Dragon was already hauling himself through the swamp, but due to his damaged leg, the going was slow. The squeals and screams had reached him several moments before. The Children of Rot hunted often, and at times their prey fought back--but whatever could make Czernobog scream like that wasn't prey.

Huffing, the alligator hastened his pace.

Then came the words: "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad," "Roooooooooooot." The cries for help. With a bellow--a roar that meant simply "I'm coming"--the alligator began to shuffle as fast as he could. Was Bog dying...? Had something caught him, taken advantage of the boar's wounds? He'd meant to ask Bog about his broken tusk, perhaps look for a way to mend it--would it be too late, now?

Dragon crested a hillock of matted reeds and mud, and for a moment he paused, catching his breath as he took in the scene below. If anyone had looked up at this moment they'd have only seen his dark shape looming, eyes reflecting the lights above with a dull, blood-red glow.

There was a black feline, blood-soaked, and the other Rot were assaulting him--and Bog, lying ruined and bloody, just nearby. Tal'at lay motionless on the ground, Willow diving at the intruder, and Eve's raucous screams filled the air. Perhaps he would have stopped them, would have tried to find out what was going on--but his memory snapped back, images of a nearly-identical black leopard hunting him, pinning him in Cetus, trying to eat him. Was this the same cat? Did it DARE hunt HIS SON?

Without a sound the alligator charged, limp-galloping and sliding down the hill directly toward Vicktor, eyes wide with fury. Nostrils flared, swamp air sucked into the bellows of his lungs, pumping in to feed the fire that lay banked within him. It surged up, and as he plowed into the group--sending a spray of black mud in all directions--his massive jaws gaped open, fangs glinting.

A torrent of flame poured forth--not quite as much as he'd have liked, and not quite where he was aiming--but it still lashed over the cat, still reached out to singe his fur and burn his flesh, as Dragon aimed to drive him off of Czernobog.

Off of his son. Off of the boar who lay bleeding and screaming in the mud. Dragon's rage overwhelmed him, and he thought of nothing more than killing the intruder.

Dad was here.

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

@Vicktor

He had attempted to gather himself, to stand on his own feet. But each attempt left his body trembling under his own weight, leaving him to scream. His entire condition, was simply pain. Laying there he eyed the boar lazily. Choking back his own sobs he simply watched the boar struggle through blurry eyes. They had attempted to rise only to scream out in pain themselves.

It wasn't until the boar began to yelp, screaming for their family. Crying out into the mist, hoping they would hear. They had seemingly used all they had in a last attempt to survive. Shaking and breaking down into whimpers like a small child. Vicktor could only watch, crying for both him and this boar. Throat raw and voice hoarse he managed to speak through the tears. "I-I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry...im..sorry..." He didn't want this, he should have ran...he could have saved both himself and this boar...

Seemingly within moments something small leapt from the trees above, they were calling for the boar...Bog...they immediately began to sob beside the large beast. Seemingly oblivious to the fact Vicktor himself was still there. He would need to leave and fast, if one had arrived so soon, there was bound to be others. And like clockwork they showed up, one by one. That 'small dragon' he had met before, when those strange birds arrived in Cetus...Though this reunion would not be a pleasant one, without questions and a guttural hiss they began to attack. Ice bursting forth from the ground below, stopping just before where Vicktor himself lay. Tal'at had arrive during the assault, only to come crashing down to the soil below.

Vicktor attempted to pull himself up to flee, only to recoil back from an all too familiar bird. Eve, she stood in front of him screaming wordlessly. He practically swallowed his heart, he had cared for Eve; but she offered no help. Only agitation and an onslaught of guilt. A yowl ripped from his throat, pain shooting through his left shoulder, an unknown bird attacked him. Digging into him as if he was a field mouse. Bone white eyes filled with panic he had settled his gaze on something...someone was watching, the dull blood-red glow of another assailant.

Struggling beneath his weight, the pain was beginning to feel like an nauseating buzz. Rattling against the walls of his skull. He began to move, taking only two steps before being bitten by an onslaught of flames. Searing his haunches, hot and vicious, he leapt forward, freeing himself from the assault. Ears laid flat, teeth bared and a torrent of tears he would run. Not daring to look back. He would leave Cetus, go as far as he could till his body dropped. He just needed to be safe.

