Asimona stepped forward as Pride spoke, eyeing the skull that he'd moved just a little bit. To be honest, she didn't really care much that the lizard was dead, only noted that this stag was apparently powerful enough to walk away from a fight against her the victor. She'd seemed strong, very strong, and she had, after all, survived the trials. Although Asimona wasn't surprised that she'd been a problem to the Kingdom - she'd been one of the few to sabotage her competitors.

"Displaying her bones over the throne seems a little grim, though," she commented. "She was a problem and you dealt with it. Putting her bones here sends me the message that you're going out of your way to harm. Unless you are..." she glanced back at him, but her words fell away quickly. No, he didn't seem like that kind of person and the word about the Seven wasn't one of a malicious organization.

She shrugged and turned back to the skeleton. "Well, I guess it's not important. What is important is what in the caves happened with these bones." She reached one of her claws forward and rested it on the skull, trying to pull some hints from its past about this magic - if it had been tampered with, where the magic had come from, anything. The magic, however, fizzled and died before it even made halfway through her body from her gemstone. She frowned. "Uh, I guess my magic doesn't feel like responding right now."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Pride
notes:

Pride mulled this over, briefly.

"Harm... no. At least, not innocents. But those bones are a warning, and I hope, enough of an example that no one else will be foolish enough to follow her path of bloodshed. They say, 'the last one to walk into here with an innocent in her jaws, making demands against their life, was killed readily and we are happy to have done it. The next one will end the same, and the one after that, eternal.' Some may consider that grim. I find it... honest."

He spoke without emotion, matter-of-fact--almost indifferent; but he seemed neither hostile in any way to Asimona, nor as if he expected her to be so, in turn. And despite Garnet's rather odd assumption that Pride and Asimona were cowards, Pride showed no fear. He seemed to simply trust that the dragon were as reasonable a being as he imagined himself to be, and--with only social calm and curiosity--he paced up to stand beside her.

"What is it that you are doing? Perhaps I can help," he suggested. He stretched his own magic out, even as he offered, though it was merely a check as to what was present on the bones--and he found nothing. "Either my own magic wants nothing to do with them, either, or there is no magic left in them, now," he reported. "But do you have any other ideas?"

@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine

Perhaps milquetoast had been too harsh of an initial judgement of these Gembound; blissfully ignorant seemed more fitting. They, it seemed, could not possibly know of the (literal) trials and tribulations of the past. If everything was in this much of a ruin --- not that the Champion knew what an opulent, glimmering city Orion could have once been --- it must have been eons since it was last awake.

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine ground its beak. Maybe they weren't cowards. Maybe it was overthinking. Existing in a quiet time did that to one, it seemed. Ears pressed gently against its head. Perhaps it was... smart to enjoy the seemingly lax nature of this time. To wander wherever they pleased.

Its heart thrummed against its ribs once more, anxious with the concept of free will, agency, being without a purpose --- if only for short while.

The Eye of the Overseer tucked its legs beneath itself, sniffing. Listening still, it drove those thoughts away. Compartmentalizing was a key aspect of its coping mechanisms; thoughts got tossed into a box, stomped on to fit, and the box slotted into some unexplored part of its conscious.

It had a purpose, for now. To serve the Overseer by learning all there was to know about those who spoke ill of the Masters --- so that he may dole out punishment as necessary. This was the way. This was its purpose.

@Asimona

Asimona stared at Pride for a moment, a little confused by all the assumptions he was making. That other people would even pick up a little bit of the message he thought he was sending. She glanced back at the bones and, after a moment of thought, she supposed they could mean that, but it was kind of a lot. "You know that most people have no idea whose bones those are, nor what she's done. You're overestimating the message this thing is sending. When I see it at least, I don't pick up on anything you just said - all I see is a full skeleton draped over the throne, not unlike the trophies the Bloodberries used to decorate their tunnel. A warning, yeah, but to who? To enemies? To innocents? Maybe it is just a trophy, to say 'we are dangerous and we will kill you because we can.' There's just too many ways to interpret it."

She blinked when she realized how much she said, shaking out her neck to clear her thoughts. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get up in your business like that, but I can't help it." Needing something to do now, she lifted her claws again, closing her eyes this time to focus more intently. A rush of magic poured through her body and sparked at her claws, the diamond on her back glowing a bit with the strength of the spell. "I'm looking," she murmured. "I'll tell you what I see in a moment."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Pride
notes:

Pride glanced to Asimona, his gaze steady and what looked like humor in his eyes.

