This was it.

Dragon and the black boar had fallen - she couldn't see (nor did she particularly want to know, out of sheer dread) the condition of Ghanyarah. She couldn't shove all three of them back to the black-and-red bird who yelled something about healing. She was most angry at Aquarian, and the children of rot. This wasn't living forever.

This wasn't living forever at all.

Seething in rage, she didn't even hear the voice above her until spotlights shone on everyone lying on the ground. The crow blinked, bleary-eyed, and lifted her beak to the sky.

"AND FINALLY, THE GRAND ORCHESTRATOR OF THIS WONDROUS SHOW! THE STUPENDOUS, THE GLAMOROUS, THE A-A-AMAZINGLY MIRACULOUS NEMEAN!"

"What the actual fuck?" croaked the crow, who hadn't at all moved from Dragon's maw. She'd noticed, since he'd only laughed harder when she told him not to laugh in the face of death, that he had completely stopped laughing now. Eve shifted briefly, looking at the wounded alligator for answers. To which, he gave none, and they were directed at the large deer, but Dragon did say one thing; that they'd won.

So why hadn't this felt like a victory? With a relatively upset croak the crow hobbled away to look over the fallen boar, nudging his neck with her beak.

The fight... it was over before he knew it. A sprite had come in, going by the name of Nemean and showing off an extremely showy personality. He was left hovering, desperately trying to dispel the fog from around himself. It was a difficult and fruitless task. He needed to leave. Azazel gazed around and hoped that everyone would be alright. He could see someone unfamiliar, though. A crystalline red mask lay upon their face, cracked. Through the visor, he could see pale yellow eyes that were very oddly familiar. For a moment, he stared in disbelief. Later, he would have to discover if he was right. For now, he needed to get out.

So he fled the scene.

[ exit azazel ]

The ground shook. Voices, shouting, a booming announcement, all dull and vague. Czernobog snorted himself awake, annoyed, ears flicking as he turned to glare at whatever was making the racket. It was... well, he honestly had no idea what it was. Looked tasty, though.

Licking his lips, the boar almost went to get up - before collapsing back to the ground with a whining groan, ribcage angled wrong and missing most of the flesh from his middle back - must have gotten torn off by a falling talon from the weight. Sniffling, the piglet turned his head just enough to peer at the injury, blinking curiously at the white twinkle of exposed bone.

Hurt. It was decided, then. Definitely hurt. And the dragon was... gone. Not dead. A low, vengeful bellow, and Czernobog fell silent once more, flopping onto his side like a petulant child - which, to be fair, he was. Tail swishing in anger, the black ball of fluff did nothing but focus on breathing, for a bit, though it came out more like wheezing.

WON. STAG. Father. Spoke. Ears pitched towards the sound, and the boar snuffled warily, tilting his head to the side to peer out at Dragon - though the alligator looked more like a greenish blur. Nemean. Betrayer. Won? Ours? He calls. Betrayer. She? The words jumbled over themselves, as they always did, and Czernobog turned away once more, wincing at the feel of rubble clinging to the meat and tendons exposed by being squashed by the weight.

Then, a familiar croak, and the fluffy loud-friend was nudging him. "Chuuuurn?" Blinking slowly, the boar seemed to inspect the crow for injuries, and finding no grievous wounds, simply collapses his head back to the floor, snorting softly, completely exhausted. "Friiiiend."

The owl pulled away from Polaris, hopping backward into the tunnel. Behind him, Bevy and Makyna were caring for the wounded, though he wasn't sure who had passed him. Fear still gripped him. Booming cries had come, an announcement of sorts, a bizarre buzzing that hurt his ears and sent him scuttling back with flattened ear-tufts and eyes squeezed shut.

He wasn't sure if they'd won, or not. He'd heard the dragon fly away, and he tried to keep his mental link with it, to try to see what it saw, but such magic was locked to him as yet.

He'd remain at the tunnel mouth--lingering there, but not too close; listening, but, it seemed, having little else to do here, now.

________________

((exit Dark))

The crow's feathers were flat against her frail form as she pressed her beak a little more against the boar's neck. She was simultaneously disgusted and amazed by how white Czernobog's rib bone had been and with a choked croak she spoke, "Don't move."

But she didn't expect him to even be capable of movement. She didn't expect Dragon would be able to move either. She scrambled quickly across the cave floor, talons scratching and clacking before the crow spread her wings out and began to flutter out of Polaris, crowing loudly in distress and bobbing up and down in the air as her wings barely managed to support her.

