PALLAS
they say it started with a big bang

Pallas had never been here before.

In reality, he wasn't sure what drew him here. After meeting with that strange crab, really, he'd been hanging back and watching. Learning from afar of the inhabitants of the caves. It was a fine life for the living anxiety machine.

He was curious when he trailed someone travelling where the air was on fire. Pallas hated it, but something in his twig bones told him he had to find out. People don't just wander down this tunnel.

He was more surprised to see the mass gathering of Gembound. Confused, Pallas tried to peer around the many legs before finding an open spot and watching from afar. Interesting.

His anxieties simultaneously shed and heightened as he trembled forwards. Those things on the wall. He came out of something like that. The gem resting on the back of his tongue weighed heavy as he watched the others around him stepping forward.

Well, he wasn't going to risk his life.

Instead, the little linsang retreated, his tail hovering over the ground as he scrambled up a rock a fair length away from the crowd. He's good out here.

Claiming the Desert Rose, please! Exit Pallas

Teal eyes peeled open as magicka flooded into the chrysalis.

For a moment, he was groggy. Hairline cracks penetrated the shell and harsh light leaked in. For a moment, Labradorite Five-Four-Six forgot where he was, and who he was, and what he was meant to be doing. But that much was simple. He was here to survive by any means necessary.

Five-Four-Six's limbs ached, but it didn't stop him from moving, shifting in his chrysalis. Although he had no idea how long it had been, he still wished that hibernation could have been longer, that he could have been in there forever.

But no matter. He'd done this once, and he could do it again.

As the creature hoisted himself up, the mottled labradorite shuddered and fell away. Half in part to Five-Four-Six's own strength, half to the Masked Merchant already cracking it open, forcing him awake.

Thick, brightly-coloured dorsal fur was visible first, emerging from the gemstone. His back heaved for a moment, as if he were about to vomit, before the creature's slender, fox-like head lifted from green-blue rock, blinking blearily in the light.

He lifted himself out, an agile, ethereal figure that was much too long for any reasonable mammal, his long feelers trailing the baked sand as he turned to regard the crowd, still half-adjusting to the light. His massive, bushy tail flicked back and forth behind him.

"I am Five-Four-Six," he said in a voice hoarse with disuse. "Labradorite." Like the emerging, ancient gembound before him, he too seemed to think it was totally reasonable to be addressed by gemstone and an assigned number.

The long creature slowly stretched himself out, his joints popping back into place quietly. As he glanced over each gembound in turn, he estimated that most of them would likely be dead by the time this was over. They looked... inexperienced, perhaps.

Better to get it over with, he supposed.

It had taken enough time, cycles perhaps, but Reseda had eventually managed to escape that fucking hole that Dread had trapped her in, that Envy had kept her in, and that she could never escape from, on the account of the two keeping an annoyingly close eye on her. But when they'd foolishly slunk off to gather their little kingdom, she made her escape - boulder by boulder until she'd made for herself a nice little exit. And off she went, back to Canis, back to her bones.

It was all in bad timing, perhaps, that the one burst of fear and anger that the berry child had caused her to feel had opened the doorway for so much more. If she had been in a better place when it had happened, perhaps she would have felt the good things. But in that stinking hole, where she had wasted away for many cycles, she only felt those emotions that dragged her further and further down, namely anger and hatred towards her captors.

And now that she was free, she felt a profound sense of emptiness. Without that anger to wallow in, what did she have? Bones, really, that was it. She had spent the last who knows how long just chewing bones like it was her last day in the caves.

Until now, of course.

Seeing that group of gathered gembounds had sparked her interest. She had slunk after the cautiously, quietly, in case on of the Seven were lurking in their midst. Even as they gathered, she stayed at the back, quiet, until she had a measure of who was entering. Only a few she recognized - that little lizard that Envy took after so much and Giggle. She glared at the hyena for a moment, wondering if she would tell the Seven of her location when she left. For now, she stayed in the shadows, observing, but with every intent on entering the cave. There was no doubt in her mind that she would make it through. And whatever reward this Merchant bestowed on her, she would use it to destroy the Seven.

