Fisher stood over Louie, his head pounding as he felt, for a small moment, the depths at which Louie sank. There was confusion, foggy and blurred. Beyond that it was just an emptiness that made him feel hollow, incomplete. Something was wrong with the fox, and the noodle felt helpless to do anything.

Black was along side him, threatening with a snarl, but Fisher did not think that Louie was a threat. He simply couldn't imagine Louie as a threat-- something was wrong with him, yes, but...

Fisher decided the only thing he could do for Louie was to reach out with his magic and try to get the fox to fall into a slumber. He had done it before, slowing a creature's heartbeat so that their blood slowed, and in turn, so that they were lured into sleeping. It was a dangerous thing, playing with another's heart, but he hoped that Louie would understand that he had to take that risk.

"It's alright, Ikhael... We are just looking for something. We don't want to hurt you... Or interrupt what you're doing. Just let us pass, and we will be out of your fur," he spoke in soft, gentle tones, fear gripping at his heart. If this spell messed up, he could send Louie into a frenzy, making his heart race and throwing him into panic mode.

Fisher would just have to hope that he was a bit better at magic these days.

@Louie

Fallah had stayed behing do faar, listening. Her fur bristled at this Ikhael. Her magic glowed through her fur and lit up her eyes. The lynx's maw parted slightly, leaking out the cold blue light as her spells whirred in her head. This would not hurt them, Fallah would make sure. She walked, stalked slowly to the side to get a better shot. If he decided to attack now, Fallah would blast him. "speak"

Something had tried to shift the ground. Or at least pull on the dust, tugging on the rocks, toppling them over the surface - voices rose up through the silence, one of them loud and frantic, the others gentle, hushed. The great beast had come to realize the voices were something more than just an illusion or a trick of the mind. What was worse was that they weren't stopping. His patience had come to wear thin. They were uncomfortably close.

There was a sudden shriek. Loud enough that the vulpine voice echoed through the cave, bounding off the curved walls, off the ground where the body of the decaying moth sat, the ceiling where the stalactites hung threatened by just a gentle breeze. A shadow, once taken refuge in an alcove high above the ground, began to shift and take shape. A massive cream-coloured fist reached out of the depression in the wall, gripping the rock. Then it thrust the creature up, out - the titantic body of Svarog leaped from his cave, shaking the ground as he landed. At his feet, heaps of rubble, shattered stones, and small glowing rocks quaked. Sharp eyes pinned to the gathering of Gembounds while his lips drew back in a vicious, irate snarl, and he erupted in a monstrous roar, a warning.

@Fisher @Fallah @Black @Louie

(@Gms--deleted previous post, apparently you can attempt a spell cast with no spell selected, whoops. Had changed my mind halfway through and not picked one!)

Something had detached from the darkness, and for a moment, Black had thought it another Void creature, a thing of Darkness like himself. Yet as its massive form slid into the light, he could see that it was pale, and enormous.

Some brief part of him whispered that he should turn, and run. It remained unheeded. He was Guardian; he did not exist for himself, but for the others. When the giant yeti snarled at them, he stepped further over Louie, curling drooping lips to bare his own far smaller fangs upward. A rumbling growl reverberated from his own chest, his hackles bristling, his legs stiff with fear as his gaze glared balefully up at the monster.

He didn't speak. He simply stepped in front of the others, and growled. It didn't mean much, perhaps--he was a hundred times smaller--but hopefully it would draw the thing away, at least, from Fisher and Fallah. If not Louie; he didn't know enough about the fox to know if he should be guarding it, or not.

________________

Fisher's attention of Louie was short lived. His magic had, hopefully, done the job-- but now, now there was much... Much, much much much MUCH worse things to be worried about. The fisher cat felt abruptly small as the titan of white and snow crashed their little party, coming from the darkness of the cracks in the wall.

There was a great fear in his heart for the beast-- he had seen Svarog kill a dog with just a single blow, and in that moment it took everything he had not to scream. Black had to get away, his mind begged, though his legs felt like they had been rooted deep into the earth and his throat was swollen shut. He couldn't let Black die like Deus had-- he just didn't know what he would do if that happened.

... But back then, when they were kids, Fisher hadn't been as strong. He knew he still couldn't fight Svarog, not even with his friends along side him (there was simply no way) but... Perhaps he could hold Svarog back, and speak to the yeti. Keep it from killing his friends, from destroying his world.

It would have been a smarter idea to run... But Fisher had to find Deus' stone, and somehow the noodle knew that Svarog had the stone somewhere. That the titan protected the Spire and the remains, that the beast of snow and ice was a guardian, like Aquarian. There was a good chance that it wasn't willing to listen, but... He had to try.

"WAIT!" He cried out, his words erupting from his body as his magic sparked along his spine and tried to hold back the massive yeti. "Please, we're just looking for a friend! I'm sorry-- We-- We didn't mean to disturb you! I need... I need a stone! Do you remember me?" The little noodle darted up his bark friend's back, rising up so that the beast could see him better. He held up his forepaws, copper eyes shining.

