[Order vs Chaos] SPECIAL FORCES

Again. Again.

The others' magic is kicking up, now; he can see it in the swirling, sharp storm of glass that flares into being on the battlefield. (and, hey, isn't that cat a little familiar? Later, there's no time for it now.) He can see it in the way that the raptor moves against her will, flung towards a hive-creature that he has no name for.

It's a split-second decision, made on a heady, heavy adrenaline rush. The raptor is being flung towards the drone with the arm-blade. If he sets one ablaze, the other will soon follow.

Again, he tugs at his magic. It's like trying to lift a boulder with force of will, but Astéri tries anyway: tries to will the fire out of nothing, pours all his protective instinct and the horror he feels at the thought of this cave of crystals ending up just like the one of bones, the thought of them all becoming drones to have their heads cut off at a thought, to be used as tools—

—no, he won't let that happen. He'd rather have the caves burn to the ground than for them to become puppets.

The magic catches, burns, grows; only a little spark, only a bit of flame, but the heat of it is so heavy his gem is uncomfortably warm against his chest as he locks eyes onto the hive-thing he's targeting and murmurs in his mind: burn.

A little spark is all it takes. He knows from experience.

Clutching his wrist, the Drone winces and lets Ananke's fervent preaching wash over his mind. The determination to win this, the knowledge that victory loomed right there ahead of them and they had to do anything and everything to reach it, they couldn't give up now, burning away all thoughts of frustration and pain. They must push on.

He sees the leopard stare intensely at gentle, faithful Halcyon, ever a good sibling and friend. Sees a spark catch. Sees the cat throw Catalyst at them. He has seen the threat of the cat but not the leopard, and now a pipe-organ howl escapes his chest-mouth, carrying the weight of Order's righteous fury. It is simultaneously the rage of of a protective Mother and the blind love and devotion of a desperate sibling, who would not stand for Chaos and foolish, misguided Neutral forces to rip their family away from them. When so much is at stake, neutrality too is violence, and Jinyi will not hesitate to sweep away all who would threaten his loved ones.

Destroy all who stand in the way of peace and love. It is the only way to repair this fatally flawed world.

He seizes control of one of Mother's circling birds, the biggest Caroller he can find. Forces it to dive down at Asteri with ripping claws and stabbing beak, to stab out as many of those loathsome orange eyes as it could. Without eyes, he cannot see Jinyi's siblings to do them further harm. And he must deal with the Caroller first, as well as any other birds Jinyi sends his way, before he can attack the Drone's family again. He regrets that he must send the birds into such danger, but their lives are Lesser, replaceable, compared to the value of his Greater family. He must prioritize.

Mother's suggestion to befriend them is a distant memory. He does not see any potential friends here. Anyone who would do his family such violence is no friend of his. If they must, they will drive every single one of them into their chrysalis and weave their web of fungus around them when it is safe.

It appeared that there was one disadvantage to Mother's design inclinations, loathe as Halcyon was to express it as such: even in shadow, pale bodies attracted attention, the contrast too great to fully conceal the glint of scales. Furthermore, golden fins unlit by bioluminescence still possessed some small amount of gleam, an enchanting addition to their form serving as an unfortunate betrayal of their position in wartime conditions like these. No sooner had their snout emerged from hiding, the remainder of their lithe build behind it, than the world in front of them was swallowed up by an expanse of grey saurian hide. The battlefield of crystal blotted out by a comrade hurtling straight for them, they had only a second to process the incoming collision. An instant to flatten themselves to the ground as far as they were able to and lunge forward, adrenaline blazing through veins.

But there was no gap to squeeze beneath, themselves already pressed as close to stone as they were able to due to their previous position. And so they could nothing more but be crushed beneath Catalyst's bulk should she be unable to fight against the invisible force which flung her. Pain would follow was the obvious prediction, the intensity at a level higher than any they'd yet to experience. What hadn't been accounted for was the abrupt sensation of every atom of their being next set afire.

Halcyon knew from their travels what a shock a temperature change could be. To go from the cold of Ursa to the unceasing swelter of Leo was far from the most pleasant of experiences. Time and mental fortitude had been the necessary balm for this, a way to steel themselves against such a jarring thing. To be surrounded at once by flame, however, was another issue entirely: an ambush that left little space for solutions to be pondered or to prepare for the suffering inflicted upon them. Flesh eaten away at, surface thoughts turned to silent screams. Lungs yearned to follow suit, but found themselves unable to, oxygen consumed by their attacker before they could even inhale.

Siblings, they choked through the agony. Mother. How their throat began to sear. Help. Required. Please.

They needed to hold on. Must continue to serve. Yet their mind was filling with so much haze, magic and limbs unable to stave off that which was determined to see Order incinerated in its clutches.

ORDER VS CHAOS

SPECIAL FORCES

Those Lessers present needed no more instruction. Aside from the one taken over to peck at Asteri's eyes, the rest--a small handful of birds and smaller bats, mainly--began to harass the non-Order beasts present.

