She dropped the stick onto the ground and pulled the chain off of it, nudging her beak underneath and letting the chain slip down onto her neck. The change was sudden and unnerving, the anxiety that had been clouding in her head since the night before now blasting on full. She could feel danger all around her, above in the sky, probably vultures, and something just ahead. And she could see the glow beginning to spread around her.

She trembled, eyes wide with terror as she realized that getting back was going to be quite difficult. She had the advantage, at least, of being able to sense dangers, but she was a target now, a huge target. Predators would be able to see her from a mile away.

She turned away from the quillmouse, the thought of killing it out of spite and having it as a dinner crossing her mind for a moment but the quills were still a problem and there were easier foods to get. She also considered summoning another banana, but she'd rather save her magic reserves for later when she really needed them. For now, she walked back to the thickest of the vegetation, in the opposite direction of that sense of danger, and began to graze, this time allowing her stomach to fill up, drinking from the water until she couldn't drink anymore, and finding the thickest of the ferns to settled down in, trying to push her body under the leaves as best she could so that the glow couldn't be seen as well.

She rested her head in her feathers, trying to get used to the distant dangers as she drifted off to sleep for a time. She would wake a few hours later, before the lights dimmed completely.

@Game Master Dark

Her rest would at first be fitful.

Now and then she would wake, the magic warning her of something passing close--overhead, perhaps, or along the opposite riverbank. But nothing drew close.

In fact, from midmorning onward, as the heat began to swell and the insects' sounds to fill the air along the riverways, and gnats to dance in the heat-shimmer above the water, the ravine became a surprising bastion of peace, in Hydra. Blackberry would, in the end, get several hours of much-needed, wholly-uninterrupted sleep.

@Blackberry

The rest wasn't as good as the ones she used to have, but she wasn't exactly a stranger to fitful sleep. Her time spent as a prisoner in Eridanus hadn't exactly been very peaceful for her mind - night terrors and anxieties woke her constantly so this was a relatively normal night's (or day's) rest. By the time she woke up, the lights were still bright, which was good for travelling with the damn glowing.

She rose to her feet, stretching out her stiff muscles. The pain in the wound wasn't as bad as it had been, but the skin around the sting still looked dark and unhealthy. She assumed that, once she got back, she could properly take care of it. Or perhaps the Collector would do something about it.

Either way, she needed to focus on returning back to the main caves. She rose to her feet and stepped out of her bush, taking a bit of time to graze more and drink as much water as she could - she had no idea how rough the final leg of the journey would be. She considered going back through the Crucible, but she knew she's get hopelessly lost. Besides, it would probably take her out of the way too much.

But the marshes didn't seem like that great of an option either. She couldn't swim as well anymore, with the absence of webbed feet and her thinning feathers. Not to mention all the dangers she'd likely find.

She made the decision, then, to travel between the two. There had been the salt flats as well - she'd rather travel over those then through the canyons or the marshes. It would be hard, physically, but she'd rather take brutal force then those damn spiders or toxic marshes. She set out, then, going directly south between the Crucible and the marshes.

@Game Master Dark

The amulet guided her way, in a sense--through a constant, ever-present fear. The eye seemed to twist about and stare, and watch her, from time to time--but perhaps that was a trick of the light..?

The marsh underfoot was wet, to say the least, but now and again Blackberry would suddenly feel deep misgiving about some area of the swamp or other. A patch of mud ahead might fill her with incredible dread, or a little haze in the air with the certainty of danger.

So long as she listened to the amulet, it would guide her away from the quicksand, from the toxic gases...

The vultures, too, for now seemed to keep their distance, none of them braving a flight out over the Dead Marsh. Should she be spotted, in the end, it might prove deadly--but for now, she was safe from predators, at least. And the water of the marsh--so long as she listened to the amulet's warnings--was, in places, drinkable (if stagnant and disgusting in taste). There were even grasses that could be eaten, at a pinch, though they weren't particularly tasty--and the warning of horror at some of them would keep her away from those which might prove toxic.

She could make it to the Salt Flats, then; and the final stretch of her journey, after only an hour or two of floundering in the Marsh.

@Blackberry

However uncomfortable the amulet made her and however terrified she was constantly with it around her neck, she couldn't help but admit that it was useful. She was travelling relatively peacefully through the edge of the marsh, listening to the amulet as it directed her to avoid traps of poisonous water, drifting toxins in the air, and even allowed her a few moments in which she could pull up some of the grasses, however foul they tasted. But she wasn't going to neglect opportunity for food and drink this time. The salt flats were going to be hard and she needed to be prepared.

She continued to glance up at the sky where the vultures were drifting, terrified that one of them would drop down and attack - after all, she was feeling an immense sense of fear coming from them, however distant they were. She'd definitely taken their absence for granted on the way in. But they didn't bother her and, eventually, she was leaving the marshes, taking one last drink from one of the safe pools of water, before turning and heading out onto the salt flats.

@Game Master Dark

The salt flats themselves were, to say the least, punishing. They were hot, and incredibly dry, with an eye-stinging acridness to the air. Heat-shimmers formed mirages here and there, making it difficult to navigate without becoming lost. The heat at least began to dissipate as time wore on, as the light faded; and the shimmers, too began to fade.

Now and then Blackberry would come across a scorpion, and once a small and scurrying Sand Spider--but it was as if she knew where they'd be well in advance, before even coming in sight of them. The strange magic guided her well enough.

