ORIGIN

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When Wilder up and marched up to the --- admittedly --- small leader of the Seven (where is the Sinful part of it?) Aure literally fought the urge to sigh. Others had already gotten after her for it, so he remained quiet. Still, he wondered why he seemed to have to babysit the little cat all the time, good a friend as she was.

Then, the car alarm went off, and a whole spider dropped from the ceiling as casually as possible. The wyvern, of course, started backward and puffed up his feathers. He was already beginning to reach for his magicka when she was addressed and promptly dismissed. Aure kept it within wing's reach; just in case. Rift dismissed himself, but not before dispensing further knowledge on the stag Astraea. He spoke of a place with keys, orbs, an enormous serpent--- oh, wait. Does he mean the hole in Canis's wall? I mean, what else could he mean, other than the big gaping hole in Canis's wall?

Anyways...

Aure glanced sidelong toward his mother, and began to mentally dredge up what the Black Dog had told him a while back. He did not speak, though. Best to wait until the... intruder was dealt with, in accordance with Dragon's will.

@Giggle

Giggle flinched at the screeching alarm provided by the bird. It was so deafening that, for a moment, she could not hear a word that Dragon said.

The falling spider--she, Giggle recognized, though the arachnid had certainly grown. And she recalled having looked into the future about her... not with the bones, but with arcane magics. She'd seen three possibilities, as she recalled--and in one, the spider had been bathed in blue light, perched nearby the Spire. What with that speech of the Spire as a father, I suppose I know which future's come to pass, she thought to herself. She would not have been one to dismiss Thothaga so quickly--in fact, she was wondering what further the spider might have to say.

However, her declaration that nobody had asked other Elders for information was certainly foolish, and decidedly presumptuous. Giggle herself had spoken at some length to the one known as Lorekeeper, who--long ago--had told her a great deal.

Regardless of Thothaga's complete lack of tact and rudeness, Giggle would not have chased her off, herself. Instead she sat quiet, dark eyes flicking between those present, waiting for it to be time to speak once more.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Wilder

Wilder stepped back, a little taken aback at Envy's cold tone. Had she said or done something she wasn't supposed to do? She didn't understand why the weasel had such a reaction to her comment but it made her shrink a little bit knowing that she'd upset them. "W-what? I'm sorry, I don't...know what you mean?" She looked over at Dragon and obeyed him immediately. She glanced at Envy, confusion and hurt painted over her face. "I know that...I'm small and I can use lots of magic! I'm sorry," she added to Envy, although she still wasn't sure why it was necessary to be sorry.

She flinched when a huge mass suddenly fell into their midst and jumped back with surprise. But it wasn't difficult to recognize the creature that had fallen and her face split into an even wider grin. "Thothaga! Hi! What are you doing here?" But, of course, she didn't even have to wait for an answer as the spider was already giving one.

She blinked as the conversation turned to the Spire. The one thing Wilder very much didn't like thinking about. They were close to the Spire now, at least closer then she was used to and just thinking about the glowing crystal made the kitten dizzy. She wasn't really listening to Pride at all, but the words he spoke were seared into her mind. She had heard them over and over again, in her waking days, in her dreams, when her eyes connected with the Spire. The voice that whispered in her ear.

"D̸e̵a̵t̴h̷ ̵i̸s̵ ̴a̵ ̶l̶i̵e̶,̴ ̷t̷h̸e̵ ̸p̴a̸i̴n̶ ̴i̶s̴ ̴e̷t̷e̶r̵n̶a̶l̸." Her voice had grown hoarse and her eyes were sliding in and out of focus. The air around her was growing warm as she trembled. Slowly, mechanically, her gaze lifted until she was staring out into nothing, above the heads of the others. Her breathing was coming in harsh pants and it almost seemed like she was having trouble standing.

"You don't know. You don't know anything. None of you know it. It is coming for us. It is always coming for us. It will tear our flesh from our bones and it will tear our BONES FROM OUR GEMS."