A pale pink chrysalis was given life once more, magicka stirring the creature within. It had laid in it's chrysalis for innumerable years, too old to count. Had it's inhabitant been aware of what was going on, it would have felt relief at the peace, the constant of trials at an end. Had it been given the choice, it would have protested being awoken. But it did wake.

And waking up was not gentle, nor welcome. The walls of its sanctuary, covered with thin cracks crumbled in on it, too soon. The pale pink shards of it's chrysalis scattering to the hot stone floor. And Five-Two-Four was forced awake. It shifted till it was able to put weight on its hooves, and stood from the remains of its chrysalis, shaking the flakes and shards from its turqoiuse hide.

It peeled its eyes open, the bright light nearing painful. Five-Two-Four stepped from the chrysalis with unsure steps, still groggy, and did its best to stand at attention. Its eyes scanned over the assembled gembound, watching each with a sort of cold detachment, mentally cataloguging each's use, if they had any.

Its eyes fell on the Merchant, and something in its mind clicked into place, filling it with an empty sense of dread. Memories, if you could call the murky things that, flooded back into it, muddy scenes and emotions without context, blurring together. It snuffed out the troubling thoughts with a stomp of it's hoof. It knew what it had to do. It turned its attention to the assembled gembound. It opened its mouth experimentally, testing its voice with a hum, before speaking.

"Hello all, I am Quartz Two-Five-Four, you may call me Ru." It ducked its head in a short bow, and turned to the Merchant with a tilted head. "Are we to go again?"

The Masked Merchant listened closely, and he observed. Some wanted to join; some turned away. He made no comment on this. Others were arguing, or even discussing him with suspicion. He did not comment on this, either.

He turned, instead, to watch the first cracks and shivers of the many-colored chrysalises beside him. It seemed that nearly all of them answered the call--almost all of them would partake.

Good.

He looked back to the gathered, and he was about to speak when the black Opal addressed him."Am I to die?" He looked back down at it, his hollow voice rasping a response to it, first. "A trial commences. As before, performance... shall dictate survival."

The Merchant then looked back to the rest, claws steepling together from beneath the robe. "Are you... all prepared?" Of course, a few of the past Champions had yet to finish hatching--but that hardly mattered. They could pull themselves together quickly enough.

@Mayngo @Styx @Yoosung @Naja @Asimona @Amazon @Reseda @Vincenzo @Shango @Imp
@Opal Three-Seven-Six
@Quartz Eight-Six-Zero
@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine
@Labradorite Five-Four-Six
@Agate Two-Three-Six
@Desert Rose Thirty-Five
@Lapis Ninety-Five

The Eye Agate shuddered next, as though the question of readiness-- rather than the burst of magicka -- finally awoke the slumbering creature within. The stone cracked, and with a great force of effort, a pair of webbed limbs burst free, sending the chrysalis shell scattering. A feathered head rose, sharp golden eyes piercing out at the world. Like the others, they did not seem so much confused as much as assessing the situation; as though this was a familiar moment, and everything was starting to come back to them.

It took the ancient stone reborn a moment, tail swishing as they freed themself further from the cocoon. There was a beat as they assessed the gathered creatures, slowly rising to their two, spurred feet.

It seemed as though they were a little bit late, hm? They shook out their feathers, stretching their leathery wings wide once more, and a crooning laughter squawked from the gembound's throat. "I, Agate Two-Three-Six, accept your challenge, oh Harbinger of Death!" They declared brightly. "Those unprepared best get out of my way, haha!" They sounded almost thrilled to be being thrown to their potential death again. It helped that they didn't expect to lose.

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine's ears flickered back, dark eyes finding the somewhat pleasant sight of a Desert Rose --- it guessed rather precisely which of the Champions lay inside: a creature small, swift, with a wingspan that could swallow all light. There were, of course, other vaguely familiar faces emerging from the chrysalises, but that one provided the most opportunity for temporary alliance (besides the silvery-pale dragon.)

The trials would proceed as normal, and it chirp-squealed to attention, "Garnet Five-Seven-Nine, prepared for the Trials."

It would run, as it always had and always will.

DESERT ROSE THIRTY-FIVE
here's to my yesterday

The sandy, chunky chrysalis was late to shudder and break as its resident regained consciousness. Inside the material sound was muffled, only to be blocked out by the deafening silence in the creature's mind.

