ORIGIN - three, four, they change the score

Well, if he thought his flight home from Tunnel N was arduous, this was a whole new world of it. Eythan never knew that a crystal could become gain more and more weight the longer he carried it, no matter how much he stopped and rested. He was half-tempted to find a way to break it into more manageable pieces, but the weight would be the same. So, there was no point in trying out that shit.

As soon as he flew into the crystalline vault, he tiredly began to ascend. Rather helpfully, his stone offered forth a little surge of magicka, throwing a gust at his back, giving him a breeze to ride on. Eythan landed sloppily atop the tower, alone and wheezing for breath as he tumbled over the crystal. Slowly turning a heavy head to it, he grumbled, "fuckin' bitch." Then, he promptly passed out from exhaustion, which was rather unfortunate given how stealthy he had to be as to not be seen with this big-ass rock.

The gryphon still had no idea why this part had to be so stealthy, and how it would be done.

Some time passed, and he blearily blinked awake, stretching and rubbing gunk from the corners of his eyes. That was a good-ass nap, if he said so himself. Which he did. Of course. Eythan shambled uneasily toward the Tower's edge, shiny talon extensions clicking eagerly against ancient stonework. Peering toward the Throne, he saw... no one, really. Great! This was going rather well, despite how exhausted he was, already.

Eythan stared downward for a few moments longer, squinting to the best of his eagle-eyed ability to capture any semblance of motion. As fate would have it, not a single thing stirred, not even a mouse. Ah, so he'd caught the part of the daily cycle reserved specifically for sleeping. "Fuckin' adios, internal clock," he grimaced, turning on the spot and shuffling toward the crystal.

"... you must not be seen."

Well... what if on the off chance he was caught, he had turned himself to shadow, rather than stone? The hybrid flattened his mouth into a hard line, closing his eyes to focus on a bit of a sustained form of the spell he wanted. In another stroke of good luck, his stone obliged. Rather eagerly, if the now-uncomfortable Eythan would say so himself. With a small celebration to himself, the shadow-cloaked gryphon clambered atop the singing crystal, rolling darkness consuming it wholly. "Nice."

Talons firmly planted into the grooves of the crystal and gripping it to the best of his ability (without cutting himself, of course) Eythan spread his darkened wings. They cascaded downward, sending a spray of darkness all around as he lifted off. As soon as he felt the lightness of air and the full weight of the crystal upon his limbs, the gryphon dove impossibly silent toward the Throne. This was nerve-wracking, but simple. Plus, he could not wait until he managed to get rid of this weight and put his shoulders back into place.

As the Throne loomed closer and closer, the hybrid shifted his wings, slowing his careening descent with the simple motion. Curving his tail and body slightly, he circled slightly about the monument, landing on the right arm with his hind limbs, front half balancing atop the crystal, which had begun to sing from the collision. As soon as the so-called "offering" had been placed, Eythan flapped his wings, spiraling up into the air in a dark mass with unseen glee. Ah, sweet freedom from his burdens!

He still had work to do, though, as he sustained his cloak of pure darkness (plus or minus the slight licks of glowing stone that peeked out from the rolling sea of vantablack. Eythan cascaded toward the earth once again, landing in more of a centrally located area, this time. His talon extensions clicked against stone as he turned on the spot, glowing eyes searching. Intentionally making his voice deeper and more garbled than it was, he called, "Greed?"

Reseda was resting in her small, crumbled nest when she heard the voice, soft and barely audible, but definitely real. Her motionless body stirred as she raised her head and turned it slowly in the direction of the soft call. Someone was looking for her and, as she flicked out her tail, she knew that it was not one of the Seven.

She slowly rose to her feet and softly climbed onto the stone steps, following the scent of the creature nearby. She stayed in the darkness, keeping herself behind boulders and in the shadows of overhangs. She caught sight of whoever was calling her and stopped, letting her path continue with magic as she reached out with a mental tendril to connect their minds.

It latched and she carefully shielded her position, her intention, and anything else except her presence and her voice. Who are you and what are you doing here?

@Eythan

The dark-shrouded Eythan was rather blissfully unaware of the intrusion into his mind, silent and worming deep into his conscious. Reseda would find racing, garbled thoughts, thinking over the image of the Collector and what the hybrid had been instructed to do. At the voice in his head, the hybrid whirled around abruptly, searching for the sound with glowing eyes. Tilting his head, he realized softly that the voice had come from within his own mind, distinctly unfamiliar unlike that of Giggle's. Quietly, he hoped that the intrusion hadn't lasted that long.

Staring into some undetermined direction, the hybrid thought back, 'It doesn't matter who I am.' Turning to another direction, he lowered his head, continuing, 'I've come to tell you that your leader is risking everything against us. Your opportunity, if you take advantage of it, is close.' Official-sounding statement complete, the shadowy gryphon took flight, spreading his wings and, again, scattering darkness all around the area.

Rising into the air, he said nor thought nothing more to the lizard. With the simple beat of a wing, he swung casually toward Orion's wall, leaving Reseda behind.

; exit Eythan

@Greed

Reseda took in as much of the creature's thoughts as possible before the connection closed and he flew away. The words and images floated in her head as she contemplated what she had just heard. She didn't think she could trust him...he was, after all, a stranger and most likely just a messenger. But the thought of her opportunity, and she knew exactly which opportunity he spoke about, being close at hand made her hunger inside.

She flicked out her tongue, but there was nobody else nearby and whoever had just been here was gone and had not returned. She did not move out of her shadows, though, in case she was not detecting a member of the seven nearby. Even though the words passed through their mind, she did not want them knowing that he had even been here at all.

So she slunk back towards her nest, locking down on the image of a black-robed figure, who's name attached to the image - the Collector. This was most likely the one who knew about this opportunity. She wasn't going to wait for it, though - she would make a path of her own. She diverted her path. Instead of returning to her nest, she would go to Canis and ask this 'Collector' for herself. Finally, things were going to move.

*exit