It was a few more uneventful days until the four finally reached their destination. Torrent and Griffin mostly stayed away from each other during the flight, and when they did interact, it was rarely more than a few cold words. Schist and Crystal talked between each other a bit more, mostly Schist drilling Crystal on the Ice Kingdom and the northern Sand Kingdom (which she had spent a fair amount of time in while apprenticed to Boreal). Crystal found him a little overbearing at times, but he made for nice company, and was deeply fascinated with everything Crystal had to say about her homeland. In some ways, it was nice to have someone that would just listen to Crystal talk about herself.
As they got further north in the Sky Kingdom, Crystal became more and more certain that they wouldn't be caught by Queen Scarlet's patrols. It was cold, almost as cold as parts of the Ice Kingdom up here, and SkyWings preferred their climates a tad warmer. Eventually, they had to stop going along the coast and go inland, but it didn't seem like that would put them at much risk.
As the three moved closer to the interior, the mountain chain rose high above them. It was clear to Crystal that Torrent and Schist were having trouble breathing at those heights, and the four were having to stop much more frequently. It was cold and dry, and eventually they reached heights tall enough that the trees were no more.
It was in the mountains where they finally reached their destination on Torrent's map: an enormous plateau in the middle of the mountain range, surrounded by snowy peaks all around. The four touched down on the empty expanse of dirt and dry grasses. A herd of yaks was grazing on said grasses, not too far from the dragons, and a few scavengers were herding them around. Seeing the dragons (and the unusual gryphon) not too far from them, they ran frantically towards one of the peaks, abandoning their livestock for safety among the slopes surrounding the great plateau. The four ignored them. The yaks would make for far better meal if needed.
Torrent breathed heavily, still unused to the thin air of the mountains. He attempted to stand up and appear strong, but Crystal knew better. Schist was doing the same, in addition to shivering. The frigid climate of the north-eastern Sky Kingdom was not for him, even when it wasn't yet winter.
Crystal and Griffin, on the other claw, were doing just fine. Crystal had spent much of her life among the tall peaks around Queen Glacier's palace, and the cold was no hindrance to an IceWing. She wasn't exactly sure why Griffin was unperturbed, but she supposed it was something to do with him being an enchanted statue. Now that she thought about, Crystal had never seen him eat. Strange, but not too much of a surprise.
The only visible landmark in the area was a crumbling stone statue in the center of the plateau, sticking out like a SeaWing in a crowd of SandWings. Griffin took a few paces closer to it, and opened his eyes in surprise. "Look!" he jokingly yelled back to the dragons. "It's me!"
"What?" Torrent scoffed, as he went closer, still gasping for breath. As he examined the statue up and down, he realized Griffin was right, at least somewhat. Although parts of it had crumbled over the ages, it did appear to be a statue of a gryphon, made from a dull marble.
Schist stepped over and examined it curiously. The statue rested on-top of a small granite pedestal. There appeared to be some writing on the base, but even if the MudWing could have made it out, the script was too old for him to read. Was it made by SkyWings? There didn't seem to be any around.
"It's not you," Torrent grumbled. "It's probably Talon or some other mythical figure."
"I-it looks a lot like Griffin," Schist pointed out, shivering. Griffin nodded in agreement.
Torrent shook his head. "No, it's the other way around. Orca modeled Griffin on descriptions of gryphons from legends. She might have even used drawings of this statue as a base for her own work." Torrent looked up and down at the statue, then towards Griffin. A sudden movement from Griffin's head startled the SeaWing for a second. Saying Orca based Griffin off this was an understatement, it was more like plagiarism.
Meanwhile, Crystal had been scanning the surroundings. "You sure your map is right?" Crystal asked Torrent. "All I see around here is the statue and a bunch of yaks; no animus dragons."
Torrent coughed. "My map doesn't lie. We might be a little off, but I know there's one somewhere nearby." He looked around at the desolate landscape. "If I were an animus in hiding, this is where I would go. There's no one here."
"If-f they're in h-hiding," Schist shivered, "m-maybe we should leave them alone?" He wrapped his wings around himself.
Torrent shook his head. "They could be hiding because they killed a bunch of dragons, and they're still an animus. They have magic, and they can use that power to murder and slaughter. We need to continue."
