Attempting to find Clover through the thick fog of Cetus, proved very difficult. Never mind the fact that he had stumbled straight into new territory along the way. This was somewhere new, exciting but eerie all the while. In the distance he could hear an ear shattering roar, accompanied by battle cries? What was going on? Were people in trouble? Would they need help!?

Clover always said to help those in need, this would be no different. Ignoring that screaming instinct to turn tail and hide he rushed towards the sounds. Only to freeze at the sight of the battlefield before him. So many other gembounds, fighting this beast. This was a dragon, the one in the Lorekeeper's story, it had to be! The stench of the smoke that encompassed the room. Fear bristled his fur, he had to help! He had to bring down this dragon with them! Fear rushing through every segment of his veins. And with large white eyes of a jaguar who was nearly 3 cycles now, all that he feared danced from his body and into the beast before them.


"Speech"

"Thought"

Revenge he would not get... He only received pain. First the heat from within his body, the energy that would hopefully explode to quell the dark beast was too powerful. The blast heated him from the inside, burning him and forcing out blood as if that had been the attack instead. A pained and otherwordly screech of pain erupted from his maw. The feral part of him shying away from this new sensation and abandoning him just as his eye erupted from the socket.

He'd never felt pain like this, pain that was able to pierce deep into his mind and yank him from his stupor. His eye, went from red to pink in an instant. For a moment everything seemed to move in slow motion. The pain, the blood spurting from his nose and mouth and eye and his thoughts... They were surprisingly clear as well. Was he about to die? Had he ruptured some other part of him deep inside as well? What's the point? Really? What was the point of it all? He'd accomplished nothing except wounding himself and hurting Booker. He thought about Half-face and everything he'd done but... He couldn't even get angry now. He was only sorry that he'd let it come in between him and Booker... Now he'd probably never see him again...

Booker... I've failed...

Then... He thought of nothing more as his body collapsed, senseless to the ground. His wounds and the empty eye socket bleeding... Flanks barely rising and falling... The king had fallen.

---

words: 237
tagged: Quest @Booker
ooc: He has a scar on his belly from the fight with Nemesis. Left horn is broken in half, deep puncture wounds in his belly, skin and fur under his left wing arm are ripped, left wing arm is broken (2 week healing time), Various bruises, Left eye gone
muse: 6/10

"Speech"
Thoughts

Tagged M for... vomit?

The ice worked again, and the fire king seemed very displeased. Good. Fallah soon noticed a- Was... Was that a... Was that the... A shriek escaped Fallah's maw. she knew that creature. That creature was the one- The one... The monster She pulled back, crouching behind the boulder, her blue eyes wide, her breathing fast. H- how was he here? Her heart hammered. How could he just be here? She had to calm down. Fallah coughed, her maw suddenly dry. Her stomach churned, her breathing coming in shorter and shorter. She backed up, further behind her rock, retching, trying to hold it back, but failing as the bile rose in her throat, shooting out of her nose and maw. The action as a whole stung, the bile assaulting her throat and nose. She couldn't breathe. She tore her gaze away from the ground to look up, just to see the dragon exploding in tendrils of blood. Was he dead? A small part of Fallah hoped so. Smoke filled the room, choking Fallah further. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't find her friends. Between the smoke and her emotions, Fallah's eyes began to water. She turned to the dragon, to the source of the smoke. She thought maybe she could clear it. Maybe she could dampen it. Maybe she could keep the fire king from burning and making more smoke. She tried to get a hold of herself, and spray water over the dragon's hot scales. "speak"

Raheerah has entered FRENZY MODE!!! He's going to start dishing out some real heavy damage.

As thick, burning smoke began to slough off of the dragon's scales, those observing might start to see vivid flashes of yellow-red spark out from beneath his scales. With the burning of his hide came superheated skin beneath, magma-like pustules bursting and delivering small smatterings of piping hot blood that showered those below. He writhed and his massive head tilted back, delivering yet another long, thunderous howl - he couldn't see, he still couldn't see, and then the earth began to shake all around them and he was forced to stumble around. In the process his massive feet clamored for balance and while the ground shook and shattered beneath them, his thick tail slammed down, crushing Dragon's hind end with its weight and sweeping into Cancer and Fallah, knocking them aside. The air pressure increased all around them and more rocks began to break away from the ceiling, showering the entire group in debris once again. At this point, the ground all around the massive dragon was beginning to look like incredibly rough terrain, with boulders littering the ground and crevices slicing through the rock.

