ORIGIN

The bat was not hanging on the ceiling anywhere, as bats should probably do, but rather sitting atop a pile of bones, holding its head high, gazing around at the room of bones. She was alone here and it was pretty nice. The others were somewhere deep within and didn't bother her as she observed the room with a strange satisfaction.

It was quite beautiful in here. It was strange, but Tarragon certainly thought it was. It was a dark sort of beautiful, as she was surrounded by death and decay, but it was beautiful nonetheless. If anyone asked her to describe her opinion, she would, for once, be unable to explain. Polaris was okay, sure, it had the glowing blue Spire and an endless array of crystals and rocks, but this? It was filled with bones and stagnant pools, a mystery behind every pile, strange creatures lurking in the shadows. It was excitement and it was different and that, perhaps, is what made it beautiful.

After a little while, she began to grow uncomfortable, feeling a little exposed on the top of the pile, so she spread her wings and lifted off into the sky, but only to hover for a moment before gliding closer to the ground. There was a pool nearby that looked like it was clear enough to drink and she was growing thirsty. She approached the edge and set herself on a rock before dipping her head into the water. The first taste was okay. It tasted faintly mettalic, but a few draughts in and a horrible taste entered her mouth. She reeled back and retched as the taste of decay overtook her senses. There had been bones in the pool, yes, weren't there bones in every pool? But she had no idea that they had been fresh bones!

She coughed and spat, trying to rid herself of the awful taste, but it wasn't going away. "Fuck," she muttered as her stomach gave an angry groan. She better not have just given herself food poisoning.

"Caliante." "Salvation." "Rusty." "Crack." "Tarragon." "Ripple."

@Aure

Following the local family intervention, Aure had acted the role of hermit rather well. He often secluded himself in some high reach of the Chambers, pacing back and forth and pondering deeply about what Eythan had said. Any bit of moral divide the wyvern had about his brother was ever-deepened. Black had said that there was no evil or good in the caves --- that there was only malicious intent driven by pain and hatred. The elder Vita had tried to save his father, had acknowledged his mistake with little skirting around the topic.

That confidence only spoke of truth; or a savant of perjury. Aure doubted that Eythan was the latter, in this case. His paws didn't fidget like they usually did when avoiding a subject like death or swear words.

Within a few hours, the wyvern had decided that the punishment Mother had given him was enough, and that the lesson Eythan (and he) both learned from it, though the second was a little later to the party. He could move on, now. But, he would still be unintentionally wary. Old habits died hard, they say.

From the heights of the Chambers, Aure fell. Halfway down the cliff, he spread his wings and soared through the air. Once he had escaped the labyrinth of stalactites, the wyvern climbed through the air. His sharp eyes gazed down below, ears alert for any signs of life --- prey or Greater. The sound of retching came out of nowhere, and immediately his gaze snapped to its source: a dark little blob on the rocks. For a moment, he thought it was Wilder, but descending revealed that it was something with leathery-wings. Unless the cat had suddenly mutated, she did not have wings. Aure was also fairly certain that Wilder didn't know about the f-bomb.

"Hey," he called out, softly, not to alarm the Gembound when he did land. Tucking his wings, the wyvern peered side to side, inspecting the winged creature and then the pool he assumed it had drank from. "Eugh, yeah, that water's gonna taste awful," he chirped, already conjuring up a bit of magic to eat away at the bones. Hopping a little, he dragged each bit of them out of the water and --- hopefully, formed a mass of mushrooms on each one where his feet lay. "Somebody apparently doesn't have any concern for the water supply here." Tourists. His cast failed, and he was only left with a vague feeling of disappointment. So, instead, he turned towards the bat, nodding, "you should be fine after a little bit. These bones don't smell rotten."

Finally, introduction time: "my name's Aure. How about you?"

@Umbra

Umbra

Auré