His spell had worked least to say, but it was not focused right above the dragon. Splinters of rock showered all of those close to the monster, possibly hitting a few people on the head. For a moment, Azazel winced. He hoped he hadn't injured anyone too badly. The dragon gave a howling roar that shook Azazel's ears, and he watched in absolute terror as the reptillian creature literally ignited himself, fire pouring from every crack in his body. Azazel wasn't even close, and it absolutely burned. The room was already practically on fire, and the dragon made it even hotter.

Flapping his wings furiously, Azazel neared at the expense of irritating his own lungs and burning off a few feathers, and he watched smoke rise in the room, a thick black cloud filling the room. He decided maybe it wasn't best doing offense. Instead, he focused his magicka in trying to shield as many Gembound as he could from the smoke, especially those who seemed to have fainted. Perhaps a Jetstream would aid for a little while. It seemed like this dragon was literally going to explode. He could help in buying them time to escape the room before he did.

So he focused all of his magicka into his gem, and he poured it out. Please let it be a success.

Chaos. True to its name, the chaos beast erupted into a frenzy and more Gembounds were rendered unable to continue their fight. Tenzin stood with his legs braced, regaining energy from cooling the inner core of the dragon. It wasn't easy taming the fire from such a foul creature. The ice cover across its face gave Tenzin a bit of relief. He smirked at the thought that, with the fire cooled from within, the dragon wasn't warm enough to melt even a Gembound's ice.

He had drained himself too quickly. The gore that ensued dug at his inner core, but he had not yet the energy to intervene. The chill along his feathers had returned, but heat began to rise once more. Buffeted by falling rocks, the phoenix lowered his head beneath a wing to protect his stone. He looked at it under the cover his wing provided, noting that it still had a thin cover of ice. With a bit of focus, he strengthened the outer layer. His eyes flicked to the dragon, who was beginning to glow dangerously from beneath. No. He knew that glow. The memory that was suppressed within him remained hidden, but the fire - he knew the fire. Before he could do anything, the dragon was immersed in flame.

Thought not fully recovered from before, Tenzin took to the air. He rose quickly to get a good view of the room. It wasn't normal fire. It wasn't fire that would burn and simply leave a mark. It would kill. Disintegrate. He did what he could to provide coverings of ice for some of the fallen Gembounds, but his main attention was on finding Astraea before things got worse. Battered, burned, and beaten, the stag hovered near a few of the Gembounds close to the dragon. He wouldn't see his friend set aflame by the beast, nor his children. As he prepared to move toward Astraea with a few heavy wingbeats, a gust of air washed past him. It had weakened but the intention was to clear the smoke. As he took off, Tenzin directed the downward push of his wings to carry with the Jetstream, bringing a chill in the air and boosting it forth.

He had done what he could for the others. His body descended quickly to form a barrier for Astraea and his children, coming between the ferocious fire and his dear friend. With outstretched wings, a wall of ice closed in around them, but it took much of Tenzin's weakened energy to maintain his ice against the fire of the dragon. Jeopardizing his own self, he focused on the glaciate wall while letting the ice along his back melt. His feathers curled and vanished against the heat of the flame, but Astraea would live. He had to. A part of Tenzin remembered the sharp pained that crackled through his skin. It wasn't normal fire. Especially to him.

Many of the Gembounds below felt the lick of heat rolling from the dragon, who threw his head back and snapped his jaws - and he in turn felt their final attempts at taking him down. One of them sent forth an arc of lightning that crackled across his shoulder, and another one summoned frost that collected on his lips, barely icing over his scales before his heat melted it away. He didn't even notice the bird unleashing a breath of air that dissipated the smoke near the ground. One of them attempted to pervade his mind once again, filling it with images so unlike what the beast was made for. The calm, quiet tranquility of the swamp, and the buzzing--

Suddenly, the buzzing began to emanate all through the cave. Not just within the dragon's mind, but to all of them. It started out slow at first, just barely the hint of a noise above the chaos. Then it picked up, a volume near agitating to all that could hear it.

