- THE LEVIATHAN -

wrap us in shadows
let us breathe your chaos
give us the freedom to imprison ourselves to impulse
rending claws, blood on the tongue, and a grin in the dark
grant us the chains of domination
savagery unending

Draco had been untouched for what might have been millennia. Its dark stone surfaces glistened in its lurid light, its humid warmth fetid with stale air. The great Black Spire in the throbbing dark sent twisting fingers of ominous vibration curling along the floor, through the walls: the groaning--was it real, or imagined?--of shifting stone.

The stillness, broken in that time only by these heartbeat thuds and the crunch of breathing rock, was parted rather than shattered by the entrance of the Leviathan, Master Vargas. His form belonged here, shaped of the same magic that owned this place. Sleek limbs carried this hulking, toxic-hued monster in through the narrow Aperture, steps near silent. He was unobtrusive, his halt a graceful one, the swing of his head quiet as he lingered in the very entrance to the cave.

Toxic eyes narrowed, examining every crevice, every narrow space. The shattered chrysalids, long-empty and hollow, dry as husks, presented no threat. Nothing living lay within them. Too, the Black Spire itself at least appeared... black. Oily, as it should be, though would he find its far side marred and webbed by Hive? Was it as silent, as safe, as it appeared at first glance? A second pass of narrowed eyes found the broken arrows in the shards of crystal. Not empty for millennia, then, he thought grimly, a well of anger rising in him. She had killed the unborn, and if Vargas found sin, that was among them: even the weakest deserved some chance to fight. No matter how slim.

Scent came next. This place had always held an almost organic scent, the odors of the fluids of the cocoons and the fetid stench of the monsters who lived here lifting an acrid air. Now it had long settled, but some remnant lingered; a foulness, a faint taste on the tongue of something metallic and rank. A promise that this place was not mere rock. But he scented nothing fresh, nothing living--not from here.

And lastly, the Master cast out his magic: a sight beyond the physical, a search for the red haze of hidden heartbeats, of something lurking in the vibrant and unnatural dark.

Vargas' tail swept slowly behind him as he scanned, and then he half-turned to those who followed. He had called out to the Sentinels--all of them--to follow him here. And Totum, he knew, would also be close by: ready to assist if the Hive were present. Does it have the ability to hide itself? he wondered; will we step in only for the veil to fall away, and reveal that this whole place is full of its foul webs, its perfect honeycombs of ice and order? A low growl of thought escaped him, one forelimb raising halfway; this one held two gemstones, and a shadow-swathed halberd beneath one arm.

"Be wary," he warned, his low growl an echo of the grinding of the Spire. "The Hive may well be here." Another few precious seconds ticked away in his exhale, in his next breath, as he again warily studied every inch of Draco that he could see. He doubted it could even survive here, but given how long it had had-?

His gaze cut to where he thought that Totum should be. "Anything?" he asked, trusting the other Master's judgement. Lord Dhracia had chosen them for a reason.

This thread is for both the 'opening' of Draco and the establishment of Chaos Forge. Madison will be posting on an NPC, and I'm not yet 100% sure if Draco is safe, but feel free to post arrival & observation first!

@Doctor (Nidhogg) @V-Chaos-Two (Kethri) @Orthoclase-Alpha (Hemlocke, Selenite) @Garnet-Delta (V-Zoisite-One) @Garnet-Epsilon (feel free to join in 'secret' or not!) @V-Labradorite-One @Ruby-Beta @Khavur

V-Chaos-Two had stubbornly followed Vargas the entire way from what was basically Hydra to here, trotting along on his deformed hips, keeping right at Vargas' tail at all times. They didn't stop if Vargas didn't, didn't rest if Vargas didn't...

And they were really regretting that now.

They ached. They ached enough to cry as they basically just dragged themselves the rest of the way. They flopped down next to him with an exhausted huff, their limbs splayed behind them as they rested for a few minutes, taking the opportunity to do so while they could.

"What is this place?", they finally asked, lurching upwards again, wincing at the painful grind of bone.

Chaos-Two shook out one hind leg and then the other, stretching to get some relief before pushing themselves to stand on their hind legs, shambling towards Vargas and peering around at everything. It was... weird in here. Dark, gloomy. At least the tunnel had the lights from Hydra and Canis to keep everything visible. In here it was like a goth rave. Not that Chaos-Two knew what that was.

They shook their head out, pale ears flopping about as they sat down again, close to Vargas but not quite pressed up against him. Loyal to the end, this one was.

Noticing the trouble Doctor's friend (or at least, their childish thoughts assumed they were friends, mostly because of how much time they spent together) was struggling, they doubled back to assist, ignoring a swipe of her wing and helping her along, immune to her hissing. They were used to it. They had Nidhogg as a sibling.

