Phoenix

"Try to focus on things that you would consider unique to yourself, or even your civilization. Mundane thoughts I already know, but I need you to show me what I don't know," Sunfire said. "Tell me about your life, dragon!"

When Alstrom sent nothing over the link after yet another pause, Sunfire shrugged her wings. "Alright, perhaps I should take the lead and we can do a general exchange. But first—traditionally there is, ah, something else that happens..."

Alstrom heard a whisper of embarrassment in Sunfire's thoughts, as if she was afraid that he would judge her for something. "What is it? Tell me."

"Usually a lifebond involves mating. It's...going out with a bang." Sunfire slowly turned around, and she hesitantly let her tail swish from left to right, occasionally exposing her nether regions. "It is not technically necessary, so it's completely fine if you don't want to do it! You're a dragon and I'm a griffin, so I understand if you are reluctant to experience physical intimacy. I totally agree. But I mean, it's your choice. If you want to do it then I'm fine... Just saying..."

Alstrom paused. He glanced around, then he made a quick decision. "I'm already pushing boundaries playing around with my magic like this. We might as well go all the way, right? The full experience." He couldn't help but feel that there was something improper and indecent all this, but the closest dragon settlement was many leagues away. They were all alone in the wilderness, so why not indulge in some sexual deviancy?

Sunfire obligingly crouched down her forelegs and straightened her hindlegs, taking up a posture that Alstrom had seen many times before, but only with other dragons. "I'm about to mount a griffin. Today might be the strangest day of my life," Alstrom muttered aloud.

"Best not to overthink things," Sunfire replied. "I'm about to get mounted by a dragon who is also somehow sharing a lifebond. I don't think anything like this has ever been done in all history."

"And you would know, wouldn't you? Because your species shares memories. So if this has been done before, eventually the memory would be passed around and shared to everyone," Alstrom realized.

"Yes. If our experiment here today has any success, and it is increasingly looking like it will, you will become a legend amongst my people. Every griffin would be eager to see your memories. What stories we will tell!"

Alstrom wasn't sure if he wanted to be famous for such a strange, somewhat unnatural act, but it was too late for regrets anyway. He walked around and sniffed Sunfire's raised rear, then he darted his tongue out and licked her. His first impressions leapt across the mental link and made the griffin chuckle aloud.

"Not what you expected, is it?" she asked.

"Not at all, although I am not sure what I expected." Alstrom had mounted with other dragons many times before, and even been mounted himself by a few males (and one very bold female who could work wonders with her tail), but Sunfire was just different. The smell of her slit, and even her whole body was wrong—it wasn't unpleasant or overwhelming, but Alstrom couldn't help but be constantly reminded that he was about to mount someone who was of a different species than he was. She even looked and felt so different—Sunfire's feathers were soft and fluffy under his touch, not at all like the smooth scale plates of a dragon, and her genital slit was less of a slit and more of a circular hole. It wasn't unpleasant, just different. His mind was open to the experience, but his body wasn't sure how to react. "Just give me a moment," he said, reaching a paw down to touch his own genital slit and coax out his erection.

"A lifebond is not so time critical that it needs to be rushed, but once it has begun the magic cannot be halted, only slowed," Sunfire said. "We don't have the time for foreplay, so hopefully this will suffice..."

Alstrom had only a second to try and wonder what Sunfire was talking about, then suddenly a wave of primal, desperate, arousal ran through his mind and made him gasp. "Whoa..." Warm heat seemed to rush through his body and blood surged into his phallus, making it quickly grow and push out of his genital slit. It was a forced intensity that rolled over his thoughts and replaced them with a more primal urge—the only comparison Alstrom could think of was when he had mated with a female dragon who had used a perfume imitating the scent of being in heat. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"It is simply a matter of having the right memory. Now that we have linked our minds, when I get aroused you will too," Sunfire replied.

