Terror. That’s the first thing you learn here: terror. 

You open your eyes for the first time and it greets you like an old friend. 

Pain. Anger. Rage. It surrounds this place. You see it as it swoops down to envelop you. Forcing you to join in. 

Screams. From you and everyone else here. You cannot distinguish between yours and theirs. There is no “you”.

The one who created us is a scientist and black sorcerer named Rathgor. He taught us, starting when we first opened our eyes, how to live. The same way you must teach an infant-- except he wouldn’t teach us what we should do; he would teach us what we shouldn’t do. If we made a mistake we were punished most severely. We were taught to strive for perfection, and fear and loathe imperfection. None of us are considered--by ourselves and others--as a living thing. We are nobody. Nothing. We are machines that are practically mindless. Except for the fact that we feel fear and pain.

If you aren’t afraid or in pain, you panic. Something isn’t right. Something different and new is going on. New isn’t good. It isn’t perfect and predictable.

There is no such thing as love here. That would be new. 

Only darkness, hatred, and terror. 

Perhaps that is why this island is called Terror.

Perhaps that’s why, when I escaped from Rathgor, the terror seemed second nature. 

His lair was a volcano called Mount Noli. I think it was named before Rathgor took control of the land--a time which I cannot even begin to imagine. I’ve only heard of it in the prisoners’ thoughts. 

When I left Mt. Noli I was rather surprised and disappointed when it didn’t look any better. The land was dead. Not just the inhabitants, which seemed to be only skeletons, but the land itself was lifeless.

There was no grass. Grass might seem trivial, but it gave a place an alive feel. I would not know from experience, but I heard it from the thoughts and memories of Rathgor’s captives who were alive before his reign. There were no trees, either--except for rotting and burnt ones. 

This was no time for stopping around and staring. I flew up, off the rim of the only place I had ever known. A place I would never consider home. 

As I flew I heard a clamor of voices behind me from my former shackles.

“He’s getting away!”

“Catch that sniveling griffin!”

“GET HIM!”

“NOT ME, YOU IDIOT!!!”

“Whoever captures that ice griffin will be generously rewarded!”

The last statement was, of course, Rathgor’s. Knowing him, the generous reward could be that he would give them a painless death. An unfathomable concept in Mt. Noli.

I was breathing hard by the time I reached a shallow lake, as far away from Rathgor as I was able to endure. My wings were on fire, cuts in a million places opening up from various punishments. Patches of my wings were missing altogether. 

I looked over myself in a nearby stream. There was a patch of fur missing where I had a diagonal scar running across my back. Everyone of Rathgor’s slaves had a similar scar in different places on their bodies. A red-hot iron bar placed on some part on your body and once it was removed, salty, sea water was poured on the burn. It was given to train us to fear pain since the second we were “born”, if you could call it that. It was one of the numerous ways Rathgor taught us obedience.

Rathgor trained us to be perfect, mindless, killing machines. I was the exception. When I was being formed, Rathgor had been distracted by something, I have no clue what, and made a mistake with me...somewhere. When I was finished, I was strong-willed and smart. My mind was powerful enough to fight Rathgor’s mind-controlling spells. Besides for that, I could read minds, so I knew when my punishments were to be doled out, and for some reason--for some unknown reason--I seemed to be missing when many of them appeared.

Rathgor punished me severely countless times, hoping that I would succumb to follow his will under the pain of the torture. Fortunately, for a reason that I am unaware of, Rathgor decided not to kill me, to his own downfall, in my opinion, since I had escaped. 

I dipped in the lake to soothe my aching body. I suddenly heard the sound of wingbeats in the air above me. 

They were coming!

What should I do?! They would take me back and I would be killed for my audacity.
I quickly submerged myself in the water, hoping beyond hope that Rathgor’s troops would not find me.

My scientifically modified lungs could contain enough oxygen for me to stay under for several minutes if I took a deep breath before going under, but I hadn’t taken a deep breath.

Please don’t find, please don’t find me, I repeated over and over in my head, terror filling my entire being, blocking out all other thoughts. I waited until my lungs were burning and my brain was screaming at me to get up!, and then burst out of the water.

Rathgor’s troops had not gone far, and they spotted me. With a screech, they dove after me. Exhausted, afraid, what was I supposed to do? The betrayer, Ice Griffin 230674 is not here. We should check the Talncräg. It probably moved that way. I thought over and over again, wishing that, they would hear it and believe it. Surprisingly, they turned and started running towards the mountain Talncräg!

As they ran in the opposite direction, I noticed a flicker of movement in the periphery of my vision. I turned slightly towards the movement, not wanting to seem like I had noticed. I pretended to act relieved and relax, bathing in the water, as I turned just enough to see in that direction. 

There was nothing there. I let my gaze wander, scanning the land. Rathgor had trained us to be expert stalkers. I did not hold my gaze in one spot for too long. My eyes were constantly moving. 

I noticed the foliage. It was a swampy area. There were a few rotting willows, covered in vines and slime. There were also a few muddy blotches that looked vaguely like bushes. 

All of a sudden, I noticed eyes peeking out of one of them. As soon as my gaze rested on them, they disappeared. Somewhere else, another pair of eyes appeared. Slowly, I became aware of eyes everywhere. Some were wide open. Others were squinted. Some glared. Some were red. Others were black. Green. Yellow. Glowing. 

I started to hear whispering sounds. It started on my right, and then more whispering joined from somewhere on my left, and then more and more voices joined the whispering. I started to hear a sobbing sound amidst the whispers. Some of the eyes glistened. 

I started to panic, my heart beating like beast trying to escape its cage. I slowly emerged from the water. The whispering grew louder. Long, thin, bony fingers that were shadowy in color emerged from all around me, reaching for me. Was it just me, or did the eyes look hungry? 

You betrayed your master, one voice hissed.

You will be found and punished, another voice added.

You can trust no one. a voice sniggered.

Why don’t you just kill yourself, a voice suggested, Your life is too miserable to keep on going.

Be quiet, I thought, BE QUIET!

The whispering stopped. The eyes and fingers disappeared. Slowly, my breathing calmed.

Shakily, I shook myself dry, and flapped my wings, leaping from the ground, and soaring into the air. I decided to call the place Echoes of Fear. I swore to myself that I would never return to such a horrid place.

I flew even as my feathers started to fall off. I wanted to cover as much distance to get away from the Echoes of Fear, Talncräg, and, of course, Rathgor. Finally, exhausted, I landed in a beautiful forest, which was strangely enough still alive. I could hear the strange voices of the trees in my head, soothing my shattered nerves.

I curled up and fell into a deep sleep. At least I think I did. I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I awoke, I felt strangely at peace.

That is until I opened my eyes.

I was completely surrounded by elves. All of them holding bows and a single arrow each. All raised. All pointing towards me.