ORIGIN

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The crow paced back and forth around the inky black hunk of rock. She was worried about what was inside; though she had every reason to be.

The dog, who called himself the void, said it was a weapon. Bog said it was an egg, something alive was in there. Giggle went missing. She couldn't get the hyena to ask her bones about it.

The crow paused and stared at the chrysalis for a moment, squawking at it. It didn't move, not to her surprise. She sprawled out her wings and flew on top of it, looking down. She didn't know how these things worked, but she was fairly sure that whatever was in there was going to come out soon.

.. It had to, right?

She shifted, feathers ruffling. She wondered, only briefly, how the thing she gave to the Void was - but she was fairly sure it was a similar situation to the thing she was standing on now. Perhaps it wasn't an egg at all? Perhaps it was a trap.

... Perhaps it was useful, but she couldn't figure out a way to move it. Maybe it didn't matter in the end. She squawked slightly as she nestled down onto the chrysalis, gazing out across the marsh in silence.

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@Eve

Tal'at had more or less gotten used to his little spider friend. He could stand to be away from her for a while without getting dizzy or sick from the constant input of information from forever away. This was quite a good thing, considering he missed a certain feathery friend, and he didn't really want to bring an awkward, screechy third wheel into the situation... That, and In'am still thought that every gembound even an inch taller than him was planning on eating her.

The bat glided to the tree where usually Eve was, as she had her nest there, and quietly reached out with his magic. The world opened up around him immediately, the sense of a heartbeat drumming in his mind. He could pinpoint her precisely, and quickly he swept over to her, fluttering down beside her with ease.

"Eve my friend," he began, trailing off as he could not ignore the second, slower, muffled heartbeat beside them. "... Who is this? Are they sleeping?" There was something odd about the pulse he was connected to, though he couldn't quite understand why-- being blind, and all. He wasn't about to be rude and climb all over the creature (or in this case, stone)... But he figured he might as well ask the bird.

Still, it was so wonderful to feel her quick, warm heartbeat. It was familiar, a blip of red in just the right shape. He would know her anywhere.

!!! ...

going out a different path lead by a beating heart

A young lupine observed the two from the shadows, his arrival making no sound, only his shadow being aware of presence. He knew that in order to be a Guardian he had to know the world around him and into order to know the world around him he had to observe it, though he preferred the company of crystals and shadows, yet it was necessary.

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She continued staring out. For a moment, she was more than positive that something else was out there, watching her and the onyx rock she perched on - however, it wasn't an unusual feeling for her. She had often mused that Aquarian had tiny things to watch his children in his marsh. It made sense to her, at least.

The crow's head angled upwards, pulling her away from her thoughts as she heard the bat fluttering around near her nest. It didn't quite click for her yet as to who it was (surprising, given that Tal'at was the only bat Eve knew), but regardless her eyes lit up and her beak shifted towards the bat to gently rub his nose, before the bird reached over to preen the fluff behind Tal'at's bulbous orb-face.

She croaked a little, unusually quiet and soft, in greeting. She was silent for a moment, perhaps not hearing Tal'at, until she lifts her head, gem-talon tapping against the chrysalis gently. "I don't know what it is," she began.

"After the whole, uh... angry dragon thing, I met a dog," the crow squawked, voice raising abruptly to it's usual raucous state. "He said that we were opposites and he called himself the Void. He coughed up this thing and said it was a weapon, and I brought it here and i was looking at it on the ground and then I couldn't move it and it started growing."

She jumped off the rock and gazed at it for a moment, before turning her gaze up to Tal'at, presumably still on the rock. "Big-pig said it was an egg. You called it a who. Can things like you and me be weapons?"

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@Talat

Zephyr saw the chrysalis and before he knew what he was doing, the young wolf cub was racing from the shadows, a snarl ripping from his chest, the voice in his head urging him on. Urging, and begging him to protect those that were unborn.

He stopped befor the rock and raising his blood red eyes, he snarled at the winged ones, "Don't touch them!" It was his job to protect them, he could not bear to lose even one, he could not lose another, never again.

He hadn't stepped a hoof back in Cetus since he'd found Hat, safe and sound with her totally-an-egg-but-apparently-not-because-she-was-a-doubting-doubter-who-doubts. With a snort, the massive hog peered around, movements slow and measured. He'd grown in his travels, reaching a staggering six hundred and fifty pounds, towering over most - and certainly outweighing them. Czernobog stopped in his tracks, raising his enormous snout to the foggy sky with a twitch of tiny ears. The movement sent a tiny stream of pus down his side, erupting from the infected puncture wounds that dotted his back like over-large fang impressions.

Still, not bad for having a dragon thrown on you.

Loud. Something had shouted, snarling, and though he was hesitant to still claim Cetus as his home, the swamp seeming so foreign by now compared to the stars of Orion and the vibrant green of Eridanus, he had been and would always be its guardian. With an ear-piercing bellow, the hog barreled forth towards the sound. Protect. Home. Kill! A harsh, grating squeal ripped through the air as he crashed into the scene, eyes darting over Hat and Small. They both looked... fine? He blinked, relaxing just a touch. If they weren't hurt, then what...?

Czernobog's gaze moved to sweep over the egg, but it looked pristine, shining in the dim light of the swamp. That left - "Intruuuuuder! Fooooooe!" The words were loud and low as the boar turned to face the wolf, uncaring of its obvious youth. "Nooo huuuurt eeeegg! Noooo huuurt friiiiiends!" Short legs moved the monster into a crouch, blood and pus flowing freely from his wounds, broken tusk and positively furious eyes finishing off the portrait of a properly enraged pig. "Whooooooo?"

