(SW of Celen's Fall) Hunting to Kill (17th Board)

Last edited by Zay on Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:41 am; edited 3 times in total

Description: M.E wastes no movement on their campaign for the freedom of their island, as soon as they have ravaged plurith they have left. M.E has greater ambitions. M.E will become the first large, organised group, to aim to destroy an elemental stone. The only problem is, can they find the stone?
Their dragons are scouring fringe-jungle territory.
Who knows where the exploration will lead them?

Setting:
Slightly south west of Celen's fall
Time: 5pm
This takes place 3 days after the sacking of Plurith.
The weather is very rainy, a high powered tropical storm is pouring down overhead. Stay out of the skies unless you're a lightning dragon!

Day: 4th July, 3709

Joiners:
---Artemis (Anækileya & Jittan)
---Aero (Vythiweiah)
---Stormkatz (Dyavol + Oceianna)
---Nen (Gerris)
---Eldarwen (Fenrir)
---Rogue (Syn)
---Spiritdragon (Temero)

While she would never turn back, Anaekileya couldn’t help but wonder if they had underestimated the power of the lightning stone. Even though there was a separate wind stone, the gusts buffeted about the smaller dragons as they battled through the air, and it was a nuisance even to her with her immense weight. Not to mention the frankly dangerous lightning which forked through the air at frequent intervals; maybe their lightning storm was having the time of his life up in the clouds, but the rest of them really weren’t enjoying the weather.
Fanning her wings to keep herself aloft, the clubtail twisted her head around to look back at the rest of Maledictus Eice. It still filled her with a fierce pride to see what they had accomplished- they would regain all they had lost, and today was the true start. Today, they would show the vermin which had infested Dragons Cove that they were something to be feared- with the hopeful destruction of one of the stones which restricted the flow of magic over the island. Releasing a roar which echoed through the air across to her beloved sister, Anaekileya rolled slightly onto her side to meet the other dragon’s eyes before flicking her tail to the rest of the group and tilting her body forwards so that she began to descend to the treetops. As she neared the canopy, she flared her wings wide so that she glided softly onto the colossal branches, spreading her weight as wide as she could across several trees.
Dragons of Maledictus Eice! she bellowed into their minds, ensuring to project the mental wave to those dragons which were ground bound and ran below them. As I am sure you can all feel, we must be nearing our destination. While I appreciate that some of us may wish to continue in the air, I am sure that the stone will not be found in the sky, and as well as that I am concerned that some of our smaller members, strong as they are, may be blown away. Though she didn’t say it, she was sure that every dragon present knew she was referring to Mahlyenki Dyavol, the tiny butterfly dragon who was among the more vicious of their number. And so, she resumed, we will continue on the ground. With that, she crawled her way across the canopy on her stomach until she reached what couldn’t be described as a clearing, but more a slight thinning of trees. Here, she let herself drop to the ground, where she stood with her wings folded tightly to her body to fit in amongst the trees and waited for the others to join her.

Their venture had started out pleasantly enough. The desert in the center of Dragons Cove was generally favorable to dragon-kind that wished to stay away from humans. The weather was generally nice aside from the occasional sand storm, and humans avoided it like the plague. Journeying north to the jungle had been much the same, though it had become harder to fly as the air became more and more saturated with humidity. Today they had already been flying for a few hours, and Vythiweiah knew that the others who weren't as fit to long-distance traveling as she and her sister were quickly tiring. When the storm came, their journey became that much harder. She and her sister were hard to upset in the air, their massive bulk making them quite stable, but others weren't quite so lucky. Even now, Dyavol had taken shelter in the lee of her horns or else the small dragon would have surely blown away by now and be lost forever.

When her sister roared, Vy looked up and nodded in agreement, banking to drop to the forest and make their way through the trees. When she got closer to the trees she hovered for a moment, unable to find a clean break in the trees that she would be able to set her bulk down in. Snorting in aggravation, she snapped her wings closed around her in a tight fold and dropped to the ground. Branches gave way under her weight and she dropped to the ground in a flurry of leaves and branches. She hit the ground with a muffled whump and crouched to absorb some of the weight, flicking her clubbed tail in irritation as a larger branch cracked across her back, pinching the unprotected membranes of her wing. She could handle such a fall easily because of her thick armor, otherwise she very well might have been torn to pieces by the branches. Shaking herself of the fallen debris, Vy straightened and waited for the others to land, taking stock and count of the members who were ground-bound that had gathered. Curse this storm. It would be just as difficult to battle through the dense forest as it had been to fly through air in the storm. They had a long trek ahead of them.

"Are you still up there, Dyavol?" She asked, attempting briefly to get a look at her own head frills and began knocking down thick clumps of underbrush as she moved to stand closer to her sister, making plenty of racket as she tried to force her bulk through the forest. Damn it all. It would be easier to just burn the whole blasted forest down.

Dyavol snorted as the words ‘smaller members’ drifted up to him as he perched behind Vy’s horns. “I can’t imagine who she means by that.” He chuckled to himself, but before he had time to make any further of sarcastic comments the trees around him seemed to erupt. Vy hadn’t chosen the most comfortable way down through the greenery, and he was jolted around quite ferociously as she crashed through the treetops. Gripping on with his front paws, he closed his eyes until the rocking had stopped. His shoulders aches a little from clinging on so desperately, but at least he was out of the worst of the weather – the storm was getting stronger every few minutes, which was a huge problem for a dragon as small and structurally ‘flimsy’ as him.

“Yes, I’m still here!” he called down, having to shout just to be heard over the racket of cracking sticks. He risked scrambling a little higher up Vy’s head-frills now that they were under the relative shelter of the broken trees, and looked at Anae as she delivered the last part of her speech. Continuing on foot sounded good, certainly, and he was certainly not going to put in a complaint.

“Have we lost anyone? I can’t tell from up here.” He asked, not really expecting an answer. He knew that Vy and Anae at least had more important things to do, and doubted anyone else could hear him, but it seemed worth asking anyway. Not that he really cared – he didn’t really have much compassion left in hi to share with the dragons he fought alongside, but it was nice to know that their numbers hadn’t suffered in the fierce storm.

--

The rain at least didn’t bother Oceianna as she ran, but the lightning kept making her jump. She was so far away from home now, but then again her ‘home’ hadn’t been exactly homely for years now. She was looking for the dragons that called themselves Maledictus Eice, but all she had to go on was a whisper of a rumour, and the sound of screaming near here that she had heard a few days ago. Her energy was wasted away completely, and she was just about ready to give up. She was far enough away from where she had started to just stop, surely? Maybe she could just lie in the rainforest for a while to regain her strength…

What was that? Something was crashing, not too far away, and whatever it was sounded huge. She saw the trees in the distance shake, and realised that only a dragon could possibly move the ancient trees of the rainforests so drastically. Could it be she had found what she was looking for? Time to find out…

She changed her direction slightly, and started running again, hardly daring to hope. She had been so... frightened, and was certain that the only place she would be safe was surrounded by bloodthirsty dragons. Memories of the huge fight she had had with the wretched water sylph kept racing through her mind, and the watery scars on her back only renewed the images, making her more uneasy than ever.

