From within his much-too tiny den Xireidi was snoring. He'd spent all morning trying to 'feel' the magic of the room but nothing was working. Every attempt for the last few weeks had resulted in a dead end and the wolf was beginning to think that he really had lost his childhood ability irreversibly.

To be fair this hadn't been much of a concern before he'd met the great blue bird-cat. Their spars had become an enjoyable part of his routine and provided a nice change of pace from just doing laps around the cave for his physical training. Perhaps he needed to focus not on learning magic to integrate with his physical might but just needed to devise new techniques that didn't rely on any sort of magic? Thoughts such as these had run through his head before he'd laid down for a nap and thoughts such as these that permeated his dreams.

Without warning a deafening crack resounded through the alcove, waking the wolf with a start. Not knowing what was going on Xireidi jumped up and dashed outside.

Rain began to fall in the area round him, but not a normal sort of rain. It as opaque, thick, neon blue... and it burned. Drop after drop seared into the wolf's flesh, leaving small burns as a particularly large glob fell from the sky onto the right side of his face, causing him to wince in pain and retreat back into the den again.

What was happening out there? Why was this stupid rain falling? The wolf held his burning face in one paw, his stone eye having taken the brunt of the splash. Had it been damaged? Was he okay?

The rain slowed and from a distance Xireidi could see gembound gathered around. Not wanting to stay stuck inside and possibly trapped in case it started again with enough ferocity to wash inside the wolf made a mad dash outwards, managing to only be hit by a couple more drops as he arrived with the others; looking pretty worse for the wear.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Xireidi: The wolf hit with the concentrated magic would start to feel the surge had the contact remained of its flesh; but to hit his stone! What wonders such a pure form of magicka could do for one!

The rift groaned and spit, and uneven grinding shifting the crystal in its descent before the large shape completely dislodged—seemingly by accident, the sounds of breaking rock cracking and slipping—and began to plummet to the floor. It fell with the silence of a held breath, but the heavy object only took a moment to smash into the ground, creating a monstrous explosion of earth, dirt, and dust—CRK-BOOOOM!

With the Gembounds swept up and lost in the cover of debris, the crystal blossomed with sparkling light, piercing the dust cloud and blinding the creatures even further. The angled lights rose upward quickly, and the sound of shattering crystal echoed unnaturally in the muffled sound of the thick debris cloud.

From its crater, a crystal-spider half the size of the Spire itself emerged, cresting the edge and stopping short! It shone dimly through the dust, upset by its brutal landing, and started to make a break for it!

Stop the spider before it reaches the Spire!

Stop the spider! Each roll attempt against the Magicka Spider will reward your character with that amount as Magicka. You only have 3 rounds to start, but any successful roll of incapacity will earn you an extra round! (This includes something like a binding root, a stun, confusion, etc. Feel free to be creative!) Defeat the spider for a bonus reward!

Magicka Spider has 500/500 HP
There are 3 of 3 Rounds left.

Eythan turned to the sudden arrival of king Mom himself, and for a moment, was about to retort wittily ("HEY! He's fine isn't h—!") when his eyes were assaulted by all manner of dust. He screwed them shut and braced himself against the tumultuous impact. Ears flattened against the chime of crystal shattering. Emerging from the din was a massive creature he could only describe as a spider. His ears flew backwards. "Holy fucking shit," he cried out, looking towards Morigarra and hoping to all that was holy that someone was watching over him. He was certain the others could fend for themselves, but he's already lost the cassowary once today.

But then, he made eye contact with Carni.

Oh boy.

Eythan was opening his stupid gem damned mouth again when suddenly, whatever had begun writhing its way free of the ceiling, suddenly collided with the ground and the whole world exploded in debris and dust. For a moment, as the dust settled, Carni blinked his shock away.

Then he found Eythan in the dust again with those ice cold but acidic eyes and the white king, who'd cradled his ward so close to protect him in the blast, focused only on his so-called advisor.

If looks could kill, Eythan would be flayed and quartered eight ways from Sunday.

The rest of the cave erupted in response but Carni stood fast in the commotion.

"Take. Morigarra. Home."

Carni didn't snarl or wrinkle his face when he got angry, apparently. Perfectly smooth, so much so that he looked carved of ivory and seven different kinds of fury.

"You're still hurt. Xerxes! Cover the ground with the others! Let's squash some bugs!" He'd push little Mori towards Eythan's protective custody once again, this time the consequences far more dire if the brother screwed up. "Don't let go of him and get yourselves both somewhere safe." He dipped to peck Mori on the head before taking to the sky and soaring after the spider... thing.

