The Gryphon Generation
Book 2
A New Era
By Alexander Bizzell
Copyright 2019 by Alexander Bizzell
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Resemblances to real people, alive or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover art © Cyfrowa Izabela
Acknowledgements
Doing the traditional thing this time around and personally thanking my mom and dad for supporting me through this novel.
A huge thank you to all my fans, friends, and Kickstarter backers alike that made book 2 possible.
Again, I want to thank Trevor Cooley for his constant mentorship, hours upon hours on the phone, and his extreme dedication to making this book the best it could be. He has no reason to go above and beyond like he does besides being a genuinely good dude.
I still find myself wanting to thank Jess E. Owen and Larry Dixon personally for getting me into writing. Even the third and fourth time through their novels, they are still as captivating and inspirational as the first read through.
Yet another incredible cover done by Cyfrowa “Red-Izak” Izabela that really ties the whole book together. With her image, you can truly judge a book by its cover and hope my quality of work is on par with her own.
The other gorgeous interior images you will come across were done by Chantel Hale and Kaja “Blajn” Sztajnkier.
And last but not least, front and rear cover layout was done by my man, Scott Ford.
Kickstarter backers
Jedidiah "Kalenai" Davis
ScaniGryph
Jay Doran
Birdghost
"Forest Wells"-From one indie author to another, keep up the good work!
Henrique Andrade
Gawain "Gryphon at heart"
Tory Chang
Henrique “Loggor” Andrade
Shawn Dean
Tucakeane
Jere Edwards
Der the Gryphon
Carole Axium
Saylor
Matee Mana
A. L. Freeman
Peter Caulfield
Taran the Gryphon
Jeremy Hillis
Ulysses
Bryan
Siren Griffon Glück
Aaron Garrett
Roz Gibson
Jay Doran
Onix331
Taz
Philipp Haeuser
TaranGryphon
MaraSabot
Nivatus
Tucakeane
Kitt
Christian Largent
Andrew Armstrong
John Miyasato
Mark Grandi
Gawain Doell
Carly Pope
Stormdancer
Jennifer Priester
Justin Ellison
Emilie Rose
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Hit The Bricks
Chapter 2 Check Up
Chapter 3 Grasping At Straws
Chapter 4 Feeling The Burn
Chapter 5 Discovery
Chapter 6 Story Telling
Chapter 7 Upside Down
Chapter 8 A Cold Wind Blows
Chapter 9 Opening Act
Chapter 10 Confrontation
Chapter 11 Lashing Out
Chapter 12 Beasts In The Lord’s House
Chapter 13 Pleading
Chapter 14 From The Sidelines
Chapter 15 Retrieval
Chapter 16 Game Day
Chapter 17 Insanity
Chapter 18 The Hunt
Chapter 19 Confidence
Chapter 20 Awakening
Chapter 21 Facing Old Demons
Chapter 22 We All Have the Hunger
Chapter 23 High Hopes
Chapter 24 Deceived
Chapter 25 Chaos
Chapter 26 Like Moths To A Flame
Epilogue
Chapter 1 Hit The Bricks
A loud whistle rang out. Thyra stopped sprinting, foreclaws digging into the soft grass, and immediately turned around to head the opposite direction. Her chest heaved and burned. Her legs felt like they would give out at any moment. Blood pumped in her ears, dulling the sound of another loud whistle.
“Red-tail! Pick up the pace!” Coach Victor shouted from the sidelines.
The harpy eagle’s gray facial feathers blew in the gentle breeze as he sat comfortably and drank from his paper coffee cup. The massive gryphon seemed to sit still as a statue on the sidelines. He was possibly the largest gryphon in all of gryphball, besides Aadhya. His size made sense, seeing how Harpy Eagles are the strongest eagles on earth. Thyra could see the steam coming off his cup in the cool morning air. He brought the container to his great curved beak and sipped, watching her sprint across the field with his black eyes.
Thyra pressed on, running the full length of the field now in a full sprint. Rachel quickly caught up to Thyra. The much smaller kestrel gryphoness with a body the size of a housecat managed to keep pace with her. The cold air burned in their lungs, hot vapor clouding in front of their faces with each labored expiration. They shared a glance, but were unable to utter a word to one another.
Thyra’s foreclaws and hindpaws dug into the earth with each leap. Then came another whistle blow. Thyra and Rachel stopped together and turned again. She could see that her other teammates Aadhya and Antonio, who had been trailing behind in the beginning, were now in the lead.
“Push! Red-tail, Kestrel! Push!” came Victor’s booming voice once again.
Thyra cried out in frustration and used every last bit of her energy to sprint once again. Her eyesight began to fade. Her lungs felt as if they were about to explode, but she pressed on. She passed the two larger teammates in front of her and, with Rachel right beside her, continued towards the opposite end of the field. Three quick whistle blows finally came, signaling the end of their bouts.
Thyra’s legs gave out and she collapsed on the ground, rolling on her back and staring up into the golden orange morning sky. She wheezed, trying to catch her breath as her friends collapsed beside her.
