Black.

Red.

These colors chilled Septiezal to the bone. Frozen with fright, he clung stiffly to the thick branch and prayed it could not see him from here.

Is this the beast that tore me in half?

It had to be. Nothing in the caves was this vicious, right? Wide-eyed, he watched helplessly as the dark candid lunged at the others, with magic he had never seen before. Its victims seemed to vanish from his sight. Septiezal thought, for a moment, that perhaps it was light magic, but something about this creature's power irked him.

Then, out of nowhere, Dragon burst into the open, surrounded in ethereal chaos. There was fury in his eyes. His brother was out for blood.

No Dragon, leave it be! Flee while you can!!

But Septiezal knew that was not in the alligator's nature. He craved battle. In entering the fray, Dragon had pulled Septiezal along with him. There was no excuse now, he had to assist his brother in rot.

Septiezal let out a hiss of frustration and leapt off the safety of his perch. Feathered wings sprouted from the serpent's back and a bright, golden aura surrounded him. Elegant, ethereal armor clung to his skin. He hoped it wasn't just or show. Twisting through the air like a golden-black ribbon, he slithered gracefully (and rather erratically) into the clearing. Septiezal loudly at the nightmarish dog, zipping and whipping around it, snapping at it, to draw its attention to him. An idea he hated so much, but perhaps it could give Dragon a chance to finally grab it.

"speak"

GHOSTLIGHT

SHADEBEAST

69 / 100 HP

The black dog-beast turned on a dime, lunging out of the way of Dragon's strike in a torrent of shadows. Then the snake-creature was there, its irritating hisses and snaps drawing blood here and there, too agile for Shadebeast to strike. It whipped this way and that, swift, aggressive--aggravating Shadebeast and most successfully drawing his attention.

His guttural growl echoed into Cetus, muffled by the mist, but impossibly loud--and he lunged for Septiezal, trying to tear the snake down from his midair-dance, to pin him, to bite savagely into him. His form was shrouded in blackness, making he himself all the more difficult to hit.

Septiezal 100/100

Pride 81/100

Dragon 100/100

Yoosung 100/100

Charoite 100/100

Selena 100/100

Shadebeast has taken 14 damage from Septiezal's attacks. Septiezal has successfully attracted Shadebeast's attention.
Pride has taken 19 damage from his own backfiring spell.

Shadebeast is attacking Septiezal.

@Septiezal @Pride @Dragon @Yoosung @Charoite @Selena

The dog snarled, dancing back as quickly as he could in the muck as he fought to stay out of the Monster's reach. As he did so, however, there was a sudden, loud thwuck, and even in the darkness he could see the white of Pride's pelt as the stag collapsed.

Side stepping, fur rising in anxiety, he was taken by surprise as a... what the devil was that? a snake with wings? slithered into sight, attempting to draw the Monster's attention. As the Monster fell for it, whirling and lunging for the snake, the dog grabbed a nearby chunk of wood which began to glow, chucking at it the Monster again.

He was no fighter, but this, at least, seemed to help, if only somewhat. It had worked earlier, at least. As soon as the chunk of wood was in the air, he was making his way to the downed stag. He stood between it and the Monster, looking back at Pride over his shoulder. "일어나! 너 죽었 니?"

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

The stag was unconscious for a moment, his mind resetting, his body shocked into nothing for a short time.

He came to, but was in no shape to immediately battle. Instead he lifted his head, looking around in a wobbling manner, blinking at the dog. Where am I? --Oh, yes. What did the dog say..? I must have taken a nasty hit-... He couldn't understand its words, but then, the world was still swimming, a grey-shrouded buzz of confusion and dizziness. He started to stand, then staggered and fell back down, blinking and taking a breath.

He looked toward the fight.

A flying snake was now battling the black dog, which was covered in roiling darkness. The alligator was rolling around beneath them, trying to get a grip. Had the winged snake not distracted the black dog, it may well have gone for him, he knew--and possibly killed him.

"I have-... seen something like this before," he managed to call out, weakly. "Be careful of its shadows! But it should be... weak to magic!"

He didn't like the tremor in his voice. Just how badly had his magic backfired..?

He kept trying, and he kept missing. The thing was distracted, now--he saw his brother fly in--fly? Oh hell, he had wings! Like he did!

Dragon let out a bellowing roar, but he could not get a grip. The monster-dog was covered in slick shadows that seemed to divert his jaws. All he could do was roar in frustration as he scrambled about in the muck beneath. Rather than the powerful beast he thought himself to be, he was feeling more a child, falling in the mud, unable to do a thing to help his brother.

"BREAK AWAY! WE SHALL BURN IT! TOGETHER!" he bellowed, furious. Septiezal knew fire magic. If he just backed off, Dragon could use his safely--and they could turn it into nothing.

Into ash.

@Septiezal

The serpent continue his daring dance, gracefully whizzing past the beast, to and fro, teasing with light blows from his teeth. He was surprised how well this worked, he thought the canid would have struck him by now. He saw that the white stag had finally regained consciousness. Septiezal had not intended to save him, but it felt good to know that he had.

Dragon's bellow caught his attention, telling him to break away. Septiezal glanced towards him, intending to do just that, when a sharp, burning pain split into his lower back, like shards of ice tearing into him. He gasped in shock, and all at once, lost concentration on his spell, crashing into mud below. His feathered wings and aura vanished into golden wisps. The armor was lie! Was all his mind conjured up in the moment.

