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Titan Rising; Open Flight of Celestial Ekhi
Topic Started: Sep 30 2017, 03:06 PM (244 Views)
Chirpadee
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A golden streak drove across the morning sky, with long slow strokes of golden wings. An instinct as old as time had driven her aloft, but she would not be so easily controlled by her desires. There had been a request for assistance from the local farmers, that their herds were under threat. Now the celestial, fully grown though somewhat dulled by famine, surveyed the damage to the vast pastureland. What cattle had been grazing here had been moved to other pastures. This had once been one of the lushest pastures, now deemed too hazardous. The twilight celestial could now see why. Vast tracks of grass had been torn and overturned. A bloody smear still lingered where something had been crushed or eaten, she could not be sure which and she was not keen to find out. Burrows like that from a mighty worm coiled in and out of the ground in haphazard waves. The rumors were true. This would not stand. There were too few herds to let damage come to any of them.

The pulsing within her body was not nearly as confusing as it had been the year before. It had driven her to the skies but not with as much desperation as the year before. What better foe to test their merit then one who risked destroying their hard-won efforts to recover from the famine. Amethyst eyes turned towards the distant academy and then she circled down to land in a less troubled part of the pasture. Her eyes narrowed into one of the tunnels with distain. This beast would die before the day was out.

Ekhi's sunset hide glimmered with the flickers of stars, tiny distant suns, glowing with her softly simmering frustration at whatever beast had come to claim their fields. The fan on her tail flicked, the feathers spreading and contracting, reflecting magenta and gold in the harsh light of midday. She could take care of this threat herself, but if the beast was anything like what the farmers had said, it would be better if more than one tackled it. Besides this was an opportunity to see the true worth of the males who wished to court her. This unseen horror might bring her the best among them. War was upon the academy and that grim news made the loss of any rationed cattle all the more dire.

Her wings fanned as she tried to ignore the desire that gnawed at her hungrily. It would wait. It would keep. This was more important. The safety and security of her home was of more concern. Her gaze turned once more to the distant white gleam of the academy, a true jewel of Nyushi. It rose above the forest and it’s windows gleamed in the blazing sun. She would make sure her call reached them.

She let loose a roar which echoed far into the distant reaches, beckoning. It was a call that any male would recognize. The season of breeding was upon them and one of the first to rise demanded suitors. “Ascend!” She challenged, “Put yourself at my disposal and triumph against my challenge! The chance to sire another generation of warriors is yours! Come prove your worth! Protect your home! Garner my favor! And my attention is yours!”
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Zinc
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Parliament Owl

A discordant note had rippled once again through the Academy. The harmony that had been slowly reachieved had stuttered and paused in the face of a fearful shadow that lurched it's way back into the heart of their lands. The recovery had been slow, the cattle recultivated with a loving tenderness and tenacity that bespoke of how the Academy and Kahna's people had survived for so long. Sheer stubborness, ingenuity, and assistance from those whose alliance they had garnered. But now another unseen threat lurked in the fields. This one was stealing away the hope that they had cultivated. No one was sure who to point fingers at.

After the last tragedy that had befallen the herds, there was fear that this 'predator' that had so easily shorn apart the fields might have been of darker origins. Their previous assault on the Academy had been biological in nature, but whether or not this was of the same vein was yet to be seen. And so he was here. The young Rosemary stood, feeling quite small amongst the wreckage of the field where he stood on the crest of a ragged burrow that tunneled it's way beneath the crest of the grass. Tracking was not his expertise. He was merely here to study what was left. What little of it there was. He resisted the urge to rub at the brand upon his shoulder near his crystal, one of the few reasons he'd been chosen to go in the first place, as he inspected the smear of blood across the grass.

It was from the cattle, certainly, but any further attempts at inspection were cut short by the heavy thud of wingbeats that drew Lichen's rose colored eyes skywards. A sunset flew past, broad and star-flecked. The young Celestial Ekhi. He watched her go, her eyes dragging past the wrecked fields around him before she drew away, further afield to alight. He watched her momentarily, unsure as to whether her presence was one of curiousity or something else.

Her deep, pulsing roar quickly answered that question for him.