Schist nodded, even if he wasn't quite sure he agreed with Torrent's reasoning. Torrent pulled his dagger out of its sheath, and pointed it around, feeling the amethyst for any warmth.
"There," he said, pointing it towards one of the slopes. "I'm picking something up. That's where our animus is."
The four walked across the great plateau in silence for what seemed like an eternity. It was a lot larger than it had looked from above, and every time Crystal noticed the mountains ahead, it was like they hadn't gotten any closer. Suddenly, she looked around at the others nearby, and realized their numbers had dwindled. Only Griffin and Schist were next to her. Where had Torrent gotten to?
She looked ahead, and Torrent almost at the entrance to a small cave, nestled in the mountain slopes. How had he gotten so far ahead? she wondered. We've all been walking at the same pace. "TORRENT!" she yelled. She spread her wings, and lifted into flight, going towards him at an uncomfortably low altitude. As she flew towards him, she realized that she wasn't getting any closer. She looked down, and a strange dizziness overcame her, causing her to plummet straight into the ground.
She rolled head over tail, the rocks beneath scratching her scales up. Fortunately, all were minor wounds; the pain quickly subsided, and she recovered to her senses. She shook it off, and got back on her feet. It was just scratches and bruises, and they would heal.
Griffin looked over at her, confused on what had happened. She had been flying much faster than they had been walking, but she still hadn't made any forward progress. How come Torrent — oh. Griffin realized what was going on, this was some animus enchantment, designed to keep them out. It was fortunate it hadn't been of a more deadly kind. They would need to be more careful as they continued on.
"Torrent!" Griffin yelled. "We need your help with an animus enchantment!"
Torrent looked back, hearing Griffin. He frowned, and thought for a moment, hesitating.
Don't you dare go on without us, Griffin thought angrily. Don't even think about it.
After a long moment, Torrent made his choice. He started walking back to the group, and held out his dagger. He disenchanted whatever had been done to the land around them, and Griffin's vision went shaky for a moment as he readjusted to normality. "Let's hurry," he suggested to Schist and Crystal as he ran towards Torrent, finally making progress.
The four finally reached the cave entrance, a small entrance in the cave wall with blackened scorch marks all around the exterior. Torrent poked his head in. "C'mon," he murmured.
Inside the entrance, the cavern opened up to reveal an enormous oblong room. Shimmering surfaces of gold were scattered around the floor, with a hoard of shining treasure around their edges. Griffin went up to one of the pieces of treasure, a golden chalice with rubies and diamonds embedded around it.
"Wow," he replied in shock, "I've never seen so many shiny objects in all my life. Did Queen Coral have this much in her treasury?"
Torrent shook his head. He didn't know this much gold existed in Pyrrhia, and this was only the first cavern in the cave system. This animus was filthy rich. Unless. . .
"Queen Glacier didn't have this much either," Crystal pointed out. "She preferred gems and silver to gold, though. They fit more with the whole 'Ice Castle' theme."
Schist gave her a look. "Wait, you saw Queen Glacier's treasury?" he asked in surprise.
Crystal nodded, and held up the Darkstone around her neck. "That's where I got this," she fibbed. In truth, she had actually taken it from her father's laboratory, but she had gone into Queen Glacier's treasury a couple times, when Boreal had asked her to fetch some gems and metals to test the effects of the Darkstone on inorganic materials. The tests didn't prove very useful, but it was interesting to see Glacier's treasury. But this, this was so much greater. The perfect gleam of each and every piece of treasure, as if they were washed by claw each morning.
Griffin held his talons out, and picked up the golden chalice to look at it closer. Torrent saw what he was doing, and yelled out, "Don't touch it!"
He was too late, and Griffin quickly dropped the chalice, throwing it onto one of the perfectly flat gold surfaces. When it hit the surface, a wave of molten gold splashed up. Griffin jumped back, barely avoiding getting splashed by the feather-searing metal. The chalice slowly sunk into the liquid gold, viscous waves slowly settling.
"All this treasure might be enchanted!" Torrent pointed out. "It could've killed you!"
Torrent brought his dagger near a golden crown on the side of his path. The yellow gleam of gold faded to a dull grey stone, showing the gold was truly just pebbles and water, behind whatever enchantment the animus had made on it.