She twisted between two trees and found a flattened sort of area, which seemed to be filled with dragons. Ocei blinked, not daring to believe, but she couldn’t imagine why else a group of dragons (some with blood spattered on their scales) would be gathered in the woods. She approached cautiously, suddenly nervous about the notorious group (well, only notorious among the other dragons so far, but she was sure they would soon be known across the whole island), before clearing her throat softly, trying to grab someone’s attention.

“Erm, excuse me? Are you the, er, maledictus eice? I’ve, erm, been hoping to find you…” she said, her speech littered with uncertain pauses. She was panting slightly from travelling through the storm, and her scales had certainly been in better conditions, so she must have looked a state, but she tried her best to look presentable, praying that the other dragons would accept her.

This had to be one of the more miserable campaigns the clubtails had led, what had possessed them to lead everyone through a storm? Did they think everyone was as big as they were, able to weather a storm no problem? He had had enough of being bounced around by turbulence. When Anae's voice cut into his mind he felt queasy, a pounding behind his eyes that spread to ache throughout his whole head. She assumed all dragons could take her projected booming, but never did she think it'd be uncomfortable. Gerris wasn't one to complain. These sisters valued uncompromising loyalty, and he was not going to openly challenge them on anything. Besides, from what he'd witnessed, they were puffed up so much on their own gasses that introducing any other kinds of ideas was like to be met with the business end of their tails and talons.

He snaked down to the clearing Anae had dropped into and spread his wings wide, softening his landing, his hind legs touching down before his forelegs. The handsome, full grown fume male knew his place among these dragons and, unfortunately, he ranked even lower than Vy's pet, Dyavol, whom he was careful to pump full of compliments and praise.

He sat, tucking his wings against his back and wrapped his tail around as much of his body as he could manage, tapping it against the ground soundlessly as he waited. The rainwater gave his body a sheen, for he looked smoother than most dragons, almost without scales.

"A dangerous landing, fine dragoness, for a lesser dragon than you" he said as he observed the destruction about Vy. "Though I suppose a lesser dragon would not have been so bold as to create an entry for themselves" he admitted.

Reaching up with a claw, he adjusted the skull he wore round his neck, trailing it down the cranium to an eye socket. Sometimes he wished the old man was still alive, at least for the comfort and normalcy he had enjoyed before his fatal fall.

It was here in this clearing, trapped with two of the largest and most dangerous dragons he'd ever encountered that Gerris found himself quite uncomfortable, especially because it was lashing rain down upon them all... which hindered his ability to produce gases. Still, he was quick, and not without tooth or claw. As paranoid as ever, he made sure to note exit routes into the brush, and went over answers to questions they could theoretically pose to him.

He turned his gaze upon Anae and wondered, not for the first time, if she possessed her own brain, or did she really share one with Vy. Did she have her own wants and desires, or did the two of them share all but bodies?

Here he was again. In his beloved jungle. In the humidity. In the rain. How he hated this place.
Fenrir was following as closely behind the clubtail sisters as possible, trying to use their bodies as shields against the storm but he was not having a lot of luck with it and as if it had not been enough already that he could barely keep aloft, random stuff kept regularly fluttering into his face, full-force, which was annoying him to no end.

The order to lower themselves to the ground almost came as a relief. Only almost though. For Fenrir, it was not necessarily a relief that they were touching down. Of course, sticking to his four legs was certainly more secure than trying to ride a hurricane, but walking in this place meant more hassle than anything was worth. Remembering the crawling and biting and itching and whatnot of those horribly annoying insects that seemed to breed by the millions in this place, the wolf dragon’s mood was obviously dropping to a low point again.

Feeling firm ground beneath his claws did however bring a little relief, if only for a short while. At least they were out of the air and the worst part of the raging tropical storm. Due to the rain however, everything was muddy and slippery and Fenrir was already beginning to feel the dirt harden around his paws in a disgusting coat despite the heavy rain. Yuk!

To top off his annoyance, he got sprinkled with leaves and branches from the landing clubtails, whose massive bodies of course were making room for them where there actually was none, bringing down whole trees in the process. The wolf dragon growled in response to Gerris’ words; the fume dragon uttered the words he was thinking, though he had a slightly more diplomatic way of making the sarcastic words heard, or at least that’s how Fenrir would like to think they were meant.

Suddenly his eyes fell on a dragon he had not seen before. A tear dragon of all the possibilities. What was a delicate creature such as this one doing in the middle of the jungle? It was intriguing, as she seemed so very fragile, but it was no less annoying in Fenrir’s opinion that they were already being pestered by nuisances. He could see the dragon was saying something as her mouth was moving but he could not understand a word due to the noise of all the landing dragons and the storm itself. It was neither his place however to actually respond or make a move, neither did he care much to do anything about this dragon. He wanted to be left in peace. He was grumpy.

Unlike quite a few of the dragon of Maledictus Eice, who were battling through a rather nasty storm in the air, Syn was stuck on the ground, having no wings. Normally this was a sore point for him, but today he really didn’t envy those dragons being tossed and turned in the wind above the rainforest’s trees; from the few glimpses he got of them through the canopy of leaves separating them, it didn’t look like a fun ride.

It wasn’t fun down on the forest floor either, but it was better. Logs and bugs and bushes and trees stood in his way, but the desert chaser was lithe enough to wind his way through the mess of vegetation without much trouble; he had taken a cut to the foreleg during the siege of Plurith, which hurt like hell, but it wasn’t causing him too much trouble, thankfully. Not that that meant he wasn’t going to complain about it anyway, and Azenth, the poor lash, had had more than his fair share of whining and complaining off the desert chaser. It wasn’t kind on the poor dragon, but Syn had little thought for how the little lash dragon was feeling. As long as he still treated him like god (ah yes, that was the way it was supposed to be) none of that mattered.

He winced as one of the clubtail dragons projected her voice noisily into his, and the rest of M.E’s minds, not liking the way she could just let herself willy-nilly into his head. It was offputting, and made him slightly paranoid. However, at least it was fair warning that those who were flying were about to make their grand entrance to the forest; and grand it was, trees bending and cracking and branches going everywhere as the two clubtail sisters and their army of followers (one day Syn would have followers like these two did, albeit, slightly more sane followers). He was instantly glad he had slowed down a little, hanging at the back of the group of dragons that had been running. Of course, that had nothing to do with the fact that he could slowly try and subvert Azenth more and more towards his way of thinking, and less to the way of the clubtail sisters… He padded into the new “clearing” that they had made, stepping lightly over the branches and leaves they had brought down in the wake and looking around. They all looked sodden to the bone; he was somewhat soggy, which was another thorn in his side, but not to the same extent. Oh, how miserable the rain was.

His eyes turned to a new dragon that suddenly announced her presence softly to one side of the group, eyes flicking up and down before narrowing slightly in thought. This one looked very… out of place, she wasn’t hardened like the rest of M.E. Maybe he could work with her? There was certinaly the option.
“Why hello my dear,” he said, voice a soft purr as he stepped towards her. “How can we help you?” Ugh, how sickening, this politeness. “Were you looking to join our little… band?”

