(Rainforest) Chaos has a name... (22nd Board)

For a moment, Sebantais was dumbstruck at the clubtail’s claim, then he shook his head, feeling miserable. Of course she would turn it in such a way to blame someone else. Of course she would reason that everyone and everything else was at fault but they themselves. They were flawless and morally always correct. Of course. How else could it be? Just blame the Guardian for everything. So much easier. The sheep would eat it up like a handful of grass as they always seemed to do.

Before he could say anything in response however or even take action, the wolf dragon who had previously just crashed onto the ground, grappled his way to his feet again.

“Vy,” Fenrir rasped, pain coursing through his body with every breath. “Vy…”
It took him another try before he was finally fully on his feet. He wasn’t quite sure what had gone on, everything having turned into a sort of blur for him. He couldn’t even be certain if he was actually alive or just dreaming this.

“Vy, the earth. The air. Infected. I can feel it. The stone…”
The wolf dragon was shaking all over. The wounds he had sustained during the battle as well as the aftermath of the magical exertion itself were catching up to him. And top of all of that, he could feel the tension, the crackling of lightning in the air brushing through his wings, in the earth beneath his claws.
“It’s killing us…”

Lifting herself from the ground again, Illeana found the world in chaos. Since those humans had found her family and killed them, everything had gone mad. This Guardian chastised them like children, berating them on that which they did not know, when it was his own fault for their ignorance.
She jumped to her feet with a low growl, tail thrashing in anger. Helping the closest dragons upright and steady again, she glared daggers at Sebantais, this dragon who though himself so much better than the rest of them. Her primary concern went to the clubtail though; already great pools of blood were spreading out and seeping into the ground before her, as bad as if she had had her legs sliced out from underneath her with a knife.

It was too much newness for her to get properly involved; she knew she did not know the entire story, that it was an ignorant view that she had. So, instead of attacking forwards like she wished to do, she held herself back from using teeth and claws, looking to her new comrades instead now to aid them. The wolf dragon she had walked close to before was struggling badly, his breathing strangled and his body obviously weak. She jumped to his side as he stood, pressing her body alongside his for support. Lightning magic crackled around him, his fur tickling against her scales as she looked towards him with concern.
We must leave. We need to move further into the forest. Illeana had always lived near the lightning stone, and indeed, there had been some strong magic around at points in the past before now, but this was worse than she’d ever seen. Worse than even the Guardian had ever seen, from the sounds of it.

Last edited by Artemis on Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

Anækileya still felt burningly hot, full of energy, and a surge of savage satisfaction washed over her as she saw that her blow had hit- but when she tried to press the attack, she found herself unable to move more than a weak step towards the guardian. Snarling, she stopped and forced herself to breathe, just taking a moment to catch her breath and fortify herself. Her head was bowed and her jaw clenched as she listened to the guardian’s treacherous words.
“More important matters,” she managed to spit out. “Like the fate of our species. You will notice, guardian, that before you came we were on our way away. But this was no mistake- it is a cost we will pay, and pay it willingly, for our descendants to be free and as powerful as they once were.”

She had paid little heed to the lifeblood healing her sister before- routine, she had thought, distracted by her hatred for this guardian who stood before them after living aloof and unaware of the lives of normal inhabitants of the island, and now presumed to tell them what they were doing wrong. What did he know? Nothing. But now her attention was pulled back to her sister as she cried out, the lifeblood staggering away looking sick. Anækileya cast Lefreneh a look of concern before lowering her head to her sister, noting in horror the extra toe which had grown there. A sick feeling grew in her stomach- what was this magic they had unleashed? Could the guardian be right?

No- this magic was dangerous, there was no denying it, but she couldn’t let the guardian get into her head. Whatever the price, Anæ believed to her core that Dragons Cove should be restored to its state before the humans ever came. Dragons had survived there before, they could do so again- even if it would take time to get used to.
Around her, she could see how restless the other dragons were, how they were suffering. They had to get out of this area, or the free magic would kill them all- but she couldn’t leave the guardian unchallenged, not after the injury he had caused in her sister.

