ORIGIN - the light that guides me through

I can see you running, running
Every night from the same darkness
It's coming, coming, but you are not alone
If you just say the word, I'll be there by your side
You make me more, you make me superhuman
And if you need me to, I will save you

...

One moment, Tal'at was in excruciating pain, burned to the core, his wings shredded and his body badly destroyed. In his last moments, he remembered a hot, bright light, pulsing in his magickal vision, calling to him. He crawled to it, breath ragged, as he begged Czernobog to do good and protect him. To take the pain away, and let him die in the closeness of a friendship he truly valued.

...

In the next moment, Tal'at was awake, conscious-- but feeling like he was dreaming. He couldn't breathe, his lungs filled with the mucus he almost remembered the taste of. His wings stretched, feeling the smooth form of a shell. This was familiar to him. What was not familiar, however, was the slow, drumming beat that echoed in his ears. Despite not being familiar to his consciousness, it reminded him of home, and it told him that he was alive.

The small mammal shifted in his shell, slowly coming to understand. He was a babe again-- except he was not young. He remembered everything as though it was just yesterday. Slowly, he reached out to touch the mind he remembered-- In'am. There was nothing there, no response, and for a quiet moment, he felt deathly alone. The pulse washed over his shell once more and he felt reassured, comforted. His family... Was that them, out there?

...

Send out the signal and I'll fly low
If it means the death of me, I won't let go
And if I'm lost in the worlds shadows
I'll use the light that comes to me
From your halo

!!! ...

He'd been asleep, ensconced in his own mind, massive tentacles slowly inching across the shadowed floor of the platform his dreamscape had become. Green eyes like dinner plates moved over his skin, switching position to see everything, everywhere, every nook and cranny of his memory, each day shining, darting about like fish in viscous air. Two were bigger than the rest, shimmering a bloody red, dancing around each other, their half-formed fins barely brushing in their sway.

Vicktor - and Tal'at.

Czernobog swayed closer, one heavy limb rising to pet over smooth scales gently, leaving inky stains behind, borrowing memory with color. Tal'at - it had been so long. Long enough that he was beginning to panic, bile churning in his stomach at the thought of the egg being stillborn, or worse, simply dead in his chest forever, a solid, horrific reminder of the terrible accident.

That day's memory swam away, and the hours, the minutes afterwards hovered forward, dancing around his form. He batted them all away - all but the ones glowing a soft, calm blue. Those he gathered close, cradled in hundreds of arms. They thrummed like heartbeats - memories of checking on the eggs, on his own children. The cassowary, the stag, and the two chrysali, growing healthy and strong, hum hum humming away in his ear, letting him relax.

Outside, in the swamp, he had curled around the nest again, head resting between the eggs, one ear cupped over each. They kept him strong - kept his Purpose alive, his body willing but slowly becoming less and less able. His brother.

He just wanted his brother back.

Sighing from unseen mouths, Czernobog moved to shoo the memories away - and felt something move in his pig-body's chest. In an instant, black, beady, earthly eyes were blinking awake, and his head rose slowly, inch by inch, afraid that if he truly moved the sensation would have been a dream. But no; it happened again, a slight rustle near his heart, and the boar felt a hesitant smile tugging at his lips, tears building and falling, matting his wiry fur down.

"Tiiiiiiiiiiny?"

@Talat

@Czernobog

I can see you running, running
Every night from the same darkness
It's coming, coming, but you are not alone
If you just say the word, I'll be there by your side
You make me more, you make me superhuman
And if you need me to, I will save you

...

Tal'at heard a voice, slow and deep and most of, so familiar. His family. His brother. His Bog. Flashes of green ran brightly through his memories, wrapping him around and holding him close. He opened his jaws to speak, pressing a wing to the beating, powerful organ just beyond his shell. Bog. Boooog.

He couldn't speak though, not yet. He wanted to feel the air in his lungs again. He wanted to be alive, to feel Bog's fur and nestle up in the foggy exhale that swarmed around Bog's tusk. Most of all, he wanted to hear Bog's voice clear as day. His ears straining, he waited another beat.

That was Bog's heart. He was close to it... Dangerously close. How that had happened he was unsure, his memory foggy around the edges. Carefully, the bat wriggled around in his shell, feeling something in his bones-- his skull-- snag on the shell. What were those... Did he... Have something sticking out of him now? He squirmed away from the heart, pushing those thoughts away for now. He needed to try and break free away from the heart-- he couldn't hurt the beating pulse that kept Bog alive.