Temero roared a warning to the lightning dragon as a bolt flickered past his right wing, making his fur stand on edge. What kind of idiocy is this, he wondered, dropping a few feet before stabilizing, as though that would protect him from the dangerous winds and electricity around them. Aha, there it was.

The order to land came through clearly and Temero instantly snapped his wings shut, going into a steep dive that sent him crashing straight through the branches, breaking several of them as he passed. Unfurling his wings a little bit above the ground, the Wolf dragon landed quite roughly, jarring his shoulders and elbows. Tossing his head with a snarl Temero watched as the other ME dragons landed, far more softly than he had naturally, joining the group once there was no danger of them getting crushed.

"Well now Dyavol if we did not lose you I think the rest of us made it," he replied, baring his teeth in a lazy grin to show that he was only joking. He had a certain amount of respect for the butterfly, more so than the other dragons with them besides their leader. More than likely it was only because he had never met them, but Temero was not all that concerned about it.

Turning away from the others Temero shook himself, sending water arcing in all directions. While he hoped that it would not hit anyone, he doubted that it mattered since they were all soaked anyway. Still it was polite to at least try not to soak them.

But well now, what was this? The Wolf dragon peered at the little newcomer, wondering what she wanted. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a little unkindly, though not too much so. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble for being rude. So for now he would at least try to be civil. She seemed to know something about them, so there was that. Of course he had to wonder how she had known they would be there... "And where exactly did you come from?" he added, looking around a little suspiciously.

Leaning slightly away to avoid the branches and leaves which were raining down on the area as her sister descended even more destructively than she had, Anækileya watched the dragons gathering, taking a swift headcount every now and then. When they had all assembled, she shifted, smashing a few tree trunks to make more room to stand in. This forest was going to get on her nerves hugely. It was tempting to just burn a path through the trees for them, but it would be easy for that many flames to get out of hand, and they couldn’t all withstand being burnt alive. All the same… They wouldn’t just be weaving in and out of the trees, she was sure of that. And this incessant rain was a real pain. After an attempt to shake it off her head failed, she resorted to blowing a cloud of fire over herself, thankful that her thick scaling kept the water on the surface and protected her from the flames for the second it took for the water to evaporate in a huge cloud of scalding steam which billowed upwards and out of the canopy.

This taken care of, the clubtail returned her attention to the assembled dragons and was about to address them all when she noticed the little tear dragon who had joined them. Immediately, several of the others had converged on her, including that slimy, big-headed furball Syntribos. He really looked it at the moment, too; fur looked disgusting when wet, whereas the rain just lent scales a rather nice sheen. It looked particularly impressive on her gold markings, she knew.
“Now Syntribos, Temero, we don’t want to overwhelm her,” the dragon reprimanded, her voice uncharacteristically sweet. “She looks terrified, poor little thing.” Sliding down onto her stomach to look at the tear dragon from a more even perspective she cooed, “You were looking for us? It was good luck that you came across us now, then. We’re about to move along… but please, do feel free to tag along with us.” She was sure that this trembling, pathetic little creature wouldn’t last at all long with Maledictus Eice- but she wasn’t going to say no to a new recruit, especially not one who had such powerful magic as a tear dragon. Unlimited healing, now there was something useful. With a sickening smile which probably did the opposite of reassuring the dragon, Anækileya stood once more and looked down at the lightning storms who were part of their group, and Mateious the invaluable Euphorn.

“What are you feeling from the stone?” she asked them. “Can you tell which direction it’s most likely to be in?” A brief minute of conferring enused, the three dragons huddling together to discuss the flows of magic they could feel around the area. After a while, one of the lightning storms looked up and reported,
“It seems most likely to be that way.” Anækileya acknowledged this with a nod of thanks, before turning back to the rest of the dragons.
“My brothers and my sisters, we travel to the north!” she bellowed, slapping her tail into the ground and leaving a small crater where she ripped the spikes out again. With that, she surged into motion, obliterating any trees foolish enough to get in her way.

Surveying all that had gathered on the ground, Vy let loose a large blustery sigh and felt relieved. "No, it looks like we're all here." She muttered to Dyavol. Over the snapping of smaller rather annoyingly bendy trees she heard Gerris' words and paused briefly, openly staring at the fume dragon. "Indeed. Well, as they say, there's no path but the one that you choose to create." Shrugging her massive shoulders in a dismissive roll, Vy continued trampling smaller trees, her scales scraping bark off of the larger less yielding ones everywhere she tried to go. Forests were not made for dragons of her size, that was for sure. Over all the noise and commotion she didn't even notice the tear dragon that had appeared at the edges of their group until the small gathering of gawkers drew her attention. Deeming it not worth the energy to fell the forest between herself and the tear, Vy simply watched the greetings from where she stood, and patiently waited until a little space had cleared between the chatter.

"Welcome to Maledictus Eice. May you find your home with us." She gave a little nod of her head, noting the heavy scars on the back of the dragon and wondered what it was from. Human magic was her best guess. They didn't look like a dragon's claws, and were too broad for typical slayer swords. That poor creature. What must she have gone through to be in such a nervous state?

Once they were moving Vythiweiah fell in behind her sister, saving her strength by not navigating through the thick stuff and trampling anything that Anae didn't get with her tail. Well, it would make moving about for the others following along easier, at any rate. Occasionally Vy would switch places with Anae at the front of the pack when her sister tired of carving a path out of the forest, always guided by the general feel of the lightning storms in their group. After hours of enduring the thick forestry, the drizzly rain, and the general miserableness of the situation they finally came to a sudden clearing and it took a while to realize exactly what it was that they were looking at.

"Celen's fall?" Vythiweigh paced to the edge of the sinkhole, looking straight down at the black abyss and wondered how far down it went. Could it really be possible that the stone was down there? Out on the edge of the treeless space, Vy spread her wings and caught her breath, creating a space for others of their no doubt exhausted troop to take some shelter from the rain if they wished while they considered their options. Rumor had it that anyone who came down never came back up again. She sat with a heavy sigh, still looking down at the abyss below. "Well?" She called up to the lightning dragons who were no doubt thoroughly enjoying the weather. Inside the jungle the rain had come in water-fall like streams from the trees, but out here it pelted with a merciless fury, the lightning storm above having taken a turn for the dangerous. Thunder was regularly rolling over them, but she was too tired and frustrated with the sight of trees to even begin to consider going back into the forest. "Can you tell if it's down there or not? Or do we need to keep moving?" In a way, she hoped that it was down the hole. At least they wouldn't' have to fight more trees down there. Hopefully.

Oceianna was quite taken aback when she was greeted so warmly. She had expected the dragons of ME to be harsh, but it seemed that , among themselves at least, there was enough kindness for one more. She smiled politely to the first dragon that came to greet her: a desert chaser, who seemed almost unnervingly polite. “Erm, hello. Yes, I was hoping to, erm, join you. If there’s room, of course – I mean…” she trailed off, her nervousness coiling around her words and stopping them from escaping. She was quite glad when the wolf dragon added his voice to the conversation.