She was hissing by the time she was done, stepping back so that her pelt melted into the shadows and only two misty purple eyes could be seen through the blanket of black. Until they rolled up and she collapsed.

@Thothaga

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Thothaga scooted away out of caution as Dragon bellowed at her angrily, yet she remained steeled in the face of the alligator's horrendous, snapping jaws. Nothing could compare to the cold, calculated hatred in Astraea's eyes as he fed Khloros to the Spire. To be mauled by every gembound here would be far kinder fate than what that horse suffered.

However she could barely stifle her laughter as Dragon insisted that Aquarian, was in fact, their father. "Pfffshh hehehe!" She finally gave into the giggles. Whatever fear Dragon caused her was gone now. The spider tried to regain her composure but her body this trembled with laughter. "W-wait," She stopped to read Dragon's expression. Was he serious? "You really think Aquarian is--? No, nooo, " Her fangs twitched. She was disappointed in the Children of Rot. How could they have gotten it so horribly wrong? "I thought you meant that as a figure of speech!"

Before she could reply to Dragon, Pride's words about the Spire had irked her. "Of course the Spire is our Father! Who do you think gave us thought and form?" She snapped. "We are magick incarnate, Astraea's words, not mine. I do not know if our Spire-Father cares for us, I do not if he is even aware, but I do know, without Him, everything will cease to live. Do you understand?" He eyed, not just the deer, but everyone around her. This fact was so important. She had to put to rest their doubts, or they may, unknowingly, wind up as her enemies, and she could not fight them all, nor did she want too.

After hearing the other's confess their experiences with the Elders, the spider perked up. "Ah! So you have spoken with the Ancients, why didn't you say so!" She shuffled her fangs eagerly, as if she wanted to pounce. It was amazing what a little bit of hurt pride could do. "But did you ask them? Did you really ask them? Or did you flee with your conclusions when they did something strange? "

Thothaga turned to Dragon, looking somewhat offended by his statement. "Me worship them? Hah! Don't be a rock-head." She waved off the comment. In case you've forgotten, Dragon..." She lowered her voice into an dark whisper. "I am hunting your Betrayer. " Killing Nemean seemed like such an impossible task, and it probably was, but the vision the Divine showed her, the of buzzing wings, the withering of precious children, it was a nightmare. Everyday its memory haunt her. It would rend her heart open, again, and again, and again. She did not even know why. The Divine's emotions were not her own, and yet, somehow, they were.

One day, they would be. That is why Nemean must pay.

"Besides," She continued, stroking her fangs methodically. "I hardly owe them my loyalty."

She regarded the group. Her eight, beady black eyes. They did not trust her. This was fine. In time, they would.

"But, before you throw me out, I want to share something with you all, as a peace offering." She said. "I've witness Astraea force a corrupted horse into the Spire. It was cruel--disgusting, the way the flesh tore from his bones." Even now the memory made her abdomen grow cold. "But the horse was going to spread his death to the Spire, to kill us-- to "free us", he claimed. Astraea stopped him." Thothaga paused as she thought back to that fateful moment. Her mind sifted through the conversation she shared with the stag. "I was horrified, so, I said to him "Why did you do that?" and he told me "What we do to protect you might seem cruel, but there are times when others should know their place." Thothaga paused. "And.. he said he that everything he does is for this place... for us Gembounds. The spider shook the thought from her head and regained her self-assured composure. "Think of that what you will, but maybe that will explain some of his actions." And with that, she resigned herself from their circle. If they wanted to be a clique of gossiping fools then there was no stopping them. As Thothaga turned to leave, she stopped and added. "Oh, and Astraea claimed to be-- ...Wilder?

The kitten's voice had gone deep and hoarse, like there was magick gravel in her throat. The spider witch stared in shock, her fangs twitched. She could not believe what she was hearing. There was something oddly familiar about the tone of the voice, but she could not put her claw on it. What is coming? Thothaga called upon her magick to send her mind into Wilder's.

