Prologue
The time over a thousand years ago in a dimension far separated from both Puck World, and Earth.
The gryphon stood on his city walls looking at the army that came to destroy his kingdom. A young looking, skull headed demon stood next to him looking at the army laying siege, "Sire, what are your orders?" The gryphon just shrugged and crossed his arms, "We wait to see what they are planning, this band of palladins and so called good priests that have come to our door." In the army's camp a circle of 12 mages began to chant, "Gods of light and honor, hear our call and send this vile evil that has plagued our land with all manners of evil for the last 600 years, and banish them form our realm for all time…" They repeated the chant over and over again, and a soft white glow began to envelop the city. Immediately the gryphon went wide eyed and held out his hands, "Those that have died by my hand, now rise and serve your master! And kill those that try to…" He then felt a pain and fell over, the demon and a feline rushing to his side, "Sire, what's wrong!" The gryphon growled, "Where begin sent in to limbo, there combined power is to strong for me to counter, quickly recall all the troops to the barracks and get the civilians in there homes and brace for the shift to come." They quickly did as they where told as there city and a mile of the surrounding farmland, in a flash of white light vanished, only to have the crater covered by the nearby sea.
Time, Anaheim today…
Dragaunus was furious, he was once again beaten by the Mighty Ducks, "We are going to get some help for next time. Siege! Activate the gateway generator!" Siege nodded and works some controls, then blinks, "Something's wrong Lord Dragaunus, it must have been damage, it's opening a random gateway!" "Well shut it down!" "I can't!" Then as the gate way opened, they say a 6 foot tall Gryphon, wearing leather pants and a black silk shirt, walked though and look around, "At least I'm free." He then looked at the Saurians, "So I have to thank you for freeing me then." Wraith shuddered slightly, "Sire I sense ill tidings from this…" Dragaunus growled and looked at the Gryphon, "And who are you?" The gryphon just grinned, "I am Lord Typhon, king of Aranous, and you are reptile?" Wraith shuddered slightly, "Typhon?!?" Dragaunus didn't listen to Wraith as he addressed Typhon, "I am Lord Dragaunus, and since we freed you, you will work for me." Typhon just narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dragaunus as if he was looking at a child, "No."
Dragaunus blinked, "No, you dare say no to the saurian overlord!" Typhon then held a hand up near his beak with a grin as it started to glow, "No one orders me around." He then pointed his glowing hand at Dragaunus sending a bolt of black lightning in to him, making him fall back a few feet. Then Wraith moved between them, holding a fireball in one hand, "I know the legends of you necromancer, I can banish you." Typhon growled and then stepped back merging with a shadow, "Then I think I will leave." Dragaunus shock his head, "What legend?" Wraith lowered his head, "Typhon, the eternal gryphon of evil, to us he was called the destroyer and master of demons. On this world I found that he was known in a place called India as the source of all blood magic, the god Kali's favored and equal, they named the storms typhoons after him. I do not know if Puck World had a name for him, but he is a evil that threatens both the Mighty Ducks and us."
Some time latter north of Anaheim, Typhon looked around the forest, he had just killed his second deer, and ripped the last of the meat off of a femur with his beak, as he looked at the circle of bones he just made. He then sat down on the southern edge of it and concentrated. The circle then flared to life and flames took shape of a familiar feline and a skull headed demon, the former spoke first, "My Lord, you are free of the limbo?" Typhon nodded, "I am, prepare the city, once I find a secret place for it, I will summon it, and anchor it to this world, but be warned. We must be secretive this time, as this world is unlike any we encountered before. Our swords, bows, and magic may not be enough." They nodded and the skull headed demon hissed, "We will be awaiting you sire." With that the flames flickered and died, and Typhon took to the air, flying to some nearby mountains. 'There,' he thought, 'That will be the perfect place to cast my spell, in the mountain.'
Dive, Duke, Cali, and Seline where all camping in the woods along side the mountain. Duke and Cali naturally shared a tent, as Dive was putting the finishing touches on dinner, with Seline sneaking up behind him, with a large bag in her hand. Duke peeked his head out and sighed, "Seline don't you'll ruin our dinner." Seline quickly put the bag behind her back, "Who me?" Dive looked up and then grinned, "OK dudes and dudettes come and get it." As they sat down around the fire Cali sniffed the air, "So what did you make?" Dive grinned, "Just some hotdogs, with extra cheese!" Duke groaned, "Where did you get the cheese?" Dive laughed, "Just a joke dude." Seline stood up right, "Well I'm going to look around, and see what there is to see." Dive munched on his hotdog, as Duke nodded to her, "Alright just be careful." Cali pulled Duke close and grinned, "Do you meant for the animals to be careful or her?"