“I came from… I’m not sure, really, but it was to the east?” she said, managing to speak up a little more this time. She must have looked like the twitchiest thing for miles, and was trying her best to make a proper impression. Finally, after a good deal of murmuring indicating her presence, on of the clubtail sisters made her way over. She had only heard them mentioned in passing, and had no idea which was which, but she had enough sense to stand to attention as she made her way closer. Her heart fluttered, but not in fear. No, it was hanging somewhere between nervousness and hope.

The sweetness in her voice surprised Ocei. She was sure it was a guise, of course, and that underneath there was a powerful leader, but even if the pleasantries were false she was safer here than where she had come from. She relaxed, feeling profoundly safer than she had moments before, and nodded happily at the offer. “Oh, yes please! I’d love to come – that is, if you’ll have me!” Her voice was filled with an almost childish happiness, and she barely managed to keep herself from jumping for joy. This was perfect!

Her smile only widened when the second clubtail sister acknowledged her, welcoming her. She was sure there would be more of an initiation thingy-whatsit later on, but for now, that was enough. She was in! She pranced behind he other dragons gleefully, her energy restored nicely with the new found safety and confidence that the dragons had given her.

--

Dyavol laughed as Temero commented on him making it there. “’Course I got here – I’m a big strong dragon, remember?” he laughed, shaking his head. He liked the wolf dragon – there were few members of the group that he actually /liked/, but Temero had earned his respect thoroughly. As he grinned, the flashing lightning illuminated the many bulges of bone scattered through his wings – he had hundreds of tiny, brittle bones in each wing, and he had broken all but three of them some while ago. They now stood as just another set of marks on his scarred form, but he was sure Temero would recognise the tiny little breaks when he saw them properly.

“I am glad – it would be dreadful to loose someone.” Dyavol replied to Vy, forcing empathy that wouldn’t quite come naturally. However, his attention was immediately snatched by the new dragon. A new recruit. His eyes scanned the tear dragon, and he snorted. She wouldn’t last five minutes – he doubted she’d even made her first kill yet. Some part of him rejoiced in the knowledge that he would get to watch her break…

From then on, he hid in the safety of Vy's horns, and watched the other dragons battling the storm behind them. That was one of the perks of being less than a foot across, he decided.

This was definitely one of the more miserable treks they'd had as a group. Personally Gerris didn't give a damn whether or not this stone was destroyed, and with so little interest invested, he didn't believe he'd have to be dragged along on this failure of a mission. The tear dragon was of little interest to him. It would do good not to openly be an ass to her, as this one seemed proficient in healing magic, a talent they could abuse for a time until the tear dragon was utterly broken or dead.

He would enjoy seeing the degradation in her character. That happened when you became part of a fanatic group; the sweet nice dragon you thought you were becoming a bloodthirsty monster. Oh he was sure the clubtail twins had every good intention, but they did not see what they made themselves appear to others. Called it weakness in others when eyes were cast away from them and heads shaken at their actions. Murder was a taboo, and murder en masse was genocide, and genocide was even more taboo than Murder. Dragons would not look upon this in their history and be proud.

No 'people' were ever proud of mass, brutish, unadulterated violence. Even if talking could not have solved anything.

Still, he followed them, trying not to snap at the idiot Tear Dragon leaping among them in what was a really shitty storm.

"Dear, you'll tire yourself out" he said to her, extending a wing to cover her. "And you'll get yourself sore, the way the rain's pelting you".

He honestly couldn't give a damn, but he might as well start currying favor with the newbies, as they came.

When they stopped at the sinkhole, Gerris could think only one thing: They must be batshit crazy if they thought they were somehow going to convince his fine ass to go down there and track some stupid lightning stone he couldn't give a damn about.

With a scowl, Fenrir observed the welcoming of the tear dragon and for a brief moment, doubt began to flicker in his heart at the falsety he could now easily recognise in the clubtail sisters’ voices. They generally were not that nice, or at least he had never seen them that way.
Then again, Fenrir himself was not one to talk as he had not been a part of this group for very long now and he had stumbled across them with human blood dripping from his own mouth. There had been no need to gently lull him in to make him feel at home. It had been the perfect place for him to take revenge upon anything that put him into a grumpy mood. Of course, that would probably entail ripping simply everything to shreds, so he still had to pay a little attention but at least he could live out his frustration from time to time.
With a grunt, Fenrir pushed any thoughts aside and shook himself in a futile attempt to rid himself of raindrops – which were immediately replaced by a million others falling down on him – and the annoying leaves, twigs and bugs, which refused to let go of his fur though.

The journey through the rainforest was hell. It simply was. There was no other way to describe it for the wolf dragon, who was suffering from numerous rage attacks as he got hit by branches, felt mud slowly move up his legs in an attempt to drag him down into the immense depths of this brown, icky stuff, and not to mention the insects. Those stinging, annoying little things who were absolutely delighted by the rain and found their calling in making Fenrir’s life even more miserable than it had been without those beasties. It was indignant that they had to suffer this kind of treatment. He didn’t much care about how the others were faring, he merely contemplated his own bloody fate and he was unhappy, very much so. Frowns of anger seemed to be creased into his fur, not only on his face but all over his body, though of course that was not quite possible. Every fibre of his being hated every second of this travelling bit however and he was longing to let out his frustration again.

Once they reached Celen’s Fall however, or what they thought it was, what it probably only could be, Fenrir was surprised however to see Vy spread her wings in an attempt to protect the smaller dragons from the constant drizzle and wind. It was a gesture he would not have expected, least of all from one of the clubtail sisters. The good thing about staring down into a hole was the fact that the ground beneath them had hardened a little, regularly interspersed with rocks rather than just the muddy atrocity which had been the jungle carpet.

Wait, what? What had he just heard? His head snapped up to Vy, suddenly listening to what she had been talking about as most of the previous words had simply evaporated into thin air as he had been hanging after his own thoughts. Obviously, he had not stepped under the wing either, too grumpy to take anyone up on a nicety, and his mood was not hightened one bit by the snippets of words he had just picked up.
“Go down there?! Into that hole?” Fenrir shook his head, unwilling to believe this. “We don’t even know what’s done there ,at all; not even mentioning the lightning stone.” His tone might be out of place but he was sure he was speaking for more than one of them by saying these words out loud. Frankly, he wasn’t quite sure why this stone was so important to the clubtail sisters anyway. It was a magical stone, alright, but what good would it do them to meddle with it?

Although Syn had been first off the mark on greeting the new tear dragon, he was quickly joined what seemed like a horde of the rest of ME; since when did everyone take so much notice of a new dragon, and such a pathetically small and sad-looking one at that? He gave Temero a slightly annoyed side look, opening his mouth to make a comment, but was interrupted by Anækileya. Who had to stick her big nose into everything that went on, especially if it involved him. He turned his glower on her, making sure to keep it lighter than he might have done for anyone else; there was no good in baiting her with anything solid, when she was already looking for ways to squish him flat with that thuggish club of a tail, no doubt.

“Her looking terrified, incidentally, was why I came to talk to her,” he said in a monotone, having to get a word in anyway. Her sweetness was sickening, and so obviously false- was this tear dragon actually taken in by it? Why, she was as dull-witted as Azenth… which might make her another prospective follower. Yes, it was poor company to be surrounding himself with, but who said minions had to be smart? There was definitely the possibility here, if the two clubtails stopped taking such an interest in the new dragon!

