One by one they broke away, choking on the fungus that littered their faces; one was faltering, even collapsing. The others could still breathe, and they had spent precious seconds tearing deeply at the softest parts of Tahi-shei, rending for his lifeblood.

If he died, if he fell into his stone, if he did not--they did not know: their minds were full now of colors and shadows, and even Mother behind them could not see through their devastated senses. They slashed at thin air, lifting into flight with horrid screeching, circling; they made only passing slashes at Tahi-shei.

One still lay deeply asleep.

The Dragonbats had performed their task admirably, regardless: Aethereal was well and truly gone, though whether the Witch of Winter would return to her remained to be seen. It was a shame, however. These had been a powerful, if short-lived, asset.

@James @Tahi-shei

gore

death

but he'll get better

There was so much pain. It was white hot. There was blood pouring down his throat in rivulets, staining his fur and the pretty, green grass. His head was light again, and he clawed out for magic -- desperate for something, anything, that he could use to save him. He could feel that pain in his chest, though, as magic pulled up to meet him. He fought against it, desperately. Desperate for something, anything -- he couldn't chrysalize. Not yet, not here, not so close to the finish line -- he had to win, he had to beat them, he had to be there for James.

If only he knew how close James had been to potentially being able to save him. If only he'd known how close he'd been to saving himself. Magic, desperate magic, clawed its way out of his throat with a defiant scream of pain and fury.

He was screaming, and screaming, and screaming -- but there was gemstone everywhere. Ametrine cracked up around him, stuttering and slow at first, halted for mere moments by his sheer defiance, but he simply did not have the force of will to deny it. Tahi-shei Deimos, for all his bark and bite, did not have the power to kill himself, even if he might have wanted to. No scream of defiance would save him, not now, not as the gemstone hugged him and pulled him under. It was like that cold water, he realized with a shock like lightning and fire.

This was what he had been afraid of.

Please, he begged, unsure of who he was speaking to in those last, terrifying, eternal moments before oblivion. Please, not now. I have so much work to do. So much. Please, I can't, I can't -- please let me keep going. Just a little longer. Please.

But the universe was uncaring, and his stone did not listen.

Tahi-shei will emerge from chrysalis on January 28th.

@james

James had broken into a canter at the sound of Tahi's screams, ears pinned. Thoughts raced through his head, anger at himself for leaving Tahi to die, fear of that fact being true, and his hatred of Mother becoming ten times worse.

"TAHI!!", he cried, tears welling up as he pushed his injured leg to its limits.

He came into view of the other and saw his body disappearing into his chrysalis, letting out a frightened whinny (but deep down he was relieved, because if Tahi was going into his chrysalis, he'd heal and come out perfectly okay). He flapped his wings to balance, letting himself fall in front of the chrysalis, his lover's head having disappeared.

His head butted against the chrysali and he sobbed, wings spread out across the turf as he wailed, grief-stricken and hatred like an axe threatening to fall. He knew Isra was coming to kill the bats and finish them off, unable to to such a thing himself even though he knew the creatures were dead already with Mother haunting their minds.

"I-I'm sorry," he whimpered, pressing up against the chrysalis and pressing his cheek against it's surface, "I'll finish this. I promise you."

Small little fungi sprouted around the chrysalis, little brown and white toadstools reminiscent of the mushrooms Tahi tended to summon with his own spells. A few glowing ones dotted between them, colored pink and blue for his own magic colors.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

James soared past her at some point and she raised her pace to match, leaping over James as he crumpled before the chrysalis; she dug claws into stone, perched at the top of the ametrine as she hissed to ward off dragonbats. They had nicked the stone and even James, but it was a good distraction for the snakes to each zip out and grab hold of one. Three for three. Their venom did not work very fast, by design, so the dragonbats joined their fellow on the ground; except while that one slept peacefully, these ones writhed against searing pain and wild hallucinations.

Isra hopped from the chrysalis with a loud thud, walking slowly over to the sleeping lesser to let all three snakes get a taste of that one. After a moment of watching the others flop and roll against the venom, her attention shifted to James. He was pretty fucked himself, if she had to be honest, but she was surprised how much grief could blind one to their own pain.