“Go!” she now instructed the others. “Leave this place and stay safe, brothers and sisters- I will try to catch you up, but if we are separated we can meet at Halosis.” Her eyes travelled along their sorry ranks, lingering on Vy for a fraction of a second before she turned, steeling herself, to face the guardian once more.
“You are the one who needs to open your eyes, Guardian,” she sneered. “How are you worthy of such a title? Your duty was to guard the stones, was it not? You have failed. You were not overpowered, you were simply absent. The guardians have half become a legend on the island. How can you call yourself a leader when your people doubt your very existence? Where were you when yet more human vermin invaded? You are charged with protecting both the dragons and the humans of Dragons Cove, and both have been attacked without remorse by these newcomers- through some treachery, they captured one of our own. I cannot find it within myself to even respect one who does not even attempt their duty. Agree or disagree with our philosophies, there is no denying that we have acted to protect those who are close to us; we have taken action, not simply hidden from the world and shied away from duty like you. Even some humans do a better job than you- they are worthless and have no respect for our birthright, but some few have met their death at our claws with courage, at least. No, Guardian, you are not worthy of the title bestowed upon you, nor of the magic used to create you- magic which is the heritage of true dragons. You are not worthy of our land, which you walk upon.”

The words boiled from her in a furious rush, a poisonous torrent of slanders, her limbs trembling under the merciless onslaught of magic around her. She hardly knew what she was saying in her exhaustion, but she knew she was right. Drawing in a deep breath, she let out another defiant roar and launched herself at the guardian again, regardless of if it was pointless. She couldn’t stand down now, not after he had insulted them so.

Everything had been happening so quickly, but when Vy was injured, Ocei couldn't help but leap forwards. The Lifeblood who had been healing her was in trouble, and she stepped forward with the Red Euphorn, and tried to channel the magic. She was fortunate to have stronger magic that some, and although he didn't have quite the same ability as the Euphorn, she was able to add her own magic to the stream to pull back the lifeblood's spell, which was going to horribly wrong.

The magic surged through her, making her gasp aloud, but the three healing dragons (the original Lifeblood, the Euphorn and herself) were at least able to control it better. The magic was so strong it seemed to burn as it passed through her body, but it slowly began to subside. Ocei was worried for a moment that the Guardian was right, and they were playing with forces beyond their control...

She stopped, sighing with relief as the spell finally faded, looking up just in time to hear Anae's orders. Leave. The dragons with weaker magic, who were the worst affected by the free magic, moved almost instantly, the unnatural power clearly bothering them too much to stay. However, she lingered - she didn't feel able to leave the Clubtail sisters here, and Anae at least was going nowhere.

The free magic and Anae's words only served to increase the cold, hard anger against the Guardian, pumping through her veins, and she set her feet apart and stood beside Anae, the same glint of defiance in her eyes. She was dwarfed by both the clubtail and the guardian, but her fear reserves were empty, and she didn't care.

Fenrir growled when he felt a body press against his but he didn’t say or do anything else. Reluctant to admit it, he was glad for the support. His own strength was waning with every passing second and he wasn’t sure how long he was going to keep fighting this off. It felt like the magic was consuming him from within, eating him alive and it hurt.

“…away… Need to… go…” The wolf dragon dug his claws into the forest ground, glad for the softness below his feet; it was the only thing keeping him upright along with the dragon by his side. Attempting to move forwards, no matter what the clubtails would say or do to him if they thought he was abandoning them, he felt the need to get away. He had to get away, away from this magic. Or he would die.

With horror, Sebantais watched events unfold, unable to do anything about them. It was his own powerlessness in the face of what was occurring that frustrated him more than the silly stubbornness of these dragons. They would seal their own fate if they refused to listen – he had done his part. But it was everything else that got to him. There was so much magic in the air all of a sudden that even he was starting to have trouble, unused for so many years to handle this kind of raw energy.

