Almost as though by magic, the stag appeared, with his brother on his back. The poor tiger looked terrified, clinging to the stag with eyes wide, and the fox rocketed towards him. He leaped, easily landing on the stag's back.
And then, to Pride, once he'd made sure that Pavonia was alive and well, he said,
@Pride
Blinded by fury, Rift barely noticed where he was going. He sprung on top of every smoldering plant he could find, burning his paws but putting out the fire that continued to threaten his home. Every so often he sent out a spray of water but he was quickly becoming dehydrated. He needed to find water, but it wasn't something he was thinking about right now. All that was running through his brain was a thirsting desire to find whoever started the fire. And kill them.
He was so much not paying attention that one stride he was running through clear, blazing forest and the next he was slamming into a black-furred body. With a cry, the two tumbled forward and Rift leaped away as soon as possible. He whipped around and found himself faced with his brother. Sebastian. For a second he simply stared at the black puma and then a ripple of rage shot through his body. It was him. Rift had warned him about practicing his fire magic. He had told him to be careful not to burn down the whole damn forest! And now...it was burning!
Artume was startled as the cougar began to yell, raising her own head. She opened her mouth, intending on calming him, only for him to take off suddenly.
Well, there were more important things she could be doing. So she spun on her hooves and raced into the burning forest.
She ran, and she ran. Ducked falling trees, evaded fleeing Cave Deer. Thankfully, most of the Lessers seemed capable of getting out, and she hadn't yet come across any Greaters.
And then she almost squished one. Leaping, she bounded over a crumbling log. She came down lightly, having to twist to avoid landing on a feline of some sort. The deer dropped to her knees, offering a quick,
@Aaliyah
Li's paw hurt. She couldn't put much pressure on it and hadn't gotten far. She looked around her wildly, seeing the fire seeming to close in. Her eyes were wide, stricken with fear. She really was going to die here, wasn't she? And Envy would have no idea. She hadn't told anyone she was leaving, she just left. She had been intending to come back, but now it seemed as though that wasn't going to happen.
She had just resigned herself to her fate when something leaped over, nearly landing on her. The deer had hardly seen her for a moment when she dropped to her knees, telling her to get on. Li was bewildered but was in no position to decline. It was either get on this deer or die. She preferred the former and quickly managed to scramble onto the deer's back. She clung for dear life, nails sinking into the deer. She tried to not hurt her too much, but it was only a partially conscious thought - she was more focused on not dying.
Artume braced herself as the cat clambered on, knowing that it would, most likely, dig in its claws. But she couldn't blame it, so didn't say a word.
Carefully, she got to her feet, making sure that the cat was able to hang on. Only then did she begin to run, spinning in place and leaping over the log once more.
Running as fast as she could, careful not to let anything strike the cat, or to knock her off, she called over her shoulder,
It wasn't long before they were free of the fire, but still she kept running, knowing that fire could spread fast, faster than a cat could run. Only once she was certain the cat could get away did she kneel, allowing the cat to climb down.
@Aaliyah
Sebastian was so confused - what had happened?
The last thing he remembered was laying down to sleep on top of a tree branch, feeling like death. And then he was waking up in his alcove, unable to die, his beloved forest burning.
He was careful not to cut Yellow with his teeth, the poor lemur dangling from his mouth as he ran. Most other Gembounds seemed to be long gone, thank astraea for that!
The black cat had to squint against the smoke, eyes running. He had never been in such an all-out fire before, the smoke choking him.
He gasped as something rammed into his side, dropping Yellow to keep from crushing him as he tumbled with
Before he could say more, however, he was being blamed for the fire. For a moment, all he could do was stare, eyes wide and glistening with betrayal, ears flattening back, before gasping,
@Rift @Yellow
Rift snarled darkly, Sebastian's voice barely penetrating through the haze of fury. There was no question in his mind that Sebastian had cause this disaster. What other fire user lived in Eridanus? Who else was capable of something like this? His mind was so one-tracked that he barely thought about the fact that Sebastian had lived here his whole life and would never willingly cause a fire this bad. He was almost about to swipe at him when the lemur spoke up.
He whipped his head towards them, his eyes hazy and smoldering.
His anger died away as he turned towards Sebastian, his brother - no longer an enemy or a demon but his precious brother.
Sebastian paid little attention to Yellow, the little lemur the least of his concerns at this point. He had never seen @Rift like this - the puma looked monstrous, silhouetted in smoke, teeth bared, ears back and eyes flashing.
The pair both leaped out of the way as a tree branch crashed down next to them, and Sebastian instantly regretted having never learned a water spell. He was horrified to see Rift spray blood on the plants, and whirled to grab @Yellow in his jaws, before pushing towards.
Around the lemur, he growled,