“Not bad,” Victor said and walked up in front of the exhausted group, towering over them. “Take a fifteen-minute break before the rest of the team gets here, but report for the morning meeting at eight.” His dark gray crest feathers roused as he stared down at them. “Understood?”
They all gave a nod. The coach turned tail and left, heading towards the locker rooms. Thyra let out an exhausted moan, still lying on her back as she finally caught her breath enough to speak.
“I don’t know what aches more! My wings or my legs,” she complained. Between the long flight from home to the stadium, and having to do the early morning sprints as punishment for leaving early the previous day, she was sore all over.
“It will become easier over time.” Antonio assured her. The harris hawk stood and ruffled his deep brown chest feathers, then turned his yellow face to watch Victor leave. He readjusted his burnt orange wing shoulders and stood to walk towards the dugout.
Aadhya gave her a reassuring beak smile and reached out with a giant white-feathered foreclaw. “Running is something I do not do well, but as Antonio said, it will become easier as the training proceeds.” The bearded vulture was every bit as large as Antonio, and easily helped Thyra up onto her feet.
Thyra shook herself off before looking into Aadhya’s red and yellow eyes. The eyes stood out in sharp contrast to the black band across the eyes and white facial feathers. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It just sucks getting there.”
They all followed Antonio back to the sidelines and grabbed their water bottles. Thyra raised the bottle upside down and squeezed, the cool liquid parching the desert in her beak.
“I don’t know what everyone’s complaining about! I can run for days. I love running and flying,” Rachel chirped and ruffled her cream-colored chest feathers, not even out of breath anymore. “There was this one time that I ran all the way here from Chattanooga just because I felt like running! I mean it took a lot longer than flying, but it was still fun!”
Thyra glared down at her, which caused Rachel to chuckle. The tiny kestrel turned her bluish-grey topped head up to look at Thyra. Rachel’s big black eyes almost seemed to extend down due to the black spots underneath the oculars.
“Not everyone has racing fuel pumping through their veins like you do.” Thyra retorted. Having emptied the water bottle, she placed it back on the bench and went to lie back down on the soft grass once again. She sighed and closed her eyes. Her stomach chose that moment to audibly complain.
“Did you not eat this morning?” Aadhya asked, and reached into her pouch, which was sitting on the bench next to her.
“Besides a banana I ate on wing, no,” Thyra replied. “I had to get up really early to fly here from Macon.”
Aadhya dug around for a minute before pulling out an aluminum foil wrap. She opened it up and handed Thyra a wholegrain pita. “That will not do. You need to eat plenty of good carbohydrates before practice, or you will run out of energy.”
Thyra sat up again and took the pita from Aadhya. “I usually eat well before practice, but I guess I do have some time before we start once again.” Thyra nodded and tore chunks out of the pita.
“Well, well, you ladies look lovely this morning,” came a mocking voice from behind them.
Nathanial walked out onto the field with head held high, dark brown feathers preened perfectly. The striated caracara sat and ran his talons through his neck feathers, flecks of gray and orange showing off in the light. He glared at the group of disheveled gryphons and opened his silver beak to cackle. “It looks like you birds got tossed around by a housecat! What’s the matter, already tired? And here I thought I was going to have some competition today.”
Rachel stepped forward with a scowl. “Shut your beak, dirty caracara! We will still kick your tailfeathers up and down this field today.” She poked a little talon against his peanutbutter-brown spotted chest to drive the point home.
Nathanial stared down with his yellow face and pushed her tiny foretalons away. “Is that what you think, runt? I’m the best player here! I would like to see you try, but by the looks of it, you couldn’t even best a gryphlet. Not even on your best of days.”
Rachel ground her beak and ruffled her feathers. “Listen here, assfeathers! Today I’m going to push your beak down into the dirt! I’m going to clean house with your…”
A large gray talon rested on Rachel’s wingshoulder. Aadhya stood next to her now, towering over Nathanial, and said in a calm voice, “Nathanial, we have no quarrel with you. Perhaps you could take leave for the time being.”
Nathanial frowned and raised his head up high, trying futilely to match her own height. He met her gaze with his pure black eyes, almost challenging her right then and there. “This is as much my field as it yours, Vulture. I suggest you keep your friends in check if you don’t want me to send them to the infirmary.”
Aadhya shifted her great peppered wings and roused her angel white crest feathers. She pushed tiny Rachel back behind herself and stared back into his eyes for another second.
“It would be in your best interest that you not threaten my friends again,” Aadhya warned him in a gentle voice. Thyra and Antonio stood a distance away but could tell by her body language that Aadhya was angry.
Nathanial snorted through his nares and backed down, waving a claw like it was nothing. “My best interest? Whatever, I don’t have time for your shit anyways.” He walked past Aadhya, giving her a hard shove as he did.
Aadhya did not move and remained steadfast, only turning her head to watch him walk to the other side of the dugout.
“Is he always going to be like that?” Thyra approached and asked the two.
“You mean a complete seagull’s cloaca?!” Rachel yelled out loud, letting out some steam. Her wings twitched and all her feathers stood on end. “Yes! He’s always like that. Thinks he’s so great. I outta knock him down a few pegs myself! Teach that Caracara a lesion he won’t forget!”
