Journey

"Are you ready?" Uncle Lumian softly tussled Eru's curly blond hair.

"Hmm," Erudite, formerly known as Ambai, nodded his head.

It was just ten minutes ago that she finally acknowledged her identity and gender. It took her also many months, but she was finally on the right track. Her glowing shield around her was an indicator of her soul's happiness.

She did not want to address herself as a woman but as an androgynous being after all this was only the first world she had visited, she had three more. From then on, she addressed herself as he.

Uncle Lumina gave a soft chuckled. "Summon your mount; I would really like to see how healthy it is." He suddenly summoned his own griffin in the middle of the room. Thankfully, the room had a high ceiling, so it was able to accommodate the mysterious Griffin.

A huge creature appeared. Its face like that of an eagle. Its entire body and wings covered in golden feathers, a body of a horse and limbs of the mighty lion. Overall, it looked very formidable and in front of him, he looked puny.

Erudite gulped. "Um, he is here," he softly cupped sleeping Fynn in his hands and showed it to her uncle.

For a second Lumian looked astonished. "he....he.... is a chipmunk." He stated the obvious.

"Yes, uncle, isn't he cute?" Eru whispered with a small smirk. Even though other thought that having a small flightless mount was a weakness. But he thought not, a mount is a representation of a rider soul power and in the ancient book magic, she read in her father's study it stated that a mount does have a chance to evolve.

Lumian gawked at him with a strange look in his eyes. "Is your mount perhaps...evolving?"

"Yes," Eru whispered proudly. To other it might look like Fynn was sleeping, but he was in the middle of his evolution.

His father, Rukle also rushed over and gazed down at the little creature curiously. There had never been an evolved beast in a long time. It was only mentioned once in an old chronicle that their great elder's griffin evolved into a primordial beast. And he flew to other realms with it.

Till now evolution of mounts was thought to be a myth. But looking at his son's little chipmunk, he was proven wrong.

"When did it start? Did he have any reaction? What happened right before he evolved?" Rukle whispered fast. If his country could have a way to evolve their mounts, they might even have a slightest chance to win the war that is coming their way.

Erudite shook his head. He understood his father's thought but he can't help him regarding this. There was a slightest clue that the small green book might be the reason that Fynn is evolving, but that book had demonic energy that might harm others. It was lucky that Fynn was able to evolve because of it. If he gave the book to his father and the other mounts got hurt because of this, it might cause a huge problem.

Rukle sighed and sat down. Lumian noticed his deranged state and patted his shoulders. "It will be okay, brother. We can do this. Of Eru can harness this power, he might even be able to defeat their entire fleets with just one spell."

"I don't want my son to fight. Back then my father passed away and i had to go to war without any choice. But.... Eru has me, you and everyone else. I don't want him to suffer," Rukle said, holding his forehead. He felt helpless at this point.

Lumian sat next to him and whispered, "Then what will happen after you die. Can you protect him in your grave as well? Think logically Rukle, your son needs to train his magic. If not, you would be raising him as an ignorant fool." He whispered, gazing at the young prince who was playing around with his mount, Illumi.

"But..."

"No buts, he has to mature, otherwise he might even lose his life in this upcoming war," Lumian said. He got up and held the little prince. "Let's get going,"

Eru had a hesitant look. His mother has not visited him. So he did not want to leave without saying goodbyes. "My mum?"

"Your mum can't handle goodbyes," Rukle hugged his son. "You better come back as a strong man or else your mother's suffering would be in vain," he whispered in his ears.

Erudite nodded. He was quite serious now. This life was not for playing around. A small mistake could claim his life, and he did not want to distract him from his path.

They both mounted his uncle's mount, Illuki and flew out the huge window. They reached a height were the majestic mountain looked like a dark expanse of green softly swaying below them. It was unlike any experience he has had in the modern world. Even planes do not come close to the feeling he got as they soared up in the air.

Erudite embarked on a fateful journey with his new uncle towards the mysterious dark forests