Damien drifted in two spaces at once.
His true body sat cross-legged on the forest floor, breath steady, the soft weight of Verdant Verge air filling his lungs.
Luton rested somewhere nearby. He could sense the familiar flicker of its presence, a small anchor to the real world.
But his mind, his mind soared through the sky on Aquila's back.
Through the griffin's eyes, the world was crisp and vast. Wind rushed in sharp currents past its feathers. Damien felt all of it as though he was the griffin himself.
The forest below looked like a rippling sea of green and shadow. The distant mountains gleamed. A faint trail of city lights shimmered beyond the horizon like embers scattered in the dusk.
Aquila angled her wings, descending.
The city's walls rose ahead.
Damien felt the impact of each powerful wingbeat, the subtle tension in Aquila's muscles as she slowed her descent.
