Here we were, in front of the cave and Adrian was focusing his spiritual powers at the portal to see whether he could learn anything on or from it about where we were going or what it was made of. We were sure that Adrian would survive there but what about me? I wasn't a centaur and we didn't know whether I would survive there.
We had stayed on the mountain for a full day after the Oracle came and it was Adrian who convinced me that we should go because we didn't know what we would find in Aska. And the sooner we went, the sooner we would return back home. I was just so tired that I wished I could rest more.
Adrian insisted we see a doctor but I refuted him. I'm a Griffin and I could tell when others were sick. And with our powers now, it was hard for any of us to get sick. That means I could also tell if I was sick or not and besides, we were now cultivators. Not unless I was hurt physically, I couldn't get sick. That much I knew.
Anyway, here were now on our way to Aska.
After studying the portal for a while, Adrian assured me that it was safe to go through and we got ready. He did this and that (you know, whatever it is centaurs do to mess with space. Flipping his hands and his fingers around and swirling and all that.) and we entered the portal when the doorway opened. This one wasn't like the normal ones Adrian usually makes. This one had a blinding light in it and the sucking energy was more than usual. It felt like travelling in a vacuum. I'm sure if a human went through it, they would be crushed.
The feeling of travelling through it was like being sucked in a vacuum and it was suffocating. If our physical constitutions were any weaker than we were, we would have been minced meat plastered to the sided of the portal before we could get to the other side. It took longer than usual and I guess going to another dimension isn't the same as going through portals in the same realm.
We travelled for a minute or two and we were suddenly flung out on the other side and we landed with a thud because we had relaxed and we really didn't know when we would land on the other side. I threw up because I felt like all that sucking force had churned all my insides and I couldn't help it. I threw up until I felt like I threw out even my personality and energy.
After getting our orientation back, me, I mean me because when I came to, Aiden was already standing and helping me up, we saw a huge expanse of land that looked like a dessert. It was one huge desert with gleaming white sand.
"What the fuck! Of all the places we could have landed, it had to be a dessert!" I said baffled at the oddity of it all as I took a sip of the water Adrian gave me.
"Don't worry. At least we can teleport or fly from here. Thank all the gods for that," Adrian comforted me.
"You are right. If we still have our powers. Let's check," I said and we did. At least our powers were working fine.
"But we can't teleport since you don't know where we are. I guess we will have to fly. Let's get out of this place. It's so hot here. and judging by the position of the sun, it won't be long till evening," I said as I changed and bent for Adrian to get on me.
"You just threw up. You sure you are up to it?" He asked doubtfully looking at me with worry written all over his face.
"I'm okay. I just felt uncomfortable there for a while but I'm good now.
He sat on my huge neck and held onto my the feathers and after confirming that he was safely secured I screeched as I soared. This was the best part of this Griffin thing. Flying. When I was grinding on air, aaah! I felt at home. I loved it. The best thing about eagles is that we can soar as high up as a plane and see very far.
After a while, we saw a forest and we decided to land there and walk the rest of the way because we didn't want to reveal that we were strangers in this land before we met that priestess Aida.
I changed as we landed and we started walking immediately. It looked like evening would be with us soon and we didn't want to be in the forest at night as we didn't know what animals lurked in it at night. Heck, we didn't even know the type of the people who love in this place.
As we were walking and talking about the eventualities we might encounter, I sensed movements in the forest and I looked at Adrian and he seemed to have sensed it too. We pretended we didn't notice and we could already tell there were six people.
They jumped in front of us and blocked the way.
"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" One of them, who looked to be the leader, asked with a smirk and he spit dark saliva on the ground.
Whatever he was chewing wasn't doing justice to his teeth and lips. I swear looking at him made me nauseous and I was about to vomit again. To prevent myself from throwing up, I held onto Adrian and leaned my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and willed myself not to feel nauseous and it worked.
"Are you okay?" Adrian asked me.
"I'm well. Just felt nauseous for a while there," I said and I looked at the men who were looking at us strangely as if they had seen an apparition.
"You two seem to be close. Very close. Interesting. Now, give us all the gold coins you have or spirit stones and we all will all be on our way," The man said again and I avoided looking at him because... why didn't he brush his teeth? Disgusting !Yuck!
"We don't have any coins and we have no idea what spirit stones are," Adrian answered.
They all burst out laughing. "You think you can lie to us? I can sense that you are a centaur and all centaurs use spirit stones to cultivate. You haven't reached your current level just by using spiritual energy now have you?" He added again and Adrian repeated what he had said, again.
"Okay. If you want it the hard way, the hard way it shall be. MEN!" He bellowed and all the other five changed into their centaur forms.
They weren't as magnificent or as big as Adrian. And their colours were dull too. Grey and dark brown. Pooh! They won't be able to do anything even if they tried. Their spears looked like kitchen knives when compared to my man's.
"I, we, don't want to fight you," Adrian said.
"But we do. You alone can't defeat us and your companion seems not to have any powers at all. It will be an easy and a conclusive one sided battle. You should have given us your coins and stones when we asked you to," he said and they stood on ready waiting for their leader, who had not changed yet, to give the order.
I couldn't help it and I laughed. Like I burst out in an uproar.
"What are you laughing at?" The leader bellowed while shooting daggers at me.
"Oh, sorry, forgive me. They just look funny. Laughable if I might add," I said while struggling to stifle my laughter.
"You think it's funny and you are just a mere human. Attack him first. He ordered and they charged. I wasn't in a hurry to change because I was more than sure that Adrian could handle them.
When they were about to reach us, Adrian changed, and all this was a matter of seconds.
Aaah! Magnificent! Adrian's centaur has never ceased to awe me. He looked ethereal and beautiful. He stood tall and the others looked like ants in his presence.
By the way I just realised something. When Adrian transforms, he's usually encompassed by a silver light and these men just changed and there was no light or anything to indicate that they were changing.
Maybe they are different? I don't know.
By the time Adrian had transformed and his figure revealed, the men who were charging towards me all fell on their knees and lowered their heads in submission.
"What! You are loyalty!" Their leader said with his mouth agape.
It was going to be interesting and my curiosity was now piqued.
Maybe it wasn't going to be a bad start after all.