"So it's not real?" Schist asked, looking closely at a pile of gold coins.
"I'd say it's real," Griffin muttered. "It was enchanted to be gold, and unless Torrent goes near it, that's what it truly is."
Torrent nodded. "Let's continue on. I don't need to spend my time in a room full of fake gold."
Griffin gave Torrent a quick glare, but followed behind him, Schist and Crystal after.
The four went through a few more rooms full of enchanted treasure, each more glorious and shimmering than the last, until they finally reached their target. A large dome-shaped room was where the path ended, with gold piled up in mountains around the cave walls, a river of molten gold beneath. The walls of the cave were covered in precious gemstones and coated in yet more gold.
At the edge of a mound, a SkyWing perked up, hearing the four walk in. Molten gold coated the bottom of her body, as if she had been sleeping in it. The golden coins around her were all melted and deformed, almost liquified. She stood up, with a glare of ferocity and anger, and took a step towards the group, gold dripping off her tail and legs into puddles on the ground. Torrent could feel the radiant warmth emanating from her scales as she menacingly walked forward.
"Hello," Schist introduced himself nervously, "I'm Schist, and this is Cr — "
"I don't care what you are!" the SkyWing screeched, rage trembling through her voice as her talons shook. "You were sent by Erosion, weren't you? A bunch of dragonets, that's what she sends after me?"
"No, no," Schist continued, "w—"
"LIAR!" the SkyWing yelled, pacing back and forth. "Tell her I'm keeping the animus magic, and if she wants me to give it up, she can enchant Copperhead back to life." She bared her teeth. "Or maybe I'll enchant your corpses to tell her."
Keeping the animus magic? Torrent wondered. Did that mean someone gave her animus powers? That's possible? He was shocked, suddenly remembering what River had asked before Orca had murdered her. She had demanded that Orca make her an animus, but Orca didn't think that was possible. But if this SkyWing was telling the truth, it was possible. And it meant that Griffin could've been saved without River's death. Orca could've just let River have what she wanted, and no one would have died.
Torrent snapped out of it. This was no time for regrets. "Get close to me!" he yelled at the others. Schist, Crystal, and Griffin huddled up against him, just in time.
"ALL OF YOU BURN!" the SkyWing animus yelled. The air around the four erupted into flame, singeing the tips of Griffin's feathers. Yet, it stopped short of turning them all to ashes. Torrent stuck his dagger out and rubbed the emerald, and the flames immediately subsided.
The SkyWing animus didn't even look surprised at what had happened; her face, eternally contorted in anger, didn't budge. Torrent leapt out at her, claws outstretched, and his dagger ready to stab through the SkyWings scales.
Suddenly, the SkyWing dodged to the right, scraping the tips of her claws along Torrent's snout and neck, down his gills. Torrent let out a bloody scream as he fell to the ground, making the other three tense up in alarm. The smell of searing flesh filled the room, emanating from Torrent's gills. It made Griffin want to retch. Torrent twitched limply on the ground, crying out in pain. The scales on the side of his neck had fused together with his gills and the pink flesh beneath from the severe heat of the SkyWing's claws. Whatever had done this, it wasn't animus magic.
The SkyWing turned down to look at her victim, grinning in delight. She lifted a claws up, planning to end the twitching SeaWing, when Schist suddenly rushed forward. The SkyWing glanced up in surprise.
"STOP!" Griffin screeched. He lept towards Schist, attempting to pull him back, but was too late.
Schist charged into the SkyWing, throwing the side of his back against her as hard as his body could allow it, throwing her across the room and away from Torrent, into a pile of partially melted gold. The odor of searing scales and flesh filled the room as Schist let out a blood-curdling scream. Griffin was unable to process it. His talons shook rapidly. This wasn't how things were supposed to be; Torrent should've been able to kill her quickly. Schist's voice quickly subsided. Griffin couldn't bear to look, and turned his feathered head away, shrinking back.
The SkyWing stepped over Schist's limp body, smiling as she looked down. The entire right side of his body had blackened scales seared into flesh. Little to nothing remained of his wing membrane on that side. If he was alive, it wouldn't be for much longer.