Raheerah ignored the buzz, snapping his jaws and severing the telepathic reach of the owl. He whipped his head away and unleashed another mouthful of fire, attempting to scorch everything in his vicinity - unnoticed quite yet, the phoenix had taken to the air and added his own chill to the jetstream, guarding the Gembounds from his fury with a protective wall of ice. He just barely caught sight of the gleaming crystals growing over the disgusting little mites, and his anger flared - how dare the bird attempt to protect them? How dare he attempt to stop what fate had created him for? "YOU CANNOT END THIS!" He roared, throwing himself towards the phoenix. His weight crashed into the ice wall, causing shards of ice to shower down on the fallen Gembounds below. His wings swept and pushed him forward, pursuing the phoenix until he had grasped the bird's neck between his claws.

Finally stopping, Raheerah wavered and hoisted the bird up high, cracking his jaws open as heat roiled in his throat. The beast was seconds away from igniting the phoenix when a blazing beam of vivid white suddenly shot through the smoke and spotlighted on Raheerah. Blinded by the unexpected light - too bright even for the chaos beast, whose pupils thinned into pinpricks as he squinted against the glare - the dragon released the phoenix and staggered back to face the source of the spotlight, snarling.

Then, a powerful, female voice boomed out from above, its grandiose, southerly resonance carrying across the entirety of Polaris.

"WHAT A FANTASTIC SHOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

"HOW ABOUT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE LEADING ROLE OF THIS EVENING'S MARVELOUS SHOW!" A tiny, giggling face popped out from behind the beam, which soon became apparent was coming from a pair of equally tiny hands placed side by side to focus the spotlight on the dragon. She maneuvered her fingers ever so slightly, casting shadows in the blinding beam that resembled an expansive, clapping audience while the sound of a roaring, cheering crowd inexplicably swelled around them.

Raheerah swiftly raised an arm to shield his eyes from the light and let loose a volcanic rumble, spitting a stream of fire at the creature above but to no avail - she only buzzed away and the spotlight traveled with her, shining on the dragon as she went. The illusion and the sound of the crowd continued as the sprite, barely a foot tall, zipped up close to Raheerah - in a frenzy, he swung his head and body, trying to snap at her.

"LETS NOT FORGET OUR SENSATIONAL SUPPORTING CAST!" She announced, parting her hands and shining them through the multiple tears in Raheerah's wings, casting an array of smaller spotlights that swept across the ground and illuminated many of the fallen Gembounds. The roar of the audience swelled until it drowned out Raheerah's vicious bellows, only serving to infuriate him more. Polaris filled with the tumultuous cacophony of noises as the dragon reeled and charged, launching up into the air and spinning in a desperate attempt to capture her in his jaws - louder and louder, higher and higher, until she darted right in front of his face, giggling, and blinded him and the rest of the room with a fleeting, bright flash.

Dazed, the dragon howled and crashed back into the ground; a cloud of debris swept out from his collision and the audience fell quiet. The sprite fluttered delicately down onto the highest point of the dragon's hunched back, sticking the landing with a dramatic throw of her arms. Her voice was all that exploded out in the sudden silence.

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

"NEMEAN!"

From everywhere in the room, a theatrical show of fireworks exploded in the air, lights of all colours and brightness sparking all around the tiny winged sprite and louder than ever before, the crowd boomed with raucous cheering, screaming and whistling. Despite the drowning volume of it, Nemean dipped in an extravagant bow, blowing kisses at the fallen Gembounds with bouncing curls and charming smiles. The overwhelming spectacle lasted for another couple seconds before Raheerah began to shift beneath her, a violent snarl tearing from his jaws.

