Against the stone wall of the cave, a scraping talon sounds. Echoing through the narrow passageway, the rhythmic scratching and tapping gradually grew faster and more frantic. Soon it became accompanied by deep huffs and high pitched screeches. The sound alone would send a full grown man to his knees in fear, but not a soul was near enough to hear it; the creature made sure of that.

Deep inside a large cavern at the top of the highest mountain in the region stood a mighty yet furious beast: a griffin. It’s once illustrious golden feathers were caked in a thick slimy muck. It’s beak and talons were frantically separating the sickly-green mush from its magestic feathers and scraping the abominable substance against the cave walls. The griffin was having a less than ideal day.

Griffins are a prideful species; this breed especially. He was a Goldmane Griffin; one of the last of his kind, and he had suffered a humiliating blow whilst fighting a lesser wyvern in the marshes below the mountain. He refused to be seen in this sorry state, and had taken the wyvern’s head in return for the cheek displayed by the wretched thing.

He had been scraping, pulling, and cleaning for hours, but he remained vigilant. The respect of the lesser beings was paramount to uphold; he would not stand to be seen filthy. He chittered his beak fearing he might never get clean. His status… his elegance… were they this fragile that they might be shattered by a passing blow from a lesser creature?

It took over a day and a half, but his visage was finally beginning to poke through the grime. One last dip in the underground lake should be enough to clear the rest away and… there; perfect.

Feeling again like his true magnificent self, he ventured through the cave and took to the sky. Flitting among the clouds, he soared high above the world beneath him; sparing nary a passing glance at the lesser creatures who, no doubt, noticed his absence.

He remained the most powerful and magestic being in all the land and the skies. His elegance had not faltered; it was merely… interrupted.