The statue actually is alive?

The lush rainforest covered Vlad's entire surroundings since he got out of the lake. The weeds were tall, even outgrowing their average stature. Trees were also a sight to behold. Different varieties of trees made their home inside this cave sinkhole, brimming with a breath of life.

Some of the more imposing trees were covered from their trunk base, going as far as their branches. It was a sign of a tree getting older that Vlad knew about.

While there were moss-covered trees and all different types of plants and weeds when he first entered the forest, choosing to walk on a random path, he went a bit inside the forest.

As he walked, he really felt that he stumbled into a different world. The greenery inside this zone was simply unheard to Vlad. He saw an emerald scenery that he never had the chance to admire in his first life.

It was a truly mystical place for Vlad that moved forward on a random pathway. The waterfall he first had seen when getting out of the underwater started to be seen in its full splendor. A crystal clear water was falling in the distance, feeding the well-grown forest. Flowers were shining in his vision with their vibrant colors. Almost all the plants he spotted that grew all over the place were unknown to him.

The young trees were standing proudly in their place. They protected with their shadow this lush place forest. In contrast, the older trees would create a contrast with the younger ones when looking at their moss-covered trunks and towering figures. Birds' sounds were transmitted all over the place, making a combined bird song never heard by Vlad before.

'Did I stumble in some fairy tale world after almost dying? This place seems just to unreal for my knowledge. Not even Inor's crazy stories he heard from the miners could describe the grandness of this place. Were the guards guarding this place? '

'No, this is not true. If I were in the place of the ancients I would place those statues somewhere with great importance. Maybe a Palace or Temple? A temple? Indeed a temple. This place could even be the garden of that temple which got left on it's own for many centuries.'

'Right, than the murals on the walls make sense. The great temple on the mural, could be the place where the master of this place awaits me.'

'Ok, let's get going, and figure out what's really going here.'

For Vlad, everything that he saw right now was in the order of fables if he were to tell what he saw right now to people back home. It was true that in his country, there were many beautiful forests, but something told him that the forest in front of his eyes was unique.

Looking around with his head held high, he passed by a tree when suddenly in front of his eyes, a decently sized bird flew by his face. It was at that moment that the bird right in front of his face gave a weird bird sound. When hearing it, Vlad thought that even the ravens' sounds were more pleasing than what he just heard, and so with an annoyed face, he shouted at the bird.

"Amazing! Hey you bird get away from me. Argh, this is not funny at all, little bird. Leave me alone. Man this has really started annoying me with each step I take." ended Vlad saying that and also using his hands to scare the bird away from him.

Surprisingly the bird didn't give in and flew close to where Vlad was and gave yet another cry, only for it to be totally different. "Amazing! This is not funny at all!" *bird sound* imitated the bird some of Vlad's words perfectly.

When Vlad heard that, his face turned even more amazed, thinking that what he encountered was the stuff of legends, and soon he started talking to himself like he was really marked by what he saw.

"How? There's no such animal that can talk like humans, did I get my head hit or something? Or there are talking animals in this world that have an higher intelligence than back home? Should I kill one and see what's going on with this bird?"

Turning to look at the beautiful feathers of the bird and how joyful and energetic the bird was flying around him made him sigh and shake his head. "Maybe not, just look at how full of life this bird is. It would be such a waste to kill such a creature, maybe after I solve all my problems I will come here again and take some with me as pets."

Saying that he focused again on the bird going circles around him while looking with great interest at this newcomer. Vlad tried again to check on the bird's intelligence to see how far this bird's ability to talk back could reach.

Rising his head, directly focused on the bird, he started by saying. "Hey birdy, can I get your attention for a bit?" There was no reaction from the bird.

"No? Then let's try a new approach. Maybe he could understand me if I talk slower to him and with easy words.

"Little bird. Come here, let me see how smart you are."

As he said that slowly, the bird's attention was picked instantly as if he could hear precisely each of the words he pronounced.

Suddenly the bird flew towards a tree that was close to Vlad and nodded his bird head.

"Hello there little bastard. How are you?"

The bird heard Vlad and replied by imitating Vlad, "How are you."

'Hoh, he finally responded with something I said, not just some rant of mines.'

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

Then the bird continued by flying close to Vlad, saying, "Hello there."

"Heh, hey bird do you want to hear a wolf?" *Wolf howl* "Than a bear. See, this is the sound of a dog. That's a cat. The sound of crazy people. Men dying. Cursing. Happy laughter. Evil laughter. Crying." Started Vlad teaching, or at least try to teach the bird some sounds.

After taking a break, he looked at the bird who dropped on a lower branch of a tree close to him.

Vlad calmly looked at the bird and said to him. "Do the cursing."

*Bird sound* "Fuck you, you bastard."

'Argh, maybe I shouldn't have taught him that. No hard done.'

"Now to the wolf holw," followed by the bird, which raised a bit more its head and preparing himself for imitating the wolf sound Vlad did *Wolf howl*, which was a long one.