He hung back until everyone had finished taking notice of her, then moved forwards again, matching his pace with hersa. Certainly the back of the group was the best place for him- the closer he was to the two clubtails, the more likely he was able to overhear their conversation, and as enlightening as that might be, he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself from making quips, and that really would put him in the doghouse. Her enthusiasm was way over the top, but his annoyance at it was only released in the way his tail flicked rigidly from side to side, moving with a strange, stiff motion. He started to ask her questions, starting with just the easy ones; what’s your name, how did you come to be in the rainforest, how do you like your human; alive, dead, or dying?
But still, people were intent on talking with Oceianna! Although, Gerris wasn’t as bad as the rest of them, when it came to them; he might suck up occasionally to the clubtail sisters, but there was obvious discomfort behind that, somewhere. To start with, all those fanatics were bouncing up around the front of the group, eager to please and get a pinch at “glory”. Those trailing behind were either tired (hah!), or reluctant. He put a bet on the latter.

When they got to the sinkhole, Syn was feeling tired, both from keeping up his façade of being nice, and from the rain. Oh, of all blasted things, rain! It was miserable. Now they wanted to fly down this pit into god-knows-where? His low opinion of the leaders of ME sunk even further.
“There’s rather a problem with all of us going down there,” he said dryly, speaking up properly. It wasn’t just him that didn’t have wings, and there would be one helluva problem if the lightning stone was down the hole.

Temero could only watch the tear dragon warily as they moved along, not bothered by the look he was given by Syn. Most of the dragons in the group he really did not care about. Dyavol was the only one he was actually friends with, and the clubtails the only other ones he respected. And even that was only because they were the leaders of their little group. Otherwise, he was not that respectful of the others, and if they wanted to start a fight with him, then a fight they would get.

While they walked, he attempted to get close to the little dragon, frustrated each time by her almost constant fluttering around. It did distract him from the miserable trip through the forest though. It was only when he actually bothered to pay attention to it that the annoyance sank in and he found himself waiting impatiently for them to arrive at their destination.

Branches struck him in the face and more than once he accidentally stepped into a pit, once almost smacking his jaw against the ground before he caught himself and regained his balance. Of course, those were nothing compared to the pit they found when they reached the sinkhole. Oh goodness, Temero thought, unable to see it clearly himself being in the middle of the pack. That could cause problems.

Now that he was able to catch up with the tear dragon he did so, lowering his head under the wing that had been offered for her protection and murmuring, "Stay close to me just in case things go south. Wouldn't want you getting hurt on your first mission with us now would we?" Not that he particularly cared, but the little one could prove useful in some way, and so Temero decided to keep track of her. At least no one could say he was not polite. Sometimes.

"I agree," he said upon straightening and hearing what Syn had said. "Not all of us would make it for one thing and then there is the trouble of getting everyone out again. Perhaps a group should be selected to go down and the rest stay up here and keep an eye on things?" It seemed the most logical way of going about things, but Temero knew quite well that the most logical way was not often the way things were done.

“Well, my dear, we wouldn’t dream of turning you away!” Anækileya assured the tear, her smile widening ever further and showing her teeth to generous advantage.
(( http://images.wikia.com/disney/images/9/94/Bruce-shark.jpg ))
This expression didn’t change as she turned her attention to that infuriating little desert chaser, her voice gaining an extra layer of syrupy falseness as she cooed, “And my dear Syntribos, I’m so glad that you’re taking an interest in our new members. We want them to feel included, after all!” With this piece of dripping sarcasm, she stretched her grin one more time before turning away.

Despite her simmering annoyance at Syntribos, travelling with her sister soon fell into a soothing routine as they switched places as was needed, communicating without speaking from their many years together. People could claim that they were poor leaders, that they were irrational, that they were mad- but one thing which was indisputable was that they were loyal and that they worked seamlessly as a team. By the time they reached the chasm in the ground, she wasn’t as tired as she could have been- though she was hardly enjoying the conditions. The sooner this was over, the better. Especially considering the complaints which had broken out over their ranks. Upon seeing how well-received her sister’s gesture was, Anækileya imitated her and spread her own vast wings out in a canopy over the other dragons. Maybe this would placate them somewhat; they’d have a chance to regain their strength as they decided how to proceed.
“Brothers, sisters, your quiet for a time please!” she bellowed out over the assembled dragons. Most of the noise died away, if perhaps not all, and she bowed her head in acknowledgement. Able to hear the others more clearly now, she turned expectantly to the lightning storms Vythiweiah had addressed, who had eagerly taken to the air once more as the trees became thin enough for them to do so. Their opinions seemed unanimous; they were circling the hole repeatedly, with sparks of lightning dancing over their skin. It had to be close now. Anæ wondered if she could even feel her skin tingling as the magic washed out over them, and clubtails possessed only the most basic magical powers in comparison to some other dragons. The obvious course of action was to investigate down the hole, but how to go about it? Obviously only flying dragons would be able to proceed- and they needed to hurry up about it, too. The constant onslaught of rain on the (relatively) thin membranes of her wings was making them ache with coldness, and it was an effort to hold them still for so long too. She flexed them slightly, working out some of the stiffness in them, and glanced across to Vythiweiah.
“My sister, your judgement is better than mine in this matter,” she said in a low tone which few of the other dragons would be able to hear over the wind and thunder. “How do you think we should proceed? We will not all be able to continue, that is undeniable…”

~

What miserable weather. How had he ended up here, anyway? It definitely wasn’t his sort of place, not at all. All the rain and lightning and thunder was very disturbing. And those trees just got in the way. At least they were good for cutting, which was what he was doing now, gouging huge slices in the bark with the claws which gave his breed its name. Not that he knew what that name was. Or what his name was, for that matter. This suddenly seemed somewhat distressing. What was it? Maybe he needed a new one, or at least a substitute until he remembered. Ripper? Claw? Slicer? Scowling and indecisive, he glared down at his feet- and realised, much to his surprise, that there was a word carved into his leathery skin there. The cuts were partially healed, but there was plenty of scarring and remaining injury to read what it said: Jitt. Of course! That was his name. It felt good to have that back, and he proceeded to carve it on an unfortunate nearby tree before smugly returning his attention to the large group of dragons on the other side of the pit before him.

There were lots of them. He couldn’t think why they were here, and he didn’t think he’d forgotten. They seemed suspicious. One of the big green ones let out a bellowing roar, and the others all seemed to look round. Maybe it was in charge of them, then. Well, he could see why they wouldn’t want to cross it. It didn’t look too friendly. In fact, he was sure none of them were too friendly. That was why he was staying back in the shadows of the trees, well hidden. He was just clever like that. And now, he could watch and wait them out. Feeling extremely pleased with himself, he sprawled his length messily down on the floor and waited.

Vy let her sister handle silencing the general chatter that had spread through their ranks upon arriving at the sink hole, watching the lightning storms wheel about overhead. Yes, it had to be here. She felt it in her bones, the power of this place that lay latent in the very air. The clubtail inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of the jungle and magic as the others quieted around her and she tilted her head slightly to listen to Anae. "No, we won't be able to take everyone down there, unfortunately." She surveyed the group gathered around her briefly, taking a quick headcount of the number of flying dragons that they had versus the ones that were bound to the ground.

