One of the bone fortresses nestled in an alcove in the wall of Canis begins to shudder. There is a loud crrraaaack that spikes up through the silence, muffled by the piles of bones all around it. Another crraaaaack, and another. The sounds are methodical, as though something seems to be causing them on purpose. After several loud cracks, there is a shattering sound - suddenly, this bone fortress in particular collapses in a skeletal gasp, sending a pile of dust up from beneath. Then, there is silence. As the dust begins to settle again, a sound rattles out from among the bones. A voice, old and creaky. "Heeeelp. Heeeeeeelp."

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά


Help? Help? Someone needed help?

Kerberos had become quite the helper. Whether it was eating bad guys (or scaring them away because he was quite bad at eating anything that wasn't handed to him by a more competent gembound) or carrying things or digging through bones-- so when someone called for help in a creaky, weird voice, HE was on the case!

The puppy (who was much too old and big at this point to call a puppy in sincerity) came crashing through a path of bones to the fortress, sniffing about. "Helllllllooooooooooooooo!" He bayed, pawing through the bones, trying to help whatever might be stuck inside the collapsed thing. Was he alright? She alright? Just who was in there?

"Don't worry, I'll get you out!" He barked with utmost confidence. Even if he had to eat all the bones (which he would not recommend, most of a bone was not so fun to eat) he would get whatever was trapped out. It might take time, but he was willing to try! "Just hang in there!"

And so the great puppy dog wriggled his butt up in the air and began to scoop pawful after pawful of bones out of the way. It might take a while, but he was determined in his task-- so determined, he hardly noticed anyone else that might begin to gather around. He was gonna help this gembound and ain't no one was going to stop him! Not unless they wanted to get eaten. EhehehEHEHEHEH HAHAHA HEHEHEH AHAHA.

i'm ready to start
the conquest of spaces

There was cracking, and splitting. And more cracking and splitting and then LIGHT! All at once! I was no longer left to the confines of the darkness or my own thoughts! Slowly but surely the light came, and I sought after it. there was something I was doing.. or using that was helping me reach it. It almost made my brain hurt every time I used it, but I was reaching the light! I did this continuously- and then I was finally there! I reached the light! It was quite the uncomfortable way to do so but I did it! the hard thing I used to reach this met a a hard surface, sending instant pain through it and up to my head. Quickly, I jolted up right, and lifted something. Something on both sides of me, they were small, as I looked to see them. They must have been so cramped in there with me. Poor things. I managed to hobble forwards but as I did so I continued to glare at the thing on my face and stumbled right back onto the hard surface. I let out an angered "Ooww, but it was high pitched. And then this odd and also high pitched chirp came from the thing on my face. And what was that?! Nevermind that- I remebered hearing something while I was busy making my way to the light. Something loud, then something quiet. A cry, a coo. And while I thought of that, there was something even louder now! I had to figure out what that was, and so i hobbled off once more, falling many times after that- all followed by that oh so annoying chirp that seemed to be coming from me.
Here I come, here I come! I'm in the light now, here I come!

@Isaiah

thoughts
outloud shit

Isaiah Vita

angels, they fell first, but I'm still here

It had been a few days since his fateful visit towards another territory. Isaiah had rested up, but his mind was still rattling from the sight and conversation before his papa had interfered. He was grateful for that although he suspected that he won't be let off that easily for running into a dragon who warned him of meaner gembounds. Still, he was relieved to be at home again where all the bones awaited his stomach!

There might have been an opportunity to gather some bones if he had not spotted the three-headed beast from when he had just hatched. By the canines' own noise, there was a loud cracking sound before something cried out for help. He couldn't sense the distress, but he suspected that it might have been urgent. He was torn between visiting that and also the bones that awaited his growling stomach. He sighed as his beak clicked together before he waddled towards the source.

His attention was upon the source, but then it wasn't. He turned, hearing a chirp ring in Boneland as he tore his gaze away from the other gembound and sound just to face something that emerged. It was a dark color, but he looked at his own plumage to see that he bore a similar color. He didn't know his own appearance to be able to tell that he saw his own species, but it was a newborn and bird nonetheless! He wobbled towards the newly-hatched gembound before plopping down on the ground to stare at her with his unusual set of golden eyes. "Hi! Who yuu?" he chirped at the bird.


