He could feel it.

Her presence had been a dim glow in the pit of his heart for so, so long. It put off enough light to let him know that she was still there, in some way, in some form; still out there, somewhere, waiting to be resurrected and reunited. He knew she was still alive from the way she visited him in his dreams, as though in his sleep, she pulled them both back through time to the moments when she had weight. He heard her voice sometimes, a dreary echo in his cavernous doldrums that whispered smiles and peace. Her voice, a hymn that hovered between the walls of his secret temple, a focal point, a hushing hand unburnt by all the fires and chaos that whipped up a storm in his mental mountain.

Always, she sang to him--even if her syllables were but resonance beneath a breath. She was the thing that calmed him after his fury chipped away at the walls and swallowed lava. She was the thing that kept him under control, coaxing him away from the barricade of stones that thought it kept him imprisoned. She did her duty, he supposed, subduing him when he thought of scorching the mites that infested the cave. And yet inexplicably, he could never begrudge her for it. She was tantalizing, soft and delicate, a treasure nobody else could have--perhaps the most valuable treasure in this fucking shithole--and her words still retained an otherworldly possession over him even if she lacked a material body, reduced to nothing but stone. Theirs was a connection nobody else could mimic. A connection nobody could harm.

Until they did.

He felt it like pain splitting down the middle of his forehead. Like agony, gripping his heart. That thing he felt wasn't burning, wasn't freezing, wasn't wrenching or gutting. Odd, how such a thing could be the most painful sensation of all: silence.

Her songs were cut short. A wicked screech at the crux of her sweetest notes, a voice severed too soon.

Taken.

She was taken away.



That was a pain he'd never felt before.

---

Every corner of the cavern trembled. The monstrous, anguished howl was only the forebearer of what was to come next: the lashing gouts of plasma that suddenly illuminated Polaris' darkest corners. The flood of heat that singed the air with a foreboding glimmer. A hellish shriek stabbed through the ambiance of the cave, sharply increasing in volume until its origin came to light in a whirlwind of red-hot fire and spits of lava, descending from the ceiling as a burning seraph. The obsidian beast with his orange wings spread in tongues of flame. The demon of shadow and fire, broken free from his prison in Leo by the absence of his only control.

Raheerah.

"WHERE IS SHE?" the dragon bellowed, erupting into the cavern with a deluge of fury.

entering from this thread lmao sorry about the dragon guys

Black had been writhing too much in agony to react, at first, to the roars. When at least he could move, speak, it was groggily. He'd had the sense to look for cover, to try and urge Throne behind it; he didn't know what was happening, but the heat, the roars, they were all-too-familiar.

"I spoke of the great wings, and scales, and horns," and one might think that given his urgent tone, he might simply speak plainly for once; "-and I fear this strange magic that has come to me. The voice in the darkness-"

Black hastened for the nearest rocks, but the pair were quite near to the river--there wasn't all that much cover. It might hide them... or then again, it might not. "I fear I have summoned it. Strange magics--..." he repeated, and hurried on, calling on his more familiar magicka again, that of darkness and shadows. He knew it wasn't foolproof, but if it could help hide them both even a little...

Shadows licked at them, swathing them in darkness, coating the nearby rocks. It was an unnatural darkness, but he hoped that it would be less noticeable than two Gembound scurrying across the stone.

"Its roars were as loud. Should you see a great thing of claws and horns in the coming days, flee. Its wings were vast. It looked like-" Black stared as the Chaos Beast crashed through the vents, as it fell from the ceiling in a wreath of blazing flame--"-like that."

He pressed his body before the lamb's, doing his best to guard him... but he remembered the last time that they had fought, and he did not value his chances. He might be able to jump into the river, and escape, but the lamb-? It was new.

So he stood his ground, and hoped that they were hidden.

Oh, what was it now. Tyr was just vibin' in his home, a circular nest filled to the brim with odds and ends and covered by precariously balanced, rock, when all hell literally broke loose.

Dear Spire, it broke loose. Shooting his neck out and immediately regretting as heat blasted his face, Tyr spiraled back into his dim nest and wheezed in surprise. Holy fuck. What the shit was going on? Panic fluttered through his chest at the sudden gouts of flame dripping like blood from the ceiling, lighting up the surrounding area with an eerie orange glow over the blue-ish glowing mushrooms he'd nurtured and cultured, being let to burn in the wake of agonized destruction.

Tyr couldn't believe his eyes. Something... Some one crashed down from above as he begun to brave his way out of the nest he'd taken so long to build. Screeching filled every sense of his being, the ground shook beneath his feet, the air above quivered with heat. Fear lashed through the corvid as he shakily emerged.

