The world spun.
She'd been up-ended, hindquarters flung into the air, head-down, spinning, spinning-
-hitting the ground
The realization brought panic. The hole the Sandworm was leaving in its wake--it was a pit, cascades of grains falling away around its body, and she was sliding toward it.
Ivory turned, struggling to get to her feet, her wings--big enough only for balance--battering at the ground in desperation to try and aid her.
She felt firmer sand just ahead and tore at it, gripping and pulling with all her clawed might, hind hooves shoving behind her. A moment later she'd broken free, scrambling a few paces only to tumble down the dunes ahead. A blessing--for the sandworm crashed down just where she had been, but the vibrations of the disc and her falling so far free seemed to save her life, for now.
Galleon felt the vibrations much as the sandworms did. Albiet, she was not used to this much vibration. It was overwhelming, everything on the sands and beneath was trembling, sending signals throughout her body. She'd never felt this much with her sense, hell, she almost never felt it. Galleon longed to surface. But before she could think much on it, the sand beneath her trembled, growing in intensity and pressure. She could almost feel--no, she could feel the shift of the sands as something came for her.
Galleon gnashed her teeth in excitement. A sandworm was tunneling up, coming for her. She needed a distraction from all of that awful noise buzzing through her skull. Galleon did not try to avoid the sandworm, instead she twisted down to face it, a wild chuckle booming beneath the sand. As the trembles on the forefront of her snout reached their crescendo Galleon boosted herself forward with a burst of air and jaws wide open.
Something hit her at mach speed, and Galleon instinctively bit down. She crushed something, feeling bone crack and sharp bones scrape against her plated face. Those sharp bones were undulating, moving, and it was then she realized she'd grabbed ahold of the sandworm's mouth with her bony jaw. She never got to use her teeth! Now
Their combined speeds sent them both hurtling backwards, towards the surface. Thus came the only surface level indication of their battle; a snapshot of Galleon hurtling backwards with a sandworm's mouth crushed between her jaws. Then they were both gone, sunk beneath the sands once more in a plume of sand and thrashing limbs.
((Galleon is allowed 1(one) main character moment))
Despite everything running through its mind, he manages to get his magic to flare to life, an additional pair of bright purple wings manifesting and shooting him up into the air, out of his inevitable doom. The creature's teeth do snag out some feathers and lacerate his tail some, but he'll survive.
As soon as the sand began erupting all around the Gembound, Glory leaped into the sky, narrowly avoiding the maw of one of the warms, letting out a warning cry as he did, although it was pretty much pointless, since the others were already facing their own monsters.
Glory stabilized himself in the air and turned towards the chaos that was already scattering the trial-goers. Bright eyes looked for any that needed aid - one over there was kicking a worm, another was also taking off to avoid the lamprey jaws…but then he spotted the striped purple cat-beast, not so unlike the monster that had talked to them at the beginning, falling into the sand, a worm attached to its side.
With a battle cry, Glory dove forward, talons outstretched. Smoldering heat was already rising to the rough surface of his skin as hot magic blazed through his body. He grabbed for the ‘head’ of the worm, or anything close to the jaws, as the head was a bit hard to distinguished, and landed full on the back of the monster, sinking white-hot talons into its flesh in an effort to get it to release the Gembound it was mauling.
Glory is saving Ruby-Beta
"STAR BOUNCE! STAR FLYYYYY!" And she beat her wings harder than she had ever done in her life, propelling her body into the air as jaws snapped shut beneath her. She had almost died. But this experience had not seemed to faze her too much, as she landed back onto the sand a few moments later, ruffling her feathers and pecking out any bits of sand that might have landed on her. "SAND-FRIEND IS NOT STAR-FRIEND" she declared, though a part of her thought that she should still try to befriend the worm sometime later.
This may be a problem.
A handful of gembound were caught in the roaring maelstrom, and he watched as they were battered and beaten, helpless against the worms. Alongside him, a worm erupted underneath a strange slithering creature. He watched as she writhed against the living current in vain. He moved to assist, but he would arrive too late.
He would watch, with those kind eyes, unable to change her fate.
@Wisperia [for visibility]
She was sent flying upwards with the worm with a squawk, watching the ground get further and further away. A breeze on a broken wing may have been wasted, but she attempted to summon it anyways.
Her magick was more complaint this time, the breeze she stirred strong enough to carry her weight long enough for her to glide back to earth. Tawny feathers fluttered from her injured wing, the pain harder and harder to ignore. As soon as she was satisfied with the distance, she plopped back onto the sand and continued her charge, straying further behind the rest of the group.
Speaking of weakness.
Her eyes fixed on a coyote, full of innocence and naiveté. This one was fast, she knew. This one was fearful. It trotted alongside her with a mrrrp? of greeting, as something more sinister stirred beneath. With a slow blink, the air around the gembound filled with frantic and wordless plea to flee. run little dog.
Duck Duck is sabotaging Fleas! [sorry]
@Fleas
Booms of sand came from behind. Fleas froze, and whipped her head around. Behind her was a veritable fog of sand, blown up by the simultaneous surfacing of sandworms and gembound. It was a bonafide struggle for survival. Fleas stared back, eyes wide. That was...that was horrifying. Her skin prickled, the writhing of worms chasing prey bringing back flashbacks of her own demise so many cycles ago.
Fleas trembled, a barely suppressed yowl coming out as a long, muffled whine. She bit at her coat reflexively as her nerves hit her. Needless to say, she wasn't paying attention to Duck Duck. A single ear flicked back at the cat boot-up noise, but her eyes did not leave the chaos, even as she bit at her invisible fleas. She was very much fragile state. And now to top it off there was something malevolent in the air around her, urging her to
Fleas tensed to bolt, a paw raised in fear. And then she paused. There were no echoing greys to carry that thought. And the sandworms didn't seem smart enough to do that. What was she doing, following that voice? Fleas growled, turning back to the group. She then noticed the cat next to her. Very close. Fleas bared her teeth in a vicious grin.
((Dont apologize sabotage is fun >:) ))