As soon as it appeared, it was gone, and Wilder collapsed into a heap. "Wilder!" Thothaga rushed over to the cat. She reached out to prod her with a claw, perhaps to wake her up or check for signs of life.

Thothaga did not know if her spell reached her, or yet alone, worked.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

@Envy

Envy appreciated the alligator's reprimand of the cat, and they listened rather smugly for a time until the conversation drifted away from them. They grunted, and nodded as she apologized, the tip of their tail flicking.

Rift spoke, then, before leaving. The weasel pondered his words, something about keys and a suspiciously familiar-sounding wolf, before glancing up to see if Pride had anything to say about that. "I know that wolf," they said, under their breath. "What do you think the keys do?"

And then, everything was going to shit. The cat started speaking, voice rasping, the words of a complete madman and the spider laughed in the alligator's face. Then the cat collapsed. Envy's eyes narrowed. Things were getting interesting, but they also didn't feel like this was their place. What they'd thought to be a meeting of Kings and rulers seemed to have turned into a gathering of children.

Just as things were getting interesting.

Perhaps it was simply the words of the cat still lingering, a sore bruise to their pride, but Envy felt indignity bubbling to the surface. With a small huff, they slunk towards Pride, clambering foreleg and onto his back, before slinking up his neck, and whispering into one ear. "I think we should go."

Speech. Thought.

@Pride

Pride was fascinated by most of the meeting thus far, if not wholly impressed by the demeanor of those within it. At Wilder's outburst he stared blankly.

"...Perhaps you can take the cat with you, and check on her?" he suggested to Thothaga mildly. They'd all been in the dark cave together; he knew full well that the spider wouldn't harm Wilder.

Then he settled, waiting for the chaos to subside so that they could share their information. At Envy's murmur he turned, quite surprised, to peer down at them. Lowering his voice so that hopefully only the weasel would hear, he murmured--"Go--? Why, what is wrong? I wished to hear what they have to tell us--did I miss something?" He looked back at the others.

To Pride, Wilder's wailing outburst was nothing dangerous or unusual--simply something to wait out until they could actually speak. But Envy wanted to leave--and Pride most certainly did not want to. Was the spider an enemy of theirs..? Baffled, he leaned back down again. "Is one of them your enemy--or did you not wish to share information? If the noise is making you--uncomfortable, I can remain in your stead and report back, but I do not want to depart just yet--unless there is some danger that I am not seeing..?"

Dragon was, in fact, distantly aware of Wilder's regular fits.

He simply moved off down the tunnel, calling behind him as he did so.

"She does that. Thothaga--this is no snub of you, nor of Rift! I will speak to you after, as I said--if you wish!--but this talk is for us. Those of you willing to keep secrets, come with me and I will tell you what I know."

He hauled himself a good distance away, and waited until those who would follow, did so--ignoring, for the most part, Wilder's outburst and also waiting to ensure that Thothaga was truly out of hearing. Only then did he again begin to speak, as quietly as he could--and it was strange, perhaps, for those who knew him, to hear the alligator speaking in a hushed grumbling hiss of a whisper, rather than his usual unlimited-volume-bellow.

And then, Dragon began to share everything that he knew.

"When I was born, it was to Nemean's buzzing! She led many gembound into Cetus. My egg was in the waters, and her buzzing both woke me, and led Aquarian to the surface! He is very large--a thousand times larger than I--and he nearly ate all of those who she had led there. But when he asked his questions--asked who and what we were--she did not answer. He did not know what we were--he, an elder! I do not think we are meant to be," Dragon went on, seriously looking at those around him. Those who had chosen to stay. "He howled that he had been betrayed; that he had been left behind. That Nemean was a betrayer. He screamed that he had served, loyally, yet been abandoned! And then he told us that his purpose was no longer, and that he would aid us, if we brought him offerings." Dragon paused. That was information number one, and he hoped that others could glean more from it--but it was important, truly important, that the knowledge was spread and never lost.

