Rising with a start to the sound of chatter in the camp Granberia made a quick move for her sword and groaned in pain, her aching body even more sore from a night of sleeping on the ground. She blinked a few times to try and clear her vision, she was surprised to see everyone gathered around the fire. Even Tamamo who normally never left her rock was standing among the tightly packed crowd. Rising painfully from the ground she made her way to the excitedly chattering group.
As she neared the outer rim she noticed Alma Elma turn her head to look in Granberia's direction, "Hey Granberry over here" she said playfully as she made a small spot next to her in the circle. The dragon took her place with a frown, for a time that nickname only served to anger her...but now it brought pain of watching her once cheerful friend attempt in vain to still boost the moral of the group. Looking into the circle to see what had everyone so curious he shoo her head socked. Standing on the stones around the burnt out fire was a battered harpy, her crown and distinct aura familiar to the dragonkin as the Queen of the harpy race. The older harpy smiled as she noticed the last guardian join the meeting "Hello there Knight, glad to see you could finally join us". Feeling her face flush with blood she looked away in embarrassment, the queen laughed before facing Tamamo.
She smiled and turned her head "I am here to offer you a place on our migration, normally this something that we don't offer to outsiders of the tribe...but the saving of one of our young ones last night has led us to believe that maybe it is appropriate to give up our secret as our world is ending". She stared directly at the kitsune queen before she gave a nod of her head "If your band would so kind as to meet us in our village as soon as possible I would be most appreciative". With that the harpy flapped her wings taking off into the sky.
As the rest of their troop began to discuss this new revelation Granberia turned to her sisters "What place do those bird brains honestly think could be any safer then here right now, the rest of the world is a minefield for our kind". Erubetie rubbed her arm before chiming in "While I do find in rather silly to think that fleeing our current sanctuary is smart, I think it would not hurt to at least see what the harpies have to show us". The four conserved for some time before finally informing the band of monsters that they were moving out.
In the time it took the monsters to reach the harpy settlement the sun was already growing dim behind the approaching wall of clouds. It would seem a storm had decided to come their way, and this one looked like it would probably be bad. Granberia rubbed her shoulders as her and they moved further into the cold forest towards the coast, being part reptile was bad enough in this kind of weather but the fact that her her reptilian armour only covered her legs and forearms didn't help. Like all monsters she shared many characteristics with the humans she hated so much, the only non human thing about her particularly was her scales and tail. Other monsters got away with remaining their primal form...but they were rare and few between these days. Shivering in the ocean breeze she trudged onwards until she noticed the kitsune she had been trailing behind stop.
They had reached the sea, the vast swirling blue before them only halted by the impossible wall of fog in the distance. To their groups left the small band of harpies moved to greet them, Granberia was sad to see that despite the isolation only a few of the original population remained. The queen harpy moved and shook the hand of Tamamo who acted as their improvised leader in the absence of Alipheese. "I am glad you were able to make it, honestly if you would have taken much longer then we would have had to leave you" she said sadly and shook her head "The opening is only present for a short time". Raising an eyebrow the elder fox asked cautiously "What opening, why is it you brought us here"?
As if by some miracle of timing as the kitsune finished her question the sun made a last surprisingly strong beam push through the cloud layer. The beam pierced the fog across the water and in a shocking visual show actually pierced through to some degree. The area beyond the wall was frothing as the powerful currents worked the waves, something in the distance oddly static amongst the moving sea. As Granberia slit her eyes in an attempt to sharpen her vision she gasped, in the far distance was the shores of another landmass. And island of medium size by the looks of it, a third larger then fairy island back on Sentora perhaps.
Tamamo managed to close her mouth long enough to stammer "Since when has there been an island out there, I have lived for hundreds of years and even I never knew of this". The queen harpy stepped up beside the fox and frowned "It has been a legend in our tribe for many years, the lost continent in the waves...the land the world forgot". Granberia continued to stare out at the distant island as the harpy continued "We have never actually set foot here ourselves, but legend tell of a land to dangerous for man or monster to occupy, a land the goddess herself fears to tread". The rest of the harpies joined them at the edge as the sun contained to illuminate the forgotten world, "the legends of our people speak of creatures forgotten by man and monster, they're might was said to be so powerful they shook the earth.
Only half listening to the story Granberia began to feel a small glimmer of hope return to her heart, a land mass that was only rarely visible, an island in the one place humanity would never go...a aplace to start a new life. She climbed back down to reality as the harpy queen suddenly grew serious "We need to go as soon as possible, we can fly through the storm but unfortunately my flock is too weak to carry your crew... I am sorry but you will find your way through in the rocks down below". With that she rose into the air and began to lead her flock towards the distant angry clouds and mist.