Hissing fearfully, the serpent twisted around and arched back, spitting bile from his throat towards the Shadowbeast. Disappointingly, his magic failed to heat it to a boil. Reluctant to wrap his body around the mysterious shadows, Septiezal thrashed and squirmed, clawing at the muck, trying to break free from the beast's icy bite. Strangely, his tail was starting to grow numb. He snapped his head towards Dragon, his eyes searching for his. If they were going to torch it, they'd better to it now. "DRAGON! BURN IT NOW!" His hissed. Made of fire magic, Septiezal was no stranger to burns, he could handle what ever Dragon threw at them. He just hoped the alligator trusted him.

"speak"

GHOSTLIGHT

SHADEBEAST

63 / 100 HP

The beast growled again, furious, the sound deafening now. The forest all around seemed to darken, as if the shadows were closing in.

For a moment it leapt back, and fell still; the gem at its chest emitted a bright blood-red glow. Then lashes of shadow whipped out with Shadebeast as their epicenter, snapping like tentacles for each of the Gembound present. It was aiming to harm them all.

Those present could attempt to avoid these, or simply allow the shadows to strike as they attempt their attacks. The shadows, should they hit, will inflict searing, ice-cold pain, weakening and slowing their targets but not leaving any visible evidence of their strikes.

Septiezal 90/100

Pride 81/100

Dragon 100/100

Yoosung 100/100

Charoite 100/100

Selena 100/100

Shadebeast has taken 6 damage from Yoosung's Baubled wood.

Septiezal has taken 10 damage from Shadebeast's attacks.

Shadebeast is casting an AoE attack! Gembound may choose to attempt to dodge, or instead take 14 damage and attempt to attack.

@Septiezal @Pride @Dragon @Yoosung @Charoite @Selena

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
Selena stood paralyzed as the battle played out before her. All of her senses were confused. Flashes of light and shadow blurred across her vision. Wisps of warmth, of cold, of wind drifted past her. But worst of all was her hearing. Her name continued to echo hauntingly in her head. Not only that, but a new name had joined it. Zeno. She had no idea why his name was being mentioned, but it filled her with dread to hear it used so threateningly. In a single word was conveyed pain, hunger, and looming down towards the bat she had started to consider as somewhat a friend. It was as though her worst nightmare had came to life. These giant creatures lashed out in front of her, focused on the seemingly unstoppable canid. Mud and blood filled the clearing. Ivory claws dug dipper into the marshy earth as internally Selena pleaded with her body to run away. But just as she could not move towards the fight, she could not move away either. Instead her body was locked as though frozen into ice with wide eyes watching in terror. She had to do something! Something! They were going to die! She was going to die! She was going to die if she didn’t do something! Then at her paws came a burst of light. It shifted, flinging itself into the air, and darted towards the shadowy creature. In air it began to condense and take the form of that of a familiar fruit bat though smaller in size. Even it’s eyes seemed to glow like Zeno did when he talked strangely. The ethereal creature flapped frantically towards the dark canine, towards it’s face. Selena gasped. She had not meant to use magic at that moment. More than that, she had never before tried to form a shape other than a smaller form of herself. To have it be Zeno … it was as though in defiance at being threatened by this monster. Another gasp sounded from the feline for in her shock and confusion she had missed the streak of shade whip against her and striking her face. It felt like a dagger of pure ice had lashed just below her eye, just barely missing it, and along the side of her face towards her neck. It chilled the bones of her muzzle and deepened into an intense ach. Emerald eyes watered at the severity of agony inflicted on her. Though dazed, she found she was able to shift her weight. Her self-created spell had been broken and she found herself able to move. But to where? To do what? She yowled again deeply, watching her wispy bat creation, while assessing what could be done. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes:

The stag took a moment, his mind swimming, to focus.

Combat was still going on.

He wanted nothing more than to stagger off somewhere, and sleep, to pass out dead to the world and rest his head. But he knew that if he tried that, "dead" would be how he'd end up--or one of these poor bastards, possibly. Was he that important to the battle? Maybe not. If someone died, would he blame himself? Absolutely.

So he lowered his head, struggling to concentrate, to bring some sort of magic to bear on this enemy. He didn't even try to focus it--didn't think of what he wanted to do; he just gathered his magicka, and urged it to go.

Nothing happened.

His legs swayed, and he struggled to gather himself, helpless to aid the others. As he fought to stand, he had no chance to react when the shadow lashed out--feeling like ice tearing through him, sending him staggering back. His hindquarters collapsed, dumping him in an undignified sitting position, and a pained cry escaped him.

He ignored the shadow hurtling toward him.

Septiezal said to burn it; so he would burn it. Broad jaws snapped wide, the glow of embers flaring up from deep within his gullet.

Flame coursed out, sputtering into the misty air. He wanted to engulf the creature, but his fire missed any vital points. Still, it seemed to hit enough--he hoped--and he snapped his jaws shut after, glancing to ensure that he'd not accidentally hit his brother-in-arms (or, scales) as well.

The shadows then hit, sending him crashing back to the ground, sinking stunned in the few inches of muck. He blinked, shocked at the pain, at the strangeness of it and the cold. His naturally armored hide protected him from most things--he'd not felt pain like that since Raheerah.

He blinked again, and hissed, angrily, rising back to his feet with a thrash of his heavy tail.

He would not give up so easily.