"Impressive. This bird might actually not be stupid at all."

"Let's see how he's doing the other sound's" smiled Vlad evilly at the bird.

He first started with a short of animals that he thought it would be easy for the bird to mimic, and by the time he reached the more complex tasks, the bird brain took a while to respond. When reaching the laughs, especially the evil one, the bird mimicked Vlad so well that he made him drop on the ground and give a hearty laugh, followed by the bird.

"Such a silly bird. Unfortunately I can't get it with me."

The bird, in exchange, flew in circles around Vlad, making bird sounds. The bird continued like that for a while. Vlad kept on continuing his path. He would chase away the bird at times, while instead of stopping bothering Vlad, the bird chose to scream with a higher pitch, "You bastard", and later laughing evilly.

'What have I done? I created a small abomination by teaching him all those sounds. I hope the bird doesn't get treated differently by his companions.'

Continuing like that, the bird managed to wake the other bird's interest in the newcomer, flying next to the first bird that bothered Vlad since entering the forest properly. The sounds they started to create echoed in the forest. For better or worse, Vlad chose to ignore the birds flocking over his head and continued on the path ahead.

After walking for some minutes in the forest, he spotted some trees that had fruits on them. The fruits were of different forms. Some were ovate, where others round, about 4 to 7 centimeters in diameter. The skin of the fruits was wrinkled, ranging from green to golden yellow with a reddish blush. When he spotted those appealing fruits, his first thought was to climb the fruit trees and indulge in an eating spree. Still, this reaction calmed down when remembering that he was here to explore what's inside this forest and to find things related to an ancient civilization.

Composing himself, he remembered the spot that those fruit trees were and walked forward. Passing the fruit trees and still followed by some annoying birds, he spotted signs of the forgotten civilization. Stairs who seemed to be left to feel the passing of time while covered in lush vegetation. The stairs followed a straight path that went on a higher level from the starting area. Looking around to see if any traps were installed and later finding that the course was safe, he started walking on the covered stairs.

The waterfall sound was getting more intense, covering the bird's sound that annoyed Vlad his entire journey until reaching the stairs. Walking on the stairs for some time, he finally saw the waterfall in its full splendor. It was big enough to shower the entire forest and also feed the lake that flooded the pathway to this zone. Stopping to admire the view, he turned to face back, where he saw the lake and lush forest, whistling in amazement for the entire scenery.

'Ahh, if I tell that old man everything about this place most likely he will fight me to death. Haha, poor old man, digging for so long and not having the ability to go explore the flooded pathway. I feel some pity for him when thinking about how I should explain to him to make it sound ordinary than this scenery. '

'I think I only have to walk for a while until the stair's end. Let's see what those ancient people tried to hide by flooding the path for so long.'

Staying to admire the whole scenery of the forest and the distant lake for a bit longer. Having enough of the view, Vlad turned to the stairway, continuing ascending to what the ancients had in mind. He didn't know where that was and could only go forward. The wall of the sinkhole started to feel close to him as if climbing a bit. Probably his view would be opened and gave him the chance to see what was hiding behind those walls. The stairway seemed to change direction. Going forward following the stairway, Vlad started seeing the changes around himself. The waterfall was now almost in his way. Some water splashed on him, and he could feel the fresh vapors of water touching his skin. In front of him was standing a giant tree growing on a stone structure. The tree itself got covered in moss. Its entire body was green, not missing a single spot, while the stone structure also looked to be eaten by the passing of time.

Going in front of the stone structure, he started looking around to figure out what exactly it was. When moving closer to what seemed the ruins' entrance, he could see the head figure of an animal that looked close to a hippopotamus head. On the other side, there was laying on the ground the head of a snake-like creature carved in stone.

Getting back to his initial position after finding the stone carving of those animal heads, he turned to look for a way to pass inside the ruins. The entrance got covered in stone debris blocking the access. Looking around for solutions and thinking of ways to handle this tricky situation after some time, he decided on the way to proceed.

The simplest way to enter inside the ruins, which looked closer to a temple, was to force his way inside by removing the stones blocking the gaps created by the rocks falling down.

Having his plan sorted out after thinking for a while, all that he had to do was to get to work.

Time passed, and the blocked area finally had some sense into it. After an hour of selective excavation, Vlad could finally see the way inside. His access inside the temple was by crawling on the gaps made by the stones. However, from his standpoint, he could tell that his safety was in question because it was unknown if the rocks could hold on if he disturbed them when crawling inside.

"After all this work, I have only this way to enter the temple. But the way the stones look to hold on to each other is worrying me. It feels that if I make any mistakes when getting inside, I could be eaten alive."

"Well, that's where the secrets and my treasure awaits me, how could those ancients think that they can hold me back from discovering what they hid behind this temple?"