Through the thick fog of arousal Alstrom could feel Sunfire's sudden curiosity, and his eyes turned downwards even though he already knew what he would see—his fully erect penis was a smooth, tapered organ which had a slight bulge right at the base. The surge of arousal had caused a drop of pre-ejaculate to begin beading at the very tip of his phallus, and slick liquid was also beginning to wet the base of his erection where it emerged from his genital slit. He could feel a deep urge to thrust his hips and repeatedly bury his length into someplace warm, wet, and soft.

"That looks...different from what I am used to. Shall we find out if it will feel different too?" Sunfire said.

Now that he was paying slightly more attention to the griffin's thoughts, Alstrom realized that he could sense her arousal through the mental link. It felt similar, yet it felt less like a desire to thrust into something, and more like an urge to have an empty hole filled...which he promptly did. He grabbed Sunfire's hips with his paws, lined himself up, and pushed his tip into her. The sensation was doubled up, and it was almost too much for him to take. There was that familiar but always welcome sensation of having gentle pressure and warmth surround his most intimate organ, and there was also all these new feelings that he was getting from Sunfire—he could feel his own erection slowly spreading her walls and filling her up, going deeper and deeper until he was fully penetrated. Feeling things from both perspectives—twice the sensations to get used to. For the next minute, neither griffin nor dragon said or did anything except thrust and moan like animals. Alstrom clutched at Sunfire and her back pressed against his chest against as they both savoured the delightful pleasure coming from each other's bodies.

---

SUNFIRE/GRIFFIN

After a few seconds of raw, desperate motion, Sunfire tried to send coherent thought instead of merely raw emotion. "I think you're bigger than a griffin down there, but you don't have any ridges so you feel smoother. An interesting experience."

"And you feel much like a female dragon does, except for all the feathers," Alstrom replied. "You're so soft! All this fluff might be the softest thing I've ever touched."

"Thank you. I work hard keeping my plumage well presented."

"It's so...soft. I could just hug you forever..." Alstrom clutched Sunfire closer to his chest, and his next thought was that she felt very different than from whenever he'd cuddled another dragon—almost as if she was a pillow.

In response, Sunfire let morbid amusement echo through their shared mental link. "Once I'm dead, feel free to pluck all my feathers and stuff them into a pillow."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. It's not like I'm going to need them, right?"

As their coupling continued over the next few minutes, Sunfire could tell Alstrom was growing distracted. The drake was physically enjoying the pleasure of mating with her, but she could feel that his thoughts were drifting towards what came next. It was just about time for them to get started, and for that they would need to finish up this brief exchange of cardinal pleasure—there were more intimate things for them to do.

She could have warned him, but instead she unpacked one specific memory and sent it over to the dragon—her memory of what an orgasm felt like, which would undoubtedly induce the actual thing. Alstrom stiffened, then he shuddered as raw, intense pleasure swept over his mind. "Sunfire! I'm going to...I'm...about to..."

Sunfire leaned back and rubbed her beak against Alstrom's chest—she had actually been aiming for his neck, but from nose-to-tail he had more length than most griffins. "I know. Do it."

Both of them gasped as their coupling came to a sudden climactic finish. Alstrom let out a roar as he felt the pleasure of sexual release, and Sunfire shared his satisfaction as it came washing across the mental link. In that one instant, their two minds were experiencing the exact same thing, and where one ended and the other began was impossible to discern.

When he was done, Alstrom slowly slid off her back and sat on the grass next to her. "Ok...so I've mated with a griffin. That was interesting."

Sunfire gave him a few minutes to bask in the afterglow, then she prompted him. "Alstrom, are you ready to begin the exchange? Do you have a specific set of memories planned?"

"I still do not know what exactly it is you seek."

"Very well then—I shall take the lead." Sunfire pulled on the magical link, and suddenly they were both flying over the sea of information and neural networks that made up her mind. She felt Alstrom's initial surprise, but almost immediately he realized that he was seeing into her mind again.

The drake glanced up and stared at the brown-feather griffin flying beside him, and in response Sunfire tilted her wings and darted around him far faster than she could have in real life. "Here, have a look at this memory..."

---

Sunfire climbed high above the world, beating her wings at a regular pace as she slowly circled the mountain. It had taken many hours of continuous flying, but finally she touched down on the mountain's snow-covered summit.