He summoned the winds to surge forward behind the thing and around it, following its movements but hopefully, not strong enough to aid its own advancements, its weight considered....

...and his practicing paid off because the boy surged forward ahead of the pack on a gust of air that could carry anything made of just flesh and bone. He aimed to line himself up beside and just ahead of it, wings beating furiously to keep up.

@Eythan @Morigarra @Xerxes

It watched the ceiling for a few more seconds before noticing the gathering gembound a distance away. Seemed this wasn't just another mind-trick. A real actual thing was being squeezed out of Polaris' ceiling like some ugly childbirth scenario.

As it crashed down to the floor, nearly knocking a scrabbling fox hybrid to the floor with it, said hybrid realized the gravity of its situation.

A gravity that felt far more severe and urgent as the spider that was the ceiling baby suddenly charged... directly towards it, and its precious spire home.

Not even the nameless hybrid that plagued Polaris was mad enough to think itself but a gnat to the charging beast of crystal and glass before it.

So, it did the next best instinctual thing; it turned in terror and fled.

Claws and scales and fleshy pads thankfully meant for a very easy but uncomfortable descent, which had the hybrid bounding off to the safety of a wall that wasn't attached to the spire's influence.

Fuck the caves. It didn't like being stomped out by insects. Let it have the spire, then.

Tuck still had no idea what was going on because there were too many tall-ass legs in his way. He was about to start shouting and huffing for people to get the fuck out of his way when — CRASH!

“Fuck!” he shouted, terrified, as dust and dirt and debris all whooshed over the top of him and everyone else. He clung to the ground, digging his claws into whatever vegetation he could, trying not to get flown away. When the dust cleared, he coughed and coughed, fur standing all on end. And then he could see, through the dust… a thing… a giant thing… a giant spider? Hell, he didn’t know what the fuck it was, but it clearly wasn’t good.

Tuck’s head whipped up when he noticed one of his fellow Gembounds taking to the skies after the spider. He focused once more on the creature, noticing that it was racing for the Spire. Well. He didn’t know what was going on, but he got the feeling they needed to bring this thing down. Summoning all the power he could, he attempted to pull vines from the ground around the spider, with the intent of slowing it down or tripping it up. There had to be some vines here somewhere…

Amras The raw, absolute power coming from that structure in the ceiling deeply unsettled Amras. Being near the spire was one thing, but this thing and the liquid it dropped was almost like a second spire altogether. And then it fell, a giant crystal chunk crashing into the ground and... standing up? He'd seen creatures similar in shape to this before, tiny dark, made of flesh, but never giant crystal monstrosities like this one! Dread flooded his mind as a deep instinct sent warning signals screaming in his thoughts. The Spire! It was heading toward the Spire! What would happen if a creature of this kind of power made it there? Would it destroy it, drain it of all its power? Would it take up residence and become an unremovable threat? Whatever would happen if it got there wouldn't be good. Perhaps he was small compared to this thing, perhaps it was silly, but something had to be done! As soon as the spider started running Amras dropped to four limbs and began to wordlessly dash after it, spreading his wings and taking flight. A stiff wind appeared out of nowhere, as though the cave itself was calling out for help and aiding him in his efforts. Soon he was flying at speeds he had never thought possible, overtaking the spider and getting in position to attack. A simple spell, one he'd had his entire life to perfect. Heart raced as crystal glowed and energy built into his taloned hand. A dispel might not do much to shatter a crystal this size but placed where limb met body it might be enough to trip it up a little bit. Without even a speck of conscious thought the instinctual spell built and shaped and... It was slightly sloppy in the quick execution, but the spell manifested into a semi-sharp wave of force driving downward toward the beast’s leg. Without hesitation the gryphon flapped his wings to move slightly ahead to prepare for the next attack. Pouch 1: Black talc stones x7 (medium) Pouch 2: Charcoal dust 50 in3 Pouch 3: Quartz sphere x1 (large, soft glow) Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium) Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" tags: notes: None

ooc: ugh ignore the spell cast attempt. i managed to accidentally tick that box.


After the fall, she had wandered back to her mother cave—where she emerged among bird and primate so, so long ago. In unseen grief, she had trailed the late king's son to the core, deserting his other in his most desperate hour. At the end of her journey, she was so tired. Thus began a long sleep listening to only the hum of Polaris.

There was an echo. Calamity jarring her from her sleep. Light and air greeting her companionably: old friends. Passive magicka reawakened, Fortune found his sons close. Without measure of the cycles past, she feverishly hoped they were not remnants. Like a newborn fawn, the duiker stumbled onto uneasy legs. Not quite steady, she lurched forth, blindly following the feedback her stone offered. The air was rife with crackling magicka thick and cloying; it made her lungs burn.

