[RAID] [Winter in Polaris] FROM YOUR COLD GRASP

Bone let out a roar, twisting up higher in the air. The tunnel mouth was narrow and she whirled to avoid it--well, too narrow for dragon wings, in any case; the spores now rising were unknown to her. But Azigh was roaring for them to avoid it, and a glance to her father showed Dread beating... something away with his wings. In the air, then-? Something in the air?

Bone glanced back, and swept up, trying to clear away from whatever it might be. Her magicka reached out, grasping for the flames that still licked here and there, struggling to pull some up around her like a shroud to cover her retreat from whatever it was that they were fleeing.

It was too late: she had inhaled the spores, and an instant later control over her magicka was lost. The flames she'd caught coursed across her body: searing, burning, boiling--and with an agonized roar the white dragon plummeted.

She crashed in the snow, aflame and confused, bone-pale body sliding wings-spread into the ground, tumbling and skidding until it landed completely: and there she lay, dazed, burned, wounded, cold... and with someone else's whispers twisting up through her mind.

Finally, finally, London bridge came falling down.

Many more disasters were to ensue.

The titan they'd all been fighting alongside screamed something about--oH SHOOT WHAT THE HECK WAS COMIN' OUT OF THE ROCK PILE--? 'DON'T BREATHE IT IN!' Don't have to tell her twice--!

Madhukar held what breath she had left and scampered away! She just barely made it out of the cloud before having to let the breath go; okay Madhukar, in and out. IN and ou--

'Madhukar! Madhukar! Where are you? C'mere!'

Her siren's call. She stumbled further from the stuff in the air and then swiveled around. Shouted. "TAHI! TAHI I CAN'T--!" Can't see is what she can't do! Can't look back, can't go back-- where was that ridiculous deer, shoot, SHOOT, SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN HER EYES OFF HIM--

Pillar of salt. Pillar of salt. Will you turn to a pillar of salt?

"'M OUT!!! 'M SAFE!!!"

Not yet. First, a game. Ma-a-arco...

Think "Speak"

Azrael was a little surprised by the amount of gembounds that had come to fight, but he wasn't complaining - it was exhilarating, exciting, and the roar of battle, of spells cast here and there of large creatures throwing themselves at the beast of stone had Azrael's blood pumping hot and heavy in his veins. His expression twisted into a dark smile as blows fell like rain on the golem.

The collapse of the creature had Azrael giving off a, perhaps premature, roar of victory. He at first mistook the spores for dust clouds when, all of a sudden, the one that had summoned them here warned them - don't breathe it in! And Azrael's mind jumped immediately to another time, when the same cry had echoed across a battlefield, in a much darker, murkier place. Chaos and the roar of battle in his ears, but instead of gembound against golem, it was gembound against gembound, magic against infection...

Eyes widened with shock when he realized what it was. A cloud, not of dust but of spores. White spores, the smell of familiar rot entering his senses and sending him over the edge of rage. "NO!" he roared, taking in a deep breath, preparing himself to blast every bit of Mother away, to burn all the spores before they reached him again and took away the sweet taste of freedom he had cherished so much for so many cycles...

But he had overestimated how much time he had before the spores reached him and, on his inhale, a number of them went right down his throat. Suddenly, he was blinking, magic slowly fading back down, rage and anger simmered carefully to a manageable level as that feeling returned. She was within him once again and it was like she'd never left. She was too far to hear the whispers in his ears, but the swell of warmth and family was overwhelming - Azrael wanted to submit, oh he wanted to give himself over again because it was so much easier, so much simpler, when he was in her hold. All he had to do was give in, find her again, and it would be like nothing had changed.

...But things had changed. It wasn't just him anymore. No, it was him and Forgraves and Banshy now. He had them to look after and protect and, in the case of Banshy, raise to be strong and independent. If he went with Mother then he wouldn't be able to see them again. His life with them would be gone, forgotten, in favor of service to Her.

Or, came ~~her~~ his thoughts, unbidden, They can always join you. They can come with and be part of the family too. And then the memories of the other day came crashing back. Of the flashbacks, so vivid and painful in his mind, of his talk with Forgraves, the fox's warmth against his leg as he spoke of Mother and his anger, and that fear he'd felt when he'd seen the hallucination of Forgraves dripping with Mother's fungus, just another one of her soldiers and not the wonderful, intelligent young man he'd grown up to be. All kindness, all softness lost to her cruel order.

And then he was fighting back with all of his strength, pushing back against the lull of her safety and love, roaring with rage as his body shook violently, clawing at his face and body, as if he were trying to rip his skin free to expel her with nothing but his claws, blood beginning to run down the wounds he opened on his skin. "GET OUT," he screeched. He could feel shame and disappointment so thick and brutal in his chest that he wanted to be sick. "GET HER OUT OF ME!!" His voice was rising almost to desperation, all pride and disappearing in one moment.

He wasn't going back he wasn't going back HE WASN'T GOING BACK

It closed its eyes for a second, expecting the golem to come crashing down on top of it, to feel pain blossom across its skin as heavy stone barreled down, but there was a strange sound and suddenly the air was full of dust and...and....

Something else?

Beta blinked its eyes open, confused, as the blaze of the battle simmered down around it, as if something soft had pressed down over its ears. It wasn't thinking about the fighting anymore - no, that wasn't important, not anymore at least. Because now...now there was the strangest feeling of oneness beating through its body like a drum. Not the kind of oneness it felt among the kin of Vargas, no, something stronger and more rigid. But it found itself...enjoying the sensation. Leaning into it...

It could feel Vargas's mind. What? How was it doing that? It wasn't connected to Vargas by anything, was it? It...It wasn't....how could it feel him? But more importantly, why did he sound like he was in pain? Vargas was never in pain - he was always strong and stable, a pillar of strength and victory. He did not doubt or make mistakes and he did not feel this sort of mental anguish.

It was that that helped Beta stay focused on itself. It helped it realize that this wasn't normal. It took a gasping breath and scrambled back, shaking its head and trying to clear those alien thoughts from its head, but it was gripping tighter, displeased with its resistance. It didn't have to do much - just let go. Relax, like it always wanted to relax. It would never have to work again...

No! No, that wasn't right! It wanted to relax, sure, it wanted to have an easy life, but they'd chosen already! They'd chosen to follow Master Vargas, to fight for him, to work for only him because there was no point in fighting back! No point in resisting the chaos that it had seen with its own two eyes. It had seen Lord Dhracia rip that creature apart. It had seen Mary, moments from hatching, turn all the lights off and right back on again. It knew what this was - the order that resisted His chaos, their enemy within the depths of the caves.

Beta's lip pulled back and it struggled against her control, despite the amount of guilt pooling in its stomach for making her disappointed. "Master Vargas," it cried. "Don't listen to it! Keep fighting! I won't...I won't fall to it!" It gripped the rock beneath its feet, focusing on keeping its head. It wasn't going to fail Master Vargas now!