The fight had been short--surprisingly short--and brutal. And its outcome was incontrovertible.

As the Hive of Cetus went up in a smoldering, crackling ruin, Mother's influence slipped even from those who were a part of the Hive. Oh, she was still there--lurking, like a bad dream (or perhaps, for those loyal, a tantalizing, bittersweet promise). But they were clear enough, for the moment--perhaps their last possible chance--to think for themselves. To decide whether to attempt to flee further into the swamp, to fight back, or to submit to the cleansing at last.

The tunnel itself was now swarmed with cleansing, grasping fungus--nothing passing through would escape its grip--and the Master of Fungi magic turned, striding now with ruby flashing at his forehead into the muck of Cetus. His gemstone glowed, and a wave of power swept out over Solis--and anyone else daring to approach from within the cave, or without.

Mother would be pulled from them--torn away--and Astraea did not bother to look back as he paced into the swamp.

___________

Gembound have one turn to further act, or react, before Astraea arrives. Astraea's arrival at the beginning of the next posting round will end the thread, after which characters will be able to react and exit as they see fit. Gembound who are not cleansed by this thread's conclusion may find themselves permanently controlled by Mother.

@Dragon (Pride, Dread, Giggle, Sergei, Legion)
@Aure (Phlegethon, Eythan, Howl, Nassir, Orthoclase-Alpha)
@Aries (Septiezal, Opal Three-Seven-Six)
@Selenite-Gamma (Serek, Pallas)
@Zyros (Aquamarine, Zelk, Tethys)
@Azrael (Shoko)
@Hera (Ischium, Artume)
@Temperantia

cw for vomit, swearing, bit of self harm... standard "howl's going brainless to cope" fare

Something twisted inside of him as the last motes of Mother's influence spiraled away - a dark hand wrenching deep in every infected synapse and artery. It moved, crawling under his skin and burning at every step. Howl shrieked beneath Aure, thrashing and gritting his teeth until his gums bled. Abruptly, his mouth was forced open, the horrid screeching dulled into a thick gargling noise as white fungus forced its way out and slopped wetly down his front, forced to crawl and fall down to earth.

His mind roared back in like static, unhindered without Mother's love and influence to keep it chained and locked away. The sound was deafening - and he tried to let it out in a croaking wail as he continued to thrash around. Howl hauled himself up by his own arms, twisting and craning his neck, screeching obscenities at whoever was carrying him: "nononononoNO! Fuck you, fuckin' - you! I - Ah - Ah'needtafindMothaAhnee - fuck yah! Fuck yah to it all Ah never want yah in ahr family!"

With all that, he was twisting his wrists until they chafed raw against bird-skin and edging up and up until... there! A solid bite around the feathery ankle rewarded by a sharp screech and loosening. Howl wrenched his arm out, then lifted it again, scratching and squeezing the other.

Moments later, Howl was in a shivering mess in the mud, pawing around frantically for her, her, her! His vision blurred, saliva dripping from desperately pursed lips. It foamed from his breaths, and suddenly bile rose. Clutching at his stomach, he upchucked whatever he'd eaten for lunch. The memory of what had left with Mother and his family and that thought terrified him.

I'm alone. The mind electric intruded. I'm aloneI'malone and no one's going to help me I need to run I need to hide I'm going to RIP MY SKIN OFF. Claws found blood and red red red dripped into the water. Mismatched eyes danced, frantically tracing the path of his hands as they itched up and down. He smeared mud in the wounds more than once, and washed it off again.

The world could be falling down around him, but here he was, curled up and entirely shut off from it.

exit howl (unless someone like.. jolts and bothers him)

At the first bite, Aure'd moved towards the reeds, barking down sharp "hey!"s and "c'mon, I'm trying to put you down safely!"s at a primate who was just unwilling to listen. Even with nothing in him, he fought vehemently to get free - vanishing into the depths of Cetus when he did. The wyvern circled after him, eyes scanning. Either the mud was too dark or there was too smog, because he couldn't find a trace of the primate.

