Shango followed along, doglike, content with his hovering Wisp. He didn't mind the heat, so much, and he immediately sprang up at the sight of one of the dust devils in excitement, bawling "STOOOOORM!" in approval.

He did not, however, like the dry air. He wanted storms; he wanted rain. He wanted to go into Hydra and make water fall, and thunder crash. And he wanted to do another trial, too. Shango had little else to do, no other goals--well, nothing other than to return to the three stones to which he'd prior given life. But at the moment, he still saw no danger: he wasn't really smart enough to, nor had he been unlucky enough to confront any of it in the prior trials.

Oblivious, then, the poor hybrid pranced up to Hydra's entrance, and sat to peer out, listening intently to the Masked Merchant. He tried, as he did so, to summon a second wisp to join the first. He wanted a few circling by the time the trial started; this new magic he'd been taught seemed to be able to throw quite a few of them, all at once. Neat!

This will be fun. Good. Stooorm, were his only thoughts.

Imp was... everywhere.

Just yesterday, he'd been painting over some of the carvings of Canis' west wall, or rather, adding color to them--and what he called "rudifying" them. That meant, adding rude body parts, other Gembound and so forth in an attempt to make the already-ridiculous images even moreso.

Nemean featured prominently.

He still had the small, stolen box, within a bag, of colored (glowing) chalk, but for now he stowed that away and glided closer to listen.

Imp was, after all, a trouble-maker at heart--and any gathering of Gembound was a prime opportunity to make some trouble.

...Okay, so potential death didn't sound quite as appealing. But, FUN was good. And somewhere, deep down, beneath all of Imp's frivolous playfulness, lay something else. He had a deep-seated if hidden motivation: orders, long ago, from his father--his instructions, given way back in Cetus. "Imp," Dragon had told him--or had it been his bat-father, Tal'at? --No, it'd been Dragon, he was pretty sure. "Imp, go find information, and knowledge, or something. So we don't die. And always remember that uhh, survival's probably important."

...Imp may have not remembered the exact wording.

So--here he was, ready to dive in and learn what he could--and maybe learn something, too, about survival. Then he could report back to his dad. Dragon would hopefully be proud of him! "Let me join! I'll join!" he clamored, waddle-crawling quickly about to try and shift his way toward the front of the gathering.

Indelia had wandered for a few cycles alone. She didn't really know where to go, and wandered everywhere.

She had been in Canis when something in particular caught her eye. A group of gembound, following...something. It had intrigued her, moreso than anything else she'd seen recently. She thought about leaving, and not following.

A second later and she was going after them, wondering where they were going. It didn't take long for that question to be answered. They were going into a tunnel she had never seen before. She followed.

The tunnel was hot. Hotter than anything she'd felt before. She almost thought about turning back, but she persisted. It's not like she had anything better to do. But still, the heat and wind were terrible. She felt like she was going to be knocked off her paws!

And as the group finally stopped, she listened to the one leading them. And immediately frowned. A trial? Death? She did not want to die. She was still young! There were many gembounds to meet, even if she hadn't actually done much to meet them. But the chance was still there.

But if she did this...she wasn't sure she'd live. So with just a brief moment's hesitation, she took a step back. "I followed out of curiosity. And boredom. But hearing what might happen...I can't do this." Another step. She looked at the chrysalises, wondering where they had come from, before she turned tail and fled.

-exit Indelia-

Speech. Thought.

ooc: claiming the smoky quartz

Kalama was prepared. She followed behind the Merchant, dogged and impatient, clambering over even as the harsh heat beat down on her dark feathers and wind whipped at what it could reach, mixing feathers with grit and sand. Her beak was soon parted in a pant, a mixture of pure anticipation and the sheer heat of the tunnel. She'd win. She knew she'd win. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

She eyed the chrysalises briefly, her gaze lingering on the pink one in particular caught her eye-it reminded her of the one she'd found. Were they related in some way? Not that she'd ever use a chrysalis. That was a cowards way out, she was not afraid of death, she was too crafty to succumb. She'd become even more crafty once she won.

She noticed a familiar crocodilian tail, and turned, instantly recognizing Imp. He still had a full neck of mane, much to her irritation. But he was one of the few people here she knew. She resolved to prove she was better than him in this trial, even if their fight had gone not... as well as she'd planned. She narrowed her eyes, and turned towards the Merchant. She meandered her way through the crowd, following Imp, and made sure she was at the front of the gathering before she spoke.

"I, Kalama, will participate. There is nothing in there that will kill me." She declared, as loudly as she could, attempting to one up all those who'd chosen to join the trials. If she said the words, they would have no choice but to become true. All the gembound would know her name, and her bravery, for when she'd come out victorious. This was where she belonged, where she felt nearly unstoppable. She puffed out her feathers, and stood as vertical as she could, head tucked to hide her ruff of down, to show herself as the beacon of courage.

Speech. Thought

Kalama is NOT entering and selects the the star rose quartz as her stone.

Death...?

Having the challenges spoken aloud, implying and directly stating that death was a possibility, made Eythan's ears flicker back with hesitation and uncertainty. Bright eyes moved to and fro rather shamefully, for he had failed to find any stones to aid in the opening in this cave. Regardless, he had come to see what the deal was with this barrier (like a good little Bonebound, right?)

