Spreading Order wasn't usually Elysium's gig, not that it knew what a gig was. But it was Guardian, and it knew what Guardian consisted of-- it meant looking out for the rumbling background noise in its head, awaiting danger, and protecting their family from harm. It went on regular patrols around Canis, often dipping low to not bump their head against the lower sections of the cave ceiling, to look out for its siblings.

Sometimes, it followed white-eyed little lessers, who did not talk nor speak. Sometimes, it stared on at piles of bones and tried to rearrange them into neatly-sectioned piles, but there was too many for one Guardian to sort, especially when more important duties had to take it's attention.

Everything seemed fine today, at least. The background noise of the Hive was pleasant and peaceful. It did not detect anything wrong, and so today was a good day. The drone wandered the expanse of Canis until it came to the bone structures that lined the far end. It pried its head into the ancient shelters and spent some time tracing its fingertips along the dry bones of the walls.

Pretty, it decided, if you'd care to know a drone's opinion.

But, Elysium was not here to decide if things were pretty or not, and it was not-- despite taking a brief stint in the action --here to carefully re-arrange some of the femurs of the shelter to be more symmetrical. It shifted, and it focused quietly on summoning spores of Mother's fungus.

It felt a spark, a brief response, and then nothing. Did it work? it wondered, amber eyes drifting over the ground where it had expected bulbs of ivory fungus to bubble over. Is it... only taking a moment?

Elysium better stare in dead silence at the dirt for a while just to make sure.

Protect the caves from Order, huh? Wipe it out? Clean the caves? What were they, some kind of janitors, to be running around the caverns wiping up the Hive's many messes? If Master Vargas was so all powerful, couldn't he just command a bunch of other random idiots to clean for them, instead of the measly numbers of the Chaos Forge do it alone?

Basically, why did it have to trek all the way out to Canis when there were probably plenty of perfectly good gembound here that could clean well enough?

Azrael had ordered it to go - with others, he said, but V-Ruby-One Helion had ignored that part of the command. It was going to do as it liked, said one half of its mind. That was the half that didn't want to go at all. The other side pushed it to at least go - be a good little soldier, a good little tool. The whys didn't matter. This was its purpose. Serve the Forge, serve the Masters.

(But what if that isn't its purpose?)

Its nose crinkled at the dusty old bone-strewn cave of Canis. Ugh, it smelled bad here. And there was a miserable cold that pushed past its fur - nothing like the warmth of Pegasus or the temperate air in Draco. Who in their right minds would want to live here? Among bones and cold rock with the ceiling always bearing down?

Whatever. It was here for a reason. And once its job was done it could report back and slip away. To go sulk in another corner where Azrael couldn't find it.

It started at the fortress, raising a paw to swipe black flames into existence, to burn away this foul Order from the walls. Perhaps to turn it all into a great pyre, but already Chaos was loose in their grasp. It was almost with an amused snort that the spell failed, as if Helion was laughing at itself for even trying. The snort quickly turned into a growl and it kicked a nearby bone in frustration.

Stepping into the fortress, it felt equally safe within shelter and claustrophobic from the blooming fungus all over. It growled, irritated, and turned the corner and found itself standing before another...being. Completely different in appearance to Helion itself - white and gold instead of black and purple. It stared for a moment, surprised, but then just growled again. "What are you doing here?" It didn't initially occur to Helion that this might be one of Order - after all, it fit so seamlessly into the fungal background and there was simply something about it that did not feel right. But in its foul mood, it either disregarded or paid no attention to any kind of "bad vibes".

@Elysium

Elysium was just as confused as Helion was.

Usually, it was intimately aware of what was around them. It could see through the eyes of its siblings and sense the push-and-pull when one was coming closer or moving further away. It wasn't invasive by any means, but it was certainly noticeable. Elysium found comfort where others might have found alarm: it was a part of life, and their family, and it was good-- but when it failed to notice someone coming by, a flicker of doubt flared in their gut.

Their pale head turned, and double-took, at the sight of them. They could identify, at the very least, that there was something not quite right here. Mother thrummed a distant warning to be careful, and the drone bristled. It was more visible in the feathery wings than in their marble-carved body.

Not one of us, it came to understand some several beats later.

There was a low creak in their neck as they looked between the arid ground and the stranger. "I am a... guardian," it sounded careful, their voice low and monotone and droning. "I am... guardianing."

Was it aggressive? It was growling and something about it sent visceral discomfort through Elysium's limbs-- the same sort of visceral discomfort that urged them to sort, and fix and make clean again; but it did not seem necessarily aggressive. At least, it did not seem that way in the guardian's eyes.

But, still, there was something wrong here. "What are... you doing here?" It asked, slow and deliberate.