The sparking fireworks and the cheering crowd cut away as he turned his head and erupted in a wall of fire, consuming the sprite. She darted back up above the dragon, vibrating insect wings buzzing through the air as her giggles filled the cave. "Now don't you go anywhere folks!" She called down to the collection of beaten and battered creatures below as Raheerah, a second time, unfurled his body and launched into the air behind her. "Why, I'd hate to miss out on meeting every last one of my adoring fans!" With a final giggle, she led the vicious, fuming dragon back up into the ceiling, into the darkness of the gaping air vent above. Raheerah followed, heat and fire broiling between his jaws, just barely spilling out from his maw before he vanished into the darkness.

Quest Complete! Raheerah and Nemean have exited through the ceiling, and the Moth NPC has died after succumbing to its wounds, leaving Polaris in ruins. The ground is shattered and littered with rocks, boulders and various other debris, however over time the cave will restore itself and extinguish the fires that remain scattered across the room.

You may now have your characters exit this thread.

All chaos seemed to be loose. Fallah didn't think she could make it much longer in this heat. The fighting continued and Fallah was driven back slightly. It looked like the dragon could win. Fallah wouldn't let it loose without a fight. She readied her magic again, readied herself fo- "WHAT A FANTASTIC SHOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Fallah stopped. What was that? Who was that? "HOW ABOUT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE LEADING ROLE OF THIS EVENING'S MARVELOUS SHOW!" A tiny Catterfly thing came out, a light shining on her body. Fallah stopped, simply stopped. What the fuck was that. "AND LETS NOT FORGET OUR SENSATIONAL SUPPORTING CAST!" A light shone on the gembounds. This, a show? Fallah hissed as the light touched her. Her face fur matted from the spells and vomiting and smoke. She was not into this, whatever this was. "AND FINALLY, THE GRAND ORCHESTRATOR OF THIS WONDROUS SHOW! THE STUPENDOUS, THE GLAMOROUS, THE A-A-AMAZINGLY MIRACULOUS NEMEAN!" Nemean? This was Nemean? THE Nemean that the dragon in Cetus had mentioned? Fallah directed her attention towards the Catterfly now. "Now don't you go anywhere folks! Why, I'd hate to miss out on meeting every last one of my adoring fans!" Fallah was speechless. She had to go to Cetus. She had to tell Fisher and Black. She had to... She had to... Fallah erupted in a coughing fit, ending in her vomiting again. She had to get healed first... She needed to get to Black and Fisher.> "speak"

Everything exploded further. There was so much noise, blood and violence that Louie found himself washed away in it all. That nauseating smell of burning and boiling flesh caused his gut to want to expel but he had been staving off food before the battle. To avoid such nasty consequences as vomit. Ears almost bleeding from the cacophony, he found himself tossed around, battered and wounded without even needing to join in the fray. Fruitless, is what he would call this fight and Louie just watched on as the great dragon took down one of their own. Their own dragon.

Baratheon was knocked down and out, the amount of blood on the left side of his face basically summed up what had happened. Wasn't nearly as mangled as his own, as the popping of an eyeball was certainly a lot cleaner than having it melted off. But Raheerah had melted off a second face. Raheerah was a serial face destroyer and he snarled. So what if he hated the boy, the dragon beast who acted like he was better than anyone. Faces were important. Fuming, he watched as the ceiling split open and some namby pamby princess cat shit thing what the fuck even, came down. Basically praising them on what had happened. The entertainment they had provided.

It lasted only moments before she was gone and he seriously wondered if he had allowed some of the spores to get to his head. Raheerah was gone too, all their valiant fighting and the wounds of others meant nothing. They had nothing to show for their victory but the spot where Raheerah once stood. It made him feel dirty, like they'd been cheated of their chance. Unable to really... Comprehend much of anything going on, he had to get away. This was fucking with him too much and he fled the area.

