Septiezal had no time to answer Dragon, it seemed, before Serek came bolting into the clearing. Dragon flinched, again startled by a sudden entry; his jaws opened reflexively to spew a billow of flame but he stopped himself an instant later, the same jaws clapping shut.

He stared, for a beat, then again began to bellow.

"SEREK? I THOUGHT YOU HAD RETURNED HOME. I SOUGHT YOU--WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? WHAT ARE YOU FLEEING?"

Dragon assumed that perhaps the hybrid from Canis was fleeing the source of the wailing--perhaps he knew more than they?

OR HIS HEARING IS SENSITIVE AND IT IS CAUSING HIM PAIN, the alligator thought to himself.

Loudly.

He wasn't aware that the fungus was a new development--or rather, he was, but not that it had happened mere seconds ago. He simply peered blankly at the youth, wondering where the hell he'd gone the last couple of cycles, and just what it was that he was fleeing.

He paused, then, before following Hera and Cecei, and waited to see if Serek or Septiezal had anything new to offer. Given both of their states of apparent panic, perhaps the source of the wailing was causing them frantic hallucinations of some kind..?

Dragon's magicka swarmed around him, buzzing protectively as it actively fought against any impending disease, more out of instinct than any real sensing of a thread. The alligator wasn't even really aware that he was doing it. "BE WARY," he roared to the others, "IN CASE IT IS DRIVING THEM MAD!"

Brother.. The alligator had called him brother, and knew his name!

There was another who called out to him, a small serpent, legless, like he once was. Sister...

The scents came back to him like a flood of memories. Dragon, Sizzle.. He looked around at the others. They're faces were unfamiliar, but he knew their scent. It hit him like a boulder. He was Child of Rot, and these were his brothers and sisters. This was were he belonged. For the first time in cycles, Septiezal felt.. safe.

The serpent relaxed looking around at his family. Oh, how he missed them. The shrieking trees.. he should investigate. If the foul creatures were indeed trying to lure him, the Child of Rot would be by his side. Septiezal turned his head to Dragon and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a four-hoofed beast crashed out of the undergrowth, howling like monster. Septiezal's eyes grew wide.

"IT'S THEM!" He shrieked. Icey terror flooded his veins, but this time, he among friends.

Septiezal reared like a giant cobra and spat scalding bile at the hoofed-hybrid. The hooved beast will not break his bones this time! It would not break anyone's bones anymore!

"speak"

@Serek @Sizzle @Naja @Ceicei @Dragon @Hera

Hera's flight burst into a clearing. Lost to the mist, deep within the swamp, stood a titanic tree that towered over the rest.

Known as The Divine, its roots were twisted, like writhing bodies, and faded drawings were carved on it here and there.

Here, the wailing was the loudest: here, it seemed to echo from the rustling leaves of this giant tree. And each wave of pained whisper-cries echoed out in waves from the trees all around, radiating out from the Divine and into the rest of Cetus.

In Hera's mind--and Hera's alone--the wailing suddenly erupted into deafening volume. Then it stilled, throughout the wood, and a mournful, pained, feminine voice spoke.

"Please... stop them..."

The forest, abruptly, fell utterly silent.

Any other Gembound approaching the Divine will also hear this message echo in their minds as they arrive. Gembound may investigate the Divine to try to find the meaning of this message, should they hear it, or should Hera choose to share it--or the source of the cries.

@Cecei @Serek @Hera @Sizzle @Naja @Septiezal

Hera flared her wings, slowing as she came into a clearing. There was a massive tree before her, with faded carvings and twisted roots. The wailing seemed to be coming from it, and she shivered, rustling her feathers.

The bird shrieked, wings locking up and plummeting a few feet, as the wailing burst painfully loudly in her head. And then, suddenly, she could hear a voice into her head.

'Please... stop them...'

Spreading her wings wide, she caught herself moments before she could slam into the ground. She whirled, and fled back towards the gathering of Gembounds. Ignoring Septiezal, she perched on Dragon, and gasped, "Dragon! It's the Divine! The tree is in trouble!"

@Dragon @Cecei @Serek @Septiezal

Speech. Thought.

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Another Gembound appeared, and then Dragon was yelling at it - calling it Serek. Naja drew up, flicking his tongue out at it, tasting the air. It tasted of fungi and old bones, and fur and dirt. It looked faintly like the deer he had seen pass by him, but also not, and dull curiousity tugged at him.

Perhaps, after this was all over, he could convince what was clearly a hybrid to stay and speak with him, so that he might learn more about it.

He watched as Dragon followed after the crow - Cecei she had announced her name to be - and the Golden Eagle, who had called herself Hera. Then the mutant snake attack the hoofed hybrid, and the King Cobra again tasted the air, making out the acid in the attack. Oh, now wasn't that interesting?

