There had been more activity in the caves lately, eagerly dragging Ghost out of his resting place in Eridanus. He'd made himself a quaint place there, but now that more gembounds were hatching and others were coming out of their hiding places, Ghost was happy to come out too. He'd been seen around sure, his massive white coat wasn't hard to miss, but he'd made very little contact with others. Most of the time, he only ventured around Eridanus and their tunnels anyway, keeping his adventures short and only for hunting.

Today, however, he wanted to visit Polaris. Polaris was home to many memories, both good and bad. It was the heart of the cave, the place where one felt they had more energy. Ghost felt like he needed that today, for he was surely dragging a bit. He took his time getting to Polaris, but when he did, he nearly auto-piloted to the river. He remembered when he was once blind and couldn't see his reflection like he could now, or at all really. He was thankful to have it now, to see the faces of those he'd known since he hatched. Those gembounds weren't around now though, like Leon and Makyna, Baratheon, and even Kerberos a little later. There were plenty of new faces though, plenty of new gembounds to be friends with.

rip ghost @Cerulean

The river was cramped at its depths. Cerulean didn't care. The fish here were different than back home in Fornax. Polaris also buzzed with energy. The beast relished it.

It had been under for some time, picking off morsels as they swam by, when above the water's surface, a face appeared. A pretty face, the beast noted as he looked up with a feral curiosity. A pretty and soon to be savaged face.

It had been quite some time since the beast below had tasted sentience.

No lesser stood so large, so pretty...

...the beast surged in a lunge upwards, a single flick of its body throwing it face-first to the surface, jaws gaping and snapping shut as soon as the beast felt fur on its tongue. Perhaps just an ear, or a close graze, but there had been blood in that snag and now, Cerulean had a taste for the unwitting canine.

It landed from its breach on the shore, gills gushing water to switch to air lungs and vocals rippling in a guttural rumbling that shook the stone floor it had landed upon. Pearly, alien eyes locked onto the albino's now blurry form, but it didn't need to see its prey to find its blood scent.

The leviathan roared suddenly, a wide and gaping screech that filled Polaris from end to end and shuddered stone. What had a beast so kingly and large to worry about from enemies in the cave? With the river a breath away and a confidence that out-sized the already gargantuan beast, there was nothing that could interfere now. No big sea beasts here to get in his way.

This one was all his.

@Ghost

Everything was suddenly quiet in Polaris.

It was never quiet in Polaris.

His reflection began to ripple, and as he narrowed his eyes to focus on it, a giant erupted from it and lunged towards him, tearing at his flesh and ripping it clean off of him. Reaching for his face, his hand recoiled in pain as the monster breached beside him. Ghost rose and took many quick steps in the opposite direction, frantically looking back at the beast as it rose and roared, screeching and staring right at him - hungry for blood.

Blood streamed down his face where the fur and flesh and been ripped out, but panic coursed through him too much to notice. It stung with the cool air, but he couldn't pay attention to it now.

Instinctively, he wanted to fight back. This beast was too large to take on in combat. His only hope was to run, so that's what he did.

He turned tail-

and ran

@Cerulean

"Oh no you don't!" The beast rumbled with actual words, sounding morbid and gleeful with a voice that sounded like nails raking across glass, piercing and vicious. It lunged after the fleeing canine...

...and with a rather ungraceful thud but a much more prominent CRUNCH, Cerulean latched down on the were's leg as he'd kicked off the ground in his sprinting. It wasn't a vital area, but it was more than enough for what came next.

With an easy swing, the leviathan turned back for the river, its prize still live and in tow, left to be dragged and dangled as Cerulean dragged himself back to the safety of the water's depths, to enjoy his prize in peace, in his own domain. All the while, a sort of victorious chortling rumbled in the beast's neck. An easy catch.

@Ghost

Words came screeching from the beasts mouth, warning him of his mistake before he made it five feet. In a matter of seconds, sharp pointed teeth wrapped around his leg and sunk in, crunching the bone, bringing the were to collapse onto his chin. Spitting blood from his mouth in a cry of pain, Ghost was forceably drug by the leviathan towards the river.

Gripping at the earth, the soil, the rocks, whatever he could reach was all he could hope for. When it didn't work, he only had one choice left.

Attack what was attacking him.

Despite the pain in his leg from the teeth and shattered bone, Ghost twisted enough to rise and lunge at the beasts head. With wide jaws, he bit wildly at the leviathans head and clawed angerily at whatever he could reach.

His prey was fighting back now.

Cerulean rumbled deeply and snapped his head side to side as if shaking away a fly's pesky approaches. He didn't seem to mind the scratches on his scales. They were superficial. Another shake, this time harder, in an attempt to dislodge the were's grip, jaws still locked around that broken leg...

...resulting in a violent snap that would surely throw the wolf's upper half back against the stone floor.

He wouldn't get another chance.

Cerulean reached the water's edge and slid into it easily, keeping both himself and prey above the surface for a few brief moments. Air bubbled out of his gills, emptying his lungs before flushing water back in and suddenly diving under, powering towards the river's narrow and crystalline depths.

@Ghost

When the beast whipped his body and slammed him back into the ground, Ghost nearly blacked out. His world spun, all sound faded out, and his vision got blurry. He could feel his body sliding across the ground now, though not from the waist down. He was unaware of this, but he hadn't come much to yet.

Suddenly, he was in the water. He just felt it on his face, burning his wounds, filling his lungs and drowning him as he gasped. He reached out at the beast again, at anything around him he could grab on to in the river for leverage. He wouldn't last much longer like this, the need for air pained the were's chest and his water-filled lungs. It was only a matter of time now.

@cerulean

The struggle was lessening. The life was fading. Something inside of Cerulean screamed that this was wrong and for a moment, the beast slowed its swim up-river. He turned his gaze to the drowning wolf who struggled and seemed to suffer so. A part of him felt pity.

So, the beast spun upwards towards the water's surface again, breaching and whipping the canine in the same motion, with every intention of killing it then and there. However, as it were, the breach hadn't been high enough for such an impact. Poor Ghost would simply be thrown about some more, but at least he wasn't drowning now.

Cerulean watched with sadistic curiosity to see what the while thing would do... or say, if given that final chance.

@Ghost

Life was leaving him.

It was when the beast broke the surface, thrashing Ghost around some more, that he could finally gasp for some air and spew the invasive fluid from his lungs. Air filled his lungs again, but it was almost more painful than the water.

Whatever calmed the beast, be it temporary or not, wouldn't be enough to save him. Paralyzed waist down, broken, bleeding heavily, and mostly drowned, Ghost was knocking on deaths door. The river was stained with his blood, staining his white fur - he could taste it on his tongue.

He could feel the eyes of the leviathan watching him, but he couldn't move. He couldn't do anything, every part he could feel hurt. The only thing he could do now was beg, beg for death.

"Please..." it barely came out above a whisper, but he couldn't manage more than that.

@cerulean

Cerulean didn't need to be asked.

Sound in the definitive knowledge that his prey could not flee now, it slid back up the shore over to him. Wide eyes regarded the shape more clearly up close and the beast rumbled with its anticipation...

...it placed a careful clawed 'fin' on the wolf's throat, its talon resting on that vital artery. It would not be over quick, but it would be over, and the wolf would feel no added pain as that talon sunk in and cut off the supply of blood to the canine's brain. He would fade, go numb, go silent, but before that could fully happen, Cerulean was already dragging his bleeding corpse to the water again.