"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Cter had…
"I see it each day and it is just as beautiful as my first memory of it."
She had never seen anything so colorful.
"It is good to know that despite everything, everyone will be treated to the same spectacle no matter where or who they are. No matter if you are human or if you are monster."
Never seen anything so vast.
"The sun will set the same for you as it does everyone else."
A flaming orange that no fire, magically conjured or ignited from tinder, could ever live up to. A warmth in its light that those lesser fires could only imitate, but never begin to be the same. With breath paused and eyes glistening, the Monster Mage sat up on her saddle, enthralled by the view that greeted her with a landscape she was familiar with, but that she had never seen cast in such light.
It was under her. It was above her. It was all around her. Like water when bathing, but closer to her, despite being from so far, far away. Further than she had ever seen before.
Further than she had ever imagined before.
"It's a view I would like to show a human one day. A view that I want to share with humans the same as us monsters have seen it. Perhaps it'll bring us closer in a way we were meant to be, I wonder?"
Even Cter's own magic never covered her so intimately as the fiery orange did from the setting sun gently lowering itself below a horizon so far away Cter could barely believe that such distances could be. She had traveled them before, but never seen it all at once. Looking out the windows at the landscape hurrying past the carriage windows on her many journeys were always hurried. Were always streaking by like amateur strokes on a canvas because she always had somewhere to be.
That she had appreciated it before was strange and confusing to her as she let her gaze softly descend over the landscape that moved so slowly before her. Slowly enough that she could take things in despite having somewhere to be. She was traveling faster than she ever had before, but she saw more of the world than she ever had before. Amateur strokes replaced by a master's brush and caress.
The power of a monster against the power of a human.
"Each sunset before my nightly missions I always think the same. I always imagine a human upon my back taking in the sights they never thought were possible. I always imagine it despite the mere suggestions of someone riding on top of me being a partway insult towards who and what I am. I always imagine it despite that friends of mine have become dust at the hands of humans. And I always imagine it even though that after the sun has set I will move to make sure the humans do not get any sleep or peace for their actions towards those lost friends of mine."
A wishful breath was taken.
"Still though, each time I see this blazing copper focus into a shining salmon color, I wish for nothing else than to share this view with a human. I wish for nothing else than to see them realize that there exists a beauty they have never reached before. That the way they see this world of ours is just one view of it, and what they can imagine as beautiful I will show that there lies beauty beyond the farthest reach of their imagination."
A wistful exhale joined together with the passing wind.
"A view of the world that makes them doubt their own eyes. A view of the world that makes them think, and rethink at the same time. The war does not exist here and now. What only exists here are those that have seen this with their own eyes, and those that have not. And both are exactly the same before it. And both are exactly the same towards it."
So warm, the view was, that its shadows looked inviting. Shadows that did not tell of darkness, but of the overwhelming light there was. Long, reaching lines that told of greedy trees, hills, buildings, and mountains, eating up all they can of the warm sunlight before night would come.
And who could blame them?
Cter certainly couldn't. Not when she had her aura widen outside her to catch more of it. To sense the light, to touch it, to be aware of it more! She wanted it all!
To the point where she almost had to close her eyes to take it all in.
"I should have suggested to take with me the Fifth Monster Mage on my back to the negotiations. I should have showed him this. Did I think of him as a monster because he was the Fifth Monster Mage even though I knew fully that he was only called that to give the veneer of legitimacy about the negotiations? Maybe if we would have set off in the late of day rather than in the early then I would have been reminded of what I wanted by this?"
The warmth from the sun comforted less than Cter wanted it too.
"If I had brought him to see this, then perhaps the war would have been over by now? This war is because humans do not understand us monsters, but after seeing this, then they would understand us more. They would be reminded that with us they can experience more of the world than they can on their own. They need us, and that they have forgotten. I want to remind them of that. I want to remind them that they need us, Griffon Commander."
Had Cter done so though she would have missed seeing a dark, irregularly shaped patch move across the ground in the far distance. A small and bumpy cloud snuck itself across the orange glow, bringing with it a moving slice of shadow which pointed down at the ground like an inverse magnifying glass, focusing away light from where it looked down onto. Without any real intent from the cloud its shadow dragged after it on the ground far below, completely oblivious that it covered the beautiful sunset to those below it.
"And the only way I have been able to do that is to scare them. I have only been able to change their minds by dropping large rocks on top of them. Their reason for this sits far too deep for them. It has their feet stuck to the ground as they are rooted in their beliefs. To bring them out of what they've dug their feet into by trying to lift them up is futile. We can only get them out of this rut if they themselves want to. Dropping large rocks on top of them to get them to move is a first step, but how many more steps they will move has been less than I would have wanted. We are able to predict their movements better and hit them with more precision and less risk, and we have managed to force negotiations due in no small part to that, but is it too greedy of me to want more?"
Were they angry, those that the cloud briefly hid the sunset from? Were they upset that they were singled out by no real reason or thought? Only by the mere oblivious and intent-less motions of a singular cloud that drifted by due to whims neither of its own or by any other's? Was it unfair for them if there was no real measure of fairness to begin with?