Carefully, Tal'at tried to break free. When he had tried to hatch as a babe, he had been too weak, too little. Now, not quite yet known to him, he had something of an egg tooth on his gem. Pushing against the shell, his gem cracked through his chrysalis. The gem cracked, breaking open a hole with gentle ease. It took a bit of effort, but in no time, his body flopped out of the pig's chest, and gasping, he took his first breath.

His head ached from the effort, the gem egg-tooth having fallen off in the process, just another shard of tiger's eye among the cracked pieces. The ground was solid here, hard and cold. It was shocking, truly, how much the brisk air hit him and roused him full awake. Turning his gem head towards the Bog above him, he felt a smile crack across his face.

"My Big Bog... You did it.... You protected me..."

...

Send out the signal and I'll fly low
If it means the death of me, I won't let go
And if I'm lost in the worlds shadows
I'll use the light that comes to me
From your halo

!!! ...

His breath stuttered, hope and fear mixing together into a painful stew in his gut. The flutter of movement pressed close to his heart made the boar relax that much more, bristled ears drooping forward in relief, trying to keep quiet and still for his passenger. A strange sensation - like Tal'at was moving harder now, out instead of inside - and a crack! echoed out of his chest. Czernobog's eyes widened, flickered down to try and get a glimpse of whatever was happening inside.

Of course, he couldn't see much of anything, but he could feel chunks of the chrysalis falling to rest on his ribs, and his breath caught, hoping beyond all hope that his tiny friend had actually found a way to survive death itself. Tiny feet skittered across his insides, and a shape dropped from his open chest cavity to the ground, startling the pig into a loud snort, ruffling the body below with hot breath.

"Taaaaaaal'at?" The whisper was still loud, but it was choked by anxiety - fear that fled as soon as the bat moved, round gemstone head pivoting to "look" at him, and Czernobog's maw opened into a fascinated, proud grin, tears sticking to his fur and dripping down his chin. "Tiiiiiiiiiny!" His massive black snout dipped to snuffle over their newly healed form, tears pooling at the back of his throat, gently nuzzling over and under tiny, delicate wings, warming the gemstone face.

"Nooooooot. Deaaaaaaaaaaad," he breathed out, closing his eyes and moving to cradle his brother between his face and an unusually thin front leg. "Chuuuurn. Glaaaaaaaaaaad." It was as much as he could say in the bat's language - although he didn't look purely bat-like, anymore. It didn't bother Czernobog any, considering his internal image was a moving pile of limbs. "Bałam się, były... zniknął. Cayenne martwił," he mumbled, one eye opening a slit to dart towards the two growing chrysali, safe in their nest. "Ale starałem się być dobry. Uchronić Ciebie i dzieci."

The pieces of the chrysalis were sliding around with his breath, and the boar shifted, uncomfortable but glad for it, now that his careful protection had paid off.

@Talat

She came back to the clearing, her hands full of nice soft grasses she'd collected for Bog to eat; he couldn't move, and he wasn't eating, and besides the things she'd conjured with her magic, he hadn't eaten at all. She was beyond worrying for him, she was sick with grief with the idea that he might die soon once the thing inside him emerged.

She had paced around like a worried family member expecting a birth that could go horribly wrong, and she came back, feeling sick inside, just in time to see the newly emerged creature on the ground, slick with the fluid from his gem, the shattered pieces on the ground, and she could see the love between the two of them.

Nothing but pure unrelenting relief flowed through her now, and her whole body wanted to go slack with it, and she immediately started to cry. It wasn't the violent emergence she was expecting.

She swallowed and walked close, setting down the grass and petting Bog and looking at the new...yet old...gem, with the....gem...for a face.

She blinked.

"H-hello," She said, trying to start a rapport. "Bog has been keeping you safe and sound."

Then she turned to Bog and looked over him and said, "Bog okay? Bog safe?

@Talat

@Czernobog

I can see you running, running
Every night from the same darkness
It's coming, coming, but you are not alone
If you just say the word, I'll be there by your side
You make me more, you make me superhuman
And if you need me to, I will save you

...

Tal'at didn't know what he was feeling. Joy? He didn't know. He reached out his wings, feeling small fingers at the joint of his webbed limb-- it was a strange sensation, to have more. His weight felt more even, too, and as he reached out he felt an anchor at the other end of his body. His short tail, now long, giving him balance. Had he become something more? His clawed fingers touched at Bog's snout, a smile breaking across his face. The hot breath of the pig warmed his gemstone face, and he felt nothing but the brilliant connection of guardian and charge. He didn't know what he had done to deserve Czernobog or the other Children of Rot... But Caves, he wished he could pay them back some day. Perhaps his children would be able to provide where he could not.

