ORIGIN

Tal'at was incredibly, horribly lost. The caverns hadn't changed much in the last few cycles, but being a blind bat that relied on magical senses that meant if there was a magical disruption in the caves-- or a change in literally anything in the ecosystem, it was completely confusing.

At some point, Tal'at had ended up back in his chrysalis, for maybe the third or four time in his life, and when he awoke, he did not know where he was. He did not know where the Big Bog was, nor did he know where Dragon or the rest of the Children of Rot had gone. All he was keenly aware of was that he was in a place that was hard, and did not have any trees to hide in.

He was absolutely terrified that a predator would snatch the life out of him. He had spent so long learning to survive and thrive despite the challenges he faced, it would be tragic to see that life snuffed out so abruptly. He tried again to sense any sort of foliage he could hide in, or at least, trace back to Cetus.

His senses felt muddled, but he could pick out a lichen that crawled upward, probably upon some kind of rock or stone. The mutated bat hopped along the ground, swinging his head to and fro as he clicked quietly to himself, trying to get some sense of where he was.

Tal'at walked up to where he could sense the little growth of plants, settling his talons upon the mossy surface of a stone. As he expected, the damp stone had been overtaken by some moss, and he climbed up on to the stone, swinging his orb-faced blind mug about and sniffed at the air.

Cautious, he let the magic fade from his gem, until he could no longer feel the lichen under his feet except for through where he touched it. Abruptly, he let out a sudden sneeze, and frightened by the sound, he squished down on his perch. Ears twitching and swiveling, he tried to sense any potential danger around. If there was a big cave rat around the corner, he would rather know before it tried to eat him.

He was definitely freaking out too much to focus, however, as his own heart pounded hard enough that he could barely think. Goodness, if there was something dangerous out there, it might just eat him. Stirred by that sense of panic, he scrambled forward off of the rock and took flight, furiously flapping through the clear air. He was used to his flight being caught short by a tree branch, but at least this part of the caves were mostly clear as long as you avoided the walls. He was able to do a lovely circle as he tried to calm down, sweeping through the vast open space of Polaris.

As Tal'at was flying, however, he had no way of knowing that he was careening toward the Spire until it was a touch too late. The bat flew square into the massive crystalline growth, gem first, the shock of the crash sent right through his little skeleton. His body kept going, his wings fwapping ineffectively against the crystal, and then he plummeted once his momentum had been thoroughly stopped.

"Aaaieeee-eeeee-eee," the mutated bat squeaked as his body collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the Spire, head throbbing. It took him a moment to even process what had happened-- he had hit a tree before, but this was some large, strange tree if that's what it was. It felt more like an outcropping of rock, and a massive one at that.

Oof. His head was still spinning, and he didn't dare sit up.

Eventually, however, the dazed little mutant bat couldn't just lay there anymore. He had momentarily forgotten his worries about danger and cave rats, but slowly his paranoia did return to him. He twisted himself back on to his feet, despite the protest from his addled brain.

Alright. He reached out once more with his magic to try and see what he could sense. He had been trying to pick up heartbeats, or even sense the gems of nearby gembounds-- sometimes he could pick out one of the Children of Rot from the shape of their gemstone-- but what he got instead was something he had never sensed before.

The thing he had flown into became a sudden, all engulfing beacon of energy. Everything else became completely secondary; he could scarcely feel the stone under his paws. Whatever he had crashed into was a massive source of something, brilliant and near blinding in its radiance. It was easily as tall as one of the trees in Cetus, towering above him for what felt like infinity. If he felt lost before, he now was completely disorientated, anywhere could have been up, anywhere could have been down.

Tal'at wanted to go home. This thing... Whatever it was, was not home. And now, as it stood like a fixed pillar in his mind's eye, he knew the only way to get home was to get the hell away from whatever it was. He shuffled back from it, spread his wings, and took flight.

Unfortunately, having what was probably a concussion, being blind, and slightly overwhelmed by the Spire, did not make for flying very efficiently. He got about three feet, and crashed into the ground again.

Tal'at was too distracted by everything else to notice a massive dragon sneaking up on him (and even though he was blind, that was saying something) but he did nearly jump out of his skin when the ground shifted and something *warm* and scaly scooped him up. He froze, his furry, stinger tail going rigid as though it might strike.

Whatever it was, however, spoke to him with a massive, deep voice. Quivering, the little bat clamped down his hind feet on to Dread's scaled foot, twisting his head back to quietly click at the beast and get a sense of just how large the gembound holding him was.

With somewhat of a squeak, he cleared his throat and hastily explained, "No no no," he chattered. "I am alive. Quite alive even. I am Tal'at," he went on, reaching with the claws on his wings to get a better feel of the surface he was on. "That big thing... Over that way... I hit it. I cannot see. I am lost." He was a bit uncertain if he should say what he was looking for-- what if this massive creature kidnapped him and used him against the Children of Rot?

As he focused on the creature that had him held, he was able to pick up the strong particular signal of the gembound and hone in on it, even if his senses were still too rattled to pick up on any other gem in the room. He breathed in, and out, and quietly got the sense that he was dealing with someone not too dissimilar to the usual crowd that the Children of Rot attracted. A big, warm lizard-dragon thing. That was... probably a positive sign, right?

"... May I ask... Who you are?" He began tentatively, "and if it's... not too much... to ask you... I may need... Help returning home."

Dread was the oversized beast's name, and the little bat clicked his tongue, trying to get a better idea of who was holding him. Tal'at was relieved that this was a friendly and helpful gembound, one that gave him information readily. The Spire-- he remembered the Spire, from stories of the fight against the massive Dragon Raheerah. At least he had some sense of where he was, then, though he was definitely far from home if that was true.

It was somewhat ironic that Tal'at did not remember this as the place he had hatched.

With a nervous gulp, the small gembound gave a nod of his heavy head. "Pleasure meeting you," he squeaked, wriggling so that he could sit up a bit straighter upon the foot of Dread. "I come from... A place of... Trees and marsh. A vast swamp." He did not know if he should mention the group he belonged to, in case it endangered them... Though, he had a gut feeling that Dread was not a bad gem, even if his name and size was quite intimidating.

"Maybe you've heard... Of my family. They are called... Children of Rot. We live there... In the cave... Known as Cetus. We live there, for a long, long time indeed." His nose twitched, and he shuffled his feet, large tail swinging for balance as he kept his wings stretched out so he wouldn't fall off. "If you could, guide me home... I'd appreciate that."