If there was not any intent, thought, or any other means or hint of decision made, what did it mean to be fair? What did it mean to be unfair, consequently? Did it mean that there was a decision made far, far ago at an age forgotten by any and all that affected things in ways unknowable at the far, far ago age, but which manifested itself as a knowable shadow ages after, both literal and metaphorical?
"Is it too greedy of me to want this war to end by means which I am able to affect? If I can reason that a human would change their mind about this war should they see this view, then shouldn't I want for that to happen? Shouldn't I want to share and argue for that if I feel in the depth of my soul that I am correct? That those that I have shared this idea with already also agree with me, even if just as wistfully as I do? Some of that wistfully still lingers in their dust."
Was it their dust that glittered in the sunlight?
"Their shared wish with me was strong enough to bring with them as they left me alone to make this wish come true. If the wish is enough to die for, then shouldn't I give it the recognition it deserves? Shouldn't I make it become true with all of my will and soul? This war I want to end on my back, no matter how much it weighs."
Or should it–
No, wait!
What was–
He was–
No!
"Oh golly!"
A strong gust of wind pushed into the Monster Mage's face, reeling her back as if punched. She caught the back of her head with her hand before her neck became too bent, but as she pushed against to counter the wind, the Griffon Commander slowed down hurriedly, throwing her down into his soft fur. The Monster Mage felt her loose hair coil on top of her in a messy pile, and as she lifted herself up, the sunset filtered through the long, wind-separated strands.
It looked...different.
"My most humblest of apologies, Monster Mage!" called Aajja with shock in his voice. It took until Cter collected away her hair from her face for her to see the anxious stupor in the Griffon Commander's eyes. "I..." He toyed with the ring around his lower lip with abash humming. "I was rambling." His tone told that it wasn't the first time he had done it. "And for a moment I forgot that you were...well...that you were here." An embarrassed flap of his wings did little to help his startle with either wing being out of sync with the other.
"You see," he began while his head wandered off, "flying is mostly an alone experience. It gives time to think. Coupled that with the loneliness and..." His shrug extended his shoulder blades out his back like knees under a blanket. "Well, I'm not used to have a passenger, is all. Not used to have someone hearing what I am saying."
"Yeah," agreed Cter despite having not done much to converse. "It happens." With careful plucks she managed to evacuate her mouth of some of her wind-blasted hair. "And no skin off my back, commander." Even though her neck was hurting some. "Although I guess from this that you need a good part of your concentration to keep your combined magic around me?"
Aajja's bendy neck moved his head below his body in a deep bow. "I am truly sorry for this, Monster Mage." Enough below that Cter could not see his no more. "Your comfort should be my top priority just below keeping you safe and making haste for Jarasevo." It looked a bit strange as his head ascended up again as if hung up by a string. "Should we proceed or do you need a minute?"
If Cter got to choose then she would have liked to stay and watch the sunset some more. The cloud that had wandered across it without any care or thought to it had managed a fair distance as the Monster Mage looked at it again. "A minute would be nice."
She could not follow it too much as it had her neck taut and hurting. "I wasn't ready when your magic faded." Her naked hand massaged her neck. Healing it would have her feeling dizzy from the magic akin to sticking her head over a pot of boiling, experimental stew that Idyll was being too brave about with the spices and ingredients. "So I think a minute would be good."
"I understand," nodded the Griffon Commander, keeping his head at the bottom of his nod to survey below. "We should be safe for a few minutes flying at low speed, but I would like to be on the move soon." With a point of his beak he directed Cter to a road opposite of the setting sun. "I can see some movement east of here. They are moving away from us, but up ahead there is a turn in the road facing north. Right now we are at an angle which they may spot us should they turn."
Spot them? At that far a distance and that high up? "You sure?" asked Cter more as a reaction rather than an inquiry. It was the same to the Griffon Commander's ears though.
"They won't spot us instantly, but at a glance it might catch the eye of one of the soldiers. We are between them and the sun right now since it has not set deep enough." Aajja looked up. "If I envelop you with my tail to keep you warmer we might be able to ascend higher up. However the air is thinner up there which I am not fully comfortable with bringing you to." The lip ring was once again fidgeted with while Aajja was thinking. "If we are unlucky they might see a shadow moving with them when we ascend too."
He sure was keen on keeping himself hidden from the humans. Understandable after all that he had explained about his mission for the war, but still, Cter was impressed by the details the Griffon Commander was considering, even if small.
"And if we are lucky they might not notice anything at all."
And there it was.
"Aajja?" The Monster Mage addressed to the commander with a gentle voice. He hadn't noticed, but his magic did not fade due to him losing his concentration. "May I ask you something in earnest and personal?" If anything it had become stronger just before it disappeared. It had clamped harder around Cter, tightened around her like a clenching fist.