But he acted like Tahi—oooh, she had met that one—had died. A big paw shuffled the dying lessers away into a large pile, where she set fire to them with blue-black flame, much like her own, except its burn was cold and chaotic. Their cries were shrill and loud, but so had Tahi's been. Ugh. At least Cepheus could go back to being nice and quiet after this. Hopefully.

Eh. So this is what Dontacael had sent? The smell was rancid as they burned, a web-like crystalline structure fighting against the destitution of the bodies, but ultimately failed as they slowly became ash beneath the flames. Her attention returned to James, noting the mushrooms he had summoned around the chrysalis.

"So you guys are fighting Dontacael's Hive?" she asked casually, as if his boyfriend hadn't been mauled to shreds just now before their very eyes, ribbons of flesh slowly rotting into oil around them. She wondered if Dhracia knew he had infected the nest; well, probably... but still. Disgusting.

@James

James looked up and nodded, eyes rimmed with red from crying, his back bloody and leg aching. He let his head fall against the chrysalis and took a moment to breathe now that they weren't actively fighting against dragon bats or massive creatures like Aethereal.

"We've seen what it does," he said tiredly, "Mother is what it calls itself. She's been in both of our heads and tried to take control of us, once. There was a fight in one of the tunnels from Ursa, where a great golem tried to kill Azigh- a guardian of another cave, I think, and tried to infect those of us who came to his aid. The caves opened up, including Cepheus."

Slowly, he stood up, using Tahi's chrysalis to lean on as he stared off towards the Pegasus tunnel, exhausted. He heard Darling fly towards them, landing a few feet away and honking quietly, head tilted.

"What are you, Isra?", he asked, looking towards her, "What creature are you, and what is Aethereal? You are old and wise, so apologies if I am wrong that you would know."

"Mother...?" she echoed quietly, turning the word around in her head. Did he really call himself that? That was too rich. She hid her amusement as James continued the explanation, nodding to his information to show she was listening.

"Ah, the recent earthquake," she grumbled, remembering how unsettling it had been. Thankfully it was an easy cleanup. She did find it concerning that Dontacael seemed interested in overtaking the nest. Why this one, anyway? It was old and dead. Surely there were more active nests available. Or maybe that was why? Did he think nobody would notice? Did its recent activity attract him...?

As James stood, she almost turned to leave—she was done here, and there was nothing more they could do for the chrysalis—when he asked what she was. What creature was she? Oh, she was old and wise, was she? She'd smirk if she had the lips to.

"Valkhound," she answered, not knowing what else to say for that.

"And we are BA! Si! Ra!" hissed the snakes from behind her. Isra ignored them, but they felt the need to be included too.

"Who is Aethereal?" she asked when they were done. She didn't recognize the name.

@James

James looked off towards the tunnel, "Aethereal was the one who we originally came to try and stop. She was an infected being, though not as completely as these creatures. Thankfully we weren't too late, but I'm afraid Mother brainwashed her and convinced her that she's 'good'."

Now came the job of actually convincing her otherwise.

"I think that she may be a Valkhound, if that's what you are," he said, "Large, otherworldly, and powerful. Hm, I wonder if Vargas is one then... I'll have to ask."

He waved a wing at Isra and clicked his tongue, calling Darling over, "I need to go. There's much to do with Tahi down for the count."

Much indeed.

He cantered off on three legs, flapping hard to get himself into the air, the lack of speed making it much more difficult. He pushed down the pain using a bit of magic and turned his head.

"I'll be back for Tahi-shei!", he called out, "I'll try not to intrude as much as possible!"

Darling took flight and honked as she joined him, the two headed for tunnel F to attempt to talk down the runaway monster.

Exit James

James explained Aethereal, but the only interesting part was that Dontacael had seemingly tried to hijack a Valkhound. He had a moment of thought, called the hellswan over, and then prepared to leave. As he took to the air and called down to her, she remained silent. Well, he could visit this side of the river as much as he wanted.

It was Ba, Si, and Ra who called after him: "HEY??" "YEAH NO PROBLEM!" "YOU'RE WELCOME, ASSHOLE."

The flames of her eyes raised slightly. Oh, they were upset.

"Let's go home then," she said to them gently as they hissed and spit after James. Yeah, a thank you would have been nice, but she'd remember this. James had been polite and respectful before. Maybe he had a lot on his mind? Hm. She turned and left the knoll behind, crossing back through the river, returning to the palace.

Exit Isra