Walking to his home, Lecter showed the twins around. They walked slightly behind him, perhaps still a bit cautious. He had been nothing but cheery the entire time, still the boys were not trusting.
'I wonder if our identity is the problem.' Raten glanced at his brother. 'What if we had said our real name. Would he be walking with us right now?' Raten thought as they walked.
"We're here." Lecter said, stopping him in his line of thought.
The brothers looked up at the house in front of them. It was a tall as a two-storey building.
"He's at the back, come on." Lecter said, walking towards the backyard. The twins picked up their pace. Their level of joy was at it's peak already. They couldn't wait to see a griffin up close.
"Goldfield ?! Goldfield ?! Goldfield!" Lecter called out several times as he walked around. "Don't tell me you've gone out again." He mumbled. "Goldfield!"
Raten and Kiyan believed now he must have been bluffing.
"What sort of joke is this?"
"He must have gone into the woods." Lecter said, smiling nervously. He was beginning to sweat. 'They must think I was lying now.' He thought. "Where are you, goldfield?!"
"He's just wasting our time." Raten sighed, watching as he hopelessly called out for what he thought doesn't exist. Look of disappointments were evident on both their faces. When suddenly, Lecter was swept off his feet and lifted into the air by a creature. It played around with him in the air a for a while, before coming back down.
"You certainly took your time, eh goldfield?" Lecter smiled stroking the feathers of his griffin. It wasn't as large as the ones they saw earlier, reaching just short of their shoulders. It's eyes had a golden hue, thus it's name.
"You, you weren't bluffing!" The twins whom had their mouths hung open, blurted.
Goldfield them turned his attention to them as soon as he heard them speak. It had a fierce look in his eyes, getting into a striking stance. The twins took a step back in fear.
"Be calm, they are friends of mine." Lecter said touching his feathers softly. Goldfield looked at him and back at them. Moving its tail back and forth slowly, it sat down next to Lecter.
"It understands you?" Kiyan asked.
"Of course. You can come closer now, he won't harm you."
Hesitantly, not without trepidation, the twins walked closer to where Lecter and the griffin sat. Going down on their knees next to the griffin, Raten stroked the fur on the lower body.
"So cool!" Kiyan squealed.
"How were you able to tame it ?" Raten asked.
"It's more like I raised it. Four years ago, I and my friends wondered into the woods. There, I found him. Young and badly wounded."
"Oh. You nursed it back to health."
"I did. With the help of my parents of course."
"They just let you keep it?" Kiyan asked.
"Obviously not. But, I wouldn't let him go. After much bickering, I got to keep him."
"He's beautiful." Raten complimented taking his hands off.
"He is so soft." Kiyan let himself fall onto goldfield's back. Startled, goldfield spread his wings and took off to the sky.
"AARGHHH!" Kiyan screamed as he was taken aloft.
"Not everything you throw yourself on." Raten shook his head.
"Goldfield, come back down!" Lecter yelled. Goldfield kept spinning in the air, flying around in circles, getting close to the ground and flying back up.
Lecter and Raten could hear Kiyan's screams from the ground. Having flown high up to the sky, goldfield spun his body, his head faced the ground, his tail faced the clouds. He shot himself down like an arrow.
"I CANT DIE LIKE THIS!" Kiyan yelled, his eyes closed shut as he held on tight to the beast.
"Lecter! Do something!" Raten screamed at him worried for his brother.
"Goldfield! Please, stop this!" Lecter yelled, worried as well.
"AAARGHH!" The griffin kept falling at a great speed. Lecter and Raten were beginning to feel the wind blow past them. When they thought he would crash to the ground, he stopped abruptly, few metres above the ground.
His wings flapping slowly, as he landed. Kiyan shaking with fear, fell of it's body. He seemed paralyzed. Looking at his brother, Raten could see the tears that fell from his eyes.
"Are you okay ?" He asked kneeling by his side.
Goldfield walked over to Lecter who heaved a sigh of relief. "Showing off, I see." He smiled. "Sorry about that. He was just messing around."
"Messing around?!" Kiyan who now sat up, yelled. "I could have died. If not from the fall, from fear." He laid back down on the grass, gasping for air. "That was awesome!"
"I heard screaming. Are you okay ?" Running out the backdoor of the house, a lady with a scarf placed on her shoulders, just over her simple lengthy silhouette with a worried look asked.
"Nothing's wrong mother. Goldfield was just taking my friends for a ride." Lecter replied. She was relieved he was okay. Glancing at the ones her son called friends, she tilted her head.
"Good day, ma'am." They greeted, their voices a bit shaky.
"Your friends ? I have never seen them before." She squinted her eyes looking at the boys.
"That's because we just met. Their names are Kiyan and Raten. They just moved to this city." Lecter explained. His mother mouthed an 'oh'.
"And your way of saying welcome was to introduce them to that beast of yours." She lifted a brow. "Why don't you boys come inside ?" Turning her attention to the twins, she offered with a smile.