Khavur heard the order to come, and that was all it had to hear. The beast with two heads came lumbering after the beast with two hips. Khavur probably wouldn't be the caboose, but depending on V-Chaos-Two's situation, it could become the cargo carrier. One head kept its eyes on the dawdling child. They had been walking for a long time, probably much longer than what V-Chaos-Two was used to... Magic attempting to reach out, to grasp the situation -- not the area's, but the sibling's.

Magic came back bearing pain in its jaws. Just as Khavur had guessed. That pain also came with... determination, of a sort. To succeed. What did...? As one head trained on V-Chaos-Two and the other surveyed the area around them, thoughts came forward. 'has it learned to walk better on its own? DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT. IT MUST LEARN. IT WANTS TO. and how? can it-- i should-- LEAVE IT ALONE. what? LEAVE IT ALONE. HOW CAN IT POSSIBLY SURVIVE ON ITS OWN IF IT RELIES ON ME? how much pain can it stand? IT HAS TO STAND TO SEE. MAYBE IT KNOWS THAT. LEAVE IT ALONE.' Khavur resisted the urge to help. It couldn't help fix a problem it didn't know the scope of.

Speaking of things it didn't know the scope of... this place felt interesting. Cramped. Oozing with power, perhaps... Khavur couldn't say much on it yet, but traveling to this new cave reminded it of the lessons it had yet to ask for. 'Freedom.' Freedom, to any degree, would be preferable indeed.

Garnet-Epsilon

Epsilon had gotten lucky- checking back on the Sentinels before truly settling in in Orion, and they already had an excuse if James was curious, being that it needed to collect room decorations.

The hybrid was gliding after the group as best they could, the strange new caves and Tunnels making excitement hum in its bones, and exhaustion feel like a second thought after the long trek.

Spotting the entrance that Vargas has strode through, it picks up the pace, only slowing up at the end in order to slip through the entrance and find someplace near to perch and survey this... rank cave, full of carnage from a war it'd never seen.

What is this place, indeed...

"Be careful," the warning from Master Vargas has their fur and feathers prickle with unease, and they swivel their ears and head different directions, finally letting it's ears settle facing into the darkest areas of the room under the New Spire, and eyes following the direction of Master Vargas's question.

Who is he speaking to...?

Nidhogg had followed along with boundless energy, until it wasn't. The trek had been hours--if he'd had the presence of mind, he'd have been awed at Chaos-Two's determination. Instead, its limping had struck instinct in him. He'd paid attention with suspiciously-narrowed eyes to the white beauty of Cepheus; he'd bounded along, snapping at Fairyflies, across Pegasus' plains. He'd stared at his reflection in Gemini's myriad crystals, and had hissed, picking his feet up like a cat in water, at Ursa's cold. But halfway through Pegasus itself, he'd gotten distracted by Chaos-Two's weary gait.

Now, as if alone, as if he thought nobody could see him, Nidhogg was stalking his 'sibling.' Low to the ground, catlike, unblinking--but with the somewhat-clumsy steps of adolescence--the twelve-foot-long serpent was on the hunt.

Toxic tongue flicked out, as if to taste the air--and then he skittered forward, aiming a bite at the back of Chaos-Two's left leg. Instinct, it was--predatory instinct, driven by weakness, but in a child's half-playful form... at least, a little. He didn't try to kill the other child, at least, but he was paying absolutely zero attention to Draco whatsoever. His bounding ended with a skid, a missed step sending him tumbling, and--as if found out, as if everyone hadn't been able to see him already--he darted back away again, lingering, lurking, at the rear of the group.

(rolled a 3 but on wrong thread)

Doctor was... unsure about all of this.

The appeal of Pegasus had been immediate. He'd wanted to stay, instinct crying out for him to remain wheeling in the sky above, where he'd been shadowing the other Sentinels from on high. To fly and fly, and never land, never return to the cramped heat of Tunnel P.

It was the first time freedom and wilderness, flight, had called out to him and he was loathe to leave it behind, but the puzzle of Draco soon drove this from his immediate thoughts.

He had thought it would be either a jewel or a horror: some utopian place where all their questions would be answered, or a place of violence full of torture implements... spikes, hooks; somehow all of this had danced within his head.

Instead, it seemed empty: disused, yet still pulsing with some dim malevolence. The cave itself seemed to pulse, to breathe, and Doctor--now landed, by the necessity of navigating the tunnel--peered around the others. He blinked his one good eye as he scanned the place, quiet.

If it seemed empty, why did Vargas--and Doctor's attention went to him, briefly--seem so hesitant to enter?

The good Doctor sent his magic out, alongside his vision--testing the air to see what he might find.

Was there life yet in this cave..?

They'd ventured through halls of mirrors, trotted down a long bay, skirted around grand peaks, through idyllic meadows—all to find themselves here.