"Oh." Lichen couldn't help the warm twist he felt deep in his guts, instinct responding to instinct. But...that wasn't why he was here today. But Ekhi's purpose was somewhat similar to his own. Even if they didn't quite coincide, perhaps he could still be of some use in some small way. She called for warriors. Frail and small, he knew better than to be something that he was not, but still...there was a pull to try anyway.

Trotting at a swift clip across the field, he drew near to her, head raised with his pink tinted crest flicking cautiously upwards. "Lady," he began, "I'm not certain that I am the warrior you call for, or for the means to an end you seek. But if your venture is dangerous, then a healer may be necessary. If you'll have me, I'll lend you my abilities." He was quiet, but spoke without any halts or hesitations. He would help however he could.
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Mythborn
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NPC Metal (copper) Mkuwa

Mkuwa stretched, the morning sun setting a shimmering fire on his small, shield-shaped scales, so unlike the plated armor his kin often wore. The light glided along his elegant horns, and caught on the moonstone crystal that seemed hung on the strands of the lefthand one.

His rider was no where in sight, and it was just as well. She would only make him behave himself. He had no intention of that. He was hungry, and he had a mind to catch himself something in the jungle around the Academy. His rider was conscientious, and worried that too much hunting might deplete the wild animal populations. Just that moment, he didn't care much, however. He wanted food, and not slimy bug meat, but hot, fresh, red meat. Let her eat bugs, if she wanted to. Those scutra were not food fit for dragons.

He shook himself and his scales set up a metallic scritching as they shifted, before he leapt into the air. She knew how to call him in thier bond, if she wanted him back. And it wasn't was if Mkuwa had never taken it upon himself to be other than where she'd left him before. She was used to that. If she'd been here to stop him, he would have listened. As annoying as she could be at times, Mkuwa loved her, and she was the only one he'd listen to over his own mind and stomach. She held his leash, and they both knew it.

Which was why it was such a good thing she wasn't here to stop him.

Broad wings pulled him through the air with ease, even in his less than ideal condition because of the famine, and Mkuwa made his way over the trees. He had just folded his wings to drop on a boar snuffling in a meadow when a bellow, fierce and young and intrinsically female made him stutter in the air, and he cursed as the boar bolted. Still, he couldn't be too annoyed. This was the first female whose call he had heard, and he meant to answer it. He grinned, showing teeth shades paler than his red-golden hide. His rider would be livid. Well, at least she would have the solace of it being a Sekkian he chased this time.

He'd heard that the pretty (albeit Tainted) Fire he'd chased before had birthed a Razor of the same metal as he. His rider had heard it, too, and wasn't pleased. She hadn't been pleased that he'd chased a Taint in the first place. But what could he do? He followed his instincts, and she hadn't asked him not to. Of course, as now, he hadn't really given her a choice, either.

He'd dropped when the roar had startled him, though he didn't notice how far until his wings snapped out to keep him from colliding with the trees. A few tree tops clipped off from the impact of his wings, but he pulled up again and wheeled, seeking the source of the summons. She mentioned a challenge? He hoped there would be cause for bloodshed. While he couldn't use the same tactics with a Sekkian female as he had with that Fire, still, he hoped he wouldn't be bored.

Winging toward the caller, Mkuwa noticed the torn fields, but dismissed them. They were of no account, unless his wingleader or his rider made them a concern of his. Others would tend whatever troubled this place. He noticed the little Rosemary that came before him, and dismissed him, too. Though dwarfed by the lady who had summoned them, Mkuwa was big for a Copper, and the Rosemary was tiny compared to his lustrous self. Besides, she had called for protectors. Rosemaries were but healers.

The lady in question was glorious, a Celestial, her scales a reflection of twilight. Mkuwa snorted amusement as he settled onto the grass a polite distance from either of the others. He had never chased a Celestial before. That would be a feather for his cap, so to speak, should he catch her. He held his head proudly up, gray eyes on the Celestial's own violet ones.

"What challenge have you for me, lady? I will gladly prove myself for you."
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Kyariel


Unlike a certain wannabe disco ball, Murtagh found he liked Scutra; seeing as it reminded him of the shellfish he and Moira used to fish up because they felt like it. Now with everyone on rations however they didn't want to totally ruin what stock of lobster and crab were still in the oceans. Unless asked of course, but as he managed to stay airborne till he found a spot to land in the field without tailslapping anyone after heeding Ehki's call. Landing as gracefully as his long form could manage as he worked to hide his distaste. He'd only heard it in passing but he was pretty sure the copper who was usually so derisive of the fare offered in hardship was the same one mentioned having chased a tainted.