-exit Lou-

assuming that Leon and Arkrael have taken Seraph to Bevy and Makyna... :P and Briar, let me know if this post is okay. I'll change it otherwise~

As soon as he and his friend had managed to take the hatchling to safety, Leon plunged right back into the fires of Polaris. From what he could tell, those gathered weren't fairing too well against the Hellish beast - he could hear yelling and shouts, snarls, whimpers, all variety of sound that suggested waves and waves of pain and failure. He had given a quick nuzzle to his fiance before charging back into the cave, ready to knock some more heads - only the dragon had bathed himself in fire and was basically untouchable, and the ground was shaken, broken into jagged pieces that made it difficult to traverse. Leon could only watch from afar as everything else seemed to happen all at once. Baratheon attempted to attack the dragon, only for it to backfire horribly and he watched the furry white dragon fall from grace. Aza'zel had appeared out of nowhere, casting a zephyr that the phoenix chilled, then turned into a wall of ice. Only Raheerah quickly charged through it, shattering it, before gripping the phoenix.

His death was almost assured until a bright light had blinded the dragon. It was bright enough that even the bear had to squint and look away, startled and confused. But he watched, and he couldn't understand - something small was buzzing around the dragon's head, giggling, her voice booming all around them. It was a whirlwind of a spectacle, leaving Leon baffled - but eventually, she had enraged the dragon enough to lead him up through one of the many vents in the ceiling of the cave, and just like that... he was gone.

Leon didn't know if the dragon was going to come back. He had to act fast. The bear glanced back, looking for Arkrael - but he didn't really have time to try and coordinate a rescue effort with her. He ran towards the group, stumbling over the outcroppings of rock as his gaze drifted over those gathered and quickly assessed for the most wounded. Baratheon's white fur was almost completely stained in crimson, and his face - Leon's heart nearly exploded out of his chest when he saw what had happened. He needed help. Leon charged towards him, giving him a quick look over and grimacing at the gore. The bear huffed and wriggled his head beneath Baratheon's chest, trying to maneuver the dragon onto his back.

With a great heave, Leon half-carried-half-dragged the dragon back over the rocks and towards the entrance of the tunnel that Bevy and Makyna had set up shop in. On the way out, he had spied something that made his heart sink - it looked like a chrysalis, a familiar stone. A blue stone with black veins. His heart panged, Amaria. He didn't have time to think about it. They had to go.

(Exit Leon!)

@Baratheon

After watching his lightning crackle across the the shoulder of mighty dragon all he could do was smile. Clover would be so proud of what he had done. He was fighting the dragon, just like in the stories! Though he quickly shook thoughts thoughts away. He had to prepare for another wave, the dragon he had now come to know as Raheerah erupted into a frenzy. Vicktor began to take in the true site of the battlefield, so many of these gembounds were unable to continue. Ko'd on the battlefield and in harms way! He watched the mighty pheonix stand its ground, even create a barrier for the others and the young jaguar, with it's own body no doubt.

The young jaguar could not keep his eyes off the battle, until a buzzing reached his ears. It was so faint, so easy to overlook in the heat of this battle. Until it picked up, nearly screaming in his ears now. 'YOU CANNOT END THIS!' the beast roared, throwing himself towards the phoenix. Quickly Vicktor had to jump backwards, quickly trying to avoid the falling shards of ice that raced down upon him and the others. All hope was nearly lost as he watched Raheerah grab the phoenix. Until everything went white. Such a bright light stayed on the dragon now. What happened next seemed almost like a fever dream for the young jaguar.

'WHAT A FANTASTIC SHOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!' The voice was strong, it was booming over all the other sounds that roared through the battle. 'HOW ABOUT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE LEADING ROLE OF THIS EVENING'S MARVELOUS SHOW!' There soon was clapping? Cheering? From a hidden crowd? What....what was going on. Squinting hard Vicktor could barely make out the small new friend. She teased this large enemy! Laughed in his face even as she thanked the 'supporting cast'. Then everything went into a blinding flash of light again.

Raheerah howled and crashed onto the ground. Bracing himself for the impact the beast had, Vicktor stood his ground. Only to see the tiny friend standing on the highest point of his hunched back. She was so TINY! She was so cute! She was so STRONG! She was NEMEAN!