Tamamo looked down the sheer rock face to the waves below, nestled between two jagged points laid a makeshift raft that looked a good hundred years old. Made of large tree trunks held together with strong vines, it was amazing it had survived the battering waves. Staring at it like it was the last thing she wanted to trust her life to Granberia turned when she heard a Harpy call out from the distance "You guys may want to hurry...I can see the end of the forest from here and it looks like a large force of humans is on their way back"! With a last panicked squawk she turned tail feathers and flew after her village.
The group sat in silence before they exploded into panic, they fought and writhed over each other like furious snakes in an effort to start down the cliff. Only when the voice of Tamamo rang out did they stp fighting and all look at her, fuming a bit and her ears red he fox sighed "Everyone down the cliff face in pairs, hold onto your partner and you will reach the bottom". With the orders set the group began their way down the slope, Granberia was partnered with Erubetie which proved a bit difficult as holding onto a slime was harder then gripping a wet soap bar. After much struggling, bickering, and moping the group of thirty or so monsters managed to make it to the raft, the ominous slope of rock above them much scarier from below then from above. With little choice and no home to go back to they sadly climbed on board, clinging to the aged and weakened bark like a life preserver they cast off.
The minute they reached more then thirty feet off the land the sea came alive, the ocean roared as it began to batter their flimsy boat. Granberia honestly had to secure her blade between the notch in a piece of wood to stop herself from flying off the crud ship, her sisters had all similarly anchored themselves in an attempt to provide a safe secure place in the raft center for their remaining family. They rowed and rowed with all their strength they had left...but the sea was more powerful then the monsters. The ocean currents dragged them out to sea so fast and chaotically they could not make out their surroundings.
After what felt like hours of fighting the sea Granberia opened her eyes a tiny bit, to her relief the island was within sight. Its jagged sides anchored amongst a minefield of spear tip like rocks, the shape of the island almost gave her a vibe of the mountains that encircled Hellgondo. Breaking off her sword from the ship she attempted to use it to paddle in the water, the others did their best to help to little effect.
Just as it would seem they would pull themselves into the rocks and about of the open sea they felt the raft tugged backwards, accompanied by several cries of absolute horror the raft was caught again in the current and pulled away from the island. As their one hope began to fall away the group once again descended into utter chaos, monsters running around the deck in sadness. Reaching out for the fading island with cries of utter defeat, the merciless roar of the ocean drowned them out as a heavy layer of rain began to batter the from above.
Looking back towards the island Granberia saw that the beam of light from above was beginning to fade, the wall of fog was beginning to sweep back in. Sitting down on the wood in utter defeat the dragonkin actually felt the sting of tears reach her cheeks, "we were so close...so close to freedom" she thought in as her tears turned into full on crying. Even the normally stone faced slime queen and succubus queen wept bitterly as their only hope was nearly completely consumed by the fog. Closing her eyes and bringing her hands to her face the dragon wept, she wept against her own wishes in pure terror. Their only companion the clap of thunder and groan of the ocean.
After several minutes of being pulled along another sound reached the dragonkin's ears, a sound she had never heard anything like before. An unearthly echoing howl that seemed to come from the sea itself, the storm itself silent as if in awe if the phenomenal sound that dared eclipse it. She lowered her hands to observe the world around her, some monsters were pointing back in the direction that they had been swept away from. To her amazement the shadow of something truly massive was sliding beneath the waves towards them.
The creature was so massive that by the time is pulled beside their raft Granberia's estimate was in the range of sixty to seventy feet, it easily dwarfed their raft in size. The shadow kept pace with them before several moments before releasing that unearthly howl again. It dove deeper and for several minutes it was no longer in sight, she heard one of the younger kitsune begin to speak up when they were all thrown off their feet.
Their raft was all of a sudden speeding in the direction of the unknown island, they skipped over the waves so fast that they had to put all their strength into holding on. Granberia checked over the edge to see whatever the shadows directly under the raft, they were riding atop its back. The island very quickly came back into sight as they raced around its perimeter, avoiding the majority of the jagged rocks the monsters could only hold their breath. The shadow beneath them slowed for a moment as they rounded a corner into some sort of calm alcove in the rock face, the water much less turbulent and the rain at least kept out by the overhead stone roof. The group stared up into a ceiling of absolutely enormous stalagmites, hanging over them like the teeth of some giant undiscovered predator.
They thoughts were shattered when all of a sudden they stopped moving forward, the raft sat quietly in the water a few dozen feet from the shore when the world turned upside down. The creature beneath them had either breached or stood up as their raft was lifted high into the air then dropped, as Granberia collapsed into the water she felt her body reach the absolutely freezing point. Her vision fading and already battered body over taxed she drifted in unconsciousness as the water rushed to fill her nose and lungs.