He did not waste words on the metallic beast however; speaking calmly first to the rosemary male "apologies if I startled you, I tried to avoid landing atop you as best I could". Then he bowed respectfully to Ehki "you call and Murtagh answers. As any good soldier of the Sekkian forces should, especially when summoned to a Celestial's side; what are your orders Ma'am?". Sure, he wasn't talking directly to the larger of his competitors but even for a popinjay it'd be hard to miss the barb hidden in his comment.

However after speaking he'd gone silent, eyes on the golden valkyrie of the sunset before him. Seeming oblivious to all else, but still very ready for anything. After all if Mkuwa was the taint-chaser he'd surely try something underhanded to attempt to beat his opponents with deceitfully shameful tactics. So the rosemary beside Murtagh might well need back up if it came to that. Perhaps keeping the smallest competitor safe might even gain favor with Ehki? who knew.
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Chirpadee
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One by one they filtered in. Three males of varying breeds. The first was a soft spoken rosemary, small enough she had to stoop to greet him. She could have lifted him in one paw had she the inkling, but size did not determine a dragon’s strength. The mind was just as important. She bowed her head and nodded. “There is a place for all professions in Sekkai, I am sure you will find a way to overcome the challenge I place before you. Welcome.”

The second seemed to be far more military minded, a copper with a personality as cold as his hide. Violet eyes surveyed him with contemplation and she bowed her head in greeting. He seemed a warrior on first impression and while he gave no attention to the other male she did not balk, that wasn’t unheard of for flights and she paid it no mind. “Once all are assembled I will state my challenge. Be patient. The best things are worth waiting for.”

The final suitor landed with less grace, but just as much enthusiasm. His pointed words brought a lift to the short magenta crest atop her head and the feathers on her cheeks puffed with curiosity. It was clearly meant for someone, but he gave no implication to who. Was he suggesting one among them was not Sekkain? No, she would recognize the taint, it warped anything it touched. Was he suggesting she was not Sekkain? That would be foolish, she was a celestial and no taint would be foolish enough to attempt that. She let the idle curiosity pass. Perhaps he had simply put the emphasis on the wrong word. Her eyes trailed skywards, but found no other shapes descended to her call. “Welcome. I will give you my orders as you ask.” She replied softly to the water.

“In this field lays a monster. The farmers whisper of some stone horror. I believe it to be some magical artifact gone awry, disturbed by someone digging where they should not have touched. The one of you that stops the beast… will gain my favor.”

As if on cue, a clattering rose from one of the holes. What crawled from the ground was a horror from another dimension. An elder god awoken from its slumber to stalk the earth. It was black, long, and bore way too many legs. It moved with a twisting precision and it pulled nearly sixty feet of inky length from the hole. The monster took the form of a giant, writhing centipede made from some deep black stone. Upon closer inspection, it’s flesh seemed to crawl. Oh wait, it was crawling! The horrid creature was made up of hundreds of shimmering beetle gargoyles, each about the size of a small dog. They crawled all over each other in an unending mess of legs and chittering jaws. Each one bore a tiny blue glowing jewel on top of its shell. They amassed together and swarmed into this sickening shape.

Then there, atop it’s forehead was a beetle bearing a giant glowing crystal growing on its back. The stone of its body took on a bluish hue as if warped by the magic in the protrusion. Or at least the crystal started on the giant centipede’s forehead, the beetle scuttled down through the swarm, appearing and disappearing in the mass at various places. With the grinding of stone on stone it charged at the three suitors.

Ekhi spread her wings and launched herself into the sky, ready to aid from above if things became to dire, “Good luck!” She cried to all of them and set herself in a low, lazy circle.
________________________________
This monster was made with the permission of the Admins. Now we have that out of the way...

You now have Ekhi’s challenge good luck! Feel free to come to blows with the monster, you are welcome to have it hurt you, or you can knock pieces off, but you cannot kill it in your post. Make what you hope will be your final blows and I will decide who’s plan works. Good luck and have fun!

