This was another place she had not yet stepped in, a new cave so unlike Polaris, yet similar in many ways. Gems glittered here and there, an air of mystery and discovery, of secrets long hidden and the past to be un-buried. These were the things Amazon craved to do - explore, discover, and learn as much as she could. She didn't want ignorance to blight her forever. Although she would soon come to know the innocence of ignorance and the burden that came with knowledge. For now, however, discovery was her top priority.

The room of stars, as others had said, was beautiful and her eyes reflected this description. Yes, beautiful, wonderful to look at. She was in awe. Why hadn't she come here before? Well, maybe because she had been too busy exploring Polaris. And, of course, being sick. That had been something to hold her back. But now she was feeling refreshed, free, open. She breathed in the cold, clean air. It was different here. She liked it.

How many things in this cave could she discover? She had only just entered it, but she could see a rock platform and a strange thing in the center that looked like crumbling rocks and tower just close by. Perhaps she would go there first. But a rumbling in her stomach told her that she needed to eat something first.

She sniffed and caught a whiff of scent of some wet patches nearby and went to investigate. Some meager plants and a patch of grass is what met her eye and she shrugged. It would do. Anywhere there was plants, there was bound to be insects to munch on. She waddled forward on her stubby legs and stilled as she settled in the grass. After a moment of looking around with her eyes, she caught sight of a spider weaving a web within the bush and she instantly lunged out and grabbed it, swallowing it whole. There were other things caught in the spider's webbing, which she carefully began to pick out with her sharp claws. An easy, if meager meal that would hold her off for now. Once she was done swallowing flies and termites, she turned towards the tower and made her way towards the base, starry-eyed.

@Khloros

Khloros was picking his way through Orion, debating where to go next. He could remain here, but the pickings for food were slim to say the least. And Eridanus was... a risk. There were cats there who would hunt, and try to kill him.

He let out a soft, hot-air snort and moved onward, hooves clacking on the bare rock as he paced along, taking swatches of grass as he went.

The tower was not far from here--the place he'd found the hatchling dog. He wondered vaguely how it was faring, and shifted to angle that way, grazing on the sparse pickings as he went. A shake of his coat, flakes of dead skin and gore falling away, and he carried on.

A shift of movement caught his eye, then. He paused, lifting his thin head, his ghostlight eyes staring unblinking toward a shivering spiderweb--and a lizard nearby. He had no reason to suspect that this was anything but a Lesser Gembound, and so he merely watched it, indifferently aloof, his side toward it but his head facing it, as he chewed.


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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Amazon

Amazon had only taken a few steps towards her next goal when she heard the clacking of hooves. She froze for a second, prey instincts kicking in and almost scuttled away. But she was curious, as she was always, and forced her head to turn. Her eyes widened at the sight of the horse, the disgusting yet intriguing creature, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Then again, she had seen very little. Perhaps creatures like this were normal in the caves.

Yet, still, she wanted to know if this thing was okay because it certainly did not look it. She turned until she was facing and slowly began to make her way forward, eyeing the gore and ooze falling from its skin. Was it blood? Or something else running through its veins? Was it alive or some form of undeath, although she did not understand the concept.

Curiosity was taking hold and she walked faster towards the horse, never taking her eyes away. Innocence kept her from acting on her instincts, brushing it off, telling herself It's okay, it's just something new.
As she approached the black horse, she stopped a reasonable distance away, her eyes looking over its hide. "What is that? Dripping off of you? Are you bleeding?"

@Khloros

Khloros blinked, bemused, as the lizard spoke to him. His head canted slightly to one side and he lowered it down closer to her level, nostrils flaring. At length, he spoke, slow and rasping.

"No, I am not bleeding. I am Khloros, and I carry death. It is death that drips from me. Do not touch it," he added idly, "unless you wish some end to pain."

He lowered his head down to tear another mouthful of grass from the ground, wondering at this. Never before had he seen a creature he'd assumed to be one of the many smaller denizens of the cave speak. But it was not, he supposed, that bizarre; he certainly saw stranger things on a regular basis.

In no hurry either to depart, nor to approach Amazon, he simply grazed his way along, unbothered by her presence.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Amazon

Death dripped from his hide? That was what death looked like? It was different then she imagined, not that she had any sort of concept of death. Her only experience with it was the spiders and termites and other insects she ate. That could not be the same things. "Kloh-rus. I am Amazon." She wanted to get closer, but something about Khloros's tone held her back.

End to pain? Like her sicknesses? Her constant stomach and headaches? The weakness that sometimes passed through her muscles? Could he end that somehow? "I have pains I wish to end. Does it hurt? To carry death like that? How did it happen to you? And...what is death?" She had so many questions and she so desperately wished to reach out and touch the strange creature's hide.

Finally, she succumbed to her own thirst for knowledge and stepped up to a small puddle that had formed next to Khloros. She observed it carefully, wondering if she should sniff it. Innocence, again, endangered her.

@Khloros

Khloros listened detachedly to the questions, indulging them without impatience. As always, despite his self-given goal, he was not hostile. He had no desire to harm and to kill, not directly; he simply spread his disease as he believed he ought to.

For individuals, he did not mind speaking; he even enjoyed company, from time to time. Especially of the young, the--... He glanced over at Amazon, curious. Perhaps it is only very young, and will grow quite large? Yet it speaks of pain.