When hooked claws trudged past the ancient gates, it's heart started to race. Thu-thump! it went, thu-thump! Pushing against its upper ribs with every beat. Knocking painfully into them. Alpha inhaled more harshly than intended, and let it out in a hissing breath. Steady, steady—quills prickled up high. Anticipation twitched throughout its hide, beneath the layers of chitin and keratinous growths. Putrid green eyes peered past the Aperture and the Leviathan just passed through it.

After taking note of the lurid relief the cavernous womb was thrown into, it noticed the scent. It was work, labor, destruction in sleep, war and smoke in production. Faded and worn-down by time, but it was all of those. Chaos and its mechanisms had once been active here. Still were, perhaps. The orthoclase flared its nostrils and drifted in steadily after Vargas; then, it could see that venomous Spire throbbing in the distance. Slick colored like the slab in the Hole had been. The Altar hadn't seemed to... breathe like it, though.

It put the monstrous hybrid further into its lingering state of unease—the order to be wary exacerbated it.

But, a toxic tongue was already sweeping past (overly) pearly whites, hypersaturated quills prickling. There was enough venom in its bite to make it seize up completely. It shuddered at the flush of magic, gnashing its teeth so it didn't accidentally bite its own tongue.

The Overseer lurked behind Vargas, awaiting further indication that it was safe to enter. V-Selenite-One hovered beneath it, brandishing yet another impromptu knife. Hemlocke was tailing somewhere, circling in swooping, vulture-like fashion while the others were uncertain about entering.

pls let me know if this draco-style filter is too intense and painful to look at
and i'll remove it :')

Ruby-Beta had been silent on the journey to Draco, eyes kept forward towards the end of the journey as the walk stretched and stretched and stretched...its legs were burning, its head was spinning from all the new input and information, and it really wanted to sleep. But even if it was allowed to, it didn't think it could, thanks to the many wonders it had seen on the way here, knocking around in its head. The beautiful crystalline cave, the strange palace, those beautiful rolling hills and forests that it longed to lounge in...ah, no - later. Their goal right now was to set up here - in this strange, dark cave that was both intriguing and mildly horrifying.

It glanced around at the others, at Nidhogg trying to hunt its sibling, at Alpha readying itself for a fight, to the Overseer himself, who seemed hesitant to enter. It knew that the others were likely probing into the cave for signs of life and it followed suit, casting out magic to see if it could detect anything. Some residual creatures lurking about, perhaps one infected by the strange fungus the golem had shaken off, or...its eyes flicked towards the wall, wondering how many of those crystals held a living gembound within.

It was tired, but it was still attentive. It wouldn't let itself relax until Master Vargas (or, it guessed, Overseer Alpha) had cleared it to do so.

kethri !

Kethri had been... silent. Which was unusual, especially for the bird that liked to chatter on about every little thing.

Her blackened claws, limp and reeking of burnt flesh, was the cause. She didn't say a word about them to anyone. Not how she got the horrid wounds, and refused treatment from Doctor, preferring to treat them herself. She was humiliated by it, not to mention the wound around one of her legs that had only just started to scab over.

She'd watched Doctor soar above them, her wing aching from the strain of flying for so long. She'd have to exercise it more. She'd followed along above the group, occasionally catching a few minutes of sleep, so exhausted that she coasted on updrafts before snapping awake and hurriedly flying after the group.

Kethri landed next to Doctor, having wanted to fly through the tunnel, but it was just too small. Walking had been an issue, her legs stiff and painful, but at least that damned two-butt creature had been kind enough to assist her a bit, despite her trying to push it away without Vargas or Alpha seeing. She didn't need help.

But she'd gotten it anyway.

The Labradorite had stayed close to it's superiors- Alpha and Vargas- for most of the trip, though it certainly got distracted at times. Especially during the trek through Pegasus, or really, when confronted with any body of water. In fact, when possible, it had swam in Pegasus's winding river rather than walk. If it hadn't been clear just by looking at it's appearance, it certainly was clear now: Labradorite certainly had an affinity for water.

But by now, it was tired. The journey, as fascinating as it had been to the young creature, had been long. In fact, it would've sat down to rest if this new cave wasn't so unnerving and weird. It's long tail lashed nervously, the darkness and almost rotten smelling naturally putting it on edge. An especially loud crunch of the eerie heartbeat-stone made it jolt, head whipping to look at The Black Spire as it shuffled back behind Alpha.

Echoing it's sibling, it'd nervously ask, "What is this place? Why are we here?" It had know they were going to a place called 'Draco,' and that this place must've been very important, but that was just about it. Curiosity mixed with dread swirled through it, waiting for an answer, or really more information of any time. It looked around, all six eyes peeled for anything that seemed dangerous or unusual- Vargas had said to be careful, after all.