Seline wandered around for a few minutes, she had brought a camera with her. She never been in a earth forest before, so she was curious as to what she would find. She then heard something in some bushes ahead, and crouched over behind a tree to get a better look. She saw a large buck foraging some nearby leaves. She lifts her camera slowly and started to take some pictures, when there was a screech loud enough it made her fall back. She shook her head slightly then looked back to where the buck was. She saw it laying there, with it's belly torn open. Seline shrieked and ran back to the camp.
"Iwastakingpicturesofadeerwhenallofthesuddentherewasthissoundandnotit'sdead!" Seline said quickly as Duke looked at her holding his hand up, "Hold on now, just calm down, you saw a deer get killed?" Seline nodded quickly, then pointed to her camera, "I got pictures." Cali looked at Duke, "What do you think?" Duke shrugged, "Probably just a bear looking for it's next meal, or a mountain lion, we had best be careful and stay together." He then looked around, "Where's Dive." They looked around the camp, when a figure popped up form behind a tent and roared at them. Duke flared up his saber, as Seline screeched and pulled out one of her bags, and Cali readied a nearby pole when they heard the laughing, and all growled together, "DIVE!!" Dive was laying on the ground behind the tent laughing his head off, "Oh man you guys should have seen your faces!" Seline dumped some itching powder on his head and grinned, "Well fair's fair." Dive blinked and scratched his head rapidly, "Hey no fair!" Cali and Duke laughed then retired to there tent.
The next day Duke came across the dead deer, still laying there as Seline said but oddly left alone. He flared his saber then prodded it, it was dead, torn open like she said, but it was now obvious to him that it wasn't for food. He then headed back to camp. They had already been here for 2 days, and today was the hike back to the car they rented and home, after a quick stop to develop Seline's pictures. This made Duke think, 'What ever did it maybe on one of those shots she took.' He then looked up and around him, he knew he was being watched, he could always know, but he saw nothing, not a thing. He even checked it over with the infrared his cyber-eye provided him, still nothing. He then shook his head, 'Must be the old nerves kicking in. What happened to Seline must be getting to me.' Then as he walked out of view, something landed next to the deer and carried it off.
There was a hour developers next at a small rest stop on the highway back to Anaheim. They choose to stop there. Luckily for them there didn't seem to be any fanboys to bother them. Only a couple of odd looks from a couple of humans. Duke and Cali where eating and talking, and Dive found some video games. Seline walked over to Dive when she picked up her pics, "Hey Dive want a first look?" Dive nodded, "Sure, these games are all over a year old anyway." He opened the envelope and pulled out the pics, "Oh wow these are good… Oh man these two want to make me hurl." Seline blinked, "Another joke?" Dive shook his head, "No look." Seline blinked and ran over to Duke and Cali, putting down the pictures in front of them, "Ok what is that?" They looked it was the deer with what killed it. The thing that killed it, appeared to have the body and legs of a lion, with the tail, and most of the head, but the wings, and beak of a hawk, with forearms pale yellow in color, with hands that obviously ended in sharp talons.
Duke blinked at the photos, "I have no idea." Cali stared at them, "I think it's a gryphon. At least it looks like one, but the forelegs are arms and hands?" Duke rubbed his beak some, as Dive and Seline sat down. Seline spoke up, "I thought gryphons where supposed to be nice?" Cali looked at the photos, "This one looks hungry if you ask me." Duke hmms.. "Well before we left I saw that deer, it wasn't killed for food." Dive blinked and blurted out, "Then for what?" Dive shrugged "I don't know, but we do have our gear and some comms in the car, we could go back and investigate." Cali nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me." Seline shuddered a bit as the photos also showed the gryphons black, almost feral eyes, like they where looking right at her, "Well ok." Duke quickly paid the bill and they drove back, and hiked up to the mountain.
It wasn't long before it grew dark and they found where the deer was supposed to be. As they looked around, Dive found a trail from where the deer was carried of. They found a large cave entrance with nothing growing around it for about 200 feet, and 6 odd mounds of dirt arranged neatly around the entrance. They where looking at it from a distance. Duke was the first to speak up, "Looks to easy, like anyone could just walk right on up and in." Cali and Seline nodded in agreement, as Dive spoke, "Man so what, lets just go in then and see what there is to see." Cali lifted her head up, "No birds, or anything making a sound that's weird." Dive then stood up and walked over to the cave, "Ya see nothing to be scared of." Duke groaned, as Cali shook her head. Seline then pulled out a puckblaster and pointed it, "Dive behind you!" Dive looked behind him and there rising out of one of the dirt mounds was a large skeleton of a bear. It roared at him then tried to take a swipe with a large claw. Dive jumped aside and noticed that the other mounds began to shift, "Oh man, it's like the attack of the living dead!!" Seline fired a shot at the first one, then another at the one closest to Dive, "At least they blow up easy." Dive nodded and quickly shot the others, then Duke ran over to see if he was ok, and Cali went over to look in side. "I'm fine man," Dive calmly said as he stood up, with Duke's help. Cali kicked over on of the bones, "Well there not fakes, they are bones." Duke looked confused, "What on earth could do that?" Seline spoke up, "Wraith?" Duke then hmms, "Could be.. lets head in and look around."