Her heart leapt from its cage as the monstrosity came into view. A chandelier creature resembling the spiders few and far. Then came the sight of what she had been looking for for so long. Eythan and Carni, together. Brothers hand and hand. One stepping before the other. Words died in her throat as the prince of bones swiftly took to the air in ire. Stumbling fiercely over her own hooves to get closer, Fortune cried out. "Eythan!" As the leopard hybrid turned to her in a mix of shock and guilt, she continued, "you're so far from home. And Carni—" She spared a glance in the direction of his fleeting silhouette. "How long has it been?"

In another age, Eythan would've been the first to war and Carni the last. Things were so different now.

The child peeked from beneath his hiding place (which might've been one of Xerxes' legs, or it might've been Eythan, because at that point the whole family had shown up), and the first thing he saw was dad, which made his little heart soar. He no longer thought of how strange and crowded it was here, or the scary rumbling of the ground. With a screech of delight the chick rushed for Carni, only to have the ceiling rupture and a great many things just kind of happen all at once.

Shouting voices.

Rocks, everywhere.

Dust, dust, dust, he couldn't breathe!

And when the din quieted a little, Mori found himself held protectively by a giant white wing. He purred some high notes - but was cut off when Carni shouted more orders. Spooked by all the commotion, Mori's only response was an instinctual one: fight or flight. He bolted out of cover and erroneously headed straight for the giant gleaming monster that had dropped from above.

While everyone was freaking out, making plans, reacting - Morigarra was suddenly face-to-crystal with a gargantuan spider monster. He didn't realize how dangerous it was, being a neonate. He didn't even know it was a creature - he saw the crystal of its body and in it, a reflection of himself. Mori's reaction was to puff up and stand tall, stricken by the sight of someone so much like him. He gave the surface of the crystal a few adamant pecks of his little beak - even a small kick of those big feet of his - but ultimately it was a useless endeavor.

What a sight this is flying around aimlessly in the caves again like always, then again he always does that when he has had a bad day or cycle. Does the corvid here have nothing better to do at all even now? Albeon continued to inwardly mock himself with sarcastic remarks while gliding around the caves, his priceless scarf fluttering along like a long tail feather. His hearing eventually picked up on some sort of loud distant grinding noise echoing throughout the tunnels of the cave. If Albeon could guess it sounds like it's coming from Polaris.

Geez, what's going on at Polaris this time? Letting out a sigh he decides to go and check it out, he's doing jack shit right now anyway. Flapping his wings with more strength to pick up his velocity, holding his breath out of reflex from some gnawing dread that whatever is going on, it's most likely not a good thing.

The closer he got the more deafening the sound was, a wave of dust being carried around by the currents of air gets blown in his face, venturing further till he peered inside the entrance to Polaris. What is it a rockslide or something?

...The maelstrom of dust and debris blocking his view upon entering would indicate that's exactly what it was, if it wasn't for the unnaturally large blue crystal and light breaking through the cover of dust that started to clear own shape seemed to distort and move, with the way the dust covered it made the silhouette of it look absolutely terrifying. It rose up, looking like some giant ass spider. Other Gembounds were around in Polaris trying to fend it off when it starts gunning for the Spire, some seemed to be trapped in the debris.

Ugh... Fuck me.

Albeon resigned takes the initiative and begins flying to try and catch up to it, he hopes to slow it down with a Spell possibly. He flies around a bend and manages to be in front of the unnatural thing, charging the power of his Magick as purple wisps of Magick started to cloak around his Gem and made his eyes glow, he was intending to shift it with his Arcane, however Albeon didn't vouch for how fast it was going and it was getting dangerously close to him, and with noticing that now and with his shock of that out of reflexes and fear he just releases his power, and with that instant rash decision a powerful beam of collected particles and radiation blasted outward from his Gem instead of his original plan of levitating this monstrousity.

Refusing to let this be a dud he tries to move his head up to aim his powerful Spell, and he managed to hit it from underneath its head, or basically the chin. The force from his Spell was so powerful that it could help to push it back quite a bit and stun it, that or from how it hit the chin the force may be enough for it to flip it on its back, which may help with making it immobile for a bit if spiders falling on their backs are just like turtles in that sort of matter. He wasn't really paying attention to anyone else when he cast the Spell, with how dire it was for him to just attack that thing right now.

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Side Notes: N/A

"Hey Yours Truly Albeon Speaking."

And that's a good thing...
It means there's hope and potential in one's Future.