"Listen to me."

Table by Shax

It had been maybe a day since the whole episode where Isaiah had about given Azazel a damn heart attack by venturing into Monoceros. The words of the dragon still bore holes in his mind. He really was trying, and perhaps he had been right to be a little harsh. The Bone King was too soft of a parent, not enough discipline. He had also been a lazy leader. Someday, that would change.

For now, he was patrolling the room of bones, gazing down into the graveyard that was this cave. Carmine eyes blinked as he saw a few Gembound, and he drifted over the bone pile that belonged to the soothsayer of the group. Exhaling a long and deep sigh, he continued onwards. His wings were deft in their movements, and he attempted to make his movements as silent as possible. Only the gentle beat of his wings could be heard. Of course, that didn't cancel out the fact that the king smelled of carrion and rot. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but then there was a great clamor.

Who could ignore the sound of bones collapsing? It echoed all over the caverns, and every bone affected rattled loudly.

The Ave dove downwards, descending rapidly towards the source of the soundwaves. They had ceased before he was done, but it was pretty hard to miss a big white ball of fluff with a bright red snake tail named Kerberos. Azazel used that as his guide. Flapping his wings toward the dog, he went off to the right side of the cerberus, peering past his furiously working paws. Inside, there was some sort of chrysalis. The polar-bear-dog was very focused on his job, and he hoped that he wouldn't quit working. So Azazel left him to it for now.

When he hobbled back out into the open, he saw Isaiah... and something else. A newly hatched blob of fluff... dark brown feathers and carmine eyes... a chalcedony rising from her beak. The bird had already gone to investigate, and the little hatchling had already set out to discover Kerberos. Suddenly, it came to him. Another Lammergeier like him and Isaiah! The little child stumbled and fell over herself constantly, and The Bone King came to her aid, hopping over and nuzzling her chest gently to steady her. "Slow steps. Don't go so fast." When she could take a few steps, he smiled and said. "I'm Azazel!" Why not introduce himself. It seemed Isaiah had already asked for a name, so he waited until she peeped a response.

So many cute little birb children.

Giggle lifted her head, yawning and blinking slowly. She'd been dreaming, vaguely--something about a prisoner of war in a pile of bones, sinking and crying for help. She'd remembered feeling a sternness, a grim satisfaction, in seeing them perish--but she realized now the sounds had come from outside her mind, and that they were still going.

She could hear the ringing voice of Kerberos, and with a shake of her mane she stood. Bones was--... Where was Bones? She glanced around, and let out a brief, quiet cackle to call him, before trotting off toward the noises. If Bones was close to her den, hopefully she'd have woken him.

It took some time to narrow down the noise; one of the bone fortresses, it seemed, had collapsed, and someone was trapped beneath. Giggle thought nothing of it, really; surely someone had been sleeping within and it had fallen. Maybe they'd been pulling bones from the wall, weakening its structure until it had crushed them.

Hopefully they wouldn't die.

The fact that it could be a trap wasn't lost on her, but the likelihood seemed slim. Wordless, with only the sigh of the recently awoken and another yawn, she took up position next to Kerberos and began to pull the old, dry bones away.

As she worked she saw Aza'zel, and she must have been tired because there were three of him, and two were black. Double vision--or, rather, triple. She grunted, pawed at her eyes, and blinked at him.

Nope. There were three birds.

"The hell, Aza'zel? You breeding with the bones or something?" She let out a coarse, uncouth cackle before seizing the next bone in her jaws, still helping Kerberos to free whatever was trapped beneath.

"Is it one of your spawn stuck under here? Maybe another Bone Prince hatching? Or did someone get trapped?"

________________

Roll the bones.

@Kerberos ?

There appeared to be some minor struggling beneath the bones, but otherwise any movement was reserved, as if the thing trapped by the collapsed fortress was too weak to displace them itself. It wheezed and whistled with deep breaths that it struggled to make, trapped - another desperate call rang out before it heard the sudden rustling of bones above. Something was beginning to dig it free. With that, it fell silent and waited.

Bones was indeed awoken by the call of his 'mother,' lying just outside the hyena's den by a shallow pool of dirty water. Watching his mother pad outside he stumbled to his shaking feet, quickly dunking his face into the water before he limped after her, shaking his head. Apparently, this was as much of a bath as he was going to get today.