[exit]

"Clover Speech"
"Vicktor Speech"

@CZERNOBOG

The call had taken the last of his energy, and he slumped, panting slow, breath rattling in his chest, wordless cries still spilling from his lips. Czernobog lay in a slowly growing puddle of blood, mixing with bile, swamp water and the carcasses of dead plants. His lungs struggled to expand, and the massive boar swallowed, wincing at the taste of his own burnt skin. His ears flicked, aimless - they trapped no sound but the constant buzz of invisible hornets. Black-brown eyes slipped to half mast, and he struggled to stay awake. His family would come. They were good. His glorious Purpose. They would come.

Hands, touching his snout, and he winced, almost called up the energy to rear back, certain the jaguar had gotten up to finish the job - but a hazy glance read lemur, and the boar relaxed, shuddering, inching his head forward to push into the healer's chest. "Caaaaaaayenne." He could feel the word out, but it slurred, unable to hear himself attempt the language of the Rots. "Huuuuurt," Czernobog whined, snuffling at her fur like a child hugging a teddy bear.

He hurt. But it didn't feel good or triumphant, not like the hurt after attacking Raheerah. There he was filled with the comfort of knowing his family would finish the job, or at least give their all. All that rushed into his gut was guilt, and fear - he'd overestimated himself, underestimated the intruder. He hadn't even protected his home - what good was a Guardian who couldn't Guard? Frustration made him whine again, raise his head, wobbling, to check if the Foe had indeed gotten away.

It was still there, collapsed and bloody - but more importantly, his family trickled in like a flood. Ghanyarah, forming ice to spear the ground; Willow, darting down from the sky like a shot, digging sharp talons into the jaguar's shoulder; Hat - screaming at him? It was hard to tell without his ears. Tiny dropped out of the mist, landed a few feet away, and Czernobog groaned, managed to inch towards the bat enough to reach out a hoof anxiously. "Tiiiiiiinyyyyy?"

He seemed... fine, if winded, and the boar's head fell back to the earth, one eye on Cayenne and the other on his gathering herd. Finally, the flicker of flame signalled the arrival of Dragon, glorious and battle-ready. It seemed he was the last straw for the intruder, and Czernobog threw an angry bellow at the disappearing cat's form. He would kill it. He would kill Raheerah, and then he would kill the rat who dared harm him on his own territory. "Roooooooot," the beast mumbled, finally relaxing fully, ears drooping and eyes slipping shut, breath stuttering in his throat, mud seeping into his chest.

They had come. That was all that mattered now.

It was a wondrous thing, to have a family.

Willow landed on the marsh ground, watching the jaguar run off into the marsh. briefly, she met Dragon's gaze before her head did a complete 180; turning to stare at Czernobog with the gemstone eye staring at Dragon, unblinking.

She concentrated, to create a bond with Czernobog. For a moment, she heard nothing, until the sound of static burst into her mindspace. Like a TV with no signal it blared in her ears until she pulled her gaze from Czernobog, eyes closing and for a moment, reveling in the silence as the temporary bond was cut.

She breathed in and hobbled forth, mud splattering up her grey and crimson feathers. "Czernobog," she said simply. "Are you alive?"

Not only was her heart in her throat, but her stomach was too. Vicktor had been a friend after all, but family had to come first. She turned and regarded Tal'at, pushing her beak into the back of his neck, chattering quietly and wordlessly. And then she hobbled closer to Czernobog, wide-eyed as she gently preened the short wiry fur around his foreleg, staring blankly forwards, past the boar and the strange lemur. Her mind was somehow full and empty at the same time; as if she were simply observing the frantic thoughts in her head. What happened? Will he be okay? Where did Vicktor run off to? The crow took in a deep breath, pulling away suddenly as her wings spread out and she began to flutter off into the distance, dipping up and down in the air as if she weren't even able to keep herself in flight. table code © rasta 2015

[exit]

She snuffled, tears flowing down her face, her nose dripping a little with snot. She was trembling - this was bad. This was life-threatening bad. She didn't even know if she could fix most of this - as she leaned against the boar's big nose, she could hear its heartbeat, and it was incredibly irregular. It terrified her.

But, first things first, she had to make it all stop hurting. So she ran around very quickly, hardly noticing as other gems came to the small dead clearing, and started making a lot of noise - it didn't matter, nothing mattered when Bog was hurt. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something black run away, and saw something flying go after them, but it didn't matter. She gathered some twigs and sicks and dry leaves from the dead ground and ran back to Bog, quickly making a small fire next to Bog's nose with her match that Tenn had made for her with his fire magic. There she put on a lot of Relaxing herbs that she'd used on Cure when she had a broken rib, and she pulled up her scarf.

"Breathe," She told him gently, trying to get ahold of herself. Her voice was shaking. "Breathe, Bog. Breathe good."