As they walked in they noticed who dark it was and Dive turned on a flashlight. The walls where covered in odd red symbols, some easily recognized as the symbols of chaos and anarchy. Duke ran a finger over one of the shiner marks, the stuff used to make it was still fresh. Cali shuddered a bit as Seline followed from behind. Dive looks at the symbols, "Mondo bizzaro dude what is all that stuff?" Duke just kept his saber and refused to comment. Cali peered closer at one and shuddered as she recognized that kind of red, "Dive you don't want to know, but this is bizarre. " Something came across her mind and she looked at Duke, "Wraith?" Duke shook his head, "He like bones, but this is to bizarre for him." After what seemed like hours of traveling through the cave, they heard a strong chanting from up ahead, and there in a large cavern surrounded by candles, in a red pentagram was a gryphon. The same one in Seline's photo. The gryphon sat squatted in the center of the circle, spread around him on the circles edge where 8 hearts, evenly spaced. In the flickering light the hearts seemed to still be beating. They all tried to listen in to what the gryphon was saying, "Aranous dominous martius necroanus kalith malcan nefera." The gryphon just repeated those words over and over.
Dive remembering the cave entrance and the skeletons was a bit hesitant to approach, as was Seline, because of the photos. Cali was the first to, and walked right up to the gryphon and around in front of him. The gryphon's eyes where closed and he had the look of deep concentration about him. Cali prodded the gryphon with her bo staff, but the gryphon didn't react, she then looked up as the others approached, "Well he's so deep in to what ever he's doing he doesn't even know we are here." It was then that the whole cavern seemed to shudder for a moment. They all blinked, and steadied themselves as it happened again, only more intense, making some of the staglites on the ceiling fall to the floor around them. Dive shouted, "Cave in!" They then heard a low growling sound that said, "It comes….. yes…" They looked at the gryphon who's eyes where now open and he quickly stood and spread his hands over his head sending bolts of black lightning in to the cavern walls and ceiling, "Aranous thy imprisonment in limbo ends! So orders your king Typhon!" It was then that the whole cavern shuddered and reality seemed to swirl about them. Duke gaped and yelled, "Run! We gotta get out of here!" They quickly ran for the entrance of the cavern and through the cave. When things seemed to finally become normal, it was Seline to look back. She pointed, "Look!" The all did and gaped at what they saw.
The rock walls melted away fading from site to make a huge cavern, easily taking up most of the mountain, then some buildings appeared, with a large black stoned palace in the center. Then the walls formed around this city. The sections sprang up like bones, and even looked like the bones of some large beast, then flesh formed between them. Stretched flesh. Then the gates appeared, a large demonic skull forming right out of the ground. Then it was all over, and the bottom jaw opened and some armored felines, bearing swords came out, like there where guards and above the gates a flag was hoisted. A black flag with a white downward pointing triangle with a inner upward pointing triangle with in on it.
They then heard some flapping sound and a large black skinned humanoid landed behind them, wearing only a red cloth loincloth, with leather like wings, and a cows skull for a head, with the eyes still with in. It hissed at them and they quickly ran back outside. The gryphon landed next to the demon and placed a hand on it's shoulder, "No, let them go, we can deal with the natives of this world after we are more aware of it and what it has to offer the city." The demon seemed to grin, "Yes sire," and then they both flew back to the city.
They all panted when they got back to the car, and Duke looked at his hand, it was shaking, he was never scared before, but a real demon was something he was sure never really existed, till now. He looked at the others, they where also shaken up by the experience. Duke then gave them his usual charming smile, "Well that was.. something." He then got more serious, "Lets go back to the pond and tell the others, also we can't really do anything till we know what we are dealing with." The rest agreed and they drove off for home.
Some time latter a mysterious figure named Regenald Plume, a black haired human with a overly narrow nose, bought the entire mountain then disappeared. 2 small towns, that people were already leaving to find better work, where empty seemingly over night, to every last man, woman and child, the only connection was that they where next to the mountain. The ducks didn't see the connection either, but the news of those events weren't all that much better then a 5 minute spot on the news, or a paragraph in a news paper.
Back in the city in the mountain, Aranous the gryphon looked out from the balcony of his palace, as a humanoid avain obviously female stood just behind and next to him, "We are back among mortals… there have been many changes, I hope my people are up to the challenge of it." The avain grinned and rest her head on his shoulder, "Come now my mate and love, you know better then that Typhon." Typhon smiles and held her close to him, "Chantico, my lovely phoenix, as always you are right and now lets us celebrate our freedom and soon our anniversary of our becoming mates." With that they kissed and headed inside to their bed chambers.