"No not dead... You did good... Thank you Bog," he breathed again, listening to the pig choke on his emotion. He was connected to the guardian's heart, and even without his magic he could feel the beat as though it was his own. They were connected now, though Tal'at knew deep down he had done nothing to deserve the honor. "I'm glad too," he echoed back, licking at his friend's snout. Tal'at was so alive, different but better, and he could barely handle the swelling energy in his new form. Czernobog spoke to him in lullaby, his words foreign but yet the bat could not get enough. He didn't know what had happened while he was gone, he had no comprehension of time... But he knew he wanted to absorb it all... It all told him that a miracle had happened, just for him, and he would cry if he could.

... A rapport cut through the air. Tal'at's gem flashed, color crackling through it and settling on a firm, flowing green. Along side the bat, he felt the pulse of Bog's gifts along each side, connecting in front of him. The life of plants, the whisper that told him that Bog was a true guardian of the swamp. He turned his head, tail curling around his hind legs, and he stared with a blind face towards the other... And felt a mirror of Bog in the new voice. Of life, of healing, of growth towards the warm, beautiful light. A gift that was older than any gembound he had ever known, as old as Aquarian himself.

The stranger spoke in a familiar, gentle manner. One that approached with concern, coming to check on Czernobog. The bat dropped down, stepping aside. Whoever this was... Were they of the Rot? How long had he been gone? Shivering, he turned his form to face the heartbeat that glistened the color of green, of plants, of the forest that grew and grew, and he felt a genuine concern.

"... Did I hurt... Is Bog hurt...?" He asked, fear tinging through his voice, blind and helpless. "I am Tal'at," he offered in haste towards Cayenne, though he did not take his eyeless gaze from Czernobog. "Whoever you are... You share gifts... You are of, of Bog's gift. You must understand..." He was struggling with words, and as they died on his tongue, he shrunk down, leaning his body into Bog's tusk.

Tal'at felt as though he had been away for years. He felt separated, severed, immediately in the presence of this other. He was an insignificant speck, a leech who had taken from the Children of Rot's ranks. There was pain in Bog's breathing, he could hear it now, and he felt sick to his stomach.

...

Send out the signal and I'll fly low
If it means the death of me, I won't let go
And if I'm lost in the worlds shadows
I'll use the light that comes to me
From your halo

!!! ...

@Czernobog

Speak of the devil and he will appear - it seemed the same worked for Cayenne, and Czernobog's fluffy, rounded ears perked up at the sound of her return, a fierce grin stretching his face. "Caaaaaayenne! Loooooook!" The lemur was crying again, and he almost asked why, but she didn't seem upset this time, so he figured it would be better to leave it alone. Instead, the boar turned his attention back to Tal'at, nuzzling at fluffy fur, snorting at the touch of a tiny tongue grooming his snout. The bat let go just as quickly as Cayenne arrived, and Czernobog frowned, glancing between the two of them, confused.

Well, no matter. He rarely understood the fleeting emotions of mortals, content to stick with his range of anger, lust for power, protectiveness, and the very rare bonds he formed. The one he had with Tal'at was, perhaps, the strongest of them all, and the pig gently licked at his brother's soft pelt, cleaning it of the remnants of chrysalis fluid, chuckling when the bat gripped at his intact tusk. "Chuuuuurn is... alright." His snout screwed up, mind working overtime to search for words that would never come naturally, entire being programmed to speak and think differently.

Still, he had to try - for his family, he would at least make an attempt to talk like they did.

"I. Am? The Black God," Czernobog murmured. "You. Are. My. Family. I protect. You." He smiled, gentle and proud, lifted his head to focus on both Cayenne and Tal'at. "I hurt. So. You. Don't. It is. My. Job. My purpose." The shards in his chest shifted, and he winced. "Pieces. Leftover? Shell. Inside." He shrugged - the more complex concepts were much easier to get across in his native tongue. Still, even with Cayenne's assurances, he maintained one principle above all, the one truth that kept him unconcerned: he was, in the end, expendable.

He lived for his family.

Frankly, that was alright by him.

Czernobog grinned, happy and content, eyes crinkling at the edges as he blew hot air over Tiny, nothing short of blow-drying the mutated creature's fur. "I. Kept. Babies. Safe! I was a. Good! Bog."

@Talat @Cayenne

Cayenne's expression settled into a mute and deep discomfort, and she wiped her face and kept petting Bog while she listened. Bog was breathing and snuggling them both and the corner of her mouth flinched a flicker of a smile, but her heart was too heavy through all of this. She had been so sick with worry for Bog and it still wasn't over yet.