He only hoped that he was okay.

Aure swung back towards the crowd, as everything settled, as orange raged on and ate at the verge edge of Cetus's water. Bright eyes danced around, taking a mental headcount and finding oh, thank the bones there are no bodies. He glided through a few more wide searches, before finally alighting a few feet away from his mother, calling softly, "is it... is it over? That fast?"

Dragon huffed, first narrowing his eyes and staring over the smoldering Nest, its flames still eating at the air. Then he turned, looking over his people.

"Hera," he said bluntly, to the only one who appeared wounded. "Are you all right?"

He then looked to Aure, to Pride, and went on. "I believe so. It may be best to check through the rest of the cave. I don't know how this fungus works. Is destroying the main... infection," he ventured, glancing back at the burning node--he didn't know a better name for it--"-enough?"

He then turned, glancing over his allies. "If any of the Masters come calling in the next few weeks, you avoid them if you can; and if you cannot you tell them the truth, and nothing more than that. We do not trust them--but we have little reason to piss them off. And stay near the water," he added, as an afterthought. If Nemean wanted to try and drag any of them to their deaths, let Aquarian eat her, this time.

The thought amused him.

"The Children of Rot owe you aid," Dragon said, turning back to the others, the strangers. "If you have need of us in your own homes, call us and we will come."

The others--the other infecteds--Giggle wasn't sure where they'd gone. She'd seen a few scatter off into the swamp, and she spoke up to say as much.

"I saw a few of them running off." Eyes narrowed, and her magic swept out, searching. There was still fungus throughout Cetus--that much, she could sense; but most was not this foul, thickly-concentrated stuff, and to her senses, only a few patches were moving. There were fewer than there had been: cleansed by Aure, perhaps Astraea. But there were other shapes--Lessers, perhaps, and a few escapees from this Hive--fleeing the area entirely.

She turned to face vaguely toward Tunnel H. She sent Omen that way, but she had no landmarks to go by; her magic only told her size, direction, distance, not what to look for, and she could not compare Omen's position to her vision. "I'm sending Omen to look but we may have to hunt them down. I see a couple running that way." With any luck, we'll find a cat, she thought, with spiteful malice.

She was really up for killing a cat, right about now.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

Lamia listened to the whole battle, watched it through her siblings' eyes and a sense of horror consumed her. No...this was terrible. They each blinked out, one by one. Legion, Sergei, Azrael, Howl...Pallas and Temperantia were next. Shoko would be found soon. And then...the worst moment of all, when Mother was set ablaze, her hive utterly destroyed and her influence slipping from her mind.

For a second, Lamia had clarity. She could think, think outside of Mother's control and she found that she didn't like it. She'd become so comfortable with her life - tending to Mother, feeding her, spreading her, giving her something to do other then wait for something to happen. It was so lonely down here, down beneath the waves where the fish couldn't speak. She didn't know how to walk above ground, how to breathe and survive with those that lived on the shore. But Mother had been there with her, the family had been there with her. They had made life worth living.

Without them, Lamia was alone, completely and utterly alone. She trembled and sobbed quietly at the absence of Mother's love. No, she couldn't let her disappear. She had to protect her.

There were some left, but they would betray Mother, she knew it would happen. She had to wait, wait until the fight was over, until those that were cleansed were out of her mind. She would find a new place for Mother, then, and try to rebuild.

Brothers, sisters...do not lose faith. Even if they take Mother from you, there is still a chance to return. I'm sorry, Pallas, there was nothing I could do. At least, with me, Mother will live on. They will know of the hive here - I must flee, I cannot defend it by myself. When you are cleansed and you still wish for Mother's embrace, find me. Please...please find me.

Whether her message went through or not, with Mother's influence greatly dimmed, she fell silent and mourned, alone.

Dark satisfaction blazed through Azrael as his flames blazed over the fungus, mixing in with those of the alligator's. He stepped away before he could get burned himself and turned, striding towards the group of gembounds that thought the battle was over. He didn't care that they'd been enemies only moments ago, and he didn't care what it would look like with him storming towards them, looking positively murderous when they had been fighting only moments ago.