"We would love to, but we have to get going." Kiyan said, rising to his feet.
"Huh, but why ?" Lecter asked.
"Our father's waiting for us at the town's square." Raten stated their reason. "We took a lot of time to get here and all, he must be getting worried. Might even think we've gotten lost."
"In that case, you had better get going then."
"I will see them off." Lecter said to his mother. Hurriedly taking goldfield back to his cabin, he ordered him to stay put. Then returned to the twins, they left together.
Walking back to the town's square, Kiyan had nothing but the look of glee on his face. He hummed with every step he took leaving the other two wondering what got him that happy.
"What are you so excited about ?" Lecter finally asked.
"The griffin. I can't believe I finally ride one." He replied grinning from ear to ear.
"Were you not crying and screaming your lungs out a while ago?" Raten raised a brow. Lecter chuckled.
"That was only because it took me by surprise, and acted like it wanted to kill me." Kiyan pouted his lips. "Hey Lecter, you said you've had him for four years. Now i'm curious, how old are you ?"
"Thirteen. That's how old I am." He answered with a weird smile.
"You don't look thirteen." Raten said. Looking at his build, he was a bit chubby, with round eyes. Anyone would have guessed he was around same age as them.
"I guess I'm a bit short for my age."
"That's not the only reason." Raten stated plainly and carried on walking. "I honestly thought you would be our age or younger."
Lecter furrowed his brows at his comment. "How old are you two anyway ?" He asked.
"We're eleven." Kiyan answered. "If I could I would make myself older. I just can't wait to go to Darkmoon academy and finally become a wizard." He sighed.
"You still have a lot of waiting to do. Five years of waiting to be precise." Said Lecter.
"Five years ?! That's too much time. I would be so old by then." Kiyan kept whining.
"You'll just be sixteen." Raten said, as a matter of fact.
They finally arrived at the town's square. They weren't sure where their father, along with Demas was. Turning from Left to right, the searched for them. The brothers were beginning to think they had left in search of them.
"There! I see him." Raten pointed in a direction, not too far from them. The other two then turned in the direction he was pointing. They couldn't see who exactly he was pointing at, so he lead the way. As they took a step forward, Lecter stopped in his path.
"Lecter! Hey, Lecter!"
He heard someone call out his name. Turning around, he wondered who was it that called him. He then sighted, from afar, a friend of his waving at him to come over.
"Hey, Kiyan, Raten, i..." He paused after turning to find no one. Just where did they go ? He wondered.
*******
"They've been gone for too long, the sun is almost setting." Demas stated his worry. "Don't you think we should search for them ? They might have gotten lost."
"You might be right." Agnar gulped the last bit of drink from his cup. Placing it back on the counter, they stepped out of the inn they had gone into. "Which way do we go first ?"
"That way." Demas looked ahead to his left. "That is where they ran off to." Agnar nodded in agreement. They both were about going off in that direction, when they sighted two boys run in their direction.
"Father! You're here. We were looking for you." Kiyan spoke, as the neared, trying to catch his breath.
"We did tell you to meet us right here, didn't we ?" Demas said.
"You certainly took your time. What were you out doing ?" Agnar asked with a smile, seeing how happy they looked.
"Just a few things. We made a friend even." Kiyan answered. " He's right he--" he paused.
"Huh ? Where did he go ? He was right behind us a while ago." Raten stated confused. Staring behind them, all he could see was people moving about.
"Did he disappear ?" Kiyan asked.
"How could he ?"
"Don't ponder about it too much,he must have left." Agnar said taking his sons by their arm. The four of them then began their way home. "Why don't you tell me about your day as we walk."
"Gladly." Kiyan answered with a smile. Looking at Raten, a smile could be seen on his face as well.
Giving every detail about their day as they walked. They all seemed cheery. Demas and Agnar chuckled a couple of times. Especially at their argument about Kiyan's ride on a griffin. He said it was amazing and he wasn't scared at all. While Raten objected telling the full story. They conversed till walked through the gates to Demas' home.
After spending the whole day out, Demas had told Marie to prepare a meal for them all. The twins were, especially, hungry. They all ate when it was ready and now sat in the living room. The twins sat across the room from the men.
While they were having a feel of the city, Demas and Agnar were having a serious conversation. Agnar had told him everything they had faced, and how the boys were now, more than ever, eager to understand everything. Not forgetting his promise to make things clear when they arrived in Raldon, he decided to tell them everything now.
There was no need avoiding the conversation any further. Especially now he stopped them from saying their last name, he knew they would be more inclined to know. Honestly, they deserved to know the reason for everything.
"A lot of questions you've asked over the years and I provided no answers. The best I gave was I made a 'mistake'. Giving it a lot of thought, there is no need keeping it from you both." Agnar took a deep breath. He glanced at Demas who nodded for him to go ahead. The twins were beyond curious, excited? They didn't know what they felt. They were just glad to finally get their answers.
Whatever it was seemed to be hard for Agnar to say. Sighing, he looked up at his sons. "It began three hundred years ago..." He started.