@V-Ruby-One

V-Ruby-One stared at the guy with its many-eyed gaze, whiskers twitching and quills raising slightly as a dark sense fell over its consciousness. Something was wrong here, something stirring deep within its corrupted blood. Something that was egging it forward, to unleash the beast. Rip and tear, burn to nothing. But ever stubborn and ever prideful, Helion resisted the call of Chaos, swallowing it down, although not stamping it out. There was a tension in the air it didn't recognize that felt like violence was near. It would clash with this creature, perhaps. For what reason, it didn't know, but they were enemies.

But Helion's rebellion against every force stirring it in a direction once again stubbornly held it to a condescending glare. Its lip curled. "Guardianing? That's not a word. And there's nothing to guard here." Nothing but bones and fungus.

Ugh, speaking of the fungus, Helion felt the stifling presence of Order around it like an uncomfortable damp in the air. It grunted and turned away from the stranger. What was it even doing, wasting its time? What did it care that it was 'guardianing' something or someone?

A sudden boil of blood, heat in its veins. A droplet of black dripped from its jaws and in a sudden, vicious movement, it swiped a claw through thin air and before its gaze, dark, toxic flames exploded into existence against the far wall. Catching the fungus in its destruction and immediately creating a very real hazard to the entire far wall.

It looked over its shoulder. "Burning this foul infection from the cave. Might want to get out of here." It was already stepping towards the exit of the fortress as it spoke, satisfied that the fire would spread and burn the fungus out of the interior. What happened to the stranger wasn't its problem - whatever call of fate or chaos had been tugging at it had been beaten.

A victory, it said to itself, strangely excited by its tiny rebellion.

@Elysium

That's not a word, it said, and Elysium felt some resentment bubbling in its chest. How is guardianing not a word; it came out just as easily as any other. It watched with its stiff brow furrowing ever-so-slightly, as the creature turned away from them.

It spoke more, but the drone found themselves not listening. There was a strange, acrid smell that hit their nose a heartbeat before they realised what was happening: violet-black flames that lit the wall of bone and burned Mother's fungus with it. Perhaps it was just Elysium's imagination, but they could almost feel it, the burning sensation deep in their bones, the feeling of melting and dying away.

It did not care for that shit at all.

Anger? Vengeance? These concepts were known in the guardian's head, but they were things that they had not entirely felt before, not truly. It felt something similar when it had once been told about an injury one of its siblings had sustained, but it was overwhelmed with the urge to help. To fix. It felt no such urge when it lifted a dense bone into its golden fist.

No, what sat in Elysium's belly must have been the dead opposite. This is what Mother had created it for, after all-- whatever this thing was, it was threatening the security of the Hive. The foul infection it wanted to cleanse was Elysium's beloved family. With a clearer mind, Elysium would come to regret their following actions-- but for now? In the moment?

It felt damn good to lift that makeshift club and bring it down on the corrupted creature. Even before the hit connected, it imagined the feeling of bones falling in on themselves beneath its hands and the crunch that would come from Helion's back when it landed.

@V-Ruby-One

With no other reason then vibes to think that the stranger would attack, Helion was fully unprepared for the blow that was falling onto its shoulders until it hit. It cried out in shock as the bone connected, dampened just enough by the thick mane of fur that no bones were broken, but a dull, fierce pain exploded across their upper back and shoulders. It stumbled forward, dropping to a knee as it lost its balance, and immediately felt the vicious heat of Chaos clawing its way to the surface.

Helion snarled and turned its head, quickly climbing back to its feet, the pain from the blow a dull ache as Chaos roared. "You...you dare?!" Its eyes were wide and mad and here and there across its body, licks of black flame singed its fur. Magic churned in its gut and exploded outwards in an unfamiliar surge, manifesting in a tickling feeling under its skin that very quickly tuned into painful spears as bone-spikes surged out from under its skin. It roared in pain, black blood oozing from the wounds it had create, but a grim satisfaction came from within - if it tried to attack it again, it would be met with the spines.

It was drowning, sinking into itself, and some part of it was clawing to the surface, furiously holding back the tide of Chaos for a moment longer. It didn't care for the creature, of course, it didn't care who it hurt. But it didn't like that loss of control. It pointed at Elysium with one black claw. "Walk away now or Chaos will take you."

@Elysium

The sound rang in their ears, the cry of pain reverberating through their skull. The smell of burnt fur quickly hit the roof of its tongue. The consequences of their actions felt less good than the action itself did. Still, it seemed to be writhing around more than Elysium expected.