Raising her voice, she began to speak, addressing the gathered group as a whole. "My comrades, we have arrived at our destination at last. The one of the mythical stones that have plagued our legends and folklore lays beneath us now, far below the ground. Some of you have questioned our methods, so now that we stand on the precipice of change, I shall tell you all again why we are here." She met the gazes of every dragon that would meet her eyes, assuring that she held their full attention, then continued. "Long ago this country was ruled by dragons, and only dragons. We were a proud and fierce race that bowed to no other and lived according to our ways at our own discretion. Then a powerful mage came to our land. Our ancestors tolerated this outsider and for a time they lived in peace, but it could not last.

"The mage, jealous of the strength and majesty of the dragons that inhabited the island sought to subdue them, and so make himself greater than they. He used his arcane arts to tame the very heart of the island, cutting off the elements and forged the five stones of balance and the five dragons that guarded them. And so began our demise! We grew weak and small! We became as tame as the island, our noble ancestry locked away with the power of the elements that the mage had so craftily subjugated. For thousands of years we have lived this way, in disgrace. As pets to the non-dragons! We, who should be owners of this land! We, whose blood is as ancient as the land itself! Today, my comrades, we are here to right this wrong! We are here to set ourselves free! Those of you who would join me, come to the cliffs edge. Whatever the danger, we must take this risk and undo what the mage has wrought. For ourselves, for our future, and for all of the other dragons that slave away in bondage and service to the vile non-dragons that enslave them and call themselves master!"

The air was charged with energy, the excitement building during her speech until the very air crackled with it. It was only after she'd given her last word that Vy realized it was not a poetic figment of her imagination, but an actual phenomena occurring. Her whole body tingled and the ground below them sparked with currents of electricity. The thunder overhead had stopped and the rain had disappeared along with it, the thunder that had been rolling continuously having abruptly come to an end. All around them the very air seemed to shimmer and glow, casting a faintly blue hue over the entirety of the ME force of dragons. Suddenly, the whole sky seemed to be rent in half by a bolt of lightning that stuck just beyond their group, a blinding flash of light and a deafening peal of thunder crashing over them simultaneously. When she regained her ability to see, it was to find that they were surrounded completely.

At first, she thought that it was a trick of her eyes, but no amount of blinking made the creatures standing just at the jungle's edge disappear. They appeared to be made of shadow and lightning, four legged beasts that were partially see-through, bigger than a horse and streaked with bright throbbing lines of light that shifted and flickered like heat lightning in a thunderhead. They appeared dragon-like in structure, though had no wings, short necks and long thin tails. For a few tense moments the creatures did nothing at all, then they opened their mouths and a concussive blast of thunder shook the very ground that they stood on.

Vy cringed from the noise and pressure of the attack, flinching hard and nearly stepping backward into the void of the sink hole. Instantly her blood thrummed in her veins, adrenaline pouring into her system with the threat of a fight before her. Whatever these creatures were, they were not friendly. "Maledictus Eice!" She screamed over her own deafness, the blast from the shadow creatures having knocked out part of her hearing. "ATTACK!"

Dyavol gripped on desperately as Vy pitched towards the huge chasm behind them, but managed not to slip off, using Vy’s colossal scales as foot-holds. At Vy’s roar of ‘attack’, Dyavol added his own voice to the battle cry (small though it was in comparison to the clubtail whose head he was sitting on) to the roar, letting all of his pent up anger boil up, driving into a near-berserker frenzy. He got like that around the promise of violence – he had grown to love it, even if it /wasn’t/ against the bipeds he so detested. He didn’t dare face the storm with his own tiny wings, but he shuffled into a position where he could leap into the wind to attack when they got closer. These creatures looked like they were made of lightning, but he was convinced that a few slashes to the throat would still make them hurt – still make them /bleed/. Nothing the world could throw at him would manage to unnerve him – be that another rolled up scroll or some strange lightning-beast. “CHARGE!”

--

Oceianna felt overwhelmed – everyone seemed to be being so /nice/ - it was a little unnerving. She was used to being kicked, or worse sliced at with a shiny stick. All these smiles were a bit of a shock – she would find it easier when they wore off. She mumbled a few answers to vague questions, before finding her attention blown out of the water by Vy’s almighty speech. She paused, listening intently, clearly eating up every word. The mention of ‘pets’ made her shudder visibly – the angry scars on her back throbbing – but she held her nerve well enough. Things had changed now. Things would be better.

Everything seemed to happen so fast after that – she barely knew what to do when the battle-cry was sounded. However, her reaction was instantaneous – she followed the order as if she had been born to. She whirled around, teeth bared, ready to attack, not letting any other thought slip into her head. Thinking would put her off – she knew in her heart that she was too soft to /really/ hurt anything – so she decided to avoid it all costs. She picked out a small-ish lighting-thingywhatsit and pounced, hoping that was all there was to it. Clearly she was going to need some sort of instruction later on, but she was sure she had enough survival instinct to survive, if nothing else.

Gerris was less than impressed with Vy's spiel. He couldn't even believe that other dragons could believe this nonsense, gobbling it up like it was the best meal they'd ever had. Starving beggars at the foot of a banquet table laden with food. He kept his expression controlled, but thought to himself that Clubtails didn't even have much in the way of arcane arts, and that it probably wouldn't changed if they destroyed the stones. He also had a thought as to what stone his own arcane arts would be under, and if maybe the stones were to balance the island's feral magic, making it a better place rather than whatever slant Vy had cast on it. One could not know the truth without extensively investigating the matter, and he had reason to believe that Vy and Anae hadn't really done their research.

Then, of course, things took a turn for the worse.

It wasn't enough that he was blinded, but now if the thunder creatures hadn't partially deafened him, Miss Loud-ass certainly had.

He didn't immediately leap forward when she sounded the attack. In fact, he didn't even move. He simply sat and toyed with the skull at his neck, trying to regain his senses. He wondered if these shadowy constructs were just that... constructs. He'd never seen them, to be sure, and he'd never heard of them either. He didn't think a guardian dragon could summon electrical shadow things that roared thunder.

Were they constructs of the stone itself, or was there a sqaudron of humans nearby, choosing this suicidal path?

He looked around, squinting as his vision came back to him.

It was no use, and Gerris did not relish going into a fight without knowing what he was up against. He didn't know how much electricity it took to kill a dragon, and he wasn't about to test the theory with the shadow beasts. He rose and padded around the sink hole, deciding to occupy himself with other endeavors.

He wondered if a dragon could fly down into it and tamper with the stone. By the looks of it, he could fit down, although it'd be tight.

Gerris almost laughed. Here he had been denying the very act he was considering in the face of an enemy he did not wish to engage.

Still, risking himself on this endeavor was stupid. And risking himself in the battle was doubly stupid.

If he did nothing, he'd be suspect and liable to extermination. Damnation.

He launched himself into the sinkhole, probably not the worst decision he'd ever made.

