The big dark Harpia made it pretty clear that the two young Stryx had to stay inside the den until nightfall before he let himself drop from the mountain and took off to the lush forests below their home while the sun was still up in the sky. The place wasn’t exactly very hospitable, but the lost feathers of the silken male were enough to cozily shield the two juvenile dragons from the sheer cold of the mountaintop, which was enough to keep most predators away.

The two young Tytos didn’t remember exactly how and when their big brother started taking care of them, nor where they came from, but it didn’t matter to them despite him not being related to them in any way. They spent the days waiting for him to come back with freshly caught food (which was becoming more and more necessary as the two kids needed to eat quite often) and the nights exploring (or, rather, stumble and trip on every single snowflake) the space nearby the den under the observant eyes of the black Harpia.

The sun was slowly falling behind the mountains and the white and black boy got up and wobbled his way out of the den. His sister woke up and, noticed her brother leaving the place, went after him, after all she was the (slightly) older one and it was her duty to keep him safe and get him back to the nest… thing that she forgot to do immediately after she spotted the mouse her brother was chasing. The two went down the snowy path, following the mouse that was calmly minding his own business, moving only when the two dark Stryx got too close despite being clearly not afraid of them.

Suddenly, a cold-freezing shierk made the young male slip on some frozen snow and made his sister lose balance as well. It wasn’t the male’s voice, it was a much bigger and ferocious one, one they heard some days before along with other screams coming from the valley below. The two young Stryx tried to get up and go back to the den, but before they could a big shadow obscured the sun.

All happened too fast to comprehend for such young minds. The initial scare made the two Stryxlets jump, moving them just about enough to avoid the deadly sharp talons long as their heads that closed in front of their chests, but the impact of the giant scaly feet that followed them made them fly various meters from where they were. The girl landed on the snow, presumably ok, but the two dry sharp sounds accompanied the half choked cry her brother made as he hit the rocks behind her made her heart skip a few beats. As she turned around, she saw him rolling down the rock formation, hitting his head quite strongly before landing on the soft snow. She got up and darted towards him: he was still breathing, moving his chest up and down, whining softly just like the time he almost choked while eating, yet his legs looked awfully bended and his eyes were half open. She started trembling, but a loud thump made her feathers ruffle before she could fall down.

She slowly turned around as the gigantic beast got closer, looking at her with something that seemed disappointment in them not being dead or both seriously injuried. The young girl ruffled her feathers and got into a defensive position, standing between her brother and the beast, decided to save him or at least pay back the grotesque monster that attacked them.

As the beast opened its massive beak, ready to kill the impudent hatchling that didn’t accept her fate of being a simple prey, a dark shrilling shadow dived onto it, talons and teeth ready to pay back whatever happened to his two little siblings.

Gryph entry for Winter (still has to be uploaded) against Griffon 2436, also featuring Aria and Brendan (both waiting too)
Introducing my three new Nox Stryx~