Nikolaiâ€™s wings felt like they were on fire. And his shoulders, and his thighsâ€¦ and the deep gash on his chest that was bleeding badly and probably left a trail of blood as he flew. If they wanted to find him they would follow it. As much as he hoped they wouldnâ€™t follow him, he knew his grandfather would come and apologize to him eventually. Grigori was not considered to be a nice person but family was family; you canâ€™t just stay mad at your family forever no matter how unforgiving their actions were. These wounds told Nikolai that his grandfather was rather angry with him so then again it may be unlikely that he would be welcomed back for at least a few weeks. That was quite fine with him, of course, since he and his grandfather donâ€™t see eye to eye very often anyway.<br/><br/>The main reason he did not live with his family was because of the constant argument. Grigori was no family to him â€“but honestly, Nikolai would not know a good family if one smacked him upside the head; heâ€™s been deprived of such a thing and could never understand.<br/><br/>A low growl escaped him from deep within him. It was the kind of growl that starts from oneâ€™s chest and slowly worked its way up until it was released. The pain was spreading quicker and flying as fast as he was surely was not helping anything, he eased his speed until he moved at a steady glide. Nikolai wanted to be sure he was away from all of that chaos so he could heal up in peace without the others jumping down his throat. He couldnâ€™t go home, they would find him there. Instead he decided to fly out to the countryside to quieter area. If there was one thing living with humans taught him, it was always walk away from a tough situation and then come back to it once heâ€™s cooled off enough. Otherwise he may do something incredibly stupid, regretting it later. Oh how true that was, definitely saved his ass this time. Now he just had to get around to healing and he would be fine, which should not take long. Griffin magic was powerful.<br/><br/>It took a long time to master griffin magic â€“not even Grigori, who was possibly one of the oldest griffins left, did not know how to use it to its fullest. Nikolaiâ€™s father had come close before he was exiled, but other than that there were only a select few who were powerful enough to use the highest level magic- that Nikolai could not control certain spells very well but he could heal himself quickly. It was a great advantage in battle assuming he could stay away from his opponent long enough to start the process. That was the only downfall. Once the process was started, it only took a few hours to heal wounds this severe completely. A gash like the one on his chest would most likely scar howeverâ€¦ His grandfather had done quite a number on him.<br/><br/>As for his wings, he should probably find a place to rest soon before they gave up on him and sent him plummeting to the ground.<br/><br/>He had managed to reach the countryside, a few miles from Moscow where he and some of the other members of his â€˜familyâ€™ lived. Much to his advantage it was late enough at night, dark enough where hardly anyone was lurking around save for a few vehicles here and there. He could slip by the humans easily, and his chocolate brown colored feathers and fur was always helpful. He may live among the humans, but Grigori has made him paranoid over a few things with all these rules he had to follow in order to remain living amongst humans. He had to keep a low profile, that was rule number one, and make sure he didnâ€™t stand out too much with his seemingly quirky behavior. Quirky in the eyes of humans anyway, since he doesnâ€™t exactly have the best communication skills and he lacks most of what humans consider â€˜normalâ€™ manners.<br/><br/>Sometime during his flight, he felt himself losing altitude quickly and that was when he decided he should land as soon as possible. He wasnâ€™t sure he would have the energy to make it back to the city if he turned around, even if he wanted to. His wings were really hurting now and they began to feel a bit fatigued. He wasnâ€™t sure how much longer he could stay in the air, his vision was becoming blurry and the effects of blood loss were sinking in. His wounds were slowly healing already, but he would need a fair bit of rest before he recovered completely.<br/><br/>Looking down, he noticed a barn below him that seemed like a suitable place to rest for a few hours. If he could rest up enough to at least heal to the point where he wasnâ€™t in as much pain, he could get out of there before he was seen. Circling around, he lowered his altitude more until he landed near the barn. He took a quick look around before he decided it was safe to enter, but he would have to enter in his human form. The door had a latch on it; a piece of cake, he busted it with his beak. He then decided it was probably best to enter the barn in his human form fearing that he would more than likely spook the animals inside and draw attention to himself assuming the smell of blood that was definitely not human has not already discomforted the animals. Using what remained of his energy he changed into his human form and slipped inside.<br/><br/>He looked around being as quiet as possible, and then found a place in the back, near a window where hay was piled up enough for him to slip out of it, and rested.