[exit]

Another gentle touch of beak against bristle, and Czernobog's breath whistled past fluid and into dry air. Don't move. The boar whined, wordlessly, wide eyes rolling to stare at the crow, one leg twitching towards his tiny friend... who was scrambling away, then taking flight, crowing and flapping out of sight. "Friiiiiiend!"

The bellow was low and desperate, and the piglet took a deep breath, two, ears pitched forward for a response, before squealing in aggravation, trapped by the damage done to his form. "Friiiend! Staaaaaaay!" More grunting and writhing about later, Czernobog managed to get one foot under himself, then the next, until he was standing, wobbly and shivering, blood matting his fur down into a slick tapestry.

Breathing hard, the piglet stared for a moment, vision going fuzzy from bloodloss. Slowly, his head turned to stare at Dragon, gaze flickering, before a soft snort left him. Alive. Safe...? Safer than hat.

The big ones, perhaps, can accompany them to protect. Protect. Protect!

His singer had given him a duty.

The boar would not let him down again.

With a harsh snort, more blood dripping to the floor, Czernobog took one step towards where Eve had fled, then another, and then he was trotting, then jogging, then out-right barrelling after her, silent save for the heavy footfall of a man possessed.

[ exit czernobog ]

A pile of rubble shifted, small rocks rolling down the sides and a cloud of dust spewing out from underneath before the body hidden within finally managed to claw its way to freedom. One stout arm erupted from the pile, claws grasping at the air before making purchase on the rocks. Then he hoisted himself up, parting the rocks and poking his head through the pile, sucking in a gasp of air. The dragon blinked his wide eyes, shaking - he could barely remember what had happened, only that a bird, some kind of vulture had flown in and suddenly everything was cracking and groaning and the walls and ceiling fell apart. Ghanyarah was unfortunate enough to have gotten caught beneath a pile of rubble, and it took him until now to finally dig his way to freedom. When he next poked his head into the stale, hot air, the chaos beast was gone.

Ghanyarah's gaze roved the cave before deciding that it was safe. Raheerah was gone, and everybody just now seemed to be making their escape. Where had the dragon gone? His dead body was no where - that meant he wasn't dead. He gurgled his displeasure at this news and freed himself from the pile, but found his spine incredibly sore. Many tears and deep gashes lined his hide, but it was nothing he couldn't heal on his own. His lungs, though, they hurt terribly from the smoke. He found himself wheezing as he tried to descend from the rubble and search for his brethren.

Some distance away, he spotted Eve flying off towards one of the tunnels and Czernobog, gored and bleeding, charging away too. Finally, he saw Dragon. Relief blossomed in his chest realizing the alligator was alright, but panic quickly ensued as he recognized heavy wounds across him, his skin quite notably charred. Ghanyarah grunted and slowly lumbered towards the alligator, shooting a quick glance towards the stag, but remaining silent. He stopped next to Dragon, exhaustedly sliding onto his stomach. There he would patiently wait for Dragon to conclude whatever business he had with the stag, and then... hopefully, they'd escape his Hell and go back to Cetus.

No longer was Delphine capable of distinguishing between reality and fantasy. One moment they were fighting the dragon, each one of them being felled one by one and the other, her vision blurred with the arrival of an overdramatic pixie trailed by shadowed applauses and indecipherable intentions. She should have been glad that the chaos dragon trailed in the wake of the baffling yet dazzling stranger; they would survive, all of them. Yet this did not feel like a victory. She did not feel her heart swell with pride nor did she feel any particular exuberance toward their situation. So many of them had been wounded to near fatality and still the dragon would live to see another day. That there was a chance he would return and terrorize them only served to dampen her mood and heighten the pain that ransacked her body.

She stuttered a raspy inhale, feeling only then the insurmountable agony that lanced through her. Still her throat clenched with the limited amount of air and everything ached terribly. Without the distraction of battle, her adrenaline slowed and her racing heart sought calm where there was only discord. Her emerald gaze watched as the Gembounds exited, blurring vision catching sight of a bear half-dragging Baratheon from Polaris. Slowly, she followed after everyone, her halted steps skidding across the floors with her waning strength and still blackening sight. How tired she was. How much it all hurt.

By then, the young mare's made had completely shut off and everything she did was made possible through autopilot.

exit delphine!