@Blackberry

She was taking the salt flats slower then the marsh, more out of exhaustion then anything. She may have gotten a pretty good rest, but she'd pushed herself way past her limits the day before and it was catching up with her. Her foot was dragging again, she was hunched forward, panting. Everything ached, everything burned. Her skin had blistered in the heat on the sands and some of her feathers were falling out.

She was an utter mess.

But still, she powered on, following the guiding of the amulet across the flats as the lights began to dim, slowly draining the heat in the air, but the ground beneath still burned the underside of her feet. The end, however, was truly in sight now - there, in the distance, the exit of Hydra. The Collector was waiting for her. Blueberry was waiting for her.

@Game Master Dark

The glow was what drew them--that, and the magicka that caused it. The enchant, with its faint glittering. The amulet warned her--but with her exhaustion, and her injury, they were faster than she was.

There were two of them--one very small, barely fist-sized, but a sparkle of blue on the flickering flat. It kept well away from the other: an absolutely enormous monstrosity larger even than the last Blackberry had encountered. Now that night was falling, the Spire Spider was lurching through the dim haze after Blackberry, doggedly pursuing her magicka and her glow.

It drew closer, and closer, the amulet screaming terror into the goose's mind--the clicking rapidly approaching. Bristling black and blue swept up behind her, its fangs glinting in the half-light.

"Not very sporting, is it?" crooned a voice from somewhere close. As if out of nowhere the Collector appeared, his towering black-clad form stepping neatly between Blackberry and the spider. A hand raised, and there was a brief shimmer--and, for whatever reason, both Spire Spiders turned and fled.

The Collector turned and knelt, reaching down for the chain, moving to slip it from the goose into his own hands. "Well, well, well, someone has been through a great deal--I thought you hadn't made it. Come," he added, pushing up and, with a rustle of his cloak, sweeping for Hydra's exit. "We have a reward to give you."

@Blackberry

There was a sudden spike of fear and her stomach dropped. Something was coming. Danger was approaching. She sped up her pace and looked behind, eyes widening with horror at the sight of the monstrous spider chasing after her. She looked away quickly, just in case, and tried to think fast. She couldn't outrun it, not with her injury and considering its size. But, perhaps, she could distract it.

She remembered the spider from the crucible stopping at the banana peel she'd left behind and tried to focus, trying to conjure another banana to leave in her wake, but no magic flared in her gemstone. She was too terrified, the magic of the amulet overpowering her senses. So she ran. She ran as fast as her exhaustion and her injury allowed her to, but still the spider's were getting closer and closer. The amulet was screaming in her head, terror building and racking up with each moment.

She was going to die. After all of this, she was going to lose at the very last stretch.

As if knowing that it was hopeless, Blackberry leg gave way beneath her. She fell forward with a hiss of pain and tumbled onto the salt flats. She didn't turn. She didn't want to see it when it bore down on her. What was the point.

She closed her eyes and waited for it to be over. But...it wasn't over. A voice crooned nearby and she flinched, jerking her head up to make sure she hadn't imagined it. But she hadn't - the Collector was standing there between her and the spiders, holding out his hand as they backed away.

She gaped at him with disbelief. At first, she didn't realize that this was all over. She didn't comprehend at that moment that she'd succeeded, that the trial was complete. Not until the Collector reached forward and took the amulet from her neck - without her even reacting to it - did it hit her.

Tears stung at her eyes as she stumbled to her feet and emotion rolled over her in waves. It was an indescribable feeling, almost like a release. A release of everything - all the horrors of the past couple of days, all of the blood that had soaked her path before. She'd served her punishment now and it was time to start again.

Silently, she nodded, limping after the Collector back towards Hydra's exit.

@Game Master Dark

The amulet was slipped somewhere out of sight, the golden glow flickering over the Collector before abruptly fading. He led her into the mouth of the tunnel--and here, he paused.

"You've done well; and as promised, your rewards." He didn't ask if she was ready, no; he only gave her a moment to gather herself--to reflect and say goodbye to who she'd been--before he opened out his palms toward her, a flood of brief and savage light filling the space, her mind, the tunnel. It was hot, suddenly--too hot, sweltering, burning--and Blackberry would rapidly lose consciousness in the throes of sudden pain.

Her gemstone would spread, flaring out to encase her, to regrow the damage that the powerful but strange magic was inflicting. And there she would rest, in her chrysalis, for the next two weeks. When she woke again, when next she emerged, Blackberry would be... changed.

A plain white goose would be all that emerged: the same species, certainly, but void of all pigment. Red eyes and a pink bill and feet would mark it as albino. All of her scars would be gone. No talons, no strange ridges, no spines--but her wings would be reborn, long and graceful. She would remember very little about herself, forgetting her name, the events of her past life, and most of those she had known. Only faint, flickering memories would linger: the briefest glances, confusing and without context, of the things that she had done and seen. It would all like a half-forgotten nightmare, with glimpses now and then--but whatever impact had been left, she would always, now, abhor the idea of violence. The benevolence instilled in her would be commanding.

The Collector watched, and then he knelt: and, after covering the chrysalis with a shrouding layer of sand, he nestled the apatite in beside it.

Then he stood, and turned, and drew out his Amulet of Many Eyes: looking it over, and grinning beneath the hood. "Ahh, but you have no idea the gift you've given me," he murmured; "What a small price to pay for such a prize."

@Blackberry