I am REALLY busy this week so it's a one part challenge with my decision coming HOPEFULLY Sunday, if not on Monday.
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Mythborn
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Mkuwa shifted when Ekhi bid him to have patience. His rider would be the first to assure the Celestial that patience was not his strong suit. Still, he didn't reply, but waited as ordered. He was a soldier, he could take orders, even if he didn't like playing second fiddle to anyone, even so pretty a lady as this Celestial. Patience, however, was the only way to get what he wanted here, so he waited.

He eyed the Water who landed between him and the Rosemary. Murtagh, he called himself. The Water's barbed comments only made the Copper grin. So this one had heard that he'd flown a Taint back then, too. It had been a while, not even the last Tainted season, and it amused Mkuwa that the Water would still hold it against him. He let that amusement carry him through Ekhi's explanation of her challenge.

The irony of it did not pass his notice, not when he'd ignored the damage to the fields on his way to her side. He wasn't sure whether he should be amused at that, too, or annoyed. The appearance of the...creature from the tunnels quite distracted him from that train of thought. He stared at it as it crawled from the ground. Were those gargoyles? More gargoyles than the Metal had ever seen in his life. It took him a moment to realize that each had a blue jewel in its back. Altogether they made up a centipede that made his skin crawl under his scales. The shiver made his scales scritch against each other, but he continued to study the beast as it drew itself out of the earth. One beetle-like gargoyle was different than the rest, the black stone tinged blue, and its crystal larger. Interesting. A keystone, perhaps? If he took out that one, broke its crystal, perhaps the entire thing would fall apart. Magic worked that way sometimes.

The Celestial left them to her challenge as the creature charged, and quick wingbeats took him to the air as well, out of the path of the beast without thought to his competitors. They would get out of the way or not. He spat a mouthful of liquid metal at mass of gargoyles, knocking a few loose to fall to the ground, coated in coppery metal. The loss of a few of its number didn't seem to phase the rogue construct at all. Now that he was out of range of its immediate attack, Mkuwa tried to track the odd beetle, see if there was any pattern to where on the creature it appeared.

There didn't seem to be. Still, when it surfaced near the monstrosity's tail, Mkuwa dove for it, trying to catch the strange one in his claws. It was gone before he could lay his paws on it. Instead, he snatched one of the others. Snarling, he came to loft again, throwing the small beetle back into its brethren, where he heard the crack of its impact against the others.

Annoyed, the Copper breathed more metal at it, this time instead of a blob intended to coat the beetles, they were needles, spears meant to break and batter. The rain of spears, one breath followed immediately by another, would be as dangerous to his 'allies' as to the creature he was attacking, perhaps more so. It was stone, they were only flesh.
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Kyariel


Thanks to the indiscriminate firing off of his element, Mkuwa was certainly not gaining any points with 'Tagh. Who had angled his body to block stray needles from pegging the rosemary. Hissing slightly as he felt the points hit home before his throat engorged with readying his own breath weapon. If Mkuwa was going to fight like a tainted suitor Tagh wasn't about to warn him what he was doing. So the only clue the metal might get was all of the water aimed at the head end of the construct possibly geysering out of wherever the copper dragon was ripping into trying to find the key stone of the beast.

Tagh's approach was simple really, if he got enough of the stony bodies soaked they might lose the grip that allowed them to be such a cohesive monstrosity. After a few more blasts of water straight on however, he tried a new approach, the beast looked about the same size he was. So he figured the tunnels might be large enough to house himself. With liberal application of his water jets to avoid getting stuck in some curve as he imitated the dangerous beast in reverse. Soon popping up at points to actively rip away at the horde acting as one unit. Trying to find the same 'key' Mkuwa was. Only coming at it from below instead of above. Likely peeving it off a whole lot more in the process.

But, unless the smaller ones he was mashing could 'tell' the rest where the new attack was coming from the horde of gargoyles might only go after Mkuwa himself. Unless the things were smarter than they looked anyway. Since most living entities know when something blasts water from beneath or rips at you from below means 'new attacker' not 'same as one on top'. Either way...it was probably going to be a few months of work before this field was usable to the farmers...if not due to the tunnels; then the fact it was going to be a muddy pit for a season without an assist from an earth dragon. Speaking of mud, as he writhed and struck from the terror's own hiding spot Tagh might have ended up splatting someone up above with the clinging wet clay like muck he was mired in. Not like he was doing it on purpose of course. Just his waving paddle of a tail whipping about might have done it as his water ruined the structural integrity of the tunnels directly under the gargoyle.
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Zinc
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Parliament Owl