His rage mounted even further, and the heat on the surface of his skin increased - the ice blinding his face soon enough melted away and dissipated into steam with the sheer temperature emitted from the massive beast. Fire suddenly spouted from the cracks in his skin and for the second time, the beast immersed himself in flame, the air around him hot enough to instantly vaporize anything that comes too close.

Delphine does 14 damage to Raheerah.
Azazel does 9 damage to Raheerah, Moth NPC, Tenzin, Deer Dad, Cancer, Czernobog, Fallah, Eve, and Vicktor.
Vicktor does 9 damage to Raheerah.
Raheerah does 10 damage to everyone including himself from exploding blood.
Raheerah does 11 damage to Moth NPC, Tenzin, Deer Dad, Cancer, Czernobog, Fallah, Eve, and Vicktor.

Raheerah has 628/1000 hit points.
Moth NPC has 27/200 hit points.
Tenzin has 918/1000 hit points.
Deer Dad has 342/500 hit points.

Black has 7/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Leon has 40/100 hit points.
Cancer has 11/100 hit points.
Fisher has 2/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Dragon has 8/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Ghanyarah has 7/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Czernobog has 10/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Arkrael has 50/100 hit points.
Louie has 50/100 hit points.
Delphine has 30/100 hit points.
Baratheon has 6/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Fallah has 50/100 hit points.
Eve has 70/100 hit points.
Vicktor has 70/100 hit points.
Aza'zel has 70/100 hit points.

(Don't forget, new characters are always welcome to join this quest at any time!)

He heard Fallah, and barked, warning her, calling her back. But she was running in for the attack, and for the second time in his life, Black felt himself truly torn.

On the one hand, he wanted to rush out with Fallah, to guard her and to protect her.

On the other, though he tended to ignore pain, he could nevertheless feel that his body was too badly injured to continue. He could barely walk. One glance from the dragon, one swipe, one breath, one more tumble of rocks, and he would be dead.

Even so, he still would have charged--or stumbled--back into battle were it not for Fisher. The mustelid lay limp at his feet, barely breathing, and Black knew that he might not survive this chaos alone.

The mastiff gently gripped Fisher's scruff in his jaws and lifted, then turned, slowly staggering, limping away, heading toward the tunnel and the safety beyond.

Don't die, Fallah...

________________

(exit Black)

Thick burning smoke drifted from the dragon's scales. Vivid flashed of yellow and red sparking out from each of his scales. Until finally something beneath his skin burst free! Hot and suffocating blood showered over those below him. Vicktor couldn't escape it, frozen in place from such a sight he became covered in the thick and piping hot blood.

A loud yowl erupted from his lips, this felt terrible! Warm was perfectly ok! Hot even, but this was far to much for him to handle! Shaking his coat he attempted to fling all if not any of the crimson that desperately clung to him. The thunderous howl that erupted from the dragon's throat caused him to look up, wide eyed at what would come next. Beneath his feet the very earth around him began to shake. He watched as it knocked aside the unknown gembounds he had yet to officially meet.

Above him he quickly looked, watching debris from the ceiling fall onto him. Eyes wide he quickly scurried to where he could. Leaping from one place to another, fumbling over himself from the tremors of the earth below. Finding his footing he turned his attention back to the dragon, it had immersed itself in flames. Hot air licking the young jaguar with aggression even from so far away! He couldn't leave now, not while others still needed him. Fur rising on ends he prepared. Thick ropes of blood still clinging to the young jaguar's coat. A deep swelling of energy within his being danced throughout. Manifesting itself along his coat, a loud CRACK-KA'POP released into the air as he unleashed another bolt of lightening. He stay stand his ground, he would stay and fight.

"Speech"

"Thought"

He was still lying there, still gurgling blood and laughing, the chaos seeming to invigorate him despite the draining strength his wounds inflicted. He was still lying there when the massive tail slammed down on him, his mind suddenly searing with pain.

Alligators were rarely agile, but twisting to turn on an attacker was one thing they did quickly, and they did it instinctively. Dragon did this now, whipping up and around, jaws snapping shut almost involuntarily like a mousetrap, the agony ripping through his mind and a hiss burbling from his jaws.

