questioned again, worried about what the note said that could change the king’s mood this quickly.

Before opening the door to his private chambers, Sigmar sad to the messenger, “Get all of all generals and my personal guards in here as soon as possible….. we're going to war.” Next Chapter: Chapter 4: To Arms! Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 2 Minutes