Others came, as they always did in these sorts of events. The first paid the small Rosemary no mind, something which made him clench his jaw, but was all together not uncommon. The smallest tended to yield the least attention, profession or not. He regarded the Metal silent, his crest drooping a bit before he turned to peer curiously up at the Water who had joined, nearly the opposite of the Metal in his courtesies. "Don't worry," Lichen chuckled softly. "I'm quite used to figuring out how to keep out from underfoot." And it was true. When your patients were often three times your size or greater, and writhing in agony when you treated them, you had to learn to be quick on your feet lest you find yourself added to the list of injuries needing treatment.

Lichen's gaze spanned back to the fields as Ekhi reported the sightings of the field. A stone monster...His eyes narrowed in thought as a frown tugged at his jaws. But she asked for them to stop the creature in order to gain her favor. Lichen felt his heart sink in his chest a bit at the sight of the great gouges in the earth. He had little time to feel sorry for himself, as with a sudden shudder and shifting of soil, the creature that the Celestial spoke of reared up from the earth in a clatter of stone grinding upon stone. Shining like obsidian and dotted with pale blue, the writhing mass took Lichen a moment to pick apart as a swarm rather than a whole. He stood back and stared, shocked as Ekhi took the skies, wishing them luck as the beast caught sight of them and the swarm surged forth to engulf them.

They scattered, the Water and Metal taking to the skies. Lichen however, stayed on the ground, running full pelt to avoid the shifting clutches of the swarm as it reached for him, trying to get a look, a good look, at just what it was he was dealing with. The males were tearing into the swarm, trying to land strikes upon something within. Distracted, the ferocity of the great centipede turned on them as they laid into it, giving Lichen a chance to study it from the crest of churned up soil, his breath coming in pants and his crest and down on end.

The Water had taken to the tunnels below, emerging to blast fierce jets of water into the swarm, causing it to break apart and undulate like a widening pseudopod, turning the centipede into something more amorphous than it's original form as it struggled to reshape under the assault. One of these stretching pillars of the stone beetles took notice of Lichen, and his chance to survey his opponent was wrest from him as it blotted the sky above him, seeking to tear him apart.

He had no elemental gift save his healing magic with which to fend them off in the manner of the other two males. So scrabbling to get his feet beneath him in the loose soil, he made to run.

He was not nearly so lucky this time.

The swarm barrled into him, sharp, pointed legs digging into his scales and piercing his hide, causing small upwellings of blood where they stepped. Jaws snapped perilously close to limbs and wings, and he could feel a few tear free feathers from his delicate wings. Yelping in panic from where he was driven to the ground, Lichen scrabbled. His claws dug into grass made slick by the blood from the beast's stolen kill, giving him no purchase with which to free himself. His efforts clearly weren't working. He flipped onto his back, clawing at the beetles that were beginning to crawl onto him. One bloody paw smeared across one as he kicked with all his strength and a shrieking roar, dislodging it and sending it rolling a few feet away.

To his surprise, part of the swarm broke away to follow it, swarming over the blood-coated gargoyles in a grinding of stone and chittering screeches. They...were attacking it? Lichen lurched to his feet as the swarm thinned, beating his wings to bring himself clear of the ground. They could climb onto one another, but so far they had yet to demonstrate an ability to fly.

The air was nearly as treacherous as the ground with the gouts of water and metal, in both molten globs and treacherous needles, flying about. But it was better than the ground at the moment. Paws still slick with blood, Lichen arced past the creature, looking for somewhere to land. It was a constant forming and reshaping of itself in the face of the other suitors, but he could see now where the Metal was aiming it's efforts. Another gargoyle, this one different from the others by the size of the gemstone that covered it. Perhaps...he could...

Lichen dove, giving one backwing before he landed upon the surging surface of the creature, moving fast and swift. His balance was tested sorely, even the most aggressive of patients never moved quite so much as this, but he kept his feet. Ahead, he saw the blue-gemmed beetle surge upwards, and he reached for it, coming to a halt as the jaws of another gargoyle closed on his claws, tugging him sideways and nearly throwing him from the great colossus. Scales caved and blood welled beneath the obsidian edges. Shrieking, Lichen kicked at it amongst the mess, trying to regain his feet as he beat his wings. It released suddenly, causing him to stumble back, fresh blood pulsing from just above his wrist.