OOC| I am *NOT* a part of the posting order and nobody has to interact with my character

Rintho couldn't believe he was doing this. Collecting a shard of the lightning stone was something he had ruled out as being "simply an impossibility" it was true that the knowledge of it's location was very restricted, but upon that? It was still known to be guarded heavily. Just now he was seeing how right his guesses had been, the creatures sprang up from seemingly nowhere and attacked the trespassers viciously; they seemed uninterested in him.

Then again, he was still tucked away at the edging where the jungle met the clearing...and then the great fall. Celen must have been inebriated to not notice a chasm so fast and then proceed to fall down it. Rintho briefly wondered if he ever found the bottom and managed to resurrect him, what kind of a man he might be, as impossible as that was.
Focus, he told himself.
Rintho had come prepared to fulfill Atoro's orders, as much as he despised working for that slippery eel of a man. It was just the start of the month so he was fresh with energy, ready to cast his temporal invisibility spell, ready to descend the chasm with the neutral magic he had infused just hours ago into his body to make the endless down climb a thousand times more tolerable. Rintho was no athlete; all of this magic was expensive. If he even made it out alive from these animated creatures (who knew what kind of senses they had, if not the dragons, could the others see him?) he was pretty certain he would spend the remainder of the month taking things very slowly. Not even considering if a maledictan dragon unwittingly frazzled or crushed him.

Atoro was a bastard.

This was his only chance. Normally, Rintho would never have been able to access the stone even after locating it, the minions of the stone would be too much, there was a reason whatever went down never returned.
He rubbed his hands together furiously, the intensity of the silvery neutral magic crackled between his hands and died down again but he felt the surge of strength as he activated the charges.
Rintho then proceeded to quickly and wholly drink the flask of thick, putrid liquid at his side. Fortunately his deadness killed half of the terrible flavour. The magic that composed his dead body seemed to twitch with excitement and similarly crackled like it had on his hands, so his body shone silver all over for all of a few seconds. Where the light once was, there was then nothing to be found. He also felt that he was still all in one piece, so far, so good.

He had come here with the hope of shaving off not even a whole fingertips worth of the stone, half of that in fact and he was loathe that it was simply not feasible to reach it fast enough that he could set up a barrier to confound the dragons, as they said, you could not have your cake and eat it. Plus there was the risk of dying from simply doing that alone.

Now to get to the lightning stone. Rintho tentatively peered from the bush and grimaced as his eyes met the onslaught.

Temero growled in quiet displeasure as the burst of lightning took his sight and hearing, leaving him all but powerless for a moment. If something was to attack then, he would fall in an instant. And it was with those thoughts in his mind that the haze cleared and the Wolf dragon could see that they were surrounded. Oh. Well goody. It seemed as though there was going to be a fight after all.

Temero had not dared to believe that they would simply be able to waltz into the area and take the lightning stone without any sort of opposition. Still, it would have been nice if that was the case. Now they were up against some strange dragon-like creatures, of which he had never seen before. That was certainly not going to stop him from going after them of course, and Temero swiftly powered himself forward, wings extended and whip-like tail lashing from side to side as he snarled fiercely before howling a challenge to the wind.

He could hear the ruckus around him quite well at that moment, and so was able to pick out familiar roars around him. There was Dyavol, voicing his own challenge, and over there was one of his leaders. And then he spotted the newcomer.

It was obvious that she was not entirely certain about what to do, if the meek way she leaped upon the nearest creature was anything to go by. Now that is a wonderful way to get yourself killed, Temero thought, pausing for a moment before doubling back to her. "Stick with me," he growled again, facing off against the nearest shadow creature and leaping straight for its jugular. The thing was odd and difficult to bring down, giving Temero several cuts before he managed the feat, but once he did so Temero was quickly looking for another opponent, ready to keep fighting.

Small wounds had never bothered him much, though when they piled up it got annoying. That was when they started to bug him. Before then, not really, for he could block them out, but he could not ignore it when his limbs started to move sluggishly and his reaction time was not the best.

Fenrir gave the other wolf dragon a bit of a glare before turning away again, not being bothered by Temero’s statement too much. If the wolf though it was such a fantastic idea to select groups to go down, he could volunteer for one himself. Fenrir at least was not willing to do it.

When the clubtail sisters addressed their group, Fenrir felt the need to sit down on his haunches until they were done talking – from experience their speeches were never really on the brief side – but the fact that he would get even more mud all over him to then dry at its leisure held him back. He never quite stood still while Vythiweiah spoke but he listened even if he was not meeting her eyes, as he was too distracted by the mud drying on his claws. It was unsettling and annoying, and slowly he was beginning to worry that he might develop some sort of phobia.

All such thoughts were pushed aside however when Vy began to elaborate a little bit of the history of Dragon’s Cove. To Fenrir, it sounded almost nonsensical, although it could have been a well narrated fable. How did she even come up with all these things? Arch magician, pah! Nothing more than hocus pocus and a bit of fiction. The wolf dragon was impressed by the story but he was not sure whether he could believe any of it. Nevertheless, the clubtail had captured his attention and he was listening more closely now, feeling the atmosphere she was trying to create ripple through the group.

The speech was almost skillfully ended by a sudden bolt of lightning and its accompanying clap of thunder. His ears almost hurt due to the volume of the thunder, and his eyes were almost tearing from the blinding lightning; thus, at first, he did not notice the creatures surrounding them until another blast of thunder followed, produced by these very creatures. Battlecries started sounding from the dragons all around him and Fenrir suddenly felt the need to yell as well but merely so he could drown out all the unexpected noise! Is it so difficult to have a little respect? To leave me in peace? he thought with a roar which did not remain as silent as his thoughts.

When everyone – well almost everyone – launched into the fight, Fenrir felt as though he needed to take revenge upon the creatures for almost blinding and deafening him. It was something he did not appreciate very much and he was rather keen on seeing a few heads roll in repayment. Thus, the wolf dragon rushed along with the rest of the group, the general atmosphere pulling him along, and threw himself into the fight.

“I think I can look after her Temero, after all, I’ve managed well enough with Azenth,” Syn said curtly, not liking how the wolf dragon was trying to affect Oceianna like he himself was. The lash dragon had gotten hurt in Plurith but… well, that was Plurith, they had been fighting, and Azenth was Azenth. Everybody knew he was useless. He was hoping Oceianna would be a little more useful. Temero wasn’t all bad, but still, the desert chaser wasn’t going to have the wind taken out of his sails because the wolf dragon wanted a piece of the tear.

He shook the rain out of his pelt as Vythiweiah started giving them a nice history lecture, which might have been motivating once, if it had included anything vaguely interesting, or new. He had heard it all before, and had no wish to hear it all again- but neither did he want his head bashed in from one of the two sisters’ tails, so for the moment he kept his peace. That didn’t mean he had to listen however, so he just watched the others, frowning slightly when a slight blue colour started to overlay everyone. Being a desert chaser, he had barely any magic himself, but he was clever enough to recognize it.