The hyena seemed to notice the wild dog getting up (and showering) not too soon later, pausing and looking back she waited on him with a tired expression plastered to her face. Once Bones got up towards her he licked her entire muzzle.

And then they were off.

Giggle seemed to be out of it, but it was nice to be out of the den with her for a while. It gave the pup a sense of normalcy, despite the hard limp in his step. With his tail waving to and fro, he looked over the vision of the collapsed structure.

Perhaps the white-cat's tower had fallen over? He honestly couldn't tell. He watched carefully, sitting down as his mother and Kerberos tugged at the bones, and he noticed Azazel had tripled in numbers. He flinched and got close to the hellhound and hyena. "... What happened to Grandpa Azazel?" he muttered quietly.



________________

Of the few places Delphine rarely frequented, Canis stood neck to neck with Monoceros. Both rooms offered little in the way of amenities and beauty but both places were also home to Gembounds she significantly cared for. So it was the adolescent found herself traipsing the familiar tunnel that led to Canis, remembering a time when she'd attempted to howl with the friendly three-headed dog and of the unfortunate events to unfurl afterward. It'd been a difficult subject for her to broach in regard to the trauma that Kerberos had inflicted on Meredith and though it'd been discussed briefly, it hardly meant she was entirely comfortable with the dichotomy of her own encounter with the dog and the one that was so opposite Mer's own experience. Nonetheless, she tried to justify her bestial friend's actions as that of the nature between predator and prey but it did nothing to deter the undercurrent of nervousness that bled through her every step leading to the boneyard.

Unfamiliar scents drifted to her nose, reminding her instantly that this was a place inhabited by many but what caught her attention was the nervous energy and pulse of magic that gathered in Canis. Her interest was instantaneously piqued as she made her way toward the fortress and not soon after sighted the multiple Gembounds gathered by the fortress. Hesitantly, the adolescent stepped forward, drawing closer to the three-headed dog given their prior familiarity.

Before she could inquire of the situation, a slim understanding permeated through her foremost thoughts urging her forward with the urge to assist in what ways she could. "Perhaps I can help?" If she could have foreseen the failure to come, she would not have offered where there were more than enough Gembounds to assist in the matter but as was the nature of Delphine, she could not deny her immediate desire to do what she could. She was a protectorate, one who was bound for imminent failure. She'd learned a new skill recently and it seemed in a circumstance as this, it would be most appropriate so she tried. Focusing inwardly, her powers gathered and the gesture came naturally, a lift of her one leg and not soon after, she slammed it upon the earth. She was certain she'd done everything correctly but what she could not have predicted was the pain that shot up from her hoof through her whole body. A jolt that lanced with an immediate pain that collapsed her balance and forced the horse to the ground.

She'd broken (or perhaps fractured) her leg and with a small whinny, Delphine found herself mortified more so by her failure than anything else.

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά


Kerberos was absolutely, one hundred percent oblivious to the world around him. Everything dissolved into a simple instinct: Dig. Unbury. Save. His noses pressed low to the bone pile, sniffing for the scent of life that must be bellow. He was distantly aware of voices, of magic, around him, but he did not spare them a single moment of attention.

So he went on ignoring them, his massive, bear-like paws churning bones between his thin, twiggy hind legs, dislodging bone after bone. It seemed like he would never get past all of the fortress, but this did not deter him. He continued to dig, his breath coming harder and faster from his muzzles, slobbery gathering in the creases of his lips.

He would save whoever was below. He was not afraid.

His paws weren't moving fast enough though. His teeth snapped at bones, sometimes shattering the weaker, thinner ones, and he tossed them to either side-- a flurry of paws and teeth-- digging, digging, digging.

Don't worry.

I'm coming.

I will save you.

They just had to hold on, just a bit longer. His heart raced, his snake tail held straight up like a flag, signalling the others his position, a silent ask for help. His paw slipped and his teeth fell into the bones, his body fumbling as he faceplanted into the messy hole he had made, exaustion taking him for a moment. A snarl tore through his throats, hauling himself back up. He was going to save them! He WAS!

i'm ready to start
the conquest of spaces