The stag couldn't help his legs from shaking. He'd been knocked aside after Tenzin's ice wall was torn down, falling and struggling to rise under the weight of the ice and rubble, and yet - did he really want to stand? The last thing he'd seen was the dragon grabbing the phoenix, preparing to unleash a blanket of fire over the bird and even he could feel the pain, he could feel the burning on his back that curled and ruined the delicate feathers of the phoenix. Then in a flash (literally), the dragon was incapacitated. He was blinded by lights and smothered in sounds, and a tiny creature had appeared out of nowhere, delivering an uproarious show before introducing herself.

Nemean.

The stag furrowed his brows. He slowly unfolded his limbs and rose, watching. All the while the name permeated his mind. Nemean. The sights, the sounds. Her voice. Where did he know her from?

Before long she had disappeared into the ceiling with the dragon hot on her heels. The stag ushered a low sigh, his gaze sweeping out in search of the phoenix. Tenzin must have fallen somewhere - he just barely caught sight of the bird when one of the Gembounds had dragged themselves up to him, croaking out a few questions. He couldn't help the mild fear and worry that burst inside of him as he turned his gaze to the alligator, acknowledging his grievous wounds. "Ah... your father...?" He blinked for a moment. Who would have known about Nemean - the Betrayer. "I do not know what she is." The stag answered slowly, looking back up towards the ceiling.

He did know. The answer was in the back of his mind, just out of reach.

"We can only hope that he is gone for now." The stag added. "I wouldn't stick around. You all need to recover. As for Nemean... perhaps Aquarian will have your answer." He said thoughtfully, brows furrowed. They had a connection. Whatever it was, they were connected, somehow. The deer glanced over at the alligator, apologetic. "I'm sorry. I need to find Tenzin." With that, he started off in search of the phoenix, hoping that the dragon hadn't caused too much damage to his friend.

Exit Deer Dad

Dragon listened closely to the stag, mind drifting in and out of focus.

Do not know your father... do not know what she is... Aquarian will know... Dragon felt a vague surge of pride at the fact that he was so obviously recognizable as Aquarian's son, not realizing that the stag had no idea who "father" even was. His mind was muddled, and he misinterpreted beautifully. Wouldn't stick around. Find Tenzin.

Then the stag had excused himself, and made his way away.

With a grumbling grunt, Dragon turned, looking around. He was injured, he was exhausted, and his first instinct was to find somewhere to lay up. He was torn; on the one hand he wanted to remain here, to try and find and kill this Nemean. To claim the Spire for his own, to climb it and roar from it and take the place of Raheerah.

On the other hand, he wanted to crawl back to Cetus, to speak with his father and to sink into the embracing depths of the swamp, to heal. It was clear, too, that his brother wished to return. Perhaps it would work out, then.

He tried to call upon his magic, uncertain what fire could do for him; he felt a vague and gentle warm tingling, the faint sense of his wounds beginning to knit, but it was hardly enough to get him back into action. Not yet.

He turned his head slightly to Ghanyarah, even gave him a gentle nudge, his voice coming raspy but strong, and his honesty was clear in his voice.

"I am proud to call you... my brother. You fought like... a dragon, you fought like our father, and... even in the heat of battle, I could see you. Your magic has... grown strong." He gasped this out as best he could, grimacing and hissing slightly at the pain in his hind leg as he turned to face Ghanyarah.

"When I was hatched, our father was bellowing his rage... and pain... at a creature he called the Creator. And the Betrayer, Traitor. Nemean. This... tiny pink... flashing creature," he added with a growl.

"I will... I cannot... make it back to Cetus, not without rest. I will rest in the river, here, and... watch for Nemean. Hidden. Would you... do me the honor... the service... of speaking to our father? Ask who... and what... Nemean is, and... what should be done. Tell him--... we have found her, taunting the dragon... Raheerah."

He did not state it as an order, but as a request, and a pleading one, at that, his gaze on Ghanyarah. He didn't want to send his brother off alone, he didn't want to ask him to jump right back into action so soon after being wounded, but time might be a factor. Perhaps Aquarian would want to leave his swamp, to come out here and to speak with Nemean. Or perhaps he would ask Nemean to be sent to him, or ask his Children to hunt her--Dragon did not know.

What he knew was that he was exhausted, could barely move, and was busy watching Ghanyarah, hoping for a positive response.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

@Ghanyarah