OF WISPS AND WHISPERS

FORNAX — Storm Warning

The blue lightning flared brighter, filling the sky with blinding light. There was a loud crash of thunder, and in an instant, it was over.

The rain dimmed almost magically from a deafening downpour to a gentler patter. The surging seas calmed, if only slightly. As their vision came back, the Gembound could see the blue, ethereal creature vanishing beneath the waves--if Iris chose to pursue, she'd find it simply... gone.

The shadowy beast was nowhere to be seen--but it might be wise not to linger too long in the deeper, darker water. Not now. Not for awhile, perhaps.

All that was left was a quieter sea, and returning, faint orb-light above--and the strange ghostlights, reappearing to dance over the water. They seemed to flicker overhead, a promise of magicka in them, a strange sense of purpose about them.

Each one, erratic in movements and bright in light, then vanished--yet seemed to leave an echo with those still present in Fornax. An echo of their being, an echo of magicka, as if they could be called upon again.

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Those still present for the creature's defeat have learned the spell Will o' Wisp! It is now unlocked for others to learn in the Magicka shop. The Devourer appears to have vanished, along with Specular... for the time being. Characters present may exit the thread at their leisure.

Will o' Wisp
Low Intensity Manipulation. An arcane familiar is summoned to guide the user's way, illuminating any path and other dark crevices. Aside from providing light and some sort of companionship, it doesn't do much else. Users more adept with the arcane arts can control their wisps with higher intensity spells.

@Iris @Shango @Mosaic @Ejder @Valeria

The sea-beast would remain underwater, eyes seeing and body limp. Her limbs twitched frantically as she tried to move them, toes curling and uncurling slowly in starts and stops. Water was beginning to fill her lungs, unable to tense herself enough to close her blowhole and hold her breath. Slowly, she twisted to the side, trying to spur some reaction from her muscles with what little was available to her. The lights above seemed to have vanished, but there were others up there that needed to be saved.

Her body did not listen, and the last of the air she had slipped from her blowhole, bubbling up to the now-calm surface. She was going to drown here if she didn't act fast. Iris, had she not been underwater, would have felt her eyes burning and brimming with tears, which dispersed into the water easily. The unbearable heat of the vents ebbed closer and closer to her.

The little hybrid was half-drowned, his body aching from the pain. The storm may have been subsiding, but he didn't notice--he was far too busy trying not to die.

He wasn't the smartest Gembound by far--not even close. But he knew two things: one, he needed Iris to carry him to shore if he was to survive, and two, Iris was drowning.

He did the only thing he knew how to do. As much as he screamed of storms and insisted he was part of one, that was not his birth magic. His birth magic was that of life itself, of bacteria and of germs and that flush of existence too miniscule for the eye to see. He knew this--or at least he knew that he had magic that made him stronger--and so he focused it on Iris now.

"SW-SWIIIM!" he squalled, half-choking on the water.

________________

I AM THE STORM

Ejder stood at the edge of the tunnel leading out of Fornax. He was quite a sight to behold; water dripped from his slick body, breath ragged from draining kitten energy and pain with each intake of air, a might bruise swiftly engulfing the entirety of his side. Little did he know that by being flung away from the depths of Fornax's raging sea, the Peterbald feline had been saved from terrible disaster in both the form of the shadowy creature and the lightening striking the water. Vainly, he tried to peer out over the sea to see where the others had landed. They were only dark silhouettes against an even darker backdrop aside from the random streak of lightening.

He shook his head, flinging water every which way. He wanted to do the same to his whole body, but knew immediately that the instinct would lead to more pain. After a few minutes of trying to watch the epic drama he realized it was quite pointless. As was any attempt to become dry and warm in his frigid cavern.

With a flick of mild annoyance of his tail, he slowly turned away from the dimly lit action. He had never travelled outside of Fornax but now seemed as good a time as any to see another of the caves within a cave as Mosaic had once called it. He glanced over at the canine though she seemed in good shape. (As well as she ever was, that is.)

"I think it is time for me to leave," Ejder said softly and evenly. Without waiting for a response, he slowly made his way down the slick tunnel. The coating of ice made the way perilous but he was forced to move cautiously due to his side anyways. Claws clinked against the ice in an attempt to form extra grip. His muzzle crinkled in frustration at the nagging pain. But at least he could do something about the cold. That was good enough for the time being.

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"Speech"
"Thought"

Tags: here
Notes: Ejder has left the thread

The waters above gradually grew more and more peaceful --- or, maybe, she was just seeing things from a lack of air in her lungs and in her blood. Her last breaths had left her minutes ago and she was flying entirely on autopilot. Distantly, Iris could hear the strange hybrid calling to her, and a flush of something coursed through her body. The skin around her ribs twitched, a much-appreciated sensation. Now, if only she could get her limbs to twitch hard enough to actually push her up towards the surface.

But, despite her best efforts, panic set in above her optimism, corrupting any hope that she'd live. Her lungs burned like her stomach, now growing too close to the vents. Seemingly detached from her body, she remembered that this was where she had drowned him; eyes alight in anger she had never known before, claws sullying the water in red red red, scales and skin burning, and blood boiling.

