As soon as he managed to wind himself out of the labyrinthine Monoceros, the hybrid had stolen toward the core to make amends. In his furious grief, Eythan had rejected the thought of giving his brother a proper burial, leaving his body among the bones and escaping with a skull in tow. He was, unfortunately, completely unaware of the unfortunate loop of history that stone had followed. It wasn't as if the griffin hadn't grieved. Oh, he had wept over the aquamarine in his little alcove in the ceiling. Yet he refused to allow it peace. Not after what its previous owner had done.

It was in a moment of clarity that Eythan had realized that it wasn't the stone's fault. Each and every creature in the caves was truly bound to their bones, unrecognizable beyond them. He was bound to his own bones, just like Carcino had been. Just like Mau had been. It was just a matter of how they were seen into, the honor they were given. But, it wasn't his place to determine that; he'd be a hypocrite if he did. Bonecasting wasn't his forte, and likely never would be. His mind operated all too physically, preferring tactile activities above all others.

His wings shifted a little in the wind, coasting delicately upward toward one of his alcoves. Nestled in the rock, just where he had left it, was an aquamarine skull. The horn sprouting from its forehead glistened in the light, claw marks within it stark against the smoothness of it. Surprisingly, Eythan only sniffed at the sight of it. Alighting in the den, the griffin sneered at the stone. "I still don't think you deserve it, Carni, but ---" he reached out, hooking his talons in the skull's eye sockets, "--- but I'll give your stone the proper burial it deserves. Has deserved, for so long." Eythan nodded, mostly to himself, convinced that he would want his stone buried as well. Any that had to suffer through two lives should rest, taking its time to rebuild. Distantly, surprisingly, he wondered where Kesil and Bremen were. The duo were rather troublesome, but they had just been kids when he disappeared and took their father along with him.

They would be fine, he assured himself.

Leaping from the alcove for the last time, Eythan carried his brother's stone to the river bed. One swift glide later and he touched earth once more. "Sleep well." And that was all he wrote, delicately placing the skull into the rushing river current and watching it tumble down the stream. He fell onto spotted haunches rather solemnly, sighing. That was one less skeleton in the closet, he supposed. Carni's still dead, though, he thought quietly. Glancing down to his talons, Eythan sniffed again, I miss him. From before. It was a selfish thought and he quickly banished it with the shake of his head. Not in public.

Clearing his throat and coughing away a sob, the griffin stood abruptly and edged closer to the river. Perching delicately at its edge, he stuck his beak in and took a sip.

@Amras

Far above a lone figure flew, oblivious to the funeral below. This was the first time since what might have been the fall of Pride that Amras chanced visiting this room. He had to know though- what was the voice, how was it related to the Spire, and was it a threat? In order to even approach answers though he would have to get stronger, much stronger, and perhaps in doing so unveil the path to answer much harder questions.

Everyone knew that they were greater gembound from the day of the emergence, but why were they greater gembound? What granted them sentience, and in a possibly related question what granted them magic? If everything originated at the Spire then was that a result of chance or could it be that such a mass of magic indicated a sentience vaster than their mortal minds could comprehend? Pride had tried to use powerful magic to scrape the answers from its source and likely would have lost everything had it not been for the eldritch influence of the voice.

While the deer was likely to take the most direct route to try to uncover the answer to their questions Amras had a different idea. He now knew there were at least two entities, sentient or otherwise, that resided outside their ability to interact with in a normal way. If he could figure out how to protect the mind against the ill effects of trying perhaps he could eventually confront them directly while managing to walk away unharmed.

The gryphon's flight path lowered to just a little ways over the river's surface as he brought his talons out, palms up. This spell was unusual in that it seemed to try to assault the casters mind. If he could perfect its use perhaps he could use the techniques discovered to move on to more dangerous territory without fear. He could already use it when standing still but trying to maintain it in flight would be a whole different level.

As Amras focused on the spell all other sights seemed to evade his attention, even the lone figure ahead he would soon swoop past. With no ground under his feet the Time of Darkness manifest differently than usual. Dozens of small black orbs or darkness sprung into existence, immediately chasing after him, leaving a smoky trail behind them like blood diffusing in water. One by one the orbs caught up, clinging to fur and feathers like tar almost seeming to feed off the flesh as the amount of shadowy smoke they produced increased exponentially. Right on time the internal magic in Amras kicked into gear, radiating light from within that, while unseen across his roiling black from shone clearly through his silvery eyes.

With his form completely engulfed now all that was left was to maintain the balance for as long as possible, even as he flew above the water's surface like a wraith of darkness.

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Eythan
notes: None

The funeral had continued, as he sat in solemn silence — watching, waiting, for something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, aside from the slight headache the constant buzz of the Spire provided. Eythan had just begun to ease onto his elbows when there was the slight flutter of wings. Feathered wings, judging from the whispering sigh each beat provided. His bright eyes shifted upwards in time to see a bright blue creature swoop by, unmistakably like him. Winged, with talons and feline hindquarters. A bird-like face. Muted shadows coalesced behind it, trailing eagerly. They greedily swallowed the creature save for the eyes and slight glimpse of a glowing stone.