"When Raheerah came, Aquarian would not fight him--even he seemed afraid! The dragon is just as large--as large as the Spire, or larger!--and he perched atop it without coming to harm. Tenzin, Astraea and a great moth all fought him back, along with many of us--and at the time, all seemed benevolent. I do not know what factions lie within the Elders, but Raheerah was not well-loved. It was Nemean that came, leading him away, but she claimed to have orchestrated it all. How, I do not know." A thoughtful pause, in which he also attempted to rekindle his magics, to continue to keep watch on the farther reaches of the tunnel, his magick a sentry eye watching for intruders.

"I know that the Eyes hold something dark. I have swum down, deeply--I can swim farther and deeper than most--and there were faces within the dark, and an unnatural, bitter cold, colder than ice. There was a sense that I must leave, terror and dread, or that it would consume me. I know there are those gembound who once worshipped the eyes as a divine being." Knowledge bit number two. Maybe someone else knew more.

"Speaking of Divine; the tree within Cetus, which some have called that, we believe was once a creature. It was calling out for aid, all the trees of the forest wailing, and many of us went to it. It was filled with chewing insects, and after we had routed them, it showed us many things. It was a being--two legs, smooth brown skin and many leaves--that walked the forests. She had birds on her wooden arms, and flowers in long, green hair, and many children like her! But Nemean turned her into wood, into a tree, and her children too, and now they are all dead--and all she can do is cry for justice, cry in grief."

A pause. What else was there? Ahh, yes--Astraea, Skahan. The Eyes and the darkness, too, but he'd never known all that much of Senka.

"The Three Kings, I think you know?--were trapped here long ago. I do not know how--only that they were promised freedom if they served, by Astraea!--and they served, but were not given this freedom, and he was glad of it. They hold great power, and may well be our allies, and they wished the Architect, Skahan, awoken--I believe to find them a way out. But he has left--I do not know to where--and that is that."

He paused, thinking, and then went on. "That is all that I can think of, at the moment, but that is my offering to you, in the spirit of this pact. I hope that together we can make sense of some of this. What do you all know?"

@Eve

Aure's ears flickered back as the little black cat seemed to fall into one of her trances, bright eyes glimmering in the dark as her voice grew ever darker and unrecognizable. The greater spider seemed to know her, and could at least prevent her from harming herself while she struggled through the episode. Before moving away to continue the meeting, the wyvern fluttered over to Thothaga, bowing his head. "Could you please take care of her? I don't want her to be clawing up her legs again," he murmured softly.

Then, he followed after Dragon, listening to every bit of information he had to offer.

When it seemed to be his turn, Aure began.

"I don't know if any of you've heard this before but... the lights went out a while before I was born and there was a storm in Polaris. The storm became a cat and ran away with her---" he hesitated, looking at Giggle again, "sister, a cat made of shadow to Orion. The Throne was red, at some point, apparently, I don't know how that's related. Someone went to help them and learned that the storm-cat --- Vahi, I think? --- got her body taken away for some punishment for the shadow-cat. There was a fight and the storm-cat's stone was lost--- and there was darkness." Aure pressed against his mother, gently, trying to reassure her if necessary.

He moved on: "that great moth you mentioned, Dragon, was killed quickly, right? It had its stone lost in the generator by the river. We've --- uh, Wilder, myself, the Collector, a few others --- revived it again, and we named it Aether. The ones who gave life to its stone are connected to it, somehow? I haven't tried it, but I can call for it. I think Wilder can, too."

The wyvern paused to take a breath, spouting one more thing, "when it was snowing in Pisces, a tall blue creature --- his name was Naskital --- came out of the roof with a box-thing with silver feet. It had a magic bag on the back that disappeared when the box was repaired. There were all sorts of things in there that we could take as gifts, but he said something about us being 'workers?' He told me that I was a good worker and asked me if my Mother was an 'Overseer.' Someone else said that he had seen into the past and saw workers in Orion, when the Throne was red. There was a Master that sat on the Throne that Nemean mocked."