@Cecei @Serek @Septiezal @Dragon

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

And then, well, everything went to pot.

There was a wild, but familiar, scream from afar, one that wasn't one of the ones that had drawn them. Her head snapped up to face the noise, while the blackbird took off flying, the Golden Eagle taking off as well.

Dragon was yelling, as he always did, addressing - "Serek?!" before taking his leave. And Septiezal was attacking Serek, and she yelled "Septiezal, stop!"

As Serek stumbled into the presence of the others, he heard a number of voices cry out and before he could react, someone spat a glob of scalding hot bile right on his face. He shrieked again and stumbled back as the fungus and skin burned. He shoved his face into the ground to try and quench the flame and scrape off as much of it as he could. It seemed to prove at least a little bit effective as the pain dulled to a hot throbbing instead of an active, fiery burn.

Finally, it had calmed down enough for him to be coherent again. He stood there, panting, staring at the other and realized that his whole plan for following silently had failed them. "Hi," he breathed heavily, not really sure what else to say. This was awkward.

He glanced towards Dragon and suddenly felt a wave of shame roll over him. He was being stupid, wasn't he? Of course Dragon would have looked for him, but Serek was too lost in the swamps for the alligator to find him. His head bowed shamefully. "I'm sorry to make you worry. I'm not fleeing anything I'm just...uh..." He searched for some explanation for his strange behavior but he just wasn't creative enough to come up with anything reasonable.

But at that moment an eagle he had never seen before came swooping in, calling about how there was something wrong with the Divine just as the forest went silent.

Serek's stomach dropped. No, not her! He shot forward towards the great towering tree and as he got closer, he heard the works speak in his mind. The voice...the voice of the tree! The voice of Cetus! She was here, she was real after all! Warmth spread in his heart and tears came to his eyes. He leaned forward to press his muzzle against the rotted bark of the tree, eyes closing slightly as he did everything he could to connect himself with the tree. "I'm here...I'll help you...tell me what you need."

@Dragon @Hera @Sizzle @Naja @Cecei @Septiezal

The alligator turned, eyeing Septiezal--enthralled as he was in his own twisted memories, it would seem. Dragon bellowed.

"BROTHER. They are not our enemies. Come, we must--solve this--" but before he could get any farther, Serek had already galloped away into the swamp.

With a huff, Dragon did his best to summon up his magicka. Shadows and red light coiled around him, twisting horns sprouting from his skull, wings flaring out, batlike, and billowing as they caught the wind. He launched into the sky, and rather than gracefully twine his way through the trees, he began his vertical hovering--heavy tail hanging straight downward--after Serek.

He didn't care, still, how he looked; he was flying and he loved every second of it. He roared, as he went--"Come! Let us see what has happened! But use caution; it may be a trap."

As Serek touched himself to the Divine, he would feel his magic take hold--followed by utter, choking pain. He was being eaten alive, from the inside out, a burning, tearing sensation destroying all that he was... gradually.

He could not move; he was trapped in this form, in bark made solid, and beneath it all he could hear the clicking skitters of a thousand thousand tiny feet.

A whisper permeated his mind, in the here-and-now. They are everywhere. Please... get them out of me. They are consuming me. Please, help me. I will share with you my memories, if you do this! A sense of desperation, of a limit reached--agony and fear. Frustration.

The magicka fell away... but the skittering continued. A beetle, its shell shining in rainbow hues, skittered from within a hole in the immense tree's bark--and then back out of sight.

By the sounds of it, there were many, many more.

@Serek @Septiezal @Hera @Sizzle @Naja @Cecei

The others screamed for him to stop, but his spell had already been cast. Septiezal cringed as the hot bile splashed all over the newcomer. He did not remember Serek's scent, bit Dragon called him "brother". He trusted the alligator. Septiezal glanced over at Sizzle, then Dragon, then back to Serek, giving them looks of confusion and guilt. "I... sorry.. the hooves...I'd never.." he stumbled, unable to find words to explain his actions. He pulled himself inward, wringing his claws nervously. He could have sworn it was the monster.

Septiezal didn't have much time to dwell on it, as Serek raced off into the woods. Septiezal slithered after him, along with the other children. Eventually, the Divine came into view. Serek and the eagle, Hera were already at his gnarled roots. Septiezal raised his head high in the air and flicked his tongue. He tasted the bitter scent of beetles, and as he crept close to the tree and timidly placed a claw on its trunk, he could feel faint skittering, as if there were mice under the bark. He quickly pulled away and gawked. "...What in the eight caverns?

"speak"

@Serek @Sizzle @Naja @Dragon @Ceice i @Hera