He wanted to follow. To race.

His heart had already begun to pump with a lively sort of adrenaline as he stood and took a running start. Eythan's wings carried him into the air with ease and he swiftly tucked in his limbs, streamlining himself as he picked up speed. The shadowy dart above the waters was quite a ways away from him, but nonetheless, he'd press on and stay consistent. He hadn't really seen the shape of the other's wings, but he presumed they were more for speed than stamina and gliding. As such, he'd just have to wait long enough to put on a burst of speed and outpace the stranger.

In terms of that shadowy dart-form, the hybrid smiled to himself. He could do that, too. But his magicka sputtered and he frowned. Eythan called out to the stranger, "I can do that too!"

@Amras

At first Amras seemed to ignore the other figure, or at the very least didn't note its presence. Talons stayed locked in the casting position as he soared above the waters, eyes gazing unfocused into the distance. He had to hold this as long as possible, provide power to both the light and the darkness with equal measure. With each passing second the exact balance needed shifted ever so slightly, making it all the gryphon could do to stay airborne while juggling the mixture.

One thing was for certain though, this spell was not the voice, but it was entirely possible that the imperfect casting at the tournament had made him more prone to the voice. What purpose then, did this magic have that it would manifest itself in so many gembound all at once?

An outside noise pierced the shadowy barrier, interrupting Amras's thoughts for a split second- just long enough for the balance to go off the rails. Shadows surged as not enough power went to the light component, engulfing the gryphon completely as the lights of his eyes went out and he started to plummet toward the waters.

Luckily for him the Time of Darkness was not without built in safeties. As the shadows encroached upon what felt like his very soul the ration of magic to them cut out on its own. Even as they reached out like a hungry flame there was suddenly no fuel to feed them and in an instant they sputtered out, falling behind like a dissipating cloud of smoke.

The gryphon's wings tilted sharply upward as his talons scraped at the water's surface, his flight mere inches away from flinging him into the flowing river.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. That was good for an early attempt. he thought to himself as he started to gain some altitude again, finally taking note of his pursuer. A gryphon?! This was only the second time he'd ever seen one of his own kind before, and near the water as last time too. Was his species meant to be one of sand and water rather than wind and stone?

"Greetings!" he called back, leveling his flight as the river wound under them, "I'd wager you're probably more skilled at it than me too. I'm only just beginning practice with its mastery."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Eythan
notes: None

The aeneous hybrid chirped in warning as the cobalt stranger plummeted slightly toward the river, swooping lower to the river's surface should he need to grab them. Fortunately, the shadows gave way and the gryphon adjusted so that they were safely coasting above the waters. Eythan smiled as the creature took notice of him, and he would have waved had they not been flying.

All previous negativity was forgotten. Distracting himself and moving forward was serving him well in denying everything and simultaneously accepting their occurrences.

"I fuckin' doubt it," he laughed, deliberately shouting a little louder so that his voice carried forward. "I can barely control my own magic and shit. It just happens on its own." Banded horns sputtered to life as he tried to call upon his magicka again, giving off an effervescent glow. But, of course, nothing came. The gryphon rolled his eyes but put a smile back on. "My name's Eythan. What's yours?"

@Amras

The blue creature's brows rose in a smile as he rose further into the air to close the distance between the two of them. From here he could start to see some of the similarities and differences between them. The seemed to be about the same size, perhaps with the other slightly larger, but possessing a shorter wingspan. They didn't seem to have any problem with flight though, perhaps due to the wing’s wider shape or some shared aspect of their species that allowed flight in the first place? They also seemed to possess a feline coloration rather than the parrot-like neon colors that Amras sported. They also had actual full feathers on their body! Not just on their wings with down feathers and fur everywhere else...

That must be nice in colder environments.

"You aren't alone in that, magic is a beast that seems to follow us around from emergence. Sometimes it listens to commands and sometimes it just does whatever it wants to." he offered, speaking above the rushing wind that flew past. Whatever kind of gryphon this other creature was it was definitely friendly. A welcome distraction from training his mental fortitude.

Amras took another deep breath and held it, his talons held tight against his chest. The rod in his forearm began to glow ever so slightly- a white light that shifted to cyan as the gathered magic migrated to his lungs and mixed with the air held within. Slowly he exhaled, ghostly light blue energy on his breath, and flared his wings just in time for a soft breeze to pick up.

Perfect execution, no so fast as to blow them out of control and not so slow as to do nothing. Just enough to keep them stable in their glide like a smooth diagonal thermal.

"It's good to meet you, Eythan" he spoke again, softer now that the winds carried them rather than them having to fight the winds, "I am Amras, researcher of the twelve forms and champion of the last magic tournament."

The title actually felt kind of nice now that he was starting to get over the trauma of that day's events. He could understand why the wolf who had held it before him had defended it so emphatically.