None of the rest were particularly dangerous: but they would prove a distraction, swiping with sharp strikes of beaks and swipes of claws at the Hive's attackers.

"Kill those that fight," came Mother's instruction, brief and direct. She had no time, now, to offer these distributors of violence further mercy. And along the link came the brief, searing knowledge that--in Leo--one of them had fallen; the flickering fire of the dragon Bone extinguished from the Hive's mind. In her chrysalis, or dead--it wasn't clear--but rage followed with it, Mother's fury directing these here and now to fight.

And that was not all.

"Our soldiers are on their way." It would be long moments before the click of approaching Praetor feet would be heard--but they were coming.

Aether did not attack: he snarled, teeth bared in warning, crouched above the little cat Wilder. Aether would attempt to intercept any attack made on Wilder.

Should Order's rolls reach 200, two Praetors will arrive to defend those present.

THIS IS A FREE-FOR-ALL BATTLE THREAD. That means that anyone may attack anyone else. A character who is attacked may post additionally to roll for defense against each attack, as well as posting once for their own single action. See the Order vs Chaos Master Thread for scoring and more information!

SCORE TALLY

148

Fear spiked in her throat. Order--Order was spiralling into Chaos. A death, a silenced Voice along their family link. Magic, sputtering and failing each of them. Fire--flame--engulfing Halcyon-! No, she thought, and more savagely--with a swell of pure ego--NO! She was Mother's Priestess! She alone could rally them, and stop this!

That swelling sense of self-importance, of heroism, blinded her to all else. She had to help--had to save Halcyon--and that had her crawling from her cover, white head at last appearing behind the cover of her stone to pinpoint her brethren's precise location.

Focus--magic--and it faltered, and it was all she could do to even control it. It was trying, even now, to simply cause the damage to Halcyon in symmetry but no--no, she couldn't allow this-

Panic screamed through the Hivemind, alarm. No--NO, again--they could not fall-!

This mad zealotry flared, loud and insistent despite all evidence to the contrary: We are ORDER, we cannot FAIL! WE WILL WIN HERE! WE WILL SURVIVE! WE WILL DOMINATE-

FIRE.

Pure terror shot through them as orange flames roared into existence, licking at Halcyon's snakeskin hide, filling the air with heat and smoke. Halcyon's pain became theirs as the phantom sensation rushed through the Hivemind, and they were once again only two cycles old, woken by panic and confusion, their lungs choking with black smoke, their fur smoldering, everything too hot too hot too hot.

"SI-FAKA!" came the instinctive alarm cry, and they made to rush from their hiding place and leap, as they did from tree to tree in Eridanus, to safety away from here. But they could not; these were crystal towers with small alcoves too dangerous to jump to. They backed away and pressed themselves against the crystal, the terror of two deaths by immolation burning through them. Now another one was coming, and there was nothing-- nothing they could do--

HELP, came the plea, and Mother's demand, kill those that fight, gave them a lifeline to cling on to. Instructions to follow, an imperative they could not even dream of resisting. They seized onto it with all they had. That's right, they weren't helpless anymore. They were part of The Hive. That meant everything would be different this time--it had to.

They had pressure magic--they could silence these flames. They pulled desperately at the air around Halcyon, willing it away from them, but the magic came too weakly to smother the flames as they had hoped. The fire flickered a little dimmer, then roared back as it had before, and Yellow collapsed to the floor of their little alcove, sobbing.

Not again. Not again. But once again, they could do nothing as chaos ripped another sibling away from them.

Jinyi gritted his teeth as terror, intense zealotry, and burning agony shot through the Hivemind from every direction. He could not afford to be caught up by the sweep of dizzying emotion now, not now when they were in danger.

Deal with the fire first. Then there would be time to sort through all of this.

He seized on the magic Ananke had tried and made his own attempt, pouring everything he had into it, but still--it was not enough. He could only watch as the flames continued to engulf his sibling. At least, he thought half-hysterically, through Ananke's initial failure, the damage would already be symmetrical.

ROLL! he thought to Halcyon as hard as he could. When magic failed him, advice shouted along a mental bond was all he could give. ROLL AND SMOTHER THE FLAMES! I'M SORRY, I KNOW IT HURTS! He threw himself onto the floor of his hiding-place and rolled himself, as if to demonstrate. Words could be difficult to process in the chaos and all-consuming agony of being burned alive--would this physical demonstration, the feeling and sensation of motion passed through the Hivemind, be enough? He could only hope so.

IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, GRAB ONE OF THEM. Savage hatred now, and determination, fuelled by the knowledge that one of their own had fallen and these scum of the caves were trying to hurt more of them. LET THEM BURN WITH YOU, OR FORCE THEM TO PUT OUT THEIR OWN FLAMES LEST THEY SACRIFICE ONE OF THEIR OWN.