"Ahh... but you asked," he replied, and there was definitely amusement in his tone, if refined, if subtle. "But, please; do not apologize. An honest opinion is always welcome--and too few, these days, are concerned with the details of morality. It is good to see."

Then he took a step back, with a brief incline of his head, as if to offer her her space.
"Very well," he answered smoothly, and fell silent, to allow her to concentrate on her magic--and on the bones.

His gaze swept slowly over them, wondering what the hell had happened.

There was a feeling of magic building, swelling, almost overwhelming. And then the dam of memory broke, and washed Asimona away.

A vision of flesh, of skin wrapped around bone.

The green glow of peridot gemstone.

A shaggy creature, red-brown and spotted; a young white wolf, speaking. "I'm gonna turn the lights back on."

A long, serpentine shape, a silhouette in the darkness, and it, too, spoke: "Anyone home?"

Shifting black fur, another wolf, a snarl in its throat. "THIS, is why everyone should be afraid of me." Reseda, growling back: "Teach me... so we can both be feared."

The wolf, again, growling; a goose hissing a warning, "This is my place now. Leave or I'll rip you to pieces!" --and then the tumble of bodies, the surge and flash of magic...

Another serpent, smaller, darker, its words a soft and pleading hiss. "You were mighty."

A gangly creature, white-wooled, crooked-toothed and drooling, and Reseda's sharp voice. "...You're the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. You won't have any power or respect or love. You don't deserve it, fool."

A kitten, newly-hatched, and now the reptile's voice was sinister, threatening. "You have three choices right now. You can leave now, in peace to spread my name and fear. You can join me and pledge your life to my service. Or you can die now in terror." A scuffle of violence; and the vision bled into the next.

A cloud of choking fungal spores, and fierce magic lashing out, crushing them.

"I am Reseda, dragon of the bones," and there were bones, everywhere, and a young bird-

"Have you found anyone new to join our empire?" The black wolf again, leering, grinning-

A startlingly clear vision, shapes gathered in just this place--before the Throne; Reseda, a rodent-like creature, a gaunt black horse slicked with illness. The horse's rasping voice echoed. "I think it is the past that I hear, and feel. I believe the throne... was perhaps made by slaves to a long-ago king. But I cannot be certain."

Malice. Trickery. The goose, from earlier; a moose, Whispers and magic in the dark. Hidden gemstones, snapped up glittering into Reseda's jaws, stolen away.

A white fawn, pushing up from the remains of a glittering diamond gemstone, similar stones across its throat--peering around, unsteady on its feet. Eye contact. Silence, long eerie moments of it, while they stared at one another.

Reseda's voice. "The others in this cave are weak, visionless, rude little beasts. We can show them that they're wrong. That we should be respected and feared." A tiny creature--weasel?--chittering in answer. "That's right, that's right! Worms, all if them!"

"What you must find is light: creation, lizard, and enlightenment. You have a dark shroud over your mind. It will be driven away with light. With understanding. Inspiration--perhaps companionship. I don't know that, either, not for sure. But what must change is you." It was the hyena speaking--that same spotted creature; and nearby lay the white fawn, listening, silently attentive.

The moose--the moose whose stones she had stolen--the moose fighting, a flash of magic, the snap of bones-

Again, the white fawn--this time in the glimmer of the Spire, twisting his head, magicka flaring. A Reseda, flying into another Reseda--and his voice, overlapping, time blinking and shifting away. "Thank you, for teaching me."

Her voice, blunt, calling out. "What and who are you? And is it worth my time to stick around?" A massive creature, fire glowing beneath iridescent scales, serpentine, beautiful.

A tiny bird--a child, barely-hatched--and Reseda, speaking to it. " If it is not impertinent of me, then I would name you... Lust. Yes, if you so desire, that could be your name. It would fit you well."

A serpent--again--and it is large, but its voice familiar, if choked with emotion, with hissing pain--"Why do you train these mongrels? For what?"--a flash--"What is happening to me, mama?" And Reseda--"I train them because they are useful or may be useful. Also, because it is good to make the lesser creatures happy, make them think they are on your level. -You are growing, sweet one."

The images grew faster. More blurred. Spinning, one into another, maddening to try and follow.