It became distantly aware of the sense of unease increasing. The burnt-hair scent was joined with another: coppery blood, underlain with something that reminded zero-one-two of the sickly-sweet stench of rot. The creature was speaking, but Elysium was not listening: amber eyes cast down onto the pale growths ripping out of the creature's skin, and in a smooth, quick movement, brought the club down onto it again. This time, in hopes of causing the magic to stop, it aimed right for its muzzle.

Chaos was the only word they caught, and a gentle ease of understanding washed over them. The enemy. It had to be, one way or another, removed.

ROUND 1/?

100%

ATTEMPT: interupt boncase (by hitting helion in the face)
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: none

@V-Ruby-One

It didn't back down. No, instead, it kept going. Helion had barely finished speaking when the bone club was coming down on it again. It jerked its head out of the way from the blow going straight for its face and once again felt Chaos gnawing at its resolve. Oh, it wanted to unleash itself so bad, it wanted to burst free and tear this fool apart! Rip each and every feather from its wings, tear out its eyes, peel its soft looking skin right off the bones.

Always the rebel it was, however. It didn't want to fight, if that was what Chaos demanded. It didn't want blood or guts, nor an excess of feathers. It wanted to do its job - burn Order - and go home. Above it all, however, it wanted to see Elysium's resolve crack. It wanted to stand tall and proud and watch as it realized the futility of challenging a beast of Chaos. If that meant to do it little by little, then so be it.

The strange magic twisted again and formed into something different, but of a similar vein. It felt a weird vibration run through its skin and then there were suddenly bits of metal flying at it from the bones. Bits of ores detaching from the stones under their feet, old trinkets laying among the ruined bones. An amalgamation of metallic objects flying in their direction and sticking to their fur. It wasn't a lot - Canis wasn't exactly the place for random metal objects, but it had formed makeshift armor in enough places - on its chest and the top of its head around the base of its stone. A bit on the arms as well.

It raised all four of its arms, with the spikes and the minimal armor ready for defense. "Go ahead," it snarled. "The fire is next."

ROUND 1/?

100%

ATTEMPT: create some quick metal armor
DEFENSE: hazardous spikes, barebones armor
INJURIES: back hurtie

@Elysium

Eyes flitted back and forth. Their mind moved quickly. Bashing wasn't going to work; though the chaos-creature hadn't outwardly attacked Elysium yet it was obviously preparing itself to do so: but it was preparing itself to be hit, too. If Elysium were to try and throw it back, it would do more damage to them. If Elysium were to bash it again, it might break the armour, but at the cost of losing time.

Wiry wings twitched. It backed off, slowly, out of the entrance of the shelter, into the open. Black smoke was gathering by the ceiling. For only a heartbeat it watched Helion among the bones and the fire and the spikes and the rocks. Then, it shifted, and a massive wing outstretched and then cracked into the wall of bone.

A shot of pain went up the joint, but nothing felt broken. The shelter shuddered and then collapsed in on itself, a clatter of ancient bones rolling along the cave floor. It likely wouldn't stop Helion for long-- they were only a foot or so smaller than they were. They could dig themselves out with some effort, probably.

If it were particularly lucky, maybe it'd do something about their defenses.

Regardless, Elysium quietly braced itself, knuckles white on its weapon.

ROUND 2/?

100%

ATTEMPT: cave in the makeshift shelter (to trap helion in there)
DEFENSE: bracing for hit
INJURIES: none

@V-Ruby-One

Helion growled as Elysium backed out of the shelter, wondering if it was now going to back out. Had it been intimidated enough by the bones and metal, the Chaos that quite literally dripped from its skin? But then a flash of its wings, the sharp cracking sound of bone, and Helion suddenly found the shelter collapsing down on it.

It roared as tons of bones rolled down over top of it, some sharp and cutting small wounds into its skin, others large and heavy, slamming into its makeshift armor and spikes, sending vibrating pains through its bones. It heard the snap of some of the bone pieces destroyed under the weight and some of the armor knocked away as it fell under a waterfall of old remains.

Everything had gone dark and for a moment, Helion didn’t move, shocked and…afraid.

Afraid was bad. Afraid was not right. It was V-Ruby-One, it was Helion, it was CHAOS and it did not fear! Rage bubbled fast, boiling right over the peak of its fear and with little now to hold it back, pure corruption burst free. With a snarl of rage it threw itself forward, four arms scrabbling furiously at the bones, viciously climbing its way out of the prison that had been created, some of the older ones breaking or turning to dust under its strength. It didn’t even bother to crawl all the way out. As soon as there was a gap in the bones, as soon as it could see the enemy, it roared. And with its roar came Chaos and fire, black flames flaring to life around Elysium. It’s feathers would make good tinder.

ROUND 2/?

88%

ATTEMPT: fire attack
DEFENSE: some spikes and makeshift armor
INJURIES: back hurtle, half-buried

@Elysium