It was time to break free.

35 could almost hear his bones creak as his wings involuntarily reawoke. Thick dorsal scales splattered onto his flesh squeezed against the barely translucent structure as blue eyes shot open.

The chrysalis barely cracked. In actuality, it practically exploded as a powerful leathery wing shot out perpendicular to the chrysalis, bony spurs acting as the thumb of the bat-like limb.

The short muzzle of 35's head was the second thing to come into view, followed by a craning neck, followed by a graceful tumble out of the cocoon. 35 was quick to glance around the room, quickly taking in the information of the gembound before him before turning to the desert. His wings folded close to his body as he stood on stubby legs.

Looks like they were doing this again.

The dragon's nostrils flared as he stepped forward, recognizing a few of the creature's around him, still calculating and observing the others.

He had to do a double take when he saw his brother. All at once, his decade old muscles stiffened as his padded tail ever so slightly thumped the floor, his pupils expanding. His brother was alive. Hopefully they would stay alive and complete this trial, just as they had done so long ago.

When the bird-turtle spoke up, 35 was quick to snap back into focus, his head turning to the speaker with large ears pricked. Ah, looks like he missed the introductions. Like a graceful snake corgi, 35 padded closer to the odd, familiar hybrid and more into view, head held high in a heightened excitement. "My name is Desert Rose Thirty-Five," he directed towards the crowd. Ah, how young they were. They were going to die the moment they stepped foot in Hydra.

The desert dragon turned his head towards the Masked Merchant, pupils returned to black lines among a circle of sky. "And I will survive."

Exit Desert Rose?

Lapis Ninety-five

Oh, you fool, there are rules, I am coming for you
Darkness brings evil things, oh, the reckoning begins

Lapis Ninety-five was awakened by the sound of other chrysalises breaking, nestled within her chrysalis of deep royal blue. from the outside, it was quiet, giving no sign that the creature within was stirring. She came to with an ache of a thought, exasperated, like a faint sigh.

Here we go again.

Lapis Ninety-five had been quite enjoying her slumber. But she supposed, the time had come for the trials to begin again. And she was ready. The coiled creature remained still despite the extreme discomfort of being coiled so tightly. She had to think. To plan. To listen. She could hear faint voices outside. Things moved. Challengers, perhaps? No matter the case, it was best to have the element of surprise.

Lapis paused, preparing.

Then a moment later, an echoing crack could be heard from the large chrysalis. It began to break, but one more push was needed. Lapis flexed, and felt her prison give. Shards erupted around her neck as it rose from the ruins, a hooked beak with its stripe of blue, closely followed by hooked foreclaws and long, long legs. After slowly turning to examine the rabble assembled around her with the scrutinising eye of a stern headmistress, Lapis Ninety-five stepped carefully, elegantly, from the desecrated ruins of her chrysalis and onto solid ground.

At 13 ft tall, she was an imposing creature, glancing around with a hardened stare towards each of the assembled beasts in turn. Even dripping with amniotic fluid she moved with elegance, and an aura of disdain clung to her every motion. She did not have high hopes for this bunch. No matter. Her gaze finally settled on the masked merchant, and did not leave him.

"You," she spoke, her voice a low hiss, guarded, but not disrespectful. A moment later, she tossed her head, raising her beak, and moving without a second glance forward, to take her place ready for the trial.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

It was time to awaken.

Life stirred from within the chrysalis. It began to crack, splinters running down the sides, as the creature inside shifted. It wasn't long before it broke, revealing the creature inside.

He rose, standing at a towering nine feet tall, and looked at the ones gathered around. Some he faintly recognized, and others he had never seen before. They seemed...so young. Were they truly ready for this? He couldn't help but feel concerned for them.

He looked around some more, and his gaze landed on the Masked Merchant. His eyes narrowed. It seemed vaguely familiar, and he could almost recall having seen it during the trial. But as others spoke around him - past champions, he realized, much like himself - he did as well.

"Quartz Eight-Six-Zero." He continued looking around, noticing he wasn't the tallest here. His gaze landed back on the Masked Merchant. "Are we doing this again?" He wasn't exactly thrilled about going back into the Trial, but he supposed he didn't have a choice now. No matter. He'd won once, he can do it again.