The cry burst through his panicked mind- a demand, a call. He didn't know- who was this- where had they come from-

Heavy breathing took over the bird as he lifted off in the air. He was struck with an innate sense of literal flight or fight, eyes near bulging out of their sockets at the sight of the rampaging beast before him. Whatever they were, he could not get closer, lest he risk himself dying at the hands of the fire they'd summoned. He had to flee- had to-

He had to see what the hell this was about. Setting his jaw and gritting his beak, Tyr hovered in place as his eyes raked over the scene. Illuminated by the fires was a pool near the river- red, muddy, soon to be burnt and dried by the raging dragon, no doubt. Nearby, a place to hide- a place to get closer, to see, to watch. Sucking in a breath, Tyr dropped down from his heightened position and swooped in, praying to any deity that his streak of blue would be too fast for the dragon to notice. He was just- a gout of flame passing through. Yes. But- blue.

Blue wings curled in the unknown shadow and landed close to the rocks, the bird himself unaware of the other beings by him and taking advantage of the new vantage point to watch. He barely edged one eye over to watch with the rest of his body putting the jutting river rock between the two of them.

This was about to get spicy, but, well, curiosity killed the scientist, and satisfaction surely couldn't revive something killed by pure plasma.

everything moves in the eye of you

Only a soothing, gentle touch had acted upon the lamb - and he was lucid enough to hear the earth-shattering roars as they clamored from above. Throne's ear flickered back at the sound, though his brow had already been furrowed with a deep-seated concern for the great shadow and his agony. He had not wished for the creature to take on his own pain, and now felt at odds to do something to ease it.

Well, perhaps after they made it to the safe cover of stones - and a crystal river, if things grew dire enough. The ceiling seemed to burn, then the rest of the air. It was stifling hot, far more so than the blood that still clung to his wool and caked around his freshly-mended scars (now with a twin.) The dragon Black had described crashed to the earth, howling for the loss they were not familiar with.

Throne tucked his knees beneath himself, hunkering down as best as he could beneath the weight of the dog. "The river -" he called softly into the dog's ear, pale eye rolling and indicating. Fire could not reach them there, but they would have to cling for dear life. It was a worthy alternative to being roast Dog and Lamb Chop.

His concerns didn't seem to lie with the corvid above them.

Great, gargantuan wings pummeled the heat with merciless intensity. The dragon suspended himself in midair, in a crown of vivid fire as he leered down at the cavern, spying the disgusting blots of the cave's parasites scuttling away from his fearsome presence. They scampered in every direction, from the tiniest insects to the graceful cave deer that inhabited the room, and he wondered how many of them possessed magic and memories of him. If only for a split second. It didn't matter; his anger came rupturing through his throat a second later after he did not immediately receive a response.

He snarled and bared his teeth. "WHERE IS SHE?!" the dragon roared louder than the last, flaring his wings before diving toward the floor. Gleaming orange eyes washed over the cave in desperate fury, searching each rapidly elapsing square meter of stone for something, for someone, for anybody who might be so unfortunate to crumble beneath his wrath and tell him what he commanded--what he deserved--to know. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? ANSWER ME OR I'LL INCINERATE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU FILTHY RATS!" Raheerah's howls suffocated the room as he circled above the floor, unleashing gouts of flame upon any living thing that crossed his path. Perhaps it was counterintuitive for somebody looking for an answer, but he was a dragon and he could do whatever the fuck he wanted.

Raheerah was too preoccupied with raking Polaris for signs of life and then setting it on fire to notice the bird, the lamb, and the dog seeking shelter near the river. He left a shuddering fence of fire in his wake, even the stone itself softening under the molten incalescence of his rage.

Black did not take his eyes off the dragon. He was sombre--he knew their chances.

Those were poor.

Two options occurred to him. The first was to take Throne, and this bird?--he did glance briefly at that--and jump into the river, swim, and hope for the best.

The second was to send the two away, in the river too, perhaps, and to speak to the dragon.

Neither option, so far as he could see, boded very well for their survival. Raheerah was rapidly canvassing the cave, and he might at any second glance their way and spot them. If they wound up stuck in the river, struggling to get out, it would be easy to see them from his height and even easier to kill them where they couldn't maneuver. If Black's magic failed for even an instant...