"My friend died the day you awoke! I need... I need her stone, please! I'll keep it safe-- have you seen it?" His whole body was shaking as he stood on Black's shoulders, knowing that if this didn't work... That if he didn't get through to the beast... That he and his friends could very easily die to this mammoth.

And it would be all his fault, again.

@Fallah @Black

No one had much time to respond to anything before a large, icy beast tore from the cave. Black jumped to the front, and Fallah moved to mirror him, jumping so their forelegs were even. They would protect Fisher and his strange friend-that-is-not-friendly. Fallah growled, though is was drowned out by the deep rumble of Black. Fisher called out to the being, trying to reason with it. Fallah's body would glow blue with her magic as she summoned it. She wasn't going to use it yet, but she was definitely ready. "speak"

The hulking giant loomed above them, shifting the weight mostly between the two massive, meaty fists he had curled on the ground. His pink skin was taut and brows furrowed, pinprick eyes roving over the four Gembounds that had dared to infringe on his territory. Three of them appeared to stand at the ready, and he felt a crackle of magic attempt to break forth from the fisher, only to fizzle out into nothing as his shaking voice pierced the air. Svarog snarled, seemingly unaffected by the mustelid's pleas; at least, refusing to listen.

But the words were there, and their meaning had become apparent. Friend. Stone. Friend. Stone. Died. Safe. Friend. He rumbled, his eyes slowly narrowing as they fixated on the fisher cat. His slow brain churned, chugging away at the meaning of this message.

He knew. He knew the words and he associated them with faces that he had once known and feelings that had plagued him long ago. In all the cycles he had been awake, he had never seen the one that gave him his purpose. Those golems had been the only thing that kept him busy, and if their friend was a stone, it was at risk of being picked up by the golems. The golems could be stronger with that stone, and that was the last thing he wanted. Svarog's low, guttural rumbling came to a slow cease and he stepped aside, allowing the Gembounds access to the chaotic rubble behind him.

@Fisher @Fallah @Black

The yeti snarled as he spoke, and Fisher swore he could see the creature preparing its ice magic, ready to throw massive fists at his friends and break them all to pieces-- but there, finally, his words set in. The creature hesitated, and Fisher felt his heart literally stop. Then, after a too long moment, Svarog took a step to the side, letting them check out the rubble.

Fisher glanced towards his friends. "Black, Fallah, stay here. I'll be okay," he told them, swallowing his fears. He was afraid that if they got too close, the brute might still lash out... He didn't want to lose anyone to Svarog again. He looked up at the great white beast, copper eyes shining, and nodded. "Thank you." The words escaped his maw only a moment before he stepped forward and carefully picked his way over to the guarded place, looking through countless rubble and crystals.

He wasn't in a hurry, but the longer he took the more nervous he felt, so he tried to find the gem quickly. There was a pile of broken, shattered bits of gem or crystal of all colors, but Fisher felt certain that Deus' gem was fine, somewhere in there. It wasn't long before the noodle found a large enough, round and faceted gem that shimmered a bright cerulean-- only a few shades off of the Spire's bright blue. His ears twitched as he gently put his paw to the stone, glancing around a bit more. This had to be Deus' stone, right? The location seemed about correct.

Delicately, he placed the gem into his mouth. It wasn't too big, but it was a bit unwieldy to carry. He knew soon enough he'd have to get a satchel to carry important things in, but that would come another day. He booked it back to his friends and placed the gem down before their paws, tail wagging.

As a final note of appreciation, the mustelid looked up at the guardian. "I'll take good care of her, I promise!" He woofed up at Svarog, taking the gem into his mouth again. " 'Sss guh ouhha 'ere." He really didn't want to bother Louie anymore, and frankly, he was dying to get back to someplace that wasn't threatened by a giant white monkey. Black had to get back to his own gem-thingy anyway.

@Fallah @Black

;; fisher exit

Zephyr happened on the scene though he stuck to the shadows.

=track post

Black stood, staring, as the giant monstrosity... listened.

It didn't rage, and throw boulders, and tear them limb from limb. It did not even roar and charge.

Instead, it listened, and it spoke.

So while the Dog bristled, still, he straightened up some and inclined his heavy head to one side as if in thanks. He also remained silent. Fisher was looking for a gem, he thought--again he wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but as Fisher's sort-of-guardian, he simply stood, and waited. He didn't approach the rubble pile, just watched as the mustelid rummaged through it.

Then, abruptly, Fisher was scampering off.

Startled, Black turned his wrinkled face to watch him go. He then looked back up at Svarog, at a loss. Then, to Louie. Since the yeti-thing didn't seem intent on attacking, he addressed the next-most-important-thing: the ruined fox.

"...Are you staying here?" he rumbled, tilting his head to one side again.

Fallah, he knew, could take care of herself: she would likely stick to Fisher, or to him, and so he simply had to work out priorities. Fisher was safe; if Louie did not need further tending to, then he and Fallah could depart. But Black was not above remaining behind to deal with the fox, though he wasn't quite sure what to make of him.

________________

@Louie ; @Fallah