Virosa was intimidating, sure, Rift could not help but feel fear as the valkhound stalked forward, many times his size. Black corruption spilled from its claws, tainting the forest my forest but it spoke of things not only did he not know of, but that he instantly rejected.

He knew differently. He knew for a fact that Virosa was wrong. And as it spoke, his fear briefly melted away as confidence - finally, confidence! - allowed him to stand taller.

"He may be your Creator," he said evenly, "but he is not mine. I know where I come from. It's different then Chaos, and its stronger." He looked to the Overseer, seeing a faint confusion and interest in her eyes. Good. Perhaps she didn't know of it. Admittedly, he did not know much himself. But he remembered.

The whispers, when he'd woken up at last, that had been his creator. What Oliver said about it, too - it was not the same Chaos as Virosa. Pink and gold shimmering, wishes, madness, remembered and returned. The phrase that thrummed in the back of his mind.

@Virosa

Virosa held there, for a moment, staring Rift down with it's jaws slightly agape. Studying him.

"...Stronger." It said, finally, before turning away. Virosa had no interest in strength. Rift had disappointed it.

It resumed work again while it still was able, planting talons on a tree and waiting for the rot to spread again. "And where did you come from, kitty?" He was quickly losing its respect. Boring boring boring...

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13

Total: 273

@Tectus

Virosa may have lost interest, but Tectus hadn't. She blinked slowly and leaned forward, turning her head a bit so she could see him more clearly. What did he mean, stronger? He did not know anything. He was a gembound, a natural order mistake that had carved out his own place, right?

"If you believe the one behind the Spire is stronger then Rrevalk, then you are unfortunately mistaken." It simply was dominant in places - again, like in Polaris and here.

"Your creator is nothing. Not that you aren't anything - you gembound were not created. You simply became. An accident." There was shuffling, again, as she took a step forward, and this time when a mouse darted across her path, she squashed it with a flick of her wrist, fungus and all.

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14

Total: 287

He wasn't sure how Virosa would respond, to be honest. He wasn't sure what its goal was in this conversation. What is mine? Unsure. Why was he still lingering around these two when he also came to respect them less and less?

Agh...at least they were helping clean? Which...speaking of - he was feeling less exhausted after a few moments rest and pressed a paw into another tree, drawing the fungus out and snipping it right off.

Why had he gotten mixed up in this? All I care about is Eridanus. And the tree. That's it. But...couldn't he care about more? He had risen from the dead! Nobody else he had ever met was like that, nor had they heard of it. There were powers at play in these caves, that he was struggling to ignore any longer. One of them had affected him too - something beyond the Spire's power, something other then Chaos...he and Oliver shared something like that.

He tilted his head a little bit, trying to catch the light on his ear. Perhaps the magnolet sheen on his gemstone would be visible if they looked. "From the dead. She pulled me out and gave me a second chance. Remembered fondly, and returned." He looked to Tectus, suddenly hopeful. "Have you heard of anything like that?" Right, she was older, she had seen a lot and she seemed to know a lot. Oliver had given him some but not...the whole thing.

@Virosa

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16

Total: 303

Virosa clacked its teeth. No no no. Their focus, both the Overseer's and Rift's, felt claustrophobic. Power. Strength. Purpose. Accidents. Pointless noise.

A trail of black fungus ruptured from the tree, stinking with rot and oil. It retracted the hand, feeling the itch of the spell lingering on its palm.

From the dead. "Sounds like... You're unnatural." There was a growing smirk in its voice, though its face remained stiff.

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19

Total: 322

@Tectus

Tectus was confused. From the dead? "No," came the honest answer, and she looked at Rift with some mixture of awe and suspicion. She did not know of any power that could bring the dead back to life. Unless...

"I assumed you don't mean giving life to your stone. Because that is normal." She caught the gleam of pink on the green crystal and she wondered if that had simply been a trick of the light?

She huffed and decided to play it smooth for now. She would approach Aethril about this information later. "Well, you don't seem to be anymore then a gembound to me. Gembound magic. Gembound form. Perhaps some kind of copy?" She couldn't help but feel Virosa was right - that sounded quite unnatural, shooting the other valkhound a small smirk as she ran her claws through the lines of the trees, fungus collecting on her claws.

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19,8

Total: 330

He deflated a bit. Perhaps it was a relatively new power in the caves? Or just something that had emerged...he wasn't sure. But he would still look. He wondered, for a moment, if he should tell them about his stint with Mother, how she knew of this as well? But he decided as soon as the thought crossed that he wouldn't. They may not be enemies, but these Valkhounds sure weren't his friends.

Virosa's point stung, but it had a point. Rift shrugged as he ripped more fungus he pulled from the earth. "Maybe. Doesn't mean I can't nurture it though." He was done trying to talk to that thing properly. He didn't know what it wanted. Nor what the Overseer wanted. Well, no that wasn't true - she wanted control over everything. She wanted things to be the way things were. But Virosa? Perhaps it just wanted to corrupt the world.

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19,8,9

Total: 339

@Virosa

"It doesn't matter. None of it does."

The amount of thicker patches was rapidly shrinking. The roots in its skin spread outward, poisoning the tufts left over surrounding it. They were almost done.

"Not how we're made. It's how we live. A good Creator... Imbues his creation with purpose. But purpose is not unique."

"I do not care for who made me. He would not care for me. His strength is irrelevant."

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19,8,9,18

Total: 357

@Tectus

Tectus rumbled and stashed that information in for later. Rising from the dead was a new one for her.

She looked up and took a glance at the forest around and realized how much the Order was weakening. She looked at the log, now stuffed full with a mixture of white rot and black corruption. She grabbed for the last of what she could reach, a bundle of ferns that spiderwebbed with white, and shoved them in. "Well, I think we can make this easier and just. Throw this under your tree, since its so all-powerful, huh?" She snorted.

Tectus reached down and grabbed the log in her jaw - oh yeah, she was getting a bit infected right now as she inhaled a bit of the spores, but there was some kind of arrogance in her for a moment - she wanted Mother to see. Oh yeah, she'd give her a moment to look through as they tore down the last of it.

Besides, Rift was here. He could easily clean it up for her.

She began to drag the log towards the sanctuary, giving Virosa a look, something like "you want to see what this does?" Although that is a bit to get through a single glance.

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19,8,9,18,7

Total: 364

He stared at Virosa. Ah. He gets it now. It just needs to get the last word in, it just needs to be right. What an exhausting kind of person to be around, he decided. There was a pang in the back of his mind, familiar. Like someone poking him in the side. What? It was nothing. Just perhaps old ghosts saying "you're one to talk!"

Feeling as though the discussion had just run in circles, he gave up. Why would you pray to someone you know didn't care? But Virosa seemed to just be changing its mind simply to end the discussion as The Right One. Frusterating. Refusing to indulge it any further, he simply blinked. "Okay." He turned to follow the Overseer back towards the Sanctuary.

As soon as he passed through the bounds of the Arborspire's protection, he felt so much better. He stopped and took a breath, turning just in time to see the Overseer drag the log over the limits.

There was a hissing sound as soon as it passed as everything inside of it, Order fungus and Corruption alike, began to wither and crumbled into dust. Spores drift up and out of the log only to die in the air and disappear completely. He felt satisfaction hot in his fur. Perhaps they were at the end of it?

Rolls:
18,9,10,10,19,11,19,6,6,x,15,20,15,10,x,14,7,9,20,x,17, 8,x,13,12,13,14,16,19,8,9,18,7,x

Total: 364

@Virosa pleaseee