Teeth scraped scale, the immense bite pressure of his jaws ripping a loose one free, and in his snarling furious joy, he gulped the hot, pointed thing down without a second thought. He even took a step after Raheerah, his exhilaration at the chaos twisting to white-hot rage, his strength seeming to restore somewhat by anger alone--but his hind leg was...

He turned, staring at it quizzically with one eye.

His right hind leg was twisted, lying behind him, the webbed claws limp. It was still attached, but attached wrong, and he realized at once--with twin surges of horror and fury--that his chances of survival, even should he survive this fight, had just been greatly diminished.

Raheerah, the bastard's name was, was it?!

Dragon turned back, the sting of heat and pain bringing reptilian tears to his eyes, his bellow of rage a choking gasp.

"RAHEERAH! I will have your wings!" he choked out.

But he could not walk, and the ground was tumbling him to and fro, and so the furious alligator began to simply bite the rocks and stone around him, angrily snapping up dragon's blood and feeling it slip like molten flame down his throat.

He didn't care. He couldn't move, couldn't fight, could barely see; could feel nothing but pain. He raised his eyes to the dragon, and he hissed his impotent rage.

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

A moment of victory, glorious, sent the blood singing in his veins, eyes bright with the pained roar of the dragon. Czernobog bit down harder, copper flooding his mouth - and then, nothing. Darkness. Warm, fluffy darkness.

It took minutes for the piglet to regain consciousness, and when he did, he wished he hadn't. Something above him was crushing him, heavy and breathing, and the boar shrieked as something in his chest crunched, caving inward under the weight. Panting, the pain slowly crept in. Broken right tusk - broken gem. Ow. His chest hurt, too.

More time passed, and the weight grew heavier. Something near his back legs cracked, but it didn't hurt much. Then, the weight lifted, wandered off somewhere, and he could breathe again. It was hard, though. His mouth tasted copper-y still, more than just the dragon's blood, and his lungs felt full and clogged, like he'd swallowed swamp water the wrong way. A wet cough escaped the pig, then another, before he slowly opened his eyes, blinking, staring out at the battlefield.

Glorious. So much chaos and destruction, so much death, so much blood. The earth itself was cracked and broken. So much raw power.

Czernobog tilted his head just enough to peer at the slumped shape of his father, eyes narrowing on the alligator's form. His father was more than alive, hissing and screaming, beautifully enraged.

Then, the half-flattened pig, ribs broken, back flayed open, spine cracked and lungs drowning in blood... grinned.

And went to sleep.

He listened with horror to the howling, barking, screaming, roaring, the tumbling of rocks and the blasting of magic. He could hear billowing winds, even feel the brushes of hot and cold air as they reached into the mouth of the tunnel, and throughout it all he just tried to keep some faint hold on Raheerah's mind. To wait until the end, until chaos.

He had realized that nightmares would do nothing. Hell, maybe nothing would do anything.

But Dark was a strange little owl, and from his position at the cave entrance, he'd decided to broadcast something entirely different into Raheerah's mind: not screaming, not nightmares, but peace. A distraction? A truce? Perhaps his own mind was clinging to the images of peace to calm himself, and he could only drag the dragon with him. He wasn't sure. But he was sending Cetus to him: calm, faintly buzzing with the insect hum, the sense of timeless contentment and unchanging quiet accompanying visions of thick and drifting mist and tall, dark trees escaping into the blackness above the light-orbs.

This was where he made his nest; he'd seen it in magic, in visions, and now he tried to funnel it to Raheerah: to fill the dragon's mind with a faraway and calming place. It took some effort and a great deal of time, pushing through all of the rage and focus to get to the dragon's thoughts, but in the end, Dark managed.

Feel me.

________________

Fallah felt like she couldn't move or see or breathe and was overall having a really rotten time. She was knocked to the side suddenly. It hurt. It hurt a good bit. She was able to stand back up, however. Now that she had some sense knocked into her (quite literally), she was ready to fight again. The dragon went crazy with fire and hotness. Fallah fell back, but wouldn't fun away. For once, for Fisher and Black, she would not bow. Driving forward, Fallah summoned her magic again at the beast. She wouldn't let him go after her friends. Not now not ever. Fallah would freeze his mouth shut. She knew she could, so now she just had to get herself and do it. Squinting into the smoke, Fallah attempted to freeze him once again.