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Eythan
notes: None

Eythan appreciated the lack of distance between himself and the other gryphon; he wouldn't have to yell quite as loudly and strain his throat, then. It seemed that he was being checked out by his new companion, and he couldn't help but to snort at that. So, apparently this one hadn't seen another like themselves (in a while) either. "I wish it'd listen to me," he cackled, quietly envious of his own father's mastery of it. If only he had been so blessed in being born in literally the furthest reach of the Caves and still being a masterful user of magicka. Oh well. He had, unfortunately, teeth and claws on his father. Bah.

He watched as the creature called upon magic, an energy filling the air and an easy breeze riding through the duo and ahead of them. Envy surged, but Eythan shoved it down in favor of being a better person---er, Gembound. No need for that shit, was there? Instead, he forced himself to be grateful for the thermal. His wings fell into a gentle curve, easily catching the wind and carrying him above the river. "Oh, same to you---" he stopped to listen, "--- Amras!" Okay, that just sounded overly enthusiastic and fake. Dial it down, boy.

Eythan cleared his throat, hiding it behind a rather obnoxiously large wingbeat. "Magic tournament? Right here, right?" Regardless of if he received a response after his pause, he continued, "wasn't around for it. My little brother, uh, shattered my pelvis on accident. I was homebound. He participated in the tournament, though, I think." Then, with a slight shock of thought, the hybrid really begged that the gryphon wouldn't ask for elaboration. Damn his thinking about the funeral he just hosted and visited.

@Amras

A younger brother? Once again here was a gembound who possessed a kind of family. The question though was if they were bound by a parent as Li had been or if they had simply hatched near each other like many of the greater ones who claimed siblings bonds.

Amras decided better than to pry on such matters. Family was family no matter the root cause. He might not have any himself but that gave him no right to bring others into question.

"Somewhere around this room anyways. You can still find the resulting strange spiky wall if you look around long enough."

Should he get into the warning on that one? Most likely Eythan had no vested interest in the event so no need to make himself seem crazy by talking about tortured voices from nowhere.

"Sparring accident I take it? I used to engage in that too as a change of pace from my usual practice, but my partner has been preoccupied with something else for a while. Won't tell me what it is but I assume it's important if he's cloistered himself away as much as he has."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Eythan
notes: None

"Makes sense, y'know," Eythan chirped nonchalantly, "this being the center of all magic. Shit makes the flow of time tick, y'know?" As if, of course, Gembound had a physical concept of time. Clocks hadn't been invented yet, right? The spotted hybrid just raised a brow --- the closest approximation to a shrug one could get to mid-flight --- and glanced to the side. "I'll have to keep an eye out for the spiky wall so I don't run into it." It was rather surprising that he hadn't seen the obelisk, considering he had been holing up in the Core for so long.

An insincere laugh broke through his beak, followed by a soft "yeah." But, he truly was grateful to whatever higher power there was that no further elaboration was required. Eager to change the subject to the parrot-like gryphon's companion, Eythan sighed almost wistfully, "sometimes it just be like that." A "y'know" almost found its way into the punctuation of that sentence, but he clipped his damn beak shut just in time to stop it. "I'm sure he'll come around again and tell you all about it, whoever it is."

Then, out of nowhere, he quipped: "would you like to have a race? No magic, just good 'ol fashioned wings and skill? I usually don't meet others like us." It was an honest point. Surprisingly, bird-cats were pretty rare nowadays. "There's my half-sister Remedy, but she's disappeared into the fuckin' woodwork like everyone else. And my brother, but he---" he paused, thinking, "doesn't really count." Not because Carni was dead or anything but because he didn't have a beak or talons. He had been, more or less, a cat with wings.

@Amras

Like Eythan, Amras was a bit relieved that no further details were needed on his casually mentioned topic. One day he might go back and study the runed surface, but until then as long as it was left alone as much as possible it could probably be safely ignored.

The magical breeze began to fade as the blue gryphon stared down below, wondering what his sparring partner actually was up to about now. Last time they had spoken the wolf had been on a mission from one of the ancients and was gathering a search party to look for some kind of hybrid creature. "Hopefully so, I just hope he isn't getting in over his head again."

The ground began to approach the pair as the last of the spell fizzled out, prompting Amras to move his wings once more to keep up speed. Just as he was about to take another breath to refresh the spell, however, Eythan suddenly proposed a challenge.

A race? It seemed fun but not at all what he had been expecting from the chance encounter. That would, however, be a very good approximation of a fair sparring match between the two of them.

Wait, Remedy? hadn't that been the name of the other gryphon he'd met here cycles ago? How rare was their kind that the only other two he'd met were related?

"A race sounds like fun! First one to where the river meets the wall?" Amras shouted back over the renewed wind that fought against their flight. "I actually met Remedy back when a storm took over the Core, although we didn't have too long to talk. Hopefully she'd just hibernating around here somewhere."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Eythan
notes: Sorry on such a long delay!