Chapter 270: Inscription and Griffin
When Haina walked home, the sun had not yet reached its zenith in Eagle Cape Village.
To this day, she hasn't been home for four years.
During these four years, the restaurant closest to the school gate has opened and closed again and again, and has had three owners.
She had also grown from a country girl who knew nothing and was always worried when she first came to Glass Island to a direct disciple of the Great Arbitrator. She had become friends with the founding family and the future Queen... at least she was familiar with them.
But my hometown has not changed.
The air around me, the height of the trees in the mountains, the depth of the dirt roads trodden by my feet... whatever it is, nothing has changed here.
It seems as if time has stopped here.
The hourglass stopped, the sun and moon remained still, and the smoke from the distant cooking fires still rose as it did in childhood.
At that moment, Haina had an illusion.
It was as if I was living in a fake painting, and now I have become the person in the painting again.
Suddenly, Haina stopped.
She noticed a small tree protruding from the side of the road.
It was standing alone on the side of the road, far from the woods, and that was why Haena recognized it almost immediately.
She leaned closer and found the scar on the bark.
Haina held her hand horizontally, gestured slightly, and then struck her soft chest with the base of her palm.
She smiled helplessly and reached out to gently touch and caress the scar on the tree.
She still remembers it.
This is the trace left when she ran from here to Bagpipe Town to go to school.
When her family heard she was going to town to study, they were both happy and worried. She was only thirteen or fourteen, a tiny little girl standing there, understanding nothing. How could they be at ease?
So they gave Haina a dagger for self-defense.
Although it was a dagger, to the thirteen or fourteen-year-old Haina it was just a short knife.
It was indeed a fine sword. Even by today's standards, it was a fine weapon.
It had a beautiful blue-green blade, as beautiful as the surface of a lake. If you held it against the sun, you could see a gradient from deep blue to a faint yellow from the side... just like the night sky at dusk.
Haina vaguely remembered that there were curved Elvish characters engraved on the blade... At that time, Haina did not understand Elvish, so she just treated it as a decoration; and later she learned Elvish, but she could no longer remember what was written on the dagger.
Compared with the blade, the scabbard looks much simpler.
Just by holding it, Haena feels courageous. Whenever she feels anxious before an exam, she just holds it and gradually calms down.
Later, she couldn't remember where the knife went. Haina had the impression that she hadn't thrown it away. But she couldn't remember when she stopped carrying a dagger at school.
But her family didn't blame her for losing the dagger. Maybe she left it at home, or maybe she didn't tell her family... Who knows?
This mark was left when he was passing by with the beautiful dagger still on him because he was careless and picked it up.
She had originally just wanted to record how tall she was when she went to school, and then see how much taller she had grown after graduation... but after that, she had forgotten about the tree.
Perhaps because she saw it every week on her commutes, she gradually came to regard it as part of the roadside scenery and never saw the tree again. Until now, four years later, when Haina returned again...she finally saw it again.
The tree was exactly the same as before. Its size hadn't changed at all, even the shape of its crown remained exactly the same. The scar I'd left on its bark remained at its former height... A layer of scar-like marks had formed on it, as if everything had happened just yesterday.
Haina gently touched the scar on the tree.
She closed her eyes, feeling a surge of nostalgia.
In a trance, she seemed to hear the creaking of trees growing. She imagined everything changing with time, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the little tree gradually growing. But when she opened her eyes again, it seemed as if everything was just an illusion in her mind.
"It's time to go home."
Haina murmured softly, her tone becoming calm and the smile on her face becoming happy.
When she opened her eyes, her pupils had turned completely dim yellow.
At this time, Aiwass was feeding the little griffin with fresh meat.
The griffin, which had not yet learned to speak, ate voraciously.
Angelica, David's mother Nadia's griffin companion, was standing next to Aiwass at the moment.
"...If you don't plan on sneaking her out or playing with her, you can't let the child eat too much."
The white griffin said in a gentle voice, "As long as she is no longer hungry, you should take the meat away. If she tries to attack you or wants to snatch the meat, you should yell at her."
"It's also easy to tell if she's full. For children like this, as long as their eating speed slows down significantly, they're not hungry."
"Just call her by her name, Aunt Anjie?"
Aiwass asked, "Is that all right?"
Angelica nodded. "Yes. Shouting someone's name is a simple command on the path to authority. Just like pointing a finger is a simple curse, and singing is a simple spell.
