A Prince's Prophetic Switch

Ishan

"Whoever loves, let them flourish.
Whoever doesn't know love, let them
perish. Who blocks love, let them
perish twice." ~Quisquis amat valeat

Ishan woke up to an apricot being thrown at his head. "What the—" he started, still groggy from sleep, but awake enough to know that whoever woke him up was going to pay. He saw Jade laughing in the corner of his eye and approached her, waving the fruit in her face.

"Did you throw this?" he asked, annoyed.

"So what if I did?" she asks, giggling for only Apollo could know why.

"If you did, you might wind up dead." Ishan threatens, and hears a chuckle from behind him.

"Good thing she didn't, then." he hears, and spins around to see Christian.

"Not for you it isn't," Ishan says, and tackles Christian to the ground, throwing punches as they roll down the hill, laughing all the while as Jade prepares breakfast. They race back up the hill, in which Christian wins by a landslide.

"Settle down," Jade said, and handed them both an apricot and some bread.

"Thanks, Jade." Ishan said, biting into his fruit.

"Meh, I just grabbed a couple things from the horse's—" Jade started.

"—Ariel," Ishan corrected, and Christian rolls his eyes.

"Can you please stop talking about your horse like it's a person?" Christian asked, annoyed.

Ishan gasped in shock. "No!" he said, judgmentally. "How dare you even suggest such a thing! Also, Ariel isn't a person. She's better than one."

"Alright, alright, we get it," Jade started, then, with a smirk, added, "Horse Boy,"

Ishan heaved a sigh, and looked to the ceiling.

"Fine, I'll stop," Ishan started, and Jade knew what was going to happen even before it did. "Gem."

Jade gaped as if she hadn't seen it coming, and dramatically called, "You did not!" in her most exaggerated tone.

"Oh, he did!" Christian said, not wanting to miss out on the fun. Jade responded by squinting her eyes in feigned anger, and uncrossing her arms over her chest. Ishan didn't miss the swift movement she made to her hip with her left hand, and took his own weapon out.

Ishan knelt into a three-point sprinters start, sword in his back hand, but unsteadied for a moment, observing as Jade watched in shock at something behind him, her gaze just above his head.

"Ishan," she started, frantically, "behind you." Ishan smirked, rolling his eyes. 

"You can't fool me." he said, looking to Christian, mimicking Jade. He still didn't believe them.

Then Ishan's pride faltered, as he heard a loud, high pitched screech. He stilled, unable to turn around or attack. Then, at the sight of Christian notching an arrow, he unfroze, whipping around and slashing his sword in the direction of the, as he was now able to notice, beast with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion.

Just as the name of the creature came to Ishan's mind, Jade spoke, her voice shaky, but not so much that she might seem frightened.

"Griffin."

Ishan looked back at his companions, but was thrown to the ground, claws ripping through his toga and slicing into his back.

He tried to get up, but his strength was gone, his body aching in pain, his vision blurred and messy. He was losing blood, he realized, but it was too late for him to do anything, he knew.