He had to get out of here. Stumbling, he ran across the top, trying to get speed, his bloodied steps leaving chaos in his wake. Wings half flared to open, he saw a gleam of bright blue out of the corner of his eyes. There! He turned, reaching for it, ready to simply finish the job and flee. He felt his bloodied palm make contact with something, claws scraping on stone, but could not tell if it was the proper beetle, as the chaos of the other suitors reached him, something heavy and cold smacking into him and driving him from the beast's back and bearing him to the ground.

For a moment, he thought he'd been struck by the Metal's element. But as he lay winded on the ground, he was relieved to see that it was just a great clump of sodden clay that had laid him out. Staggering to his feet, injured foot held close to his chest, he unfolded his wings to get back into the air, eyes darting back to the creature, and wondering if he'd managed to do something to it.
Edited by Zinc, Oct 6 2017, 11:44 AM.
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Chirpadee
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Ekhi circled above watching the chaos unfold. Every fiber of her being told her to engage, to join in the fight for their land. She refrained. They were capable. It felt cold, it went against her nature, but sometimes you needed to take a step back to understand. What she saw was met with an impassive stare. Only the flick of an ear gave away any emotion. Thankfully they seemed a little too busy to pay attention to the female, even if she lingered in the dark places of their minds. Their efforts were valiant and she noted that, but their methods were very different.

Mkuwa, more brash than the others, was first to react. His tactics were without caution or care for any other living thing present. He fought with strength and brutality. His blasts were effective, peeling away stone beetles which fell, still twitching, from the writhing mass. His claws tore single individuals into fragmented pieces which still twitched and spasmed, trying to find their way back to the swarm in a freakish display. His power was stunning, if his tactics were questionable. She was impressed by the way he used the brute form he was blessed with.

Tagh was more careful. He made himself a shield against the firsts attack to prevent the healer from taking an undue blow. It was brave, but his attacks there after seemed in many parts retribution. While he seemed careful to avoid the smallest among them, he made no effort to show the same respect to the metal. His tactic was clever, sliding into the tunnels and reappearing elsewhere. It was easy to follow his progress as already fragmented field slumped and collapsed, quickly losing what stability had remained, with his passing. The carefully aimed blasts blew away pieces of the worm and now it was beginning to appear smaller, less intimidating. His cunning was to be respected.

Lichen was almost lost among the battle, the two much larger suitors thrashed and swung with boldness and certainty that drew her eye. He was colored near the same as the mud the water created. It was a flash of purple that caught her as he was drug through the mud by the horrific creature. She smelled the sharp copper of fresh blood and her wings flared, ready to dive. She would not see tragedy for the sake of a suitor, but the Rosemary deftly smashed the beast away and was on the move again. He was a tricky one for a healer. She thought after such a beating the small male may give in, but he revived and threw himself back into the fray.

Their work did not tire the beast, it was made of unforgiving stone and it would never tire, but each time they blasted it with elemental fury, and each time they tore at it with tooth or claw, the creature began to shrink. While many remained, the number dwindled making the creature lurch far less gracefully, and much slower.

Hungry tallons grasped time and time again, searching for the keystone beetle. Each time it narrowly escaped their grasp, winking light back at them tauntingly as it appeared elsewhere. It seemed they would never be successful until finally, something snatched it from its place among the horde. The crystalized beetle clung as tightly as it’s sharp little legs could to the mass, but a dragon’s strength is something to be reckoned with. With a sharp squeal, it was free. Then it was flung through the air and far from the horde.

The swarm let loose a scream of fury and turned on the dragon as it was dislodged from the whole, moving more like a wave then a construct without it’s host. The whole swarm focused on Lichen as he slammed into the ground. The impact caused a loud resounding crack, and likely some damage to the male holding the gargoyle, but something changed. When he opened his wings and peered within, the large blue crystal had fractured down the center and then began to fragment further, falling into tiny shards of glittering, harmless, rubble. The blue light it had been emanating dimmed and the wave of gargoyles crashed into the ground before him, suddenly inert. Whatever had woken this horror-terror—probably a hybrid experiment that had gone wrong, or a bad trick of magic gone awry—it was now done with it’s rampage.