With the end of the 'show' lights began to explode into the wait! Like harmless fire that dazzled the very crowd below! Though with a waking dragon she quickly led him out! Vicktor stood there, dumbfounded at what had just happened. Only becoming extremely excited! This would be such a neat story to share with Clover! Watching all the other gembounds scurry off, taking fellow fallen brethren with them he stopped. Maybe he could take a souvenir or two, quickly running through the debris of what was no less than an epic battle be found them. Two perfect scales that had fallen from Raheerah's hide. And what struck him with even more glee, these had the blast and design of a lightning strike, HIS lightning strike across their face. Clover would love this! One for him, and one for her! Grabbing both carefully in maw he ran as fast as he could. Not wanting to stay around in case the audience wanted an encore after all.

[exit]

"Speech"

"Thought"

Dragon lay quiet, a soft and gurgling breathing the only proof that he yet lived. Eve was probably still on his head, but he barely noticed, aside from having burbled even louder laughter when she'd insisted that the dying do not laugh. Now, he no longer felt like laughing.

Everything had become a blur, a drunken carousel of flashing lights and aching sounds. He wanted away, now; he wanted to go and rest, somewhere, despite some faint vestige of his fiery persona still enjoying the carnage and the chaos.

But the rest of him knew the futility of it, and with a soft hissing growl, he stirred, turning, looking for a way out. Then, the alligator froze.

The buzzing. The thing that had awoken him in this life. The teeth-clenching mind-destroying buzzing that had permeated the swamp. That had made him finally kick free of his egg.

NEMEAN.

Memories from long ago rising, mud stirred in a riverbed to cloud all else away.

He turned, blinking, forcing his vision to clear, all his willpower on seeing this beast. This monster. This thing that his father had so raged against, so hated; this thing that had led so many to Cetus to a battle. He knew the name.

He expected a thing of twisted black limbs, of leering fanged grin and skittering hatred. He didn't expect a tiny, winged pink fairy. The alligator tilted his head, staring hatefully up at the dazzling creature as it spun and giggled and danced in the air, creating a show of light and shadows that blinded even the great dragon, sending him crashing to the ground.

Dragon snarled. His hind leg was badly fractured, aching and swollen; his body had multiple lacerations deep through the armored skin, and everything hurt. Even so, he tried to drag himself forward a step, to haul himself toward Nemean, with nothing more in his mind than kill. Oh, how happy his father would be if he found that his son had killed the betrayer!

But then she was spinning up, and away, and Raheerah was following--and the other Gembound were fleeing, skittering away from Polaris. Dragon was of no such mind. In his eye, they had won; and anyway, Nemean had made it clear that she would return.

He would wait for her. Maybe he'd get another chance, if he lay quiet enough, to snap her up in his jaws and crush that bright sparkling life from her.

Looking around, his muddled mind was oblivious to the fact that Raheerah might come crashing back in, and rather, seeing it all as some great victory, and expecting the phoenix and stag to help claim Polaris now--and so he decided to help to claim it in his own way. The fallen Gembound, the jumbled stones, the stag--wait.

He changed direction and began to haul himself toward the stag and the phoenix, croaking out, and calling to Czernobog, to Ghanyarah, to Eve--if the were even still here. The pain of moving was horrific, the jumbled stone below making going hard, and between each word he spoke, there was a terrible gurgling rasp.

"WE HAVE WON. STAG. My father... spoke of..." he gasped, having to pause, to rest, though his demeanor was still forceful, still determined. "Nemean. The Betrayer. Have... we won? Is the cave... ours? He calls Nemean... the betrayer. What... is... she?"

It was a mess of thoughts at once, but he planned to simply climb onto or near the Spire, to rest there while he recovered--and to possibly wait for this Nemean, depending on what the stag said... and try to kill her.

But first--they needed knowledge.

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