"When you drop the rocks into the human encampments?" Like he was gripping at a human. "Do you wish that you could aim differently?" Trying to kill it. "And have them land on the humans instead?" Trying to kill the half of Cter that was human. His anger had flushed into his concentration. "Do you see me as human?" Had Cter not broken it by pushing out her barrier magic harder than what the Griffon Commander's combined magic was pushing in then…
"I..."
Then there would have been killing intent from a monster.
"I am..." the Griffon Commander tried, but failed. His fidgeting on the ring on his lip bent it far enough that it risked breaking. "I am incapable of answering that, Monster Mage. Again I...I am not used to have someone with me when I...think." There was shame and disgust at himself in his aura. "Again, when I am alone I let these thoughts and feelings run wild. It...helps. It helps me get my emotions out of the way for when I need to have them not interfere with my mission."
The quick application of Cter's barrier magic around her gave a calm, warm sheen to her. It was different from her crystal magic, which bent and changed the light through it. With the one-sided barrier magic the sunset was reflected instead, painting the Griffon Commander's fur into a deeper orange. If any of the humans were to look he would have blended in against the setting sun without any dark spots to see.
Only felt within his aura.
"I will not drop you off," said the Griffon Commander with his head turned away from his passenger. His neck tensed to say something else, but as he realized that he had already admitted that he thought of Cter as human, he instead shook his head. "You, I..." His words were visibly stuck in his throat which bent and tried to knot itself to prevent anymore being said.
"You look like those that took my friends from me. The humans that had me flying into clouds of dust that stung like nails against my feathers and fur. They..." Aajja's soul flared with disgust and condemnation. "I want them to walk into my artillery. I want them to be covered in the blood of their friends. I want to use fire magic not only to immolate caravan wheels and supplies. I want to have their horses trample them as we fear them around their camps. I want them to die. I want humanity to die."
The dark spots in the Griffon Commander's aura washed through his soul, crashing against its walls to leak outside. Aajja had said that he did not intent to drop Cter off his back, but with how his soul was rumbling with anger and rage she made sure to take a hard grip on the knob of her saddle. It was only then that she realized that her saddle had most likely been taken from one of the horses the humans were using.
"I am sorry for your loss, Aajja." Cter let her aura envelop his so that he would feel that she was being genuine in her sympathy. Beyond not wanting to be thrown off his back. She was truly sorry for him.
She knew how it felt to have the warm dust of a monster she knew crash against her face.
Cter's words and calming aura calmed the violent crashes inside the Griffon Commander's soul. "I know that you've left your humanity behind to become a Monster Mage." After a short while Cter felt comfortable to let go of the saddle knob. "And whatever anger I have is directed towards it, far away from what and who you are. That I promise on my wings and soul. You have done so much good for monsterkind, and I knew what you were before I met you. Maybe..." Aajja turned his head towards Cter. His eyes were watering. "Maybe I think of you as human because I want my wish to be fulfilled?"
"Maybe so," nodded Cter, but not in agreement. "However, do you feel that is has been fulfilled with me on your back?" She made sure to shine her aura and magic. Once Aajja had to squint at the stronger barrier magic reflecting more sunlight into his eyes Cter understood that she was shining a bit too much. "Are you disappointed in that you don't feel that it is fulfilled the way you wanted it to be?"
The Griffon Commander searched in his soul. "Perhaps," he concluded, yet Cter could feel that she had hit the nail on the head. "I have seen you be in awe of it, but it hasn't been the way I expected it to be." His plumage ruffled. "The awe was the means to which the human in my wish would rethink, but you..."
"But I did not rethink because I am a monster," finished Cter for Aajja. For him to be feeling such doubt towards Cter being a monster. For him to prioritize her physical appearance above Cter's soul and aura. How much had he seen to only believes his eyes? How much had he felt to not want to trust his soul no more? "I am a monster just as much as you are."
The Monster Mage surrounded the Griffon Commander with her one-sided barrier magic the same as he had surrounded her with his combined magic. The reflected warmth of the setting sun within the careful shell of barrier magic shone through the dark in Aajja's soul.
And filled it with awe.
"I'v-ve n-never..." stuttered out of the beak which pouch hung limply open. "N-Never s-seen it t-this..." The long wings shook with its feathers wide and spread, barely enough to keep him and his monster passenger afloat in the air. The watering eyes flooded over and drops of sun-blazed tears collected in a small puddle underneath the Griffon Commander.
Cter would invert the direction of the one-sided barrier magic once they took off again, but for the moment she let it only keep in the light of the sun by giving it more of a crystalline structure to it. She did so by alternating between crystal and barrier magic, catching the peak of one in the troth of the other.
Like a certain someone else had explained it to her.
"The humans won't see us up here now," said Cter motherly. "Take in more of what you want the humans to be in awe of, Aajja. Take in what they took away from your friends. That's why you truly want to show the humans your sunsets, isn't it?"
He nodded.
"And now you know that there is an even more beautiful sunset out there."
He nodded.
"I am a monster, Aajja."
He nodded.
"And I will make the humans pay for what they have done."