If he spoke to him, however, he might just buy enough time. More than that, something about Raheerah's demands bothered him. Who was "she?" The only "she" that Black had ever associated with the dragon was Nemean, that tiny pink spot he'd seen for half a second after being blinded by her arrival the last time Raheerah'd been here.

Worse still was Raheerah's bellowed promise. "ANSWER ME OR I'LL INCINERATE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU FILTHY RATS!" Black took him at his word. He could answer--or try to, though he didn't know the answer--because the alternative, it seemed, was to get everyone killed, which was rather a poor move for someone who'd defined themselves as a guardian.

He glanced back at the lamb. He'd just have to hope that Throne did not drown. "Bird, I will try to speak to him--can you guide the lamb? Take him, and flee," he suggested. "Use the river if you must. I will try to shroud you."

Black focused for a moment, willing the shadows to hide the pair, concentrating the magicka to meld them with the darkness of the dips and crags around the rocks. He then turned back to the dragon, staring up--bearing his spell in mind--and bolted the other way, off toward the fire. He did not call out until he was a decent way into the cave--and he hoped that the other two had gone far enough that he wasn't drawing attention to them accidentally.

"WHO DO YOU SEEK?" he barked up, as loudly as he could.

He might've overestimated his chances. Well- the dragon didn't see him, at least. But, he seemed more interested in terrifying the whole place anyways and, well, he was doing a good job here. Trying to prevent his entire system from shying away, Tyr could barely take his eyes off of the dragon as orange flickered against his pupils. Was it foolhardy to be standing here? Probably, but just as Tyr was about to shout (to the best of his ability) back, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What-" he was quick to hiss, turning around on the spot with his heart beating hard against his gem-studded chest.

Oh, shit. There's company. Ducking down as the dragon came a little too close for comfort, Tyr squinted in fear before clutching onto the rock with his wing-wrists, pulling his head forward. The lamb- He glanced to the damaged being, taking in both of them as fast as possible. Spurred on my the adrenaline rushing in his veins, Tyr flared out his wings and began to soar in front of them, down to the earth. "Follow me," he whispered out through his whistling beak, giving a quick, fearful glance to the dog focusing. "Whatever you're going to do, don't get yourself killed." He might not know either of these beings, but he'd just had literal fire thrust onto his home and a kid at his feet.

Right, then. Forcing his muscles to stop shuddering as much as they were, Tyr turned his attention to the ram. "Alright-" It looked like they could keep up on those limbs, but that wound.. It was fresh. He wasn't lashed by the fire, was he? No time to contemplate, Tyr took the advice of the dog and carried himself towards the river. It would be a briefest period out in the open but- it was their shot of safety. He knew full well of the steepness of the shore, though, and soon let himself down to the edge of it with frantic eyes on the lamb. "Quick- I can help you down if you need it, but we'll be safe in the water!" Well, at least, he thought so. When he saw things on fire, water seemed to help, as long as it didn't evaporate before the two of them got in it. Taking in a breath, he readied himself to cast a spell of telekinesis- if it would even work on something living.

Well, he was about to find out, anyways.

everything moves in the eye of you

It would not be long before the whole of the Core was truly alight - the very bedrock of it was sparking and smoldering into the air.

Black listened to his suggestion, to get into the river before it was vaporized, and into the cool wreath of safety. Throne didn't know who it was that the dragon howled and cried for - though he didn't think it was pure coincidence that he, who'd been trapped for who-knows-how-long, would appear so suddenly and so violently. Broken-hearted and furious, beating at the air and destroying everything in a counter-intuitive search for knowledge.

When Tyr looked back for the lamb, he'd definitely find that the child had tottered away - towards the towering behemoth that was Raheerah and into the shadow of the black dog. Feeble-stepping and pressing into his side with a quiet "I cannot leave you to burn," Throne worked at his magic, calming the energetic air around them and trying to soothe some of the heat's force and painful glare.

The relief was immediate.

The zigzagging circuit of the dragon's search was fraught with a trail of flames. Raheerah's draconic roars blared through the cavern as he cut every direction across Polaris, unleashing jetstreams of burning air, the visible artifacts of his despair. She was gone. Never once, in all of his years alive no matter which form he took, had there been such devastating silence in his heart--but for the first time, he was truly alone. His only grounding anesthetic had been snuffed out of existence. The reins she held on his heart were left limp and untended; no guidance, no control, he became again the unruly stallion kicking his hooves at the world only now there could be no stopping him. He ached, and nothing could soothe it but her.

He feared something like this would happen.

Without her stone in his possession, he didn't know what these aberrations would do with her. The gentle hum of the life in her stone was enough to assure him that she was still there, but it was all he had and now that, too, was absent. They had killed her. Of this he was entirely certain.