Nathanial looked back and grinned Rachel frustrations, which through her into another grumbling fit of rage.
“If I may, perhaps he teases you so because you give him the reaction he wants.” Antonio pointed out.
Other gryphons were beginning to gather around the dugout now, preparing for the morning meeting. Rachel took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “I know it is. I’ve had people tell me that all the time. I always got poked at and laughed at when I was a gryphlet because I was so small. And they knew I would always explode in their face. I just can’t help it.”
“Well you’re better than him. Just remember that next time he tries to tease you,” Thyra said as the area became more crowded with chatting gryphons.
A pair of identical corvids walked up to the group with a curious look in their eyes. They looked Thyra over. One of them spoke, his yellow eyes shining brightly in the morning sun. “Hey, we saw you all leave early yesterday from practice, and then we saw you on the news. Is everything all right?”.
“It was something about that anti-gryphon church rally, I think,” the other corvid added. This one had blue eyes, but their voices sounded the same.
Thyra had to look between the two for a second. “Well, everything isn’t all right. One of my friends ended up in the hospital with a broken wing, and it looks like there hasn’t been any repercussion yet,” she admitted.
The news reports had slightly favored the actions of the Gathering, making it look like the group was not completely at fault for the sudden riot, and it angered Thyra to no end. The Gathering hadn’t been there to have a peaceful sermon in the park, they had been there to start a fascist protest. It had ended poorly when the Gathering formed a riot against the counter-protesters, and during the violence, her friend Isabell had gotten put in the hospital.
The blue-eyed corvid nodded in response. “Sorry to hear about that. I’ve read about that church before, but we don’t live near Macon so we don’t have much experience with them.”
“They don’t sound like good people,” the yellow-eyed corvid added in. “Oh! I’m Brandon, and this is my twin brother, Braden.” He reached out to shake Thyra’s foreclaws.
“Sorry we didn’t get the opportunity to talk much yesterday. It was a busy day and you all left early,” blue-eyed Braden added and reached out to shake as well.
“It’s fine. I’m sure we will get to know each other as time goes on,” Thyra responded just as Victor stepped onto the field.
Everyone fell silent as the great Harpy eagle gryphon walked out in front of the team. He looked over them with his black eyes and waited for everyone to sit in a neat row before him.
“Morning team. Today, we will scrimmage against one another. Two teams of four will play at a time. I will divide you into these groups, and the rest will hit the weight room. Am I clear?” Everyone nodded in response. “Good. First I will divide the forewords. Kestrel and Red Tail will be group one.”
Thyra and Rachel looked at each other and smiled before stepping forward.
“Next group will be Caracara and Harris.”
Nathanial glanced over to Antonio and snorted.
“And the defenders for group one will be the Corvid twins.”
Brandon and Braden joined Thyra and Rachel.
“Then the defenders for group two will be Seahawk and Eagle.”
Thyra looked over to the other gryphons she had not met yet. An osprey gryphon joined with Antonio and Nathanial, closely followed by a golden eagle. Ant
onio seemed to know them and shared a couple words with the new gryphons.
“As for the rest, to the weight room. I will come get you when it’s time to switch,” Victor concluded.
The now-thinned-out group of gryphons turned and headed towards the exit of the field, leaving the eight standing before Victor. Aadhya whispered ‘good luck’ to the group and left the field with them.
Victor stared at the two teams for a minute, almost as if he was judging them. “I have chosen to separate you into these small groups because I want one defender and one forward from each team on the ground the entire time. You will switch later in the day to get a better feeling for both air and land positions. You will have no goalkeeper, and group one will possess the ball first. Are there any questions?”
The groups remained silent, and Thyra looked over to Antonio. He did not break his concentration from Victor and seemed to be calm despite being put on Nathanial’s team.
“To your positions, then.” Everyone stood up and began to walk towards the center of the field.
Nathanial shoved Antonio with a wing. “Just stay out of my way, Harris. Maybe you will learn something if you watch me.” With that, he took off to the skies, pushing himself into the air without even discussing their strategy. Antonio sighed and walked out to the opposite side of the field from Thyra and Rachel.
Rachel glared at Nathanial turning circles in the air and looked up to Thyra with fierce burning eyes. “Let me have the skies, Thyra. I want to take down that Caracara with my own claws. I told him I was going to shove his beak into the ground, and by God I’m going to do it!”
Thyra chuckled and looked down at the excited Kestrel. “Go get him. I think I’ll be fine on the ground.”
That was all the response Rachel needed and, in a flash, she took to the air. The yellow-eyed corvid gryphon, Brandon, went to join Rachel as the air defender as his brother walked up beside Thyra.
“I understand you haven’t played much professional gryphball,” Braden, said to her. “If you need any extra help, I’ll be right here behind you.”
“Thanks. I’ll try my best.” Thyra replied.
Braden smiled and backed up closer to the ground goal. Both teams readied themselves and Victor took the whistle in his claws. Thyra’s heart thumped fast in her chest; excitement taking over as she faced her friend, Antonio on the other side of the field.
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