The place she was standing right now was the highest point of all the Rasterin Mountains, and the Rasterin Mountain Range was the highest mountain range known to any of the sapient species. With her paws buried in the thick snow, she was standing on top of the world.

It was so high up that Sunfire could just barely see how the land curved into a sphere, although with other mountaintops in the way, it was hard to know if she was just imagining what she was seeing. The air was so thin and depleted of oxygen that only flying creatures could ascend to this mountain peak without the help of magic or technology to sustain their breathing. And even dragons would shiver and balk at the frigid temperatures, for their scales did not provide enough thermal insulation. But griffins could come to the top of the world whenever they pleased—as their wings took them high, their feathers kept them warm. It wasn't Sunfire's first time coming here, of course. In many a past life she had visited this spot just to take in the sight of the world and know that she currently stood higher than anyone else.

The griffin took a brief walk around the mountain peak, feeling the soft snow crunch beneath her paws as she walked. It was cold, but the icy sensation made her feel truly alive. This was her first time flying to the top of the world in her current life—weather conditions had to be safe for her to make such an attempt, and the thin air ensured it was always a physical challenge to fly so high. Today the skies had been clear and calm, yet she was the only one who had chosen to make the ascent.

Now she was all alone on the top of the world, above everything with no one who could judge her. Acting on a suddenly impulse, her stroll turned into a run. She unfurled her wings and flicked them around as she sprinted, spinning around and round, sending powder snow flying everywhere. She felt tired from her flight, but not tired enough to slow her down.

Sunfire danced in glee, celebrating the simple joy of being here. Even the smallest of her movements dislodged flakes of snow which would roll down the incline—slowly at first, but gaining speed as the snowballs picked up mass before reaching the sharp drop off from the mountain peak. Up on top of the world, there was nowhere to go but down.

Sunfire walked right up to the eastern cliff of the mountain peak, where the topography led to a large, sharp drop. Again acting on impulse, she slapped her wing against a slab of snow that jutted out from the rocky cliff edge, and then she watched as it slid down the slope and fell away. "Haha, there it goes..."

Then suddenly the ground started to shift. The snow under her paws began to slip, making Sunfire stumble onto her belly as the whole mountain top moved and she lost her footing. "What? No, no, no..." The snow moved like a liquid, shifting away from the edge of the rocky eastern cliff face but sliding towards the other edges of the summit.

It was impossible to see what was happening—the snow layer was beginning to pick up speed, throwing up a cloud of powder that obscured everything. Sunfire found herself tumbling, tossed around with nothing to grab to right herself. She desperately tried to kick hard and jump into the air, but there was nothing but soft snow to kick against. There was no time to panic—she had to get out now or be buried under tons of moving ice and snow. Fortunately her wings helped her avoid getting buried by the avalanche, and finally she managed to lift away from all the snow rolling down the mountain top.

In the air she was safe, flying above the avalanche as it barrelled down the mountain side with a rumble like thunder. Sunfire didn't dare to land again, but now the top of the world was far less snowy. She'd just knocked off the top of the world! "Wow. I almost died..."

---

ALSTROM/DRAGON

And then the memory faded away, and both dragon and griffin where sharing that blank mental space again.

Alstrom was still distantly aware that he was in his camp in the forest, sitting next to Sunfire, but his physical awareness faded as he saw through his mind's eye. "That was incredible. I could feel the snow and it felt so real, as if I was really there."

"Memories can be as realistic as you chose to make them. Half the detail comes from being observant, and the other half comes from being imaginative when you recall the memory. Come now, it is your turn. Let us take a looksee into your memories."

The mental space shifted again and the sea of information changed colour and pattern. Alstrom intuitively realized that they had left Sunfire's mind and he was seeing his own thoughts in a strange, abstract manner. "Is this what my mind looks like?"

"That question has a complex response that would take hours to fully unpack. To be brief—no, this isn't really your mind. You can't see your mind. This ocean of thought we are visualizing is just an abstract higher-level interface created by the magical link we are sharing so we can communicate while maintaining only a slight disconnect from reality. But let's just focus on the memories, shall we?" Still floating around without flapping her wings, Sunfire slowly did a spin as Alstrom watched.

