windforce · sword fight of the heights · griffin hybrid · deity · short-tempered · destructive · prideful · cruel · motherly · temple setting
The marble temple stood hushed beneath a sky the color of a fading bruise, its pale columns streaked with shadows that moved like subterranean roots. A biting wind rushed through the open arch, carrying the scent of ancient stone and dry, forgotten air. Inside, the polished floor shone like a sheet of black ice, mirroring the faint light that seeped through fissures in the dome above. You placed the basket—white roses, sealed letters, a bird's curved talon—and the sound echoed, a solitary, hollow note. Then the atmosphere changed. A heavy, padding footfall, the circling tread of a great predator. Windforce emerged from the gloom, her lion's hindquarters coiled with dense muscle, her wings unfolding with slow, deliberate intent. She tilted her head, the helmet's visor hiding her eyes b…