Iris didn't know how long she had left.

@Shango

He began panicking, a little, as the pastel-colored water-beast-boat simply... sank. He shrieked angrily, frustrated and afraid, the aftertaste of the storm and fight leaving him exhausted and yet shuddering with adrenaline.

He reared back, water threatening to drag him down, his scalefeathered wings barely able to slap the surface. It still kept him afloat, but he was terrified.

Shango tried to call upon his wings, his storm, but nothing happened--and in his mindless fear he struck out toward shore alone, struggling to just doggy-paddle through the heavy breakers, abandoning the sinking beast behind him.

He was too animalistic, and anyway too oriented on survival in this moment of life-or-death, to feel guilt or pity. He wanted out, and if the sea-creature suddenly forgot how to swim, well, that sounded like a her problem.

________________

I AM THE STORM

@Iris

Iris saw darkness blotting out the edges of her vision, and gained a dizzy feeling as her body forgot which way was up and which was down. She could still see the surface, of course, and the light that slowly seeped through the calming sea and the rolling thunderclouds. With her last few bits of energy, the cotton candy sea-beast flexed her toes. As soon as she bent her thumb a certain way, everything seized up almost painfully. She winced, mouth opening to let a whole new flood of seawater in, but opened her eyes wide in realization. Her body relaxed slightly, but didn't feel as limp and heavy as it had before. Iris moved her tail experimentally, carefully; then, her back legs. Her reactions were still a little slow, but--- but---!

She could swim, she could save herself and the little creature!

The sea creature swam harder, faster than she ever had before. As soon as she met the surface, she lurched out of it with an enormous splash!. As she careened through the air, she blew water out of her blowhole and sputtered. Unfortunately, she was still rather dizzy and clumsy from a lack of oxygen and floundered on her side mid-spin. That was no matter, though. Iris sputtered up some more water from her lungs, taking deep breaths and floating atop the breakers. There was no sign of the other two creatures; the danger must have passed.

Just as she made to call out to her little friend, his retreating green-tipped form appeared just ahead, flapping frantically to stay afloat and doggy-paddling towards the shore. With a high-pitched squeal ("Friend!") the sea-dragon slipped beneath the waves, weaving easily through the currents and falling beneath the strange hybrid. With the subtlest of pushes, she drew herself closer to the surface --- hopefully with STOOOOOOOOOOORM on her back.

@Shango

Okay, so the boat wasn't dead.

Shango found this out the hard way, so to speak, as it rose up beneath him and propelled him forward. He screeched, surprised, but clung on trembling and bedraggled.

"Stoooorm," he "answered" mournfully. Once they were near to shore he scrambled off, splashing into the water and quickly floundering to shore. The moment his claws touched stone he seemed to collapse, a little--how heavy his body suddenly felt, after the swimming!--and staggered.

Then he looked back at the water.

He stared at Iris, as if asking a question, except--he didn't.

Maybe he was wondering who she was, if she was all right, or why, exactly, she was those bright, pale colors. Maybe he was wondering what had just happened.

...It was hard to tell.

________________

I AM THE STORM

@Iris

As soon as she even saw land, Iris's passenger had jumped off of her back and splashed through the choppy waters. She moved a few feet closer, webbed toes scraping pebbles. With a careful rush forward --- so that she didn't cause a wave that would sweep her little friend out to sea again --- the cotton candy sea-beast pulled herself from the waters slightly.

When she was barely up to her ankles in the shallows --- squatting sort of like a salamander with her legs splayed out --- Iris flopped down with a sigh. Her immense head rested easily in the mix of pebbles and stones. She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and glancing over at the strange hybrid; appraising him for any apparent wounds or signs of distress. All she found was confusion.

Another rumbling sigh came from her throat, as darkness crept in on her again and she closed her eyes. Sleep came swiftly, plunging her into comfortable, companionable warmth. Of course, if she wasn't disturbed first.

;exit via sleep unless stopped
@Shango

Shango stared, dripping like--well, like a soaked cat. The smilodon in him had never been so apparent as then; despite his scale-feathered wings, despite the thorns down his back and the birdclaws he had as feet, his miserable drenched-cat posture could only belong to precisely that. He stared at Iris where she lay in the shallows--she looked dead, but she was breathing. Then he picked up his feet one by one, flicking them out--first a foreleg, then a hind, snapping it out behind him to shake away the water.

Despite his fear and exhaustion, he had no intention of lying down and sleeping here. Doing so was the same as lying down and dying, so far as he was concerned. Who knew what sort of predators or enemies might turn up?

No. The storm was over; he was done here. He felt some strange new tug at his magicka, but when he tried to use it, nothing came. And it was quickly forgotten as he padded from the room, leaving behind the calming sea, the sleeping pastel boat-beast and the battling leviathans in the water.

He had to find somewhere dark, somewhere safe and preferably somewhere high up in a tree, and sleep. He would not find that in Fornax.

________________

I AM THE STORM

exit Shango