"Yes....Bog Good." She said, her cobweb-like voice soft and quiet. "Bog protect family. Bog can't...." Her voice clogged up, and she coughed to clear it. "Bog hurt family when Bog hurt. Family worry. Family loves Bog."

He was so kind and gentle and wonderful, but why couldn't he get it into his nice head that he couldn't keep throwing himself at death's door? He refused to acknowledge it, and it made Cayenne crazy every time she had to heal him.

She looked at Tal'at, who was reserved and nervous and worried as much as she was, and she gently placed a hand on his tiny little shoulder. "Bog kept you in a hole he had in his chest, and as your shell grew, it started to pierce into him, and the peices are still there. If those shards move, they could put his life in jeaopardy, and..." She sighed, irritation at life's humor rubbing on her nerves, "For the third time now, I need to help him."

She looked at Bog. "I swear, the protector needs a protector." Then she closed her eyes and looked inside him, seeing the shards that were wrong glow with their own golden light, shining to her under her eyelids. Their branches were deep inside him, but thin for the most part, and she could use her plants to delicately take it out, with fingers that were thinner and stronger than hers could ever be. She inhaled deeply, preparing herself for the blood and the tearing and the screaming

and oh caves she wasn't ready to hurt him again, she wasn't ready to see him run away from her and spear himself with bones again like the first time she tried to help him, and her hand was digging into his fur and her breathing escalated and she was panicking, panicking.

she couldn't hurt him, she couldn't do it, all mother, why

@Talat

@Czernobog

I can see you running, running
Every night from the same darkness
It's coming, coming, but you are not alone
If you just say the word, I'll be there by your side
You make me more, you make me superhuman
And if you need me to, I will save you

...

Tal'at listened with the keen kindness of a friend, his stomach churning and his heart dropping into the swirling vortex of acid. His jaw slacked slightly at Bog's words, the slow, steady words of a caretaker who did so much to bridge the gap between them, to answer his three-pointed-sentences, quick and rapid fire, unable to stop the clicking way he spoke. It was a wonder they understood each other--

But for once, Tal'at understood and felt emotions he hadn't known before. It was worse than his anxiety, his fear of death, a swelling disgust with himself as he realized that what had happened was not a miracle, not a gift, not a wish granted by the gods themselves-- no. He had used Czernobog, just like he had used In'am, and the boar was hurt, injured, perhaps even dying from what he had done.

Who knew if Bog could come back like he had. His gem was broken, and it hadn't repaired. Tal'at could feel the sickness in the nature of his magic, now that Cayenne was near. While hers grew, strong and steady, ever towards a brilliant warmth in the sky, his had stopped, shriveled, though it still felt rooted and strong to the ground it had stopped growing. Tal'at pressed his snout to Bog's, inhaling with a trembling breath of a sob. He could not cry, not tears, but he wheezed with the dreading sensation of grief.

After a moment, the words came. Trembling. Between gulps of air. "I--I did not... I did not... Mean to hurt... I had no... No idea what... What was happening... I was dying..." They were not excuses, not really, more like he was recounting what had happened-- and there was such a pugnant fear in his voice. His whole body trembled as he clung to the boar, orbface pointed towards Cayenne's voice.

"The Big Bog... He is important. You are important. Bog shouldn't hurt... Not for me... Not for anyone. Bog is wonderful, so very good, should never hurt... I am sorry... So very sorry..." He didn't know what to do, what to say-- how to fix any of it. If Bog died, if he died, then what would happen to him? His children? Would they be exiled, or worse? He had never meant for any of this to happen-- but none of that really mattered.

Bog couldn't die. He was supposed to be immortal, powerful, unending.

After a moment's pause, the bat dropped down into the marsh, brushing against the dark black fur he couldn't see. He recoiled away from Cayenne, ears laying back, and clicked and chattered noisily. "If there is... Anything I can... Can do for... For Big Bog... Please tell me. I cannot see... But I can... I can sense... The heartbeat and... I am small." He swallowed hard, inching closer to her, raising a wing with tiny, new digits that he flexed at her, lips quivering, tail curling tight around himself.

He wanted so badly to fix what he had done, before Big Bog died. Before someone powerful, useful, kind and loyal and oh so wonderful, died just because he had been too weak to live on his own. Tal'at did not deserve to live, not after he had done this. Not if he couldn't fix his wrongs.

...

Send out the signal and I'll fly low
If it means the death of me, I won't let go
And if I'm lost in the worlds shadows
I'll use the light that comes to me
From your halo

!!! ...