Ekhi dove, towards them. She drew wing as she landed, her vast wingspan buffeting them with harsh winds. Her eyes flashed towards Tagh and Mkuwa as she landed. “I am disappointed.” Her words hung heavy in the air, “We are all Sekkain. What sets us apart is our ability to work together, even in the face of adversity. We do not have to like each other, but we have a duty to work together. The tainted marched on Iyalruek. They killed our own. They will declared open war on us. Now more then ever is a time to put aside our differences and come together. To protect each other. That is our way.” She paused and took a breath. Every pin point of light upon her hide and within her horns glowed brightly, ready to release the pressure wave of rage that rose in her. She took another breath and the light dimmed. With a shift of her wings she carried on, “Even when we are wronged we must rise above it together. Be the better dragon. Settle your grievances through combat if you must, but not when you are trying to save the herds of our farmers. Tagh. Your bravery is commendable, you did well to help Lichen when you saw his well being threatened, but you did not concern yourself with Mkuwa, even if his tactics… were far from commendable. I can tell you have something there that must be settled. Settle it out of my sight, before the taint take advantage of your vengeance. I too know it can be hard to step back, I struggle to separate myself from the want for retribution, but in these times we must.” Her eyes flashed to the metal. “While you are strong warriors, I find you both wanting. I ask you leave.”

Her attention on them ended with a curt shuffle of her wings and she turned herself away from them. Her swan like neck dipped low to meet Lichen, her chosen suitor, eye to eye. “Despite the odds you persisted. You are a healer and yet you accepted my challenge. You were injured and you continued. You know your competitors were not as concerned with safety as they perhaps should have been. Despite this you persevered. You showed that you will not hesitate when duty calls. I have made my choice.” She let that hang between them, filling the space with the heaviness of her words and then she nodded her feathered head away from the fields. Come. Let us find somewhere more secluded.”
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Zinc
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Parliament Owl

Bloody and aching, wondering if anything had been broken in his fall, Lichen's claws clasped tightly upon the stone gargoyle in his grip. It wasn't fighting him as he'd expected it to. But the swarm was enraged at the seperation of one of it's own from it's form. It surged forwards to try to engulf him as he'd landed heavily but then suddenly they came to a shuddering halt, the multitudes before him suddenly inert and falling like an uncontrolled landslide to the ground in front of him in a loud clatter of stone. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, he allowed himself to fall bonelessly to the grass, glad for his life in that moment. Crystalline shards of blue tinkled gently as they slid off the scales of his chest, littering the grass beneath him like stray fallen stars. Over, it was over, and he was alive. He was quite a bit worse off for it, but he'd at least faired well all things considered.

He heard the heavy beat of wings, air passing by a great beast descending, and his pale pink eyes opened to stare upwards as Ekhi blotted out the sun above. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, lapping at the wound on his wrist, hoping to stem the bleeding and perhaps numb some of the pain for the time being until it could be seen to in a more controlled environment. Mkuwa and Murtagh joined him before her, and Lichen winced at the words heavily laced in disappointment that rang through the air as she looked upon them all. Her contention however, was not for him, but was instead directed to the other two males. Lichen had noticed their apparent grievances with each other, but they'd appeared to leave it to petty words, and little else save perhaps a careless strike here and there.

They were dismissed, leaving Lichen blinking. Before Murtagh left he called out to him. "Thank you, for your assistance. I'm grateful I didn't need to add more wounds to the repetoire." he smiled thinly. "Please, for my peace of mind at least, would you seek out a healer to take care of those?" He nodded towards the pins that had pierced the Water's side. As he left, Lichen turned slowly back to Ekhi, mindful of his injured foot, peering back at Ekhi, who had lowered herself down to his own height.

He let her words wash over him, having nothing to say in reply, merely realizing that despite the odds, it had been true. He'd persisted in the face of such grave dangers. He'd always thought himself a healer, nothing more. But he had shown that he had skills that were useful for other things as well today. He carefully filed those thoughts away for later. Something to be reflected on at another time. "Thank you, Lady Ekhi." he nodded in response, his voice breathless from exertion and shock that he had still managed to get so far at all. But the day was not finished yet. Lichen could only hope that his body would not give out and betray him in the face of coming responsibilities.
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