"The power of the Tao contained in these actions is very weak, almost imperceptible to humans. But for the beings on the corresponding Tao, it becomes very clear.
"Just like pointing at a demon will anger it, singing to a goblin will make it happy... as long as you yell at a griffin, they'll immediately know they've done something wrong."
"What about the simple acts of the path of love?"
Lily, who was standing behind Aiwass, suddenly raised her head and asked.
Angelica's eagle-like head winked mischievously, and she replied with a smile, "Of course it's kissing and making love. That's how the Lady of the Lake enchants people."
"What about the Dusk Road?"
Aiwass asked.
“It’s engraved.”
Angelica replied, "Portraits and sculptures are half the Path of Beauty and half the Path of Twilight. Therefore, artists can easily sense the power of the Path of Twilight."
"Compared to painters, photographers are pure Twilight Path professionals. Capturing and preserving images of the real world is the most quintessential Twilight Path activity.
"For this reason, the invisible dead who also belong to the Twilight Path are more likely to leave traces in photos. This is because they sense the aura of the Twilight Path. Many horror stories actually follow this principle."
"I see……"
Lily nodded, thoughtfully.
At this moment, the griffin in front of Aiwass suddenly seemed to choke. It shook its head and rested for a while, then continued to move forward and tried to grab the large piece of steak in Aiwass's hand.
"That's all, Aiwass," Angelica reminded.
Aiwass immediately took back the steak and shouted: "Stop, Liz! No more!"
The little griffin named Liz shook her head aggrievedly.
Liz obviously understood.
But she did not attack Aiwass. She just looked at Aiwass quietly with her wet eyes, rubbed against him and made a soft and delicate sound.
Aiwass felt a little soft-hearted for a moment.
But he steeled his resolve and said firmly, "You're not hungry, Liz. No more eating—I don't have time to play with you."
Liz screamed again when she heard that.
It is not as clear and loud as that of an adult falcon, but as crisp as that of a small bird.
Aiwass handed the meat to Lily and asked her to wrap it up. Then he touched Liz's head and neck to comfort her.
Unlike David's Emily, Liz is taller and older. Perhaps because she is older, she is more obedient than Emily.
Her fur was half black and half white, and she had entered the molting period. She was already able to carry a person on her back. Even Haina, wearing light armor, could do it, let alone Aiwas.
But there were three of them in the group. Even without counting the luggage, there were Aiwass, Lily, and Sherlock. Liz definitely couldn't carry them all.
Originally, Philip could have helped bring everything, including Liz, over together - as the companion griffin of the Great Guardian, he was much stronger than his kind.
But Philip left the Glass Island with George. Faced with this situation, Angelica could only call her best friend.
"Angie!"
A loud female voice came from outside, and then a white griffin, which was a circle larger than Angelica's, flew directly into David's yard.
"Carmela!"
Angelica happily went over and nudged her. "Let's talk when we get back. Let's get ready to go. We'll probably be there before evening. I'll take Aiwass and Lily with me, and you carry Sherlock, Liz, and the luggage."
"Okay, no problem. Where's Sherlock?"
"On the way, should be arriving soon."
Aiwass explained.
Hearing Aiwass's voice, Carmela came over and looked at Aiwass: "Is this the Moriarty of this generation? He looks more handsome than his father."
Aiwass was a little surprised when he heard this.
Can griffins actually recognize human appearance?
On the contrary, he could hardly recognize the appearance of these griffins... He could only judge who was who based on their size, voice, and personality. Not to mention which griffin was good-looking and which was not.
As if guessing what Aiwass was thinking, Angelica explained gently, "It's not about appearance. We can't tell what a human looks like.
"The Griffin's aesthetic standards for humans are related to their adaptability to the Path of Authority. Simply put, they are calm, steady, loyal, dignified, and reliable. To us, those who are adaptable to the Path of Authority are... like you see cute cats."
...Oh, no wonder.
Iverson immediately understood the mentality of the two rows of old griffins squatting at the palace gate. To them, it was probably like humans squatting there every day watching a group of beautiful cats walk around and meow.
So that's how it is, they are squatting there to suck people...
And Aiwass also went on to understand the devil's aesthetic.
If the aesthetic of the authoritarian griffin is like this, then the aesthetic of the demon should also be related to the desire for transcendence...
Aiwass glanced back at Lily's shadow.
Then he probably understood how he tamed the Shadow Fiend.
(End of this chapter)
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