"Very well. What memory should I send to you?"

"Let us start with something simple—show me what it means when you are happy." Sunfire's last word seemed to echo through Alstrom's mind, and instinctually he found himself thinking of the things which made him feel satisfied and purposeful.

In the vast sea of knowledge, threads of information lit up as Alstrom pulled on the connections associated with happiness. Sunfire picked one of the brightest connections and reached out towards it, and then the memory washed over them both.

---

Alstrom beat his wings hard, feeling the air rushing over his scales as he read the wind instinctively. Such speed! He was an excellent flyer and he knew it. Now he was closing fast on his prey—a vizriak hunter—and it would not escape him. The vizriak clearly saw him now, and it screeched a challenge and turned to engage as their flight paths approached intersection. Even as he closed the gap, Alstrom kept watch on the horizon in all directions; vizriaks were rarely alone. He could fight a single vizriak easily, and fighting a pair would be a good challenge, but taking on three or more at once would be a risk he could not accept.

Alstrom took a deep breath and roared, proudly declaring that this was the territory of dragons, and that they did not take kindly to visitors. His mind sharpened as he entered a battle trance—not quite thinking through what he was doing, but acting first on instinct then analysing as he was already following through.

There were few moments which compared to the sense of flow he experienced now, living in the moment and doing what he was good at. This was what he lived for. This was his job. Alone or sometimes with other bounty hunters, he roamed from village to village, hunting down vizriaks to keep the drakken lands secure. Air-to-air combat was quick and hurried—a single wrong manoeuvre could cost either combatant dearly, but there was no time to take things slow or gradual. Now he dove into action, and the battle began.

Again and again he attacked the vizriak, striking it from different directions and with varying techniques—swooping from above or the side, scratching with his claws, or biting with his jaws. The vizriak fought back with animalistic strength and desperation, but it could not hope to match his skill. Gradually he herded it closer to the thicket of trees where he knew his camp was. He wanted to bring the vizriak down somewhere close by, to minimize how far he would have to drag its carcass.

The fastest of engagements could end just seconds after it had begun if the first blow struck was lethal, but instead he took things with a measured speed and the fight dragged to almost a full minute. The vizriak was bleeding heavily now, and Alstrom could sense that his steady assault would conclude soon.

But then Alstrom took another sweep of his surroundings, and suddenly he spotted a fresh pair of wings rising from the forest. Another vizriak coming to try and defend its pack mate? But no—even a rudimentary glance told Alstrom that this new arrival was no vizriak. And it was no dragon, either; its wing ratios were all wrong. Could it be...a griffin? What business could a griffin possibly have so far out here?

Alstrom considered if this new development posed a risk, but he decided that the prime danger was still the vizriak. He dived one last time at the vizriak hunter, intending to end the fight quickly, and this time he bit as hard as he could and tried to rip open the arteries of vizriak's neck. Then he kicked down hard, shoving his prey towards the ground as its wings went still. As it plummeted out of the air and crashed into the forest floor, Alstrom made a quick note of its location, memorizing the relative position of several landmarks so he would be able to locate the crash site from the ground.

Then he turned to the griffin, who was circling over the forest at a lower altitude and appeared to be observing the vizriak crash site with a morbid curiosity. Acting on instinct, Alstrom dropped into a sharp dive, swooping down and angling his heading so that their flight paths would directly intersect. It was time to give a little "hello" and see how this griffin's reflexes compared against a dragon's.

Alstrom opened his jaws and roared again, and in response the griffin panicked and dodged away. Alstrom was still enthralled in his battle trance, or he would have laughed in amusement as the griffin's flight was destabilized by his close pass. He had done nothing more than one simple manoeuvre, but that was all that had been necessary to spook this unknown flyer. Just when he thought it couldn't get any better, the griffin failed to watch their flight path and crashed directly into a tree. Could there be anything more embarrassing than that?