"WHAT ARE WE SITTING AROUND FOR?" he roared, furiously. "IT'S STILL OUT THERE. THERE'S MORE HIVES!! WE NEED TO GO AND DESTROY ALL OF IT BEFORE SOMEONE MAKES IT GROW AGAIN!!" He smoldered, furiously, light bleeding out of his eyes and nose, anger so powerful that magic was activating almost unconsciously. He wanted to burn and tear and DESTROY that thing but the fight was already over. He'd barely got to fight at all, let his anger out, and now they were talking like it was over?!

"Where are the rest?" he snarled, turning around. "Are they all cleansed or can I kill one of them?!"

The panda hadn't even gotten close to Howl before, suddenly, he was being thrown in the air. She skidded to a halt and watched with wide, horrified eyes the scene that played out before her. Howl's cleansing, his screaming and fall to the ground. She wanted to go to him - help him, return him to Mother but then she'd be going towards the ones that had caught and hurt him.

She skidded to a halt and made to change her course when, suddenly, something heavy crashed down on top of her. She yelped and struggled against them, her face forced into the mud. She tried to glance back at who it was, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered!

Nothing mattered because Mother's control was slipping from her mind. Desperate, she reached out for that influence, that calming, orderly mind that had been with her from the beginning, but it was fading fast and it slipped from her grasp.

Tears collected at her eyes. "No, no Mother! Come back!" She wailed into the darkness and struggled, trying to twist around and push the fungus she carried towards her attacker in a last ditch attempt to save herself, but she couldn't. They were too big, too strong, and she was too young.

She cried and wailed and screamed with fear because Mother wasn't there to protect her anymore. She could feel her, like the ghost of a memory, but she could think for herself, think clearly and it was torture.

Pride, unlike the rest, did not relax the instant the fight seemed to be over. He was scrambling backwards, staring wide-eyed at Azrael, preparing for further battle. He didn't know that the demon-creature had been cleansed--he knew only that it had been blowing fire, and then there'd been fire everywhere; that he'd been blinded, temporarily.

But now it seemed to be on their side, and the stag--though his guard remained up, and tense--relaxed just a little.

"I don't know, but it may be worth searching them out," he answered, bluntly. "I don't know much about this fungus, either. I was asked for help, and there wasn't time to explain it all."

The stag glanced around, uncertain. He did not want to cast here, in Cetus, when he didn't outright have to; and anyway, there was no saying if more might lie in ambush, waiting. He'd conserve his energy, then.

Pride turned, and moved vaguely back toward the entrance, though only a few yards--peering in the direction Giggle was indicating, but not yet. "We aren't many left," he told Dragon, sidelong--and then paused.

Nassir was here--black in black--but where was Reign-? "Where is Reign--our cheetah?" he asked, abruptly, worriedly. "REIGN?" he called, his voice swallowed by the mists.

Dread paid idle attention to the burning nest. It was good, that it was burning, and he roared at it, taken up in the feel of the heat flashing against his hide. It was a shrieking bellow, intense; he was content.

The dragon then plodded forward, ignoring the rest, turning his back briefly and feeling his magic lashing through him. His tail rose, his entire body moving in a muscle-driven, serpentine wave that brought his head up, then down, a ripple of momentum passing along his spine and down along his tail, gaining strength: until his tail, sweeping high, came slamming back down with all the power of his magicka behind it.

Beneath the power of the strike--and the magic behind it--the dragon's tail slam cracked a hole in the earth below: a great fissure that gaped suddenly, trembling the mud and splitting wide. The remains of the burning Hive began to slip, with all the dirt, the water, the dead trees, the reeds; and the ground all around began to collapse down inside it.

In moments, all that remained of the hive had vanished, falling away into the newly-opened hole, filling it, the mud pouring in and smothering it completely, until all that remained was the swamp--as if it had never been.

He turned to Pride, then.

"I WANT MY GEMSTONES NOW," he demanded.