From the day we arrive on this planetAnd blinking, step into the sun

Pride.

The Cheetah felt Pride. All of these Gembounds, from all walks of life - from the small Fox to the massive Dragon, were coming together to fight off this threat. This is how it should be.

To his horror, however, the ram charged headfirst at the monster, into the shadows. 'Fool! He'll get himself killed!' And the Fox, too, leaped bodily at the beast. The Dragon launched blast of flame at the monster, and the serval, too, launched himself at the beast.

He cringed, ears flattening back, at a horrific shriek, and images and sensations that he had never seen before. He shook his head, crown gleaming atop it as he launched another Electroball at the monster.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

There's more to see than can ever be seenMore to do than can ever be done

Well, it was on fire. Or, as the dragon's mind was internally roaring, IT'S ON FIRE!

This was a good thing. Of course.

His tail lashed behind him as he landed, again, on the stone ledge beneath him, hind claws gripping tightly as his wings continued to beat--albeit more slowly--to keep his balance there. Half of him wanted to close with his enemy, to rend and tear and finish it as he did with his prey--but it was a reluctant half. The other half of him--the warier bit, and also the other part that really liked fire, knew that it was a better idea to keep his advantage. Whatever this thing was, it was dark, and it was evil, and he didn't like it and he was going to keep burning it. From a very safe distance.

Another inhale, his raw and burning throat feeling the pain of the searing heat billowing up through it, and then another surge of dragonfire poured down, orange and bright, into the darkness below.

Dread, again, wasn't aiming to hit anyone in its path, but he wasn't really very careful to avoid them, either. He'd hopefully only hit their shared enemy.

After his exhale was completed, he inhaled again and roared, his single word a deep bass bellow that was no longer muffled by unnatural magics as it echoed through the ruins.

"BUUUUUUUUUUURN!"

Paws met flesh with a satisfying give, and as predicted even though the heat scalded her own skin it sizzled wildly against the surprisingly corporeal form of the shadows. She couldn't stop here though! Even if she had jumped headlong into danger she had no desire to go quietly into the talons of death. With a final brush of her glowing hot tail she bounced back off the figure and retreated to the safety of the crowd just as claws of death reached out from the foe and a second wave of ranged attacks closed in from her allies.

Adrenaline pumped through the lean fox, a natural high that no game before had ever come close to even matching. Even the visions of madness and fear projected from this horror of dreams could do nothing to dismantle Miru's sensation of victory.

"Return to your realm of screams and shadows, monster!" she called out as her allies continued to assault the flaming creature. "In the land of the lucid you have no power."

Between the flames and flailing, the psionic screams and the crossfire, Miru dared not rush in for another attack. Rather she stayed behind to try to grasp at the fading heat magic, repurposes it. Alas though- the spell faded leaving her in the shadows with only burnt limbs to remind her of that moment of triumph.

---

Though my thoughts are my own
"This is my greatest tool to hone"
Tags:

Zevruu immediately regretted going after the creature in the way he did. The flesh was soft and easy to tear, which was fine. But the taste in his mouth was indescribable. He had never tasted something so terrible, not in all the cycles he's lived. He never wanted to taste that again.

He jumped away as the creature let out a shriek, and lowered his eyes. It did nothing, as the sound pierced its way into his skull. His mind was filled with images and sensations that he had never known anything like, and he closed his eyes for a moment. He backed away some more, the deadly claws missing him.

He didn't know what to do. The creature was on fire, and he wasn't foolish enough to go after it like that. Maybe he could bring some light in? The creature seemed to favor the darkness. Perhaps light would make it easier to fight it...or at least keep it from attacking them. He closed his eyes and focused on bringing his magic out from deep within him. It took some time, but soon light began to show through his fur. It spluttered slightly, but in the end, it came back.

"Speech" l 'Thoughts'

IN NIGHTMARES

There was a screech, a hiss of smoke over stone, as Reseda's blast took the black-shrouded thing and threw it across the rock. Claws scraped along the ground, and the thin horselike body kicked and flailed for a moment as it fought to regain its footing.

Before it could fully stand, the cheetah's hurtling flash of electricity caught it, and it fell back upon its side, hooves lashing out at nothing as muscles spasmed. A horrific screech emanated from it, into the minds of all of those present, building into something more...

The billowing flame of fire from the dragon engulfed it, the light from the other Gembound present filling the last of the shadows. The scream built, and built, until it overflowed and exploded through the minds of those present.

A nonstop screech of fury and hunger. Of frustration unfulfilled. These emotions gripped the Gembounds' minds. Images, once again, of horrors unimaginable. A black pit, eternal, where the lives of the living were but the briefest glint of drifting dust-motes swallowed moments later, forever, by infinite black. Meaningless. Pointless. Futile. Why did they fight, so?! Give in; feed it. The flashing of too-many fangs. Tentacles reaching from behind the mask, to drag them in, to consume them, to eat them whole, to eat them alive--

_________

The link shatters. The fire and the Glow-lights suddenly fade, leaving only dull, silent darkness in their wake.

Shadows linger, coiling smoke and the stench of burnt flesh remaining. Yet there's no sign, any longer, of the Dreamstalker. It appears to have vanished, or perhaps been vaporized--there's no way to know. Perhaps there never will be.

Yet a memory of the magic lingers, a sinister touch leaving its mark upon those present. The Gembounds' minds are open to a new possibility. A new ability. All it took was a touch, a gentle link opened between Dreamstalker and they, and horrors untold were unleashed upon their minds. Now that this power has touched them, they could open such a link with others and inflict the same sharp imagery and emotion.

It would not be difficult.

Dread, Reign, Reseda, Aries, Miru and Zevruu--they have all felt this lashing of the psyche, and can replicate it with their own magicka in turn. A power has been granted to them--for better, or for worse.