That infodump was, most certainly, confusing.

Wait, just one more thing. "I think the Architect is in Canis, still. There is a hole in the wall that leads to some sort of pedestal with statues."

@Giggle

The hyena followed the 'trusted' away from the rest, then sat on her haunches and listened, glancing to meet Aure's look at the mention of Senka.

"Senka--the shadow cat is Senka. Her sister is Vathrahi. Vahi." This she'd learned from Kera and Black, who'd been there for the "storm" cat's awakening. "Senka can pull you into a void place... nothing is there, and time passes and passes but you are alone. You and the dark and silver eyes, and no food, no footing to stand on, no air, nothing. It is terrible. -And yes, it seemed that Vahi was punished for something. She was a cat," Giggle added without thinking--her tone wasn't derisive, but she'd been about to continue that cats were terrible, treasonous things and that Vathrahi had probably done something awful. With a glance down the tunnel at Wilder, she fell silent, listening further.

At Aure's description of Naskital she turned to peer curiously at him, listening closely; and after a few minutes, when he'd finished, she looked to Dragon--and to the others--and began her own sharing of knowledge.

"There's someone who may interest you, in Canis--though she's under my protection so don't try any interrogation," she added roughly. "Her name is Lorekeeper, or that's all she calls herself, anyway. She claims to be very, very old--from a time before most... well, most of us. She told us a story, once. It was very long. But a short version: that a very, very long time ago, things were very very loud. That she lived--always in hiding--in Canis. That there were those that could be trusted, and others that would lead them astray and betray them. Apparently some of them--like her--were unwanted, and had to hide or they might be led astray, as she said. They had to stay quiet--to skulk in the dark. She said that a great many of them died--found out, I suppose."

The hyena paused, expression thoughtful and grim. "Then--one day--the sounds all stopped. When they came out of their hiding places, so she said, everyone was gone, everything had stopped. I don't know what 'everything,' was," Giggle added. "She said they tried to live, for awhile--peaceful, happy, all of that. Then a buzzing turned up and came and went--and eventually with it came a voice, begging for help. It led them to 'the swamp'--she said it was a cursed room. I think she was describing Cetus; she said that it led them, this buzzing, to the water. Then the 'monster' broke its head through the surface, and they fled. The voice came back, and led them to 'the windy room' where they were attacked by something called the 'chaos beast' breathing fire? There was a lot more to the tale, but--I remember that in the end, after fighting the ice bird, it was led off, and all of her friends were dead. She was the only one to survive, and someone else carried her to safety. Someone with a gentle face, she said. Someone who tended to the fallen ones who came and tried to help, but hadn't died the way her friends did."

Giggle paused, and then finished with--"From what she says, it sounds like the storm in Monoceros was formed by the monster's heat, and the ice bird's cold, and that lava lays beneath it all."

Finishing, Giggle sat back, giving Aure a brief, solemn nod and looking to the others. She was certain that there was knowledge she was forgetting--but right now, her mind was swimming with all she'd already said.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

@Wilder

Wilder came to with the voice of Thothaga in her mind. Her eyes cracked open and she looked up at the spider. "He is," she said, simply, but with no other explanation. It was questionable if she was even fully conscious yet, after all.

But then she blinked and the misty look cleared from her mind and she sat up, looking around with confusion. Where was everyone? She glanced down the tunnel and saw that they had moved away from her. A genuine feeling of hurt ran through her. Perhaps she shouldn't have come to this meeting after all. She frowned and looked up at her spider friend. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I don't think they want you - or me - listening. Probably smart of them," she added. "He might hear if I know."

She hauled herself to her feet and shook out her black fur. "I think I'll leave, go back to Canis. What are you going to do?"

@Thothaga

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Auré

Giggle

Wilder

Thothaga

Livius

Pride

Dragon

Auré

Giggle

Wilder