That didn’t stop him from getting blinded by the bright lightning with everyone else when it came though, and he yelped, flicking his tail across his eyes too late for it to make any difference. As soon as he could see again, he decided attacking was probably the worst decision they could make (he didn’t want to get his precious tail seared off by some angry demon-thing), but Ocieanna had already leapt forwards to attack one monster, and Temero was hot on her tail. That slimy… trying to get his paws on a potential new “friend” of his! He snarled, making a show of pretending to attack, but still keeping rather out of the way. The tear could sort-of fight, but definitely not as well as some, and it was best for Temero to get on with taking down the shadow creature- Syn made a show of trying to keep Ocieanna safe, putting his claws out as the monster snapped its tail out towards them, batting it away and fluffing up his mane.
“Don’t be foolish and try to take them on yourself,” he growled, putting his ears back. “There’s more to come, no bloody doubt.” There was no way these things were the only protection the lightning stone had, and although there was going to probably be less danger up at the top of the Fall, that didn’t mean it would be danger free.

((Sorryyyyy for being lame and not replying for way too long))

As she usually did, Anækileya simply surveyed the ranks of Maledictus Eice as her sister made yet another speech. She herself wasn’t too much for excessive words, but she appreciated that it was necessary and so she did her part as was needed. All the same… Vythiweiah was the better speaker, and so she ended up doing most of the speaking.

It didn’t seem like she would need to any speaking, though- with little warning other than a growing sense of magic which she barely even noticed, a colossal bolt of lightning shattered into creatures made of the stuff as it hit the ground. One part of her bitterly reflected that at least the shot had waited until the end of the speech; the rest was immediately slipping into battlemode, the clubtail flexing and beating her wings to warm and loosen them as she moved closer to her sister, assuming a defensive postion until she had assessed the situation. They were outnumbered, though not ridiculously so. Hopefully they would have cunning on their side over these insubstantial beasts, and many of the dragons had the advantage of side, too- but their opponents were obviously magical. There was no way to tell what abilities they may have. They seemed to be powerful ones, though, judging by their opening shot. She didn’t shy away from the noise, but she did jerk her head backwards, her head spikes dropping to cover her ears as much as they could and her mouth opening in a returning snarl. Anækileya was left with an aching head and a somewhat dented sense of hearing.

Nonetheless, the obvious course of action was to attack, and she was in perfect unison with Vythiweiah at the battlecry. There was little room for distractions while fightning, most of her focus on whether the shapes moving around her legs were those she was fighting or her fellow dragons, but she did her best to keep an eye on their newest recruit. The tear was at least making an attempt at attacking, which shifted her opinion of the little dragon. Maybe there was potential underneath that floaty, soft exterior. Everyone had to start somewhere, after all.

It was only after it had happened several times that the dragon realised not all of her attacks were landing where they should. Her initial worries were confirmed when she watched her club fly right through one of the creatures, exiting the shadowy mass with nothing but a shock to flare its painful way along her spine. With a furious snarl, she twisted on the beast and came down on it talons first, making short work of it. From then on she noticed some of the lightning things flickering into mere shadows as attacks came their way- she was just thankful that it never seemed to last long.

What did last a long time, however, was the fighting. Not knowing the source of their opponents, she didn’t see what they accomplished by merely attempting slaughter but gaining injuries of their own.
Vythiweiah, she projected to her sister’s mind, removing herself from the very centre of action though not ceasing to fight altogether. We must make a decision as to who will go down into the fall and order those who will not to fall back. We cannot keep up this defence forever if these creatures do not stop coming, and there is no guarantee that they will. The magic of the stones is one little understood.

~*~

There wasn’t a lot to do as he watched except continue digging away at the ground underneath his feet. Consequently, the furrows he was carving into the earth were big enough for a human to fit in by the time something diverted his attention. A blast of force through the earth, a huge yell, louder even than all that shouting they’d been doing before. His face darkening in annoyance, the dragon looked up and saw flashes across the chasm. Shapes moving around. Dragons lunging forwards to attack. But… things weren’t just happening on the other side of the fall. Out of the corner of his eye, the scythe claw caught sight of a flicker of blue, playing over a dark silhouette which was headed straight for him. With a wail, Jitt scrambled to his feet and flung his claws out before him, slashing wildly until it finally sank in that whatever-it-was had died.

The respite which followed this fight obviously wasn’t to be a long one, though. Staring around wild and bug-eyed, he could see more of the sparking creatures approaching. Closing in on him, coming to kill him, coming to get him, there was no way to get away-
Panicking, the dragon began to thrash his tail again the ground, churning up the earth which he had already moved with his claws. It was as he moved round on the spot, making an odd noise somewhere between a yowl and a growl, that he noticed the hole was… well, a hole. Distracted, he stopped dead and stared at it for a few moments. Jumpjumpjumpjump, his mind urged him- but something held him back, some uncomfortable feeling about the fall. Some trickle of logic telling him that there was no reason there wouldn’t be more things down there, too.

Well, logic held no place in Jitt’s mind anymore. When he vaguely saw some shape breaking off from the mass of brawling dragons to hurl itself into the chasm his mind was made up. Exploding into a lumbering run, he sprinted for the cliff-like rim of the hole, teetering on its brink for only a fleeting moment before letting himself fall off it and snapping his wings open to glide downwards, following the spiralling path of the other dragon.

The second that she pounced on one of the shadowy creatures, Vy realized that something was wrong with their opponents. Her claws slid through the first creature that she attacked, the phantom quivering briefly like a mirage on the edge of the desert horizon before slipping out from underneath her paw. A second later, the veins of light running the length of the creature's body flared to a dazzling brightness and another concussive blast of thunder rolled over her, rendering her deaf again for a few split seconds. With a roar, she slammed her claws through the creature and this time her aim was true. The creature was rent into shreds, wavering briefly before disappearing into the thin air with a crackle of electricity. With renewed confidence, she moved to the front lines of the battle, covering the sides of the smaller dragons that seemed overwhelmed by the phantom dragons. She earned a fair number of shocks, her paws and arms beginning to tingle when every other attack on the creatures ended in a shock coursing its way through her arms and making it hard to breathe.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of color and whipped her head around, half expecting to see some of their companions taking to the skies. Instead, she saw Gerris dive into the Fall, quickly followed by a red blur that she identified as Jitt. She'd known that the scytheclaw wasn't completely right in the head, but she hadn't thought that Gerris would be fool enough to go down by himself when the rest of them were battling for their lives against a horde of angry shocking monsters. Then again, perhaps he thought it was the best escape and was simply taking the cowards way out. Her surge of anger at the thought was directed at the nearest lightning creature, which she caught between solid and phantom form and slapped it high into the air after which it collided with a tree and discharged in an explosion of electricity.

Her sister's voice powered over the rage in her head, peeking above the instinct to defend herself and her allies from this strange enemy. Vy looked at the hole again after slapping another monster into the ground and it weakly shocked her paw, then looked out over the battling dragons. Her sister was right, they could not fight forever, which, given that the creatures seemed to simply appear out of the sparks arcing over the ground, was a very real possibility. "Everyone into the fall!" She bellowed over the noise of chaos, rearing onto her hind legs with her wings flared to steady her. "Those with wings carry your companions! Flee into the forest otherwise! Do not waste your lives against these phantoms!" The last thing that she wanted was to leave a pile of dead dragons at the edge of the sinkhole, brought down by some accursed magic. The infancy of their revolution would not die here if she could prevent it.