Crystal stepped forward, next to Torrent, and looked up to the SkyWing in an expression of shock and anger. Her lips pulled back to a snarl as the SkyWing laughed. The young IceWing trembled for a second, then opened up her jaws and let out a stream of frostbreath all over her enemy.
Any normal dragon would've been dead within seconds at a point-blank hit to the face, but when the superchilled breath hit the SkyWing's scales, it burst into steam, spreading out from the two, and quickly obscuring the two from Griffin's sight. The steamy enveloped the cave, spreading uncomfortably across Griffin's feathers, condensing into droplets of water on them.
Griffin hesitated for a moment. What could he do? He couldn't fight the SkyWing, he'd be burnt to death. He could escape, and maybe save his own life, but that would condemn Torrent and Crystal to certain death. Yet, what other choices were there?
Griffin thought for a moment. If this dragon was an animus, then Torrent's dagger could turn her to stone. Yet, if another dragon, this 'Erosion,' gave the SkyWing her animus powers, then it would instantly make her not an animus when it got near, rendering the dagger useless.
Orca had mentioned something about the dagger being able to have exceptions to what it disenchanted, but only if Torrent allowed the said enchantment to remain. Griffin had been skeptical of going near it, knowing that he could be condemned to his previous mineral state if Torrent hadn't 'allowed' him. That wasn't a chance he'd wanted to take. Yet, the dagger hadn't killed him when he'd stood next to Torrent to protect himself from the SkyWing's enchantment, and Torrent's map had worked fine when the dagger was around. So maybe there was a chance.
Griffin blindly walked further into the cave. He heard the SkyWing and Crystal chasing each other, like a game of cat-and-mouse, with Crystal continuously spewing her frostbreath, keeping herself invisible. That couldn't last forever: she'd either run out of frostbreath soon enough, or the SkyWing would get lucky and 'catch' her, burning her to a crisp.
"Torrent?" Griffin called out, hoping he was still conscious. If he wasn't, then they were all doomed.
Fortunately, Griffin heard a faint groan in reply, and followed the sound to its source. He was able to make out the shape of Torrent lying on the ground, the dagger in his claws.
"Torrent," Griffin said apprehensively. There was no time to worry about his friend's well-being, or injuries. That could be dealt with if they survived. "I need to you to say, 'I allow the enchantment giving magic to the SkyWing animus.' Just like that."
Torrent let out another groan, and twitched a little in pain.
"Please, please," Griffin begged, "just trust me. You need to do this, for everyone."
Torrent muttered out some words that Griffin couldn't make out, tangled and strewn together. The steam was beginning to clear. Crystal's frostbreath reserves were at their end.
"You said it, right?" Griffin asked. He didn't receive an answer. There was no time to try again. Griffin crouched down to Torrent's claws, where his dagger was. If he was wrong about the enchantment, Griffin would be dead the instant he touched it. He took a deep breath in, and placed a shaky talon on its hilt.
He let out a sigh of relief, maybe a little too soon, after he realized he was still alive and conscious. Griffin picked up the dagger with his talons and spread a feathered wing out, using it to sense wherever the temperature was hottest in the cave. He heard movement in that direction, and decided that was where the SkyWing would be.
Griffin walked over, heart pulsing in terror. He noticed a small pull from the dagger, as if it were trying to return back to Torrent, but ignored it. When he got close enough to the heat source, the steam had emptied out enough for him to see the silhouettes of the SkyWing and Crystal, the former chasing after the latter.
Griffin rushed forward, placing a talon on the dagger's pearl, and stabbed it with all his willpower into the SkyWing's leg. It only took a moment before the heat of her scales forced him to withdraw, but that was enough. A grey layer of stone quickly crept up her body, turning her insides to rock. There was a short squeal before it was done, and where a SkyWing animus had been once before, only a statue remained, her face still in a twisted expression of complete and utter rage.
Griffin stepped back as the steam cleared, and dropped the dagger, which slowly clattered across the floor back to its owner. As she clutched the Darkstone around her neck, Crystal stared in silence at the stone SkyWing. Torrent sprawled across the ground in agony. And dropped in a mound of gold coins and countless riches, whiffs of burning flesh emanated from Schist's dying body.