A puppy, hatched; the bird called Lust, curled up against her; a great gathering of Gembound, crowning the weasel from earlier, atop this very throne. "I will submit to your leadership." "Who are you, to come into my home." A flash of red eyes. "You are certainly different from all the other idiots roaming the caves, aren't you?" A distorted, terrifying voice in Orion's dark--D̸̳̼͐̍ͩ̌͊̽̃͘O̞̹̽̓ͬ͐͛̊͛͟N͂ͫ̾ͨͬ̆̐̒ͯ͢͏̟̹͎̩̭͇'̷͙̫̱͓̙̹͉̎ͥͫ͒̉̓͆͟Ț̖̈́ͭ̍͢ ̙̼̣̳͍̝̖͉̒̒̆̃L̳̮̻ͭ̾ͭ̈́̈́̅ͤ̚͘E̱̦̘̼̥̘̙̖͙͊̔́T̢̘̭̻͙̙̐̄̆ͮ̋̓̑̎͌͝ ̵̴̞̘͓͉͈̞̏̄ͭͣ̀ͧ̂̓T̷̯̅̎ͥ̇́̄͐̕Ḩ̟̪͐ͬẸ̏̎ͭ̑ͤͫͅM̷̹͍̻̠͖̪͙ͪ̒ ̭̫̪̜̬̱͐̃͋͛ͩ̊T͍̙̼̱̠ͧ̐̍̑͐ͭͨ͒Ȧ͓̥̤ͧͅḴ̸̟̹͈̗͐ͣ̈̀͡Ę̳̯͔̻̦̮̀̔͒̍̇ͬ̅͜ ̨̮̰̮̜̺̉̋ͮ̐ͮ͢͢ͅM͓̹̣̖͚̱̫ͣ̊͊ͥ̿ͩͭͅE̦͉̖̣̞̍ͨ͛̅ͯ̔̚!

-...

Reseda, laying atop this very Throne once again, surrounded by bones not her own, chewing them. Cloak and hood, impossibly tall, red dots for eyes-- "Tell me, what is it that you value above all else?" "I am Greed. I value everything and I want everything." A tangle of violence. Blood, the scent of it, the red of it, the moose lying there dying, a bone driving into his face, whispering--"I love you Blackberry. Forever and always-" as his eyes glazed over. A moose body, lifted, dragging, hauled, Orion now with stars glittering and the Gembound stared at her, many eyes, Pride and the weasel and a dragon--a vast black dragon, one Asimona knew, perched atop the Throne--"You hear that, Dread? As soon as Envy is done with you they will cast you aside. They will take all the shinies they have given you."--and they were turning on her, and she was fighting the black wolf, and he was speaking, "You believe you are close to being king, eh? No, nobody will bow down to you as you hope. And if they do your reign will be short-lived. Fear only goes so far in a leader, you have to have some form of empathy. Some amount of awareness of emotion." The cloaked figure was there, and he was placing a golden collar around her neck, and she was speaking to the little black kitten, "I am going to kill them now...and if you stand in my way I will kill you too!" and bloodshed--it was always bloodshed--and the kitten was running, burnt, fur matted thickly with blood--

And there she was. And there she was. Asimona, wings spread, the desert beneath. Baking sun and raw survival, so near to death. There they all went, trekking across the dunes, the dead lying behind them. Vulture and marsh, flood and salt. Images of blinding light and shimmering mirage.

Hydra.

She was waking--Reseda was waking; the little lizard Amazon was there, voice kind and bright. "That's a very nice name!" and then her squeaking, her demanding to be let free, but Reseda would not release her--and now she was in Orion, here again, it always came back to here! Always back to the Throne, the thing the lizard wanted and only in death had she gained it, and Amazon was pinned beneath her foot. Her voice, mocking, taunting, threatening: "Try to do it. I dare you. Of course, if you do anything to me, it'll happen to her too. I suggest you quiet down now and do what I say, unless you want your friend tossed in a black hole. Ah, and right after she found the cure too." Pride. The weasel--green, now--Livius. Taunting back. "Grovel to your king, Reseda."

Magic, flares of it, blood.

The body, lifeless now.

Death.

Decay.

Bones, bones on a throne, bones lying on stone.

Bones alive--lifting, dancing, behind Pride where he lay.