Calming and composing himself, he got into action. Slowly getting down on the ground, he started to crawl on the only path available inside the temple. The first part went smoothly. He managed to crawl without disturbing anything until he arrived at a narrow spot, where he was touching the stones with his body. When he advanced, the rocks would shake from his motion, causing Vlad to panic a bit. Breathing heavily, he calmed a bit while waiting for the stones to stop shaking. Fortunately for him, they didn't collapse on him.

"Damn this narrow path. Who could even think that being tall would suck so much in these moments?" lamented Vlad while being under stones trying to maintain a slow pace when crawling.

After being kept in maximum stress, he reached the end. The path forward wasn't covered by stones like how he envisioned it to be. With a totally changed situation, he got up from his crawling position and looked around.

He got awakened by the sight of a stairway going downward in the protruding dark.

Each of the large steps going downwards had on each side a guard with their swords stabbed on the steps, almost like they were awaiting their own king to descend upon them.

Staring in awe at how real those stone statues were looking, he started descending with slow and heavy steps. A descending pressure started forming around him with each of his steps downward.

Similarly, the statues surrounding him made the sounds of heavy steps in sincron with Vlad's steps.

'What's this feeling surrounding me that wants to crush me into small pieces? Why are the statues emitting those marching sounds?'

'Did I really made a mistake to enter this building?'

'I don't like the feeling I get with each steps I go down. The pressure and the guards steps also got stronger then my own. It's like I'm surrounded from all sides by enemies.'

As he walked forward, the pressure on him started pushing him a bit a few steps back. Still, not wanting to be outdone by this invisible enemy, he pushed forward, finally descending the stairway.

He managed to get away from the stairway and the weird stone statues with success. But the problems for him only increased.

As he entered a grand chamber, the invisible pressure got even more intense, almost making Vlad drop on his knees.

The grand chamber was created in the same manner as the stairway in the sense that it had carved statues on all the sides and large columns supporting the chamber roof.

Still, under the invisible pressure, he turned to look at the statues that had the figures of soldiers wearing ornated armor, almost like they were the generals and officers of a king.

They were not bowing or having their weapon's stabbing the ground, instead they seemed to look with their stone eyes with intense pressure on Vlad, who was similarly placed in awe by everything.

'The pressure increased again when I looked at those soldiers. It seems I didn't miss translate the shallowed guards at all, those guys are really wanting for someone to come. It's me?'

'So far I didn't collapse under this pressure, but I'm not far either from collapsing.'

When Vlad thought that, while slowly walking forward in this grand chamber under the invisible pressure, he could see a type of language that was totally different from the one written on the first stone guards on those large columns. He looked around, but the single thing that made sense in his head were the different symbols.

Without being able to figure much from staring at the columns, he moved forward under the assault of the eyeful watch of the generals.

Each of his steps got heavier shaking the entire chamber. Yet, when he arrived at the end of the room, with heavy breaths, he stared at a majestic creature overlooking the entirety of the room and guarded a heavy looking door.

Staring at the majestic stone creature that had a form of a giant bird with four enormous wings.

The bird statue was a masterpiece rarely seen in his world. The four wings the giant bird had were so well carved that it gave you the feeling that the bird was alive right at that moment. It had a long feathered tail that was carved in the same manner as it's wings. The creature's body was carved in the form of a lion. Its legs were the form of eagles with long and sharp talons.

Finally, the creature's head was of an eagle with his feather in different colors, ranging from golden to black. Its eyes were so sharp that just staring in its eyes made Vlad breathe heavily as if the pressure got intensified.

'Don't tell me this is the cause of this annoying pressure that wants to squash me? A stone statue? It's fate pulling a prank on me. Did I got insane or something?

Considering every characteristic of the beast, Vlad could only stare in awe at the majestic being carved on the stone while taking in the brunt of the pressure coming for it. The statue's scale was something he had never seen in his entire life.

"This is the king of the skies from the holy book, or how the greeks called him Gryphon, King Gryphon. But how can something as majestic as this creature live in this land? Wasn't the creature supposed to be just tales from different people?"

Asking himself that out loud, the creature's eyes started to shake a bit giving Vlad a big scare, taking some steps back even in the face of the pressure.

In no time, the stone around the creature started to shatter, and in no time, a strong bird cry was heard by Vlad. The winds around the chamber intensified, the temperature also plummeted down.

'What is going on, don't tell me the creature inside the stone is actually the real deal? Fuck, I'll get eaten for sure. Should I run?'

When Vlad thought that, instantly, an old ancient voice resounded in his head like echoes inside a cave.

"Where would you run little descendant of Vermilion?"

The pressure increased yet again, sending Vlad right on the ground, struggling hard not to get on his knees.

"Ohh, to think that little Louis actually managed to get such a descendant. Tell me boy how much time has passed since Louis died?"

Vlad could see that there were still stones on the creature while he tried to look at it right in his face.

"I don't know about any Louis or Vermilion. I'm just a nobody that goes by the name of Vlad Dracula. Tell me creature who are you?"

....

A/N: The reveals are happening. This creature should be really powerful.

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