Dreamstalker has been defeated.

Those present have learned the spell Mindscream, and unlocked this spell for all of Origin Cave via the Magicka shop.

Mindscream. High Intensity Offensive. The user assaults a target's mind directly with an overpowering surge of their own choice of emotion, sound, memory or imagery, limited only by their imagination. User must concentrate wholly on this spell cast, but can temporarily disable the target for the duration, incapacitating both user and target.

In Nightmares has now been concluded, and can be exited freely.

@Aries @Dread @Greed @Miru @Zevruu @Reign

The screaming was horrible, cutting deep into Reseda's mind, already damaged by the assault only moments before. She stared straight ahead and tried to ignore it, tried to distance herself, but it was too difficult. Perhaps impossible.

It was in her brain now, a piece of that monster and she knew it. She didn't yet know what it was or how to use it, but there was something there that wasn't there before. A piece of magic, perhaps, but there was something else. Something that dug itself deep inside. It would be dormant for now, but Reseda still had a long life ahead of her (she thought so, at least). There would be plenty of time for it to come back to her.

The vapor was gone now. She wasn't thinking about it, she wasn't thinking about anything. It was over now. Without so much as a word to the others, she turned and swiftly made her way out of the ruins. She needed to go back to sleep, although she doubted that she'd sleep peacefully.

*exit

The small fox held firm in her defensive stance, crimson eyes fixated on the flurry of attacks assailing the monster before her. It was working, they were winning. The creature wasn't going down in silence however- its psionic screams echoing deep within the minds of those around it.

Visions of darkness and death; Miru contemplated, paws planted firmly against the ground and every muscle tensed as though to try to withstand the onslaught The world of nightmare is all it knows, all it wants us to remember.

So easy to see that the reality its screech presented was not their own, but at the same time so difficult to accept in the moment. Despite herself deep below her strong stance and determined gaze Miru trembled, like a child standing up to a bully even as the school bell counted down.

Meaningless? Futile? That may be true. she thought back at the pressing emotions, fighting with every inch of willpower to hold her stance. Clinging to a potentially pointless life may be a fool's vanity, but giving it up completely would be the greatest of follies! What arrogance one would have to hold to claim all knowledge of worth? What sloth to give up the search without even trying?

Between these self-affirming thoughts and the monster's disappearance Miru began to feel her feet again, the tension slowly fading into memory. "We live to face the light once more." she declared aloud as all traces of the nightmare dissipated. Even so she stood as still as a statue, lest the lingering remnants of the mental link tear down the fragile pillar upon which she had fortified her determination.

"Is everyone okay?"

---

Though my thoughts are my own
"This is my greatest tool to hone"
Tags:

The dragon landed heavily, a moment later, rocking forward to balance on his wings, his jaws snapping shut as a satisfied curl of smoke twisted up from his nostrils.

He sniffed over the now-empty patch of blackened ground with loud, bass huffs, before turning his ember eyes on Miru.

"I am unharmed!" he responded. But-... was he? Part of him was triumphant--extremely satisfied in this thing's death. Yet another part of him was deeply unnerved. This was the second time that something had reached into his mind, past the power of flame and fang and claw, and twisted his thoughts without allowing him any recourse.

He shook himself, blinking, like a dog shakes off water, and then looked back to Miru and the others. "How can things do that?" he demanded, aggressive, yet a thread of worry in his tone betrayed his motivation. "And why is it only in THIS place?!"

Though he did not explain it, it had only ever happened to him in Orion, and with his rather simple, youthful mind, he assumed that it could not happen elsewhere.

Then a thread of deeper concern struck him, and he added--"It was in my mind! Was it in yours?!" There was near-panic in his rough draconic voice, this time--childlike, despite his great size. Was he the only one..? Was something targetting him, and his thoughts, and bringing him this nightmarish fear and alien words?

Or was it all of them?

He wasn't sure which idea was scarier.

Excurating pain shot through his leg as he landed on both front hooves after his charge. Aries cried out as it folded underneath him and he stumbled and fell, sliding to halt against a wall.

Paralyzed with agony, his was left wide open for the Dreamstalker's attack, but Reseda's spell flung it away before it could react. Aries wheezed as he rolled over on his belly. The cheetah and the dragon had finished it off with impressive displays of electricity and fire and shielded his eyes from the brightness and stinging heat.

Then a horrible wail rose his ears, then cascaded into deafening scream. Strong emotions of fury, hunger, and frustration flooded his mind along with disturbing images Aries could not quite make sense of, but left him feeling tiny and insignificant, like he did when Baratheon tried to kill him as a lamb. He felt tears of fear and hopelessness swell up in his eyes, and with an empty sickness growing in the pit of his stomach, he had never felt a stronger urge to cry.

For once, Aries' proud, stoic demeanor crumbled, and he was little lamb again as the tears began to flow. He laid huddled against the wall, trying to quiet his uncontrollable sobs, fully aware he was in front of strangers. He silently cursed himself for it and wondered what was wrong with him. Whatever the creature had done to him, it struck something deep, something he had buried and long since forgotten, a fear that he felt was coming true.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: // OOC:

Zevruu instinctively lowered his ears over her head, but the screech was deep in his mind. Images filled it. Dark, endless. A black pit. Everything was meaningless. Pointless. Why was he still in these caves? It was all futile. He'd been here for so long, but what was the point? Why not just give in?

And then, just like that, it was gone, leaving not a single trace behind. Just darkness. Shadows. The creature was gone. But the feelings remained. And magic...a new spell? He couldn't tell, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

Right now, he wanted out of here. Away from all these gembounds. Away from this area. Away from Orion.

Whether or not he would return, he didn't know.

-exit-

"Speech" l 'Thoughts'