“Stop the healing, stop the healing!” he suddenly hissed. “It’s making it all worse!” But the dragons were already realising that on their own and they weren’t listening to him anyways. Besides, it was too late. The magic had found its root in them now and there was no telling what else it would do. With a bit of luck, they wouldn’t suffer much more from this if they got away quickly enough. With a bit of luck, this was where it would end for them. He could only hope so. But he was also sure that some of them would die, soon enough, unless they got far away from the stone. Very far indeed.

When the clubtail turned to him once again, a mixture of emotions all over her face, he braced for her lecture but was once again astounded by the ignorance and hatred.

“Celen was acting on the Guardians’ behalf. He was the guardian. But you didn’t listen to him either did you. No, you just swooped in, did your thing and now imagine you can bask in the glory of the stone’s destruction. You’ll have something different coming for you. But you’ll only see once it is too late already.” And then the guardians won’t be able to do anything anymore because you’ll be too far gone. He didn’t say that part out loud however. It was the sad knowledge of a truth that would inevitably come to pass and that could not be avoided.
He continued on a different matter however: “Now all of a sudden you think the invaders are doing wrong! Who is at fault then? The invaders? The guardians? Humans in general? Or you? You preach you want to do something, well then do something useful!” His voice thundered through the forest at that last exclamation and he forced himself to calm down a little. “Ripping magical stones to shreds is not useful. It will kill you! You want to do something useful, then fight the invaders instead of killing your own species! Be the leaders you proclaim to be!”

It was a good thing that the dragons of the Maledictus Eice were slowly following the orders given and were filing away, moving further away from the stone. Sebantais needed to reign in his fury or he was going to do something he would later regret. He had already said too much.
And then she launched herself at him, but Sebantais evaded the attack easily enough, not letting her touch him but not touching her either. Unlike the clubtail, her had not just battled an ancient guardian and his dragon, and unlike her, he could withstand this kind of magic – at least to a degree. The warrior in him wanted to rip her to shreds and give her her due, but the guardian in him knew that it was futile and would only bring the wrong results.

The guardian’s words washed straight over Anae- perhaps some part of her brain filed them away for later, but right now she was too weary to pay them any heed, the only strength left in her drawn from her rage. She was undaunted when the guardian skipped aside, evading her attack as easily as she might that of a newly hatched chick- he could dance all he wanted, but she would get him in the end.

Or so she thought, until another pulse of magic rippled outwards through the forest. It was no different to those which had come before it- weaker than some, in fact- but somehow, it tipped her over the limit of what she could withstand. The great clawed foot which had moved to catch her bulk when she didn’t meet the resistance of Sebantais as she had expected now faltered, twisting underneath her as she stumbled and crashed to the ground. It was with a terrible certainty that she knew she couldn’t do this any longer. She’d never thought it was possible for all her resolve to leave her so quickly- and not even at her sister’s injury, terrible as it was, but at the failing of her own body. She had always known that as long as they kept fighting, she and Vythiweiah would make it through anything together- but when she didn’t have the strength to fight any longer, what could she do? Somehow, the guardian was not affected by this magic in the same way as them.

It was only the knowledge that the rest of Maledictus Eice, her sister included, were depending on her that dragged Anae back onto her feet.
“If you… would not face me in battle… but run like the coward you are…” Her words came out as a ragged pant, muttered for the Guardian alone as she glowered at him from under her brow, head hung low. “Then go, Guardian. Tell your brethren… spread the word that Maledictus Eice will not rest until we reclaim what is ours.”

There was nothing more to say; she had salvaged her dignity as best she could, and besides, she didn’t think she had it in her to speak any longer. The club on her tail weighed her down as she turned to trudge away, falling from its usual proud position to drag a rut in the ground behind her. All she could do as Maledictus Eice made their escape was pray that this defeat would not last; somehow, she had to return to her proper self, and continue her fight.

For now, though… such a feat was beyond her.

» Antics in the rainforest; which way is the sunshine?
» Charon - Messenger of Chaos
» C1 Racksom~~~~And then, there was War~~~~(5th Board)
» ~~The City of Thieves~~~ (7th Board)
» (Jiluria) Something's Not Right With You [Liza & Zay] (29th Board)