“Aero, you better not drop me you snazzy lil-!” Adrian's shouting was interrupted by the griffith giving a loud screech in response. 

“Chris said he finds you amusing kid”, Aero cocked his head to the left as he responded, “And relax, this is my personal transport and it's the fastest way to the Citadel. So unless you wanna walk over nine hundred kilometres on foot while being attacked by crexes, shut your mouth and hang on tight.”

“You could have warned me that it was a Griffith!”

Although Adrian’s shouts were almost muted against the loud roaring of the wind, Aero had no problem in hearing it. Griffiths were aerial creatures with the head of an eagle but with the body of a lion. They had four powerful wings allowing them to fly at absurdly high speeds and 2 tails for better balance and control during flight. Due to their high stability and quick maneuvers, Griffiths were the most ideal creatures always chosen for aerial travel and also aerial battles.

“Now now, don’t say that kid. Griffith’s are cute. Also Chris might feel bad hearing you bad mouth griffiths”, Aero said stroking the griffiths back gently. “That aside, do you have any knowledge of how the church works? Like the rankings, hierarchy of control etc?”

“Um not really. I never really paid any attention to the church while I was helping my dad out with his guild duties and activities.”

“That’s great. Now we have something to talk about. so stop complaining about the griffith and listen to me. I’ll explain the Church hierarchy to you briefly.” Aero exclaimed.

 “The church can broadly be classified into two functional working bodies. The political or administrative side, and the military or the executive side. Each of them has further classification of rankings into three respective tiers. On the military side, we have the fresh newbies who are simply called soldiers, above them in ranking, commanding any force of more than 100 soldiers is a Guardian or you could call them the Knights. And above them finally come us paladins who hold absolute authority over all matters related to the military. As my apprentice you will have authority similar to a knight’s, but way less dominance since you are still weaker than an average church soldier.”

“On the other hand, the weakest members of the political body of the church are called clerks. Above them are the priests. Priests manage most of the mini cathedrals and churches that open up around the Kingdom of Elisia. They have absolute jurisdiction over their respective churches and legal and judicial authority over any matters or disputes that arise in their area. Finally up at the peak of political authority come the bishops. There are a total of twelve bishops in the church who form a council. They reside in the main cathedral and venture outside only if it's necessary or the Archbishop orders them to placate any rebellion or anything of that sort.”

“There are rebellions within the church?”, Adrian asked, surprised. 

“Of course there are rebellions kiddo! There’s no form of human alliance that can be devoid of conflict for eternity.” Aero exclaimed.

“People often rebel against the authority of the church when they feel their faith wavering in our saviour Lux and also when they feel the church is not doing enough for them. And then there are these gruesome rumours……………actually never mind them. They aren’t important. But all you gotta know is that while working as my apprentice, some quests might even require you to go to areas where there are rebellions arising. Try not to use force and always try to reas-oh hey look. A town.”

The clouds parted and revealed a lustrous green pasture-filled land, which was, perhaps due to recent rains, sparkling brightly in the sunlight. A grass filled field, surrounding which lay vast lands where seeds of various crops had been sown. A relatively large town lay at the edge of the grassy field.

Adrian once again gave off a scared scream as Chris dived straight down at Aero’s command.

“We are going to crash at this rate!” Adrian screamed. Chris had now folded and tucked his wings in with his tail straight as Aero and Adrian stuck close to his body to avoid being blown off the wind.

“Hey Aero are you listening! The ground is just a few metres-AAAAAHHHH I don't want to die!” Adrian’s screams had now been reduced to a high pitched screech as they dove closer to the ground.

“Just shut up and watch kid! These are the fun parts you gotta enjoy in life!” Aero laughed as he pulled the reins around Chris. Just as they were a few metres away from the ground, his strong crimson wings unfurled as his tail arched up and body bent forward. Chris, who had been falling to earth at an incredible speed, now soared up majestically, riding the winds as his bright fiery feathers gleamed in the sunlight. 

This later turned into a smooth glide down to the town where the beast elegantly slowed down, hovering over the the outskirts as Aero looked around for a suitable place to land 

Flapping his wings one last time, Chris halted their glide over the green pasture and landed on his ashen white claws, the grass crunching beneath them after which, Adrian and Aero dismounted. 

“We are never doing that again.” Adrian said while trying to control his ragged breathing.

“Don’t be a bummer kid, Here take some seths and go book us a room to stay for the night will ya. I’ll see what I can feed Chris. He looks hungry and probably wants to rest soon too.”

“Sure then. See you in a bit, Aero.” Adrian rushed off to find a room to stay, revelling in his new found freedom and safety that he felt after touching firm land. 

The damp soiled roads and the sunlight peeking through the clouds, gave a refreshing feel as the smell of petrichor permeated the air. 

Adrian slowed down as Aero disappeared from view. Now looking closely at the buildings in the town, most of them looked weathered and worn down. However they still gave off a refined and noble feel. 

As Adrian continued to observe the situation the beggars on the streets eyeing him lazily as he passed through. Various stalls had opened up after the rain

Walking on and on, he finally stopped at inn that had a broken signboard on top of their entrance that read, 'Crivelwolk Inn'.

Going in, Adrian found the place quite tidy. The furniture was old but it was well maintained and showed little signs of wear and tear. A few people were lazing about in what looked like to be the lounge, as Adrian made his way to the receptionist's desk.

“Room for two please”, Adrian spoke.

The inn-keeper was an old man, probably in his late fifties, sporting a narrow pointy chin with wrinkled brows and a wrinkled forehead. His hair had turned grey with time and his eyes were half closed as he squinted at Adrian examining him from head to toe. Finally giving off a sigh, he spoke, “One thousand seths a night.”