The smell of the sweet smell of the smoke would send him off to a deep and relaxing sleep, just so that it wouldn't hurt anymore. She reached for her magic, trying to make it so that he felt just a little better before he drifted off.

With a shaking hand, she touched the poor things nose, and reached inside, seeing all the mess gone horribly wrong - the heartbeat, the damage inside, the remnants of electric shock - so whoever had done this had electricity magic, and had shocked him multiple times. Was it that black thing that was running away?

....she hoped that whoever did this to Bog died a slow and horrible death.

She tried to fix his heartbeat and make it regular, and told his mind to just relax, and gave it cues on where exactly to start the healing process. She told it where to make spots go numb, just for a while. Hopefully it would help.

Ghanyarah could feel the spears of ice shoot out from the mud, sharp spines a dangerous threat. But he'd wanted to do more than threaten the cat. This strange anger was still fresh for him, it had recently evolved in his fury of failing to catch the dog, and now it spurned him, distracted him in his attempt to persecute the jaguar. He wanted to make it hurt for what it had done to the boar. His groupmate. His comrade. It easily could have been any of them - the filthy mammals didn't care who they tried to eat, did they? (Ghanyarah was no better.) He hissed as the cat turned and fled, snapping his gaze to Dragon who had showed up only seconds after. "Dragon. Should we pursue?" He asked, frowning, wishing that his brother would allow him that pleasure. The fact of the matter was thay Ghanyarah wouldn't be fast enough to catch the cat. But damn if he didn't want to try.

@Dragon

Dragon stared, watching the strange black creature hover over Czernobog. It was the healer--the medic; this he knew, in a vague way. He hadn't gotten a chance to speak with her yet, but judging by the way she quickly moved to tend Bog, he would have to. It only took him a moment of watching to be satisfied that she was in the best possible hands, and then he flicked his gaze over the others. He'd wanted to pin the cat down and talk to it, but it had bolted off.

It had to be... retrieved.

He turned to Eve, then to Ghanyarah, just as his brother spoke--echoing his own mind.

"Tal'at. Find it. Do not let it escape. Come, brother. We shall... retrieve it. I wish to know what happened here. Why it dared to do what it did."

He left the rest unsaid: that if its answers were not to his satisfaction, the cat would be killed.

The alligator turned, offering a light nuzzle to Czernobog. He spoke to him, then to Cayenne, then to the rest.

"We will return. And you--I will speak with you. I will not be gone long; Willow, please watch over them, and come find us if they are attacked once more."

With that, Dragon turned, quickly making his way off after the fleeing cat. He wasn't fast--but Tal'at was, and Eve was, and he knew that Tal'at could find a thing simply by following its heartbeat.

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

@Czernobog

@Dragon

The bat heard a deep, familiar voice. A voice he hadn't heard since the cat was a child, one that had changed enough that he didn't recognize it. To him, it could have been anyone, and his mind was elsewhere-- on Bog, on his family, on trying to understand and comprehend.

Tal'at had no idea what had happened, as he struggled up and found Eve beside him, beak in his fur. The bat sighed with relief, putting a leathery wing around her head for a moment, getting up out of the muck. He tried to feel for Bog, but his magic was choked out and blind, leaving him shaken and winded. He could hear the pig, however, calling out for him with a strained nick name. "Okay, Big Bog," he chirped, still disoriented but coming around. He pulled himself away from Eve as she spread her wings, and turned his attention to the two voices of the muscle of rot. Yarah and Dragon.

Dragon told him to seek it, and he found himself wondering what he was supposed to seek. The sorry voice, the one that had retreated, he figured after a moment's thought, listening to Eve fly off after the mystery creature. He took to the air, a bit afraid of hitting another tree, and he tried to pick out something more than the hundreds of heartbeats in the vast mist.

He felt the life of nature, struggling to grow, drowning in pain. He felt something sharper over it, an invisible sense of something akin to life but yet so different. Something that could heal, or sicken. He could feel the thrum of ice and fire, ready to follow his lead, and he reached out to find the beacon of light that was Eve. Soaring after her, he felt something sharp, dangerous. Hot, like fire, but brighter, fiercer, concentrated. Electric. This was the thing that Dragon wanted him to chase, and he gave pursuit without question.

;; Tal'at exit???
!!! ...

going out a different path lead by a beating heart

Quietly, Willow watched the crow and the bat flutter off and she turned her head back towards Czernobog. She concentrated somewhat, forming a second bond between the two. There was no loud noises this time; only silence.

Czernobog, she called out. Are you there?