@Eve @Czernobog

It took Eve a moment to answer, but Tal'at waited with utmost patience. When the bird spoke, he listened, considering what she had to say quite seriously. There was a weapon, which had become an egg, and apparently since he saw the red pulse of its life, it was to become a gembound soon. There was a sense of urgency to the avian's words, and he paused momentarily to consider.

"I doubt this. Perhaps other gembounds... But we belong, to another purpose."

There was more than just the two heartbeats that Tal'at had noticed. His magical gift told him of the pulse of nearly every ounce of prey for yards, but more importantly, there were two large-ish creatures, much bigger than he or Eve. One was familiar-- the Big Bog-- and the other, abruptly, he felt the creature's heartbeat skip, stutter, and suddenly it charged at them, barking viciously.

Although Tal'at could not see the wolf, his blind orb turned to face the strong, rapid pulse of the canine. Like radar, he could make out the approximate position and size of the beast, and he was a bit worried for their sakes at first. After all, the bat was hardly much more than a prey creature, with no offensive magic to his name. Eve had hardly been shown as a threat-- there was a reason they were both scouts for the Children of Rot.

Despite this, he showed no fear. Bursting from the undergrowth, squealing, the Big Bog appeared on the scene as he expected. The bat took flight and landed clumsily on the hog's back, clinging tightly before he fell into the mud. "Wait wait wait! Mean no harm. Stranger speaks protectively. Who are you?" Quickly, he scrambled up on to the Big Bog's face and down to the snout, trying to get between the pig and the wolf without putting himself in a trample zone.

"I am Tal'at, and this is... Children of Rot. Eve is mother... Mother to egg. You understand stranger?"

!!! ...

going out a different path lead by a beating heart

The wolf cub growing little by little by the day heard the crashing from the undergrowth and saw the giant pig, and though he was scared, he squashed what fear he felt and faced the board, ready to battle if necessary.

The pig wreaked of infection but he could see the gaping wounds and realized the boar had recently been in battle yet he was willing to throw down his life to protect his land and friends, those were not the signs of an enemy, they were the qualities of an honorable warrior.

He saw, from the corner of his eye, a small creature fly onto the boar and try to create a barrier between the two, and then he spoke, asking for Zephyr to stop. The wolf drew in a breath feeling the calm spread through his body as his life blood already did.

Opening his eyes scarlet eyes he looked at the bat, feeling the fur along his back lie flat, as well his ivory fangs hidden beneath a lowering lip, "Aye, hear you I do, apologize I must. I thought you meant to harm the crystal and the life within."

He knew nothing of the Children of Rot and knew not that he was on their land.

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Eve was ready to protest - the egg had came from another gembound, it was at least half of the Void. Her beak barely opened when Tal'at turned his head (which Eve identified as something that, in fact, blind people do not do) and no more than a second after he turned her own head, a stranger burst out from the undergrowth.

The bird's inky-black feathers flattened against her skin - turning from a fat crow to a horribly skinny and frail creature. The stranger - who was seemingly a newly-hatched himself - was yelling about harm or something. She couldn't quite tell, as soon after Czernobog came thundering down, squealing.

She was quiet when Tal'at had made his way onto the boar's head. She was only briefly surprised - he must have knew Bog was there. He could see things she couldn't, at least. She didn't tense down however, eyes locked on the pup that had came running in. Her head angled towards Tal'at briefly as he spoke before she twisted her head around to look at the onyx rock behind her.

With a croak she sprawled her wings out and flew on top of Czernobog's head, leaning over to see past his snout. She spoke as quietly as she could, more to Tal'at. "I don't think we can trust it." She paused after speaking to move herself around again, nuzzling the back of the boar's ear with her beak in greeting. She tried not to pay attention to the festering wounds of the creature she stood on.

She kept half an eye on her egg, and the other half eye on the pup.

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Wait! No. Stranger. Who? Czernobog snorted, snout twitching as his face relaxed from its angry grimace, brown eyes softening as they followed Tal'at's flight and landing. Tal'at. Rot. Mother. Understand? The boar let the words roll through one ear and out the other, satisfied that his Tiny was safe and secure on his snout, pinning his gaze back on the wolf pup distrustfully.

Apologize. Harm. The pig's eyes narrowed, ears flattening back - sometimes it was more than a little frustrating when everyone spoke in their strange, fractured way, rather than like the plants, who could ramble on like water through the swamp. "Chuuuuurn?" The grumble was more of an annoyed huff than a question, and Czernobog's gaze flickered back and forth between the intruder and Hat, with her egg-not-an-egg.

Thankfully, Hat soon joined Tiny, and Czernobog trotted over to the egg, moving to stand in front of the chrysalis with all of his bulk, puffing up his chest and standing as tall as possible, as if to form a wall in front of the unborn Gembound. The gentle nuzzle to his ear from a smooth beak made his gaze dart up to peer at Eve, grinning happily, tiny tail wagging, before he abruptly seemed to recall his duty, turning his head down just a bit, slow enough not to knock his passengers off, to peer at the cub. "Whooooooooooo?"

One might have expected him to have been kinder, considering his devotion to any and all youngsters that the massive creature came across, but the baby inside the egg... it was a bit like his second chance. He couldn't fail again. His daughter was... gone. For good, the plants said. To the place beneath, where the rot grew and fed, where he would go one day. Their whispers had grown crueler after his magic had gone on the fritz, but that didn't exactly mean they were wrong. He'd as good as sent her there himself, but what mattered now was correcting his mistake. He'd be a good... uncle?

He'd be as good as Dragon.

Maybe.

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Eve

Talat

Zephyr Bloodking

Eve

Zephyr Bloodking

Czernobog

Talat

Zephyr Bloodking

Eve

Czernobog