He stood dark and silent for a time, staring, thinking, no swish of his tail or flick of his ears giving away any sign of healthy horse movements. Instead he seemed a statue, a stone. "It does not hurt," he began slowly. "And if you are in pain, I can end it if you wish. But it ends in death. Death is what happens when all life fades from your body, and your mind is gone. It is but thoughts trapped in a physical form, and when you die, they, too, fade. It is as if you never were, bar what impact you have left on the world you've left behind." All of this was delivered slowly, his hoarse echo trailing off as he lifted his head, staring off at nothing.

"I was born with it. There is a place in the cave that should not have anything inside. It is cold, and empty, and a piece of death and illness dropped me into it. The words were still in my mind then. That I was to carry death."

There was no real emotion in his tone. This was all, to his mind, fact--and he spoke it slowly, clearly, to this stranger. To Amazon.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Amazon

When Khloros spoke of death, Amazon decided that, at least this time, she would not let her curiosity take hold of her. She stepped away from the puddle of gore and goo and instead went back to looking up at Khloros with curiosity. It had so much to say, so much wisdom to give to her. She wanted to know more of death. For some reason, it held great interest within her. As if something within her knew it was important. She needed to know about Death and Khloros was the best one she had.

"So...death is when there's nothing. It's the opposite of hatching? And the opposite what I'm doing right now? Is there anything beyond death? And...how does one die? Does it happen naturally? And does it hurt to die? I always wondered whenever I ate bugs if they were in pain when I swallowed them. That is dying, right? When you eat something?"

But Khloros wasn't just knowledgeable about death, he carried death. He could impart death upon anyone he wished. For some reason, she did not think of herself as a potential target of Khloros, but only of others. She understood what death was, but the gravity beyond it was something that still evaded her understanding. She could feel that empty void there, that slight disbelief, so she looked into the strange milky eyes. "Can you show me? Death?"

@Khloros

Khloros continued to listen, again lowering his head to tear away tufts of grass, taking slow and gradual steps along the stone. "Death does not hurt. But sometimes, dying hurts. Sometimes, it does not. One might die in their sleep, or too quickly to feel much. Or one might fall from a cliff and into a pit, and be unable to move. They may lie in pain for days, weeks, suffering. Death is then a release."

Another rip of grass, another chew, another swallow. "You ask if there is anything beyond death. We are meant to rest, at peace. But these caves are beholden to a cycle. It is cruel. We are bound to the stones of the cave, and our spirits are tied here. Linked back. Reborn. We will never have rest, until all who may give life to stones, die. Until all of those who control this, fade."

He lifted his head to look to Amazon, those pale bright eyes unblinking. For a long moment he chewed the mouthful of grass he'd just tucked up, and then, after swallowing, he again spoke. "When you eat a thing, it may die. There is life in a fruit, but its plant does not die. There is life in a blade of grass, but the roots may regrow. Yet that life that you eat, is given to you. If you eat a living thing, it will die. Death takes many forms."

Khloros moved one hoof forward, settling it near the tuft of cropped grass now too short to nibble further, and looked down upon it. The effects were gradual--Khloros was still weak, and his magic was confused, tentative--but it caught hold, eventually. The grass withered, going dark, then dropping dry to the ground, void of all life. He felt the faintest influx of energy from its death, but he ignored this bar flaring his nostrils fainly at the sensation. He then turned to Amazon. "That," he said softly, "is death."

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Amazon

Death truly did take many forms. As she watched the plants wither and die, she felt a shiver go down her spine that wasn't from any kind of cold. Is that what would happen when she died? Wither away into nothing and drop into dust? She wondered if she would see everything and learn everything before then...but the world was so big and something within her knew that her life wouldn't last forever. "Do we all die?" she whispered, hoarsely.

Death is an end to suffering and pain. Would death be the end of her pains? She didn't know and she didn't want it to be. Her pains were not all the time, the sickness came and went. She wanted to see everything! Know everything! But Khloros knew. "When we die...we can't see anymore. We can't learn anymore. Why would death be a release if it stops your progress? Isn't there always a chance that things will get better." She looked at the ground for a moment, her claws tracing absentmindedly in the dirt. "I'm just wondering, Khloros...you seem to know a lot about illness and death. I hurt sometimes. It just happens, I'll get sick. My stomach will hurt like it's on fire and my head will throb and the world spins around me. But then the next day its gone. Am I dying?"

@Khloros

"All life, ends."

Khloros shifted, hooves shuffling on stone, to face Amazon. "Life fights against death, and it will never win; but each moment is a victory. Even in your last few moments--yes, you may learn, and grow better, though you cannot perhaps bring it with you. But to say the last few moments do not matter is to claim that none of life matters. And this is not true. You are right in that: you do not stop learning and changing. Yet remember this; death is not an object, a creature, a thing, that wishes us harm. Death is merely... an end of life. And at times, suffering is too great. And life is fading. Those dying and pained, welcome the sleep of death."

It was as long a speech as he'd ever tend to make in one go, and afterward he paused, lost in thought for a long moment--gathering his words to continue. Likewise he flicked his senses slowly out, tendrils borne by magicka, trying to sense whether the small creature before him was, in fact, dying.

And it seemed to be. It is hard to tell, and yet... that around the stone seems strange. Warped, perhaps. Wrong and different. He was unfamiliar with radiation, with radiation poisoning and its effects--he could only tell that something was wrong with Amazon's body, with the bacteria within, particularly where it lay near the stone. It was not healthy--not like it should be--as if something were making it ill.

"You may be dying," he conceded. "There is something wrong, but I do not know what."

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Amazon