"I'm not going to participate. There's too much at stake for me," he chirped with a bow of his head, his justifications hurried and tumbling over his beak. His gaze shifted over to Kalama, standing at attention. A child. Maternal instinct kicking into overdrive, he furrowed his brow and placed a paw in front of her. "Don't you dare go around thinking stupidity is bravery, Kalama."

Wow, unexpectedly wise advice, huh?

adopting the garnet!

The kitten hadn't come.

The caves-damned kitten hadn't come.

It had taken him a bit to realize, but finally he had noticed that there was no tiny blur of black. He had sighed in nothing short of sheer exasperation, but kept trotting--he was already on his way, after all, and there were so many Gembound that he didn't want to let go on their own. So he kept loping with the crowd, a Will o' the Wisp floating beside his head.

He listened as the Masked Merchant spoke, and sighed. 'Yeah, I'm gonna die.' He was definitely going to fucking die, wasn't he?

"I'll go." and that was that.

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

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

Naja couldn't say he had ever seen so many Gembound gathered in one place before.

They were trailing behind a large, robed, masked figure unlike anything that he had seen before, and he drew himself up, tongue darting out to taste the air. 'Oh, what is this?' The massive cobra began to slither, following along at the tail of the gathering, contemplating what might be inside this new Cave. It was new, yes--he had explored all of the caves in his Cycles, and this one was one he had never before seen.

As the Merchant began to speak, he worked at coiling himself, all thirteen feet slowly rounded until he was a heap of scaled muscle. It was definitely interested and, while there was a threat to himself, it would be an interesting study. So he drew himself up, tongue darting out to taste the air, and spoke up, "I shall."

BLACK OPAL
now is the climax to the story that gives the demons and angels purpose

After laying dormant for eons, a beautiful chrysalis, an opal of murky black, began to crack open. As the walls crumbled away, viscous slime poured through the gaping hole. Something long and purple lay coiled within. Strange yellow lights flickered on its skin at it stirred to life. Suddenly a tentacle, no, an eyestalk popped out. Blinking, it swiveled around, looking from one gembound to the other, then to the Masked Merchant, before disappearing back in. The slithering mass squelched as it oozed unto the floor in a pool of mucus. The owner of the eyestalk lifted his head from his gooey coils, his three, budging, groggy, yellow eyes blinked wearily at the new company. His fish-like jaws split open into a yawn.

"I am... awake." He croaked.

The eel-creature turned towards the Masked Merchant while keeping his eye stalk trained on the others. The fins on his neck flared anxiously as he stood up. He had the Merchant's full attention now. "Am I to die?" He asked him, almost too casually. The slimy gembound glanced at the other gembounds, regarding them with suspicion. "I am Opal.." He closed his eyes, remembering. "Black.. Opal Three.. Seven Six... yes, that's it." He cracked them back open. "Who.. are you?"

Bones had been fairly content in busying himself with painting, as he always did. The discovery of dyes had led him to create so much more,with all sorts of colours.

His favourite, so far, was a dark red dye that glinted like magma underneath, swirling on the wall.

When the dog turned his head, however, he saw a figure lingering, and others gathering by. With absolutely no idea what was going on, he picked himself up and approached to listen too, with his paws streaked different colours.

Bones was no stranger to fighting. His back hurt every day from it. He didn't like the thought of it and better yet, Giggle-- his mother --was raising valid points. There were thousands of bones in Canis and they had to have come from somewhere.

The painted dog shuddered, and shook his head. He picked himself back up without saying anything and returned to his painting.

i'd like to adopt the labradorite, please!

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine had laid dormant for ages long gone, perhaps serving as a memento of times to come. Cut off from magicka's flow, it had been forced into a hibernation just beyond the reaches of Hydra. Sweet release, really --- it might have simply cooked inside of its chrysalis otherwise.

Not that it would have ever known.

But, now, magicka flowed again, and the caves stirred. There were beings outside, casting muddled shadows on the light seeping into its vision. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine simply squinted lazily into it for a moment as its consciousness caught up with reality. It was time, again, to awaken, to run, to survive.

With a simple, effortless kick, the tiny chrysalis split down its middle, smooth carmine portending a muddy brown thing. The creature stood at once, shaking itself best it could with a keratinous shell covering its whole back. Small wings fluttered a few times, spraying membrane and amniotic fluid all about.

Brown eyes fell dreadfully upon the looming figure in the crowd, languidly recognizing. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine knew that figure from somewhere, but only at a distance, picking up after the fallen with a rather cheerful fervor (at least, for being sort of a Reaper.) It was not wholly familiar, though --- not so close.

It scuttled forth and turned to the nearest Gembound, a large, white dragon. Those large wings could serve as a useful lift, and those hand-claws seemed easy enough to disengage from as needed (the color was far too bright for any stealth where the vultures were involved.) The creature craned its neck to peer up at the dragon, and chirped casually, "I am Garnet Five-Seven-Nine. What's your number?"

As if nothing were wrong with being known only by your stone and identification number.

@Asimona