A life, in an instant; overwhelming, perhaps. A flood of it; would it be hard to recover from..? It gave little hint as to what had animated them--no use whatsoever toward the mystery. But it was what it was.

It had been everything.

@Garnet Five-Seven-Nine @Asimona

It inhaled sharply - but quietly - and steadied itself by focusing on wedging its claws beneath itself and tucking into a sort of neck-bagel position. The peak of warmth and comfort, though its wings were still held loose at its side and hindquarters tensed to spring off at a moment's notice. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine flicked its ears forwards, though it clearly couldn't tell what exactly had caused the icy dragon to freeze up.

Only that she was 'looking.' There was a glimmer of light from her stone, but otherwise no ice or fury. Another capability it was uncertain of.

Apparently, though, as it settled, it rather loudly scuffed a few pebbles beneath itself. The sound was minute, but most certainly present. Cue hasty scrabbling and a full-on sprint away in neurotic prey animal instinct. It bounded for the much-larger cover of stones and ruined buildings. The retreat, admittedly, was much louder than the initial sound it had made.

@Asimona

Asimona wasn't expecting the torrent of memories to sweep her away. Sure, the spell had been powerful, but never before had she been torn from herself like this. Never had she been completely immersed into another person's past so wholly.

It seemed to last forever, every moment stretching through. She was living the komodo dragon's entire past...no, she was watching it. She couldn't think about it now, she was too overwhelmed by everything to formulate any kind of reaction besides shock. She saw everything and it was like her head was going to crack open, it was so filled up. At one point, she closed her eyes, but the images just kept rushing in behind her eyelids. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't take a break from it all. She had to keep going.

It seemed to last for endless cycles and, in a way, it did - the lizard had lived a fairly long life, but when, at last, she was released from it, she came to gasping, barely a minute having passed. She removed her claw from the skull and stumbled back, heaving for breath, eyes stretched wide, legs like jelly. Everything felt surreal and detached. Pride was still standing there...but was that right? He had waited for her all this time?

Her head hurt. Everything hurt. Her heart was running a marathon in her chest and it was clenching at her chest, making it difficult to breathe. She trembled and suddenly tripped on her feet, collapsing into a heap on the ground, but she didn't bother to get up. The world wasn't spinning so much from down here. She could barely feel the stone underneath her feet as she gazed forward blankly, trying desperately to hold it all in, to not lose herself to what she'd just seen, but she remembered that Pride might still be waiting for her answer. "She didn't..." she gasped, "reanimate...herself...at least..." But that was all she managed to say before her throat choked up and she found it hard too hard to breathe again. The clattering of the rocks behind her were so far away, so unimportant, that they passed through her ears and right out the other side, escaping both her notice and her memory completely.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Pride
notes:

Pride tilted his head, peering at Asimona.

"No? Are--Asimona, are you all right-" but before he could go on, the clattering of stones from behind the Throne drew him.

It wasn't that he had a problem with being watched, exactly--though certainly he'd have wanted to know just what the hell this Gembound was doing. But if there'd been someone behind the Throne this entire time, surely they were behind the bones animating-? Whoever's back there, he decided, hooves already carrying him in a swift lurch and floating trot around the stone back, must be behind this mystery.

He came around the corner in time to see a shape, sprinting away, and he had but an instant to decide what to do. Magic--it'd be magic, of course; but it was receding far too rapidly for him to get a magical grip on it, at least with his regular mental powers. Perhaps if he used a more powerful surge of magicka-... Pride's magic flared, his mind sharpening on the distant, tiny shape.

As he felt his mind struggling to get a grip, he broke into a gallop, lithe form leaping over the stone after it. "Pardon me," he called out, his voice fluting, carrying; "But might we have a word-?"

@Asimona

Garnet ran itself silly, ruby-eyes wild and searching for the best form of cover. Just as a particularly attractive hidey-hole came into view and it veered toward it, gravity sank in. It drew a hard grip on its body as it was lifted into the air. The roaring of blood in its ear grew yet louder, but the deer's melodic voice and clicking hooves stole through.

It immediately reached for its fur-burning magics, but halted as its legs continued to instinctively kick out. Stick to the plan: put on airs of being a simple Lesser looking for a meal in the apparently lifeless Orion. So, it ground its beak and continued to kick frantically away at the air, squealing and chirping away.

Hopefully this stag didn't display its bones on the throne as well.

@Asimona