But why? Why? WHY HER?

Another torrential surge of pain wracked his chest, erupting from his deepest chasm in an anguished cry. A banner of whipping red fire lashed at the air around his head, sparking in the cave's dusty atmosphere as Raheerah circled above before he spied movement below.

A creature making itself known.

The dragon immediately wheeled around, soaring on a hot gust toward the dog as he caught his near-smothered words in the whistling wind. Who did he seek? WHO DID HE SEEK?

Raheerah bellowed as he crashed to the ground, landing hard enough to tremble the earth. Molten orange claws dug trenches in his wake as he loomed toward the dog, spitfire dripping from his jaws. His furor was a symphony of savage noises eking out of his throat, a furious roar intended to beat the creature down with its sheer volume, to emphasize, above all else, that wild and frantic emotion that burned him so vividly. "WHO? MY ONLY EQUAL! MY TREASURE. PINNACLE OF BEAUTY. HER STONE WAS ENTRUSTED TO YOU," he seethed, bearing down with each utterance of an identity he very much intended to drive into their skulls. Her importance. Her perfection. Stolen away from him.

"ARCANE MASTER, DAWA!"

The beast thundered, swooping his long neck down toward Black and then up again, uttering another shattering cry laced with all the anguish of a thousand year loss.

"GONE. SHE'S GONE. YOU KILLED HER!"

An explosion of flame illuminated the air, a nuclear cloud that nearly licked the ceiling.

He didn't even wait for an explanation. The dragon snapped his eyes back down to the dog, his great, heavy hide jostling as he encroached, seconds from darting in and taking the animal in his teeth--before his eyes flickered toward that pool of darkness just ahead. A cloud of shadow that he hadn't yet noticed, until it struck him how the light of his fire didn't dissolve it.

And, from that shadow, a black lamb.

His heart twisted. And for that single half-second, Raheerah had frozen, deeply harrowed by what it was meant to represent.

Deli

Busy searching the stone for anything to crush into paint, Deli at first didn't pay attention to the tremors. Probably some wacko losing it with some crazy magic. It wasn't their concern. All they cared about was finding more feathers, more berries, even some rocks that they could save the pigments from.

But then the tremors got worse and louder and a howling filled the cavern. Fire burst from the ceiling and the young pup leaped with surprise, head tilting up with wonder and terror at the dragon that fell from the sky. Grin stretch wide on their face, they backed away, whining, but they couldn't look away. It...it was wonderful. Terrifying, of course, but never before had Deli seen anything like it in their short life. They wanted to just watch the dragon soar above the ground of Polaris. They just...they wanted to watch the fiery demon rage across the sky, they would be content to look at nothing else.

But then it started setting everything on fire.

Deli realized the danger a moment later when the dragon's fiery breath blazed against the ground just next to the pup. They yipped loudly and jumped away from the scalding heat before they got singed, and the wonder melted away as their eyes finally moved to the floor, realizing that they were trapped.

They didn't know stone could be on fire like that, that it could melt like ice. But apparently they'd been proven wrong. What were they supposed to do?! Wait, there was a river! Polaris had a river! If they got in there, maybe they'd be safe. Water quelled fire, right? Unless the flames were so hot that the river evaporated under its fury, but...hopefully that was not the case.

The pup began to trip across the caves that had now become a lava-field, trying to avoid the patches of flame and burning ground, but the dragon's flames were simply too numerous and too hot. They winced as blisters and burns began to sear into their paws, making every movement more difficult and painful. At one point, they tripped and fell forward towards a patch of burning stone, the fur on their left shoulder charring instantly and burning deeply the skin underneath. They howled and staggered away, pain whiting out their vision for an instant. Their head whipped around, trying to see through it to find anyone, anything, that could help.

A loud bark caught his attention, different from the bellowing cries of the dragon above. A...friend? Someone to help? Were they by the river? Deli immediately changed their path, staggering towards the source of the sound, half-blinded by pain. They were almost there when the dragon crashed down on the ground, hard enough to send the ground shaking, sending Deli flying forward with a cry. They tumbled onto the ground, but didn't make a move to get up this time, realizing that the dragon had landed there, right in front of the savior they'd been trying to get to. Eyes were wide and the plastered smile seemed to split their face as they cowered before the monster. A soft, humorless giggle escape their chest as the roaring voice pounded into their ears. "D-d-d-d-dawa?" they rasped, quietly, "Who is th-th--that?"

---